Car Chat

[12,000 RPM]

JFC. Took wifey's car on a little road trip to go apple picking today. It was up a mountain but we came back down. Average fuel economy was like 18 MPG And the driver's seat made my back hurt. Gotta check the tire pressures but that's pretty abysmal.

[MexicoCityM3]

Oh man if my E46 gets into 6 figures anytime in the next few years it's gonna get exported....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8h-hZouHZk

I like it, but not 6 figures like it.

[Soup DeVille]

Tesla is sticking 75kWh batteries in the Model S and Model X cars, including the cars that 'come with' 60kWh batteries....?

So to help people get out of Florida, (and hook people on the extended range), they upgraded people to 75kWh capability... temporarily. They'll have to pay $5k for the 'upgrade'....

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-flips-switch-increase-range-232915375.html

Yes. As a gesture this is fine; but does it worry anybody else that they just decided to upgrade these cars via software, and that the owners weren't informed of it until afterwards?

[giant_mtb]

So the only thing holding the lesser model from being the better model is software?  That's fucked.

[Cookie Monster]

So the only thing holding the lesser model from being the better model is software?  That's fucked.

Why? It's probably cheaper for them to lock out the extra mileage and use the same battery across the cars. You want the extra mileage, you can pay for it like everyone else who bought a 75.

[CaminoRacer]

Why? It's probably cheaper for them to lock out the extra mileage and use the same battery across the cars. You want the extra mileage, you can pay for it like everyone else who bought a 75.

It's a very good sign that everyone overpaid for the 75

[MrH]

It's a very good sign that everyone overpaid for the 75

Well, they lose money on every single car sold, so you could make the case everyone underpaid

[Cookie Monster]

It's a very good sign that everyone overpaid for the 75

Not really, you're not getting that extra mileage out of the 60 without paying for it.

[giant_mtb]

Why? It's probably cheaper for them to lock out the extra mileage and use the same battery across the cars. You want the extra mileage, you can pay for it like everyone else who bought a 75.

I fully understand that.  Doesn't mean I have to appreciate it.

[cawimmer430]

Dafuq? 

[12,000 RPM]

Welcome to 2000 Wimmer.

[cawimmer430]

Welcome to 2000 Wimmer.

They had GT-86 AMG GTs back in 2000? Whoa!

[Soup DeVille]

Not really, you're not getting that extra mileage out of the 60 without paying for it.

In a sane world, it would mean that if the 60 and the 75 have the same hardware, then the $5000 upgrade to the 75 is no cost to Tesla and you're still paying for it in the 60 anyways.

But as already mentioned, they lose money on everything. So it just means hey lose less on the 75.

[MX793]

Why? It's probably cheaper for them to lock out the extra mileage and use the same battery across the cars. You want the extra mileage, you can pay for it like everyone else who bought a 75.

Is it actually the same battery?  Could be that the 60's battery is capable of higher, but Tesla throttled it back for longevity reasons.  If the 75's battery is indeed different and higher capacity, it would also imply that the 75 likewise has more capability that Tesla isn't utilizing.

[CaminoRacer]

Well, they lose money on every single car sold, so you could make the case everyone underpaid

True.

[giant_mtb]

It's like charging an extra $5k for a bigger gas tank.  Except the gas tank is exactly the same, just without a partition that makes it 5 gallons smaller.

[Soup DeVille]

Is it actually the same battery?  Could be that the 60's battery is capable of higher, but Tesla throttled it back for longevity reasons.  If the 75's battery is indeed different and higher capacity, it would also imply that the 75 likewise has more capability that Tesla isn't utilizing.

It is exactly the same battery.
It does theoretically last longer as a 60Kwh battery.

[AutobahnSHO]

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/09/11/two-killed-during-dodge-challenger-hellcat-test-drive-on-airport-runway.html

[FoMoJo]

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/09/11/two-killed-during-dodge-challenger-hellcat-test-drive-on-airport-runway.html

71 and 76?  Don't really know what to think about that .

[AutobahnSHO]

71 and 76?  Don't really know what to think about that .

It's one way to go!

[MexicoCityM3]

This kind of feature unlocking has happened since the beginning of time in software. Nothing weird about it. Price based market segmentation.

IIRC an ancient Pentium chip had the floating point unit simply disabled on the lower end chips. Or was it the 486SX?

[Raza]

So the only thing holding the lesser model from being the better model is software?  That's fucked.

The future will be paying for better autonomous driver AI.  Over the air updates for a better chance of surviving depending on how much you're willing to pay.

[CaminoRacer]

The future will be paying for better autonomous driver AI.  Over the air updates for a better chance of surviving depending on how much you're willing to pay.

It's only fair. Right?

[cawimmer430]

For Raza...

1982 280SE with a manual transmission. Yuck! 

[MexicoCityM3]

The future will be paying for better autonomous driver AI.  Over the air updates for a better chance of surviving depending on how much you're willing to pay.

That is the present. Tesla does exactly that with their autopilot features.

[AutobahnSHO]

The future will be paying for better autonomous driver AI.  Over the air updates for a better chance of surviving depending on how much you're willing to pay.

"For an extra $x,000 our self-driving computer car will get you to your destination y% faster. This is possible because of cutting edge aggressiveness built into the program, in addition to the wireless agitation pheromones which are emitted from the anterior leading edge of the vehicle. These pheromones signal lesser cars to move out of the way blah blah" 

[Laconian]

This kind of feature unlocking has happened since the beginning of time in software. Nothing weird about it. Price based market segmentation.

IIRC an ancient Pentium chip had the floating point unit simply disabled on the lower end chips. Or was it the 486SX?

Intel does it still. Virtualization extensions, ECC RAM support, overclock support. It's all on the silicon, just locked out is all.

NVIDIA does it with Quadros too

[AutobahnSHO]

Intel does it still. Virtualization extensions, ECC RAM support, overclock support. It's all on the silicon, just locked out is all.

NVIDIA does it with Quadros too

[68_427]

Doug is annoying but this car is damn near perfection

https://youtu.be/giIP0XdT7SA?t=780

[Soup DeVille]

This kind of feature unlocking has happened since the beginning of time in software. Nothing weird about it. Price based market segmentation.

IIRC an ancient Pentium chip had the floating point unit simply disabled on the lower end chips. Or was it the 486SX?

It's weird in that it's such a major feature in an automobile.

It's not entirely new to autos either of course; they've been doing he same thing with cruise control and such for decades; but it is new in that this is a major component of the primary function of the car.