pow

If it's Golf-based and available with the 2.0T, DSG, and 4Motion, I might be interested. If it's another overweight pig like the Touareg or Phaeton, I'm not. How VW executes this will determine how well it fits into what VW's image should be... did that make any sense at all?

The RL "base" goes against a fully-loaded STS V6.

I pretty much agree. While the CTS-V was crude, it had more power and more size than its similarly priced competitors. The STS-V, on the other hand, is going up against faster, more powerful cars from manufacturers with more experience in the segment. I guess the novelty of it being a fast, expensive STS will be enough to meet its sales target. I don't expect the press to love it as much as the CTS-V, though, and I can see why.

The Zafira fuel cell car was available for test drive at GM's auto show in motion.

The XLR-V pricing seems appropriate compared to the SL55, but I don't know about the STS-V... I'd definitely pay the extra $4K for the M5.

Doesn't that Google founder guy drive a VW Beetle?

I think it's really ugly. Whereas the Yukon/Denali was the best-looking GMT-800, so far, it's the worst looking 900. I like the metal accents on the steering wheel, but there's too much wood. I prefer the Tahoe... or even the current Denali, exterior-wise.

Hey, they copied MINI...

Oh, please... :rolleyes:

Honda's cylinder deactivation on their V-6's goes down to three cylinders... and this is on Odysseys and FWD Pilots, so a Cobalt should be okay.

I agree; once you peel off the cheesy cladding, grille, wheels, and foglamps, the Bonneville is a good looking car, particularly in GXP form. In fact, from the outside, the all-new Lucerne isn't that much better. I'm surprised it only lasted five years; with a new interior, some tweaking, and an "employee pricing" MSRP, it could go longer.

"WTF" back to you. Their instrument clusters look finished to me...

Hybrids use lithion ion batteries, which are fully recyclable.

I only used it as an example of the gauge cluster surround thing, because it's hard to describe. If the gauge "window" was "surrounded" like every other car in the world, it would look a lot better, IMO. This is irrelevant, but you could get a Jag X-type 2.5 after discounts for about the same as a LaCrosse CXL at employee pricing.

Just curious... is the CAFE standard based on how many cars the manufacturer actually sells? Or is it just the model line-up?

I've certainly read more than six reviews and can only conclude the opposite.

Here's what I mean by the instrument cluster... it doesn't look finished: Here's a X-Type, not a rich interior by any means, but notice how much more "finished" the cluster looks.

Meh, I could write a novel on what's wrong with the LaCrosse's interior. The steering wheel is too ugly, too large, and too thin. The dials are too generic, particularly the font. The wood is too one-dimensional and cheesy. The A/C vents look dated; you can't "adjust" them without moving the whole unit around. The front headrests are too back. The front seats are too square. The headlamp controls look 15 years old. The door panels don't have leather or cloth inserts of any kind. The gear selector surround looks dated. The HVAC and radio controls look dated. The instrument cluster doesn't flow. The flat strip of chrome doesn't do anything visually. But worst of all is that there's absolutely no thought or style put into the interior. It's so incredibly bland that I'd much prefer the GM cheesiness of the 1990's. Now it's just a vast expanse of dreary gray and flat surfaces. The door handle is there solely to open the door. Whatever happened to boldness and creativity?

I hate when that happens. Our BMW dealer used to have a nice, friendly, one-story beachfront location. Now they've moved to some modern-looking, tilt-up building/warehouse next to a mega furniture store.

Quite the contrary, in the instances he does talk about a car, his work is far, far away from the "standardized" journalism that you blame for the "homogenization and disdain for uniqueness." His alternative viewpoints are the antithesis of what you describe, but are all too willing to label him as.

European MPG figures are even more optimistic than US EPA figures. A Prius gets 65.7 MPG combined according to the Toyota UK site. Compare that to the 60/51 MPG we get over here. Diesels don't make sense in the US. Unlike Europe, we don't have CO2 taxes, displacement taxes, or cheap diesel fuel (relative to petrol). (Diesel tax breaks are ending in Europe, by the way, because diesels emit more localized pollutants.) In Los Angeles, 87 unleaded costs as little as $2.75/gallon, while the cheapest diesel is $3.11/gallon. Here's an example: A 2005 Passat TDI costs $215 more than its 1.8T equivalent. It gets 31 combined MPG (vs. 25 combined MPG for the 1.8T). Over the course of 12,000 miles, you'll save $117 in fuel costs, but that's still $98 short of the MSRP premium. Keep in mind diesels are rarer (therefore fewer incentives/discounts), significantly slower, less refined, and pollute more, too.

'Journalists' today are caught up in an incessant circle of comparisons they cannot seem to break free of. Cars are inevitably compared to one particular one in one particular area >>"The seats are not nearly as comfortable as those in Car X"<<, which only implies everything else is uncomfortable instead of primarily what it is: different. This sort of mindset only fosters homogenization and disdain for uniqueness. You need to read vintage automotive article (say: pre '70) and see what (for the most part) a balanced analysis of the individual vehicle is... rather that a subjective tour de force of groundless comparisons. Needless to say: the ego-centric attitiude and mandatory cliche' proliferation likewise adds to the indegestion of modern 'journalists'. (Clarkson, anyone?? ;)) [post="19389"][/post] Coincidentally, I came across this article today and thought it useful as a reply: http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0...74075_1,00.html

Wow, that Impala interior looks better than I've ever seen so far. Must be the black.

One nation, under intelligent design. There! :rolleyes:

NEW YORK (AP) - "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino reveals in her memoirs that she is functionally illiterate and had to fake her way through some scripted portions the televised talent show, which she won in 2004. "You're illiterate to just about everything. You don't want to misspell," Fantasia told ABC's "20/20.""So that, for me, kept me in a box and I didn't, wouldn't come out." The 21-year-old R&B singer says she's signed record deals and contracts that she didn't read and couldn't understand. But the hardest part, she said, is not being able to read to Zion, her 4-year-old daughter. "That hurts really bad," she said, adding that she is now learning to read with tutors. In her memoir, "Life is Not a Fairy Tale," which she dictated to a freelance writer, Fantasia also said she was raped in the ninth grade by a classmate. She says the boy was disciplined, but she blamed herself for the attack. She dropped out of high school that year and became an unwed mother at 17.