Find Reviews by Make:
Those final episodes of Top Gear will be shown on BBC2 later this year, but there isn’t enough footage for three full episodes.
- This Is Why Cadillac Will Discontinue The XTS: Opinion (GM Authority)
The laugh here isn’t the article (though publishing common sense as an opinion piece is rich). Check the by-line. - BlackBerry introduces security offering for Internet of Things devices (Reuters)
In addition to QNX infiltration, BlackBerry wants to lock down your car (in a good way) - Jeremy Clarkson ‘will return to the BBC’ says BBC Two boss (BBC)
“The executive also confirmed Clarkson’s final Top Gear scenes would be screened later this year.” - Audi pick-up to rival Mercedes-Benz ute would be “difficult”, says designer (CarAdvice)
Probably for the best? - CarNewsChina.com 2015 Shanghai Auto Show Coverage
Friend of TTAC, Tycho, has all that’s weird and wonderful from the Shanghai show floor
13 Comments on “While You Were Sleeping: April 22, 2015...”
Read all comments
Latest Car Reviews view all
Latest Product Reviews view all
Recent Comments
- Jeff S: True for now but let’s give GM some more time to see what happens. Battery technology and...
- Jeff S: The refinery capacity in the USA continues to decrease and it is very hard to get a refinery built because of...
- Jeff S: @mcs–The Walmart near me had several charging stations but they took them out. I haven’t seen too...
- Jeff S: Let me see. I might want to first take it on a trip and get the feel for it on the road.
- Jeff S: @ajla–Yes after 8 1/2 months I finally got one. I have only seen 4 on the roads and 2 Santa Cruz. My...
Car Reviews By Make view all
New Car Research
Who We Are
- Tim Healey
Managing Editor - Matt Posky
News and Social Media Contributor - Timothy Cain
Sales Analyst - Murilee Martin
Junkyard Finds Author - Matthew Guy
Contributor - Chris Tonn
Contributor
- Adam Tonge
- Bozi Tatarevic
- Corey Lewis
- Jo Borras
- Mark Baruth
- Ronnie Schreiber
Of course Clarkson isn’t banned, not with Netflix salivating over the chance to pick up the pieces.
I didn’t realize the Chinese auto industry was still completely dependent on making copies of other designs. Absolutely nothing interesting on that first page in the slightest, the Dart copy was pretty low.
Enjoyed the 1950s’ paternal condescension of the XTS article.
So that’s what Powdered Toast Man is doing these days.
Thought some of the comments concerning FWD vs RWD in the XTS story were great.
We keep being fed this RWD bull as THE drivers drive…and in reality it was replaced by FWD for a reason.
To keep being told performance cars from Europe are superior and RWD is one of the reasons is utter nonsense. We replaced it after FWD outsold RWD and was demanded by consumers.
And for all the stupid talk of the BMWs and such being purchased by the brilliant buyers…stop it.
People are buying these cars so they look good in the eyes of their fellow country club members. NONE of them come close to noticing or driving their cars as performance cars.
They consider the Euro badge as nothing more than a Rodeo Drive hand bag.
Learn to stop hating the front drive and love it.
All of my pro-RWD arguments went away when I drove a FWD car with traction control.
It used to be that, when the drive wheels broke loose, FWD cars lost steering authority (instead of just wanting to swap ends), and so I found RWD cars easier to control in snow/ice.
With modern electronic controls, FWD cars rarely break loose the way they did an 1990s cars. With that corner case effectively removed, FWD is superior without any serious tradeoffs.
(AWD is even better, but I’m not convinced it’s enough better to be worth the extra cost and/or constrained vehicle choices.)
FWD wins.
Anybody have a link to the Clarkson column that’s not hidden behind a paywall?
http://www.reddit.com/r/TopGear/comments/3352wd/clarksons_sunday_times_column_in_full/
A great read. Thanks for the link Spinny.
So apparently Clarkson is about to give birth to a new TV project. Well, he’s got May and Hammond in the mix and he’s known to be talking with Top Gear ex-employees.
Bully!
TrailerTrash
That reason is easy to discern. You get more interior volume from FWD and it is cheaper to assemble. The downsides are equally obvious. FWD cars do not handle nearly as well as RWD options once you hit a combination of wheelbase length and power levels, and the proportions just don’t seem to be as attractive (on average) as the long hood longitudinal layout cars.
The industry has not abandoned RWD/transverse cars. Any brand with a healthy uplevel badge has a full line up available.
Well…there is a bit more.
Having grown up around the Chicago area, the winters made easy work of RWD. The slightest snow left you spinning. So, when the exports suddenly started to show you can have an economy car and be able to drive all winter, it was a no brainer. They sold and wiped out US cars.
You got room, economy and traction. What a deal.
What exactly is that special combination of “wheelbase length and power levels”? I guess this is where we disagree. I don’t like long hoods. I hate the rear foot lump.
And I have never, ever driven my car in any way that would allow me to take advantage of any RWD performance. In fact, the few that do would be immeasurable in the world of consumers. This is all Internet expert bunk. Similar to the percentage of $60K plus off-road capable SUV owners that actually ever go off-road.
Scribes that write about a world in which only a select few ever live.
The rest of us live in a more common, and tame, driving reality.
And wouldn’t RWD be a heavier car?
I love this debate. I agree about the weight, but it’s not a massive difference. There are plenty of light weight rwd cars out there. I also think that at short wheelbase and modest power levels the performance difference had more to do with road or track design than anything else. I doubt making a mx5 front wheel drive would necessarily slow it down. Depends onthe venue.
As far as enjoyment goes I guess I’d present the same context related argument. I have both layouts in my garage and I find myself on throttle more often while having fun in the rwd car, at least on my roads. The technique for driving fwd fast hinges on high corner entry speeds, which feels less responsible to me on public roads. Simply put, brake early, then throttle on is more enjoyable with a rwd layout, and I feel like I’m playing with the balance of the car more often without having to be reckless to get there. I do also enjoy b and some c segment fwd cars for this, but they’d be improved by rwd subjectively if not objectively. Imagine a rwd Fiesta. Of course without windy local roads I probably wouldn’t have this add a priority.
In poor weather I still prefer rwd. All the advances that have helped fwd cars have also been applied to their rwd cousins. Tires, weight and stability control programming matter far more than drive layout in this era.
Here’s an extra item:
http://www.blogcdn.com/cars.aol.co.uk/media/2013/04/rexfeatures2297395aj.jpg
Btw, I think that Tim Shaw, who presents CAR SOS (is that aired in the U.S.?), might make for a good replacement of Clarkson.
So here’s a question: Is the CT-6 WIDER inside than the XTS? My biggest pet peve with the “SUPER EPSILON” was that it was still pretty narrow considering the extra length and it made the proportions strange.