G. David Felt

So much for standards and figuring out just how healthy or fat we be!

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com 2016 Buick Envision Test Drive! June 23rd 2016 started off like most days, up at 4am, in the shower, on the 4:48am 511 bus into Seattle, breakfast at my desk while reviewing email. Work focused and getting things done. A little over 3 hours later I get a call from my local Buick GMC dealership that the Buick Envisions they got in last week are all ready and on the lot for people to come see, test drive, etc. Text message to my sister who has a 2002 Mazda 6 that she is ready to retire that the Buick dealership had the Envision in stock, equipped the way she wanted it and we could test drive it. Her desire is a mid-size to compact CUV with AWD, heated steering wheel, zone control for temp, auto lift gate in back, ability to connect her phone via Bluetooth minimum that she can use for work as she is a Hospice in home nurse and for getting away to the mountains for skiing. Her choices of auto’s to consider is the Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav4, Chevy Equinox, GMC Terrain, Cadillac SRX, Lexus RX 350 and she was willing to look at the Buick Envision. Being the family auto nut, I have helped everyone in my family buy their auto’s even if it was not something I myself would buy. Test drove over the weekend the Honda and Toyota and they were crossed off her list as they did not have certain features she was wanting plus NOISY. Yup they are very noisy compared to other auto’s out there. She test drove then the Chevy and GMC to compare, GMC was too butch for her, she liked the Chevy but wanted to finish test driving her list. Next came the Cadillac SRX, except for the gas mileage it hit everything on her list including she loved the seat extensions that support long legged people as she is 6’2” tall average size for my family. Next was the Lexus, solid drive but again gas mileage was a concern for her as she lives in her car driving it all over daily. The inside front seat area was nice but she saw I was straddling the seats in front, rear seat room is lacking for tall people and no zone temp control or radio like much lesser models from other vendors. The amount of hard plastic inside was also very disappointing as the CUV is considered a luxury level but had a very Toyota look and feel to it. We headed to the Buick dealership to only be informed that the person who told me on the phone they had the Envision in stock was wrong and they had none. As it was a late long Saturday, we headed back to my house and she stopped at the Acura dealership to check out the RDX. That became a failure from the word go as the sales person when asked about things like heated steering wheel, heated and cooled seats, rear zone control, etc. he just said no no no no. So she wrote off even taking a test drive in the Acura. So 6 days later after starting this quest of test driving and answering questions for my sister on CUVs we finally get to test drive the Buick Envision. We were both excited to see how this stacked up against all the other CUVs she had driven to date. The dealership had 3 Envisions in stock, two black models one with Premium and one with Premium II and a Red or what they call Saffron Red Premium in stock. Editorial Note: For some reason my old Note 3 phone did not take as sharp as it had in the past photos and I did not realize this till this morning. The dealer pulled the Premium II Black model into the showroom for us to check it out as it was a torrential downpour. Started off with the Engine bay, a nice clean package of the Turbo 4 SIDI motor. Nice that they have gone back to the Dual shocks to hold the engine hood up. Everything seemed to be clearly marked and easy to check for maintenance. I did notice and check out that all fuses are in the engine bay now on the right side behind the battery and to the right of it. Everything else was pretty simple to identify, check for fluid levels etc. I noticed that Buick built a double wall insulated hood. Next was onto the inside. Navigation system was nice, easy to manage and use, all screen controls responded with no lag time and all tactile buttons were very nice and did what they were responsible for. Dash was lovely with the wood trim and everything else was either leather or soft rubber squishiness. It gave a solid feel to the touch and yet warm also, nothing being cold and hard. Cup holders were lit by LED lights for easier viewing especially at night. There was plenty of USB outlets with two on the back control section for temperature and still included the traditional cigarette lighter plug. The two vents for either heat or cooling worked very well and were whisper quiet. The center storage system was nice with the two USB plugs, stereo jack plug and the SD card slot plus the Cigarette outlet. As you can see in the picture below, split armrest allows for you to still get into the storage even when the passenger is resting their arm on the rest. Over all flow was very good for the center stack. Doors had nice leather accents, everything was soft and tactile feel warm to the touch. Nothing hard about the interior for either the front or rear seating people. The rear seats were also the most comfortable out of all these CUV’s and the hardest least comfortable was the Lexus. Surprising that the Toyota Rav4 rear seats were more comfy than its luxury cousin. Surprise of many was that with the seat in the front set for me, I got into the back and still had about 4 inches from my knees to the back of the front seat. Compared to all the other CUVs Lisa had test drove so far, the Envision has a huge amount of rear leg room. People will be very comfy for the long drive. You can even recline the rear seat, two settings and get even more comfortable. Also if you do have the rear door open and need to put down the rear seats so you can get something long into the auto, Buick made it very easy with chrome plated pull handles, one on each side of the rear storage area wall which auto puts down the seat, headrest etc. giving you a very large interior storage area. Access to the rear tire was easy and they had a large variety of storage areas under the rear storage floor for your use. Driving started with a surprise, while very quiet from outside the car when running, you cannot hear the motor inside the car. Since the Sales rep pulled the car out of the dealership sales floor, my sister and I got into the car just outside for her to drive it. I sat in back. She started it up then the sales guy wanted to go over the auto with her. So she stopped and listened to him. When we finally went there was a noticeable little rumble but that was it. She pulled down to the street to go and took off. This little Turbo 4 has plenty of get up and go power. Never strained and you can feel the Torque where it counts in the seat as you feel a gentle push back into the chair. We took it onto the freeway where the Envision showed no strain at getting up to highway speed and moving about. My sister loved the blind spot warning in the side mirrors, she also loved the rumble seat reminder when she got close to either side lines on the road. Exiting the freeway a few miles down the road impressed me with just how quiet Buicks Quiet package is, you do not have wind noise, nor do you have street wheel noise coming into the cabin. Overall a very quiet, serene ride. Next we hit the local neighborhood and she was able to try out the backup camera in a parallel parking attempt. This has always been a problem for my sister and yet on the first try, she got parked using the side mirrors which turn down in reverse and the backup camera. She felt the rear of the seat rumble as she got close to the car behind her. She ended up being about 8 inches away from the curb. Overall a success for her first attempt. With this done, she went to pull out and for the 3rd or 4th time felt the little rumble and finally asked what that was. The sales guy said what was what, but I realized it was the auto start / stop of the engine. Since we were only idling at the parallel parking spot and she had it in drive, the engine had turned off. It did this in the local heavy traffic also trying to save fuel,we then headed back to the dealership. One last final surprise was a mini cooper pulled out of a side street and clearly did not see us and yet the Buick Envision handled it with total confidence. The drive was a tranquil, serene success. Wish I had taken more pictures, but you guys have for the most part seen everything from Buick that has been posted. Hit me up with Questions as the 1hr time spent with the Envision left me with a WOW facture of just how great Buick has stepped up to offer a CUV that clearly trumps the competition.

FAILURE! This is one of the biggest waste of money FCA has ever spent and should have been stopped long ago. The money stolen from the Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep family could have so made those products better.

Lovely Wheels, Check out the art deco EV bikes in the motorcycle thread Drew started Balthy, there is some lovely designs there, hopefully both auto's and bikes can get back to some art style.

Hmmm... I even add the image in the appropriate " add image link " Guess they are right companies must be blocking select sources as I am at home now and can see the image fine.

Wish I understood why at times I can not see images. This is what I see in regards to what you posted.

Wish they would do the following colors: Bing Cherry - A dark heavy metallic purplish color covering a range from black to purple. Candy Apple Red - Anyone who knows the 60's should understand this lovely color Candy Apple Green - Same as the red note. Chromatic Paint jobs would be cool like the following: Blue-chromed-car.jpg Chromatic-blue-SLS-EV.jpg Chrome_Mirror_Gold_Film_Car_Color_Change_Film.jpg GoldChromeEscalade.jpg MultiChromePaintJob.jpg Heat Sensitive paint jobs would also be really cool: Nissan-Skyline-with-Heat-Sensitive-Paint-1.jpg HeatPaintHiddenHulk.jpg lamborghini-gallardo-features-hidden-heat-sensitive-captain-america-paint-job-video-98076_1.png I was suprised to see this but for fun Thermal paint urinals seem to be the rage in the asian rim. Thermo-Urinal.jpg Oh ya that would be cheap! It is amazing to see how many people are willing ot pay an extra $1K for those few special paint jobs GM has on the choice list. I see no reason offering some of these more fun paint jobs would not be a hit with consumers. Would Love Cadillac to do a paint job like this!

Sooooooooo Guess that $7 billion they set aside just got overrun in a big way. Since this is only the 2.0L TDI, I have to assume the 3.0L TDI will cost about the same so VW needs to be planning on a cost of about 20-30 billion once all fines and others costs are associated here in the US and of course this does not take into account the rest of the world. OUCH - VW stock holders are not going to be happy.

I am so confused, is this a millennial thing? So my 48 years of age is showing.

I don't think anyone will disagree with this. I'm wondering if Volkswagen will be able to do it quickly. Just saw on the AP VW is settles with buying back some cars, giving a choice of fixing or buying back other cars and paying fines and settling this whole mess. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/398cf8b79483423abf48d10f5f9848fd/source-vw-govt-ink-deal-pay-owners-cheating-diesels

So you are saying your in the Squishy and snuggable category!

I don't think anyone will disagree with this. I'm wondering if Volkswagen will be able to do it quickly. You think they can wrap this all up by the end of 2017 or will it drag into 2018 and really hurt the company long term. I wonder what Porsche thinks about tying up with VW now? The way things are going right now, I don't think all of this will be resolved till 2019 at the earliest. Then based on your resolve date, then I am even stronger in my conviction that VW will be about 50% of who they are today by that time and could even be free of a name plate or two if it stretches much further.

This is interesting but based on just this info alone will be a failure for BMW. If they cannot deliver on a powertrain solution equal to or better than Tesla, their 6 figure price is not worth it for this auto with only 268HP and no idea on the torque.

I do not get the reference? What is a Diamond Horse?

I will say that Electric Motorcycles are exciting and getting better and better all the time. Some Great bikes to check out: http://www.johammer.com/en/ http://www.harley-davidson.com/content/h-d/en_US/home/motorcycles/project-livewire.html http://www.victorymotorcycles.com/en-us/electric/empulse-tt-titanium-silver-havasu-red http://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/event/2015tokyomotorshow/sp/exhibitionmodels/pes2/ http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/ http://lightningmotorcycle.com/ http://www.energicamotor.com/en http://saiettamotorcycles.com/ http://soraelectricsuperbike.com/ http://www.altamotors.co/ http://www.ktmfreeride-e.com/en

Triumph, always a good call! I know some people love the Triumph but their terrible reliability just kills the brand. They seem to be like Harley, living off an image while still producing garbage product. I never had any hiccups on mine. I know that's a small sample size but it was 2 years of ownership. My friend w/ a Daytona 600 hasn't had any reliability problems, just regular maintenance like oil, tires, coolant flush. He's put almsot 20,000 miles on his. Another friend had a little cluster issue where it would flicker when it was really really hot out(also a Daytona 600). I know this is a small sample size but that's about 30-35,000 miles on three bikes and the only real issue was an instrument cluster that would get finicky on HOT days, like 95*+. That is good to hear as I have been out of the cycle scene for a while so glad to hear they are getting better.

Which year BMW is this auto again? 199XXXXXXXXX?

Triumph, always a good call! I know some people love the Triumph but their terrible reliability just kills the brand. They seem to be like Harley, living off an image while still producing garbage product.

So true, I used the following posted chart: http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/bmi-chart.html Course it stops at 6 ft 4 inches But for me on their chart at 6'4" 280 that gives me a BMI of 35 which is obese. Guess the BMI is a joke not being able to take into account muscle mass. Just found this updated chart that goes up to 7' tall http://256.com/gray/docs/body_mass_index_bmi.html So I am specifically a 32 on the BMI index and still considered Obese.

I don't think anyone will disagree with this. I'm wondering if Volkswagen will be able to do it quickly. You think they can wrap this all up by the end of 2017 or will it drag into 2018 and really hurt the company long term. I wonder what Porsche thinks about tying up with VW now?

They might not find US MPG issues, but I bet they do find other things hidden in the Mitsu closet.

My gut tells me we will see a much slimmer and smaller VW after this mess settles down.

Is that charge rate on a 110 outlet or a 220 that needs to be installed in your garage? 9hrs to full charge on a 240V charging system. Per Chevy Web Site:

Wish they would do the following colors: Bing Cherry - A dark heavy metallic purplish color covering a range from black to purple. Candy Apple Red - Anyone who knows the 60's should understand this lovely color Candy Apple Green - Same as the red note. Chromatic Paint jobs would be cool like the following: Heat Sensitive paint jobs would also be really cool: I was suprised to see this but for fun Thermal paint urinals seem to be the rage in the asian rim.

Have to say this drives the question of WHY such specific weird numbers to be built? Is this due to a limited supply of parts and so they are using up the parts and that will be it? I also question Sergio state of mind in killing off such an awesome Halo auto with nothing to replace it. Dodge does not needs an Italian POS auto as the new Halo. This also just reaks of Sergio continuing to steal all the profits from America for his Italian survival mode of trying to keep dead brands alive in some form rather than just accepting history and leaving them to the books. Sergio = IDIOT CEO that never really built anything just moved shells around to confuse and distract the IDIOT Board.