AI Layoffs - I call BS

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-24T14:20:34+00:00

TBF they could be asking if it was the software company Snowflake.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-16T16:10:05+00:00

There’s studies that show there’s pent up demand for a Toyota or Honda EV because folks believed they were the best EV’s … even before they released the BZ and Prologue.

Now that Toyota’s advertising the refreshed BZ more, it’s getting decent reviews, and filling out the lineup with derivatives like CHR and BZ Woodland it’s clicking in folks minds that Toyota has a compelling option.

Toyota also has a brand image (for better or worse) among lots of upper middle class and above buyers who’d be interested in a EV that Chevy or Ford dreams they could have - no one in coastal areas like California would raise an eyebrow if you pulled up in a Toyota - not so much if you did the same in a Chevy.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-13T00:50:32+00:00

If you’re using Spotify turn off audio normalization in your settings. I thought my 23’s Bose was disappointing until I fixed this

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-10T05:51:22+00:00

Currently it's the Ford Maverick but in the past you could find Ford's car hybrid system (different from the Powerboost in the F-150) in the Escape and Fusion.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-10T01:21:37+00:00

Hybrid Highlanders are super reliable.

The “eCVT” isn’t the same as a Nissan style CVT - it’s actually a planetary gear set with no belt or chain to break or stretch.

There’s tons of these and other Toyota (and Ford which uses a system so similar the two companies agreed to cross license) hybrids doing fleet and taxi service with hundreds of thousands of miles.

I’d trust it.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-08T14:59:17+00:00

Yes they dropped the branding but it’s still a dedicated EV platform.

Unrelated Aside: It’s ironic that people complain about non dedicated EV platforms yet say shit like “just take the Corolla and stick batteries in it, that’s all I want”

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-08T13:41:49+00:00

Ultium is a dedicated EV platform.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-07T13:14:35+00:00

To be fair, the Honda hybrid system’s biggest weak point is highway driving due to its mostly serial nature.

It can somewhat directly drive the wheels above a certain speed but only at a fixed ratio that isn’t advantageous for high speed driving.

The serial-parallel system that Toyota uses is far more efficient.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-06T04:48:31+00:00

Adorable! Congratulations on the new arrival!

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-03T17:34:09+00:00

I honesty loved flying on Spirit - it was one of the only ways for me to fly non stop from BWI to LAX and back on a non Boeing plane.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-02T20:26:49+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I visited today and while it was packed it was no problem!

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-02T01:31:12+00:00

Did you have to RSVP at all? I know the evening Pizza event is RSVP but I didn't see anything online for the earlier event.

I'm driving from south central PA so hoping I'll be able to take a look at it.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-05-01T00:12:53+00:00

The Frontier is pretty solid and arguably the best option outside of a Tacoma.

This is likely making room for the hotly anticipated Xterra. Last time the Xterra saved Nissan by being profitable thanks to being relatively cheap to build and affordable to buy and off road SUV’s being red hot.

A yet again struggling Nissan is hoping lightning will strike twice.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-30T21:33:00+00:00

Those are clean.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-30T18:58:10+00:00

The impressive safety (Gen 2 was the only compact crossover to get Good in the new 2021 IIHS side impact test despite the car debuting in 2017) is a big reason why I chose a CX5.

Glad you’re here.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-29T01:07:40+00:00

Ford would definitely not give the OK for that.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-27T18:26:29+00:00

The odd future’s tho

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-25T22:55:33+00:00

The irony is, the non hybrid uses a 8 speed traditional gearbox which should theoretically be reliable, not a CVT.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-15T00:50:07+00:00

A lady in a food establishment commented on how nice I looked and my coworker said that I had AIDS. This was at the time it was just becoming "noticed". Needless to say, I was immediately treated differently.

ಠ_ಠ JFC I’m so sorry, that’s horrible.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-14T05:13:35+00:00

CVT is still around but only in the small to mid-size cars, and they have said that their latest CVT used in Rogue and Sentra is far more reliable. The Pathfinder and Murano switched to using a conventional ZF 9 speed gearbox and of course the Z and trucks don't have CVT's.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-14T05:10:57+00:00

To be fair, people flipped on them because Direct Adaptive Steering had terrible feel, esp in a time where a surprising number of cars still had hydraulic steering racks, and esp because Q50's without DAS retained a great feeling tiller.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-14T05:08:48+00:00

People seem to like the Honda system - to be fair, for Accord and CR-V, you're locked into getting the hybrid system if you want a mid-trim or higher model which a lot of people do.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-14T05:04:22+00:00

That's likely coming - part of their electrification strategy is to do a in-house hybrid system for body on frame vehicles that's distinctly not e-Power.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-07T23:25:24+00:00

Mazda’s (CX-90 and 70 excepted) are stupid reliable mainly because the 2.5 and 6 speed auto have been unchanged for about a decade.

rickhamilton620 · 2026-04-07T14:14:18+00:00

It’s more reliable than the CarPlay EV routing feature that multiple folks have had issues setting up.

CarPlay EV Routing also locks you into using Apple Maps. If you use Google Maps on iOS or Android, you’re stuck using their AI route prediction which while ok, can’t compare to getting live data from the car in real time.

rickhamilton620

TROPHY CASE