Robert Hall

Weight, safety, and lower cost of development and manufacturing are probably all reasons for going to front hinged door for the extended cab... It is interesting that Ram today has 3 different 4dr cabs...the extended cab, crew cab, and mega cab..

I suppose I'd consider it more a 5dr hatch than a wagon..the 3rd window doesn't mean much--many 5dr hatchbacks have had a 3rd side window--see the '80s US Escort, Rover 3500, Sterling, etc. Sometimes a 5dr hatch has a steeper rake to the C-pillar, sometimes not. What makes the 5dr Golf a hatchback and the wagon version (badged a Jetta in the US) a wagon? Or the 1st gen Focus--it was available as a 5dr hatch and a wagon...with the Golf/Jetta and the Focus, the wagon clearly has more rear bodywork than the 5dr..longer cargo area, longer roof.

Meh...kind of pointless w/o a turbo Buick V6.

Saw a 2nd Prius V, in dark red. And saw one of the new generation 3-series sedans last night..didn't realize they were out yet...saw it from behind, thought it was a 5 until I saw the size difference and badging. Saw an Acura RL race car yesterday afternoon...don't know what the story behind that was, parked in the lot of car customizing shop...looks like it had a roll cage and was covered in sponsor decals...

Saw some loading of new post slowness and driver errors this morning...and slowness after pressing the 'post' button whilst creating new posts.

Happy Birthday!

Interesting..they did leave the brightwork shiny around the windows. Had they blacked that out they could say it's 'murdered out' as the kiddies like to say. Not my cup of tea, I'd rather have an Overland in True Blue or Rugged Brown.

Ah...never really paid attention to that.

???? It's there at the top left of each post, above your avatar.

Hopefully..Epsilon II so far has only 2 wheelbase variations..107.x and 111.x, both pretty short.

My only gripe w/ the Tucker is they were spectacularly ugly, IMO. But interesting nonetheless for the rear engine design and other features.

pass

Yes, but I meant further models...

I like the Costco idea...have any carmakers ever sold cars though Costco?

No need to imagine. The next two platforms coming out are RWD. I'll believe it when I see new RWD models on dealers' lots.. Great news if it happens...

Very interesting...well, we know GM is going to want use the Alpha platform for more than 1 model. I wonder if there is a business case for a Buick Alpha. It's nice to imagine a future where GM invests in more RWD models and not just an endless flow of FWD models...

I'm sure the weight has gone up w/ each generation also...

It's surprising, but the new CR-V is actually shorter than the original. Doesn't look it...

Well.. the CR-V has grown quite a bit lately. Probably too close in size to the current Equinox to be considered that much of a smaller model. Now if you were talking 2004 CR-V, that would be true. Well, the current CR-V is 103/178 and the Equinox is 112.5/187, definitely a substantial size difference...the Captiva is probably about the size of the CR-V... The new Escape is 105/178, pretty much a match for the CR-V. The 'Nox is bigger than the first 3 generations of Grand Cherokee, and almost as large as the 4th gen GC, and is larger than the Edge...

I just hope they don't lame out and go to a FWD platform for the next LX.

Which makes it only about 3 inches shorter from the A4 of the late '90s.

I hate driving on ice..same with fog. Perhaps the most white-knuckle, terrifying drive I've had to endure was 7 hours to go 25 miles on I-5/I-205 in Portland in a rental '04 Grand Prix during a December ice storm... 3-4 freeway lanes packed w/ holiday shoppers on ice. Slight banking on corners w/ semi trucks sliding across the lanes into each other....cars sliding into each other all around...darkness coming. 5 mph max speed. AUGGGGGGHHHH.

Part of the problem, and it's common in the tech industry, is that there is an arrogance and assumption that because we are smart (some brilliant) that we always are right and have a better answer than the 'normals' (non-technical people) do...I've seen it for years--in academia, in industry, in colleagues, in myself. And in the Silicon Valley, even amongst tech reporters, it's very prevalent.. Look at the wacky things Eric Schmidt says...

Yes, we will...I listen to CNET podcasts every day at work and there has been plenty of buzz about autonomous cars over the last few months...Google is making it happen...

It does seem like there is room for a compact CUV at Chevy below the midsize Equinox. Something more CR-V or Escape sized...(saw the new Escape up close this past weekend..pretty sharp).