They are definately a dying breed but Jaguar do . My XKR is one (they stopped making them in 2015). The V8 Supercharged F-Type is still being made. I Haven;t checked but I'd guess that Aston Martin are still making the V8 Vantage S. I'd also be surprised if there isn't a factory V8 supercharged Mustang/Cobra or Corvette.
>> All the fun sports cars are V6s or heavily-boosted 4-bangers anyhow.
Debateable and probably VERY subjective, but a relatively small whiny high-revving motor with the inevitable narrow power band does next to nothing for me. To me at least, there's something distinctive and special about the sound and driving feel and fat torque curve of a V8 (or better yet a V12), even more so when you add a supercharger. Next down my list would be a straight 6, then comes your V6, and at the bottom are all the 4 bangers.
No , I mean why don't you just stay on Win7? Even when Microsoft stop supporting it (which just means not getting more patches that most usually just do pointless shit like fix some corporate interface or typos in Ukranian language support or whatever). Windows 7 itself won't just suddenly stop working.
If she's anything like my doctor, their whole purpose is actually to get you onto more pills to alleviate symptoms, not identify root-causes or actually cure anything. Once you realise that they are actually commission-based salesmen working for the drug companies, the whole thing becomes a lot easier to understand.
>> I'm going to have to switch to Linux for gaming after support for windows 7 dries up.
Like you I already use Linux for everythig else, and am looking forward to totally get rid of my windows partition. But I've been like that for at least 10+ years and still he only thing holding me back is the lack Linux versions of the games I want to play. I don't get how the end of support for windows 7 is a good reason to switch though... how does that stop you from continuing to just play games on Windows?
> there are battery packs out there at 4+ years old (and older tech ones at 8+) which still work just fine.
Sure they may still move, but you apparently intentionally missed my point. Please cite a single CREDIBLE source that shows there are any EVs out there that after 4 or 8 years of a normal drive cycle are not experiencing massive range loss.
I think the real point is that if you can afford to buy a new Tesla and use it as a daily driver, car manufacturers think that you probably don't care about buying a whole new one every 100,000 miles (in my case that would be every 7 years) either.
>> The interior might not be nice after 10 years (but then, Tesla interiors don't start out nice IMO), but the car will be reliable and the interior serviceable.
I agree (especially about Tesla interiors being not nice) but the future problems with incresingly high-tech cars are going to be stuff like if you accidentally crack the screen, or if its backlight goes out or something, you wont be able to get a replacement for any money because they stopped making them 10 years ago, and without that screen you can't control anything in the car.
I'd be fine with a basic (i.e. not connected, not self-driving or weighed down with a ton of high-tech) electric car as my daily driver if my home and/or work had charging stations (which they don't), but I'd also keep a good ol supercharged V8 around for weekends when I want to actually enjoy driving. Yes I already know a P100D can probably accelerate faster but it's still about as emotionally sterile as a dentists waiting room. I'd personally never buy any car thats stays connected to the manufacturer and/or sends back data on you, so that's Tesla out again right there. Also any/all GM brand cars (Chevvy, Buick, GMC, Cadillac) since they all unavoidably come with On-Star now.
>> At 20 years in and 12,000 miles per year, 240,000 miles, they'll quite likely have 85% of their capacity
Not even close, especially in hot climates like CA and AZ. I used to work for one of the 3 big EV charging station companies and they also have a sister company that does EV battery testing for the government. I can tell you that no EV car battery lasts anything like 20 years. With a normal drive cycle its about 4 years max before you start noticing very significant amounts of dropoff (like 1/3) in max range, and depending on how determined to save money you are, it will be maybe 7-8 years max before even the most determined owner HAS to totally replace the battery. Tesla is also using the same battery tech as everyone else so they are just as susceptible, no matter what their glossy advertising claims.
I guess it depends on your annual mileage and how carefully you look after the car, but cars in general just aren't planned or made to last 20 years any more. Even if the car still runs, the interior will be worn out etc.
Many car companies have started doing stuff like not supporting even top end models that are over say 5 years old with any more software updates (nav system map updates, bluetooth compatibility updates etc). Also you start not being able to get replacement parts for them any more, at least from the manufacturer. If I was cynical I'd say that they are doing that on purpose, just to get you to trade up and buy another car again.
Its one of the bigger reasons why I never buy new cars and always prefer cars with as little technology as possible in them, but those are getting hard to find.
...they could just make the battery _removeable_ so you could have several, and you also wouldn't have to buy a new phone every 2 years just because the battery's worn out! Wow what a crazy idea!
>> It would then be up for the insurance company to try and reclaim that money from the car maker through existing common law and product liability arrangements.
You know they wont bother with doing that. They'll just see it as an opportunity to raise the cost of everyone elses insurance to more than cover their losses.
I remember that in the past, PC magazine articles etc were nearly always gushing with ridiculously unrealistic positivity about anything new or novel. If every new thing they wrote about actually changed the entire world even half as much as they all claimed it would, we'd all be living like the Jetsons by now. I think its acutally a good thing that a little bit of skepticism has crept in since those days. That said I'm still amazed by how many tech product reviews apparently feel the need to totally avoid documenting any significant faults with the product being reviewed, even if they are glaringly obvious from other sources. At best its very unprofessional, at worst they've clearly sold out and are not acting in the best interest of the reader.
> just nature's way of weeding out the violent and stupid
Yeah but its also society that is to blame for their existence in the first place. We have already invented and enabled massive mechanisms (such as religion and governments) that systemically hide the real truth, suppress free speech and use education/media as brainwashing mechanisms expressly in order to keep us "little people" ignorant and distracted with crap like social media or with fighting each other, and therefore completely controllable.
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>> Does anyone even make them any more?
They are definately a dying breed but Jaguar do . My XKR is one (they stopped making them in 2015). The V8 Supercharged F-Type is still being made. I Haven;t checked but I'd guess that Aston Martin are still making the V8 Vantage S. I'd also be surprised if there isn't a factory V8 supercharged Mustang/Cobra or Corvette.
>> All the fun sports cars are V6s or heavily-boosted 4-bangers anyhow.
Debateable and probably VERY subjective, but a relatively small whiny high-revving motor with the inevitable narrow power band does next to nothing for me.
To me at least, there's something distinctive and special about the sound and driving feel and fat torque curve of a V8 (or better yet a V12), even more so when you add a supercharger. Next down my list would be a straight 6, then comes your V6, and at the bottom are all the 4 bangers.
No , I mean why don't you just stay on Win7? Even when Microsoft stop supporting it (which just means not getting more patches that most usually just do pointless shit like fix some corporate interface or typos in Ukranian language support or whatever).
Windows 7 itself won't just suddenly stop working.
So now instead of just popping in a new battery, you have to sit while your fixed-battery phone charges. yeah thats real progress. NOT.
Guess what? with a removeable battery phone you can still do all you said, and you have extra options too.
Absolutely. My stupid Marshall London phone does that a lot.
If she's anything like my doctor, their whole purpose is actually to get you onto more pills to alleviate symptoms, not identify root-causes or actually cure anything. Once you realise that they are actually commission-based salesmen working for the drug companies, the whole thing becomes a lot easier to understand.
>> I'm going to have to switch to Linux for gaming after support for windows 7 dries up.
Like you I already use Linux for everythig else, and am looking forward to totally get rid of my windows partition. But I've been like that for at least 10+ years and still he only thing holding me back is the lack Linux versions of the games I want to play. I don't get how the end of support for windows 7 is a good reason to switch though... how does that stop you from continuing to just play games on Windows?
> there are battery packs out there at 4+ years old (and older tech ones at 8+) which still work just fine.
Sure they may still move, but you apparently intentionally missed my point.
Please cite a single CREDIBLE source that shows there are any EVs out there that after 4 or 8 years of a normal drive cycle are not experiencing massive range loss.
I think the real point is that if you can afford to buy a new Tesla and use it as a daily driver, car manufacturers think that you probably don't care about buying a whole new one every 100,000 miles (in my case that would be every 7 years) either.
Maybe but no-one's heard the price yet. You can bet it will vary based on where you live.
>> The interior might not be nice after 10 years (but then, Tesla interiors don't start out nice IMO), but the car will be reliable and the interior serviceable.
I agree (especially about Tesla interiors being not nice) but the future problems with incresingly high-tech cars are going to be stuff like if you accidentally crack the screen, or if its backlight goes out or something, you wont be able to get a replacement for any money because they stopped making them 10 years ago, and without that screen you can't control anything in the car.
I'd be fine with a basic (i.e. not connected, not self-driving or weighed down with a ton of high-tech) electric car as my daily driver if my home and/or work had charging stations (which they don't), but I'd also keep a good ol supercharged V8 around for weekends when I want to actually enjoy driving. Yes I already know a P100D can probably accelerate faster but it's still about as emotionally sterile as a dentists waiting room.
I'd personally never buy any car thats stays connected to the manufacturer and/or sends back data on you, so that's Tesla out again right there. Also any/all GM brand cars (Chevvy, Buick, GMC, Cadillac) since they all unavoidably come with On-Star now.
>> Suppose someone buys the lifetime insurance then acts really stupid.
You already know there will be tons of new get-out clauses in the small print.
>> At 20 years in and 12,000 miles per year, 240,000 miles, they'll quite likely have 85% of their capacity
Not even close, especially in hot climates like CA and AZ. I used to work for one of the 3 big EV charging station companies and they also have a sister company that does EV battery testing for the government. I can tell you that no EV car battery lasts anything like 20 years. With a normal drive cycle its about 4 years max before you start noticing very significant amounts of dropoff (like 1/3) in max range, and depending on how determined to save money you are, it will be maybe 7-8 years max before even the most determined owner HAS to totally replace the battery.
Tesla is also using the same battery tech as everyone else so they are just as susceptible, no matter what their glossy advertising claims.
I guess it depends on your annual mileage and how carefully you look after the car, but cars in general just aren't planned or made to last 20 years any more. Even if the car still runs, the interior will be worn out etc.
Many car companies have started doing stuff like not supporting even top end models that are over say 5 years old with any more software updates (nav system map updates, bluetooth compatibility updates etc). Also you start not being able to get replacement parts for them any more, at least from the manufacturer. If I was cynical I'd say that they are doing that on purpose, just to get you to trade up and buy another car again.
Its one of the bigger reasons why I never buy new cars and always prefer cars with as little technology as possible in them, but those are getting hard to find.
Depending on the price, you could just be swapping "possibly ripped-off sometime in the future" for "definately ripped-off today".
because you'd have to throw away your $700 phone every day?
Now factor in the massive inconvenience and extra cost you face when your phone's built-in battery inevitably wears out so needs replacing.
Most people rich enough to afford a new Tesla trade their car in every 2 or 3 years. So yeah, not long at all.
Its not free. The price of the insurance is added to the purchase price of the car if you select it. And it probably isn't cheap.
...they could just make the battery _removeable_ so you could have several, and you also wouldn't have to buy a new phone every 2 years just because the battery's worn out! Wow what a crazy idea!
>> It would then be up for the insurance company to try and reclaim that money from the car maker through existing common law and product liability arrangements.
You know they wont bother with doing that. They'll just see it as an opportunity to raise the cost of everyone elses insurance to more than cover their losses.
Yes that would be my understanding too.
Does that mean it wasn't meta-stable then?
I remember that in the past, PC magazine articles etc were nearly always gushing with ridiculously unrealistic positivity about anything new or novel. If every new thing they wrote about actually changed the entire world even half as much as they all claimed it would, we'd all be living like the Jetsons by now.
I think its acutally a good thing that a little bit of skepticism has crept in since those days.
That said I'm still amazed by how many tech product reviews apparently feel the need to totally avoid documenting any significant faults with the product being reviewed, even if they are glaringly obvious from other sources. At best its very unprofessional, at worst they've clearly sold out and are not acting in the best interest of the reader.
> just nature's way of weeding out the violent and stupid
Yeah but its also society that is to blame for their existence in the first place. We have already invented and enabled massive mechanisms (such as religion and governments) that systemically hide the real truth, suppress free speech and use education/media as brainwashing mechanisms expressly in order to keep us "little people" ignorant and distracted with crap like social media or with fighting each other, and therefore completely controllable.