Drew Dowdell

I don't drive to work anymore, but somehow we're still averaging 16,000 miles a year.

You also really don't have any place to go from a Duramax

The GLC is RWD.

It's not going to fool anyone, but it's a pretty cool conversion.

^^ What happened to the rest of the car?

Since I'm going to be in the market soon, it might change up what I buy. I only go to the office twice a week, so my commute miles don't matter much and I can use a bus.

Gas is $2.69 a gallon here. IF it went to 5.38 a gallon, what would you do with your daily driver?

*G70?

What people want is a three pointed star... doesn't matter if the car behind it is a fake benz.

My choice of these three would be the S60 because I favor comfort over raw sportiness. The Genesis would be my second choice with the Audi a distant third. The Cadillac CT4 could eventually be an option once pricing is released.

It's a big fat "who cares?!" I personally think the XT5 is performing poorly in sales for two reasons. 1. they made it ugly. 2. GM (again) got greedy with the option prices. The old SRX did perfectly fine in sales because it was attractive.

I changed the oil in the Toronado using an oil filter given to me by @balthazar. Now she's good for another 10 months to a year.

The UAW declared a national strike against General Motors, a first since 2007, after GM failed to reach a deal with union leaders over wages and benefits. A union spokesman said it was a unanimous vote to strike and that the status of the negotiations are unclear. General Motors said that its offer to the UAW included more than $7 billion in U.S. investments, jobs, higher pay, and improved benefits. It included an offer for more than 5,400 jobs, the majority of which would be new. The offer would allocated an electric truck to Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant and Lordstown would be reopened as a battery assembly plant. The UAW's previous contract with General Motors expired on Saturday at midnight, but workers were told to continue to show up to work under the terms of the prior contract while negotiations were ongoing. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor Company have extended their current contracts while the GM talks are happening. View full article

One @balthazar especially will like.

The ATS was replaced directly with the CT4 and the CTS was replaced directly with the CT5. The XTS is dead soon, so their entire sedan lineup will be RWD. No one cares about RWD in a crossover, if they did, the Stelvio would be flying off the lots, not the RX and XT5. As much as I am "meh" about the XT6, they'll probably sell a good amount of them because again... no one cares about RWD in a crossover and Lincoln is currently botching the Aviator launch.

Yeah, we have an article about it here.

Fiat Chrysler has issued a stop-sale and recall of 3,427 Jeep Gladiators for the potential of the rear drive shaft fracturing. The cause is a rear drive shaft that was assembled without grease on the monoblock joint portion of the drive shaft. The lack of grease could cause the joint to overheat and seize which may result in a fractured rear driveshaft. The vehicles were manufactured between December 15th 2018 and June 25th of 2019. If the driveshaft fails, the driver could experience a total loss of power and potentially cause dangerous road debris if the driveshaft separates from the vehicle completely. Jeep said they noticed the grease error when four Gladiators came in for warranty repairs and the driveshafts were sent for analysis. FCA will replace the driveshaft for free as part of the recall and anyone who paid to have the shaft replaced will be reimbursed with proper documentation. Postcards to affected owners will go out October 18th. No accidents or injuries have been reported from the issue. View full article

Not the same engine.

Yes it can be both ways when Mercedes is putting out both ends of the spectrum. The A-Class/CLA is just a luxury Cruze… or Cobalt SS if you want to talk about horsepower.

Exactly. Performance of the Chevy Bolt is more than sufficient for most people.... but adding a bigger battery would get it up over 300 mile range and on to 400.

The 2020 Ford Explorer and 2020 Lincoln Aviator are likely the most important vehicles in Ford's lineup after the F-150. These new SUVs mark a turn for Ford in styling and technology. The problem is, early reports indicate that there is trouble brewing in Chicago, the plant where they are built. The two SUVs are just now arriving at dealerships, but have already been the subject of recalls for seats, missing manual park release covers, and other issues. The issues have become so bad that Ford is trucking them from Chicago to their Flat Rock Assembly for further examination. Dealers around the country have been notified of delays on their shipments due to unspecified manufacturing issues. Ford is providing no details on the subject. A Ford source involved with the repairs says that Ford is using X-Ray to try and diagnose chassis issues, transmission issues where the vehicle doesn't properly go into Park or not properly activating the parking brake leading to the possibility of a roll-away, air-conditioning systems that blow heat only, Aviators with automatic suspension issues where the vehicle arrives in suspension failure mode, and transmissions that leak so much fluid "it looks like a crime scene". Aside from the serious issues, even the mundane issues appear; missing badges and trim, or having the wrong wheels. Ford has called in workers from plants in Kentucky, Dearborn, Wayne, and Sterling Heights to help at Flat Rock to complete repairs. Flat Rock normally builds Mustangs and Continentals, but from Friday to Sunday, workers spend their time processing Explorers and Aviators. Ford can't stop production of the vehicles even though they have a build-up of thousands of defective vehicles because the revenue is booked when the vehicle leaves the plant. Stopping production would reduce book revenue this quarter. Ford already was downgraded to junk bond status earlier this week. View full article