岡山方面から「もっとサンマテオの豚を見たい」というリクエストがございました。
『さん太』でチップ込 26 ドル（このへんでは相場）の豚頬肉ラーメン・とんこつ黒マー油を食した帰り道…
いました！
またメッチャ鼻の穴のデカい、それなのに穴を塞いである西ドイツの電気自動車！！
ドアが４枚もあるし、ハッチバックなのでグランクーペってやつでしょうか？
車種はｉ４だそうです。よく存じませんが４シリーズの大きさという事でしょうか？
真っ先に変だと思ったのは、塗装。
西ドイツのクルマのくせに、英国車のシンボルカラーであるモスグリーンです。
この國のクルマは、やはり銀色に塗ってほしいです。
それにしても電動車が増えてきました。
やはりサンマテオは高所得で意識高い系がたくさん棲んでいるようです。
以前、友人のマリリンさんに意識高い系のクルマは大嫌いと伺いました。「あたし、プリウスとか大っ嫌い！環境に配慮した持続可能な社会を目指してますとか、大嫌い！」「あの… 我が家の『きんさん』もハイブリッドなんですけど…」「あんたんちのレクサス、エンジンはどのくらい？」「確かＶ６で３．６リッターだったと…」「そういう、えげつないハイブリッドは、いいのよ♪」きんさんは『えげつないハイブリッド』で、地球に優しくないから許してもらえました。
日本では「ハリヤー」という名前で売っているクルマです。
きんさんの売られていた時代、日本できんさんは「ハリヤー」でした。
でもレクサスブランドが ＲＸ を売り出したので、ハリヤーは再設計に。
そして、アメリカでのハリヤーの御銘は…『便座』です！！
にしても、なんで便座かな？
商標がかぶったか何かで、ハリヤーのまんまじゃ売れなかったのかなぁ。
さっき見かけた深緑色のより少し大きいです。こっちは６シリーズの大きさでしょうか？
何このデザインは？？ こういうのを『ヲラヲラ顔のクルマ』って言うんでしょ？
色が まっくろくろすけ に似ていますが、縁取りが銀色なのでなぜか安心できます。
あとはカッコイイクルマを御覧にいれなくては… でも、いなかった。
お隣のカスタマイズショップの顧客のクルマが路駐してありましたが…
ＧＯＨＡＮ 食 ・・・って、どういうこと？？
なので、前日の日曜に撮影してあった、青いミアータで。
大きな羽根を付けてるのは日本でもよくあるでしょうが、何この日本語は？？
隣のカスタムショップの兄さんと Hi! とか軽く挨拶したけど、怖くて聞けませんでした。
これ、もしかして… やっちまってる？？
以前ゲーム会社に勤務していた頃、バグ出し担当のテスター姉さんに腕のタトゥーを見せられました。「ねぇ、これって Friendship って意味でしょ？」そう問いかける彼女の腕には…ともださぁぁ、やっちまった… 「ち」が左右反転してる！怖くて、可愛そすぎて、真実を伝えられませんでした…。
アメリカってこういうのが、あるある過ぎて残念です。
でも日本が好かれてるわけだから、まあいいや。(ぉぃぉぃ…)
First of all, thank you so much for responding to my enthusiastic request and posting the article "Cars in San Mateo (2)." Living in a rural area like Okayama, I only ever see ordinary (?) BMWs, so being able to see the weird BMWs in stylish California, especially in the affluent area of San Mateo, is a real treat for a bimmer like me. Moreover, even your senior took a picture of BMW in Shonan (although it’s much quieter compared to the ones in San Mateo... lol), which made me feel the strong bond of T-gakuen. I might feel this bond even more strongly early next month.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Santa's ramen must be delicious since a gourmet like you frequents it, but $26 including tip... I can't help but convert it to yen. With the current exchange rate of 1 USD to 156.27 JPY, that's 4,063 yen! If we Japanese were to travel there and have to pay that much for a bowl of ramen, we might end up destitute.
Now, about the BMW car you found and posted, you simply wrote "Found it!", but I wonder, how long did it take you to find it? Are such quirky-looking BMW cars so common in your neighborhood that you found it easily, or did you have to spend about an hour to locate one?
ReplyDeleteThis BMW electric vehicle with the very large, yet blocked nostrils seems to be the "i4 eDrive35", a new grade added to the existing EV "i4". It is positioned as the entry model of the "i4" with a price of 6,980,000 yen. It boasts a driving range of 532 km on a single charge and a maximum output of 286 PS.
Like you, the first thing that caught my eye was the paint color. As you described, it is like moss green, a symbolic color of British cars. This color would be perfect for a brand like Jaguar. However, it seems that this beautiful color is not available in the models introduced to Japan. It might be available in the U.S., or perhaps the owner of this car specially ordered it with the BMW Individual paint finish as an option. With BMW Individual, we can choose from a rich palette of 150 body colors to reflect the owner's personality more vividly.
Of course, the number of electric vehicles is increasing in the United States, and they are also growing significantly also in Japan, but recently it seems to have hit a bit of a ceiling. As someone who originally prefers gasoline cars, which are the basics of internal combustion engines, I believe the main reason why average Japanese people, including myself, do not buy EVs is simply because there are few EV stations which are places to charge. While it's fine when there are few EVs, this point will become more prominent as they become more widespread. Of course, there are other reasons, such as "the high price of the vehicle" and "concerns about the driving range."
ReplyDeleteAs I briefly wrote in previous comments, it seems that San Mateo has a lot of high-income and eco-conscious people. I also have a somewhat memorable story about a Prius. There was a woman in her 20s, just starting her career, who told me happily, "I bought the newly released Prius as my first car." Yes, it was the first generation Prius, which marked the dawn of practical hybrid cars. With a price easily over 3 million yen at that time, it must have been a significant financial burden for her just starting her career. When I asked, "Why did you choose such an expensive, newly released Prius?" she gave a very commendable answer: "Since this is my car debut, I chose a car that is kind to the earth!" She even asked me, "What kind of car do you drive, sensei? Your car must also be environmentally friendly, right?" As you can easily imagine, I was at a loss for words then (lol).
In the third image of the previously noted i4 eDrive35, I can see a 2 Series Gran Coupe quietly parked in the left rear. You might have simply not noticed it, but perhaps you did notice it and ignored it because its front grille was so unimpressive and conventional? (LOL)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, your car "Kin-san" has a V6 engine with a displacement of 3.6 liters. Your friend Marilyn, who hates pretentious cars, forgave you for driving such a "terribly hybrid" vehicle because it's not environmentally friendly. So, my M850i, which is a pure gasoline car with a 4.4-liter V8 engine, might also be liked by Marilyn, and that makes me happy.
I used to be a Nissan fan, but now I'm a bimmer, so I'm not very familiar with Toyota cars. However, the Toyota Harrier, known as the Venza in its overseas version, is a popular model. Regarding the question, "Why did they choose a name like Venza, which reminds us of a toilet seat?" the origin of the Venza name is explained on the U.S. Toyota website:
"Venza is a combination of the words 'venture' and 'Monza,' a city in Northern Italy with a racecourse named Autodromo Nazionale Monza."
This was another side note.