What's the most interesting car you saw today?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
6927

Honda Prologue

The Honda Prologue is a brand new EV crossover SUV that initially came out earlier this year. A joint venture with GM and about the same size as the Honda Passport, it is a close cousin of the Chevrolet Blazer EV. These two were spotted in Sunnyvale.

It’s a handsome vehicle.

The Prologue seems to be a hit. Car & Driver magazine calls it a Better EV Than It Is a Honda ➜ https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a46788612/2024-honda-prologue-ev-drive/ ■

[Album] Honda Prologue
6928

Porsche 911 type 992, with the manual 7 speed. The license plate is clever, but not nicely formatted. It needs a space.

[Album] Porsche 992 7-speed, like the plate says. But a space is needed on the plate.
6929

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV, Estrema version

[Album] The Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV, Estrema version

Stelvio is the name of a mountain pass through the Italian Alps. It’s a beautiful drive! IL PASSO DELLO STELVIO — in all caps not to yell, but to show the first word. At 9,045 feet high, the Stelvio Pass is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and is the second highest in the Alps (only 23 feet lower than France’s Col de l’Iseran). It connects Stelvio, South Tyrol in northern Italy, through Trafoi, South Tyrol, to Bormio, Sondrio, in the Lombardy region of Italy.

The passes through the Alps are beautiful. My wife and I drove the Passo del San Bernardino between Lake Como and Vaduz, Liechtenstein in 2017.

Californians are blessed with some breathtaking mountain passes through the Sierra Nevada, right in our own back yard:
➤ Tioga Pass, on hwy CA-120, is 9,945 feet high; it’s the highest pass in California
➤ Sonora Pass, on hwy CA-108, is 9,624 feet high, and its drop as you drive eastward is incredible

Both are higher than the Alpine Passes. I’ve done them both by motorcycle, and my wife and I have done them by car. Beautiful scenery!

There’s also Rock Creek Road, from Tom’s Place to Mosquito Flats and also in the Sierra Nevada. At 10,239 feet high, it’s said to be the highest paved road in California. ➜ Rock Creek Road is the highest paved public road of California ■
We’ve done this drive too. It’s a breathtaking.

And then there are the Colorado passes going upwards of 14,000 feet.

So that is Stelvio.

The Stelvio Estrema from Alfa Romeo came out in 2023 and is the limited edition, performance version of the car, although it is not quite as capable as the Quadrifoglio version. In red it is a stunning car. Italian cars aren’t “real” unless they’re in red. And I include my beloved X1/9 in that, which was blue.

6930

OK, this is something that has bugged me for years. Is 4x4 the same as 4WD? If so, why not just say 4WD? If not, what’s the difference?

6931

Probably to distinguish 4x4 from AWD, which is a constant battle. AWD and 4WD look very similar most fonts.

6932

In most cases they are interchangeable when discussing typical pickups and SUVs, but are not exactly the same thing. 4WD is just shorthand for “four wheel drive”, i.e. the engine transmits power to four wheels. 4x4 means “the vehicle has four wheels, and four of them are driven by the engine.” But hypothetically you could have something like a big military truck that’s a 6x4, with 6 wheels, and 4 of them driven by the engine. IMO it would be technically accurate to call such a truck 4WD (but you probably wouldn’t in normal usage), but not a 4x4 since it has 6 wheels.

6933

Can you do 8 in CA? We max out at 7 with one space or one hyphen. I know NY allows 8 & some states (VA or SC? allows other charas, like an ampersand)

6934

I just saw a matte black (wrapped?) Cybertruck.

6935

I saw on of those earlier today myself. I swear I heard the Imperial March as it went by.

6936

It was dark on the way to work, but I passed a chrome-bumper Porsche. I couldn’t tell if it was a 911 or a 912. The engine cover was dented as if the car had been rear-ended.

6937

The current max in California is 7 characters.

6938

I keep seeing Ferraris.
This town is Hillbilly Hollar, but these high-end sport-cars keep popping up.
True, we have a University.
But these cars are coming from the East side and South side.

6939

Yesterday, a BMW i8 hybrid, up close.

[Album] BMW i8 hybrid
6940

The fish eye effect isn’t helping anything, but the paint job isn’t exactly doing this car any favors either.

6941

Is the fisheye from the magnifying glass you used to make that car big enough to get a picture of??

6942

Technically the fisheye is from me trying to take a picture of a computer screen with a [digitally] zoomed in image from a dual lens camera, the closer things are, the more the ‘bend’ as they pass it.

But, yeah, those smart cars look like they’ll go end over end if they hit a bump in the road. But I still think I’d feel safer in one of those than a Tango T600 that looks like it’ll tip over at a red light.

6943

Why can’t a bicycle stand up on it’s own?

Because it’s too tired

I’m not here all week but tip your waitresses

6944

Did a double- or triple-take at a freaking Zamboni driving down the street the other day. I figured out they were likely shuttling between the city maintenance yard and the city rink, but not something I’ve seen before!

6945

Probably just going for some Tim’s.

6946

Two Chevrolet Bel Airs spotted in the wild…

… this 1956 yesterday,…

… and then this 1957 today.