regfootball

how did I miss this thread until now>?

meh.  did the Fusion and Escala breed?

5 hours ago, balthazar said:

In my wife's Malibu, we have a couple of those heavy cardboard 'flats'; around 18" x 24", helps when you go shopping to keep things from a-rollin' / shopping where they have no bags (Costco).

Or, you could fashion a 'U' shaped barrier the width of the interior, to retain items from rolling out. Only needs to be about 3" high at the rear.

yeah we have a few of those in the garage come to think of it.  they are handy.

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

It is a looker.
I would be interested to see some shots in the open hatch, with the rear seat up & down.

sure thing, i'll get some soon.

One huge downfall to the wagon is the load floor is up higher than it is on the sportback.  This is where my ire is with GM here.  The sportback may actually have more of a useful cargo area when the seats are folder due to the lower floor.  PLus i have already had several instances where the cargo falls out of the trunk when you open the hatch.  I need to figure out a barrier solution, as the load floor slopes lower towards the hatch opening.  Already had shampoo fly out of the hatch, rool down the driveway and all the way across the street.

The problem with the Sportback is that is doesn't have the power hatch like the wagon, and the sunroof on the Sportback is way too small to be anything enjoyable.  So the wagon, can't get the v6 and has the higher load floor, but you get power hatch and huge moonroof.  The Sportback has lower load floor, and V6 option, but a fairly unimpressive sunroof and no power hatch.

If the wagon had the same low load floor of the Sportback that would have made for a lot more cargo area and the most useful load floor.  The actual cargo area height of the wagon is not that impressive, actually.

Seen enough of these to say I can’t warm up to the exterior.  Still has a faux / unfinished design look to me. The front end is really yucky. creepy actually. 
 

interior isn’t too bad I guess. 
 

k5 design by KIA is much more palatable but they should have kept the Optima name. Especially since it looks so similar like a mildly evolved version of the last Optima. Wtf is a “K5”?  Sort of like wtf is a CT5
 

On 4/6/2021 at 5:41 PM, regfootball said:

At moms. Last chance for me to see both her Cadillacs in one place. She’s sold the 2002 and the buyer is coming to pick it up in May. Then she’ll just have the 2011 left. 

Whoops. Wrong thread. I thought I posted this in random thoughts 

At moms. Last chance for me to see both her Cadillacs in one place. She’s sold the 2002 and the buyer is coming to pick it up in May. Then she’ll just have the 2011 left. 

I wouldn’t risk towing 5000# with a Traverse and it’s small v6 on anything more than an incidental time or two. Anyone that plans to tow -frequently- just go for the full frame model. With a v8. That will be the most durable over time. 
 

we had friends with a Honda Pilot that wanted the Honda so bad and then it was not the best for towing their boat to all the fishing tournaments. I couldn’t imagine buying that used Passport and all the strain on it. If you’re shopping used CUV’s and you see a hitch on it and in particular if you can if that person frequently towed with it often, run. Since then he’s had a ram and Nissan Titan pickup.  
 

I maybe could consider a Durango but keep in mind it’s got a Hemi available. 
 

‘Pre-production’ by 2023. That is nothing of substance.   That’s an evasive schedule. No production date. Not a number of units available for sale and when.   
 

150,000 miles of testing only?  To really test a new technology there should be a few million aggregate miles on prototypes. If you’re talking a ground breaking technology you are going to invest millions of miles in it. 
 

more typical GM PR fluff. It shows you what they are blowing through money on instead of keeping their model lines fresh and competitive. 
 

check back to cheers and gears in 10 years there will be a recycled version of this story saying similar things. It’s been many years since the EV1 and we still don’t have millions of electrics on the road. That is the pace of how GM works. 

11 minutes ago, David said:

@2QuickZ's @regfootball And you have limited towing hauling capacity other than kids and basic stuff. Minivan cannot go off road like an SUV. Minivan cannot tow like an SUV and still haul.

10K difference if that is true is a bargain for all the added stuff the SUV can do. 

For the pinched leg room for driver / front passenger I would never get one, hard pass for me. But I do get what families love about them and respect you both. 

Remember they both have their use cases and a Minivan CANNOT do what the SUV can do.

Your talking body and frame ‘truck’  like a Tahoe. I’m talking the unibody competition which still is , as an SUV Of similar size and space, going to command more because it’s an SUV.

the large unibody SUVs don’t have much advantage in towing over  a minivan.

very few people cross shop Tahoe’s and suburban and expedition etc vs a minivan. If you’re getting a body on frame truck it’s because you want the full frame and a more usuable towing capacity.  I’ve never known anyone who’s cross shopped a truck vs a minivan. 
 

Also, no one takes a minivan or unibody suv off road. The AWD is simply a traction enhancer for these people in bad climates. True off-roaders take pickups / trucks and Jeep’s off-road. And Broncos now too. 

33 minutes ago, 2QuickZ's said:

Congrats on the new Pacifica!  That is a beautiful vehicle.  I think Chrysler (Stellantis?) did a fantastic job on the refresh.

I still love our Pacifica.  We will probably keep it one more year.  After that, the wife said she wants a pickup or an SUV. 😪 I don't get the SUV thing.  I'd much rather have this new Pacifica than any SUV.  That said, she does at least have good reasoning.  She wants to upgrade the camper to something bigger than the Pacifica can tow.  The only thing an SUV does better than a minivan in my opinion.

The crazy thing is how much more you get for your money in a minivan  An SUV with the same level of equipment as our Pacifica would be at least $10k more than ours stickered, and the actual transaction price was much lower than sticker.

absolutely correct about how much more $$$$ for the same 'stuff' if it were an SUV.  (and in particular GM).

Now, partially due to being a returning lessee, Chrysler had EXTRA 3,250 incentives for us, beyond all the regular incentives everyone gets.  We know GM does incentives big but I'm sorry, a little measly 1,000 dollar GM card top off incentive towards what GM has as a 45-50-60k MSRP vehicle is almost a big freaking joke.  I used our GM card first time back for our 99 Chevy Prizm, and those dollars meant something.  Really the big difference in my case here was this time around I was able to get memory seats, surround view monitor, 2 rows heated seats, heated steering wheel, full safety package, front row cooled seats, the very latest touchscreen and operating system with wireless charging, USB-C ports, wireless Apple CarPlay, power folding third row, vacuum cleaner....for less.  So part of that is because on the market, people pay less for the van compared to SUV, and some of that is due to GM poorly building trims and packages to exclude and extort.  For example, on an Enclave Essence it is near impossible to have access to a unit with surround view monitor.  Even many with premium trim do not have it.  

So we were lucky due to our situation as returning lessee to get a 53k+ sticker vehicle, written on the lease order with a purchase price of 38k and change.  And actually too the residual is low, normally you don't want that but it may actually be a good enough value at the end of the lease to purchase.  15 grand in incentives and discounts.  crazy.  

The hybrids are extremely cheap to lease now, extra incentives for hybrids. I would have except we still wanted sto n go.  Hybrid doesn't allow that.

The all wheel drive does hit the fuel economy.  So far i guess its a 12-15% drop but that is in line with the lesser epa numbers on the window sticker, AWD vs FWD.  Wife thinks it drives faster, I think it takes more gas to get it going.  Reviews say its about a 1/2 second hit on 0-60 time.  I would say that is about right.  I think the front drive or all wheel drive is good in bad weather, more dependent on the tires.  I just wanted the added traction of all wheel this time around.  I bet Chrysler will get a greater than 50% take rate on the all wheel drive across the Pacifica line this year.

the 20 inch wheels are sick looking, but what is funny.....with the added sound isolation materials on the premium trim...it's quieter but also with the 20  inchers and low profile Falken tires..and I think they've done some steering tuning....this thing is kind of fun to drive for a large rig.  the roll stiffness is definitely more compared to the 2018, and the steering is sort of quick feeling.  And the ride isn't worse...it still is sorta cushy.  There's a little less front end weight bias due to the AWD drivetrain, it feels a bit more balanced in handling, and for a boat this size, actually seems kind of fun.  The Pacifica drives nicer than many sedans out there these days.

what is needed;

CROSSOVER COUPE VAN

10 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

The proportions of the new Carnaval look more CUVish than van..

its like the Flex and previous Explorer mated.

these two pics are from the costco trip we took with it right after we picked it up.  I still haven't driven it yet.

Kia CARNIVAL can suck it.  LOL

10 hours ago, ocnblu said:

2021 Kia Sedona US version ~

 

now it's KIA ----CARNIVAL------......CARNIVAL   that looks like a pulled previous Ford Explorer.

whoops, others beat me to the punch.  I do not like the CARNIVAL name, and of course, I don't think it looks anything fetching.  In fact, it looks slightly weird.  to me anyways.

if i could just figure out how to make this brown, and put a diesel hybrid AWD powertrain in it with manual transmission, add some cladding, jack it up, add some arbitrary swoopy windows and fender flares, and then we'd have the ultimate category killer, AWD diesel hybrid manual crossover coupe minivan.

https://jalopnik.com/the-holy-grail-of-gm-minivans-was-never-sold-in-the-u-s-1841977990

"We all know what Chrysler’s coolest minivan is: the turbo, manual first-gen Dodge Caravan. We all know Ford’s coolest minivan: the rear-wheel drive, manual transmission Ford Aerostar. And we all know that GM’s most interesting people-movers were the “Dustbuster” minivans. Except the Holy Grail variant of those was never sold stateside."

5 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I keep mistaking that water bottle for a stickshift.

Imagine if it were a diesel, manual, with the all wheel drive. 
 

i agree it sort of looks like a stick shift in the picture. LOL

I just noticed the fold out footrests on the FRONT seats.  Is it the goal to make this WALL-E style transportation?  Lay back, kick your feet out.....

New Connect 5.0 with 10 inch screen is quite impressive and amazing.

Took delivery Friday wife had it all yesterday...I haven't even driven it yet.  grrrr

41 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

Daggone, that is one heckuva good looking vehicle!

Thanks ! I agree....And payment didn’t go up much; up one trim level. Lots of incentives. 

Sweet!  Love the wheels!  And the red calipers. !

On 2/21/2021 at 6:18 AM, ocnblu said:

I know this is totally random, but it just dawned on me after seeing a silver one out on a test drive from a local dealer, the Mach-E front end with body-color "grille" reminds me of something uncircumcised with the tip pushing through.  The ones with blacked-out or otherwise contrasting color in the "grille" area don't, imho.  It is up to the reader's perspective whether that is a good or bad thing, coming from ocn ~

 

 

they could have literally replaced the current Ford Edge with this design, and put a gas motor in it.  Would sell well.

I don't mind the Mach E but the marketplace adopting electrics will be slow.