Drew Dowdell

great friend!

Time to bring back the Omega.

Is it really that bad in a Jeep?

A mechanical fan. The LT-1 has a camshaft driven water pump. The non-HD models have just electric fans. To add the mechanical fan, GM made a bracket that fits over the water pump and holds the fan and pulley. The primary belt runs through the bracket in such a way that the only way to change the belt is to remove the bracket.

LT-1s with the heavy duty towing package you have to remove 3 water pump bolts to change the main belt.

The government does require longer warranties on emissions equipment about that's about it. I think the real reason is that it adds value without adding much cost and that it improves customer goodwill

A warranty adds value without adding much cost when averaged over the entire line. Also, it gives the incentive to the manufacturer to make reliable vehicles.

It's called the used market. If you're price conscious enough to forgo a warranty, you're price conscious enough to not get a new car.

never been much of a betting man....

You know, I didn't even know about this till I was reading the vehicle summary provided by GMC the other evening. To be honest, I haven't noticed this system in action at all other than the vehicle is unusually silent for a 4-cylinder vehicle. You can feel some 4-cylinder shudder in the wheel at certain speeds especially when in ECO-mode, but it's certainly not offensive and still less noticeable than the CR-V that is my daily driver. ECO-Mode does the following things: Lowers idle RPM by 100rpm. Transmission upshifts sooner. Transmission downshifts later. Gas pedal sensitivity is reduced (though this is dynamic, if you floor it, you get full power) Torque converter locks up at lower speed. In everyday driving, you mostly don't notice a difference. The only time I really have noticed the ECO system in operation is when I'm climbing a hill around 40mph. The torque converter is locked up at this speed and you can feel the computer purposely lugging the engine a bit. It's so subtle that the non-carbuff would never even notice it.

No disappointment. Simply stating a fact, though I may have caused some confusion as I was only referring to build quality. The GMC does feel more upmarket because the most visible materials inside are more upmarket, if only in look.

More standard features, but higher base price, on the Terrain. Interior wise, you get a faux leather stitched dash not available on the Equinox. Other than that, if your eyes prefer blue interior ambient lighting, get the 'Nox. If you prefer red, get the Terrain. Quality wise, they are equals. Most of the difference is in the look of the exterior and really just which of the two you prefer.

I've always operated under the assumption that you were certifiable.

What do you mean "maybe"?

While reducing carbon in cars is desirable, the real crux for me is getting us off of foreign fuels. I don't care how my car is powered as long as it's clean, relatively inexpensive, the money doesn't go to some middle east country that would like to kill us, and the performance is within expectations. We can do all of that using biofuels.

The Equinox is clearly aimed at the CR-V and RAV-4. It's a bit too large to be directly compared with the Escape. The Terrain is the same exact size as the 'Nox but aimed at people who consider the CR-V looks to be too wussy. From the outside, the Terrain looks bigger but isn't. The Terrain is for the guy who really wanted an H3 but couldn't convince his wife to go for it. It does look more upscale than the Equinox even though the SLE-2 I'm driving is $5k less than the LTZ I had. It's worth it to have both because the designs seem to be so polarizing. Well on the Build-Your-Own site I could only get it to up to $38,180 including destination charge. Not having a loaded model, I can't say for certain that I think it's worth that much. However, I will say that the $31k Equinox I just had felt every bit worth the money and it wasn't even AWD, nor did it have a full NAV or infotainment system or the big wheels. It's just that solid of a vehicle with an interior to match. The interior of the Terrain is slightly more upscale in that it has faux leather stitched dash and more chrome. The cloth seats (I haven't inspected cloth seats in an Equinox) are unlike anything I've seen before in a vehicle.

Same concave hood, similar fender lines

For comparison

Unfortunately, I don't have any long trips planned this time around. I can tell you that I had 4 bundles of wood and 6 12"x12"x3" paving stones in the back and there was no difference. we've been in the high 20s / low 30s since I've had it. Not really cold enough to have any issues. Idle is one of the few places you can feel that it is a 4 cylinder just from the little bit of vibration through the steering wheel...but it's nothing compared to the CR-V. I'm going to do a more detailed writeup of the Eco-Mode, but one of the things Eco-Mode does is drop the idle by 100rpm.

"Five point slow" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

That needs to go on a t-shirt

That'll teach ya. Set up your profile. Happy Birthday.

Not all Japanese companies but Japanese companies in general, put much more weight on saving face. If Ford were interested in saving face, they wouldn't have built the Pinto in the first place. Toyota has been very vocal about blaming everyone except Toyota whenever one of these stories breaks. Look at the engine sludge thing. Sony did the same thing with their battery fires and the rootkits they installed on peoples' computers. Honda on the other hand, when the transmissions started failing in the Odyssey and TL, sucked it up and extended the warranty on the transmissions on those vehicles to 100k miles. Sure, they did it quietly, but they didn't go issuing media statements first about how the driver was abusing the car or had failed to maintain it properly.

2050rpm in Eco mode. I didn't get long enough to try it not in eco mode to see if there was any difference, though I doubt there would be.