Jump to content
News
Reviews
Discussons
Activity
Create New...
Close

Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    55,895

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    532

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    I like the new grille, it has more depth. I dislike the giant black plastic intake ports below that.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    We're talking many many billions of dollars. MQB and MLB are probably the most expensive platforms out there but they pay off in their wide range of uses. There are some limitations to doing it this way as well, so it's not all roses. There are certain dimensions on MQB for example that must remain constant. Firewall to front wheel measurements is the same on all MQBs for example and that can limits styling and packaging.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    VW's MQB was designed from the start to be modular. It takes an enormous amount of money to develop a platform with that level of modularity. However, if a platform isn't designed from the start to be that modular, it is pretty close to impossible to have that level of flexibility. You've gotta have the cash and about a decade worth of time to do the huge initial investment. VW has 3 platforms - MQB which is for FWD vehicles, MLB which is for front wheel drive vehicles with longitudinally mounted engines, and New Small Platform for the city cars. R8 is its own beast. Mercedes is moving to 4 platforms. GM has blurred the lines between platforms using common architectures.... that's why the new Equinox, Traverse, Lacrosse, XT4, and Regal are all technically different platforms, but they have so much shared that things get really confusing as to what is related to what. The XT4 is more related to Regal than it is to Equinox for example.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    FCA has been doing this kind of platform re-arranging, but they are less flexible platforms. Some of that comes from the history of the company. I think it was 2016, but Jeep for one year had vehicles on platforms from at least 4 different companies (Patriot/Compass = Mitsubishi co-developed with DCA, Renegade and Cherokee = Fiat, Grand Cherokee = DCA developed with MB, Wrangler = origins from AMC and original Chrysler). That's a lot of legacy to just wipe away and start fresh.... especially when some of those are selling really really well. The 200's failure was one of positioning. It NEVER should have been an entry level mid-size. It should have been lined up right alongside the Regal in pricing and sold as such. Drop all the base model small screens, cloth seats, and lame base engine. That would have given Dart some breathing room as well. Chrysler should have been emulating Buick and Lexus for most models (except the LS/LX). The Pacifica should have been built with a crossover variant right from the start. Call it Aspen and match the pricing to the Enclave. Cherokee needed to be made into a Chrysler as well. Make it a lux version instead of an off-roader. Call it Voyager and price it up against Envision. Dodge could get the "nascar" version of a Cherokee to replace the Journey. New Compass could also go to Dodge as a "nascar" version. Call it a Nitro. Go ahead and try to tell me that my ideas wouldn't instantly double or triple Dodge and Chrysler sales..... So I've just filled out Dodge and Chrysler's crossover lineup using off the shelf FCA parts and it would likely have very minimal cost.... particularly compared to the billions they are sinking into trying to breath life back into Alfa Romeo and Maserati... while keeping Fiat on life support. Edit: And the entire Chrylser lineup could be sent to Europe or China as well. If it's a matter of national pride for Italy, badge them as Lancias.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    Most likely, we are already past the point of changing the direction of the climate and will now likely need to do both.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    That's as much of a coupe as my Toronado is a Super Duty Pickup.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    The most flexible platform I can think of is VW's MQB. It can go as small as Audi TT all the way up to VW Atlas (or Passat if you're looking just at length). Now, the current C-Class is on a new highly modular platform that Mercedes is calling MRA, but the S-Class isn't on that yet. I would have thought the E-Class which was recently re-done would have been on MRA, but I cannot find any evidence of that. One would think if it were on a new wunder-platform, they'd advertise it. So far, the only car on MRA is the C-Class.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    You're getting your terms mixed up, (not entirely your fault, the automotive media is mostly to blame). Architecture and platform are two different things. Two very different vehicles can share architecture but be on different platforms. Architecture is where the dirty bits are built in a way that they fit everything that shares the architecture. Think power window motors, HVAC controls (which are all computerized now), dashboards, even power steering pumps, or suspension components. Platform is the skeleton that underpins the car. You can switch out sections of the skeleton to make different parts of the car larger or smaller, but you can't do that too much without running into either poor crash test ratings on the large size cars or heavy weight on the lower sized cars. Some examples of shared architecture but different platforms would be the Equinox, Malibu, and Traverse.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    That's what I think they should do. Big car platform and smaller car platform. Just like most other manufacturers do. I think Charger not going to Giorgio means that Giorgio can't be expanded to Charger/Challenger/300 sized cars. But that ALSO means it can't be expanded to Ghibli, which is 2 inches shorter than 300 and 2 inches longer than Challenger, nor can it be expanded to Quattroporte.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    That would possibly make sense, but then that would mean Sergio wouldn't do it.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    I didn't say it couldn't be stretched, but CTS would likely be the upper limit. Charger/300 are larger than that. The 300 is 3 inches longer and 3 inches wider. Moving to a CTS sized car would be a big move down for 300. If Dodge or Chrysler did get a car on the Giorgio platform (and they should) it should be more of a mid-sizer below the Charger/300. If I were Sergio. I would use make take the Charger / Challenger / 300 / and Ghibli and put them on a new platform above Giorgio. Alfa could get in on that one as well. That way everyone gets a piece of the action and there is very little overlap. You have family car (charger), Pony car (challenger), American soft luxury (300), European luxury (Ghibli), and European Sport (Alfa-whatever). In spite of FCA's protests to the contrary, I still insist that the Ghibli is a heavily re-worked LX car. There are far too many hardpoints on the two cars that are identical, too much shared hardware, that they are not at least partially related.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    Sergio sacrificed Chrysler and Dodge in order to necromance Alfa and Maserati and try to keep Fiat (brand) alive. Fiat took over Chrysler Group in late 2009. At that point, Alfa had only 4 mainstream models and only one of those survived beyond 2011 (the MiTo... an Alfa-Romeo branded Fiat 500 competitor). By 2014, when the first of Sergio's 5-year plans was out, Alfa had only the MiTo and Giulietta (a Mazda 3 look-alike with Alfa styling). What was IT. A micro-car and a compact, neither of which were any more premium than their Fiat counterparts. Maserati had the Quattroporte and Grand Turismio ... and that was it for Maser... They sold 4,489 vehicles in 2009. These were two brands that were practically dead. Sergio starved Chrysler and Dodge of new and updated product in order to bring his dead Italian brands back and in the process killed the American brands. He even tried to revive Lancia at the expense of Chrysler. This latest 5 year plan highlights how much of a failure Sergio is as a CEO. He is willing to sacrifice entire brands from the US just to prop up his failed Italian brands. Yes, the Charger and 300 are both full size cars. It's like XTS (300) verse ATS (Guilia) In SUVs, the Stelvio the size of the Compass. They're not going to make a Grand Cherokee out of that.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    No, shrinking the Charger down to Guilia size car would be the mistake. If they expanded the Alfas to be the size of their American counterparts... They'll be the weight of them as well.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    There are models of 3-series that weigh more than my big old body-on-frame boat of an '81 Toronado with a 307 cubic inch iron block under the aircraft carrier sized steel hood. A 4-cylinder 330xi weighs more than a V6 '81 Toronado A 6-cylinder 340xi weighs more than a V8 '81 Toronado. And for all the tech and weight savings they put into the M5 carbon fiber and all.... it still weighs 500lbs more than my iron beast. Now, I'm not comparing performance at all of course.... but these are generally considered among the lightest cars in their class and they they all tip the scales more than some "old tech" Oldsmobile.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    A 6-cylinder 5-series is 4,019 A 6-cylinder E-class is 4,043 A 6-cylinder A6 is 4,135 Tell me more about how the 300C Limited V8 being 4,029 is vastly uncompetitive.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    This is untrue. The 300 is used for police duty in Australia now that both Ford and GM have ceded that market. The 300 was also sold as a Lancia in Europe, and with a properly stocked Chrysler brand, the entire brand should have been branded as Lancia or just kept as Chrysler and sold in Europe. The Europeans had an unusual love for the Town and Country and the GM vans. The new Pacifica would have done well there. The 300 with a 2.0T should absolutely be sold in China. The Chinese just lowered their import tariff from 25% to 15% effective July 1. They could still be built in Brampton and shipped over. Stick the Pacifica hybrid on the same boat and price it like the Enclave. The failure of Chrysler and Dodge rests entirely on Sergio's nationalism and inability to effectively use the brands he got in the acquisition. He is an absolute failure of a CEO.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    Why do they have to be heavy? Because they are full size consumer grade cars, not high end stuff like multi-material Cadillac CT6s
  18. Drew Dowdell
    The only reason I may stay with Android... and I do mean only.... Is the MotoMods available for the Moto Z series. Doing what I do with this here website thingy... and the instagrams and facebooks and other sites I manage. I would really like to have a proper camera attachment on my phone. Phone cameras have come a long way, but there is only so much you can do without a true optical zoom. For the Moto Z, you can buy this that attaches to the back of the phone: Samsung did make a Galaxy Camera. It was a full fledged digital camera with an android operating system.. but they gave up after the second one, so now the newest OS you can get is Jellybean. Google has already said they are going to start forcing apps to be up to date with the OS, so that means old Jellybean devices will stop getting apps. I don't blame Google for that.... but I do blame Samsung for constantly producing abandonware. It might be the one thing that could save Android. Go get the $29 replacement. It will make it like new.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    I use iTunes, Amazon Music, and Google Play Music, because there is no way to get all of my music into a single ecosystem without re-buying the same stuff. ?? I like Amazon the best, but I can't upload my old iTunes purchases or old CDs into it. ?? I can't use iTunes on my Android, but Google Play Music will upload my iTunes library from my laptop, so that's how I can listen to my iTunes music on my Nexus. ?? But Google Play Music interface is beyond rubbish. It can't find my music if I type in the name, but if I scroll through artist - album - song, I can click on it and play it. Forget about picking an album by voice command. Searching for music takes you to their store rather than the library you already have uploaded. I don't need to buy the music again! I already have it! Find it in my library! ?? Google Assistant is SO BAD, I ask it to play "Play Playlist Star Trek", a playlist I KNOW I have set up in Google Play Music and GPM is set up as the default music source in Google Assistant. Google Assistant tells me it can't find the playlist, then it opens Pandora and plays Pirates of the Caribbean. I do hope some Google engineer was listening in on that one and they entered the new swear words I invented into their database. Apple Car Play I haven't had as much experience with since it is my work phone, but generally, Siri does as she's told. The only frustration I had with her was one time when she couldn't find a route home while I was on an interstate 300 miles from my house.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    I have an iPhone through work. It's.... tolerable. What I'm annoyed with on Android is their planned obsolescence. I have yet to have one that works satisfactorily for more than 18 months. The fact that OS updates stop after 2 years, or earlier if your carrier decides it wants to sell you a new phone. I have a Nexus 6P on Project Fi... so I'm all in on Google service. Yet 24 months in and OS updates have stopped. Security updates stop in October. This was supposed to be their flagship phone. Meanwhile, my partner's iPhone 6s and my own work 6S keep right on chugging along and will likely get iOS12 when it rolls out in a few weeks. Additionally... As of Android 8.1, Android Auto is an utter disaster. It crashes constantly. It is laggy. Half the time my music won't play... or if it does play, the music on the screen does not match the music playing in the speakers. Voice commands are absolute rubbish and completely non-functional. Car Play may be limited, but at least it works when I tell it what to do.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    To be honest, that was one of the biggest reasons I've been holding out on Android. What the Motorola Z3 Force looks like is going to determine if I stay with Android or leave for iPhone. I've been on Android for a long time, but my negative experiences with my current phone, and all the prior ones, are telling me to jump ship. The one thing I really didn't want to lose was Waze for in-dash navigation. Bollocks. #neversamsung
  22. Drew Dowdell
    There is absolutely nothing wrong with the current platform aside from needing better material fit and finish. They are full size and should remain so... not squished down to Euro standards.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    Yeah, it’s supposed to be another revision of LX platform. Really, if they just refreshed it and put the effort into the interior that they did with the Ram, they’d be fine. Put the new turbo 2.0 in there as a base engine, maybe eAssist the V6 and V8. The cars today are super solid and have all the latest tech available. The possibility of their cancellation has renewed my interest in acquiring a 300.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    I really like these redline editions that Chevy does. I know there isn't anything groundbreaking here, but the package just pulls everything together and looks great.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    In 2012, South Korea lowered its tariffs on U.S. cars to 4 percent from 8 percent For reference, the tariff for US cars entering the EU is 10%. For US cars entering China, it is currently 25% but will drop to 15% on July 1. Japan has no import tariff on US cars, however Japanese market tastes are... unique... and American cars aren't suited for that market, so an increase in tariffs on Japanese cars isn't going to balance the trade. Tariffs for cars imported into the US are 2.5%, and for commercial vehicles, trucks, and 2-door SUVs, the tariff is 25%. This is commonly known as the Chicken Tax. Regardless of the numbers, I still think it is a personal thing between him and Merkel.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

I've whitelisted
Continue without support

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search