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Drew Dowdell

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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    Off the top of my head, the Suburban/Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade (Escalade since 2015) and XT5 and CT6 have kick to open as an option. XT5, CT6, CTS, Envision, Malibu, and Volt each have optional active park assist.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    Well... they need to be consistent. I guess the MKX is next.
  3. Drew Dowdell
  4. Drew Dowdell
    The most recent generation of Hondas has majorly skimped on sound deadening material, with the exception of the very latest Accord. The current Pilot, CR-V, and Civic are terrible for those of us who don't like road and engine noise My big V8 is very nicely quiet... just a torquey hum from under the hood.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    **Cough** Honda **cough**
  6. Drew Dowdell
    Can I get one that sounds like a Quad-4 about 10,000 miles overdue for an oil change? Or one that sounds like a steam engine.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    I don't think the Bolt EV is soul sucking at all. It's a hoot to scamper around in because the torque comes on so strong.... more so than any 4-cylinder mid-size.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Teo? I'm surprised that the Prius V is going away. They must have sold well in Pittsburgh, I see a fair amount of them here.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    I'm talking about the packaging rather than the material of the part. most of those probably came in a simple box if in a box at all
  10. Drew Dowdell
    Thanks... I hate our excessive use of plastic. I got the battery cable for the Honda yesterday and it came in no less than 3 layers of plastic and a cardboard box (Plastic outside the box, the box, foam padding, plastic bag, car part)..... for the negative cable.... for a car.... It's going in an engine bay of a 14 year old vehicle. Do they think I'm hanging it on my Christmas tree?
  11. Drew Dowdell
    The Cheby picture was a comparison to the over-complex Ford solution... I wasn't citing it as an example of a solution without a problem. I had the Chevy example on my Avalanche and it did lower things just enough to make it more comfortable getting in and out of the back. The Avalanche also had a convenient grab handle at the top of the bed wall... no need for a post sticking out of the top of the tailgate Man-Step.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    You're about 3 decades late. The Generic Asian Sedan put most of the sameness into cars that we have today.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    I don't believe that globalism is a danger persay, but I do believe we've taken it way too far coupled with the disposable society. It's not cars where I think we've gone too far... it's the plastic fork. We as a society have decided that it is more cost/time effective to: 1. Pump oil out of the ground. 2. Ship that oil to a processing center that turns a portion of that oil into liquid Polystyrene. 3. Ship that Polystyrene to another processing facility that forms the polystyrene into a fork. 4. Cut down a tree 5. Pulp the tree 6. Ship the pulp to a processing center 7. turn the pulp into cardboard. 8. Print lettering on the cardboard and shape it into a box 9. Ship the boxes to the plastic fork factory 10. Pack the forks into boxes 11. Ship the boxes to warehouse distribution centers 12. Ship the boxes to stores 13. Drive to store to buy plastic forks 14. Use plastic fork once and throw away. F O U R T E E N major steps just so we can avoid: 1. Wash the metal Fork. I hate plastic forks and I avoid them whenever possible... everytime I am handed one at a restaurant all of those steps go through my mind. They, to me, are the biggest worst example of what is terrible about globalism.... the fact that all of that can be made cheaper (Time = money) than just washing a metal fork. The fact that Buick builds vehicles in China or S. Korea for consumption in the US is small fry by comparison.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    So what you're saying is that even the Amish are more forward thinking about energy than you are? I like the rumble of a big fat V8 just as much as you do, but I also admit that the Bolt and Pacifica Hybrid powertrains thoroughly impressed me and I'd have no trouble with either powertrain as a daily driver..... I wouldn't want the rest of the car personally because neither of them are my style, but the powertrains were good enough for me to toss the idea around in my head a bit. I think the way you present your argument is what gets the reactions you get. There are rational reasons for moving forward with EVs, there are fewer to be had for holding on to ICEs longer than necessary. EVs are going to be a growing part of the automotive landscape. What you and I think about EVs is not going to change the timeframe of that happening.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Ford's "man" step: Chevy's step Chrysler swivel seats. Nearly every electronic shifter that isn't just a dial.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    There have been plenty of automotive options that fit that definition
  17. Drew Dowdell
    Will fossil based products still be in production in 2050? Yes, almost certainly Will their production per capita be substantially lower than today? Also yes, almost certainly Will they be the primary fuel for personal (non-commercial) transportation? No, almost certainly not. All of us here are tainted with the specialist point of view. We're all automotive enthusiasts. We see the world in Camaros and Mustangs, S-Classes and CT6es, F-150s and Silverados..... But auto manufacturers have a very different viewpoint. They see the world in Fusions, Camries, Accords, Focuses, Corollas, and Civics. Those traditional sedan sales may be plateauing, but take away the marketing malarky, and what is an Escape really? It's just a tall Focus with an inflated price. Ditto Corolla / RAV4...or even Dart / Compass So once one stops separating those models and admits they are essentially the same vehicle, you realize that the market is, by far, a whole bunch of bland beige 4-bangers. 99.99998% of people who buy those cars do. not. care. what powers their car as long as it gets them from point a to point b, is reliable, and is cheap. I know I've said it before, but the moment a manufacturer is able to deliver on that EV trifecta while being priced similar to an ICE, the countdown timer on the ICE will have started. It doesn't matter what those of us on automotive enthusiast sites think about it.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    As always. Your mileage may vary.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    oh this is totally a "lifestyle" truck option.... You know, someone who needs a 1500 to haul their kayak and 6 bags of mulch.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    As companies get better at EVs, they'll continue to be simpler to build than ICEs. That's where I expect a lot of efficiency to come from. There will be a greater percentage of common parts shared among different models.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    Reach and lifting. Having the tailgate swing out puts you 18" - 24" closer to that bag of mulch you're trying to reach without hopping up into the bed.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    A Trax EV with a 225+ mile range would be just about the smartest EV move GM could make.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    *Gently steering this back on topic without offending anyone*
  24. Drew Dowdell
    I want to repeat that I didn't ditch the gas mower for any grand ecological reasoning. It was a 14 year old Craftsman with a Briggs engine that caused me lots of trouble. I probably put more money into parts for it over the last few years than it would have cost me to buy a new one, but it was always $25 here, $45 there, so individually the repairs made sense. The last breakdown happened only an hour after I had replaced a part that I had waited a week for and I was simply fed up. I got a service to do my rentals and I had the spare Black and Decker corded electric to fill in. If I can find a new blade for it (it's enough out of balance to matter) I'll just use it till it dies and then get another electric. I have a number of other newer gas powered tools still around that won't be replaced for a long while.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    The average homeowner isn't going to need more than one battery. 60 minutes of actual mower operation is a lot of yard. Such a homeowner will be of distinctly above average income. I prefer to think of it is as being flexible. You want to talk about all the whatabouts aside from car emissions... We're doing just that. Feel free to bring up cow farts again in this thread if you want.
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