A lot of these cars have way too much power for the street. People don’t realize how fast things happen. Only good for the track in my opinion.

 

I have to agree. Your average driver in a Lucid Air or a Tesla Plaid is a recipe for disaster. And there are plenty of other high horsepower cars these days that tempt owners to exceed the limits of both traction and skill.

 

Spinning out isn't good on the track either.

 

Interesting article about Tesla cars being written off due to the high cost to repair them. They also seem expensive to insure compared to other cars ?

Tesla EVs, Even Mildly Damaged, Are Being Written Off by Insurance Companies (msn.com)

 

So.. I had my first behind the wheel experience in an EV today.

I have a friend who churns through cars. He's always worried about this or that, small or big, you name it. He needs help! lol. He's probably had 10 cars the last 7-8 years, Many of them new.

He bought a Polestar about a year ago. Got so worried about getting stranded on a drive and resale value that he traded it in after 9 months and bought an ICE Mini. Now, this is his 3rd Mini, which he never keeps because they're BMWs and his repairs down the road will be expensive. He also traded in one of the Mini's because he wanted to go to Montreal and it didn't have a spare. Again, circle back... he needs help!

Anyway, the latest Mini is about 2 weeks old. I think its a '23. Today, he shows at golf with a '22 Mini S EV! Yes, he kept the ICE one. We get done and I take it for a test drive.

Top speed: 94 mph. Range, like 120 miles. But, 0-90 in what seemed like 8 seconds. The thing is fast. It's a Mini, so it handles well. Was an absolute blast to drive. The regen braking is odd and took some time to get used to. His drive to work is 5 miles. Golf is 2 miles to 1 course, 10 to the one by me. So, hopefully he keeps it to tool around with. He likes the EV concept, has a charger at the house, and now because he has the other car (the one more likely to get traded in or sold), has something to take to visit family a few hours away or go somewhere else.

Did I mention, the thing was a blast. Instant acceleration and good handling on the same back roads I take the S on.

 

^^^Sounds like a good 2nd car for running around town,
Levi

 

I don’t think the Dodge that a car rental agency rents to you would be one that breaks the rear tires loose at 40 MPH or whatever. A rental would be lucky to break them loose from a stop. Unless you ordered the Dodge from an agency that handled specialty cars.

 

Looks like I cursed myself talking about ball joints and tie rods going bad. Had my WRX in for oil change and tire swap over and the service advisor came in the waiting room shortly after I got there and told me I had a bad ball joint. I was surprised to hear this so I asked to talk with the mechanic and look at what he had found. I went into the service bay and the mechanic put the rim back on with the car in the air and let me feel the play in the front end. There wasn’t a large amount of play but there was some. So rolling back next week for a new ball joint and an alignment. I’ll point out like I have many times before that my S2000 is 20 years old and has 79,180 miles on it and it has all the original front end parts on it and brakes while the Subaru is 5 years old and has 46,356 miles on it and is on its second set of brakes and soon to be second ball joint.

 

Having owned both Subies and Hondas there is no doubt in my mind which has been quality.

 

As I'm getting ready to sell the SL63, A/C condenser starting leaking.