regfootball

it will have close to 4 years of production under its belt before it hits the 17 cruze.....

The Rogue Select is sort of Rogue now, like it's the Rogue Rogue

looks good but really the interior needs an upgrade too.

it's the 1.6 Euro diesel that's already in the Mokka and possibly Astra........

Well played

Nice thread start, ocnblu This car is the bomb. I hope they keep the price in check. I guess the cheapskates like me get the 'limited'. Wish the diesel were available at job 1 The rear heated seats are a great thing. That was one of the big factors that led us to get the chrysler can instead of some others. It was more available at a lower price along with the heated steering wheel. Why should the kids freeze in the back? Elantra has rear heated seats available for a few years now.

Neither this or the 'verano' pics that came out of China have much sizzle. Remember the chinese cruze was supposed to be what we would get and look at how GM is giving is a much sharper looking vehicle. I think there needs to be more drama here in the design. But I guess we'll see. The Envision spy shots look quite generic as well.

i think because there will be a 2017 diesel, i do believe GM is willing to do what they can to make sure the current diesel owners are taken care of. I do think they are using the Cruze to pick into some of VW's diesel niche, purposely. By the time the 17 model is available, it should have about what, 4 years of road service in Opels and the like. I would hope then that it won't have any glitches when it hits the US market.

do they still sell the Xa too? or is the Xd that is the small piece of turd

I live next to an area that lots of wealthy tribal folks. This is not a political thing, just saying i see a lot of expensive metal around where i drive due to the cash flow and it is interesting to see what those folks drive. Someone had a custom painted BMW X6. it was painted Barney the dinosaur purple blue in Matte, was quite hideous but i bet it cost an arm and a leg. Point being, i doubt they bought the hefty X6 due to its driving machine capabilities. But BMW is a great label. I see lots of X1, X3, X5 and 3 series. A new 5 series or 7 series is a rare sight anymore. I would bet the CT6 might sell pretty well out of the gate even against the new 7 series. Audi large sedans are what i see most often recently in addition to the years of S classe.....

Trax is more mainstream in character than the Renegade so i believe it will compete well. Cadillac I think will quietly do things with the CTS and ATS pricing when the CT6 comes out to make them move in better volume and little bit lower price. Caddy will probably stick hard to the prices it throws on the CT6 sticker for quite awhile. GM is increasingly weak in deluging the crossover market. All the little niches of that market are getting filled now and more and more inroads from Asian and German marques. GM should continue full investment in the truck lines, don't take success with trucks for granted. Low gas prices are helping keep people away from the smaller models. I still believe people buy larger and more powerful as much as possible unless oppressed by fuel cost, car cost, or government mandates.

most of FCA's product line is still ancient. thus it goes for "a good deal" that's why i have a Chrysler van now. Not because it was top of the line. The 200 is doing admirably also being new, but i do think Chrysler is smart and is knowing you gotta keep the payment book low on those rigs to move em. Jeep really props Chrysler up is the real truth when it comes down to it. If GM had nuts, they could put a $h!load of resources into GMC and become as much of a juggernaut in that way. 500x will keep Fiat from shutting its doors here but at some point Fiat needs a volume model aside from that. Trust me i can tell you all about a brand not surviving one or two products.

love this thread!

woot, like both your posts

I got a chance to drive a couple Smarts when i was selling. There is an interesting appeal to them. In your case, it was a Smart purchase. Congrats, and i have noticed there are really good deals on lightly used ones. For the right situation, a great buy. Congrats. I'd like to see a Smart car with a Ford 3 cylinder Ecoboost engine in it. Sidebar, a dealer here had a brand new 2014 Spark LS manual advertised for 8995 recently and it must have sold. That would have been a great buy also......although I would want an auto on a car that small like the smart.

just posting some recent mpg readings. Did a trip a couple weekends ago. Tank was about 85% empty...refilled with non ethanol, 91 octane. I.e. pure gas. Now more in a bit on how i think the fuel mileage or the odometer is off. But anyways Three separate sections of the tank I reset the mpg, and here were those readings 80 miles @ 28.7 mpg 163 miles @ 30.0 mpg 55 miles @ 32.6 mpg Those sections were a mix of 2 lane rural roads at about 60-65 mph with some stop lights and towns mixed in. But i would say at least half the distances were interstate at 70-80 mph. There was some in town running mixed in there also. When I refilled i had 309.4 miles on 10.75 gallons or 28.78 mpg. NOT BAD for a 4500 pound brick with about 600 pounds of people in it as well. I decided to keep the pure gas experiment going at that fill so I filled it to the brim again. The next tank was mostly city driving in town here by my wife who can be hard on the throttle. The display said 24.4 mpg. But I refilled it, 302 miles on 13.33 gallons.....that is only 22.65 mpg. Still quite good for a barge like that that drinks fuel if you run the tach up over 1700 rpm. I have suspected that there is something up with the odometer or the accuracy of the fuel used. All my other recent GMs and Fords have been virtually dead nuts on with fuel used on the computer vs when i filled the tank and did the math. This is a Chrysler though, so I naturally don't trust it. If i add the two tanks though, that is 611.4 miles and 24.08 gallons. That is 25.4 calculated mpg overall for a vehicle with EPA rating of 17/25. That is with a lot of in town driving, and the remainder at high speeds. That is pretty good. But it also shows you the benefit of pure gas that is not ethanol tainted.

here, gas was 2.69 today, diesel 2.71. Z's, what have you seen for price difference recently?

hard to rip BMW with what is surfacing on the C7 vette, but yeah, who in their right mind would sign up for that.

really if you want space, the Passat is the way to go. The sales numbers reflect how space and price are valued compared to the CC. Not sure why but when i was selling cars, a guy i worked with had sold VW for awhile. He said the CC's the customers complained about how bad they were in winter. Odd for a front driver. I am guessing the tires OEM were an issue. Could be why people never re-leased them for example. On trades their trade in value did not come close to the residuals that were assigned to them either. VW had buyout penalties on the leases if you tried to trade them in so you usually were stuck holding on to them til the very end.

iA not at all worth it

"quintessential dumpy-driving set of ovaries on wheels" ​I love it. Face it, the reason the ilks of CRv's sell is women. My buddy who went through 2 of them and a Pilot he hated too, it was because his spouse wanted them.

DRIVEN 2015 Jeep Latitude FWD 2.4A MSRP 24,730 HIGHS Cheeky little monkey! And this is not bad, it's ok to have one funky Jeep in the lineup....good looks + distinctive Lots of little easter egg Jeep logo finds in different places inside (for example, the Jeep name in the seats and the little Jeep grilles on the windshield) Vast improvement over its predecessors, Compass and Patriorot Headroom, girth, and COMMANDING chair posture in the front (headroom continues in rear) Interesting and well designed interior. Lots of cool detail and plastics are appropriate for this class and price. Nice tan cloth. "To character" gauges and I felt the switchgear and controls were also nicer than expected Don't forget, good ergonomics as well. 2.4 plus nine speed automatic is a good powertrain in this rig. Good acceleration. Decently smooth motor. and...... Most of the time>>>>>, the 8 speed (or is it 9 speed) transmission demonstrates willing kick down and good behavior Good highway car, 1700 rpm at high speed (should make for good mpg right???), reasonably quiet Pretty good stoplight to stoplight too, remember, there are enough gears for any situtation! I liked the steering, I thought it was weighted decently and somewhat quick. Great feeling heated steering wheel is nice and thick and has great button layout. A surprisingly decent interpretation of entry level into the Jeep brand LOWS Small trunk, unacceptably small (smaller than I originally thought but blame the subwoofer for some of that) Smaller and tight second row leg room + low cushion (how did i miss this before?) Not athletic or sporty Every now and then the transmission gets a little busy with a lot of shifting or other funkiness The motor can be buzzy when you kick the throttle down and ask it to accelerate hard on the freeway The aura inside and view out the windshield is more akin to being inside a NASA bubble and looking out instead of a car The side window is glass is really thin and chintzy (seals are less meaty too) and it lets in unexpected noise high in the cabin, probably spoils good noise reduction efforts elsewhere A little bit of a feeling that some of the vehicle dynamics could be refined more, though. For example, it is not on par with the Escape in this way (i know, the Escape is a 'higher' class, but they do ---crossover----***cough**** on prices more than you think) Also, just a little bit of a real sense that Sergio and Tony are lingering somewhere in the trunk. Can you trust Fiat guts? Not really a full replacement for the vehicles one class up, if that is your reason to look. It doesn't transcend the subcompact group. Stick with a Cherokee if you can swing it. SUMMARY I think Chrysler did a pretty decent job with all they needed to do here. This had to be a world Jeep, and be smaller for other markets. It had to coexist and possibly replace the Compass and Patriot. It had have some Fiat guts. It had to have pretty decent mpg. It had to reflect some of Jeep's styling cues, and it had to dial down the butch relative to say, a Wrangler, because of who the market may be for this rig. It's really a stylistic coup, if a bit corny it really stands out and yet can be on the Jeep show floor too. And it does ride and drive pretty decent. It is not top tier, but there is satisfaction in the ride and drive that i think people will believe they are getting what they are paying for and maybe a bit more. Along with that, you get some funky design and show the world you are a fun somebody. There's some little bits of fine tuning here for Tony to do here, if they can keep Sergio out of it. A little more refinement of the shifting, and some NVH bits (thicker side glass for one). My feeling here is the personality is there in spades and the ride and drive supports that adequately for most people. It feels like a substantial vehicle for its class and price, and when you combine personality, value, and good performance, its a win for the buyer. I would give a B+, but i think I could feel Tony hiding in the trunk still. Maybe i give it a solid B for now. Or B+, take your pick. Anyone who checks this out though, i suggest taking a Cherokee out for a spin as well. With a similar powertrain and more lux inside, it may be a better rig for a lot of folks, if you aren't married to the cheeky monkey look.

DRIVEN 2015 Honda CR-v AWD LX HIGHS Engine plus CVT can deliver great scoot ........when you lean hard on the throttle CVT might actually be the best of such a breed, compared to earlier CVT's, responsive Sufficient cabin girth and front row room Rear seat space is alright for this class too Surprising cargo space with and without the rear seat down Innocuous, if that is your sort of thing Feminine, if that is your sort of thing Cheap and tinny, if that is your sort of thing EPA ratings are pretty good i guess Honda whores out the leases so you are ok there Some parts of the newly revised dash feel soft to the touch Rear cargo latches to dump the rear seats are pretty cool This is about as politically correct as a vehicle can get Satisfies the most basic of vehicle requirements adequately without the fuss of injecting delight or passion into the matter to complicate things. LOWS Searching high and low for ANY style points, there are none Seat cloth is atrocious As a matter of fact, most of the other materials inside, apart from what you see on the dash are atrocious The center stack does not look particularly lavish either Standard rear view camera is small enough to be nearly worthless. Seats are soft and squishy Mirrors inside and out look cheap and filmsy HONDA CANNOT BUILD A CAR WITHOUT THE ENGINE VIBRATION COMING THROUGH THE FLOOR Even though the CVT may be 'best in class', it finally makes you concede that other style automatics just feel more solid, trustworthy, and better. Honda makes a great lawnmower engine, I know this because they put them in their cars too, sounds just like one! CHEAPNESS ABOUNDS Steelies on the LX? WTF Sometimes if you don't work the throttle right, the car dogs real bad and you are a dead duck in traffic. Proof that you need to ring it out to get the scoot. Dead numb steering that is light, but gives not much back through the thin steering wheel. The stupidist way to adjust the steering column. NO DELIGHT ANYWHERE No way any dudes could be caught dead in this vehicle Honda continually makes me believe they are trying to compete with Hyundai for third worldness I just can't recommend this, except I imagine there are women out there that think this is nirvana Gives THE reason for the word 'milquetoast' to exist. SUMMARY I'll keep it short. I wanted to give Honda another chance to change my perception of them, based upon the good press of the revised for 2015 CR-v. Better CVT, direct injection, new interior bits. EARTH DREAMS! This was supposed to be the shizzle! A good friend had a couple CR'vs leased. They turned the last one in recently. He went on all the time about how cheapish and tinny it was. Based on my 15 test drive, it doesn't seem they actually did much with it for 2015. You hope someday the car buying public will awake and try other metal. The Hondas and Toyotas of the world have people hooked into the leasing cycles, and they run the business to support good residuals. Its hard to prove that a comparable Honda actually costs less to own over time than similar makes. But hondaphiles continually bleat about the resale, supposed reliability (how many recalls?) and so on. Even if that is true to the highest level, is the vehicle itself even great to drive? Your results may vary. I think they suck. My opinions on many things don't matter these days. I imagine with PC the way it is today, i am racist if I give an Asian car a D, so I will give it a C. It meets basic competence and ok, is probably an iota ahead of Hyundai in the pecking order. This is a great ride for soulless, joyless people. Why you would get this over an Escape or God, even an Equinox, boggles the mind.

Test drove finally the renegade today and I will get that up later this evening.