Zac Estrada
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zacestrada.com
Zac Estrada
@zacestrada.com
3.1K followers 1.4K following 2.4K posts
L.A. freelance writer/editor.
Climate/energy, transportation, tech, TV.
Gizmodo, Autolist, others. Prev. The Verge, Jalopnik, others.
@zacestrada elsewhere.
https://linktr.ee/zacestrada 🏳️‍🌈
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zacestrada.com
Good, I asked for money
Coca-Cola coin bank c.199-
December 25, 2025 at 11:09 PM
zacestrada.com
gizmodo.com/trumps-tiny-...
Americans already have a lot of choices, not just in cars, but in how to get around at all, what fuel powers their choice, and how much fuel is needed. Trump’s proposal won’t change the way the country currently and historically thinks about small cars. For kei cars to ever have a chance in the U.S., it’s going to take more than some lip service from a President who is desperate to show he has any policies that make life more affordable.
December 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
zacestrada.com
Oh good, another car that took a useful feature that the driver (a driver is required in this one) should use on a constant basis while in motion far less comfortable or safe to use. I think we still have some motor vehicle safety standards left www.edmunds.com/car-news/202...
Edmunds review of 2027 BMW iX3 interior ergonomics: "When your hands are placed at the correct 9-and-3 position, the little indents for your thumbs are slanted and they'll occasionally slide down into the little divots closer to the center. The would-be 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock stalks don't physically connect to the hub of the wheel, so your thumbs could get pinched between the wheel rim and the airbag."
December 3, 2025 at 11:44 PM
zacestrada.com
They even make an appeal to all of you station wagon lovers/mourners out there www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa....
December 3, 2025 at 9:52 PM
zacestrada.com
Almost four pages of the proposal is just a guide to abbreviations in case it isn't yet clear yet that most people don't understand stuff like BEV, HEV, LKA, CRAP in your writing www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa....
Table of acronyms and abbreviations used by USDOT and NHTSA
December 3, 2025 at 9:23 PM
zacestrada.com
It's an ill-fitting project that's too large for a road that's terrible for bikes, pedestrians, buses and cars but that's a city problem, not the state's www.independent.com/2025/09/15/b...
The developers, known collectively as the Mission LLC, have called the move an attempt by wealthy NIMBYs to obstruct low-income housing. The project would build 270 units of housing — including 54 affordable units — on a roughly five-acre sloping property. Last Monday, State Senator Monique Limón, who represents Santa Barbara County as well as parts of Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, introduced amendments to Senate Bill 131 (SB 131), the bill that exempted many urban residential projects from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Limón said she added amendments to several parts of the bill — not just the language impacting the project behind the Mission. “I provided feedback in order to address a number of pieces related to SB 131, including tribal consultation, habitat definition for protected species, advanced manufacturing, and local impact,” she said.
December 2, 2025 at 2:13 PM
zacestrada.com
"A representative for Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón told CalMatters that the senator was involved in crafting that exemption language. During a tour of an avocado farm in Ventura last month, Limón declined to comment on her role." www.latimes.com/california/s...
"Buried deep in Senate Bill 158, the bill passed by state lawmakers targeting the Los Olivos project, is a mention of the state law around infill urban housing developments. Senate Bill 158 clarified that certain developments should not be exempt from this law. Developments in “a city with more than 85,000 but fewer than 95,000 people, and within a county of between 440,00 and 455,000 people,” and which are also near a historical landmark, regulatory floodway and watershed, are not exempt, the bill stated. According to the 2020 census, Santa Barbara has a population of 88,768. Santa Barbara County has a population of 448,229. And the project sits near both a creek and the Santa Barbara Mission."
December 2, 2025 at 1:54 PM
zacestrada.com
When BYD gets to the US they'll also have to invest in some giant inflatable balloons and a Ricardo Montalban hologram or something like that www.politico.com/news/magazin...
On an average day on Machedo’s lot, two or three cars get sold. On Saturdays, when he hires a DJ and puts out food — what he calls the “BYD experience” — sales often hit double digits. BYD — marketed under the slogan “Build Your Dreams” — has become one of the top selling brands in the country in just two years.
November 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
zacestrada.com
Just begging for that AARP Best Movie for Grownups award www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
James L. Brooks 2025 film "Ella McCay" description: An expressly political comedy set in a relatively manageable but unnamed American state in 2008, “Ella McCay” follows the 30s-ish title character (Emma Mackey) as she is tapped to move up from lieutenant governor to governor when her ambitious, charismatic boss (Albert Brooks) is picked to be secretary of the Interior.
November 24, 2025 at 2:29 PM
zacestrada.com
What an, um, efficient statement www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
"That doesn't exist," Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE's status.
November 23, 2025 at 2:32 PM
zacestrada.com
Ro Khanna is using terms I see in Toyota Camry press releases to describe senators www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
On Sunday, Khanna praised some leading Senate Democrats, calling Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) a “top leader” and Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii) “dynamic” as well as saying he “appreciates” the ideology of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
November 16, 2025 at 7:42 PM
zacestrada.com
Was going to say it was just the person who wrote the headline but then this is the second paragraph
The emails are like a portal back to a lost Manhattan power scene. Mr. Epstein’s inbox was larded with boldface names — many of them now faded or forgotten — that once meant everything to status-obsessed New Yorkers. It was the world that Donald Trump came out of, and the one that Mr. Epstein had so effectively beguiled after having grown up in a middle-class household in Coney Island.
November 16, 2025 at 3:58 PM
zacestrada.com
Airports in general are good examples of this but LAX is probably a specific case study
Jacob Wasserman, who manages research at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, warns the traffic nirvana won’t last. “Initially, these changes could alleviate traffic in the area and on the freeways to some degree, but it’s going to fill up again,” he said. “We all have Google Maps. When there’s less traffic, more cars will naturally file in and it’ll fill up. It’s going to move more people in total, but it’s not going to fix traffic.”
November 15, 2025 at 3:25 PM
zacestrada.com
Maybe October's sales data was just ironic

I agree people don't realize how much three-row gas-powered SUVs cost even when they don't have BMW or Mercedes printed anywhere — and that they make up the bulk of those models' sales
Kia EV9 October 2025 sales: 666 cars
November 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
zacestrada.com
And the Tesla stuff is not new news, been happening for years and is more about those products not being core to the business. The Acura ZDX, well, enough said about that
Tesla, the electric vehicle pioneer, has significantly cut back production of its three luxury vehicles — the Model S, the Model X, and the Cybertruck. Honda has discontinued the Acura ZDX sport utility vehicle. Stellantis canceled an electric Ram pickup before it hit showrooms.
November 13, 2025 at 2:59 PM
zacestrada.com
It's Frank McCourt's vanity project, plain and simple, not a public transit solution www.latimes.com/sports/dodge...
McCourt, the former Dodgers owner and still half-owner of the Dodger Stadium parking lots, first pitched the gondola in 2018 and later said fans would ride free. The projected construction cost is about $500 million; none of the promised private funding has been publicly identified. “This project is an insult to our communities, and the process has been an insult to our collective intelligence,” Hernandez said.
November 12, 2025 at 9:00 PM
zacestrada.com
Last I checked, companies can still paraphrase Sean Duffy in their news releases

Again, last I checked. I've only been awake for two hours today
“Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, America is open for business,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. “Toyota’s move to expand production in North Carolina is the latest show of confidence in this administration’s efforts to reshore manufacturing, generate new, great paying jobs, and inject billions of dollars into the economy. We’re just getting started!”
November 12, 2025 at 3:24 PM
zacestrada.com
Every story comparing the Kia Telluride to a Range Rover needs to explain *why* it looks like a Range Rover and not just "big SUV in 2025" (yes, it looks nice and expensive, but it's also very derivative) www.kiamedia.com/us/en/media/...
2027 Kia Telluride SUV side 2027 Kia Telluride SUV left rear 3/4 2022 Range Rover Long Wheelbase Side 2022 Range Rover Left Rear 3/4
November 10, 2025 at 5:52 PM
zacestrada.com
They say people change once they're out of office
Buttigieg in 2023: “I don’t think that something should be called, for example, an Autopilot, when the fine print says you need to have your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road at all times,” Buttigieg said in an interview with The Associated Press. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency within Buttigieg’s department, has sent investigative teams to more than 30 crashes since 2016 in which Teslas suspected of operating on Autopilot or its more sophisticated automated Full Self-Driving system have struck pedestrians, motorcyclists, semi trailers and parked emergency vehicles. Buttigieg in 2025: Autonomous Driving Tech Is Safer Than Human Beings "We're at the point where at least some of these technologies, right now, already, are safer than human beings and that's only gonna increase and improve," Buttigieg said during an appearance on the All In Podcast on Thursday, adding that the technology had the potential to "save a huge number of lives."
November 7, 2025 at 2:36 PM
zacestrada.com
"With their yes votes and abstentions, shareholders offered the board — hardly a stringent check on Musk anyway — a free hand." www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
The more interesting “yes” vote was on proposal seven. This concerned a non-binding, shareholder request for Tesla’s board to authorize an investment in xAI, Musk’s privately held company that houses his social media platform, X, and the Grok chatbot. The board didn’t make a recommendation either way. In announcing preliminary results, Tesla noted a significant number of abstentions but that yeas outweighed the nays. Unlike the pay vote, it would appear this one didn’t get a supermajority, and the board duly struck a contemplative pose, saying it would review next steps.
November 7, 2025 at 1:35 PM
zacestrada.com
You have to wonder what the newest Infiniti VP would think (and say to media) if he heard all the loyalists asking for the Q45 to come back www.caranddriver.com/news/a691494...
he sees this as an important model for the brand. Although Infiniti presented a trio of SUV concepts during this year's Monterey Car Week, Castro said, "We had more comments about, 'Bring back the Q50 or G35,'" and he believes this new sedan can help Infiniti connect with its loyal followers.
October 24, 2025 at 11:14 PM
zacestrada.com
An even better example of "LAX being LAX" than creating its own measurement of time when it comes to construction and, um, pretty much everything www.torched.la/air-traffic-...
We've been here before. In the years ahead of 1984, similar calls to "modernize" LAX before the Olympics resulted in the double-decking of the horseshoe. After that the issue was solved and we've never had a single problem with LAX traffic since. Oh wait, no it wasn't, because adding more lanes never ever ever ever ever ever reduces traffic. (See: the 405.) And it definitely won't reduce LAX's traffic. What would fix the airport's traffic? Charging private vehicles to use the horseshoe, also known as congestion pricing. This is the preferred option for transportation advocates like Move LA's Eli Lipmen, who would like to see that money invested in car-free alternatives, like more FlyAway shuttles. "Instead of spending $1.5 billion, they could make money!" he told me. (Fun fact: LAX already has the transponder system installed. Next time you drive through the airport — but, really, why would you do that? — listen as your FasTrak beeps.)
October 23, 2025 at 10:25 PM
zacestrada.com
I can think of parts of Southern California like this, with small cities having their own police departments that aren't reported on, a bunch of different, tiny school districts big publications would never cover weekly and entire counties that aren't really covered dankennedy.net/2025/10/21/d...
Finally, a longstanding complaint. If you look at the map above, you’ll see that Massachusetts is a veritable news oasis, with no counties that would qualify as news deserts. But we have just the barest vestiges of county government in Massachusetts. Instead, we have 351 cities and towns, each with its own city council or select board, school committee, police department and the like. Every one of those communities needs accountability journalism. Unfortunately, we are a state where one small town may have a strong local news outlet and another, bordering town has nothing. Medill’s methodology may work for much of the country, but it doesn’t work here.
October 21, 2025 at 5:31 PM
zacestrada.com
What does "licensed to charge" actually mean? Compatible? The title of a bad action film in post-production? www.noozhawk.com/fast-chargin...
Santa Barbara has 44 public fast chargers, but 28 of them are owned by Tesla. Only vehicles licensed to charge at a Tesla charger can use them, according to Parenteau.
October 21, 2025 at 2:43 PM
zacestrada.com
Glad I didn't read this paragraph when I was trying to go back to sleep www.latimes.com/travel/story...
I am playing a gamed called “Election Day” at Appleseed Avenue, a relatively new escape room in a multi-story strip mall in Newhall. The puppet world is in the midst of a crisis, torn over whether humans should be allowed to wander the fictional street of Appleseed Avenue. My role is that of a detective, and throughout this game of fatal political espionage, I encounter multiple puppet characters — electricians, would-be-mayors, gangsters, dead puppets.
October 14, 2025 at 1:52 PM