Drew Dowdell

No, not into reality shows either. I like crime drama... Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Law and Order and the like.

No, I never did watch such trash...

You won't fit in it.

wtf is jabroni

Getting more for your money is not a price reduction? Okay, forget the Leaf. Before the Bolt, it cost you $60ish k to get over 235 miles of range. After the Bolt it cost you $30ish K. That's a price reduction. How about another example? I have an old iPod sitting here with 64gb of memory that originally cost about $400. Now you can get one with 256gb for $400... that is a reduction in price.

Sure it is a purchasing cost reduction. Until the Bolt was made, $30ish thousand dollars got you 100ish miles of range. Once the Bolt was released, $30ish thousand dollars got you 235 miles of range. Prior to that, to get over 200 miles of range cost around $60ish k. Putting it another way... if the Silverado 2500 were suddenly the same price as a 1500, that is a big cost reduction. And Range doesn't effect operating costs any more than a bigger gas tank does. If you're getting X miles out of Y amount of juice, it doesn't cost you less just because you fill up less often.

20 miles, no... but going from Leaf to Bolt for the same price... that's over 100 miles? That's a cost reduction.

I"m guessing the people at benz are smarter about this than anyone on this message board. It already has in the form of range increases without cost increases. When the leaf came out, it only had about 100 mile range. The bolt was released at about the same price as the leaf, but had a 235 mile range. GM just increased the range of the bolt again with no increase to price.

Nissan dropped the Altima hybrid too for this generation. I think Accord and Camry are the only mid-size hybrids left.

Definitely needs a more powerful version. If a Lacross AWD and 300 AWD can get the same fuel economy with much more power, then there is no reason the Arteon couldn't do it with a V6 as well.

C&G will be 32 years old by then, well be able to come back and see No necessarily. Costs will come down. The already are.

The Volkswagen Arteon is the vehicle that effectively replaces the Volkswagen CC in VW’s lineup, however, it comes at the segment with a noticeably different approach. The Arteon is much more interesting looking than the old CC and comes as a hatchback rather than a sedan. I would hesitate to use the word “bold” about the Arteon’s looks, as feels rather conservative to me, but it still has a gravitas that lets passers-by know that this is not an ordinary Volkswagen. The front end has a lot of detailing with multiple creases in the hood and a deep, wide grille. Thick wheel arches give the car a muscular look. Around back, the hatch area fits between a set of thick thighs and a set of tail lights that almost look Benz-like. Down below there is a chrome strip that runs around the entire perimeter of the car. As handsome as the exterior is, the interior is a bit of a letdown. In the SEL version I drove, the interior materials were not up to snuff for a car with a $42,795 sticker price and the design is fairly sterile. There is a wide strip that traverses the dash and mimics the look of the grille and below that, another wood (plood?) strip runs parallel. The center stack is neatly organized with all knobs and buttons within easy reach. If you are a bit of a neat freak like me about your car, keep a microfiber duster in the glovebox to wipe down the piano black surfaces. The seats are flat and firm but without much lateral support. As a hatchback, rear passengers get cut out of a bit of headroom, but there is plenty of legroom back there for them to stretch out. Cargo room for this size of a car can only be described as cavernous. The hatch lifts up high and out of the way giving you easy access to anything you can rear. Fold the rear seats down and you may even say “Crossover, what?”, there is 55 cubic feet of cargo room back there. The Arteon comes with an 8-inch touch screen display that includes Apple Car Play and Android Auto. Android Auto is easy to set up and I stayed in that mode during my entire drive. Driving the Arteon is probably the best part about it. My tester came equipped with 4motion, Volkswagen’s all-wheel-drive system. It works well and the car feels glued to the road during the twisties. No matter which level of Arteon you buy, you have a single choice of engine. Standard is a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder with 268 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft of torque connected to an 8-speed automatic transmission. It is this engine that delayed the Arteon’s entry into the U.S. due to a backlog of certification testing. This setup is merely adequate. It neither thrills you nor lets you down. I do wish a V6 were available, but small-displacement turbo-4s are where the market is going these days. Unfortunately, even with the small displacement 4-cylinder, you still get V6-like fuel economy. The Arteon is rated for 20 city / 27 highway / 23 combined. For reference, that’s about the same as an AWD Buick Lacrosse with a big V6 and 310 horsepower, in fact, the Buick does a little better on the highway and so do most other V6 sedans. In normal mode the transmission is a bit lazy, upshifting early and reluctant to downshift. In sport mode, it wakes up a little but there is still a lag when downshifting. The ride and drive of the Arteon is definitely dialed towards comfort over sport. It comes equipped with a DCC adaptive ride system, but I notice almost no difference between the Sport and Comfort modes. Cruising along in the Arteon is serene with very little noise from the outside entering the cabin. It is certainly a car that can get you into trouble with the leasing company for mileage. Is the Arteon a car I can recommend? Yes and no. If you’re a die-hard VW fan, then the Arteon is an easy choice to make. Otherwise, there are more powerful and more upscale options out there for the price, but you wouldn’t be wrong to choose this one. Year: 2019 Make: Volkswagen Model: Arteon Trim: SEL w/4Motion Engine: 2.0L DOHC Turbocharged Direct Injected 4-cylinder Driveline: 8-Speed automatic with all-wheel-drive Horsepower: 268 Torque @ RPM: 258 @ 0 - 3,600 Curb Weight: 3,655 lbs Location of Manufacture: Emden, Germany Base Price: $35,845 As Tested Price: $42,790 (Includes $995.00 Destination Charge) View full article

Definitely.... with the engine lines that just came out, they'll have 10 to 15 years of ICE. And if they need to, they can just keep increasing the amount of power that comes from electric and decreasing the ICE size (instead of an I6 lite hybrid, an I4 hybrid with a stronger EV component)

Well look how long the Buick 3.8 liter ran.... they just kept making updates to it without changing the engine family. I'd wager that's what Benz is going to be doing.

I really like the steering wheel. Some interesting ones from a recent car cruise.

Saudi Arabia has been lying about their production for years... so I have no reason to assume they're telling the truth now.

Trucks like the Tundra are a North American only type of vehicle. Cars like the Pruis and Corolla are more important because they can be sold globally... most importantly, in China. Trucks in the US are like Kei cars in Japan. Very market specific.

In a surprise announcement, Daimler has said that they are stopping further development of internal combustion engines to focus solely on electric vehicle development. In a statement to Auto Motor und Sport, Daimler says they have no plans to develop a next generation of their IC engines. The current generation, just recently released, may be their last. Daimler did go on to explain that while the engine families may not be replaced, there still would be work on certain components to improve performance in the future. Engine families have fairly long timelines, usually around a decade long, so this announcement still gives Daimler some breathing room for the immediate future. Daimler is currently facing up to a €1 Billion For Diesel Cheating. View full article

It's about 33,000 vans a year. The plant can handle a lot more than that. It use to build Eclipse, Galant, Sebring Coupe, and others. At it's height it was producing 222k vehicles a year. So they should be good there with two production lines running at 33k a year. Workhorse made like 8 cents last quarter... they were never going to be able to buy Lordstown. Lordstown would just be a battery plant. Detroit-Hamtramck would be where the EVs were built.

Nissan has announced a date for the next version of the Nissan Titan. The refresh for the 2020 Model year will be unveiled on September 26th. It is said to include a new "hot" Nissan badge with lava red accents featured on the PRO-4X model. Not much to be seen from the teaser picture, but it shows a revised grille with new headlights which include a C-Shaped running light, new front bumper, fog lights, and more visible tow hooks. Also expect a new tail gate and a revised center stack and switchgear. One the powertrain front, gone will be the optional 5.0 liter Cummins V8 diesel. The only engine offered will be the 5.6 liter gasoline V8, but no word on if that has received any updates. Currently it produces 390 horsepower and 394 lb.-ft of torque. The 2020 Nissan Armada also recently leaked out and is expected to be debuted at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show. View full article

Back in February, Amazon helped Rivian by investing $700 million into the company. Now Amazon is helping further with one first big order. Amazon is ordering 100,000 vans to be delivered by 2024. The first deliveries should start in 2021 and prototypes will likely be seen next year. At that rate of production, Rivian would immediately start outselling the Nissan NV and NV200 combined. The van is exclusive to the Amazon partnership and Rivian says it will not delay any of the R1T or R1S deliveries as it is being built on a separate assembly line at the Normal IL. facility. Rivian used a skateboard chassis for their R1T and R1S, so building a van body (R1V?) over top of the skateboard shouldn't be too hard of a task. The R1T has a claimed range of up to 400 miles on a single charge and being capable of getting to an 80 percent charge inside of an hour. Amazon's use for the vans is clear. They have committed to reaching the goals of the United Nations Paris Agreement 10 years early with 80% of their energy use being renewable by 2024 and 100% by 2030. View full article