balthazar

This entire 'making Ram a separate brand' is so utterly pointless. I guarantee you at some point they will revert this 'move'.

I would agree that the prius is 'old hat' at this point- certainly it's luster is greatly diminished from when it commanded big dealer mark-ups. I don't think the leaf is on anyone's radar yet- it really hasn't had much of the general hoopla either the prius initially got, nor that the Volt is getting now.

>>"I think it is more a demographic thing."<< Obviously; yes. The only thing I use on my wife's car is AM/FM/XM, and the CD player. That'd be all I used on a Mylink car, too.

Cars in the Avenger size class are not meant to haul 4 adults, they're just too small. They really should be termed '2+2', as in 2 adults, 2 children. Compass : front fascia looks great, love that fender contour line. But they really could've given it a bit of rear overhang/cargo room, and the schizo door handles need fixing. Jeep steering wheel fits the language nicely.

Part of the ride height perception is the terrible faked shadow under the car (tho it's still high). If honduh had only stuck a lil pane of glass up front, the civic would have an A-, B-, C-, D- and E-Pillar ... on a 'coupe' !!!

I wouldn't look at it as 4 crossovers from one corporation as much as 4 crossovers in a sea of crossovers from every manufacturer. Excellent differentiation on these. The Lambdas are no J-Bodies.

Seems more than likely a restoration is in order- these cars are far too historically significant and amazingly-engineered to be left as is. The scuttlebutt is the resto on this one will run around $250K, but a restored Tucker has already sold for $1.1M. IIRC, #1010 (this car) is the Bonneville test car, which reportedly did 131MPH- so it has some significance within the Tucker world. -- -- -- -- -- >>"Is the audience for SpeedTV so focused on Corvettes and Mustangs that they wouldn't even want to see the other vehicles?"<< No. they're not, but unfortunately the broadcasters believe it is so. I caught intervals of B-J and every time a Corvette or Mustang rolled up, I groaned. We've SEEEEEN them all before.

Ahh sh!t- that's tempting. Wonder what he'd take for it? I would love to get into that. Why must you remember people's automotive Achille's heels ??

^ This, I know : I did say I ran a K&N (for at least 7 years), and I cleaned it around 30K (vs. the recommended 50K). I did not go thru 1 cleaning kit. You can get a paper filter in the $6 range, whereas the K&N I bought was around $50. So for the $63 paid up front to run K&N, you can get 10 years worth of annual paper filter changes. If there was a measurable performance difference, if your performance is a matter of minute advantages (IE: on the track) you're getting something for your money. If the performance is basically the same, where's the benefit? If performance is worse after a short timespan, you're getting ripped off. Increased airflow is still the reason one switches to these, and the testing I saw refuted the claim after less than a conventional filter's normal lifespan. I can tell you this- the diesel truck crowds' consensus is 'stick with conventional'.

The 'anonymous' aspect... or perhaps I should say the 'no apparent repercussions' aspect of the internet does get a lot of folk in trouble.

>>"maintaining as much interior size as possible"<< = less interior size/space.

K&N recharge kit is around $13- paper air filters aren't commonly in the $20+ range (tho I don't doubt there are ones marketed that high & higher). Last one I bought i believe was around $6.

$30 (plus shipping) for a t-shirt? Not so sure the 'vogue meter' is quite so far to the right to support a lot of sales at that level.

^ Very logical. Yes; one could clean/re-oil the K&N at much more frequent intervals than 50K (I would), but what service interval it would take to keep the K&N flowing at peak performance is anyone's guess.

I still have no issue with a 4th Lambda Cadillac- these ARE excellent examples of differentiated platform sharing. The vast majority of consumers have no idea what platforms are under what vehicles anyway.

At issue with the oiled filter debate is how (and how quickly) air flow deteriorates when they start accumulating dirt. I've read more than 1 in-depth review of air filters and while the K&N does have better flow when first installed, it quickly drops below the air flow of a conventional paper element. And unless the policy has changed, K&N recommends a 50,000 mile interval between re-oilings- which gives it a long time to accumulate layers of oily dirt. IMO, it seems K&N and the others have over-extended themselves in trying to present a 'double whammy': better performance and a much longer service interval (to help justify the price??). Before this research came out, I ran one in my Ford. Very tough to tell if there was any difference from it alone; I had installed it in conjunction with a mild chip (15HP/30TRQ). But since then, it's paper elements only. Over the life of a conventional filter, a quality conventional filter will average better flow than the K&N.

I don't feel that the sales volume validates changing the Acadia size/platform to create more differences between it & the Enclave. I don't feel there's an identity issue here (Enclave <> Acadia) to begin with. There may be other reasons to change platforms, but differentiation isn't one of them IMO.

^ Interesting, and correct. Of note tho; the Vista Cruiser line that took over from the 88 wagons was stretched and was closer to the 88 in length than the F-85 it's body shell was based on. Wheelbase was longer than the Toro's, too. That sort of pegs it as a 'tweener', but of course it's still not a B-Body.

Saw one- same year/ make/ model/ color this summer, but I thought Jetstar I wheelcovers. Who knows- maybe the same one. Real nice after all the years from last seeing one. Sharp, and about 4/5th the size of a flex (visually).

Another vote for hardtops.

I wouldn't exactly call that a "short" front overhang. And I hate the way the chromed trim around the side glass stops at the black plastic mirror base- that's a lame cut corner right there. Otherwise the design is rather generic in profile.

What did I say caused it again? What is my M.O., exactly?

Isn't NASA the same agency that was called out by an amateur researcher because it had it's proprietary climate data screwed up, and subsequently revised it, and more than once? Just because the Guv'mnt told you so, doesn't always make it correct, theorized pay-off or not.

The Perfect Storm, in other words. Uh-huh.

Nice, basic, work-oriented, but the apparent non-availability of the RamBox seems a glaring, obvious omission.