G. David Felt

Besides ground clearance, it is nice to have the full Chrome bumper on the HD. I also like the tweaks they did to the center grill.

Drew, is the bed now coming standard with LineX type covering rather than just paint? Or is this an option that is being shown in the GMC truck pictures?

Sweet write up Drew. Have to say I really love the Look of the GMC Dually over the Chevy.

Very excited to see they will have a HD Natural Gas version also.

This so rocks over Ford and Dodge.

So then my 94 Suburban with the suspension replaced with a 2.5 ton Kodiak Suspension so it rides like it is on rails, 4.25 16 Bolt Posi rear end and customer build Engine and Transmission with Jet Programable Chip qualifies for Supercar!

I have to say it is a blast to take our Clover Leaf off and on ramps at over 80, no body roll, just sticks to the ground and flies

Filled up with gas, cleaned the windows and left if all ready for the day for the wife before getting on the bus to go to work.

gee, get an apple device with Apple OS and apple software and it all just works without fuss.

Apple products suck IHO, their interface is not user friendly nor intuitive to me, I would rather have a windows phone before an Apple. I like the Android, just wish they were better about updates. Decided I am going to try a windows phone next. Apple will never get a cent out of me.

Welcome Andre, from the land of Amazing PORT Wine. Glad to have you here and look forward to your input on the forum.

Mallet

It seems like Toyota is aiming for different buyers with the new Avalon. 60+ buyers of the previous generation will have to look at Buick or Lincoln instead. But the sales figures don't lie. So far, Toyota has sold more Avalons this year compared to last. Does anyone else see a slight resemblance to the Tesla Model S?

NOPE, No Tesla except a hint in the Bass Mouth Grill.

WRONG WRONG WRONG, The Chairman is an idiot to not fix the product line first before pushing to have a flagship model.

Slow death for Volvo.

DATED!

With the IPO and purchase issues, I suspect they are having cold feet about using the Chrysler/Fiat dealerships to bring this back.

By the time they do bring this to the US, it will be dated and will need an update I suspect.

It also has some major blind spots in the rear quarters.

For some reason this just does not do anything for me.

Nice write up Bill, enjoyed reading it and teh details.

My pet peeves with this car:

Jelly Bean shape, generic non emotional just like so many others out there.

Coupe Roof Line, Lack of rear head room, not a fan, these are 4 door auto's for hauling people, not race cars or 2 door coupes where you loose the head room as the rear seats are rarely used.

Dashboard, while it looks like nice materials were used, the layout and cut up flow just turn me off. UGLY!

Final dislike is the Gapping BASS Mouth on the auto!

For $45K dollars, they need to do a much better job and if you are already a lemming following Consumers reports love of everything Toyota, then this will work.

IMHO, this is not a 40-60 year old persons car as these people expect room and comfort and the coupe style roof line will show them the lack of said space. This will probably go to those far younger than expected.

On a scale of 0-10, I give it a 5.

I just wish the phone companies would not screw with the consumer the way they do, seems the closer you get to the end of your contract the worse the phone works and they seem hell bent on NOT offering upgrades to the phones.

I wish Google would stop with their Open source customize crap for everyone as there are just way to many versions and you should be able to upgrade their OS just like Apple or MSFT. Not too thrilled with my Android Samsung Charge right now. I also Blame Samsung for not offering an update on the OS.

I'm probably going to be springing for a new set of Michelins on the CR-V in a week or 3. Only got 30,000 miles out of the 80,000 tread wear life rating, so hopefully Michelin will be picking up most of the tab.

:yikes:Only 30 out of an 80K tire is crazy.

Ink

^{Based on J Reinhardt post, my customized Suburban is a Supercar! Gotta love power and handling.}

All Aboard!, Great to have you Brad, look forward to your posts on the various topics.

Drew, weird as it seems, flat paint is the rage with the 20's year old crowd. Caddilac with their flat silver paint job has been a hit, I suspect we will see more flat paints as not everyone likes the glossy finish of traditional cars and it does set one apart from everyone else.

Example is my son took his Jeep Patriot and had it go from the factory glossy black to a matt black with matt clear coat. Nice but not my thing, but he loves it. 26 years old and his friends are all doing it also.

It will be interesting to see what the dealers say about the flat paint. The bumble bee shifter would be totally cool.

Ocn please let him know his C&G friends are wishing him the best and look forward to his return to the forum when he has time.

Drift King needs to wake up to the 21st century. Today's supercars were yesterdays sedans. Technology change is making things happen where people can have a super car as a family sedan more and more now.

I don't think your timeline is accurate Ocn.... Electrics are coming faster than you think and like.

Totally agree here, based on the 90 day turn on Software design, as we move to electronics with faster rewrite of the code, we will see gains and change come at a faster and faster pace. In some regards this will scare people at how fast auto's will change based on the auto industry moving to a more fluid model of design, testing and output.

And Dan's "ribbing" means nothing... Elon Musk is worth a few billion and knows he is building an Apple-like fan base. He's willing to lose the money for now to dominate the market later.

A stock with P/E of ~170 producing cars at less than ~0.1% of industry is sure to see some major correction. How much market can Elon sustain for his +$70,000 cars? When the annual market for cars (sedans) exceeding that purchasing price in US is approx. 30,000 units, how much more can Elon sustain its Model S before the growth stops? If you use Warren Buffet's analysis, the company is yet to prove it is capable for a long run.

I think Dan is concentrating more on $30,000 electric car than a standalone Model S competitor.

Valid and nicely put Z, Warren Buffet's analysis model shows that Tesla is not a long term company unless they can deliver on the $30K car soon and then push even lower to get mass production flow.

I suspect Tesla will be owned by someone else in the near future say next 5 years.

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING

New Engine, New Torque Converter, New Transmission = hold off on shipping till we trash on it and figure out the breakage points since we did not QA it well enough.

That on top of an UGLY front end.

I suspect this Love it or Hate it Cherokee will eventually do well. Best for them to delay getting it into the showroom to make sure they have no other issues as the powertrain I see as blowing up in their face if it has to be recalled after only a few months on the road.

Have those 500 Idle employees drive the first 500 and really make them work to see what lasts and what does not.

Interesting, this could have some short term investing gains to be made.

SMK if your MB is so superior than Cadillac than why have they had so many quality issues and have not really appeared in the JD power quality listing for so long? Both MB and BMW while making respectable cars are living on their past glory and I do believe they will get their lunch eaten over the next few years form companies stepping up the game far from where they are now.

Co worker just got a new MB SUV and his interior is pathetic compared to my Escalade. While people are nice to him about his new auto, many have stated they were surprised that japan and the US are building what they see as better luxury auto's.

MB needs to wake up as their interiors are not that great and as CaddyCruiser mentioned very Taxi bland like on the interior.

Yes personal taste being what it is, but MB and BMW need to step up their game now.

Well there is a 4th mode as well for snow, but yes, near as I can tell from my short time with the car, you can't control the items individually. However, as I mentioned in the review, the Magnaride is so good that Track mode would still be suitably comfortable for most people even on long trips, so you can have your cake and eat it too.

Also as I mentioned in the review, the material quality on the CTS is a step above the ATS. They didn't just lift the interior out of one and put it in the other. There is a noticeable difference.

I also drove the E250 Bluetech and an E350 Estate/Combi/whatever. MB is actually behind Cadillac on interior material quality in those two cars... especially on the dash.

I think the interior on the 07-09 E-class is better than the current car, the materials are softer tough and I like the layout a bit more. I am not a big fan of the round headlight look of my car, but I couldn't afford a 2010 or newer E-class, and I would rather have the old interior than the current one, and when you are driving you can't see the front end anyway. Mercedes has crazy good build quality though, even if that rubberized plastic stuff on the dash doesn't feel or look as expensive as what is in other cars, the build quality is rock solid. I think the A6 interior looks better than the CTS and the A6 is sort of old, but then again the E-class whips the A6 in sales, so that interior isn't enough to get it done.

Although how as the E250 Bluetec? One day when I no longer want a big engine, that 45 mpg is going to be really tempting, on a 22 gallon tank I'd fill up once every 5 weeks I bet.