Drew Dowdell

I voted for the Avenir because I think it is a bigger departure from where the brand is today. The CT6 is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but I expected the CT6 to be what it is. The Continental is nice, and it is a departure from the current Lincoln norm, however I have my doubts as to how much of it will end up in production. Just like when I get my review at work Cadillac CT6 - Meets Expectations Buick Avenir - Exceeds Expectations Lincoln Continental - Needs Improvement

SMK is right that price killed the ELR, which sucks because it is a great vehicle with one of the finest interiors Cadillac makes at the moment (until the CT6 comes online... and even then it's close) I could totally see picking one of these up used in a few years for Albert if we end up moving. He'd love it.

Now just need an Escalade EXT flower car.

Oh, missed this. Did not not know about the BOLT or I forgot, either way. Good to hear, but checked on the price, maybe a good deal, but does it compare to the Spark? Wondering, how long is it going to take for the Spark to be available in other states? Not understanding why their limiting it to certain states, is it some kind of kick back? The Spark EV is what we call a "Compliance Car". California and Oregon (don't know about Maryland, but possibly) have passed laws that state that a certain number of each manufacturers vehicles must be zero emissions. Thus, cars like the Spark EV and Honda Fit EV are built just to be "in compliance" Chevy likely loses a bunch of money on each Spark EV, so their goal is to sell just enough of them to meet the law's requirements and not a single one more than that. The Chevy Bolt, while still just a concept, is heading to production and will be a vehicle sold globally.

Wow! 373 lb-ft is really really good

Yes, of course they'll be cross shopped. I just don't see one "killing" the others in the market. There are going to be a whole bunch of options very soon and I don't see any one model completely dominating the rest.

It's actually about the same price as a loaded Encore. The Encore is far more luxury inside though, primarily through using nicer materials. I haven't driven a Renegade yet, but I'm betting that it is a lot louder inside and doesn't ride like the Buick out on the highway. Albert likes the look of the Renegade, but could never abide by its interior. He tried it out at the NY auto show last year. The 138hp in the Encore isn't an issue for him. It feels perky enough around town and gets him to turnpike speeds just fine. He thinks the Encore is more powerful than our 160hp CRV, but that's all in the gearing so whatever... As I said earlier... two different types of Customers.

For someone who lives in a metro area with lots of public chargers, these would make a lot of sense as a city car. Getting over 50% of your car payment back in fuel savings is not to shabby. That works out to be a $56 per month car payment in this case. BV, the Spark EV is the only small Chevy that would stand a chance against an Avalon. The only one I can think of that would be closer might be the Malibu Turbo.

A drag race between a 185hp bar of soap and and a 170hp bar of soap....... oh boy! that's the way to spend a friday evening!

William and I both were posting this same article at the same time and didn't realize it. His got pushed out first. Mine has some additional info and thoughts though, so I figure I'll put mine here in the comments so my efforts don't go to waste. -------------------------------- If you live in California or Oregon, congratulations, you live in one of two states where Chevrolet sells the electric version of their Spark city car. Maryland will be joining that list later this year. In addition to adding Maryland to the limited list of states where the Spark EV is sold, Chevy is dropping the base price on the by $1,675 for a new base MSRP of $25,995. California customers may qualify for a $2,500 rebate while Maryland customers may qualify for a $2,300 tax exemption. Chevrolet is currently offering incentives of $1,000 in California, $1,200 in Maryland, and $3,500 in Oregon. If customers qualify for all federal and state tax incentives plus the incentives from GM, a Spark EV customer can drive off for as little as $14,995. Chevy is also offering a sign and drive, 39 month lease with $0 down and $139 per month. Savvy consumers will notice that at that lease price, the Spark EV will offer enough savings in fuel costs to cover up to 56% of the monthly payment. With the assumption of 24mpg combined for the average car and 12 cents per kWh, Chevrolet estimates that the average consumer could save up to $83 per month in fuel costs. Another benefit is the ability to use HOV lanes as a single driver in Maryland and California. The Spark EV comes with a 19 kWh lithium-ion battery that is warrantied for 8 years or 100,000 miles. Range is 82 miles when fully charged. Available as a $750 option is an SAE combo charger for fast DC Charging. Unlike other EVs on the road, the Spark can take multiple DC fast charges per day without damaging the batteries. DC fast charging allows the Spark to take on 80 percent battery capacity in about 20 minutes. Home charging using a wall mount 240V connection (Available for $463) completes in under 7 hours. A 120 volt charge cord comes standard. Spark EV's electric drive unit produces 140 horsepower and 327 lb-ft of torque which can scoot the car to 60 in 7.2 seconds. At this time, the Spark EV will not be moving to the new 2016 Chevrolet Spark body style that debuted earlier this month in New York. Source: Chevrolet Media

We have all heard the pluses and minuses of using of using corn to create automotive fuel, but what if using corn as a basis for fuel was the right idea and the issue was that we went about it the wrong way? At Virginia Tech, a team of researchers have discovered a new way to to make hydrogen fuel from the parts of the corn plant not used for food; the stalks, cobs, and husks. By using these waste parts the researchers have removed one of the large objections to corn fuel; using food as a fuel source. Hydrogen fuel from plant sources is not new. However the Virginia Tech team has found a different method that breaks down two most common plant sugars, xylose and glycose, simultaneously. By working on both sugars simultaneously, the process releases hydrogen 10 times faster than than existing photo based hydrogen production systems. Most current hydrogen production facilities use natural gas, a fossil fuel, as a source. The process uses a mixture of waste bio-mass combined with a solution of enzymes that convert plant sugar into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The enzymes were created using genetically engineered bacteria. How much will it cost? That the researchers cannot answer yet. However, with the increased reaction speed and increased production volume, they predict that a production facility be no larger than a gas station, thus reducing capital costs. This also means that production could be widely distributed, reducing the need to transport the fuel. According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, there are only 13 publicly available hydrogen fueling stations in the entire U.S. By addressing the issues of production rate, distribution, and fuel source, these new methods could be the solution to a primary problem facing hydrogen cars. The selection of hydrogen powered cars is fairly limited, with just Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz producing vehicles in very limited numbers. Related: Toyota's Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle has a Name and Price Source: Phys.org View full article

It's kinda ridic what you can option a renegade up to though

Cheeky indeed. Trax will probably get slaughtered by this thing. Two different customers I think Yes and no. On a primary level, the Trax fits in with the HRv's, CX-3's, etc. However, I think people will cross shop due to 4wd and general price point, and they likely will be classfied into the same size group. They will probably be compared in magazine comparos. You will get shoppers that will go down the ladder from Cherokee due to not being able to afford or want to spend so much and they will look at the Renegade. Of course now the Terrain and Equinox are too big or expensive for some. The Renegade appeals more to the "I really want a Wrangler, but can't justify it" set. The Trax appeals to the "I'd buy a Sonic, but I want AWD and to sit high up" set. I like the Renegade, I really do, however the Chevy has the better interior for anyone who isn't out there in the mud. All Chevy has to do is point out that they have the better AWD system (and aside from Trailhawk versions of the Renegade and Cherokee, it's true) to ease the mommy fears about going in snow.

Shouldn't be a surprise since there are so many SMKs running around out there crapping on Cadillac no matter what the specs are.

Nissan debuted their 2016 Nissan Maxima at the New York Auto Show on April 2nd, and I was among the first to get to tag along for a drive in a pre-production model later that evening. I will get to the ride along later, but first some background. Going on sale in the summer, the new Maxima ups the ante over the outgoing model with very bold styling. No longer the conservative, big brother to the Nissan Altima, the new Maxima sports the new "V-Motion" style grille that first debuted on the 2015 Nissan Murano. The Maxima, once nearly a legend in its segment, has been in the doldrums lately. One of the problems with the current Maxima is that it is really no larger than the Altima yet costs substantially more money. Customers comparing a base V6 Maxima and a base V6 Altima could see up to a $4,800 difference in sticker price, and a loaded V6 Altima SL with all the options checked has a sticker price virtually identical to that of the base Maxima. With a value equation like that, it is not hard to see why Maxima sales were still one of the dark spots in the Nissan lineup, despite Nissan having a record breaking year in 2014 with an 11% sales increase. Related: Review - 2013 Nissan Maxima SV With the 2016 Maxima, Nissan hopes to change the value proposition. As is the trend across the industry lately, the Maxima is larger while dropping weight. Horsepower has increased to an even 300, up 10hp over the outgoing model and torque remains at 261 lb-ft. The only transmission will be a new version of Nissan's front-wheel drive CVT which features a wider range of ratios to allow for quicker starts and lower RPM cruising speeds. During aggressive driving, the CVT can “down-shift” more rapidly than before and will hold engine RPM when it detects high-G cornering to improve acceleration out of a turn. Click to Enlarge Up Next – The Ride Along On the final evening of the 2015 New York Auto Show, I was invited on a ride-along in a pre-production 2016 Nissan Maxima SR. This, the third highest trim the Maxima will be offered in, is also the sportiest. The SR trim will come with a sport-tuned suspension, 19” wheels, paddle shifters for CVT control, a more aggressive CVT sport mode, front chassis performance damper, and a larger front stabilizer bar. Arguably the most important change to the Maxima is with the interior. I described the inside of the 2012 Nissan Maxima during my review as “Modern minimalist”. In 2012, I was being polite. By 2015, the interior is decidedly dated. For 2016, the conservative interior is replaced with a bold and luxurious feeling design. Related: Road Masters - 2012 Nissan Maxima Review While this was a pre-production car, materials and fit appeared to be excellent. There is a deep, useful center console with contrast stitched rails on either side, an attractive departure from industry norm. The controls here feel more up-market than the brand suggests. Nissan has moved away from the push button seat temperature controls to the dial type found on the Nissan pathfinder. As this was an SR, the seats come with a faux-suede seat trim stitched in a triangle pattern. The front seats are Nissan's Zero-Gravity type up front, though they didn't feel quite as comfortable as those I have sampled in the Nissan Altima. The flat-bottom steering wheel rim is thicker than what is typical with sumptuous feeling materials including perforated leather. The steering wheel even features a homage to the V-Motion front grille. Click to Enlarge During our ride through Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, one of the first things that stood out to me was how much quieter the Maxima was over its predecessor; likely a product of the new chassis and active noise control which not only quiets ambient noise, but also pumps select engine sounds into the passenger cabin. Most of the ride was spent in the SR's sport-mode. In city traffic, this made the Maxima feel stiff and throttle response feel jumpy even to those of us not behind the wheel. I will need more time in the car, and behind the wheel, to get an accurate perception of the Maxima's performance characteristics. Standard on all Maximas is Nissan's next generation NissanConnect with Navigation. It features an 8.0 inch color display with multi-touch. With the multi-touch feature, users will have familiar smart-phone like controls such a pinch-to-zoom and swiping for easier use. While I did not get to get deep into the system, I found it to be crisply responsive to commands and generally easy to find my way around. Unlike some of the Maxima's competitors, Nissan wisely decided to stick with real buttons instead of capacitive touch controls. The Platinum trim will offer a whole host of additional tech features including a drowsy driver alert. The 2016 Maxima will have a limited option list and instead be offered in five trims. The base Maxima S starts at $33,235, putting it about $1,000 more than the base 2015 model. That also makes the 2016 Maxima about $1,000 more than a base 2015 Toyota Avalon XLE and about $1800 more than a base 2015 Chrysler 300 Limited, both of which will be recently refreshed by the time the 2016 Maxima goes on sale. You can read about the entire list of features and options in our New York Auto Show: 2016 Nissan Maxima article. Related: Chicago Auto Show: 2016 Toyota Avalon, LA Auto Show: 2015 Chrysler 300 The original Maxima was considered one of the best family sedans on the market in its day, but it then faded into the background and has been largely unchanged and ignored since 2009. Do you think this bold new styling will allow the former king to regain his crown? Sound off below. The Live Shots Album has been updated with additional pictures since its original publication. Disclaimer: The Pre-Production 2016 Nissan Maxima was provided by Nissan to an event I attended after the 2015 New York Auto Show Press Days View full article

I think it needs more engine to do that sadly.. Every time I see the PR guy from Buick, I bug him about putting the 1.6T into the Encore..... so you can't say I'm not working on it.

Cheeky indeed. Trax will probably get slaughtered by this thing. Two different customers I think

Suzuki, Mazda, or Mitsubishi.... they have experience, somewhere inside the FCA mothership, of working with each of them already. FCA needs better 4-cylinders, Mazda has them. Mazda needs better V6es, Chrysler has them. Suzuki is big in Asian markets and could likely team up for smaller turbo4s, AWD systems, and possibly small car platforms. Mitsubishi just needs help...

After a certain point, there is no point to more gears beyond bragging rights.