"Let's buy the car Consumer Reports recommends! ...said no car enthusiast, ever."

Yeah, they've gotten much better in those respects.

Keep in mind though, it's super easy to stay out of the boost on long highway stretches with the cruise control on, especially if it's relatively flat. Compared to the pumping and friction losses in a larger 6 or 8cyl engine, you're going to come out way ahead. If you're driving all city, it makes more sense to get…

No they don't, all modern engines have knock sensors and will retard the timing accordingly if you run lower octane fuel in them. I'm fairly certain NONE of the beigemobiles in CR's test were tuned for anything other than regular unleaded 87 though. However, if they've been tuned to run higher octane fuel, they will…

It is one additional complexity, but they should last well over 70,000 miles if they're treated right. I had a '97 F250 Power Stroke with 298,000 miles on it when I sold it - original turbo. I currently have an '04 Jetta TDI with 228,000 - original turbo. My mom had an '02 Audi A3 1.8T with 118,000 on it, she used…

"Let's face it, an 80,000 mile turbocharged will invariably lose significant horsepower."

CR should stick to testing toasters and vacuums. Their automotive tests have been of questionable credibility for as long as I can remember. They should be cross comparing N/A and turbo models from the same vehicles, otherwise there are way too many variables to make an accurate comparison.

We lucked out and had a 9-3 Viggen as a company car for a few years, in regular commuting I managed to easily get in the high 20's. Long highway trips I saw a consistent 31MPG.

I (over)paid $43,000 for my 2012 Supercab Raptor, it's not loaded, but it's option list is pretty much at the same level as a loaded FX4 or Lariat that costs only a few grand less. Look around on fordraptorforum.com and you'll see buyers willing to ship or travel for their Raptors getting them new for less than…

Yeah don't do it, mine came with the latest release unfortunately. I bitched about it to Ford support and they claim that they did that intentionally as a response to people complaining that Bt audio was draining their phone batteries, which is BS because there's the Autoplay option to optionally disable that behavior.

There is however one glaring flaw in the 1st gen SYNC: the fact that the damn thing defaults back to Aux In every time you cycle the power. It used to resume playing Bluetooth audio or USB at power up, but some asshat broke it in the last firmware update, it F'n annoys me to no end!

It's a nicely trimmed truck, made to do truck things. If you want a Cadillac interior, buy a Cadillac badged Avalanche and drive it to work and soccer games.

That's why you deal with Fox directly, there's no reason to replace the shocks out of warranty as they're completely rebuildable. I've also seen posts in the forums where people have gotten Fox to replace a broken shock under their own warranty, but I'm sure the stealer would gladly tell you otherwise and take your…

Zephyr

Avalanche (of plastic)

I <3 Motorweek... home of the cheesiest lame-o puns ever.

This is true I guess if you're a loner, but it is nice to be able to have a place to keep some gear warm and dry without it crowding you and the passenger(s) on long trips. And yes, you can fit an ATV or a couple dirtbikes in that bed if you put the tailgate down, or you're more creative.

Not everyone can, or wants to put a bunch of muddy camping gear, or musty horse tack in the back of an SUV; nor will motorcycles, dirt bikes or ATV's fit in the back of an SUV. You could buy a trailer, but then you have to insure, license and keep the trailer somewhere. Longbed pickups also have relatively shitty…

Well even if they don't, it's good news because the value of our used Raptors will see an increase!