G. David Felt

Personal Space

I agree with Balthazar, with the craze of CUV's, most people can just slid in and out of their cars and no need for swivel seats. It just dawned on me that their are many custom companies that take vans and trucks and customize them and add swivel seats. I wonder if this is a loop hole that is over looked by the Nazi csars of the gov to regulate what you can and cannot have in an auto.

While I love the idea, I had to vote it as a lousy idea due to the fact that I do not see a FWD Electric performance luxury car selling. Hell, Honda tried this and their hybrid based on performance failed and was killed off. I see it as a waste of the few resources Caddy has that needs to go into selling mass volume other cars at this time.

Pushrod Versus OHC/DOHC - Winner Pushrod! Now why do I state the above? I base this on spending half a day at the store locally that sells this new amazing v4 engine and a technical write up in the October 2012 Car & Driver Page 28 Story titled: "Pushrods in Perpetuity - Technology in use since 1886 is still kicking." Since the magazine does not seem to have this great write up on their web site and I do not wish to get Cheers and Gears in trouble, I will only quote sections of this article, In the second paragraph after talking about all the trash talk blame the pushrod v engines get as the favorite fall guy for OHC/DOHC engine makers to use when those engines fail to out perform the OHC/DOHC engines they ask a very important question. Quote: "How can pushrods persist when dual overhead cams and multivalve combustion chanbers offer so many compelling advantages - better breathing, higher efficiency, and lower emissions to name three?" The answer seems to be from Motus Motorcycles and their new MST Sport Touring Bike! http://www.motusmoto...s.com/kmv4.html This new American Motocycle Startup built from scratch a New Pushrod V4 Engine that is already being used in a VW based Dune Buggy as well as their own line of hot American Made Motocycles. The company hired Katech to create a Fuel efficient, powerful small foot print light weight engine and Katech drew upon their years of experiance in powering corvettes to six class victories at Le Mans. According to the web site and the Car and Drive story, Katech sat down and reviewed old and new technologies using the most efficient parts from what the world has engineered to create a 1.6 liter Motus Baby Block V4. This intriging water cooled 90 degree aluminum engine with cast iron liners and billet crankshaft yields a 345-90-195-90 degree firing intervals. Katech tried the following and dumped them due to the added friction and weight gained nothing. sump mounted balance shafts, direct injection with electronic controls and throttle operation and Motus did not see any payoff, do DI was dumped. There were many things tried which failed and in the end Katech and Motus tapped the wealth of small block Chevy v8 knowledge to produce a valvetrain consisting of one block mounted camshaft opening two valves per cylinder through hydraulic lifters, pushrods and rocker arms. Reinventing the combustion chamver and valvtrain seemed a waste of time when a low friction, efficient solution was already in front of them. The result is a 165HP 100 cubic inch Baby Block 130lb V4 that revs to 8000rpm. This engine has a 11.5 to 1 compression ratio and runs on 87 octane. This engine allows Motus to undercut competitors by 100 to 150lbs. It is more compact and easier to work on and its center of gravity is lower than that of competing OHC/DOHC engines. Motus also has a hotter 185hp version for the MST-R bike. Credit for creating a 2nd motor cycle company that falls between the archaic Harley Davidson and the tech compulsive imports. The Dune Buggy seems to get even more power and with taking up 1/3 less space than straight 4 bangers it would appear that car companies need to revisit the benefits and efficient nature of a pushrod v engine. http://www.motusmoto....com/index.html End result is after spending a day reviewing this information and making a trip down to Hinshaws Motorcycle Store in Auburn washington this bike rocks, is extremely compact and is nothing short of but amazing. Pushrod Wins again!!! Your Thoughts????

Park Place

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/10-bad-luck-cars.html The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offers consumers valuable data about current automobiles. By compiling and analyzing claims information, the data helps drivers choose the safest vehicle available when considering what car to purchase. The most recent issue of the IIHS Status Report, published Sept. 20, contains a table of personal injury protection (PIP) claims for cars manufactured between 2009 and 2011. It also ranks the 10 most dangerous cars on the road by that metric. The data shows that smaller cars were involved in accidents with the most frequency. This is partially a matter of physics, since a small car is more likely than a large car to sustain damage in the event of a collision. But according to Matt Moore, vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute, a driver’s income, location, and rate of use can also come into play. “Smaller vehicles are more likely to be in urban areas, and smaller vehicles are likely to be driven more frequently because they’re owned by a single person in a given household,” he said in an interview. “Large cars tend to be owned by drivers who have two or three cars garaged, or more cars than people per household.” Since a small car is more likely to be driven by a person who is the sole owner, it tends to get driven every day, he said. This increases its odds of being involved in an accident, where a car that’s driven only once a week is exposed to less risk. Read ahead to see the 10 unluckiest cars in the U.S., according to the IIHS Status Report. All vehicles are 2009-2011 models, and all claim frequencies cited are per 1,000 insured vehicle years. http://autos.yahoo.com/news/10-bad-luck-cars.html Amazing the auto's that are in accidents in this list.

1976 Chevy Luv Series 5, replaced the Isuzu 4banger with gm's small block v8. replaced the rear diff with a posi system and meaty ass tires. Was fun to kick Mustang and Camero butts. Miss that little white Pocket Rocket.

Could you post it here for those of us that refuse to use Facebook? I am interested in reading.

Monopolies

Rock on a true Driving machine!!! This should totally challenge BMW's and other so called driving machines.

Sweet looking Ride! Welcome to C&G amazing space of electrons. May you find us entertaining. I look forward to your input. Rock on with AWD Auto's

But if the auto over all is in good shape compared to the unknown of a $500 beater, would it not be better to repair them, not have a car payment and know the over all state of the auto you are driving?

But will even come to the US Shores? Over all what has been talked about and shown only deserves MEH!!!

Consolidation in a Global Economy will always happen.

Anyone get a picture to share yet? I am excited to see one in person, but none have shown up in Seattle yet.

Too Early to really judge the product. Glad to see that it looks like the Duramax is going to get improvements.

Yea, saw this ad last night during the Huskies/Standford football game and my wife turned to me and said " Is Ram not part of the Dodge family?" Even a woman who usually ignores marketing seems to pickup on this poor message.

Well i can see DOHC V8 having better image...but ..what else? What is there i can use in real live that DOHC v8 does better than OHV v8? Is coyote v8 better than LS3? Yes, best DOHC v8 engine is maybe better than best V8 OHv (but i'm still interested to know which are criterias) but how much does best DOHC v8 cost? Does GM has car in which they could put that engine and price it accordingly? Also,just to see which criteria do you consider important (i don't mean to be offensive just curious) here is a list of some DOHC engines..which one do you think is(just the engine not the car) better? And why? 5.0 l v8 TT from koenigsegg agera 4.5 l v8 from Ferrari italia 458 M838 TT from Mclaren 6.5 l v12 (L539) from Lamborghini aventador Synergy V8 AMG M159 AMG M157 Did you not want to state why you think these DOHC engines are better than Pushrod? I do not see any of them being better, unless Google is not showing me the right info, I do not see any of them with better HP/Torque ratio or fuel consumption than what is already being attained out of a Pushrod engine. In most cases, the Pushrod beats these engines.

Natural Power

It is perfectly alright for you to have that opinion. However, to sway anyone you'll need to explain how it is better. And, you'll need to articulate it better than "everyone is using it, therefore it must better" or simply declare that it is so -- that won't do anything but make your case sound kinda silly. You'll notice that I do not simply say that Pushrod engines are more fuel efficient. I explain why are. I don't simply say that they are lighter and smaller, I show you the weights and the photos. I don't simply make a declaration, I support my positions with facts. You are free to challenge my reasonings or facts. Let's start with one advantage of the DOHC setup -- any one -- and why you feel that it is important. Do that and I am sure everyone can have a meaningful discussion. Only Advantage I can think of in regards to a DOHC v12 engine is the Italians use them in their 1% crowd auto's to save space and due to over all weight issues. Yet I am not impressed with these High revving High Horsepower and Little bit of Torque Engines. DOHC reminds me of being the worlds biggest Body Builder with the littlest pecker and not able to really populate the world with Quality people.

Riiiight... How about all the Crown Vic taxis, etc w/ hundreds of thousands of miles or the Merc Taxis in Europe w/ hundreds of thousands of miles? Or Ford F-series trucks from the last 15 years? Those are all OHC engines... Mercedes Cabs (when not diesel), Crown Vics and F-150s are SOHC not DOHC. So? Still OHC. SOHC or DOHC are equivalent for this discussion which is OHC vs pushrod. And Merc diesels are OHC, aren't they? Bottom line, 99% of the worlds' automakers long ago moved on from pushrod to OHC engines...GM has for everything except V8s. What's holding them back? inertia? stubbornness? myopia? Can't use the truck excuse as Ford has built a hell of a lot of OHC trucks over the last 15 years. It's interesting how people keep defending an obsolete approach when the world clearly has moved on. It's all a moot point, though, because the future is clearly 1.4L 4 cyls... Lets look at the average life of a Ford Engine. Especially non V8 OHC/DOHC and Ford has a dismal record. They might have sold the blue color working world that they have a great truck, but so far from the plastic interiors to the lack of quality in how their trucks last that I have seen here in the NW, Ford does not cut it yet. Rusty, noisy plastic bucket of bolts. Not to mention not sure which is worse, the noisy smelly Powerstroke or Cummins. But the Duramax kicks them all cleanly and clearly.

Fusion engine lineup as follows (all of them fours): 2.5L - 175 HP, 175 lb-ft 1.6L EcoBoost - 178 HP, 184 lb-ft 2.0L EcoBoost - 240 HP, 270 lb-ft All come with automatics, 1.6L is the only one with a six-speed manual. + Hybrid Plus unlike most asian or euro engines, Fords at least have Torque equal to the HP or greater to make the auto's move. I personally think the American Auto Industry is going into another golden age of excellent Engineering. Just need to make sure Marketing gets the message out. Deal killer for me and my family, if you cannot get at least 4 6'6" tall people in the car comfy, it will not fly.

Looking at the pictures you posted, it would seem it would make a solid commuter car or as you pointed out Olds a good Airport Run Exec car. Over all I get this bland simplistic look when I look at the interior photo's. I would pass on this as I do on anything Asian made due to being too small for me. I know you cannot get 4 6'6" tall adults in this car.

Having owned a Northstar caddy, I still prefer a push rod V8. Anyone who needs to pull anything will know this is the only type of V8 to have and those that really want power/performance also knows the Push Rod V8 is superior to the DOHC V8 or anything else. You can drink the cool aid all you want on how Superior DOHC engines are in the Asian, Italian, euro cars and yet when it comes down to real numbers and long life, I have yet to see DOHC last the years of real use that Push Rods do.

Yeah, he's going to have to find something very old and very basic...maybe a Model A or something from the 50s. Ugh. Or something really old-school like this: Can't get much better than the Flinston Mobil!