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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    About a week ago, I changed the system so that everyone in the "members" group gets just one down vote per 24 hours and ten up votes in 24 hours.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    Karma chameleon
  3. Drew Dowdell
    I'm not surprised. Toyota phoned that one in.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    Yeah, it's a good starting point even if you add options later.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    Moving to The Lounge
  6. Drew Dowdell
    I like the new Spark.... I didn't care for the previous one much.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    So one item that I am looking for and cannot seem to clearly find... and I believe is very important to the discussion: 1. What is the Federal limit on NOx that VW exceeded? (I've been finding 3 possible answers - 0.10, 0.05 or 0.02) From the reports, VW has exceeded the limit by as much as 30 times. I'm sure there is some editorial outrage in those headlines, but as we don't know which standard they are multiplying from, we don't know what the upper limit is. 0.02 appears to be a California low emissions standard, 30 times that would be 0.6 which is three times higher than the NOx standard from 2007, but is over 6.6 times lower than the 1998 standard... I believe this is the most likely scenario cited by the headline. 0.05 is another emissions limit cited. 30 times that would be 1.5 which is still a lot less than the 4.0 standard from 1998 0.1 times 30 is 3.0.... again lower than the 4.0 standard from 1998. This is the worst possible scenario for VW (and it is unlikely they would be able to fix their way out of it, so I think this is unlikely) This is just to put things in perspective.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Had to get Henrik's name off the door I guess.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    I'm hoping the GM Diesel trucks will be at one of the two events I am attending over the next two weeks. I look forward to trying them.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    For my Honda, I got generic all-weather ones at Costco. For my Buick, I got the specific Buick all-weather mats that fit the car. The Costco ones never move, but have nothing to fasten them to the car. For the Buick, only the driver's mat has a little snap to hold it in place. Seems to work.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    My house is supplied by wind energy and it's slightly cheaper per kwh than the default coal/nuke selection. Also, Tesla's supercharger stations are usually fed or offset by solar.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    Ocn, why do you think the performance of the TDIs will suffer post fix? Mpgs might, slightly, but not performance from what I've read.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    Spotted in San Antonio Spotted in Austin
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Why should any other manufacturers change their diesel plans? Other manufacturers didn't stop offering gas pedals when Toyota got caught covering up that theirs could get stuck.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    I can't change votes
  16. Drew Dowdell
    There are times for the nuanced approach you describe and there are times when it is corporate greed. VW has been hell bent on dominating the automotive market for years now. This was corporate greed.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    The MXP is sold directly by Motorola without any version variance and without any carrier intrusion, similar to the Nexus devices. Updates are supposed to occur within a quick timeframe. Last year's Moto X got Android 5 before the Nexus 5 and the 2013 model got Android 4.4 before everyone else. But some 2013 models belonging to Verizon have been hamstrung, likely due to the carrier. Now you have me looking at the Pure instead of the 5x. I think I'm convinced on that.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    I bet a couple of Directors of Powertrains got visits from brass lately asking them to dust off those old HCCI plans they had back in 08.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    Will you get OS updates as Google releases them or are you hamstrung by Motorola and your carrier? I'm looking into the Nexus 5X on Project Fi now.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    To be clear, VW did this to save $329 per car...so yes, it was about corporate greed. In VW's case they are also whores to market share.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    I would hurt VW long term.... imagine if 2.8 million Germans could suddenly not drive their cars for 3 to 6 months while VW issues a fix.... do you think they would buy another? Resale value would be destroyed. This is the German government forcing VW's hand... and it is an effective threat I think. I really do not believe they need to apply much more pressure. They know they are globally in trouble PR wise and they are already working on a fix. They have already forced people out and I suspect more will fall. It will take some time to make the parts. I am sure the agencies of many countries will require them to recertify the cars and changes made. And then they have to get the parts made and then the customers to the dealers. There is no fast track to this and you can apply all the pressure in the world but it will take 2 years if it goes fast to fix a majority. Then they will have to eat the cost of parts, labor, fines, recertification, legal fees and many other things. This will be very expensive in the end. I bet it tops 25-35 billion Dollars in the end minimum. It will for sure hurt VW either way. But if the government stops me from driving my car for no real logical reason till a fix is approved that is a sure way not to be reelected. Keep in mind that the deadline is only for VW to submit the plan, not necessarily to have the plan implemented.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    Seems like a package that is about bragging about numbers rather than returning them. I'd always pick the car with better control over the car with more power (and less control)
  23. Drew Dowdell
    9-speed automatic, probably a base Turbo 4-cylinder, almost certainly the new LGX (adds Start-Stop and Cylinder Deactivation) though with slightly lower output than the CT6. I'd doubt the 3.6TT, but a 3.0TT + AWD? Well.... maybe more likely.. but still conjecture.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    I would hurt VW long term.... imagine if 2.8 million Germans could suddenly not drive their cars for 3 to 6 months while VW issues a fix.... do you think they would buy another? Resale value would be destroyed. This is the German government forcing VW's hand... and it is an effective threat I think.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    Excellent question.....
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