Who still owns a Holden?

[whitels1ss]

yes.... interesting comment and question


just back from adding a few thousand kms in SW Vic, SA and NW Vic to the Tourer .. doing what it was built for (see below)
and being the fleet manager at wrk, I watch what is popular, what people are driving.

Observations... zero EV traffic is rural areas (NOT a Tesla to be seen after we left Melbourne 'burbs) and probably NOT
helped by no charging stations anywhere. None in any of the servos I refuelled at and we also stopped in a few
parks (in Horsham, Gambier, Narracoorte etc) to have that coffee or use the local WC and again zero charging stations.

I did chat to a woman refuelling a Toyota RAV Hybrid in Horsham ... and she is dark on Toyota. Her RAV uses MORE fuel
than her old standard ICE version. Why?... bigger engine than the old and it weighs a tonne (actually 220kg more)
AND at highway speed, the forward motion all comes from the petrol engine! So don't believe the greenies ... and
motor vehicle manufacturers

long way from home...

Attachment 10262

Where abouts is the Royal Hotel Smitty?

Looks like you would have had a nice road trip mate.

[whitels1ss]

Where abouts is the Royal Hotel Smitty?

Looks like you would have had a nice road trip mate.

Just out of interest Smitty, what sort of fuel economy did you average on your trip mate?

[Smitty]

Just out of interest Smitty, what sort of fuel economy did you average on your trip mate?

the Royal is at Sea Lake (no idea why that name, over 330km to the nearest see in a straight line)
there is a sign on the wall in the pic but its a bit hard to read

and consumption of hydrocarbons in the form of PULP98... pretty chuffed at 8.2lt/100km for the 2400km journey
but
the best bit is the price. Did some research before we left... with petrol prices for ULP at 2.09 in Melbourne
and PULP98 at 2.35 (!), I thought by the time I really get into rural Australia I would be paying $2.50/litre

Nope... the further I got from Melbourne, the cheaper PULP was. I paid $1.89/lt for PULP98 in Horsham
that blew me away !

[whitels1ss]

PULP98... pretty chuffed at 8.2lt/100km for the 2400km journey

Got to be happy with that.

[SASLS1]

Be super interested to hear your thoughts on day to day living with an EV mate, especially considering you have a very nice HSV to compare it to. What are the pro's and cons compared to the petrol powered car? Can it fill the void 100 percent or are they still heavily compromised? What enticed you to make the switch?

Interestingly... it's been 5 years and 3 months... since Elon Musk first launched the Tesla Semi way back in November 2017 which was going to be first delivered / available in 2019 which never happen...

Its basically still not available and the Tesla Semi unladen weight which is a closely guarded secret by Tesla, still hasn't been revealed to this day.


Thunderf00t explains all the reasons why its a flawed design, and highlights all of Elon's False claims.

Thunderf00t is a British Chemist with over 1 million subscribers, and does a great job at busting peoples claims with Science / Chemistry / Physics / Maths...

I've been following him for years.

Here is his latest video from just 2 months ago... just after Elon relaunched the Telsa Semi for the Umpteen Time...

[SASLS1]

Here is Thunderf00t's follow up video on the Telsa Semi the following day after the video posted above...

[A^K^T]

03 VY One Tonner S (bought it new)
02 VX SS , its a little rough but has a freshly built engine (long story) and I need to tune it.
71 LC GTR Torana. Last time it ran was on leaded petrol and is in bits. still as it stands is the most valuable car I own.

I did have a V6 VY wagon that I bought for $400 (licensed & running)
That was a reliable and cheap car to own , I sold it to a mate when I got the SS as he needed a car .
It's still running but has needed a few minor fixes.

[my_Berlina]

Be super interested to hear your thoughts on day to day living with an EV mate, especially considering you have a very nice HSV to compare it to. What are the pro's and cons compared to the petrol powered car? Can it fill the void 100 percent or are they still heavily compromised? What enticed you to make the switch?

Short answers:
Pros:
No more standing in a puddle of diesel to fill with 98.
Being AWD, WOT is a lot more approachable. It is really hard to break traction.
Much happier letting others driving it.
As it is not a HSV rear bumper, I was happy to cut it for a towbar - it tows my trailer without effort.
I can drive it from my key fob - only forward and back, but when someone parks too close for my fat arse to get in......
Cons:
Need to be more mindful of pedestrians, who don't hear me - and a quick rev won't wake them up.
I sometimes miss the theatre of the GTS - luckily I still have it.
If I ever stuff up and run out of juice, it will take more than a jerry can to solve. But there are a lot of nannies to help me.
Remote start doesn't make me grin like a child, or help me find the car in a car park.

I could happily live with the EV6 as my only car, it is no more compromised than any other car.

Why switch
I see climate change as serious, and oil companies as greedy arseholes.
I love driving my GTS, and at 140,000Km and 9 years it needed a break from daily duties, as I will be keeping it.
Given I was keeping the GTS, there was no real risk.

It really is an unfair comparison to the GTS, which is a truly magnificent car. I can see why so many car reviewers gush
over EVs when comparing to a regular car. Equally, the EV6 is not a cheap car, my AWD GTLine was $89,000, so cheaper
than the GTS, but still a lot of coin.


Long story:

I have been pleasantly surprised with using the EV6 for day to day driving and beyond. There has been nothing that I need to do that it cannot. I utterly enjoy driving it.
I felt safe getting an EV knowing I would still have the petrol car, but those concerns have proven to be unfounded.
It is not as capable as the GTS when pushed. But that capability gap between the EV6 and GTS is an area you should not really be exploring on public roads.

When I first decided on getting an EV for my daily drive, I had the idea that it would mostly be for around town, and I would still be using the GTS for big trips.
I also want to mostly charge with home solar. I figured that if I cannot get enough charge from the sun on the weekend due to bad weather, then one sunny day I could
just leave the EV at home, and take the GTS instead. This has happened twice since August.

I was initially considering a smaller, less capable EV with that in mind. But as I looked, and thought about it, I realised "I needed a HUD", and needed reasonable
performance as my gap recognition is tuned to the GTS, plus it brings me joy! I have always argued that if you have to spend $X to get the car you need, spending
50% more to make it fun is only a cost of 50%.
So to get the features I "needed", I also ended up with a car that has a huge battery, and thus a long range. So I have done all my big trips (CBR-SYD, CBR-Coast, CBR-Hunter Valley)
in the EV. I will still do some big trips in the GTS, where it makes sense: HSVFest, Bathurst 1000 (not sure I want to leave an EV in the Bathurst car park just yet), My wife and I are still keen to do a driving trip around Tassie.


The big concern that is always raised is charging compared to petrol filling.
Home:
I don't have my final home charging solution in yet, but mainly because my interim solution has proved so effective.
I already had a 15A point in my garage for welding, so simply bought a 15A charger from ebay. I program the car to only charge in sunshine hours (10am-6pm) and charge enough on the weekend for a normal week driving 250-300km, keeping the charge between 20 and 80%. It is very convenient, and much better than using a servo.
Long Trips:
This is the harder one, though not really that bad. Back in the 80s I had a UC Torana. It had a range of only 300km. When I went to visit my parents in Central Queensland from Canberra, I would plan my fuel stops - was not too hard in NSW, but needed a lot of thought once north of the border, especially understanding opening hours. And I even ran out once, because I was travelling faster (using fuel faster) than my plan allowed.
There are plenty of tools to help you plan your trip, I always plan backup charging options also, but have not needed to resort to one yet. On the recent Hunter trip, I ended up charging
where we were staying at 8A over the 2 nights, and did not even visit the planned charger.
The fast charger, tops my car up the planned amount (normally from 30% to 90%) as fast as I go to the loo, and get something to eat. Though it still feels a bit funny plugging in
and walking away from the car.
Note: I have also been told recently, that I will also need to plan my Tassie trip in the GTS, as 98 is not as abundant as you might expect.


Performance

We were doing some testing of some new timing software at the local hill climb (so not a Motorsport Australia sanctioned event). It did a few timed laps in the EV6 (happily
avoids any complaints about noise). I did not run flat out, as there were no flag marshals to warn about roos....... but I gave it a fair nudge, especially off the line.

With the GTS, I would do some tyre warming, start in 2nd, and feed the throttle in progressively, on the edge of breaking loose, and cover the 1st 20m in 2.65s if I get it all just right, 2.9 if I don't. With the EV6 I just slammed the throttle, and got 2.25 or 2.26, no skill or finesse required.
For the whole lap, the GTS, when my shocks had fluid on the inside would manage 47.2s, now I am only managing 47.8s. The EV6 did 52.3s, maybe if driven harder I could get it to 50s.
Despite being quicker out of the blocks, it is less willing to change direction and not as confident under brakes as the GTS. But with that performance would be a solid mid field placing on
a normal hill climb day.

Our HSV club held a skip pan day recently. I took both cars. The GTS was much easier to get to step out, and hold it there, and was a lot of fun. The EV6, being AWD, was much
harder to get sliding. It would take a combination of throttle and steering abuse, to get it to brake loose, and some times it would just grip, and accelerate hard where the wheel was
pointing. Then once I got it to step out, I could then hold the slide for a little while, but it was always gaining speed, so I would need to back off. Still a lot of fun, and gave me a chance
to feel it how it behaves on the edge.


It really is an unfair comparison to the GTS, which is a truly magnificent car. I can see why so many car reviewers gush over EVs when comparing to a regular car. Equally, the EV6
is not a cheap car, my AWD GTLine was $89,000, so cheaper than the GTS, but still a lot of coin.

[vy2ttr]

Yep, still got my vy ss 383 tt, has a massive 90,000 ks on it..
I dont drive it much buts brings a smile to my face every time i do
and just got a wm 6 litre caprice.
I have lurked into the diesel side of things and have just finished a few more mods on my ram 2500 with the 6.7 cummins in it.
I fitted a s400 467 turbo along with new fuel pump and injectors, also o ringed head and fitted a stud kit. And backed it up with a 1000 hp rated billet trans...
Thing went over 550 rwkws at 1600 nm..... thing tows like an animal and will light up the 35s with very little ease...
Get some weird look gapping a v8 commoder or falcon in a ram lol

[SaintMike]

Yes - I still have my 2014 Calais V - and still get comments on how nice it looks - esp the colour "Alchemy". Colour seems to change depending on sun/shade/rain etc.

I was going to lodge a photo as my avatar but can't see how - is there a rule on this - ie post numbers etc ?

I gave my old Calais V (2009) to my son when I got the 2014 one. He still has it and it still goes well and looks awesome.

My favourite Calais was the one before the "09". It had these coffee cup holders that use to swing out from the dash - so good. They stopped doing this and when I asked Holden why I was told to many people use to snap them off - accidentally - and it cost a fortune to replace them - so they went back to the centre spot. A bit like those petrol flap "doors". Apparently they get snapped off all the time.

One thing I love in my current Calais V is the HUD. All cars should have this.

Cheers