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Owner of a sexy, grey, lifted Lexus GX 470 that rides Brushy


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20 minutes ago, rugger said:

I wouldn't put anything past an automaker...with JD pulling shit like this...I mean farmers probably contributed more improvement to tractors and farming equipment than engineers. 

https://theamericangenius.com/business-news/farmers-cant-legally-fix-their-own-john-deere-tractors-due-to-copyright-laws/

I agree, this is total crap.  Tesla has been going in the opposite direction.  They have posted extremely detailed parts catalogs online for their cars, and in the last few weeks they've put up an initial Do It Yourself guide for the Model 3.  Most of the stuff in that is pretty basic, but these cars are pretty simple mechanically compared to non-electric vehicles (no transmission and no emissions equipment, for instance).  Granted, these cars are quite complex electronically, and it's not likely an end user would be able to repair those systems even if they wanted to, so you are dependent on Tesla for that.  It remains to be seen how this goes forward in terms of third-party shops being able to repair these cars beyond bodywork and typical maintenance (like installing new tires).  

And speaking of maintenance, these cars require very little maintenance.  The main things you really need to worry about are your windshield wipers, wiper fluid, cabin filters, and tires.  The brake pads and rotors will last hundreds of thousands of miles due to regenerative braking.  Tesla recommends checking the brake fluid every two years, and doing an air conditioning service every six years.  That's pretty much it!  Tesla is aiming for their cars (including batteries and motors) to last a million miles.  I expect these cars to be on the road considerably longer than typical combustion-engine vehicles. 

 ..Al

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34 minutes ago, Albert said:

I agree, this is total crap.  Tesla has been going in the opposite direction.  They have posted extremely detailed parts catalogs online for their cars, and in the last few weeks they've put up an initial Do It Yourself guide for the Model 3.  Most of the stuff in that is pretty basic, but these cars are pretty simple mechanically compared to non-electric vehicles (no transmission and no emissions equipment, for instance).  Granted, these cars are quite complex electronically, and it's not likely an end user would be able to repair those systems even if they wanted to, so you are dependent on Tesla for that.  It remains to be seen how this goes forward in terms of third-party shops being able to repair these cars beyond bodywork and typical maintenance (like installing new tires).  

And speaking of maintenance, these cars require very little maintenance.  The main things you really need to worry about are your windshield wipers, wiper fluid, cabin filters, and tires.  The brake pads and rotors will last hundreds of thousands of miles due to regenerative braking.  Tesla recommends checking the brake fluid every two years, and doing an air conditioning service every six years.  That's pretty much it!  Tesla is aiming for their cars (including batteries and motors) to last a million miles.  I expect these cars to be on the road considerably longer than typical combustion-engine vehicles. 

 ..Al

Yea, I did not mean to say I could see Tesla doing this sort of thing, but you never know. 

Regarding Tesla maintenance and TCO they seem pretty damn awesome, a Model 3 may be in my wife's future. There's a pretty good video comparing a Model # to an Accord and BMW 330i, comparing the TCO with 'relatively comparable' vehicles ~$10K above and ~$10K below. 

 

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58 minutes ago, rugger said:

 

Regarding Tesla maintenance and TCO they seem pretty damn awesome, a Model 3 may be in my wife's future. There's a pretty good video comparing a Model # to an Accord and BMW 330i, comparing the TCO with 'relatively comparable' vehicles ~$10K above and ~$10K below. 

 

And some places in town, like the parking garage at my office, offer free recharge stations to tenants.  That makes it seem fairly affordable for a lot nicer and bigger car than a Civic.  I see a lot more manu's electric vehicles than I ever knew were available sucking up the free juice.  There's a decent looking Volvo SUV I see plugged in occasionally. Wonder how it stacks up against Tesla.

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4 hours ago, Albert said:

But for road trips on the highway or driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic, letting the car do the work is nice.  Especially on long road trips, of which I did many in the Model S (to Portland twice, Michigan, California, Florida twice).  It greatly reduces fatigue, both physically and mentally, so you can cover more ground in a day without being as tired at the end.  its

 

I'm addicted to the Adaptive Cruise Control on my Ridgeline.  I do 7+ hour drives a few times a year to visit my family which takes me thru PITA Houston traffic, just did 3.5 each way to the beach last weekend. It really does reduce the fatigue to just sit back and let it do its thing. The lane keeper will steer a good 5ish degrees but does that annoying beep at you to steer thing too. 🙂 The only negative to the Honda sensing suite is it shuts off at 20 mph. Useless in stop-n-go 

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I watched that video, it's way out of date (it's from November 2017) and inaccurate at this point.  Your total cost of ownership should be much less than the Civic and BMW depicted in that video.  First, you don't need to spend nearly $1,500 for a "home charger installation".  That's just ridiculous.  You can pay an electrician a few hundred dollars to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in your garage -- looks like a dryer outlet, and that's all you need.  Just plug your Tesla charger (included with the car) into that and you're all set.  If your breaker box is in the garage, it should be even less expensive. 

Second, the video includes a yearly maintenance service for the car.  This used to be the case with the Model S and X, but does not apply to the Model 3.  Looks like they've entirely eliminated the annual service, so you just need to worry about the items I mentioned in my last post (windshield wiper blades, windshield wiper fluid, cabin filters and tires).  Your biggest expense will be tires over time.  On my Performance Model 3 those will cost more, but on a Long-Range Model 3, the tires will last much longer and won't be nearly as expensive.   Also, at the end where they added everything up, they were using the California prices for electricity, which is considerably cheaper in Texas versus California.  

I think the resale value of the Model 3 will be higher as well--these cars should last an incredibly long time with little maintenance versus a gasoline car.  One thing that does hurt the Teslas in this regard is they make changes and improvements constantly, so if you want the latest and greatest, you'll want a new car versus a used Model 3.  However, I think there will be a strong used market for them over time.  It'll be interesting to see how that plays out. 

 ..Al

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12 minutes ago, Chongo Loco said:

And some places in town, like the parking garage at my office, offer free recharge stations to tenants.  That makes it seem fairly affordable for a lot nicer and bigger car than a Civic.  I see a lot more manu's electric vehicles than I knew were available sucking up the free juice.  There's a decent looking Volvo SUV I see plugged in occasionally. Wonder how it stacks up against Tesla.

It'll be a plug-in hybrid and not a true battery electric vehicle like the Model 3.  So it'll have an even more complex drivetrain than a regular gasoline vehicle.  If you work someplace that has free charging, I'd definitely take advantage of that, and it'll certainly help drive your costs down even further. 

 ..Al

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4 minutes ago, Chongo Loco said:

I'm addicted to the Adaptive Cruise Control on my Ridgeline.  I do 7+ hour drives a few times a year to visit my family which takes me thru PITA Houston traffic, just did 3.5 each way to the beach last weekend. It really does reduce the fatigue to just sit back and let it do its thing. The lane keeper will steer a good 5ish degrees but does that annoying beep at you to steer thing too. 🙂 The only negative to the Honda sensing suite is it shuts off at 20 mph. Useless in stop-n-go 

Tesla's cruise control is called TACC -- Traffic Aware Cruise Control and it works extremely well.  It'll work down to a complete stop and will start the car moving again when traffic resumes.  Teslas are aware of the speed limit (either by reading speed limit signs or map data) and you can tell the system how fast above or below the speed limit you want the car to drive.  You can also set the relative spacing between you and the car ahead of you.  And by relative, this distance changes depending on how fast you're going--so in stop and go traffic you'll be pretty close to the car in front of you.  I

t's also a great safety feature, as if you're not paying attention and the car in front of you suddenly brakes, your car will as well.  In fact, Tesla bounces their forward radar under the car in front of you.  It can detect if the second car in front of you is braking hard, and it can start braking your car before the car in front of you brakes!  I've witnessed this personally on more than one occasion and it's damn cool.  

 ..Al

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9 minutes ago, Albert said:

It'll be a plug-in hybrid and not a true battery electric vehicle like the Model 3.  So it'll have an even more complex drivetrain than a regular gasoline vehicle.  If you work someplace that has free charging, I'd definitely take advantage of that, and it'll certainly help drive your costs down even further. 

 ..Al

Just came >< that close buying a plug in hybrid. The feds were offering up $7500 for your tax liability and the state was offering a $2500 rebate check but they ran out of money early ( a good thing i suppose). In the end, it wasnt worth the extra cost per month for the plu in vs hybrid so we ent hybrid. 53mpg is good either way.

 FWIW, my wife has to pay to park downtown garage but it does come with charging stations.

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Yeah, Tesla owners get screwed by the Texas state rebate, as they have explicitly excluded Tesla vehicles from receiving it.  The Texas Automobile Dealer Association is evil and pumps a ton of money into state legislators' pockets to prevent Tesla from directly selling cars in this state, as well as excluding them from this rebate, which they did renew this year.   I did get the $7,500 tax credit, though.  They almost tried to pass legislation this year that would have prevented Tesla from even SERVICING cars in this state, but after a lot of pressure they changed the wording of the bill to fix that.  Business-friendly state my ass. 

 ..Al

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4 minutes ago, ATXZJ said:

 FWIW, my wife has to pay to park downtown garage but it does come with charging stations.

Austin Energy has a great Plug-In Everywhere program where you pay $25 for six months for unlimited access to their vehicle charging network (which has tons of locations thus far).  If I lived in Austin proper I'd probably jump on this..  There are even spots at Walnut Creek.  

 ..Al

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On 5/30/2019 at 3:53 PM, Ridenfool said:

Perhaps you should take into account that electric and autonomous are not necessarily synonymous. (say that ten times quickly) :classic_biggrin:

I was only referring to the portion where you said

 

Quote

Me, I'm using that right foot to burn some dinosaur bones and give me that satisfaction that comes with a machine doing something that you can feel in your soul.  If that sounds weird, you won't get it and I'm cool with that.  I know that I dread having to get an electric car for those reasons.

 

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21 hours ago, Tree Magnet said:

I definitely see the advantage of having the car do the driving where it's no fun to actually drive (I-35 in rush hour traffic) but I want to drive Lime Creek road even if I'm slower.  I also recognize that an electric car is going to be faster especially with all wheel drive and probably be more reliable (less moving parts).  I really wanted to love an electric car when I was in the market but I don't like the idea of being a passenger even when I'm the driver.  Does that make sense?  I guess I'm holding on to that last non-technology driven aspect of my life that doesn't need a firmware update every few months.  Even my Focus has Apple Carplay and needs a USB stick every so often.

If I could get an old Triumph or something fun to drive, dead nuts simple to operate, and at least slightly practical, I'd do it.  

A friend of mine has a company moment motor which puts electric drivetrains in old cars (or trucks)

 

this is their most recent project

 

 

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On 6/1/2019 at 12:15 PM, circuitbreaker said:

this thread is way off track.

you're welcome and sorry🤣

 

@rugger If you end up in the market for toyota, LC or Lexus i know of some wholesalers who specialize in them.  One of them had a 90s japanese RHD diesel floating around for awhile. 

Edited by ATXZJ
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3 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

"Drives like brand new" ...dude, at 105K these trucks are practically brand new. These things are bomb-proof.

Yeah, not really bomb proof, the Taliban used Hilux pickups a lot, based on the videos, they don't stand up to bombs that well.

https://www.wearethemighty.com/tech/how-the-white-toyota-hilux-became-the-favorite-vehicle-of-terrorists

 

Edited by AustinBike
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