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  2. Agree with @smk4565 that Europe will end up killing off Diesel and Gas auto's in today's form. Hybrid and EV are the future. Once Germany is on board, the rest will then follow since Germany, France and UK will have them scheduled for end of life. 23 or 13 years either way, is plenty of time to move to new technology for personal transportation.

  3. Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    dfelt replied to William Maley's topic in Staff Reviews

    Not an issue about the Oil as I think Natural Gas is a better fuel. Yet we are seeing major climate change and need to think about a better balance of living on the planet with a healthier world for all. That means we need to cut the green house gas output. Auto's are one way to do that.
  4. Cubical-aka-Moltar started following Ford News: Rumorpile: Ford Could Cut C-Max, Fiesta, & Taurus

  5. Ford News: Rumorpile: Ford Could Cut C-Max, Fiesta, & Taurus

    Cubical-aka-Moltar replied to William Maley's topic in Ford

    LoL...yes, stuff like that does happen...I backed through a closed garage door once, and another time ripped off a garage door by hooking it with my roof racks as I pulled in as it was still rising.. I've worked in insurance for about 1/3 of my career, albeit in insurance software systems, first workers' comp and the last 3 years in life insurance...interesting world with a lot of it's own jargon and complexity..
  6. It is a 40 year cycle actually...full size two door cars started going away in the late 70's, early 80's....it has been downhill ever since. It also goes back to the millennial thing...millennials are very social...and want 4 doors to haul freinds to basketball games and the like...

  7. Ford News: Rumorpile: Ford Could Cut C-Max, Fiesta, & Taurus

    A Horse With No Name replied to William Maley's topic in Ford

    I think more than Washington, insurance companies. My 2nd oldest (son) and 3rd oldest (daughter) both work for Insurance companies and both of them have regular conversations with higher ups about the future of insurance. Car insurance companies are not doing well at the moment...modern cars are stupidly expensive to fix, and injury claims are obscenely expensive to resolve. All self driving cars have to be is better than a human driver...and given how clueless human drivers are, that's a really low target to hit. Daughter handled a claim the other day....driver was stone cold sober and trying to drive to work on a Wednesday morning...managed to hit their own house, their neighbors fence and their neighbors trash can...3 claims...house....car...neighbors fence and property... That kind of thing is more common than you can imagine. Self driving cars will cure a lot of THAT...
  8. The Koreans seem to have given up on coupes also..the Hyundai Genesis and Eleantra coupes are gone. It seems the market for non-performance, non-luxury marque coupes is dead.
  9. From the frying pan into the fire...
  10. Today
  11. I imagine all of Europe will ban sale of fossil fuel burning cars by 2040. Some countries are banning them in 2030. I think post 2040 no car maker will use a gasoline engine, and if they do it will be as rare as today's diesels.

  12. Ford News: Rumorpile: Ford Could Cut C-Max, Fiesta, & Taurus

    Cubical-aka-Moltar replied to William Maley's topic in Ford

    True, but in an age of cutting government regulations, even half-assed self driving cars are likely to make on the road sooner than later. Those in Washington today don't care if risky cars are on the road, as long as they can profit from it..

  13. 2018 Tiguan Drive

    lengnert replied to Frisky Dingo's topic in Reader Reviews

    Was just looking at Tiguans last month.... for a friend. We needed to get something with a bunch of incentives because her old car was buried in negative equity. VW had some decent money. Ended up with the Golf Alltrack instead of the Tiguan. Not that it would have helped, but how in the heck did they get a 3rd row of seats in what was (in the 2017's we looked at) a very small back cargo area? Rear-facing? Also, the 2.0 that she drove was not bad. But the rated mpg's coupled with just adequate power was what made it a terrible choice in my opinion. The 1.8 in the Golf Alltrack was rated much better and it moved the car as well as the 2.0 in the Tiguan, from my seat of the pants perception on the test drive. If it weren't for the Golf Alltrack, she would have possibly bought something other than a VW.

  14. Ford News: Rumorpile: Ford Could Cut C-Max, Fiesta, & Taurus

    daves87rs replied to William Maley's topic in Ford

    In order for these "automatic" cars to even work, it has to be complete...having regular pose a major risk otherwise. That said- they can pry the keys out of my cold dead hands.......
  15. Lol... There are some diehards out there....my guess is that they may end up with something korean......
  16. cp-the-nerd started following Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

  17. Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    cp-the-nerd replied to William Maley's topic in Staff Reviews

    I know for sure that GM and Mazda are both working on HCCI engines. Last report I saw was it will be present in Mazda's next gen skyactive designs by 2020. Early systems will be highway-activated compression ignition for that big boost while cruising. What you'll see reflected in EPA ratings of something like the Mazda 3 or Cruze is a relatively normal ~30 mpg city, but 45-50 mpg highway. HCCI and electronic valvetrains are the future of the internal combustion engine. Hybrid/electric vehicles are not even remotely sustainable on a large scale. It's simply beyond global mining capacity to supply the battery volume of even a quarter of the US auto market. Meanwhile, fossil fuel currently enjoys the greatest production and availability in human history, with new methods of accessing oil being discovered all the time. There's no reason to believe oil will be a scare resource at any time in the near future.
  18. Great Britain is planning to ban the sale of conventional gas and diesel vehicles from 2040 to help reduce air pollution. The government announced this in a paper published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). "There should be no new diesel or petrol vehicles by 2040," said environment minister Michael Gove to BBC Radio. This is part of the government's £2.7bn blueprint for tackling air pollution. This includes investments going towards building out a charging infrastructure, more efficient public transport, and promoting walking and bicycling. It needs to be noted that the ban will not affect models with hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains - early reports said all gas and diesel vehicles would be banned. This announcement comes a few weeks after France made a similar announcement to ban gas vehicles by 2040. Source: Reuters
  19. Great Britain is planning to ban the sale of conventional gas and diesel vehicles from 2040 to help reduce air pollution. The government announced this in a paper published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). "There should be no new diesel or petrol vehicles by 2040," said environment minister Michael Gove to BBC Radio. This is part of the government's £2.7bn blueprint for tackling air pollution. This includes investments going towards building out a charging infrastructure, more efficient public transport, and promoting walking and bicycling. It needs to be noted that the ban will not affect models with hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains - early reports said all gas and diesel vehicles would be banned. This announcement comes a few weeks after France made a similar announcement to ban gas vehicles by 2040. Source: Reuters View full article
  20. My buddy w/ the Volt and soon Bolt has two sons, one 17 and one 15...same way, neither has an interest in driving, they are interested in computers and technology. Both are interning this summer at the consulting company where I used to work. Probably both will be off to college to study CS. Which is my world---always been into computers, but I did always have an interest in cars...different world today...

  21. Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    A Horse With No Name replied to William Maley's topic in Staff Reviews

    Pretty much...Where is OCNblu when we need a good crank around here? Meanwhile here in the United States, our Fascist coke-head in chief and his meth addicted followers want us to move backwards to coal.
  22. Pretty much true....my kids friends regard a car as an expensive environmental disaster... When sex is something you do in a darkened room with the volume turned down..and you are still living at home so mom can wash the sheets afterwards....why would you want a car to take a girl out? I gave them seed money for their dreams, and we are going to see if the credit app fly's.

  23. Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    dfelt replied to William Maley's topic in Staff Reviews

    So France and UK has banded them, Germany is considering it. I figure if Germany does it, then the rest of EU will and over the next 10 to 20 years, Diesel will dwindle to nothing there except for commercial trucks and buses. Everything else will go hybrid / EV. This will also kill it for pretty much the rest of the world too. After all China has banned Diesel auto's now and is aggressively moving to Hybrid / EV.

  24. Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    Cubical-aka-Moltar replied to William Maley's topic in Staff Reviews

    And Europe has been the biggest, strongest market for diesels..if this goes EU-wide, diesel's future doesn't look good..

  25. Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    dfelt replied to William Maley's topic in Staff Reviews

    Another Nail in Diesel auto's, UK is banning them and has set a deadline for Gas auto's too. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40731164
  26. Easy, If GM or Ford cares to conquest the Honda Coupe buyers, then you take the Honda crappy coupes and put them up against the Turbo 4 bangers and V6 engined Camaro or Mustang. Give them a free drive and compare. I bet you could convince many to make the change. Best way would be to find them in the rental fleets and put them up against the products. Comparison is the only way I can see these people realizing they have better options that are American Options. Otherwise the Asian Lemmings will just move over to some other Asian Lemming auto when no coupe is available. Millennials, what more can be said! No concept of a freedom machine and a way to take a girl out.

  27. Quick Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    dfelt replied to William Maley's topic in Staff Reviews

    Understandable, VW Diesel buyers are a very hard core group. I wish him luck with his Sprinter Camper. The quality of that MB product is the worse ever and now that the Camper vans have been out, I am not seeing anything better in regards to their quality or lack of high cost repairs. Agreed, The Diesel should have had the Premium package minimum since your already have the higher cost diesel. The RS Trim should be base model on this car. While I agree that Diesel is a bad investment for any company now, I think GM already had gone down the road to far to turn back or just shut it down and so you have this car. I doubt GM will do another. In regards to HCCI, I have not seen anything that continues to show success and durability in a HCCI Gas engine. I expect more Hybirds like the VOLT than HCCI engines over the next 5 years. Course many will be CUV's.
  28. Another random observation...a buddy of mine who is fast closing in on 50 is getting his midlife urge for a fun car from his youth..he's hunting for a clean late 80s Trans Am, a car he wanted when he was young but never had. (He did have a Sunbird for a while). Has a Silverado and a Tahoe now. He's got two teenage boys, and is trying to get them interested in a car like that as a family project...he said they have no interest in cars or driving, all they want do is play Minecraft and other games....
  29. LMFAO on this!!! LOL on that! A blue, a yellow and a green one. Tweety, Bluey and Charlie. Can you guess which one is the green one? Well, Bluey wants a blue Superbird we settled for a regular blue Roadrunner. Tweety wants the car with the Screaming Chicken on the hood. I said Tweety...Ill get you the one with the Screaming Chicken on the hood, but its a Phoenix and the car is a Trans Am. Ill get you that Trans Am, but Ill get you a Firehawk Trans Am. You ROCK dude is what I told him! Charlie. Charlie is a tad jealous at this point. He starts yelling that he wants an Eagle car. The Eagle he told me...THE EAGLE! And he pointed to the iPhone as he used Siri to show me this Lets just say Charlie is sleeping with the fishes. Hey! His choice was not a Muscle Car!
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