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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 12th, 2023

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  • I had a 2015 golf and 2018 GTI. The gti was hands down my favorite vehicle I ever owned. That being said I did not get a MK8 when it got totaled.

    I went with a Mazda3 awd turbo. Reason being physical buttons. I could not comfortably use the controls on all the test drives I did and the infotainment was terrible. Mazda has the superior infotainment of the two.

    The golf r is literally just a budget Audi. All the parts are stamped Audi because it’s an MQB Evo platform. They’re all the same.

    I wouldn’t say Vw isn’t quality, but I could not justify the expense. I paid less for a 2024 turbo premium plus awd Mazda than the dealer was asking for an SE GTI.








  • The 3.0 3VZFE from Toyota was always mocked as the “fuel efficiency of a V8, power of a 4 cyl”. The motor was a joke and the 5VZFE that came later was much improved.

    Ford does decent with their V8 cars (they’ve had most issues with the 1.0, 1.5, and 2.7 ecoboosts), although the EPA ratings are tight. To get a good idea you’d have to compare equally, like finding another 5.0L, 480hp car that weighs 4,000 lbs (or at least that ballpark). they’re not terribly common.

    I think the most common failure on a mod family V8 was either cam phasers or spark plugs. Which thankfully they fixed on the coyote. Other than that the car will die before the engine.

    When I bought my 2016 mustang, I got 27.5 mpg on the trip home. I’ve averaged 30 before. They’re efficient if you stay under 3k rpm’s most of the time. City driving they’re ok, I get 18. Averaged over the life of the car I have got 24 mpg total. Which for a 3,800lb 435hp car is pretty damn good.

    Throwing that Americans get bad mpg out of V8’s is a bit skewed. Gas is cheap here (relatively) and they’re mostly in trucks/suv’s and not cars. Like currently it’s $2.50/gallon at my Costco.

    Not to mention, heavy duty “light trucks” like the F250 or GM2500 and up, do not have to adhere to any mileage standards and are exempt.









  • Right on. I apologize if I came off a little gruff, there’s a lot of stuff to try and say on this subject haha. Trying not to get too wordy.

    But the manual EV can be done. Ford released the “Lithium” concept in 2019, and if you take a look at Autoblog website, Toyota just unveiled their “manual EV” prototype. It even simulates stalling!

    I’m sure we’ll get there! But the demand just has to be high enough which makes it difficult. Manual take rate over the last few years has bounced around 3-5% in the US.

    It doesn’t help that there are fewer to choose from every year. Even the base mustang doesn’t have a manual anymore.


  • Yes, in reviews and media documents it is mentioned the Taycan has the second gear to be able to maintain Autobahn level speeds. It’s not explicitly mentioned, but Porsche won’t outright confirm efficiency last I looked, so even they don’t think it helps range. Just speed.

    But it’s not that there isn’t efficiency to be gained, it’s just so small it’s not worth it. In order for even a 2 speed ev, the shift point would need to be approximately 70-80mph to realize efficiency gains.

    That’s just not something that’s done with EV’s. Most are city centric, and even if you are driving 70-80mph in an EV, you’re hitting peak efficiency of the motor anyways. It’s a bell curve, so it’ll only start to taper off not drop like a cliff. Although, the one side might drop faster due to how resistance works.