Drew Dowdell

It's a drop in the bucket sales wise and Buick is selling the MUCH more expensive Enclave in China..... building it in Michigan. As long as GM shows a dedication to continuing to build the bulk of its US market cars in North America, I have no problem with some small volume niche models coming from Australia, Korea, Germany, Mexico, and ... yes... China. As long as the quality is there in the Envision, it will sell in the US fine. Being German designed and Korean built certainly didn't slow down the Encore any.

Yeah, I like grabbing an Explorer when I can't get a Suburban for my rental.

Are you suggesting of the 169 deaths and hundreds more injured, that it only involved Cobalt? I did not know. I mean, I know there were many vehicles recalled, but if that is true, that is a bit surprising to go to such lengths to save face. There are two primary recalls over the ignition switch problem. The "main" one where the entire switch itself is replaced only involves the Chevy Cobalt and HHR, Pontiac G5 and Solstice, and Saturn Ion and Sky. Those are the only ones with a part number specifically linked to any injuries or fatalities. There is a second group of recalls that involve the fix you got Wings, where just the keys are modified. This recall involves a different part number and no injuries or fatalities. This is the "saving face" recall where GM is extending an extreme level of caution just to be on the safe side. This recall involves the final generation W-Body cars (Lacrosse, Intrigue, Impala, Monte Carlo, Grand Prix), the N-Body cars (Early Malibu, Grand Am, Alero), the G-Body (Lucerne, Deville, DTS), and some of the early Sigma cars (CTS, Early SRX, but NOT STS), and the Camaro. The total number of vehicles recalled around 6 million in this country. Another point to be made is that the percentage of crashes where the airbags did not deploy due to this issue is well below the rate of non-deployment industry wide. Even the Department of Transportation states that the airbags fail to deploy in up to 2% of crashes. Even if 0.5% of the total of the recalled GM vehicles (30,000) were involved in a crash where the airbags should deploy, 169 vehicles where the airbags didn't deploy would be just 0.56%.... there would have to be 3.5 times as many instances of this situation happening just to meet industry average. Naturally, GM should be making sure that their vehicles are as safe as can be engineered for, but at the same time this is a very large mountain built from mole hills, and it doesn't surprise me at all that GM will defend itself where it can. Edit: Actually, I made an error above. The total number of vehicles recalled for the ignition is 17.3 million, not 6 million (which seemed too low and why I went and checked more). I'm not going to redo all of my percentages, even at 6 million, my point has been more than made.

Good to know you didn't have a nut loose.

Do third rows that fold flat really take up that much extra space?

You're both right.

And Cheers to Bobo with a great New Years post every year!

To be fair, you're talking about poorly balanced RWD cars from 25+ years ago. I remember the old Cougar being squirrely even in just rain. My Caprice was a tank and did well in anything as long as the tires were good. My Continental was more stable than a Cougar, but snow tires were still required... even then they didn't help me on slick ice. My CTS on the other hand, did really well with its Dunlop Wintersports and near 50/50 weight balance. I could to anything except get up my driveway. My FWD Cutlass couldn't do it on all-seasons either (never did put snows on that one).

It's just a temp move most likely. But it makes a lot of business sense to do it this way when there isn't currently a line in the US to build them on. GM sells 4 times as many Buicks in China as they do in the US.... including a good bunch of Enclaves that are built here in the states.

Isn't the Fiesta made in China? It is, but not for US consumption. Spain, Germany, Mexico, China, India, Brazil... and more. The U.S. bound ones are made in Mexico.

Bad link?

Wishing everyone a safe and happy 2016. If you're going out tonight, please drive safe or have a driver.

No third row.

Mercedes screwed the pooch in a lot of ways in the DCA merger. They screwed up the Liberty by shortening it so it would be CR-V sized. They had no real idea at all what to do with Jeep. Their product planning was horendous..... it was evident very early on that they had no idea how to deal with the mainstream consumer market in the US. Can you imagine being in the product planning meeting where they announce "This is your new boss Wilhelhm Johan.... he thinks it would be a good idea to drop your great selling, highly acclaimed, well reviewed family sedan and replace it with a wagon only model... oh, and it RWD... and V8". *groan* "Oh, and you know what else guys? Chrysler is going to get the sedan version, and it will be cheaper and with a smaller base engine". Benz has no flipping CLUE how to run Chrysler... the talent we have HERE would have been better.

While many think that Ocn just doesn't like electric cars, the real reason is because Elon once stood him up for a date.

Well, the Alero was being sold at a price. The Shortstar was too expensive to put in a car that maxed out around $23k.

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.

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.

I'll be the first guinea pig... take your shot!

They're usually the first ones there!

It looks like a cartoon character in that form.

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.

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.

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.

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.