Drew Dowdell

The folks over at Hagerty found something interesting on the NHTSA website the other day, a VIN decoder ring that shows a second 2.3 liter 4-cylinder turbo with a horsepower rating of TBD. Ford dropped the V6 in the base Mustang after 2018 deciding the Turbo-4 was enough, but crosstown rival Chevy kept their V6 going alongside their 275 horsepower 2.0T. While Ford's 2.3T beats the Chevy Turbo in power, it comes up short against Chevy's V6. With this finding, it looks like Ford is going try to rectify the deficit. Given that a similar 2.3T is good for 350 hp in the Focus RS, Ford should be able to easily surpass the 335 horsepower the Camaro V6 produces. A statement from a Ford representative declined to give details but said that we would have exciting news about Mustang in Spring 2019. View full article

Buick's compact convertible, the Buick Cascada, won't be returning for 2020. Buick has informed dealers that final orders for the car need to be in by the end of the month as production of the car is scheduled to end in the summer. The Cascada is produced by GM's former Opel division, now owned by PSA, in Poland. The Cascada was Buick's first convertible since the the Buick Reatta. Approximately 17,000 have been sold since the car went on sale in 2016. The discontinuation of the Cascada, along with the pending departure of the LaCrosse, mark Buick's slow creep towards being an all-crossover brand. View full article

Prices are going up by crazy numbers all around for gasoline cars, but the price of electric or electrified cars is staying fairly flat. Base price for a Blazer is $30k for FWD. Only way to get AWD is move to the V6 model and get dinged for $35k... for a vehicle that has no more room than the previous generation Equinox... and remarkably similar engine choices. Compact sedans getting canceled in favor of crossovers that go for $6k to $10k more on the same platform. Transposing a Sonic into a Trax doesn't cost GM $6,000, but that is how much more it will cost you and very soon you won't have a choice if you're buying new. Fiesta / Ecosport. Dart / Cherokee. Same formula. The price of the Suburban has gone up $1k a year over the last 10 years. V6 engines will soon be extinct in mid-size cars moving to cheaper 4-cylinder turbos. The manufacturers took that savings and still raised prices on the Turbo cars. Mercedes will sell you a base model stripped out 4-cylinder hatchback for just $33k. The Honda Insight is $2k cheaper than the Civic Si. The Lease only Honda Clarity is $199 a month $1700 down. A base Accord is $249 a month $2100 down. Lincoln offers the MKZ as a Turbo-4 or Hybrid-4 either way, same price. Toyota offers the Avalon or Avalon Hybrid with just a $1k price spread.

I find that hard to believe given the number of posts you've made on the subject.

And that is going to be the case for EVs soon too... except the fill up schedule is different. PA is installing EV chargers at the state parks (the tab is being paid for by VW), so you can go hiking or whatever while your car nurses on the EV grid. Here in Pittsburgh, even if one doesn't have a charger at home, there are charging stations all over including in parking garages downtown. I have a friend with a Volt out in Columbus OH who lives in an apartment and doesn't have charging there, but he has charging available at work. So he charges while he's at work and rarely ever uses gasoline in in Volt. He only ever fills up with gas every 3 months. He could probably get by with a Bolt, but he got the Volt for cheap. EV charging is just a changing of mindset.... I know that will be difficult for certain people.

They'll do it by raising the price of petroleum vehicles towards parity. They've already started.

I'm with @balthazar on this one. It's a fine powertrain, but outside of that I'm not all that interested.

How many engines are in it??!

Subarus are a "safe" choice for people who don't care about cars. They're a Japanese Volvo.

yeah, not really close.

Well if they can't make any money selling cars in Europe.. maybe they can sell bikes.

It's the option packages. I know you equip your vehicles fairly basic. You get more options in the Classic than you do in the New for the same price. The smaller/base uConnect is notably bad, so I won't consider any FCA vehicle that has it. The Warlock comes standard with the 8.4 uConnect.

I can hear it rusting from here.

@ocnblu I missed the word "comparable"

Jaguar Land Rover unveiled a new Inline 6-cylinder engine, initially to be offered exclusively in the Range Rover Sport HST Special Edition. This all-new engine replaces the 335 hp V6 engine currently supplied by Ford in a deal that JLR says they will end in 2020. The new Ingenium 6-cylinder produces 394 HP and 405 lb-ft of torque. That power will launch the Range Rover Sport from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 second. Power is helped along by a 48 volt electric supercharger, able to spool to its maximum 65,000 rpm in less than half a second, the technology nearly eliminates turbo lag. There is also a traditional twin-scroll turbo charger for additional boost. The new engine also has continuously variable valve lift to reduce pumping losses. The power train is set up with a 48 volt mild-hybrid system that provides torque assistance to the engine during start-stop functions and to feed the electric supercharger. JLR says that the new engine will reduce particulate emissions by 75% and improve CO2 emissions by 12% over the outgoing engine. The Range Rover Sport HST is available for order in the UK. No word yet on when it will be available in the US or other markets. View full article

I don't know what battery powered bike sales prices are like, but like all things GM lately, this seems pretty overpriced.

Whatever it was didn't post

The cheapest I was able to price a new Ram 1500 was about $4k more. Even then it didn't have heated seats.

Nothing should have changed with your account.

You won't be able to... or more acurately, GM will make it stupid expensive to get and then options like adaptive cruise control or rainsense wipers which come standard on a Yaris will require $4,000 option packages to get and only available on the top trim.

Yeah, I thought that was kinda odd... but I doubt it's only 500 units if they're spinning up a whole production line for global distribution.

I like that they are continuing to update the older truck. Might not be a terrible strategy going forward with the way truck prices are going.