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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    It's called under promising and over delivering. Being with Ford, I'd expect you to not understand how that works. There is a decade of experience with hybrids out there.... 40% is simply not the norm for battery degradation.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    Happy Birthday! @Cory Wolfe is 28 today... hard to believe he's been here since he was at least 16.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    It's not just the warranty.... the need isn't there. Civics did have an issue with their batteries losing range, but the Escapes, Fusions, Camrys, and Pruii don't suffer the same effect. We've had this discussion multiple times before. The batteries in the hybrid Taxis generally last the life of the taxi. They have much more frequent charge/discharge cycles too.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    All of us buying early gifts for ourselves. I just got my first new laptop in 7 years. Really happy with it.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    Even Ford has stated that they've had a minuscule number of hybrid battery replacements in Fusions and Escapes.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    "Could" and "Do" aren't the same thing. The Volts and Tesla don't have that level of degradation. GM is under promising here so they can over deliver later. Interesting. I'm having problems with rusted out fuel lines on my CR-V. I've had them replaced, but the car is still not right and will be going back for the fourth time.... there is still a bit of a leak somewhere..and now they're going to try a new fuel pump.. coincidentally, my range isn't as far as it once was. Funny what age does to cars.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    So why not just build it here in the first place?
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Okay... he alleges it... but based on what evidence? Going uphill when towing the emissions are higher? Newsflash, all engines emit more per mile when under load. If the emissions per mile meet the EPA test, then that's that.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    I see a lot of Malibu in the tail end of that sedan, but the Wagon is perfect.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    You must be shorter than I am because I felt there was no headroom in the back.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    The Ford EcoSport is better, the Chevrolet Trax is better, the Nissan Juke is better, the Jeep Renegade is better, the Honda HR-V is better, the Mazda CX3 is better. They all start at $20k. They all have AWD available. Most have the same or better horsepower.... or a turbo-4 that has sufficient low end grunt. All except the Juke have more room. All have nicer looking interiors. The Subaru Crosstrek is only $1,500 more. It's not like the C-HR is a particularly attractive or "cute" vehicle like a MiniCooper. Just about the only thing that will sell this vehicle to people is the Toyota badge. This is something you get your teenage daughter if you live in Plano Texas and are negotiating a deal on a Tundra for yourself.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    It used to be.... now they've found a way to produce it without using huge amounts of energy to do so using a biological process instead of an electrical one.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    Having sat in it already, I'm going to disagree with you here. The interior is cramped and most politely described as austere. The cargo area is very small. A naturally aspirated 2.0 with 144 hp is going to feel sluggish compared to a Turbo-DI of the same net output... and I say that because the old Matrix with 158 hp felt sluggish and overworked in normal traffic. I see the target demographic as young single Asian women in non-snowbelt cities who have few friends because they just moved to town.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Eh, people have been saying that for years.... Including myself... And I'm really starting to doubt it. Even the UK is looking like they are having morning after regrets.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    I don't think that is necessary. Move on.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    That would be cost prohibitive to retrofit into existing homes.... would probably only be doable, if even available, during new construction. We have a bad habit in this country of refusing to demolish outdated and obsolete housing stock, mostly because we're all too strapped for cash to do so.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    We've been here 15 years through slow times and the fast.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    You do HVAC work, right?
  19. Drew Dowdell
    Yes! I long for the day that I will be able to pull into the garage and plug in. I have three automotive mouths to feed... it is not unusual for me to fill one up, switch vehicles for some reason later in the day, and end up filling two of them up in the same day. I'm sure I've filled all three up in the same day at least once or twice.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    Remember, this was a car that was supposed to be for Scion. It makes me wonder if Toyota North America even wanted it, but it was already developed so they had to take it and now they don't know what to do with it.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    Thing is... I don't think we've seen the last of what GM can do with the Bolt. They didn't spend all of that money to develop a dedicated platform just to sell that one car. I could see a more svelte Buick version, even if only for China and Europe, but possibly here too. Even a Cadillac on this platform if they can up the performance spec and stretch the size. The platform is supposed to be extremely stiff, so that could mean flexibility in shape and size. One of the two largest gas station chains in my area is rapidly upgrading their stores to include a sit-down area for their made to order food. Now I'm sure they are doing this for the food profit margins, but if they were to put a few EV chargers in each station that has sit down food, they could instantly become a go-to place for EV drivers. They can lure customers in for the EV chargers and then make a profit on selling expensive coffee and food. And it's different than a Tesla Supercharger.... with the Supercharger, it's just a stand out in the middle of a parking lot... only sometimes is it attached to a rest station. The first gas chain to make this work by tying it to food will have a hit on their hands.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    I wish someone would do a PHEV with AWD that was somewhat affordable. Had Ford kept the Escape Hybrid in production, it might have been enough to tip us away from the Encore.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    Dud on arrival. No AWD, No Turbo, No Hybrid. I don't see the demand for the entire model... not just the hybrid version. It's a slightly lifted Matrix without the utility, space, AWD.... or heck... even the speed.... and the Matrix was no barn burner.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    Feeling accomplished. Just brought gas and electric back online in the apartment building I'm renovating. Now to fix the furnace and get the water on.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    That's funny because the ride height is one of the first things I notice when I'm admiring a 300. I really like the car, so it catches my eye, and my brain immediately processes "AWD or RWD?".
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