$1,500 really isn’t that bad these days for a factory audio system upgrade. An upgrade for my wife’s ‘14 Flex, to take it from the temperamental My Ford Touch to Sync 3 with Carplay and Android auto, runs $1,500. $1,800, if I want to maintain factory navigation. That’s only for the control board and touchscreen assy,…

Far from it. There needs to be an external speaker retrofitted and then an amplifier that interfaces with the powertrain controls.

This Ford quality is cyclical. Anyone who’s watched Ford and its product over the years can follow the rise and fall of product quality like the tides. It goes all the way back to when Ford first became publicly traded. There will be a big push to improve quality, and a couple of years after that, it pans out. The…

Hey, you don’t get rich by just giving money away...

The car itself isn’t meant to be the money maker. The success or failure of this car determines the future of the brand as a whole. If it tanks, GM is out a relatively minor sum of cash, seeing as it was developed using a current platform. If it succeeds, that gives GM/Cadillac more premium credibility, and therefore…

Swap out for the 06-11 Town car cluster. Problem solved!

For me, it’s in between 2, so I’ll post em both.

V8 engine noises!

2023 (ish), in San Francisco, so....

This only works if Tesla stays committed to licensing this standard royalty free. I agree that there needs to be a universal standard to make EV adoption smoother, but I don't see non-Tesla manufacturers rushing to be beholden to a standard they don't have control of. This feels like if Apple tried to get everyone to…

It’s not that different than what Ford did with its sport branding. Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) went full line in the 90's and became rebadged as Specialty Vehicle Team (SVT) until ST and RS joined the fray during Ford’s most recent globalization effort. 

They gave that to you back in ‘05.

I could go for a Lincoln Futura right now...

Ok, to Honda’s credit, the lifted, high roof, 4wd version of the Civic didn't really go anywhere. It was just rebranded as the CR-V. 

I generally don’t hate on Fiero conversions. They serve as an interesting discount means of making “Exotic” looks accessible. They’re not for everyone, myself included. That said, $11,500 for a 30 year old GM V6 w a 3 sped auto, that paint and comically dated wood trim. HARD PASS.

This wouldn't have happened if Torch hadn't left. 

In an odd way, it’s almost fitting. We’ll now have 3 distinct eras of VW, the Air-cooled era, water cooled era and the upcoming EV era. The Type 1 was the constant from the beginning to the end of the air cooled era, the Golf, which replaced the type 1, ran the full duration of the water cooled era.

It’s already happening. Crossovers are now the default American “Car” with pickup trucks occupying the same space of personal luxury coupes from years ago. 

Ok, I don’t hate it, perse, but ask anyone who's driven a car with a bent steering wheel how annoying that would be to drive. 

What year Flex did you have? I’ve only ever seen timing chain stretch on the 3.5l F150 Ecoboosts with the twin variable cam timing, never on the Flex/Explorer/Taurus with the single VCT units. Water pumps, yes, but never a failed chain.