ccap41

Agreed, they do make a good product. The difference in brand quality these days is so miniscule as to be nearly irrelevant. It primarily comes down to personal taste and comfort level. Thank you! Some just see one tenth here or there and call it an ass whoopin.. Minute differences means it's a driver skill battle. Also, in my opinion, I think they should be more alone the lines of the softer slightly more "daily-able" Mustang in their SS and GT trims because they have the 1LE/ZL1/GT350®/GT500 for the hardcore crowd. Make the lesser, sub ~40k trims a little more docile and livable and turn the wick up on the track variances. These all just need to sell if we want them to stick around. It's all good and dandy to have the quickest car but that costs the company more to engineer and produce and to keep these cars around...they have to make money off of them.

Very good review, Frisky! My buddy with his MK6 GTI has the SAME EXACT thoughts on the sluggish transmission in "normal" and then it holds gears too long if you put it in "sport". The way you described it couldn't have been any more similar to how my buddy has described his.

" The court said that because GM didn’t notify customers about the ignition switch recall before its bankruptcy that stopping them from suing the automaker would violate their right to due process protected by the constitution." http://www.motortrend.com/news/court-rules-old-gm-defense-ignition-switch-cases/

Yeah.. between $600-and 700+ dollars.. Not to mention the time. I don't kno about U.. but I can use that saving to do something fun this weekend Absolutely! I would most certainly like to save 6-700 bones to go do something fun rather than a repair cost.

To go with this..kind of.. Personally, I would rather have a loaded up smaller vehicle than a stripped down larger vehicle. I could have bought an Edge when I bought my escape but it would have been a lesser trim, 2wd(not like I NEED AWD), and it would have literally only been a larger vehicle.

"Ultimately, they just need to make good product." They do.. Do they make the absolute best performance car in the segment? No. But there are plenty of shortcomings of both cars that make people buy or not buy one of them. They're 2+2 coupes and A LOT of people daily drive these and sometimes you have to sacrifice some things for the greater good of the customer. As enthusiasts it kind of sucks but it's a reality the engineers HAVE to put into consideration because the car HAS to sell.

I walked my local ford dealer last week and there were 3 V6's, 2 ecoboosts, and 2 5.0s. Well.. The Alpha platform kind of sells.. Great cars that just don't sell well.

Well they did screw up by putting a n/a v6 in it to begin with... I don't understand why they did that.

Very well done, Casa! It was really good to see the savings that can be had by just doing the work yourself..A LOT! I've never messed with bearings..luckily I've never had to yet..

All 3 of what? Mustang, Camaro, and Challenger

Nice review Frisky. I like your reviews. It'd be nice if you could drive all three back to back to back to compare and review.

So only 12k???? No, 16K now. MSRP is 22K. Oh okay, still a great deal. I just didn't expect a 22k Sonic...

So only 12k????

It has been fixed. (Good thing I haven't posted it on any of the social networks yet).

You may want to put "Passat" in the title.. It took a decent amount of reading to figure out what vehicle you were talking about.

I agree. In this age where automakers are trying to squeeze every penny out of production, I wouldn't doubt if GM more or less trapped a supplier in this situation. They'll have to take it on the nose and restructure the contracts. Obviously keeping production going is more important than trying to get a 5 dollar trim piece for $3 or whatever. This is what I was thinking of when I first read that they got into a bad contract with GM. But it does bring up the counter argument, why would they sign a bad contract if it'll put them under? Unless when it was signed the forecasted fixed/variable costs were much lower and something happened that increased their costs way above their past projections.

Do they have the same leadership group(s)? Do those other companies have the same leadership groups prior to and post bankruptcy? Many companies who do what GM did, do have the same board, executives as they dump their debt and rebuild. Trump did this 5 major times on destroying other companies just for his own personal wealth building. So people should be able to go after his money then. Just like they are allowing here now. If they have the same board that ran them into the ground then I feel no mercy for any company like this. Go back and take everything from them again. You live and learn. If you don't learn and make the same mistakes you deserve nothing with a side order of jack $h!.

Do they have the same leadership group(s)? Do those other companies have the same leadership groups prior to and post bankruptcy?

Something needs to get sorted out and quickly because if GM can't produce new cars.. that leave a lot of people not working even if it's a week or few days that's money out of everybody's pockets not just GM's.

"A Massachusetts-based parts supplier you’ve probably never heard of could force General Motors’ entire North American operation to grind to a halt. Clark-Cutler-McDermott Co. stopped making acoustic insulation and trim pieces for GM vehicles on Friday after declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a situation it blames on money-losing contracts signed with the automaker, a source told The Detroit News. The supplier’s parts are found in almost every U.S. vehicle GM builds. With its workforce now laid off, and the supply chain disrupted, GM faces a grim situation — a shutdown of its assembly operations and millions of dollars in losses per day. GM went to a U.S. District judge last month to impose a temporary restraining order on Clark-Cutler-McDermott, but that order expired at the beginning of the week. The supplier previously shut down on June 17, but the legal intervention briefly kept the supply of parts flowing. In a court filing obtained by The Detroit News, GM spells out how serious the situation is: A continued disruption in the supply of component parts will also cause a catastrophic disruption in the supply chain and the operations of countless GM suppliers, dealers, customers, and other stakeholders, including the potential layoff of tens of thousands of workers in the event GM’s North American operations are completely shut down. The automaker is over a barrel — GM doesn’t have a backlog of parts to work with, as its contract with Clark-Cutler-McDermott was of the just-in-time delivery variety. No other supplier makes the parts Clark-Cutler-McDermott provides GM. The supplier, which deals mostly with GM, claims its contracts caused it to lose $12 million over the past three years. In the court filing, GM claims it loaned the supplier millions of dollars to continue production. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing scheduled for today will map out where both companies go from here. Any number of scenarios could come from the ruling, including the supplier being forced to honor its contract with the automaker. So far, there haven’t been any assembly disruptions related to the issue." http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/07/gm-faces-catastrophic-assembly-disruption-parts-supplier-goes-bankrupt/

Actually, the article points out that there are very few benefits to a flat plane crank. Slightly lower rotating mass is about it. The performance that Ford gained in the 5.2 mostly came from excellent engineering at the other side of the engine... .the valvetrain. Sorry I can only read what Balthy copied and pasted in as I can't get to Linkedin from my work computer. Well, when you get home... you can read why all the fuss over a flat-plane crank in a V8 is just marketing fluff. It's confusing why Ford decided to promote that rather than the real engineering feats in the valvetrain. Probably simpler. Oh it is probably waaaaaaay easier to market "flat plane crank" and Ferrari compard to complex valvetrain words. lol

Actually, the article points out that there are very few benefits to a flat plane crank. Slightly lower rotating mass is about it. The performance that Ford gained in the 5.2 mostly came from excellent engineering at the other side of the engine... .the valvetrain. Sorry I can only read what Balthy copied and pasted in as I can't get to Linkedin from my work computer.

Wow, good eye. I never would have realized that it was that small.

The app thing is way more convenient than a phone call and an awkward tipping situation though. Money is never discussed and it's all paid for through the app and your selected method of payment(bank account or PayPal). I completely agree with your assessment on how people lease vehicle and "buy" cars that are out of their price range. Heck there are 84 month loans out for cars now. EIGHTY FOUR MONTHS?!?!? A brand new car is worth jack after 84 months. You better be prepared to keep it forever to get what you paid in interest worth out of it.

lol they are conveniently pushing back that all 4cyl engines are flat plane cranks but never mention the work that goes into making one with 8 cylinders and the benefits of a flat plane crank vs a cross plane crank in said V8.