The Car Thread ... !

[JohnR]

Michigan. But close. Can give any more information about your model Y in terms of what you dislike, or anything you would change? is there anything specific that you likes more over the other with your Model Y versus your previous Model 3?

what I dislike or change? Power frunk..I wish that it would open/close by a push of the button. Yeah, you can do it aftermarket, but from manufacturer is better. Honestly, I can't think of anything else. I asked my wife and she said that she wishes that it would come with Enhanced Autopilot. (this is a previously offered upgrade that allows Navigate On Autopilot, summon and auto-park. Rumor is that it's coming back as an upgrade option). Watching videos of the Plaid S with the yoke and no stalks, I wish I could do that to my Y.


The 3 was a rear wheel drive model SR+ with 220 miles of range. The Y is a dual motor with 325 miles of range. I like the dual motor because of better traction. The longer range is definitely a plus, we can go further obviously. The Y is easier to get in/out and has more space..the 3 has a rear window sill that gets in the way with larger objects that you put in the car. It sits up a little higher.

 

[44267547]

what I dislike or change? Power frunk..I wish that it would open/close by a push of the button. Yeah, you can do it aftermarket, but from manufacturer is better. Honestly, I can't think of anything else. I asked my wife and she said that she wishes that it would come with Enhanced Autopilot. (this is a previously offered upgrade that allows Navigate On Autopilot, summon and auto-park. Rumor is that it's coming back as an upgrade option). Watching videos of the Plaid S with the yoke and no stalks, I wish I could do that to my Y.


The 3 was a rear wheel drive model SR+ with 220 miles of range. The Y is a dual motor with 325 miles of range. I like the dual motor because of better traction. The longer range is definitely a plus, we can go further obviously. The Y is easier to get in/out and has more space..the 3 has a rear window sill that gets in the way with larger objects that you put in the car. It sits up a little higher.

I think that upgrade option you’re mentioning, is like a $10,000 package add-on that includes summon, auto park, etc. At least for the Model 3, you can add that on for $10k.

I listed my EV options I’m looking at by the end of this year or into 2022 in this thread, both of which include the Cyber truck or Tesla Model 3:

Who has or is planning to get an electric car?

Same. This Saturday a buddy let me do a quick spin in his. Despite being so radically different, it was sooooooo intuitive to use. Drove it less than 5 min, it was otherworldly experience.

forums.macrumors.com

My neighbor has a 15’ Model S P85D, with just over 40,000 miles, and he’s selling his for a Plaid. I asked him would he stay in the Tesla ecosystem or move onto a different EV, and the the only notedissue he had with his was the center display did fail on him, but fortunately he was under warranty for some type of recall for a part, so it was covered, however he did have to take it to a repair depot. He has had no complaints, other than just replacing tires, and this is somebody that drives his Tesla every single day for work.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I think it’s all over Europe. I’d never consider a US car based on build quality and materials used to be honest. Just not my thing.

Same here. American brands like Cadillac, Dodge, Chrysler, and Chevrolet have all failed in Europe due to poor build quality, performance and fuel economy. Admittedly these cars were often designed for the European market but still. European designed and manufactured Fords have been a huge success though along with American owned Vauxhall/Opel cars. There’s a huge difference in taste between the two continents and I dare say a lot of European brands sell in fewer numbers in the States too.

 

[bunnspecial]

Same here. American brands like Cadillac, Dodge, Chrysler, and Chevrolet have all failed in Europe due to poor build quality, performance and fuel economy. Admittedly these cars were often designed for the European market but still. European designed and manufactured Fords have been a huge success though along with American owned Vauxhall/Opel cars. There’s a huge difference in taste between the two continents and I dare say a lot of European brands sell in fewer numbers in the States too.

My mom had an Opel Omega-badged and sold in the US as a Cadillac Catera.

She bought it when it was 3 years old or so(hers was a 98, and she bought it in about 2001) and kept it probably 3-4 years.

She still had it when I was learning to drive, and I LOVED driving it even though I didn't very much. The first time I drove it, it hit me as very tight and nimble, and I honestly loved it.

Still, though, that was a car with not a great reputation here. Hers was reliable aside from the Dexcool nightmare, which GM put right. Still, though, they had horrible reputations for reliability and were also expensive to fix. In retrospect, I think the issue was that they didn't handle deferring maintenance in the way a lot of American drivers do. I don't know when I last saw a Catera on the roads. That's surprising as there were quite a few of them around at one time, and other cars of that age are still plentiful around here.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My mom had an Opel Omega-badged and sold in the US as a Cadillac Catera.

She bought it when it was 3 years old or so(hers was a 98, and she bought it in about 2001) and kept it probably 3-4 years.

She still had it when I was learning to drive, and I LOVED driving it even though I didn't very much. The first time I drove it, it hit me as very tight and nimble, and I honestly loved it.

Still, though, that was a car with not a great reputation here. Hers was reliable aside from the Dexcool nightmare, which GM put right. Still, though, they had horrible reputations for reliability and were also expensive to fix. In retrospect, I think the issue was that they didn't handle deferring maintenance in the way a lot of American drivers do. I don't know when I last saw a Catera on the roads. That's surprising as there were quite a few of them around at one time, and other cars of that age are still plentiful around here.

It’s funny how certain old cars you still see, whereas others don’t hang around.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

My mom had an Opel Omega-badged and sold in the US as a Cadillac Catera.

She bought it when it was 3 years old or so(hers was a 98, and she bought it in about 2001) and kept it probably 3-4 years.

She still had it when I was learning to drive, and I LOVED driving it even though I didn't very much. The first time I drove it, it hit me as very tight and nimble, and I honestly loved it.

Still, though, that was a car with not a great reputation here. Hers was reliable aside from the Dexcool nightmare, which GM put right. Still, though, they had horrible reputations for reliability and were also expensive to fix. In retrospect, I think the issue was that they didn't handle deferring maintenance in the way a lot of American drivers do. I don't know when I last saw a Catera on the roads. That's surprising as there were quite a few of them around at one time, and other cars of that age are still plentiful around here.

I wouldn’t buy a Vauxhall. They are extremely popular in Europe because they are affordable but every time I’ve had one as a hire car, they’ve been awful to drive and very bland. The Omega was very popular in the UK in the 90’s with taxi drivers and the police.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I wouldn’t buy a Vauxhall. They are extremely popular in Europe because they are affordable but every time I’ve had one as a hire car, they’ve been awful to drive and very bland. The Omega was very popular in the UK in the 90’s with taxi drivers and the police.

Been in the back of a few have we?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Been in the back of a few have we?

One or two but not for many years now lol

 

[Apple fanboy]

One or two but not for many years now lol

Same!

 

[JohnR]

I think that upgrade option you’re mentioning, is like a $10,000 package add-on that includes summon, auto park, etc. At least for the Model 3, you can add that on for $10k.

I listed my EV options I’m looking at by the end of this year or into 2022 in this thread, both of which include the Cyber truck or Tesla Model 3

It's called Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) that was available when the 3 first came out, went away, came back for 2 weeks last year, and now only Europe can get it. It is a $4000 upgrade.
FSD is the $10,000 upgrade and the main difference between FSD and EAP is that FSD does city streets (or at least on beta) Have you seen the latest version? It uses cameras instead of radar.

I'll check out that thread, thanks!

 

[LordVic]

OK! finances arranged. now to seriously start looking for that new car! Budget is defined. Want to find a car with the limit of $60,000 CAD.

while not going to get some super high end car or anything, it's the most I've ever had available for a car. my current car is already the most expensive car I've owned (2012 Camry) so for the first time in my life I can truly splurge on something really nice.

 

[Apple fanboy]

OK! finances arranged. now to seriously start looking for that new car! Budget is defined. Want to find a car with the limit of $60,000 CAD.

while not going to get some super high end car or anything, it's the most I've ever had available for a car. my current car is already the most expensive car I've owned (2012 Camry) so for the first time in my life I can truly splurge on something really nice.

Enjoy. Can’t go wrong with European!

 

[LordVic]

Enjoy. Can’t go wrong with European!

Except maintenance costs long term. the money I have for the car is a one time thing, so long term costs of maintenance are a deal.

I was looking briefly at a Mercedez, and talked to the owner. And I can't afford $600 oil changes, and $5000 lightbulb changes.

while I have a couple EU cars on my list, this does hurt them. Where Japanese/Korean cars are also ridiculously cheap to repair/maintain in comparison.




maybe i'm overthinking it

 

[Apple fanboy]

Except maintenance costs long term. the money I have for the car is a one time thing, so long term costs of maintenance are a deal.

I was looking briefly at a Mercedez, and talked to the owner. And I can't afford $600 oil changes, and $5000 lightbulb changes.

while I have a couple EU cars on my list, this does hurt them. Where Japanese/Korean cars are also ridiculously cheap to repair/maintain in comparison.




maybe i'm overthinking it

$5000 lightbulb changes? Aren’t they all LED now?

 

[LordVic]

$5000 lightbulb changes? Aren’t they all LED now?

the problem is a lot of these luxury brands are making their headlight systems a single self contained unit. So it's not just replacing the bulb now, it's replacing the entire electrical component around it.

even without it. Replacing a Headlight bulb for example in a Mercedes E350 is a over $250.

A BMW single headlight assembly is upwards of $1500

When you compare it to the simpler headlight packages and designs in Japanese/Korean, or even North American, it's a problem. The luxury companies are intentionally designing these headlight packages to not easily be repairable by us. Especially when a LED bulb should cost only a few dozen dollars max.

 

[Nütztjanix]

There is no such thing as a LED bulb in modern headlights.
It‘s a precisely arranged LED matrix.

 

[LordVic]

There is no such thing as a LED bulb in modern headlights.
It‘s a precisely arranged LED matrix.

Yes. But I’m old and “bulb” is a general term

 

[44267547]

There is no such thing as a LED bulb in modern headlights.
It‘s a precisely arranged LED matrix.

I gotta say, in terms of LED lighting, I can’t believe how bright some of these how manufactures headlights are. More specifically, the Prius Prime, which uses a quad layer projection headlamp assembly, and those headlights are just ridiculously bright. Pretty impressive to see how small these LED headlamps are and how much light they can actually project with such a wide angle.

 

[duffman9000]

OK! finances arranged. now to seriously start looking for that new car! Budget is defined. Want to find a car with the limit of $60,000 CAD.

while not going to get some super high end car or anything, it's the most I've ever had available for a car. my current car is already the most expensive car I've owned (2012 Camry) so for the first time in my life I can truly splurge on something really nice.

We're looking for a new car this year. It will be either a Ioniq 5 or Mach-E GT. Maybe a little out of your price range, but it's close.

 

[Nütztjanix]

Yes. But I’m old and “bulb” is a general term

Point was, there is no component that could be easily replaced by a layman or even your average garage. These are highly sophisticated systems that often require computer calibration after replacement.

 

[SactoGuy18]

That's the problem with these new LED-based headlamp systems--they are often ungodly expensive to replace. I could replace the 9012 (HiR2) halogen bulbs on my 2016 Scion iM with an LED bulb equivalent with the same light element location as the original halogen bulb filament location for around $100 for the really good models.

 

[Bug-Creator]

Sure you could, but.....

A modern LED headlamp does more than just provide a single point of light, pretty much all are adaptive to some point (by speed, steering or oncoming traffic) so your drop in LED won't by anyway as bright as a proper LED, or if it does the oncoming traffic will just love you.

I do see all this a bit different, just be honest of what the cost of ownership will be before buying a "fancy" car.
I do drive a 2015 Mini (3 cylinder so nothing to fancy) and in the past 6.5 years I spend like 1500€ on maintenance so that seems cheap, but....

I did have the oil-changes/inspection/mandatory safety checks included for 5 years (which was most of the 1500€) and the wear&tear items like battery or tires are still original.

I do calculate to spend 1000€/year on maintenance and thats just it. On my previous 2001 Clio I ran with a 750€ budget and it did work out.

If you have an issue with some car repair costing 500€ (or more) "out of the blue" you really should curb your expectations, or buy plenty tools and a really old "100% mechanic" car. If your time has no value for you, you might fair better.

 

[SteveManila1960]

Where I am working right now I have bumped into my favorite car of all time that I could actually afford to buy. In the underground car park is a beautiful E31 8 series BMW. I had one back in the year 2000 a 'Hell Red' 850i with the V12. This one is the V8 840Ci but still so beautiful. However, it made me feel my age the car is 24 years old!

Yes given the money I would have an Aston Martin but for achievable goals the E31 I could afford and did. There was one Sunday morning at 5am when I took it on the M11 motorway between Bishops Stortford and Harlow and took it to the limit at 155mph. Rock stable a proper super car.

Tried the same a few years earlier with an E36 325i remapped, performance exhaust and intake. Stock it should have been good for 143mph maybe more after the modifications. I hit 120mph and decided any further and I would die. The front end went so light I had virtually no steering. Difference between a fast saloon and a true super car.

Allegedly officer.

 

[HDFan]

$5000 lightbulb changes? Aren’t they all LED now?

A BMW single headlight assembly is upwards of $1500

Can't remember how much my failing Audi S4 bulb cost, somewhere in the $200-$500 range.

Talking to the Audi service director I guess that is actually cheap. Some Porche models require the front bumper removed (to prevent theft) and so the cost is supposidly >$1k.

I just make sure I got an extended warranty, which I just renewed, which helps a lot when a wheel bearing replacement is $1K.

 

[44267547]

Talking to the Audi service director I guess that is actually cheap. Some Porche models require the front bumper removed (to prevent theft) and so the cost is supposidly >$1k.

Actually, quite a few make/models of vehicles have to have the front bumper removed in order to replace the headlight. I had a Mustang GT that you could not replace the headlight without removing the front bumper, some newer Gen Honda Civic‘s you have to remove the front bumper as well. To me, it’s a complete inconvenience that you can’t replace the headlight bulb yourself anymore, now when you have to go to a dealership in some cases just to replace headlight because you can’t remove the bumper. Kind of ridiculous, but I’m not a design engineer either why the bumper has to be removed.