oldshurst442

I was sold on the faux leather. MB Tex as Mercedes calls it. I guess all that Vegan demographic with their Smart cars prompted Mercedes Benz to go retro with the 1970s vinyl seat fad.

Ah....sunny days up ahead. EVs are gonna be profitable by 2025. ICE cars are gonna be dominant still in 2030. EVs are going to be selling like mad in 10-15 years from now. Many manufacturers are gonna stop with new ICE development sometime in 2025 or so... Car manufacturing world wide is at a slow down currently, but manufacturers are going bat shyte crazy throwing all of their R&D money on EVs and EV platforms when even Tesla is hitting a slowdown right about now... All kinds of merger talks and partnerships between different manufacturers because...sunny days up ahead. Ah those sunny sunny days. And somehow, with all these contradictory story lines, this tune seems quite fitting if you ask me. Sittin' stoned alone in my backyard Askin' myself "Why should I work so hard?" Sittin' dreamin' 'bout the days to come Half-undressed, just soakin' up the sun Sittin' here, I hope I don't get fried Two years ago, you know, I almost died And yet, there's nothin' better for your soul Than lyin' in the sun and listenin' to rock 'n roll Sunny days Oh, sunny, sunny, sunny days Ain't nothin' better in the world, you know Than lyin' in the sun with your radio

500 000 units annually combined. 250 000 units for each manufacturer. On top of all the other EVs BMW and Mercedes Benz want to sell... LOFTY goals. Who to believe? The manufacturers and their CEOs going all in because they believe all the hooplah surrounding EVs...(the hubris of a perfect world and governments forcing EVs upon the people) or other contrary reports that the ICE vehicle is going nowhere anytime soon despite possible bans from governments forcing EVs unto people... Its agonizing for me just thinking about what the future holds in the next 5-10 years and what kind of car should I be buying...yes I know I got a looong way to go for that and regardless what I buy, EV or ICE, it wont affect my after-purchase life because for the short term, ICE or EV will be backed by the manufacturer, government for electricity or big oil for gasoline for that car's life span... Imagine what CEOs are going through as the decisions they make NOW will affect the future survival of their respective companies... THIS is quite the ONLY time I agree with CEOs getting paid the millions they get paid...for REAL future altering decisions they make... Like DFELT always says...quite interesting times we are currently living and about to experience.

The American arm is doing great on the Jeep and Ram part. The Dodge and Chrysler part...well...lets be honest...they are on borrowed time as it were. Because of the lack of attention and R&D money that the "F" part of FCA is doing to them... Maserati and Alfa Romeo still have some cache. In Europe and in North America. Its just that the FCA leaders are not tapping into that cache properly. Maybe its reliability issues or product or both that are hindering success, but I think Alfa and Maserati could still be salvaged and be worth something and BE brands that many would want to own. If both brands die off though, I wouldnt be shedding any tears. If Renault and Nissan merge for an eventual FCA merger....YIKES!!! Too many brands!!! Even with this scenario...too many brands that just dont do anything and would be encroaching each other... Come to think of it, Renault-Nissan really does NOT need FCA... Especially the way you described it... Nissan does not need Jeep as Nissan could dig deep into their very own heritage and do rough and tough SUVs. Not too long ago their very own XTERRA was impressive let alone what they had with their Pathfinder several decades ago... Their former XTRAIL was a great off roader too. So they got offroading know-how... Family haulin' CUVs/SUVs? Id say their Pathfinder and Rogue do a great job in that area. Qashqai too maybe? No better, but no worse than everybody else Id say... Renault has it alright with small cars in Europe. Nissan sells alright in the US. Maybe a better focus on quality is all it takes to be a leader in both markets? Now that Ghosn is gone, because I think HE was the one to phoque up the quality, well that could be fixed in a jiffy... Mitsubishi? Well...better focused vehicles for the US market and that too is an easy fix. AWD for offroading or sports cars is a Mitsubishi thing...couple that with Nissan and its sport car division (or offroading)and Renault with their F1 racing program and I dont really see how Mitsubishi cant be fixed easily? Infiniti... whatever. Does Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi really need FCA that whatever Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi is lacking that they cant fix by themselves? What? Renault is nostalgic about Chrysler that they want Chrysler in their lives again? For Jeep? They dont need Jeep. Mitsu bishi too is nostalgic about Chrysler? Lee Iacocca is loooong gone. They got Nissan and Mitsubishi that could be a good competitor to Jeep if they played their cards right... FCA needs help. Let them die... Jeep and Ram could survive together, on their own Jeep could go on the reverse trend introducing a sedan if they need one and they could call it the Eagle...and it be a cool way to celebrate their own past when Chrysler owned AMC and Jeep and the first ever crossover was the Eagle... It be a pity for Dodge and Chrysler, but hey... Fiat, Alfa, Maserati...well...good riddance...

The ghost of? Carlos Ghosn? Or do you mean Sergio Marchionne? Anyway, I see what you mean by it because Sergio wanted to merge desperately and yeah, several brands need to be killed off. Merger or not, several brands need to go as of now actually.

Yup. I forgot about that one. Good song like the others. I wanna make a correction with the timeline I gave. 'Twas the Spring of '86, not '85 my little story. Anyway. Thank-you for actually reading (and appreciating?) my nonsense. LOL.

Yes. Winter tires are better than all seasons. I agree. But in slippery conditions...nothing saves you. Slowing down does though... All I need is FWD and Im good. Now that Im used to winter tires, I DO prefer winters over all seasons, but a good all season tire that is NEW with FWD and I could manage all right. Like I said...slowing down is key to not losing control of your car. When the conditions are such that 50km/h (30mph) and your car gets squiggly with all seasons on, a winter tired FWD car could maybe go 35mph, to get to that squiggly state, but...when its time to stop, NOW!...welll...you aint stopping NOW whether you got winters or all seasons...and sure your stopping distances maybe a tad shorter with winters on...the thing is you need to stop NOW! But you aint gonnna stop... Slowing down is the key...regardless what kind of tire you got on. AWD/4 wheel drive just helps with not getting stuck in snow if there was a huge snowfall and you are parked. Or you wanna go through huge snowbanks because the snow plow did not plow yet. Again, you got a car that has a high enough ground clearance, and the road does not have ice underneath, not a low sports car, but a NORMAL car, RWD or FWD car , preferably a FWD car, one could go through uncleared roads easily enough and there is no need for AWD... I find that traction control, when it does not have a snow feature, hinders forward movement in snow, because sometimes, the driving wheels NEED to spin on snow and ice to move. OK...this is where AWD DOES come in handy. But its handy, not necessary... I got an AWD TL. Its great in the winter especially with winter tires on. But my wifes FWD Fusion with winters on does a great job too. The only thing I do not like about the Fusion for winter is that the Fusion seems to have a lower ground clearance than I used to for a family sedan and for winter driving in Montreal. Just to say, that they gave my wife a Ford Edge with a 3.5 under the hood. AWD. The Fusion needs rotors. Funny that the conversation is about rotors, but yeah, the Fusion needs rotors at 35 000 miles. I find that strange...

Quebec is a nanny state...it sucks! Now...I do see a major difference with winter tires versus all seasons in winter driving. Therefore I dont mind this particular law because it actually makes sense. But...morons now, drive a tad faster then before thinking they got better grip and you know what? Accidents STILL happen! Humans will ALWAYS try to circumvent the very law that is in place to protect them just to get hurt themselves rendering the law useless...

From this awesome track...to this: I loved Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now...but I had no idea who Glace Slick was back in the day. One spring day going to school on the city bus in 1985, a girl...that went to my highschool, her senior year, she looked like Rosie Odonnell...no joke...she had the same attitude too. Exactly like how Rosie's character is in a League Of Her Own...anyway, she had her Walkman, and she was rockin' to We Built This City....and I could hear every single musical note it was THAT loud and ever since then, I could NEVER get that song or image outta my head...well today, out of nowhere, her image dancin' and rockin' to that song popped into my head. So...I knew you had posted White Rabbit and therefore I decided I NEEDED to share this with you. For whatever reason. Grace Slick....she was hot back in 1969. Kim Cattrall was hot in Mannequin. Grace Slick had/still has? an awesome singing voice. We Built This City On Rock-N-Roll is typical 1980s cheese...I think I like it, but the image of that girl...I just wish she would go away....*SIGH* Anyway...back to your regularly scheduled programming. I think I bored you long enough...

Is it me, or does it really sound like shyte???!!! I saw this article at Road and Track's web site and this is what was said: It sounds NOTHING like something out of a Maranello factory let alone a Ferrari. Its NOT even worthy to mention the Voodoo V8 in the same breath. And yes it sounds like no other LS based V8 engine before...LS engines soung good. This sounds like SHYTE! THAT is why this does NOT sound like any other LS... The Ferrari V8s and V12s are symphonies. The Voodoo V8 adds the cannons to that symphony like how the cannons are in the 1812 overture. American V8 muscle is just simply Rock-N-Roll! But what we have got here is...a Backstreet Boys reunion for 2018.

My wife and I do not drive that much. My restaurant is close to my home and my wife is a housewife. She works hard enough keeping me in line, feeding me and cleaning me. Then after all that, she takes care of our 2 kids and keeps her house in order...yes, I said HER house. A man's house is his castle. But in reality, it and everything in it belongs to his wife. Whether he wants to admit to that or not. Anyway. We change the oils of both cars 2 times a year. Once just before winter hits and once in the early spring. Way before the oil needs to be changed. Why? Like I said, we both do not drive a lot, but by law, in Quebec, winter tires need to be installed, so when we install the winter tires in December, we change the oil at the same time. When we go back to all seasons in the early spring, we change the oils. Because Im not gonna make another pit stop to the garage just to change the oils when need be. Might as well just change the oil then. Therefore, both cars JUST visit the garage 2 times a year. Both cars are reliable that unexpected garage visits were not made just yet. Ive had countless of recalls on the Ford Fusion, and some of those recalls were done at the same time when changing the tires and oils. A couple of times, the recalls were made outside those times. A loaner was given so no phoques were given on my part for that... Coincidentally, the wife's Fusion has an appointment tomorrow for her tires to be changed, oil will be changed, AND a recall will be fixed... My appointment for the tires is next Tuesday. Oils and brakes need to be checked and possibly pads to be replaced. If the pads are good, but not great, and I cant go until next December, Ill change the pads next week so I dont make another garage visit in the summer just for brake pads, so ill change them a tad pre-maturely as well....and so forth and so forth. We go to the car's respective dealerships. I get my work done at the Acura dealership where I bought my car, and the Fusion gets its shyte done at the Ford dealership where we bought the car. Oils...whatever Acura and Ford recommend for the cars respectively, and for our cold Canadian winters. And quite honestly, I do NOT know what that is. I think both the Acura TL SH-AWD and the 1.6 liter Ecoboosted Fusion take 5W20. Since we dont drive often, and we change oils twice a year on low mileage, I dont check the oil levels or how dirty it may be. Yes, I trust the dealership. I have never ever had a bad experience at ANY dealership garage that I have bought my cars at. In fact, they even give me loaners when I dont ask for them and dont even need them. I tell them I dont need a loaner because I have a second car at my disposal, but most of the time they give me a loaner anyway. Granted, sometimes I dont get my cars the day of my rendez-vous because they might overbook, but they know I dont make an issue and to compensate they give me a loaner. Tomorrow, the recall is a biggie, something about the shifter cable degrading over time prompting the shifter to be difficult to move or not at all... and I think its a 8-10 hour job over the course of 2 days, plus everything else the Fusion needs...therefore, the dealership will give me a loaner. Because recall. I think the Fusion will be in the shop 3 days minimum. I guess they could charge me for an oil change that they did not make, I guess that would be 50 or 60 bucks or whatever it is, and I wouldnt know because I dont check to see if they actually changed my oils, but hey...if something happened to the engine, it would be on them since I do ALL my oil changes at THEIR dealership....so there is that...but both motors on both cars purr and run smooooth like the day they rolled of the showroom floor....

I always found these ads sooooo funny!

@Robert Hall You are a computer geek, huh? Nothing wrong wit dat! Full respect! I regret that I did not become a computer geek myself. I begged my parents to buy this for me and one XMAS morning in 1982 or 1983, that was under our tree. I would end up having at least 60 games for it over the course of 7 years. Including this game And so I went the video game route, rather than the programming one. A friend of mine had the Commodore VIC 20 But truth be told, I found the Vic 20 pretty boring. What amazes me is, though, is that, as a young kid, becoming a teenager and coming of age in the 1980s, I had the time to: learn to play the guitar, learn to build plastic model airplane kits, play sports big time and coming home late because of it, play video games, listen to music, indulge in movies by going to the movie theater or renting VHS movies and going to school AND doing my homework. And I had time to do all that more or less at the same time. My friends too. And other kids that were not my friends. We stayed active and I do not see that kind of motivation with most kids today. And...to say, that, we had the same 24 hours in a day that kids have got today... What went sooooo horribly wrong the last 30 years or so?

Maybe not crazy console ads, but crazy computer '80s stuff just the same...

Does it really matter? ?

^^^ I forgot about that Nissan.

This one...Ill agree to.

Me too. And I really dont think the "F" part of FCA is going to greenlight new engineering for new successors. They wont even greenlight the Giorgio platform for Chrysler or Dodge to use... I really hope NOBODY merges with FCA. RAM and Jeep will survive. Dodge and Chrysler wont, but continuing this way, Dodge and Chrysler wont survive anyway...and its an agonizing death as we all know its coming. Lets be honest with each other. Its coming. And...with nobody merging with FCA, Fiat and Alfa is going to the dogs too. Any serious money FCA is making IS with RAM and Jeep. And Dodge to a degree. Because the Challenger and Charger and 300 are selling at high enough numbers on a platform that has been paid for a while ago. The Durango helps a lot too...because its also on a Jeep platform that Jeep sells a ton of too. I dont think with Alfa's numbers that FCA is raking it in. Maybe Fiat in Europe is contributing to some profit? Maserati? I once supported the merger between Chryco and Fiat. But not anymore. This merger proves to be as destructive to Chryco as the one from Germany. But then again, Chryco was a goner anyway. At least we got another 2-3 years with a pseudo new Viper and a Hellcat-Demon-RedEye Challenger (Charger too). At least the FCA merger allowed Dodge annihilate the competition in this new modern era muscle car wars!

I read the article. Pretty grim. And this article plays upon my fear of what may happen and what IS to happen if and when Porsche succumbs to the allure of profit generating CUVs and SUVs all for the name of market share... Reading the article is very reminiscent of Detroit 3 wrongs... Yet...this article seems to be of a less aggressive nature describing Porsche as how I remember how Car and Driver and Motor Trend used to rip on Detroit 3 automakers for the EXACT same thing 20-30 years ago...

No need for speed in this segment. Its just a cute ute CUV. Define better transmission? Because as I understand it, this 9 speed is smooth and makes this 4 cylinder rev even smoother. I know Drew mentioned that the Denali Terrain has got more power, but as much clout as a Denali has got, its still not a Cadillac. And Im willing to bet that the Denali aint as smooth as the XT4 is said to be... If you are gonna blast Cadillac for something, blast Cadillac for even being in this segment to begin with... While I did say a couple of weeks ago if they are to do a vehicle this small, then they should go all in, but I also said that I wouldnt want any Cadillac to be in a 40 000 dollar price range. I would want Cadillac to START in the 55 000 dollar range. And therefore a XT4 better be a V trimmed CUV... But as is...we all could moan about the XT4 not being a tire melting Hellcat beating motor vehicle, to my understanding, the XT4 is one smooth and quiet ride. And THAT would and should be the main focus here. And I think it was wise for Cadillac to choose smooth and quiet over unnecessary torque figures and risking having a ride that some Euro loving badge snob complain about how harsh the engine or ride is! Its a Cadillac after all. No...not a V Series Cadillac. Just a luxury ride Caddy!

Panamera... I must go back to grade school and learn how to read properly. So yeah! Panamera as a 2 dr would be GREAT being called a 928. Minus the mistake about the Panamera part. The rest of the rant stills stays as THAT is how I feel about Porsche and CUVs and Porsche sports cars...

I was about to say...good idea...but after writing my rant above, I dont think I could agree with that philosophy. A 928 SHOULD be made by Porsche. But not as a CUV. As a GT sports car that how it once was. Porsche SHOULD do a REAL 2dr CUV, they should call it something else other than a 928. It will maybe sell (2dr coupes ARE a hard sell nowadays) and if there is a market for another GT somewhat affordable Porsche sports car, then expand the sports car product line and call THAT a 928. I dont want Porsche to muddle their sports car image. I feel that they are doing a fantastic job so far in selling us luxury, (because a 911 was far from luxury as one could get, worse than Corvette if we are honest!) and I feel that they are doing a fantastic job in selling SUVs and CUVs, capable SUVs and CUVs and I feel that their sports cars are better than ever and I feel they are managing their image just fine. Something I wish Cadillac head honchos could take a look and learn from.

That is the idea. The sheeple and pawns buy CUVs from Porsche so the REAL car guys could buy the 911. And I think THAT is a good thing as the TRUE Porschefiles will ALWAYS buy a Caymen or Boxster or 911. As a car guy, I dont want for the Caymen, Boxster or 911 be watered down just because a bunch of fake badge snob douches will buy a Porsche sports car and change the dynamics of those cars just because they arent REAL sport car guys. Just for them to buy a Porsche just because "Porsche". Leave the badge snobs to continue to buy the CUVs so that the hot blooded Porsche sport cars be left alone so the REAL sports car guys could continue to buy the REAL sport cars! As long as Porsche does NOT eff up their brand image to become a CUV brand imaged company...we all good!

Me too! The black and white stuff, my family will refuse to do...but I just think about my dad (and mom) and my auntie. I had older parents, my dad's sister, she is 99 years old. Still alive and kickin'! So when I watch these movies, I think about my dad (and mom) because of all the wonderful 'back in my day' stories they used to tell me! It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World was on last week, so I PVRed it and we watched it. I had seen it twice before when I was a teenager, loved it then...so I introduced it to my kids. My going on 12 year old son was rolling on the floor laughing! My 13 year old daughter found it alright. My wife, did not like it too much. She likes drama stuff. No action stuff. Only the abused woman that gets revenge by murdering her abuser that falls in love with the cop that helps her, Oprah channel movies... She loves her Law and Orders. All of them. SVU being her fave. And her CSIs... Ill watch those too, but Im typing away my GIFs and my rants over at Cheers and Gears when these are on! Comedy? She does the 1980s and 1990s comedy. And today's comedy I guess. Anything from the 1960s or older and she tunes out! Ill do French movies! Love those! Especially from the 1960s and 1970s. Living in Quebec...we got them. British Comedy stuff too. Living in Canada...we got them. Benny Hill. I LOVED his comedy! HMMMMM....Benny Hill shows on DVD? Greek movies from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Those were great! I miss them! All the time, my parents took me to watch Greek movies at the Realto. An ethnic movie theater in Montreal. I saw a dozen of them there. Then the beauty of Beta and VHS came to be...and we rented many. Every week, it was 2 movies we rented. 1 Hollywood movie and 1 Greek movie!

Dont all those 4 cylinder "street rods" all go 'brawwwpp'? There was a young adult go through my drive-through with a current gen VW Golf that also went brawwwpp. I dont think it was a GTI...didnt look it, but sure as hell tried to sound like it had more bark then it actually had... I cant hate them anymore for that! Actually, quite the opposite as that means they are enthusiasts of the motor vehicle....gotta respect 'em as these are the kids that will grow up and DEMAND that we have enthusiast type self-driving pods... And Im happy that Toyota and Subaru are investing in another generation...as maybe there is a slight sliver of hope that not all sheeple are so much into their smart phones and CUVs that these types of cars COULD still exist!