Jump to content
News
Reviews
Discussons
Activity
Create New...
Close

Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    55,978

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    543

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
  2. Drew Dowdell
    ATS was designed to be the lightest car in the class, the whole "every gram matters" philosophy they talked about. But some other guys got lighter, or got roomier and bigger while not adding any weight, and most of the ATS weight advantage in 2013 was in comparing an NA 4 cylinder ATS to a turbo 4 BMW and a V6 Mercedes. Low weight is nice, it isn't the way to win buyers. If it drives like a tin can, or has no interior space, or a cheap interior, no one will care what it weighs. The ATS was the first car to go through weight reductions, they've been continuing with weight reductions since then. That's why a CT6 4-cylinder can weigh less than the ATS 2.0 AWD.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    Even if its a $100M issue... the penalty if they didn't act fast would be much higher. Nonetheless, the Lambdas are MINTS. Being around since 2007 pretty much unchanged, and still selling like hotcakes has its rewards. In truth.. I see zero reason why GM would abandon the platform. They simply should pull a "Toyota Corolla/Camy" and keep it going for another decade with a few updates to the inside. This is one platform where driving dynamics mean zero The program to replace them is already well under way. The big thing is weight. I'm hoping that the weight loss the Acadia got translates well into the larger Traverse and Enclave once they are released. One of the reasons they get such terrible mileage in the first place (even the overstated MPG stickers weren't great) is due to the fact they weigh so much and the 3.6 has to work hard all the time to moved these beasts around. They could really do well with a smaller displacement V6 with a turbo tuned for torque rather than horsepower to get the low end grunt needed to move the mass. My experience with the Lambda fuel economy over the years seems to have been validated with this story though.... I've always struggled to get even close to the sticker rating on the highway and in the Suburban/Tahoe I have always beaten the Lambdas in that regard.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    Especially when they're building the next gen... they're just not going to sell it here. Why wouldn't you want to sell an extra 40,000 copies of something you're already building?
  5. Drew Dowdell
    That's the same weight as a 328xDrive..... what's your point?
  6. Drew Dowdell
    The Chinese seem to have done great things for volvo. The best thing they can do is fire Sergio on day Zero.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    Happen to have a friend from Germany staying with me this week, so in spite of my own experience on the Autobahn, I deferred to him... here's what he said: Me: What do you think is typical speeds on the free zones of the Autobahn? Him: As fast as you want to go.... Me: Well, the German government is mad at Opel for cars where the emissions system shuts off over 145 kph.... do you think people typically drive over that speed? Him: I'd drive that speed even if the speed limit is 120kph. His car is a 2005 VW Golf Plus Gives some perspective as to what the people with even more powerful cars will do.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    While I do agree with you, what is the reason people should take the extended warranty if purchased instead of the debit card? I know from elsewhere that leased customers will only receive the debit card. They have some unresolved engine issues that can be very costly to repair. GM's response has been to shorten the oil change interval, but that doesn't really address the issue... It just pushes it out passed the warranty period.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    Genesis is going to be a force to be reckoned with I think
  10. Drew Dowdell
    If you're driving a Lambda and you own it.... take the extended warranty.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    It doesn't matter if 90mph is normal for a Zafara driver, just the fact that it can do it is enough. An insignia driver, certainly can be doing 90 regularly. I've driven on the autobahn a number of times. In the free zones with no speed limit, anything under 80 and you'll get run over.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    90mph on the AutoBahn is pretty standard.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    So Sorry By Drew Dowdell Today, our newsletter app got stuck in a traffic circle and emailed out our weekly newsletter to a number of our users 7 to 10 times . We believe we have fixed the issue and it should not happen again. Sorry for any inconvenience. Drew
      • 1
      • Agree
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Okay... so some clarity is in order. Nearly all cars will turn off and on their emissions controls a various stages of driving... You don't always need EGR to be turned on at all times, and you don't always need air injection (when equipped) to be turned on at all time. If the emissions control systems in these two cars (they don't mention the engine, but the Zafra has the 1.4T and that's available in the Insignia as well) are shutting down over 90mph, it's probably because they don't need to be running with the engine operating at that speed. I can tell you from experience that 65mph in my Encore 1.4T means about 2,500rpm, and while I've never had it to 90mph, I assume the engine would be turning well over 3,000 rpm just to maintain such a speed. The Zafara and Insignia are both heavier vehicles, so the engine would be working even harder at that 3,000+ RPM just to keep them there. Very very few cars operate at that RPM for extended periods of time, so I can certainly believe GM's statement that the engine would need to be protected. However, that's also the range where emissions correction is less needed because the fuel is burning in the most efficient manner and the catalyst would be glowing hot. But sheesh... 90mph in an Insigna Wagon 1.4T? That's really gotta be pushing the limits on that little motor. Edit: They do share some diesel engines too... so if could be one or both of them.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    It probably is.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    The only way to get to $35k is to select the upgraded engine. The upgrade option on the '17 will become available as soon as you step up to the convenience group which starts at $27k btw. How much the upgrade will cost, I don't know.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    I wish they'd gear the Spark a little better and give an optional engine upgrade. It would make it more suitable for the long distance driving you do. but I haven't driven the new one yet, so maybe the CVT makes the difference.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    They'll get a $50 gift card, max.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    One can get more cylinder volume per dressed weight and and external dimensions, thus being able to make up for less HP/L. The icing on the cake is that two valve heads tend to flow better at low rpms; that combined with more displacement gives more area under the torque curve in the rpm range that engines spend most of their time. I never had anything against pushrod engines. Exactly.... even my '81 Oldsmobile feels quick off the line. It's only a 3-speed auto, so max 0-60 isn't up to modern standards, but in typical traffic I move along just fine without a struggle. Double the number of gears (or more) and that old engine with 140ish horsepower would probably move the car along very nicely.... and why? Because it has 255 lb-ft of torque at about 1500 rpm. That's more torque than nearly all modern non-turbo DOHC V6es see period... and those that do exceed that torque spec don't do it till they've hit 5 times the RPM of my 307. HP/L is just about the dumbest metric we've ever had for passenger cars and everyone is worse off for the industry moving in that direction.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    Someone previous mentioned that I should use a rental because it would mean having to replace the tires a month sooner because I was about to put 900 miles on them. The "hard stop" is that they have to be replaced by end of July regardless because they are already in a condition that they would fail inspection..... so might as well burn as many miles off of them as possible before I am forced to replace them anyway.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    Sinus infections suck
  22. Drew Dowdell
    The big difference between the Trax and Encore is the level of sound isolation. The 1.4T in the Trax is not a pleasant sound without the active noise cancellation the Encore has. Driving the Trax after spending so much time in my Encore it was immediately noticeable and completely turned me off to the car.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    Cheers for the model... but jeers for this particular car. Don't like the continental kit and where did the original wheel covers go on a car with such low mileage? They look like Cheapo PepBoys replacements.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    I ended up using the Buick. I have a hard stop in July on the tires as they won't pass inspection then (they wouldn't pass inspection today). So, instead of renting I decided to just save the money from renting the car for the new set of tires in July and burn as many miles off the old tires as possible till then. It was a little snug with 4 of us in the car, but it was fine.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    DOHC only really helps a V configuration engine if you are displacement restricted. If there is no restriction on displacement (government regulation, corporate edict) then the best way to get the most power is to fill the engine bay with as many cubic inches of displacement you can.... and the best way to do that is with pushrods.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

I've whitelisted
Continue without support

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search