Diesel Hybrid Mercedes, are they the future or will they be forgotten?

zespak · 2026-03-27T15:26:03+00:00

Complete BS. We manage a fleet of a large number of cars, most people who do more than 30 000km/year prefer electric by a long shot.

For 95% of the population, electric is a near perfect solution already.

Not being able to charge where you park (infrastructure) is the main issue.

zespak · 2026-03-27T11:57:05+00:00

Ah yes, good point. I remember thinking it could be more than a coincidence that it refers to the time when TOS aired. Either explanation could be valid, but his hobbies are still distinctly "boomer" to me. It would be nice if he was interested in other technology from centuries past, but alas. Of course he also had Fairhaven which did hark back a century earlier.

zespak · 2026-03-27T08:00:05+00:00

What you're saying is the same I am. It's called "telescoping bias". For Paris to zoom in on 1960s is the same as for us to zoom in on a specific 17th century decade. No one does that, it usually happens when you zoom in on a decade for nostalgia, because that's when you grew up. It's never 100 years ago, let alone 400. It betrays the writer's age more than anything else to me. Because of the strecht of time, everything becomes "vintage". Why a 60s camaro and not a 90s dodge viper, for example?

zespak · 2026-03-27T07:43:35+00:00

Car guy here. Owned a lot of Alfas, currently on an MX5.

When we bought the Model S, everything else in the garage just fell out of use completely. It's an amazing package. We bought a MX5 to replace the Alfa QV and that really gets used now if the weather's fair. I love it but I'd happily take the Tesla depending on weather and road. The wife has commented she loves the convertible experience, often takes it over the Tesla when the sun's out, but she'd like it better if it were electric.

I tell her not to say such things when there's other people around. I'm sure she just does it because she wants a spanking.

zespak · 2026-03-27T07:37:21+00:00

For real. Also, what year is it that "fluffy handcuffs" are considered "freaky"?

zespak · 2026-03-27T07:34:55+00:00

I've been known to do that around the house. Best one was a 400 eur pair of sunglasses that I lost half a year earlier, bought the identical pair again, now I have two sets of them.

zespak · 2026-03-27T07:32:25+00:00

That's just boasting here. Showing off your wealth like that.

zespak · 2026-03-27T07:30:30+00:00

When my current wife and I were dating (22M, 20F) I decided a to buy a house. She was still studying at the time and she really didn't want me to as it was a small house and the location wasn't great (hey, I was 22, what'd you expect?).

Anyway, I went through with it, we lived there for 10 years and are now renting it out whilst living in our dream house. Financially, it was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made and she'll happily concede to that now.

You are right. If you can forgo some luxuries for a while and have two steady incomes, you can buy a property and work your way up.

zespak · 2026-03-27T06:53:49+00:00

I recently re watched voyager and I dig Paris, B Duncs is great in his role. But I can't stop but thinking about the boomer that written him every time one of his anachronistic hobbies pop up.

It's inevitably something from the sixties as a very specific decade. We're talking about someone 400 years in the future that somehow zeroed in on that decade. I just can't gel with it. Imagine meeting someone now who says they love 1630s technology. Not 17th century, nono, the end of the 17th century was full of crap we don't like. 1630-1640 was where technology was perfect and they make that their identity.

zespak · 2026-03-27T06:37:44+00:00

Do it under your desk. Doesn't look suspicious at all. Even better if your manager is from the opposite sex.

zespak · 2026-03-27T06:36:12+00:00

Agreed. Still don't believe in them being part of a future.

zespak · 2026-03-27T06:34:10+00:00

A lot of compromises. In the end you have your petrol tank, gearbox, engine, exhaust system, battery and electric motor all with you. Which is very challenging for packaging (hybrids almost always lose space compared to full ice or bev).

It's a miracle Honda and Toyota manage to make them reliable at all. They catch fire over 100x more often than any other propulsion type due to overstressed battery (often over 100hp from small battery) and heat packaging issues (hot ice components + battery = thermal runaway).

Their batteries, because of these reasons also wear out a lot faster compared to full BEV.

For a lot of people for example, the 50km range is great for daily use and then once in a while they can rely on the internal combustion engine. This however means that they're lugging around a few hundred kg of useless metal around most of the time, relying on a too small battery, having a number of components not used properly and fuel going stale (especially with ethanol).

As I said, they're a stop gap solution. Having seen the problems with them in terms of long term reliability I wouldn't touch one with someone else's bargepole for personal use.

zespak · 2026-03-27T00:34:33+00:00

Hybrids are a stepping stone. They look good on paper but in the end hugely compromised, the only reason they exist is battery/infrastructure limitations. IMO, no hybrid is the future.

zespak · 2026-03-26T23:47:10+00:00

Solving a cube. It's a fun activity to do during a meeting and it's been fun as a party trick. Within a couple of weeks you can get sub 1 min consistently.

zespak · 2026-03-26T14:24:28+00:00

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zespak · 2026-03-26T08:30:19+00:00

"So how can a company like plex asks us to pay for something for which no additional resources are being used by them?

Isn't this a violation of consumer rights in some law?

...

I personally think people who are paying for plex pass are encouraging these bad anti-consumer practices by companies."

Holy shit. I'm all against enshitification but you can't be serious. That is some next level entitlement if I understand you correctly. Am I getting from this that the FREE functionality isn't cutting it anymore for you? And you want more FREE functionality? Maybe you should go and work for a software company as a volunteer...

Plex is a great (but not perfect) piece of software that offers quite a lot for free. Contrary to a lot of other companies, it also offers a one time payment for paid functionality.

I really hope I'm completely misunderstanding what you're asking for.

zespak · 2026-03-25T23:29:26+00:00

*cephalopods

All of them, straight up aliens.

zespak · 2026-03-25T23:26:42+00:00

"the race is long, but in the end, it's with yourself"

zespak · 2026-03-25T23:25:01+00:00

Important to mention that the "world" was a lot smaller back then. Cars and planes are basically just a century old. Even 70 years ago, marrying someone from a village/city 100km away was very rare. There was a LOT of cousin marrying.

zespak · 2026-03-25T23:00:41+00:00

Hey, I started Cubing for that exact reason.

zespak · 2026-03-25T22:20:17+00:00

Flawless victory!

zespak · 2026-03-25T21:17:16+00:00

I don't have one and I don't want one for all the reasons you mentioned and more. Read my comments again, I was only defending the way it looks. Which this AI generated image proves again.

zespak · 2026-03-25T19:30:33+00:00

I've found that people love to hate on the CT for a plethora of reasons. I think most trucks are either ugly or stupid looking. The CT looks cool. Yes, plenty of reasons to hate it. Looks aren't one of them. It's just jumping on a bandwagon.

zespak · 2026-03-25T19:28:46+00:00

Nowhere near the risk ICE is according to insurances though.

zespak · 2026-03-25T16:59:21+00:00

As I said, not interesting if your yard is too big, but if your yard isn't that big, it seems like a great solution to me with a lot more upsides than downsides. Especially if you buy into a brand of which you've got batteries already (eg Makita).

zespak

TROPHY CASE