Posted on 09/16/2019 7:28:11 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
I guess the beauty of hybrid cars, is that it can be used for either efficiency or, performance, separately or simultaneously. Also, handling, such as toque vectoring, braking,etc. Hybrids are kind of a win-win situation.
Except the ones that are 4 wheel drive:
Lamborghini Aventador
Ferrari FF
Bugatti Veyron
Bugatti Chiron
Audi R8
Porsche 911 Targa 4
Nissan GT-R
etc.
But that won't stop them from passing laws banning IC engines. They are progressives. As such, they are immune from logical thinking.
Good points.
As a life long all types of mechanic type mechanic, I am simply amazed by this day.
I am only 56.
We have people here at free republic who are almost double that.
They have seen things.
These shows are unnecessary.
Years ago we would visit McCormick Place in Chicago each winter to check out the new iron.
Now when you go, there is a good chance your car will be stolen from the parking garage, and really need a new car.
The last time anyone I knew went was ten(?) years back and their car disappeared!
And Victor the wrestling bear was bounced long before that.
Without a chance to watch one of your pals wrestle the bear; why bother?
I may be changing the order from the Coupe / Targa to the Hardtop Convertible.
Waiting for the October official pricing announcement for the Hardtop Convertible before finalizing my order. Can’t go over the Wifey allowable budget.
It will be my official retirement Car. So far anyway. LOL
For the vast majority of people a car IS an appliance, a tool. What gets us from point A to point B most economically and safest within our budget is what we buy. Cars with 4/6 cylinder engines and FWD are it. Added bonus is increased traction because the major weight is over the drive axle.
As for NASCAR, their races are run with 8 cylinder engines at an average speed of 160+ mph. All top tier cars in NASCAR are capable of going 230 mph.
At 160 mph a different set of dynamics comes into play. Aerodynamics dictate that the air flow over the body will help the rear wheels stick to the pavement better at such speeds. Ceramic brakes help the braking as the cars decelerate.
Plus RWD is easier to repair/replace when the driver blows an engine or the car has a mechanical problem.
The relationship between auto makers and NASCAR is so incestuous that NASCAR will be RWD as long as RWD cars are mass produced for the public.
If Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, Toyota, etc announced the end of RWD car production NASCAR would switch to FWD so fast it would make your head spin.
Since most people drive considerably slower than 160 mph and enjoy the stability of FWD as well as the sharper turning afforded by the transverse engine the majority of cars will be FWD.
I thought this was going to be about book publishing.
None of NASCAR’s namesake cars are RWD, AFAIK, and none offer the street-obsolete 4-speed manual, or a V8.
I don’t follow NASCAR so I don’t know.
The last race I watched was with my dad and Bill Elliot was tearing up the track. Been a while.
Simply, the FWD efficiency is right for the average consumer who travels between 25 and 75 mph.
Constant speeds in excess of 150 mph plus ease of repair/replacement make RWD right for the racing cars.
Most auto manufacturers offer larger RWD cars in their line-up.
Recalling your battery price trend...
Renewable Energy Will Only Be Possible With Massive Increases in the Supply of Critical Minerals
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3779316/posts
And that is not the half of it.
We have been reeled in by master fishermen.
Chum the water, cheap labor; will more than cover transportation costs.
Bait the hook with big flashy bucks $$$; look at the money Jack Ma made with Alibaba $$$, you can not count that high!
Nibbling, so play them slow for the big one; so cheap, no need for local US supplies.
Gently set the hook so they won’t notice; load them with our best engineers and workers, copy everything.
Now set the hook hard, no escapes; new rules for repatriation of profits from China.
Careful with the gaff, lots left on this one; the workers are striking for higher wages.
Ready to land the beauty; Tesla Gigafactory closes for lack of local sales, too bad, so sad.
What a delightful fish dinner; and the price of fish has just skyrocketed!
Nothing wrong trading with China, a fat Chinaman is less dangerous than one with nothing left to lose.
A coworker did QC in China for Dell, he said they would cut any possible corner but with tight specs and closely watched did very nice work.
A friend says, cut out the middle man, buy it straight from China, a good plan.
About a third of the stuff I buy is junk and was probably taken from the rework bin.
I’ve had better luck with stuff made for local consumption with Chinese instructions, Chinglish descriptions, software drivers all Chinese all the time…
That is true, especially with items like li-ion batteries. I used to get most of them through a place called Deal Xtreme. There were other Chinese outlets one could purchase direct from, but DX.com had adopted the Amazon user rating and review system even before most Americans knew much about Amazon. So your chance of receiving a bad product were greatly reduced. It took close to a month for an order to arrive, but items cost much less than what you would typically find on eBay and this was before Amazon was selling much of anything other than books. This was also before Alibaba really took off and it was much more consumer friendly and oriented.
I bought mostly batteries and flashlights but also electronics, computer parts, cables, specialty tools and novelty items. I got some crap on a couple of occasions, but was pretty happy 95% of the time. At this point, they are still cheaper than Amazon or eBay most of the time, but I am too hooked on fast delivery and easy returns to bother with them. Although, DX.com did open a couple of warehouses in the United States to try and compete.
The big problem for me with them at this point is still the returns, although I believe they have gotten much better at this as well. But the last thing I returned to Amazon, all I had to do was report that I wanted to return the item on the order page, put it back in its manufacturer's packaging, take it to a UPS store and let them scan the return UPC on my phone, and the UPS store packed it in a shipping box and shipped it back to Amazon. My account was credited before I got home... incredible! That damn Bezos knows how to keep customers happy.
So I just looked at DX.com and most of the stuff still looked less expensive than what you would find on Amazon or eBay, but I have gotten too spoiled to bother with them at this point. And you might also still get away without paying sales tax. So it's not something that I would rule out completely.
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