Journal zogger's Journal: More affordable electric cars 19
Nissan will be taking early reservations for their Leaf all electric car, in April. It's a token hundred bucks down payment, but it gets you in line for one. Pre sales start in August, with delivery of the first ones in December.
Nissan won't say what the car costs until April, but it is shooting for a price in the $26,000 to $33,000 ballpark. The latest word is the car could be in the mid-20s after the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. That would seriously undercut the Volt, which General Motors is widely believed to be trying to keep under $40,000 before the tax credit, and make it competitive with the Toyota Prius hybrid.
Leaf Blower (Score:2)
My 6.0l Jag XJ-12
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I drove one of those once....fast enough but not really what I would call a screamer. More a luxury sedan. My dad's old 64 stock bonneville with a single four barrel 389 woulda given it a run...
I did help install a mopar 440 into a Jensen Interceptor [wikipedia.org] once (replacement engine work, did it right out in the parking lot at a used car dealers)..that car had some nads to it, tell ya whut...that's really the only English car I have had much to do with. I will admit the old XKEs were quite pretty.
Anyway, I found an
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No hot rod in the 0-60 sense.
But, when you are in a serious lux ride, moving along at 60 - then drop the hammer? It's fun to watch jaws drop as the other cars on the road drop into tiny dots in the mirror , and you're still riding rock-steady and quiet in leather and walnut...
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That's it then.
I've never really owned any sort of fast car really. got to drive and ride in tons of them, one of the perks of being around detroit in the 60s. I had two fiat sports cars, but neither was fast, just fun, serious babe magnets...heh. "Ohhhh! cute!!!" hahahah Had a 950 spider I wish I still had for the incredible mileage, then a 124 spyder that got stolen...
My girlfriend has a 79 lincoln [wikipedia.org] though, (complete with functional 8 track..) that is similar, not fast out of the hole, (I mean it can make
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A high-priced contractor at one of my jobs in the dotcom era bought a used XJ12 for fun. I thought it was more like 5 liters in 12 cylinders, but anyways, he took me for a ride in it, on the freeway in 2nd gear, just yanking the hell out of it dropping the hammer and then lifting off and repeating. What a bored fool. But it was fun.
I still don't understand (Score:2)
How a car with significantly fewer components and significantly less weight can cost twice to three times as much as a similar gas vehicle. There are plenty of small gas and diesel vehicles in the $11,000 range. Even taking into the cost of Li-Ion batteries, they'd have to be Au-Ion batteries to be worth $33,000.
Don't know. (Score:1)
I have no idea either. Seems like they could be had for around 20 grand even today, with at least some useable range, ten grand for the basic ride, ten grand worth of battery pack. Add another five for a generator trailer for a long trip range extender. That would come in under the Leaf, under the Volt and way under the Tesla model S sedan.
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Significantly fewer, more expensive components. Also don't forget that with new tech you're still paying the "early adopter" surcharge as the manufacturer recovers their initial R&D and tooling costs. The batteries, for example, are specifically designed Lithium-Magnesium laminate sheets, not the already ubiquitous cylindrical cells which use a different chemistry anyway.
Weight, not so much. The LEAF has a curb weight of approximately 3300 pounds (steel body, btw).
=Smidge=
Wow that looks just like (Score:1)
Every other hatch back that has ever been made.
Seriously WTF. Can we get some iconic design please? Nissan CAN make good looking cars, too bad the Leaf isn't one of them. (At least not from the pictures I saw on their website)
cars and styling (Score:1)
I guess I really don't pay much attention to car styles anymore, they all look more or less the same to me now, computer designed wind tunnel modified teardrops.
Basically, I am a truck guy, I have a datsun truck now. I hope we start seeing some electric trucks. they will look like..trucks no doubt.
The aftermarket electric engine kit guys can turn a variety of rides into electric cars now, I guess for similar money to what they want for the leaf you could just pick out whichever older body style in a sedan y
I'm goin' the opposite direction (Score:1)
74 Olds Toronado... 9 miles per gallon, baby. And ugly as hell...
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Is that the multi chain, front wheel drive thing?
9 mpg..sheesh...
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9 mpg? Jesus, my V-6 '02 Concorde has more comfortable seats, more legroom, blows that oldsmobile radio out of the water, and has heat and AC in the back seat, will outrun your antique tank... and I get 30-35 mpg on the highway.
And it doesn't smoke.
charger (Score:1)
Saw an old charger today, some late sixties model..guessing a 68 or so, heavily modded into a street rod. Good looking but dang I don't want that guy's fuel bill. He had two hugemongous four barrel stacks sticking up out of the hood. I'd have to guess again, proly holley double pumpers. (for back then though I think the studebaker avanti had it over all the rest of the detroit muscle cars for styling)
I'll stick to my boring good mileage and reliability choices over speed I guess, old or new models. Of the n
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guessing a 68 or so, heavily modded into a street rod. Good looking but dang I don't want that guy's fuel bill.
Back in '68 gasoline was twenty five cents per gallon, so gas guzzlers were fine by most people. I don't know of anything but gasoline, concert tickets, and medical costs that cost ten times today what they did in 1968. IIRC a loaf of bread was fifty cents, now it's a dollar at County Market (even though some dumbasses buy the $3/loaf bread one shelf up).
Hell, in 1976 I paid $600 for a twenty five
12.9 (Score:1)
I actually got a fill er up at 12.9 a gallon in my old falcon once. That's the cheapest gas I ever saw. I was making..gotta think.. a buck ten an hour then.
Ya, I tried to buy an avantai II once from some lot after a test drive, but the dude only wanted to lease it. I am going WTF on a lease?? and said no. Fast car though, had the all rebuilt blueprinted vette drivetrain in it, and the most jam up nice interior in any ride I ever saw. I was making some serious loot in those days..wish I had metals banked 10%
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Man, you're bringing back some old memories. The cheapest I ever got gas was 17.9. It was funny, I was on my way to SIU (before I temporarily dropped out and joined the AF before returning) and I told the guy to put a buck in. "You didn't look at the price, did you?" he said. "I'm trying to start a gas war." I think it cost me $3.50 to fill it up that day; two weeks later he was out of business; he got his war, and lost.
A year or two later I was in the Air Force in Deleware, and a shady friend and I went to
HAHAHAHAHA! (Score:1)
You are probably right, sounds like he eventually would have annoyed the wrong guy! hehehe
You see this vid? An example of annoying the wrong guy... Mr. gangstah tough guy picked on the wrong old geezer, pretty funny
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhjEx393uo7j442u4R [worldstarhiphop.com]
You would *think* mr. gangstah would have noticed the old guy had 50 lbs and a foot on him....