G. David Felt

I understand some rag on others more than everyone, but I will say that I think Motor Trend and most auto magazines rag on them all equally. Ford and GM engines when hit hard and put away wet give crap fuel economy. Especially for turbo engines.

240V 40 A or even 440V 3 phase 30A is not that big a deal if an electrician comes in and installs it properly for you. No reason NOT to have a proper quick charge charger at your house.

Funniest experience from my point of view when my wife asked me to help a friend of hers buy a new auto. We went to a Toyota dealership to check out the car she was interested in. The sales lady came out and I asked politely about interest rates on financing, any rebates from Toyota, etc. Trying to get my ducks in a row before if needed sitting down to negotiate a buy for this lady. The sales lady left crying and her manager came out demanding to know why I made her cry, I asked him the same questions and he tried the How much can you afford per month pitch. I ignored his question and asked mine again and he just got angrier that I did not answer his question which he kept asking over and over. I finally asked him how he made money in which he stated that it was obvious by selling cars. My response to him was you need to then listen to the customer and service the customer as the customer is clearly how he makes money, but not from this potential customer. My wife's friend then says lets leave, I need place that has service not pressure. We walked off and left. She ended up buying that day a very nice Contour that she liked from the Ford Dealership who did listen to my questions, answered them all and took care of us. She still has the car to this day and goes in for service from the Ford dealership. Clearly some dealerships know how to listen and service the customer, yet many do not.

Circus

Awesome right up, I agree with everything you have posted about the CTS. They have a world class car, now the dealerships need to step up to make the rest of the experience world class leading.

Best News, OIL Futures fell to their lowest level in 7 years. Closing at $37.65 per barrel. Cheap oil should push gas prices below $2 a gallon nationwide this winter. http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/cheaper-oil-buoys-consumers-hammers-producers/ar-AAg89HD?ocid=ansmsnnews11 Better News OPEC has decided to NOT cut production over concern of loosing market share to the increased pumping of the US. This helps to continue to push oil prices lower. This should also help auto companies sell new auto's.

33k I meant on the oil, sorry. Lol! Don't apologize, Drew had a senior moment! I knew you meant on the oil. Drew response was to me that if he changed his oil himself, do it now. If not wait till you are closer to 100% used and then take it to your local grease monkey to have the oil changed. That is how I read his message.

wow, so new quarter panel, hood repair, why take off the sideview mirror and door handle? Also I thought the deer hit the side but the nose is gone or did they take it off for the repair and it will go back on after paint? Thanks for posting, very cool.

I would think if you want rapid charging and looking long term, longer than 2-3 years of ownership then you can still afford to put in the right type of charger.

Going into winter, I would change it. Cold weather is much harder on engines than warmer weather. Having clean oil to go through the season will allow faster warm ups, should also help with changes due to the cold weather shrinking things. I have always found it good even on engines that need pure synthetic like my Escalade and trailblazer to change every 6K miles.

We'll I was told by my dealership that due to the close tolerances even on a pure synthetic, the engines get nosier as the oil gets dirtier and one should replace it. Also with the new dexos 1 and 2 spec GM, Ford, or any auto company could decline warranty if the wrong oil is used. Pretty clear to either use dexos specific oil or go pure synthetic. Good explanation on the new oils here: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/02/gm-engine-oil/

Dealerships need to look at themselves like a restaurant. They are only in business as long as they offer something of value to the customer. What is that value dealerships offer? SERVICE! I have found many dealerships, and lately the worst is Toyota and Ford with a very hard pressed sales approach. A Churn N Burn approach to jump on you when you get on the lot, pressure you into deciding on an auto. Sell it with add on's and move onto the next one. Sadly this leaves a bad taste in my mouth and a poor over all experience. What really needs to happen is a Customer Service that makes the experience stress free, enjoyable and drives home the point of coming back again and again for service on your auto. I will say that the experience in the Tesla store was pleasing and even test driving it was enjoyable. If you go to a store and test drive one and have never driven a pure electric car you will be in for a surprise at the torque from the get go. What I was not impressed with is the answers to how do I get repairs done, who services the auto, etc. Clearly they have 3rd party places setup and that should be fine but not everyone in their Salon store knew what to say to the basic questions of maintenance, service, warranty, etc. This is where Tesla needs to step up and Pep Boys who is a certified service center is not good enough when you have a state that only has 1 store in it. Over all, GM will murder Tesla with the BOLT and having a superior service experience. I hope that the Chevy dealerships will be like my Cadillac dealership and give superior service. I go in, never pressure to buy, only how can they help me. I enjoy going to the dealership just to kill time and check out the new auto's. GM needs this across all dealerships as does everyone else in the business.

OK, that makes sense, guess with the old software being what it is, I can understand the EPA / CARB going through it to make sure there is no hidden sub routines.

This makes one wonder if the cover my ass to protect my job in Germany is taking over taking care of business world wide. One has to wonder why getting new software out for models that just need to be re-flashed is not being done.

Both my Trailblazer and Escalade get noisy around 10% left on the oil life. I agree that the new clean oil makes a difference in how quiet the engine runs.

Sounds like a perfect day for creating additional customer work for you. Smash, Bang, Boom goes the body metal. We're a species of hoarders. I am genetically predisposed to the more extreme end of the scale, a number of family members being extreme hoarders. I have to remind myself to purge regularly so to not end up in the same situation. My sisters are very much hoarders and still have everything their adults kids used, wore, etc since they were babies. My attitude is if I have not used it in 90 days, probably not going to and might as well get rid of it. Yes there are some things like tools I do not get rid of but normal household items can be purged more frequently.

Would be interesting to replace the 305 V8 in a 85 or 86 Monte Carlo SS Areo version with a proper Turbo 4 banger and see how she would handle. Why not replace the carb with a Holley or Edelbrock EFI kit?

Happy B Day Viper!

Yes, I believe that will/already here in the P90D. I'll have to double check. Actually according to their web site which allows you to set speed and AC on or off, it tells you the Mileage of a charge. https://www.teslamotors.com/models So the best model for battery length is the 85D at 55mph with AC off and outside air at 70 degrees you get 347 miles range on 19" rims. 21" rimes drops this to 341 miles. If we put the speed at 70mph a more reasonable speed for the average driver, you get 261 or 255 based on 19" or 21" rims. I do not see any option for a 90s series, but the top end on the web site is the P85D with Ludicrous mode.

Boy

For a brand that does not sell that many auto's, it seems a bit extreme. Right now it would be nice to just get some quality products out the door.

Thuja

Great news if they can deliver on the 310 mile range with 80% recharge of battery pack in 15min. Hopefully we see more auto's with longer range and faster recharge times.

Love costco for this stuff, they currently have the Mobil 1 Full Sythetic, 6 quarts for $37.99 and the Professional Extended Oil Filters for $19.99 you then get a $20 instant rebate. $37.99 + $19.99 - $20.00 = $37.98. Should be fine for more auto's, but if you do have to buy a second set, you are still ahead with the extra filter and oil.

Slim Shady!