We had a PHEV Sorento for three weeks in New Zealand. It had a battle-tank thirst for petrol, at around US$6.80/gal, a CO2-pumping demon. I sure as hell wasn't going to plug the thing in anywhere, because... where?

But Europcar looks good by having them in the fleet, and they get a 30% tax discount on the NZ government's Road User Fee.

And then there were the lectures on global warming and the receding glaciers on the South Island.

Quote from: Morris Minor on May 07, 2024, 06:25:55 AMPHEVs are finding their way into corporate fleets and, as anyone who can walk on their hind legs would predict, their gas consumption is higher.
"Hmm, plug this thing in at home on my dime? Or use the company gas card? Which to choose?"

Employee/drivers don't make that decision on fleet purchases, executives do, right? It's been ~12 years and EVs still cost more, still have less range and still have longer refueling times. If you're an Amazon, have $80-100B cash in the bank, have at least a moderate streak of woke, have complete control over fleet routes, and don't capitalize your delivery in the same way as a FedEx/UPS/DHL (i.e., it's not a cost center per se), EVs may work for you (but there's very few of you).

Quote from: GoCougs on April 30, 2024, 02:15:47 PMYikes, looks worse for Ford than it first sounded: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fords-first-quarter-adjusted-profit-falls-2024-04-24/.

Delayed launches, refocus on hybrids; IOW:

Ford is grappling with what CEO Jim Farley called "a huge drag not just on Ford, but on our whole industry": electric vehicle production.

PHEVs are finding their way into corporate fleets and, as anyone who can walk on their hind legs would predict, their gas consumption is higher.
"Hmm, plug this thing in at home on my dime? Or use the company gas card? Which to choose?"

I have a friend who got a waymo ride the other day. She rated it 5/5, said it even navigated some interesting construction.

Part 31: Cadillac Fleetwood


The Fleetwood Metal Body company was an automobile coachbuilder formed on April 1, 1909.  Fleetwood produced bespoke bodies on chassis from Bentley, Cadillac, Daniels, Duesenberg, Fiat, Isotta Fraschini, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Rolls-Royce, SGV, and Stutz.  The company name was derived from Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, where the company was established.  Fleetwood, Pennsylvania was named after the coastal English town of Fleetwood in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, just a few miles up the coast from Blackpool.

Fisher Body Company, a division of General Motors, purchased Fleetwood Metal Body in September, 1925.  After the purchase by Fisher Body, Fleetwood produced car bodies exclusively for Cadillac.  Cadillac continued to use the Fleetwood name all the way through 1996 when GM discontinued the last of its rear-drive, body-on-frame passenger cars.  These last Fleetwoods shared a chassis with the Buick Roadmaster and the Chevrolet Caprice and Impala SS.

The largest and grandest of Cadillac sedans may only have an indirect connection to a small northern English town, but it's still a connection, regardless.  And this little seaside hamlet is perhaps the very last place I would look for a massive, 18-foot-long, rolling slab of Americana like a Cadillac Fleetwood.  Then again, one can never be certain.  I won't rule out the possibility there might be some peculiar local freak residing somewhere near the banks of the River Wyre, cruising the streets of his Lancashire village in his ridiculous aging Cadillac.  I'm imagining a sort of self-styled council estate Elvis, Brylcreem pompadour and all, with his Bettie Page look-alike girlfriend in the passenger seat.  That's the wonderful thing about England and, for that matter, Britain as a whole.  For whatever reason, that green and pleasant isle produces the world's greatest breed of oddball eccentrics!

L4NDO!!!!!

'Least you got it all set!

Tried the negative and positive wires from the dashcam power cord- sub still stayed on.

The instructions for the "auto power on" button were counter-intuitive. I had to turn it off. Works perfectly now.
And yes, I've been messing with it this entire time since original post....
(sigh)

Nice to see some competition.