regfootball

Here are some photos of my in showroom investigation of a brand new 2021 Buick Enclave premium last week....

I feel the Enclave has one of the better CUV interiors out there (once price reductions are considered).

I think your review is spot on.  I actually sort of like these cars, that said, I look at it as more of a Toyota than a Lexus competing with the BMW and Merc's.  I like the showy looks and especially in yellow.  Why I wouldn't get one, an interior dash, that is right there in line with the dull blocky Japanese car dashes of the 80's and 90's....it's like not a day moved on since then.  The v8 seems to be impressive, even if its hp is down compared to others.

At the end of the day, a well loaded v8 Camaro, way more desirable even.  

I mean, a 2020 Corvette can be had for same money btw.....

7 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I love it, but like the full size Bronco a lot more. 

thinking motorcycle will be my next buy though. I want something like a KLR 650 as a first bike....I like the Honda Africa Twin...but Olds/Drew is thinking of getting a BMw...I like those also. 

KLR:

Beautiful. 

The off road and overlanding community loves them, so I will take the ownership experience of actual owners who paid big bucks for them over Balthazars opinion. 

That being said, I didn't buy a Tacoma partially because it felt really dated next to the Ranger.

Good friend has a four runner and loves it.They have gotten this one right. I need something 4WD I can take off road without worrying about scratiching it. If a cheper decent older four runner came up, I might be all over it. 

friend had something like the Suzuki V-Strom, an 'adventure bike'  was a cool bike but he got rid of it and got one of those 6 cylinder Honda Valkerie's now.

16 hours ago, ocnblu said:

My cousin has a 4-year old Forester, it's her first Subaru and it was bought new.  On Saturday at a family breakfast, she said it is her last Subaru.  I found that interesting, but now that I see those multi-year reliability rankings I am not surprised.  She traded a second-gen Liberty in on the Forester.

a lot of the newer Subarus are having engine issues.  Coworker had a new Impreza, waited forever for engine replacement, had loaner for several months.  Lots of issues.  I hear it is not just those issues.  Plus now Subarus have CVT's... wonder how that is going.

Here is my entry for lowest price DVD player of the holiday season, and it has HDMI input even!

On 11/20/2020 at 5:25 AM, ocnblu said:

"THEY" want ppl to revert to walking.  Horses as transportation will be deemed cruel.

WHAT WILL OUR AMISH FRIENDS DO

On 11/20/2020 at 1:50 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

Tinfoil for your dep state conspiracy?

Actually Amish people are cool...

This is actually a nice maroon. 

Be interested to see what they do with electrics, especially with the Electric MINI coming out. 

THOSE NEW BMW GRILLES, I COULD FRY A BIG STEAK ON THOSE GRATES

On 11/20/2020 at 8:28 AM, David said:

Battery tech is moving away from precious rare earth elements and that is proven in a variety of new solid state battery production that comes online next year for a wide variety of EVs that will be produced next year and moving forward.

No Charging Network, please state where you actually live as I am willing to bet there are far more charging options than you are aware of or willing to acknowledge. Cold weather issues have been made moot. How you will ask, easy just like ICE auto's loose MPG efficiency in cold weather, batteries do too, to offset this, we have Hydro thermal management and that has been proven well by Tesla and GM in their current EVs where people have lost some range but over all still have plenty to get out and about to work, errands, etc.

You are right on it will take time and yet we have seen where properly motivated and supported, you can change the masses to embrace change.

NORWAY leads the world with over 60% of new auto sales being EVs for the last 2 years and climbing. Yes a small country compared to the US, but a great example of how they have embraced change for a better healthy life for the MASSES.

Here are sites that track where one can charge their EV.

https://www.plugshare.com/

https://chargehub.com/en/charging-stations-map.html

If you do not like 3rd party mapping sites, then use the Governments own location site that shows the 100's of thousands of charging locations and growing.

https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_stations.html

charge times, inadequate,

all the new tehcnologies, you mention, are they AFFORDABLE for the masses yet?

embrace change? change is good, if its convenient, cheap, and dependable FOR THE CONSUMER.

right now if if annual vehicle sales is between 6 and 7% replacement each year, it will be many years before many purchase their next vehicle.  Vehicles can often have 15-20 year life.  So, in 2020 you cannot legislate a rapid changeover to eliminate fuel vehicles.  Especially when the argument you use is thin, and so many vehicles are on the road already.  This is what we call, let the market take care of it.  Now, the government may provide some subisidies for electric propulsion technology and that is fair due to 'diversity of energy sources'.  Ethanol was subsidized (too much) and neither should electric.  It all comes back to where does the electricity come from, and anyone who is a realist knows that our country's complete energy needs cannot be reliably provided from -renewable-(cough) energy sources anytime soon.  The only way you can force renewable sources on people right now is through forced taxation.  

And then, just when they pull the plug on gas vehicles, the prices of the electrics will be kept high so THE MASSES cannot have personal mobility.  Gas vehicles on the existing infrastructure allow more people the chance at personal freedom and mobility, which is what has always set our country apart.  Forcing electric technology and cutting off gas is really a veiled attempt at restricting personal mobility in your own car.  Because they can not roll it out conviently and afordable without taxing the crap out of everyone by legislative fiat rather than the market, just yet.

And sorry, the cold weather issues are not taken care of yet.  won't be for while for the masses.  20-40% range loss quite common.  In a northern state and in particular in driving through blizzards, you can't afford to risk it in an electric until the convenient and frequent charge network like gas is built.  

I'm not opposed to electrics.  I almost got a Volt before, but it was too small.  Almost no one builds a truly spacious medium priced EV.  I like the Bolt, but its a toy, its too small.  Malibu and Fusion hybrids I looked at.  Hybrid is a great option but they have to start pricing the hybrids as cheap as the gas models if they want them to sell.  I would love to have an electric actually, but not as my main vehicle right now.

Norway is almost an irrelevant country.  They are very small and quite honestly are a pretty homogenous country, culturally.  And they have profited most from oil as anyone ever.

One of the best GM vehicles IMO.  The interior is nicer than it should be for this cheap of car.

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

OEMs certainly can bring out all sorts of electric vehicles... but you can't FORCE a consumer to buy them; that has to come organically. They are the newbie that has to compete for the consumer's wallet by being competitive to the established market. Perhaps one day it will be a sweeping tide, and I expect it to increase substantially over time... but there's no way you can mandate it by decree in 9 years. All realistic future projections have to be based largely on present & past plots.

and yet they won't let permits be granted for precious metal mining to make all these kajillion batteries.

no charge network, cold weather issues.  yes, it will take time for the technology develop for the MASSES.

Unless they are trying to get the masses out of their cars and only select few get a car.  

ah, so this is what global reset vehicles will look like

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

Yeah, but the Chevette was a proper longitudinal-oriented, RWD Scooter ( see what I did there, ocn?), whereas the escort was a disposable appliance.
 

I understand sentimentality; occasionally I think back to the family Safari I started driving on... but I think there’s a clear line between sentiment and enthusiasm.

My high school car was a chevette scooter. Performance machine!!

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30468937/toyota-gr-yaris-photos-info/?utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=socialflowFBCD&src=socialflowFBCAD&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2GgAt126IdedS2dNe4t8qKKjDkYJh6TdI5kf-5HlnAFlfq7itW6nKCtFQ
 

ocnblu’s next ride !!!!

On 11/12/2020 at 4:31 PM, balthazar said:

How are you supposed to know if a given automotive consideration is comfortable for you, or has good vision, or you like the sound system, or you can FIT in it, if OEMs move to primarily online sales??

Having sold cars at a dealership, those are THE questions 

9 minutes ago, regfootball said:

On 11/3/2020 at 8:40 AM, balthazar said:

You are no longer permitted to your own opinion or to ‘sit back’. Now you MUST be involved in every social /political issue, because your ‘life/soul/very existence’ depends on it (yet AGAIN). Sick of the lies and the spin.

its a premeditated attempt to suck you into believing you don't have -individual- rights, and have no right to your own point of view...Much less act in your own interest.

But the nation is founded on emphasizing the right of the individual within the bounds of not infringing in the rights of others.  That's why every bullying attempt at forcibly enacting certain things is to sell it as a 'right', and that you are infringing.  It's all certain groups have in most arguments but we are played emotionally to believe our 'life/soul/very existence' depends on it.  No, --their-- pocketbook depends on it is usually more the case.

Cooperating globally is a great concept but we should not bullied into thinking we as a fairly well to do country should be punished and extorted into giving up all sorts of taxes, fines and moneys to global organizations in the interest of 'cooperation' and rights.  

Until we understand that the nation was founded on the individual, the being bullied into being involved into every social and political issue will continue.  The answer is no, people are allowed to care to varying levels about a myriad of issues.

4 hours ago, balthazar said:

Few people understand perspective, composition, proportion and lighting, Manufacturer photos always look better than dealership photos.

A lot of times it’s the detail guys taking the photos, and they are being ridden to get their other work done.  Often times they make minimum wage. Or not much more. 

Why in this age of 6, 8, 10, 12 megapixel cameras abounding, do so many dealerships still photograph their cars to 600 and 800 pixel photo sizes, on shit cameras from 2009?  Or maybe they just post the photos at that reduced size for space reasons.....when monitors these days are 1900+ pixels....

Those crappy photos on the dealer website do not make me want to go look at your 50,000 dollar car.

Even worse, many don't even photo their cars anymore.  They leave up those stock animation quality rendered images of the manufacturer.

Many photograph their vehicles in a weird space with completely heinous and unflattering fluorescent lighting as well.  Vroom's photos are like the vaseline on lens images of penthouse from the 70's and 80's.

I realize prepping cars for sale takes work and cost is involved (i have worked at a dealership); but take some more time and care to photograph your inventory well, it makes it more presentable.  You don't need 80 pictures.....20-40 will work if they are high quality photos and capture each image to show relevant things.

19 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Which iPhones did you get? iPhone SE or the 11 or newly released 12 series?

Just got them set up.  got (2) 12's, a 12 Pro for me (i still might want to return for the Pro Max), and an 11.

Three of the phones have an 800 trade credit each, and the other was a 350 credit vs the 11.

I get that everything is way overpriced to begin with, but if this plays out as sold to me, and the cost of my plan is to drop about 40-50 bucks a month as well, i mean, we'd been stupid to pass all this up, i think.

4 new phones for the family.  didn't necessarily want, but all were eligible to trade in and get close to free or free with bill credits and trade in of old devices.

the 2020 version of what they did in the early 2000's, incentivize the phones but do it in such a way that you renew your 'plan' and while technically not a contract, your 'free' phone is tied to staying in the plan / service to accumulate all your bill credits to make it free.

anyone even slightly thinking of the new iphone, seriously this a good time to upgrade.  I put it off for near 5 years and was just fine keeping what i had but these are easily the best iPhone deals i have seen in the last 5 years.  Maybe best deals since the iphone 5c era.

On 10/12/2020 at 4:55 PM, David said:

2021 Hyundai Santa Fe gets more power, more efficient engines and a all new Hybrid. There is also an all new Premium top line trim package.

• 2.5L 4 banger replaces the 2.4L base engine, Power increases by 6hp to 191 and increases 4 lb-ft to 182 lb-ft
• 8 sp tranny stays, but FWD increases 1mpg to 26 mpg combines, AWD stays at 24 mpg combined
• 2.0L turbo is replaced by 2.5L turbo with new dual clutch 8 sp tranny. Motor gains 42hp and 51 lb-ft of torque for total of 277 hp / 311 lb-ft of torque. A gain of 2 mpg for both FWD or AWD with Combined 25 mpg FWD or 24 mpg combined AWD.
• Hybrid MPG is not released yet but system has 224 HP and 195 lb-ft of torque via 6sp tranny with standard AWD.
• QUOTE:
  • Santa Fe is picking up a new range-topping trim called Calligraphy. It can be spotted from the outside by its unique grille and 20-inch wheels. Inside it gets Nappa leather upholstery, faux suede headliner, additional ambient lighting and an 8.5-inch heads-up display. It comes exclusively with the turbocharged 2.5-liter engine and all-wheel drive.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/10/12/2021-hyundai-santa-fe-engine-specs/

I like the Santa Fe but this overdone console is a bit much....sounds like the 25 turbo is only available on that top trim?  If it was otherwise available, it might be a good sleeper car.

On 10/10/2020 at 9:50 AM, balthazar said:

Car & Driver :

I read that article.  i am glad it sort of Shames BMW for making the new 2 series on a front drive chassis.  2 series is what i equate to Pontiac EXCITEMENT!  A German Grand AM!!

14 hours ago, daves87rs said:

I’m pretty good with Vans in the snow...think I could skip the AWD...

Looked at a base one with the 800 added S package in blue is pretty sexy......

yeah, we've done ok with ours front only, except when the OEM crap Michelins wore out early.  We put Toyo all weather snow rated tires on it for last winter and it improved it.  But to me to provide the buyer a choice and let them decide is the best thing.  The sales guy i worked with for this test drive said another woman had purchased the van i did come in to look at first, she saw it had all wheel drive and jumped on it fast.  They had had 4 of the AWD in stock and 3 of them got sold fast, right away.  People are responding to the AWD availability.

I wish the Camaro had AWD available.  I totally would be ok with an AWD Camaro as a daily driver, v6+AWD would sell well and help keep the Camaro line profitable in order to keep making the big RWD v8's.  Not having that option means it not a daily driver choice for someone like me in winter climes.  The van having AWD available makes it a legit option compared to crossovers for many now, I assume.

i don't know if the 8 speed in the Colorado is the same 8 speed in the CT6? but the 8 speed in the CT6 has issues as well, likely similar issues, and that is why my enthusiasm for looking for an early version CT6 was blunted. Also its why CT6's are getting cheaper on the used market.   If i look for a CT6 in the future it must have the new 10 speed automatic, which by all accounts has been a great tranny for the Caddies and Camaros.

time for a Silverado my friend!  A nice turbo 4.....or the work truck with the v6.....