Jork Juggler posted:

I recall reading that the Scion tC has a stretched wheelbase from the Toyota Avensis it is based upon. They really did just take a car and stretch is a bit in the middle, I guess American back seat passengers have longer legs than others.

Jork Juggler posted:

I recall reading that the Scion tC has a stretched wheelbase from the Toyota Avensis it is based upon. They really did just take a car and stretch is a bit in the middle, I guess American back seat passengers have longer legs than others.

Sir Tonk posted:

I work with someone that has one of these. It's got tubular doors, I'll try ab get a photo later today.

It actually looks ok, other than the CoD logos.

Wamsutta posted:

I love the looks of the Black Ops wrangler minus any/all vidja-game related graphics on the vehicle. If that poo poo's removable (probably with a heat gun, it has to be vinyl right?) those things are awesome.

Cmdr Will Riker posted:

Hey guys, I heard about a new car today that sounds pretty awesome. It's called the Dodge Fiat Magnum.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/07/gilles-dodge-may-bring-back-dodge-magnum-wagon/1

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

Oooh, poo poo that's exciting. I just hope they'll offer it with a six-speed. They obviously fit in the LX chassis.

Skyssx posted:

Did it have third row seating? I was checking out a XC70 while getting my oil changed and was very disappointed that apparently they're just sedans with extra cargo space.

Christobevii3 posted:

Has anyone driven a chevy cruze eco 6 speed? I'm still at a loss what to do car wise. One part of me wants to be an idiot and buy a mustang boss 302 and the other be economical and get a cruze or go in between and get a gti update. Still might fix the 5.3L s10 blazer swap...

Christobevii3 posted:

Has anyone driven a chevy cruze eco 6 speed? I'm still at a loss what to do car wise. One part of me wants to be an idiot and buy a mustang boss 302 and the other be economical and get a cruze or go in between and get a gti update. Still might fix the 5.3L s10 blazer swap...

quote:

The cars used in this review were provided by General Motors.

The Chevrolet Cruze is what I would consider to be an “compact car;” it’s not frighteningly big, not frighteningly small, good on gas, and is the kind of car I would drive to work in if I had a commute.



Most of my impressions are from a weekend where I drove from Miami to Melbourne, three hours each way. The trip went like this:

Use switchblade key to open trunk.
Load trunk with bags, notice that there’s slightly more room than in the trunk of my 1997 Mitsubishi Mirage, much more room than the 2011 Chrysler 200 Convertible or the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible, and much less room than the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor used for taxis in Miami.
Close trunk.
Unlock car, sit down, and buckle up (always buckle your seat belt when you enter a car or truck).
Plug iPhone 3GS into armrest for charging and music.
Start car, drive away.
The driving experience of the “LTZ RS” version I had was pretty standard. It didn’t feel floaty, shaky, or otherwise frightening at highway speeds in the least; but at the same time it didn’t have a ton of power to spare for passing. I suspect I’d enjoy the manual transmission version more on this front, since the auto is slow, even when manually commanded (although it does have six gears). Coming off of a stop, there’s a sweet spot above 3500 rpm where you can feel the extra power from the turbo, but it’s not a sports car by any means. This also means that it’s not loud and that the suspension isn’t hair-raising and jittery, which is nice.



The interior is quite nice for the size of the car; it’s better than the 2010 Prius, but not the 2009 C-klasse. The fabric covering on the dashboard looks nice, and doesn’t feel as hot as a plastic dashboard does after a day in the sun. The leather seats were okay, although I think fabric ones would be nicer in Florida. The instruments are easy to read, but I think the VFD display between the gauges could stand to show a bit more information.

In particular, while the display does give you some nice options such as the next navigation item, average fuel economy, and range until empty, it could stand to maybe put two things on the same page, provide an instantaneous fuel economy readout, and maybe a bit of audio information.

The OnStar navigation works, but it’s a bit janky and slow to get it set up. It’s nice that the car doesn’t store any map data that will be out of date long before it’s actually loaded into the car, but calling OnStar and using voice recognition to load in a new route, and being unable to quickly recover from a missed turn is pretty lame compared to what you see on a cell phone or other cars with navigation.

The audio system was pretty reasonable; it sounded fine, the XM worked well, but browsing a large collection (> 100 albums) on my iPhone was hard, since there’s no voice search, just a four-line screen and a dial to page through it. Dialing the phone over Bluetooth was also a dicey proposition; I never was able to call somebody by name (including difficult entries such as “Home” or “Shawn Baker,”) and had to use the dial to pick from the whole phone book or recent call lists pretty often. My #1 annoyance was that the navigation system wouldn’t duck out in a phone call like the stereo would, so everyone got an earful of turn-by-turn directions.

Since it’s a compact car, I didn’t try and put four 6’ guys in it for a trip to Epcot; my parents got the vehicle for the day, and liked it. My dad in particular said that he’d consider one once the reliability is a known factor, and that him and my mom didn’t have any really problems with it around town.

I didn’t see fantastic gas mileage during my travels, but did get about 35mpg on the highway with A/C on. Other than that, there’s not much to say; it’s a quietly competent compact car, with nice toys inside.

Throatwarbler posted:

The new 2012 Impalas are hitting the dealers. I believe this is the only car currently sold in the US that still has a bench seat option.

Lowclock posted:

This is a new car you like? Geez, I would really hate to see the ones you think poorly of.

Throatwarbler posted:

305hp, 6 speed trans, column shifter, and velour bench seats on a 3500lb full size car that will probably retail for $23k, what's not to like?

BMW 3 series GT

http://www.worldcarfans.com/111071434941/2013-bmw-3-series-gt-spied-on-the-ring-for-the-first/lowphotos#2

Throatwarbler posted:

305hp, 6 speed trans, column shifter, and velour bench seats on a 3500lb full size car that will probably retail for $23k, what's not to like?

BMW 3 series GT

http://www.worldcarfans.com/111071434941/2013-bmw-3-series-gt-spied-on-the-ring-for-the-first/lowphotos#2

travisray2004 posted:

What the gently caress is this? Haven't they learned anything from the 5-GT?

SwashedBuckles posted:

Clearly not. Maybe this will end up stealing 5 series sales like the 5 GT did to the 7 series. Hopefully it will have a blessedly short model life before BMW figures out the GT models and the X6 were terrible ideas and buries them all next to the copies of the ET video game.

Throatwarbler posted:

305hp, 6 speed trans, column shifter, and velour bench seats on a 3500lb full size car that will probably retail for $23k, what's not to like?

Throatwarbler posted:

Lowclock posted:

When people say "wagons are gay and ugly and I would not buy one", chances are good they're thinking about poo poo like wooden-stickered Roadmasters, not e34 or e36 tourings.

kimbo305 posted:

If people did like those in the US, they would sell better.

Lowclock posted:

It's still front wheel drive and is one of the most boring looking automobiles I've ever seen, and continues to bastardize one of GM's best names. I don't know who's buying them besides fleets and senior citizens. I had a fresh 2008 as a rental car once and the only way I could describe driving it would be "Bluhhhh".

BMW should just give up this crap already. This and that other GT just end up looking like small SUVs. They've already demonstrated in the past that they know how to make beautiful and functional wagons tourings out of their normal cars, so why are they loving it up now? When people say "wagons are gay and ugly and I would not buy one", chances are good they're thinking about poo poo like wooden-stickered Roadmasters, not e34 or e36 tourings.

(No I'm not trying to hate on roadmasters)

oRenj9 posted:

I can't think of a reason that Toyota would make a Camry wagon when the Rav4 is a wagon-like body that has identical length and width dimensions and engine options as the Camry.

Powershift posted:

Motor trend just tested both the ecoboost and 6.2 f-150s, surprisingly, the ecoboost is quicker than the 6.2 even though the 3.5 had a 3.55 and the 6.2 had the 3.73, probably from being 600lbs lighter.

kimbo305 posted:

Where does all the weight come from?

Throatwarbler posted:

The V6 is a Lariat 4x2 and the 6.2l is a 4x4 Harley Davidson.

kimbo305 posted:

Right, but is that all? I know AWD systems can be heavy, but jeez. I thought the EcoBoost wasn't that light from the big heads and turbo hardware.

Throatwarbler posted:

The new 2012 Impalas are hitting the dealers. I believe this is the only car currently sold in the US that still has a bench seat option.

Footwork posted:

i,too, yearn for the days of the 1985 pontiac 6000le


actually every 80's gm blows rear end

kimbo305 posted:

Couldn't be _that_ bad. Otherwise the Fusion would have a beam suspension out back, too.

My guess is that it'd just be an organizational hassle to make some proportion (custom orders) of Mustangs IRS on the assembly line.

Throatwarbler posted:

BMW 3 series GT

http://www.worldcarfans.com/111071434941/2013-bmw-3-series-gt-spied-on-the-ring-for-the-first/lowphotos#2

Throatwarbler posted:

305hp, 6 speed trans, column shifter, and velour bench seats on a 3500lb full size car that will probably retail for $23k, what's not to like?

BMW 3 series GT

http://www.worldcarfans.com/111071434941/2013-bmw-3-series-gt-spied-on-the-ring-for-the-first/lowphotos#2

Dave Inc. posted:

Holy poo poo those tail-lights, anyone else notice how far they stick out from the body?

Throatwarbler posted:

The new 2012 Impalas are hitting the dealers. I believe this is the only car currently sold in the US that still has a bench seat option.

wav3form posted:

I don't think people are thinking about fake wood Roadmasters. I think they just really don't like wagons which is why Audi Avants and BMW Touring don't sell that well. They'd rather buy SUVs. I happen to love hatchbacks and wagons so I don't think that but I'm not the one with the money for a new BMW or Audi.

Revolvyerom posted:

Sure it could be that bad. That's time your paid mechanics aren't working on building another car, and money that is being taken out of the production budget. To cover those costs, plus whatever other overhead I'm just not thinking of, means that any car's system is going to cost more than the sum of its parts.