cp-the-nerd

Great in-depth review... but this thread is nothing without PICS!! I like how you're ironing out one specific problem at a time and how you can fix them to make the truck perfect for you. That's how you can pick out a true enthusiast. Make sure you keep this updated when you upgrade the brakes, tires, and headlights. Get some pics from your local dirt trails too!

The diamonds stop on the underside, they have to be able to resize the ring afterall! I picked it out. We looked at rings together a few times so I knew what she liked, but I told her I liked other ones so she wasn't expecting this style. She can't stop looking at it, haha.

I drove a 2014 Fusion SE 2.0EB last year at a driving event (which I posted about in member reviews). The car is hit and miss with me on a number of aspects. - I'm not a fan of the exterior styling, it's not that I think it's ugly or anything, I just lose all interest if something is strongly derivative. - I also wasn't impressed with the interior. Particularly the MFT center stack, which is a cheap looking matte plastic that has no physical landmarks for your hand to follow so you're constantly forced to take your eyes off the road. "But it has voice recognition" you say. That's a lame excuse for a bad looking, non-functional central control panel for all of the interior functions. Every other midsize car does it better. All of them. - There's also the manual mode, which offers paddle shifters. If you're using this in any sort of spirited fashion, you'll find yourself fighting the car's automatic shifts every time you push higher in the rev range. - I'd rather have a duratec V6 than the 2.0L Ecoboost. Now as far as the good: + The Fusion has excellent steering and handling. You can put the car where you want even at 9/10ths and feel complete control. The ride/handling trade off is great. Very little body roll without any sort of punishment from the suspension. + One of the best brake pedals I've ever used. Great feel and easy to modulate. + Good seats. Sporty and attractive, yet comfortable. + Fairly quiet. Not the most isolated inside, but in the upper part of the class, and plenty refined.

Thanks guys! Glad to hear there are still some happy marriages out there. Pics:

Congrats! What's it look like..?!? I'll post a picture after work. It's got as much diamond as I personally find tasteful. All her female friends and relatives seem to like it.

My only complaint is all the new panel seams because the new design has to fit in place of the old one. Ideally, you'd want the body color pieces to flow continuously from headlight to headlight. If the fit and finish isn't really good, it's going to show much more in this new face.

Conrats! Thanks! I've had the ring for 2 months and she kept screwing up my plans to propose, obviously she was blissfully unaware. We live together so it made everything much more difficult.

I think this is a strong mid-cycle redesign. It's early and happening right during a surge in sales, likely to build even more momentum, and certainly shut up the nay sayers who said the 2014 truck didn't change enough visually. The 8-speed 5.3L truck could be a perfectly balanced package with another MPG and better acceleration.

I put a ring on it last night.

HF V6 cars do little till over 3500 rpm?? You need to have a seat in my tuned Malibu. Even stock it would burn out on command with TC off. The transverse DI V6s are just electronically limited on the low end. That's why a 4000 lb CTS 3.6L (LFX) would run 0-60 in 6.2 seconds and a 4000 lb XTS with the same exact engine would take closer to 7 seconds.

I work on a 27 inch 2560x1440 screen all day at work (iMac). It's adequate, but frustrating for real multitasking, and the resolution is overkill for graphics or streaming video so the primary benefit is more on-screen real-estate. Functionally, I'll take two medium sized monitors over one large screen any day. For $450 you can get a pair of high-end 26-27 inch 1080p monitors (drool...). As far as... -Multiple HDMI ports for other devices - that's what a TV is for. Even my 8 year old LCD TV has 2 hdmi, 2 component, a USB port, and SD card slot. -Built in speakers - Meh, no good for dual screen set ups. -USB hub - $10 value -Headphone jack - already included on the computer and most stand alone speakers.

I was just reading a review of the refreshed Lacrosse, and the author made a surprising point that I hadn't considered. Personally, I disliked the Buick commercials with their dorky music and over-sold punchline: "That's too nice and stylish, it can't be a Buick." But I'm an enthusiast, I already know about cars, I'm not the audience they want. What if that message rang loud and clear with their target demo? What if people--who didn't know Buick still existed--suddenly realized the brand had evolved back into slick luxury cars, cars worth cross shopping? Maybe it's such a simple concept that it's genius. Here's an excerpt from the link: "Everywhere I went in the 2015 LaCrosse, there was somebody referencing the ad campaign. “That’s not a Buick!” Immediately, and seemingly the only proper response, I would shout back, “That’s what I told them!” On paper, this seems meaningless. But think about it: there are some brands that would kill for that kind of brand recognition. And with an industry as large as the automotive world, it’s good to stand out. Marketing and advertising is an effort to create awareness for a product, and what better measure of success than real-life reactions? Immediately after that brief exchange of mimicking the same ads many poke fun at, whoever I happened to be with wanted a look at the 2015 LaCrosse. Mind you, some of these people weren’t auto enthusiasts like you and I, so they enthused over the “sharp” exterior styling, the “eerily” quiet cabin and the “awesome” infotainment system. I felt as if the cameras should have been rolling on me. Those silly ads evoked a whole new set of eyes to view Buick in, and it ranged from younger, to middle-aged adults." http://gmauthority.com/blog/2015/07/buicks-marketing-message-prevailed-while-i-drove-a-2015-lacrosse/

GM races in a number of series with both Cadillac and Chevy models, quite successfully I might add. CTS-V.R ATS-V.R Chevy Indy Car Camaro Z/28.R Corvette C7.R

Even a mild tune on the new 1.4T would put out 170 hp/200 lb-ft on a completely stock car. That would be a sweet compact.

I have to ask.. What is the difference between that and a 32" TV? Don't most modern TVs have inputs to be used as monitors? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is resolution. Don't computers/monitors use a much higher resolution than 1080p? There isn't a major difference, LED tv's advertise with the same specs as computer monitors. That monitor is 1440p, which is higher than typical HD, because computer monitors are expected to be viewed at 2 feet away. $480 is competitively priced, but I wouldn't say it's a "deal". I'm sure Beats Audio branding inflated the price too. I got my dual 23" 1080p monitors for $330 combined over a year ago. Proportionately similar pixel density, more usable workspace. Sure I sacrificed having the highest possible color contrast and true-to-life black, but that's how you get value.

153 hp and 177 lb-ft makes it one of the most powerful standard engines in a compact, and the weight loss will make it among the lightest. On paper, it has every chance to rival the Mazda 3 in dynamics. The Corolla uses an engine over a decade old, and both that and the Honda Civic have switched to CVTs. With the Sentra down graded to a non-player in the segment these days, the Cruze has plenty of room to take top honors in the class.

I think it's a particular case with Lincoln. People have been begging for greatness, they don't want a significantly dumbed down flagship in 2016. A lot of hopes ride on the production version of the Continental.

The downsized wheel arches and smaller wheels (looks like 18s?) really change the visual heft of the car from the concept. Is there any news on the refreshed MKZ?

What's the policy on posting watermarked images? Just wanted to show the difference in the front overhang, in particular. Even with enormous wheels, the concept had a much better dash to axle ratio. The production version might even have a larger rear overhang too, but that's harder to tell.

With the V-series models and updated powertrains next year, I would like to see roughly 2500 to 3000 monthly sales from the ATS and CTS. Of course, in order to achieve that they'll need decent advertising. The cars can't simply be world class, people have to KNOW about them.

The new gym? Haven't heard that expression before.

Ugh. My work just hired some blonde girl to fill some sort of marketing (??) position, nobody really knows. She is so f@#king dumb it's painful just hearing her talk. No bullsh*t, she's one of the least intelligent people I've ever heard speak. I work in the art dept, and she's been jovially trying to get my boss to "work with her" on ridiculous menial design tasks, because she has all these "ideas" that she just needs a designer to execute. She's so tech savvy that she accidentally exported a Microsoft Word document as a low res jpeg file and didn't understand the problem. She also was impressed/surprised to see Macs in our dept and asked if my boss was a "Photoshop master." I have a feeling her paycheck for doing ??? is higher than mine.

I don't have access to a car anymore. Couldn't afford it. I'm in a period of financial sensibility once more. And I unfortunately have no friends, anywhere; except maybe here; but you know what I mean. Trying to integrate with the world has resulted in frustration, time and again. Gah, that sucks, man! Sorry you're in such a rough patch. Try to keep your chin up. The low points teach us to appreciate when good things come our way.

I'm curious to see where sales go with the 2016 Cadillac lineup. With more state of the art drivetrains and a more fleshed out showroom--new crossover and still-newish Escalade to compliment the the three car models and new V-series range toppers--I expect to see overall sales swell 10% or more. The regular CTS and ATS will have welcome bumps to performance and fuel efficiency that will broaden the appeal of the models even further. Hopefully we'll see some decent advertising to go along with it all.

I was referring to other parts of the world, like Europe, where people still appreciate driving and almost all cars offer manual transmissions--and with high take rates too. Also, technically it's the electronic/computer age making us fat not so much cars. The auto industry has been booming for much longer than the obesity epidemic in the US. People in Europe drive manuals because up until very very very recently, manual transmissions were much more efficient than automatics and provided substantially better performance in low displacement/low power engines. Also, automatics were a substantial upcharge in frugal post-war Europe. If you're buying a Vauxhall Astra, an automatic transmission could be 10% - 15% increase in sticker price. Europe's fondness for the manual has nothing to do with "appreciating driving" and everything to do with $10 per gallon gasoline (adjust for inflation as you go back in time). The only reason that manuals are still popular in Europe even though automatics have achieved efficiency parity is that old habits and opinions are hard to break. I'm pretty sure that's over simplifying. Otherwise why would European manufacturers, particularly German ones, pride themselves on sharp handling and dynamics? Why are automatics still typically relegated to older or disabled folks that can't comfortably work 3 pedals? Maybe at one point there was necessity, but it seems to have also spawned a culture of people that enjoy fun-to-drive cars and prefer to shift their own gears.