Good Morning Warren and Friends It’s time for the WAPO carchat
I am in a meeting with Nissan right now. They have already talked about the Titan, Armada. Now we are going to talk about Pathfinder. If you have questions ask it now, however driving impressions are embargoed till August 8.
Warren and I try to be as accurate as we can be as we answer all your questions. If we haven’t been, I like to correct that misstep in the next week’s chat.
A couple of weeks ago a chatter asked why the Subaru safety rating was going down. I didn’t have an answer for them and asked them to send me the link (to lou at drivingthenation dot com). I would have to investigate this story; it just didn’t seem right.
The chatter did email and let me know that they felt horrible; they had read the story wrong. Subaru had not lost its ratings. Issue corrected!
Monday and Tuesday I was at Toyota’s manufacturing plant for the Tundra and Tacoma in San Antonio, TX. If you are looking for a welder or electrician job and are willing to move to San Antonio, TX Toyota may have a job for you.
Tundra and Tacoma are like most SUVs; hot in demand! They are less than two weeks on the dealer’s lot. The Nissan Armada is going to switch to being made in Japan because the Titan is so hot Nissan needs all the production capacity they can get.
The rest of the week I have been chilling in Carmel, California with the Nissan adventure group. Auburn has been over 100 degrees for a week now. I am in a jacket in Carmel, and it feels so much better than being in a hermetically sealed air-conditioned building. I will drive up Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, CA. after this event, then on my way home to Stretch and the animals.
Yesterday I drove the Titan, Armada, and Pathfinder. Last week a chatter, John, asked if Warren or I had driven the Pathfinder. His wife has sciatica and John has back issues. John – the zero gravity seats (NASA seats) are available only on; Rogue, Altima, Murano, Maxima, and Titan. Would you do me a favor and drive the Volvo XC 90 and then drive the Murano with NASA seats to see the difference?
I drove the Chevy Tahoe this week. Somehow it has escaped me as a great 3-row seat SUV that I got 16 miles per gallon while driving. It is back on the radar. The Armada, Sequoia, and Tundra are all competitors, and that segment is hot.
I also drove the $22,000 Mitsubishi Lancer that got 20mpg. Truecar says you can get the sedan at $16,803. Many of you have asked about cars for around $15,000. That price makes this car an option; I would change the tires, too much noise.
My sincere thanks to all the firefighters in California. We are at the height of fire season in California again, and these people are putting their lives on the line. As of this morning, the California Fire website says that there are 29,877 acres on fire in Monterey CA (Soberanes – think Big Sur). All-day we heard the helicopters overhead dipping their baskets into a pond and flying it over to help the guys on the front line.
Click on the picture below to go to the Washington Post Real Wheels carchat:
