Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "Velocity" channel.

  1. I think it's more to do with the chip shortage. Yet another reason to go back to making basic, good cars and trucks. But I think we're seeing auto makers more or less going on "Pause" mode, waiting out the delusional political class. But they KNOW the realities. They have their own actuaries. They can see how impossible the EV dreams are, with what we have, now. I think that if EVs are superior, they'll take over. Let the market decide. The environmental trade-offs are too close to call, when you figure in everything that goes into the making of EVs. If everybody jumps on board all at the same time, we'll run out of copper, cobalt, lithium and other mineral resources. Our grid will be taxed beyond its already fragile limits. We'll also have to turn a blind eye to unfair labor practices in China and, for instance, Congo. People know it's better to burn less and burn cleaner. People all over the world are working on every imaginable aspect of this, and sharing their knowledge with others for clicks and good feelings. I wish the government would just get out of the way. I think we'd de-centralize in a hurry if people didn't resort to force to push things the way THEY want them.
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  2. Dear U.S. Government: Get your shit together and do your job. Not all the other stuff you love doing but shouldn't be doing. Your BASIC job: defending our border!
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  3.  @YungSteambuns  I think the 4.0-liter motor has plenty of power for the weight of the vehicle, already. The lift kit and oversized tires look pretty cool, but I don't think the difference in performance is enough to justify putting more strain on the engine and drive train than the Toyota engineers designed it for. I've got nephews who are/were into that stuff, and they spent a FORTUNE on trucks that they were so proud of they just HAD to show off. Drag races in a Dodge Mega-Cab that SHOULD have lasted a lifetime, but burned up inside of 6 months. You do all those mods, so of course you want to TEST them. The Amtal Rule states that you do not truly know the limits of something until you test it to destruction, and that's exactly what happens. I suppose if you were in rock-climbing contests on the regular, then by all means, modify to the extreme. But the Tacoma, as is, used as designed, and well-maintained, will last you a lifetime. I love the idea that Toyota's getting back into the COMPACT pickup market in this way. The Tacoma is a mid-sized truck. My favorite generation of the Toyota pickup is the late '90s, early 2000s. That 3.4-liter pickup was pretty much the pinnacle of size and power. I've got a '93, with the 3.0-L V6. I also have a 2012 Tacoma. So I missed that generation of trucks. The ONLY flaw in the 3.4-liter V6 was it didn't get great gas mileage. A 4-cylinder hybrid is going to get high 30s mpg, maybe low 40s mpg. Put the same size gas tank as the older vehicles, and you can bump the RANGE of the vehicle far beyond a pure gas-powered vehicle. My Tacoma gets around 20 mpg. If I could boost that up over 30, my current range of about 400 miles would rise to 600 miles on one tank. That's phenomenal.
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  4. Smart move. Limited market. No matter how hard gov'ts push them, they are too expensive to buy and the resources aren't there to build EVs for everyone. Net zero carbon is you and I, dead in a sealed coffin.
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  5. Bring back 2001-2004 Tacoma with the 3.4 L V6 and I'll buy one.
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  6. I just wish they never stopped making compact pickups in 2004. They perfected the compact pickup and then abandoned it!
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  7. They should get back to their roots and start making high-quality compact cars and pickup trucks.
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  8. I mostly don't like the "new stuff" these companies come out with, because it creates additional points of failure and makes it hard for shade-tree mechanics to maintain and repair their own vehicles. I don't like the full-on EVs. BUT I think the plug-in hybrids are a good marriage of ICE and EV that provide fuel efficiency AND power. You won't get very far on just the batteries, but you might be able to creep to the nearest mechanic if the engine goes out, and not be entirely stuck. As a kid ('70s and '80s), I used to imagine a different kind of hybrid: An engine that uses an electro-magnet in the bottom of the cylinder that repels the bottom of the piston from the bottom of the cylinder. So the power boost isn't from an electric motor built into the wheels, but something inside the engine, itself, that boosts the power stroke and even gives you some power on the exhaust stroke. I don't know if it's viable or if anyone has looked into it. But if it's viable, I sure would like to see them come out with something like that. Might squeeze a little more power and fuel efficiency out of a vehicle.
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