I think that may be at least in part because those who care to comment may know the specs and shortcomings of this van better than the people who just click and move on.

No diesel option in the USA, they’re all this 2.0 turbo gas motor

The US Metris is gas, not diesel

It’s not 1987 anymore. The 1.5 turbo in the Civic makes 174hp and 162 lb-ft of torque at a low 1,700 rpm. The 2.0 DOHC model in the 1987 Celica ST and GT made 115hp and 124 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm.

Are you sure that 4200 lbs is the curb weight of a 2WD 2021 Trailblazer?
Because that’s similar to the curb weight of a body on frame, iron block and head LT-1 smallblock 1995 Impala SS .

Thanks, Jason. Very good article. Shady shit like this is one reason of many that we bought a new Bolt early last year instead of waiting for a Model 3. I really hope Tesla succeeds but they seem to frequently shoot themselves in both feet with this kind of (totally unnecessary, totally foreseeable) self inflicted…

Yep. I was a Saturn master tech back in their mid 90s heyday, and we repeatedly traded #1 and #2 positions in our customer satisfaction surveys with our local Lexus dealership. Pretty remarkable when we were selling $14k cars and they were selling $40k cars. GM starved Saturn of resources, new models and facelifts for…

Found the Republican! :P

Thanks for the article and the updates, that’s useful info. Brought me back to my evap/emissions class at GM, many years ago where we covered exactly this issue as a potential warranty problem.

Agreed. But to be fair to Ducati, it’s been far more to their record of success in a down market than racing and “red, fast, italian”. They - like Triumph - have evolved in a fairly short amount of time (starting that process when Texas Pacific Group assumed ownership in 1996) to be a full line manufacturer, catching…

So, I’m not disagreeing with you on some points you made, but:
Other motorcycle brands are doing well with the luxury image. Like Ducati, which isn’t competing with the Japanese on value, and like harley they sell lots of expensive T - shirts and lifestyle gear. Ducati has sold over 50,000 bikes/year for each of the…

The mechanical fuel injection got binned because it was incredibly expensive, terribly unreliable and prone to vapor locking. Source: as a young and up and coming lawyer, my dad bought a 1965 Stingray convertible (smallblock, 4 speed) new, and while deciding between that and a new Shelby Cobra he called GM, asked for…

Neat stuff. But in a city jammed with traffic, these will add more. Especially if people take one of these instead of taking the bus, a bicycle or the subway. Which seems likely, if they are cheaper than a monthly transit pass (at least for the car, if not insurance/licensing/parking too)

Of course, I just wanted to see who was going to completely lose their shit comparing a GTI to a Buick station wagon, and commenters here did not disappoint. :P
A more apt comparison would involve the 275hp/295 lb ft version of my engine found in the Camaro.

And yea, the Buick is heavier - but it’s packing AWD *and*…

This is awesome, thank you for writing this and getting all these pictures!

Legit made my day.

*OUT of warranty, that is

Nice to see that VW is finally almost caught up to my Buick’s 250hp, 295 lb-ft on their own 2.0T power. And I’m glad they kept the plaid seats and the manual trans. But the nose looks odd, and the swapping to touchscreen controls from tactile buttons and dials is a big step backward IMHO. I can’t imagine how much that…

Aw. Thanks for sharing this, it’s hilarious. It’s unfortunate that some car dudes can be like this, but at least we can all have a laugh or two at their knuckle dragging.

It seems like a bad move to cut the Frontier, since it’s selling well despite being ancient and there’s finally a new one in the works that looks to be competitive with the other newer trucks.

A base Frontier is still cheap. $20k brand new, sold at MSRP.
The cheapest Transit Connect is $24k MSRP