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I think in EV vehicles, which wheels drive matters less because the weight balance of the car is so different. FWD was "better in snow" because you had all the weight of the engine on the front tires to help with adhesion. In a pure EV that isn't based off an IC car, the weight can be wherever they want it to be.. front, back, middle... doesn't matter. Put the motor and a stack of batteries in the rear of an EV and it'll go in snow just as well as any FWD.

You'd think a guy who flipped & flopped his hands around so much might put them to use to clean out his shithoard garage for once.

Been saying this for years. Even wrote something here about "in the wake of AWD as an option how is RWD or FWD needed or superior? " That was when the XTS concept debuted I think in '09. I was speaking of Luxury then.. but this seems to want to go all the way.. This is what I wrote: AWD is the real hero of luxury.. and being able to augment that AWD is even more so.. Cadillac's Sport mode and U get a 20/80 front/rear split, Tour gets 40/60, and Snow mode splits it right down the middle. I love that. In fact I wouldn't be surprised one bit if the reason why AWD is standard in almost all iterations of the CT6 is because Cadillac decided to profitably package an upgrade in that cost them little, but offered a justifiable reason to charge more for the product. The silliness of people talking about a 204 inch, 122 WB large luxury car in the same terms as they would a RWD Camaro is ridiculous. The same goes for the HIGH UP vehicles..aka CUVs. Having a weee bit more power in the XT5 and XT4 as an option is 100.. but the chassis for at leats the XT5, as I haven't driven the XT4 yet, is perfect for 100% of the people buying them. AWD is a luxury. Offering AWD all the time is offering a luxury ALL THE TIME. For some reason I find, more often than not, on these forums, that many forum goers feel that limitation of choice is the desire of most Luxury buyers. As a luxury buyer I whole-heartedly would like to disagree with that notion. Marketing should certainly steer buyers in the direction of the AWD version for profit reasons, not to mention performance credibility. While the segment does not demand super performance, having a car this large, a large saloon, being capable of great handling is a plus. The CT6, still imo, is offering AWD for marketing purposes, not to mention built in profit. That is the absolute only reason the Audi A8 sells AWD-only here, yet offers a FWD version in Europe. With this car the absence of the weight penalty usually associated with AWD allows Cadillac to sell an AWD model at 95% of the line-up and still be lighter than many of the single drive competitors

They do that now in their AWD crossovers...

I think there is further to go simply because I think a recession is on the way. Just look at the list of vehicles on the chopping block: Sonic, Cruze, Impala, Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, Taurus, 300, Charger, Lacrosse, CT6, Volt Camry seeing a reduction in production. Accord down, Civic down..... It is seismic.

I am going to disagree with Toyota CEO. I first think the recession we have starting is going to cool sales off further and that especially includes cars sales at the bottom end as lower income workers become even more frugal with their money due to credit card debt. Second, I think more and more people who bought in the last 1-3 years will also hold off or if in a lease renew to a like vehicle or buy outright the auto. I hear plenty of people talk about how they would like to reduce the cost of maintenance of their auto. EVs seem to be that next step, people I think are going to hold off on buying to move to an EV. Third, I am seeing more cities focus on inner and outer city mass transit and with the push for denser living, I suspect we will see more use in mass transit which will cool or keep even auto sales. I actually do not see them ticking up over the next 3 to 5 years over what they have been. Toyota very well could see a gain in car sales but that will be only due to Ford and GM leaving the car market to focus on Trucks / SUV / CUVs with traditional ICE and Electric power trains.

Should hold enough kids.... ?

RIVIAN Electric Adventure Vehicles WebSite This coming LA auto show we will be introduced to the world's first electric adventure vehicles. November 30th to December 9th at the LA Auto Show you will be able to see their Pickup Truck and SUV. The company's tagline is to explore the planet and charge deeper into the world farther and deeper than ever before by building electric vehicles that allow you to explore be it a big or small adventure. RIVIAN electric adventure vehicles will reimagine the truck and SUV with offering the following: Up to a 400+ mile range per charge Sub 3 seconds zero to 60 Superior capability on and off road RIVIAN has engineered their skateboard platform to handle the city or the summit, rain or shine by leveraging the laws of physics. To quote their website, expect superior handling on anything you might call a road with their Dynamic Roll Control. Superior Air Suspension to assist with getting over, around under, etcl the obstacles in the road. Final part of this is the smooth, quiet, impeccable manners, on road and off of the pure electric propulsion system. RIVIAN secured funding and took over the former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois where full production of their truck and SUV will begin in 2019 and rolling off the assembly line for sale by 2020. You can watch Bloomberg interview with the CEO and founder of RIVIAN here: RIVIAN CEO-Founder Interview R.J. Scaringe, founder and ceo is focused on the auto industry and Tesla by offering a product that is not offered by any other company. The interview brings up how EV companies have come and go and asks why they think they will survive and succeed where others have not. Very good interview. I like him much better than Musk. RIVIAN Truck Teaser RIVIAN SUV image from the video RIVIAN battery packs Rivian is also looking at additional ways to use their technology outside the auto industry and has stated they will have some exciting announcements in the near future of where you can find RIVIAN products. Based on watching the videos and going over their news section off their website, I would not be surprised to see home battery backup systems tied to solar or wind as well as the CEO says use in consumer electronics. The four arrows in their directional logo symbolize the values and behaviors that inform every decision they make. The two outer arrows express their mission to make the world a better place through innovation and adventure. The two inner arrows represent their core desire to be inspiring and inviting to all. Quote: This is more than a logo - it's our promise to always point you in the right direction.

Driven: 2018 Buick Regal Sportback GS 3.6 AWD and Regal TourX Essence 2.0t AWD Prior review thread worth reading of 2018 Regal Sportback here. So I won't get too deep into here, I'll try to add on what is notably different or of relevance. REGAL GS HIGHS: -sexy look for the GS package -feature laden, the GS package is, heated and cooled seats with memory, heads up display, etc. Lots of content. -v6 for those that don't want a 4 cylinder. -Manual mode with the shifter is delightfully simple, slide to left, tap up / tap down. Explains why no need for paddle shifters, which using the lever is much easier in this car. 9 speed tranny is really good as well. -Love the thick rim flat bottom steering wheel. -All the efficient space and packaging benefits of the sportback. LOWS: -Heavy, heavy. Strangely porky compared to its FWD platform mates. The v6 plus AWD pays the price with extra heft. -V6 has nice specs, and can be quick, but doesn't feel like a great powertrain. Engine is not engaging or super smooth, nor does it have an endearing sound quality. Lack of turbo also means not a big thrust unless you wind it up. Throttle response is ok but it really doesn't like to rev. It's better as a cruiser. -Can't really feel much of anything different when sport mode is turned on. -Nothing really great about the steering and handling. Sure its a bit sportier and quicker and has decent feel. But there's nothing there to suggest sports sedan. It's just an appearance package like the old Bonneville SSE. -Can't turn off autostop -Needs a power hatch, especially with all the extra kit elsewhere in the GS package. Plus the wagon, it's available. -Design your seats for your likely buyers, which is white older men in the midwest. We are large and wide. These seats are too narrow and the bolsters too much for a cornfield state cruiser (you didn't tune your handling and powertrain for a sports sedan, so why the seats?) -heads up display is initially hard to get used to and a bit gimmicky. Maybe it takes an adjustment, but with the gauge displays so fancy nowadays, not sure this has huge benefit. May have to use this feature again more. -interior of the Regal, as has been said in many reviews online, could stand to be better overall. SUMMARY: It's good that Buick doesn't expect to sell a lot of these. It's a nice option to have this car, but the execution is consistent with the online reviews that are out there for this car. It's really a Regal with v6 and AWD and a lot of features. It's not all of a piece, it's not German, it's not a performer (although it does scoot a bit, it just isn't exciting in any way). At the end of the day, it looks cool and has 2 more cylinders than the plain Regals. It's really just a tarted up highway cruiser like the old Pontiac GT's and SSE's. This particular rig was a GM exec car, so what that means is they are not selling, and so a GM lifer gets to drive it for 3 months or whatever and then it hits the used market. Perhaps had GM put a twin turbo six into it and dialed it in for superb chassis and not just good cruiser chassis I think they would have been on to something. I just don't think they are committed to marketing this Regal line so it was far easier to just package it up like they did here. The 3.6 is underwhelming in this application here like it can be in other products. In a Traverse its more of character. Here it's just not suited to the part of performance car. Doesn't stimulate the senses or feel like a great powertrain in any way. Add to it the indifferent chassis and heft and you just don't get awesome for the dollar here. I think if Buick lightened the feature list a bit, kept the sexy body work, and put in the AGR seats of the Euro Regal and the great brakes, flat bottom wheel....on a FWD chassis with some great tuning and a hopped up 2.0t, they'd have something that may sell a few more copies. Simply call it 'Sport Touring'. We don't need an AVENIR. I don't think there is much effort being put into anything on the Buick side for marketing at GM these days. I may be perceived as harsh here but I would give the GS Regal a C+. Mainly just due to styling and feature content. Eventually I'll get my TourX notes up here. I like the TourX, but it's not super different than the Sportback. The extra cargo area is nice, the AWD does add some heft and it feels a bit less quick than the FWD Sportback. The big moonroof is a huge win in my book. I would love to see a FWD Regal wagon with GS style bodywork here in the US, I think that would be the winner of the Regal offerings for me.

Quite frankly I’ve seen some bonehead moves in the auto industry over the last 35 years.. but this one might just take the cake. I’m not gonna speak on crazy comebacks that didn’t get enough attention and they crashed and burned like the Oldsmobile debacle.. and how GM was gonna rename the company Aurora.. put out class leading cars like the Aurora, Intrigue and Alero.. then killed the division. We won’t talk about the super cool Trofeo Toronada.. or the bend to tree-huggers with killing Hummer instead of simply merging it with GMC. Naaaah.. I’m not gonna bring up the fact that they killed the unanimously voted best sports sedan Chevy SS.. but instead of saying “hey We have this great new platform for mid and fullsize vehicle in Alpha and Omega.. we could merge the almost as great Impala with this vehicle.. give it AWD options and engines from 4-8 cyclinders and absolutely STAB the market.” Hell they could have even went the opposite way and simply given the Impala all the options of the XTS from start, and detuned the engine for argument sake. I won’t even whisper about the fact that they had all of us luxury shoppers wishing and waiting for a full size RWD/AWD Cadillac that absolutely made us proud.. gave us one.. then turned around and gave it a super V8 engine as we had begged them for.. and hen they killed it!!! OH Wait.. That’s exactly what I’m gonna talk about. This morning I took my 2016 CTS-V to the dealership for a simple Recall procedure. No parts were exchanged, just a reprogram I’m told. The recall was for the steering module. All in all I dropped it off at 9am and they called me at 12p to let me know that it was complete. Of course I wasn’t able, nor willing to go back there to pick up my beautiful Rose. I had meeting all day, not to mention they loaned me a pristine, well equipped Black Raven 2018 CT6 Premium Luxury with Super-Cruise and a 3.6L V6. The Drive: I have driven the CT6 before, but not once had I ever driven a 3.6L for anything other than a quick test drive. The engine I’m most familiar with is the 3.0lTT, which was not on the menu today. I do have to say that if I were in charge of Cadillac’s engine choices, the 3.6L would not be in any of their cars. I say this for superficial reasons only. As a way of differentiation... I believe that Cadillac should only have forced induction offering. What that means is that in a CT6, a car coming in with a 122.4 inch Wheelbase, 204 inches long and curb weight varying from 3700-4400lbs, a 3.0LTTV6 (404HP) would be the base, and the upcoming two iterations of the 4.2L TTV8 would be its mid (500HP) and top (550HP) engine choices. All that being said.. the 3.6L actually moves this vehicle around quite well with a mere 335HP. I mean really well. That’s coming from a guy who dropped off a 650HP mid-sizer before hopping in this humongous automobile. And speaking of which. Driving the CT6 even with just 335HP, and all that length, I never felt as though I were driving a big car. Take a drive in an LS460, S-Class, 7series, or fat ass Audi A8.. U actually feel like U are driving a big car. No the case with the CT6. I almost felt like I was still maneuvering my CTS, a car that is almost 8 inches shorter. Super-Cruise: Wow. Check out my video. This is something else. I will say that GM lawyers were definitely consulted on this, but even with their certain input, the tech really works.

The past couple of years has seen a lot of talk about consumers are turning away from cars towards trucks and utility vehicles. U.S. automakers have responded to this trend by announcing cuts to their car lineup - General Motors being the latest one. But other automakers are being more cautious. Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America told a gathering at the Detroit Economic Club last week that car sales are reaching the point of bottoming out - just under 30 percent in November sales. Unlike the American brands, Lentz isn't giving up on cars as they represent more than 4 million compact, midsize, and near-luxury cars sold to buyers. "There’s no way I’m going to walk away from that. We are always going to have a bias toward passenger cars,” said Lentz. The Associated Press reports that sales of passenger cars "are on pace to be 800,000 vehicles below 2017, while truck and SUV sales should increase by the same amount." Source: Associated Press View full article

Seems that Rivian has it's first customer. Pininfarina is being reported by Autocar India as having purchased the rights and will use the Rivian Skareboard chassis to build their PF1 Luxury Performance SUV. Pinifarina is building a PF0 hypercar using tech from Croatian EV maker Rimac. Now they will build their PF1 SUV based on the Rivian Skateboard with external and internal style by Pininfarina. Expected to launch in 2021, the PF1 will have 1,088 HP and is to compete against the Lamborghini Urus which arrives in 2020 with 650 HP. Pininfarina PF1 will weight about 600 pounds more, but also have 538 more HP over the Urus. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/12/10/pininfarina-pf1-suv-rivian-ev-platform/

Did toyoto make any announcement that the yaris is going to be discontinued? They've only moved 26K thru Nov, and that's a 39% decrease from the year before. Seems logical it's on the chopping block; all the brought-over scion models are dead, 86/FRS has only sold 3K units/yr and that's down 40%; another car waiting to die. Lexus could happily survive on the ES & LS cars (plus the SUVs)- toyoyo has a lot of house cleaning to do.

@regfootball Totally agree with what you have stated, I know way too many 50 year olds up to baby boomers who hate having to do squats to get into and out of a car and just want to slide their ass into the seat. My parents are perfect examples of why they love their Cadillac SRX 2004 and 2008 models. They can just slide into and out of those cars and are very happy with them. As the US ages, tastes changes and cars are on the decline, I am hoping we will see cheaper CUVs to replace them.

I think manufacturers had some models they hoped would sell more, become niche sellers, like a Taurus. But hello, the Taurus was fresh in 2010 so you have to change models much more quickly than 8 years or whatever. Mfr's have to act faster to keep up with hot sellers and so I think they want to trim number of models and put more resources into nailing volume segments. Or segments with more margin, or both. Still, as always happens, gas goes up in price, the market changes, and then customers respond. We got the new Focus and new Cruze in 2011/2012 and all the luxury compact cars. People embraced those and now after an ownership cycle of pricey gas and stagnant economy, we have cheap gas and good economy and so people want to buy Expeditions and pickups again. Bob Lutz i think said people will buy as large as they can afford and that is CUV's, trucks and SUV's because big sedans are taboo. Aging population, no one wants to bend down to get into and out of cars, this also why sedans are losing sales. Not everyone wants an SUV but it is true part of the reason for SUV / CUV sales is the easy to get into factor. 20 years ago, not many choices for taller sitting vehicles. Now its more the norm and more people are making the choice for it. "Sonic, Cruze, Impala, Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, Taurus, 300, Charger, Lacrosse, CT6, Volt" those are all cars with limited interior space or they are low riders that people don't want to get into and out of. Just by that nature the numbers would go down if still on the market. We can be simplistic and merely say if Chevy pulls the Impala, the Blazer is really it's replacement. Ford will lose Fusion and Taurus but now the Edge may just double in volume. Compact CUV's give the illusion of space due to sitting high but their cargo holds with seats up are actually not equal to many sedans. I see where compact SUV segment tops out in sales and the Blazer, Edge Murano segment gets cheaper access to entry and more market volume. This is a segment too where A Buick is needed, a 2 row version of the Enclave / Enspire whatever. Note Honda recognizes this and has the Passport. 2 row larger crossovers without the third row.

Criminal High-flyer. Never cared for him as a business man. Looks like a weasel and clearly was a slick one till it caught up to him. I say prosecute for everything. Make an example.

Toyota makes relatively few Tundras compared to demand for them, hence the high resale value. Ditto for Tacoma. Toyota knows that the RAV4 and the Venza and Highlander are rolling in sales and profits, right? They can slash Camry and Yaris and Corolla production and make more $$$$ right now if they wanted to. RAV4 is the highest-selling (non-BOF) vehicle on the road right now.

The Tundra really is a pig compared to the F150, Silverado and Ram. I have no idea why they have such high residual value, or find buyers at all for that matter. Tacoma has a cult following, and is the complete opposite situation.

He did present himself as quite the hack.

Not only clean out his garage, if he cared about anything other than listening to his voice, how about cleaning up the old bags of waste on the background. But sticking to cars, how about the occasional engine bay cleaning, how dirty his car is behind him. The cut in change is terrible, clearly does not care about anything but bashing GM. He has no knowledge of the VOLT, clearly is just a bashing due to some past experience that he still is pissed about. WOW, talk about an idiot in how he addresses the ignition recall, praises Fiat, what a joke. Clearly is all about buying american made Japanese products and ends with a watch my repair videos and ring my bell for support. What an Idiot. Have to say it was one of the hardest videos to watch, I would not watch that again unless there was a point I missed that was so important I had to see it.

Here's the other thing; toyota is chained to cars - that's where their volume is. Their CUVs sell well but their trucks do not, and they can't figure out how to get around that, so cutting cars to shift (partially) to trucks wouldn't work for their business model.

@Robert Hall He rocks, loved the Kill BIll movies, but seeing him in concert is Awesome! Thanks for posting. Would love to have seen his full concert with the Orchestra as that looks like it was a Rock'in Concert.

To quote Christian Buhlmann of Volkswagen product line communications for e-mobility: "It doesn't make much sense because if you think of the starting torque that you have and the dynamic weight distribution, the weight is lifted from the front axle towards the rear axle," he said. "That's exactly where you need the torque to be in your acceleration moment. Therefore, it physically doesn't make sense to use only the front axle if you have the vehicle that offers a lot of torque right from the start. " This was his response in regards to the question of FWD or RWD for electric vehicles and why? With the ease of ability to package the motors front, rear, or AWD and running a few cables, it really boils down to the efficiency of where the motor makes the most sense. As such, EVs will be moving to RWD / AWD and with the lower cost of powertrain components, AWD is an easy profitable upgrade. VW like Tesla and all other OEMs has stated, the most expensive part of an EV is the battery pack. VW has admitted that the tradeoff in lower-cost vehicles that need efficiency with a lower cost is why FWD became the rage but those days are over as the dynamics favor the superior driving dynamics of RWD with electric powertrains. Is it a superior looking car over Tesla? Motor Trend Story

I like what I hear here of Keiko Matsui..will have to check out more. For Japanese musicians, one I like is Tomoyasu Hotei, perhaps best known in the West for 'Battle Without Honor or Humanity' used in the movie Kill Bill.

Have to say I am really liking Keiko Matsui new albums. Listening to her "The Piano" album from 2014. Relaxing music to work too. Hair has gotten a bit crazy over her more conservative look. LOL

totally agree.....and adding what Drew said..we have not even seen the bottom yet. add the upcoming recession, and things deliver ugly.....

She didn't get any pics of the Kia. Exchanged insurance info w/ the guy and he was able to drive away, she said his left headlight was broken out, grille damaged, bumper cracked, hood bent. 2015 Optima. She's probably going to work from home today then drive over to Toledo (her client is over there) in her Cadillac tomorrow.

I honestly can see having inexpensive RWD commuter EVs and then you step up into AWD EVs and Luxury / Performance having AWD with Torque vectoring. OEMs can then also have a single set of Controller boards and a customer if later on has the money and wants more power can go online, pay the OEM for the power upgrade and it gets pushed down to the auto to unlock performance improvements, luxury add-ons, etc.

Makes sense. However, most people are used by now to FWD driving dynamics. First heavy rain or snow storm, and there will be a lot crashes and people in the ditch with the new RWD electric vehicles.

End result, we have a delay in the Nissan Leaf Plus their long range EV which should be out now as it would deflect attention away from the corporate issues and bring interest onto their long range EV. Though I hear that right now they cannot produce enough to support Europe and the US. Europe is their bigger market, so the US will take a back seat is how I am reading this. I expect lots of changes at Nissan in the next 90 days including leadership. Pretty much anyone who was involved in this coverup will be gone I think. Japanese honor code will demand that those who were involved are kicked out. Good thing the days of Seppuku are over.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/why-general-motors-is-ditching-the-chevy-volt Good read with clear answers from GM on why they are Ditching the Volt. I can understand it now. This is another example of the bulk of buyers are not getting out of Electric mode and so the engine sits and is the worst thing for it just sitting and never running. The charts supplied also show a valid reason to go all electric over ICE. I think GM's focus on ICE near term with pure electric being the long term plan makes sense. I also now think we will see Cruze like replacement options coming out.

This was my point in terms of engine choices. Using the 7Series and starting with the 740i 3.0-liter BMW TwinPower Turbo inline 6-cylinder 320 hp @ 5500 rpm. Torque: 332 ft-lbs what GM did was (and I'm skipping the non-existent 2.0L Turbo that I have found to be a White Wolf on dealer lots in the area) They gave us the 3.6L 335 HP. @ 6800 RPM. Torque: 284 ft lb. ^^^ @ 4100lbs C&D got 0-60 in 5.9secs The 740i @ 4650lbs does it in 5.4secs.. WHY? Cause of all that torque What should Caddy have done? Instead of the 3.6L.. send it over to Chevy and Buick and be done.. installed a 3.0L TT with say 350HP and a most probable 355 ft-lbs of.. VIOLA!!! The CT6 would have destroyed the BMW in that acceleration contest Vs the 750i? Back then I would have easily said go with the 3.6L TT V6 LF4 @ 464HP vs the BMW 750 with its 4.4-liter BMW TT V-8, @ 443-hp engine.. Yes the BMW would still have more torque, but the Caddy being lighter and having a 20 HP advantage would at least hold its own. As it stands the BMW 750 0-60 is 4.6 secs, the Cadillac CT6 3.0L TT is 5.0 Secs. Ya think 60 more HP would have helped it clobber that BMW? I do. Now of course Cadillac has a 4.2L TT V8 ready with 500 hp and 553 lb-ft. THAT!!! is the 750i competitor imo. The 760i (and Alpina B7) would be the CT6-V's boy.. boasting less HP by 50, but besting in torque by almost 40 ft-lbs. NOTE: Why is BMW continuing to use the V12 when I've heard from a few colleagues who have driven(or owned) both the 760i and B7, reporting back that the V8 in the B7 is ever bit as smooth and more efficient? Anyway.. all that being said, I expect that the tests of the CT6-V bring more questions than answers. As in "WHY THE f@#k.. is Cadillac killing this perfection?" One more thing... INTERIORS: I have said it on more than one occasion.. all of the complaints some people have with interiors and refinement in Cadillacs always.. and I mean always (with exception to the instrument cluster in the ATS-V) seems to die when U experience it in a V. Even the Platinum. The walk from even an XT5 to an XT5 Platinum makes one say.. why is Cadillac not using this platinum interior (or V) in all their cars/suvs above a Luxury model. In fact, kill the Standard and luxury models and start with Premium Lux, Platinum, and V

And even up from there. Look at how fantastic the Kia Stinger is. The momentum is not with the domestics on new and creative thinking for the most part. Look for Benz and the Europeans also to consolidate their lead ina the Luxury segment, and Tesla and others to dominate in electrics. I could really see Ford becoming a utility company buildinf F series and Transits, with some SUV's and Mustangs thrown in for good measure...but largely a utility truck company. GM I could see selling genteel cars for the upper middle class...Buicks and Cadillacs and GMC Denali products. profitable, but MUCH smaller than they are now.

Good news that it is out early next year.... Had to be soccer mom approved.. ?

I sadly have to agree with you on the first step to the grave. There are too many options today for a company to ignor customers from the entry level to the Luxury. With the start of moving to EVs, this will open up many options to smaller company's that can address and offer tech that buyers want that the traditional OEMs are ignoring. I honestly think Rivian will be the next new auto startup that will move forward and take some lunch from the traditional builders. GM ( I am sorry, but must state it this way) FUCKED UP when they killed the avalanche and EXT. As a loyal GM buyer for generations, I had bought my Escalade ESV Platinum and was planning to get an EXT when they killed it off. I honestly feel GM made a major mistake by not offering a like product on the new platform. I get they killed it off as they moved to a new platform but they should have also had a like product to offer in both the Chevrolet and Cadillac platforms.

The domestics all basically abandoning the affordable products is their first step to the graveyard. And they don't really care. I look for Hyundai and Kia to make big gains in the next ten years and take over most of the affordable segments.

touche'. Still; seems to me the STi is performing at it's 99th %, whereas the 2+2 is clearly capable of more as is. Tell you what, let's switch tires between the two (STi: 245/40-18s) and play the averages. >:) - - - - - Going to rehash this personal issue, as new info came to me tonight. The address numbers I've lived at : 1100 211 211 1717 11 13 1501 I dunno; the statistical odds of that many double 1's (and the single '1' of '13', which is 1+1 from the number 11), seems incredibly unlikely. I'm sure it means nothing.

a lot of this recent GM and probably Ford bullshit. They clearly want to shed US production, and keep digging into the union contracts. That's probably why Ford initially killed the Ranger back when, at least part of it. Now they are bringing it back. GM can kill making the Cruze and other vehicles here, Ford can kill Fusion and Focus. Rid the market of such things for awhile, then bring the products back and stealthily have choice of making it elsewhere. There is a part of this that is political also. Like it or not, they want to hold this over Trumps head for the 2020 election. Get started on shaping public opinion now. "This is Trumps fault". They want their voter base that switched in 2018 to 'switch back' for 2020. GM's 'bailout' in 2009 had so many strings, one of which was bow to the CAFE altar, spend tons of $$$ of EV's (curiously without any product to show besides the Volt and Bolt and nothing to challenge Tesla) and dump all sorts of coin into autonomous technologies (which someday will make government control of your transportation device and surveil you). Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, gone. Cars with power, gone (Unless you pay dearly). Now GM spends more time worrying about PR, social media, autonomous vehicles, etc. They ignore their traditional base a lot of the time, and can't keep up fast enough with new products. This really would have been a good time to replace Barra, and concentrate on product again. By that, I mean more and better choices, better gasoline engine powertrain development, and at least getting real competition for Tesla if they want to think they are part of the EV game. Fix Cadillac, try to keep market share elsewhere and gain it, not cede it.

Another Japanese Piano Jazz musician that studied in the states and then went back home and started to produce some very smooth jazz. She now tours around the world, saw her this past summer at Jazz Alley in Seattle. Love Keiko Matsui! First Album I got of here in Japan.

Here's the (hypothetical) thing. Standing there, palms upturned, and stating 'McDonalds is upping their price of cheeseburgers by 50% how am I going to eat, I'm going to STARVE!" is wondrously short-sighted. The word is 'options' and everyone has 'em.

My sister’s Trax got whacked by a Kia at a light this morning, waiting on insurance adjuster to visit. Had to get it hauled home on a rollback, the mashed in bumper is rubbing the tire. Way to start a Monday.