Cars; the Glory of the Malaise Era

[herbie]

Mad about the absurd prices of cars these daya? Remember the times of cheap and affordable? I'm sure some TV car hero with a beard so long Worker's Comp wouldn't let him within a block of a working shop would shell out $25,000 for one of these p.o.s. up on blocks on some rez and dump $100K restoring it to ir's former shittiness.

On another note the local Dodge/Jeep/RAM scammer dealer is offering a FREE CHARGER if you buy an EV. Why that could even be a free Dodge Charger not just a plug.... Stellantis doesn't even MAKE a BEV let alone those oafs have one on the lot.

Edited October 4, 2023 by herbie

[Aristides]

Some dealers are buying as many used EV's as they can get. I was at a Chrysler dealer that had about 10 used Tesla's on the lot.  The service department was even using one to chauffeur customers. Stellantis is a bit late to the party but has several EV platforms in the pipe, including a RAM pickup due next year.

Hopefully cars would have improved in 40 years. I restored a 60's convertible. Beautiful old boat and I enjoy it but inferior in just about every way to today's vehicles although 7.2 litres of muscle car V8 sure sounds great. The best thing about those old cars is that they are simple.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Aristides

[OftenWrong]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

The best thing about those old cars is that they are simple.

Yeah I saw a car pulled over to the shoulder and a guy was adding gasoline to it using a jerry can.

I thought, try doing that with an EV. 

Old cars have a lot more room as well. Were made to be affordable, and to a certain extent serviceable by the home mechanic.

[herbie]

Was at the local lot 2 weeks ago and they had one Dodge Hornet PHEV. With the window sticker removed, so as not to scare off everyone and no Jeep hybrids. The new 2dr Wrangler's gas mileage has improved 0.1 L/100km in the 9 years since I bought mine. Progress, eh?
The local GM never had a Chevy Volt hybrid on the lot since they first came out, and a friend went to Vancouver to buy his Chevy Bolt BEV.

As usual, we have a hater response that someone stupid enough to not read a gas gauge would have to call a tow truck. And defending the worst excuses for cars the Big 3 ever built. Typical 'modern conservative' attitude that everything used to be better....

[Aristides]

The Hornet PHEV shares the same platform as the new little Alfa Romeo PHEV.  They have four BEV platforms in the works. Late maybe but they aren't standing still. They will need that new battery plant.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/07/plug-in-jeeps-and-an-ev-ram-1500-pickup-are-part-of-stellantis-new-plan/

This will also be the last year for V8 production.  The new top engine is a 3.0L twin turbo inline 6. Currently available in the Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/jeep-ram-dodge-hurricane-inline-six-engine-deep-dive/

 

 

[herbie]

I'm not trying to pick on Stellantis, Dad was a Dodge guy since he sold his HenryJ when he married. I've owned mostly Chrysler stuff including rebadged Sunbeams and Mitsubishis.
All the Big3 were off to slow starts and misfires. GM tried to drop the Bolt and waved the EV flag over the damn new Hummer (stupid beyond belief) and Ford is still touting the Mustange and F150 Lightning. My kid has a 2nd hand Escape hybrid Ford did next to nothing to promote.

Just read a Motormouth bit saying 47% of PHEV owners don't plug their vehicles in every night and a surprising number don't plug them in at all. Seeing as I only know 2 PHEV owners who wouldn't pass up what they consider 'free mileage', I was surprised.

[Aristides]

4 minutes ago, herbie said:

I'm not trying to pick on Stellantis, Dad was a Dodge guy since he sold his HenryJ when he married. I've owned mostly Chrysler stuff including rebadged Sunbeams and Mitsubishis.
All the Big3 were off to slow starts and misfires. GM tried to drop the Bolt and waved the EV flag over the damn new Hummer (stupid beyond belief) and Ford is still touting the Mustange and F150 Lightning. My kid has a 2nd hand Escape hybrid Ford did next to nothing to promote.

Just read a Motormouth bit saying 47% of PHEV owners don't plug their vehicles in every night and a surprising number don't plug them in at all. Seeing as I only know 2 PHEV owners who wouldn't pass up what they consider 'free mileage', I was surprised.

I'm surprised as well. If you don't plug in your PHEV you might as well save a bunch of money and just buy a regular hybrid.

[herbie]

Daughter's got an Escape hybrid. Dealer offered her sister in law such an insulting trade in she flipped him the bird walked across the street and bought a Jeep. Gave her the thing.
Went dead last year, same dealership claimed it was hybrid battery, $10,000 job. Her F.I.L found out on YouTube there's a reset button.... $0 fix. But it's now having serious rust issues. Giving her my old Saturn Vue. I'll be down to 1 car a Wrangler with God awful gas mileage.

Edited October 9, 2023 by herbie

[Aristides]

On 10/8/2023 at 5:57 PM, herbie said:

Daughter's got an Escape hybrid. Dealer offered her sister in law such an insulting trade in she flipped him the bird walked across the street and bought a Jeep. Gave her the thing.
Went dead last year, same dealership claimed it was hybrid battery, $10,000 job. Her F.I.L found out on YouTube there's a reset button.... $0 fix. But it's now having serious rust issues. Giving her my old Saturn Vue. I'll be down to 1 car a Wrangler with God awful gas mileage.

Where is it? You rarely see rusty cars on the west coast.

Edited October 12, 2023 by Aristides

[herbie]

Move up to northern or central BC. Don't use as much salt, it's usually too cold to be useful, but she live in Prince George. I saw a snowplow there once.
Your car will rust just sitting there door sill deep in snow while you're in WalMart.

Both her Escape and the Saturn Vue are 2005s, the Ford's fared much much worse.

[herbie]

1975 Impala 3 week loaner, worst POS I ever saw, heavy, slow, crappy brakes, shitty wipers, no rear defrost, slapped together 5 minutes before quitting time on a Friday.
1979 Dodge Omni 024, take a VW rabbit with a flashier body that ructs clean through the hood in just over a year, carb it with something DeSoto left in the parts bin so it stall on a hard left, mess up the shift points...
1984 Kcar, another 3 month loaner. Slow, ugly as sin. Got you from A to B, but that's about it.1980
1980 Bronco, rust bucket, what falls off today? Fish the tailgate glass back in every week or so, weld the capt chairs back in
1980 F150 "fleet" models at work... so ya want a radio? here's dusty old AM radio in the factory corner... all of them bent the frame right behind the cab carrying equipment off road to radio sites....

Those were the days alright. No real gripes over the Civics, Corollas, or Dodge (Mistubishi) D50 i owned of that era.

[Aristides]

The late seventies and early eighties was a low point in the evolution of motor vehicles, that's for sure. Big ugly bumpers for the new crash regs and gutless engines. 

[Legato]

On 10/8/2023 at 4:42 PM, herbie said:

I'm not trying to pick on Stellantis, Dad was a Dodge guy since he sold his HenryJ when he married. I've owned mostly Chrysler stuff including rebadged Sunbeams and Mitsubishis.
All the Big3 were off to slow starts and misfires. GM tried to drop the Bolt and waved the EV flag over the damn new Hummer (stupid beyond belief) and Ford is still touting the Mustange and F150 Lightning. My kid has a 2nd hand Escape hybrid Ford did next to nothing to promote.

Just read a Motormouth bit saying 47% of PHEV owners don't plug their vehicles in every night and a surprising number don't plug them in at all. Seeing as I only know 2 PHEV owners who wouldn't pass up what they consider 'free mileage', I was surprised.

Yeah I know two couples with Toyota hybrids. None of them plug in at night. One guy said I didn't  know I could. His wife say's the engine is noisy Go figure.

[herbie]

Yet people will argue anything along the same line of reasonings:

because some people don't plug their hybrids in, hybrids are stupid and I won't buy one...

[Aristides]

On 10/14/2023 at 12:05 PM, herbie said:

Yet people will argue anything along the same line of reasonings:

because some people don't plug their hybrids in, hybrids are stupid and I won't buy one...

If I was buying a new car today I would definitely be looking at PHEV's. I just don't understand spending the extra money over a regular hybrid then not using it. 

[herbie]

Laziness... 90% of why they don't. They'll say they're not allowed or able to plug them in, but WTF have they done every winter with their ICE vehicle. It's effing Canada, even some malls have winter plugins in the lots in these parts.

My hillbilly buddy came back. He just has to recover a set of 'custom wheels' off his kid's old 84 Mustang. They're steel... about as custom as any $20 rims in a junkyard. And get this - it's because all he has to do is put new bigger rubber on those 14" rims and swap them for the 17" rims on his wife's 2021 Focus and it will "ride much better". Doesn't even think of $800 cost and if you can even get your choice of 14" tires these days or if the rotors won't be in the way.... I mean what would the engineers at Ford that made the Focus know anyway?

Do you know the hunting, time involved and expense I went through when I couldn't get 12" tires for my Kei truck years ago and had to adapt it for 13"?