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Drew Dowdell

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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    None that I've seen
  2. Drew Dowdell
    No niche left unfilled
  3. Drew Dowdell
    The main thing is that this now has access to the super charger network which I think the car this replaces did not have.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    I assume the LAPD will be putting a lot more miles on them than allowed for $199 a month. Gonna be interesting to see how they chase the bag guys with the limited range. I figure they will bring in the petro powered to take over. These aren't going to be for chases.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    As far as manufacturers, Ford, GM, FCA, Nissan, BMW, Tesla, Mitsubishi, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, VW, each have at least one EV in production or starting production in the next 12 months. Mazda has one but doesn't sell it in the US. That leaves.... Jaguar/Land Rover and Subaru as the hold outs?
  6. Drew Dowdell
    I assume the LAPD will be putting a lot more miles on them than allowed for $199 a month.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    That's just a concept
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Balth, perhaps a history lesson on these in another thread. What kept them from saving Studebaker?
  9. Drew Dowdell
    Expressed as percentages : 400,000 Tesla Model 3 orders (which no one believes will be filled in 12 months), is 1% of the current U.S. marketshare. Much more likely scenario is that Tesla builds 100K Model 3s in it's first full model year, or 0.025% of the market. Not that I believe Tesla should be gunning for mass volume above all else (IE; quality & reliability), but that's what Tesla has stated. The first full model year the Mustang sold 559,451 units, which was 6.3% of the 8.8 millions units sold that year. Not "on par" at all. - - - - - I realize the EV is getting mad hype, and that every brand is thinking or introducing one. Many many brands have convertibles, too, but they're still only about 1.5% of the market. Does most brands having a convertible equate to 'mass acceptance', or is it legitimately determined via meaningful market penetration instead? Most brands do not have convertibles. A minority do (15 brands do, 19 brands do not, not counting high end like Bentley/Rolls/Lambo), and of those a good half of them are 2-seater roadsters rather than convertible versions of a 4 person coupe, meaning those cars are a niche of a niche. Eventually, most brands will have an EV. That will be an bigger brand adoption rate than convertibles. As far as manufacturers, all manufacturers will have at least one amongst their brands. Brands that have EVs now or announced as coming shortly. Ford, Chevrolet, Tesla, Nissan, Fiat, Hyundai, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, VW. I am of the opinion that the PHEV method of going EV are the next big step though. Plug-In Hybrids that can run in EV mode for 30 - 60 miles will get people used to charging up on the go... at the mall, or at work, and at home. It is this step that will get many of the future chargers installed.... as more PHEVs are sold, full EVs will ride on the coat tails.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    There will be about a 12 to 18 hour period where you will have no access. After that, I will open the site back up and you will be able to post. However, for about 3 days after I open the board, posts that were made before the upgrade will not look right. There will be broken links, missing attachments, missing emoticons, things formatted weirdly. The server will go through and rebuild each and every post made so that they look correct and fix those issues, but it will take about 3 days to complete.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    No loss of any of our content. Posts stay the same, articles will remain, your upvote/downvotes remain the same, gallery images are all there, signatures will still be there, garage will still be there. One of the reasons I'm working so hard at this is because I want all of our history to remain intact. The look and layout will be updated. I'm probably going to have to go back and tweek the formatting of the articles, but they'll still be there. We'll also have a new logo and slogan. The biggest initial source of headache will be for users who log in with a name other than their display name. In the new system, everyone will log in with their display name.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    For me at least, most of my free time in the last week or two has been devoted to getting the site ready for its big upgrade. I'm hoping to have us comfortably into our new software by mid-july, but it's going to take nearly full day of downtime plus another 3 days of post rebuilding by the server before we're finally put back together again. It will be worth it though for us to get off of this outdated software. Every test upgrade I have run takes 8 hours minimum to finish to the point where I can even get into the control panel to start adjusting things. That's what we get for having more than 13 years of posts here.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    The old one is still a fine car and I'd have no problem owning a brand new one today. I actually prefer it's more upright look compared to the low slung 2016 model, but that is just a personal preference. The good news is the old model continues on as the Cruze Limited for the rental fleets.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    It's mostly for Chinese and other Asian market consumption.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    No... hatchbacks and wagons have two different definitions. That's why VW makes a Golf hatchback and a Golf Wagon. A wagon is a sedan length car with the roof extended back to the rear. A hatchback is a sedan with most of the trunk chopped off. The angle of the rear glass has little to do with the definition either way. There are wagons with sharply sloped rear glass and there are hatches with vertical rear glass and vice versa.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    The Bolt is a hatchback.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    Isn't this how the Lexus RX Hybrid works?
  18. Drew Dowdell
    Er.. no. The new Pilot is a lot less quiet than the old one.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    It's a problem across the entire Honda lineup right now.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    1991 is still 25 years ago, not 10. For the record; the Suburban is 81 years old and the Wagoneer is 50. I did say mid-size. I did say in 1985 you could count the number of mid-size on your hands. - S-10 Blazer and Ford Bronco II were out in 1983, XJ Cherokee and Toyota 4Runner in 1984, Nissan Pathfinder in 1985, Mitsu/Dodge Montero in 1985. That was essentially it in 1985.. 6 mid-size SUVs 1989 - Geo Tracker, Second gen 4Runner 1991 is when the boom really started - The Explorer really exploded the popularity of the segment. Also in 1991 - The Isuzu Trooper and Rodeo. Oldsmobile Bravada joins in the 1991 refresh attempting to be the first attempt at a luxury mid-size. Land Rover Discovery I 1993 the Honda Passport, Grand Cherokee, Kia Sportage, 1994 Toyota RAV4, Subaru Outback, 1995 Honda CR-V, Second Generation of GM Mid-sizers, Second gen Nissan Pathfinder, Acura SLX, Second Generation Explorer, Third Gen 4Runner 1996 Infiniti QX4, Mercury Mountaineer, Land Rover Freelander 1997 The king of the Mid-Lux segment the Lexus RX, Dodge Durango, Lincoln Navigator, Mercedes M-Class, Subaru Forester 1998 - Land Rover Discovery II 1999 - Second Generation Grand Cherokee, Cadillac Escalade, BMW X5 2000 - Acura MDX, Pontiac Aztek, Buick Rendezvous, Toyota Highlander, Ford Escape/Mariner After 2000 it gets far too complicated to continue the chart. 2000 - 1985 = 15 years. If I continued to 2002, there would have been examples from more dead brands than there were models available in 1985. (Saturn, Isuzu, Mercury, Pontiac, Hummer, Geo, Suzuki, Oldsmobile)
  21. Drew Dowdell
    What's wrong with Skoda? They're just VWs with leftover Buick grilles.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    No, not really. In 1985 you could count the number of mid-size SUV/Crossovers on one hand, today, you'd need an excel spreadsheet just for the ones that are no longer in production. 1985 is…. 30 years ago. For the record; I stated "a minimum of 30 years for H/EVs to hit 51% of the market. I got what you posted DD, but I just don't see a massive huge swell pushing H/EVs over 50% of the U.S. market in a mere 10 years. There is a considerable list of obstacles to overcome. Even Tesla's 400,000 pre-orders --if condensed into a single year-- is only 1 percent of the market by itself, and 400,000 is 8 times Tesla's output last year. In order to 'make it' in 10 years, H/EVS would have to increase marketshare 50%/yr : '15 : .6% '16 : .9% '17 : 1.4% '18 : 2.1% '19 : 3.2% '20 : 4.7% '21 : 7.1% '22 : 10.6% '23 : 16.0% '24 : 24% '25 : 36% '26 : 54% And the huge surge in SUVs started in the early 90s.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    The fact that you consider the Cruze and Civic and "either or" speaks volumes for where Chevy once was and where they are today. However, I'm guessing that an extended drive in the Civic would show you the amount of road noise that the Honda has compared to the Cruze.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    No, not really. In 1985 you could count the number of mid-size SUV/Crossovers on one hand, today, you'd need an excel spreadsheet just for the ones that are no longer in production. Look at the adoption of Turbo-4 cylinders since 1980.... flat line and then huge spike.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    The closest thing I can get to a Roadmaster Estate these days, I suppose it will have to do.
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