Had no idea there was a Nismo Juke. Nissan’s product development team is a trip.

Red side view mirrors, here I come

 

Oh yes, there was a Nismo Juke and a Nismo Juke RS. Pretty wild, the RS model actually came with true Recaro Sportster CS seats that are better than the half-breeds in the actual Sport Cars (Z & GT-R). Actually in the process of getting these ready to swap into my Z:


Notice the high bolsters on the bottoms here, much different than the V2 370z Nismo Recaros

 

Those caught my eye - but $3500 used is steep for seats LOL.

 

I think the money is irrelevant if you can't physically squeeze your hips into those body clamps.

 

Luckily when I got fat it was longitudinal not transversely, so I still fit in race seats lol.

 

Seats look cool and all, but I need some nice lumbar for drives to and fro NY. Not fat (yet at least), but I’m lanky and getting old and have tweaked my lower back enough times over the years.

Those Juke seats just don’t look they’d be fun for 3-4 hours at a time. Or maybe I just haven’t sat in good, quality race seats yet?

Best seats I sat in were prob Recaros which I believe were a factory option for the B7 RS4. Man, I’m still enamored by that car.

Theres a black one for sale now, 2008 with 25k miles for $65k. They were sold new at around that price, which, adjusted for inflation, is about $96k. A fact that kinda sorta makes me think a little bit more about it…

 

@rotarymike - They definitely are not cheap on the used market. I have been looking for a few years, and have seen them listed from $2500-4K in various degrees of condition. I got lucky and found this nearly mint set for $2800, which basically ended up as a wash as I sold my V2 370z Recaros. Of course there's a lot more in expenses to make them work (sliders, Recaro CS Bases, Spacers etc) but I absolutely love the way they look.

@STownSaint - Thankfully my Z is really only for weekends or commuting to the office during the summers, so I can't speak to their long term comfort (I've only put 10k miles on my Nismo in 3 years of ownership). It'd be hard for me to get rid of my Monaco Red Sport seats in the G, they look great and are really comfy. Honestly the only thing I wish the G had was ventilated seats for the summers.

 

Trying to find a 2024 Elantra N to test drive within a reasonable driving distance.

 

Everyone has been working on the Solid State Batteries. I believe that we'll see probably 20% reduction in the weight of batteries when more of these are adopted. It would be more, but the manufactures will probably want to go for 400 to 600 miles on a charge. That will take at least 100 to 200k batteries, So far we have only seen such large batteries in a few vehicles. Tesla model 3 and Model y weigh from 3700 to 4000 lbs, with batteries weighing 1000 to 1700 lbs. The model 3 has around 60kwh battery. They will probably go to a 90kwh to increase the range. and have a 800lb battery. That is the standard car, which would have a 90kwh 425 mile range. The long range would have a 110kwh 500 mile range.

 

Solid State batteries means the form factor can take on all kinds of shapes and sizes, instead of the traditional shape. Don't know where that's going to take the passenger car in the next few decades, but it will be cool. Will it be less personal? You could say that about a lot of today's ICE vehicles.

 

Don't care about the soulless part.. I have been in only one Model 3. I have seen how they accelerate, especially from say 20 to 50. I would imagine they would be much more consistent in their feel. With an ICE engine, sometimes the engine or transmission isn't feeling the best. I would much rather have consistently great. Another thing is, no matter what the state of charge is, the weight is the same. Where our cars can vary by 100lbs based on how much fuel we're carrying. The solid state batteries could do an amazing job in a hybrid. Perhaps something like a Chevy Volt with a 30kwh battery instead of the 18kwh one. Would go about 100 miles on a charge instead of 50 miles and weighing 100lbs lighter. If I had been working at Chevy, I would have told them to build a Chevy Volt SUV. I like the idea of the engine as just a generator in a hybrid car. If I could go back to when I bought my G37, I might have bought a G50 Hybrid.

 

If all you ever used was the EV motor in a hybrid, would the car periodically engage the engine just to keep fluids circulated and the engine in running condition? I've always wondered about that. Imagine not using the ICE motor in your hybrid for months at a time.

 

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) use two motors to power the vehicle: an electric motor powered by batteries and an internal combustion engine (ICE) powered by gasoline or diesel. PHEVs typically run on electric power until the battery is almost depleted, then automatically switch to the ICE. PHEVs have larger battery packs than hybrid electric vehicles, allowing them to drive up to 60 miles on electricity alone, which is known as the vehicle's "electric range". When the vehicle uses up its electric range, it switches to gas and drives like a conventional car.

 

Came close to buying a new Rav4 Hybrid XLE last week, couldn't get close enough number wise to make it happen but we got close. Ruby Flare Pearl which is a deep metallic red. Feels just as quick below highway speeds as the G despite using well under half the fuel.

 

Since this got bumped. Sold the 2023 A6 we bought for the wife/family car last September. Probably the shortest period of ownership for a car I've ever had. Shame on me for not doing better research, but turned out the 48v mild hybrid system is incredibly failure prone, and when it does, it can't charge the 12v battery and the car basically dies. Of course it happened on vacation, 300 miles from home, in the middle of nowhere

Interestingly, pretty much all the German manufactures use some form of this mild hybrid system, and they all seem to have issues -- although Audi's implementation is by far the worst. 30+ mpg is great for a midsize AWD turbo V6 sedan weighing 4300# that can break into the mid 4s 0-60, but not so great when it craps out.