balthazar

I'm going to disagree with this. Not because I think overabundant choice is good or these are cool looking, but because saying a fastback CUV is "bad" is the same as saying a short bed pickup is bad or a sub compact car is bad. All 3 give the buyer noticably diminished capacity compared to others.... but some folk never use their capacity or don't care. It's like the common narrative that full-size trucks are 'bad' because the owners seldom use the beds. Yet no one ever questions how many sedan owners use their trunks (Well; I have ). I think too many models per brands separated by 6 inches in length is worse, and alphanumerics are worse. I can live with these CCUVs [Compromised Crossover Utility Vehicle].... a CUV (unlike a truck, or -say- a Jeep Wrangulator) isn't really meant for cargo capacity. If they were, things like a -say- BMW X1/X2/X3 would never exist. Now... the Wrangulator.... ?

I always find the Costco Sample Diners supremely annoying. Most of them leave their carts in the middle of the row as they get 5 samples to feed themselves & their kids, then go station to station being just as oblivious.

OEMs need to massively pull back from naming every teeny different vehicle with a different name. Especially as the industry continues to congeal into ‘every 4x4 must have an ‘X’ in the name’ nonsense.

Point made about turbos/trucks.... but of course the vehicle pictured also has a massive displacement engine. My brother has an older 6-cyl Mack and it’s a 632 CI.

They've never been based on a regular coupe.

Hot.

That’s what the luddites said about ‘liters’ at one point.

‘Most’ in your area maybe. Not here.

Any car with 2 (or more) side windows is a sedan, whether 2 or 4 door, whether a fixed pillar or a hardtop. 'coupe' as terminology refers to 'close coupled'; AKA a C6 Corvette. Technically a C7 Corvette would be a 2-dr sedan. Some body style terms do modify these definitions tho.

When I 'gas up', it takes maybe 5 mins. If I were to leave my vehicle, walking into the store, pick out a snack, pay & walk back, my vehicle is likely refueled & waiting. That means others may well be waiting on me to get my chimmi-chunga back to the vehicle and out of their way. When one 'watts up', the owner wanders off and has a sit-down meal because they have 20-30-40 mins to waste. There's TIME to shop because there's a long period of inactive boredom to relieve. The 'refueling' time 'encourages' you to pay even more money. Yes; you are not required to. You can sit in your car, stare at your phone. Or nap if you want/are sleepy. Or you can walk laps of the parking lot. All idle things... because you are WAITING. Or you can open your wallet. It wouldn't be 'any different' if an EV charged in 5 mins.

About 5 or 7 years ago, a friend of mine (since retired) worked as a mechanic for the County. I recall him being outraged when he had to move from paying 0% of his healthcare, to 2%. TWO PERCENT. I certainly can see an argument where unionized workers are berated for 'not paying their fair share' if the average overall is 28%.

• The Tesla station by me is at a Panera, but the only other anything nearby is Costco & Target... but they're a hike apart. You're not going to get a shopping cart of bulks and wheel it all the way over to your cabled car. • I don't like that refueling your vehicle 'strongly encourages' you to engage in commerce to avoid boredom. • Wonder how the potential decade-long rolling blackouts in CA will affect EV sales there, Guess they can always install diesel generators at every station to power the 'chargers. ?

Standing in a parking lot rightnow: see an MB, honda, nissan, toyoter, GMC... they ALL have black plastic wheelwell trim (“cladding”). Except its just trim; cladding is applied OVER the vehicle’s panels, like subaru does. Or the old Grand Ams, or the feature’s ‘trendsetter’: Mercedes.

Far right signage :

• '67 Cutlass sedan, factory A/C, given for free to my buddy. • Circa '71 Cadillac in Midas. • This gen Ramcharger used to be all over. • Flower car had a huge portrait of the deceased on the roof. Never saw that before.

Listen everybody, its like I’ve been saying for a few years; we’re in the 98th percentile of auto design progression. It’s not that brand are stealing from each other, its that its all been done and there’s just about no where left to go.

Frameless glass wasted on yet another boring FWD generic 4-dr sedan appliance.

I have no problem with it- so many of the same segment/niche have cladding also. For some reason- only Buick seems to get banged for it. [audi allroad]

'64 GTO ragtop, white over bright red, Cragers, gleaming, at service station with hood up.

^ ugh. - - - - -

Rings are tight now (40K). Will look into this further; Robert's link says dealers are doing 'software' repairs. - - - - - Presented without comment (other that this <)

'56 Chevy 210 2-dr sedan, white over Pepto, very presentable, for sale in driveway.

Per the phone call from my dealer's service guy, apparently my wife's '16 Malibu is under a recall to replace the.... engine pistons. Gotta say, tho the dealer has an excellent service department, taking a motor completely apart to that level makes me nervous (tho they said they've done some of these rebuilds already). Of course, the GM strike has currently put a halt on parts availability.