G. David Felt

Nope, no defending Sergio!

7 Bean Dip

Nope Mr. Ground Hog saw his shadow and predicts 6 more weeks of winter past the end. Bring on the powder and skiing!

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Electric G-Class for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Nye the Science guy! This info come via the Green Car Report, seems two things of notice have happened in Hollywood. First, Bill Nye the Science guy who was one of the original lessors of the GM EV-1 from 20 Years ago and has been a strong proponent of everyone going EV is the proud new owner of a 2017 Kinetic Blue Chevrolet Bolt EV. Besides driving an EV-1 and was not happy to have to turn it in and have it crushed, Bill says GM has redeemed themselves with the BOLT. To quote the story, Bill told GCR that the BOLT "is head and shoulders above the rest" and this comes from a guy that has driven the EV-1 for years and then bought the following EV auto's. The Mini E, BMW i3, Ford Focus EV, Volkswagen e-Golf, Nissan Leaf and still currently has his Toyota Prius Hybrid that rarely gets used today. Bill says that in all previous EV's he always worried about getting stuck as his work commute is almost 100 miles which is what prompted him to get the Prius. Now even if he goes to his alternative place which makes the commute 120 miles, he can still get there with no range anxiety. Green Car Report - Bill Nye Our second story come from GCR on what Arnold Schwarzenegger is up to in his native Austria. Kreisel which is a start up company making EV components and EV conversion concepts, worked with Arnold to take a Mercedes-Benz G-Class wagon and yank out the Diesel power train and install an AWD EV powertrain with 482 HP compared to the 245 HP diesel powertrain in the auto. This shaved off 3 full seconds in the 0 to 60 to be just 5.6 seconds. This G-Class has a 190 mile range battery pack and is fully capable of playing in the mud and off road. Cool part is Arnold is all about being kind to the planet and as per the story, he drove a Hydrogen Hummer H2 previously and now will bring home this G-Wagon EV to replace it. Green Car Report Story

But they do, Smartcars or Fortwo as they are now labeled and sit on the same lot right next to your A, B, C, E & S class MB start at $15,000 and go up. Again, do not care about the political side. I am comparing how one business man tends to approach things and my view of you tend to approach defending MB in that same manner. I am pointing to the fact that Chevy and Toyota do not sell a 200,000 plus auto either but the bulk of the product line from 15,000 for a smart car to their 100,000 luxury line does cover the bulk of what people buy and that puts them in the same market segments as the wider price point auto companies.

Was poking around You Tube for various music and came across this guy who does his own acapella songs and I have to say it rocks!

Was not tieing in politics, was stating that to me SMK is showing to be a Narcissistic person just like Trump. From a business stand point Trump clearly only sees things his way, his own belief in his mind. SMK has proven to state the same thing. MB = Mass Market Auto Maker covering entery to luxury auto's That is how I see it and will stick with that and only that on this auto topic. Thank you,

@smk4565 You have truly shown yourself to be in the narcissistic pool of Trumpettes. Only what you see and want to believe is what is correct and not what actually happens in the real world. MB no matter what you say is now a MASS Builder MASS Market AUTO Maker to everyone and NOT a Luxury Only Auto Builder. That is the truth that you refuse to accept.

Agree, Jeep is worth saving, yet could be destroyed at the rate Sergio is going in screwing up everything else.

Please open window and barf outside of it. Thank you Far better at corners than a cushmobile!

Jalapeno poppers

1) Fiat should have fixed their quality issues before even coming back into the market, the Average dealer has over 200 auto's on the lot which last I checked was equal to half a year of selling. Does not matter how cheap you sell a broken auto for, still Broken and unwanted. 2) Alfa should have been left in the History Books. The brand died in the US due to the same reasons Alfa did, cheap ass built product. Who cares how awesome their styling was, it was unreliable and junk. The money should have been reinvested into the US name plates. Instead we now have Chrysler with 1 product and really pretty much dead. Dodge sitting on products that should have been updated 5 years ago, Jeep is the cash cow right now and Ram also sitting on very old product that should have been updated already all for trying to bring back a dead brand that no one really wants creating products that I have since learned are still as crappy built as they were before. Coworker bought one and it spends more time at the dealership than him driving it. 3) The New COMPASS will NOT make up for the death of Chrysler or the way out of date product on DODGE and the sales Loss. Once truck demand is met and I think that is becoming clear we are going to see a massive slow down as we always do. Our DEPRESSION of 2007 hurt many and only in the last year have people been forced to replace work trucks and finally have bought into new auto's. This huge year after year growth is not sustainable and we will see a drop that is going to hurt the weaker ones and that is FCA. 4) Considering that I do travel a bit more than most for work and I have seen very few Renegades on rental lots, I have to question this. I did see when it went on sale plenty of people buying them and Washington State is a big Jeep state, yet I also have heard from previous owners that they needed something with less problems and dealer visits. As is they traded in. so my gut tells me disappointed owners who are not hard core jeep fans but people who have bought into the legend of off trail off road coolness and were disappointed when they saw the reliability / fit n finish issues. IMHO, the company is screwed and we will see a breakup and sales in the next 5-10 years at the longest if not sooner.

And as always you miss the point. MB is NOTjust a Luxury brand ANYLONGER! MB is a MASS brand now. They sell to everyone at every level. I DO NOT CARE, that they spend billions more on R&D as you always like to point out, that they built a $2 million dollar Hyper Car playing catch up to Porsche or that they sell Six Figure cars as Chevy does that TOO! MB sells commercial trucks to cheap ass FWD appliances and their E brand is the Taxi Queen of Europe. END RESULT, MB = Chevy, Toyota, Ford, etc. They are NOT a Luxury brand only, They are a MASS MARKET Builder.

And Toyota, Chevy, Ford, etc. have auto's in that same price range. So that tells us nothing but as MB and BMW have gone down stream, they have picked up people for the badge, these sales are not the same ones that bought MB when it was a true Luxury only auto company.

Yup that side picture with all the camo and stuff, hard to say what the real size of it is.

Very cool, I love the look, still hate the rear lights with that pull down thing in the corners.

So can we do the Dump test again on both trucks beds to see which one holds up best? A pillar is well disguised, so not sure it is that much fatter based on that blurry picture.

Love that for the cushy Float Auto's and back seats, but for the drivers, that is way too non-supportive. I think we can get a nice mix of comfy and relaxing with support. My 2006 Escalade seat meets that.

Agree, at this point in time, kill off FCA, Let a well backed investment team scoop up the company, killing off the stupid products and clean house to those that should be kept. At this point in time, not sure if it is worth keeping Fiat/Alfa alive in the US. Also Chrysler with only 1 product a minivan, might as well be killed off. Put the Minivan into Dodge and focus the new company as DJR. A car company, a SUV company and a Truck company all in one dealership. Close down the excessive dealerships and clean up.

FCA needs to be hit as hard as VW was. Make them pay for that BS cheating!

I also love the 6.2L engine. I have used it in both the V8/V4 mode and turned it off to be in just V8 mode. I have to say, I understand the V4 thing, but the engine and driving is way better in V8 all the time mode. Seats are much firmer than in the past. I know many thought they were like a lazy boy, but for my 2006, they are awesome, firm enough to hold you in place and yet soft enough to make a long distance road trip very fun.

BMW and MB growth has come at the expense to their Luxury status as the bulk of sales is now based on these posting in the Toyota, Ford, Chevy range. People who want others to think they are rich when they are not and so hoping a badge can give them additional look at me clought. The next few years, being by 2020 will tell if this pays off for them or not. Either way, interesting to watch and see the evolution of the auto industry.

True they did, but that is not what was stated. Agree, Fiat and Alfa were more terrible than any other auto company and left as no one was willing to buy their crap. They came back in thinking people would have forgotten about the 60's and 70's and we have not. Crap then, Crap now and when Fiat could have built up Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep, instead they have stolen the billions to try and bring back Alfa "FAILED" and to prop up Fiat. If Sergio had half a brain, he would have dumped the low end of Chrysler and built it to be a true luxury competitor, continued to improve and grow Dodge, Jeep and Ram and with solid products from those 4, then replace and improve Fiat and the rest. Instead he choose to take the billions, lie and bring back a pathetic Alfa that does not sell and keep Fiat building the same crap that people buy and dump on the market before they have 10,000 miles on them.

Interesting, yes the HP and Torque of Turbo'd engines possibly could move what is needed on Full size Trucks. Will the Good O'l Boy network accept it? That is the big question. I myself see the need for this, but am not sold that this is the way to go. Be interesting to see.

I find it interesting that muslim countries have such a low literacy rate and yet Sony still makes billions selling cassette decks / walkman there since the religious nuts record their fire and brimstone and then have the illiterate population listen to it and act stupidly. The ban is just stupid IMHO. So many more places should be on the list then if you really want to become closed and a horse with blinders on. Having a better vetting process is GOOD, shutting the borders to a select group of places, BAD! Can we better deal with our immigration? Sure!!! Will it happen? Probably not, to many IDIOTS in DC have alternative agendas rather than fixing the problems. Lets leave the Political Debates in the Political Forum PLEASE! SO BACK ON TOPIC, What does others think about Escalades Seats based on the photo's I posted above?