DC Car Examiner

I can also post any particular photos upon request.

Now posted: Best sellers by class. Subcompact cars: Nissan Versa Compact cars: Toyota Prius/Prius v/Prius c Midsize cars: Toyota Camry Large cars: Chevrolet Impala Entry-luxury cars: BMW 3-Series Luxury cars: Mercedes-Benz E-Class Compact crossovers/SUVs: Honda CR-V Midsize crossovers/SUVs: Chevrolet Equinox Large crossovers: Ford Explorer Large SUVs: Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban Entry-luxury SUVs: Lexus RX Luxury SUVs: Mercedes-Benz M-Class Vans: Dodge Grand Caravan Pickups: Ford F-Series Full top-10 sales charts for each class at link: http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/best-selling-cars-of-march-2012-by-class

You'll have to ask Examiner.com corporate to restore its wider-format page and let its writers user HTML again. Before their site "improvements" the charts were charts -- a heck of a lot easier to put together and easier to read. It's not like I got it into my head that this was somehow a better user experience. Now that they've started compressing large photos and putting ads over them as well, I'm probably going to have to break the top 20 into two charts (1-10 and 11-20).

Top-20 sales charts for the month and YTD are available at the link: http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-march-2012 And 10-best sales charts for each of 14 market classes: http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/best-selling-cars-of-march-2012-by-class

You know, on any other car, you get steering wheel controls AND an a knob on the dash, instead of just steering wheel controls and a dash control that's too fussy to use while driving.

Low to mid 60s.

Full review at link: http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/review-2012-scion-iq

2007 5-speed: In warm weather, high 20s city / high 30s/low 40s highway. Drop about 3 mpg in the cold for my city driving. (I have a short commute, giving the engine little time to warm up before I get there.)

Yes, the press fleet company put winter tires on the cars in case of bad weather. I'm pretty sure temperatures didn't drop below 45 degrees while I had the car. Some sensitive Mazdas I'm thinking of are the 2, 3 s, and current MX-5 -- not impossible to live with or anything, but nothing like the Skyactiv 3. This car, you'd have to try to jerk it around.

You could argue that the Focus is worth the extra money, but saying it's "delusional" to have thought it wouldn't be more money than its closest competitor seems a bit extreme.

Maybe I'm missing something, but why is that? The two full-electric vehicles on sale now -- the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-Miev -- start at $35,000 and $29,000, respectively.

http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/review-2012-mazda3-i-touring-hatchback

Play around with MyLincolnTouch in an MKX and see if you like the system. If you don't, you can probably get some excellent discounts on 2012 MKTs.

Only if you decide that all the buttons have to be electronic instead of physical. You can't improve on my car's controls, nor do they ever fail to work or change what they do.

Each is such high-volume that it surely justifies the cost of dedicated platforms for different needs. It would be like trying to put the Focus and Fusion on the same platform -- when Chrysler tried to combine its compact and midsize cars it ended up with a compact with lousy gas mileage and a midsize that was too small. There's just no need to compromise and risk losing customers for something as important as the F-Series.

Barring a disaster for Ford or an explosion of interest in the Nissans, the Transit will sell in far greater volume than the combined Titan and NV in the U.S. alone. They're right now hitting under 2,500 units a month combined while the Econoline regularly hits 10,000.

Full review and photo gallery at link: http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/review-2013-chevrolet-malibu-eco

Best-sellers by class: Subcompact cars: Kia Soul Compact cars: Honda Civic Midsize cars: Toyota Camry Large cars: Chevrolet Impala Entry-luxury cars: BMW 3-Series Luxury cars: Mercedes-Benz E-Class Compact crossovers/SUVs: Honda CR-V Midsize crossovers/SUVs: Chevrolet Equinox Large crossovers: Ford Explorer Large SUVs: Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban Entry-luxury SUVs: Lexus RX Luxury SUVs: Mercedes-Benz M-Class Vans: Dodge Grand Caravan Pickups: Ford F-Series Full top-10 lists for each class: http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/best-selling-cars-of-february-2012-by-class

It's not a question of maneuverability. If more of the car's length is its cabin, it's more space-efficient than a car with a longer nose. So either you have a bigger car with the same amount of space, or the same-size car with less space.

"Time will tell, but the initial first impression on the part of the guys in the shop is, Nissan hits a home run with respect to serviceability. 'You can get to EVERYTHING" on that engine'. " Makes sense -- a longer nose does no favors to interior space efficiency, but it gives more breathing room around the engine. I think it was the Dodge Ram Van that you had to go through the dash to reach a lot of the engine components.

It doesn't sound like this has a connection with claims in Camrys and so forth -- this is an issue with the radar-based adaptive cruise control, which is by design supposed to accelerate and decelerate the car by itself, and which the Camry doesn't offer. As far as I know, there hasn't been a complaint about the radar cruise control that would contradict Toyota's claim that it resolved the issue it found pre-production.

A steady cruise should beat EPA, because it's accelerating and decelerating -- a component of the highway test -- that really gulps fuel.

"Civic, Corolla and even Focus outsold Cruze. What's going on there?"

How does a global company selling the same products worldwide determine whether the European division is profitable? Are there operating losses somehow, or is Ford Europe just footing the product development bill for cars sold elsewhere?

I once bumped into someone from the GMI forum at a Chevrolet Volt test-drive event. To my knowledge, I've never met anyone else from a forum I visit.