No more Cruze, Impala, etc.

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AWD or 4 wheel drive is not necessary to get around, but it is crucial to avoid all the crazy drivers than spin out on a quarter inch of snow. In my neck of the woods everyone freaks out as soon as the first snowflake falls. If there is ice then forget it.
 
Down here, we deal with mud and sugar sand. When the ground is dry, it Swallows tires, and when it's wet, it is worse. If you don't have 4 wheel drive, getting stuck is a complete guarantee. We have parks that allow plated off road vehicles that will simply turn you away or refuse to give you a vehicle access permit if you do not have 4WD.

For those unfamiliar with sugar sand, just imagine driving a 280 lb. dirt bike onto sand, and being able to take your hands off of the bike and walk away because the sand is holding it up without you having to do anything.
 
Can you get by without 4WD or AWD? - yes of course, but not always as easily as with it. And no amount of hoping and wishing will change the buying habits of tomorrow's car buyers.

There are lots of things on today's cars that can be gotten by without by many drivers. But many buyers want all of these things and the manufacturers are doing their best to provide the types of vehicles with the features that their customers want to buy and drive. It is not an exact science, and for products that take a few years to develop there is quite a bit of risk in making these predictions.

GM and Ford have made their predictions that the best course of action over the next few years is to reduce or eliminate many sedan models. If they predict wrong, there will be severe consequences, heads will roll and investors in those companies will pay dearly. But if they are correct, there are billions in profit to be made. The roulette wheel of manufacturing has been set in motion, and it will take a few years to see if the ball bounce ends up in a red, or a black slot for GM and Ford.

It would not surprise me at all if other manufacturer's make some tweaks to their model line-ups in the very near future.
 
Originally Posted by OVERKILL


Wait, are you telling me I'm not cool??? And here I thought I bought the Jeep because it had 475HP, 4x4 and decent ground clearance so I could drive it year-round. Guess I should have kept the Charger then eh?
wink.gif


Having ground clearance and 4WD is one thing - but can your SRT hold its own if you got invited to tag along with an offroading buddy?

I've had the misfortune of trailing someone in an X6M during a storm en route to Tahoe - the car passed chain control(AWD) but it looked like it still had its summer Bridgestone Dueler Sports on. About 2 miles past the chain control point, the X6 was starting to lose control and the driver had to pull over before they ate it. CA vehicle code says AWD/4WD is OK as long as M+S or winter tires are installed. ID10T mistake on the worker's part.

In California, I see Caltrans waving on WRXs, Evos, Range Rovers and the M/AMG variants of BMW/Mercedes SUVs past chain control. And some of them are still on summer tires. I've seen quite a few WRX kiddies lose it.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by OVERKILL


Wait, are you telling me I'm not cool??? And here I thought I bought the Jeep because it had 475HP, 4x4 and decent ground clearance so I could drive it year-round. Guess I should have kept the Charger then eh?
wink.gif


Having ground clearance and 4WD is one thing - but can your SRT hold its own if you got invited to tag along with an offroading buddy?

I've had the misfortune of trailing someone in an X6M during a storm en route to Tahoe - the car passed chain control(AWD) but it looked like it still had its summer Bridgestone Dueler Sports on. About 2 miles past the chain control point, the X6 was starting to lose control and the driver had to pull over before they ate it. CA vehicle code says AWD/4WD is OK as long as M+S or winter tires are installed. ID10T mistake on the worker's part.

In California, I see Caltrans waving on WRXs, Evos, Range Rovers and the M/AMG variants of BMW/Mercedes SUVs past chain control. And some of them are still on summer tires. I've seen quite a few WRX kiddies lose it.




Obviously if people use the wrong tool for a job, they'll have problems.
 
Originally Posted by CKN
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by grampi
The SUV/CUV thing is a "cool factor" thing. People think they're cool when they really aren't....they're just going along with the rest of the sheeple because they want to "fit in"...a lot like people who buy Harleys...


Wait, are you telling me I'm not cool??? And here I thought I bought the Jeep because it had 475HP, 4x4 and decent ground clearance so I could drive it year-round. Guess I should have kept the Charger then eh?
wink.gif


I'm in Minnesota....haven't seen the need for a 4 wd for years. Sure it's nice but hardly necessary. Heck I once drove a rear drive Tacoma for a 4 year period....winters and all.


Here in Utah they do a wonderful job of plowing the streets. However-when you need AWD/4 wheel drive-you need it. For example-the streets get plowed by the cities/state quickly. But the private parking lots, (movies, restaurants, etc.) are done by private contractors and they are not as efficient. That's when it's convenient to have a vehicle that can handle the snow. And with the AWD-there is hardly any penalty the rest of the year for having the running gear when you need it.

Yes-you could get by with snow tires-but then depending on if you buy an additional set of wheels for your snow tires-you have basically paid at least half of the option of AWD.

apparently it really miffs people that I diss their need for 4WD by showing that its possible to get by without it,,,,
 
Originally Posted by JTK

Another concern with AWD like mentioned above, with the way product lines change over so quickly, who's to say you'll find the AWD parts you may need down the road? Those unobtainable extra parts are going to send vehicles to the scrap yard faster than a non AWD as time goes on. Guaranteed.


IDK, there are so many cars that are the same underneath and just have different skin for marketing reasons.

Honda Element= CRV underneath.

I'm confident that there are only so many transfer cases, and so are bought off-the-shelf.

Seen cute-utes with a rear subframe without axles, but room for them. Seems they put everything-but in.

I would worry more about body parts (due to the product line changes you speak of), chip keys, and obtaining computer programming/ reflashing for the screen tech inside, vs the 4WD system.
 
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by CKN
Originally Posted by philipp10
OVERKILL said:
grampi said:
The SUV/CUV thing is a "cool factor" thing. People think they're cool when they really aren't....they're just going along with the rest of the sheeple because they want to "fit in"...a lot like people who buy Harleys...





Yes-you could get by with snow tires-but then depending on if you buy an additional set of wheels for your snow tires-you have basically paid at least half of the option of AWD.

apparently it really miffs people that I diss their need for 4WD by showing that its possible to get by without it,,,,


I'm not surprised some say you can get by without. This is BITOG-where guys drive all over town to get oil at .25 cents a quart. Why in the world would they spring an extra $1,500.00 to $1,800.00 on AWD? This is the forum of cheapskates and where old cars come to die......

Again the issue is -When you need it-you need it.
 
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Once your autonomous car shows up with free
sick.gif
on the seat a person might not think it's so great.


Yeah, who's going to clean up all those bodily fluids? Besides the regular ones, there's also snot, vomit, drool, blood etc.

people in other countries ride subways everyday.....do you honestly think everyone is sitting on "fluids"....


You do realize that Uber drivers deal with it all the time right? That's why they have vomit bags and complain that even if they charge the passenger $250 to clean up their mess, they still lose money because the car is out of action while it's being cleaned plus even if it's cleaned, maybe they don't get the smell out completely.

I've seen drunk people on the subways, late at night. There's a reason some of the seats are metal. Ours closes at a somewhat early hour and the drunks end up taking cabs or uber. That's probably why the back seat of a crown vic is easy to hose out.

Plus the subway is completely different than the back seat of car. People do in private what they won't do in public and even being in public doesn't stop certain people.

your right, god forbid we might come into contact with someone else's dna. I wonder how the word's masses have survived so far....
 
"your right, god forbid we might come into contact with someone else's dna. I wonder how the word's masses have survived so far...."






Go to San Francisco or Seattle and find out. Diseases are rampant.
 
Originally Posted by philipp10
your right, god forbid we might come into contact with someone else's dna. I wonder how the word's masses have survived so far....


They didn't. Average life expectancy was only 30-40 years until the last couple centuries.

That's why there's a worry of who is going to keep it clean.

You realize that when you go to a restaurant, it's the workers in the restaurant who keep it clean and clean up after guests right?

Who is going to clean when there's no workers?
 
Indeed. One of the big benefits of buying a car and getting off public transport was that I didn't get sick half as much.

These days, I wouldn't have to worry about bed-bugs, either.
 
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