Drew Dowdell
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell
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That'd be like powering the Camaro with the 1.4t from the Cruze and giving it a CVT! -
Buick News: Buick to Debut An Electric Crossover Concept for China
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in Buick
Well, it's still just a concept for now. -
The Trax and CX3 are both excellent choices that I wouldn't hesitate recommending to people, they just are very different in purpose, nature, and capabilities. The CX3 is as close as you'll get to an Audi without stepping foot in an Audi dealership.
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Buick News: Buick to Debut An Electric Crossover Concept for China
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in Buick
Probably not in China... it has strong brand cache there. -
I agree with most of this except the Trax-CX3... not because the Trax is better or the CX3 isn't, they're just different enough in size that they might not really be a direct comparison. The CX3 is really just a Mazda 2 hatchback with AWD and more power. In that respect, it is an excellent vehicle and put together better than the Trax, but the Trax has a lot more usable passenger and cargo room.... so it is a bit squishy to compare these two directly. IMHO, the CX3 compares more directly with the CH-R and Juke. Trax more with Ecosport, HR-V, EclipseCross. Tahoe/Suburban - Expedition will be really damn close. I give the edge to the Expedition on interior niceness, but you wouldn't catch me crying in a Suburban either. Bolt - Model 3 - Model 3 has some coolness factor to it, but when it comes down to it, the Bolt will be easier (financially) to buy and own. Tesla is possibly 4 months from bankruptcy, so I wouldn't own a Model 3, only lease. GM build quality is better than Tesla as well. Plus, the Bolt works really really well and is actually fun to drive. The rest of your list is spot on. Though you forgot Camaro.... and I'd go with a Challenger or Mustang because favor comfort over sporting pretense. I completely ignore which one gets the best 0-60 or extreme handling ability.
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You're simply a troll. Cadillac offering more space for the price is a feature, not a bug.
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2.0t is probably easier to chip and modify. Add in the better weight balance and that's where the demand probably is coming from.
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The newest Lacrosse is everything it is supposed to be. Albert likes those also, but they are holding their value better than the '17 Regal. I want to stick around the $25k mark for a used vehicle. The '17 GS can be had with adaptive cruise control and Android Auto and Buick Certified for $25k, so it's really high on the list for me with those killer apps.
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Is that even a photoshop? Is that not the RS?
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Then you're a fan of the XT5.
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We were really underwhelmed by the new regal. I have autotrader searches out for Certified '17 GSes instead. Typically finding them for ~$24k with 15k on the odometer.
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It's not that I love them slow, it's that I don't care about speed as much as looks... particularly when my roads look like this. I've talked you to a bunch of times about engine upgrade options for my molasses Olds.
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The XT4 and XT5 will outsell the Stelvio 8 to 10 times over..... each...... that's all that matters.
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Body color bumper one is fine. Blacked out bumper is terrible
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Yeah, a lot of runoff would build up on the high side. And the retaining wall on the low side has been there since 1929.
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Mercedes doesn't have to be in everyone's budget either, but here we are with $32k shrunken 96 Taurus look-alikes wearing stars with a further down-market vehicle coming. Chase the fake Gucci bag crowd. People who buy the CLA don't care about the back seat? Then why is the back seat of the ATS (which can be bought as a real coupe btw) such a titanic issue to you German humpers? You: "Cadillacs are too big!!!" Me: "Here's the ATS." You: "Cadillacs are too small!!" The ATS is everything you claim to want in an ideal car. RWD, excellent power, turbo4, v6, turbo v6 options, AWD, great handling....the Benz counterpart has only a fraction of your wish list plus has a terrible and cramped interior.... But somehow you prefer the Benz. Your fanboi hypocrisy is showing. Even if one could get over all the negatives of a vehicle like the GLA, there is still one more big one that you can't justify your way out of. The mechanically identical vehicle, the Infiniti QX30, is $4000 cheaper than the GLA and substantially better looking exterior to boot.
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Best Pothole of 2018 Award goes to Pittsburgh! This happened about a mile from my house. I used that highway all the time.
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While there may be an upper limit on car size, your choice is still not going to be XT4 or GLC when there is an $8k spread in price. Similarly, with only 2" - 3" between them, you've gotta have a pretty interesting garage if you can only fit a GLA but not an XT4. If you couldn't fit the Grand Cherokee, you won't say "Oh well, I guess I'll spend $10k more and get a GLC". You'll either look at the next smaller Jeep (they hope) or you'll look at something similarly priced but smaller. As far as what other reviewers do... I'm specifically trying to change that.
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There are 50-state emissions, but there are also California emissions that have been adopted by 7 or 8 other states.
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I agree here that a 50-state standard is best, but at the same time, the 50-state standard needs to take into account the needs of the states with the worst air quality. So while California should not be dictating policy for the entire country, the entire country does need to follow a standard that protects California air (And Texas, even if they don't care to do it on their own). We also need national fuel blend standards, or at least much larger regional standards. Having 50 states with 50 blend requirements for 3+ different grades of fuel is horribly inefficient. There is no reason the gasoline I buy in NJ should be different in composition than the gasoline I buy in PA. I feel like most of the manufacturers have gone too far with engine downsizing. Unlike @ocnblu I am not against electrification, in fact I see some strong benefits to it. However, putting these tiny displacement turbo engines is not having the results promised. Either they need to bring the displacement back up or they need to add electrification to the tiny engines to give them a boost. The tiny engines are just playing to the EPA test and do not produce the same results in the real world. Driven normally, the little 1.4s and 1.5s get over worked and burn just as much, or more, fuel than a bigger displacement non-turbo.
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Sure, price is variable... budget generally isn't. Someone walking in to buy a $38k entry-luxury AWD crossover isn't going to suddenly pony up to the $42,900 it takes to get into a GLC 4Matic. That's more than a 10% price increase and something like that just doesn't happen much. So if you're stuck at a specific max price, as most people are, that is generally going to eliminate the next size up at Mercedes, BMW, and Audi. So at Cadillac, you end up getting more room and more power for your dollar. I'm not the biggest fan of the XT4, it'll do well, but it didn't light my fire the way I wish it did. Still, if I'm spending $38k on a crossover and my choices are XT4, GLA, Q3, or X2 (X3 is $42.6k for AWD), I'll pick the XT4 every day of the week and twice on Sundays. It just offers more room, more power, and more amenities for the same price. The GLC and X3 are out of my budget so there is no point comparing them.... and if they are in my budget, then Cadillac offers another level of size, comfort, and power that still exceeds the imports. I'll point out that NONE of the Germans base entries in the GLA/X2/Q3 price class offer more power than the XT4, only BMW comes close. Yes there are option up engines available on some, but as noted in this article, Cadillac isn't done with releases yet. For $38k, all you're getting from MB or Audi is about 200 horsepower... about the same as a Honda Civic SI. Also, none of the Germans can claim any sort of handling advantage of RWD... Cadillac, the Germans, Infiniti, Lexus, are all front drivers. People simply don't shop for vehicles with tape measures. If you were shopping in this class, would you reject an option for being 3" bigger than its competition? I don't think any sane person would. The only reason to pick one of the Germans over the Cadillac (or Infiniti QX30 for that matter, it is $4k cheaper than the virtually identical GLA) is badge snobbery, and for that, there is nothing I can say that will convince an irrational person to do a rational thing.
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My second choice might be good for you. Kawasaki built it to be adjustable for people of different heights. There are 3 seating positions, three pedal positions, and two different handle bar positions available. You can ride out of the dealer with a bike literally customized for your particular stature. I took one out for a spin that was already set up for me and I thought it was a super comfortable bike. It runs the Kawasaki Ninja 650 2-cylinder engine and has a very interesting feel. On the used market, they are very inexpensive... generally between $4,000 - $6,000. The BMW I posted above runs $9,000 to $11,000 used, so it is harder to pull the trigger on that. Kawasaki Vulcan S
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Why are we still comparing on direct size, particularly exterior dimensions, and not on price? The XT4 is priced against the GLA and is a reasonable, but not excessively so, amount roomier. Not so much that you think you're buying the next size class up, but enough that you can put your friends in the back where you can't with the GLA. Their base prices will only be about $1,000 or less apart. The XT5 is priced directly against the GLC. From memory, their starting prices are less than $500 apart. The XT5 is roomier inside than the GLC. Why is having more space with equal or better luxury being considered a disadvantage for Cadillac?!?! It makes no sense! People like to rage on the ATS for the small back seat, but the back seat of the ATS is positively Fleetwood like compared to the CLA that Mercedes offers at the same price. Let's see, I have $38k to spend, do I get a mediocre '96 Taurus-wannabe with Front wheel drive and cramped interior or do I get a distinctive car, slightly larger, with more power and rear wheel drive that rides on what is generally considered to be one of the best handling platforms in production today? Well the Cadillac is slightly longer outside, so that must be in the next size class up, I better go with the '96 Taurus wannabe. Tough call...
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There is a huge size difference with an XT4/Highlander. Not so much between XT4/gla XT5/GLC.
