QOTD: Morning, Comrade - Shall We Visit the Politruk Today?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

A good morning to each and every one of you. We know you’re eagerly looking forward to your Memorial Day long weekend, but there’s trouble brewing in this bucolic paradise. You see, oil and gas companies exist, and that’s bad. Also, there are car companies that manufacture products that ordinary citizens can buy, and they’re also allowed to — get this — advertise what they sell. Distasteful, we know.

What’s worse, lurking among the citizenry (most of whom are true of heart and noble in intention), is a subversive threat that can no longer be tolerated. They call themselves “journalists” — bored, bourgeois types, to be sure, but possessed with the notion that what they scribble about cars isn’t fully and completely tainted by the fact that car and oil companies can advertise. Bloated and decadent from the checks rolling in from ExxonMobil and General Motors, they profess to speak the truth.

We know this isn’t the case. Come with us, comrade, as we discuss a solution.

The apparatchiks in our California sector believe they have a way of undermining the influence of these dangerous charlatans. A man named Musk — we believe he’s part Canadian — suggests the creation of a website. Yes, there might be memes, but hear us out.

This website, you see, will allow the proletariat to rate, as Mr. Musk says, “the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication.” He’s thinking of calling it Pravda, which strikes us as a nice name. We’ve already performed the ground work.

Unless they’re stopped through online shaming from a website created by the head of a car company, these scribes, beholden to legacy automakers and their planet-destroying internal combustion engines, will set the green revolution back years. The wheels of the movement (which hasn’t yet produced a single low-cost car for the proletariat, but we’re working on it) will surely grind to a halt. Never mind that many of these legacy automakers already sell the same green products, only at a lower price point. They’re inferior!

We need the people to march… on down to Pravda to denounce the fevered scribblings of these so-called writers. We need the people to show the world that our leader, Mr. Musk, will not be cowed by the slander and lies emanating from this subversive subset. After all, we’re forced to make rosy production predictions. It’s not our fault if we don’t follow through. People shouldn’t notice. And the assembly line is a new thing; everyone knows there’s bugs that crop up from time to time.

Anyway, we don’t want to keep you too long. Just know that we’re doing everything in our power to counter this threat. To help display the dishonesty and compromised nature of this “media,” our Mr. Musk will regularly retweet our man in Montreal. A solid gent, he is; even owns stock. Has referred many customers to our door, and our program made sure the prizes and gifts flowed. We need more men like him. Level-headed. Not prone to the kind of wild conspiracy theories spread by disciples of Big Oil.

Don’t worry, our most ardent followers — modern, right-thinking, coastal types who worship and protect legacy media sources with slogans like “Democracy dies in the darkness,” especially since early 2017 — have our backs.

Anyway, on with your day.

Oh, one more thing. Will you be accompanying us on the gulag inspection this weekend?

[Image: OnInnovation/ Flickr ( CC BY-ND 2.0)]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Conundrum Conundrum on May 24, 2018

    If I hadn't read other articles about Musk and his proposed journalist-rating mobsite earlier today, this load of gibberish from TTAC wouldn't have given me a single clue as to 0what's going on. Useless. Musk is South African if that means diddly squat. Here, read this instead: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-musk/teslas-musk-bashes-media-proposes-credibility-check-idUSKCN1IP27O No doubt TTAC's resident Tesla apologists tylanner and vulpine, as members of the cult, voted for Musk's site, while a further 88% of 583,000 sheep also acquiesced to the theme that he is being unfairly targeted for slights despite being a genius who can lead the horde out of the forest into the land of cool green meadows all on his lonesone. Whatta guy! Musk was going after big media in his grousing. So it's a TTAC conceit that Musk is targeting this piddly outfit. But if it makes the staff happy, so be it.

    • Luke42 Luke42 on May 27, 2018

      I'm a card-carrying member of the Tesla superfan club, but I can't stand Twitter. Twitter would have been fun for me in 1999. But, it's not 1999 anymore.

  • Bd2 Bd2 on May 25, 2018

    So, Consumer Reports was "wrong" about the Model 3's braking issue until they were right (and Musk/Tesla finally admitted that they were working on a "fix"; like for so many other things).

    • Luke42 Luke42 on May 27, 2018

      Yep -- and the firmware fix is being rolled out. This is the blessing and the course of the "move fast and break things" mentality in SV. Mistakes are made, mistakes are fixed quickly, things get done quickly -- but the world is your beta tester, and the customers will figure that out sooner or later. People from other industries are just as smart and hard working as the SV types, but take a more conservative approach for very sensible reasons.

  • AZFelix 2015 Sonata Limited72k when purchased, 176k miles currentlyI perform all maintenance and repairs except for alignment, tire mounting, tire patching, and glass work (tint and passenger left due to rock hit). Most parts purchased through rockauto.com.Maintenance and repairs during three years of ownership:Front rotors and all brake pads upgraded shortly after purchase.Preparing for 17th oil change (full synthetic plus filter c.$50), one PCV valve.Timing & accessory belts, belt tensioner.Coolant full flush and change.Fibrous plastic material engine under tray replaced by aftermarket solid plastic piece $110.One set of tires (c.$500 +installation) plus two replacements and a number of patches due to nails, etc. Second set coming soon.Hood struts $30.Front struts, rear shocks, plus sway bar links, front ball joints, tie rod ends, right CV axle (large rock on freeway damaged it and I took the opportunity to redo the rest of items on this list).Battery c.$260.Two sets of spark plugs @ $50/set.Three sets of cabin and engine filters.Valve cover gasket (next week).Averages out to c.$1400 per year for the past three years. Minor driver seat bolster wear, front rock chips, and assorted dents & dings but otherwise looks and drives very well.
  • 3-On-The-Tree 2014 Ford F150 Ecoboost 3.5L. By 80,000mi I had to have the rear main oil seal replaced twice. Driver side turbo leaking had to have all hoses replaced. Passenger side turbo had to be completely replaced. Engine timing chain front cover leak had to be replaced. Transmission front pump leak had to be removed and replaced. Ford renewed my faith in Extended warranty’s because luckily I had one and used it to the fullest. Sold that truck on caravan and got me a 2021 Tundra Crewmax 4x4. Not a fan of turbos and I will never own a Ford again much less cars with turbos to include newer Toyotas. And I’m a Toyota guy.
  • Duke Woolworth Weight 4800# as I recall.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X '19 Nissan Frontier @78000 miles has been oil changes ( eng/ diffs/ tranny/ transfer). Still on original brakes and second set of tires.
  • ChristianWimmer I have a 2018 Mercedes A250 with almost 80,000 km on the clock and a vintage ‘89 Mercedes 500SL R129 with almost 300,000 km.The A250 has had zero issues but the yearly servicing costs are typically expensive from this brand - as expected. Basic yearly service costs around 400 Euros whereas a more comprehensive servicing with new brake pads, spark plugs plus TÜV etc. is in the 1000+ Euro region.The 500SL servicing costs were expensive when it was serviced at a Benz dealer, but they won’t touch this classic anymore. I have it serviced by a mechanic from another Benz dealership who also owns an R129 300SL-24 and he’ll do basic maintenance on it for a mere 150 Euros. I only drive the 500SL about 2000 km a year so running costs are low although the fuel costs are insane here. The 500SL has had two previous owners with full service history. It’s been a reliable car according to the records. The roof folding mechanism needs so adjusting and oiling from time to time but that’s normal.
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