Quote:
Originally Posted by Clev
The reason that people don't buy manuals is that you can't get anything but the base car in a manual. In Europe, you can buy a fully loaded Kia Soul with a manual, but in the US, you can only buy the stripper model, and if you want even cruise control added to that, you have to get the auto even though it's the same damn engine. In the UK, you can get a Toyota Hilux in any configuration of luxuries and cab style you want, and it comes with a diesel engine, all wheel drive and a manual transmission with a 7,700 pound towing capacity and gets 40mpg unloaded.
It's ridiculous that we continue to get a slow trickle of dreadful vehicles while the rest of the world gets far better options.
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The towing capacity can never be compared. even 100% identical cars made at the same plant on the same day will have a different rating if sold somewhere else besides the USA. I would blame lawyers and juries in the US that will blame the manufacturer for giving to high a rating rather then blaming the driver for not changing his operation when towing 2-5 tons.
The diesel problem is also a USA problem with the EPA targeting them. VW was breaking the law no question, but IMO the law was the underlying problem there. I don't see the big picture benifit in having such strict NOx rules on what is really a clean engine. Still not fair VW would get to build outside the law while the others had to be saddled with all kinds of problematic add on emission devices. This is one area the USA is "leading" and expect to see Toyota and most other makers dropping civilian diesels worldwide.
The Ecodiesel was kind of playing that package game, and I think the first F150 diesels are as well. At least on the Ram they also made it available on the lowest work truck trim, then just skipped the mainstream SLT packages. So you either got a stripped down truck, or a high end truck with the Ecodiesel at first. The previous 2000's Jeep special package diesels on the Grand Cherokee and Liberty were made available on all trims but they always had an automatic as a mandatory "option". Then again when was the last Grand Cherokee with a manual? 1995?