Musk endeavours

[BobbyD]

Tesla hit the ring with the Plaid ...literally.

Corvette's notorious bad luck struck GM's away-team once again at the Nürburgring, after two high-speed crashes during industry testing sessions pushed all three C8 Z06 test cars out of today's crucial timed test sessions.

A BMW M8 test-mule crashed heavily on the fast Kesselchen sector, rolling at least once and leveling a large section of barrier. Meanwhile, unconnected but only a few hundred yards up the track, a Tesla Model S Plaid also suffered an impact with the barrier in the Klostertal sector. Both drivers are believed to be in good condition, despite the severity of any Nordschleife crash.

- https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a3739 ... w-crashes/

Car designed for drag strips doesn't like corners...

[BobbyD]

Hi Ody,

I remember you like this Scotty Kilmer guy, he speaks a lot of sense although he seems a bit crazy!

This video (first 2 minutes) explains why I can't really imagine ever buying a Tesla.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrJg6neE1kE

Apparently it is possible to push a couple of buttons in your Tesla and it automatically bills you for $14,000 for purchasing the FSD app.

Wow!

John

Nothing new, Taleb managed to buy AP with his backside if I remember correctly, and Tesla tried to stand on all in app purchases are final...

[odysseus2000]

FSD version 10 coming out shortly, no more 9. versions. Public availability for those with FSD in about 1 month:

https://insideevs.com/news/529103/tesla ... blic-beta/

There appears to be a lot of negativity surrounding FSD, so if this isn't great then likely little impact on share price, if it goes well then big increase in share price.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Looks like Virgin have been working on an actual hyperloop, unlike the Boring company's tunnels with taxis in them...



https://virginhyperloop.com

[odysseus2000]

Looks like Virgin have been working on an actual hyperloop, unlike the Boring company's tunnels with taxis in them...



https://virginhyperloop.com

Nice!

Pity they don't use units that folk can more easily relate to.

48 m/s looks to be just over 100 mph.

100 pascals is .001 atmospheres.

Also they did not say how far the test run was.

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

Gm recalls all Chevy Bolt, blames LG batteries:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/08/gm ... batteries/

If batteries are the problem there may be other recalls as LG batteries are used by Ford and Hyundai and others.

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

Tesla offering diagnostic tools and service software for owners who want to repair them selves:

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-diagnos ... r-service/

I wonder how many folk will be interested, especially at the quoted prices. It might make more sense to use an independent repair shop or lease a car so that some else has to deal with any issues.

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

Sandy has a look at the Kia Niro(19mins 12sec):

https://youtu.be/WSrAKY1KfXo

Quite interesting what Hyundai have done and not done with this.

Regards

[Howard]

Sandy has a look at the Kia Niro(19mins 12sec):

https://youtu.be/WSrAKY1KfXo

Quite interesting what Hyundai have done and not done with this.

Regards

Sandy can appear amazingly geriatric. As a driver of a similar KIA he made me feel very switched on! When it arrived, I just got in and drove the car. It was fun watching him take a long time to find the start button. And the auto hold.

And, poor chap, he doesn't seem to know whether its a BEV or a Hybrid.

Presumably he's going to actually drive the car sometime? Or just look at it in his garage?

regards

Howard

[BobbyD]

Sandy has a look at the Kia Niro(19mins 12sec):

https://youtu.be/WSrAKY1KfXo

Quite interesting what Hyundai have done and not done with this.

Regards

Sandy can appear amazingly geriatric. As a driver of a similar KIA he made me feel very switched on! When it arrived, I just got in and drove the car. It was fun watching him take a long time to find the start button. And the auto hold.

And, poor chap, he doesn't seem to know whether its a BEV or a Hybrid.

Presumably he's going to actually drive the car sometime? Or just look at it in his garage?

regards

Howard

Your BEV youtube channel would be worth watching....

[odysseus2000]

Howard
Sandy can appear amazingly geriatric. As a driver of a similar KIA he made me feel very switched on! When it arrived, I just got in and drove the car. It was fun watching him take a long time to find the start button. And the auto hold.

And, poor chap, he doesn't seem to know whether its a BEV or a Hybrid.

I was amazed at how poor a car it was for $47k. A clear attempt by KIA to shoe horn various power trains into one body, very reminiscent of early VW Frankenstein models.

There is almost no storage, no surprise that its hard to tell what it is by lifting the bonnet which like the boot is 20th century in its opening mechanism.

Maybe it drives ok & we are promised a drive, but even so it is massively over priced & under specced for a $47k car.

Anyone buying one of these has to be challenged in their understanding of 21st century technology and what market leader Tesla offers for a similar price and that is before one thinks of the disturbance to piece of mind caused by the batteries & their inflammable history.

I am genuinely shocked by the pitiful mediocrity of this $47k car & feel sorry for anyone who has one, worrying that they are very much out of touch.

Regards,

[Howard]

Howard
Sandy can appear amazingly geriatric. As a driver of a similar KIA he made me feel very switched on! When it arrived, I just got in and drove the car. It was fun watching him take a long time to find the start button. And the auto hold.

And, poor chap, he doesn't seem to know whether its a BEV or a Hybrid.

I was amazed at how poor a car it was for $47k. A clear attempt by KIA to shoe horn various power trains into one body, very reminiscent of early VW Frankenstein models.

There is almost no storage, no surprise that its hard to tell what it is by lifting the bonnet which like the boot is 20th century in its opening mechanism.

Maybe it drives ok & we are promised a drive, but even so it is massively over priced & under specced for a $47k car.

Anyone buying one of these has to be challenged in their understanding of 21st century technology and what market leader Tesla offers for a similar price and that is before one thinks of the disturbance to piece of mind caused by the batteries & their inflammable history.

I am genuinely shocked by the pitiful mediocrity of this $47k car & feel sorry for anyone who has one, worrying that they are very much out of touch.

Regards,

Are there two kinds of car reviewers, Ody?

Those who have actually driven a Tesla and a Kia and those who pontificate, having driven neither but live in a nutty YouTube world?

And those who have no idea of the costs of motoring and those who do.

Our KIA is ideal as a second car. And its load carrying is exemplary! I’ve carried a couple of bikes in the back and separately a 9 ft tree from a nursery. Try that in a Tesla!

I’m paying £3,500 a year to lease our KIA BEV. And a Tesla Model 3 LR which has a similar range costs £7,500 a year to lease under identical conditions.

It’s daft to compare the two cars only the deluded will try . The Tesla would be useless as a carry-all car.

And I did weigh up the pros and cons of replacing my BMW for a Model 3 but, whilst the Tesla is a nice car to drive, it has several flaws which count against it. Especially the touchscreen which is inferior and infuriating if one is used to BMW’s brilliant quality infotainment/satnav package. I can go into details but don’t have the time today.

Your parallel universe is fun, Ody, but do you have any idea of real world driving? Still polluting the environment with a dirty diesel?

Poor Sandy is probably still looking for the button to open his garage door!

regards

Howard

[odysseus2000]

Hi Howard,

I was comparing what Munroe tested, his comments as a highly regarded auto industry reverse engineer, and the quoted price with all its lack of features and lack of load space not what you have which I know nothing about.

You have not addressed any of the issues I brought up re the video.

Yes, I still drive a Volvo diesel but for less than 1000 miles last year as I can get most of the stuff I need delivered and I can easily talk with people anywhere via zoom, but none of that information helps me or anyone else make any money from BEV investments/trades which is my primary interest

Regards,

[Howard]

Hi Howard,

I was comparing what Munroe tested, his comments as a highly regarded auto industry reverse engineer, and the quoted price with all its lack of features and lack of load space not what you have which I know nothing about.

You have not addressed any of the issues I brought up re the video.

Yes, I still drive a Volvo diesel but for less than 1000 miles last year as I can get most of the stuff I need delivered and I can easily talk with people anywhere via zoom, but none of that information helps me or anyone else make any money from BEV investments/trades which is my primary interest

Regards,

You seem fixated on things like the bonnet opening mechanism.

These things aren't important in real life driving, Ody. Hopefully I'll not need to open the car bonnet more than once a year. I'm hoping that the KIA will be so reliable that the bonnet will only need opening by the garage when servicing the car. A friend with a new Tesla, whilst he's quite pleased with his car, has had two breakdown issues which required assistance from Tesla in less than a year.

Your video issues seem like theoretical junior school stuff which has nothing to do with real life driving. Not worth commenting on.

Are you and Sandy stuck in the last century? Obsessing on little details rather than every day driving performance.

Teslas are very expensive cars and need to perform to justify the share price.

regards

Howard

[odysseus2000]

Howard
You seem fixated on things like the bonnet opening mechanism.

These things aren't important in real life driving, Ody. Hopefully I'll not need to open the car bonnet more than once a year. I'm hoping that the KIA will be so reliable that the bonnet will only need opening by the garage when servicing the car.

I am fixated on margin. With the model Munroe investigated, Kia are getting very good margins as they are charging a high price and offering features that were available from about the middle of the last century. High price, lots of low cost features equals high margin. The sort of tricks that Mercedes do.

Sure high margin, low specs can work for a bit, but not for long. I can recall the days of British Leyand when they ridiculed Japanese cars coming with heaters and radios and argued, like you, that in everyday motoring folk don't need such stuff. British Leyland went bust!

You may not be interested in such advanced things but many folk are and expect them on $47k cars. They also expect good trunk and frunk room too.

The Kia Munroe tested just looks like an over priced 20th century car that has a battery to power it instead of an ice engine.

Regards,

[Howard]

Have you bothered to check the features of the cars we are discussing Ody?

Have you looked at a Tesla M3 on the road? Sat inside? Are you aware of its load carrying capabilities? Yes you can fit a handbag in the frunk but like saloon cars where you can’t fold the seats, it’s not designed as a versatile family car but as a saloon which is good at carrying luggage like suitcases or golf clubs.

So for someone who might want to carry bikes and anything six foot long or more it’s not practical. Our KIA, which is slightly smaller than a Niro, but identical underneath, has easily swallowed (separately) two bikes, six foot fence posts and trellis, a wide-screen TV, some chairs and some long children’s stuff. One or two of these items might possibly have squeezed onto the back seats of a Tesla, but nothing six foot long.

The Tesla M3 is a performance saloon car and has its virtues if one is prepared to pay for them and cope with its possible unreliability and limited range. But a versatile load carrier it is not!

The KIA is a lower priced BEV with a longer range than a Tesla SR but with many virtues, including a head-up display and driver friendly controls which are arguably superior to the Tesla touchscreen. Including much better controls of heating, aircon, windscreen wipers and headlights which so frustrate Tesla drivers and, unlike bonnet latches, are used on almost every journey.

You and Sandy, as erstwhile Tesla shareholders, may have made a bit of money from ramping Tesla shares, and attempting to rubbish the competition but some of your claims just don’t stand close examination.

regards

Howard

[odysseus2000]

If the Kia that Munrho tested was a van retailing at $20k or similar, then all the things you mention would be important.

But the Kia as tested is priced as though it is a lower end executive car but it isn't. It is a clear attempt by Kia to generate as much margin as possible by not adding modern features and yet charging a price that implies it is loaded with modern tech.

When looking at whether a car is likely to sell one has to make some assumptions about the user. The sort of folk who pony up $47k are unlikely to want bicycles, have too little time to bother with gardening stuff and will have all their big consumer kit delivered. Moreover, they will want to be seen driving a state of the art car and enjoy having it on their front of garage space.

The Kia that Munroe tested has none of these features and yet is priced as though it does. Whether some of the ergonomics you mention are true doesn't matter to the targeted market for the Tesla. They will see it as over priced for what it is and go elsewhere.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

When looking at whether a car is likely to sell one has to make some assumptions about the user. The sort of folk who pony up $47k are unlikely to want bicycles, have too little time to bother with gardening stuff and will have all their big consumer kit delivered. Moreover, they will want to be seen driving a state of the art car and enjoy having it on their front of garage space.

Bought to you by the poster who was convinced that the world had turned their back on VW even after VW posted several more years of record sales but who thinks it is car buyers who are out of touch.

Neither humanity nor the car market are that homogenous. A small clue that this is the case can be seen in the diversity of vehicles which real customers actually buy.

[odysseus2000]

BobbyD
Bought to you by the poster who was convinced that the world had turned their back on VW even after VW posted several more years of record sales but who thinks it is car buyers who are out of touch.

No its VW who have turned their back on the future.

Regards,

[Howard]

If the Kia that Munrho tested was a van retailing at $20k or similar, then all the things you mention would be important.

But the Kia as tested is priced as though it is a lower end executive car but it isn't. It is a clear attempt by Kia to generate as much margin as possible by not adding modern features and yet charging a price that implies it is loaded with modern tech.

When looking at whether a car is likely to sell one has to make some assumptions about the user. The sort of folk who pony up $47k are unlikely to want bicycles, have too little time to bother with gardening stuff and will have all their big consumer kit delivered. Moreover, they will want to be seen driving a state of the art car and enjoy having it on their front of garage space.

The Kia that Munroe tested has none of these features and yet is priced as though it does. Whether some of the ergonomics you mention are true doesn't matter to the targeted market for the Tesla. They will see it as over priced for what it is and go elsewhere.

Regards,

I’m not sure that Sandy has the right price for his Niro. It is more like $41,500 for the model he is testing.

KIA aren’t doing too badly at selling cars in the USA, no doubt helped by the consumer appeal of those substantial bonnet catches.

IRVINE, Calif., August 2, 2021 – Kia America today announced record July sales of 70,099 units. Following the company’s best first-half year sales in history (Jan-Jun 2021) ….. July sales were up 34-percent year-over-year.
“Kia continues to build on the momentum from our record breaking first-half by setting yet another record” said Sean Yoon, president and CEO of Kia North America and Kia America.

And the parent company’s brand, Hyundai, is also seeing record US sales in 2021 as well.

If they keep going like this, the Hyundai company might sell a million vehicles in the US in 2021. That would be an increase of over 50% over 2020.

regards

Howard

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 46723.html