Melting ICE

“Now we are approaching the end of the line for the automobile because travel will be in standardized modules,” says Lutz in the article. “The end state will be the fully autonomous module with no capability for the driver to exercise command. You will call for it, it will arrive at your location, you’ll get in, input your destination and go to the freeway.” - Bob Lutz (2017)1

Suddenly it was time to buy a car.

Key points

  • Cars considered: GR Corolla (thinking future MR2, though not too much as I've heard $70 to 80K!), Civic SI & Type R, RS3, Elantra N, Mazda 3 Turbo, Model 3 Performance, GTI and Golf R3.

  • Test drives: model 3 performance and GTI.2

  • Purchase decision: GTI. The base model at roughly $33K is a great value in today's market.

  • I concluded that the Tesla, while impressive technically and a blast to drive was not worth the price delta.





Notes

  • Platform strategies seem to result in compromised car design. Honda Civic and Acura Integra proportions appear front heavy to my eyes.

  • Tesla software limited the top speed to 85mph during my up to 100 mile test drive. FSD was impressive during this brief test. Curiously, the floor became warm mid way through our journey.

  • Air tags are apparently used in test drive cars.

  • Madison's highest in the state electricity costs are to me a significant issue for electric car adoption. I see no effort to address this cost disease.

  • Dealer website inventory does not always seem to be correct. Perhaps the main job to be done is lead generation?

  • Direct (Tesla) vs mandated dealers (Wisconsin and some other states) is something to watch. My interactions with both models were great. No fluff, to the point and largely handshake friendly. Of course, test drive activity is tracked.

  • Girth: the GTI weighs in at 3,183 lbs while the model 3 performance is 4,054lbs.

  • Cost cutting is evident when looking closely at cars, particularly when comparing my old mk6 GTI and the latest variant.

  • Fusing the old and new: Driving a rented Peugeot 208 Hybrid on Italy's famous SS18 last year, a "blue screen of death" style failure occurred at speed on the highway, yet the mechanical aspects of the car continued running, thankfully. The screens reset themselves after a few moments.

  • The best is last. Ben Evans reflected on the Lockheed Constellation in 2016 "It was also pretty much the last great piston-powered airliner, because the future was jets4." 2025 feels similar in the car world.

  • The human layer. I enjoyed great service from both the Tesla store and Zimbrick Middleton. It was a pleasure to deal with these professionals.

  • Cost: “More than 1 in 4 consumers owe more on their car loans than the vehicle is worth, while car payments of $1,000 have reached a record high.” - from a recent Washington Post article5.

  • "Yes, there is a high-profile example of such a paper: in 2019, German physicists Professor Christoph Buchal and colleagues at the Ifo Institute published a study comparing the CO2 emissions of electric vehicles (EVs) and modern diesel cars, specifically in the context of Germany. Their analysis argued that—under the then-current German electricity mix and including the lifecycle CO2 emissions from battery production—diesel cars like the Mercedes C220d could have lower overall CO2 emissions than a Tesla Model 3 EV, when both are driven under typical German conditions" -- Perplexity response to my query

  • Why not a used Tesla? If purchasing a car looking toward the future, I would surely want the latest and greatest. The model 3 performance was recently updated.





Errata

  • mk6 GTI curiosity: Brakes and related parts never required attention over 12+ years. (assembled in Wolfsburg)

  • mk8.5 GTI automagically lowers the audio volume when in reverse. (assembled in Wolfsburg)

  • Vis a vis the current Tesla production system6 - similar to Henry Ford's - as a friend puts it; BMW somehow launched a new, new thing with their i3/i8 expedition. That project was aborted and their factories largely reverted to modifying existing cars to support hybrid and electric propulsion. This may be one of the many reasons that so many cars are simply "blobs" as Bob Lutz noted in 2017.

  • Elon Musk on Tesla chips: Once it became clear that all paths converged to AI6, I had to shut down Dojo and make some tough personnel choices, as Dojo 2 was now an evolutionary dead end. Dojo 3 arguably lives on in the form of a large number of AI6 SoCs on a single board.

  • Tesla's Samsung deal: Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house 😃

  • Tesla computing hardware: That was my take on the story “Tesla is stopping Dojo”

    Just means AI6 will be used in Dojo vs the D1 chip that’s used today in Dojo

  • "My suggestion: Companies should be able to design any shape vehicle they want, provided each is equipped with front and rear automatic collision avoidance systems. That way, when self-driving cars become ubiquitous, they won’t all look like Toyota Camrys." -- Andy Kessler

  • ICE = Internal Combustion Engine



Footnotes

1. "You tell yourself that at age 90, how much business do you have in a jet fighter cockpit? Once you realize it was time to quit something, and you make up your mind that that was then and this is now, it’s not that hard" - Bob Lutz. More.

C/D: What car are you most proud of?

BL: Everybody laughs, but the Volt—the most difficult to accomplish in a corporate environment. So much advanced engineering in a car we knew we’d sell at a loss.

C/D: Because automakers eat so much capital, will we eventually see only four or five remaining?

BL: It’s likely. With autonomous cars, you’re gonna see more consolidation. Once we have transport modules, you order off the phone and brands won’t matter anymore. When brands don’t matter, the auto industry ends. It’s got another 20 years. - John Phillips 2016 interview.

I met Bob Lutz briefly at the 1985 Frankfurt auto show - the year Porsche displayed a sawed in half 959.

2. Tesla Model 3 Performance // VW GTI [2013 mk6 notes]

3. I've long enjoyed Dan Neil's writing. Three Golf R reviews over the years; 2015 // 2022 // 2025. // Deeper dive: LJK Setright [more CAR] // David E Davis // Csaba Csere

4. Ben Evans: A technology often produces its best results just when it's ready to be replaced - it's the best it's ever been, but it's also the best it could ever be. There's no room for more optimisation - the technology has run its course and it's time for something new, and any further attempts at optimisation produce something that doesn't make much sense.

5. More Americans are car poor. autoextremist on the same topic

6. It's time to build.














If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done - Ecclesiastes 11:4