Cybertruck Reveal

[stmitch]

How many original priuses do you see running around anymore? None cause they cost to much to fix now...

They sold 16k 1st gen Priuses annually for 4 model years. You probably don't see many because there weren't very many to begin with, and they're now pushing 20 years old. Many BMW's from that era had rod bearing issues that can financially total the cars too, so the issue is any expensive repair on a vehicle that's not worth very much. Expensive repairs that don't make financial sense on old vehicles are not hybrid or EV specific. Hail damage can do the same thing to an otherwise perfect vehicle with high miles or a few years under the belt. A timing chain failure on a 4.0 SOHC, or cam synchro on a 3.0 would do the same thing to a Ranger.

If you look at most of the taxis in major cities, they're Priuses or Escape hybrids, etc and they wrack up tons of miles in brutal use. The batteries and electrical hardware that moves the vehicle aren't really what people need to worry about long term. That stuff is simple, reliable, and relatively easy to repair or replace. Stuff like software becoming obsolete and failures of poorly designed systems that can lead to immobilized vehicles (like Tesla's MCU failure) should be more of a concern for long term ownership. Seems like mature OEMs have more rigorous design and testing methods than the less traditional Tesla style, so maybe that concern is a bit overblown as long as you avoid a Tesla?

 

[ExploreNW]

PetroleumJunkie412 is right. Anything will kill you dead if you let it. If I had to have something new I probably wouldn't go for det cord to stop the thing though I'd rig a big fat red button in the cab to a solenoid on the fuel line and a relay on the ignition wiring too. Can't be accelerating if your injectors have no ground or gas... Or (finally) get my CCL and buy a Colt .44 or a Desert Eagle. Can't be accelerating if you're pumping rounds into the tranny...

OBD2 is nice. Did not tell me when my F250's PCM died though. And yes I'm still bitching about that, 5 degF, high winds, sideways snow, three hours from home and three hours from where I was going was NOT a good time!

I'm the target generation for the smart car bandwagon. I live in the woods, not in Silicone Valley where people seem to need "help" behind the wheel. Just give me a cheap truck that doesn't yell at me 24/7 or kill the crap out of me when I hit a deer. I'm not drunk behind the wheel and I sure as hell don't need my car to backseat drive. I even shut the voice on my GPS off because it gets on my nerves worse than political debates. I sure don't want to pay for all these features I'll never use either.

You guys ever feel like you're doing worse in the snow with traction control enabled?

Off topic but speaking of frkn robots ruining things, went to visit my parents' new house and they got a shiny new smart washer. 900 bucks a little over a year ago. Fast-forward to mid November, I come out here before the holidays and of course it went nuclear. Heard machinegun fire downstairs and everything. Next load, went downstairs, 40+ gallons of water all over the floor. You can pour a cup of water in it and it runs right out the bottom of the thing. Poor SOB lasted two months after the warranty expired, barely left the prius factory.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

They sold 16k 1st gen Priuses annually for 4 model years. You probably don't see many because there weren't very many to begin with, and they're now pushing 20 years old. Many BMW's from that era had rod bearing issues that can financially total the cars too, so the issue is any expensive repair on a vehicle that's not worth very much. Expensive repairs that don't make financial sense on old vehicles are not hybrid or EV specific. Hail damage can do the same thing to an otherwise perfect vehicle with high miles or a few years under the belt. A timing chain failure on a 4.0 SOHC, or cam synchro on a 3.0 would do the same thing to a Ranger.

If you look at most of the taxis in major cities, they're Priuses or Escape hybrids, etc and they wrack up tons of miles in brutal use. The batteries and electrical hardware that moves the vehicle aren't really what people need to worry about long term. That stuff is simple, reliable, and relatively easy to repair or replace. Stuff like software becoming obsolete and failures of poorly designed systems that can lead to immobilized vehicles (like Tesla's MCU failure) should be more of a concern for long term ownership. Seems like mature OEMs have more rigorous design and testing methods than the less traditional Tesla style, so maybe that concern is a bit overblown as long as you avoid a Tesla?

I dump more money into old vehicles then they are worth all the time.

Alot of people do.

Its the fact that many of the vehicles above you described (besides the rangers) arnt worth saving.

Bottom line...
Teslas are junk, EVs are nothing but a fad, and computers control way to many things.

 

[cbxer55]

Typically, our winters here are usually ice storms. I used to work at a place 22 miles from me, and had to be there no matter the weather. Driven both ways with the roads totally iced over in the old 98 Ranger. Biggest fear was the other drivers.

All five of my vehicles are money pits. But, for the most part, since the 2007 Mustang is the newest addition, it will be the biggest money pit for the near future. The others (see signature line below) are pretty much where I want them.

 

[stmitch]

I dump more money into old vehicles then they are worth all the time.

Alot of people do.

Its the fact that many of the vehicles above you described (besides the rangers) arnt worth saving.

Bottom line...
Teslas are junk, EVs are nothing but a fad, and computers control way to many things.

Why wouldn't they be worth saving? It's a tool that can be rebuilt like pretty much any other tool. The original cost (both financial and environmental) has already been paid at that point, so spending money to keep using it could be considered a better move than trashing/replacing it. Same is probably true for your old truck that you love. Keeping that thing going is probably better, both for you financially and the environment, than buying a new vehicle would be. But that doesn't mean that Detroit should keep building 1970s era vehicles with 1970s powertrain tech, safety tech, and emissions tech. There's nothing making you buy the new things, but that doesn't mean that anybody can just keep making the same old things forever. The only constant in life is change. You can't stop progress. You don't have to like it, and you don't have to change yourself, but you can't stop the world around you from changing, and it doesn't make you less of a man to appreciate some of those changes and how they might've improved your world even without you participating. We're all better off with lower tailpipe emissions. This is a fact. We're all better off with things like airbags. Something like mandatory backup cameras get lots of old timers on the internet riled up, but that's totally worth it when it saves several kids' lives per year.

EVs aren't going anywhere. They're cheaper to build, own and maintain. And with governments across the globe tightening emissions restrictions, EVs are the solution that makes the most sense for manufacturers moving forward. Fuel injection and computer controlled ignition weren't fads, they're examples of developing new tech to make an existing product better so that it could be used longer. It extended the usable time frame for ICEs. Electric power is just another advancement that is going to allow people to use their vehicles longer than they otherwise would've been allowed. That doesn't mean that EVs will ever be right for everybody all the time, or that they'll make up 100% of the vehicles on the road. But they're getting better all the time, and they're solving problems on a large scale that make life better for all of us, even if we don't own EVs.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

A little comedy relief;

Tesla Cyber Truck Doorstop (UPDATED) by The_Vaping_Demon

To be honest this is mainly a joke. It may not even work as a doorstop (Now confirmed it does) but hey you can see the resemblance right :P VERSION 2 Uploaded! (Fixed wheel issue) VERSION 2.1 Uploaded (Added broken glass)

www.thingiverse.com

 

[8thTon]

Keep in mind that EVs are not new technology at all, they are as old as the automobile in general.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Keep in mind that EVs are not new technology at all, they are as old as the automobile in general.

Yes. And time and time again they have failed to make it from the shadows.

This time will be no different.

Only reason any real automaker is investing anything in EV tech is to keep their CAFE standards legal once another obamanite gets in office.

 

[stmitch]

Yes. And time and time again they have failed to make it from the shadows.

This time will be no different.

Only reason any real automaker is investing anything in EV tech is to keep their CAFE standards legal once another obamanite gets in office.

LOL that you think the US market is leading what the automakers do. There were roughly 17 million new vehicles sold in the US in 2018. There were 28 million new vehicles sold in China in 2018. China is the largest auto market in the world by far and they're heavily promoting EVs as they race to gain energy independence. Many European cities tax ICEs more heavily after their approach to emissions gave diesels an unfair advantage and lead to poor air quality. London and Paris are proposing no ICEs at all in a few years, and currently limits them to specific days of the week to keep pollution manageable. Norway gives enough tax incentives for EVs that they make up nearly 1/3 of the vehicles on the road there, and that number goes up every day. GM and VW have already stated that they won't develop any more ICE platforms after the ones currently being designed are put into production. They each sell about 10 million new vehicles annually.

You're not putting this genie back in the bottle. There's too much money and too many companies and governments moving in the same direction.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

LOL that you think the US market is leading what the automakers do. There were roughly 17 million new vehicles sold in the US in 2018. There were 28 million new vehicles sold in China in 2018. China is the largest auto market in the world by far and they're heavily promoting EVs as they race to gain energy independence. Many European cities tax ICEs more heavily after their approach to emissions gave diesels an unfair advantage and lead to poor air quality. London and Paris are proposing no ICEs at all in a few years, and currently limits them to specific days of the week to keep pollution manageable. Norway gives enough tax incentives for EVs that they make up nearly 1/3 of the vehicles on the road there, and that number goes up every day. GM and VW have already stated that they won't develop any more ICE platforms after the ones currently being designed are put into production.

You're not putting this genie back in the bottle. There's too much money and too many companies and governments moving in the same direction.

I dont really give a damn what happens outside the US...

All we can do is sit back and watch. But ill guradamntee that the majority of vehicles outside commi countries will remain IC for a very, very, very long time,

 

[Dirtman]

There was an EV crawling around mars for 15 years without any maintenance... Why does the stuff on earth suck so hard?

I can't even get a truck battery to last more than 3 years.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

There was an EV crawling around mars for 15 years without any maintenance... Why does the stuff on earth suck so hard?

I can't even get a truck battery to last more than 3 years.

Because nasa knows what their doing better then elon.

Despite what elon happens to think.

 

[Dirtman]

Plus I think NASA drug tests...

 

[8thTon]

LOL that you think the US market is leading what the automakers do. There were roughly 17 million new vehicles sold in the US in 2018. There were 28 million new vehicles sold in China in 2018. China is the largest auto market in the world by far and they're heavily promoting EVs as they race to gain energy independence. Many European cities tax ICEs more heavily after their approach to emissions gave diesels an unfair advantage and lead to poor air quality. London and Paris are proposing no ICEs at all in a few years, and currently limits them to specific days of the week to keep pollution manageable. Norway gives enough tax incentives for EVs that they make up nearly 1/3 of the vehicles on the road there, and that number goes up every day. GM and VW have already stated that they won't develop any more ICE platforms after the ones currently being designed are put into production. They each sell about 10 million new vehicles annually.

You're not putting this genie back in the bottle. There's too much money and too many companies and governments moving in the same direction.

They know that the net energy in remaining fossil fuels is too low to support the automotive transportation system for much longer, so they are hoping the EV will keep it going a bit longer. It will look like it's working for a little while.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

They know that the net energy in remaining fossil fuels is too low to support the automotive transportation system for much longer, so they are hoping the EV will keep it going a bit longer. It will look like it's working for a little while.

Then why is crude prices lower then they have been in years?