Who’s going to Tesla after their current TDI?
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IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Honestly that would keep me from buying the car.
kjclow
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- 2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
I used to have a flight simulator game that used a similar looking joy stick. Wonder if the firing buttons are still on the top?
turbobrick240
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The yoke doesn't seem to be hurting sales thus far. Owners who were initially skeptical of the yoke and lack of stalks seem to adapt quite quickly for the most part. There is always going to be resistance to that sort of change- I'm certain the first autos that did away with manual spark advance ran into the same sort of pushback.
IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
I'd probably be OK with it if the Tesla was my only (or primary) car. But all my cars have steering wheels. And they're not going anywhere.
It's only purpose other than to assert the nod of geeks alike is to steer up controversy as a marketing tool. The final product is just a fender bender waiting to happen... Jus' imagine a date taking you seriously while holding on's to a yolk 
turbobrick240
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I think the primary purpose is to improve visibility of the dash display. Probably also anticipating the point in the future where driver input isn't required and the more compact "yoke" can be more easily tucked away. The aircraft/Knight Rider influence is probably only secondary.
I have a feeling that most guys who can afford a Model S do ok with the ladies. And the science is in: Teslas are formidable wingmen- https://techstory.in/tesla-model-s-3-are-best-wingmen-in-dating-apps/
I have a feeling that most guys who can afford a Model S do ok with the ladies. And the science is in: Teslas are formidable wingmen- https://techstory.in/tesla-model-s-3-are-best-wingmen-in-dating-apps/
Last edited:
nicklockard
Torque Dorque
OMG. They need to add a pretentiousness indicator on the dash. The scale would be 11-11!
! as in factorial
! as in factorial
turbobrick240
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Hey, guys with Teslas are irresistible to the ladies 
. Make of that what you will. Who knew fart mode would have such sex appeal!
. Make of that what you will. Who knew fart mode would have such sex appeal!IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Women I've spoken with would indicate otherwise. It's kind of like how guys who drive BMWs think they're magnets. They're not. Quite the opposite in some situations.Hey, guys with Teslas are irresistible to the ladies
turbobrick240
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They probably aren't admitting to their Tinder accounts either, haha. Somewhere, 007 is weeping because his Aston Martin is now second fiddle.
Can Owning A Tesla Actually Help You Attract A Mate?
The Money UK research team created identical dating profiles across a variety of cities. The only difference was the make and model car in the profile.
Rrusse11
Veteran Member
Aston Martin Rapide E: electric supersaloon prototype ride | DrivingElectric
Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer takes us for a spin in a prototype version of the new Rapide E
www.drivingelectric.com
Howzabout one of these as a chick magnet?
zimbodel
Veteran Member
If I have to spend the money for a new car. Sure I will not consider any other car than a Tesla, no question.
Too much maintenance with combustion based cars, but I dont have the money to dish out on a new car.
I will however keep my Diesels and let go of the Gas models.
Too much maintenance with combustion based cars, but I dont have the money to dish out on a new car.
I will however keep my Diesels and let go of the Gas models.
taleAwaggin
Veteran Member
Maintenance yeah ok you got em there, but when some asshat rearends you..
pkhoury
That guy with the goats
Yikes. Makes me wonder now what a Model 3 would be doing at say 85mph sustained, since that's about the flow of traffic out here on IH-10, between San Anton and El Paso (the official speed limit is 85, but everyone does 80-90).
pkhoury
That guy with the goats
*** kind of steering wheel is that? Uhh, yeah, pass.But dat yolk tho...
pkhoury
That guy with the goats
Yeah, not that way here. Out here, the big thing is driving a truck, or a diesel. Someone with a hybrid or a Tesla is looked upon, for the most part, as a pu$$y.
On a side note - does anyone know if you can turn the screen completely off, such as if you're at a drive- in movie theatre, and you want to listen to the movie with your FM radio, but don't want a bright screen killing your night vision? Especially if the need for air conditioning means the car goes back on for 90 minutes?
x1800MODMY360x
Veteran Member
My friend in Cali, got a 2013 Ford EV. Cant remember the model but he paid 9k for it and the range is 65miles. (The batterys have gotten bad over the years). I drive 76 Miles round trip to work and back. I'm Glad I got the TDI.
turbobrick240
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It's time for Toyota to get with the program:
www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org
How Biden’s E.V. Plan Could Help Tesla and Squeeze Toyota (Published 2021)
A push to increase sales of electric vehicles favors companies that already have all-electric cars on the market and could penalize those that don’t.
IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
They may be already. From the article: Plug-in hybrids, which have internal combustion engines in addition to batteries, would count as electric vehicles, giving Toyota some breathing room because of its leadership in that technology.It's time for Toyota to get with the program:
How Biden’s E.V. Plan Could Help Tesla and Squeeze Toyota (Published 2021)
A push to increase sales of electric vehicles favors companies that already have all-electric cars on the market and could penalize those that don’t.
Toyota may in fact have an advantage as consumers may see a plug-in hybrid as a good interim step between ICEVs and EVs. And plug-in hybrids are seen as a much more palatable alternative for people who own only one vehicle.
bigsexyTDI
Veteran Member
That may be the dumbest thing I've ever read. Toyota already dominates the Hybrid segment with the Prius and Camry Hyrbrid and continues to push the Hydrogen envelope with the Mirai. They are miles ahead of Tesla.It's time for Toyota to get with the program:
How Biden’s E.V. Plan Could Help Tesla and Squeeze Toyota (Published 2021)
A push to increase sales of electric vehicles favors companies that already have all-electric cars on the market and could penalize those that don’t.
"As followers of the EV media know, battery-bashing has been Toyota’s public policy for several years now. However, many may not be aware that the company is also waging a behind-the-scenes political push around the world to slow down the transition to EVs.
The New York Times reports that Chris Reynolds, a Toyota senior executive, recently traveled to Washington for closed-door meetings with congressional staff members, in which he emphasized his company’s opposition to the Biden administration’s proposed measures to promote EVs, arguing that hybrids and hydrogen vehicles should play a bigger role in the transition.
Toyota’s lobbying effort in Washington is part of a worldwide strategy of opposing stricter emissions standards and EV mandates. Executives at Toyota’s Indian subsidiary publicly criticized India’s target for 100 percent EVs by 2030. The company sued the Mexican government over fuel efficiency rules. In Japan, Toyota officials argued against carbon taxes.
“Toyota has gone from a leading position to an industry laggard” in clean-car policy, Danny Magill, an analyst at InfluenceMap, a think tank that tracks corporate climate lobbying, told the Times. InfluenceMap gives Toyota a D- grade, the worst of any automaker, because of its efforts to undermine public climate goals.
Despite the messages from its CEO and its advertising, Toyota spokesman Eric Booth told the Times that the company is not opposed to EVs. “We agree and embrace the fact that all-electric vehicles are the future, [but] too little attention is being paid to what happens between today, when 98 percent of the cars and trucks sold are powered at least in part by gasoline, and that fully electrified future,” he said. Toyota also says that efficiency standards should “be informed by what technology can realistically deliver and help keep vehicles affordable.”
This echoes the “let’s wait a while” argument often heard from advocates for the fossil fuel and nuclear industries and, sadly, from some who acknowledge the need to address climate change, but who believe that research into future “miracle technologies” should take precedence over action in the here and now. What’s worse, an analysis of Toyota’s political donations shows that the company supports politicians with radical anti-environmental (and anti-democracy) views. The nonprofit watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) tallied campaign contributions and found that Toyota was one of the largest corporate donors this year to Republicans in Congress who disputed the 2020 presidential election result. The Times reports that at least 22 of those lawmakers have denied the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.
Once the story broke in the media, Toyota announced that it would end its donations to members of the “Sedition Caucus.” However, it remains to be seen whether the company will follow the usual corporate playbook, and quietly resume its contributions once the story fades from the headlines. “Several of [the corporate contributors identified] initially committed to ceasing contributions to members who voted not to certify the election results, before deciding to start giving again,” CREW reports.
Many auto industry experts are puzzled and dismayed by Toyota’s anti-EV lobbying push in Washington, which is a fairly recent development. “They really were on the right path, especially with the introduction of the Prius, and they still talk about climate change,” former EPA exec Margo Oge told the Times. “But they’re fighting policies for electric vehicles across the globe, and that’s hurting the effort of policymakers in setting any ambitious measures.”
Even as Toyota (along with various oil industry-backed groups) lobbies global governments to enact hydrogen-friendly policies, a high-profile project that was meant to serve as a showcase for Toyota’s fuel cell vehicles may have turned out to be an environmental and financial fiasco.
Toyota supplied a fleet of hydrogen-powered buses, and several Mirai fuel cell cars, for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The climate benefits of fuel cells are predicated on the future availability of green hydrogen, which is made by electrolysis using renewable energy sources. However, CleanTechnica reports that the hydrogen used to power the Olympic buses, like almost all the hydrogen produced today, is grey hydrogen, made from natural gas. “The supposedly clean hydrogen available in Japan is made primarily from natural gas at existing chemical plants using a process that emits copious amounts of carbon dioxide,” writes Steve Hanley. Furthermore, “the country’s plans for a future supply of hydrogen amounts to importing large amounts of it from Australia, where it will be made from coal using carbon capture technology that does not exist.”
Toyota’s fuel cell buses fail on the financial front as well. The Financial Times reports that each one cost $900,000 for a 6-year lease, whereas a comparable diesel-powered bus with a typical service life of 15 years can be had for $220,000. Federal and local government subsidies covered 80% of the lease cost, but even that was not enough to make them competitive. “The fuel costs are also higher,” Daisuke Harayama, chief of operations at Tokyu Bus, a private company that introduced two of the fuel cell buses, told the FT. “The fuel cost is 2.6 times higher for [fuel cell vehicles] over diesel.”
The Financial Times concludes: “For now, the environmental benefit of the buses that will ship Olympic athletes and officials around the city is hypothetical.”
The New York Times reports that Chris Reynolds, a Toyota senior executive, recently traveled to Washington for closed-door meetings with congressional staff members, in which he emphasized his company’s opposition to the Biden administration’s proposed measures to promote EVs, arguing that hybrids and hydrogen vehicles should play a bigger role in the transition.
Toyota’s lobbying effort in Washington is part of a worldwide strategy of opposing stricter emissions standards and EV mandates. Executives at Toyota’s Indian subsidiary publicly criticized India’s target for 100 percent EVs by 2030. The company sued the Mexican government over fuel efficiency rules. In Japan, Toyota officials argued against carbon taxes.
“Toyota has gone from a leading position to an industry laggard” in clean-car policy, Danny Magill, an analyst at InfluenceMap, a think tank that tracks corporate climate lobbying, told the Times. InfluenceMap gives Toyota a D- grade, the worst of any automaker, because of its efforts to undermine public climate goals.
Despite the messages from its CEO and its advertising, Toyota spokesman Eric Booth told the Times that the company is not opposed to EVs. “We agree and embrace the fact that all-electric vehicles are the future, [but] too little attention is being paid to what happens between today, when 98 percent of the cars and trucks sold are powered at least in part by gasoline, and that fully electrified future,” he said. Toyota also says that efficiency standards should “be informed by what technology can realistically deliver and help keep vehicles affordable.”
This echoes the “let’s wait a while” argument often heard from advocates for the fossil fuel and nuclear industries and, sadly, from some who acknowledge the need to address climate change, but who believe that research into future “miracle technologies” should take precedence over action in the here and now. What’s worse, an analysis of Toyota’s political donations shows that the company supports politicians with radical anti-environmental (and anti-democracy) views. The nonprofit watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) tallied campaign contributions and found that Toyota was one of the largest corporate donors this year to Republicans in Congress who disputed the 2020 presidential election result. The Times reports that at least 22 of those lawmakers have denied the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.
Once the story broke in the media, Toyota announced that it would end its donations to members of the “Sedition Caucus.” However, it remains to be seen whether the company will follow the usual corporate playbook, and quietly resume its contributions once the story fades from the headlines. “Several of [the corporate contributors identified] initially committed to ceasing contributions to members who voted not to certify the election results, before deciding to start giving again,” CREW reports.
Many auto industry experts are puzzled and dismayed by Toyota’s anti-EV lobbying push in Washington, which is a fairly recent development. “They really were on the right path, especially with the introduction of the Prius, and they still talk about climate change,” former EPA exec Margo Oge told the Times. “But they’re fighting policies for electric vehicles across the globe, and that’s hurting the effort of policymakers in setting any ambitious measures.”
Even as Toyota (along with various oil industry-backed groups) lobbies global governments to enact hydrogen-friendly policies, a high-profile project that was meant to serve as a showcase for Toyota’s fuel cell vehicles may have turned out to be an environmental and financial fiasco.
Toyota supplied a fleet of hydrogen-powered buses, and several Mirai fuel cell cars, for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The climate benefits of fuel cells are predicated on the future availability of green hydrogen, which is made by electrolysis using renewable energy sources. However, CleanTechnica reports that the hydrogen used to power the Olympic buses, like almost all the hydrogen produced today, is grey hydrogen, made from natural gas. “The supposedly clean hydrogen available in Japan is made primarily from natural gas at existing chemical plants using a process that emits copious amounts of carbon dioxide,” writes Steve Hanley. Furthermore, “the country’s plans for a future supply of hydrogen amounts to importing large amounts of it from Australia, where it will be made from coal using carbon capture technology that does not exist.”
Toyota’s fuel cell buses fail on the financial front as well. The Financial Times reports that each one cost $900,000 for a 6-year lease, whereas a comparable diesel-powered bus with a typical service life of 15 years can be had for $220,000. Federal and local government subsidies covered 80% of the lease cost, but even that was not enough to make them competitive. “The fuel costs are also higher,” Daisuke Harayama, chief of operations at Tokyu Bus, a private company that introduced two of the fuel cell buses, told the FT. “The fuel cost is 2.6 times higher for [fuel cell vehicles] over diesel.”
The Financial Times concludes: “For now, the environmental benefit of the buses that will ship Olympic athletes and officials around the city is hypothetical.”
Mozambiquer
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The dumb part in my opinion is government mandating the market in that way. I thought it was rather ironic how it said that this will likely open the door for several chinese auto companies to come into the USA. I wonder how much china paid the administrationto make that rule?It's time for Toyota to get with the program:
How Biden’s E.V. Plan Could Help Tesla and Squeeze Toyota (Published 2021)
A push to increase sales of electric vehicles favors companies that already have all-electric cars on the market and could penalize those that don’t.
pkhoury
That guy with the goats
They also seem to dominate with the ugliest vehicles ever. The newest models of the Prius rival even the Nissan Juke and the Pontiac Aztek for ugliness, and don't even get me started on the Murai. That hydrogen car is FUGLY.
On a side note, my alma mater is supposed to have the biggest hydrogen fuel cell refilling station of any college campus in the US. Specifically, the department from which I graduated.
I do not entertain in-dash (screen) units unless it has the option of blacking out the screen while continuing its functionality. A glaring screen is most annoying indeed.
turbobrick240
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Hydrogen passenger vehicles are a dead end. That's been pretty obvious for years now. Trevor Milton of Nikola was just arrested for his fraudulent promotion of Nikola's supposed hydrogen technology. Toyota may just go bankrupt if they keep chasing that Mirage. And hybrids are just a stepping stone. Any automaker who isn't fully invested in transitioning to BEVs at this point likely won't be around in 10-15 years. Toyota has fallen so far behind in BEVs that I think their best hope for survival is a partnership with Tesla.
turbobrick240
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And more importantly, was the payment in space lasers or bamboo ballots?
pkhoury
That guy with the goats
At some point, VW/Continental removed the option to blank the RNS-510 and continue functionality with a firmware update. Which is why I opted for a non-color-LCD headunit in my Golf. Sometimes, I'll shut off everything so it doesn't kill my night vision, especially since my sensitivity to light has been a lot greater.
On a side note - I was reading this, in response to a friend who keeps sending me tesla plaid videos and telling me how great they are.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35152087/tesla-model-3-charging-costs-per-mile/
I also read somewhere that the Model S long range, as an example, gets only about 320 miles per charge at 75mph. Didn't say what it gets at 80-85, which is the speed limit, and more what I'd be driving at. and with superchargers costing around 25 cents a kwh, the costs aren't that much better than what I pay for my Golf, assuming I'm not towing with either car. Finally, I don't like the fact that the home charger will charge the car at a rate of 3 miles an hour. I do not have the capacity for a 240V charger, unless I stopped using a lot of things here, or got a new line of service from the co-op.
Another side note - I chatted with someone at Tesla online, and they said the cybertruck can tow 500+ miles at 14,000+ pounds of towing payload. Thsoe numbers seem fishy, and he said whatever's posted online are the official specs. It doesn't really suggest what speed, and then I learn that a gooseneck option is made by a third party, not even Tesla. Kinda defeats the purpose of selling it as a medium duty truck...