Small / economy car deathwatch: we've passed "peak econobox" again

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by JSH

It is also the only subcompact car assembled in the USA so I doubt GM makes any money on it.

They're not assembling much of anything in the US these days.

[litesong]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

They're not assembling much of anything in the US these days.

Cooper & its affiliates are still making tires in America. Think a few Goodyear affiliates are making tires in the U.S.

All the capitalists keep saying communist china(always small letters) isn't using capitalism right, With a number of cities, built with skyscraper condos that are abandoned before anyone bought anything, maybe the capitalists are right. Also, appears that long embedded Chinese culture has something to do with the mess.

Anyhow, if communist china (always small letters) is in trouble, America can make more of its own products, at higher costs, of course.
I've bought Cooper that gave OK to good value. Instead of buying the Chile-made Goodyear tires, I should have tried the American-made Kelly tires. But, the Goodyear Assurance tires have been very good & long-lasting.

[litesong]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Manual 1:1 gear ratio .......98%
CVT belt ............................88%
Automatic .........................86%

Yeah, that's about what I figured, too. Had all manuals for decades that gave good MPG. Loved the idea of a CVT, so got a Dodge Caliber w/ Nissan CVT. I loved it.....the unaerodynamic Dodge body, not so much. But, I managed 31MPG, overall with E10, 33MPG with E0 fuel, which was 10% better than other drivers reported. Figured, I could have gotten 33-34MPG with a manual & never would have bought a Caliber with an automatic step tranny (which it didn't have). Nissan used their own CVTs. Also had optional 4speed auto trannies, which were reported to have less MPG AND less acceleration.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by litesong

Yeah, that's about what I figured, too. Had all manuals for decades that gave good MPG. Loved the idea of a CVT, so got a Dodge Caliber w/ Nissan CVT. I loved it.....the unaerodynamic Dodge body, not so much. But, I managed 31MPG, overall with E10, 33MPG with E0 fuel, which was 10% better than other drivers reported. Figured, I could have gotten 33-34MPG with a manual & never would have bought a Caliber with an automatic step tranny (which it didn't have). Nissan used their own CVTs. Also had optional 4speed auto trannies, which were reported to have less MPG AND less acceleration.

Step automatics are generally a bit more reliable though, and much less expensive.

[litesong]

Originally Posted by Shaneajanderson

Step automatics are generally a bit more reliable though, and much less expensive.

You gotta love manuals, then.

My Caliber w/Nissan CVT was $3000 cheaper than the Nissan Versa's & was good, with better MPG than a step auto would have given. The CVT gave elegant stop&go motion (I almost liked stop&go traffic). CVTs give sweet mountain climbing ability, with the CVT power always applying torque & at right rpms needed for varying slopes & not straining. Step autos are a disaster in the mountains, unless you use manual mode. Eventually, I sold the Caliber, thinking I didn't want big repair bills as the car lost its resale value. Later, I talked with other Caliber CVT owners, with as much as 180,000 & 230,000 miles & they had never had problems. Think a lot of people ran their CVTs hard AND into problems (hey, it was a Dodge & should be run hard). Don't see many Calibers on the road, anymore. Anyhow, I now love both our 6spd auto AND manual Hyundai Elantras.

[freebeard]

Just A Car Guy: possibly a moment in a movie, but a kid admiring a Geo Ham poster of Le Mans

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I appreciate that but you must be careful.

The O-acronym used to be Okay, but the ADL are SOBs.

I guess I never knew what a moon man was until I read that page

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by litesong

You gotta love manuals, then

I love manuals. I am so obsessed with manual transmissions that someday I'm planning to manual swap the automatic Camry I just bought.

Manuals are better for everything.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

They're not assembling much of anything in the US these days.

We manufacture more in the USA today then we ever have. We just do it with a lot fewer people and we are selective about the products we manufacture. More airplanes / fewer socks.

The USA produced 11.3 million cars in 2018. We exported 1.8 million cars in 2018 up from 1.1 million in 2009.

It makes no sense to make subcompact cars in the USA. We are a tiny market for them (Chevy USA only sold 10,600 Sonics in 2018). You build cars in the primary market and then ship them to the smaller markets.

BMW makes SUVs in the USA because we were the primary market. In 2018 BMW exported 235,000 SUVs worth $8.4 billion from their Spartanburg, SC assembly plant.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

I guess I never knew what a moon man was until I read that page

I guess SCUBA is hateful considering etiquette is to give the OK sign before beginning a dive and upon returning to the surface, and any other time people signal for a response from you.

I didn't know what the ADL was until following that link. Not sure if that's real news or not, OK being hateful and all.