when did you guys start hating wagons? (i mean.. the buying populace... not you guys)

The fact that the Fords ran a perfect race and didn’t run into any problems had nothing to do with it, correct? To be fair, I do think they had enough speed that if they had gotten into trouble they probably could have still won. BTW the FIA started this BOP bullshit.

Perhaps one of the most extreme false equivalencies I’ve heard in a while, not to mention entirely irrelevant.

Inevitably the “build a better car” crowd will chime in here. These cars are now designed under the auspices of BOP and are reliant upon the organizing body to correctly balance cars. Yes, if this were “run what you brung” the Ford would probably walk away, but it’s not. IMSA took the most competetive class of racing…

There is a lot of value in not having to worry about maintenance or repairs of a vehicle. Buying a used car = having to worry about such things. Leasing a new car = not having to worry about such things. Is not having to worry about that stuff worth $400 / month? Depends on where you are on the cost curve.

Its smaller, closer to the Equinox. No 3rd row. Cross shopped the Traverse, quotes I got for a lease were (no joke) within $50 of leasing an Escalade... and the Escalade had a lower down payment.

I’ve nearly failed twice in the past two months and almost brought a leased car home.

First Gear: *looks out window at F-150*.

Score!

First Gear: *looks out window at CX-3*.

So the question is, at what point will a BMW or Audi customer drop their brand for a Cadillac? If not $50, is it $100? At some point, Cadillac would start to look cheap, and that’s not the image GM wants either. Speaking of brand image, it is still a problem, many people in their 50's, 60's, and 70's see Cadillac as…

My mother has purchased not one, but TWO Buick Encores. I tried to prevent the second one but she HAD to have On-star and refused to look at a Forester or CX-5, despite them ultimately being cheaper to get what she wanted.

That may be true...but previously the Caddy lease programs were often more money than a similar German car and that was killing deals. Now they have the product and the matching lease programs to compete.

It was apparently a contentious decision at Mercedes to switch to inline 6. My guess as to why they’re going with an I6 is because they can easily retool for I3 and I4 production, and the plumbing for the turbos is easier to do...here’s an article about the new Mercedes engine family that might explain some of it:

its a neat joke, but they are claiming the short bed has as much volume as “other brands” standard cab on account of its new way to make them. Usable space? Don’t know, but if you are hauling hams it might be a significant difference.

Hell, you could put Chevy badges on and nobody would know the difference. They’d still talk shit about the interior, too.

Having driven BMWs Twin Turbo straight 6 N54 vs their N55 single-twin scroll turbo, it’s a noticable difference in power delivery. The first bank (of 3 cyl) operated one turbo while the second bank (of 3cyl) operated the second turbo

Two smaller twins feels more like a NA engine than a larger single turbo, but you sacrifice top end. It’s a big reason why N54 (earlier BMW e90 335i/e82 135i) guys switch to a single turbo setup, and with newer twin scroll turbos you can still keep lag to reasonable levels.

I’d prefer a twin scroll single over actual twins, myself. You always want 3 cylinders on a scroll (optimal number, hence why V6s/V12s are the best for turboing). This can be accomplished with two separate turbos or two scrolls in the hotside of a single turbo. Clearly the single turbo ends up being simpler.