This is the engine the 4runner needs

[Frasty]

Electric cars are the future of most local transportation. They will be electric. You won't own them. And they will be self driving and available on demand like UBER. Then charging time doesn't matter. They go charge themselves when no one is riding. Range doesn't matter. As you near the end of the battery range, another fully charged car will be waiting. You won't recharge. You'll simply step out of the one you're in and into the one waiting to continue your trip. And the costs will be lower than owning your own car by a significant margin. There will also be a small portion of personally owned gas/diesel cars, but the primary future is electric self driving cars. The only current bottle neck is the self driving function, but it's moving quickly. Everything else we already have.

The enthusiast cars will remain.

In urban areas, absolutely. Most of America isn't urban though.

 

[Bumbo]

The US has lot of sparsely populated rural areas. I only see this model working for about half of the population.

True, but rural areas are not the areas with problems. It’s our urban areas that have a problem, and need a solution. Some of the things Musk has dreamed up is pretty visionary, seems like it would actually work, and obtainable given the resources.

In the future, I can see the rural late adopters to be similar to people who just don’t have modern cars today… might as well have a “slow lane” for all those guys.

 

[MatraBlue]

True, but rural areas are not the areas with problems. It’s our urban areas that have a problem, and need a solution. Some of the things Musk has dreamed up is pretty visionary, seems like it would actually work, and obtainable given the resources.

In the future, I can see the rural late adopters to be similar to people who just don’t have modern cars today… might as well have a “slow lane” for all those guys.

Yeah, I’ll be the old guy in the Turbo 911!!

 

[Bumbo]

Yeah, I’ll be the old guy in the Turbo 911!!

I have cars that are tools, and I have cars that are for fun… As a car guy… I don’t think I’ll ever give up my gas motors, but at the same time, I’ll be the first one in line for a self-driving car for my daily commute.

I also don’t think I could ever go back to owning just 1 car…

 

[Jetboy]

The US has lot of sparsely populated rural areas. I only see this model working for about half of the population.

That's a fair point. There are areas it won't reach - at least not immediately. But a lot of people said that about Amazon too. I can tell you my family's ranch in Montana get's daily deliveries. And they still have intermittent cell signal and only have internet by satellite. And most rural commutes are shorter than most urban ones. An hour commute to work is unusual to rural America. In the city it's common. It may be possible that rural markets are more profitable rather than less due to shorter duration trips per person and less vehicles per subscriber.

I think this is possibly a really good thing for us. First - if it goes that way it will mean that emissions controls don't matter anymore. So they'll probably go away or quit being enforced to any meaningful degree. Second, it would allow you to more heavily modify your vehicle because you won't use it as a daily driver. Only as a weekend toy. And if my wife doesn't need a car anymore - I get more shop space! And there's a billion parking garages and mechanic shops that will now be useless, so - cheap places to store more toys!

 

[83Mule]

I am going to embed a cable IN the roadway in each lane that Induction Charges the car as it drives.......starting with the Interstate and retro-fitting smaller routes as they require re-paving. Patent Pending!:lever:

 

[borfoo3]

If you choose to keep thinking that please make sure you don't speak to any owners of modern Audis.

Chiming in as a 'modern Audi' owner, it's really not as bad as you think. The 2.0l turbo EA888/ Gen 3 in my Audi has been reliable, has dual injection, gets great MPGs, and pulls like a freight train!


The evolution cycle has its highs and lows, and needs time to perfect. The cycle seems to go something like:
New tech --> new problem --> solved in next gen --> great product! --> New tech --> new problem....etc.

For example: DI engines (like in Audis) were introduced with promises of more power and good economy --> Carbon buildup surfaces as a major issue for DI engines --> solutions implemented (like dual injection) to solve the issue.

I believe what gives companies like Toyota a leading edge on reliability is that they don't aim to push the envelope on 'new tech', rather adapt or improve what is already proven by others. Simple yet effective approach!

 

[mscot]

FWIW we've owned 4 VWs (Jetta 2.0, Jetta 1.8T, Passat 2.0T, Touareg TDI) and have never had an issue with the engines. Granted we didn't keep them past 120k but IMO the quality issues of VW/Audi are grossly exaggerated, generally by people that have never owned one.

We'll be buying a new Tiguan soon.

 

[Jetboy]

FWIW we've owned 4 VWs (Jetta 2.0, Jetta 1.8T, Passat 2.0T, Touareg TDI) and have never had an issue with the engines. Granted we didn't keep them past 120k but IMO the quality issues of VW/Audi are grossly exaggerated, generally by people that have never owned one.

We'll be buying a new Tiguan soon.

Fortunately someone keeps data on a huge volume of vehicle repairs so we have some great information to use to compare long term reliability. VW's are... not good.

Volkswagen Tiguan Reliability - Dashboard Light

vs (because it's a 4Runner site)

 

[duffdog]

Firstly,

I'm not in IT. And no, the word didn't originate in the IT world, it originated in business school and was a buzzword in many industries, not just MIS or IT fields.

The reason I bring it up is because electric locomotion is a perfect example. A fledgling technology that seems to be promising but has current drawbacks that cause MOST people to be dismissive and miss the opportunity.

I'm a car guy. The "supercars" that are being produced that are electric are absolutely mind boggling. As with any tech (like OLED screens for example) they come out and are out of reach for the masses, but with improvements, efficiencies, research/development, over time they become mainstream products or features.

There's no doubt electric locomotion has CURRENT challenges that make it inferior for many trans applications, but they're working on it and rapidly. The range for instance has grown by factors, not increments. There are limitations to the range of an internal combustion application. Sure you can always add fuel cans or larger fuel tanks, but practically speaking, that tech has been largely "tapped out" without combining it with some other tech.

No, a combustion engine (or gasoline) can not go 2 years with storage. Even if you put fuel stabilizer in the vehicle, you're a fool if you try to store a vehicle for 2 years with a full tank of fuel and run the whole thing to empty, even with stabilizer. And not for nothing, that's a pretty obscure issue anyway, most Americans refuel their vehicles regularly. One could make an argument that plugging in the vehicle (anywhere) is easier than pumping fuel.

I'm not a tree hugger, I'm not even cheering for electric, I just see it coming. I own a vehicle that I had to pay "gas guzzler" tax on. I just see the performance potential of electrics far exceeding what's even currently available in gasoline engines.

Just because you posted that, I went outside and started my 1987 4runner that I have been storing for over 3 years with a full tank of gas and a solar battery maintainer. It started and drove within 5 seconds...