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points by emtel 1 day ago | 0 comments
I get so much joy from seeing these on the road. They are not to my taste, but it’s so nice to see something new on the road.

I still remember years ago seeing one in a grocery store parking lot, with a banana yellow wrap and the Zelda unlock sound as its lock chime. A brief moment of inconsequential joy.

Lastly, having the cyber truck drag race a Porsche 911, while towing a Porsche 911 (and win) has to be one of the best marketing stunts of all time.

[–] lastofthemojito 1 day ago
I get that.

I'm not an Elon fan in the least, but it does feel like most cars are designed by committee and converge on a few well-defined shapes and segments. And they sell a ton of them, so sure, of course.

But there's certainly some charm when you see a weirdmobile that doesn't conform and somehow got by the bean counters and into existence. The MINI Clubvan, for people who needed something compact and cargo-focused. The Cadillac CTS-V wagon, for people who wanted to haul ass ... and the family. The Toyota MR2, which felt like Toyota engineers decided "let's take these Corolla parts and build them in the shape of a Ferrari".

With the high costs of certifying a new car for sale it seems like we see fewer and fewer of these oddballs, and that feels like a shame.

So even though I'd never personally consider driving a poorly rendered dumpster from a 1980s video game, perhaps the world is a bit more interesting due to its existence.

[–] threetonesun 1 day ago
> Lastly, having the cyber truck drag race a Porsche 911, while towing a Porsche 911 (and win) has to be one of the best marketing stunts of all time.

I suppose, if you don't really like cars much, this was interesting. No one debates the ability for EVs to have absurd 0-60, 0-100 times, but there's almost no overlap between why you'd buy a Cybertruck versus a 911 besides status symbol, which gets back to... maybe it's neat, if you don't really care about cars much.

[–] fbd_0100 1 day ago
Agreed. Even if the design is polarizing, has quality issues, whatever about elon and politics, it is refreshing to see something different and distinctive on the road in a sea of blobby SUVs and extended cab trucks.
[–] esalman 1 day ago
I saw someone sleeping on one on a highway. They should be regulated out of existence.
[–] lokar 1 day ago
As a pedestrian I certainly don’t enjoy being around them, or any of the absurdly oversized American trucks.
[–] RetpolineDrama 1 day ago
As a pedestrian a tesla is the least likely vehicle to actually hit you.

The best collision is no collision.

[–] danny_codes 1 day ago
Ah yes, the Tesla driver, noted for their excellent driving. Let's take a look at the worst drivers by make..

> Tesla: Rank #3 with 42.8 incidents per 1,000 drivers

Ah.

[–] breznev 18 hours ago
Source? Please don't say LendingTree.
[–] iugtmkbdfil834 1 day ago
I agree. I was personally getting really sad on how all design appeared to be converging on one 'allowed' shape without considering any other possible -- ah ha - angles. I posted on this before, but I will repeat it here, because it is relevant.

Those cars did have uses, but those uses revolved around drawing attention ( think advertising ). Whenever I saw one in my neck of the woods, they were selling something.

[–] archagon 1 day ago
Joy. Heh. What they remind me of is the atrocities that Musk committed, and also that the driver probably doesn’t give one iota of a fuck about them.
[–] xattt 1 day ago
Can we just make the world a better place by bringing back dopey, happy cars like the Cube?
[–] serioussecurity 1 day ago
I feel so much anger seeing these on the road.

A bad design that costs too much, the only people who bought these were ideologues committed to the vision of a man responsible for millions of unnecessary deaths, the gutting of the American state, and some of the most destructive politics of hate in living memory.

I celebrate their passing.

[–] qwerpy 1 day ago
Some of us just got one because it’s a fantastic self driving electric family car. I have a family and live somewhere nice, life’s too short to get so wound up about politics. And you’ll still be seeing them on the roads for many years to come :)
[–] bothers 1 day ago
This is a pretty heartless thing to say when one person's politics are repsonsible for making many lives so much shorter and more miserable.
[–] dozerly 1 day ago
Life is certainly too short to support nazis
[–] Uhhrrr 1 day ago
Not really relevant to this conversation.
[–] demo4567 1 day ago
completely relevant.
[–] georgespencer 1 day ago
I pity the family of someone who cannot get “wound up” about a man who gleefully dismantled USAID at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives,[^1] ploughed hundreds of millions of dollars into far right politics, and did a fucking nazi salute.

Outside of Mad Max it’s hard to conceive of a more dangerous car to be involved in a pedestrian collision. The cybertruck is a symbol of staggering ignorance and selfishness.

We’ll probably still see them on the roads for many years to come—and laugh at the lickspittle Elon toadies who gleefully bought them, knowing full well what they symbolize.

[^1] https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-shutdown-has-led-to-hund...

[–] archagon 1 day ago
Hear, hear. As much as this man is a lightning rod for rage, it’s still only a tiny fraction of what he deserves for the atrocities he’s committed. I hope he rots in prison.
[–] wredcoll 1 day ago
It's easy to "not care about politics" when they aren't voting to take away your rights.
[–] demo4567 1 day ago
so privileged. politics is life.
[–] Henchman21 1 day ago
The rest of us assume you’re a supporter and collaborator because you’ve adopted the symbols of hatred. But hey life is too short amirite??
[–] skywhopper 1 day ago
Yeah, why worry about the politics you’re supporting with your money? Presumably you believe you aren’t a likely target for the hate and violence Musk spends that money you gave him advocating for. Must be nice not to have to worry about your or your family’s personal safety or emotional well-being. Thanks for the advice about “getting wound up” over politics.
[–] iugtmkbdfil834 1 day ago
<< Presumably you believe you aren’t a likely target for the hate and violence Musk spends that money you gave him advocating for.

I am confused. Are you suggesting that parent is a likely target based on their car purchasing habits? If so, US has some fun times ahead.

[–] sidibe 23 hours ago
It's surprising how out of the loop people are if you don't think a new Tesla is a political signal. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt but there is a lot of doubt immediately if I see they have a cybertruck. And if you think that's the rough in the US I assure you in Europe they are likely to think even less of an owner.
[–] iugtmkbdfil834 23 hours ago
Eh, if everything is a political signal then nothing really is. If anything, I find it more problematic that there are people who explicitly think that way. Frankly, that way madness lies. I don't even even drive a Tesla, but that is based purely on its anti-customer-features, reliability and so on.

As for Europe, it is possible. I have not visited in a while so I will take your word for it.

[–] expedited123 1 day ago
Life's a lot easier when you just close your eyes and pretend the problem disappears, huh?
[–] sirshmooey 1 day ago
Have fun driving a Scarlet Letter, bro.
[–] howunfortunate 1 day ago
You...you do know who the "bad guys" were in the Scarlet Letter, right?
[–] sirshmooey 1 day ago
Probably a better question for Elon's harem of birth-mothers
[–] howunfortunate 1 day ago
Again, I'm begging you to go look up a plot summary. Hester is the hero protagonist!
[–] sirshmooey 1 day ago
Congratulations, you've rewired the metaphor.
[–] mrguyorama 1 day ago
The scarlet letter didn't have "Good guys" and "Bad guys". That was sort of an important theme of the book since the priest himself was the baby daddy.
[–] howunfortunate 1 day ago
The main message of the book is "Wearing your choices on your sleeve can be painful in a judgmental world, but is ultimately healing; attempting instead to appear spotlessly moral will tear you apart from inside out"

Now apply to this thread.

I mostly agree it's not as simple as good guys and bad guys, but if anyone's a bad guy it's the most judgmental townspeople and the priest who lets Hester take the full brunt of judgment while he pretends he's squeaky clean.

[–] qwerpy 1 day ago
Hahaha. This is too good. These hateful people are so caught up in their outrage that they don’t realize they’ve become the bad guys.
[–] iugtmkbdfil834 1 day ago
It is worse. They think their hatred is somehow justified.
[–] howunfortunate 1 day ago
Probably every third car in my area is a Tesla.

The drivers are like 98% East Asian or Indian. Like half the cars have a "new driver" or "baby on board" sticker.

Teslas are unpopular in rural areas.

So ironically I think the ideologues (on either side) are the only people NOT buying Teslas.

[–] badrequest 1 day ago
They're not driving cybertrucks, is the point.
[–] Whatarethese 1 day ago
I own one. I hate Elon and everything that he has become. I wanted an EV truck that can drive itself on my road trips.
[–] skywhopper 1 day ago
What you do matters more than what you say.
[–] Rohansi 1 day ago
Do you boycott every company with a CEO that you don't agree with politically? Musk is much more open about it than others but you'll find that most of them are fine with screwing over everyone for their own (personal+company) benefit. For example, pretty much every major ICE automaker lobbies against EVs, including ones that sell EVs. Most people would be better off with an EV. They don't need to be expensive (see BYD) and the charging situation would improve with higher adoption rates.
[–] howunfortunate 1 day ago
Agreed, so please spare us the virtue signaling and go start an EV company that makes better cars than Tesla
[–] htk 1 day ago
You sound very ideologue yourself.
[–] culi 1 day ago
Someone with a trillion dollars being an ideologue is different than a middle class person being one. Wealth is power and power brings with it ethical responsibilities. Always.

It's absolutely valid to expect more from politicians and people who hold power over our lives than we do from regular people.

[–] breznev 18 hours ago
I hope you find peace and a better use of your time
[–] pxmpxm 1 day ago
Either missing /s or you’re one of those “terminally online” people that the interwebs keeps telling me about.
[–] maxlin 1 day ago
This is nothing but comic villain energy. Sorry for whatever happened to you.