G. David Felt

I could see this also running on CNG or being pure electric. There is much potential here for an enclosed trike.

But the question is when. Do not really agree that Cheap will sell. We are long past the days of coming into a market like Kia or Hyundai did and selling cheap auto's that had to always be repaired. Now the average consumer wants cheap but quality and China is NOT known for quality. If they come in with their Cheap product of low quality, they will be here today gone tomorrow. It will be an up hill battle for them for sure.

My son has a Patriot Latitude and I love it. Great Jeep, the Freedom Drive II or marketing known as the Trail Rated edition is worth getting. We use his jeep to go up skiing and I can say that we have never gotten stuck, the crawl mode worked great in some crazy snow and ice weather. Others including Subaru where all over and I know this is drivers experience but the Jeep was solid. Also at 6'6" tall, I still have tons of head room and people can sit behind me. So this compact jeep has plenty of inside space. Also after a year and half of ownership the Jeep is averaging 27mpg on the highway. He drives 30 miles round trip to work and back and still gets mid to high 20's. In city driving he has seen constant 21-22mpg. This is with the CVT transmission. This JEEP DOES have BLUETOOTH! The base radio which for some reason is still available in the mid range model for Latitude does not have bluetooth but all other radios come with it. When Alex was shopping every latitude he looked at either had the nav system with bluetooth or at least the XM Bluetooth stereo and it works flawlessly at connecting to his iPhone. It is a shame that they gave you a great CUV that was missing basic selling points. On a base model, yes I can see not having bluetooth, but once you go to mid grade that should just be standard. Jeep still has great deals on these as my son's Latitude is fully loaded. Just one tick below the Limited model and he paid with tax and license out the door $24,379 and change. I see the local Jeep dealerships always advertising the latitude loaded for around 24-25 right now and fully loaded Limited around 26-27K. So the price has gone up big time on MSRP, but actual selling price is still much lower. Awesome Jeep, I highly recommend the Latitude model, just make sure to get the XM stereo so you have your bluetooth and built in harddrive for loading tunes.

Dodge/Ram is a rebadge job also.

Last I read they will be leases so also a glamor golf cart for inner city driving.

Valid and fair I feel for dealing with this. I think GM is doing the right thing.

Cool it is in the movie, but hello, those engines and transmission are so out of date compared to what Korea, Japan, Europe and even US companies are selling. I think you need to update your powertrains.

Awesome, Nice to see GM being so proactive. I also love it that not many of my auto's are in the recall. I find it interesting that some like my SRX and CTS are in it for the ignition switch but I have never had a problem.

WOW, That is even uglier than I remember.

I can understand that this name is big in their country, but for a world stage model, it has no weight. Time to retire and move on with a world wide name.

Insurance

Quality of Life and Life in general, I would rather you stay with your Prelude or get the accord so you have more steel around you. The Fit is a coffin on wheels. I have seen them in accidents and while I understand people wanting a subcompact for inner city driving and parking, on the freeways and in the suburbs, they are not safe IMHO. I value your life more and would wish you drive something with better protection around you than drive this.

From an engineering stand point, he found a quick solution that should have been implemented. As I have said before, I think this came down to legal and accounting saying we can brush this under the table and pocket millions. I do not think this will affect GM that much as most people are more upset at the idiot House and Senate for not taking care of the country and getting things done. Most realize the political machine is trying to use this to cover up their ineffective work. Kick all the DC bums out and let get moving forward in fixing this country, the tax code and growing our economy.

Those were sweet as were the same style of truck offered by GM.

Nice job, time to replace that rusty muffler with a stainless steel system. Give it a tuned pipe! Over all so happy you got this done well with minimal stress. Looks Awesome!

For me out of all these, I have taken to the F650 XUV as my preferred outragous SUV!

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Outrageous SUVs Since the death of Hummer and Fords original Expedition suv that tree huggers called the Exxon Valdez many have thought we finally left the crazy SUVs behind. In reality we only moved them up stream to the 1% class and the Enterprise Business that could justify spending the money on a vehicle that could go anywhere on planet earth. The SUV craze has changed into a watered down CUV craze. Most drivers never took them off road so a more road comfy awd cuv has become the 21st century craze. Yet here in the 21st century we still have hard core SUVs that are so capable, crazy and outrageous in size that they would hardly seem real to most people. If gold-plated hoods, porcelain toilets, water travel or 6 wheel drive is your thing then the following are your beasts for extreme off-roaders and for the ultimate insecure owner overcompensating in style. Many of today’s automakers tout the “go anywhere” mantra of their SUV or CUV, but the following delivers at a whole new level. Aton Impulse Viking This is a Russian built amphibious SUV with a low weight of 3200lbs. Balloon like tires to be easier on mother earth with built in inflation or de-inflation and help in flotation of the SUV. The Viking has a built in Jet Ski motor for water speed up to 10 mph. The suspension is air and fully adjustable from inside the cabin. The engine is a rather small 1.8 L 4-cylinder making 80HP with a turbocharged version making 130HP. This SUV is all about all terrain capability rather than speed and is street legal and has room for seven. Dartz Black Snake This Latvian builder of Tanks and armored autos has brought out this crazy Snake of an SUV that honors the Chinese calendar for the year of the snake. This SUV is based on the Mercedes Benz GL63 AMG chassis and powertrain. You have the 5.5 liter twin turbo V8 with 557HP and 560 lb-ft of torque. This is an over the top SUV with the hood covered in real gold leaf made to look like snake scales and can be had with an optional Diamond Hood ornament. Inside you have your choice of exotic leathers. Ford F650 XUV This 6 door bad boy is bigger than anything on the road other than full blown semi’s and are loved by larger than life NBA stars. The XUV is the creation by SuperTruck who specializes in building Fords F650 trucks into luxury SUVs. You have Fords choice of the 6.7L cummins turbo diesel or the 6.8L V10 with 145 gallon tanks on each side. Interior is whatever your mind can dream. Knight XV This is a 4000hr hand built SUV based on an F550 super duty truck chassis. This comes with your choice of either the V10 making 326hp / 462 lb-ft of torque or the V8 Turbo Diesel making 300HP / 660 lb-ft of torque. This 20 foot long, 8 feet tall 13,000lb SUV uses extensive body armor able to withstand a .30 caliber bullet. Other features include armored glass, front and rear infrared cameras, ballistic run-flat tires and much more for a custom order. You get the best available for this six passenger SUV loaded with flat screens, DVD plays and laptop stations. Mercedes Benze G63 AMG 6x6 Adding a third axle to a stretched G63 AMG is how engineers started this beast of an SUV. From a tire pressure control system, differential locs and ultimate low range this beast rides on 37 inch tires. The twin turbo V8 moves this four ton SUV by using over 500 HP and torque. This is a military grade SUV using almost total production parts of the normal Mercedes auto line. Sport Chassis P4XL Start with a Freightliner M2 chassis, Cummins 8.3L 6-cylinder turbo diesel rated at 330HP / 1050 lb-ft of torque or the optional 12.9L Detroit Diesel 6-cylinder with 450hp / 1650 lb-ft of torque. These custom bodied bad boys will get you anywhere riding on 22.5 inch wheels and 150 gallon gas tanks. Unicat Terra Cross 59 These are the ultimate post zombie apocalyptic SUV motorhomes. They come in a variety of configurations with the top of the line being a 6x6 crew-cab version. Powered by Mercedes Benze 6.3L Turbo Diesel paired to a 9 speed transmission. These beasts are 31 feet long, 8 feet wide and 12 feet tall. Unimog From the farm fields to the Dakar Rally, the Unimog is the swiss army knife of all-terrain SUVs. Almost 19 inches of ground clearance and full time 4x4, these beasts go everywhere. Three versions are produced in a light, medium or heavy duty. Propelled by a 4.8L 4-cylinder turbo diesel and an average weight of 9500lbs. So are these the craziest SUVs or do you have others that should be on this list? Sound off on what you think of these machines!

DUDE, Wheres my Cadillac!

I think if they had a true 4 door Hybrid, Diesel, CNG and a proper support chain they could make a difference. Half-ass only gets you a luke warm response. Either all in or all out.

Interesting to see that it is the same length as a CTS but half the width.

Cost

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Elio Motors Ultra High Mileage Auto / Trike? Elio Motors is promising to have on the market next year an 84mpg $6800 2 person auto / Trike. This 3 wheel transportation has a configuration like most 3 wheel modern motorcycles with 2 steering wheels in front and a single drive wheel in back. Unlike Can-Am bikes where you still get wet, the Elio is fully enclosed auto. So what do you get for $6800? Exterior measurements are as follows: Overall Length: 160.5″ Overall Height: 54.2″ Front Wheel Track: 66.8″ (center rim to center rim) Wheelbase: 110″ (center of front wheels to center of rear wheel) Interior measurements are as follows: Headroom: Driver 39.8 Passenger 36.4 in Seat width: Driver 20.6 Passenger 25.3 in Interior Shoulder Width: 26.8 in Front seat Legroom: 42.7 in Rear seat Legroom: 33.1 in Elio has been designed to fit 95% of all men. An inline, 3 cylinder, .9 liter, 55 HP, fuel-injected, SOHC gas-powered, liquid-cooled, automotive engine. 5-speed manual or automatic. 8 Gallon fuel tank with 84mpg highway and 49mpg city. Elio Motors So this begs the following questions: Can Elio deliver on their promise of a $6800 2 person auto? How or will the Big auto companies respond? Being an enclosed auto with 3 wheels will it have to conform to all the regular 4 wheel auto safety requirements? Would you be interested in driving this auto? Yes there could be many more questions but these first four questions I believe are important to discuss. What do you think?

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com GM was in the press earlier this year when it offered to help recover and restore the corvettes from the corvette museum that got damaged in the sinkhole. GM stepped up again when VP Mark Ruess happened to be listening to a radio show on WJR on Wednesday. The show talked about how police researching a phoney VIN led authorities back to the original owner. 71 year-old owner, George Talley got a call telling him his vette was in Hattiesburg Mississippi. Odometer showed 47,000 miles and was in good condition. The retiree who had worked at GM's Milford Proving Grounds had no idea of how to get it back home. With a single phone call into the show, Mr. Ruess offered to have it shipped back to Detroit for Mr. Talley. Story as reported by Fox News.

Interesting ugly little turd.