A Horse With No Name

I also try to experience products firsthand and develop my own opinion before I invest too much thought in what automotive publications have to say. Case in point would be the chassis tuning on the Ford Mustang Ecoboost, RS, ST Focus, ST Fiesta. Love, love, love the Ecoboost Mustang, have not driven an RS but I have seen them raced and autocrossed, have driven an ST multiple times, and have some experience with the Fiesta ST. Only one I don't like of the above is the Focus ST when you push it really hard. I was able to talk to actual people involved at Honda where it was sued as a bench mark against the upcoming SI and also tested against the GTI. GTI and upcoming SI are much better against the stop watch in various turns in the road courses the cars were tested in. This would dovetail with my experience that the ST Focus is a hand full on an autocross course or pushed hard on the street. On the other hand, I love the Focus St on the highway... So in other words...I guess this is a long winded response to say i really distrust most professional pundits in automotive journalism. Exactly. And we all use cars differently. Most famous/worst case of all of this was when automotive journalists told people to get the Gymkhana suspension under C4 Corvettes in the 1980's. A ton of cars were ordered so equipped and people hated, hated, hated them in real life. Top gear actually blew one up from a helicopter and cursed it for being rough riding.... On the other hand, the 1LE Camaro/Firebird cars from the 3rd/4th gen from GM and the previous generation Mustangs with the V6 and the performance suspension package were an amazingly nice combo. Especially the Mustang. Were my wife more open to a Mustang, I might be tempted to look at used car lots for a used previous gen Mustang with the V6 and performance suspension package.

You are going to kill me but I am going to say none of the above. I know several people who work at Honda R and D and on the line here in Ohio, and also several people that work in the industry. I generally try to get a wide variety of opinions of people who are directly involved with the vehicles themselves. I like Grassroots motorsports as a car magazine, pretty much the only car mag I read that deals with modern stuff. 98 percent of automotive writing is really sophomoric IMHO. Also, writers are too invested in their own biases and not what the market really wants. Case in point-Acura TLX.....which I am considering to replace the Jetta. Mainstream car mags and reviewers decried the lack of the double wishbone suspension in the changeover from the TSX to the TLX. Car and driver rated the TLX as kind of blah..... However, online reviewers and actual sources here in Ohio would suggest a marketing need to differentiate the TLX from the accord, which was the real reason behind the change to the different chassis tuning. Market research and actual feedback from actual customers would indicate the change is generally positive. But that is not something you would get from a mainstream auto publication.

I like where this is going!

They are not the most thoughtful or credible of automotive commentators. Nice to see the Super Duty there though.

My hands shall remain clean and unsullied by Ecosport ownership, thank you very much!

Good luck in your quest!

I kind of like all three choices actually. Not a huge Motor Trend fan, but this list I can respect.

Fair enough. I think the VW situation could have been handled much differently.

...and all this damned Porsche talk is making me want one....off to look at cheap Boxsters and older water cooled 911's, I guess.... Ohh absolutely...now only to convince my wife to sell the house and buy a car....

I have driven them through several Ohio winters with snow tires and nothing else. they are a ball of fun...congrats!

One can hope they are not forced to do buy backs....that would be pricey.

Cherokee trailhawk all day and into the night here. Of the two choices I like the Toyota much better. Premium segment has some nice choices also.

Bombadier CRJ 200, CRJ 700, CRJ 900 Next gen....just enjoy flying on them...not sure why...but I do!

Certainly dovetails nicely with my claim elsewhere that we are headed to a world where the Chinese own automotive production.

In other news, surprised that Michigan Lost to Iowa. Did not see that one coming.

Yes, I wish him luck! Thankfully I have an independent garage I can take my stuff where the owner is very ethical.

And a heck of a value proposition. Sunday dropped by a car lot for a few minutes just to relax before getting some things done in my workshop. They had a Hemi AWD 300 with every available option, 20,000 miles 1 1/2 years old for eighteen grand and change. Chryco stuff is an insanely good deal used.

Would not bother me in the least, actually. Agreed.... Lots of places would, i think. Given our current course of action,everything will wind up in sub Saharan Africa as everyone races to the bottom of the barrel.

I would worry more with many other cars, such as Hyundai. Most of vW's problems are co0nsistant and known, so you can at least see them coming. VW also has an enthusiastic fan base so it is often easy to find solutions to problems.

I wonder honestly what the automotive market will look like in twenty years. Kind of curious what happens with Tesla if they cannot get income from pollution credits. Methinks their financial model just went in the toilet. I think Acura will be in trouble because there is no existential awareness of having a luxury brand at Honda. GM, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, and of course VW, BMW, Benz, all have an acute awareness of the need for the income luxury products produce. But Acura seems left to rot on the vine. If we get another economic downturn, which I think was likely regardless of one electing Clinton or Trump....hmmm.....I think we could see a situation where brands exit the market permanently. Even Nissan is not out of the woods IMHO, as they have a huge amount of sub prime auto loan on the books IIRC. If people at the bottom of the economic cycle start loosing jobs things could go south for them very rapidly.

i get a lot of attention in the MINI also. I love your Beetle. If vW hadn't shoved a stick...er...um...oak tree trunk in its eye with dieselgate and the other issues, I would like to own a Dune version of the new beetle. Please do, I am loving the new group at C and G. Clinton's Mustang was a blue 67 6 cyl. convertible that was in a museum back in Arkansas last I knew. Probably a good idea if you run a business as well.

Sadly, I do not think we will see that. Given VW's other problems, this is really too little, too late.

Agreed!

Fixed that for ya.... There is nothing in the segment I like. But the CX-3 is popular around here. Methinks pay off the Colorado, take a card from intrepidations play book, and keep it forever.

Hopefully that can be fixed. We may not agree on politics but I enjoy reading what you write.