Recent content by PetevB

Counterpoint. Even KSA’s pockets are only so deep. The Kingdom, as a country, breaks even with oil at $50 a barrel. They produce at $3, and the spread keeps the country solvent. If oil drops significantly below 50 the deficit grows at a potentially tremendous rate. Oil’s at 58 today. Things...

Quoting my own post, I decided to go another direction until Gravity leases get more sensible. I just leased an Audi SQ8 E tron Premium Plus for 24 months/ 7500 miles per year. Kinda the opposite of the Gravity in that it's some of the oldest, least efficient tech on the market and it's no where...

My pack had higher degradation than most for the miles- off over 15% from new in a bit over 80k miles. I did a good job keeping the battery below 80% unless road tripping, but I also did well over 100 supercharger stops where I’d come in on fumes, low single digit battery remaining, sometimes...

I see five main factors negatively impacting current Lucid or EV valuations, two to three of which I think will change medium term. 1. Battery longevity and cost. Generally the other mechanicals of EVs are both simpler and last longer that ICE cars, but the battery is the weak link. Replacement...

10k per year? So 6% over a 36 month lease? I buy the argument that with unnaturally high rates lease interest rates it can make sense to put money down. In that situation “one pays” with essentially everything rolled into that first payment to minimize interest, are often popular. MSDs...

And what you seem to be missing is entering something sane in the “dealer discount” box of the Leasehacker tool, which is not something you’ll find in any of the online incentive programs you’re reading. Otherwise I don’t see how you’re paying 2x for that Mercedes. Without your location I can’t...

Where are you located? If you are actually looking at any of those alternatives I’d educate yourself on the available incentives and programs. Start with the Leasehacker calculator. Paying any of the number you quoted would become criminally bad purchasing right now, as paying MSRP at most...

General rule of thumb is don’t lease when the interest rate is 8% and your credit union will give you a car loan at 4%. The production lines are designed for quite a high volume- 90k cars per year out of Arizona. As they ramp up they’ll be in a situation where they need to run the line to keep...

You’re comparing cars with no dealer discounts (Lucid, Rivian) with those that will have heavy discounts and incentives as though they are apples to apples? Does that make sense? You can get a Mercedes EQS 450 SUV for 35 x $999 payment + 5k drive off (which might include some fees not shown...

Rule of thumb is no money down on the lease. If something happens, ie car gets stolen or totaled, you’re simply out that cash. There are exceptions (ie trying to qualify for a home loan) but in general comparisons should be made with no money down, then compare payments to MSRP. Putting a bunch...

Fewer than Air, but expect issues. No I would not expect significant issues with any new production car. When I got my BMW 1M, Porsche GT4 and GT3 Touring all were free of “bugs”. Asking why is revealing: all were derivatives of existing platforms with limited modifications put out by mature...

Interestingly the interest rate and residuals largely cancel each other out to result in similar payments for the customer up front: a low interest lowers the lease payment as does a high residual, and above you get one or the other but not both. The big difference comes at the end of the...

I was thinking the same thing. And the poor air filters. Huge fun, I’ve been to enough Rallycrosses to know that all that dust is not coming fully out without disassembly- these cars aren’t going to showrooms ever. Porsche solved this back in the day by flying us to Northern Finland and setting...

My biggest issue with Tesla dynamics had to do with regenerative braking, and it’s an area I think (some of) the Germans actually have an advantage, so I’m really hoping Lucid can do better. First let me clarify: the brake pedal on my E-tron GT (and by extension Porsche Taycan) did feel...

Newer, better than average review here: https://www.motor1.com/reviews/756565/2025-lucid-gravity-first-drive/ “Worrying was the glitchy software in the test cars on hand. None present had the head-up display working, and journalists driving another car reported that the lane-keep assist...