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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    Cadillac makes great cars now, but you can't see with the 3-pointed stars in your eyes.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    You mean that annoying chime that most people just shut off anyway....? We're not talking about something that hits the brakes for you... just the chime that tells you you're about to hit..... But when it comes to the actual impact... Once you've hit, you're actually better off in the Camaro. Yet the mustang is somehow better because it can tell you you're about to hit. The only time you're better in a Mustang is if you flip the car over..... Just goes to show you how poorly weighted this comparison is when the optional annoying chime that can easily be disabled by the driver trumps actual impact performance.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    You don't buy an ATS or 3-series or A4 to be your friends' free Uber driver. If you plan on taking bunches of friends out regularly on long trips, either pony up for a mid-size luxury or step down to a "family" car/SUV. These are personal luxury cars.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    Note to Serg: Don't piss off German regulators.... it will not end well.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    I applaud Tesla for continuing to challenge this outmoded business model
  6. Drew Dowdell
    So what's your opinion on the problem factors plaguing the Audi A4? Is it marketing / image problems there also? It was in the final year of it's model cycle last year. They sold 34,000 of them in 2014 and 37,000 of them in 2013. When it was fresher it sold better, but that car was under powered the past few years, the base car now has a 252 hp turbo. Better interior and more power always help. I think Audi reliability issues hurt that car also, and Audi styling looks a bit too like a VW and hasn't changed much recently, I think it is a bit boring. I didn't include the A5, but they sell about 15,000 of those per year, which is about what the Lexus RC sells. If you tack 15,000 units to the A5 and IS for their coupe counterparts, their numbers look pretty good. I think A4 loses sales to A3 also, because they are more similar than a CLA and C-class are for example. The new A4 looks like a Passat with an Audi grille.
  7. Drew Dowdell
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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?
  11. Drew Dowdell
    That's the same weight as a 328xDrive..... what's your point?
  12. Drew Dowdell
    The Chinese seem to have done great things for volvo. The best thing they can do is fire Sergio on day Zero.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Genesis is going to be a force to be reckoned with I think
  16. Drew Dowdell
    If you're driving a Lambda and you own it.... take the extended warranty.
  17. 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.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    90mph on the AutoBahn is pretty standard.
  19. 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
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  20. 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.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    It probably is.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    They'll get a $50 gift card, max.
  25. 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.
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