Drew Dowdell

yeah, I've driven the rental grade 200, and it's nothing special... but neither is the rental grade anything from any brand. The 200 does do better in S or C trims, and particularly with the 3.6 V6. It's like a whole different car.

Thank you! I'm regaining my sea legs. Plenty of new features and forum categories. I intend to stick around. I'm tired of my sabbatical. :-) Great! Wait till you see what we've got in store for this year! In August we'll be 15 years old and I've got some big changes in the works for it.

The reason that Ford has so much debt (aside from the new platforms, which is just a cost of doing business), is that Ford was heading for trouble pre-Crash AND because some financial wizard at Ford saw the writing on the wall on the overall economy before it happened. A number of people out there saw the crash coming (including me, I have posts in the now defunct politics section warning about it) and it was good on Ford to take note. It is very likely that Ford would have been right there along side GM and Chrysler going through bankruptcy and getting (additional) bailouts had they not taken the actions they did. Before the crash they mortgaged everything... even the name on the building... to free up cash heading into the storm. This proved crucial and it was for this reason that Ford avoided bailouts while GM didn't. Once the crash hit, there were no banks large enough and healthy enough to finance the GM Bankruptcy. Credit availability on that scale had completely dried up. Even healthy companies were affected.... Target, which uses lines of credit to purchase inventory suddenly had a large portion of that credit withdrawn. That is the primary reason the government had to step in..... even healthy companies were getting hit. In a way, Ford bailed themselves out ahead of time. Ford avoided it by getting their credit lines in position before all the crap hit the fan. And while it is great that Ford managed to avoid BK and (most) bailouts, they are still living with a large portion of that debt today. The sooner they address it, the better.

Because Americans are too accustom to Walmart prices on everything.

No, the fact is YOU do not like the reality. You bitched about their engines, their new 4s will be out this year, then it was hybrid tech, oops, look at that a hybrid Pacifica and Plug-in with 80MPHe in a MINIVAN, oops, and again, they are not stopping production of the 200, the statement is simply that the next one will be based on a platform from another manufacturer. It is dollars and cents (sense.....). Use your brain. With Alfa going all RWD and Dodge basically doing the same, Chrysler is left with only Chrysler needing FWD. Without the sharing it becomes an expensive proposition that would price the car out of it's competitive set. Use your brain, basically every midsize car from the Fusion, to the Malibu, to the Camry has platform mates under their mothership umbrella to share amortization costs and manufacturing costs with. It becomes much more of an issue if you have only 1 or 2 vehicles under the same umbrella to try to spread all of the development costs, tooling, and manufacturing costs with. The do need a lighter platform for their midsize/compacts and in this case that is simply the most cost-effective way to go. It is the same reason Ford used he Mazda 6 platform for the Fusion and GM and Ford teamed up fr the new 10 speed auto. Seriously, if you actually think about it,it makes sense. You are just too busy singing Chysler death knell sto see that. Chrsler is putting out their first hybrid in 2017, right? How far have GM and Ford come in that same time? I know Ford's had a few hybrids and obviously GM has had some, and they have a full EV next year as well. Ford's Fusion was 09 and Escape in 2004! The Volt came out in 2010 and a Silverado/Sierra with a hybrid system in 2005 as well. So yes, Chrysler will finally have a hybrid in 2017 a mere 20 years after Toyota, 13 years after Ford, 12 after Chevy. Good job. The Dart's engines weren't tops in their class when it came out, or top 3. That is a fail when you introduce a BRAND NEW vehicle to a class and you aren't class leading in mpg, or any performance metric(be it efficiency or 1/4 mile - doesn't matter, it wasn't very good). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wait, Chrysler? Screw that, let's get back to talking about the sweet and sexy CT6! Any ideas if the new ttV8 will be a V Series? or VSport? or just a badass engine before a V Series..? 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid Muahaha. That was the hybrid system they developed with GM and it was also in the GM fullsize trucks and SUVs I think? The system was part of the global hybrid alliance. GM, Chrysler, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz all participated.

No, the fact is YOU do not like the reality. You bitched about their engines, their new 4s will be out this year, then it was hybrid tech, oops, look at that a hybrid Pacifica and Plug-in with 80MPHe in a MINIVAN, oops, and again, they are not stopping production of the 200, the statement is simply that the next one will be based on a platform from another manufacturer. It is dollars and cents (sense.....). Use your brain. With Alfa going all RWD and Dodge basically doing the same, Chrysler is left with only Chrysler needing FWD. Without the sharing it becomes an expensive proposition that would price the car out of it's competitive set. Use your brain, basically every midsize car from the Fusion, to the Malibu, to the Camry has platform mates under their mothership umbrella to share amortization costs and manufacturing costs with. It becomes much more of an issue if you have only 1 or 2 vehicles under the same umbrella to try to spread all of the development costs, tooling, and manufacturing costs with. The do need a lighter platform for their midsize/compacts and in this case that is simply the most cost-effective way to go. It is the same reason Ford used he Mazda 6 platform for the Fusion and GM and Ford teamed up fr the new 10 speed auto. Seriously, if you actually think about it,it makes sense. You are just too busy singing Chysler death knell sto see that. Chrsler is putting out their first hybrid in 2017, right? How far have GM and Ford come in that same time? I know Ford's had a few hybrids and obviously GM has had some, and they have a full EV next year as well. Ford's Fusion was 09 and Escape in 2004! The Volt came out in 2010 and a Silverado/Sierra with a hybrid system in 2005 as well. So yes, Chrysler will finally have a hybrid in 2017 a mere 20 years after Toyota, 13 years after Ford, 12 after Chevy. Good job. The Dart's engines weren't tops in their class when it came out, or top 3. That is a fail when you introduce a BRAND NEW vehicle to a class and you aren't class leading in mpg, or any performance metric(be it efficiency or 1/4 mile - doesn't matter, it wasn't very good). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wait, Chrysler? Screw that, let's get back to talking about the sweet and sexy CT6! Any ideas if the new ttV8 will be a V Series? or VSport? or just a badass engine before a V Series..? 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid

Nope, the Impala was 3400 and 3900 by then. The last year of the 3800 was the 2008 Lucerne... that was the last North American vehicle to carry it. Impala dropped the 3800 after 2005. Nope, the Impala was 3400 and 3900 by then. The last year of the 3800 was the 2008 Lucerne... that was the last North American vehicle to carry it. Impala dropped the 3800 after 2005. That's the first thing I thought of. The 3800 has been out of production for years. It was also never offered in China AFAIK. Welcome back Ven!

The Debt issue at Ford is a valid concern.. .and yes, they should use their profits now to pay it down.

the 200 is a pretty decent car, it's one of my favorites in the segment. People like Reg don't like it because they are shopping for the most cubic feet of interior room per dollar. If you just need a sedan to get you to work and back with little concern for the back seat passengers, there are definitely worse choices out there. The 200 is also unique in that it is the only V6 with AWD mid-size family car that I can think of outside of a top end Subaru Legacy. I also happen to like the interior better than most of its direct competition. Actually, the Fusion Sport is AWD and V-6... a Twin turbo V-6 Not currently on sale... and when it does transition from future product to current product, it will be $5k more expensive v. a 200S AWD. I don't deny that the Fusion Sport is a compelling package to us enthusiasts, but for a mainstream buyer just looking for an AWD sedan with something more than a 4-cylinder, it may be a bit over the top. As the Fusion Sport's interior is not significantly changed over the current model, I can still safely say that I like the 200S/C interior better.

Would be an interesting little sports car!

the 200 is a pretty decent car, it's one of my favorites in the segment. People like Reg don't like it because they are shopping for the most cubic feet of interior room per dollar. If you just need a sedan to get you to work and back with little concern for the back seat passengers, there are definitely worse choices out there. The 200 is also unique in that it is the only V6 with AWD mid-size family car that I can think of outside of a top end Subaru Legacy. I also happen to like the interior better than most of its direct competition.

That would seal the fate of Alfa too though... the way they pay for that new platform is by sharing it with Dodge and Chrysler to get as much volume out of it as possible. Basically, that would be Serg throwing the baby out with the bathwater if he killed the Charger. (not that that scenarios is impossible in Serg's world) How many times was the launch of the Giulia pushed back? Alfa won't complete the debut of its new lineup until the middle of the next decade, and that FCA will be scaling back the brand's research and development, manufacturing, and product investments through 2018. " This new product strategy differs from the original Marchionne strategy in a few key ways. First, all of these vehicles were supposed to have been launched between May 2014 and sometime in 2018. Since it's 2016 and we can't even buy a Giulia yet, it's pretty clear that plan isn't going to happen. Instead, the six vehicles that will follow the Giulia and midsize CUV won't start arriving until 2017, with debuts continuing until at least 2020. " http://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/27/alfa-romeo-realigns-product-onslaught-again/ Well that's just Alfa. The Giulia is supposed to be platform sharing with the replacements for the LX cars.

I see the new blinders from Amazon Prime arrived today! The Theta Premium platform SRX vastly outsold its same priced german rivals.... sometimes it even outsold them combined. The Epsilon chassis sells far far more copies than the Fusion. Globally, Regal/Insignia alone sells about 40% of the volume of Fusion/Mondeo globally. Then add in the Malibu, Impala, XTS, and Lacrosse and the Fusion gets left behind. I have my doubts about this new crossover being Epsilon... if it is, it is Epsilon in name only or a completely new generation of it.

Why does it look old? Because basically it's a Buick Verano convertible. The Verano has been out since model year 2012 (on sale in 2011) and is due to be replaced, though I'm getting hints there is going to be a delay there.

I think he was just "off". He makes a lot of verbal mistakes in the video..... the drive was a 3 day trip to Key West, he was probably out drinking the night before. As for the controls, It has the same control stack as my Encore, and while yes there are a lot of buttons, it is still very simple to operate.

That would seal the fate of Alfa too though... the way they pay for that new platform is by sharing it with Dodge and Chrysler to get as much volume out of it as possible. Basically, that would be Serg throwing the baby out with the bathwater if he killed the Charger. (not that that scenarios is impossible in Serg's world)

Eh... all hat and no cattle. ... and with no mid-gate, no sale.

There is an Encore sized/type Chrysler crossover coming I believe.

The Dart I can see... but the 200 has been doing well. Sergio is FCA's biggest enemy... not the designers.

We have so many A-Bodies running around Pittsburgh, they've never been really remarkable enough for me to consider it a "spot". Lots of Centuries, Cierras, and a few 6000s. It's the Celebrity that seems to be the rarest of the bunch these days.

There are dozens of gasoline powered car fires every week. Should we start a thread? Aww... but that wouldn't be hilarious. It would be ho-hum. I'm just glad it was not in a house garage. yes, because peoples' cars burning up is hilarious.... I'm sure we all had a good laugh when you crashed your Festiva.

My rental for the week. It's a nicely loaded Ecoboost, heated/cooled seats, Sync3. I'll probably write this one up.

There are dozens of gasoline powered car fires every week. Should we start a thread?

Fun doesn't have to make sense financially.

"Lincoln has become Mercury" is statement about 3 or 4 decades late. Mercury became Ford in the 70s with a direct assault on Ford's low priced lines. By the time the panther cars came out, there was nothing more than a very slight visual distinctiveness to buying a Mercury. There was nothing you could get at a Mercury dealer that you couldn't also get at a Ford dealer. Beginning in the early 80's the same time, Lincoln descended into building the Ford "Titaniums" of the time and basically filled the spot that Mercury vacated.