Four consecutive months of sales declines aren’t exactly the bright economic future many were hoping for, although some of the April decline is surely relative. If there’s any sort of bright spot in the market it’s hybrids, which continue to be the fastest growing powertrain.
I’m talking about the United States, of course, though hybrids are also popular in other parts of the world. While not a perfect analog, the Australian car market’s desire for American trucks has made it somewhat similar to the US. The most popular truck for average consumers isn’t an American truck, though it is a hybrid.
Hybrids are taking off in Europe, especially in the compact crossover space, while small city cars are skewing towards pure BEVs. Some of this is price. With subsidies, you can now get a small Chinese EV for about $58 a month in some places.
Volkswagen is all about ‘Ring records today, including setting a fastest electric luxury executive car record in a familiar vehicle. The name of the vehicle is as amusingly long as the lap was impressively short.
Hybrid Brands Set Hybrid Sales Records In April
Last year was a strange one for the car market, due almost entirely to politics. The announcement of “Liberation Day” tariffs sent buyers rushing out to buy cars before prices increased. At the same time, EV buyers snagged electric vehicles before the end of the tax credits.
Topping that this April was going to be hard, and then came the War in Iran. As Automotive News reports, April could have been worse, but wasn’t great:
In a preliminary report, GlobalData estimated volume fell 6.7 percent, which would mark the fourth consecutive monthly decline.
April sales fell at each of the six automakers that report monthly: Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Group, Subaru and Mazda, with double-digit declines at Ford and Mazda.
Honda and Genesis were the only brands to post April gains.
While job growth has rebounded and U.S. employment remains steady, analysts say the auto industry faces more hurdles: elevated prices and borrowing costs, rising gasoline prices and generally sour consumers.
Consumers have almost entirely embraced the idea of hybrids, which offer both increased fuel efficiency and a better driving experience. While EVs are great for some, they don’t work for everyone. I was trying to think of a car I’ve driven recently that offers a hybrid and non-hybrid drivetrain where I wouldn’t prefer the hybrid and came up short.
If you need a comfortable thing with four wheels that can go very far on a tank of regular gas, you could do worse than a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. If you want something a little more stylish, there’s always the Accord Hybrid. I reset one of my trip odometers when the weather turned warm, and my Honda CR-V Hybrid has been averaging nearly 40 MPG in about 800 miles of driving.
Honda, one of the two brands that report monthly sales that didn’t drop year-over-year, set a hybrid sales record, with more than half of all CR-V and Accord sales being hybrid. Toyota’s “electrified” sales accounted for 55.8% of all of the brand’s sales in the United States, and those weren’t all BZs. The Sonata hybrid? Up 171% year-over-year.
The Decade of the Hybrid ain’t quitting!
The BYD Shark Is The #1 Truck For Private Buyers In Australia
Chinese automakers may have started out making trucks by copying other designs, but they’ve come a long way in the last few years. One of the most popular Chinese trucks is the BYD Shark, which is a plug-in hybrid that’s been on sale in Australia for a while.
According to News.com.au‘s David McCowen, the private market for trucks has absolutely cratered, which makes sense for a country that’s seen a huge positive swing in gas prices:
Fleet sales of utes remain strong. But private customers are turning away from them, and the car industry recorded a near-30 per cent drop in private sales of four-wheel-drive utes between March 2025 and March 2026.
The sales crash for vehicles in this class is brutal, if you compare March this year with the same month in 2025.
It includes best-selling heroes such as the Ford Ranger (-9.1 per cent) and Toyota HiLux (-27.8 per cent) that recorded sales drops.
Then there’s the Toyota LandCruiser (-75.9 per cent), Nissan Navara (-51.8 per cent), VW Amarok (-46.3 per cent), Mazda BT-50 (-21.3 per cent) and Isuzu D-Max (-7.6 per cent).
The best-selling truck in Australia for non-fleet buyers is the plug-in hybrid Shark, which, as McCowen points out, is probably the least truck-like “ute” on the market. Is this a promising sign for EREV trucks here?
Germans Can Get A Leapmotor T03 For Just $58 A Month
The journalist Kevin Williams has been a big proponent of Chinese EVs, and he even wrote a piece on the Leapmotor T03 for us back in 2022:
Compared to the Wuling Mini Hongguang EV, the Leapmotor T03’s front-motor, front-wheel-drive design is pretty standard to nearly small EVs, but remember, cars like the Hongguang Mini EV seem to have platform designs that are more akin to Jason’s Changli, rather than, say, any given subcompact car, ever. The T03 uses pretty substantial MacPherson struts up front, instead of some shit that looks stolen from a cheap scooter. The rear uses a pleasantly benign semi-independent torsion beam rear axle, instead of a chicken-leg skinny solid rear axle with a motor the size of a Conair hair dryer that feeds directly into it. Hell, the battery is even liquid-cooled, not just cooled by essentially a box fan on top of the battery, or nothing at all, which is common in very cheap EVs. This is a real car, folks.
Not only is it a real car, it’s a real cheap car in Germany. Per Bloomberg:
Drivers in Germany can lease the Leapmotor T03 city car from €49 ($58) a month, a plan that factors in a new EV subsidy and is roughly half the price of the similarly sized Fiat 500. The model comes standard with perks including a rear-view camera, six airbags and a panoramic sun roof.
The marketing push seems to be working. Leapmotor’s sales in Germany more than quadrupled in April, according to data released Thursday by the KBA regulator. The brand’s deliveries rose 358% through the first four months of the year, to 4,523 vehicles. While that’s a small total, Leapmotor is on track to outsell nameplates including Smart and Honda in the country.
If I could get a $58 little city car for running the kid to school and picking up groceries I’d have to consider it.
The Porsche Taycan Turbo GT With Weissach Package And Optional Manthey Kit Sets Luxury Electric Vehicle ‘Ring Record
I love cars with long names. My favorite is still the Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition, though it now has competition in the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Weissach Package with Manthey Kit. What’s that all mean?
The kit’s key aerodynamic components include a new rear wing with enlarged end plates, an optimized front diffuser, a high-performance rear diffuser with extended fins, and enlarged air deflectors on the underbody. In addition, carbon aerodiscs on the rear wheels improve aerodynamic efficiency. Adjustments to the rear wing and front diffuser allow the driver to choose between varying levels of downforce to optimize for the specific conditions and track.
For the first time, the Manthey Kit also includes adjustments to the powertrain: Optimizations to the high-voltage battery, control unit and pulse inverters increase the maximum discharge current while driving from 1,100 to 1,300 amps. This increases the system output by 20 kW (26 hp) to 600 kW (804 hp), while the maximum torque when using Launch Control rises to 936 ft-lbs. (an increase of 22 ft-lbs.). If the driver activates Attack Mode, an additional power boost of up to 130 kW (174 hp) is available for a short time. The 10-second output therefore temporarily increases to 730 kW (978 hp) instead of 700 kW (938 hp).
It also gives you something hilariously fast on the ‘Ring, thanks in no small part to Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires. Above is video (click here if it doesn’t load) of a so-equipped Taycan doing a sub-7-minute ‘Ring lap. That’s a little faster than a Lamborghini Huracán Performante LP640-4 on Trofeos.
Porsche is calling this the new record holder in the “Electric Executive Cars category” on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, but Thomas pointed out that it’s also probably the fastest sedan of any kind on that track. Can anyone think of a faster sedan?
A Taycan is an excellent thing to drive and, it seems, a capable way of setting a blistering lap time if that’s your bag. For me, a Taycan 4S Cross Turismo is probably enough car.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It’s just starting to warm up around here, which means I’ve had the Santana version of “Oye Como Va” playing in the back of my head. You could do a lot worse.
The Big Question
You get to bring any car to the ‘Ring to run, what is it?
Top photo: Honda
“I love cars with long names. My favorite is still the Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition, though it now has competition in the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Weissach Package with Manthey Kit.”
So they are just having Fall Out Boy name cars now??
Well, footballers sure love selling their autobiographies.
Notice I did not say “writing.”
Manthey are getting carried away with their car names…
I’d love to bring my MGB to the ring, but the brakes would most likely fail half way through the first lap….However it’d be fun driving a slow car fast!!
Hahaha, this basically what I was thinking when I read the big question. I was thinking more of my Datsun roadster 1600 specifically, but the intent is the same. With a car that slow, you might even have time to look at the scenery!
SPL311? A person of taste, I see.
First we aggravate our allies around the world, and then we drive up gas prices and send them all running to China for cars. Great plan.
We call that winning!
/s in case it wasn’t obvious.
Russia and China didn’t spend all that money on campaign ads for nothing!
Well… I’ll be honest with you. We weren’t buying your cars before either…
Tired of all the winning yet? I am.
For the ‘Ring, a McMurtry Spéirling. Because I want all the static downforce I can muster to keep me from binning it (probably still would).
James May had it right with bombing the ‘Ring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpk0CtA2odE
It’s a good track, but it’s this weird obsession of automakers that mostly serves to make cars one-dimensional ‘Ring time machines as the only marker of goodness.
Eventually one stops caring. It’s like ludicrous 0-60mph / 1/4 mile supercar times of the past decade, EV or otherwise. There’s a certain brain-melting appeal I suppose, but it’s just an appendage measuring contest past a point.
Have good ‘Ring times made these cars any fun to drive by regular mortals? Speed and handling are great, but past a relatively low point my talent runs out.
Give me a Miata, a GR86, oh hell, something as mundane as a Mazda3 or VW Golf (maybe GTI) around a track.
All will be entertaining to drive flat-out. And the low limits mean I’m less likely to die.
There’s a reason the fast car slow vs. slow car fast saying exists.
Well a GTI just set a Nurburgring lap time record. So let’s cross that one out too.
TBQ: I’d take Jason’s 2CV around the ‘ring. I’m guessing it would be quite entertaining, and the longer the lap time, the longer I’d get to enjoy the silliness.
Gran Turismo has had some unhinged weekly races with some truly inappropriate vehicles racing on the ring. They’ve been just that flavor of fun.
You get to bring any car to the ‘Ring to run, what is it?
Bugatti Veyron. While a lap on the Nürburgring sounds fun, I just want to drive a Veyron. If the question was “you get to drive any car to the grocery store, what is it?” I would have also answered Veyron. I just want to get behind the wheel of one of these things once – I would even be happy getting to drive one 10 mph in a parking lot.
“The Decade of the Hybrid ain’t quitting!”
Honda still has hybrid work to do… Such as making a hybrid version of their minivan and other large vehicles. Same deal with Mazda, Nissan, GM, Ford and other brands.
And one thing I’ve noticed is there are far fewer used Chevy Bolts and other affordable-and-still-decent BEVs in my area.
“You get to bring any car to the ‘Ring to run, what is it?”
I want the Race Taxi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59j-a86YU9M
There are fewer chevy Bolts becuase owners are holding on to them. Soon you won’t be able to get one.
Sure the people that already had them are gonna continue to hang onto them.
But I clearly recall seeing far more Chevy Bolts for sale prior to the fuel price spike… at least in my area. After the fuel prices shot up, for the people in the market, it caused more of them to go for affordable-decent used BEVs like the Bolt.
The other car that has gotten really scarce are manual Honda Fits. They were/are loved by people like me who want a cheap and fun manual car… and don’t care about having the fastest car. The Fit is ‘fast enough’.
You can still get them, but used prices are higher than they were when I bought my Fit back in 2019.
Hey Canadian government,
Stop burning our Chinese EV quota on $180k Lotus EVs and bring in some of these Leapmotors.
For $100/mo, I’ll be first in line to grab one for commuting.
Apparently the Chinese car quota will increase gradually year over year and will be around 70,000 units by 2030.
Those are rookie numbers, gotta pump those numbers up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfnjX88Va4Y
Oooh, adding that one to my EDM playlist.
TBQ: I’d like to see the final-gen Dodge Viper ACR have another go. There was that private team that tried several years ago, but I think both their ACRs crashed before setting a lap record. But the big-wing, big-engine, manual sports car was putting up highly competitive numbers before it crashed.
I’ve said this before, but my next car will either be a hybrid or a manual (it’d be awesome if was both, but I’m not getting a CR-Z). But it’s increasingly looking likely to be a hybrid. I feel as though I’m preaching to the choir a little bit, but yesterday’s TechnologyConnection video about Toyota’s hybrid tech was a really good explainer on how the eCVT is the most elegant automotive transmission. An orbital gearset hybrid makes so much set that it almost seems foolish to do anything else.
I was fully convinced of the Toyota planetary gearset a few years ago when I watched the below explainer on it. Since then I’ve been trying to get one, and finally got an insane deal on a Highlander Hybrid with some cosmetic damage a few weeks ago. It’s been fantastic, and I expect it to keep getting 35 mpg for the next 200k miles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O61WihMRdjM
I’ve been eying 2021+ Siennas lately, but unfortunately, that’s going to have to be a purchase when we actually need it instead of when we want it.
I would have preferred waiting, tbh. Although I can afford this one, it’s still a financial hit at a time I didn’t want to take one.
But we have a friend who really needed a cheap, reliable family car and I sold her our Mazda5 for a good deal to help her out.
I really wanted/needed the non-existent hybrid or diesel minivan 16 years ago but got a Mazda5 instead. Now that I can get the Sienna I don’t really need one anymore. Still want one but my wife prefers to drive smaller vehicles…
I prefer smaller vehicles as well, but need a third row for my dog and needed a bit more towing capability than the Mazda5. Unfortunately, without any Euro size hybrid vans on the US market that pushed me into the Highlander.
I would have liked to get a minivan, but the Sienna is even larger than the Highlander and the slight ground clearance advantage works out for the kind of camping we do. I really like it, but it’s huge compared to my 5.
Compliments on the younique username.
I bought a used Prius C last year, and it has to be the best car purchase I’ve ever made. I bought it to replace a trusty, but increasingly troublesome Subaru Impreza that I didn’t want to keep paying what I knew would be larger and larger repair bills. I bought it right before the inauguration because I had a feeling that tariffs and rising fuel prices were coming, and what do you know…I was right. I get 50 mpg average now, and I love it.
A modified Honda first generation Insight can be very quick. The car is so light that horsepower boosts make a big difference. And the IMA electric motor can take a goodly bit more current than stock. Swap in a more modern battery, do the current mod, and let ‘er rip!
I seem to be the only car person in the world who is sick of hearing about the ring. It does nothing for me or any car I will ever likely own. 99% of readers are in the same boat, but people and oem’s are obsessed. I feel like it made sense/mattered when a performance car was at 300hp and cars drove like a boat. Now everything is fast, everything corners okay and every single car made, cannot be run full tilt on a public road.
Maybe some of those little euro city cars could be fun. Slow cars going fast is fun to me.
Count me in as well for Nurburgring nonsense.
That Leapmotor is actually Chinese. If you want a great European city EV, try the Twingo.
I’m not quite in the same boat. I’m not sick of hearing it, it just doesn’t actually mean anything to me. Its like when a little kid shows you the mud ball they have made and are super proud of it. “Good job Buddy!” and thats about it.
I commented I want to take the ring in my Datsun Roadster 1600. Its not fast, and it doesn’t handle terribly well. Should be a great time!
I get it. I do, it’s a unique track environment that does not tell me much about how the car fits into my life.
I do, however, like that everyone has sort of landed on a “standard” for us to compare all cars. I don’t really care which track they choose but at least we all basically know the ‘ring is a difficult and technical course and we can use it as a baseline. If you know the other cars’ speed on the ‘ring you can make some assumptions about the new cars based on the comparison.
But really, at this stage of vehicle development, where Camrys are putting down five second to 60 times we don’t need these numbers anymore except the ridiculous hyper cars. They can chase all the new records they want. Just five me something fun and (mostly) analog.
The Leapmotor T03 hasn’t been crash tested anywhere as far as I can tell. That should be raising alarm bells. The best source I could find has the Leapmotor boss making excuses that Euro NCAP testing is expensive, so doing crash testing would cause the price to increase. Does that not seem like a red flag to anyone else?
I know for a fact that GM virtually crash tests every single model, and their simulations are incredibly close if not identical to actual testing data. I cannot for a second believe that if Chinese EV manufacturers are as advanced as everyone says that they aren’t capable of getting remotely close. What I’m getting at is if they simulate the crash tests and the performance is so good, they would be jumping over backwards to have a dirt cheap 5-Star safety EV. But costs on these ultra-cheap Chinese EVs are cut everywhere, and I would bet a large amount of money that this thing would perform horribly in a test, which Leapmotor knows it.
This and why do all the europoors need “city cars?” They have the best bus/train/tram system tax dollars can buy!
That’s because you call them city cars, but we actually use them for everything.
Also avoid the Leapmotor. Buy something else.
Odd since they’ve got NCAP testing for the Leapmotor C10 and B10. But there’s also no test for the Dacia Spring for Euro NCAP.
But there is an NCAP test for the BYD Dolphin. So I’ll give some props to BYD on testing their supermini.
Honestly, if it’s just something I’m driving around town at < 60km/h, I couldn’t care less about crash test ratings. If I did, I wouldn’t be riding motorcycles either.
When it comes to full size cars that I’m driving at proper speeds then it’s a different story.
I think it would make sense to require advertising such, so educated decisions can be made. I haven’t decided where I really land on mandatory safety features for cars, when we allow motorcycles. I understand the end goals of it, but it also carries real financial costs that make affording reliable transportation more difficult for many. Its not a free upgrade.
I agree, when trying to find crash tests for the T03 all I could find was Leapmotor marketing about how “it has high strength materials and modern safety features like lane keeping” but a complete avoidance of crash testing. I have no idea how it could be legislated in, but my bid would be that every marketing blurb of any length MUST lead with “This car has not been crash tested against Euro-NCAP standard testing regiments” or something to that effect. I think most people, enthusiasts included, do not realize how many vehicles have not been crash tested recently or at all.
I think the thing is that people view cars as safe, and motorcycles as dangerous. But people don’t often realize to what extent cars can and often are death traps. I understand not everyone does adequate research, but there should be no way to hide behind unproven safety as a way to market a vehicle as safe. This isn’t the legal system, it shouldn’t be “safe until proven dangerous” but rather the opposite, since safety never happens by accident with car design.
Motorcycle Helmets have to pass certain crash tests (the most stringent being in Europe), and many places require helmets to be worn.
In event of a moto crash, the rider will not be on the moto (we tend to fly away or fall off) so why bother crash testing them?
The motorcycle isn’t going to hurt the people inside the car which is designed to take a hit from another car that weighs 10x the motorcycle…
My point is not crash testing motorcycles. My point is we allow for acceptance of risk. No matter how good the helmet, the risk factor of injury on a motorcycle is significantly higher. We allow people to choose that risk. So by that same token, it allows for one to question why choosing such a risk is not permitted in the car world as well.
Google AI says T03 has a 5-star rating in C-NCAP, which is very similar to Euro NCAP.
I have not seen the same, a source would be great. All I see is Google AI and sources pointing to the B10 having a 5-star rating, but that is a completely different car.
Yeah I can’t find much info either to be honest. Chinese domestic data may not be readily accessible from the outside.
Alibaba AI wrote a article dreaming it got 4 stars on c-ncap. I know Gemini dreams constantly but 5 stars is impressive.
https://smartbuy.alibaba.com/buyingguides/leapmotor-t03
In some gala for my kids’ high school, I got into a bit of back-and-forth with some financial types signing the praise of AI.
This little excursion shows why AI is so dangerous when life safety is at stake.
If a finance type makes more correct bets than losing ones with AI he’ll be hailed as the second coming of Buffet. If a doctor or engineer does the same he’ll be in prison till the end of time.
It’s the same people that would take their phones out during the middle of a conversation to “fact check” they don’t understand not all information is equal or factual or even publicly available. But they play casino with the market so they must know something. Especially when their spreadsheet takes up 24gb of ram and they have a little vest with a company name on it.
I specifically avoid certain vests just so I won’t look like a finance bro, particularly because I’m in Midtown Manhattan.
That must be tough to do. They are always ranking the vest brands as rank and status. I think I would wear a fake Moncler just to screw with them.
Can somebody please recommend something by Santana that justifies the love? When I was a kid, he was regarded as One Of The Greats, but neither the aforementioned song, nor “Black Magic Woman,” nor that abomination with Rob Thomas can justify that reputation.
Hes a good guitarist, so if you appreciate that, especially with more of a spanish vibe. If you don’t love guitar, its just regular music to most people. A lot of these older bands are good, but there was also way less competition, no internet and most things were “new” or edgy. It’s harder to impress people these days.
Yeah, it’s absolutely the guitar that does it for me. I’ll never tire of artists basically pulling magic out of a half dozen pieces of string on a chunk of wood.
I do love guitar, that’s why I’m asking. Tracks?
Europa, Open Invitation and Super Shop favorite All I Ever Wanted
Thanks for the tips!
Love that description of guitar virtuosos!
“The game of love” with Michelle Branch. Mostly because of Michelle Branch, who I thought would be bigger. Also, skip Santana and watch anything with Brian Setzer. Watched him live two years ago and he’s nothing short of amazing.
I remember when Setzer was with the Stray Cats before he went solo with his Orchestra. I haven’t kept up with him since the 90’s but I otherwise agree with your assessment.
He’s back with the guys from the cats. Go watch them, you’ll be glad you did.
The double live album “Lotus” from 1973 is peak Carlos Santana. This is back when he was regularly sharing a stage with John McLaughlin so he had to be at the top of his game.
To me, Santana is a great guitarist with a unique tone, but I completely agree that there are dozens of great guitarists with unique tones in the world of rock and roll.
What I’m learning is that although individual talent counts, the sum of the pieces is what really makes a difference.
The back of the Band is what shines in Santana. The bassist and drummer (he’s had several) do Latin American Swing. A sound you can hear on my dad’s old Herb Alpert records. This fits well with Santana’s background and playing style and makes the music much more interesting to listen to.
It’s not something I can personally listen to a lot, but it’s hard to not to sort of groove to once in a while.
No, no I cannot.
Practically, I’d love to run my 76 HP Subaru GL at the Ring.
For historical purposes, I want to attack that course in the Cugnot Steamer.
Forget the ‘Ring, bring that Leapmotor here. My GF is moving in July to a place about 8 miles from work, and was used to my old Abarth 500 for size comparison. $58 a month and no gas? She’d love it.
I scored a $33/month lease on a 500e a year ago, and it’s been a fantastic little commuter car when I was cruelly forced to stop working form home and return to the office full time. When the lease is up, I’m definitely replacing it with another EV.
Get a Twingo, looks better, drives better.
Not really. I’ll take the 500
We’re pricing out solar panels right now.
Not because electricity is high, but the napkin math of how many solar panels would literally offset fuel costs if I had an EV vs. ICE, plus the overall home energy savings, pays itself off within the life of a car.
For those in sunnier climates, this math gets even easier.
With 25-30y mortgages, what’s a 10year loan on some solar panels that’ll last 25 years and pay themselves off within those 10y – only to help you pay down the remaining 15-20y you’ve got left on the house itself? I get it, it’s a cost most can’t shoulder going in, and may be the straw on affordability, but longer-term it’s a net positive.
The PVWatts website is your friend for figuring out how many panels you need. There is a learning curve but once you get the hang of it, it’s very accurate. My production numbers are very close to the estimates from their calculator.
I was quoted by a local company for solar and a battery backup.
$38k Canadian to offset 50% of my usage. Fuck. That.
So I’m focusing on making the house more energy efficient first, and I’ll re-visit solar in a few years. First on the list is my detached garage. That’s over 50% of my electricity usage in the winter months (I keep it heated all winter).
I’ve found that the batteries are rather pricey, too; the price of being able to run independent of the grid would be a premium.
However, depending on where you live, you may be eligible for a rebate on such a system to make it slightly more palatable.
That’s AFTER rebates!
Ouch. That sounds like your local market needs a bit of competition.
There is competition, the problem is more trusted installers.
That’s a LOT of holes in my fairly new roof, and we get a lot of rain and snow here.
Ah well, we’ll see where it goes. I’m also tempted to do JUST batteries, switch my plan to Ultra Low Overnight where I pay $0.039/kWh, and have the batteries run the house during the peak hours.
Is an ground mounted system possible in your yard? Installation was way cheaper and matinence is more accessible.
I’d have to lose my whole front yard, as that’s the due south facing portion.
And I have a bungalow with 60 linear feet of low pitch south-facing roof.
Unless you have a net metering program similar to California’s NEM 3.0, batteries are mostly just a flex. I still got batteries because I didn’t want to deal with a generator for prolonged power outages. Where I live, outages are rare. But when they do happen, they last for days because a tornado or similar has destroyed a lot of the power lines.
If you’re in the US (and possibly Canada), you’re going to pay way over what residents in Australia and Europe pay. Not an exaggeration: We pay 2 to 3x for the same specs as they do. Too many middle men in the US taking a piece of the action. Like the mob.
I was fortunate enough to drive 5 laps on the Nurburgring in a race prepped Suzuki Swift, and after having done that I wouldn’t want to drive anything much faster than that at my current skill level. Despite having dozens of amateur road racing experience under my belt the ‘Ring was daunting. It took until the 5th lap before I started feeling remotely comfortable.
Wife booked us a private private tour at the Ferrari museum in 2019. Our tour guide was late so they let us play on the F1 simulators. I foolishly picked Nurburgring as the track. I probably died in a fiery crash four times trying to complete a lap at speed. That loop is insane!
The only thing I can think of that briefly held up the truck/SUV takeover of America was the Great Recession and a gas price spike that made what we are dealing with now look like a hiccup. There were so many trucks parked out by the road with for sale signs around me in the summer of 2009. I wouldn’t expect any long term changes from the operation Epstein Fury price spike because everyone is assuming prices will come back down soon. They won’t, but Americans love big vehicles and our buying habits won’t change that quickly.
A good duration of this current situation will convert at least some of the population over from their wasteful ways. I look forward to it.
Tbq: something relatively slow that I’m not worried about crashing. Hm.
Oh, I know. An ex-police Explorer. Slow compared to a 911, but built to be driven hard, and it’s a high-mileage SUV so if I end up stuffing it I won’t care.
If I’m not worried about wrecking it? Singer 911. If I’m on the hook insurance-wise for a crash? GR86
I am from Barcelona. And since two weeks ago I am the (not-so) proud owner of a brand new (6th Gen) Clio E-Tech hybrid.
Now, even in Europe it is more and more difficult to drive fast or for fun. There are speed cameras everywhere (including average ones), single carriageway roads are getting continuous lines or even separators in places you could previously overtake and if you go to a nice country road to enjoy your car it is full of cyclists (at least in my neck of the woods).
In that scenario, a hybrid makes perfect sense. It’s just a normal car that happens to get excellent fuel economy. The only scenario where conventional ICE cars (petrol or diesel) which is high speed motorway cruising is disappearing (except for some places in Germany of course).
So swapping from an A110 to a Clio hybrid (long story) feels far less disappointing in this situation. It might even make sense.
PS. You certainly don’t want a Leapmotor, no matter how cheap it is.
The number of long-roof Corolla Hybrids in-town explains a lot.
Lots of storage, reasonable sized car, carries a whole family, peppy off the line at the lights, decent fuel economy, and reliable.
Indeed Corollas are everywhere. It’s the standard taxi here.
They are technically very different, but the feeling and results are very similar.
We had a Clio hybrid last year as a rental for a week. It got the job done and we were pleasantly surprised with the mileage numbers it put up.
Mine is averaging 59 American mpgs so far and mostly those have been out of the city. I am fairly impressed.
Didn’t get that good, more like upper 40s/low 50s, but we had quite a bit of in town driving mixed in. Better than the Puma hybrid had year before.
Has anyone ever run an articulated bus around the Ring? Mercedes could be my copilot!
Or one of those fire trucks with a second driver in the back!
That would be hilarious, ha ha
Captain: What are you doing, Kramer?! You’re all over the road!
Kramer: Don’t worry, Cap, I can handle it!
Jerry: Kramer?
Cut to Kramer losing control of the truck.
Captain: You’re losing control! Hard right! Hard right!
Cut to Jerry holding the scanner. he hears screaming, a crashing sound, and then static.
Jerry: Ah, that’s a shame
I’d love to bring my Compass to the ‘Ring, just because it’d be incredibly ridiculous, stupid, and comical at the same time to drive it as fast as the slow junker will go!
It’d be funny to watch the play back of it as well, like just imagine seeing and hearing that thing struggling at everything! I wouldn’t be able to contain my laughter!
Really though, as 4jim said, it’d be awesome just to go drive it in anything.
Twingo, the answer is always Twingo
I just want to drive around the ring. I do not care in what. I would do it in anything including my JKU and Pacifica AWD or a rental golf, I don’t care.
Also
Car companies: “Yea regulation rollbacks, lets make gas guzzlers again!”
Gas prices surge
Car companies: “Crap!!”
Every few years, something happens, and gas prices surge.
And, yet, every time we all still act surprised like it’s completely new to us.
Like many people cannot even fathom a world without $1/gal gas for the next 10,000 years.
When it starts with “I remember… ”
Yeah, no thanks Grandpa, and let’s not talk about how cheap housing used to be either.
Then there is the inevitable comments on here that start “well incomes have kept up with inflation so such and such is actually cheaper than in the past”
I bought my first and at this rate only house in an okay place for an okay at the time price a little over ten years ago. It’s more than doubled in value simply by existing. Forget any of the improvements done. This used to be a cheap area to live. Not once the folks from NYC came in during COVID and bid up everything. Plus the area is running out of room to build single family houses. Low supply meet high demand.
That sounds like the story of literally any place that humans would want to live. Scarce housing and skyrocketing prices.
Shake the addiction. Once and for all.
I’m old (50+) and this has been going on my entire life. People never learn.