I’ve heard about the y62 getting better economy than the 200 series LC a few times now in some scenarios. Shows you how far petrols have come and the improvements in autos.
The new 250 I can’t rap my head around it. You would really have to not like the V6 Everest, and the 150 was a fantastic platform from stock for most people.
Not gonna deny, but people often misrepresent SUVs. Take away the full-sized Land Cruisers, they are almost always more fuel efficient, much more reliable and easier to drive.
My EF Ford falcon when I was on my Ps was 5m long, had no ABS, no airbags and had a 4L engine that averaged 16-18L/100km around town. My mother in law’s new RAV4 has an engine half the size, hybrid, and gets 5L/100km. It has back up cameras, and sensors all round.
As for duel cabs and wannabe overlanders, yes, I hate them as much as the next person. They are truly a master of none and don’t even fit in the garage. Toyota’s like “fuck it let’s charge $100k for something we designed in the 80s”, and boomers flock to it like flies to shit. I’ve driven one which was so heavy and full of mods it needed it’s Gross Vehicle Mass rating upgraded (costs about $5k), thus having heavy rock hard suspension. It drove as if it had no suspension and was an absolute slug.
It’s expensive to develop a car in general because of ever increasing safety and tech requirements. It’s probably $10k of safety equipment per car. That’s part of the reason why the Yaris is $30k right now. The days of mass producing a small car on razor thin margins is incredibly risky and offers little reward.
The other thing is a change in consumer demand. People will happily fork out more for larger vehicles, and some will fork out tonnes for off-road based cars. These can offer very healthy margins.
There’s is also cleaver marketing, in that in large parts of Australia, you “must” have a big 4wd. I have driven my Suzuki all around Australia can safely say you don’t need a 4wd unless you plan on going off-road.
1.6m people voted for the Greens first preference this election, more than the all the Nats and LNP (Qld) combined. That’s the reality of concentrations of demographics in various areas.
It’s not all doom and gloom, tseat of Ryan is a good example of a competitive minor party taking advantage of 2nd place to win. The Greens don’t need to get the most preferences necessarily, just more than labor. If the coalition gets 35% first preference, and Labor have 28%, they don’t need 35, they need 28. Labor’s second preferences get distributed ideally to the Greens and hopefully, they overtake the liberals in a 2pp. Didn’t work for Adam Bandt, but I think we all got caught surprised at just how bad the Liberals did.
I think what the media and Gina get confused with Trump is that sure he’s right wing, but he portrays himself as an outsider and anti establishment. He says “the system is rigged”, and calls out the hypocrisy of career politicians who take the status quo for granted. That really gets traction with disenfranchised people.
I would say though that Trump is the exception to the norm. Candidates typically don’t win through campaigning for austerity, and they don’t win through surrounding themselves with smooth brained billionaires. Trump won, but at the same time, the Democrats lost badly. I don’t see Albo making that mistake.
13 people in the ballot is a bit excessive. Should be less than 10. But hate to say it but that area considered or primarily older and slower folk. A better ballot has 5 or 6 candidates. Stop giving the oldies more opportunities to screw up.
Good luck man. Being in the job seeking grind is soul crushing. People forget how slow, painful and dehumanizing it can be. Silly tests, multiple interviews and referees.
Remember you are more experienced than you are one day ago. Add this current contract to your resume and continue seeking.
Love the Jimny, yeah sometimes you get to ruts and think “did a Sherman tank just drive through here?”