Drew Dowdell
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell
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Seems kind of silly to blame MT for the fact that Ford won't give them a real test car. Seems kind of silly to try to belittle and to threaten a car company to comply... Sorry, but from the side I'm on, there was no belittling, and telling it like it is should be the norm for the press. Saying "we wanted to test a Focus, but Ford wouldn't give us one, so we got it from Hertz instead" is still good journalism. Telling Ford ahead of time that they intend to do it is good journalism as long as MT doesn't deliberately sabotage the rental car to make Ford look bad, I have no problem with it. I have reviewed and will continue to review rental cars as I get them. It also is a very different scenario than the hockey one you describe. Making up stuff and innuendo is not journalism. I don't see where MT did any of that here if the facts are taken at face value (and I have no reason to doubt them). MT explained why certain other cars were left out of the comparison, and they were valid reasons. Ford not showing up isn't a valid reason.
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Which brings us back to square 1... From Motor Trend: That little tantrum statement sounds just as desperate as Ford's PR department not wanting to play... To which Ill repeat my original opinion on it.... The magazines exist for people to dream a little dream. The magazines exist for internet bravado and arm chair racing. The magazines exist for fanboys to cheer when the magazines say good things about their favorites. The magazines exist for fanboys to cry home to mommy when the magazines say bad things about their favorites. The magazines exist and are biased as hell. The magazines exist and forget their biases whenever it suits their agenda for that particular purpose. Magazines are full of shyte in other words... Especially when this statement: "Next time we’re taking whatever beater Hertz has to offer" sounds like a threat rather than an honest to goodness true journalism... A threat like that seems like the article will be a scathingly negative review... I think a threat like that makes Motor Trend even LESS credible than they already are... Motor Trend's words sometimes are worthless... And there is a reason for it. Ford is not Tesla. Tesla only gives out press cars in very specific instances. A Focus is not a Tesla... a Focus has a LOT of direct competition. If Ford no longer wants to be included in these comparisons, that's fine, but then don't complain when someone DOES go to Hertz to get their hands on the product to review. Edit: After my incident with the MKC, I simply chose not to write the review on it. I felt there was no way I could do that review in an unbiased manner. Not only had Lincoln PR made that rude insinuation, but it was on the same day and at the same time that I had received some bad news. The bad news has passed and I'm cooler of head now, but I have to be extra careful with myself when doing Lincoln reviews.
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GMC News: Revealed! 2016 GMC Sierra All Terrain X
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in GMC Trucks
Approximately zero of that is any issue with the Avalanche. The buttresses at the rear of the cab on the Avalanche weren't just a styling detail, they were structural. Also, the bed and cab are a single piece, there is no separation like there is on all other trucks besides the Ridgeline. It would have to be a very specific and very extreme roll-over situation to crush the roof on one of these. Like landing upside down on a fallen tree after rolling down a cliff. The Ridgeline is unibody, so without the frame there, it probably wouldn't be stiff enough. In my years with the Avalanche, rattle from the mid-gate was never a problem... if it was, it was operator error. If I heard a rattle, I would get out and check because it meant that I didn't close a latch properly. Where I did have a rattle was in my sunroof. My guess is that the Avalanche's demise had to do with cost. The Suburban jumped from $43k base price to $49k base price, and the Avalanche would have needed to move with it. They probably couldn't justify the price of the Avalanche at that range. -
Back to your corners everyone
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A few of the new Camaro are in the rental fleets, but not many. I've already had 3 Mustang EB convertibles, and had a selection of colors to choose from.
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This is my second favorite W body. I like the last Cutlass coupe more.
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No need... They come to me
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I've always been able to do that conversion in my head because of those urinals....
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What makes you think it isn't? Margins on Cadillac are, by far, the highest in the organization per car. Trucks are a close second. I'd be surprised if there is much margin on a Cruze at all, but selling Cruzes allows the selling of high margin Acadias and Traverses.
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That 5.3 thooo.... As long as you weren't trying to race it and just wanted the feel of a V8, I'm sure it was just the ticket. FWIW, even my 3.4 DOHC with 215 lb-ft of torque would torque steer, but even that car was fun and went like snot.
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Cayenne is a VW platform Caymen is built on a VW platform Panamera is built on a VW platform Saying Porsche did it on its own is dishonest.
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To go with this..kind of.. Personally, I would rather have a loaded up smaller vehicle than a stripped down larger vehicle. I could have bought an Edge when I bought my escape but it would have been a lesser trim, 2wd(not like I NEED AWD), and it would have literally only been a larger vehicle. This trend is exactly what is fueling the sub-compact crossover market. When the Encore first came out it was really the first of its kind. The Nissan Juke was there, but it doesn't really have any usable space or rear seat room. Buick was very specifically targeting people coming out of Explorers, Volvo XC90s, Highlanders, etc, who no longer wanted to wheel around such large vehicles and no longer needed that sort of room. People trading down is exactly why the GLA, CLA, A3, Q3, X1, 1/2-series, Encore, Trax, etc exist. Or are they trading up from a CR-V or Rav4 into X1, GLA, etc? People want luxury brand names, and compact SUVs like Escape, Rav4 and CRV together can sell nearly a million units a year. Even if 5% of those people go to a luxury compact crossover, that is 50,000 new buyers. Size creep plays a role here too, a CLA is larger than a 2007 C-class, look at a 90s 3-series compared to today's 3-series. Look at a 90s Accord compared to the near full size Accord they sell now. If you had a 2005 Malibu and liked that size car and walk into a Chevy dealer, the Cruze is closer to that size than the current Malibu is, so maybe you just buy the Cruze that has enough room and a lower payment. You're describing a trade up in class combined with a trade down in size. My point stands. People are willing to downsize to get the features they want... even if the only feature they are gaining is a 3-pointed star.
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But a car like the Fusion has gone up in price to where the Taurus was. And people are turning away from larger cars. I do agree that car prices are rising faster than salaries, which really puts a boom on cars like Escape, Soul, Elantra, Rogue, Fusion, etc. A lot of those used to be bare bones model cars, but now have the power heated seats, nav-system, apple car play, and upgraded stereo that used to be on the luxury cars. I can't tell if you're agreeing with me or not. People want those features you listed and are willing to downsize to get it. Just like someone who bought a C-class in 2006 probably is going for a CLA today because the C-Class is out of their range, and clearly coming from an '06 C-Class interior quality isn't a deciding factor.
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Welcome back. Nice write-up and time does fly. Next month C&G will be 15 years old!
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Agreed, they do make a good product. The difference in brand quality these days is so miniscule as to be nearly irrelevant. It primarily comes down to personal taste and comfort level.
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To go with this..kind of.. Personally, I would rather have a loaded up smaller vehicle than a stripped down larger vehicle. I could have bought an Edge when I bought my escape but it would have been a lesser trim, 2wd(not like I NEED AWD), and it would have literally only been a larger vehicle. This trend is exactly what is fueling the sub-compact crossover market. When the Encore first came out it was really the first of its kind. The Nissan Juke was there, but it doesn't really have any usable space or rear seat room. Buick was very specifically targeting people coming out of Explorers, Volvo XC90s, Highlanders, etc, who no longer wanted to wheel around such large vehicles and no longer needed that sort of room. People trading down is exactly why the GLA, CLA, A3, Q3, X1, 1/2-series, Encore, Trax, etc exist.
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If anything, people are trading down as car prices outpace salaries. You can see that in your Eclass to Cclass statistic. You can see it in the Suburban to traverse statistics. You can see it in the Taurus to Fusion statistics. You can even see it at the bottom of the market in Civic and Fit.
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Wow! You did toast them!
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SMK, you have to look at the target market for these vehicles. The up-level engine in the RX is the hybrid that sells the most, not some 500hp F-Sport model. I think all Cadillacs are going Plug-In hybrid as an option in the next few years. Escalade and as the article mentions, Coming Soon - Something Between XT5 and Escalade.... lets call it the XT6.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Suzy McMansion does NOT care which wheels drive the car as long as they all do. Suzy McMansion doesn't care which way the engine faces... she couldn't tell even if she popped the hood, which she won't, and she won't understand why it would even matter. Suzy McMansion does NOT care or has even HEARD of the nurburgring. All she wants to know is if it has automatic climate control, navigation, bluetooth, AWD, and heated seats for $4000 down and $499 a month. As for Hilde Hausfrau over in Germany, she'd want to know that the engine is clean (dirtier engines can't go into certain cities) and if she can buy it in a diesel or not. Das ist Alles.
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Buick News: Rumorpile: Buick Shows Off A Regal Wagon To Their Dealers
Drew Dowdell replied to William Maley's topic in Buick
Verano was simply surpassed by newer vehicles. The new Astra could have easily moved up market above the Cruze. I still don't know what GM is thinking there... 30k sales is better than 0k sales on a vehicle that is already completely developed and just has to be shipped to dealerships. Even if they dropped the base trims and shipped them over from Europe.... I really like the Regal wagon idea. The fits in nicely with Buicks "Fill the white space" mantra.... finding niches that no one else is doing right now and then find something in the GM portfolio worthy of filling it. Thats what Encore was, that's what Cascada is (still), and thats what this Regal Wagon would be. The ONLY other option in the semi-premium realm is the Volvo V60 with a base price of $36,150. The V60 Cross Country is $41k. As nice as the V60 is, it is old and in many ways outdated. It appears Audi doesn't make an A4 Avant anymore, only the All-Road which bases at $42k. The only Benz wagon is the E-Class at $59k. The BMW 3-series wagon is $42k. A Regal Estate starting at $35k and a TourX starting at $38k would fill some white space. I'd advice against pricing it directly against the Volvo... but putting it just a K or so under would be fine. -
All it has to do is match the old SRX in sales to beat them
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Well they did screw up by putting a n/a v6 in it to begin with... I don't understand why they did that. Because that's what the two best sellers in the segment have... the RX and the MDX. The SQ5 and GLC may seems the same size as the XT5 on paper, but they feel much smaller inside. This is Cadillac going after RX and MDX drivers... and why not? Those are the two best sellers in the segment.
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Cadillac's limiting factor in Europe is no longer the product.
