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Too funny! I'm native to that place and I'm nothing like the stereotype ... and never was! Except for maybe the irreverence and sarcasm that people will let fly there. I feel more at home in your city of Montreal. If only it had a mild winter. I will say that what's likeable about L.A. is the setting and the weather ... and that's really about it. The "culture," the value system, and the edgy people are pretty messed up. I'd say more than half of the people I grew up with have left. Many stayed in the state, but went to far less crowded or rural areas of it, including the desert (where they cannot allow their pets to be outside alone on their properties). Others left the state altogether and went to America's second tier cities. Once you've adjusted to a "second tier" metro area (Denver, Portland, Twin Cities, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, etc.), you will have no desire to go back to L.A. Even visiting L.A. is stressful because you are constantly reminded that it has lost its livability.

CUVs and SUVs sell at a higher MSRP than their sedan counterparts because THAT is what the market dictates and hence why the higher profit margins. But when sedans all go away, and there is nothing left BUT CUVs and SUVs, and there is a market adjustment in pricing for AFFORDABLE CUVs and SUVs, there WILL be CHEAPER priced CUV offerings. These cheaper CUV offerings will NOW take the place of the Corolla scenario... And if sedans DO make a comeback, they will probably command a higher price tag than their CUV counterpart reversing the scenario we have now... *SIGH* There is nothing new about all this. Its automotive business 101. What I dont understand is (aside from the downsizing of sedans) is how we got a whole phoquing continent to stop buying cars in favor of a lesser, unsafer, shyttier riding, less capable in hauling shyte CUVs... Less capable in hauling... YES!!! Less capable in hauling. Aside from the hatchback style opening, the back end does NOT fit MORE cargo. It fits maybe TALLER stuff, but NOT more stuff. Equinox back end Seats up...NOT down. What good does it make it for the seats to be down? Going on a trip with the family, where will the phoquing kids sit if the seats are down? Previous gen Malibu This gen Malibu A sedan based station wagon was even BETTER in hauling crap in the back... And this is true for ALL sedans versus their EQUIVALENT CUV counterparts. I owned a 2007 Ford Edge and a 2005 Impala SS. I moved from one house that I owned and sold to a new and current house I own now with these two cars. I fit more boxes in the Impala, seats down, than with the Edge, with the seats down. I put the TALLER boxes in the Edge, duh, but I fit more boxes in the Impala. And the Edge was a wider CUV than most in its class. The Edge was probably shorter than the Impala. Shorter wheelbase too. But it was a taller vehicle. It might have even been wider too. The rear cargo was humongous. Cavernous. But the Impala actually had a bigger...trunk. And THAT phenom is actually true across the board with the sedans versus their CUV counterparts. But...sedans have become too sporty and that the profile is more coupe like killing the benefits of hauling stuff with a sedan. But that is an attempt to spruce up the sedan sales. THAT didnt work, duh, as sedans are supposed to haul families, sealing the sedans fate faster to die. But I wanna know: When in the hell did people get soooooo stupid and bamboozled by this crap narrative that CUVs haul more stuff? Taller stuff, yes. NOT more stuff...

@oldshurst442 Thought of you my friend, as this is right up your alley, now if they would only make it rather than concept it. Revived Chevy Impala SS Embraces Posh yet Virtual Cadillac CT6 x Camaro ZL1 Lifestyle - autoevolution

My order of Nissan Z favorites. The others dont quite make my list. Its not that I dont like them, its more like my feelings for them are neutral. They dont move the feelz meter for me one way or other.

I like the new Z, never cared for the 370. I liked the 350. My favorite Z is still the 90s 300ZX. Alas, the rest of Nissan's current US lineup is mostly lame appliances w/ CVTs...

I'll forever be a Golden State fan and tourist...love the beaches in the San Diego/San Diego County and Orange County areas, the wine country, Highway 1, the California Dream mythology. The car culture, the computer geek culture is unmatched. I've enjoyed my visits to LA and SF, have had several job offers in the Bay Area in the past. Loved going to Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca, the Festival of Speed at Coronado Island, Indy Car races at Fontana, Long Beach and Infinion Raceway..should have moved to the Bay Area 25 years ago when I first had the opportunity... But it's become so expensive that the cost of living is hard to justify, even w/ the higher salaries.. ($150k/yr in Cleveland goes a lot farther than $250k in SF/SJ). Some of my favorite California/LA-themed songs.. Randy Newman 'I Love LA' And the whole 'To Live and Die in LA' soundtrack by Wang Chung, from the excellent William Freidkin film of the same title. And Dr Dre's and Tupac's excellent 'California Love'.

I suspect the Arteon will be gone soon also..I read they only sold 47 or so in the first quarter of 2022 in the US.

Let's not underestimate sedan trunks. One of my friend's brothers would borrow his parents' full-size Pontiac, stuff a few people in the trunk, and drive up to and through the box office booths at the drive-in. Just one person. In a big Pontiac. And, once this big Pontiac was parked, he opened the trunk and let his friends out. It's not too smart to begin with. But wouldn't it also look weird to nearby parked cars that the trunk of this big car pops open and teenagers start climbing out of it?

I wanna know when in the hell did people get bamboozled in thinking that CUVs are safer? Light tap from the back sends this CUV rolling over Sedan loses controll, hits barriers, still upright. Hits crossover pickup truck from Honda, sedan still upright, crossover pick up truck...rolls over... Slow speed, hits a car....rolls over

Of course. It applies to all brands. The most drastic example I can think of is the Sonic/Trax/Encore. The Sonic sold in the $13k-$22k range. The Trax started at $21k and went up from there. The Encore started around $25k and my loaded top trim one was $34k. They’re all the same platform and they are identical mechanically +/- AWD. From an R&D perspective the costs would be nearly identical. The Buick gets nicer leather, bigger wheels, and extra sound deadening, but aside from that, even assembly costs would be nearly identical as well. GM probably had to sell 6 to 10 Sonics to make the same profit as one highly trimmed Encore.

Im gonna continue to bash California. Why is it that I equate most "beautiful" residents of California as narcissistic, selfish, shytty people? Why is it that I think that most of these California peeps are like Amber Turd? Im gonna stop the bashing and Im gonna post songs that made me dream about California in a good way.

I get the feeling that Sheryl Crow's "All I wanna do is have some fun" song is a song denouncing California. Its kinda saying that the people she is interacting with are fake. She truly is the only one wanting to have real fun. I still dont like the song. Even though I learnt that what she may be saying is what I have learnt about California over the years and have fallen out of love with California myself and THAT is what she is trying to convey to us. That California is FAKE. (Never been there, mind you) I just dont like the song. I dont like ANY of Sheryl Crow's songs. I dont know why. I just dont like her songs. Something about her voice kills me. Id rather listen to Katy Perry and her rip off of the Beach Boys song of California Girls than listen to Sheryl Crow. Phoqued up.... I know!!!

meh... I never did like that "All I wanna do is have some fun on the Santa Monica Boulevard" song. "This is L.A.!!!" To which I say: BIIIIIG phoquing deal!!! I once dreamt about California and what it be like to live there. But slowly slowly, the mystical attraction, daze and hypnotic trance Los Angeles and Hollywood and Beverley Hills and Malibu Beach and San Francisco and all things California has vanished for me. Id like to visit, but I no longer have this yearn as Seinfeld's Kramer character put it, to live in California. From a song stand point, Id rather a late '70s and mid '80s Pink Cadillac vibe. The song projects more "fun" than what Mizz Crow suggests with her California song. Spending all our money on a Saturday night and having a party in the backseat of a Cadillac. Talking about cars, the Cadillac is bigger than a Honda and a Subaru too. The later, '80s pop version The earlier, bluesy original version I also prefer Mr. Petty's California mentioning songs more than Mizz Crow's Free Fallin' is more chill, I find

I wanna know why, all of a sudden, the Nissan Z is so praised for its looks and profile when it really is the same car as when it came out 15 years ago. The Z I posted on top there, has the SAME profile. Its just a refreshed front and rear, the new one is... OK, the rear hunches are massaged as well to have less child bearing hips. Its less of a Coke bottle design Am I the only one to prefer the refreshed 370Z version more than the re-refreshed 2022? Original 350Z I do prefer the newest version over the OG, though.

I call this the "Santa Monica Blvd. song" and it seems to be the song most readily attributed to Sheryl Crow. At about :55, she mentions DATSUNS and Buicks, so this is a little dated! At least she doesn't want to eat Subarus, as per the lyrics from some other song of about that time.

That’s because, after you take away shared components, it costs just as much to engineer and design a Corolla as it does a RAV-4, but the RAV-4 sells for twice as much, so Toyota has to build many more Corollas to make the same profit.

COINCIDENTAL. I was with my wife in our TourX and we spotted a red one in this very color making a turn at our intersection. To see two TourX in the wild in the same spot at the same time, quite rare. That's 'Roja Red'. At the time I got mine, I wasn't jamming on this color but now I like it more. Maybe because it was too close to the maroon on my Malibu I was getting out of at the time.

They should offer a solar panel as that roof rack since this thing will probably drain electricity and could be good for those off the grid types. This will sell like hot cakes as all G-wagens do. I think there is a 2 year wait for a gas G-wagen right now, this will have a long wait list too.

There is really another big issue here. Most of us here have advanced critical thinking skills and a critical eye when it comes to automobiles. (It's almost to an OCD level, if not already there!) There's a fairly big difference with what can be done stylistically with 3 volumes than with 2 volumes. It's a little harder to adhere to corporate branding and make SUVs/CUVs that are easier to differentiate from each other. That said, automotive designers have quite a bit more stylistic leverage with sedans and coupes. One only needs to think about some of the sedans and coupes that C&Gers love so much.

It isn't about excitement. Nearly none of the crossovers or SUVs within the spending range we're talking about here are exciting. Friend of mine just got an X3... is it luxurious? sure. Is it comfortable? absolutely. But every slightly well-to-do 30-something has one or something like it. It's not exciting. I didn't buy my Avalanche to be exciting either. I bought it for comfort and to be able to haul the bike. 0-60 is measured as "sufficient". It's got air shocks. It wallows around corners (so much so that I've thought about a stiffer sway bar). BUT... I can put 8-10 hours behind the wheel in it with ease. I'm not sure what it's like near you, but in my region, the roads and highways are horrible. I'd never want to daily an "exciting" car for that reason. Heck on the bike I have to constantly scan the road for monster potholes and bob and weave around them. I know where all the frost heaves on the the way to work are so I can raise my ass up before I hit them. It's really bad here.

True. But being a lemming automobile like a Camry or an Accord is no different than being a lemming SUV like a Tahoe... (Suburban has its merits...) But a Tahoe? What is the attraction of a Tahoe? What makes it so exciting? Its not fast... I mean its got a pretty powerful V8 up there, but it does have to lug around all that weight so it doesnt really accelerate with all that much gusto. A V6 lemming of a Camry is pretty quick of the line. Its not bad considering that V6 is ancient. But it does have 300 horses on a very very lighter frame. The Tahoe handles like a whale. So does a Camry. Now do you understand where Im going with the Tahoe bashing? And unto a another SUV. ANY SUV that hasnt been tuned by technological wizardry performance makes like an AMG from Mercedes or M from BMW or a Porsche and Lamborghini SUV... ANY CUV and SUV is the very definition of the word lemming... Now more so than ever. At least in the 1980s, real SUVs were REAL enthusiast type of vehicles... You see that K5? Its covered in mud, right? Today's Tahoe is covered in Starbucks coffee that the soccer mom spilled on it by being distracted by being on her smart phone Tik Toking a cleavage and a$$ selfie and posting it on Instagram...

What does that have to do with anything? A pothole will just as easily break a CUV/SUVs suspension and wheels and wheel bearings and ball joints as it does sedans... And as CCAP stated, most of the family hauling shytty CUVs/SUVs ride on car tires. Their suspension systems are also sedan related. Even if you throw the Jeep Grand Cherokee at me, potholes eat these SUVs up as well. The fullsized BOF SUVs from GM and Ford? With all that heft? Those just CONTRIBUTE to even shyttier roads... David, honestly, get off that SUV high horse. You dont fit in the smaller sedans and that is cool. But just because you only fit it the bigger SUVs, dont knock the sedan just because you dont fit in a sedan. Yes, people in North America have run away from the sedan. Yes one of the reasons is because the sedan has become small. But CUVs have bamboozled people in thinking that CUVs are bigger than their sedan counterparts. They are not. They are taller. Not bigger. Taller also means ease of entry. But ease of entry does not mean bigger. Also, taller is somehow equated to being safer. Which is false false and more false. Higher center of gravity also means more chances of a roll over. We've been down THAT road before, and whether you believe that to be true or not does not make me care all that much. Why? Because physics guides me. I dont know what guides you if you dont believe in higher center of gravity CUVs actually have a more percentage of a roll over than a lower to the ground sedan... You do you. But dont be talking a smack game about CUVs and SUVs absorbing potholes better than sedans because that narration is pure bull.