” Was 2021 a fantastic year? Not exactly! Yet we did have some blog posts that got a great deal ofinterest
. Stroll down memory lane with us, as we think back on 2021, a year that will certainly appear much better by now in 2022.
Advertisement Elon Musk is taking responsibility for Tesla’s manufacturing failings. He just recently took a seat with among Tesla’s most significant build-quality movie critics, producing expert Sandy Munro, founder of the benchmarking consultancy Munro & Associates. Below’s what Musk needed to claim regarding huge panel spaces and also badly made body frameworks in what has to be one of the most legendary technical meetings I’ve seen in a while. What happens when you take a production professional with years of vehicle engineering experience and also put him in an area with a scientific research geek like Elon Musk? Magic.
That’s what. Munro, a man that made headlines after definitely eviscerating the build high quality of an early Model 3 by
contrasting it to a 1990s Kia, lastly satisfied face-to-face with Musk while the video camera was rolling. It sounds like it could be a controversial condition, but what does Musk claim right out of eviction?”I assumed your criticisms were exact.”I’m much from a Tesla or Elon Musk stan, yet I need to value that sincerity. Tesla’s CEO then fesses up to his firm’s”build-related blunders and dives into why they’ve been happening. When asked”about panel spaces, Musk claims:”It took [Tesla”] a while to”… straighten out the manufacturing procedure,” going on to go over exactly how the company struggled to obtain details right while production was in” vertical climb mode.”Really very early production cars, and the cars that appear after manufacturing has actually leveled off, Musk states, are the ones likely to have the best fit and also coating. Munro, having actually consulted with a number of Tesla proprietors during a current journey, discovered variations between 2 lorries constructed in the very same brief time-span. Baffled as to exactly how this can take place, he asked Musk.” We really did improve void as well as paint high quality a fair bit towards the end of last year, “the California-based engineer-CEO informed the Michigan-based engineer-CEO,” Even in the course of December.
“Musk likewise points out
that while increase manufacturing, his team hurried autos in a manner that really did not effectively permit paint to dry, triggering concerns with top quality.” Production is heck,”Musk places it truthfully.
Advertisement The photo above programs this problem on a very early Model 3 build, though Munro’s 2021 design does reveal some enhancement. For instance, there are now 17 area welds on one specific plate rather than 26 on the old auto, and also there’s one less bolt.
Oddly, though, also more recent Model 3s
don’t share the Model Y’s even more instinctive”mega-casting”rear wheelhouse– i.e. a solitary item rather than numerous panels secured together.
finest product scientific research team worldwide at Tesla. Designers would ask what’s the very best material for this objective … and also they got like 50 different solutions. And they’re all true separately, but they were not real jointly, “he admits.
Advertisement”When you attempt to join all these different alloys … you’ve obtained gaps that you’ve got to secure, and also you’ve reached sign up with these points, and also a few of them require to be joined with rivets, several of them require to be joined with place welds, a few of them require to be joined with material or resin and spot welds,”he proceeds.”Frankly, it appears like a little bit of a Frankenstein scenario when you look at everything with each other.”Musk then speaks about exactly how securing the gaps between the different items in the body is a headache.” That may be the most painful task in the factory, is spackling on the sealer,”he describes, stating just how even a small mistake can cause leaks and also NVH troubles. Advertisement Munro asks why more recent Model fives still make use of such a multipiece rear body layout as opposed to a solitary spreading like on the Model Y.”It’s hard to change the wheels on the bus when it’s going 80 mph down the freeway,”Musk reacts, saying the Model 3 stands for such a huge section of the car manufacturer’s quantity that the firm”[ demands] a possibility to redesign the manufacturing facility without blowing up
the cashflow.”He discusses
just how vital mosting likely to a single-piece casting was for the Model Y: There are no gaps, there’s no sealer as well as there’s no danger of galvanic deterioration at the user interface of dissimilar steels. That selection alone, Musks claims, permitted Tesla to decrease its body store size by 30 percent.”We removed 300 robotics simply with that said rear body casting,”he tells Munro.
Advertisement Musk then talks about with Munro the plans for Tesla to transfer to a structural battery pack that leverages the private cells as structural aspects that withstand shear pressures.”The cells today in every auto are brought like a sack of potatoes,” Musk clarifies.”They in fact have adverse architectural worth,”taking place to claim just how today, cells don’t make lorries any more inflexible, which particularly since there is seclusion product needed between the cells themselves as well as the pack real estate to aid the batteries manage shock lots, batteries are just a responsibility from a mass viewpoint. Musk intends to change that, and also get twin use from those batteries.
The rest of the meeting continues to be extensively unpopular. There’s discussion regarding autos’ natural regularities, regarding just how decreasing polar minute of inertia by bringing mass toward the cars and truck’s center of gravity returns far better handling. There’s discussion regarding tolerance stack-up and exactly how that leads Tesla to often err towards less items and Lego-like components accuracy.
Advertisement Munro states his company’s BMW i3 searchings for, admiring the German car manufacturer’s outstanding develop top quality for the carbon-fiber body. Musk responds that one of his significant worries concerning use of carbon fiber is that it has a greatly various coefficient of thermal development than light weight aluminum or steel, as well as this can trigger fitment concerns when the automobile is subjected to particular thermal atmospheres. Musk also discusses exactly how Tesla’s casting sizes on the Model S and X were limited since heat treatment brought about shape distortion once the component got to a certain dimension. To assist in larger castings, Musk states, firm’s material scientists needed to make a custom alloy that didn’t need an additional dealing with action after casting. Advertisement Musk additionally discusses that he
wants to do away
with 12-volt systems on EVs– a holdover from earlier designs and also a way to quickly integrate already-existing parts from popular car distributors. A 48-volt system, Musk and Munro agree, might have great deals of advantages consisting of lowered cord dimension and also weight. Musk points out that the S and X are now getting lithium-ion 12-volt batteries, which add capability as well as last longer than standard lead-acid ones. The discussion wraps up with speak about the future of EVs as well as the speed with which they will go into the market in coming years. There’s also speak about shortsellers due to the fact that of course there “is. Advertisement Throughout the meeting, particularly in the beginning, Munro compliments Tesla’s exceptional seats, with Musk discussing exactly how the trick is to lower stress tops on the body. The two enginerds take a look at the
worth of making
seats internal versus buying them from providers. It’s all unpopular and interesting, and in some ways, a truly enchanting minute in between two complete mathematics as well as scientific research nerds. I like it. I additionally like just how, when Munro claims he was having problems with Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system as a result of poor roadway markings in Texas, Musk straight-up says:”Even if the road is repainted totally wrong and a UFO lands in the middle of the roadway, the cars and truck still can not crash and also still requires to do the best thing … It can’t be dependent upon the roadway markings being right … It’s simply got ta be’no matter what, it’s not gon na collision.'”
Advertisement The entire interview is just gold. I chatted with Munro & Associate’s president Cory Steuben, and he informed me about how this meeting even became. Steuben as well as Munro are in the middle of a trip right now in a Model 3 that they spontaneously determined to buy. The two intended a trip out western to see
some EV automakers,
as well as socialized in Fremont to see if Musk would be there. He wasn’t &. Serendipitously, Steuben received an e-mail from an individual stating he might set up an interview with Musk. Musk’s assistant, at 11 p.m. on Monday, arranged a meeting in Boca Chica, Texas for Friday, however already, Steuben as well as Munro remained in Eugene, Oregon.
Advertisement Steuben as well as Munro had to bee-line it 2,500 miles, 40 hours in the Model 3, intending billing terminals and also actually putting electromobility to the utmost examination in driving from Oregon all the method to Texas to see the king of EVs himself, Elon Musk. Luckily, Steuben
as well as Munro made their
meeting, with the previous claiming the billionaire came off as” one of one of the most satisfying, humble, stoic … people that I’ve met that’s in a setting like that. ”
Advertisement Musk, Steuben stated, spent three hrs with the two designers from Michigan, and was seen working at 10:30 p.m. on a Friday. As if the interview weren’t epic enough on its own.
The ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Saab 9-5 assures us that while it has a ton of miles under its belt, many of those were accumulated under the ownership of a former Saab mechanic. Let’s see if that ownership history sways us to formally consider its price.
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In life, there’s good and then there’s just good enough. The latter is usually realized when a multitude of factors is taken into account and the pluses barely manage to edge out the minuses.
That seemed to be the case with yesterday’s 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible. It was a car that no one seemed to care for much, but which, at $2,900, proved an undeniable bargain, earning a solid 86 percent Nice Price win. As we say, good enough.
This past Sunday proved an auspicious if sad anniversary. It was on that date 10 years ago — December 19, 2011 — that Saab finally declared bankruptcy and called it quits. After years of being a hot potato to various owners, the Saab brand today is around only in ghost form, and as manifested by older cars like this 1999 Saab 9-5 wagon.
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Much like Saab the company, this 9-5 has had multiple owners. The second, and current owner until the prospective sale, claims to have once owned a Saab repair shop. That, of course, is a handy advocation for any Saab owner. If you’re not a Saab mechanic, or if you lack access to a good one, then maybe this isn’t the right car for you. Even if you do consider yourself up to the challenge of old Saab ownership, perhaps this car’s 235,000-mile history will put you off.
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It’s not as though I am trying to dissuade this car’s purchase. Far be it for me to do so. I’m just attempting to point out all of the minuses as well as the pluses. And this car does seem to be full of pluses. The seller says that when ordering the car, the first owner dove heavily into the options list, ordering pretty much everything that was available. According to the ad, that included bun warmers for both front and back seats and a spoiler on the hatch. Perhaps most interesting is the picnic table that extends from the load area floor and allows for impromptu tailgate parties wherever you go.
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Power is provided by Saab’s 2.3 liter DOHC turbo four. For this model year, that made 168 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque. In the ad, the seller notes the replacement of the original Garret turbo with a Mitsubishi unit, as well as a number of other preventative maintenance and upkeep efforts. Backing up the transverse four is a four-speed automatic sourced from Aisin.
The seller says that the car is mechanically sound and would not hesitate to drive it any distance. Two sets of wheels and tires (summer/winter) come with the car so there should be no issue should that distance include some inclement weather along the way.
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Aesthetically, there’s a lot to like here too. While the seller notes the car having normal wear and tear for its age, outside of the odometer, the car doesn’t seem to show its miles. The exterior — in handsome arrest me red — is clean and without obvious issue. Accenting the body color are silver factory alloys that also look up to the task.
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Inside, the cabin’s leather and plastics also seem to be in remarkably good shape for a car of such age and use. It’s fully loaded too, with the aforementioned seat toasters along with power windows and locks and air-con. The car comes with three keys and yes, those work an ignition switch that sits between the front seats, in proper Saab fashion.
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The title is clean and the ad seems an honest presentation of the car by someone who knows the brand and its foibles.
Of course, an ad is just a tease for what you might be getting into with any car. Naturally, nice ad or not, buyers need to be cautious about the purchase of any used car, especially one from a long-defunct brand with limited parts availability and few service options anymore.
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The question is whether this Saab is worth $4,500 to take such a plunge. What do you say, is this mechanic-approved 9-5 worth that much as it sits? Or, is this orphan car priced so high that even Daddy Warbucks would give it a pass?
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You decide!
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Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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data-height=”900″data-lightbox=” real”data-recommended=”true “contenteditable=”false” draggable =” incorrect “> The Morning Shift All your day-to-day cars and truck news in one hassle-free place. Isn’t your time more crucial? Tesla is getting involved in it with the National Labor Relations Board, but it’s not about reducing unions or inadequate work environment problems.
In fact, wait
, it has to do with that. It’s also regarding a tweet. All
that as well as extra in The Morning Shift for April 5, 2021. Advertisement 1st Gear: Elon’s Tweets Must Remain Unconstrained It will always be interesting to see where a business digs in its heels. These are the concerns that are important to that service. When it comes to Tesla, Elon being cost-free to tweet whatever he seems like, driving supply costs to a frenzy, is a vital part of the operation. We understand this because Tesla wants to eliminate about it, as Reuters records: The electric-car manufacturer submitted a petition on Friday with the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals to review the NLRB’s choice as well as order issued on
March 25. In the request, Tesla asked the court to evaluate the order and grant Tesla “any further relief which the Court considers just as well as fair.”Last month, the NRLB ordered Tesla to direct Musk to delete the tweet as well as to publish a notification dealing with the illegal tweet in any way of its centers across the country and also include language that says” WE WILL take appropriate actions to make certain Musk adhere to our regulation.”To be reasonable,
the tweet concerned wasn’t a Harambe joke or some Dogecoin increase, but Elon claiming that Tesla has no need to union-bust, as it already has a really secure work environment, thanks quite! 2nd Gear: NHTSA Is Pretty Active For An
Organization That Owes This Whistleblower $13.7 Million The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was able to press Hyundai and also Kia right into recalls and also a current $210 million settlement over engines confiscating as well as catching fire. The male accountable was a whistleblower, Kim Gwang-ho. Congress got NHTSA to establish a program to pay him for his trouble completely back in 2015.
G/O Media may get a commission How much difficulty are we discussing here? It’s a great $13.7 million, as the Wall Street Journal information:
After going public with his concerns, Mr. Kim lost his work, was sued by Hyundai for supposedly dripping business keys as well as had his home outside Seoul looked by police. Now, Mr. Kim stated he is unsure when or if he will certainly be made up for the duty he states he played in an investigation that caused a document negotiation NHTSA got to with the vehicle maker and sister business Kia Corp. in 2015 for as much as $210 million.
“I have hope that all these discomforts and all these hard days will certainly be lastly awarded,” Mr. Kim, 59, stated in an interview, through an interpreter.
Mr. Kim’s attorneys said they think his payout would go to the very least $13.7 million, based on the formula set out by the regulation, and also possibly much more were the firms to pay deferred charges. Advertisement The program mandated by Congress has actually still not been
set up, and Kim has actually still not been paid. Third Gear: Italian App Drivers Striking In Most Italian Way Possible
Amazon.com Italia turned down the recommendation that shipment suppliers are put under undue stress by the company’s formula, suggesting that its workers are all beneficiaries of national cumulative negotiating.
Yet, Daniele– that declined to offer his surname– insisted that workers “are expected to supply one package every 3 mins. Obviously we speed, or park the van on driveways, and afterwards the business makes us spend for the penalties.” Advertisement High as I love the funny of Italian app motorists demanding that their speeding tickets be covered as a job cost, they do have a point. Application motorists work for their apps, they work as staff members, they earn money for their applications like workers do, but are not treated to the same advantages as staff members.
Fourth Gear: Ford Execs Still Got Pandemic Bonuses
payment board changed the requirements for perks on the fly to compensate some leaders for their reaction to the pandemic. Jim Hackett, that retired as CEO as of Oct. 1, received the largest pandemic bonus: $1.26 million. His follower, Jim Farley, obtained $685,330. Exec Chairman Bill Ford– whose achievements cited in the company’s proxy filing included being called Industry Leader of the Year by Automotive News— obtained an additional $405,000. Advertisement Fifth Gear: BMW, Volvo, And Others Oppose Deep-Sea Mining I do not recognize if mining the sea floor is the largest possible concern that encounters the globe today, however it does terrify the crap out of me. A variety of business, BMW and Volvo consisted of, oppose it too, as the BBC reports: For years it was just environmental groups that objected to the suggestion of digging up metals from the deep sea.But currently BMW, Volvo, Google as well as Samsung are lending their weight to ask for a postponement on the proposals.The action has been criticised by companies behind the deep sea mining plans, who state the technique is more lasting in the sea than on land.The principle, first envisaged in the 1960s, is to essence billions of potato-sized rocks called nodules from the abyssal levels of the seas several miles deep.Rich in beneficial minerals, these blemishes have long been valued as the source of a brand-new sort of gold rush that can provide the worldwide economy for centuries. Advertisement Opposite: I Can not Imagine What This Was Like
Advertisement Neutral: How Are You?
Released from Passover constraints, I really feel astounding degrees of food power surging through my capillaries. I will certainly spend today eating a troubling number of bagels.
Advertisement Of course, that meticulous interest to information is lavished on every various other element of the cars and truck, from the drivetrain, suspension as well as electric systems to the inside, where NISMO can either refurbish the existing furniture or replace it with contemporary, more secure (read: much less fire-prone) materials, like those utilized in the R35 GT-R.
G/O Media might get a commission It’s Thursday, so maybe I’m buoyed by weekend break optimism today. I’m relatively confident absolutely nothing else today will load me with the complete satisfaction of that , or those pictures. I do not also care that none of these things are being done to my GT-R that I don’t own (OKAY, I care a little). Actually, it’s just encouraging to see that R32s are going residence and coming out much better than they’ve ever been.
For GREAT deals on a new or used Nissan check out Santa Maria Nissan TODAY!
While magicians often have tricks up their sleeves, today’s Nice Price or No Dice BMW 5 Series keeps its tricky bit at the back, where a two-hatch tailgate offers multiple loading options and marvels onlookers. Let’s see if this tricky GT offers a trick price as well.
Last Friday we looked at a 1998 Saab 900 SE with a broken convertible top mechanism that no amount of magic incantations or Wicca spellbinding would be likely to fix. A few of you noted in the comments that you had gone down the road of actually repairing a recalcitrant Saab top. And, while there was no promise that it would be a joyous and life-affirming task, no one said doing so would kill you either. That, along with an otherwise tidy presentation and a modest $3,800 asking price, ensured that the Saab took home a solid 68 percent Nice Price win.
When its assemble lines were humming, Saab was a niche carmaker. It went after buyers looking for quirky but safe and somewhat sporty cars that offered loads of space and the ability to get through a Swedish winter without complaint. Sadly for Saab, there weren’t enough of those buyers to sustain its business, and by the time it branched out into more mainstream ware (thanks, GM) it was too little, too late.
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Not wishing to go the way of that Swedish competitor, BMW has, over the years, sought to fill damn near every automotive niche and crack imaginable. That’s given us not just the expected SUVs and crossovers that every automaker seems to churn out these days, but also a bunch of weird-ass in-betweeners that mash-up AWD chassis with odd hunchback bodies. They even make them in multiple sizes, with the X4 and X6 offering compact and midsize weirdness.
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For a time, BMW sold something even weirder than that. Once just an executive sedan, BMW’s 5 Series expanded its model line with the E34 edition to include a commodious estate edition. This carried through two more generations, but with the introduction of the F10 in 2010, the company decided that Americans didn’t want wagons anymore. No, what Americans want, BMW imagined, is ungainly hatchbacks with compromised cargo space and poorer visibility.
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This 2011 BMW 535i GT — the Gran Turismo in the company’s communications — is an example of that product strategy. While it was wildly misguided (the GT never got anywhere close to BMW’s planned sales) that wasn’t for want of a pretty clever bit of kit in its hatch. There you’ll find the expected full hatch, a sizable opening that includes the back glass and offers access to the reasonably spacious cargo area. Hidden inside that hatch, however, is yet another, smaller door that opens like the boot lid on an old Volkswagen Rabbit cabriolet. It allows access for small stuff for when the use of the full hatch is too much, I guess. I’ve actually never been able to figure out when exactly you’d use the second hatch, but I think it’s pretty neat that BMW’s engineers included it in the GT’s design.
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While the GT is branded as a 5 Series, it’s based on the larger 7 Series platform. The car could be had with either six-cylinder or V8 power and RWD or AWD. This one is the less complicated, but accordingly less capable, six with just RWD. That six maintains a pair of turbos that give it 300 horsepower. An eight-speed automatic with semimanual mode backs that up.
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This silver over gray GT rocks 104,000 miles and shows little in the way of wear and tear for its decade of life or those miles. The paint is shiny and there are no obvious blemishes beneath that shine. The factory alloys holding that all up appear to be free of major curb rash and wear Pirelli rubber.
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There’s a bit of egress wear on the driver’s seat bolster, but other than that the cabin seems to present in almost as-new condition. The GT was positioned as one of BMW’s top-tier cars so it also features just about every bell you could whistle. That’s all topped with a panoramic moon roof for an appreciably light and airy cabin.
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This a private-seller sale, and the ad claims a clean Carfax, clear title and no issue with passing emissions. Notably, the ad is a bit all over the place as it lists the engine as a “four” and the driveline as “4WD.” The car offers neither.
The asking price for the car is $11,995. That’s a hell of a drop from the 60 grand the car likely cost new and is perhaps evidence of just how unpopular these cars tend to be in the market.
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Still, there’s an ass for every seat, and seeing as this GT has been on the road for the better part of a decade, there’s obviously an audience for the cars, even if it’s a small one. For that small audience, do you think this GT would prove a good deal at that $11,995 asking?
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That does seem to be a lot of car for the money, and you have to admit that it’s in nice shape, even if you might not be a fan of that shape. What do you think, should a fan of the GT fan out $11,995 in cash for this rare 5 Series? Or, is that too much for the car, even if it does have two hatches?
You decide!
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San Diego, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Thomas C. for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.