Drew Dowdell

It's not just the Blazer, the whole GM lineup is spartan on the low end and pricey on the high end.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas NV, Honda is demonstrating a prototype of their new Honda Dream Drive infotainment system. The new system integrates both driver and passenger infotainment. For the driver, Honda Dream Drive offers an expansion of Honda's existing in-vehicle payment system. It allows drivers to pay for fuel, movie tickets, food pickup or delivery, and parking. Additionally, the system can make restaurant reservations and share the vehicle location with family and friends. Originally exclusively through Visa, the payment system now include Mastercard and Paypal. For passengers, Honda Dream Drive offers games, watch movies, listen to music, use travel apps, and explore points of interest along the route, all from the passengers' mobile device. As this is a demonstration of a prototype, there is no official release date announced for Honda Dream Drive. View full article

In order to get adaptive cruise control, you have to pony up $3,575 for the ENHANCED CONVENIENCE AND DRIVER CONFIDENCE II PACKAGE. Also means a minumum of RS or Premier trims before that package becomes available. Adaptive Cruise is standard on Edge and Passport and RAV4 and Highlander and Pilot.

Oddly, Chevy is making the Traverse RS in FWD only.... I wonder if the same thing is happening at least in terms of production mix with Blazer. You're right though that the RS is the looker of the bunch. The rest of the trims don't excite me much, but I do like the RS.

They won't be closing GMC in the US anytime soon. It prints money for GM. How else are they going to convince people to pay $45k for an Equinox with a different face?

I think Buick could be in danger in the US. One thing is clear is that they will be an all SUV brand in the US soon.

Why? Galveston?

You're getting old. ?

Why would you even bother with compliance cars that only get sold in California? They are the equivalent of putting a small gas engine in a horse carriage... so compare it to the Curved Dash, not the Model-T. Look at the real EVs that were purpose-built. The Model S, Model 3, Chevy Bolt were all purpose-built to be EVs, just like the Model-T was purpose-built to be an automobile rather than a horseless carriage.

I keep seeing this argument over trying to force an EV into a ICE use pattern. That is faulty thinking. To successfully switch to EVs, one must change the way one thinks about fueling. With the exception of free Supercharging, "filling up" while out on the go is much more expensive than "Filling up" at home. With an EV with the range of the Bolt or any Tesla, there should nearly never be "filling up" while out and about. Plug it in at home and start every morning with a full tank. If you don't have a place to plug in at home, then an EV is not for you. Buy an ICE or Hybrid. If you regularly drive more than 250 miles in a day, then an EV is not for you. Buy and ICE or Hybrid. If 90% of your driving is less than 100 miles one way and you have a place to plug in at home, then an EV might work for you. EVs make excellent second cars in a multi-car family. Something used for daily commuting that uses no gasoline while the gasoline powered family truckster gets used for road trip duties. They make an excellent first car for someone who doesn't do road trips.

I wonder how much of the SUV change over is just the general aging of the population. Hauling Albert's parents around it is much easier to get them in and out of the Encore than it is to get them in and out of the Cruze.

There is no reason we can't have a mix of ICE and EVs and Hybrids.

That does look good. Looks quite small compared to the current Escape.

I use my noggin.

Tesla is catching up to MB quickly.

^This. As I said, I read an article with a critical eye and look for things to pick apart.

As that article says... bias and accuracy are two different things. Rachel Maddow is incredibly biased... but generally her facts are on point and she issues retractions/corrections if she finds out she is wrong. Fox news is also incredibly biased, but when they get it wrong, they get it really wrong and rarely ever issue retractions or corrections. NPR seems to at least try to remain impartial by inviting those on both sides to be interviewed, but that can often lead to nutjobs getting equal airtime with "specialists".

You're probably right. The Navigator is just so good in the other areas that I think people should give it a chance.

It could be that... I guess... but then people really gotta drive it because it feels like a V8. Well... .what you can feel of it at all. It just has a lot of pull.

I thought I explained myself quite clearly. I look at everything with a critical eye. Refusing to even look at something because of the source (outside of extremist stuff) is what I have a problem with. If you don't want to give CNN the ad revenue, put on an ad blocker (and whitelist us). All of the new outlets source news and op-eds from multiple places. So while one may lean left or right, is it just a lean. I'm still curious which news outlet you think is completely unbiased. I don't think one exists. So if you refuse to read any unbiased news sources, then you're actively choosing to remain ignorant. Read, absorb, form your own opinion.

Camaro? V-series? Corvette?

RAV4 changed models this year. The new hybrid may not be as much in circulation yet.

I knew the G70 was a very late intro this year, but ouch. They made a mistake not leading off with an SUV or 7.

Mitsubishi just might pull it out of the hat if they can get a couple more products out there.