What vehicle do you drive?
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Kobayashi
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Can't find a mechanic for what they're willing to pay.
The old mechanic probably did this as a hobby. That museum is less than 2 hours from Detroit. The amount of restoration mechanics here is insane. Also, carburetors are still extremely common in aviation.
Fucker
Log Wizard
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For what they are willing to pay is the truth.
Can't really compare A&P mechanics to shade tree bolt strippers. A&P mechanics make a lot of money.
Fucker
Log Wizard
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Big difference between a Mikuni on a dirt bike and some of these old nefarious piles of shit they used to put on 70's cars. And a lot of Chinese shit that never work right. IIRC, Holley carburetors are still made in USA, and those are not bad to work with at all.
And yet, there are far more people who are bad at them than good at them.
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Haus
I am Big Balls!
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Rebuilt my first carb when I was 16. Holley 650cfm double pumper for the 302 I was rebuilding for my Mustang at the time. Even in the fucking 80's it was as simple as a small box of parts, and a new gasket, including a complete step by step manual.
Hateyou
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So he got his rivian R2 Wednesday. Today he has a loaner car, it’s in the shop already. The paints chipping so they’re going to touch up the paint and put some coating on it to try to stop it. Off to a great start.
Rivian ownership be like
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Burren
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That requires the whole body panel to be taken off and repainted, if it’s metal, and then hoping it all matches.
Hekotat
FoH nuclear response team
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If those motherfuckers showed up with a car with stickers on it for me to drive, I'd be shoving that Rivian up their ass.
Hateyou
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It seems like shit marketing to me. Here, let everyone know you have a loaner car so they ask why and find out your three day old car is in the fucking shop already.
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Siliconemelons
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From the “pristine auto spa” loaner, looks like rivian subbed the job to a local place to touch up/fix the paint and also provide a loaner lol
Rivian suffers from the same as tesla at the start- lack of locations and capacity to deal with the issues. If the rivian VW thing works out that helps solve that… but then people will start IDing (lol joke) rivians as VWs and ehhhhh
If they live this scope will scale just like tesla.
I live by a rivian dealer (or whatever they call it) so that is good- lucid is worse
Rivian suffers from the same as tesla at the start- lack of locations and capacity to deal with the issues. If the rivian VW thing works out that helps solve that… but then people will start IDing (lol joke) rivians as VWs and ehhhhh
If they live this scope will scale just like tesla.
I live by a rivian dealer (or whatever they call it) so that is good- lucid is worse
Kobayashi
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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I don't see any scenario where Rivian utilizes VW's dealer network. Hell, VW doesn't even want to use their dealer network - they're trying their damnest to have Scout be direct to consumer.
No way in hell would I accept my vehicle being repainted by a local shop (or dealership) on a brand new car unless they're giving me a hell of an extended warranty.
Burren
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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I hate this brand so much now. They fucking ruined one of the greatest catalogues of cars in history.
www.caranddriver.com
The 2027 BMW 3-Series Is Here: This Is How It Compares with the 2026 Model
We look at every metric you care about, and a few you don’t, to compare the 2027 3-series with the outgoing generation.
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Hekotat
FoH nuclear response team
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I hate this brand so much now. They fucking ruined one of the greatest catalogues of cars in history.
The 2027 BMW 3-Series Is Here: This Is How It Compares with the 2026 Model
We look at every metric you care about, and a few you don’t, to compare the 2027 3-series with the outgoing generation.
Every car company has. Toyota is the only one trying to do something decent, but even their designs have weird flares that are off-putting. It's really sad to see the current car/sports cars offerings compared to the 70s/80s/90s/Early 00s.
Fucker
Log Wizard
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For me, the big thing is interior quality and design. Look at BMW/Audi, Mercedes/Lexus, and they all have KIA level interiors....sometimes, not even that high. If I am going to get a KIA level interior, then I expect a KIA level MSRP.
Sure, with Lexus, you get reliability, but I don't want to sit in something that has an interior as cheap as something that comes out of a used 737's lavatory. Audi/BMW/MB are all blingy shit level trash interiors. MB now offensively cheap looking exterior materials and design, too. BMW has all that and ugly as fuck, too.
Acura has at least decent interiors, but they are bolted to ancient platforms. And then all these fucking people putting all the controls on the screen. NOPE. These things are impossible to see in the sun, and I am NOT going to drive something like that ever again. If I can't work the temp without looking, I ain't buying.
And then the general quality. Toyota material quality has gone to complete shit. It isn't trash level like MB or BMW, but a far cry from where they were before. I had a current gen Highlander, parked next to a previous gen at the grocery store. Same trim/color. Old guy who owned it wondered what I was doing scoping out his car. I showed him. His had WAY better leather, better paint, vastly fit and finish. Much better everything. Mine looked like it was assembled by drunken toddlers.
Same with the 2.5 gen Tundra and new 3rd gen Tundra. Old one had much nicer leather. Compared side-by-side, a stark difference. The difference between old Lexus anything and new Lexus anything is much greater.
I looked at the new Grand Highlander when it came out, and they also had the old gen (but brand new) 4runner on the floor. Night and day difference. Somehow, the new Grand Highlander looked cheaper on the outside than mine. 4Runner was gorgeous everywhere. Immaculate paint, sturdy, high quality interior. Something to want. New Lexus sedan commits ALL the crimes. Shitty cheap interior, shitty cheap exterior. HIDDEN motherfucking hvac controls. Shitty black plastic on the exterior because why the fuck not. 250 HP. 50 HP less than the previous model. Lawn mower engine. I mean, what in the motherfucking fucking fuck is this design:
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Siliconemelons
Ssraeszha Raider
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Fucker
Log Wizard
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And that's another fucking thing.
It doesn't really cost all that much to upscale an interior. Look at most of the "luxury" brands. They use vinyl interiors of different names. They just mix and match colors for more "premium" feel. When you do get real leather, it is usually for seating surfaces. A few strips here and there sewed to 95%+ coverage VINYL. My new gen Highlander had leather, and I couldn't tell it apart from their rental car vinyl other than the shape of the seats.
Piping used to mean leather piping, now they all faux "pipe" the material when they are sewing it. They just sew it back onto itself. Go look at a new MB and you will see how cheap and crass this is.
Wood is one thing. Now, upscale interiors use microthin veneers bonded to plastic, and look like shit in a few months. If you really want to get your butthole into a twist, take a not very close look at Bentley or Rolls interiors. Krauts ruin everything except Porshe.
AND THEN AND THEN you have all these shitty stereo systems like Olaf and Bangsson, Ken Varhhemsiensteindorf, Grolaff and Tumphauser. Big markup prices which are exactly nothing more than a different software sound tweak applied to 2.5 watt speakers and pumped up by commodity sound chips. They use marketing like "sounds like 1200 watts" but it is really 14 watts of overtuned software shit pumped into $7.83 worth of speakers and an empty tub of plastic in the fenders for "bass". You want to know what sounds worse than 10 cheap speakers pumping out this shit? 18 of them. Ah, but at least with these you get some cool looking speaker covers.
I'd say people will catch on to this shit and demand more, but nope. Sales are steady. People by brands, not product.
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