Automotive enthusiasts?

@Flying Pancake  
That could be the nose of a giant robot.

@Flying Pancake  
I know electric cars have been around since the 50s. But man! Did they look wacky, along with a ton of things during that decade. The 50s have always been that… weird era of innovation.
 
What put electric cars out of favour in the 20th century?

@SeraphimDawn  
Electric cars are actually even older than that, with the first production electric car coming out in 1884. During the early parts of the 20th century, electric, gasoline, and steam cars were all more or less equally competitive. Electrics fell out of favor when gas engines began rapidly getting better and better, while batteries were still stuck with the same limited range, limited power, poor infrastructure, and long recharge times that they’re still trying to overcome today. I’ve also read that electrics’ popularity was hurt because they were extremely simple to operate, and therefore “unmanly.”
 
Steam cars fell off because they were overly complex to operate, sucked water like crazy, and had a significant warm-up time before you could actually drive anywhere. There was at least one company that more or less solved those problems, but gas had already won by that point.

@Flying Pancake
 
Doble made steam cars that solved those issues. I don’t know how many miles it gets per gallon but here’s an E20 from Jay Leno’s Garage and he says it has a LOT of torque and no transmission.

@BarryFromMars  
That’s the one I was thinking of. Holy crap, though, 1000 foot-pounds of torque? As in, enough torque to nonchalantly drag a kicking-and-screaming Hellcat backwards, or enough to semi-chalantly do the same to a diesel F-450? Steam engines are awesome.
 
Not cars, but that reminds me of this. (skip to around 1:05 for the good part)

@Flying Pancake
 
Steam tractors just don’t give a fuck.

@Flying Pancake  
Steam!?
 
Wow! I wonder how much fume those made back in the day.

@Flying Pancake
 
How does the 150 Horsepower factor in though?

The Terrifying Truth about Self-driving Cars
 
I seriously HOPE this technology fails utterly and gets universally shunned!

@SeraphimDawn  
Not that much, actually:  
 
Though they are worse at idle:  
 
(Side note: you know that carpet cleaning company, Stanley Steemer? It’s named after this^ car company, Stanley, whose cars were collectively called Steamers.)
 
And Leno’s Doble doesn’t seem to have any visible at all:  

 
One thing to consider is that even big steam locomotives don’t have much visible coming out of the smokestack when they’re property configured for cruising. Excess smoke means you’re running rich and wasting fuel, and excess steam means you’re wasting energy making more steam than you can use, so ideally you don’t want to see either.  
 
(Also, that’s a beautiful old Suburban running alongside the train.)
 
 
@BarryFromMars  
I’m not 100% sure if I have this right, but it shouldn’t matter. Horsepower is torque times RPM divided by 5252, so the low horsepower on the steam car is just a consequence of low RPM. The higher horsepower car would win a race, for sure, but for comparing pulling ability, torque ought to be the only thing that matters. (Assuming both cars have enough traction to make use of all their torque, of course.)

@Flying Pancake  
I would love to see steam get revived.

I keep hearing that people say the Dodge Viper is dangerous.  
Really?  
Is it not because idiots were behind those vehicles? Any car is dangerous when the wrong people are behind the wheels.  
It’s just like guns.

@Background Pony #00E1  
You’re right. Any vehicle is dangerous with a bad driver. That said, don’t be like Doug Demuro and drive a Viper in winter slush with summer tires.

@SeraphimDawn
 
Oh, that “Miss Belvedere” is a disaster. Though it was made shinier it’s still lacking structural integrity.
 
@Background Pony #00E1
 
I agree. Even a Prius can be dangerous in the wrong hands. People driving cars that have a reputation of speed often don’t know how to handle it do they?

@kleptomage  
He does it so other don’t.  
Though I think that guy can be a little snobby when it comes to his auto preference. But it’s just part of his showsmanship.

@BarryFromMars  
Speaking of Prius.  
Has anyone modified them to run like hotrods?  
I know someone made the Camry fast

All right guys, I have news fresh from the Detroit Auto Show about that sports sedan Kia is making. It’s called the Stinger and looks like this:
 

 
The engine choices are a 255 hp 2.0 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder or a 365 hp twin-turbo 3.3-liter V-6. It’s RWD with torque-vectoring AWD available. The transmission is an 8 speed upgraded from that in the K900. No manual is offered. Prices have not yet been announced. The Stinger should arrive this summer.

@kleptomage  
Sport sedans are the shit!
 
They can be practical daily drivers with performance and style.
 
I guess that is going to be competing against Subaru’s STI and Honda’s Si?
 
I think parent company Hyundai is also about to release a sports version of their Elantra sometime next year.  

@SeraphimDawn  
A sporty Elantra makes sense as Hyundai is Kia’s sister company.
 
Kia appears serious on competing with the BMW 3 series. It’s unlikely that Kia will succeed any more than Cadillac did but that doesn’t mean they can’t make a great car. Let the vain crowd that only buys the badge scoff. A sports sedan for less than the Germans with more standard features and a stronger warranty is a winning formula to me.
 
Note the way the rear window is framed by the sheet metal. I think it’s a liftback trunk like the Audi A7 which would be great for fitting more in the car.
 

@kleptomage  
Kia really needs to replace their ugly badge. Seriously. If they want to be taken as serious competitor to German luxury sports brands.  

 
Also, it appears Hyundai/Kia are going all out with pretty much every segment in their line up.  
Meanwhile Japanese and US firms have been mostly focusing few segments, especially SUV crossovers while largely neglecting the segments in their line ups.
 
I wonder what can be done to get consumers back into those saloons again?  
What can possibly break the SUV crossover craze spell?

@SeraphimDawn  
Kia’s badge is not a problem except for people’s perception of the brand which can only be fixed with time and quality products. Cadillac losing their wreath did not help them much.

@kleptomage  
Kia is completely unrecognizable from what it was just 8 years ago.  
How long does it take for people to shake off that perception?
 
Also, Cadillac has one of the best looking badges in the industry. I don’t think that should have gotten rid of their wreath. They don’t even have a crown anymore. What is with the spree of simplification?  
 
Evolution of their badge
 
I like Chrysler’s old badge  
 
Here’s an evolution of it over the years

As far as people being put off from the Stinger GT just because of the badge, a quote from Carroll Shelby:
 
“A name doesn’t make a car, the car makes the name.”

@Background Pony #00E1  
It’s not that the Viper is the only car that can be dangerous, it’s just that it has an enormously higher skill floor than most. To use your gun comparison, most cars are air rifles; you can certainly do damage with them, but I can hand them to an idiot 16 year old and be fairly certain they won’t hurt themselves. The Viper is a fully automatic Micro- Uzi; that same idiot 16 year old is probably going to take their own head off if you let them use it.
 
 
@kleptomage  
Well, it’s official. I really want a Kia. That car, top engine, AWD, in British Racing Green with maybe some white striping. Looks like it will be a thoroughly enjoyable and practical car. Also, the interior looks great, (“tablet bolted to the dash” infotainment screen nonwithstanding):
 

 

 
Those vents in particular are really sharp looking.
 
Here’s hoping the pricing isn’t as insane as the K900, though. I found out today that that thing starts at $50,000, which might explain why I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the wild.