Cars We Drive!

[GreenFrog]



Gah sucks. Still bad up there I presume.

Well as luck would have it, Uncle Murphy came to **** me ********** after I posted that.

Started the A4 this morning and it had a flashing CEL and one of the cylinders was misfiring, creating for a really rough and jittery idle.

Had to call my parents. My dad drove over in my e46 and handed me the keys so I could get to work.

/27 year old still relying on parents' help

 

[ramuman]



Well as luck would have it, Uncle Murphy came to **** me ********** after I posted that.

Started the A4 this morning and it had a flashing CEL and one of the cylinders was misfiring, creating for a really rough and jittery idle.

Had to call my parents. My dad drove over in my e46 and handed me the keys so I could get to work.

/27 year old still relying on parents' help

Isn't today president's day?

 

[otc]

Well, I ain't the president, so I'm at work.

 

[GreenFrog]

Samesies.

 

[venividivicibj]

Uncle Murphy came to **** me ********** after I posted that.

Jet said its cool if you like that stuff, so don't worry!

 

[Firefox]



The main reason is that gas is heavily taxed all over Europe. Small hatch = light = better mileage. A lot of us would be driving v8 and v12 sport sedans and suv's if gas wasn't around 8 usd a gallon around here. That's without road tax, which is usually weight based. For reference, my 1640 kg diesel coupe costs me 1700 euros a year in tax, can you imagine what a 2k plus truck will cost? Again favors the small hatch. Lastly, and Finn has railed against this many a time, we know a progressive tax on cars. Meaning your 15k hatch will see a doubling in price up to 30k, which is still manageable, but the 80k v8 sports sedan will suddenly cost around 150k.

Yeah I know, gas prices are more expensive in Canada than the U.S.. (but still cheaper than Europe). Small cars like the Honda Civic and Mazda 3 are always at the top of the best-seller lists. But my real question is Norh Americans preferring sedan versions of cars vs. hatch versions of the same car. For example, in Canada the Mazda 3 sedan outsells the Mazda 3 hatch by quite a bit. But compact SUVs are enormously popular (at least in the GTA).

 

[Piobaire]

In the 20 years or so since I left Canada have they changed the thing where an import car gets brought in without A/C and it's a dealer installed item?

 

[GreenFrog]

Yes.

 

[GreenFrog]

dat OLED & exhaust



fascinating with the spritzing of water into the intake

 

[Texasmade]

The wheels are awful.

 

[akatsuki]



I should probably go in for a test drive of an X and/or an S before I cash in my deposit but can't justify the time suck.

As to Piob's point, the beauty of the Tesla product strategy is that they're competing against similarly poor value propositions until they can get the gigafactory to bring down the cost of batteries. Although I don't think Model S or X represent "good value" I think they certainly do compared to the conventional competition at their price point. While I am not enamored with some aspects of the interior finish, there's no way I'd buy any of the competition selling at that price point. That's probably the reason I never see new 7 series, S-class, a8s or Panameras on the road but Model S's are a dime a dozen here. Similarly, I would expect anyone looking at well optioned Cayennes, Q7s and X5s are going to end up in Model X's. The exception here of course is people who really need the X to get to Tahoe and don't want to rely on superchargers, which I completely understand.

I would never consider any of those other cars, but like many Tesla customers (for largely the reasons stated by ramuman above), Tesla is the only manufacturer making a people hauler that could convince me to part with $80k+. Of course, I say that knowing full well I'm not getting any Tesla right now, but that's largely because I live in the city now and don't drive to work. I'm actually amazed how many people I know or see in these parts that have Model S's for the cool factor and not because they need a large family sedan or drive a lot.

You'd be surprised. When gas was pricey the TCO for a Tesla was about the same as a mid level lux car over 5 years (think 5-series). Now it is definitely a bit worse but not terribly bad.

Basically the two drivers of car cost are depreciation and gas. Model S depreciation had a floor put on it by Tesla buy backs and the gas price was about equivalent to 3 cents a gallon when I built out my depreciation model.

The value prop is you get a full size car with a lot of status, very mediocre interior, but upgradeability. That last is surprisingly compelling.

 

[ridethecliche]

Yeah I know, gas prices are more expensive in Canada than the U.S.. (but still cheaper than Europe). Small cars like the Honda Civic and Mazda 3 are always at the top of the best-seller lists. But my real question is Norh Americans preferring sedan versions of cars vs. hatch versions of the same car. For example, in Canada the Mazda 3 sedan outsells the Mazda 3 hatch by quite a bit. But compact SUVs are enormously popular (at least in the GTA).

Yeah, I don't understand why hatch's aren't more popular here. I think it's because they're seen as a no man's land between having a compact suv and a sedan.

I like the lines on a hatch so much more as well.

 

[ramuman]



The wheels are awful.

Yeah, dreadful imo.

 

[venividivicibj]

Luckily, when I'm driving and passing you, I can't see them.

 

[brokencycle]

I thignk it comes all down to ride height. I had a marketing professor who said the same thing and asked the women of the MBA class, and it was almost unanimous they drove SUVs primarily due to ride height.

They're the most likely buyer of a wagon or hatch to use as the family car, do it makes sense that hatches and wagons aren't more popular. That and I think there is a cultural status thing with SUVs which is why vans have fallen out of favor.