Trollhattansaab.net’s Swade has posted an open letter to Steve Shannon, Saab’s new boss. To his suggestions, excellent as always, I’d like to add my own. My feeling is that Saab has lost its way and forgotten much of what made its cars attractive when they were last hot, back in the 1980s. It hasn’t helped that GM bought Saab thinking… More →
Month: April 2007
2008’s many new infotainment features: the implication for depreciation
The 2008 models are starting to arrive. I’ve driven two so far–the Dodge Avenger and the Ford Escape–and just uploaded pricing for these and five other early 2008s. The big news is that infotainment systems are gaining many new features. Satellite radio is a few years old now. OnStar is even older. Navigation and Bluetooth are now available in cars the… More →
Toyota plays the pricing game with the Prius
A week ago Toyota announced an “Eco-nomic Savings Bonus” on the Prius. This bonus took the form of $600 to $2,000 price cuts on the Prius’ option packages. The first question that came to my mind was, “But how much of the cut is real?” Meaning: how large is the cut in the invoice price? As discussed in this editorial,… More →
Another inexplicable rarity: adjustable thigh support
I must admit to a bit of a fetish for seat adjustments. Already in this blog I’ve written about adjustable side bolsters and power recline. Well, it’s time for another installment. A reader recently emailed me, asking me why I don’t more often comment on the amount of room and comfort available to tall people like himself. (The short answer: I’m… More →
Consumer Reports adopts one of my less intelligent suggestions
I’ve been very critical of the survey question Consumer Reports uses to gather its vehicle reliability data, most notably in this editorial. They’re aware of my critiques, and I’ve been wondering whether they’d improve their survey as a result. Well, this year’s survey is out, so I have my answer.
IF and WHEN, or WHAT and HOW?
General Motors product czar Bob Lutz recently announced that “We’ve pushed the pause button” on large rear-wheel-drive cars currently under development. The stated reason? Bush’s proposed increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Maybe this pause makes sense. My concern is that this is far from an isolated instance. These cars were put on hold at least once a couple… More →
The Economist demonstrates how not to calculate fuel economy
Over at Autoblog I read that The Economist has had a blinding flash of the obvious and discovered that a used Civic is less expensive than a new Prius. But there’s more to the story: the author also found that changing the oil and air filter boosted the used Civic’s fuel economy from 34 to 40 mpg. This set off… More →
Pick your battles and lose the war
I spent a year and a half inside GM back in the mid-1990s performing research for my Ph.D. thesis. I studied how the “voice of the customer” made its way into new product decisions. At that time, it was very hard for anyone to get anything done, because each part of the organization was charged with optimizing a different piece of… More →
April incentives
This month I’ll take a few notes as I update TrueDelta’s incentive information… GM has eliminated the bonus cash and zero interest financing it placed on many models in March. In some cases the standard rebate has been increased, but not enough to compensate. So overall its incentives are down. You’ll find rebates on two new Saturns with a lot… More →
Sign of life at Ford: the upcoming 2009 Flex crossover
New York is the third or fourth most important U.S. auto show, behind Detroit, L.A., and perhaps Chicago. I didn’t give much thought to attending it. And for the most part I didn’t miss much. Most of the intros have been underwhelming, so much so that the comments over at Autoblog have been light. And then there’s the Ford Flex,… More →