Drew Dowdell
Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell
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There is dealership experience and then there is not knowing the dealership exists because there is no sign.
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But not if the guy at the tour says "... and to buy one, find your local Opel dealer... have the receptionist show you into the back on the other side of the service department... and we'll let you play with the US Build-a-car site for a bit... just don't select any V6 engines on the ATS."
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What will come out in the news in a widespread way, if it hasn't already, is that a warning was issued to airlines and air traffic control about 4 hours prior to this flight taking off not to cross this part of Ukraine airspace. But apparently a ML Airbus A380 passed on this same flight-path just a few minutes before.... that would have about doubled the loss of life if they hit that one.
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Malaysian Airlines Plane Shot Down over Ukraine Two planes have been shot down this week in the conflict, what isn't this a no-fly zone for commercial airliners?? Such a sad loss of life.
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IcanhazOpelAdam?
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I've driven both back to back (old version of the Tahoe) and it would be a tough call for me to make if I were given the choice to pick one for free base on ride and drive. The Tahoe does drive more truck-like, but not by much. Handling and maneuverability is a bit of a wash on these types of vehicles too.... but I got called a "He's just a good ol' boy" by my co-worker in reference to Dukes of Hazard for my ability to wheel a Suburban from New Jersey through NYC rush hour traffic and into Queens and back. I never felt the Suburban was unwieldy, but neither is the Durango. I had the Expedition in this same time-frame and hated it... an absolute dinosaur of an SUV. My favorite SUV rentals are GCs, Durangos, Suburban/Tahoe, Enclave... or if none of those are available and a Flex is, I'll take that. I've had new Pathfinders, the Infiniti QX-Pathfinder, the Edge and they were decent movers, but not as good as the Lambdas.... and a far cry from the Durango/GC.
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It loses a lot of the off-road abilities in the translation from Nissan to Infiniti. Gone is the multi-setting 4x4 with rock, snow, and crawl mode, instead you get a run-of-the-mill AWD with Auto/4hi/4lo mode. Gone is hill descent control and electronic locking rear differential in favor of Adaptive Cruise Control and other on-road stuff.
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In the XTS, it was detuned because the engine is turned 90 degrees and there is an exhaust restriction.... it's only 10 HP. The Halex system can send something like 90% of the torque to the rear if need be, so I doubt it has anything to do with torque steer. The CTS V-Sport is RWD only... though in the AWD models with lesser engines, it would be a different transmission and AWD system.
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Aside from the fact that most ride on Dubs these days, Range Rovers (not Land Rover, that's the entire brand) are still one of the most capable off-roaders one can buy that side of a Wrangler. Pretty much your only other choice that would equal the Range Rover off-road is a loaded Grand Cherokee with the height adjustable suspension. That means, yes, the uni-body Range Rover and Jeep GC are more capable off-road than a Trailblazer, Tahoe, or Suburban.
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I would imagine there is a substantial amount of tuning variance available in the TTV6. They could make it a low end torque monster or pump up the horsepower a bit in the upper RPM range but push the torque plateau further up in the RPM band. Have you driven the TTV6 yet Z? If not, you really should, it is such a fantastic engine. I really wouldn't even mind if Cadillac dropped the V8 in favor of it just to give Cadillac more differentiation.... I doubt they would, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.
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Grand Cherokee has always been unibody. Now, unless we're going to retroactively add to the generally accepted crossover meaning of "an SUV built on a car platform with less SUV capability...." Showing my age as Jeep used to make true SUV's that were Body on Frame. With the Grand Cherokee, it became from the very first generation a CUV. I think the only SUV Jeep makes is the Wrangler now. Not really. The term Crossover, when it came about, generally meant a SUV that was built on a platform originally meant for a car. So, vehicles like the CR-V (Civic related), RAV-4 (Corolla related), Aztek (Chevy Lumina APV/ Venture related), and Lexus RX (Toyota Camry related). The Grand Cherokee, from the start, was only ever built on its own platform. Yet tiny SUVs like the Geo Tracker and the very first Kia Sportage were true small SUVs and not crossovers because they were body on frame and not based on a car. (The Sportage was very distantly related to a commercial Mazda van chassis). But just being Unibody doesn't mean the GC is a crossover. The Range Rover has been Unibody since 2002 and no one would consider that "not an SUV"
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No way on the Explorer over the Durango... just not even a contest. The Lambdas aren't really that dated and they are the cargo kings of the segment... but they are more soft-roaders than the Durango. The Durango you could take on a rutted country trail... the Enclave not so much.
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