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Drew Dowdell

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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    Well congratulations on getting married at least! I've done this drive many many times all the way down to Key West from my parent's place in Miami. It is, unfortunately, not a sporting drive at all. Cars I've had on this drive: Sebring Convertible (both 2nd gen and 3rd gen) Mustang Convertible (more than a few) Challenger Lincoln MKS Chrysler 300 Cadillac DTS Mercedes GL (supplied by Benz, not a rental) Jeep Wrangler soft top
  2. Drew Dowdell
    What was the new technology in a spring of insufficient tension in an ignition switch? Even the Toyota unintended acceleration wouldn't have changed things had the car had a physical throttle cable instead of drive by wire.... a floormat certainly isn't high tech.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    They are, by far, the norm. You don't see a manufacturer throwing a bunch of new technology at a vehicle and then have it end up less safe than its predecessor. The only time you see a vehicle with less power, the engine has been drastically downsized. Sure, the Mitsubishi Mirage may not be all that safe nor powerful... but even then, it is leagues better than the Mirage of 15 years ago which was rated one of the worst vehicles in its day in crash tests.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    and safer, and more efficient, and quieter, and more powerful, and cleaner, and more reliable
  5. Drew Dowdell
    I was going through old pictures today and found this one of GM's new 9-speed fwd auto.... With my cocktail for size comparison. Look how small it is.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    Next refresh on those. There is an XTS refresh coming, so I might expect that to get the first 9-speed in the Epsilon cars. Cadillac is doing yearly rolling changes to their cars, so the XT5 could be right there behind it. for the RWD cars, Cadillac is sticking with the 8-speed for the moment, which is fine with me because it is an excellent transmission.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    GM's new 9-speed has all sorts of patents on it because they managed to get 9 forward gears while using about half the parts one would expect in a transmission with that many speeds. I don't understand the full technical ramifications of what GM did, but apparently it is fairly groundbreaking transmission design. It's seriously tiny as far as transmissions go. Physically, there's no reason they couldn't fit it in cars as small as the Spark or Adam, though they won't do it for cost reasons.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Well there is also talk of Holden as a brand going away too... so if this is the current course, I wouldn't be surprised to see GM shed 3 brands (Opel, Vauxhall, Holden) and then just do 2 or 3 brands in all markets except US which also gets GMC. China could support Chevy/Buick/Cadillac, Australia and Middle East could support Chevy and Cadillac. Buick could even make a return to Europe for select models like Verano, Encore, and Regal.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    well, I still think this whole thing is an attempt to scare the German unions and government. Also... how sad is it that Mary may have found a buyer for Opel, but Serg couldn't find a buyer for all of FCA?
  10. Drew Dowdell
    you can even get CPO S-classes with low mileage for that money. I actually prefer the looks of the GLC over the XT5, but I wouldn't call it particularly better. It's just my subjective opinion on styling
  11. Drew Dowdell
    Heck, a CPO CLS for that money. Or a CTS V-sport. Or a heck of alot of Continental. Or a rather nice Genesis G80 V6 AWD.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    C&D's GLA45 tester had an as-tested price of $67k I can think of about 200 other vehicles I would choose over the GLA45 for that price.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    Most consumers can't even handle a Corolla at 7/10th, so even an Envision is well above their skill grade. RWD v FWD has nothing to do with vehicle ride. The Explorer and Durango ride equally well. You are correct that it is a crowded segment, but even if Cadillac put the XTS V-Sport engine in an XT3, it wouldn't make a difference to the buyers of the segment and would not increase sales in any measurable way. That isn't going to be the way the Cadillac wins sales. Furthermore, the XT5 is mostly not being sold at base prices. The mid-level trims are where the bulk of the sales are and the Platinums are doing fairly well.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Because luxury crossovers aren't performance oriented in 95% of sales. The orientation of the engine doesn't matter. Last warning. Get back on topic. We're talking about compact entry-lux crossovers here. You're limited to the GLA if you want to discuss Benz.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    It's simple. Malibu tuning Vs. Regal tuning. Regal tuning is much better and, not counting the GS, there is nothing particularly more expensive about the Regal hardware.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    It's a coach built vehicle and the build quality is still junk. You don't get to complain about the frame of the Escalade anymore if you want to continue down that path. Also, get back on topic. We're talking entry lux crossovers here. Not X5s, not Cayennes. You want the alpha platform and the ATS-V engine for something that's going to be priced against the GLA? Try to be more realistic.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    A good 4-cylinder diesel. Good 4-cylinder turbo engines. Superior suspension and steering tuning (the Opel people seem to have it down better than the GMNA people, at least for typical consumer products outside of the high performance V-series and Camaro stuff). GMNA and GMDAT can obviously tune a family sedan's ride and drive.... but Opel does it better.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    Because there is no point. People who buy crossovers, even luxury crossovers, do not care if the AWD system is FWD based or RWD based. I would bet that 95% of the AWD buyers don't even know what it means. The top three luxury crossovers in terms of sales are the RX, the XT, and the MDX. You've still yet to learn your lesson about praising the Mercedes G-Class Quality.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    I've had to hide 90% of the posts in this thread. You people are getting ridiculous with your off topic tangents. Back to the PSA / Opel deal.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    There is still a possible brain drain for GM to be concerned about.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    Chevy Europe failed because they were peddling old Daewoos.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    Not quite. Toyota and Honda have struggled there for years. It wasn't until fairly recently that there was any model overlap between Ford US and Ford EU.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    SHELL GAME.... say it with me! It's all accounting tricks. Losses get booked to one division, profits to another. GM China would have nearly NO SALES without all of the R&D coming out of GM Europe. They sell 1 million Buicks a year in China, with most of those being Opel based, meaning none of the R&D for those Opel cars is coming from GM China. That makes China look extra profitable and GM Europe not so much. But now GM has ammunition against the German Unions and the German government.....
  24. Drew Dowdell
    Again, it's an accounting shell game. Opel is a major R&D center for GM and the products resulting from that R&D are sold globally.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    Pressure on the German unions, pressure on the German government. Trying to impress our own administration.
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