Which Ride?

[ea6bflyr]

I think Chinese cars are already in America. On a recent work trip, my rental car from Hertz was a Buick Envision. It was a comfortable ride with all the bells and whistles. Full glass cockpit. I gave a co-worker a ride to lunch and he was wondering where it was manufactured. He looked at the VIN and low and behold, the VIN started with an L (outside US), not a number (US). L == China. WTAF? Buick is selling Chinese cars with US labels?

 

[Griz882]

I think Chinese cars are already in America. On a recent work trip, my rental car from Hertz was a Buick Envision. It was a comfortable ride with all the bells and whistles. Full glass cockpit. I gave a co-worker a ride to lunch and he was wondering where it was manufactured. He looked at the VIN and low and behold, the VIN started with an L (outside US), not a number (US). L == China. WTAF? Buick is selling Chinese cars with US labels?

Fascinating, I did a little research and lo…Buick’s are made in China and are very popular there. Interesting to know they are shipped to the U.S.

 

[ChuckMK23]

For those willing to nerd out, video over view of the Tesla foundational model for Full Self Driving.

The future is here.

 

[Randy Daytona]

For those willing to nerd out, video over view of the Tesla foundational model for Full Self Driving.

The future is here.

Have the lawyers figured out who to sue when a self driving car crashes? Until that happens, I don’t see self driving progressing too far.

Also in the news:

Jeep Wrangler 4xe Owners Still Waiting for Answers a Week after an Update Bricked Their Cars

Over-the-air software updates can be handy. They can also be a nightmare.

www.thedrive.com

Over the weekend Jeep pushed an over the air update to wrangler 4xe models that had a major bug in it,” … “Those who got the update had power terrain issues where their cars wouldn’t start or would lose all power mid drive

 

[MIDNJAC]

Would encourage all of you to at least test drive a Tesla - if nothing else just for fun. The process to test drive is about as frictionless as it gets.

That said, the true innovation on EV is from China and I cannot wait until BYD, Geely, NIO, XPeng, etc enter the US market - which I believe will happen sooner than later. All of these companies have engineering and manufacturing talent trained by Apple over the last 10-15 years. This is the way forward. Chinese EVs hitting the US market will be a true quality of life bump for the average US consumer.

I have driven my brother's Tesla. It is fun in a go-kart feel kind of sense. They are fast. I can't argue with that at all. And any EV will be faster than any other economically comparable ICE car. But I just don't think I could ever park it, walk away, turn back around, and think "man that car is sick". Nor is the driving experience particularly involved. You have the space ship steering wheel with zero feedback. It is a car built for people who don't want to actually have to drive. No offense to you Chuck, or any others here. I'm sure there are plenty of owners who are much less detached from driving than that. And on the upside, I think we have at least moved past the point of them being some weird status symbol, since they are now pretty affordable. I won't say they're all bad, they're just not my taste personally.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I think Chinese cars are already in America. On a recent work trip, my rental car from Hertz was a Buick Envision. It was a comfortable ride with all the bells and whistles. Full glass cockpit. I gave a co-worker a ride to lunch and he was wondering where it was manufactured. He looked at the VIN and low and behold, the VIN started with an L (outside US), not a number (US). L == China. WTAF? Buick is selling Chinese cars with US labels?

Proper VINs start with W......

 

[sevenhelmet]

Mercedes GT 63 Pro!




Not my ride, but it was an absolute blast getting to open her up at Road Atlanta during the AMG Experience’s Performance course. A couple of friends and I came out this week to drive.

It was a great day. Already thinking about the Advanced course!

 

[taxi1]

But I just don't think I could ever park it, walk away, turn back around, and think "man that car is sick".

Someone will eventually hack a Tesla by installing a V8 hooked to a generator.