ANALYSIS section will be posted separately on my sub Tradingedge
DATA LEDE:

• RBA minutes - Australia
• Said they will try not to excessively fine tune policy
• Future changes to cash rate are difficult to rule in or out
• CPI short term variation can be easily and reasonably overlooked
• Recent data does point to slightly increased inflation risks
• NEUTRAL/HAWKISH overall
• Australia consumer confidence numbers drop 0.3% MOM
• German PPI came 0.2% MOM vs 0.2% expected, in line with last months reading.
• YOY came in at -3.3% slightly below expected value of -3.2%. Came in light which is good for German inflation picture.
• Yellen Speech - no real meaningful comments
• EU balance of trade numbers hit a new yearly high. Points to improving world demand environment.
• Fed speakers include:
• Barkin, Waller, Williams, Bostic, Barr
• BoE’s Bailey to speak too

MARKETS:

• SPX: Maintained above 5300, now trading at 5311. Yesterday, touched 5325, before moving lower again. DJI: Trading at 39,813, just below 40k. Opened yesterday above 40k but moved lower on JPM weakness.
• Nasdaq: trading flat at 18,665. Support will now be at around 18,350.
• Ger40: Slightly lower today, at 18,600. Some slight profit taking near the highs.
• HKG50: Moving lower again for 2nd day in a row. Now at 19,240. Yesterday, was at 19,750 at one point. So down 2.7% across yesterday and today.
• Oil - hit 80 yesterday on WTI but was rejected off there. Lower today to 78, down by 1.5%. Back to range bound.
• Gold: Trading at 2418, Support at 2400.
• VIX: After getting crushed to 12 yesterday, bounced up off of there, now higher.

FX:

• DXY moving flat today and yesterday, around 104.5
• Had fallen to 100d moving average after CPI then moved higher, bouncing from there.
• EURUSD positioning still bullish, flat, slightly higher at 1.087
• GBPUSD moving higher again, trading at 1.272
• AUDUSD at 0.667,
• Has broken out of the long term downtrend.

EARNINGS:

• PANW Current Quarter:
• Revenues of 1.985B beat by 0.8%. Revenues rose 15% YOY
• Products revenue beat by 1.2%
• Subscriptions and support revenue beat by 0.3%
• EPS of 1.32 Beat expectations of 1.25 - beat by 5.6%
• Operating income was 508M, beat by 3.5%
• Operating margin was 25.6% , beat by 69 bps
• Billings came more or less in line
• Deferred revenue basically in line, slight miss.
• NEXT QUARTER GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 1.41 v slightly missed expectations of 1.42
• Revenue came in line with consensus at 2.16B
• Billings guidance beat consensus v slightly.
• FULL YEAR GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 5.56-5.58 beat estimates of 5.51
• Revenue of 8B beat estimates of 7.98B
• Billings of 10.15.5B was up 10-11% YoY
• CEO Nikesh Arora: Enthusiastic response to pjatformization and AI infused security outcomes.
• In conference call said that billings isn’t the only important measure, hence investors should overlook the slight softness in billings.
• Said cybersecurity demand will continue to grow for next several quarters, and PANW will benefit.
• Cyberattacks are scaling and aren’t going away. AI will increase these threats. So the tailwinds for PANW are very strong.

XPEV

• EPS of -0.75 was much better than the -2.06 expected
• Revenue of 6.55B beat estimates of 6.19B. Up 63% YOY, but down 50% QOQ
• Vehicle margin was 5.5%, which was up from 4.1% last quarter, and up form -2.5% last year SO VEHICLE MARGIN IMPROVED
• Vehicle sales came in at 5.54B yuan, up 50% YOY but down 50% QOQ
• Gross margin was 12.9%, up from 1.7% last year and 6.2% last quarter
• SO MARGINS IMPROVED, SALES WERE WORSE THAN LAST QUARTER
• In April saw 9,393 vehicles delivered
• Partnership with Volkswagen group on E/E architecture
• Release of AI powered functions
• GROSS MARGIN IMPROVEMENT DESPITE COMPETITION AND OTHERS CUTTING PRICES WAS A KEY BENEFIT.

NEXT QUARTER GUDIANCE:

• Revenue 7.5-8.3B miss by 15%
• Delivered of 29-32K. Up 30% YOY

MACYS:

• Current quarter:
• ADJ EPS $0.27 vs. $0.56 y/y, EST $0.14. BEAT
• EPS $0.22 vs. $0.56 y/y
• Net sales $4.8B, -3.7% y/y, EST $4.81B. IN LINE
• Gross margin 39.2% vs. 40% y/y, EST 39.6%. MISS
• SG&A expense $1.9B, -2.6% y/y, EST $1.98B. MISS
• GUIDANCE:
• Raised guidance from 2.45-2.85 to 2.55-2.9.
• Raised by 4%
• Beat estimates by 4%, although is a wide guidance
• Sees Net sales at 22.3-22.9B, raising bottom end up slightly from 22.2B.
• More or less in line with guidance.
• Merchandise margins down 100bps due to additional discounting
• Merchandise inventories are well positioned for upcoming summer season
• Credit card revenues down slightly due to higher delinquency rates
• Turnaround plan showing signs of progress as they beat and raise guidance.

LOWES:

• Current quarter:
• EPS of 3.67 beat estimates of 2.95
• Revenue of 21.4B was down YOY by 4%, but beat estimates by 1.3%
• Comparables sales were down 4%
• Reaffirms FY guidance:
• EPS of 12-12.3 vs estimate of 12.19. So miss slightly by 0.4%
• Revenue of 84-85B, basically in line.
• EXPECTS COMPARABLE SALES TO BE DOWN 2-3% vs estimates of 2.43% down.

MAG 7:

• MSFT yesterday, said that Copilot Plus PCs will be based on Qualcomm’s snapdragon X Elite chips, and will offer 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video battery life. MSFT says it’ll outperform MacBook Air.
• On Copilot Plus, Neural processor enables new AI features such as recall for a searchable PC memory.
• MSFT estimates 50 million AI PCs will be sold over the next year. Said its rearchitectured Windows 11 is 58% faster than Apple’s MacBook Air.
• MSFT - restructures Windows 11 for better ARM hardware support and AI integration. Introduces prism emulator, launched to improve compatibility with older x86 and x64 apps. MSFT says Prism emulator is 20% faster than previous versions.
• AAPL - Files law suit to overturn $1.8B EU antitrust fine over App Store rules. AAPL is challenging a 1.8B fine.
• MSFT - OpenAI will be sued by Scarlett Johansson for basically copying her voice against her explicit instruction not to.
• TSLA - Tesla shareholder group still not happy with Elon Musk’s $56B pay package. Urged other investors to reject a $56B pay package.

OTHER COMPANIES:

• XPEV higher on their strong earnings
• MACYS higher on improving picture
• LOW - higher on earnings
• Crypto stocks higher on strong Bitcoin performance
• LRCX 10-1 stock split
• PANW lower on eanrings, seems harsh to me. Other crypto names down in sentiment.
• Chinese stocks lower as Hong Kong MARKET down 1.5% today.
• NOVA - Piper Sandler downgrades Sunnova Energy to neutral from overweight, lowered price target to 4.50 from 9. Analyst had upgraded sun nova in December on expectation of lower rates, but rates have stayed high.
• Li - postpones the launch of its all electric SUVs to the first half of 2025, citing inadequate charging stations and other constraints. CEO emphasised the need for sufficient branded charging stations and more display spots.
• DOWN 4% AGAIN TODAY ON THIS.
• BABA - Alibaba cloud slashes prices for its latest LLM model, Tongyi Qianwen, by up to 97%
• BIDU - in response to Alibaba’s move, BIDU made its ENITRE Speed and ENIRE lite models entirely free to use.
• So we are seeing price wars in AI market.
• JPM says that they will not be increasing buybacks of JPM stock at these prices. Will just continue with previously outlined buyback pace.
• Jamie Dimon also hinted at retirement in the speech, hence JPM lower yesterday
• DELL - Citi raises dell price target to 170 from 125. Optimistic they can gain market share more in AI.
• JD - announces a proposed offering of $1.5B in convertible senior notes, due 2029. Will use proceeds to repurchase shares and expand overseas business.
• PTON - plans global refinancing to address debt. Secured nearly $1.4B in new credit facilities.
• ASML and TSM said they have measures in place to remotely disable advanced EUV chip making machines if China was to invade Taiwan.
• QCOM - shares were higher yesterday after Several big companies including Dell and MSFT announced AI laptops using Qualcomm’s snapdragon X elite chip. MSFT says these devices will outperform apple MacBook Air M3.
• ARM - MSFT will announce Arm powered laptops
• WEN - launches a $3 breakfast deal, including small seasoned potatoes, choice of bacon, eggs and cheese or sausage, eggs and cheese muffin. Rivals Mcdonalds $5value meal
• DASH - expanded its partnership with ULTA beauty to offer on demand delivery in under an hour from 1350 stores across all 50 states.
• VFS - US regulators are probing a vin fast VF 8 Crash, that killed 4 in California.
• LLY - secures china approval for diabetes drug, Tirzepatide. Received approval in China for its diabetes drug.
• BA - one killed on Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 due to severe turbulence.
• DIS - Redburn upgrades to neutral from Sell. Price target 100.
• Samsung - appoints new chief for its chip business, amid competition.

OThER NEWS:

• BTC higher to 72K.
• ETH popped 20% yesterday on renewed optimism for ETF, that SEC might green light spot ether ETFs ahead of first deadline later this week.
• Yardeni research sees Dow Jones DJI at 60k and SPX at 8k by 2030
• Mester’s comments yesterday:
• 3 rate cuts this year is no longer appropriate.
• April CPI was good, but too soon to say what path inflation is on. She said she doesnt think about rate cuts in terms of when. We can raise rates but its not base case. That’s bearish, but also unrealistic. I think there’s less risk now that we are too restrictive, and inflation risks are to upside.
• BEARISH COMMENTS FROM MESTER OVERALL
• Jefferson’s Comments yesterday:
• April inflation was encouraging. Labour market coming into better balance. Inflation decline isn’t as fast as we had liked. Policy is restrictive. - NEUTRAL comments, I’d say.
• Following these comments, Bank of America said that whilst the bar for rate hikes is still v high, rate cuts are still far off. Said Services inflation still running way above target.
• Bank of America believes markets got excited at the print, said markets pricing 50bps of cuts are likely to get disappointed.
• Did push back on stagflation narrative.
• SPACEX Q1 launch report shows that SpaceX is now launching 87% of all payload to orbit, a new record high.
• New Yorkers on average earned $89K last year, meaning that without spending more than 30% of annual income on rent, they can afford $2,216 on housing. That’s only enough to afford 4.4% of rentals.
• Marko Kolanovic held his bearish outlook on stocks, urging clients not to buy. So not all bears are capitulating.
• Fidelity ethereal fund says that the trust’s Ether will not be staked.
• IMF official expects next stage for BOE is to ease rates, says UK monetary policy is at inflection point. Actions by UK authorities are paying off.
• Said BoE should cut rates by 50-75bps in 2024.
• Upgraded UK growth forecast to 0.7% this year from 0.5% previously
• Dubai Airport expects record passenger traffic this year, set to top 100M by 2027.

For more of my content, please join Tradingedge

DATA LEDE:

• RBA minutes - Australia
• Said they will try not to excessively fine tune policy
• Future changes to cash rate are difficult to rule in or out
• CPI short term variation can be easily and reasonably overlooked
• Recent data does point to slightly increased inflation risks
• NEUTRAL/HAWKISH overall
• Australia consumer confidence numbers drop 0.3% MOM
• German PPI came 0.2% MOM vs 0.2% expected, in line with last months reading.
• YOY came in at -3.3% slightly below expected value of -3.2%. Came in light which is good for German inflation picture.
• Yellen Speech - no real meaningful comments
• EU balance of trade numbers hit a new yearly high. Points to improving world demand environment.
• Fed speakers include:
• Barkin, Waller, Williams, Bostic, Barr
• BoE’s Bailey to speak too

MARKETS:

• SPX: Maintained above 5300, now trading at 5311. Yesterday, touched 5325, before moving lower again. DJI: Trading at 39,813, just below 40k. Opened yesterday above 40k but moved lower on JPM weakness.
• Nasdaq: trading flat at 18,665. Support will now be at around 18,350.
• Ger40: Slightly lower today, at 18,600. Some slight profit taking near the highs.
• HKG50: Moving lower again for 2nd day in a row. Now at 19,240. Yesterday, was at 19,750 at one point. So down 2.7% across yesterday and today.
• Oil - hit 80 yesterday on WTI but was rejected off there. Lower today to 78, down by 1.5%. Back to range bound.
• Gold: Trading at 2418, Support at 2400.
• VIX: After getting crushed to 12 yesterday, bounced up off of there, now higher.

FX:

• DXY moving flat today and yesterday, around 104.5
• Had fallen to 100d moving average after CPI then moved higher, bouncing from there.
• EURUSD positioning still bullish, flat, slightly higher at 1.087
• GBPUSD moving higher again, trading at 1.272
• AUDUSD at 0.667,
• Has broken out of the long term downtrend.

EARNINGS:

• PANW Current Quarter:
• Revenues of 1.985B beat by 0.8%. Revenues rose 15% YOY
• Products revenue beat by 1.2%
• Subscriptions and support revenue beat by 0.3%
• EPS of 1.32 Beat expectations of 1.25 - beat by 5.6%
• Operating income was 508M, beat by 3.5%
• Operating margin was 25.6% , beat by 69 bps
• Billings came more or less in line
• Deferred revenue basically in line, slight miss.
• NEXT QUARTER GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 1.41 v slightly missed expectations of 1.42
• Revenue came in line with consensus at 2.16B
• Billings guidance beat consensus v slightly.
• FULL YEAR GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 5.56-5.58 beat estimates of 5.51
• Revenue of 8B beat estimates of 7.98B
• Billings of 10.15.5B was up 10-11% YoY
• CEO Nikesh Arora: Enthusiastic response to pjatformization and AI infused security outcomes.
• In conference call said that billings isn’t the only important measure, hence investors should overlook the slight softness in billings.
• Said cybersecurity demand will continue to grow for next several quarters, and PANW will benefit.
• Cyberattacks are scaling and aren’t going away. AI will increase these threats. So the tailwinds for PANW are very strong.

XPEV

• EPS of -0.75 was much better than the -2.06 expected
• Revenue of 6.55B beat estimates of 6.19B. Up 63% YOY, but down 50% QOQ
• Vehicle margin was 5.5%, which was up from 4.1% last quarter, and up form -2.5% last year SO VEHICLE MARGIN IMPROVED
• Vehicle sales came in at 5.54B yuan, up 50% YOY but down 50% QOQ
• Gross margin was 12.9%, up from 1.7% last year and 6.2% last quarter
• SO MARGINS IMPROVED, SALES WERE WORSE THAN LAST QUARTER
• In April saw 9,393 vehicles delivered
• Partnership with Volkswagen group on E/E architecture
• Release of AI powered functions
• GROSS MARGIN IMPROVEMENT DESPITE COMPETITION AND OTHERS CUTTING PRICES WAS A KEY BENEFIT.

NEXT QUARTER GUDIANCE:

• Revenue 7.5-8.3B miss by 15%
• Delivered of 29-32K. Up 30% YOY

MACYS:

• Current quarter:
• ADJ EPS $0.27 vs. $0.56 y/y, EST $0.14. BEAT
• EPS $0.22 vs. $0.56 y/y
• Net sales $4.8B, -3.7% y/y, EST $4.81B. IN LINE
• Gross margin 39.2% vs. 40% y/y, EST 39.6%. MISS
• SG&A expense $1.9B, -2.6% y/y, EST $1.98B. MISS
• GUIDANCE:
• Raised guidance from 2.45-2.85 to 2.55-2.9.
• Raised by 4%
• Beat estimates by 4%, although is a wide guidance
• Sees Net sales at 22.3-22.9B, raising bottom end up slightly from 22.2B.
• More or less in line with guidance.
• Merchandise margins down 100bps due to additional discounting
• Merchandise inventories are well positioned for upcoming summer season
• Credit card revenues down slightly due to higher delinquency rates
• Turnaround plan showing signs of progress as they beat and raise guidance.

LOWES:

• Current quarter:
• EPS of 3.67 beat estimates of 2.95
• Revenue of 21.4B was down YOY by 4%, but beat estimates by 1.3%
• Comparables sales were down 4%
• Reaffirms FY guidance:
• EPS of 12-12.3 vs estimate of 12.19. So miss slightly by 0.4%
• Revenue of 84-85B, basically in line.
• EXPECTS COMPARABLE SALES TO BE DOWN 2-3% vs estimates of 2.43% down.

MAG 7:

• MSFT yesterday, said that Copilot Plus PCs will be based on Qualcomm’s snapdragon X Elite chips, and will offer 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video battery life. MSFT says it’ll outperform MacBook Air.
• On Copilot Plus, Neural processor enables new AI features such as recall for a searchable PC memory.
• MSFT estimates 50 million AI PCs will be sold over the next year. Said its rearchitectured Windows 11 is 58% faster than Apple’s MacBook Air.
• MSFT - restructures Windows 11 for better ARM hardware support and AI integration. Introduces prism emulator, launched to improve compatibility with older x86 and x64 apps. MSFT says Prism emulator is 20% faster than previous versions.
• AAPL - Files law suit to overturn $1.8B EU antitrust fine over App Store rules. AAPL is challenging a 1.8B fine.
• MSFT - OpenAI will be sued by Scarlett Johansson for basically copying her voice against her explicit instruction not to.
• TSLA - Tesla shareholder group still not happy with Elon Musk’s $56B pay package. Urged other investors to reject a $56B pay package.

OTHER COMPANIES:

• XPEV higher on their strong earnings
• MACYS higher on improving picture
• LOW - higher on earnings
• Crypto stocks higher on strong Bitcoin performance
• LRCX 10-1 stock split
• PANW lower on eanrings, seems harsh to me. Other crypto names down in sentiment.
• Chinese stocks lower as Hong Kong MARKET down 1.5% today.
• NOVA - Piper Sandler downgrades Sunnova Energy to neutral from overweight, lowered price target to 4.50 from 9. Analyst had upgraded sun nova in December on expectation of lower rates, but rates have stayed high.
• Li - postpones the launch of its all electric SUVs to the first half of 2025, citing inadequate charging stations and other constraints. CEO emphasised the need for sufficient branded charging stations and more display spots.
• DOWN 4% AGAIN TODAY ON THIS.
• BABA - Alibaba cloud slashes prices for its latest LLM model, Tongyi Qianwen, by up to 97%
• BIDU - in response to Alibaba’s move, BIDU made its ENITRE Speed and ENIRE lite models entirely free to use.
• So we are seeing price wars in AI market.
• JPM says that they will not be increasing buybacks of JPM stock at these prices. Will just continue with previously outlined buyback pace.
• Jamie Dimon also hinted at retirement in the speech, hence JPM lower yesterday
• DELL - Citi raises dell price target to 170 from 125. Optimistic they can gain market share more in AI.
• JD - announces a proposed offering of $1.5B in convertible senior notes, due 2029. Will use proceeds to repurchase shares and expand overseas business.
• PTON - plans global refinancing to address debt. Secured nearly $1.4B in new credit facilities.
• ASML and TSM said they have measures in place to remotely disable advanced EUV chip making machines if China was to invade Taiwan.
• QCOM - shares were higher yesterday after Several big companies including Dell and MSFT announced AI laptops using Qualcomm’s snapdragon X elite chip. MSFT says these devices will outperform apple MacBook Air M3.
• ARM - MSFT will announce Arm powered laptops
• WEN - launches a $3 breakfast deal, including small seasoned potatoes, choice of bacon, eggs and cheese or sausage, eggs and cheese muffin. Rivals Mcdonalds $5value meal
• DASH - expanded its partnership with ULTA beauty to offer on demand delivery in under an hour from 1350 stores across all 50 states.
• VFS - US regulators are probing a vin fast VF 8 Crash, that killed 4 in California.
• LLY - secures china approval for diabetes drug, Tirzepatide. Received approval in China for its diabetes drug.
• BA - one killed on Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 due to severe turbulence.
• DIS - Redburn upgrades to neutral from Sell. Price target 100.
• Samsung - appoints new chief for its chip business, amid competition.

OThER NEWS:

• BTC higher to 72K.
• ETH popped 20% yesterday on renewed optimism for ETF, that SEC might green light spot ether ETFs ahead of first deadline later this week.
• Yardeni research sees Dow Jones DJI at 60k and SPX at 8k by 2030
• Mester’s comments yesterday:
• 3 rate cuts this year is no longer appropriate.
• April CPI was good, but too soon to say what path inflation is on. She said she doesnt think about rate cuts in terms of when. We can raise rates but its not base case. That’s bearish, but also unrealistic. I think there’s less risk now that we are too restrictive, and inflation risks are to upside.
• BEARISH COMMENTS FROM MESTER OVERALL
• Jefferson’s Comments yesterday:
• April inflation was encouraging. Labour market coming into better balance. Inflation decline isn’t as fast as we had liked. Policy is restrictive. - NEUTRAL comments, I’d say.
• Following these comments, Bank of America said that whilst the bar for rate hikes is still v high, rate cuts are still far off. Said Services inflation still running way above target.
• Bank of America believes markets got excited at the print, said markets pricing 50bps of cuts are likely to get disappointed.
• Did push back on stagflation narrative.
• SPACEX Q1 launch report shows that SpaceX is now launching 87% of all payload to orbit, a new record high.
• New Yorkers on average earned $89K last year, meaning that without spending more than 30% of annual income on rent, they can afford $2,216 on housing. That’s only enough to afford 4.4% of rentals.
• Marko Kolanovic held his bearish outlook on stocks, urging clients not to buy. So not all bears are capitulating.
• Fidelity ethereal fund says that the trust’s Ether will not be staked.
• IMF official expects next stage for BOE is to ease rates, says UK monetary policy is at inflection point. Actions by UK authorities are paying off.
• Said BoE should cut rates by 50-75bps in 2024.
• Upgraded UK growth forecast to 0.7% this year from 0.5% previously
• Dubai Airport expects record passenger traffic this year, set to top 100M by 2027.

ANALYSIS section will be posted separately on my sub Tradingedge
DATA LEDE:

• RBA minutes - Australia
• Said they will try not to excessively fine tune policy
• Future changes to cash rate are difficult to rule in or out
• CPI short term variation can be easily and reasonably overlooked
• Recent data does point to slightly increased inflation risks
• NEUTRAL/HAWKISH overall
• Australia consumer confidence numbers drop 0.3% MOM
• German PPI came 0.2% MOM vs 0.2% expected, in line with last months reading.
• YOY came in at -3.3% slightly below expected value of -3.2%. Came in light which is good for German inflation picture.
• Yellen Speech - no real meaningful comments
• EU balance of trade numbers hit a new yearly high. Points to improving world demand environment.
• Fed speakers include:
• Barkin, Waller, Williams, Bostic, Barr
• BoE’s Bailey to speak too

MARKETS:

• SPX: Maintained above 5300, now trading at 5311. Yesterday, touched 5325, before moving lower again. DJI: Trading at 39,813, just below 40k. Opened yesterday above 40k but moved lower on JPM weakness.
• Nasdaq: trading flat at 18,665. Support will now be at around 18,350.
• Ger40: Slightly lower today, at 18,600. Some slight profit taking near the highs.
• HKG50: Moving lower again for 2nd day in a row. Now at 19,240. Yesterday, was at 19,750 at one point. So down 2.7% across yesterday and today.
• Oil - hit 80 yesterday on WTI but was rejected off there. Lower today to 78, down by 1.5%. Back to range bound.
• Gold: Trading at 2418, Support at 2400.
• VIX: After getting crushed to 12 yesterday, bounced up off of there, now higher.

FX:

• DXY moving flat today and yesterday, around 104.5
• Had fallen to 100d moving average after CPI then moved higher, bouncing from there.
• EURUSD positioning still bullish, flat, slightly higher at 1.087
• GBPUSD moving higher again, trading at 1.272
• AUDUSD at 0.667,
• Has broken out of the long term downtrend.

EARNINGS:

• PANW Current Quarter:
• Revenues of 1.985B beat by 0.8%. Revenues rose 15% YOY
• Products revenue beat by 1.2%
• Subscriptions and support revenue beat by 0.3%
• EPS of 1.32 Beat expectations of 1.25 - beat by 5.6%
• Operating income was 508M, beat by 3.5%
• Operating margin was 25.6% , beat by 69 bps
• Billings came more or less in line
• Deferred revenue basically in line, slight miss.
• NEXT QUARTER GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 1.41 v slightly missed expectations of 1.42
• Revenue came in line with consensus at 2.16B
• Billings guidance beat consensus v slightly.
• FULL YEAR GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 5.56-5.58 beat estimates of 5.51
• Revenue of 8B beat estimates of 7.98B
• Billings of 10.15.5B was up 10-11% YoY
• CEO Nikesh Arora: Enthusiastic response to pjatformization and AI infused security outcomes.
• In conference call said that billings isn’t the only important measure, hence investors should overlook the slight softness in billings.
• Said cybersecurity demand will continue to grow for next several quarters, and PANW will benefit.
• Cyberattacks are scaling and aren’t going away. AI will increase these threats. So the tailwinds for PANW are very strong.

XPEV

• EPS of -0.75 was much better than the -2.06 expected
• Revenue of 6.55B beat estimates of 6.19B. Up 63% YOY, but down 50% QOQ
• Vehicle margin was 5.5%, which was up from 4.1% last quarter, and up form -2.5% last year SO VEHICLE MARGIN IMPROVED
• Vehicle sales came in at 5.54B yuan, up 50% YOY but down 50% QOQ
• Gross margin was 12.9%, up from 1.7% last year and 6.2% last quarter
• SO MARGINS IMPROVED, SALES WERE WORSE THAN LAST QUARTER
• In April saw 9,393 vehicles delivered
• Partnership with Volkswagen group on E/E architecture
• Release of AI powered functions
• GROSS MARGIN IMPROVEMENT DESPITE COMPETITION AND OTHERS CUTTING PRICES WAS A KEY BENEFIT.

NEXT QUARTER GUDIANCE:

• Revenue 7.5-8.3B miss by 15%
• Delivered of 29-32K. Up 30% YOY

MACYS:

• Current quarter:
• ADJ EPS $0.27 vs. $0.56 y/y, EST $0.14. BEAT
• EPS $0.22 vs. $0.56 y/y
• Net sales $4.8B, -3.7% y/y, EST $4.81B. IN LINE
• Gross margin 39.2% vs. 40% y/y, EST 39.6%. MISS
• SG&A expense $1.9B, -2.6% y/y, EST $1.98B. MISS
• GUIDANCE:
• Raised guidance from 2.45-2.85 to 2.55-2.9.
• Raised by 4%
• Beat estimates by 4%, although is a wide guidance
• Sees Net sales at 22.3-22.9B, raising bottom end up slightly from 22.2B.
• More or less in line with guidance.
• Merchandise margins down 100bps due to additional discounting
• Merchandise inventories are well positioned for upcoming summer season
• Credit card revenues down slightly due to higher delinquency rates
• Turnaround plan showing signs of progress as they beat and raise guidance.

LOWES:

• Current quarter:
• EPS of 3.67 beat estimates of 2.95
• Revenue of 21.4B was down YOY by 4%, but beat estimates by 1.3%
• Comparables sales were down 4%
• Reaffirms FY guidance:
• EPS of 12-12.3 vs estimate of 12.19. So miss slightly by 0.4%
• Revenue of 84-85B, basically in line.
• EXPECTS COMPARABLE SALES TO BE DOWN 2-3% vs estimates of 2.43% down.

MAG 7:

• MSFT yesterday, said that Copilot Plus PCs will be based on Qualcomm’s snapdragon X Elite chips, and will offer 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video battery life. MSFT says it’ll outperform MacBook Air.
• On Copilot Plus, Neural processor enables new AI features such as recall for a searchable PC memory.
• MSFT estimates 50 million AI PCs will be sold over the next year. Said its rearchitectured Windows 11 is 58% faster than Apple’s MacBook Air.
• MSFT - restructures Windows 11 for better ARM hardware support and AI integration. Introduces prism emulator, launched to improve compatibility with older x86 and x64 apps. MSFT says Prism emulator is 20% faster than previous versions.
• AAPL - Files law suit to overturn $1.8B EU antitrust fine over App Store rules. AAPL is challenging a 1.8B fine.
• MSFT - OpenAI will be sued by Scarlett Johansson for basically copying her voice against her explicit instruction not to.
• TSLA - Tesla shareholder group still not happy with Elon Musk’s $56B pay package. Urged other investors to reject a $56B pay package.

OTHER COMPANIES:

• XPEV higher on their strong earnings
• MACYS higher on improving picture
• LOW - higher on earnings
• Crypto stocks higher on strong Bitcoin performance
• LRCX 10-1 stock split
• PANW lower on eanrings, seems harsh to me. Other crypto names down in sentiment.
• Chinese stocks lower as Hong Kong MARKET down 1.5% today.
• NOVA - Piper Sandler downgrades Sunnova Energy to neutral from overweight, lowered price target to 4.50 from 9. Analyst had upgraded sun nova in December on expectation of lower rates, but rates have stayed high.
• Li - postpones the launch of its all electric SUVs to the first half of 2025, citing inadequate charging stations and other constraints. CEO emphasised the need for sufficient branded charging stations and more display spots.
• DOWN 4% AGAIN TODAY ON THIS.
• BABA - Alibaba cloud slashes prices for its latest LLM model, Tongyi Qianwen, by up to 97%
• BIDU - in response to Alibaba’s move, BIDU made its ENITRE Speed and ENIRE lite models entirely free to use.
• So we are seeing price wars in AI market.
• JPM says that they will not be increasing buybacks of JPM stock at these prices. Will just continue with previously outlined buyback pace.
• Jamie Dimon also hinted at retirement in the speech, hence JPM lower yesterday
• DELL - Citi raises dell price target to 170 from 125. Optimistic they can gain market share more in AI.
• JD - announces a proposed offering of $1.5B in convertible senior notes, due 2029. Will use proceeds to repurchase shares and expand overseas business.
• PTON - plans global refinancing to address debt. Secured nearly $1.4B in new credit facilities.
• ASML and TSM said they have measures in place to remotely disable advanced EUV chip making machines if China was to invade Taiwan.
• QCOM - shares were higher yesterday after Several big companies including Dell and MSFT announced AI laptops using Qualcomm’s snapdragon X elite chip. MSFT says these devices will outperform apple MacBook Air M3.
• ARM - MSFT will announce Arm powered laptops
• WEN - launches a $3 breakfast deal, including small seasoned potatoes, choice of bacon, eggs and cheese or sausage, eggs and cheese muffin. Rivals Mcdonalds $5value meal
• DASH - expanded its partnership with ULTA beauty to offer on demand delivery in under an hour from 1350 stores across all 50 states.
• VFS - US regulators are probing a vin fast VF 8 Crash, that killed 4 in California.
• LLY - secures china approval for diabetes drug, Tirzepatide. Received approval in China for its diabetes drug.
• BA - one killed on Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 due to severe turbulence.
• DIS - Redburn upgrades to neutral from Sell. Price target 100.
• Samsung - appoints new chief for its chip business, amid competition.

OThER NEWS:

• BTC higher to 72K.
• ETH popped 20% yesterday on renewed optimism for ETF, that SEC might green light spot ether ETFs ahead of first deadline later this week.
• Yardeni research sees Dow Jones DJI at 60k and SPX at 8k by 2030
• Mester’s comments yesterday:
• 3 rate cuts this year is no longer appropriate.
• April CPI was good, but too soon to say what path inflation is on. She said she doesnt think about rate cuts in terms of when. We can raise rates but its not base case. That’s bearish, but also unrealistic. I think there’s less risk now that we are too restrictive, and inflation risks are to upside.
• BEARISH COMMENTS FROM MESTER OVERALL
• Jefferson’s Comments yesterday:
• April inflation was encouraging. Labour market coming into better balance. Inflation decline isn’t as fast as we had liked. Policy is restrictive. - NEUTRAL comments, I’d say.
• Following these comments, Bank of America said that whilst the bar for rate hikes is still v high, rate cuts are still far off. Said Services inflation still running way above target.
• Bank of America believes markets got excited at the print, said markets pricing 50bps of cuts are likely to get disappointed.
• Did push back on stagflation narrative.
• SPACEX Q1 launch report shows that SpaceX is now launching 87% of all payload to orbit, a new record high.
• New Yorkers on average earned $89K last year, meaning that without spending more than 30% of annual income on rent, they can afford $2,216 on housing. That’s only enough to afford 4.4% of rentals.
• Marko Kolanovic held his bearish outlook on stocks, urging clients not to buy. So not all bears are capitulating.
• Fidelity ethereal fund says that the trust’s Ether will not be staked.
• IMF official expects next stage for BOE is to ease rates, says UK monetary policy is at inflection point. Actions by UK authorities are paying off.
• Said BoE should cut rates by 50-75bps in 2024.
• Upgraded UK growth forecast to 0.7% this year from 0.5% previously
• Dubai Airport expects record passenger traffic this year, set to top 100M by 2027.

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ANALYSIS section will be posted separately on my sub Tradingedge
DATA LEDE:

• RBA minutes - Australia
• Said they will try not to excessively fine tune policy
• Future changes to cash rate are difficult to rule in or out
• CPI short term variation can be easily and reasonably overlooked
• Recent data does point to slightly increased inflation risks
• NEUTRAL/HAWKISH overall
• Australia consumer confidence numbers drop 0.3% MOM
• German PPI came 0.2% MOM vs 0.2% expected, in line with last months reading.
• YOY came in at -3.3% slightly below expected value of -3.2%. Came in light which is good for German inflation picture.
• Yellen Speech - no real meaningful comments
• EU balance of trade numbers hit a new yearly high. Points to improving world demand environment.
• Fed speakers include:
• Barkin, Waller, Williams, Bostic, Barr
• BoE’s Bailey to speak too

MARKETS:

• SPX: Maintained above 5300, now trading at 5311. Yesterday, touched 5325, before moving lower again. DJI: Trading at 39,813, just below 40k. Opened yesterday above 40k but moved lower on JPM weakness.
• Nasdaq: trading flat at 18,665. Support will now be at around 18,350.
• Ger40: Slightly lower today, at 18,600. Some slight profit taking near the highs.
• HKG50: Moving lower again for 2nd day in a row. Now at 19,240. Yesterday, was at 19,750 at one point. So down 2.7% across yesterday and today.
• Oil - hit 80 yesterday on WTI but was rejected off there. Lower today to 78, down by 1.5%. Back to range bound.
• Gold: Trading at 2418, Support at 2400.
• VIX: After getting crushed to 12 yesterday, bounced up off of there, now higher.

FX:

• DXY moving flat today and yesterday, around 104.5
• Had fallen to 100d moving average after CPI then moved higher, bouncing from there.
• EURUSD positioning still bullish, flat, slightly higher at 1.087
• GBPUSD moving higher again, trading at 1.272
• AUDUSD at 0.667,
• Has broken out of the long term downtrend.

EARNINGS:

• PANW Current Quarter:
• Revenues of 1.985B beat by 0.8%. Revenues rose 15% YOY
• Products revenue beat by 1.2%
• Subscriptions and support revenue beat by 0.3%
• EPS of 1.32 Beat expectations of 1.25 - beat by 5.6%
• Operating income was 508M, beat by 3.5%
• Operating margin was 25.6% , beat by 69 bps
• Billings came more or less in line
• Deferred revenue basically in line, slight miss.
• NEXT QUARTER GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 1.41 v slightly missed expectations of 1.42
• Revenue came in line with consensus at 2.16B
• Billings guidance beat consensus v slightly.
• FULL YEAR GUIDANCE:
• EPS of 5.56-5.58 beat estimates of 5.51
• Revenue of 8B beat estimates of 7.98B
• Billings of 10.15.5B was up 10-11% YoY
• CEO Nikesh Arora: Enthusiastic response to pjatformization and AI infused security outcomes.
• In conference call said that billings isn’t the only important measure, hence investors should overlook the slight softness in billings.
• Said cybersecurity demand will continue to grow for next several quarters, and PANW will benefit.
• Cyberattacks are scaling and aren’t going away. AI will increase these threats. So the tailwinds for PANW are very strong.

XPEV

• EPS of -0.75 was much better than the -2.06 expected
• Revenue of 6.55B beat estimates of 6.19B. Up 63% YOY, but down 50% QOQ
• Vehicle margin was 5.5%, which was up from 4.1% last quarter, and up form -2.5% last year SO VEHICLE MARGIN IMPROVED
• Vehicle sales came in at 5.54B yuan, up 50% YOY but down 50% QOQ
• Gross margin was 12.9%, up from 1.7% last year and 6.2% last quarter
• SO MARGINS IMPROVED, SALES WERE WORSE THAN LAST QUARTER
• In April saw 9,393 vehicles delivered
• Partnership with Volkswagen group on E/E architecture
• Release of AI powered functions
• GROSS MARGIN IMPROVEMENT DESPITE COMPETITION AND OTHERS CUTTING PRICES WAS A KEY BENEFIT.

NEXT QUARTER GUDIANCE:

• Revenue 7.5-8.3B miss by 15%
• Delivered of 29-32K. Up 30% YOY

MACYS:

• Current quarter:
• ADJ EPS $0.27 vs. $0.56 y/y, EST $0.14. BEAT
• EPS $0.22 vs. $0.56 y/y
• Net sales $4.8B, -3.7% y/y, EST $4.81B. IN LINE
• Gross margin 39.2% vs. 40% y/y, EST 39.6%. MISS
• SG&A expense $1.9B, -2.6% y/y, EST $1.98B. MISS
• GUIDANCE:
• Raised guidance from 2.45-2.85 to 2.55-2.9.
• Raised by 4%
• Beat estimates by 4%, although is a wide guidance
• Sees Net sales at 22.3-22.9B, raising bottom end up slightly from 22.2B.
• More or less in line with guidance.
• Merchandise margins down 100bps due to additional discounting
• Merchandise inventories are well positioned for upcoming summer season
• Credit card revenues down slightly due to higher delinquency rates
• Turnaround plan showing signs of progress as they beat and raise guidance.

LOWES:

• Current quarter:
• EPS of 3.67 beat estimates of 2.95
• Revenue of 21.4B was down YOY by 4%, but beat estimates by 1.3%
• Comparables sales were down 4%
• Reaffirms FY guidance:
• EPS of 12-12.3 vs estimate of 12.19. So miss slightly by 0.4%
• Revenue of 84-85B, basically in line.
• EXPECTS COMPARABLE SALES TO BE DOWN 2-3% vs estimates of 2.43% down.

MAG 7:

• MSFT yesterday, said that Copilot Plus PCs will be based on Qualcomm’s snapdragon X Elite chips, and will offer 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video battery life. MSFT says it’ll outperform MacBook Air.
• On Copilot Plus, Neural processor enables new AI features such as recall for a searchable PC memory.
• MSFT estimates 50 million AI PCs will be sold over the next year. Said its rearchitectured Windows 11 is 58% faster than Apple’s MacBook Air.
• MSFT - restructures Windows 11 for better ARM hardware support and AI integration. Introduces prism emulator, launched to improve compatibility with older x86 and x64 apps. MSFT says Prism emulator is 20% faster than previous versions.
• AAPL - Files law suit to overturn $1.8B EU antitrust fine over App Store rules. AAPL is challenging a 1.8B fine.
• MSFT - OpenAI will be sued by Scarlett Johansson for basically copying her voice against her explicit instruction not to.
• TSLA - Tesla shareholder group still not happy with Elon Musk’s $56B pay package. Urged other investors to reject a $56B pay package.

OTHER COMPANIES:

• XPEV higher on their strong earnings
• MACYS higher on improving picture
• LOW - higher on earnings
• Crypto stocks higher on strong Bitcoin performance
• LRCX 10-1 stock split
• PANW lower on eanrings, seems harsh to me. Other crypto names down in sentiment.
• Chinese stocks lower as Hong Kong MARKET down 1.5% today.
• NOVA - Piper Sandler downgrades Sunnova Energy to neutral from overweight, lowered price target to 4.50 from 9. Analyst had upgraded sun nova in December on expectation of lower rates, but rates have stayed high.
• Li - postpones the launch of its all electric SUVs to the first half of 2025, citing inadequate charging stations and other constraints. CEO emphasised the need for sufficient branded charging stations and more display spots.
• DOWN 4% AGAIN TODAY ON THIS.
• BABA - Alibaba cloud slashes prices for its latest LLM model, Tongyi Qianwen, by up to 97%
• BIDU - in response to Alibaba’s move, BIDU made its ENITRE Speed and ENIRE lite models entirely free to use.
• So we are seeing price wars in AI market.
• JPM says that they will not be increasing buybacks of JPM stock at these prices. Will just continue with previously outlined buyback pace.
• Jamie Dimon also hinted at retirement in the speech, hence JPM lower yesterday
• DELL - Citi raises dell price target to 170 from 125. Optimistic they can gain market share more in AI.
• JD - announces a proposed offering of $1.5B in convertible senior notes, due 2029. Will use proceeds to repurchase shares and expand overseas business.
• PTON - plans global refinancing to address debt. Secured nearly $1.4B in new credit facilities.
• ASML and TSM said they have measures in place to remotely disable advanced EUV chip making machines if China was to invade Taiwan.
• QCOM - shares were higher yesterday after Several big companies including Dell and MSFT announced AI laptops using Qualcomm’s snapdragon X elite chip. MSFT says these devices will outperform apple MacBook Air M3.
• ARM - MSFT will announce Arm powered laptops
• WEN - launches a $3 breakfast deal, including small seasoned potatoes, choice of bacon, eggs and cheese or sausage, eggs and cheese muffin. Rivals Mcdonalds $5value meal
• DASH - expanded its partnership with ULTA beauty to offer on demand delivery in under an hour from 1350 stores across all 50 states.
• VFS - US regulators are probing a vin fast VF 8 Crash, that killed 4 in California.
• LLY - secures china approval for diabetes drug, Tirzepatide. Received approval in China for its diabetes drug.
• BA - one killed on Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 due to severe turbulence.
• DIS - Redburn upgrades to neutral from Sell. Price target 100.
• Samsung - appoints new chief for its chip business, amid competition.

OThER NEWS:

• BTC higher to 72K.
• ETH popped 20% yesterday on renewed optimism for ETF, that SEC might green light spot ether ETFs ahead of first deadline later this week.
• Yardeni research sees Dow Jones DJI at 60k and SPX at 8k by 2030
• Mester’s comments yesterday:
• 3 rate cuts this year is no longer appropriate.
• April CPI was good, but too soon to say what path inflation is on. She said she doesnt think about rate cuts in terms of when. We can raise rates but its not base case. That’s bearish, but also unrealistic. I think there’s less risk now that we are too restrictive, and inflation risks are to upside.
• BEARISH COMMENTS FROM MESTER OVERALL
• Jefferson’s Comments yesterday:
• April inflation was encouraging. Labour market coming into better balance. Inflation decline isn’t as fast as we had liked. Policy is restrictive. - NEUTRAL comments, I’d say.
• Following these comments, Bank of America said that whilst the bar for rate hikes is still v high, rate cuts are still far off. Said Services inflation still running way above target.
• Bank of America believes markets got excited at the print, said markets pricing 50bps of cuts are likely to get disappointed.
• Did push back on stagflation narrative.
• SPACEX Q1 launch report shows that SpaceX is now launching 87% of all payload to orbit, a new record high.
• New Yorkers on average earned $89K last year, meaning that without spending more than 30% of annual income on rent, they can afford $2,216 on housing. That’s only enough to afford 4.4% of rentals.
• Marko Kolanovic held his bearish outlook on stocks, urging clients not to buy. So not all bears are capitulating.
• Fidelity ethereal fund says that the trust’s Ether will not be staked.
• IMF official expects next stage for BOE is to ease rates, says UK monetary policy is at inflection point. Actions by UK authorities are paying off.
• Said BoE should cut rates by 50-75bps in 2024.
• Upgraded UK growth forecast to 0.7% this year from 0.5% previously
• Dubai Airport expects record passenger traffic this year, set to top 100M by 2027.

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The Automotive Market in India was accounted for 3.99 Mn units in 2023 and the market is expected to reach 6.38 Mn units at a CAGR of 6.94 % by 2030.
Automotive Market Overview The MMR report provides comprehensive market forecasts for each segment within the Automotive market. It highlights the market dynamics, including growth drivers, restraining factors, opportunities for new entrants, and relevant government regulations. Additionally, the report offers insights into strategic decisions made by industry experts during the forecast period.
Click here free sample copy:https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/request-sample/86126
Automotive Market Scope
The report covers the size of the Automotive market across various divisions and regions from 2024 to 2030. It includes analysis of market dynamics, product pricing trends, recent market developments, and in-depth geographical insights. Strategies employed by key players and detailed company profiles based on business models are also featured. A PESTLE analysis is conducted to evaluate overall market conditions.
Automotive Segmentation The market is segmented based on various criteria to provide a detailed analysis of each segment's performance and growth potential.
by Vehicle Type
Passenger Vehicles Hatchbacks Mini Hatchback Small Hatchback Sedans SUVs MUVs/ MPVs Other Commercial Vehicles Truck Bus Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Others Two Wheelers Motorcycles Scooters Electric Bikes Three Wheelers Auto Rickshaws Goods Carriers Others
by Type
Petrol Diesel Electric cars Others
Automotive Key Players
The report profiles leading key players and other prominent players in the Automotive market, providing insights into their strategies and market positioning.

1. Tata Motors Ltd
2. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd
3. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
4. Hero MotoCorp Ltd
5. Bajaj Auto Ltd
6. Ashok Leyland Ltd
7. TVS Motor Company Ltd
8. Eicher Motors Ltd
9. Force Motors Ltd
10. SML ISUZU Ltd.
11. Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
12. Hyundai Motor India
13. Daimler AG
14. Piaggio & C.S.p.a.
15. Toyota Motor Corporation
16. Volkswagen AG
17. AB Volvo

Know more about the report:https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/market-report/automotive-market-in-india/86126/
Automotive Regional Analysis
The Automotive market report covers the regional market sizes and forecast values for North America (United States, Canada, Mexico), Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, ASEAN Countries, Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil), and the Middle East and Africa. It also examines the factors influencing the market positively and negatively in each region.
Automotive Key Questions Answered in the Automotive Market Report - What is the Automotive Market? - What is the forecast period for the Automotive Market? - What is the competitive scenario in the Automotive Market? - Which region holds the largest market share in the Automotive Market? - What opportunities exist in the Automotive Market? - What are the restraining factors in the Automotive Market? - Who are the key players in the Automotive Market?
Automotive Key Offerings - Market Share, Size, and Forecast by Revenue (2024-2030) - Market Dynamics: Growth Drivers, Restraints, Investment Opportunities, and Key Trends - Market Segmentation: Detailed Analysis by Automotive Market - Competitive Landscape: Leading Key Players and Other Prominent Players
Automotive About Maximize Market Research Maximize Market Research is a multifaceted market research and consulting company with expertise across various industries. These include science and engineering, electronic components, industrial equipment, technology and communication, automotive, chemical products, general merchandise, beverages, personal care, and automated systems. We provide market-verified industry estimates, technical trend analysis, crucial market research, strategic advice, competition analysis, production and demand analysis, and client impact studies.
**Contact Maximize Market Research:*\* 3rd Floor, Navale IT Park, Phase 2 Pune Banglore Highway, Narhe, Pune, Maharashtra 411041, India Email: [sales@maximizemarketresearch.com](mailto:sales@maximizemarketresearch.com) Phone: +91 96071 95908, +91 9607365656

DISCLAIMER: I understand that used vehicles can be more bang-for-buck, but I’m only interested in new or demo / showroom vehicles. In addition, everyone has their own experiences that shape their thoughts of a manufacturer or model. I believe in anomalies but also trends in data, so if you have had a bad service or dealership experience, please feel free to share it.
CONTEXT: I’m looking at a maximum 48 month finance for any of the below cars. Ideally, I would only need to use $5,000 - $10,000 of my available $15,000 in cash to put down so I can invest the rest. I had a Honda Civic Touring 2017 which was a stellar car for gas mileage, low service costs, and lower parts costs. Overall, I thought that year and model brought some cool features and drive-ability into the fold. However, I had terrible experiences with Honda Sales and especially Honda Service (i.e. they cut my tweeters while trying to fix my subwoofer, they broke my Canadian Tire windshield wipers and blamed me for not telling them it wasn’t OEM even though they never said they’d replace them and charged me for it, and blamed a windshield wiper issue on my dash cam which wasn’t hard-wired). Safe to say, I’m done with Honda for now and want a change. No one is perfect and there are all kinds of people everywhere, so I need a car that’s as reliable which keeps me out of service - this is why I’m mostly looking at Japanese cars.
OPTIONS: In Order of Interest, I’m looking at the below. I already know some things about each and drove all of these cars, except for the Ford and Acura. I know I mentioned I want reliability and service above; the only reason I included the Ford is due to recent positive ratings (again, a grain of salt is needed here). I’m someone who likes to do a ton of research and have many options to consider + negotiation leverage at the dealership, so at the end of the day, I don’t have buyers remorse.

1. Subaru Outback Premier XT 2025
2. Toyota RAV4 XSE AWD 2024
3. Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road 2024
4. Mazda CX-50 GT 2024
5. Ford Bronco Sport Badlands 2024
6. Acura RDX A-Spec 2024

I’m only looking at SUVs as I’d like to do some light off-roading and camping when I move. As a last resort, I will consider the Subaru WRX GT 2024, which I also drove, in case I want to stick with a sedan and none of these models make me happy at the end of the day.
The Outback is leading the pack as it’s a wagon, which I find cool and perfect in terms of “stepping into” a larger vehicle from a Honda Civic. I found the drive to be excellent, aside from a slightly unrefined acceleration due to CVT, but otherwise, it was as comfortable it could get. My least favorite thing about it was the screen and the rear-view camera - absolutely disgusting quality on the camera… The shark-fin camera quality is so clean, you’d think they would fix it.
I won’t comment on the rest in detail as this is already a long post, but effectively…

• The issue with the 4Runner is that although it’s an excellent car, it’s not as modern in the interior which is a bit of what I’m missing. It’s also bad on gas and I won’t go “that” offroady in it.
  
• The issue with the Acura is the unrefined drive I keep reading about, and is the incremental ~$10,000 for the car compared to the Outback or RAV4 worth the shift?
  
• The issue with the CX-50 was the drive. I found it to be less refined than the Outback XT. Interior was brilliantly designed, but I’ve also read about how if something breaks, it can be much more of a pain that Subaru or Toyota.
  

Thanks for reading this far! Would really appreciate any insight. At the end of the day, I don’t care much for luxury as I want to buy something practical and long-term (I really do plan to keep this car for a while). Lastly, I’m moving to Montreal, Quebec, so if you have dealership suggestions, please share!

I've documented a few of the really problematic issues with post-sale service out of the Bellevue location, but this time I think I've hit the point where the next step for me is to just sell it and move on (once they finally fix it). Rivian can't succeed IMO once viable competition with actual after-sale support emerges. Which really sucks since the product itself is excellent.
On Thursday night, as I was backing into the garage, the cameras came on for a half second and then the dash reset fully, like I had done a software reboot. But I put it in the garage no issues, everything rebooted, and all seemed fine.
On Friday afternoon, I went to disconnect the truck from the charger, and even though the light changed from green to white, the handle wouldn't disengage. I tried everything I could think of to disconnect it, but nothing seemed to matter. Everything else worked fine.
Called Rivian Service, they went through all the same options (manually stop charging, hard reboot, disconnect power, even pulled trim panels and popped the red loop), and none of them got the lock to release. The said that they needed to dispatch a mobile tech, and would flag my call for Sat morning, as by this time the service center had closed for the day. Sat came and went, and no one followed up. On Sunday I called back in, they said they had messaged everyone at Bellevue and no one was responding.
On Monday, I got a call from Bellevue around noon asking if I would be home on Thursday from 8am to 1pm. I said yes, and was told they would TRY lock that time for me. When I asked if they could do it earlier, they told me this was the best they could do.
We will see if they come out on Thursday. And if they can even fix it. They already told me that I need another service appointment afterwards to re-enable L3 charging (gets disabled when you pull the red loop), and they have no open priority appointments available in Bellevue in their system at all.
But this just reinforces the problem for me. Beyond the issues I've listed previously:

• I opened a ticket for intermittent proximity sensors in mid-April. They scheduled an appointment for late Aug.
• I still don't have a working tonneau cover. They emailed me they had a replacement in for me in Apr and then scheduled that for Aug as well.
• I have a metallic clunk on low speed accel and decel I opened a ticket for in early May; they still haven't scheduled that at all.

Auburn was supposed to make this better. It hasn't. And I know they are the Amazon truck service center too, but that just can't be the path forward (move another service center for Amazon onsite at a warehouse).
Now I have a truck stuck in my garage. I'm supposed to move my daughter next weekend, and can't get into the storage lockers behind the truck and I'll have to rent a UHaul since the rental they gave me is a mid-size SUV and not a truck
I love this vehicle, and have a 14xx VIN so it kills me to look at just quitting on them, but post-sale matters more than anything, so I think it's time to move to a dealer that can service their vehicles. Tesla is bad, but they aren't this bad (we've had two). Maybe the Hummer EV since they are GMC? What are the other options, and how long will people tolerate the bs that is the Bellevue service experience?

Please only reply if you have 1st hand experience.
My uncle in Quebec has had some car trouble and needs something to drive around. My other uncle in Ontario has a SUV he doesn’t need anymore, it drives fine but won’t pass safety due to rust.
If the vehicle were to be gifted (sibling to sibling), how does the sales tax work? Is there any exemption for family? I’m assuming it needs to be safetied to register it in Quebec, but where is the safety done.
Otherwise how bad legally is it to ‘lend the car’ and drive around in Quebec on Ontario insurance/ownership?

I'm thinking of buying my first car, or rather the first one that would be only mine. I live in a small country in Europe and the cars that are usually recommended in this subreddit, online forums, blogs, etc., practically don't exist here, or the prices are way higher than elsewhere. To give an example (not a viable car for me, just trying to prove a point), a total of 4 Miatas are currently being sold here, all over 8000€ and over 120.000km (75k miles).
Right now, I don't drive my car enough to benefit from a diesel, however that might change once the car I'm driving will really be solely mine. In general, I don't think I need a diesel. I'd prefer a manual, and a 4/5 seater, I drive my family and friends around often enough to have a need for more than two seats. I really want something fun to drive, not even necessarily fast fun, but either way I don't want to cross the line of ~140-150hp (due to insurance, mpg, etc.). I mainly drive around the city, use the highway maybe 1x a week, but I want a car with at least enough oomph to overtake comfortably, in the Megane I share with my sister and sometimes mom right now, overtaking takes 3-5 business days. It should definitely look decent, my raging hormones command me to choose something really sporty looking but I try to force myself to be open to other suggestions as well (the list of choices listed below will probably be a good indicator of the sort of stuff I like/dislike), but generally sedans, hatchbacks or coupes are my thing. Trucks, suv's and other large types of cars are really unnecessary for my needs and I very rarely like the looks of them over any of the three styles mentioned above. My budget is around 10k, but keep in mind that usually stuff people recommend at around that price point is 12k+ here.
My current choices are: - Mazda3: I like the styling, especially 2014 and newer models, this was also the car I learned to drive with so I'm fairly used to it and enjoyed driving it back then, been hearing a lot about its good reliability as well. The 2016 model I think is most promising comes in at 9k and 190kkm (120k miles), but I'm hesitant about buying a car with so much mileage. - Honda Civic: I really love the sedans, both old and even more so new, but there are only 4 sedans being sold here, all with over 150k miles at 6-7k. I know they're supposed to be reliable so that might not be an issue, but again, I'm hesitant. Also not a single Si being sold here. - Peugeot 208/Renault Clio: since these two are smaller hatchbacks and both french, there are hundreds of models being sold, making the pool a lot larger, and allowing me to pick from much newer models and still stay within budget - 2018-2020 models with less than 50k miles. I know reliability doesn't reach Honda or Toyota levels, but since there are so many models here, the maintenance is pretty cheap (my mom has had 4 Renaults in a row now, never many/expensive issues). I feel like I'd sacrifice the fun and the sporty style I want for even more practicality and modernity with these two though. - Hyundai Elantra: I've heard these are pretty reliable and drive nicely, plus I like the look of them. There are a few good options here, relatively low mileage at around 6-7k.
Models that I often see recommended but dislike or can't find any/many for sale: any Lexus, Honda Fit, Toyota Camry, Hyundai i10-30, Opel/Vauxhall Astra, Kia Ceed,...
Thanks for any help.

Any posts pertaining to car buying suggestions or advice belong in this weekly megathread; do not post car-choosing questions in the main queue. A fresh thread will be posted every Monday and posts auto sorted by new. A few other subreddits worth checking out that will help your car buying experience are /WhatCarShouldIBuy, /UsedCars and /AskCarSales. www.everydaydriver.com may also be helpful.
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Additional Notes:
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For those asking for help, be sure to thank those who take the time to offer you advice (especially those who lead you to a purchase.) A follow up thank you and the knowledge that their advice led to a purchase is a very warm fuzzy feeling.

First things first, don't comment before reading the whole article and we only compare the cars of similar class, so we don't compare Escalades to Corollas, but for example RAV4 and Camry or Tiguan and Passat
So in recent years SUVs and crossovers became the most popular car shape in almost every market in the world. But many communities especially car enthusiasts and anti car communities turned out to not like them, imo that turned into massive circlejerk
So what are the pros of SUVs:
Much more space for the lenght of the chassis, therefore easier to park
Much safer in lateral collisions
Better visibility due to higher seating posoitions and larger windows
Can go offroad without the fear of demaging the car and can go over the kerbs without hitting the bumper
What are the cons of the SUVs:
Unsafer in at high speed due to higher center of mass. Bad in snowy conditions.
What aren't the cons, but circlejerk communities took them as they are:
Worse mileage - it sometimes is true, but the difference isn't more than 10% which is insignificant for most of the people. The real difference is when driving very high speeds which most of the people don't do regularly
Worse for pedestrians - most of the new cars come with pedestrian recognition and they're much safer than some old cars which don't come with that systems
Driveability - is only personal preference. Some people actually preffer their seating position higher and don't care about driveability and you can't argue against personal preferences
So all in all, imo for average Joe, SUV is a better option and the sales numbers affirm that

Monday
Dimmy: I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day! Stevie Kate surprised me with a balloon, baguette, half-eaten apple, and pinworms she picked up from the feral Denner tots, and I surprised Stevie Kate and London with a Sol Brush powdered sunscreen shill and carcinogenic particles of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide in their lungs. Stevie Kate’s spent the past 48 hours in her pajamas tearing through a bag of rotisserie chicken, so I decided to resume potty training to get her to stop binge-eating chicken. I am finally ready to start potty training again now that we are going through so many diapers with twice as many Contentots in the house.
Dimmy: Ta da! Here is Stevie Kate’s adorable potty setup! Complete with balloons and princess underwear! Stevie Kate, are you ready to go on the potty and wear your underwear? Stevie Kate: I’m ready right now! Neighbor Boy Harry: Uh… Imma head out and go help my mom with her shitty stationery line! 🏃‍♂️🎒
Tuesday
Dimmy: Would you like to give us an update on how potty training is going? Sassy Kate: Would you like to give us an update on how you and daddy exploit your children on the internet for financial gain? Dimmy: I’ll give you a cookie if you detail every bodily function from the past 24 hours. So Fed Up Kate: I’ll give you a swift kick in your bad knee if you don’t stop talking about my toilet training. Dimmy: That’s it, your punishment for being sassy is you have to stay in your pajamas again all day. Sleepwear Kate: We all knew that was going to happen anyway.
Dimmy: I need to get your guys’ thoughts. With potty training, do I just stay at home? Or do I carry the miniature singing toilet with balloons attached everywhere we go? I’ve been staying at home the past 24 hours and it is torture! We haven’t even been able to go visit the Astroturf at the shopping center by our house. Stevie Kate’s been doing pretty good. We’ve had a couple accidents today, but she’s been doing really well for the most part- OW! Why did you kick me in the knee, Stevie Kate? Here, go play with this bag containing an entire rotisserie chicken and eat as much of it as you want. Mommy’s busy talking to the people in her phone who fund our lifestyle. Anyway, I can’t just stay inside for the next two weeks! That’s insanity! I need your help! How do I go out with Stevie Kate while potty training? Drop your tips in the box! I know I could just ask my sisters, Iris, or Meta AI on Instagram instead, but that doesn’t drive up my engagement numbers like responses from you sorry losers do!
Dimmy: Speaking of Iris, I did text it for craft ideas to keep School’s Out Kate busy this summer. Also I contacted Iris for a color analysis and Iris responded that bright orange parachute I wore car shopping looked great with my skin tone, and I should consider cutting up some of the parachute material to sew it into a dress. I tried to explain to Iris that it already was a dress, albeit a voluminous one, but Iris just responded with these bizarre outfit suggestions of monochromatic business looks for fall and winter where each outfit is the color of Tiffany’s self-tanner-applied orange skin. I tried to tell Iris it’s summer time and it’s hot as fuck here in Texas, plus I mainly wear athleisure and billowy dresses, not business clothes, but Iris said who cares, these aren’t real clothes anyway, just weird hypothetical Fashion Plates looks a robot mocked up. Iris said whatever I do, to avoid wearing cheetah print. What the fuck! That’s never going to happen. I love cheetah print. Still, I think you gullible assholes should subscribe to Iris anyway and use my code BOYAREYOUDUMB for 50% off your first month! Don’t you want to be able to TEXT Iris instead of carry a computer around 24/7 to use ChatGPT? I know that question makes no sense, since you don’t need four laptops in a Nordace backpack to use ChatGPT, but all of my followers are gullible idiots and will subscribe to Iris despite my idiotic statements!
Thursday
Dimmy is wearing loads of dark makeup and another gigantic billowy dress, and you know what that means… time to go car shopping again with paid pal Diana! Dimmy shared stories from Wednesday’s car shopping excursion to Hyundai and Kia and once again the trimmed-down troll was “too busy” to go along. Sidekick Kate was a good sport through the whole car shopping ordeal, despite hopping from bathroom to bathroom, the charge running out on her Tonies box, and her Mylar princess balloon sailing away in search of a beach to pollute. Screenie Kate forgave Dimmy for losing her balloon since she knows there’s always plenty more where that came from and she has Wina from Balloonish on speed dial. Dimmy sailed from new car to new car thanks to a strong breeze and her billowy dress, looking for the SUV with the most charging ports for all of her devices and the largest number of adjustable cup holders big enough to fit even the most gigantic of Stanley cups in her collection. She found the “Hun-Die” Palisade fit the bill, with chargers and cup holders galore. She wasn’t as impressed with the Kia “Tell-a-ride” because it didn’t have as many cup holders and ports to charge her numerous devices. Dimmy is now torn between buying either the Palisade or the Escalade because those were the only cars she found that rhymed with “getting paid.” Should she go with the practical, convenient “Mom car” Palisade or the super nice and luxurious Escalade?
Today Jen is grateful Kimmy, Stevie Kate and London are coming over to bring hugs and content. Stevie Kate was excited to show off her potty training progress to Minnie and Papa.
Jen: Stevie Kate, what are we doing today? Sugarless Kate: Baking sugar-free cookies on this damn, dirty floor, like usual. Jen: Why are you using ghost-shaped cookie cutters? Spooky Kate: Because Mommy is a ghost! Jen: Your Mommy is a ghost? Stevie Chef: Yes! Because I want her to disappear!
Tiffany was furious when she saw on stories that Kimmy, Stevie Kate and London were getting all of Jen’s gratitude and attention, so she threw a giant bow and no shoes on Lily and sped over to crash their party and divert all the attention to herself. She immediately whipped out her boobs to shill her Eby bra when she saw Dimmy nursing, claiming she and Jen might start lactating at any moment. Then she publicly shamed Stevie Kate for having an accident in her car seat on the way to Jen’s.
Meanwhile, London is still alive despite the clouds of Sol Brush sunscreen powder raining down on her face yet again as Dimmy’s fascination with demonstrating how to use the high-commission product continues. Dimmy headed to the airport to pick up yet another sister to help her out with London, but not before posting a Ritual vitamin shill so she could take the day off stories tomorrow.
Saturday
London is finally being a cooperative Contentot, smiling for Instagram from beneath her giant bow, and doing a picture-perfect Swaddle Stretch channeling her older sister’s performances from back in her newborn days.
Sol Brush is back in stock and Dimmy is bursting with joy at all the commission she’s going to make from more sales of the ineffective sunscreen, her kids’ lungs be damned. If Sunburnt Kate doesn’t convince Dimmy’s followers it doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.
Stevie Sunburn headed indoors to get a break from the sun and play with the robot bug toy Dimmy’s sister brought her. Thank goodness the Tacky Screech Owl found an Amazon link for the gift so she can make money off that too. Dimmy even had an active Active Skin Repair code, so she shilled it them sprayed Stevie Sunburn to give her some relief.
Street Urchin Kate looked like a Victorian Orphan by mid-afternoon as her Belle princess dress mopped up dirt, sidewalk chalk, Dimmy’s makeup, and everything else in her path. Dimmy left Disheveled Kate with her sister and cleaned herself up, threw on her Paris dress, and headed to a baby shower for the Houghtons’ wealthy family friend Anna. The beautiful florals and tasteful spread at Grange Hall were too elegant for the tacky turtle bunch, so Jen set the centerpiece flowers on fire with the votive candles to protest the lack of balloon arches, then escaped by helicopter to go terrorize another Texas city, Austin.
With two days off this week and tomorrow being Sunday, Dimmy’s Saturday shilling was at an all-time high. She’s linking up everything but the kitchen sink, and she’d link that up too if she had a code for it.

Listing the details below- does this sound like a good deal? My current care is a 2015 Honda CRV with 100,000 miles and I am thinking of selling it and getting a lesser money car because I need some cash to pay off some debts. I just had some things fixed on my CRV and not sure what else will be coming down the road. Of course, the 2008 would need things down the road too, but it is costing me less even after new title, taxes, etc. I'm located in Michigan if that matters- the world of pricey insurance.
Listing: AWD Hybrid lexus suv for sale. Has new battery. Just had the entire hybrid system checked and all systems are functioning. Currently diagnosing reduced ac temp, will update. Recently also had 2 tire pressure monitors replaced. New muffler, exhaust and pipe assembly fitted just over one year ago. Has good tires for summer and fall. Would recommend snow tires or new tires by snowfall. Does have one rust area over driver side rear wheel well. No cracks or damage otherwise.

Let me start by stating the fact that I know that I am an idiot for trusting this person. There's nothing you can say to beat me up worse than I am already beating up myself.
He told me everything I wanted to hear, and I completely trusted him. I thought I was trading my 2009 Nissan Murano for a freshly registered 2015 Chevy Cobalt. He stated that the Chevy was owned by a friend of his that wanted to trade it for a smaller SUV. After driving the Chevy around for a couple of hours I decided to take the deal. The Murano had some mechanical issues and he said that he was just looking out for me, trying to get me into something else before it broke down and that he wasn't making anything on the deal.
We met up at a restaurant. He said that his buddy who owned the Chevy wanted to see the title for the Murano to be sure everything was legitimate and that I could hold onto the Chevy title during the process. He hands me a stack of papers that included a vehicle title. He claimed he had a family emergency and took off before I could finish sifting through the papers. I figured he had my best interest at heart because we were friends.
Unfortunately, the title he gave me went to a Mercedes van and there was a bill of sale from what appears to be a car that he previously owned for which his wife signed.
Turns out, the Chevy was actually OLDER than the Murano and it hasn't been registered in years. So far, none of his claims are turning out to be true. Upon asking for my vehicle back he says that we had already made a deal and that the Murano is gone. He said if I call the police they won't do anything because it's a civil matter.
Now, I am stuck with a car that I can't put into my name or register because I have no idea who owns it. I have a title that
goes to some random vehicle, both of which could very well be stolen. I do have comprehensive insurance on the Murano, but just started a new policy right before this situation occurred. So, I'm not sure that if that's even a route I could potentially take. Honestly, at this point, I just want my car back or at least a bill of sale for the Chevy.
Actually, now that I've typed all of this out I can see just how insane it all sounds. I should probably just file a police report. This guy completely to advantage of me. This will be the first and last time something like this happens to me!!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Currently I own Honda WRV and MS Ciaz, which is nearing 1L odo. Fortunately, I am okay with both for a fact. I am hurly-burly buyer and I got Ciaz as I could not wait for City and I got WRV as the Sales Person messed up my Jazz order and projected it late by a month. I just got annoyed and picked up WRV. I chose Honda in India as I used to own Acura TLX along with Mustang in the USA, one of the sweetest rides. Buying Ciaz and WRV was easy as it was a lineage decision. Hope the above, gives a context on my preferences and thoughts behind my decisions. Now I am stuck with two things to decide and would like to get over with. Let's do right this time.
I have a budget of 50L and I need to buy 1/2 cars within that budget. Planning to replace WRV with better cars. Lets see!
I have 1500km/month drive within the city and occasional highway travel (500km/month). I am okay funking around with MG Comet within the city as everyday drive wont be more than 100kms. I tried dabbling with Vitara / Hyryder to be both. But I just got spoiled with NVH in Punch/Comet and even hybrids could not surpass. Even hybrids can, I think Hydryer and Vitara cannot. So, One EV is a buy-buy. I am looking at

1. MG Comet
2. Tata Punch EV
3. Dont want to spend in MG ZS as it's expensive and hard to commute in the city.

I need a good SUV to satiate highway needs. And I also prefer two cars as my whole family drive around which helps to increase the car count and phase out WRV/Ciaz whichever worn out faster than the other. For highway travel, I am looking at

1. Scorpio N
2. Innova Crysta
3. Hycross

tbh, I dont think I will clock more miles if I get the first EV above, but need something better for highways, so Petrol versions should work I think. Need your inputs on this.
Worst case, I can wait for more better hybrids and manage with WRV and Ciaz for now.
Curios on your take. Do your thing.
Thanks!

You guys know what an alpine coaster is? They are like a small roller coaster you find in the mountains. They are also called summer toboggans or mountain coasters and I think there’s some long German compound word they are called in parts of Europe. They are like a roller coaster, but with much smaller one or two person sleds you just sit on instead of multi-person cars you ride in, and instead of being built with like a scaffolding or a framework the tracks are just on the ground, using the elevation of the mountain. Basically it’s a coaster track on the side of a mountain where you ride a sled down.
They are pretty fun. Or at least I used to think so. They are more “personal” than roller coasters and although you get nowhere near the speed on them that you do on a good traditional roller coaster and they can’t do corkscrews or loops or anything like that the openness and simplicity of the ride gives an impression of a much greater speed. You’re just sitting there with nothing but a little plastic sled and the track between you and the ground as it goes zooming by. It’s like the difference between how fast a go-cart feels compared to how fast a sports car feels. You know the sports car goes faster but the open, simpleness of a go-cart feels a different kind of fast. There’s plenty of POV Youtube videos if you want to get the basic idea of what they are.
I used to love alpine coasters. Used to.
My family used to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and up and down the Smokey Mountains for vacations when I was a kid and they are common in that area and I’d always rode them every chance I got.
But as with so many things after I grew up and went to college they just became part of my childhood that slipped away. They aren’t exactly common once you get away from the mountains.
Until one cool spring afternoon in 2004. I was in my final year at college and I was driving back to campus in Tennessee after a short visit to my folks in North Carolina. It was only like a 4 or 5 hour drive via the most efficient route and I had no need to be back at campus early so instead of taking the freeway all the way I got off and took part of my trip through the mountains. The scenery was nicer and I admit I liked pushing my Camaro just a little faster than I should through the twisty mountain roads.
Just after lunchtime happened upon one of those little by-the-highway tourist towns deep somewhere in the Smoky Mountains near the Carolina/Tennessee border. Nothing fancy, a gas station/truck stop, a diner, a couple of places selling tourist merch nestled deep in the mountains. I pulled into the gas station. My tank was getting low and I needed to stretch my legs, maybe grab something to eat. It was still early and I only had another couple of hours. I could kill an hour or so and still make it back to campus at a decent hour.
I pulled into the gas station and was filling my tank when I happened to glance across the road and… well I’ll be damned. There it was. “The Blue Ridge Alpine Coaster.” Nestled on the side of the mountain was a building, a mockup of a red barn, where a single railed track that led up into the mountains, where it soon got lost in the greenery. Wooden hand painted standees of cartoon character bears dressed in stereotypical “Hillbilly” getup stood around, some of them holding signs showing the ride hours and ticket costs and other info. I had to admit, as silly as it was, it made me smile.I finished pumping my gas and, well, nostalgia is a helluva thing. I decided then and there I could waste a little time riding an Alpine Coaster again after all these years before getting back on the road.
I parked my car in a corner of the truck stop's parking lot, put my phone in the center console, this being the days before smart phones when people didn’t keep their phones with them 24/7 and I didn’t want my old Nokia brick phone to fall out during the ride, locked my car and walked across the mountain highway to the Alpine Coaster building.
Getting closer, the place was less inviting. The half hearted attempt at a whimsical faux-Americana kitsch was far less effective when it brushed up against the actual decaying, run down wooden building. Hell calling it a building was generous. It was a wood frame holding up a long roof that covered the area where you got on the sleds. The wood boards creaked under my footsteps.
The only real enclosed structure was a shack that held, what I assumed, was a ticket booth. A door on the side had both a single occupancy bathroom with an out of order sign on it. An old Pepsi machine buzzed and glowed next to it.
Still the place looked alive. Ahead of me a bored looking attendant was helping a mother and her young son into one of the sleds while in a bored monotone repeating the safety brief. A few people were waiting in line at the ticket booth. Up in the mountains the playful shouts of people on the ride echoed down. Fond memories of my own childhood rides flooded my mind.10 minutes and 15 dollars later I was settling into the hard plastic seat of a bright red sled sat atop a simple aluminum rail.
I couldn’t help but grin as the sled slowly climbed the track up the mountains, making click-clack ratcheting sounds that hit my nostalgia centers hard. I felt good. The air was cool and crisp and smelled of pine.Higher and higher in the mountains we went. I don’t know if this is my mind trying to make sense of it after the fact but when I remember these moments, the last good moments, I sometimes think I remember a very slight, very subtle pit of fear in my stomach. I honestly don’t know if I felt it at the time or not or it’s just how my mind tries to make sense of it looking back at.
But either way mostly I was enjoying myself. I smiled. I was a kid again. I could hear riders in front of me let out that initial yell of terrified glee you get at the first drop of any good ride.
It peaked. I glanced around. I could see for miles, rolling hills and mountains. I the sled tipped over and zoomed down the mountain and I let out the same happy yell I heard from the other passengers.The ride zoomed down the mountain, catching speed. The mountain forest floor zoomed past, only a few feet under me. Trees zoomed past. I gave out a happy whoop as the ride banked hard around a curve and then looped back under itself.Another dip, another curve. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the G-forces pulling me every which way.
There was no one exact single moment where things started to go “wrong.” The ride kept going. And going. At this point the first creeping thought entered my head.
The ride… was still going.
It just started to hit me… this ride was going on for a really long time. I had taken a dozen rides on various coasters of this type before that day and they topped out at about 5 minutes or so, and that was the long ones. Longer than a traditional roller coaster but not that long. This one had been going on for what felt like 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
I looked back over my shoulder and could only see trees, moving too fast to really get a bearing on where I was at in relation to anything.
I wasn't exactly really worried yet. Okay so I had found a particularly long alpine coaster. At the time I wasn’t 100% wasn't sure they didn’t exist or anything like that. I was a little… unnerved but nothing was happening that was impossible. Yet.
I was trying to talk myself back into just enjoying the ride and stop overthinking it, and halfway succeeded, when out of nowhere I suddenly banked hard, the track jutting out almost over a sheer cliffside. I gripped the sled more tightly as I was whipped around. The ride then dipped hard and picked up speed, barreling down the side of the mountain.
I was pushed back against the seat by the force of the drop. Jesus I didn’t remember them being this rough. I was feeling slightly nauseous. And where had this elevation drop come from I wondered? I was still in the foothills and I didn’t remember seeing anything but gentle rolling hills and light drops from looking at the ride’s route earlier. How the ride had managed such a long, steep drop in this area I didn’t know. . For the first time I hoped that the ride would be over soon. I had no idea then how much I would want that same hope to be true so much more as time went on.
With a whiplash motion I was whipped forward and then back as the ride leveled out on flat ground again, but by this point I was going fast, too fast. My neck hurt from the mild whiplash and I felt sour in my throat and for a moment the contents of my stomach threatened to come back up. For the first, but hardly the last time the ride felt unsafe. Alpine Coasters are tame affairs, much slower and gentler than full on roller coasters but this thing was throwing me around like no thrill ride I had ever been on.
I looked around. I mean I wasn’t that deep into the woods. I should have been able to see a glimpse of something; the highway, the gas station, the tourist shops, the Alpine Coaster office, something, anything. But nothing. Just trees.
I forced back some panic for the first time. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. The ride zoomed along. I counted to 60. I counted to 60 again. And again. Okay this was getting uncomfortably harder and harder to explain.
Suddenly I noticed that up ahead the track seemed to just end, for one brief, terrible moment I thought the track just ended but I was wrong. Almost without warning the track dipped in an almost vertical drop. I almost screamed as I plummeted for 20, maybe 30 seconds before flattening out again.
By this point the voice in my head that was telling me something was wrong was louder and I could no longer tell myself it was wrong. This ride could not have been this long. I tried to make sense of it, wondering if somehow I had gotten diverted onto some kind of maintenance track or, hell for one brief irrational moment even entertaining the idea that I had wound up on an actual train track somehow. But that was absurd. The rail below me was not a train track, it was still just the simple, aluminum rail of an alpine coaster and there had been no diversions or junctions in the track. I was still on the ride, as insane as that was starting to feel. Had the ride somehow looped? Again after having the thought I immediately dismissed it as crazy. There’s no way I could have missed the ride building where I got on. And what kind of ride loops over and over?
The sled zoomed through the forest, oddly never seeming to lose speed despite the relatively flat grade of the track. I cursed myself for leaving my phone in the car and not wearing a watch. I don’t know exactly how long I had been on the ride at that point but it felt like I had been on the ride for a half hour, maybe more. But time is a funny thing when you’re in a situation you’ve never been in. Could have been more, could have been less, at that point.
My pride finally failed me. I started to scream for help. I screamed out that the ride was broken, to stop it, that I needed help. I did that for about ten minutes or so I think. The ride kept going. Mostly flat, level track with occasional mild dips and turns. But the simple length of the ride grew more and more unnerving and unexplainable.
I thought about just bailing out. But the ride, impossibly, was still not slowing down and chunks of mountain rock and thick tree trunks were all around me. Bailing out without risking smashing into a rock or a tree seemed impossible.
The ride kept going.
Up ahead the forest was clearing out some, I could see the forest brightening, more sunlight making it through the canopy.
I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
The trees stopped and I had just enough time to take in a flat, open area of rock maybe 40, 50 yards at most before another sheer cliff. The tracks twisted and turned and then shot straight down. But that wasn’t the worst of it. For a moment, a very short moment, I had a clear view for miles and the landscape was, to be blunt, totally impossible. Any possibility that I had just stumbled on some incredibly long ride was blasted out of my head. Barren, volcanic looking rock stretched for miles. Jagged, black rocky outcroppings as far as the eye could see. I was in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. They don’t look like that.
I had a few moments for the terror of that view to settle in before the cart plunged into another horrifying drop. I gripped the handles of the cheap plastic sled until my knuckles turned white. The drop felt completely vertical, like I was falling at terminal velocity. I screamed. My stomach dropped and turned. I imagined the sled coming away from the track and me just plummeting screaming to my death on the rocks below. But somehow the ride still functioned. I closed my eyes tightly and just waited for whatever was going to happen. Eventually after several what felt like a full minute of steep plunging the track again leveled out, and I opened my eyes to see myself moving at breakneck speed over that black, rocky landscape.
Now that I was moving on a more or less flat horizontal track again I took a few deep breaths. I looked over the edge of the track. Nothing but that black, jagged rock, almost looking like obsidian, zooming past. I had no idea how fast the sled was moving now. Fast. Faster than a gravity powered sled should be moving. And the track was higher off the ground now. Alpine slides usually stick pretty close to the ground, but I was 20 feet or so in the air, the track suspended in the air, a simple metal tube tower like a power pylon every few yards.
Without any immediate threat and the sled moving fast but steadily and level I was able to think about my situation again, for all the good that did me. Ahead of me the track just continued to the horizon, nothing but the same rocky landscape as far as I could see. I craned my neck to look back over my shoulder and looked back behind me and it looked the same. Even the mountains were but distant specs on the horizon behind me.
This was insane. There’s not a giant seemingly endless field of black jagged rock in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. There’s no cliff faces tall and steep enough for a multi-minute vertical drop. And alpine coasters were small affairs, not major engineering projects that span miles with pylons and vertical tracks. It made no sense.
Sadly it wasn’t going to start making any more sense anytime soon.
The ride kept going.
I was on this rocky landscape for several hours. I feel comfortable saying this because I could actually notice the sun getting lower in the sky. And the sled wasn’t slowing down despite the grade of the track being flat. I was getting cramped from sitting and stretched my legs and twisted my back as best I could. Didn’t do much help. My eyes were starting to get irritated from the constant wind in them. Worst of all it was starting to get chilly. I only had on a light jacket, a windbreaker, just something to keep the breeze off me, no real insulation. I was cold, my joints were stiff, I was hungry and thirsty. My eyes watered and my throat was so dry it was sore.
But none of that was as bad as just how little sense this all made. There’s nothing like this place anywhere near the Smoky Mountains. This was like some volcanic rock landscape. The more I thought about it the less sense it made.
The ride kept going.
My mind didn’t even try to process this. Whatever I was experiencing simply couldn’t be possible. I was crazy. I was dreaming. The CIA had kidnapped me and dosed me with some new version of LSD and I was in a straightjacket in a padded room at Area 51.
The sled kept zooming along as the sky turned to dusk. Soon the bridge disappeared from my view and I continued on along the endless, rocky, featureless landscape.
I sat back against the sled, mentally and physically numb. I was exhausted. I was thirsty. I was cramping up. I was hungry. I had to pee. I held it for as long as I could, then had no choice but just wet myself. I cried until I had no more tears left. Then I just sat there.
The ride kept going.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon my throat felt like sandpaper. I dug around in my jacket pockets hoping to find a stick of gum or piece of candy. Nothing. I checked again, having nothing else to do. Under a crumpled store receipt in the inner pocket of my jacket was a single old, forgotten cough drop. I unwrapped it from the paper and popped it in my mouth. Saliva flooded back into my mouth and I was overwhelmed by the methanol and medicine taste. It was something at least, although I knew it would be a brief and temporary fix at best.
I felt my eyes get heavy. It was getting colder. That mountain cold. That deep cold the mountains have even into the early spring when the sun goes down. That kind that just pulls the heat right out of you. I shivered. A terrible, horrible certainty came to me. I would ride until I passed out from exhaustion or the hypothermia set in. My body would tumble off the sled to fall and skip across the rocky ground like a stone skipping across a lake, my bones breaking as I tumbled until my body finally came to a stop. If I was lucky I would be killed and not have to lie for days, broken and bruised, on the ground until death took me.
The ride kept going. The ride kept going. The fucking ride kept going.
“Fuck you” I said to the ride, my voice a horse whisper. I pulled my jacket closer around me, for all the good it did. The cold wind was slowly but surely pulling my body heat away. My shivering got worse, crossing the line from a simple normal shiver into those deep, almost violent full body ones.. I wasn’t anything you could call an experienced outdoorsman, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t a good sign.
It was getting dark. There was a full moon at least so I wasn’t totally in the dark.
About then I noticed something. The landscape, what little I could see in the fading light, was changing. It was smoothing out, becoming less rocky and craggy. Up ahead an odd, shimmering light was starting to appear on the ground.
I was over it before I even realized what it was. The tracks were going over a smooth surface.
Water. It was a lake. The odd lights I had seen were the moon, reflected in ripples on the lake.
Within minutes I was out of the view of the land. After the nearly endless rocky landscape and everything else I had seen, it scared me how little I was shocked. I didn’t like how mentally numb I was getting. I leaned over. There was enough moonlight to see the water, 15 or 20 feet below the track. The pylons holding up the track went into the water, the light wasn’t good enough to even make a guess at how far they went down or how deep the water was.I leaned back in the sled. My eyes were red and bloodshot from the constant wind. I closed them. This was a mistake.I jerked awake. I don’t know if I dozed off for a split second or an hour. My weight had shifted and I caught myself as my center of gravity was in danger of sending me off the sled and into the water.
I screamed in anger. A deep primal scream. I hurt so bad. My joints felt like they were full of glass. My limbs were full of pins and needles. I glanced over at the water. For the first time on the very edges of my brain a tiny voice started to speak up, telling me that I could be all over if I just jumped. I shut the voice up, but it scared me still.
I sat there as the ride went on. It felt like hours. Eventually the lake ended in a rocky shore line. The damned ride. There was no safe place to bail out. If the ride slowed down, it was high in the air, if it moved toward the ground it sped up. Sharp rocks, big trees, nothing you could safely bail out into.
I kept having to force myself awake. I kept dozing off. Once I felt myself falling asleep and drove a vicious uppercut into my own nose to stave it off.
I seriously started to think about how much longer I could hang on. The voice came back again. This time I didn’t shut it up. I wasn’t admitting it to myself yet, but I was starting to think about the best way to land that would end it quickly if I needed to.
Something was ahead. The track seemed to dip into the ground. I was too tired, too beaten to even get scared. I was just resigned to whatever happened at this point.
With little warning the track took my sled into a tunnel in the ground. Everything went completely pitch black. After several moments even the dim moonlight was gone.
This was the worst part. The creepy forest, the immense rocky landscape, the eerie lake… those were bad. But this was just nothing. Nothing to look at, nothing to hear, nothing for reference or sense of where I was going. The walls of the tunnel felt like they were inches from me in every direction. The air felt thick, like there wasn’t enough oxygen.
With every moment I was in that tunnel I lost a little more hope. After a long, long time I made a decision. When I got out of this tunnel, I would jump. I didn’t care anymore. Hopefully there would be a spot where I could be certain the fall would instantly kill me. I was done. The ride had beaten me. I sat there, waiting for a chance to end this on my terms. That was all I had left.
Eventually up ahead, a tiny speck of light appeared. I gathered my strength, ready to end it. I sat up, getting my legs under me so I could jump as soon as we were clear. The sled burst out of the tunnel. The dim light of the full moon was enough to be momentarily blinding after the pitch black of the tunnel.. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust.
I was back in a normal looking Appalachian forest. Rolling hills, green trees. The air smelled of pine again. I heard an owl hoot off somewhere.
Slowly I lowered myself back into a setting position, in shock. At first I refused to believe it but the ride was slowing down. I held still, making sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, but no, the cheap plastic sled that had been my world for what felt like an eternity was slowing down.
Up ahead, a structure was visible, peeking out from among the trees in the dim lighting as the sled moved down the track.
It was the Alpine Slide building. The crappy fake red barn where I had boarded this cursed ride so long ago. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure it was either my mind or the cursed ride playing tricks with me. But the building stayed there.
It grew closer and closer. The track leveled completely out. The sled slowed down more. Before I had the time to really come to terms with it I arrived back at the building.
The sled slowed to a stop, gently pumping against another sled parked on the track. I sat there for a few moments, gasping in great big gulping fear breaths, trying to assure myself the ride didn’t have one last trick of its sleeve.
I looked around. The place was empty, deserted. The overhead lights were still on and the old Pepsi machine still glowed and buzzed, but the ticket booth was dark and empty, a metal gate pulled down over the ticket window.
Suddenly it hit me that I was free and I practically leapt out of the sled and onto the platform. I immediately collapsed. My legs were jelly and my head was spinning. I tried to stand up again and doubled over, dry heaving. Have you ever been out on a boat for a day and have that weird reverse motion sickness when you’re back on solid land? It was like that times a hundred. My inner ear was literally pounding, all the motion had really done a number on it.
I laid there for a few moments and eventually forced myself to stand up on my two wobbling legs. I looked around, a horrible certainty creeping into my mind that there would be no exit, no way off the platform but to my relief an exit turnstyle, one of those full height ones, was set into the fence that surrounded the ride property.
I went through it and found myself back on the main road. The truckstop was still there, still open but far less busy. My car sat in the same corner of the parking lot I had left it.
I allowed myself one look back, just one quick one. The metal skeleton of the Alpine Slide track sat there, dark and quiet but otherwise normal.
I stumbled-ran back to my car, dug the keys out of my pocket, and collapsed inside. When the door shut I let out a primal scream, the tons of fear and confusion and anger all fusing into a single, raw emotion. I screamed again and again.
After a few moments I felt like I was emotionally at least back to a place where I could act, although I wasn’t sure yet what to do next. Not really knowing what to do I cranked the car. The A/C had been on low when I shut off the car and it came roaring back to life and cold air blowing on me almost sent me back into a full on panic attack. I fumbled with the climate controls until the air stopped blowing directly on me, then calmed down enough to turn the heat on, helping to get the chill out of my bones. There was a half full bottle of water in the center console cup holder and I grabbed it and chugged it. Nothing ever tasted as good before or sense as that few ounces of water.
That was when I noticed the clock on the radio head unit. It was 4:17 in the morning. It had been about one, one thirty or so in the afternoon when I got on the accursed ride.
Over 15 hours. I had been on the goddamn ride for over 15 hours. Over half a day.
I just sat there. Warming up. Calming down. I was exhausted. I was dehydrated. I can’t even describe how my head felt. I probably had at least a minor case of hypothermia. I thought about going into the gas station and asking for help but what would I even say, and more than anything I just wanted to get away from this place. And I just wanted to get away. I wanted to be nowhere near that damn ride.
I put the Camaro in gear and pulled into the street and in panic I immediately slammed on the brakes. I was lucky there was no traffic on the road at that moment. The feeling of accelerating to just normal surface street speeds made me sick to my stomach. I gathered myself and very slowly accelerated the car I usually treated with a very heavy foot up to 30 miles an hour. Every time I tried to accelerate at a pace faster than “Old Lady Going to Church, Uphill” I would have a panic attack. I was okay once I was up to speed, but accelerating freaked me out after being on that ride.
I drove about 30 minutes, putting some arbitrary amount of distance between myself and the coaster. Eventually I made it back to where the twisty mountain road met back up with a major road that would eventually meet back up with the highway. After a few more minutes of driving I saw the onramp for the highway. There was one of those big truckstop travel plazas and pulled in, parking right up at the door. I smelled like pee and I can only imagine how I looked, but I didn’t care.
I kept a couple of emergency 20s in the back of my wallet and spent it on the biggest bottle of water the store had, an overpriced bottle of eye drops, and a huge travel mug of coffee. The clerk looked at me as if he was expecting me to either drop dead or rob him the entire time.
Back in my car I downed the coffee. I put a few eye drops in each of my eyes and sat there as the caffeine took effect until I felt like I could make it back to my apartment. The sun was just coming up when I finally pulled out of the truck stop and got on the freeway. I slowly, very slowly, accelerated up to highway speed, put the Camaro in cruise control, and let the miles start to drift away. I turned on the radio, I needed to hear human voices. Every time my mind went back to what had just happened I turned the radio up louder, eventually drowning it out with painful levels of rock music. I wasn’t ready to think about it yet. Yes looking back I know I was just in denial. I finally made it back to the crappy little apartment I had off campus, a little two story walk up studio. I let myself in and collapsed on the cheap couch. I was asleep before I even had the time to decide whether or not to do anything else. I woke up later that afternoon. I took a shower and ate a meal and didn’t think about the ride. I washed the pee stained filthy clothes I had been wearing and didn’t think about the ride. I went back to class and didn’t think about the ride. Every time I thought about the ride I forced it out of my head. I’m sure this wasn’t the most mentally healthy thing to do but what can you say?
I didn’t forget about it, don’t be silly. This isn’t the kind of thing you forget. One day while looking up something else in the university’s library my curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the Alpine Slide. No website but a few Google Map and Yelp mentions. None of them mentioned anything weird, certainly nothing even remotely like what I experienced. Near as I can tell it closed sometimes in the winter of 2012.
Life went on. I mean, that’s what it does. The next day was a little better. And the day after that a little better. And the day after that a little better still. I met a nice girl. Graduated. Got married. Got a nice house in the suburbs. Got a dog. Had a daughter. Spent a lot of time happy and not thinking about being trapped on an endless alpine coaster.And that was my life for many, many years after that.
Until a few weeks back when as a very different person I found myself driving a boring and safe mid sized family SUV through those same mountains. My wife Carol, 5 months pregnant, sat in the passenger seat, our 6 year old daughter Emily in a booster seat in the back, and Max our mixed breed mutt next to her. It had been a nice pleasant trip, driving back from visiting her folks.
I hadn’t thought about that fucking ride in so long I barely registered that I was in the same general area until it was too late. Suddenly I realized that little mountain tourist trap town was only a few minutes down the road. I swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel hard. Carol was looking out the window at the scenery and Emily was deep into some kid’s Youtube video on an iPad. I forced myself to keep my breath steady as we rounded the corner.The town was still there, sorta. Time had not been kind to it. The gas station was still there, at some point it had been bought out by Shell. The tourist trap shops were still there. One of them was now a vape shop. The diner was closed, the building looking like it sat unused for a long time.
But of course that’s not what I cared about. A looked over at the site where the Alpine Coaster once stood. It was gone. The kitschy fake barn was gone. The site was just a bare concrete slab with a chainlink fence around it. Faded “no trespassing” and “for sale” signs hung off the fence. A pile of old, decaying lumber that might have once long ago been part of the structure covered part of the old lot. No sign of the track remained outside of some old concrete support posts dotting the side of the mountain.
I exhaled out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding in. Soon the little town disappeared in my rear view mirror.
About a half hour later we stopped for gas. I pulled up to a gas pump across from a massive motorhome. Max stuck his head out the window and started barking at a little white dog, a toy breed of some kind, in the window of the motorhome. Carol and Emily immediately headed into the store to restock on snacks while I fueled up.
I stood there, a half smile on my lips as Max barked and wagged his tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the other dog while I filled up the tank, said dog doing an admirable job of ignoring him.
Right about the time I finished fueling up and cleaning the bugs off the windshield Carol returned from inside the store, Emily in tow, arms filled with two full sized bags of Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and what looked to be a half dozen individually wrapped pickles.
I raised an eyebrow at the collection of food but knew better than to question a pregnant woman's snack choices.
“Should we take Max for a quick walk?” Carol asked. The travel plaza had a nice little gated dog walking area off to the side.
“Yeah probably not a bad idea, he’s been cooped up in the car for a few hours.” I said. Max, upon hearing his name and the word “walk” , forgot about the other dog and upgraded from wagging his tail to wagging his entire body while making whining sounds and staring right at me.
About this time I became half aware that the big motor home next to us was pulling away. I didn’t think much of it, outside of doing a quick automatic mental check to make sure Emily was well clear of the moving vehicle, but she was safely between me and our SUV, well out of the way.
But that was when Emily looked behind me and cheerfully yelled “Daddy look a roller coaster! Can I ride the coaster?”
It’s cliche as fuck I know but my blood went cold.
I turned around slowly, certain in my knowledge that terrible old decrepit Alpine Coaster would be there, having just popped into existence to trap me again.
That.. is not what I saw. Sure enough there was a coaster there, one I hadn’t noticed earlier because it had mostly been blocked by the motor home, but there it was. It was even an Alpine Coaster.
But it was not the same coaster I had encountered those years ago. That was immediately obvious. It was a small but modern and newish looking setup with neon lights and a bunch of people. There was an actual building where you bought tickets and a little snack stand.
“Daddy! Can we go on the coaster!” Emily asked again.
My mouth made motions but no words came out. I glanced over at Carol, hoping she’d say we didn’t have time but to my horror she smiled and said “You know what? That does sound like fun. Daddy will take you while I take Max for a walk.”
My mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of it. But Emily was already dragging me across the parking lot to the entrance.
I patted my pocket, making sure my phone was in it. Every fiber of my being was screaming to run away. I slept walked through the line and the ticket booth while Emily bounced happily.
We got into a two seat plastic sled. This one was actually a lot nicer than the one my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about. It had two nice cushioned seats, big grab handles, even a nice rollbar.
The sled started up the track. I fought back the panic. I swerved my head around, keeping the building in my view. I was terrified of losing sight of it. We made it to the top and Emily did a happy squeal as we started down the side of the mountain.
My heart raced. Any second, any second my mind told me we’d lose sight of the building and then the ride would never end. The ride sped down the mountain. My mind tortured me with thoughts of not only going through it again, but seeing Emily go through it. The ride went around a big, banking turn. Emily kept shouting happily. How long before Carol reported us missing I wondered? Could I keep Emily calm? What if it lasted even longer this time? What if this time it never ended?
And then we were back at the start of the ride. The same attendant who had helped us into the sled was helping Emily out. I stepped out. The attendant gave me a brief look but said nothing. I guess I looked a little wild eyed.
I was fine. Emily was fine. It had been a perfectly normal, fun ride.
“That was fun Daddy! Thank you!” Emily said. I forced a smile back. “It was fun.” I responded, hoping like I sounded like I meant it.
I took Emily’s hand and we walked back to the car. Max saw us coming and barked happily. Carol looked up from the pint of Ben and Jerry’s she had somehow acquired and added to her snack collection while we were gone and smiled at us.
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
“It was so fun Mommy!” Emily said.
Carol smiled down at her, but then looked at me and frowned. “Are you okay?” Carol could read my face a lot better than the attendant could. “You’re pale.”
I smiled and this time the smile felt real. “Ya know what. Yeah, I think I am okay.”
Carol looked a little puzzled, but didn’t press it. We loaded Emily back in her booster seat, stopped Max from trying desperately to eat half a discarded gas station hot dog off the ground and got him back in the car. Carol and her small collection of snack food took her place in the passenger seat and I got in the driver's seat.I smiled. I cranked the car. I put it in gear. I pulled out of the gas station and back on the road, this time accelerating just a little faster than I had in years.

Context:

Three of my friends asked me about Teslas this month, so I compiled all my thoughts and information into an analysis. Hopefully, it's useful. I have a 2023 Model 3 Long Range. Something I won't go into in the Analysis, but is the key factor for my purchase was the self-driving capabilities. I used Autopilot until Full Self-Driving (FSD) was available for $99/month, then used the free trial and subscribed. I believe this feature is better than any of the competitors (mostly luxury brands) at a significantly better price. Teslas are cheaper than those cars, and the best self driving alternative I found was a Mercedes at $100k+.

Data Driven Analysis of Tesla Model 3 and Model Y Costs and Financing May 2024

Tesla's electric vehicles (EVs) have made significant strides in the automotive market. This analysis focuses on the financial aspects of purchasing a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y, with particular attention to the long-range all-wheel-drive (AWD) options and current financing offers. The aim is to provide a clear, data-driven perspective to assist in making an informed decision.

Cost Comparison

Tesla Model 3

For the 2024 Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive (50 miles), the cost details are as follows:

• Total Cost of Vehicle: $44,015.52
• Additional Non-Tesla Fees: $1,790.52
• Total Amount Due at Delivery: $43,765.52
• Finance Amount: $36,765.52
• Monthly Payment: $619.84 (72 months at 6.49% interest)

Tesla Model Y

For the 2024 Model Y Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive (50 miles), the cost details are:

• Total Cost of Vehicle: $50,270.52
• Additional Non-Tesla Fees: $2,045.52
• Total Amount Due at Delivery: $50,020.52
• Finance Amount: $43,040.52
• Monthly Payment: $616.22 (72 months at 0.99% interest)

Financing Analysis

Tesla’s current offer of a 0.99% interest rate for financing until the end of May 2024 presents a significant financial advantage. This low interest rate minimizes the cost of financing over the loan term. This option seems to only be for the Model Y which makes it a very strong value which I will outline below.

Loan Term Comparison

• Note it seems I can no longer get 84 months on the Tesla site, so it's likely only 64 and 72 are comparable at this point.

Using an auto loan calculator, we can evaluate the impact of different loan terms on the overall cost:

• 64-month loan:
  • Principal: $47,990
  • Interest Rate: 0.99%
  • Monthly Payment: $750.00
  • Total Interest Paid: $1,294.85
  • Loan Calculator
• 72-month loan:
  • Principal: $47,990
  • Interest Rate: 0.99%
  • Monthly Payment: $616.22
  • Total Interest Paid: $1,373.22
  • Loan Calculator
• 84-month loan:
  • Principal: $47,990
  • Interest Rate: 0.99%
  • Monthly Payment: $499.12
  • Total Interest Paid: $1,617.84
  • Loan Calculator

The minimal difference in total interest paid between the 64-month, 72-month, and 84-month terms suggests that extending the loan term can significantly reduce monthly payments with a negligible increase in total cost.

High-Yield Savings and Investment Considerations

Given the current high-yield savings account rates of 5% or more, taking advantage of Tesla’s 0.99% loan rate can be financially beneficial. By extending the loan term to 72 or 84 months, you can reduce your monthly payments significantly. This frees up more money that can be saved in high-yield accounts, effectively reducing the overall amount spent due to the low interest cost on the loan.

Practical Considerations

Vehicle Comparisons

When evaluating Teslas, I compare them to luxury brands like Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, and BMW. While a Toyota might be cheaper upfront, Teslas save you money compared to luxury brands both upfront and in the long run with lower maintenance and fuel costs. Plus, they’re reliable with fewer parts that can fail compared to the luxury gas cars.

Model 3 vs. Model Y

From my experience and preference, I only consider the long-range AWD options for both the Model 3 and Model Y. The Model Y offers more space and versatility, making it suitable for those with additional cargo needs, such as transporting a dog. Despite the minimal range difference, the Model Y's value as an SUV is compelling. However, the Model 3's design and efficiency make it a great choice for those prioritizing range and performance.

Resale Value and Depreciation

Recent studies indicate that Tesla vehicles depreciate faster than some luxury brands, such as Maserati. This depreciation can be attributed to frequent price adjustments and incentives offered by Tesla. While this may be a concern for some buyers, the overall savings on maintenance and fuel costs should also be considered. The Tesla price cuts in early 2024 devalued my December 2023 car overnight by ~$8-$10k.

Charging Infrastructure

Tesla’s extensive Supercharger network is a key advantage for EV owners. However, for those without home charging capabilities, managing battery levels becomes more crucial. Features like Sentry Mode drain the battery ~3-5% per day, so be mindful of charging and usage habits to maintain your battery levels. I do not use Sentry Mode when I know I am leaving the car for long periods without charging.

Customization Strategy

For those considering vehicle customization, opting for a free color and then applying a Paint Protection Film (PPF) in the desired color can be a cost-effective strategy. This approach allows for color flexibility and protects the vehicle’s original paint which is notoriously weak.

Government Incentives

The federal tax rebate of up to $7,500 for Tesla vehicles remains an important factor in reducing the effective purchase cost. This rebate, combined with the 0.99% financing rate, enhances the overall value proposition of Tesla cars.
My state also offers 0% sales tax on EVs, a rebate incentive, home charger install incentive, and EZPASS has a discount for EVs.

Conclusion

My analysis of the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y indicates that both offer substantial value, particularly with the current 0.99% financing rate on the Model Y. The low interest rate allows for extended loan terms with minimal additional cost, making the monthly payments more manageable. Despite potential concerns about depreciation, the long-term savings on maintenance and fuel, combined with government incentives, make Tesla a financially sound choice for many buyers who are already looking for a car like Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, and BMW.

Some Final Information

To do a detailed evaluation of your specific situation, consider using the loan calculator links to explore different financing scenarios and determine the best options. Taking advantage of the 0.99% interest rate by extending the loan term can significantly reduce monthly payments and allow you to save more in high-yield savings accounts, further mitigating the amount spent when buying a Tesla.

Hey Everyone!
Yesterday I traded in my 2019 bolt for a 2024 Blazer EV LT AWD. Figured I'd share my deal and thoughts.
I knew that due to the stop loss Chevy would be willing to give a good deal on these to get them off dealer lots and I was right. Massive incentives.
MSRP on my LT was just over 51k (new pricing after stop-sale). I traded in my 2019 bolt EV, that I had bought out when my lease ended. Every non-chevy dealer wanted to give me 9k for my car but I still owed like 15k so I didn't want to carry that negative equity into a new lease.
My Chevy dealer took my car, gave me 13k for it and applied the incentives to cover the difference so in a nutshell:
-Traded in my 2019 bolt EV (60k miles) clean trade with nothing due. -Leased a 2024 Blazer EV LT AWD -36 month lease, 12k miles per year, $0 down, $0 due at signing, and they covered the first months payment. $475/mo. for 35 months.
Some of the incentives I received -Ultium promise cash -Bolt EV bonus -Costco member -Chevy loyalty
Brought the price down to just over 40k.
The Blazer LT has every feature my bolt premier had and surprisingly a lot more, except the digital rearview mirror. The interior is such an upgrade over the bolt. It feels very nice and the dashboard, oh my god, that dashboard. Beautiful screens with really modern and pleasing layout. It's bigger but not giant SUV big and it's quick for being a larger car and I even get a little range bump (258 to 279) All in all, really pleased and happy to join the club. Just ordered my floor mats and center console tray.

Hi all, first post here asking for some help. Thanks a lot in advance.
I live in northern Kentucky and in a neighborhood with 50 ish single family houses. There is no HOA. I have a 20 ft travel trailer that is parked right in front of my drive way completely on my lot. Because it is a pretty small trailer, I am able to park my SUV completely on my drive way between my trailer and the walk way. Before I started parking the trailer 3 years ago, I checked with my immediate neighbors just in case, it bothers them. All of them have no problems. This year, one of my neighbors 4 house away told me that I need to remove the trailer and some of neighbors are not happy me having my trailer on my own drive way. He also handed me a 4-page document saying that he can sent me to court. Below is the text from the first page of that document. In that document, it says no RV allowed more than 5 days.
My question is that, am I violating some law or regulation that I had to move my small trailer? I bought the house without HOA partially for the reason I can park my trailer. Thanks!!
“DECLARATION Of RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS For STRATFORD SUBDIVISION This Declaration of Restrictive Covenants is made this 187h dayof March 2004 by Boulder Development Company of Northern Kentucky LLC, a Kentucky limited liability company, hereinafter referred to as "Declarant". WITNESSETH WHEREAS, Declarant is the owner of certain real estate known as Stratford Subdivision, Section 1, as recorded in Cabinet 5, Page 44, Group No. 4565, of the Boone County Clerk's Records at Burlington, Kentucky; and WHEREAS, Declarant is developing said real estate as a residential subdivision; and WHEREAS, Declarant desires to establish a general plan for the use, occupancy and enjoyment of the lots (the "Lots") in said subdivision; and to this end, desires to subject the real estate referred to above to the Restrictive Covenants hereinafter set forth, each and all of which is and are for the benefit of said real estate and the subsequent owners thereof. NOW THEREFORE, Declarant hereby declares that all of the Lots situated in the above-described real estate shall be held, sold and conveyed subject to the following Restrictive Covenants which are for the purpose of protecting the value and desirability of, and which shall run with, the real estate. RESTRICTIONS 1. Use. Each Lot shall be used only for residential purposes and common recreations purposes ancillary thereto. The Declarant, or any other builders in the subdivision, shall have the right to use residences as model homes or sales offices. 2. substance. Driveways. All driveways shall be surfaced with concrete, asphalt or similar 3. Radio and Television Antenna: Satellite Dishes. All radio antennas, including CB radio antennas, must be enclosed within the residence located on the Lot. Satellite dishes shall be permitted on any Lot provided they are installed in compliance with the following criteria: а. b. c. The diameter of the dish does not exceed one meter. It is screened from view of all adjacent Lots; and It is located in the rear yard area of the Lot.”

Two years ago, I rear-ended another car that slammed on their brakes on a very windy highway in California. There was just a small dent in the front of my car and there was a decent size dent in the back of their SUV (which the insurance company ended up replacing for them) There was a family in the other car, including a father two or three kids and a pregnant woman. Everyone seemed totally fine at the time and everyone walked away and drove home. No ambulances or cops were called but the father was understandably very angry at the time and specifically told me “sorry isn't gonna cut it for this pal”.
I don’t hear anything for two years but the other day my insurance called me and let me know that the guy has lawyered up and has been taking his family to the chiropractor for two years for soft tissue damage treatment. They told me they think he’s likely to sue at the end of the statute of limitations in about a month. His lawyers haven’t sent in a demand yet because I imagine they want to document the chiropractor appointments as long as possible.
I withhold my judgement on whether this guy is a fraud or not because I don't know him well, but I do know that every study says that chiropractor treatments are not really effective for soft tissue damage, and a chiropractor is typically not the type of professional you want to see if you actually have real pain that you actually want resolved. Chiropractors are however a good way to cheaply document pain for a court case (whether real pain or imagined).
From his LinkedIn it seems that he has been unemployed for the last several years (he may be has savings from the sale of a company though) and has a family to support so I could see how he would want to take this case for everything it's worth.
My question is, whether this guy is a fraud or is actually experiencing pain, he is obviously doing everything right to get the biggest settlement possible. Assuming he continues to do everything right, would you say his case is likely to exceed my 100/300 coverage in Orange County California? Have you seen cases like this before were the plaintiff does everything right even though there is no verifiable evidence of a medical issue and if so how have they paid out?
I also will likely have over 2 million in a Roth IRA in around 6 months (which is only protected from bankruptcy only up to 1 million in California) at what point in the court process will they be able to see the assets I have? He probably doesn’t suspect I have assets yet because I was in a $2000 car when I hit him. I’m honestly thinking of moving to Texas for 2 years to get the additional bankruptcy protection offered there (unlimited protection for a Roth IRA) and I know these cases can often go for that long.
TLDR: What is the biggest payment you’ve seen in a soft tissue damage where there is no physical evidence of an injury but the person keeps going to a chiropractor for years? This guy is likely to get it. Also at what point can the other party see your retirement assets?

Any suggestions are appreciated!
We hate my wife’s car. It’s uncomfortable, gets maybe 20 mpg, and is underpowered. I’ve got an offer on it for $16,600.
We’re willing to put 5k in addition to the 16.6k towards an upgrade for her.
I’ve been looking at used electric, and using the current 4k IRS tax credit (program requires 25k sale price or lower). Not really seeing much in that range.
I’ve also been looking at some used hybrids but don’t see much that aren’t significantly higher milage than the car we’re selling. I’d like to see less than 50-60k miles.
Use: Mainly to drive to work daily (15 min. commute). Occasional long drives but mainly casual city driving.
Needs: my wife feels strongly about both size and it being AWD. She wants a midsized SUV and only feels safe if it’s AWD. Other than that, fuel economy is the priority.
Brands we’ve liked: good experience with VW, Lexus, and Toyota in the past.