Drew Dowdell
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell
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The Costco guy tells me it's due to the roads around here. He doesn't give me any trouble about it.
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That's actually even easier. Run the vent pipe straight up to the roof. https://www.firesidechimneysupply.com/
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October 2017: Mercedes-Benz USA
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in Sales Figure Ticker
Why are all of those AMG models all up to 100 horsepower and 100 lb-ft of torque behind any class competition from Cadillac?- 43 replies
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- mercedes-benz
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I made a server update and configuration change today at 12:00 est. I updated us to a technology called HTTP2. It should more than double the speed of pages loading for you. Please let me know if you any issues.
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You can get a ventless gas log (I don't like them, I can always smell them even though the manufacturers claim you can't) You can also get a higher efficiency vented set and run them out the wall instead. http://www.heatilator.com/Shopping-Tools/Blog/Gas-Fireplace-Venting-Explained.aspx The Toronado wears 205/75R15s with a 1.25" white wall. Virtually impossible to find. Aside from the whitewall, the size is shared with the oooold 80's S-10 truck and also is a common trailer tire size for boats/RVs. The only decent tire I can find is a Uniroyal Tigerpaw. The whitewall is a little on the narrow side, but it will have to do. I just don't feel the need to spend the $450 on them until April since the car won't be driven much, if at all, until then.
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October 2017: General Motors Co.
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in Sales Figure Ticker
I don't follow your logic. Why can't the car just be selling well? Why does 2,000 a month have to be mostly fleet? You can't seem to get over the fact that there are lots of people who buy cars who don't think like you. The XTS is a big, comfortable, luxury sedan with a V6 for around $50k. Can't get a 6-cylinder in a Benz, BMW, or Audi for that price. You can't get the space or luxury features from the Germans for that price. For many (including me), the smoothness of a V6 outweighs any raw performance that some overboosted turbo-4 might provide. In the $50k - $60k range, the XTS is easily a better deal than any of the germans and the only reason to go with them is badge snobbery. $55k gets you XTS Luxury AWD = 304hp, 264 lb-ft V6, AWD, leather seats, android auto, apple car play, embedded NAV, heated and cooled seats, heated rear seats, heated steering wheel, keyless entry and start E300 4Matic = 241hp, 273 lb-ft, 4-cylinder, AWD, Plastic seats, Android Auto is N/A, Apple Car Play is N/A (that I can find), embedded NAV, heated and cooled seats are extra cost ($450), heated steering wheel is extra cost ($250), keyless entry and start is extra cost (part of a $3,700 package). The driver awareness package at Cadillac is $1,700 while the equivalent package at Benz is $3700. So, for anyone who runs the numbers instead of just blindly signing any 3-pointed star embossed piece of paper, the XTS is a better car for the price. -
October 2017: General Motors Co.
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in Sales Figure Ticker
New Regal isn't even out yet and old Regal is out of production already. My Buick dealer has a single previous gen Regal in stock new There are no Cadillac sedans newer than the XTS. As of August, the XTS is the one with the most recent refresh. I've seen a number of them on the road already. -
Both daily cars are AWD. I have 90k Michelins on the Honda, but they never get past 40k. It doesn't bother me too much because I get more than 50% off my next set. The Toronado will need new tires in the spring. They're some off-brand that I bought 7 years ago and they've always been terrible. They're getting dry-rot now, so even though they have a bit of treadwear left, I'm not comfortable taking them on long trips anymore. I did 1,000 mile trip on them in Sept and it will basically remain garaged until April.
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I don't have a second set of wheels. I take the tires to Costco and have them swapped off the rims. This does two things: 1. I don't have to have a second set of rims also. 2. It keeps my tire swaps and rotations on record for warranty purposes. I keep strictly to the rotation schedule and Costco always warranties out my tires because they never make it to 50% of treadwear warranty miles before they need to be replaced. Can you do a gas burner (slightly better than electric) or a wood stove?
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I'm wondering what advantage you'd get out of it in your driving though. If you don't have the performance to need it in the first place, won't the OE brakes do?
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Long disagreement short: There are older vehicles out there that are not and will never be museum pieces, so there is no harm in in powertrain swapping them or converting them to EV. I'd have no problem pulling a tired, smogged, 500ci from a 70's Eldorado or Fleetwood and finding a way to load a P100 power unit in there. crap... I forgot. I'll need to do this soon too. We had our first fire of the season here yesterday. How time flies. Oct 31st was my 10 year anniversary and it seems like just yesterday. And yet, there are some of you here who I've known longer than that.
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A Halloween Surprise: Jeep Shows Off 2018 Wrangler: Comments
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in Jeep
Hey, if FCA can get the $$ for it, I don't blame them for the pricing. -
Talk about cars, not about each other. First general warning.
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I haven't driven the 6-speed auto... but it's only available in the FWD base model Compass, so I think the take rate will be too low to matter. The ZF 9HP fuss is much ado about nothing. It had some early teething issues, but I've not had any even minor issues with it in a while. It shifts smooth and goes about its business without getting in the way. The problem arises when it is paired with engines having mediocre low-end torque like the 2.4 Tigershark. In that scenario, the transmission will shift more often than people are used to in a futile hunt for more torque. It's not the transmission's fault, it's just doing the best it can with the amount of torque being provided. With that, I feel that the 9HP is getting a bad reputation that it doesn't deserve. It is just like any other transmission when paired with weaksauce a engine. Given the choice between the Rogue Sport CVT or the Compass 9HP, I'll pick the 9HP every day of the week and twice on Sundays. That isn't to say that I dislike CVTs, but the Nissan CVT is another one that does best with an engine with torque.
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The ecological damage of battery mining is largely Fake News promoted by people who have an agenda against EVs. Lithium is mined from predominantly from "the deadest places on earth". From the article: Furthermore, coal generation is rapidly declining. Those who are savvy about EVs usually have other environmental concerns in mind, thus are more likely to have solar panels or where available, select renewable generation for their house. I don't have an EV, but I have already switched my house to 100% power via my electric utility.
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Fiat can be very hit or miss, I agree there. But in this case, the 6-speed manual is a good one. To be honest, it's the 2.4 liter Tigershark that would be more on my radar and that's a Hyundai / Chrysler unit. They have been slowly but surely improving the NVH on that over the years. I drove the New Compass back to back with the Rogue Sport and it easily beat the Rogue Sport in engine refinement.... I realize that a Nissan 4-cylinder isn't a really high bar.
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Just to clear things up, the new Compass does not have a CVT. All transmissions are fully geared. The base 6-speed automatic is an older design but used in a huge number of vehicles from all brands (Ford, Alfa, Volvo, Opel, Saab, Hyundai, Jaguar, and others) There is the 9-speed auto from ZF that is shared with the Jeep Cherokee, Chrysler 200, Land Rover Evoque, a few Acuras, etc. Then there is the 6-speed manual that @ocnblu has. It is a Fiat Powertrain unit and I found it to be a nicely smooth shifting transmission when I drove it. In other markets, there is a diesel available which is paired to a 7-speed DCT. No CVTs at all.
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Your most recent premium subscription expired in 2015. If you have Premium Subscriber under you name instead of just Members. Then your subscription is active. Thank you for being a multi-year subscriber. Anyone who wants up subscribe can click the store tab at the top of the page. Thanks all for the feedback. I'll start some test deals posts this week.
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Would different terms for the subscription be more appealing? Monthly, every 6 months, etc?
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Any other input? @regfootball @Cubical-aka-Moltar @lengnert @Paolino @FAPTurbo @NINETY EIGHT REGENCY @ocnblu @smk4565 @balthazar @daves87rs @riviera74
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Lol that old compass was terrible. I have a Quick Drive review of the new one coming.
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Yeah, except for one ad unit that I shut off last week that I need to replace and bring back, I don't intent to increase the overall number of ads on the site. I may move them around a bit. I don't want to do pop-ups or page overs (the ones that take over the whole screen and you can't see anything). A friend of mine runs a very popular travel related website and a good 50% of his content is just the deals that he posts which he gets a kickback from. Now, I don't see us getting anywhere near that level of deals vs. news, but he makes incredibly good money doing it Has a staff and a flat in Manhattan) ... so if I can just get to a fraction of what he's getting out of it, then I'd be more than happy.
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My cat is on there too... but most of those, the ones not tagged with Ad, are actually links back to CheersandGears... so that must be some thread on the site somewhere.
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Erm... those are based on your browsing history. But thanks for your input on the rest.
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What didn't you understand?
