Drew Dowdell

and VW's DSG is really good too.

Grand Marquis de Sade in de side. This one is at a body shop not too far from my house.

Not everyone. Coming to the market with a different rather than identical offering to the Jetta is a good thing.

There is another flaw in fuel economy and yet another in weight and yet another in interior build quality.

They re-do the oil change and perform a fuel system cleaning.

I think there is a bit of a faulty cause and effect here....

Perhaps we should be calling into question the classification of "full size" then because I see what you mean about the Fusion. BTW, interior volume only matters if you are filling the interior with sand. Enterprise tried that trick with me once... trying to pass off the HHR as a "full size car" based on passenger volume. But my point remains, the Passat and the Taurus are within the same size class based on the numbers, along with Avalon and Maxima as well. BTW, two more that screw with this size class are the Altima and Sonata.

No, the CC is smaller inside and out.

You think so? I sat in both, and the Taurus still feels more spacious, at least in the driver's seat. That said, the Taurus does have some weird angles inside that intrude in odd places. Also, though it's not here, VW still has the Phaeton in the portfolio as the company full-sizer. I'd say that the Passat is still there as the midsizer, both in starting price and engine offerings. (And yeah, exterior size...) The numbers back it up. The Passat certainly deserves to be compared based up against the Taurus, Maxima, and Avalon for size. (I don't have the new Impala specs yet)

They did more than just change the logo... they replaced all of the classic nameplates to woo new (i.e. younger) consumers to the brand. that happened after the logo change. When the logo was changed, there was still an 88, Cutlass, Bravada, Silhouette, and Aurora. By the time the Intrigue came about, the writing was already on the wall.

Yeah, if any platform is the W-body these days, it's the Epsilon.

and all Oldsmobile did was change the logo....

That looks AWESOME! It's a shame they won't bring it here.

Passat Accord If you're going to leave off the Lacrosse and Cadenza, then the Azera should go too. Passat and Accord don't list the aforementioned as their competitors, so I didn't mention. They're very much still in the midsize market... like the 6-foot-tall kid on the 5th grade basketball team. I left off the LaCrosse because of the Impala, and I left off the Cadenza in favor of the Azera. I will concede your point about the Accord because is is just barely in the class if you don't order it with the sunroof... but the Passat definitely deserves to be included as a full sizer. It feels much roomier inside than a Taurus.

Watch the CTS in 6 weeks for the upper limit of where Alpha can get to in size. Above that there is the Omega platform coming, while that will be Cadillac only at first, it will have to filter to others as well. That's there this car will likely end up.

Nopers.

I've been driving a Sonic RS this week, and I've gotta say, it is way funner than it ought to be.

That's all business right there.

Passat Accord If you're going to leave off the Lacrosse and Cadenza, then the Azera should go too.

I'm sure they are all off the line performers and then after about 45mph there is nothing left. They were meant for great take off feel around the suburbs for when Mom was trying to pull out of the Winne Dixie in a jiffy.

tsk tsk.. you know the name of the game for these wagons is measured in lb-ft.

This is how Ocn finds his dates for Valentine’s day.