Drew Dowdell

I'm probably the only one, but I don't see Aston Martin.... I see vintage Buick.

Buick is the brand that is surprising people.

You mean I-6.

GM has been doing this to a slightly-increasing degree for some years now. From the frontal view it looks fine, but I agree it seems counter-intuitive to reduce the front break over angle this severely. It's likely also so GM can foster the 'big truck' image, too. That thing on the current Suburban scrapes on EVERYTHING.

6-speed is typically fine for work trucks.

Hah, I know exactly where that picture was taken and was likely there that day. All 6 pictures Drew??? I doubt it.. LOL All 6 pictures are taken in the exact same spot. Yes, I was there that day.

I had almost the same car, minus AWD, Adaptive Cruise, Active Park, and NAV, just last week. I mostly agree with Williams write-up. I'd put money on the Fusion being one of the best in the segment for blending ride and handling. The steering is fantastic and a class above its station. A 6-speed auto now seems rather quaint, though this particular one goes about its business with no fuss. Still, there is enough torque from the 2.0T that a higher 7th and 8th gear would be useful on the highway. The 2.0T is smooth and torquey, feeling much like a V6 in power delivery. The notable exception is when you call down to the engine room for "All Ahead - Full" and then you get a decidedly 4-cylinder unpleasant sound. It's not enough to be a deal breaker, but it won't fool you into thinking it is a V6. After 250 miles of driving, fuel economy was around 27mpg in 80/20 Highway/City. That sounds decent until you realize there are more powerful V6es in bigger/heavier cars that can do better. (Camaro, Charger, Accord, Avalon to name a few) MyFordTouch/Sync is absolutely abysmal and dated. The voice recognition got it right exactly ZERO times.... in fact sometimes it got it laughingly wrong. Me saying "Tune XM 51" would result in "Tuning AM 430" or "Tuning XM 220", as just an example. MyFordTouch/Sync is so bad that it makes me avoid Ford vehicles in general. I only took this one because it was the newest car on the National Car Rental lot and I've already had the Chrysler 200 (a car that I like) a bunch of times. My other choice was a new Sonata, but I was already pretty tired so I didn't want to go into a coma or a Neu Beetle, but that didn't have a USB input. William is also correct about the system lag. This extends to the physical buttons as well. I accidentally activated the front heated seat via the touch screen and noticed it a minute later. I tried to shut it off via the physical buttons, yet repeated taps did not change the setting. It took more than 6 taps to get a reply. The sound from the Sony audio system is great. Better than the Bose that GM puts in Chevy and Buicks, but not quite to the level of the Fender system available in some VWs (my personal favorite in the "family car" segment). Much ado has been made about the Titanium trim level, but I just don't see it. The quality of the materials isn't improved over lesser Fusions. Titanium on a Fusion does not a Buick make. In the end, the Fusion is a fantastic car for long distance, high speed travel with a bit of spirit. Yet the experience is terribly hobbled by the horrendous MyFordTouch/Sync system. At $38,820 (William's car) or $31,460 (estimated MSRP of my car), there are any number of excellent alternatives to consider too.

I really like the new look. I hope the GMC gets an update as well.

He was one of my favorite characters on West Wing. Congrats I'm having a bit of a rought time lately and haven't been on much. Thank you all for behaving yourselves.

Yes, that's fine as long as it doesn't get political.

Hah, I know exactly where that picture was taken and was likely there that day.

Our Verano will be the Astra.

As a Buick driver of the least "traditional" of all the Buicks currently offered, I do actually like the ads. Last December at one family holiday gathering, my partner and I were talking with his cousin. She knows that I regularly get cars in from the manufacturers to drive and review. She had pulled in and parked right behind us at the same time we arrived. Later that evening she asked me which car I had this week. I said, "Oh, that's not a test car. That's our car." She replied "Oh okay, well what is it?". I said "It's a Buick Encore". She quickly said "That's not a Buick!..... oh wait... I just did the commercial" She drives an older Volvo XC90 and usually doesn't care about cars. So yeah, I'd say the Buick commercials had an impact.

Lancia's dismissal has already been announced I believe. At this point they are just using up the parts they are contractually obligated to buy from suppliers.

Haul a lot of bricks and stone in your Corvette lately?

The Denali was originally intended to be the Cadillac, it was developed that way first and then Cadillac rejected it so it went to GMC. A year later Cadillac called "BACKSIES!"

$49,950 would probably be a fair starting price. If that's your stance on concepts... why ever do a concept?

I was going to say the same thing but I was getting tired of him downvoting me. I think it's a reflex action at this point.On a serious note: this is precisely what any level-headed car guy could see coming a mile away. Ford will not be doing anything serious in the near-lux/luxury game until the D6 platform drops. As it stands this will have trouble keeping up with the Hyundai Equus, never mind Cadillac or the Europeans. It all depends on pricing. As I said, we really can't see much under the camo. If it keeps most of the look of the concept it will easily do better than the Equus and K900. If it matches the XTS's highpoint in sales while having a higher pricepoint, I'd consider that successful for a brand as damaged as Lincoln. I think we're putting too much weight on what is expected of the Continental. It doesn't need to out S-Class the S-Class... it just needs to make a compelling argument as to why the Lincoln brand should continue. I think it has a really good chance of providing that.

Bairel Cadillac picks up your car for service and leaves you with the loaner. The loaners were almost always STSes back when I had a CTS. So it doesn't really matter which garage the oil is changed in.

Too much camo to tell us much of anything unfortunately... but the proportions seem to be different than the concept and not in a positive way.

You're comparing to the wrong vehicle. At $100k, you're in Escalade ESV Platinum AWD territory. The vehicle to compare that to is the GMC Yukon XL Denali. Once you check all the boxes to get to feature parity with the Escalade ESV (and still come up a bit short), the price is $78k. These are clearly not vehicles for budget minded consumers... the escalade has a much nicer interior than the GMC and I could see that plus the branding as being important to drivers in this segment. None of whom will care (as sales number prove) about the configuration of the rear axle.

EVERYBODY STOP TALKING ABOUT HOW CARS ARE ALL ELECTRONIC AND DISENGAGING NOW! Mine isn't [sharedmedia=garage:vehicles:70]

zactly.Kind of a amazing that people will pay over $100K for truck axled SUV. I saw this pop up on my email and I automatically assumed it was SMK our resident Mercedes Fanboi/Cadillac hater. I was wrong.However, like him you seem to be more concerned with the "how" rather than the results. The Escalade provides on of the best combinations of ride and handling in this class. The GL is far too soft and the Navigator is truck like. Hmmph, begin to understand you do! Schtick gets old it does. He can have his opinion and I have mine. Mine just happens to be the right one

Good thing I have plenty of manhood so that I'm not threatened by a little knob..... and I also don't need to make up for any lack of feeling by grabbing a big thick shift lever. Did you just call OCNBLU a 'little knob'? Wow!!! Talk about being an internet bully!!! Or Monica Lewinsky. I believe she wrote a book about it... I completely agree Olds. If everything is going to be electronic might as well save space and just make it a dial. Aaaaand like 'Bong said with his being nice aluminum it probably doesn't have that cheap feeling to it like some actual shifters do. I had some time to think about that...but Scott Evans and Christian Seabaugh over at Motor Trend made me over come that status quo fear. Then I realized how stupid and clumsy an automatic gear shifter really looks like...especially when everything is electrics now-a-days...and yeah...like 'Bong saiys about the aluminium trim... However...as you know...because we feel the same way about it...I dont like push button start...because I like the feel of a V8 engine turning over and roaring to life from the key itself... You realize that even most twist to start keys are effectively push button also right? The computer controls the starting cycle and won't allow you to overstart or understart the car anymore.

zactly. Kind of a amazing that people will pay over $100K for truck axled SUV. I saw this pop up on my email and I automatically assumed it was SMK our resident Mercedes Fanboi/Cadillac hater. I was wrong. However, like him you seem to be more concerned with the "how" rather than the results. The Escalade provides on of the best combinations of ride and handling in this class. The GL is far too soft and the Navigator is truck like.