Anyone who knows a lot about #cars, I need some help!
My sister started up her 2007 Grand Caravan and heard a loud noise. The car is now leaking coolant like crazy directly under the engine and the front starts shaking like it's in an earthquake.
Obviously, she's not gonna drive it right now and we'll take it to a mechanic when we can, but I just wanted to get some idea of what might be wrong. I think it's a head gasket.
@Kovatoro With a loud sound, I don't think a head gasket failure would cause that, at least not in my experience. Loud sounds could be water pump failure, hose/thermostat failure at the easier end, and then on up to some sort of cylinder/block failure (less likely unless she's not kept up w/maintenance and oil changes).
The new CarPlay design system inverts the relationship between carmaker and iPhone, and places the #iPhone (mostly) in control of the entire dashboard including the primary instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. Instead of CarPlay receiving a rectangle into which it can render images, the car creates configurations that CarPlay then uses to insert their gauges, camera feeds, and controls. But CarPlay is ultimately in charge of nearly every pixel of the display (with the exception of telltale lights). Even the government-regulated displays like speedometer and fuel gauge are configured through iPhone, even though they are rendered by the car.
@drahardja
From a safety, security, and reliability perspective, this is terrifying. Not only do I not want to drive a car with this, I don't want anyone near me driving one either.
Any business folks know anything about Aptera and their market potential? I believe they can make it to production at this point, and I believe their car can meet their claims (or get close enough). What I'm concerned about is that I think the 2-seater eco-tech car market is tiny. I don't know if it's big enough to sustain the company long term. But they also have side projects going on, so....
@alexisdyslexic Sure, and I would be ecstatic to buy an Aptera. But would a regular person? I'm coming to the conclusion that my enthusiasm for the company is high enough to invest, but maybe not pre-IPO.
@NanoBookReview that makes sense. I think they're going to be the new Prius or Tesla. Popular in blue cities and states for virtue signalling. Also just a cool new weird vehicle
Chinese carmakers’ global growth “comes as major U.S. carmakers … have withdrawn from promising markets such as India, Indonesia & Thailand to focus on their North American base.”
Market share of Chinese automakers “has jumped in many markets over the last 5 years, growing from 3% to 10% in Thailand, from 1% to 9% in Australia and from nothing to 13% in Mexico … Gains in Russia have been even starker, jumping from almost nothing to more than a third.”
Enormous vehicles used to be used by people who needed them. Electricians. Plumbers. Carpenters. Delivery truck drivers.
Suddenly rich people wanted to use huge vehicles to publicize their inner insecurities & paranoid beliefs.
Fears about becoming poor. Fears about thieves & car accidents. Fears about not being masculine.
Fears about the end of the world & fake fears about things like a zombie apocalypses (ie hidden fears about race wars). Fantasies about mountain trails.
The United States is protecting is uncompetitive automakers addicted to expensive SUVs and trucks from facing a real challenge that would force them to innovate and could accelerate the EV transition by making cheaper models much more accessible.
@parismarx Yeah, when I was reading that review of the Beijing auto show I was astounded by how good the production cars looked compared to the concept/pre-release cars US automakers were putting out there. It reminds me very much of how complacency in the US auto industry in the 1970s led to the Japanese cars becoming preferred options. I imagine we did protectionist stuff like this too.
“Juanita Vidal, 71, was crossing Eldert Street near Knickerbocker Avenue with her 44-year-old daughter at around 5 p.m. Thursday when she was fatally struck by 2024 Mazda CX5 speeding away from police, officials said.”