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Drew Dowdell

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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    Jeep and Ram are probably the only brands in the entire FCA organization bringing in any real cash. Fiat commercial in Europe maybe also as the Promaster equivalents there seem quite popular. Maserati may be profitable, but it is so niche market at this point that it can't be making serious volumes of cash even if the ROI is decent. Plus they're still using Chrysler parts bin for far too much of the Maserati interior. There's no way that Alfa is profitable yet.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    I like electrified vehicles because they offer better torque delivery than plain gasoline engines.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    Yeah, I don't see a market below the size of the previous Ranger. I doubt anyone will, but it would be nice to see someone fill that niche.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    Yeah, that's the thing with both BMW and Mercedes... sometimes the badge does match the displacement, but not always.... and today, nearly never. It's been a slow phasing, but it was true. I honestly only learned this about 2 weeks ago. Benz gets weird in other ways. The C-class could be the same exact car with the same exact engine, but US, Canada, and China each would get different numbering. Starting in 2007 the C230 was sold as C 250 in Japan and Canada and as C 260 in China
  5. Drew Dowdell
    An Acadia with a more sloped rear glass and a Traverse front clip.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    Sadly, I learned recently, that even that was a myth for BMW after about 1980..... I didn't believe it wasn't true, so I went back and looked it up. After 1980, on BMWs, the model number might match the engine displacement, but that wasn't necessarily so. (example: 1982 325e and 525e used 2.7 liters 2693cc without rounding; a 2001 316i has a 1.9 liter, 1895cc without rounding) Mercedes stopped more recently, around 2000 depending on market.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    I'd put a lot more trust in going over the rated payload in the Canyonado than the Ridgeline. The plastic bed of the Ridgeline would give me concern. Yes, you are correct that the Ridgeline will ride better than the Canyonado, but I didn't find the Ridgeline to be out of this world great. The Canyonado rides really well for a truck truck, it's just the seats in it are awful... and a big reason I won't get the current generation. My observations broken down for the segment: Ridgeline - Highs - Rides well, comfortable interior, feels fast. Lows - Loud interior with lots of road noise, plastic bed, AWD is not especially capable Canyonado - Highs - Decent ride, optional diesel, very fast with V6/8-speed, highest tow rating, can be optioned into a capable off-roader. Lows - Horrible seats, interior was dated at release, gets expensive fast when adding options, little to no deals to be made due to demand. Denali isn't very Denali beyond the badge. Tacoma - Highs - It's a Toyota, it will start and run every day for the next 20 years. Can be optioned into a capable off-roader. Lows - V6 is not a truck engine, torque doesn't come till too high in the power band. Bounciest of the mid-size trucks. Rather random dash button layout takes some getting used to. Frontier - Highs - Rides well, decent power, the most comfortable available seats. Lows - Dated Dated Dated Dated, this is the Grandpa of the group, still pricey for its age.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    I can't decide whether this is dumber or the Benz scheme is dumber..... Benz will call anything an AMG 45 regardless of output or number of cylinders.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    I've not done it from iPhone, but I assume you can. I do it from my Android all the time.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    Mini has too many vehicle variants and not enough sales to support them as it is. Yes and no... it really depends on what you are doing with it. If you're just a weekend warrior throwing a kayak or 5 bags of mulch in the back, yes the ridgeline will do. If you need payload and towing or any semblance of off-roading beyond wet grass, the Canyonado is where it's at.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    What's even dumber is the fact that the S and RS cars are apparently exempt from this new scheme.... so they aren't even implementing it consistently.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    It seems very inconsistent between dealers. My Cadillac and Buick dealers always give me a Cadillac or Buick loaner, but I've heard of this happening to other people. When I had my CTS, I usually got a recent STS or DTS, an Escalade once. I bought my Avalanche from the Cadillac dealership, and when that went in for service, I still got a Cadillac loaner. I've never had anything but a Buick in place of my Encore, though some of the Buicks have been older nicely maintained units.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    I'm going to throw caution into the wind and include vehicles that technically aren't allowed due to some overly broad restrictions in the rules, however most of you will agree that they are definitely an odd-ball configuration, particularly for their era.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Well, that's also a coupe, so that could also make it look smaller.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Since GM came back to the market and could barely keep up with demand.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    You can just upload the pictures in your post here. I don't charge anything.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    photobucket is charging people to embed pictures on other sites
  18. Drew Dowdell
    The 200 wasn't competitive with value shoppers who were looking for the biggest car for their dollar. Making it a bit more premium with a base 2.0T instead of the Tigershark would have gone a long way towards putting it more like a TLX, Regal, or whatever size equivalent Infiniti. Everybody wants to knock the 200, but it is really not at all a bad car. It's just smaller than the rest of the class it tried to compete in and that put it out of step with the market. But they drive well, in upper trims feel reasonably premium, and for a little while there, they were the only 6-cylinder AWD mid-size you could buy that wasn't a Subaru. The Pentastar just got a major refresh, so you're wrong there. Hemi hasn't needed much in updates, it does as well as the updated V8s from GM. I don't care about the age of a particular design as long as it performs well... and both the V6 and V8 in Chrysler's stable, perform very well. It's their 2.4 liter that needs the updates the most.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    So millenials aren't killing babies.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    Indeed, the future is coming whether you, or anyone, likes it or not. I've adjusted my thinking here as well. When the Pruis and Insight were the only hybrid options, I never would have considered one. But now there are hybrid options that I'm looking into. I'd prefer to go plug-in if possible, right now, the only one(s) that meets our needs are the Volvo XC60 PHEV and XC90 PHEV. The Benz's and BMW's EV only ranges are too short to be worthwhile. The Volvo is bare minimum (20 miles) in the XC60. Here in hilly western PA, using Pure mode which favors EV as much as possible would probably produce some good results by regenerating on the downhills and using gas on the up hills. If Toyota made a plug in Highlander or Honda made a plug in Pilot, that might get us over there.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    Well... that's not a Z71.. the Z71s have the body color grille which completely changes the appeal for me. I don't like the huge chrome grille on the non-Z71 models. The air dam is easy to remove. @ocnblu had his off before it left the dealership.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    All he sees in the US are assets to be sold to the highest bidder so he can put that money into Fiat, Alfa, and Maserati.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    You're already twice the CEO that Sergio is. There should have never been a base model 200. It should have started around $28k, came standard with a 2.0T and an optional 3.6. Leather standard. It could have been right there with the TLX / Regal. Drop all of the 200 models below that. Keep the Dart, make an Avenger that is a rebadge of the 200, but with the base Tigershark and maybe an optional 2.0T. No AWD offered. Start it a little bit cheaper than a base Fusion or Malibu. The 300 with an upgraded interior to the level of the Lacrosse would have done wonders for that car. It has all the hardware needed to more than compete, but the interior is behind the others. Raise the base price a bit to compensate for the better interior and give the newly upgraded 200 described above some breathing room.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    Yes, he gets a giant golden parachute if he sells off FCA US. That, I think, is his underlying motivation for knee-capping the entire organization.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    Corners guys.... corners. Let bygones be bygones.
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