Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

This might be it

I think if something unfortunate were to happen to my BMW M2, I would probably replace it with something tame and economical. (The refreshed Tesla Model 3, rear-wheel drive with the long range battery is looking good.) The new enthusiast car market has gotten so expensive that the logical brain side of me doesn’t want to pay for something that largely sits (I don’t have a commute). The new Porsche 911 GT3 starts at $200,000 now - $40,000 more than the previous model - which is absolutely insane. Makes me feel slightly better about paying $126,000 for a 2015 model back in 2019.

Even the cheap end of the continuum is in the mid $30,000s (Toyota GR86, or the venerable Mazda Miata). While that is somewhat affordable for me, what isn’t affordable is the insurance costs for enthusiasts cars. I would know: it’s quite expensive to insure the BMW fully. Again, logical brain is working overtime to convince me that maybe this whole love of cars is getting defeated by monetary mathematics.

But we’re suppose to spend a high proportion of our money on hobbies, right? I can’t be looking at my vehicle situation from the lens of a regular person. In their case, yes, they should limit the spend on what is the second biggest money purchase (first would be the house, if anybody can afford one around here). It makes zero sense to drop extravagantly on a depreciating asset. To do it financially responsibly, people should buy a brand new Toyota Corolla and drive it as long as possible.

Because I like cars, and have liked them since I was a kid, I get to spend more of my adult money on them. But these days the adult brain is cautioning loudly against the inflated costs of vehicle ownership. I actually paid off the M2 earlier this year. I certainly feel more carefree with that monthly car payment now extra cushion in my savings account. It’s a very good feeling. The 10 years ago me would have already used that freed up money to buy another car.

Either I have tremendous self discipline, or it is indeed true that there are seasons to life. Perhaps I’ve outgrown my car enthusiasm…

Don't buy used

Word on the street is that Ford has (again) lowered pricing on its Mustang Mach E electric car. The base real-wheel drive version can now be had for (just) under $40,000. Ford is also throwing in $7,500 on leases. Combining with the federal EV tax credit of another $7,500 makes the base Mach E a highly attractive option if you just need a simple electric runabout. I would consider one if I actually needed a car.

And because I wouldn’t want to buy a used electric vehicle. You simply cannot trust it. The thing no one seems to be talking about is battery degradation. Much like the battery in our smartphones, the cells in electric cars degrade with use and time. But how much it degrades does not scale linearly with mileage. Depending on the usage pattern - how often it’s charged, how fast, to what level, etc - an EV with 50,000 miles can potentially have a healthier battery than a 20,000 miler.

This is a critical piece of information in electric vehicles because the battery is everything. A degraded battery cannot motivate the car to the same number of miles as new on once charge. At least with a combustion car you can expect the same range in a high-mileage gas engine.

The problem is we have no way of knowing about battery degradation. The electric cars (currently) don’t show the health percentage (our smartphones do). Venturing into the vast menu of a Tesla Model 3 doesn’t reveal this information. I think manufacturers should include battery health indicators, plus showing how much maximum range has been lost as well. As I said, range in an electric car is everything.

Electric toy truck

Last week, the big hubbub in the automotive world is the Tesla Cybertruck commencing deliveries to eager customers. After four long years of (purportedly arduous) development gestation, the quirkiest pickup truck ever (surely Doug DeMuro would agree) is finally on sale. For a company that famously does not have a PR department, it was curious to see a select few journalist getting their hands on prototypes (provided by Tesla, obviously) for early review. Maybe you do have to market an electric toy truck costing $80,000 to $100,000 after all?

Judging from the few early reviews, I must say I am very impressed with what the engineering team at Tesla has accomplished. Elon Musk set out to create something cool and fantastical - from the radical design, the unusual stainless-steel body, and various performance metrics - and his team did its best to fulfill the dictum as much as possible. The project inevitably ran into constraints: be they federal regulations, or general laws of physics. (Example: the final product has side-mirrors, where the concept truck did not.) But overall I think the execution is hugely laudable.

The Cybertruck is now the halo product for Tesla: one that increases the prestige of the brand, and elevates every other model in the portfolio. Customers can feel good knowing the same engineering prowess that went into developing the Cybertruck is also present in the Model Y or Model 3. No doubt that some of the innovations in the Cybertruck will trickle-down to future iterations of other Tesla vehicles. Tesla-firsts such as the 800-volt architecture with a 48-volt base, pure steer-by-wire system, and reverse charging. Those are exciting stuff to look forward to in non-Cybertruck applications.

While I give Tesla credit for making a truck that doesn’t look like any other truck on the road, I reckon there’s a good reason that pickup trucks have looked the same for the past many decades. Until future reviews say otherwise, the Cybertruck looks to not have the same sort of utility of a “traditional” truck. Obviously, I don’t think potential buyers care. Honestly, plenty of people buy a truck for style points, rather than truly using any of the utility fully. The Cybertruck certainly has style points up the maximum.

You're waiting for this?

Last week I was at the local Safeway which has an electric vehicle charging station in its parking lot. On a mid-week morning there was a line of cars waiting to use the four already occupied charging ports. Are these people really sitting there for god knows how long, waiting to “fuel up”? Charging an electric vehicle is far slower than filling up a combustion vehicle with gas. The advertised maximum charging rate only occurs in spurts, and in ideal conditions.

My current stance on electric vehicles is: if you cannot charge at home, then you’re better off buying gasoline-powered. The public charging infrastructure (outside of Tesla’s own superchargers) is still not ready for primetime. I follow quite a bit of car people on twitter, and the consensus I’ve gather is that the public charging network is slow, inconsistent, and not enough. The convenience of being in and out of a gas station in under 10 minutes is still a massive advantage.

I’m genuinely surprised that people are even willing to wait that long for a charging spot. The amount of impatience I’ve witness on the driving road these days is high. You have drivers honking at cars with the audacity to wait for pedestrians to cross before making a turn. What do they want? To run them over? Worst is when I see such impatience on weekend mornings. You’re aggravated on a Sunday morning? I have to assume you’re simply in a hurry to go die.

Personally I do not have the facilities to charge a car in my home. Therefore an electric vehicle does not factor in my future anytime soon. My time is worth way more than spending an hour just to charge up a car.

First time SEMA

It just so happened that during my weekend in Vegas, the annual SEMA show was being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It’s a trade show for makers of automobile aftermarket parts. Wheels, suspension, interior, car care, you name it. What’s most awesome about the SEMA show are the numerous project vehicles that get built especially for the occasion. It’s the North American version of the Tokyo Auto Salon, heaven for car enthusiasts who like to tinker with their pride and joy.

Sadly, being a trade show, SEMA is not open to the public. Even though it’s the car enthusiast public who are spending money on their cars, the show is catered towards B2B sales. That means the lay person cannot go to Las Vegas to see the awesome cars, unless you know a person already attending (badge sharing is a thing, apparently).

To my surprise, this year’s SEMA show has a Friday component that is open to the public. For a hefty sum of $70 dollars for a ticket, regular ole Joe blow like me can walk the same convention halls as the people in the trade. Serendipitous that I was in Vegas the same weekend, this provided the perfect opportunity to tick the SEMA box off my car enthusiasts bucket list. The Las Vegas Convention Center is easily accessible by the tram from the strip, which is what I took to get there.

It seems a lot of enthusiasts had the same idea: the line to pickup badges was nearly two hours long. I arrived at around 9:30 AM. By the time I had my badge in hand, it was time for lunch already. And the line was still the same size. I felt sorry for those folks as they probably won’t get into the halls until after 2:00 PM. And the show that day closes at 4:00 PM.

Overall I would say the SEMA show is definitely worth a go, at least once. The amount of interesting cars there, in varying degree of price (there was a Pagani Huarya at one booth) and modification, is simply amazing to see. On that alone you cannot have a bad time at SEMA. Being there have certainly rekindled my car enthusiasm. The whole time I was missing my BMW M2, and could not wait to get home to drive it again. More so than modifications - and I grew up on Super Street and Fast and Furious - it’s really about driving the cars and putting on miles.

There’s even a really live F1 car there.

Be generous

Back in my high school days, the Initial D anime series was all the rage amongst us car enthusiasts. Drifting - the act of deliberately power-sliding a car - was fast becoming the rage, even for those us of an age who can only dream of driving. Youtube wasn’t yet a thing then; media distribution was still largely on physical media. That’s precisely how I watched Initial D, popping in a disc one episode after another. Kids have it so much easier nowadays.

One particular day after school, an older friend of a classmate was visiting from another school. Sadly, I’ve completely forgotten his name. It was probably Henry. Like me, he was also enthusiastic about cars, so we naturally got to talking about various automotive-relate topics. Initial D and drifting came up, and Henry mentioned he has a DVD called Drift Bible. The premise is simple: the drift king of Japan - Keiichi Tsuchiya - teaches you how to drift.

Seeing as Henry and I (I’m pretty sure that’s not his name) have only met a few times, I was totally undeserving of the kindness that was about to happen. He offered to drive me to his house, give me the Drift Bible DVD to borrow, then drive me home. As someone who lives an hour bus ride from my high school, the generosity of a lift home was overwhelming enough (no such thing as an UBER back then, kids). Lending a DVD to practically a stranger? That is above and beyond.

I’m writing all this because I feel tremendously guilty: I still have that DVD! I’m looking at it right now as I’m typing these words out. The jerk that I am never returned the borrowed item. An olive branch utterly cut off, a possible long friendship over cars completely disregarded. I can only say thank you to Henry for his massive generosity. If he’s somehow reading this, you can find me via the contact links at the bottom right.

And I know, your name is not Henry.

Vehicular longevity

Sometimes on my walks around the neighborhood, I would notice some vintage cars with plates starting in a low digit (in California, the higher the starting number, the newer the car tends to be). And these cars tend to be in relatively immaculate condition. There’s definitely some patina there, but I can tell for the most part these are well-loved machines, and cared for consistently. How else would a ding-free Mercedes sedan from the 80s survive into the modern age?

A slight amount of shame comes to me whenever I see these old cars, because my track record in that respect is horrendous. I’ve yet to own any of the new cars I bought for more than three years. Even the one used car - the beloved Porsche 911 GT3 - I’ve only managed to keep for two. I go through cars way more often that someone of my meager income really should. I’m sure the State of California is happy about the tax revenue it has received from me over the years.

To that end, I really hope I can muster the self-control to keep my current car, a 2021 BMW M2 Competition, for a very long time. It’s a little over one year since I bought the thing, so there’s two more to go before I am even with my previous best record of car ownership length. BMW’s free maintenance program for the first three years does make it easier to keep the M2, because my only outlay is gas, insurance, and payments (neither of which are cheap already).

Will I be able to go past three years? I certainly hope so. The only car I can conceivably see trading it for is a 997.1 generation Porsche 911 GT3. Having played the Porsche game and paid the Porsche tax once, I’m not sure I have the wallet stomach for it again. The most ideal scenario would be to keep the BMW as the last petrol-powered car I will ever buy. I’ll buy an EV to supplement it if the need ever arises. As of right now, I am quite okay.