Just thought I'd talk about an interesting series of commercials I saw the other night

1st commercial: A Cadillac Escalade (sp?, a truck based SUV tackling the mean...city streets? With a voice-over on how tough it is? Enabling you to leap speed-bumps and climb freeway on-ramps with gusto!!!

2nd commercial: A Subaru Outback, a 4wd STATION WAGON, flying down fire roads, running puddles and climbing hills. 10 minutes later, I saw a Subaru commericail with an Outback out in the snow, busting thru drifts.

Am I missing something here? I guess we know who GM is aiming their SUV's at.

Mike C.

 

I hear ya loud and clear. Lol.
One thing I can say is I DO NOT live in the city. I have done my fair share of city driving. Believe it or not the city can be nasty when it comes to road construction and potholes. When your running down a peticular highway through the city with everyone else and don't have time to slow down and go around a peticular road hazard, man the slamming sensation that you feel when there is no time to avoid it can be ugly. Been there and can't wait to leave. Of course, the country side of the coin can be just as rough.

Jakegypsum // Ford fleet, soup to nuts.

 

Just as rough? I'd say far rougher. Also, country roads don't have the holes lined up perfectly like they always had them in the Chevy truck commercials. Usually, your shocks don't have time to respond to country roads. Your truck ain't done nothin till it's hit a hole where the front bumper's pushin dirt. Even good ol' everyday washboards are harder on your truck than any city driving.

 

If you've never been to the Detroit area, then you've never seen bad roads. There are a few on M1 aka Woodward that have NAMES cuz they're soo big and so old. I've seen the front wheel of an S10 get ripped off by a pothole, I've seen cars loose controll and take out telephone poles cuz of em. They're horrible around here. And to add insult to injury, there's more cold patch down right now than there is regular road surface. Come to think of it I know a few places with in 2 miles of home that are like 8 lane gravel roads because of all the darn cold patch on em.

 

I guess it all depends on "which" city we are talking about. I am used to New York and Philadelphia. I have friends who have lived in other areas who have said both good and bad, depending on the peticular city or area of the US. I will say that country driving can be as bad. NJ actually has roads that are not even paved and don't plan on being paved in the future. Southern NJ. I have bottomed out and mudded the front bumper in the past. Once I did it in one of our big Ford LTS-8000's. Shifted the entire load plus the air-seat slammed/drove my head into the roof of the cab. Knocked me sensless.

Jakegypsum // Ford fleet, soup to nuts.

 

I wouldn't waste the gas in a Subaru 4x4 to compete with anything GMC has got. I grew up on Fords and Subarus. I had a Brat that would go through stuff that would make your hair curl. I buried it one time in a mud hole. The only thing you could see was the windshield. No winch, no help, no other trucks. I left it running, and it WAS running, even submerged, and started gathering limbs. I came out of that hole. Came out with a blown head gasket, but I did come out with no help. If you're gonna own a rice burner, Subaru is the only way to go. Hands Down the best Japanese Import..... It'll never be a Ford, but will anything??

 

I hope this little tidbit doesn't cause some of ya'll to lose your lunch, but GM bought a large chunk of Subaru. There is some talk of GM developing something using the Subaru AWD drivetrain.

The infusion of cash into Subaru was nice, but I hope that is all GM is bringing to the relationship.