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Since this thread is about the Sonata Limited, how does all the blather about the Venue and Trailblazer and cheap low spec configs relate? Seems off topic...

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I believe it started right around here...

This doesn't feel like auto enthusiast forum, more like Consumer Reports forum ...

I am now. Financially it will be a bad idea, I still have mortgage and kids, but I am seriously considering getting car of my dream this year. I am in mid-40s now and there is always some reason that prevents me buying it. I realized that if I am not going to do it soon, than it is very likely might not happen at all, or by the time I can do it comfortably financially it will not matter anymore. On the positive side I think the car I want will hold her value well enough that if I am forced to sell it I should not loose too much money. Exactly, and you never know when a piano will fall on your head.

GM announced today their new family of EV motors, The Ultium Drive family. The Ultium Drive family is made up of five interchangeable drive units and three motors. This will help transition the current portfolio of auto's to fully electric lineup. Performance, scale, speed to market and manufacturing efficiencies will provide GM significant advantages over past EV auto's. GM is leading the way with industry class leading drive units that use an electric motor and single-speed transmissions to apply power best in class horsepower and torque. Ultium Drives will be more responsive than internal combustion motors with precision torque control of the motors and smooth performance. The design and development of the Ultium Drive modular architecture allows us to offer industry-leading torque with power density across a wide spectrum of different vehicles types. GM has applied their 25 years of EV experience in creating the Ultium Drive family with lighter and more efficient designs. The Ultium Drive family integrates the power electronics into the drive units assemblies allowing for a 50% reduction in electronics over previous auto's thus saving cost and packaging space while increasing capability by 25 percent. To Quote GM press release: “As with other propulsion systems that are complex, capital intensive and contain a great deal of intellectual property, we’re always better off making them ourselves,” said Adam Kwiatkowski, GM executive chief engineer, Global Electrical Propulsion. “GM’s full lineup of EVs should benefit from the simultaneous engineering of Ultium Drive. Our commitment to increased vertical integration is expected to bring additional cost efficiency to the performance equation.” Ultium-Drive-to-Help-Power-GMs-All-Electric-Future.mp4 https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/sep/0916-ultium-drive.html

I think a short discussion in Random Thoughts requires a separate thread. Now the questions is: how much an auto enthusiast should spend on a vehicle? Now I am not talking in hard numbers but in percentage of ones income. The financial wisdom (on all these fancy financial advice websites) states that a vehicle loan payment should not be more than 10% of ones take home income, and total auto expenses (payment, insurance, gas, etc) should not be more than 20% of the take home income. This is a common financial advice for general public. The question is, as an auto enthusiasts should we spend more on vehicles since for us it is more than just an appliance that takes us to work and to for errands? Lets talk in percentage because for someone a 100k vehicle can be just a small percentage of his/her income and for someone a 20k vehicle is half of their income.

An airdam that probably only saves 0.25 mpg. Took the one off of my '17 Colorado Z71 that I had right away, it does look MUCH better and gives it a lot better front-end ground clearance. It has approx. 15 or 16 freakin' screws in it that screw in from the top down so it's kind of a b!tch to get your hands and arms up in there from a creeper on the floor, but it pays off in the end.

I am getting old, that is just my back. Luckjily, they should have the bugs worked out before I buy one, unless I buy a Bronco instead. All the more reason to ahve onboard welding capacity on your rig.

I liked the video showing the motors that would be used for the SUV/CUV 4x4 class type of auto. Some serious power coming here. Torque will make off-roading a fun world for more people I think. I wonder how soon they would add Crabwalk mode to other EV CUV's down the line.

Just did it.

My current daily is 6 yrs old, I've had it for over 3 years and it has less than 50k so far..so i won't be replacing it for a few years...I probably won't keep it past 100k because that is when everything goes no bueno w/ Jeeps in my past experience. I have thought about getting a fun second car (late model Challenger V8 or Mustang GT are two in particular I've considered)...may still do that in a few years, but with the uncertainty in the reality currently, it doesn't seem smart to spend money now. I'm going to invest in improvements to my house over the next few years...

As I’ve stated before; my current daily is 16 yrs old & have been driving it for 14 yrs.

Is there an age where you more seriously consider ‘splurging’ on a vehicular purchase? Say, your mortgage is long done and any kids are on their own; do you ever think ‘it’s my turn now’?

*yawn* yourself hypocrite. Again, refer to your very first statement and admit that you were wrong. There is competition but you don’t want your mommy to pay slightly more for more power and more room. That’s really all you have to say instead of dancing around your mistake and making up endless excuses for it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go put an American flag on a Toyota Tundra. Hope that’s okay with you.

Saw a K5 at the local dealer over the weekend, I also like it better than the Sonata overall. The front end of the Sonata reminds me of a bottom dwelling catfish, but the rest of the car looks fine, imho. The K5 is not saddled with any excessively bizarre elements. Both have very nice interiors.

Well, I was going to say that I liked the K5 better....the Sonata is just too odd looking to me......

I'm told this one is a '78. The black bumper rub strips confirm it is a later model. Hard to believe in '79 they would go to the starkly designed, heritage-challenged Fox Body Mustang. They certainly wiped the slate clean with that one. My favorite Fox-Body Mustang was the late model LX 5.0 Notchback, simple and potent. In dark green, of course!

Foton Craptor...

Start heading down a trail..."hey you guys hear that creaking and snapping sound?" ?

That can’t be good off road.....

Good eye! He told me he put it in for old school, memory lane purposes. What a sweet ride, though. If it were in a nicer color combo, I wouldn't mind having one. And the price he paid!!! They want big bucks for those old Cutlasses and Regals in good condition.

@trinacriabob Is that an 8 Track deck I spy on that Buick?

Some of you just need to relax and have fun on here. It's a car blog not everybody is going to agree on everything all the time. There are a couple of you on here who find the need to berate others because they don't state something that you agree with or don't agree with what you state on here...you know who you are. We've all most likely been a part of it and it's really unnecessary. Go take out your anger on something else. I think @Drew Dowdell and others would agree. Take a couple of DEEP breaths and think about it before you go off. Cheers! ?

Delta

Agreed! I think if cars were really going away, the Accord and Camry would be in trouble. While sales are down-they are just adjusting production. The only reason we see other auto makers dumping them is that they were never really in the game to begin with. (granted the Fusion was getting there) The easy way to fix cars is to price them sensibly- just simply have more lower models...there are still folks who do not want it all, or simply want it on price. Keep the Luxury (and prices) on the SUVs/trucks...

The JL Generation of the Jeep Wrangler may have improper frame welds according to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The investigation started after a Wrangler owner complained about a frame that had been improperly welded at the factory. As a result of that improper weld, the owner found a number of other problems stemming from the original issue. While no findings have been released, there is enough evidence for the NHTSA to warrant further investigation and the agency has asked FCA for more information regarding the issue. The NHTSA seemed to think that FCA's explanation "did not adequately address whether the frame weld quality deficiencies compromise the structure integrity of the vehicles, and therefor may pose an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety." The investigation further aims to determine if the earlier reported 'death wobble' is related to the frame welding issues. FCA issued a fix for the 'death wobble' last month, but did not turn it into a full recall. Jeep will install a new steering damper, free of charge, to anyone who wishes to have the work completed. View full article

Again, if I was rich, I'd probably opt for the very latest mid-engine Corvette in silver with the maroon leather seats ... and drive it on the weekend as a hobby or novelty car. But, since I can't, I mentally scour cars and the literature, live in them vicariously through rentals, and then return to my steadfast though not necessarily boring car that people don't notice. I take that back. The only people who have noticed my previous cars were gang bangers because, when the Cutlass Supremes and Regals get older, it was gang bangers who adopted those "old schoolz," as they call them. @David Yes, with thorough maintenance, my previous car hit almost 275,000 miles without ANY work on the powertrain. Could it have been that I was taught to do break-in oil at about 1,000 or 1,500 miles before going onto the conventional schedule of oil changes? I've latched on to that old school mentality about break-in oil.

Mechanic (that be me)

I understand your concern, I felt that way when I saved up and bought my first $100K auto, my Escalade ESV Platinum. Yet cost of maintaining it, repairs, etc. have been low and over all the pleasure on road trips have been great that I would not want anything other than the Escalade ESV for a road trip auto. Quality products bought for the long haul last in my opinion as long as you follow the maintenance schedule. I see no reason to not keep doing what I am doing. 2006 Escalade ESV Platinum with 140,000 plus miles and here it is 2020. Worth the money.

Interesting motorsports take on electrics. Makes so much torque it is literally tearing up the driveline in the car.

We’ll have to see. I would think they would need some base trucks for places like auto part stores and such. They would be silly to have no work trucks........

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchresults.action/?mdId=36723428&mkId=20064&page=1&perPage=50&rd=99999&searchSource=GN_REFINEMENT&sort=relevance&stkTypId=28880&trId=24929&zc=17603 410 results with the same criteria used to search for Trailblazer L. Save for the vapor, loss leader Trailblazer L that no one will be able to actually buy in quantity, the Trailblazer and Kona are way more closely matched in size and price than the Chevy is to the Venue. The Venue occupies a space a tick below the Trailblazer in size and price and tops out in the $23k range, where the Kona and Trailblazer each have top trims in the $31k range.

2021 Renegade Jeepster in TechnoGreen Metallic

Hey SMK, I mean Blu, nice bar moving. You said nothing of price and your assessment of the TB can easily be applied to the Venue, ie good luck finding those base models. Again though, the TB is competition for the Venue and is sold by a domestic company here. Those were the two rules YOU set up. Not base price. Not what can be found in the “real world”. You were wrong, end of story. The TB also has more power and more cargo room but I guess pointing that out is just salt in a open wound at this point.

Even fewer can spell it correctly. That is one of the words I do misspell. I wonder how many auto mechanics can work on older pre-OBD-II vehicles.

Have to say that the 2021 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Plug-in is an attractive CUV. Uses CVVD Tech Motor Digital Key / Smartphone app from the Sonata is used here too Remote Self Parking Apple and Android enabled Full Spec's, pricing, gas mileage and more coming later this year as it goes on sale. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1129605_2022-hyundai-tucson-hybrid-plug-in-photos-mpg-specs-vs-rav4-cr-v

I'd also wager "carb people" are over 1% as all of the lawn care people tend to know a lot about carbs as that's what most all small engines are.

Makes one wonder if the owner of the company was a Star Trek fan and decided Photon was a good name but it did not translate into Chinese, so went with foton.

Change the Dexcool yesterday and every 5 years. Get the pink/orange stuff, not the piss yellow “It works in everything!!” Prestone. Unless you have proof that the intake manifold gasket has been done recently, budget for the gasket replacement. Other than that, it’s an unremarkable engine and will probably outlast the car if he keeps up on oil changes. Not that simple unfortunately. The prior owner tried that and it ran like garbage and it cost me a lot of time/money to put it back to factory. These cars are designed to run the way they were designed to run and don't take well to people fiddling with the factory settings. The only thing I've looked into is a drop in EFI replacement for the E-Quadrajet. It's like $1200 just for the parts and comes with a completely new computer controller.

There's another. https://www.ford.com/suvs-crossovers/ecosport/?gnav=header-all-vehicles And another.. https://www.jeep.com/renegade.html

Well...GM of today versus GM of the 1970s and 1980s and well into the 1990s was a GM that we would all like to forget about. GM today is more on the ball with reliability and quality than those years. Not arguing with you, just trying to set a logical focal point on where we should be bitchin' about. Ive heard the timing chain on that V6 was problematic. On the early versions. I heard that the 1st generation Lambdas has issues with their 3.6s with those folk that didnt do their regularly scheduled maintenance. I havent heard anything about the later 3.6s though. And Ill agree to your point about VV & cylinder shut off being more complicated than anything the L83s and LS1s and 3.8s had, but they did have many sensors and solenoids to go wrong nonetheless. Regardless though, none of those things were problematic. On any engine GM built from the 1970s-2020s. At least none that Im aware of. (optispark maybe?) Gaskets wearing off and causing lots of headaches to GM owners WAS a problem. QUAD 4, Northstar, 3.4 DOHC, 3.4 OHV all had these problems.

Makes sense with the Livery Leader XTS production ending. Aftermarket builders will probably make versions of the CT5 as well. CT6 Super Stretch is a gorgeous limo with the gull-wing middle doors. Just...WOW.

NY has been losing residents since 2015. They stand to possibly lose 2 representatives because of it. It's not all COVID-related (the reprocussions of which aren't done being felt for who knows HOW long) And a LOT of the features of urban living (dining, entertainment) may be permanently altered & permanently GONE. Emboldened by unprecedented power-execution and bathed in the cold sweat of CYA (cover your ass), politicians are going to err on the side of extreme caution in many instances, and of all the events canceled for 2020 I expect most to be canceled again in '21. Manual parallel parking may be a breeze for years to come. Too bad, hyundai.

Not to worry - people are streaming out of big cities to live elsewhere, and there's no entertainment industry left to pull those outside the city, in.

^ That was my impression watching the 'smaht pahk' commercial - it takes far longer than conventionally. Tech should make things easier, not more convoluted & take longer.

Couple reflections : sedans actually reached their lowest point many yrs ago. They've ballooned upward a few inches since then. 'Too wide' : no way; that's one of the major shortfalls of modern sedans; too narrow. As for 'end of road aero design', dude; I've been preaching that here a good 10 years now.

Ignore it! That is just branches breaking against the Jeep! Or is that the Jeep breaking against the branches? ? FCA can never tell. ?

Death Wobble is a request free fix? WRONG ANSWER FCA! ? Improper Frame Welds reminds me of the Toyota mess on the FJ Cruiser with the Unibody braking after people took it to the sand dunes for play and the front ends broke or cracked and Toyota would cut off the front and insert rods of steel and re-weld it. Nope again wronge answer Toyota too. Sounds like FCA is cutting corners a bit too much.