Drew Dowdell

What is the issue?

Well it's getting a new powertrain, suspension tuning... the works. This is not your neighbor's Enterprise Rental.

Much nicer than the current one. The interior was the biggest thing that held me back from ANY of the LX cars. I like the 300c from the outside and when looking under the hood.... but the badness of the current interior, I just couldn't get over.

I mean current Taurus, not the renamed 500.

How long is your commute?

And that is the beauty of the Volt architecture. The generator really doesn't care what is spinning it does it? Someone comes out with a very low maintenance Wankel engine that runs on seaweed? Throw it in there. Someone else comes up with a diesel that runs on sugarcane? Throw it in there. GM decides that stubborn "mericans aren't going to give up gasoline until it's pried from their cold dead hands, make an HCCI version. Europe wants a biodiesel Volt? Throw it in there! As long as whatever is spinning the generator can run at a constant speed, efficiently, on command.... throw it in there. You could even make a combo Photovoltaic solar and Sterling solar model and go completely fossil fuel free.... For the Leaf... what's the next step? Where does it go from here? Bigger batteries? Better batteries?....... that's about it. The Prius is limited in it's ICE by still requiring the engine dynamics of a typical car... it has to operate efficiently at nearly all RPM with a constantly changing engine speed, where as the Volt's engine can just hang out at 3,000 rpm all day happily recharging the batteries.* * I don't know the exact RPM the Volt operates at, but hopefully you get my point.

There aren't any hills near you and I that the Volt would even worry about. It was down to Semi-Trailer speeds at the top of Loveland Pass which is 12,000 feet in elevation. That's a about 3 times the highest points in PA, MD, and WV. In fact, the only time you get an elevation over 5,000 ft east of Colorado, is Mt. Washington in Maine at 5,299. Ideally, the Volt should suggest mountain mode if it detects through your map guidance that you should be engaging it. The Prius has no mountain mode to allow you to prepare ahead of time, and the Leaf obviously doesn't since it can't regenerate on the fly.

If the interior upgrades are anything like what we've seen in the Grand Cherokee, 2011 Durango, and hinted at in the Charger, I think with the powertrain upgrades, we could be looking at a radically transformed car.....even better than the transition from Ford 500 -> current Taurus.

Dodge releases Charger interior teaser From the teaser shot, we know for sure the Charger will have the same steering wheel as the recently revealed interior of the 2011 Durango and Dodge is promising better materials and excellent fit 'n finish for everyone's favorite rebel American sedan (not that that's a extremely difficult thing to do in the first place). More here: Just a Peek: 2011 Dodge Charger Interior

Yeah, you got downrated 3 times for this, but I agree with you. My ex's Passat was a constant nightmare, from electronics that would stop working, to buttons that would fall off, to cupholders that would break..... The rain sense windshield wipers would be working... and then just quit "sensing" mid rainstorm. All in all, it was as flaky as he was.....

Ok... refixed. Chat is back and the board is working properly now.

No need to hide that last bit. If you can get down here when I have a vehicle or we can meet half way, I'd be happy to include you. You can keep your member group as long as you want... I can add as many member groups as secondary if need be.

My advice for the bread machine. Don't use it to make bread. The best thing I found for it is as a dough machine, but I never actually cook the bread in it... which somewhat defeats the purpose. Bread really requires two rises to be any good. Bread machines can only do single rise, which is why all bread machine bread comes out too dense and basically tasteless. If I use the bread machine (it's good for making pizza dough ahead of time), I punch down the dough after the first rise, remove it from the machine, form it into whatever type of loaf or roll I'm going for, and then let it rise again in an OFF oven with a bowl of hot boiled water under the pan. I've been getting artisan quality bread this way. I've got a set of 13 year old Ginsus that can't even.. cut through bread.

Croc, Do you ever do any bread making? I've been doing home made bread of various recipes every week now. and they've all turned out fantastic. just wanted to get your thoughts on it if you had any. Oh... and I need new kitchen knives...preferably that were dishwasher safe... and looking for recommendations.

Definitely in need. I just need to figure out what roles will be and who is interested in doing what.

I don't want this to get lost in the Google Ads thread. Please read, comment, and suggest alterations. I'm pretty much set on this direction generally, but refinements are welcome. ------- Here is my vision for Cheers and Gears. I don't care if we have 500 members of 500,000.... that's not how I'm measuring our success. Eventually, and with the appropriate software development changes, I want C&G to be an automotive Wikipedia with the best forums (not necessarily biggest) around. I want C&G to be the reference site for car people to learn about the "stovebolt chevy" then kick around and argue about it. I want C&G to offer the automotive news, but since we don't have the staff or funds to be the quickest to market, I want us to be the smartest to comment. I want people to "go look it up on C&G, because they'll have the right answer".

Well that was fun. Apparently the IP.Chat disables the board index. Chat is down till there is a fix. Sorry guys.

on it.

Chat software has been updated to the Invision Power software instead of ParaChat. This will cut some cost out of our monthly server bill (Parachat was $10 a month). At the moment, there is a 5-user limit. If anyone feels this is an issue, We can upgrade to 20 user limit for $19 flat fee per year very easily. As far as the software is concerned, it seems substantially higher quality than the plug in Parachat we were using.