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Drew Dowdell

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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    Both of our CUVs are AWD, but we live at the very top of a ridge that is the tallest for miles. Out on the open road, I can do fine in a RWD car with snow tires (My Lincoln Continental, my Cadillac CTS, and my Caprice Classic all got snow tires each winter), but getting into and out of my driveway or even up my street on unplowed snow has proven to be too much for a RWD car. That said, I am one of the minority that puts snow tires on my AWD cars also, because as much as I like to go is snow, I also like to stop and steer. I haven't put snow tires on the Encore this year, and it is making me nervous. I'm really close to needing a set of all season tires in about 7k... so if we really get snowed on this winter, the Encore will probably be staying home while the Honda gets to play snowy mountain goat.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    The only new Lancias sold today are rebadged Chrysler 300s and only sold in Italy. Oldsmobile didn't die a slow death. The plug was pulled when they had some of the best products GM was offering. They were one of the first with Navigation systems in GM. They had brand new V6 engines, and they had one of the youngest overall lineups in the company.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    I'll be the first guinea pig... take your shot!
  4. Drew Dowdell
    They're usually the first ones there!
  5. Drew Dowdell
    It looks like a cartoon character in that form.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    It is a wow in that it is a simple fix. The GP is one of the GM cars with the ignition on the dash, a key with a slot in it rather than a single hole would be at an angle when in the run position. If the driver has a lot of heavy weight on it tugging down, that weight could notch the key vertical (to Acc.) when hitting a bump. The insert into the key would prevent that movement from happening. Edit: And I have been mostly off from work in December 12th. I've had two recalls done on my Honda, inspection, ball join repair, and had the Oldsmobile inspected and some repairs, plus re-doing an apartment that I plan to offer for lease next month..... lots of us use this time of year to catch up on things.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    Only some of the vehicles get that fix, other replace the entire lock cylinder. It depends on which vehicle you get. The reason for the insert is this: So I'm guessing you're right in that putting the insert into the key prevents leverage from switching the key position to Acc.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    After being in the Ex's Encore.. I think a case could have been made for even Cadillac to get a version to compete against the BMW X1 FWD based vehicle. I've driven an X1.. let me tell U.. the Encore.. no. the Trax.. is more than a match for it. No just kidding on the Trax, but the Encore in full trim is tho. GM.. thro some wider tires on that lil mofo.. Turbo 2.0L, add newest A&S, Cadillac Crest.. and aaaaaaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy we go. I've already asked a while ago. The 2.0T is physically too large to fit in the Gamma cars... so unfortunately, you can hang that idea up. The best we can hope for is the 1.6T (200hp / 200 lb-ft over a broad RPM range) from the Buick Cascada. But in a Cadillac with the same gearing the 6-speed auto has now, or the new 9-speed when its finished, would give such a small vehicle a lot of spank.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    The Camry and Malibu are $400 apart when both equipped with leather and the same features. Ditto the Honda Accord, you've gotta pony up to a $28,500 EX-L before you get Leather. In the Sonata, you can get into a Limited model for $27,5k, but if you want Android Auto (which comes included on all of the new 2016 Chevys), you'll need to buy a $3,500 package upgrade. Android Auto and Apple Car Play do away with the need for a integrated navigation system, so the fact that the Spark, Sonic, New Cruze, New Malibu, and Camaro all have it, is a huge savings for buyers. So what about the Legacy? It'll cost you at minimum $27,9k to get leather in a 2.5 Limited, but then just to equal the standard convenience equipment in the Malibu, you have to spend a bundle. There's Remote Start +$453, Auto Dimming Mirror +$215, and you still won't have Apple Car Play or Android Auto, so if you want NAV, that'll be a package that includes those two smaller items and another $2,295, putting you at $30,235. On all of these cars, a moon roof is a $1500 and up option. The Chrysler 200S may be the best option for you Reg, because you can get basically everything on your wish list for $29k before rebates - AWD, Leather, V6. But please... stop trying to pick on Chevy for trying to extract money from your wallet. As I've shown above, they all do it, and they all charge around the same price of entry for the items you are talking about.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    The Terrain justifies itself by selling over 25% as Denali trimmed models. The profit per unit on those must be obscene. If the Envision follows the rest of the Buick lineup trend of selling 60% trimmed at the upper end of the spectrum, they can get away with volumes in the 40k to 50k range, but even 30k a year would be profitable most likely. Buick was completely surprised by the popularity of the Encore. Initial projections for Encore were in the 35k - 40k per year range. They sold 31k in the 2013 first year which was a half year, they sold 45.7k in 2014, and they've sold 61k in the 11 months of 2015. The Mokka sells so well that GM was looking at spinning up production of that car in Europe (Spain I think) rather than Korea. It really depends on how well the Envision takes off. I expect it will far exceed expectations like the Encore did because it is in a sweet spot for size. We love our Encore for example, but 2.5 years in, we are aware that we might have downsized a little bit too far. Our CR-V is perfect sized, so since the Envision is about the same, I expect it will be the new Goldilocks in the segment.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    Well you quoted at least two different sizes there. It looks to be slightly shorter than the current Nox/Terrain. Terrain is 185", Envision is 183", CR-V is 179". Envision is the same width as the Terrain. It looks like the AWD in the Envision is using the same twin-clutch setup as the new Lacrosse, meaning the AWD performance in snow should be excellent as should fuel economy.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    They should be able to program the Tesla to detect when it isn't stopping as fast as it should be an automatically override the engine braking. Cadillacs can detect rain and will regularly dry the brake rotors.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    Lutz was right where he belonged, just like Ruess was when he was head of product. Lutz was too big of a liability when someone with a microphone was nearby to be CEO, (so was Akerson, but even worse because he was a jerk.)
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Unlikely. There will still be a Lambda (or replacement) line in the US. Verano would make more sense to build in Europe (Poland currently) along side the Astra. What I *could* see is 60% of Buicks sold in North America being foreign built, but not all built in China.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Reg - There are only 2 Buicks for sale in the U.S. that aren't built in the US..... the Encore and the Cascada.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    CT6, XT5, etc aren't even on sale yet and Johan has been on the job a year or two now. Even if they trademarked CT1 through CT100 he could have still pushed for word names if he wanted. I think he likes alpha-numerics because it he is a marketing guru and marketing gurus like to look smart when they design naming conventions. I think the type of executive does matter somewhat. Rick Wagoner was a finance guy, and look at how GM produced the lowest cost products possible under his tenure. He was about cutting product cost to feed the UAW labor cost and "managing the downward spiral." If you put an engineer at the top they are going to focus on engineering and product. Does Mercedes have an engineer running things? If not then does an engineer EVER get final say on a product in ANY company? I only ask this because last time I checked, Dieter Zetsche was not an engineer. And again, he did not come up with number scheme so why bother even mentioning it? You have been wrong on so many things here SMK, it is just baffling that you keep beating the same dead horse here. From being incorrect about platform origins to nitpicking naming schemes in Cadillacs, it is just baffling. Dr. Z is an engineer.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    CT6, XT5, etc aren't even on sale yet and Johan has been on the job a year or two now. Even if they trademarked CT1 through CT100 he could have still pushed for word names if he wanted. I think he likes alpha-numerics because it he is a marketing guru and marketing gurus like to look smart when they design naming conventions. I think the type of executive does matter somewhat. Rick Wagoner was a finance guy, and look at how GM produced the lowest cost products possible under his tenure. He was about cutting product cost to feed the UAW labor cost and "managing the downward spiral." If you put an engineer at the top they are going to focus on engineering and product. Wagoner put Lutz in charge of product and that's when things started to turn around. A large part of GM's issue was the corporate culture. Prior to the BK, they were simply running out of cash to develop things properly. Even if the will was there to do it right, the cash wasn't. I didn't say the person at the top doesn't matter. They have to be competent and have an actual passion for the product, but they don't have to be an engineer. Wagoner, Henderson, Akerson... none had both the competence and passion for the product. Barra appears competent and passion for the product, and has the added benefit of having a cleaner slate to start with.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    As much as we would like to blame the Cadillac naming on Johan, it wasn't his doing. Cadillac trademarked the CTx and XTx series names before he got there. An executive doesn't need to be an engineer to create good cars, he just needs to listen to his engineers and give them the direction they need to aim for. In fact, there is very little product at Cadillac right now that is Johan's doing at all. Even the CT6 is mostly Mark's baby, but Johan will get the credit for it. I'm not Johan's biggest fan, but I'm still taking the "wait and see" approach to find out what he will actually do with the product. At the moment, all he can really do publicly, is grit his teeth and present someone else's idea on the stage.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    There's always a Regal or LaCrosse. The least expensive Fusion with AWD is the Titanium at $31k. The cheapest Chrysler 200 AWD is the 200S starting at $29,370 with AWD. So you're left with Subaru or a used Suzuki.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    It's amazing that we have all of this Executive Talent here at CheersandGears.com while Cadillac has to "make do" with Johan de Nysschen and Uwe Ellinghaus
  21. Drew Dowdell
    I just booked what looks to be a fantastic vacation in February and it will be almost entirely free. (hotel, flight, and some food free)
  22. Drew Dowdell
    Sherlock Marple Poirot those are my cup of tea
  23. Drew Dowdell
    It would be a dream to have a garage that could fit that Winnebago. I would like a modern airstream to pull behind the Denali/Escalade/Jeep GC.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    There's no reason to skip from 6 to 4. There can be a CT4 Coupe and a CT4 Sedan.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    The Summit is the poshest of the Grand Cheerokees, the SRT is still luxury, but if I'm getting a Grand Cherokee, I want the capability to go anywhere. I've got the ATS-V in my list for speed.
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