Tag: Cars

Pathetic

Drive Time, Eco-Crap

I thought this nonsense was more the provenance of the Japanese and Koreans:

Even when they switch to battery power, Ferrari supercars would continue to make a booming sound if a patent filed by the Italian firm is used in its electric vehicles of the future.
The Maranello-based car maker’s plans have been exposed by design drawings filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, which were first spotted by CarBuzz.
They suggest the iconic brand wants to take the authentic sounds created by the powerful electric motors driving its plug-in models, then enhance them and pump the noise out via external speakers.

JHC, can anything be more pathetic?

Not Wanted Here

Drive Time

Stephen Moore has the truth of it:

The American auto companies, which are so often bailed out by U.S. taxpayers, have made a pronouncement that they intend, in the next few years, to stop making and assembling gas-engine cars. You know, the kind of cars that Henry Ford started rolling off the assembly line 100 years ago at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

Henceforth, virtually all American-made cars will be electric vehicles. Perhaps the corporate brass in Michigan’s auto executive offices thinks this makes them good global citizens. They are all in on the fight against global warming. They may be making a political bet that the federal government and more states are going to go the way of California and eventually mandate that every car produced must be battery-operated. But there is also a good deal of virtue-signaling going on here by the folks at Ford and General Motors.

It’s a free country, and if they want to start rolling millions of EVs off the assembly lines, so be it.

But it’s one thing to make cars that appeal to members of the Sierra Club and quite another to produce automobiles that the typical buyer wants. And guess what? So far, most people have turned a decisive thumbs-down on EVs. (Incidentally, I’m personally agnostic on electric vehicles. I’ve driven Teslas, and they are wonderful smooth-driving vehicles. But they have problems, too, such as getting stranded with no juice in the middle of nowhere.)

So far, only about 6% of new cars sold are electric vehicles. And polls show that only about half of Americans prefer an EV over a traditional car. Much larger majorities oppose the government telling us what kind of car we can buy. 

No kidding.  And his conclusion is right on:

You would think that U.S. automakers would understand a basic red, white and blue reality, which is that Americans have a special and long-standing love affair with their cars. They aren’t going to trade in their Mustangs, Camaros, Cadillacs and trucks for an EV. For many of us, this would be akin to taking away our firstborn.
…
Sorry, this is 2023, not 1923, when Henry Ford said you could have a Model T in any color you wanted, as long as it was black.

Yeah, fuck Detroit and their “good global citizens” bullshit.  They need to start being good American citizens first, because without American car buyers, they’d be smaller than Dacia.  The last time GM, for example, played footsie with the Euros, the result was the Opel Blitz, which comprised almost all Hitler’s trucks as he pillaged Europe and Russia.

This latest foolishness is on a par — except that it could doom their whole company.

Hey… they’re a private company, sort of, so they can make any decisions they want. But:

Incidentally, as this “woke” green energy fad fades into the sunset, as it almost assuredly will, and the American auto companies see their sales crash, they’d better not come begging for yet another taxpayer bailout.

Yup.  Not one red fucking cent.

Looks like I’ll have to drive my Tiguan — or a second-hand Toyota equivalent — for the rest of my life.  That’s not the worst fate that could befall me.

Different Standard

Drive Time

You know how you will sometimes run across a woman who you know will be bad for you, will empty your wallet, will cause you to do bad things (and not just to her), will cause you to get into trouble, but at the end of the day, you just can’t help yourself?

Here’s the automotive equivalent, the 1952 Alfa Romeo 1900 M (“Matta”):

Didn’t know Alfa made a jeep-type utility back in the early 1950s?  Nor did I.  But let’s get back to the standards set in first paragraph of this post, because this little thing even warns you by its nickname that it’s going to be trouble:

Is it reliable? — doesn’t Matta
Does it have 4-wheel drive? — doesn’t Matta
What’s its gas consumption? — doesn’t Matta
Is it an uncomfortable ride? — doesn’t Matta
Is it expensive? — doesn’t Matta

Do I want one?  Hell yes.

Because it’s an Alfa.

And to make things even worse, here’s an earlier one, the 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport:

I want this one even more than the Matta… wait, no I don’t / yes I do aaaaaarrrrrrghhh I want both, because they color-match.

I have as much resistance to Alfas as I have to the type of girl in the opening paragraph.

3 Unnecessary Driving Skills

3 Inexplicable Things, Drive Time

…in these here modern times:

  • Driving a manual transmission.  I’m not saying that the near-disappearance of the stick shift is a good thing — anything but — but it seems that most automobile owners today are quite comfortable with being steerers rather than drivers.

  • Parallel parking.  Other than in city streets, almost all parking spots are adjacent and not parallel.  I don’t remember in which state this happened (Pennsyvania?), but a woman sued the state’s driver’s code which mandated parallel parking proficiency, saying (quite rightly) that her inability to parallel park was a burden on nobody but herself, and any inconvenience suffered because she would have to drive around looking for non-parallel parking would be hers alone.  The judge agreed, and the rule was set aside.  I don’t know whether that’s spread to other states.

  • Reversing ability.  It seems that almost every car these days comes equipped with some kind of rearview camera and a warning system which beeps when you’re about to reverse into something.  I have to say that this modern geegaw is one that I heartily approve of, especially for Old Pharttes like myself for whom turning around in the seat is no longer the simple task that it once was.  (My 2013 VW Tiguan doesn’t have such a thing, and I wish it did.)

Feel free to add your ideas of other unnecessary driving skills, in Comments.

 

Remote Silliness

Crime, Drive Time, Technology, Two-Minute Hate

It’s a well-known fact that if a criminal scrote wants to get into your car, he will.  But why make it easier for him?

Got a car with keyless technology? It’s twice as likely to be stolen: Insurer reveals changing face of motor theft as brazen criminals shift tactics.

This is one modern geegaw I’ve never understood the need for, let alone wanted in my car.  What is so difficult about inserting a key into the ignition and turning it, that you have to make it “wireless”?

Of course, there’s this:

  • Price of electronic starter fob when added to your car’s selling price:  > $300
  • Price of metal key:  ~$1.

Fuck ’em.  If I ever get a new car (highly unlikely), the first thing I’ll have done is get the fob disabled.  And if it can’t be disabled and is the only way to start the car, I’ll get another car with a fucking metal key.

This has nothing to do with a resistance to change;  it’s resistance to pointless, expensive and unnecessary change.

Next:  electronic handbrakes.