Drew Dowdell

LOL at @dfelt

SMART may be the next brand heading for that great parking lot in the sky. German newspaper Handelsblatt has reported that the brand's fate may be decided by the end of this year. CEO Dieter Zetsche is leaving in May to be succeeded by Olin Kallenius. Mr. Kallenius has no strong love for the brand, established in 1998 and is said to be more than willing to kill the brand if finances warrant it. Since birth, SMART has lost billions of euros for Daimler, though the company does not break out financials by brand. Back in 2017, SMART revamped its lineup into an EV only brand, further denting sales while increasing costs. The current Smart FourTwo and FourFour are a joint effort with automaker Renault who markets the vehicle as the Renault Twingo. Renault is reportedly reluctant to renew that cooperation for the next generation of the car. SMART's sales have fallen to around 128,000 units a year as of 2018. View full article

I've used synthetic for so long, I'm not sure what my cars would run like on traditional blend. I'm sure just fine of course, but the oil wouldn't last as long.

It's raise and bonus time at work... got a sweet one this year.

I haven't driven one to be able to answer that... but take an Elise and lower the center of gravity, even with more weight, it's going to be pretty damn good. Car and Driver said: So 911 like... that's typically a good thing. That said... the Model 3 rides terribly and handles only average. So it's not like Tesla has knowledge advantage. They just did well with the roadster because it was Lotus based.

Tesla already did that a decade ago. The Tesla Roadster was Lotus Elise based (fantastic handling) and crazy fast (they could walk away from an Audi R8 like it was standing still). The question was the price, not the handling, weight, or speed.

yeah, I only use Top tier... and that usually means Costco. I'm rolling in an Escalade rental this week.... making it tough not to want one.

You probably have more storage on your Macbook than in those computers combined.

It's not a dud... it's just not enough engine for that vehicle. Even when suckling on premium.

Puppy love

That's exactly the type of car they are... a Miata competitor but with a hardtop and slightly more room in the cabin.

Toronado and Buick both get Mobile 1 and a Purloator or Bosch oil filter. The Encore I wait till the meter gets to 20%... that gets me about 5,000 to 6,000 miles. The Toronado gets a good old fashioned window sticker that Autozone gives out for free. I do that every 5,000 miles or once a year. It also gets a can of Zinc in the oil. I was going to do the engine air filter and the cabin filter on the Buick, but oddly enough they're special order at the parts shops unless I go to the dealership. I have a $15 rebate gift card to use at Pepboys, so I'll have to special order it there.

This was a spoof if you didn't realize

Guys, the 2.0t hardly sold here anyway. The base engine is effectively the 3.6. This is a Chinese market move for a chauffeur driven car.

and BMW, and Toyota

Not when there are 4 additional engine choices above that. 3.6, 3.0TT, 4.2TT, 4.2TT-V 7 seconds to 60 is fine for most people anyway. Someone buying a base base base CT6 isn't going to be concerned with 0-60, they're going to be concerned with heated seats.

Right... I'm pointing out the good spots in the Suzuki lineup for why they should have stayed.

It's like early 80s Benz month here in Pittsburgh. I don't know where they all came from all of the sudden.

^^^ People at work can't even keep the bathroom clean. They have a porter come by 3 times a day to clean it and it still looks like trash.

While the XL7 wasn't great, the Frontier based Equator actually looked good and has some (minor) interior improvements over its host Nissan. The SX4 was a unique entry for those who needed a small car and AWD at a time when that was a relatively rare combination. Plus the Kazashi was a great little sedan that just needed a bit more power to be perfect for its size. It never was going to be a camry beater, but it didn't have to be.

Lego trucks.

Much of the overcapacity issues at FCA involve the Italian brands even being in production in the first place.

$10,000 over a base Wrangler, but they won't sell the hybrid as a base model. It will be a premium optioned model and then get the hybrid powertrain on top of it.