Some certainly lie more than others, no doubts about that.

I've never licked a ball in my life, and I certainly don't support Trump.

What's worrying is that they all seem to have stalled when it comes to things people really care about - better cameras, better batteries. Google is the same, the Pixel line used to be about the best cameras in the industry, but the last few years they have stalled with only marginal improvements.

Only the Chinese brands seem to be innovating now, with massive camera sensors and better optics, and new battery chemistry to fit more energy into the same space.

Cheap EVs can drive for 4-5 hours before needing a short stop to charge. Before I bought my current one I looked at some potential journeys, like a 9 hour one from one end of the country to the other. It would need 2x 10 minute and 1x 20 minute stops.

Or rather, the car needs fewer comfort breaks than I do. The battery can outlast my bladder.

Outside of some very niche situations, there really is little point to PHEVs. You get all the disadvantages of a fossil, and the smaller battery limits the benefits you get from the EV side. They aren't even any cheaper to make up for it.

They do that in the UK too. It's been over-hyped, as with most stories about China.

I bought my last car "pre reg", meaning that the dealer bought it and registered the car in their name, and I bought it "second hand" with only a few kilometres on the clock. And when I got it, the dealer hadn't even bothered to register it to themselves, so I am the first and only owner.

It's just the way they discount new cars to fudge the numbers, very very common here. They can shift sales into different months, deal with over-stocking issues at storage locations, that kind of thing. Like all retail businesses, sometimes they need the throughput, sometimes they need the higher margin.

Not just that, but if you want anything other than GNOME you are kinda on your own when it comes to compatibility and sorting out the inevitably issues that comes up.

One of the biggest problems with Linux is the diversity. It's good that people have a choice, but with that comes a huge number of compatibility problems. Not just software compatibility, but support compatibility. Something doesn't work, you need to find a solution for your specific configuration, your obscure variant of Debian, and also the specific version because the instructions for last year's distro won't work now.

Even for technical people it's a pain. Go look up how to control GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi. There are multiple APIs, most of them depreciated, multiple CLI tools, and a general level of confusion about the whole thing.

The point is that you can't just look for a USB cable with a specific conductor size and expect it to automatically be a good one. Maybe they just stuck a chunky aluminium conductor in there.

Read the actual tests that have been done with calibrated equipment under controlled conditions at the link I sent, and buy one of those.

All politicians lie. It's part of the job description.

It would be nice if certain websites wouldn't refuse to work if you're using a vpn.

They try to hide that fact too, with messages like, "we're sorry, something went wrong" and similar. Turns out all you have to turn is turn off your VPN and suddenly it works. Companies should at least be honest and use messages like, "Hey, asshole, turn off your VPN and we'll let you use our site."

No, I'm not. And I've never aspired to be "average" either.

Yup. I have a 2007. The last year before that stupid TPMS became mandatory.

People from across the pond like to make fun of "range anxiety" don't seem to understand the concept of it being 300 miles or more from one side of one's state to another, and that people commonly drive long distances on a regular basis.

My wife and I work from home. We still have no interest in a "commuter car" because when we drive, we DRIVE. Weekend trips out of state are common. We don't want to spend much of those weekend trips sitting around waiting for a vehicle to charge when we can gas and go in 5 minutes.

Very similar to my situation.

My older car is a 2007 with 127K miles. The newer one is a 2024 with about 30K miles.

Insurance on the older one is dirt cheap. I feel zero desire to "upgrade" it, especially since that would mean getting a bunch of crap I don't want on my vehicle.

The newer one, my wife's car, was a big expense for us at $42k or so, but we paid it way down and only owe about $10K on it. That will be zeroed out in six months or so.

Stranded has higher resistance because the strands are longer due to being twisted, compared to the solid wire.

If you think the connectors don't matter... I don't know what to tell you. They are one of the main reasons why crap cables are crap.

Personally, I think the cost of vehicles is just too high, relative to what you get.

I could pay cash for any car I could realistically want. The issue is that I just don't want any car that's available, at the price that at which it is being offered. I value a new car at maybe $25K max. What you can get for that just isn't worth it to me.