The majority of the "car" fires around here the last few years have been caused by the Volt chargers. Seems like more of an electircal fire to me.
Bicycles or motorcycles?
I have not seen any indications of wagons coming back to North America. On the contrary people want more and more SUVs. Even smaller compact sedans are being replaced with smaller SUVs such as the Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V.
Yeah that's sadly been my observation as well, I was just going by what the other poster said. I'd be happy as heck if it comes true.
We recently drove a Honda HR-V and was very dissapointed with the performance of its CVT transmission! Compared to our earlier Honda Fit 5-speed the HR-V couldn't get out of its own way! The same was true of the small Subaru SUV with its CVT that we also test drove. We looked at these because we suspect that we will not be able to get a VW Tiquan TDI, which we want to replace our 2003 Golf GL TDI with.
The next generation Tiguan is probably a year or so away, and so far nothing has been confirmed about it, other than it's getting a little larger to support a 3rd row. I bought the Q5 to tide me over until VW releases the next generation of Tiguan and the new Atlas. I want to see what engines are coming. While I'm hoping for a TDI within a year or so of release, I would also be satisfied with a hybrid. The Jetta hybrid was a nice package, except for the RNS-315 radio. That's what kept me from buying it instead of my Passat. If they do a hybrid in the Tiguan, I will be my top choice. I don't need/want a 3rd row, but a larger storage space behind the 2nd row sounds good.
Is it actually "not getting out of its own way", or does it just feel like that?
Well, a 4 cyl FWD Audi A4 with a CVT feels like a guided missile, so I am not sure I buy the whole "blame the CVT for it "feeling" slow" thing.
The Subaru Legacy wagon doesn't count?
Having drag raced for many years (SuperStock and AA/Fuel dragster) I know what acceleration feels like! We had an awful time trying to merge on I-81 in the HR-V and into rapid traffic with a Forester. The CVT in my opinion is not something I will buy. Period.
To add to this conversation I would say that the physical characteristics of an SUV (taller, heavier, sometimes AWD, etc.) are a better fit for a light duty diesel engine. Kind of 'you can have your cake and eat it too'
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The human propelled kind.
I know it's convenient to put bicycles in the back of a truck, but if hauling bicycles is your only "hauling" why not a car with a hitch rack?
Have that too, but removed it for a while since it makes using the hatch a little more of a challange. The truck is really more convienent if I am the only one riding. Just roll the bike into the bed and away I go! The truck is also used for kayaks and yard work, but since surgery, haven't done much of either one of those. With the buyback, the truck will become my dd. This will mean that I will have to fill it more than once every other month.
Since buying the VW Golf R with its DSG transmission, we've come to realize that this is the way to go, even though we still like our Golf Mk4 and Mk7 manual transmissions. However, the DSG just does things so well that we don't like going back to our manual trans Golfs. Its why we want a 2017 Tiquan TDI with a DSG.
It's all about styling--who's got the biggest, toughest bad-boy truck. Same thing with the grills, bigger and bigger, can't imagine how people see over the top of them. Stupid trend, IMO...
My understanding is that Subaru discontinued the Legacy wagon in Canada a few years back (and in the U.S. a couple years before that), leaving the Outback as the only wagon available in North America built on the Legacy platform.
They may classify it however they like but the Outback is a wagon IMO.
