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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    It's coming. Test mules have been spotted.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    The target market is going to be Lexus RX drivers. I think that demographic skews heavily to those with XX chromosomes. The XT5 should do fine there. I too would prefer an Escalade, but like so many others, my checkbook doesn't.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    its just a concept. I'm sure the production version will be more conventional. Conventional sells (Trax, Encore, CX-3, Renegade), Unconventional doesn't (Cube, Juke)
  4. Drew Dowdell
    I think he was suggesting that people are just looking to complain without evidence of wrongdoing.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    I don't hate to admit it. Ford did and still does build a great truck. My Dad's and Mom's F-150s are 1994 with 400k+ and 2007 with 200k+. Dad's is an XLT standard cab inline 6 with a 5-speed manual and 4x4. Mom's is a King Ranch Crew Cab V8 RWD. My only issue with Ford is the not living up to the hype about Ecoboost as a V8 replacement and it's fuel economy numbers. My issue is with the marketing department, not the engineering department. My job as a project manager is to set expectations and meet them. In terms of the hype, Ford did not meet the expectations it set for itself. I remain unconvinced about the benefits of Ecoboost, but I would totally rock a denim blue F-150 King Ranch 4x4 with the 5.0 and the 10-speed. Back to the CT6 and a word on turbo engines.... while @smk4565 was joking, he is right that there is an attitude among Toyota owners and them rarely doing oil changes. I think that kinda bit them with the oil sludging issues. What I've been noticing, first with my Encore and then with other Turbo engines is that they are much more sensitive to old oil. I can hear when my Encore needs an oil change at around 20% oil life on the oil life monitor. I can hear it in Ecoboost V6es also (Source: Expedition EL). I wonder if some people, particularly former Toyota owners are up for a rude awakening if they try to run 15k mile oil changes in these luxury cars.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    The 2.0t CT6 was always intended to be a Southern States Blue-Hair car for people who 1. Don't need AWD. 2. Aren't in a super rush to get to Bingo. 3. Want a bigger car than the CTS or XTS, but aren't willing to pay that much more to get it.... these are people who miss their old Town Cars, and 260hp is what they're used to. You're in a relatively affluent and youngish region of the Northern US that sometimes sees snow.... I don't blame the dealership for the policy they have on the 2.0T.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    I don't wear gloves in June either asshat... Well sometimes I do, but not for driving.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Both of my parents' F-150s are contributing to the numbers in that list though.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    Being media has its perks... sometimes the manufacturers bring the cars to you. Yes, it was pretty impressive, but the sticker was rather eye popping too. I will say that it was probably one of the few minivans I could see driving as a daily without being embarrassed about driving a minivan.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    Every week or so, Autotrader emails me when one of the 4 I listed above comes on the market with the specs I want. There are plenty of deals out there, so I'm not in a rush to pull the trigger just yet.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    Drove the Pacifica Hybrid, it is astonishingly fast for a minivan... or a hybrid.... or a minivan hybrid. Drove the MDX hybrid the same day. While it was good, it didn't leave me with the wow factor that the Pacifica did mostly due to price.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    Congrats on the better paying job! Send some of that over here!
  13. Drew Dowdell
    Agreed. Should be an option for the Enclave Avenier also.... (god that name is so clunky)
  14. Drew Dowdell
    While I too want a 3.0T, I don't think it will matter that much. The Fusion Sport is fast, but it's not a great handler (for the price). The current GS handles very well but doesn't have the engine to match it. Even just the 3.6 would probably be sufficient in reality. I don't think the 3.0T will be used though, but if they do offer it, watch for it to show up in the XTS and XT5.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    I call shenanigans on the Tacoma. That's only after they've had a full frame replacement due to rot. One of my tenants who garaged his 7 year old Tacoma had to do the full frame replacement. It was never right after that and he traded it on a Silverado.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    I'm all over the map on what I want to do. Part of me wants to go with a new Tahoe lease, another part of me doesn't want that kind of payment since I'm having some misgivings about the economy in the next few years. I know I can find Rainiers, Bravadas, 9-7xs, and Envoys with <50k miles on them for $10k. I could theoretically pay cash for that and not have this 125k mile CR-V costing me $500 every other month. Put a new Android Auto head unit in and I'm set. I no longer put lots of miles on my cars, so I wouldn't see 100k in something like that for 5 to 6 years. Even if I did want to finance part of it, my credit union only charges 3% interest on used cars and doesn't ask questions about the year of the car.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    I think for the last of the Grandpa market the new base engine is fine. I hope the eAssist smooths out the 2.5 though, it's not a great sounding or feeling engine. The old LaX with the 2.4 eAssist was decent.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    Gosh, it only would have been like $700 to ship it.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    I wouldn't mind owning a recent Benz as long as someone else is picking up the repair bills.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    Yes it the same interest rate, but you pay more interest overall because you are paying on it longer. If you're comfortable with the 60 month payment, just pay that.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    I was referring to a high octane, high performance variant. It would have to be power train certified which costs a lot of money. There would need to be some economy of scale to do that. The mount of the engine has nothing to do with bias in an AWD system. Haldex has been able to send 90% of the power to the rear wheels for more than 10 years. Most modern AWD systems with even a whiff of a sports badge (Chrysler 200s, Focus RS, Regal GS) can do over 60%.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    You've got DI and I don't in my Encore... but from my observation, I get no change in performance or fuel economy. I nearly always fill up at Costco, so I'm staying in the same brand and just switching from 87 to 93.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    Well yes... but those were larger versions of the car.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    It looks like the eAssist is 8-speed and the V6 is 9-speed.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    I was mostly being snarky. I didn't finance for 84 months, but my credit union didn't even ask the year of the car when I bought out the lease. They do 84 month "second chance" financing as well, so that's not for people with good credit.
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