[kadajawi]

Nice Audi!

I'm now proud owner of a pearlescent Golf 7 1.4 TSI with ACT (switches off two cylinders under low loads), 140 hp and a 6 speed manual gearbox. The engine is quite impressive, you can easily drive it below 2000 rpm at all times and don't feel like it lacks power. It has more after 2000 rpm, obviously, but really it does work. In most cases there is enough power low down. Sadly the fuel consumption is quite painful. Any touch of the accelerator is greeted with two digit fuel consumption figures. Oddly enough using cruise control the figures are better, most of the time. When I do ask it to move forward (say driving 210-220) fuel consumption can exceed 20 liters, sometimes inching towards 40 per 100 km. Might as well drive a HUMMER H1... Sadly it is really tempting (and way too easy) to drive 180... seems to be the perfect speed for the car. It is refined, relatively quiet, and comfortable at those speeds. I need to practice restraint.

Anyway, back to the car. The ride is comfortable enough (with 16" rims... the dealer is still searching for the original 17" rims that belong to the car... to be honest I think I prefer the design of the 16"... but we'll see). It is all well isolated. It has the optional sun roof, which works well and is generally pleasant. I do prefer the panoramic sunroof of the Peugeot 208. It can't open, but covers front and rear. It feels so much more open than a car with a fixed and closed roof. I never imagined how pleasant it is. There's the ambient light system (light strips in the doors, and certain parts of the car are lit). Looks nice, but I'd save the money. The car has traffic sign recognition, which so far I found quite handy. Sometimes you simply miss traffic signs... the VW system rarely does. The system will display the current speed limit in the screen in the dashboard. Useful! The car has ACC (adaptive cruise control), which works really well. It only missed a silver Toyota Yaris, other than that it didn't make any mistakes so far, and locks on well. I have no idea how it recognizes if the car ahead is on your lane or not, but it does manage it. It will also stop the car if necessary, and using it is easy enough. I've also gotten the Front Assist system (automatic emergency braking) to trigger... it made sense for it to work (I was going to step on the brakes too, but the car was faster). Had some issues with the satnav... in terms of UI and speed etc. it's good, but the routing was.... weird. I was driving on the A4, and it wanted to send me off the A4, to enter the A4 (in a place where it wasn't there). Old maps, I guess. It also found things in the wrong places, or made odd routing choices. Google Maps just works better. The upgraded color screen in the dashboard is good, but I'm not sure it is necessary. Cliimate control works well, and you can set it to be gentle, normal or intense. It makes a difference and greatly enhances comfort. They've also lined the door bins with carpet, which is neat. That way stuff in there won't make annoying noises.

It's a car that tries to be all cars for all people, and largely it seems to succeeds. It may not be the best at anything, but it is close, and doesn't have any major flaws. What it does have is plenty of smart details. I AM impressed.

[wtlwdwgn]

When you say 2 digits, do you mean 99 ?

[gordon_l34]

Toyota ute for me, can't see the use of sedans or those rediculous townie four wheel drives, if you can't throw stuff in the back tray and on the racks or tow bar what use is it

Holden Colorado Extra Cab. 2010 model with the 3 litre Isuzu engine for longevity. Has all the creature comforts that I want and can put my camera gear behind the seats and still have the passengers seat free. Steel drop side tray for that extra something in the back.

[beachgardener]

sounds good, mechanic friend tells me those Isuzu motors are pretty good.

[reeftool]

I took my 05 GMC Canyon in for it's yearly NY inspection and after getting it up on the lift, found the frame rusted through in the left side in several places and the worse was in the front and rear spring area. This wasn't expected and I had planned on getting a couple of more years out of this truck. Now it's worthless scrap metal! After some checking, I found this is quite common on Canyons and Chevy Colorados and trucks a s new as 08 and 09 are going to the junkyard for this problem. I'm done with GM!

After shopping for a new truck and seeing the totally crazy prices they want for them, I have decided to try going truck less for the first time in decades. I bought another Honda CRV and installed a hitch. I already own a utility trailer which will now get a lot more use than just occasionally hauling my motorcycle on winter vacation trips. I've had good luck with the Hondas. I'm going to miss the convenience of a truck but so far, the trailer/CRV combination is working pretty well.

sounds good, mechanic friend tells me those Isuzu motors are pretty good.

They build excellent engines but their vehicles were rust prone and didn't hold up well to our northern winters. I doubt you will have those issues.

[kadajawi]

I took my 05 GMC Canyon in for it's yearly NY inspection and after getting it up on the lift, found the frame rusted through in the left side in several places and the worse was in the front and rear spring area. This wasn't expected and I had planned on getting a couple of more years out of this truck. Now it's worthless scrap metal! After some checking, I found this is quite common on Canyons and Chevy Colorados and trucks a s new as 08 and 09 are going to the junkyard for this problem. I'm done with GM!

After shopping for a new truck and seeing the totally crazy prices they want for them, I have decided to try going truck less for the first time in decades. I bought another Honda CRV and installed a hitch. I already own a utility trailer which will now get a lot more use than just occasionally hauling my motorcycle on winter vacation trips. I've had good luck with the Hondas. I'm going to miss the convenience of a truck but so far, the trailer/CRV combination is working pretty well.

They build excellent engines but their vehicles were rust prone and didn't hold up well to our northern winters. I doubt you will have those issues.

That is ridiculous. In the 80s or so Opel had massive problems with rust etc., sad to say GM hasn't learned...

[reeftool]

That is ridiculous. In the 80s or so Opel had massive problems with rust etc., sad to say GM hasn't learned...

Toyota had that problem with their Tacoma trucks a few years ago. They did a recall and even replaced the frames on a lot of rusted out trucks. To make trucks lighter and perform better in crash tests, the traditional "C" channel frames have been replace with a much lighter box steel frame. The problem is that water gets inside but doesn't get out and they rust through from the inside. In climates like the Northeastern and Midwest US where we have lots of snow, salt and other ice melt chemicals are spread on the roads. What happens is that the water that gets trapped inside the box frame is very corrosive. Drain holes need to be well thought out as well as corrosion preventative coatings. GM seems to have failed badly with the Canyon and Colorado which was probably why the trucks were discontinued. They have recently been re-introduced with a "new" design. I wouldn't touch one.

[monochrome]

They have recently been re-introduced with a "new" design. I wouldn't touch one.

Like the Sierra full-size truck line, they're marketed as "lifestyle" cars with a bed. Hipster suburban dads (I know that's a contradiction) are buying them as fast as GM can make them. They're running 'round the clock at the Wentzville Plant outside St. Louis.



* FWIW, my 96 Suburban was always broken. It was actually creatively broken, in ways I'd never heard of before. It was such a PoS that I even had to replace - of all things - the Drive Shaft. I, too, went back to Honda.

[kadajawi]

We have snow and salt too in Europe, yet our little econoboxes don't rust away in a few years There are ways to protect cars from rust... There is no excuse for a car to rust like that, IMHO.

The Colorado reminds me of the F-150... is that a lifestyle car with bed too? I'm not too familiar with trucks, the F-150 looks massive to me.

I am getting more and more impressed by the Golf. Currently driving on some pretty 16" rims... but actually 17" ones should belong on the car, but the salesman couldn't find them yet in their storage. Maybe I should ask him to keep the 16", due to lower fuel consumption, better top speed, better acceleration, better comfort? Hm.

[Racer X 69]

The Colorado reminds me of the F-150... is that a lifestyle car with bed too? I'm not too familiar with trucks, the F-150 looks massive to me.

The Colorado is a mid size pickup.


The F-150 is a little bigger, but only a 1/2 ton model. The 1/2 ton pickup used to be the entry level size, then there is the 3/4 ton and then the 1 ton.


My Dodge Dually is rated at 22,000lbs CGVW.


In this shot the truck, camper, trailer with race car etc. weighed in at 21,500lbs.











But this is a real truck:

[lesmore49]

I took my 05 GMC Canyon in for it's yearly NY inspection and after getting it up on the lift, found the frame rusted through in the left side in several places and the worse was in the front and rear spring area. This wasn't expected and I had planned on getting a couple of more years out of this truck. Now it's worthless scrap metal! After some checking, I found this is quite common on Canyons and Chevy Colorados and trucks a s new as 08 and 09 are going to the junkyard for this problem. I'm done with GM!

After shopping for a new truck and seeing the totally crazy prices they want for them, I have decided to try going truck less for the first time in decades. I bought another Honda CRV and installed a hitch. I already own a utility trailer which will now get a lot more use than just occasionally hauling my motorcycle on winter vacation trips. I've had good luck with the Hondas. I'm going to miss the convenience of a truck but so far, the trailer/CRV combination is working pretty well.

They build excellent engines but their vehicles were rust prone and didn't hold up well to our northern winters. I doubt you will have those issues.

Some experiences differ.

My son had an '08 Colorado bought new, no rust problems and hardly any issues in the 6 years he had it. He put 128 K on it, it was never parked inside, started in -30 to -40 weather. We live in a very cold climate, with winters that last 5 1/2 months plus.

I've never heard of any rust problems on either Colorados or Canyons, up here. I would be careful with Hondas and Acura's. Some have had rust through problems...specifically at the lip of the rear wheel arch. My SIL had a '91 Acura that had that issue, also a buddy with a 2005 Acura SUV. He's had it repaired due to rust in this area, three times in 10 years.

[reeftool]

Some experiences differ.

My son had an '08 Colorado bought new, no rust problems and hardly any issues in the 6 years he had it. He put 128 K on it, it was never parked inside, started in -30 to -40 weather. We live in a very cold climate, with winters that last 5 1/2 months plus.

I've never heard of any rust problems on either Colorados or Canyons, up here. I would be careful with Hondas and Acura's. Some have had rust through problems...specifically at the lip of the rear wheel arch. My SIL had a '91 Acura that had that issue, also a buddy with a 2005 Acura SUV. He's had it repaired due to rust in this area, three times in 10 years.

Mechanically, my Canyon was a great truck. I had very few problems and it was just short of 200K miles. The cab had rust holes in the rocker panels and around the rear wheel wells beginning to develop after 6 years. Buy one new and get rid of it after 100K miles. That has long been a trait of GM trucks and this hasn't been my first. I previously had 2 S-10's. Both of them succumbed to rust but they were 16 years old and creeping up on 300K miles so I really wasn't concerned. It probably isn't happening to all of them. The Toyota problems weren't across the board either but enough Tacoma frames just broke, despite the indestructible reputation the Tacoma has. Toyota made good on it. GM is ignoring this.

[monochrome]

I've never had a GM product that didn't have rust problems, going back to the 70's. My S-10 rusted through at the wheel arches, as did a Buick and a Chevrolet sedan. My Suburban never actually rusted through anywhere in 11 years and 225K, but it was always broken somewhere, especially the 4WD and street transmission.

By comparison I've had 3 Honda Accords averaging 8 years before turn (4 years on the 3rd Accord I'm driving now) and never had a major repair. My wife drove a Volvo 240 for 11 years. The last three it sort of expired everywhere at once. She drove a Subaru Outback for ten years. It looked like new when she traded it but it was on the verge of 'The Decline'.

I think 8 years is the optimum ownership period.

[lesmore49]

We have a 2007 Buick sedan...no rust, before that a 2007 Chev Astro we had for 10 years (180K+), no rust. My buddy bought his Acura new in 2005 and it has rusted through metal work three times in the rear wheel arches.

Mechanically our GM's had few issues. In contrast, our 2007 Toyota Matrix had continual issues, usually electronic, sensors, engine management system, speedo and that was in 50,000 miles. We traded it in on a new GM product last year. Was our Toyota an uncommon lemon...or did it exhibit Toyota pattern issues ? I don't know. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say...maybe we just got a lemon. Were our GM products unusual paragons of reliability ? I don't know. Maybe we got lucky.

However, every manufacturer has had consumer issues...big issues, including Toyota, GM, Ford, Honda, etc. One just has to google.

We as consumers, are fortunate to have government agencies that follow up and require pattern issues to be rectified. This was not always the case in past decades.

As a general statement, automobile manufacturers are building much better vehicles than they have in the past...and that goes for all the major manufacturers.

But in the end, an automobile is a complicated piece of equipment, with many components, scads of electronics that are exposed to extreme, wide ranging temperatures, harsh vibration, hard abuse, etc. and many...not all... are exposed to indifferent maintenance by ill informed, uncaring owners...yet somehow most vehicles perform admirably for an extended period of time. Automobiles and trucks, given the harsh conditions they operate within and the complexity of their different systems, that are designed to work reliably and with high standards of durability, in conjunction with a host of different systems within every vehicle, in reflection do an astounding job.

Name another consumer machine that works out as well as a modern day vehicle.


Another point. Many vehicles of different manufacturers, share common components. For example Toyota, Honda, Ford, some GM and others, all used, the same make airbag sensors.

A number of manufacturers use the same make transmission ..such as ZF, Jatco (CVT)...to name some examples. Some manufacturers use the same basic engine...for example, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Kia and Hyundai use a 2.4 liter, OHC, 4cylinder engine...jointly designed and produced in a host of different makes. BTW, my son has one of these 'World' engines in his Jeep and so far...so good. It's an excellent engine that does well in criteria, including power developed, MPG, durability, reliability, minimal noise, vibration and harshness. I would venture that it also does well in a Kia.

GM and Ford have jointly engineered front wheel drive and rear wheel drive transmissions. I've got one. I'll say that Ford and GM have done a good job on this joint transmission. Years ago, there would not of been any chance of these two large firms working together on anything.

But the world has changed. For the good, IMO.
It's important to realize this commonality of design and product...when considering that my make (insert favourite make) is better than my buddy's makes.

In fact...with increasing globalization and expense in design/production...this component commonality looks very likely to increase.

[kadajawi]

There it is, all squeaky clean. It didn't stay that way for long...

I like it more and more... it's a doddle to drive long distances. 500 km? Not exhausting at all.