riviera74

I honestly have not seen a Yaris on the road in a long time (like, several years). Too many RAV-4s and CR-Vs instead. Only in the USA is a subcompact treated as a penalty box, especially in light of the used car market. Nobody wants a subcompact car.

Not true. According to this article here, 70% of all automotive air pollution is caused by Class 8 trucks (think tractor-trailers and the like). The mandate starts in 2024 but the mandate is not 100% until 2045. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/06/california-set-to-ban-all-heavy-diesel-trucks-and-vans-by-2045/ https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2020/06/california-regulators-order-massive-shift-to-battery-hydrogen-power-for-trucks-vans/

I know. Same here. Then again, when your auto sales mix is heavy on BOF trucks and SUVs with Vortec V8 power, emissions and fuel efficiency will fall by the wayside. Same with HEMI power and the Tundra's V8. Emission requirements are such that they want you to only have 4cyl engines, as if everyone should be driving a Honda or a Subaru. And most Hyundai/KIA cars these days.

Am I the only one wondering if this set of ratings will be the same three years from now? Especially when today's vehicles are subject to the dependability ratings for 2023?

It's all about CEO compensation. Ever since the early 80s, CEO compensation has been tied to stock prices. Basically, the CEO tells everyone to cut costs at all costs. Hence: make it cheaper, make it common. Do SNAFUs exist in design and engineering? Yes, see head gasket issues in the Northstar. Can there be assembly line issues? Yes. But the majority (I would say vast majority) of problems point to poor management and short-term thinking.

Yaris sales fell off a cliff, compared to Corolla and especially the RAV-4 and the CH-R. Nobody buys new subcompact cars because they can buy a used compact for the same price. I doubt there will be any subcompacts in the US market after a couple of years. NOBODY will miss the Yaris at all.

Remember when GM had head gasket problems in the Northstar engines some years back? Management. I remember having the transmission on my (former) 1999 Park Avenue Ultra rebuilt after 75000 miles. My current Lucerne never needed a rebuilt transmission. Engineering may have played a role, but GM Bean counters and Management are the real source of cheap poor quality. Management's answer to everything: make it cheaper and make it common. That is the biggest reason for the fall of GM especially. These days are a lot better than it was pre-BK.

But Europe LOVES station wagons. Once the minivan came out in 1984, wagon sales here started to drop until they were less than half by 1990.

IOW, the Arteon is a poor value and should be easy to ignore. As for how the A4 repairs would be twice as high? Simple: when you take the A4 into a VW dealer, the service department will automatically charge more for parts to repair your A4 than they would any ordinary VW. Sometimes twice as much. All based on the VIN.

Problem with Audi A4 money is Audi A4 repair bills are at least twice as high as a VW repair bill. Pass on this sedan.

That badly polluted?

Build quality is NOT a labor issue (union or nonunion). It is a management issue. Management makes those decisions period. GM/Ford/FCA for a long time had quality control issues of various sorts going back to at least the mid-1970s. The Japanese (Nissan aside) largely decided that quality does matter and actually execute on that. (Yes Toyota is coasting now, but I digress.) The Germans: do not even start with their supremely expensive repair bills after 5 years or so. Anyone remember when Hyundai and KIA were awful in the quality department? What did they do? The 10 year warranty. Since 2001, that warranty put the onus on them (not the customer) to dramatically improve vehicle quality. If you think the UAW is militant, drop by South Korea and deal with their unions. The real issue is simple: the Detroit three decided that cheapening product fed their bottom line and basically told their customers that they did not matter. In 1968, the D3 could get away with that. By 1988, that was no longer the case. I think that it matters MORE that the car in question is of high quality and can last a long time (with routine maintenance). Where it is assembled and where the OEM parts come from do NOT matter to most customers. You build quality; you get repeat and new customers. You build junk; your market share completely disappears eventually. Americans have no loyalty to Detroit because a lot of them have been burned in the past and carry that baggage to their next car purchase. Address that and the rest will follow.

Loss of market share is why GM and Ford and FCA have closed plants. Demand went elsewhere (Honda, Toyota etc.). What is more "American": a Hyundai/KIA built in Alabama, a BMW built in SC, or a GM built in Spring Hill TN?

Perhaps Acura should make the MDX the same size as the Telluride/Palisade and make it just as posh. That would leave room for a slightly larger RDX and allow a subcompact CUV for entry-level Acura buyers.

Correction: that is the Worst Looking Truck ever!

Elon Musk aside, who actually LIKES the Tesla Cyber Truck?!

They only have two. Buick and Cadillac and Chevy have at least three. I believe some automakers have four or more. Acura could probably use one more to compete against the Encore or XT4.

I have a local mechanic that buys parts from well-known suppliers for their quality, if only to ensure that the job is done right and he does not have to fix the problem twice. Yes he has his own shop, with all the lifts and fixings.

I believe the MDX covers the Acura version of the Pilot. Why Acura has no true equivalent of the Honda CR-V and HR-V is a mystery to me. (Some may argue that the RDX fills the CR-V role).

Blame the 90s and the merger with Daimler for the death of Plymouth. Same thing happened to Eagle after Chrysler bought AMC in 1988.

Too bad GM gave up on making V6 engines as competitive as the V8 engines from an earlier era. The 3800/3900 aside, GM V6 engines were kinda mediocre. The DOHC 3.6 is not what a GM engine should be. A pushrod v6 derived from the Vortec V8 engines would probably be much better just about everywhere. Only problem: the sixes have been replaced by turbo fours. SAD.

If that interior pic is an indication of what will be in the new 2021 Envision, a lot of people will be happy to buy this one over this year's model. Does the "avoid year one" of a model still apply in this case?

Wise decision for Mazda NOT to sell the BT-50 here. The competition would eat it alive. As for the Santa Cruz, I doubt Hyundai will gain much market share with that unibody truck. At least not here. Who buys the Ridgeline now? Who would buy this unibody truck?

Given the question of those turbocharged 1978 Buick Regals, I wonder how long the current crop of Buick CUVs (with their turbocharged 4cyl) will last in 20 years (Enclave aside).

All this is happening because the market went CUV/SUV. The RDX A-spec is necessary for Acura to do well, especially since the death of the RLX and the diminution of the TLX. Now, will Cadillac please upgrade their interiors so that they are competitive with the Telluride/Palisade on all their XT models?