Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

That's a no from me

It’s been over a week since I’ve purchased a 2026 Mazda MX-5. Today the salesperson texts me to check-in and make sure I download the Mazda Connect app onto my phone. Strange! Why would the dealership be so concerned with a customer using an optional app? I say optional because, well, the car drives plenty fine without it.

We can all guess the reason: money. Modern new cars are fitted with 5G modems to support connected services in the infotainment system. A part of that ecosystem are branded mobile apps that allow customers to monitor their cars. In my previous 2021 BMW M2, I was able to check fuel levels, see the current mileage, and lock the doors. In Tesla cars, you can even see how fast the vehicle is going and what music is currently playing, right on the app.

If the end user has access to this information, so does the manufacturer. According the Mazda privacy paper, for my new MX-5, this includes:

“Driving Data”: driving behavior data, which includes the acceleration and speed at which your Connected Vehicle is driven and use of the steering and braking functions in your Connected Vehicle (Driving Data was collected for each driving trip and transmitted at each Ignition Off); and
“Vehicle Health Data”: includes Vehicle Identification Number (VIN); odometer, fuel level, and oil life readings; Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs); and data from the Connected Vehicle’s OBD system (“OBD Data”). OBD Data includes, but is not limited to, engine coolant temperature, fuel injection volume, engine Rotation Per Minute (RPM), and the status of doors, hood, trunk, and hazard lights (Vehicle Health Data was transmitted at each Ignition-Off).

That’s a lot, isn’t it? Automakers can swear to high heavens they are not doing anything nefarious with the collection information, but the truth is in the incentives. My salesperson wouldn’t bug me post sale to install the Mazda Connect app (he also tried during the purchase process) if Mazda wasn’t putting on pressure to do so. Mazda obviously puts high value on that data, and what else if not for exchanging it for monetary gain? I would not be surprised if my declining to install the app will hurt the salesperson’s commission.

But I am definitely not installing the Mazda app. I used the BMW app with the M2 because I didn’t know any better. Just like how Apple refuses to create a backdoor for their iPhone encryption, I want to eliminate any possibility of unintended consequences. Even if I can trust Mazda with data from every time I drive the MX-5, the risk of hacks and beaches exists. It’s safer to not turn on the spigot to begin with.

Losing car enthusiasm?

Lately on the car enthusiast inter webs I’ve seen quite a few posts and videos lamenting the decreasing passion for cars. One person was asking if it’s alright to be car guy/gal and not own any “fun” cars. The Savagegeese Youtube channel put out an explainer on why people are losing interest.

The crux of it seems to be the fun cars we all love and want have massively increased in price. We are being priced out. Take a look at the Porsche 911 - the sports car icon: before the pandemic, a 2019 model year 911 started at $93,950 for the poverty spec Carrera trim. Fast forward to the present, and that same spec Carrera is now $135,500. That used to be high trim GT3 money, but now one of those is $238,150 starting. Utter insanity.

And because the current 911 range has inflated so highly, the used Porsches have equally jumped in value. A used 911 isn’t the bargain it used to be. Bottom line is, if you are looking for a 911 of any vintage and trim, 2026 is not a good time to be doing so. And this pricing phenomenon is shared by many other enthusiast car nameplates. A new Ford Mustang GT with a few options is into the $50,000s. Before the pandemic, it was only in the high $30,000s.

But we are not entitled to a 911 that we can afford. Nor a Mustang, or a BMW M3 Competition.

There are affordable enthusiast cars. The Mazda MX-5 Miata and the Toyota GR86 (and its Subaru BR-Z twin) are right in the mid 30,000s in pricing, and have everything that car enthusiasts care about: naturally aspirated engine, manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive, and limited slip differential. The Miata even rides on a completely bespoke and unique chassis. It’s as pure a sports car as it can get for any price. Instead of pouting about the heavy Porsche tax, go buy an MX-5 or a GR86.

Ah, but they won’t. The cars we drive are an extension of how we want to present to the world. The Mazda and the Toyota don’t carry enough cachet, not enough status. Owning a Porsche 911 means something more, something you can peacock outward to the world. That’s why you can’t go to a Cars and Coffee without seeing at least a dozen of them. So they nitpick the MX-5: it’s too small, and not powerful enough. Can’t buy.

People saying they are losing enthusiasm in cars is but a smokescreen for the real problem: the cars we want to show off to others with have become out of reach financially. You didn’t lose interest in automobiles, you’re just mad the cool cars that maximizes social media clout have gotten too expensive. Oh, another million dollar hypercar that I cannot afford?

Because if it’s truly about driving, then economical options still exist in today’s wacky new car market. The aforementioned Miata and BR-Z. Want a bit more power? Nissan sells a Z with 400 twin-turbo horsepower with a manual for less than $50,000. Turbocharged and all-wheel drive? Subaru sells a WRX for $32,495 base.

This is similar to people saying new cars in general have gotten too expensive. Average new car prices in America is above $50,000. However, the Toyota Corolla is a perfectly fine sedan for $25,000 that will run for the next decade on just oil changes. But nobody wants a Corolla. Everyone “need” the latest SUV thing with all the gadgets. Of course the latter will cost a proverbial pretty penny. Cars aren’t too expensive, the cars you want to buy, are.

Monetarily sensible options exist in the market, and yet people abjectly refuse to entertain them. instead, they create a straw-man of automaker greed and bludgeon it to death. Every news article of Porsche’s struggle is met with jeers from the Reddit peanut gallery about how it’s because they are charging too much for the 911. Even though actual 911 sales have never been better. Jealousy wrapped up in hatred is what it is.

Get wrecked

Saturday, start of the weekend. I want to get the chores out of the way so I can properly relax later. (I’d easily pass the marshmallow test.) That includes the weekly run around the local lake. I typically do cardio in the afternoon, but due to the summer weather it is more wise to do so in the morning when it is cooler.

Except there’s a problem after running. Perhaps it’s just me, or maybe it is the case for everyone. For the many hours after I run, my heart-rate remains elevated. So much so that it could be two hours later, and I’d be sweating just standing. (Admittedly, I sweat easily.) Higher than normal heart-rate after exercising is fine, but after running I seem to be extra juiced and tired. Maybe my cardio condition is just lackluster.

Which is fine if the plan for the rest of Saturday is to veg out on the couch. Unfortunately I am a normal adult with normal adult responsibilities.. Imagine going to Costco some hours after the morning run and the heart is still pounding out of my chest. And to think back in the schooling days, we’d often run a mile during PE class! Was I equally psyched up in the class periods afterwards?

Of course, at the ripe old age of 38, I obviously don’t recover quite as I used to compared to decades earlier.

I will need more data point on this whole run in the morning thing. Maybe it will get better the more I do it. I’ve only returned to the tracks (so to speak) for about two months. I mean, don’t people say they feel invigorated after cardio to start their day? I’ve not seen it personally thus far…

Straight cash, homie

The greatest thing Tesla did for the American car market isn’t being the vanguard for the electric vehicles revolution. It is offering an alternative to the traditional dealership method of car buying. For once, you can simply tap on your phone to buy a car, no hassles, no begging some asshole across a desk to sell you a car. The price is the price, no add-ons, no hidden fees.

I’d buy a Tesla car on that procedural benefit alone.

But I’d have to want a Tesla car, which I don’t. So to buy almost any other brand, I have to set foot inside a dealership, and talk to a guy or gal. The incentives at play cannot be more juxtaposed. The customer is trying to pay as little as possible, and the salesperson is trying to sell for as much as possible - because their proverbial food-on-the-table depend on it. When two sides are so directly opposed, each inch given and taketh feels especially painfully emotionally.

By asking to pay a lower price for a car, you are directly hurting the paycheck of the salesperson. It’s kind of perverse when you think about it. That relationship is entirely adversarial, no matter how cordial the conversation may be.

What doubles that whammy is when a customer like me shows up: paying in cash, no vehicle to trade in, and declining all add-ons.

You see, it’s not just on the net profit of a car that a dealership can make money off a customer. When you have a vehicle to trade in, the dealer makes money when they sells that to another party. When you finance a car purchase, banks kick back money to the dealer. Call it a finder’s fee. And we all know about add-ons: extended warranties, wheel insurance, paint protection, et cetera.

So with me, I am robbing the dealership of two thirds of the potential profits. This creates a slightly awkward situation because the sales department knows they are not going to make as much money off me. Depending on the particular car and brand, selling me a car might even be a waste of time! Why make $300 from me when the next person - financing, with trade-in, and amicable to add-ons - is a walking $900 sign asking to be snatched. It would take selling three cars to three of me to equal that one transaction.

I am not surprised then when their attitude with me isn’t as favorable compared to a customer with higher profit potential. Again, the incentives are perverse. If my salary is entirely commission based, of course I am going to treat the higher potential customers with more enthusiasm, if not complete favorable bias.

Try it next time: nothing kills the mood faster than telling a car salesperson that you are paying in cash fully.

It can be done!

This past Saturday I needed to get down to San Jose from where I am at in San Francisco. A 50 odd mile trip that would take about an hour by car. But I couldn’t do the drive. You see I was heading down to San Jose to buy a car. That meant I couldn’t arrive with a vehicle, lest I call a friend to come with. Hashtag lonely driver.

The Bay Area isn’t metropolitan Asia, but the public transportation infrastructure around here is reasonably passable. I wouldn’t rely on it to get you to work at a specific time (if you can avoid it), but for the odd getting around on the weekends at a leisurely pace, it’s quite alright.

So I hatched a plan to get down to San Jose using purely public transportation. First I took a bus to the nearest BART station (the regional subway network, for those of you unfamiliar). I then took the subway southbound to Millbrae, a transfer point to Caltrain. I took the local train for the majority of the miles down to San Jose, then transferred again to the local light rail (VTA) for the final leg to the dealership. In total, the trip took two and half hours door to door.

What do you think? I reckon that’s a decent time for a 50+ mile trip using public transportation. The fares in total for the single way trip was about $18. Compared that to hailing a ride-share: Lyft quoted me $75 for the same distance, plus tip. No thank you.

I think we are fortunate to live in a region where such a trip is even possible, sans private car. On weekends when you are not under any time pressure, it might even be more enjoyable than driving. The views on the train down to San Jose were rather interesting!

We're going to need a finer screen

While I am happy that San Francisco isn’t burning up like Europe is currently, nor are we experiencing record heat waves like rest of America, global warming for us is a bit more insidious. We may not get the extremes - thank god, but our overall summer temperatures have definitely been trending on the higher side in recent years.

Five years ago - when I first moved to this current spot on the west side of town - I didn’t even have to change out of winter blankets. Flash forward to the present, and there’s definitely a distinct summer season where the thinner material of duvet is absolutely required.

Mosquito season was never a concern in the years prior. Thanks to climate warming mixed with San Francisco’s renowned humidity, mosquitoes have become proper foes. Because I am on the first level of a house, I am particularly vulnerable to these critters coming in during the night to disturb my sleep.

Which revealed another problem. Because my windows are mesh screened, I’d thought it be fine to keep them open - you know, to cool down during the night - and not have to worry about mosquitoes. Not true! The typical bug screen installed on home windows isn’t fine enough to keep out the blood suckers. According to the Reddits, mosquitoes can squeeze through as fine as 2 millimeters of space. Damn buggers.

The solution was simple: get an even finer mesh. I bought this from Amazon that is dense enough to block No-see-ums. Because of that, it will defend just fine against mosquitoes.

First world climate problems, of course. I would still rather be in San Francisco weather-wise than anywhere else in the world.

Stop it. Get some help

The local mall here gained a new boba tea place, and it’s been super hyped. HeyTea, a milk tea spot originating from China. Who doesn’t like China? I love China. (End of Trump impression.)

As per the usual with hyped up food openings, the lines at HeyTea has been long. So long in fact that the queue has extended beyond the shop and onto the entrances of adjacent stores. And those aren’t even the most aggrieved tenants, I would say. The other boba shops in the same mall has to be sick at this new kid on the block sucking up all the customers.

Of course, the smarter of us would forgo the line at HeyTea and patronize the other boba places. It’s just milk tea, after all. I don’t care if Salt Bae himself is sprinkling on the last bits of sugar on top. (Is he still around?) The subjective taste difference isn’t worth the hour of waiting in a line. Granted, I don’t have an instagram account to show everyone the latest boba tea hype. Nor am I a food blogger vying for content.

I know this is all a bit old man yelling at a cloud. If waiting in crowded line is how you like to spend an afternoon, then bully to you. Memento mori is always on my mind, and I simply don’t have time for that. Besides, I’ve already had the best milk tea possible on the planet: in Taiwan.