Drew Dowdell

I don't think a 3800 powered 2014 Regal is the only tall tale he's told.

Fairly pricey pricing, but if the equipment and MPGs hold up, it might be worth it.

Really? The average age of vehicles on American roads in the last several years has hovered around the eleven year mark. So you are saying that these things will never achieve average age? Because who is going to pay to keep these things going after 8 years, with this kind of failure rate? What a colossal waste of money. You failed at reading. You are confusing proactive warranty replacement with a failure rate. These were NOT catastrophic motor failures being reported. And in the process the owners receive a new motor of updated design with zero miles on it. Tesla is not like the legacy car companies... they make rolling changes to their designs and deploy them at any point in the model year. If you have a 2012 Model S with VIN #2, and you get this power train replacement, you end up with a motor that is updated to the same design as the latest 2015/16 motor.

There is ZERO chance that a 90 degree V6 is going to fit in the 2014 Regal. I don't care how much money you have, you're not getting a 90 degree V6 into it. The 60 degree 2.8 Turbo barely fits in the Opel Insignia. You are also correct about the year the 3800 stopped production. You can shut down the "China option" talk really quick with this link - http://www.buick.com.cn/newregal/specifications.aspx The Regal in China only comes with the 2.0T or the 1.6T. Cars with more then 2 liters of displacement have huge taxes levied on them, so much so that even the XTS has a 2.0T as it's main engine there. You also cannot bring cars into the US for sale that are not EPA certified, and since GM would not have bothered to EPA certify a 3800 powered 2014 Regal, even if such a thing existed in China, the EPA and DHS would likely want to have a conversation with him. In shorter terms: He's a troll.... shut him down.

Did any of you, especially the OP, even READ the article from Green Car Reports? The statistics come from 327 cars (1% of total) from the 2012 and 2013 model years and only 30 cars from the 2014 and 2015 model years. That's right... your Colorado starts to make a funny noise under the hood, so Chevrolet has a standard policy of REPLACING THE ENTIRE V6 ENGINE, TRANSMISSION, AND FOUR WHEEL DRIVE components. </fanstasyworld> GM has needed to replace more timing chains on the 3.6 V6 than Tesla has built cars. Stop spreading F.U.D.

Guy takes down hate preacher in the most Scottish way possible.

Opel, Ford of Europe, Renault, Peugeot, Citroen too.

Could you be underwhelmed due to them just coping the last generation S sedan from MB? It doesn't even look like that to me.... it looks like the last Equus, with a Genesis front clip and an XTS C-Pillar.

And guess who funded the rebuilding of their public transit systems.....

I'm just... underwhelmed. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was more than this.

Please get over the absurd notion Mass Transit and Cars are zero sum. I don't understand how you make the leap to "If we fund mass transportation, then we won't have freedom to move around". You clearly only have experience with American mass transit, which even the best systems (NYC? DC? Chicago? I suppose it is up for debate) absolutely SUCK by European standards. When the Uber drops me off at the airport for two weeks in Europe, that is the last time my butt touches a car seat for a full two weeks. Two trips ago, I landed in Paris, visited the city using their subway, visited Versailles and the countryside using trains, took the train to Brussels, then to Achen, Germany, then to Cologne Germany, then out to the countryside 45 minute train ride outside of Cologne, then back to Cologne where I can get ANYWHERE in the greater metro area in 30 minutes or less... and never once touched a car. I never felt that I wasn't in control of my schedule because the transit systems are robust and the next train/bus/subway arrives every 3 to 15 minutes. Most white color jobs will cover some or all of their employee's monthly transit pass cost.... even then, the cost of a monthly pass is only about $175 last I looked. My friends who live in Cologne have 4 bedroom house (we'd call it a condo, but it is HUGE by American condo standards) with a garage in the Cologne suburbs. They have never owned a car and use public transit 98% of the time. For that last 2%, DeutscheBahn has a car sharing service with cars spread all over the city and regular rental car agencies (Enterprise, Sixt) are available with a Starbucks like frequency all over the city for longer rentals. If you're a frequent rail traveler, you can buy a BahnCard 100 for $4,477. That gets you on any train, bus, or subway ANYWHERE in Germany and also good for trips outside of Germany using DeustcheBahn trains for 12 months. That means with a Bahncard 100, you can go from Cologne to Paris and back for free as many times as you want, but that also includes all of your metro travel in Cologne, which would normally cost you $2100 a year... so really you're paying $2377 a year for any rail travel in Germany outside of your home city. You can't beat that on cost with a car no matter which way you slice it. On all tickets, children under 14 travel for free when accompanied by their parents. Sometimes, when I'm there, I rent a car. Not because I have to, but because I want to since I enjoy driving. The blend of public transit and automotive there is exactly what we should be emulating.... it increases freedom of mobility, it doesn't decrease it. P.S. - Don't give me the "population density" crap argument. East of the Mississippi, the population density of the US is equal to the population density of Europe.... in the North East, it is even higher. West of the Mississippi, the population density of the metro areas are all similar to European metro areas. The only thing we lack is the willpower.... everything in the U.S. has become "too hard" or "it might inconvenience me" or "It might cost me an extra 15 cents per gallon" even though the net result is an improvement in our lives.

On many cars, that would make installing the oil filter rather cumbersome due to the mounting position of the filter. On my Honda, the filter mounts exactly horizontal... good luck keeping the oil in it while you screw it on. Personally, I think his idea is a crock. Assuming everything is working properly, the engine gets up to operating oil pressure virtually instantly after starting. Just turning the key for a few cranks would run the oil pump enough to fill the filter before the first fire.

Also, the $135k price is for the top end Model X. The regular Model X is $80,000ish. People drop that on similar sized SUVs all the time.

Yeah, the gull wings were dumb.

Tesla "loses money on every car sold" because they are bringing production online for 3 vehicles plus the battery factory plus all of their R&D at the same time. That is a HUGE amount of initial investment. The legacy manufacturers hide those huge investments in gigantic volumes.... imagine if GM had to bring up 3 car lines simultaneously while only selling the Suburban (44k ytd). Even at the Suburban's fantastic margins, they'd lose money on every car also.

How loans with zero balance prolonging anything? Lutz is a great product guy, but his greatness ends there in the automotive manufacturing world, and he has been extremely wrong on the subject of hybrids and EVs. Are there issues at Telsa? Yes, but none that are insurmountable. Tesla also has an interesting side bar in the energy business with PowerWall. I think there is the potential for even more money than car building with PowerWall Personally, I think Tesla is simply aiming to be bought up by another manufacturer ones their stock price normalizes.

*sigh* I need to get back into biking... I hate my bike though... and it's relatively new.

Sometimes the cheaper route is buying the higher quality stuff. What is cheaper over 10,000 miles, 3 oil changes every 3,000 miles at $20 each or 1 oil change at 8,000 miles at $40 each?

Welcome to the Anecdote thread....

Well 95% of the GMC dealers are Buick dealers with a new short wheel base Envision. I think my GMC dealer here is one of the very few that is stand alone. Note they also are one of the most productive with an average transaction price around $62,000. I know... but you and I are smarter than the average consumer. GM has noticed there are still generally strong feelings one way or the other over GMC and Buick as brands. Drew is right, amazing how many people still have strong feelings especially about Buick as an old persons auto. I have changed many when they went and test drove the Encore and ended up buying it. I have had more people buy the Encore trading in old Subarus. Clearly the car clicks with the 20-30 age crowd. Yes but it is dangerous ground to put two competing models in the same dealer. They did ok with the Nox and Terrain but it was spread out in different dealers not the same show room. ​I have seen them do this before and it is not that I do not trust Mark but there are others at GM that have not been shown the door yet I do not trust. The Encore and the Chevy model are just a little too close for comfort for me. There should have been more changes there. It reeks of profit chasing badge engineering. In the short term it pays in the long term it can damage. The Buicks and Cadillacs are now attracting younger people and I think the issue that they are for the old is on the way out. Look at who is driving what and you may be surprised there are fewer cotton tops. Acadia and Enclave have pulled it off successfully for their whole 7-8 year run so far. It amazes me that the Lambdas are still selling so well this far into their life, but Buick is going to sell over 60K of them a year with ATPs over $50k while GMC is going to move over 90K Acadias this year with over 25% of those being Denalis. Add in the Traverse with an expected 118k this year and you're up to 275k Lambda being sold... that is better than the best selling single model, the Explorer at 230k... and probably with better ATPs too thanks to Buick and Denali. So I really don't have much concern over a Terrain and an Envision sharing a wheelbase and showroom as long as they are differentiated at least as well as the Lambda are. As the owner of an Encore, I would strongly disagree with your assessment of the Trax being too close for comfort. Five minutes behind the wheel of the Trax and I was ready to turn around and go back. I imediately understood why Buick put so much work into the QuietTuning on the Encore... it is the only Buick model with active noise cancellation and its absence in the Trax is noticeable... without ANC you can really hear the sausage being made under the hood and it doesn't sound pretty. The difference in interior material quality is noticeable. Stepping out of the Encore and into the Trax is like... well... stepping out of Buick and into a Chevy..... and that's the way it's supposed to be.

Apply Car Play and Android Auto do not replace the infotainment system, they are add-ons for it. All Cadillacs with NewCUE have both.

All of the manufacturers have the opinion that the way to get a new Infotainment system is to buy a new car.

Well 95% of the GMC dealers are Buick dealers with a new short wheel base Envision. I think my GMC dealer here is one of the very few that is stand alone. Note they also are one of the most productive with an average transaction price around $62,000. I know... but you and I are smarter than the average consumer. GM has noticed there are still generally strong feelings one way or the other over GMC and Buick as brands.