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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)

Sherlock Marple Poirot those are my cup of tea

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.

There's no reason to skip from 6 to 4. There can be a CT4 Coupe and a CT4 Sedan.

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.

Truck: GMC Sierra Crew Cab Denali. Just the 1500, don't need to be wheeling around a 2500 Sedan: CT6 PHEV Platinum Coupe: ATS-V Coupe SUV: Escalade platinum or Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit EcoDiesel Toy: Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

No, not if the ECU isn't mapped for higher octane.

It doesn't really matter, the spread between regular and premium usually is consistent. Around me it's typically 20 to 25 cents a gallon between the two no matter what the regular price is, any change in the dollar position only changes the cost per mile by extremely minor amounts as long as the spread between premium and regular is the same. The GM 6.2 is cheaper to run per mile on regular than the Ford 3.5 EB on premium which are both much cheaper to run than the Ford 3.5 EB on regular. To be clear, we're only talking about a penny per mile difference here... but over 50,000 miles, that's an extra $500 to run the Ecoboost on premium and $1000 to run it on regular, and these calculations are using highway miles. If you get fuel economy like Car and Driver did in that comparison test (both the Chevy and Ford got 16mpg), the cost per mile difference increases to about 2 cents per mile, or $1000 over 50,000 miles.

Yeah, GMC annoys me because of the All-Terrain package. I want that grille and not the chrome if possible, but I want the tan/cocoa interior. All-Terrain only comes with black interior and drops things like the max trailering package. Looks wise, I like the GMC the best, but combination of Looks + Packages, the Chevy wins because I can have everything just the way I want it. If I end up in the GMC, you'll know I compromised on something.. not because they don't offer it, but because of the lame package combination requirements. I'm not a big fan of the F-150's looks and sadly, the Ram looks so old to me now. But the basic requirements are - Crew Cab, Short Bed, 4x4, Trailering package, Heated Seats.

Well, 2016 could finally be the year of the truck for me.... this is what I'm looking at... I'll fill in the other categories later. All 4 are equipped and priced about the same. With the most expensive being the Ford, then the GMC, then the Chevy, then the Ram (which I can't package quite the way I want). You may or may not notice a pattern...

Yeah, I already ran the spreadsheet earlier in the thread showing that the GM 6.2 has a lower cost per mile to fuel than the 3.5 Ecoboost, no matter which fuel you put in the Ford.

The someone, somewhere, or some website, is fibbing.

Indeed, but sometimes the reverse is true. The EPA regards the Pruis as a mid-size even though it would only feel mid-size if you fill it with sand. BTW, Welcome back Mule.

Torque is what turbo's deliver. In spades. And not just a peak, but total average. That's what matters. And less total average when running regular instead of premium..... which is my point. The area under the curve is reduced. I still say someone needs to put these on the Dyno with both fuels to measure the changes. The 3.5 Ecoboost drops 40 lb-ft when switching from Premium (Lincoln Navigator) to Regular (Ford Expedition).

There's actually a thing you can plug into the OBD port and shut off AFM without reprogramming the ECU. Range Technology Active Fuel Management Disable Device I don't know what he's fussing about though, its there to save him money. It switches back to V8 mode with a flick of the foot. The only way I ever even know that it is 4-cylinder mode is if I have the DIC set to monitor fuel economy and I'm watching the gauge. It's absolutely imperceptible to me in the Suburban/Tahoe at least. Edit: It's not like it turns into a Civic with a fart can in 4-cylinder mode.... it only happens at a steady cruise when you're not on the gas.

The Regal is still a big seller in China, there is still the Opel/Holden/Vauxhall Insignia (Though for Holden, only sold in GS form). They sold 20k of them in the US up to end of November, 75k Insignias in Europe up till end of October, and 91k Regals in China up till end of November. That's 186k so far this year in just those markets, and I'm missing 4 months of data (December in all three markets, and November for Europe), meaning that total sales of Regal/Insignia are going to be over 200k this year. I don't think the Regal sedan is going anywhere. I do think they will bring the body style variants to other markets. What they probably need to do is move US Regal production back to Europe or over to China so they can consolidate production into two plants instead of three. I could see that happening after Envision breaks the China ice.

I never care about horsepower. Horsepower is just a measurement of torque at a specific RPM and obfuscates the details .... so skip the middle man and give me the torque.

I forgot nothing. I posted the equations. If your Fusion scrubs 5 horsepower while keeping the same max torque, then the torque curve starts to drop off a bit sooner in the RPM band than normal.... as I explained in my post.

You are forgetting that horsepower is a meaningless marketing term.