My wife liked the looks of the PT Cruiser, so we test drove one. If anything, it’s worse inside. The seating position was awkward, everything felt like tin.
Notice you don’t see many of them on the road anymore? They’re quite rare, despite being really popular for a while. They just weren’t built to last.
Back to the Cybertruck. Here’s Motor Trend’s review: They liked it as a pickup truck.
Chrysler / Dodge … never buy vehicles from “comatose” companies …
I once heard a friend refer to C/D as the FIAT of America … and that kinda stuck with me …
Yeah. And I found the same thing with the Jeep Liberty. It was godawful inside, and drove like garbage. I notice there are still a lot of Ford Escapes from that era on the road. but I almost never see a Liberty anymore.
Hehehe, yeah. At one point before my birth, they were contenders. I even loved some of their turbo subcompacts from the 80s, and had access to a 383 '68 Charger for awhile. I loved some things about them (that Charger’s suspension was a gem!), but other aspects of fixing them made me think “You guys make Ford and GM look like they know what they are doing.”
My wife rented a few different cars through the oughties. She wasn’t fond of most of them, but she couldn’t wait to give the PT Cruiser back most of all. It seemed like a big ball of suck. Chrysler sold a lot of them in cash for clunkers, but they all seem to have died abut 10 years later. I still see HHRs scurrying about like the cockroaches of retro design that they are, though.
Saw a Cybertruck on the road today. My God, even Fuglier in real life! There is no way the driver has any rearward visibility. An Unlovely vehicle, to be sure.
Had lots of road grimes (hee hee) on it, too.
We have one. 2007. Burnt orange color. Ugly as shit and every single thing on the inside is plastic. We’ve had it for damn near 10 years and the thing will not die. All I’ve had to do besides the usual maintenance is put an alternator in it. My wife drove it as her daily driver for 5 or 6 years, and both my boys have driven it as their daily driver before getting their own cars. The transmission has been going out for 2 years but it won’t actually up and quit on me. I hate it and I should sell it but dammit, its a good backup vehicle because apparently it will always, but always be ready to go even after sitting for weeks without being driven.
Errr… you know that Fiat owns Chrysler, right?
Yep, that totally tracks. I don’t know how they ended up being more durable and longer lived than the Cobalt they shared a platform with, but there they are, rolling around. I see Cobalts, but they are nowhere near as common as their HHR platform mates. There must have been something about that body that protects it from death. I have no idea what it is.
(edited because a Cruze is not a Cobalt)
Regarding the PT Cruiser, my MiL liked the aesthetics of it, and was seriously planning on buying one years back. And then should took the test drive, and stopped talking about it at all. Apparently everything about driving it sucked: acceleration, handling, steering, braking, the works. And of course, it would have been a terrible choice for those few times a year in Colorado Springs where the roads are truly terrible but everyone has to go out anyway.
My FiL bought her a PT Cruiser Matchbox car and we all joked about it being the best possible version of the car for years afterward.
But, and bringing us back to the topic (Cybertruck, natch) will it be the same sort of thing? Very popular with a certain segment for it’s early production cycle, where rarity and fan enthusiasm drives it, with blowback against all the problems (which IMHO we’re already seeing) and difficulties in repairing and maintaining it, to obscurity, to joke and meme status until it’s eventually a “hey, remember that stupid angular beast? Yeah, I haven’t seen on in ages…”.
Personally, I think that it’ll be produced for no more than a few years at most (to keep Musk happy) then he’ll move on to some new enthusiasm, and say “Oh, I always meant it to be for those who truly got it, and to Test out Nex-Generation Tech which it has done so commendably!”.
I think it will go the way of the Pontiac Aztek. Some usefulness, some good features, but just so UGG-LEE that it won’t ever really catch on and most people won’t want their friends to know they have one.
I think you misunderstand the types of friends had by people who want these.
The red one, yes. With the reflections, it looks like burled walnut.
It also looks like a car Ed Straker would drive to SHADO HQ.
I had such a crush on him when I was a kid.
Well, I saw my first Cybertruck in the “wild” yesterday. It was after sundown, going the other direction on a busy street, so I only saw it for a second. My impression is that it does not look as real as most real things. It kind of looks like a sprite from an old video game.
I just thought I would get a few predictions on the record:
One of our close neighbors has a Tesla sedan (don’t know the model; don’t care), and his parking space is right next to ours. Last week, my sister came back from an appt, and said Brook was having his tire changed. She saw him later, and he said, yeah, he’d run over a screw, and that the Tesla people had to do the tire change, and it was awesomely expensive.
Wait, why did he have to go to a Tesla shop for a tire change rather than a specialty tire shop?
Don’t know. I’m guessing because this is second hand from my sister, but she got the impression that he had to use Tesla support.
Meaning what? That doing so was his preference? Or belief that was necessary?
That’s silly. You don’t have to go to Tesla for a tire change. Of course lots of people get roped into the same type of thinking, like that they have to go to the dealership for mundane things like oil changes, but you don’t have to.
That said, my experience with Tesla service is that the mobile service is very convenient and not really that expensive. Potentially work a few extra bucks just to have them come and replace the thing in your own driveway.
Like I said, I got this second hand, but my sister thought that he thought he had to use Tesla people. No idea if they told him that or not. But if you don’t have to (which makes sense to me – what if you get a flat in some remote location?), I certainly wouldn’t do it.
And there’s a distinct possibility that my sister misinterpretted what he told her.