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It will be a combination of the first two.

CAFE is largely what has moved people into crossovers and trucks. If CAFE were to continue, it should be equally enforced on trucks and SUVS. Imagine how fuel efficient an F-150 could be if, instead of inflating it as quickly as American asses are getting fat, they kept it the size of 20 years ago.

It's offered on other Buick models currently. It was standard on my parents 2006 Lucerne CXL. You've never had your wipers at a certain speed only to have a car plow a wave of water at your windshield? The rainsense usually reacts quicker than you... or how about being at a red light and hearing the wiper chatter go over a mostly dry windshield because it's drizzling, but you stopped... but the wipers are on a preset intermittent cycle? Or how about when the weather keeps changing between downpours and lighter rain... and your wipers just take care of it because they're automatic...

I have a former coworker who has the title Chief Awesome Officer at a major software company. I've never been much into titles, my current one is nominally Java Consultant/Technical Lead. I've been w/ my client in Scottsdale for over 3 1/2 years..at times it's really boring, but there is no overtime, I have a good bill rate and benefits, and I work from home 100%. Can't complain too much.

The new Jetta is the best new small car for people who don't like the looks of the new Civic.

Sorry, but your statement about Sonic safety is rubbish. Sonic was one of the earliest small cars to get top crash test ratings. Indeed the gamma platform gets great ratings across the board. The crash test ratings for our Encore were a selling point for us. Sonic is built in the US at US wages and sells at a low price. Trax is built in Korea at Korean wages and sells at a higher price. Aside from the AWD available in the Trax, they are the same vehicle in terms of material costs yet there is a $5k spread in base price to the Trax's advantage.

I could see the Escala being a 4dr fastback coupe version of the Escalade...

I am going to enjoy this...watching stupid people do stupid things means we have the right to laugh at them. Rest of the world will pass us by methinks. Tesla is starting to go in the tank and will not recover IMHO. https://www.wsj.com/articles/facing-u-s-tariffs-china-plans-countermeasures-1521632332 Just like trade wars are coming back to haunt us, this will come back to haunt us. California and the rest of the world.

• Wave of water? Sure; I've had that happen. NBD, it runs right off/ Rain-X/ wipers are on intermittent anyway. Never felt the necessity to panic-hit the wipers to full blast. Remember; I was already looking right thru my windshield, so I know what's out there even if obscured for a few seconds. • Wiper chatter? Very very seldom; I usually get comments from passengers I don't have the wipers running fast enough, not too fast. I just don't feel I'm yet helpless enough I can't address these few scenarios myself.

Titles in general don't impress me... this one though.... If I accept....

Rain sensing wipers aren't about the on-off, though that's nice. Rain sense is that the car automatically adjusts the wipe interval while driving depending on the intensity of the rain.

This is one of the few areas where size doesn't matter as long as you do it right. A SMART can take out the front third of an E-Class in a frontal offset collision and the passenger compartment of the SMART will survive enough that the doors will still open. GM got the Gamma platform very very right in regards to crash safety. While the Sonic, Fiesta, Versa are all in the same size class, driving them back to back should put to bed any doubts you have as to which is the more solid vehicle. The Fiesta and Versa feel like thinly built cheap vehicles... which they largely are. The Sonic feels more like a cut down Malibu. It has a mass to it that the other two do not have. Get yourself a Sonic with the RS package and the 1.4T, it has a sportier gearing and while not need for speed fast it won't be slow either.

Not sure why. My Encore is great around town. I sit in heavy city traffic in the Encore nearly every day. I had it in Manhattan last week. Sonic is one of the few small cars I would feel comfortable in and is also comfortable for long trips. Fiesta and Versa are the ones that make me nervous.

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body. One said, "It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints." Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections." The last said, "Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before studying engineering, if someone asked me what 1+1 is, I would have said "2." Now, I'd say "I'm pretty sure it's 2, but we'd better make it 3 just to be safe." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? Seven. One to install the new bulb and six to figure out what to do with the old one for the next 10,000 years.

A physicist, an engineer and a programmer were in a car driving over a steep alpine pass when the brakes failed. The car was getting faster and faster, they were struggling to get round the corners and once or twice only the feeble crash barrier saved them from crashing down the side of the mountain. They were sure they were all going to die, when suddenly they spotted an escape lane. They pulled into the escape lane, and came safely to a halt. The physicist said "We need to model the friction in the brake pads and the resultant temperature rise, see if we can work out why they failed". The engineer said "I think I've got a few spanners in the back. I'll take a look and see if I can work out what's wrong". The programmer said "Why don't we get going again and see if it's reproducible?" A guy is standing on the corner of the street smoking one cigarette after another. A lady walking by notices him and says "Hey, don't you know that those things can kill you? I mean, didn't you see the giant warning on the box?!" "That's OK" says the guy, puffing casually "I'm a computer programmer" "So? What's that got to do with anything?" "We don't care about warnings. We only care about errors."

The Sonic is the nicest car in its class. It has a lot of heart, character and style. And it rides quieter than a lot of its competitors. Over onto the social media, whenever Chevy posts a promotional photo of the Sonic, ppl cry that it has lost some of its mojo with the MCE. This could also be a reason for its sales decline. I really like the new look of the car, but I guess I'm in the minority. I have this feeling that GM purposely sabotaged the car with the MCE knowing there would be an outcry from the faithful. They want to sell more Trax at a higher price... but they needed to "build out" more Sonics to get their money out of the tooling... so they "wounded" it. Mortally. But its death had to be eventual, not immediate. Now if only the dowdy Trax had anywhere near the fun spirit of the Sonic... a replacement for the Trax cannot come soon enough. And it needs to be good.

And the reason why a Fusion might surplant the Taurus as a SEDAN cop car (as the Explorer is doing a fine job as a police interceptor model really the one to replace the Taurus) is that the Fusion Interceptor is sold as a hybrid.

The XT5 outsells all of the Germans in its price class and all but one of the Japanese and it's not groundbreaking either... Nor is any of the competition. All the XT4 needs to do is duplicate that.

I'll have to check it out..wipers were a rarely used feature in the desert, but I do use them often in NE Ohio...

It's one of those nice-to-have little luxuries. Wouldn't mind having them on some future car.

After totaling my 2011 Fiesta in August of 2011, I swore at that time I would never buy another car that small. But the Chevy Sonic feels so much more solid and secure, I would bend that vow.

Chevy needs an Edge sized crossover, hopefully that is what their version of the Acadia/XT5 is.

Acadia is only an optional 3-row. In terms of overall bulk, they feel pretty darn close. Most of that 5.5 inches lost would be in the cargo area, so to the passengers, they'll feel largely the same. Edge, Grand Cherokee, Acadia, Murano, all sit roughly in the same space.

Ever have an offer for a fantastic job that you would love to do, but the money just isn't there for you to be able to accept? Yeah, that's where I am right now. I realize there is something to be said for job satisfaction, but I still gotta pay my bills in the meantime. Anyway, I've held out so far, not turning them down but telling them that the money isn't there and I would be giving up too many benefits to make a move. They want to meet next week to offer me a 3rd time. Edit: and the job title... oh the job title. I covet that as much as anything else with associated with the job.

Acadia = Edge

That is a fantastic price for that lil runabout.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/05/ecuadorean-villagers-may-still-triumph-over-chevron/ More on how Dead Dino juice is not in our best interests...getting rid of or at least cutting the financial hegemony of Oil companies would be so good for humanity.

Since I know you like manuals, the RS is also available with a 6-speed row your own. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. IT's also one of the better/best/easiest to drive manual transmission setups anywhere close to the class. A BMW or Mini may do it better, but you'll also pay 50% to 100% more. Good luck trying to find one in that setup though.

Escalade... Escala... Yeah...just by the name, I could see it being a SUV. Ill just be grateful that the actual name of Escala makes it and Johan does NOT change it to an alphanumeric. I have no real concerns if the Halo vehicle of Cadillac is indeed a SUV. However, I DO want Cadillac to produce a Ciel! A Cien would be nice too, but I really really would prefer that a Ciel would be a part of a Cadillac portfolio. And an El Miraj waaaay before a Cien gets a red light. If a Ciel and an El Miraj have to be lower on the Halo vehicle scale due to a Halo vehicle being a SUV...I gots NO PROBLEMS!!!!

Since the 1980s and 90s are long over, who said it could NOT be the next SUV/CUV as the halo car for Cadillac? Think about this: the halo car concept as a top of the line sedan is obsolete. Of course, that does NOT mean that the CT6 should disappear. Indeed it needs to continue. The real question is whether an XT7 or an Escalade will be Cadillac's halo vehicle for the next decade or two. That sounds weird in the face of the S-Class, the 7 series and the Lexus LS, but there is no guarantee that those large luxury RWD sedans will stay as the halo cars of their respective car marques.

Thanx for all this info!!! I laughed with this quote. Seeing that I LOVE the GM A-Body ( I also LOVE the ALL the GM fullsizers of that time too but dream car of all time is a 1970 442...) Im kinda embarrassed by that statement. I respect your opinion on cars, and I do NOT want that statement to be true! Ill just pretend I did not see you write it up... You see, in my own little world, the 1970 442 is just the greatest thing on earth. The Best Balthy! The Best! This statement had me not only LOL-ing...but LMAO-ing! Several notches above that actually. LMFAO level to be accurate. And yes. The Yaris SUCKS!

An oldie but a goodie: A software engineer, a hardware designer and Bill Gates are driving in car on the freeway. Suddenly the car breaks down, the engine stops. The software engineer says: “I think that car ran out if gas. Let’s walk to the nearest gas station and get some gas, put it in the car and then it will start again.” The hardware designer says: “I think the muffler broke off, let’s fix it and then we can go on. “ Bill Gates says: “I’m not sure what the problem is but let’s close all the windows, and then try restarting.”

I would not mind fossil fueled vehicles if their proponents would pay for the foreign wars, the cost of escorting tankers, the moral cost of doing business with people like the highly corrupt Saudi's, the need to maintain a political alliance with apartheid Israel so we have at least one friend in the region, the environmental costs of fracking, the heath costs of polluted air, and the like. All of this goes unaddressed by the fossil fuel advocates so I guess they are conceding this argument to people on my side of the fence. Morally this decision by the administration is ethically is vile IMHO. But again, in that case, if those costs were up front costs, fuel would be $25 a gallon at least...and electric cars would win in a free market world of actual realized costs.

Once a priest asks a rabbi: "Tell me the truth: you never tasted bacon, not even once?" The rabbi says: "Well once, when I was young I was curious, I tried it once, yes it was delicious" Than rabbi asks priest: "Tell me the truth: you never had sex with a women, not even once?" The priests answers: "Well once, when I was young I was curious I spent a night with a woman." The rabbi than says: "No comparison to bacon isn't it?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once a rabbi and a priest find a bag full of money. They split the money and discuss what to do with it. The priest says: "I will donate all my share to the Catholic church to serve God" The rabbi says: "I will make a pact with God, I will throw all the money in the air, whatever he wants he will take, the rest will be for me"

* No- no aftermarket washer system- just wasn't done in my experience/knowledge. '70 GTO had a dedicated cut-out in the lower dash for the wiper switch, I believe they all had the push-function for washers. Yes- would've been twin metal nozzles aimed at the windshield from the cowl vents. • Looks like the Goat had a generic light-up bar on the speedo, right under '70', rather than the big car's Indian Head indicator. I've always maintained that GM de-engineered the A-Bodies from the full-size cars. • Just to keep this topical, the Yaris sucks.

That...and just maybe...the Sonic is simply just...a shytty car! Is a Mazda 2 a shytier car? Quite possibly. Is a Nissan Micra an equal pile of...? I dunno. Maybe the Sonic is a good little car, all I know I wouldnt be caught dead seen in one let alone me buying one.

The Taurus is the police car, not the Fusion. As for the Sonic, I suspect that the real reason is lack of sales and very tough competition from the Yaris and Fit and Rio and Accent and the Mazda 3 more than anything else.

If you are thin skinned or take things personally I guess there could be a problem. However these are is jest and I'll tell anyone offended to go bleep themselves. I'm not then skinned, easily offended, or politically correct. It would be very difficult to offend me. There are jokes that I have heard that I will not share here because it is not the appropriate venue. However there are jokes that are just plain racist and don't have a place anywhere. I think we all know the difference between in jest and unappropriate. It's no different than a joke you would tell in your circle of friends versus a joke you would tell at the company office party.

The Spark I was in was a base trim, and it was horrific. The Sonic in the driveway here is an LTZ, and it's a pretty nice teeny car; I know which one I've vote to discontinue between the 2. Plus, I'm surprised Chevy doesn't keep it for CAFE purposes.

So strange, yet cool at the same time....

Ugh; Wretched. Minus (because such certainly isn't a plus); a toyota.

Sure...but isnt that how the bubble burst in 2009? Great...but didnt deregularization of Wallstreet in the 1980s by a Republican cause all that greed and shyte to hit the fan and send all of our jobs elsewhere and in the process creating a throw-out society which eventually led to the aforementioned bubble...oh...the de-regularization of mortgages in the 1990s by a Democratic also lead to that and now this current guy in power wants to bring back the jobs... I guess it would be a radical idear.... To have no limits JUST BECAUSE we can...because 'Merica Godammit! because obviously we humans have self-control and our leaders and our barter entrepreneurs care about the welfare of our being and are responsible and in no way do all of us as a species destroy the very phoquing planet we inhabit... I dedicate this song to you, because birthday

The 7G-Tronic is a longitudinal transmission, not a transverse transmission. If Mercedes couldn't design and build a decent front wheel drive transmission, they should have contacted the experts over at GM.

Really? You don't know why they didn't use the automatic from the 2003-2018 era? Put on your deerstalker cap there Sherlock..... maybe you'll figure it out. The question was never and is never about raw performance in these crossovers. It is about drivability around town the way 99.9999999% of people use them. A jumpy, laggy engine transmission combo is not going to be as satisfying as one with low lag and no jumpiness. The XT4 will do better than the GLA there and still have plenty of scoot.

There were engineering reasons for that. They added balance shafts to smooth out the previously rough engine. Once they got that sorted out they started increasing hp again. Also, about 10 years ago... "In December 2008, GM released a Turbo Upgrade Kit for the LNF engine which increases horsepower to 290 hp (220 kW) and torque to up to 340 ft⋅lb (460 N⋅m), depending on the model. The kit retails for $650 and includes remapped engine calibration and upgraded MAP sensors. The kit is covered by the cars' existing GM warranties." And before you try to play the CLA/GLA43 card SMK... It took MB 10 years to catch up to and exceed the power output of a 2008 Cobalt SS. A tuning decision is a tuning decision. It is not a indicator of engineering ability when a company has already proven itself able. Power delivery also matters and nearly every review of the CLA complains of turbo lag. So a fat lot of good that extra lb-ft is doing when it takes an extra 3 clicks of the mouse to get it.

i believe i read where it said this the AFM allows it to run on two cylinders? if an engine is redesigned, it can possibly be -lighter or smaller to fit in engine bay easier -simpler -cheaper -easier to manuf. -incorporate new technologies -more power -better mpg

We really need to dispense with the horsepower as a benchmark thing. It's not doing any of us any favors to be fixated on it. Lots of torque, way down low, is the best, way to go.

The exact same way the e-class has a small back seat.

This 2.0T is all new and for now is a Cadillac exclusive. More details will be released on it later, but I have an in with Cadillac and plan on getting the information ahead of time so I can release as soon as embargo is lifted. What he did tell me is that the engine is tuned heavily towards favoring low end torque (258lb-ft at 1500rpm!!) and they plan on making full use of the 9-speed gearbox. It should feel plenty fast. Just like my Encore has a rather pathetic 138 lb-ft but with very low gearing in first and second, it feels just as peppy in suburban driving as cars with 160 - 180 lb-ft. An additional 120 lb-ft and 3 additional gears with only marginally more weight... it'll be fine. Plastic Cladding.... only acceptable on European cars I guess. Look at all this plasticy plastic plastic.