We bought a second hand i3 (2014) model for my SO to drive to work and back (short distances). The range is objectively horrible (about 100 km), but sufficient for my SO's needs. Overall, we love the car! It's so much fun to drive, and very efficient due to its light carbon fiber chassis. The car does everything we expect of it and we run it very cheap.

Such a waste BMW didn't iterate on the i3/i8 sooner. They would've knocked Tesla out of the water before they could even learn how to swim.

The cold war never became hot

Tell that to the millions of people the west murdered through bombing of Korea, Vietnam or Laos, the millions more murdered though US support of military dictators such as Suharto or Pinochet, or the millions who died through the de-stabilization of their countries such as Mosaddeq's Iran, Guatemala or the outright invasion of Iraq. Ask those people what they think of the west's military expenses over the past century.

Democracies have more freedoms allowing for more accurate polling. There is also less fear of consequences for being open

Literally two days ago Mamdani won the mayoral elections against all polls, polls in the west are heavily manipulated. And literally last week a man was denied entry in the country due to having a picture of bald Vance. I happen to be Spanish, and in our super-democratic state we have literal political prisoners who had to free the country such as Carles Puigdemont due to political persecution and risking their lives in jail. The west is NOT more democratic than China at this point, and the trend is towards openness in China and towards fascism in the west.

I used to like and look up to SpaceX for the interesting stuff that they build,

but nowadays i don't care anymore. The company can fail for all i care. Musk spoiled it.

The tipping point, for me personally, was when Musk seriously threatened to slash public spending in February this year. It shows a clear disrespect to the people, and frankly, a sociopathic attitude.

Musk had everything, lots of money, lots of fame, lots of influence, but he threw it all away when he decided to threaten the wellbeing and lifelyhood of a lot of people just so that rich assholes can make an extra buck through tax cuts.

No, I haven't bought a new car in many many years.

That's absolutely unacceptable. I would have the dashboard pulled out in minutes. Wherever the modem is, it wouldn't be there for long.

The trend is toward openness in China? Just off the top of my head didnt Xi consolidate more power over the last 12 months and stop issuing economic statistics as a resukt of their trend?

I am not American, they are a shit hole country, they have never been much more but the veneer is wiped off now.

Those proxy wars are the example of it not getting hot. Russia and the US had so much military power no one risked direct attacks.

I do not support the US, Israel or any such shite but dont tell half a story and sum up with china is opening up.

Hahahah, fuse go brrrr.

Jokes aside, they probably shut off the car if it can't phone home within a certain time period.

SpaceX should be nationalized. We paid for it, it's ours.

That's equivalent to buying a subscription to a car. I would never buy that car. That's koo koo bananapants unsane.

Of course, I don't have a facepals account either so - what do i know.

SpaceX should be nationalized. We paid for it, it's ours.

Who in the current admin would you like to see run it? Because one of them would if it were nationalized. Who would be your pick?

Who in the current admin would you like to see run it? Because one of them would if it were nationalized. Who would be your pick?

stop issuing economic statistics

Then what's this?. I literally don't know what you're talking about.

The trend is toward openness in China?

Yes. China is progressively opening up, allowing things such as IShowSpeed to do livestreams of the country wherever he wants and granting him honorary visas, and spreading the contact of Chinese people with westerners through for example XiaoHongShu (RedNote) or TikTok, which is why the US wants to ban access to these apps. I'm not a US citizen either, I'm European, and the EU itself closed access to Russian media some months after the war started. You may or may not think that this is justified, but it's quite literally the definition of "closing up", and China is engaging in exactly the opposite.

Those proxy wars are the example of it not getting hot

I beg you tell the same to a Ukrainian or to a Vietnamese.

China can have all the images they want from my car's. I don't live in China or anywhere near them. I'm more concerned about US made EVs and their surveillance because I travel there regularly, and they are digging hard on everything for people coming into the US.

Don’t know why exactly are you downvoted but this is exactly what is going on as cars get more ”connected”, following Tesla & BYD lead.
Just like with phones at the moment, everything tries to spy on you a little to tap into that sweeet targeted ad revenue, or something else.

For example I bet the insurance companies love to have some driver behaviour data about you, and the big retail likes to know where/what time you are on the move (though they already get it from the dozens of apps on your phone that have access to location data, like Google Maps).

Then what's this

Show me the youth unemployment figures.

spreading the contact of Chinese people with westerners through for example XiaoHongShu (RedNote) or TikTok, which is why the US wants to ban access to these apps

You missed the part where China hurried through a tiktok like curtain to silo users.

You must have also missed the social credit scoring. The HK protests.

You may or may not think that this is justified, but it's quite literally the definition of "closing up", and China is engaging in exactly the opposite.

This is textbook tolerance paradox stuff, either accept propaganda or you ae against free speech. Oligarchical authoritarian cunts should not have access into a foreign population, that is why Trump is in power. Are you telling me the EU has less press freedoms than Russia or China? Because closing the gap doesnt mean much if its by a tenth of a degree.

I beg you tell the same to a Ukrainian or to a Vietnamese

Its clear you are passionate and refusing to take on board an alternative view. There is nothing in what I have said that should lead you to reply with this. Understand proxy wars and realise that military spending kept the direct warfare cold.

Ukraine is atrocity that is only tied to the cold war by way of Russia continuing fighting it while the US got complacent and allowed their government to fall which lead to a lack of support/tacit support for Russia.

Show me the youth unemployment figures

According to SCMP, "The urban jobless rate among those aged 16 to 24 – excluding students – fell to 15.8 per cent last month, down from 16.5 per cent in March, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday". What's your point? It literally says "released by the National Bureau of Statistics", what's the government hiding??

You missed the part where China hurried through a tiktok like curtain to silo users.

Can you source this claim, please?

You must have also missed the social credit scoring

This is a nothingburger made up by western bad-faith actors. There is no such thing as a social credit score in China. Unlike in the US, where you can go into your bank account to check your "good citizen meter" and see how likely you are to get a mortgage.

The HK protests

Nothing compared to ICE kidnapping people from their literal homes masked, putting them into unmarked vans, and deporting them without due process or putting them in prison.

This is textbook tolerance paradox stuff, either accept propaganda or you ae against free speech

So, China forbidding western media is oppressive and dictatorial because western press good, but the West forbidding Russian media is cool and based because Russian media bad? You're only showing your bias here if you think western media has any semblance of objectivity, especially when it comes to international politics.

Are you telling me the EU has less press freedoms than Russia or China?

Not than Russia, Russia is further advanced towards fascism than the EU, so it's worse. But China is getting better and the EU is getting worse.

Its clear you are passionate and refusing to take on board an alternative view.

It's clear that you only care about deaths if they take place on the first world. You want to avoid "direct confrontation" because you care more about Europeans and Americans than you do about Vietnamese, Korean or Iraqi. You take pride in how much the "military expenditure in the cold war prevented direct conflict" without caring about how much more conflict it stoked outside the west.

Ukraine is atrocity that is only tied to the cold war by way of Russia

False. The invasion of Ukraine is a policy pursued by the Russian goverment as a way to preserve the sphere of influence that the west is eroding each day through NATO and economic/soft power. You can condemn it, it's cruel and abhorrent, but it's not exclusively Russia to blame, and in 10 years from now this will be clear to everyone.

China would love so much to rule the world, that's why it hasn't entered any war in the past 40+ years, and that's why all countries in the global south are happy to enter the comparably advantageous economic deals and infrastructure investments that China offers in comparison with the magnificent western democracies.

How many countries has China bombed in the past 40 years? Let's now make a list for the USA, see who wins!

As for "dictator", look at the approval rates of Xi in China and compare them to those of Kid Starver in the UK, Trump in the US, or Macron in France. I guess democracy is best represented by the system that lets you choose which hateful ghoul will apply austerity policy and invest 5% of GDP in NATO.

You' ve been explained this whole scenario years ago when Putin was pushing for Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok.

That was EU chance to get dirt cheap energy and raw materials.

And now - EU heavy industry is dying, car manufacturers are sold to China one by one. Decision made decade+ ago.

Competition is good for the consumer. More options from more players will encourage more charging infrastructure and (ostensibly) more innovation. It's not just Elon Musk vs China. Every automaker that wants to sell cars in the USA is on notice. If they want to compete in the EV subcategory, they need to focus on price and performance. People want budget-conscious EVs.

but saying that a Chinese company isn't "under the control of Xi Jinping", the guy who crushed Hong Kong for having too much independence and wants to do the same with Taiwan, is laughable.

Just take that sentence at face value and consider the ridiculousness of actually believing the guy alone has that amount of crushing power.

You're just regurgitating unfounded US propaganda which, this being Lemmy, is very unfortunate to see.