General vehicle thread

When the ICar comes out I?ll buy one for seamlessly integrating with my phone.

@cstone. Fellow Yaris owner here. 2007 auto 130k and now my son is driving it to school until we figure out a car. Fantastic car from a maintanace point of view. Quick enough too. Only 2 complaints: interior noise, and the soft steel rims thst the base comes with. Swapped to some light alloy wheels when I needed new tires and it feels smoother and faster.
I think the Yaris is highly underated due to the "Echo" past and the low price point. If course the interior noise might have something to do with it too...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cstone

I keep reading that by 2030, more than half of the passenger cars on the road will be electric/hybrid. I can't say that I believe this but I can't say that it won't happen either. Since I probably only have another 25 years of regular driving left in my life (after 80, I will probably limit myself to milk runs or leisure cruising) my next vehicle(s) will probably be my last vehicles.

---

I don't think it will be that long. I think over half of the passenger vehicles on the road will be EV by 2025. The rate of adoption is going to get steeper as we progress and as people discover how simple they are for all the reasons you mentioned using a mechanic for stuff you know how to do. I used to love wrenching on cars and now I can't tell you how excited I am to not have to deal with maintenance now. Some will say you have to own an EV for a while to recoup the investment but you have to quantify your saved time and headache.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cstone

Imagine an EV that was as modular/repairable as the desktop computers nobody wants anymore. Unplug, unscrew, replace. Common component architecture that would allow manufacturers to compete on speed and reliability without focusing on proprietary technology. Open source software upgrades to tune your vehicle to your desires.

When the engineers get past the battery capacity and charging issues, EVs will definitely be better than internal combustion engine vehicles.

I still wonder why someone hasn't scaled down the diesel electric technology to make vehicles that could run for days without needing to be plugged in.

---

That's kind of the way EVs are in a way. They don't have anywhere near the number of moving parts or even parts in general and most all can be replaced by a mobile technician out in the field. I know with the Tesla they have the technology to drop out an entire battery pack and replace it with a new and fully charged on in like 5min time. They were testing it in CA as an alternative to those not waiting to wait the half hour it would take to charge up at a Supercharger.

We're already past a lot of the capacity and charging issues. This year Tesla is doubling their network of Superchargers. They also doubled it over the last two years so now they're going to quadruple production in a single year. They also announced a significant speed increase in how quickly they charge and most are guestimating that 2x the current speed would be pretty benign to the batteries. That's the one of the limitations that engineers are working to get over because all of these cars coming out are claiming some astronomical charge rates but the question then become long-term battery degradation. For me, I'm fine with 80% in 10min or so (this will likely be the rate any week now) if it also means the batteries are going 500,000 before a noticeable amount of battery degradation occurs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by foxtrot

You get it! I could still fix a PC from 1990 if it came my way, relatively quickly. I wouldn't, of course, but if the growing industry develops that way, it would be a blessing. Sadly, our modern culture is a wizz-bang hedonistic one, so I'm hazarding a guess each company will forever be super proprietary and worse, like apple, won't even be backwards compatible with their own crap. I think mechanics eventually may overtake dentists on the suicide rate.

It's one area I wouldn't be opposed to minor regulation: Standardization of connectors and inter-interoperability with right to repair, which is the other huge issue that EV's will have. (You will probably HAVE to have any software issue resolved at the dealer, nowhere else, due to that crap)

---

Speaking to your point of standardization, Tesla has secured hundreds of patents and they have opened most all of them up to anyone who wants to use them. They have also claimed that any manufacturer is free to use their Supercharger network but for some reason NONE of the competition is willing to use any of them. They're content to crank out problematic vehicles that will cause headaches for customers and engineer their own proprietary charge system so they can milk the same customer long-term who wishes to use their charging network.

So, how often do you guys clean the inside of your windshield?

I was driving in the dark in the rain in rush hour traffic yesterday. Visibility that was already impeded by these conditions was made worse by the haze on the inside of my windshield.

Pretty sure I just cleaned that sucker like five or six years ago.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ray1970

So, how often do you guys clean the inside of your windshield?

I was driving in the dark in the rain in rush hour traffic yesterday. Visibility that was already impeded by these conditions was made worse by the haze on the inside of my windshield.

Pretty sure I just cleaned that sucker like five or six years ago.

---

LOL I have toe prints in the inside of my windshield on the passenger side from a road trip last spring. Wife had her shoes off and up on the dash. I think, "I really gotta clean this windshield" every time I notice them.

Vehicles are PIA.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GilpinGuy

LOL I have toe prints in the inside of my windshield on the passenger side from a road trip last spring. Wife had her shoes off and up on the dash. I think, "I really gotta clean this windshield" every time I notice them.

---

Ha. Reminds me of a story an older gentlemen told me. When he was a teenager back in the 50's or 60's he had borrowed his dad's car to go on a date. Apparently he got lucky on the date. The next day his dad questioned him about the foot prints on the inside of the windshield on the passenger side. Needless to say he had a difficult time explaining what had taken place in the front seat of dad's Buick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GilpinGuy

LOL I have toe prints in the inside of my windshield on the passenger side from a road trip last spring. Wife had her shoes off and up on the dash. I think, "I really gotta clean this windshield" every time I notice them.

---

That would have been some funny shit to explain to the FD if the passenger air bag deployed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SideShow Bob

That would have been some funny shit to explain the FD if the passenger air bag deployed.

---

I told my wife that for years and she thought I was being crazy or controlling. Then there was an accident where a girl was messed up badly for life because she had he feet on the dash when an accident happened and my wife no longer puts her feet on the dash. Crazy how I tell her these things for years and she doesn't believe it until she sees it for herself. I'm just thankful it wasn't her it happened to because that would suck.