eyebeem posted:

Their self worth is solely based on their follower count.

big crush on Chad OMG posted:

Isn't subway doing an apprenticeship as a sandwich artist to avoid paying minimum wage? Like £3.5 an hour.

iospace posted:

Question, if you buy an older chrysler brand truck and it's problem free until you get rid of it, did you DODGE any problems?

(I'm not sorry. Yes I know it's terrible. Consider what thread this is)

Powershift posted:

Nobody knows, it's never happend.

Human Grand Prix posted:

It's actually Impressive Chrysler has survived as long as it has.

Deteriorata posted:

They've reportedly been on the brink of bankruptcy for about 50 years now.

quote:

Three years ago, General Motors showed drawings of a new design for the Chevrolet Equinox, its top-selling crossover, to consumer focus groups. They weren't impressed.

Too bulky. Odd styling. Not compelling enough.

With the compact crossover segment heating up fast, the poor feedback stung. Development work was in the early stages, but major changes at that point can still blow the budget for a vehicle program and risk delaying the launch. That could have been especially troublesome for the Equinox, given the importance of the segment and with recessionary spending cuts already having forced GM to stretch the current generation's life span well beyond the industry norm.

"Back in the day, we would have probably just kept going," said Mark Cieslak, who had been named chief engineer of the Equinox just four weeks before that. "What we had on paper we felt was not going to win."

Instead, GM -- eager to prove itself as genuinely reborn after bankruptcy and under the leadership of newly minted CEO Mary Barra and product boss Mark Reuss -- decided to change course. The company already was scrambling to fix a botched redesign of the Chevy Malibu amid weak sales and bad reviews, and the Equinox was more important to get right, even though sales of the aging vehicle had continued to be strong.

In contrast to the bean counters' influence on such decisions at old GM, Cieslak said the edict to those on the Equinox team was refreshingly simple: "We're in this to win -- go get it done." They did, and without falling off schedule.


The 2018 Chevy Equinox, above, is 4 inches shorter than the current model.
Critical launch

The 2018 Equinox, which began reaching dealerships this month, represents the first redesign for the nameplate in eight years. Sales of compact crossovers have more than doubled over that span, as the segment rose from 10 percent of the market in 2009 to 15 percent last year.

Thus, the stakes for the third-generation Equinox are exponentially greater than the last time around, making its launch among the biggest for GM in years.

Its success is crucial as GM works to bolster Chevy's image and draw in younger buyers who seek the utility and fuel economy that small crossovers offer and are more open to switching brands than their parents were.

"These are the new family station wagons of America," said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst with Autotrader. "The segment is huge, and we don't see any slowdown. There's definitely room for sales volume growth for Chevrolet. If they can make some inroads with it, that should do well for the entire brand."

To support the anticipated sales increase, GM plans to make the Equinox at three North American plants, including one in Ontario that's currently building only the 1.5-liter engine version. GM officials declined to identify the other two plants, but they are expected to be in Mexico, where the company has said it will move production of the GMC Terrain, which shares underpinnings with the Equinox.

At 242,195 units in 2016, the Equinox accounted for 8 percent of GM's U.S. sales, second to only the Chevy Silverado. But the need for a significant update is clear: It fell from third in its segment as recently as 2013 to fifth place last year, outsold by rivals from Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Ford.

Equinox overhaul
The 2018 Chevrolet Equinox is shorter and lighter than the outgoing model.
2018 2017
Wheelbase 107.3 in. 112.5 in.
Length 183.1 in. 187.8 in.
Curb weight 3,327 lbs. 3,764 lbs.
Base engine 1.5-liter turbo 4-cyl. 2.4-liter 4-cyl.
Passenger volume 103.2 cu. ft. 99.7 cu. ft.
Max cargo volume 63.5 cu. ft. 63.7 cu. ft.
EPA mpg 26 city/32 hwy. 21 city/31 hwy.
Source: Chevrolet

Smaller and lighter

The Equinox also needed to be downsized. It was 3 to 10 inches longer and at least 212 pounds heavier than all of its more popular rivals.

So in the frenzied months following the consumer clinics, engineers switched the Equinox to a smaller platform. They made the new model 4 inches shorter than the current one and improved its proportions by eliminating the seven-passenger version for overseas markets.

Shrinking the vehicle allowed for vastly improved ride and handling while also making it more fuel efficient. "That brought it into the heart of the segment," Cieslak said.

Despite the smaller profile, legroom in each row declined by no more than three-tenths of an inch from the 2017 Equinox, and total passenger volume actually increased by 3.5 cubic feet.


On the inside, total passenger volume of the 2018 Chevy Equinox increased.
GM expanded the vehicle's engine lineup to include a sportier 2.0-liter turbo and a class-exclusive diesel option. (Mazda's CX-5 is expected to get one this year.) It packed in safety and infotainment technology, installing more USB ports than there are seats. And it pushed everyone on the project to reduce weight at every opportunity.

"We had engineers lined up down the hall every Friday to show how they could take a gram out of their part until we pulled out 400 pounds," Cieslak said.

They removed the heavy mechanism that allowed the rear seats to slide forward and backward after learning that few customers ever used it or even knew it was there. Besides saving weight, the fixed-position seats also can fold down more fully, creating a flat cargo floor that the outgoing model didn't offer.

Throatwarbler posted:

They've gone bankrupt twice and were bailed out by the taxpayer both times.

I must be getting old because this poo poo wasn't *that* long ago and I remember it clearly, it was a big deal, we even had hundred page threads about it on this very forum. But more than 1 person pops in every week asking "how has Chrysler not gone bankrupt?" Uh they just loving did?

Deteriorata posted:

The 1980 bailout wasn't technically a bankruptcy. My point was more that they've been struggling with their finances even since the '50s. They've been up and down, but never very far from insolvency.

The Door Frame posted:

I have very confused feelings for Chrysler. They've made such amazing things, but can never seem to make things right

The Door Frame posted:

I have very confused feelings for Chrysler. They've made such amazing things, but can never seem to make things right

Powershift posted:

I think Chrysler perfection is the fact that you can lease a scat pack charger for $400 a month.

You get a big car with a huge engine, and no responsibility for it when things really start to go wrong.

Deteriorata posted:

Previa_fun posted:

Then again I'm not sure why people put political bumper stickers on their cars either. There are so many unstable folks on the roads I don't want to give anyone more reason to target me.

Previa_fun posted:

Then again I'm not sure why people put political bumper stickers on their cars either. There are so many unstable folks on the roads I don't want to give anyone more reason to target me.

Olympic Mathlete posted:

Apparently so, that's loving shocking. Subway head office's excuse being "well they're franchised and we don't offer any training..."

The Door Frame posted:

I have very confused feelings for Chrysler. They've made such amazing things, but can never seem to make things right

Geoj posted:

Might be a different story now but I was a bit more activist in my 20s and had a pair of subtle stickers (a crossed out W and "F the president", a play on "W - the president" stickers that were popular with conservatives at the time) in the bottom corners of my rear glass from 2004 until Bush left office.

Never got anything more than an angry scowl or the finger in return, and I used to work as a field tech at/drive to and park said car at Walmarts in some very rural/conservative parts of Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.

Preoptopus posted:

Built on the old Mercedes E class chassis, they got complicated multi link suspension.

Q_res posted:

First, it's 300C and secondly...


No they're not, I don't know why people keep repeating this bullshit. Some of the suspension components were made using tooling from the E-class, but that's it. That and the transmission are all Daimler-Benz contributed to the LX platform.

It'd be really cool if people stopped talking out of their asses about this...

BigPaddy posted:

Look guys my Challenger is 'Merican ok *

* Made in Canada

Q_res posted:

First, it's 300C and secondly...


No they're not, I don't know why people keep repeating this bullshit. Some of the suspension components were made using tooling from the E-class, but that's it. That and the transmission are all Daimler-Benz contributed to the LX platform.

It'd be really cool if people stopped talking out of their asses about this...

CommieGIR posted:

Canada is a town in Mexico, right?

Darchangel posted:

I think "based on" rather than "built on" is what he meant. It's not literally the E-class chassis, but very similar. Kind of how we describe a CRV as a tall Civic or whatever.

Q_res posted:

Except, that's still loving wrong. The LX chassis pre-dates the merger.

Preoptopus posted:

the 'urban' market bought millions of them

Raluek posted:

Meydey posted:

Terrible car stuff:
This early z is sitting behind the main building of a long term storage lot in Issaquah. Body looks straight, but is a solid layer of surface rust. All 4 wheels are flat, but are on sweet 70's era mags. Pretty sure it is a 240 going by the rear bumper. It's sitting behind an 80's era Jag with flat tires. I only noticed it when on the walking trail that goes behind the yard. I want to rescue it and make it happy again.

The Door Frame posted:

I have very confused feelings for Chrysler. They've made such amazing things, but can never seem to make things right

Meydey posted:

Update on this from 2 weeks ago. I swung by the lot and asked about it. It has been there for at least 6 years and is being actively paid to store. Can't see the tabs from the trail, but the plates are 6 digit, and WA switched to 7 digit in 09. They did let me leave my number in case the owner decided to get rid of it.
Also found out a co-worker is related to the storage owners, so I hit him up also.

GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

It's the 1978 RX7 that my buddy has sitting in a storage unit in Richmond, VA (he lives in Las Vegas.)
It's minty and he'll never drive it. He'll never sell it. He might never even see it again. It's just gonna sit there until he dies and someone stops paying on that unit