Subj : Re: New Mazda
To   : Nightfox
From : esc
Date : Wed May 24 2023 10:23:50

 Ni> I like Volkswagen and have driven several of their cars over the years,
 Ni> but I decided to make a switch this time.  I don't particularly like

I also have had a number of VWs over the years. I had a 2003 GTI and later a 2008 GTI. These cars were amazingly fun to drive, and they felt faster than they probably were.

I also had a 69 Beetle that I halfway rebuilt just for fun. It was also a blast, and frankly, I really miss that car! I think I'll get another Beetle in the future to fix up.

I was /this/ close to getting a Westfalia camper, but ultimately we decided against it as it would be not only a vintage car to maintain, but since it was built in the 80s it would require extensive SMOG and CARB testing in California. If it were built ten years earlier, I wouldn't have had to worry about this, and probably would have one in my driveway!

 Ni> Being such a newer car compared to my last car, it has some interesting
 Ni> 'smart' features as far as sensors to detect cars around you - It shows
 Ni> you (or alerts you) if there's a car coming up in an adjacent lane. It
 Ni> also has adaptive cruise control - You can set the cruise control speed,
 Ni> and if it detects that you're getting close to a car in front of you, it
 Ni> will slow down to match their speed until they move away.  It also has
 Ni> automatic emergency braking, which is supposed to engage the brakes to
 Ni> avoid a crash if it detects something in front of you while moving -
 Ni> though I've seen a couple posts online where people have said the brakes
 Ni> suddenly engaged for no apparent reason (and in one case, someone
 Ni> rear-ended them due to their brakes coming on suddenly).

These smart features are called L2 ADAS. My company works in this space, it's pretty fascinating. Autonomy is the goal for every company but it's still a ways off; L2 ADAS is a stepping stone.

 Ni> Overall, I wanted a reliable car that's less expensive to maintain than
 Ni> my Volkswagen was - It sounds like hopefully this Mazda will be.

Nice. Hope it plays out that way. I bought a 2018 Fiat 500E (Electric) for a cheap commuter that doesn't require much maintenance. As it's a tiny electric car, it's very maneuverable, rather fun to drive, and costs astonishingly little to keep charged up at home.

This car has a funny pedigree. Stellantis (basically Chrysler) was told that too many of their vehicles were gas guzzlers, and California told Stellantis that if they wanted to continue selling vehicles in CA, they'd need some way to offset this. What Stellantis did was tell Fiat to build an electric car. Fiat begrudgingly built its 500 model into an electric car. They lost like 10-15k on each one of these sold, but as they were compliance cars, they had no real choice in the matter. To my knowledge this car was only sold in CA and maybe Oregon or Washington, but I can't remember exactly.

Anyway the 500E is rare outside of California, and you don't see many here either. But it's a great commuter! I essentially bought my way into the carpool lane as it's an electric car, and it requires shockingly little maintenance. The range sucks, especially if you drive like me, and if you have a problem with the batteries or something you're probably hosed as Fiat never really invested in maintaining these cars, but in the near term it's a home run.

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