Car Talk

[scotchandcigar]

Switching gears from these depressing car repairs. SiriusXM does have a car talk show on the Business Channel 132.
Cars and Culture with Jason Stein

'Cars & Culture with Jason Stein' Brings Automotive History to Life

Take a joyride down the story of the automobile through the voices of those who create them as well as those who lust for them.

www.siriusxm.com

I used to listen to Click and Clack.

 

[Channel98]

BYD Auto, a subsidiary of BYD Company, a multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, was established in 2003 and has surpassed Tesla as the world's largest manufacturer of electric vehicles. Don't feel bad for Tesla's biggest shareholder, though. Forbes estimates Elon Musk's net worth at $726,400,000,000.

Tesla no longer world's biggest EV maker after its sales drop for second year in a row

Tesla's electric vehicle sales fell 9% in 2025 from a year ago amid the expiration of a $7,500 EV U.S. tax credit.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[scotchandcigar]

When he becomes a trillionaire, that'll be a sad day for humanity.

 

[JHDK]

This is neat:

New photo · Thursday, Jan 29

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

I dig those daily calenders where you year off a page daily. I had the far side ones when I was a kid and got one last year and loved it. So this year I got the far side and this history channel one.

They are both fun.

 

[HecticArt]

The Mrs. gets me an Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader trivia page-a-day every Christmas.
There‘s always good stuff to start the work day with.

 

[sadchild]

Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader trivia page-a-day every Christmas.

I own like 40 or more of the books. I get the annual ones and some special editions too.

 

[scotchandcigar]

So this was a month ago.

- While in the waiting room, a guy towing a trailer clips the back of my car in the parking lot, causing seemingly minor - but expensive - damage.

My car got repaired this week. Here's the "before" pic



And here's the "after"



They replaced the trunk lid and bumper cover, and had to strip and paint both to match. It cost the guy a bit over $3K. If you look really carefully at the top pic, near the upper edge of the image, there's a dimple in the trunk lid that was there when I got the car. So after all this, the net change for me is that the dimple is gone, and the car has been washed.

 

[Madison]

Oh yes. That looks much better

 

[HecticArt]

You got a new BMW badge too!
It’s great that you didn’t have to pay for that work.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

He chose to pay for it directly and not go though insurance?

 

[scotchandcigar]

You got a new BMW badge too!
It’s great that you didn’t have to pay for that work.

Well none of the work was necessary before I got hit, except for the dimple. He scraped off the badge when he hit me.

He chose to pay for it directly and not go though insurance?

Yes. He has a company that involves many vehicles, so he doesn't want to file a claim.

 

[JHDK]

Dude that sucks and I definitely want to talk about that story because it has spanned two threads and a bit of time and is quite interesting however my first reaction is.....

Look at you Mr. Money Bags with your specialty lobster plate:

New photo · Friday, Feb 27

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Too good for the plebeian, regular Maine plate I guess.

Forget building the house of your dreams or Caribbean vacations or anything else. Specialty plates are for like the Carnegies or Rockefellers, not us regular people.

I'm pretty sure they cost like 15 extra dollars a year.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Dude that sucks and I definitely want to talk about that story because it has spanned two threads and a bit of time and is quite interesting however my first reaction is.....

Look at you Mr. Money Bags with your specialty lobster plate:

New photo · Friday, Feb 27

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Too good for the plebeian, regular Maine plate I guess.

Forget the building the house of your dreams or Caribbean vacations anything else. Specialty plates are for like the Carnegies or Rockefellers, not us regular people.

I'm pretty sure they cost like 15 extra dollars a year.

Yes, I believe it's $10 or $15 extra, but every 2 years. I like the lobster, but I don't understand why, instead of saying "Vacationland", it says "Lobster". It's stating the obvious. Stupid.

 

[JHDK]

I don't understand why, instead of saying "Vacationland", it says "Lobster". It's stating the obvious. Stupid.

Vacationland would be way cooler.

Now that you mention it, it makes me think of those hats that were stupid and slightly inappropriate that everybody wore back in like 2007 cause they thought it was funny. Shit like this:

New photo · Friday, Feb 27

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

But even without Vacationland it is freaking cool and totally worth taking out a second mortgage which I'm sure you had to do to rock it on the back of your car.

 

[scotchandcigar]

We had to put up our pantry window as collateral.

 

[JHDK]

We had to put up our pantry window as collateral.

That totally makes sense. Must have been a difficult decision. Once you and the Mrs. made the final decision I hope you at least informed your daughters before going through with it.

 

[Aaron]

Gas price around $2.60 here now.
Posting this now so I can remember it before too long.

 

[Channel98]

Lucky you! Here in Glendale today, a gallon of gas is $4.60 at Arco, $4.76 at Shell and $4.79 at Chevron.

 

[JHDK]

Gas price around $2.60 here now.
Posting this now so I can remember it before too long.

Same here in SFL. A little more, I think I paid $2.68 last time I filled the Venue.

I got the remaining miles down to 6 before empty. I can do better. I get a kick out of getting it as low as possible. This is my first car that gives me a digital readout of how many miles to empty so my goal is to get it to 1. So far 6 is my record.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

$1.20/l here in Canada. That works out to US$3.32/gal roughly.