Drew Dowdell

They did that…sorta. The CT6 Plug In had the Volt battery pack in a different shape, the 2.0t as the gas engine, and an entirely unique transmission that was a combination of a 4 speed auto and 2 CVTs. It could travel at highway speeds in completely electric mode for about 35ish miles. It had all the Volt modes of city, mountains, conserve, and sport.

What is the reason for the re-name? Were they acquired or merged?

Thanks! I just downloaded the maps! I'm feeling a Karen Walker cough coming on.

I'm sitting at a light last night on the motorcycle. A few guys on Harleys pull up next to me, revving their engines and being loud and obnoxious. One of them leans over to me and says "You ain't got pipes, but you can do this too!" and revs his engine. Me with my innocent face on... "Oh.. thanks... no need.. my bike actually runs fine." Light changes green and I'm off before he can reply.

What is this tour? Sounds like something I'd like to do either on the bike or in the Toronado.

An interesting mix today I’m going to be posting more to the Cheersandgears Instagram, so follow there if you aren’t already. https://www.instagram.com/cheersandgears/

That first iteration in STS trim and in black was gorgeous!

Again, 200 purpose built Suburbans to replace the last ones purchased 5 to 8 years and who knows how many 10s of thousand miles ago, used for security and emergency services is not some government program run amuck. It’s not even really wasteful. They’ve finished their service lives and doing tear down/rebuilds of them like it’s a B52 makes no sense.

In case You needed help seeing it. The point is that the readiness profile of these vehicles is unlike any other in the world. It’s likely that they have 2 or 3 layers of redundant vehicles and cycle them out for overhauls, so if they buy 300 of them only 100 are duty ready at any given time, another 100 are kept on reserve standby, and the other 100 are being overhauled. Can the government spend less money? Absolutely. But this is such a tiny chunk of the budget not even the accountants would notice the difference and replacing 2017 and older vehicles that have been literally flown around the world doesn’t seem like a huge problem to me. Now, if all they did was go back and forth to the golf club for the last 4 years, then you might have an argument.

Because you’re making it political. working for the energy company we had some pretty high standards for resiliency but it’s a whole new level for government. And even my small local government has high standards. But this argument is one I have at work regularly with one employee in particular. She regularly buys junk because it’s the cheapest… and then it doesn’t work right and there is no chance of it lasting the expected life. Spending more up front to buy quality products pays off in the long run.

Watch it. Who are you to determine what is needed or not? Again, I’ve learned a lot about reliability requirements since working for the government. Having things not work during emergencies is a no go and I have to plan for it.

The overall shape of a vehicle has little to do with the drag coefficient. A 1998 Lexus LS or MB E-Class is 0.27. A 1998 Miata is 0.38, 97 Celica GTS is 0.37. Both the Miata and Celica have higher drag coefficients than a 2011 Sienna at 0.309 One of the worst is the G-Class at 0.53 and is only beaten for last place by a Wrangler soft top with the top off at 0.58

Unfortunately I don’t tan much. I just turn salmon color.

Doesn’t matter. The suburbans that trail the one with the dignitaries are usually filled with their support staff or additional protection.

But their reliability is more critical

That's the wheel that comes only on the Caliente trim. I have e-bay searches out for one in my color.

It may not be real wood, but I'm partial to this for obvious reasons. It's got good style and a comfortable layout. Cars today all try to have that fighter cockpit layout that I think is completely unnecessary and space consuming for anything not named Supra, Camaro, or Mustang. Hip room in modern car is measured in inches.... hip room in my Toronado can be measured in feet.

Eh, I think if you narrow it down to like 1987ish through 2002ish with allowances for some exceptions that might be true. That was certainly the malaise era for car interiors. But even as bad as most of the 80's powertrains were, the interiors of the mid-lux and up at least had some style even if they weren't made from top end materials.

Photo uploads are fixed No, the Bolt in both forms is still not an Impala/Fusion/Taurus replacement.

This is fixed

vacation photos of me… also to test that photo uploads are working again.

Her commute is that long? she may say she wants a mustang, but in my observation of women of a particular generation… they say that but end up in a small to mid-size crossover anyway for practicality reasons.

What's the opinion on the Mustang Mach E then?

Could a Rivian R1S perhaps be a useful conveyance for Mrs. Balth (price aside).

I like it for a sedan, but I will likely end up with a Rivian eventually instead