2QuickZ's

Those are impressive sales numbers for the Colorado and Canyon and they seem to have done it without stealing too many sales from the Silverado and Sierra. My Dad was one of the Equinox sales. They had some ridiculous lease deals on the Equinox and Terrain last month and I believe in December. He really liked his T&C minivan but when the lease was up, he couldn't resist going back. He had a Terrain before the T&C so at least he switched it up a bit by going Equinox this time. lol When is the refresh coming again?

Lincoln is still a little bit of a downer overall but it looks like Ford had a pretty good month on the whole. I'm not surprised to see the fuel economy leaders down a little with gas prices so low but I am a bit surprised that wasn't reflected in increased Fusion sales.

Those Titan sales numbers are abysmal. It will be really interesting to see how they price the XD model. The new truck isn't exactly a looker so I think the XD model is about their only hope. I say that without seeing a single review of the new truck yet so who knows. Maybe it will be more competitive than I think it will be. I have to say I am totally amazed that combined Sentra and Versa sales totaled almost 25k units.

Yikes! The overall sales increase looks good until you see the full sales report. The bread and butter sedans are down for the month? For that matter, more than half the product was down for the month. It was just a handful of models that carried the whole month into the positive.

Interesting month for FCA. Everything is up but the minivans and Durango (and 500 but it was more or less flat). It will be really interesting to see what happens to their sales numbers once the Renegade and 500X launch. Are those two vehicles conquest vehicles or are they more likely to steal sales from other FCA products? I tend to think the 500X will impact 500 and 500L sales more than the Renegade will other Jeep products.

UPDATE: Well, so far so good on this repair. I am keeping my fingers crossed. No codes and it seems to be chugging along. It did have a bad melting plastic smell to it a few days ago that really had me worried but it was just that one night. The tank after I got it back was a throw away fuel economy wise but the last tank actually did very well so maybe this repair even helped fuel economy? 533.7 miles of crappy, cold weather and a number of remote starts and it still only took 14.14 gallons for a calculated average of 37.74 mpg. Trip computer showed average speed of 33.0 MPH for the tank (80/20 city/hwy). That would make it one of my best tanks for my normal commute. I don't think I shorted the tank either but I guess I'll know that on my next fill up.

Having spent a couple of weeks in a brand new 2014 Volt as a loaner, this looks to be a big improvement in appearance. The like this interior MUCH better. I like the rear of this MUCH better. I do like the front but I think it would look better with less bright work.

I had read on one of the Cruze forums that the sometimes the hood appears closed but the sensor isn't actually registering it. IDK. My earlier statement was a little misleading. It wouldn't work yesterday until I opened and closed the hood. It also didn't want to work this morning so I opened and closed the hood again after I got back from a short trip and it still didn't work. A short time later it started working. Perhaps it was frozen (it was really cold here this morning) and just needed to sit in the garage after the engine had run and eventually that heat got up to the latch? We had a similar problem with our Saturn VUE but in that case IIRC it was a bad hood release cable that was sticking and was preventing the latch from closing all the way. They may have even wound up replacing the latch. I don't remember. Again the hood looked closed but the remote start wouldn't work.

Remote start has been a little flaky since I got the car back. I think it is the hood latch. It wouldn't work at all at first and then I opened the hood and shut it and it was fine. Hopefully that is all it was.

I got the car back yesterday. So far so good but we'll see how it goes from here. They wound up doing more troubleshooting on Monday and found one of the new parts apparently didn't seal properly so they refit it and got it to seal and now no more code.

Michigan lemon law states a replacement vehicle is an option the OEM has but I am not obligated to accept it if they do offer. I can still insist on a buy back. I've been doing some research this morning and it seems like the problem I am having has also afflicted others but there does not appear to be a clear, obvious fix. One person just keeps getting their O2 sensor replaced. Someone else had the O2 sensor, EGR valve and mounting plate replaced and that seemed to fix it and yet another says they have heard it is a problem with the intake design that allows unmetered air to enter though the PCV and that supposedly GM has a new intake design that they are going to release in 1Q 2015 to fix the problem. I do like the car overall and if it was a lease I would probably just slog through but I bought this sucker so that changes my attitude on things. Hell, if there was clear cause with a known permanent fix that would at least make me feel better that one last repair would make it all go away. Edit: I guess I should have gotten the Buick Verano turbo I was considering instead. LOL

I'm actually in Michigan. I was just looking at that. 4 attempts to fix the same problem as long as the first attempt occurred in the first year of ownership or 30 days out of service within the first year of ownership (can be different problems). They are on attempt #3 for the same problem but are well past 30 days at this point. I'm debating whether to initiate a buy back.

Update: I took the Cruze in shortly after my last post and it is still at the dealership. They got an engineer involved and did a bunch of troubleshooting and apparently still couldn't figure out the cause so they just replaced a bunch of parts. After that work was complete, it set the code again while they were doing the shake down on it. Since GM is on holiday, they are waiting for the engineer to come back on Monday so they can contact him to see what to do next. Edit: I should have mentioned that although this has been a frustrating experience, my dealership has handled everything exceedingly well. My service advisor in particular has been outstanding.

Well, it set the CEL on Saturday. I'll be calling the dealership again tomorrow and hopefully this time they will get it in right away. It's getting a little frustrating now.

I was simply comparing the numbers on the first chart (total sales) with the numbers on the second chart (North American built sales). Corolla --> 25,609 - 25,608 = 1 Camry --> 28,846 - 28,842 = 4

I'm still rooting for you Volvo! It's not looking good for you, though. Hopefully the refreshed SUV's will help turn it around for you.

So they sold one imported Corolla and four imported Camry's last month? Am I reading that sales chart right? What options did those vehicle have that they needed to be imported?

Those are some very stout numbers for Cherokee. I wonder what annual volume that plant can crank out? I find it hard to believe even Chrysler believed that vehicle would have this much success. I wonder if they can sustain those volumes if the market continues to demand it? Good to see the 200 up that much as I believe that car deserves it. Still, it is hard to believe sales increase that much without filling a huge fleet order. If that is the case, that would be too bad. It is too nice of a car to whore out to fleets in large numbers. They need to stay disciplined and keep the fleet percentage down. 15% max. Almost out of Avengers and it looks like that is finally having an impact on Dart sales.

I guess I don't really get what is driving Subaru's gains. There cars have gotten less stylish IMHO over the last generation or two, they don't seem to be buying market share and they aren't particularly known for their quality (I can attest to that one after owning one). I could see if this were their product onslaught of '05 - '07 but this generation of cars? I guess the full time AWD is still a good marketing tool.

de Nysschen has his work cut out for him at Cadillac. Those sales numbers are ugly. The product is competitive so the sales are a little baffling. I guess it is going to take quite a while to earn the reputation back in the badge snob segment. I guess for now I'll give them props for sticking to their guns on pricing rather than chasing sales through deep discounts. Still, they are throwing around some pretty low lease numbers for an AWD ATS employee lease here in the metro Detroit area. Seems like a saw an add for $1700 down, $279/month on a low mileage 36 month lease. The only other one of their big drops that surprises me is the Impala. That is a damn nice car that has gotten loads of positive press. I'm a little surprised to see BOTH the XTS and Impala down. Could it be Chrysler's blowout sale on the leftover '14 L cars?

I'm kinda surprised that they were down almost across the board. When I saw the total numbers for the month I was expecting it to be mostly F-series down and everything else flat. I wonder if they are cutting back on fleet and/or incentives? I honestly haven't paid much attention to the incentives.

Hahahah. Somebody really needs to reign in whoever writes these press releases.

Finally got the Cruze back today. Same code as last time so they did a little more troubleshooting and found that a turbo inlet pipe was leaking. Apparently it is a plastic pipe and maybe it cracked? IDK - I just know they didn't just replace a gasket, they actually replaced two pipes. The think this is what caused the original issue as well because they did not have to replace the O2 sensor but it isn't totally clear to me how the two are related. I guess as long as I don't have any more issues, it doesn't really matter.

That was one of the first things I checked. It is already off.

It's a different driving experience for sure. I'd have to say I prefer the driving experience of the Cruze. It is a nice car, though. I had a positive impression of the Volt before I had driven one but I would say my impression of it has only gotten better now that I have driven it. It is really not my type of car so I can't say that I would want to own one. In general, the fit and finish seems good. The layout is nice. I'm not a fan of the capacitive touch switches. As I had heard, it doesn't do a great job of keeping your feet warm on a cold day. The HVAC system is not quite up to the task. That's not great for me as I'm not a fan of heated seats which is how they would prefer you to keep warm. They default to the highest setting on start up. I need to dig through the menu and see if I can have it default to the lowest setting. Even on low it feels like it is burning my ass after only a few minutes. There is a BSR somewhere but it is possible something is rubbing on one of the two kids car seats I have installed. I haven't investigated it yet. Speaking of that, the center console for the rear seats is probably great for families without kids in car seats but its not the best with them. My son seems to think there is less leg room for him than there is in the Cruze. I'm not sure if that is true or just his perception. I'll need to look a little closer at that one as it is hard to believe. Positives: - Fit & finish is good - Ergonomics are good - Cluster display is nice and presents useful information - Serene driving experience - The engine is pretty unnoticeable as long as you aren't under heavy acceleration - The charger is pretty straight forward and easy to use - Seemed to do pretty well in the 1" or so of snow I had to deal with on the drive home. Negatives: - Does not keep my feet warm on a cold day - Utilizes seat heaters to compensate for inadequate heating system (not a fan of seat heaters) - Acceleration is not great but I haven't put the pedal to the floor yet. I may have to give it a go just to see how it does at WOT. - When you are under heavier acceleration and the engine kicks on, it is an odd sensation that the revs don't always match the throttle input. This is one I think I will get used to pretty quickly, though, so only a short term negative. - Charger cord does not stay wound on charger very well. A cord reel would be better. - A pillars and C pillars seem huge leaving big blind spots. Standard blind spot monitoring would be appreciated.