balthazar

• Distributor reassembled & reinstalled. • New plug wires cut to length, terminal'd & installed. • Spark plugs pulled, gapped to spec & reinstalled. • Squirted 2 squirts of Marvel Mystery Oil into each cylinder & rotated engine by hand about 6 revolutions. • Flushed radiator all out, reinstalled with new hoses & pipes :: • rerouted fuel line away from radiator pipe.

Then why did you compare the ATS with the c-class, when the c-class starts $6000 higher and the CLA is 2000 lower?

On many cars, that would make installing the oil filter rather cumbersome due to the mounting position of the filter. On my Honda, the filter mounts exactly horizontal... good luck keeping the oil in it while you screw it on. Personally, I think his idea is a crock. Assuming everything is working properly, the engine gets up to operating oil pressure virtually instantly after starting. Just turning the key for a few cranks would run the oil pump enough to fill the filter before the first fire. My answer is; it depends. On many small-engined/ small-filtered vehicles, no doubt the oil filter fills quick enough. Others have nearly .75 quart filters, like my 6.6L TD. I'm not spinning one of those big cans on empty. Also, oil filters have a surprising ability to retain oil in them when angled beyond open-end-up. Fill one even 3/4th of the way and you aren't turning it sideways to install as much as you are rotating it; keeping the oil moving around the perimeter rather than moving toward the opening.

ATS is not "too small"- as you point out, it's within an inch of the c-class. MB made the cut-rate & cut-priced CLA too large- it's only 2 inches shorter than the c-class, but the rear seat in uninhabitable. Should have only been a coupe.

Witnessed last week, no video of the specific event, but there are some on Utube.

CLA overall length : 182" ATS overall length : 182" It's only (vastly) smaller on the inside. And no; the CLA sedan is not going after CLA coupe buyers, but what a fascinatingly disjointed theory. MB has priced the CLA a lot closer to the ATS than the c-class.

That's the same weight weas a 328xDrive..... what's your point? Smk and Balthazasr already repeated a lot of what I was thinking. I can just add again with emphasis.....useless back seat ....joke of a trunk....and still weighs 3700 pounds. That's hardly packaging efficiency. Coupled with an interior that is lacking, and a power train that needs help to feel all of one piece, no wonder they don't sell. With 3 cars of the same overall length, one with 35" rear seat leg room (3-series), one with 33" (ATS) and one with 27" (CLA), it isn't the ATS that has a "useless" back seat. Talk about poor packaging...

CLA has 3 inches less wheelbase, but a whopping NINE inches less leg room. Rear CLA sedan leg room is only 27" !! The body style is completely irrelevant; just build the coupe or better yet, make the 4-dr with compartments/shelves in the back because no one over the age of 6 is going to fit back there.

ATS has yet to recieve Cadillac's diet plan, they have started the move to really address weight loss, as everything across the industry is obese. Expect the next generation Cadillac in this slot to be much lighter. At this point, compact cars weigh as much as full-size 1960's all steel/iron cars :: '64 Catalina 4-dr sedan, overall length: 213", RWD & V8, 3770 lbs.

You're talking above about commercial USE, not a commercial VEHICLE. ANY vehicle can pick up passengers, that's not the point.

Interesting times we live in when a crew cab/ long bed/ dually diesel truck can challenge a Nissan GTR and walk away from it.

Tackled the distributor today. No issues, some galling, some minor corrosion/stiff movement of pieces. Replaced the condenser & dual points (originals were somewhat deteriorated). Got it all buttoned back up, tho cutting the spark plug wires to length & crimping their terminal ends on will have to happen another day. Here's the 'dome' (often referred to as the 'diver's helmet') distributor, last used in 1941 :

Is that a toyopet? - - - - - Like the '50 & '66 Fords! - - - - - WMJ - what coo been up to??

Right- a steady stream of commercial & professional vehicles. A Cadillac commercial truck is no different than a mercedes commercial truck. Understand- I am NOT advocating for a Cadillac commercial truck, I think such under the same brand as the luxury brand is counter-productive to the image. Just saying.

Why? Cadillac's history offering commercial / professional vehicles goes back 100 years.

Market cap varies daily. Actually, by the minute. Tesla has actually lost 10 billion in market cap in the past year.

I was actually seeing a Renault emblem at first. - - - - - With a little cleaning up on the sides, I do like the proportions of this Soviet Bloc.

The commercial vehicles are emblemed, grilled, sales reported & sold in the same dealerships as the passenger vehicles. There is no 'differentiation'. Not sure how a sprinter pick-up brings anything new to the segment. I guess the uncommon fleet buyer who has a bunch of vans and needs pick-up or 2 would like to buy all their parts from the same parts counter, but beyond that? Sprinter van rode the recent swell in the 'eurovan' segment, but Ford has completely dominated there now.

Interesting from a 'rubberneck' POV, IE: look at that disaster, but to bring out an obvious hacksaw job with little tires and a sky-high pass compartment, would be laughed out of MB showrooms. The above isn't even up to India vehicle standards. One would hope MB isn't quite SO desparate.

The ONLY chance it has at limited sales is if they hype it as a luxury truck, tho that will still flop. I completely believe it'll come here, mercedes canNOT resist another potential revenue stream, but for insiders to admit they have real doubts it must be shaping up to be a real turkey.

I'd never change over. At this point I can look at a bolt and tell the wrench size, or look at a span of distance and tell (fairly close) if it was -say- 100 feet. I don't engage in commerce with people across the ocean, so they could measure things in Navy beans for all I care. It's no 'easier' for me, but very tough to convert. Maybe someday things will settle into the same scenario as modern tires; a combination of metric & English : 315/60-16.

Imagine a car that’s the length of a Smart ForTwo, the width of a Honda Accord, and six inches taller than a Cadillac Escalade. Those are the exterior dimensions of the Mirrow Provocator, a Russian car company design. None are on the road yet, and all you can see on the Mirrow Cars website are graphic representations of many views and permutations of the vehicle. Mirrow’s slogan is “Cars like a mirror of tomorrow.” The company describes the Provocator as a “business car” and says it’s intended for service in the city. It’s designed to park perpendicularly to the curb, preferably backed in, which turns out to be very convenient, as the only full-size door is in the back. There are emergency escape pop-outs for each of the four passengers via panels that are mounted on the upper half of the car’s sides. The standard Provocator seating configuration is 2+2, with an aisle in the middle wide enough for large suitcases. There is also storage under the floor. According to Mirrow, more than 50 percent of the body will be produced from recycled polymers. The car maker proposes versions designed for climates in different parts of the world, with varying amounts of pop-in panels to protect passengers from the weather. The list of comfort, convenience, entertainment, and power options is near endless, and very little is standard. Mirrow proposes that, if powered by a conventional 3-cylinder, 1.5 liter turbocharged engine, the Provocator could accelerate from 0-62 miles per hour in under 8.7 seconds. Top speed would be limited to 87 miles per hour. If it’s electric powered, the range is estimated from 217 to 248 miles. It’s all speculation at this point, but among the versions currently on display is a mobile “professional kitchen” with a back door that is perfect for serving customers on the sidewalk when you’re backed in. The interior height is just under six feet, but that’s from the ground, so if you were working standing up inside, it might not be very comfortable. The Provocator is admittedly a work in progress. “The exact timing of the appearance of the Mirrow Provocator on the market, final configurations and price, will be determined in 2016, but today, you can subscribe to notifications about the opening of early booking or send your opinion to us or to your friends,” Mirrow states on its website. All in all, the design is appealing because of its utter functionality. It’s like a Honda Element, only shorter, wider, and much taller. The a la carte approach to ordering a car, including pop-out side panels in various color or design combinations, would increase the odds that you’d never see a car like yours coming down the road. To suggest that we might see a Provocator for sale in the U.S. is probably stretching too much, but if it ever does go into production, it might very well appeal to city dwellers. ~ from Yahoo News : https://www.yahoo.com/news/mirrow-provocator-ultimate-kit-car-072911122.html

^ Are you relatively immodest, then? - - - - - Did an estimate today for a man named & related to the Studebaker family. Even had an Avanti scale model on a shelf & a (repro?) 'Studebaker harnesses' wooden sign. His car had a 'Happiness is driving a Studebaker' license plate frame, but it was screwed to an old Accord.

It boils down to this, IMO : price. Tesla sold 52K Model Ss in '15- a fine car but there has been no world-wide clamor / lines to reserve it- relative to the Model 3. Understandable: it starts @ $70K. Model X has had a very slow roll-out, and it's generally priced higher. Very low pre-order numbers, relative to the 3. Model 3 is by far the most important model ever for Tesla. But IMO a HUGE portion of the pre-orders are hanging on the "affordable" claim, maybe 75%, who knows. The final design, features & price are unknowns @ this point, but the concept of 'affordable electric' has people stirred up. Good marketing. BUT, what percentage of the 'pre-orderers' are going to balk if the PRICE is generally no longer considered affordable?? IE; if the $35K starting price fails to be met AND the $7500 tax credit is gone before the 3 even gets here… and suddenly the 3 is not $35K but $45 or 50K?? That's going to cancel a lot of orders…. who knows how many. There's not many car shoppers who agree that '$35K' and '$50K' are remotely the same thing. It's not just the economies of scale that's important to Tesla's future, it's the very real balancing act of getting production up & price controlled (and balancing the cashing of orders relative to what they believe can be built). If orders are cashed too prematurely, without product delivery, they may see significant backlash. It's a delicate scenario.

Outside, briefly, for the first time under the sun since 2004 : Looked a lot smaller, somehow, outside in the daylight. It's perfect. Pulled it out with a chain & my 2500HD (in the background), ratcheted it back inside with come-along. Rolled fine, steered fine.