Things that p*** you off/bug you/annoy you

[vc commodore]

Off tangent regarding current mass debate about EVs ............. as we ( ie, me and her ) are getting older, friends and rellies are politely asking about when we are 'downsizing" our living arrangements

In our general area of paradise, we have two 'retirement resorts' nearly complete, one is about 150 lots, the other perhaps about 70, and friends are moving to one in about 4 weeks. One has been built on ex-farmland, the other on ex-virgin scrub.
A few weeks ago, we went with them for a sticky beak of the 'resort' .
We expected something that we could say 'That looks good' about, but I had to choose my words diplomatically.
Under the roof area is a bit less than 200sqm, incl double garage, alfresco, porch.
The distance between exterior walls is about 3 metres, with the eaves almost touching. No front or rear garden / lawn / green area. Each house has a water tank which is used for the toilet only. No need for watering plants, no room.
A Google satellite view just shows rows of roofs after roofs with no green areas at all, except the community pool and bowling green despite artists impression propaganda showing trees and manicured lawns throughout.
But, there are solar panels on all the roofs, and, yes, a couple of Chinese EVs are there.
In summer, which is getting hotter every year, (experts' opinions), these two 'resorts' will just be a giant heat trap, with no breezeways (apart from tarred roads ) and radiant roof heat. Makes aircon essential for comfortable living.

The way of the future ?

Unfortunately I am seeing this sort of housing popping up round Adelaide over the past 20 ish years....

Reach out the window to grab a beer from the neighbour....

Sorry, but like you, not my sort of living arrangement...

 

[chrisp]

China is already selling more EV's than petrol powered cars. Lucid motors are building EV's that achieve a 500 mile range. that's 800km. this tech, which is only available in their current high end Lucid AIR model, will eventually make its way into more affordable vehicles.

p.s for the record, yes i do own shares in the company lol...

And isn’t it the prevalence of ‘cheap Chinese EVs’ that is knocking the stuffings out of Tesla? As much as people like (or dislike) Tesla, they are pragmatically buying Chinese instead as they offer better value for money.

 

[vc commodore]

The future is fooked.
Now as to retirement villages, as immort states they are a scam but the biggest scam is the fact when you buy in you are buying the lease on your unit, not the unit itself, then you pay a weekly fee for services
i.e grounds maintenance, common areas, staff etc
and when you leave for whatever reason you/your estate loses approx 30% of the capital you outlaid with no capital gain for you.
Of course for a lot more outlay you can buy the right to participate in any future gains but that costs a lot more upfront.
Waaaaay betterer to stay where you are (if at all possible) or at least if you absolutely have to downsize buy a unit or smaller property close to services then make use of the the Govco special services available if you need them.

ps Not mention the air cons create a lot more heat.

It's not just resorts/retirement villages that has housing like this

I am seeing estates cropping up, with housing being as close as being described by @figjam

By eldest daughter and boyfriend bought a house that has next to no backyard....They now have 2 kids, with no yard to play in and a fairly long walk to a playground....Rather pathetic if you ask me....

But it does seem to be the way housing is going these days....

 

[OldBomb]

agree, but once it gets to critical point, the US & Europe will just ban Chinese EV's altogether, or they'll introduce ridiculously high tariffs

 

[losh1971]

agree, but once it gets to critical point, the US & Europe will just ban Chinese EV's altogether, or they'll introduce ridiculously high tariffs

Why would they do that when they want as many people as they can to get on the EV train?

 

[keith reed]

Why would they do that when they want as many people as they can to get on the EV train?

Because it's China and they are bad people.

 

[chrisp]

I hate the Prius as they are but ugly. However, there are some reasonably nice looking Hybrids out there now. Our work is upgrading our fleet with some Corolla's. I drove it a while back and it's so quite it's insane. Fuel consumption is 1/4 or better than my ute and we can drive it all day and not run out of battery. In fact AFAIK it doesn't even go on the charger.

From my recollection, the hybrid Camry actually uses the same drivetrain as the Prius, so it’s the same mechanicals and electrics but on a different body.

I have pulled apart several Prius many times and have been modifying them at times. It’s hard to explain, but Toyota has done a truely amazing job of the engineering of those cars. For a -at the time- a completely new drivetrain, they have been well engineered and well tested. They are practically bulletproof.

I can tell you two seperate stories. One firsthand, and the second secondhand.

Firstly, I have disassembled a Prius multiple times and have pulled hundreds of parts out of them, done some modifications, and put it all back together again. With the amount of work I have done, I usually expected something to be ‘not right’. But I attempt to start it up and - I get the dreaded ‘fault’ warning. I plug in the diagnostic sysytem and check the codes. I find the fault was the ‘safety plug interlock’. On a Prius (and Camry Hybrid) there is a safety plug that is to be removed and put in your pocket. It isolates the battery pack. I actually put it back in, but there is a lever to install it. I had forgotten that once it is in, the level needs to be slid a little to let the car know that it is actually in. Open up the boot, slide the level, and all is working! I was amazed that I could do so much work on them, and they’d just go. Strangely, I repeated the exact same issue about four more times. My personal impression of Toyota is that they might make some boring cars, but gee, they really do know what they are doing and take meticulous care of their engineering and production.

The second story I have is secondhand, but it is from an engineer who worked for me at one stage. He ended up working at the factory that manufactured the electronics modules for the locally produced cars (I won’t mention the name of the company). His role was to design the test rigs that check the modules before they were dispatched to the relevant car manufacturers. I told me, ”If you ever buy a car, buy a Toyota”. He explained that the other two manufacturers only required the modules to be spot checked, but Toyota insisted that their modules be 100% function tested - i.e. every function had to be checked and verified as working. The other two manufacturers were happy with a basic test of a few functions (and assumed that the remaining function would also be okay).

So, I’d highly recommend any of the Toyota Hybrid cars. Not that I have one myself, but I do appreciate their engineering (even if their cars are boring). I full well understand the popularity of Toyotas with the people who just want reliable transport.

 

[losh1971]

I don't mind the look of the Camry hybrid, the thing I don't like about the Prius is it's body design. It screams ugly to me. We are changing most of out fleet to Corolla hybrids because of the quality and resale value. Basically because of the concessions we get as a PBI we can buy a Corolla Hybrid drive it for two years and sell it for pretty much what we paid for it. This is what our CFO has said and he is a pretty smart bloke with our finances. Plus the cost savings to run the new cars is a win, win for us all round.

 

[Dayvo]

It's not just resorts/retirement villages that has housing like this

I am seeing estates cropping up, with housing being as close as being described by @figjam

By eldest daughter and boyfriend bought a house that has next to no backyard....They now have 2 kids, with no yard to play in and a fairly long walk to a playground....Rather pathetic if you ask me....

But it does seem to be the way housing is going these days....

Around our way they are knocking down the older houses and replacing them with 3 or 4 units or massive 2 storey houses with no front or back yard.

 

[vc commodore]

Around our way they are knocking down the older houses and replacing them with 3 or 4 units or massive 2 storey houses with no front or back yard.

It's sad them doing that.

In my area, they're knocking down houses and putting 2 or more on the block...

One actually subdivided their block and put a house on it...There isn't enough room to have a leak between the house and the fence line....Front yard barely fits a FG Falcon inbetween the house and gate...

And they wonder why kids can't go out and play when there is no yard.....catch 22 I know...