pow

$3.09 for premium... it's creeping up again!

The 3.5 Honda V-6 is actually an excellent engine... its the transmission that's a bit iffy. Our Odyssey feels freakishly quick, especially past 4500 rpm, so I can only imagine how fast the VUE would be with 1000 fewer pounds. Which VUE were you looking at... the 2.2, the 2.4, or the 3.5?

Lets hope Chrysler plants don't see the same fate...

Oh, and look at good ol' Toyota... "... the Toyota Camry needed a lot of repairs after the full-rear test, including repair of fenders and body panels. The trunk floor and unibody structure had to be straightened out. However, the total cost of these repairs was a relatively low $1,480, in part because Camry parts don't cost as much as those on some other cars." By the same token I'm sure VW was dinged... as their parts are rather expensive.

Amazing how much better the AURA performed than the G6.

http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr030107.html The video sums it up nicely.

Interesting article... http://www.topgear.com/content/features/st...ories/01/1.html

I think it'll look better in black, which, btw, isn't available on either the Acadia or Outlook.

And the amazing thing is that there's no price increase... it remains £14,995, which is £6,000 less than a 318i BMW. Ford should send one over as a Ford.

20" wheels exaggerate the wheel gap. Needs to be lowered. This car makes so much more sense than a 300C SRT-8 in Europe.

Interesting. Thanks for the help! A few days ago, after switching the engine off and removing the key, the cooling fan turned on by itself. I thought that was odd as it never happened before, so I switched the car on and off again, and that shut if off. The engine compartment wasn't very hot at all. During normal driving, however, the fans seem to be fine. It only goes on high-speed (and consequently making a garbage truck sound) when the A/C is on while idling for a while.

Hm, that seems very possible, too. But the gauge still appears to work... the needle just takes longer than usual to reach the middle. Or could that happen and still be misfunctioning?

Hmmm... I don't know if the Astra has the chassis necessary for a premium car. The A3, 1-series, and B-class all have independent rear suspensions, and the Audi has AWD available while the BMW has RWD.

Design makes the difference. The first Prius had the dumpy proportions of an Echo; a Corolla with Prius running gear wouldn't have the right image. The current one, however, looks flamboyantly spaceship-ish, which some people consider to be "cool." But, you're right; its image is cooler than the car itself, IMO.

The CEL has occasionally been going on and off, and I finally went to Autozone and had the OBDII scanned. I got "coolant temperature below thermostat regulating temperature", which probably means a thermostat that's stuck open. I've been noticing that the temp gauge needle being suspiciously low. It's been like that for a while... so my question is, was there any damage caused by having a thermostat stuck open?

Make a small car "cool" like the MINI or Prius, and you'll find people buying them regardless of size. Why else would so many Priuses (notice, not Corollas) share garage space with Suburbans and S-classes?

I love their infatuation with storage bins. Last time, for the family sedan comparo, it was on dials.

Real society drives $50K full-size SUVs? What's even more important is making small cars compelling enough for people to downsize. How many families really need a Suburban when a minivan or Lambda will do?

+ IMA or BAS There's no reason why a car should have to idle for minutes in traffic or at red lights, regardless of how efficient the engine is.

No, GM's hybrid is 1.6% more expensive and provides 43% of the benefits. full-hybrid '08 Escape: $25,075 - $2600 = $22,475 light-hybrid '07 VUE: $23,495 - $650 = $22,845 Escape Hybrid EPA MPA improvement over non-hybrid = 53% VUE Green Line EPA MPG improvement over non-hybrid = 20% I'm okay with affordable, widespread usage of BAS, but currently GM has it on one car, the VUE Green Line, which is more expensive than the V6 version. The upcoming AURA Green Line ($23,000-$650 and 28/35 vs. $24,400-$2,350 and 42/36) is similarly hopeless. And because the BAS system has a lower capacity than a full-hybrid system, the real-world MPG deviations (from current EPA procedures) would be even greater.

He's trying too hard to prove his point. I'm sure some members can rip the integrity of this column apart. The cherry-picking of data (i.e., using Opel and Ford Europe for fuel economy) is just one example. I agree with his message that US manufacturers are often underrated, but to be so extreme as to say there aren't any problems, and that declining domestic market share is all due to the media, is absurd.

If Pontiac and Dodge overlap too much, I guess they could make Dodge a truck-only brand. Pontiac is to Dodge as Chevrolet is to GMC. Pontiac/Dodge could be the trashier "value" brands.

This is my least favorite Lambda... it's far too gaudy. I can imagine a black Acadia Denali being very nice though...

A used Ford Focus would probably be the most import-like of them all... it has a fancy rear suspension, good packaging, good fuel economy, etc.

The side is too Hyundai Elantra.