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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    Titles in general don't impress me... this one though.... If I accept....
  2. Drew Dowdell
    It will be a combination of the first two.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    Rain sensing wipers aren't about the on-off, though that's nice. Rain sense is that the car automatically adjusts the wipe interval while driving depending on the intensity of the rain.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    CAFE is largely what has moved people into crossovers and trucks. If CAFE were to continue, it should be equally enforced on trucks and SUVS. Imagine how fuel efficient an F-150 could be if, instead of inflating it as quickly as American asses are getting fat, they kept it the size of 20 years ago.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    The new Jetta is the best new small car for people who don't like the looks of the new Civic.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    Ever have an offer for a fantastic job that you would love to do, but the money just isn't there for you to be able to accept? Yeah, that's where I am right now. I realize there is something to be said for job satisfaction, but I still gotta pay my bills in the meantime. Anyway, I've held out so far, not turning them down but telling them that the money isn't there and I would be giving up too many benefits to make a move. They want to meet next week to offer me a 3rd time. Edit: and the job title... oh the job title. I covet that as much as anything else with associated with the job.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    Acadia = Edge
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Sonic is more expensive to build because it is built in the US. I would have like to see them move it to Lordstown with Cruze... Lordstown definitely has the capacity. If not there, then Korea to be built with the other Gammas.... but GM is fighting with the Korean unions at the moment. Maybe they want to bring Trax and Encore to Orion?
  9. Drew Dowdell
    That is a fantastic price for that lil runabout.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    Since I know you like manuals, the RS is also available with a 6-speed row your own. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. IT's also one of the better/best/easiest to drive manual transmission setups anywhere close to the class. A BMW or Mini may do it better, but you'll also pay 50% to 100% more. Good luck trying to find one in that setup though.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    This is one of the few areas where size doesn't matter as long as you do it right. A SMART can take out the front third of an E-Class in a frontal offset collision and the passenger compartment of the SMART will survive enough that the doors will still open. GM got the Gamma platform very very right in regards to crash safety. While the Sonic, Fiesta, Versa are all in the same size class, driving them back to back should put to bed any doubts you have as to which is the more solid vehicle. The Fiesta and Versa feel like thinly built cheap vehicles... which they largely are. The Sonic feels more like a cut down Malibu. It has a mass to it that the other two do not have. Get yourself a Sonic with the RS package and the 1.4T, it has a sportier gearing and while not need for speed fast it won't be slow either.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    Not sure why. My Encore is great around town. I sit in heavy city traffic in the Encore nearly every day. I had it in Manhattan last week. Sonic is one of the few small cars I would feel comfortable in and is also comfortable for long trips. Fiesta and Versa are the ones that make me nervous.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    Sorry, but your statement about Sonic safety is rubbish. Sonic was one of the earliest small cars to get top crash test ratings. Indeed the gamma platform gets great ratings across the board. The crash test ratings for our Encore were a selling point for us. Sonic is built in the US at US wages and sells at a low price. Trax is built in Korea at Korean wages and sells at a higher price. Aside from the AWD available in the Trax, they are the same vehicle in terms of material costs yet there is a $5k spread in base price to the Trax's advantage.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Piecing together the various messaging coming out. I would expect the halo vehicle to be a large crossover / SUV, probably called Escala. Look for the interior to be a productionized version of the Escala concept. One thing to note about the recent news that "Escala" is going into production. No one ever said it would be a car. I could be, it might not be.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Yeah, I does, and I was aware of that when posting. I guess in San Fran that's not unreasonable, but I only pay $110 a month for 3 cars here in Pittsburgh.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    GM is putting vents in the bumper to swirl air around the tires because the rotation of the tires causes aero drag... they're really pulling out all the stops to get these as efficient as possible.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    I wish proper two-tone colors could make a comeback. I think only the F150 does it at the moment on the King Ranch, but it is subtle and only one secondary color is available.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    The XT5 outsells all of the Germans in its price class and all but one of the Japanese and it's not groundbreaking either... Nor is any of the competition. All the XT4 needs to do is duplicate that.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    $365 a month for a used 2015 Fiesta? Are they insane?
  20. Drew Dowdell
    If the payment was right, I could see doing this myself. I'm not sure they picked the right markets to test it in though.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    The 7G-Tronic is a longitudinal transmission, not a transverse transmission. If Mercedes couldn't design and build a decent front wheel drive transmission, they should have contacted the experts over at GM.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    I'd like any in the '87 - '97 range.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    An older Lincoln will just be a Ford with nicer leather and a fancy grille. If the interiors of the Town Car weren't so painfully "geriatric taxi cab", I'd totally own one.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    You're absolutely right that I am making assumptions here. I think I'm justified though. GM is already starting from a great position with the 9-speed, so any adjustments are likely to be minor. Plus, front wheel drive automatics are a GM specialty. They've been doing it, and doing it well, for longer than just about anyone in the business.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    The 9-speed has largely been fine in everything I've driven with it. I highly doubt that it will be less good than the Terrain 2.0t. Cadillac has to do literally nothing to the GMC tuning to make it top notch. If there is anything about this engine has a question mark next to it, it would be the active fuel management.
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