Yeah, Overland and above Grand Cherokees have real wood trim.

 

Ford tried an "Avinir" approach with their current Explorer. They called it the Platinum trim and it was basically a Lincoln grade interior in the high end Ford. I sat in one at the dealer's and was impressed. It had ventilated leather with quilted stitching, real wood trim, 3.5 Ecoboost engine, AWD, and 7 pax seating. List price was almost $60,000. I don't know how many of these they sold.

 

The Platinum trim Explorer (and other Fords) is still sold. They do pretty well, I see a lot of Platinums around here.

 

the explorer has less interior room than the highlander despite being a gigantic vehicle. i consider it selling on its name, well good for them i guess.

 

Yeah I have always been disappointed in the Explorer’s packaging. A vehicle I wanted to
like a lot seeing that an Explorer was my first car, but it’s way too small inside for being so huge.

 

That thing is nice, especially the interior.

You guys wanna know why SUVs sell so well in the states? Its because subconsciously, we think that they do better on the terrible roads. Potholes and uneven streets drive up the sale of SUVs.

 

If that were the case, New York City would be wall-to-wall SUVs. As it is, it is wall-to-wall taxicabs LOL.

Basically, in American culture, SUVs (as minivans were, before them) have simply become the new station wagon...only with all-weather capability.

 

Maybe you haven't seen all the Highlander, Escape and Rav4 taxis?

 

Perhaps not. Haven't been to Manhattan in a little while. Last time I went. though...wall-to-wall yellow-orange Crown Vic cabs. Lots of people in Manhattan simply don't drive themselves, period, whatever kind of cab you have. And, of course, since then, Uber has also proliferated.

For 60K, you can get a genuine, top-of-the-line Lincoln MKX

 

crown vics....at least you didn't say Caprice Classics or Diplomats! Guess you haven't been to NY as long as I've owned a BMW...a decade! lol

 

Yeah.....Diplomats went out decades ago. In fact, they stopped building them in 1989. The Caprices lasted till 1996....till GM decided to convert the Arlington, TX plant to trucks/SUVs.

 

Interesting that you would say that, because the 1Gen Explorer, in the early 1990s, basically had classic shoe-box styling that wasn't much to look at, but was quite space-efficient inside. Later ones, of course, sacrificed some function for form.

 

I'm sure someone here could likely recount the history of the NYC TLC. I envision corruption and handouts and payouts with many involved getting rich, imagine restricting vehicles to say 2 models, or 3? Prolly 2 yrs ago I saw a NYC apple green cab crossing the Walt Whitman Bridge to Phila and said what the **** is that? What I'd like to know is what happened to all the Checkers, never ridden in one but they look huge...today it seems that Toyota Motor is a clear winner in NYC

 

Toyota is more reliable and more efficient than American products

 

Corrected it for you, Jill. Don't forget, Toyota are built in both the U.S. and Canada. In fact, three of those plants are not very far from where you live.

And, speaking of efficiency, since we're on the subject of Avenir, that Buick stop/start system and 9-speed transmission on their larger products (including the Avenirs) really boots the efficiency of the 3.6L V6. I'm well-pleased with the gas mileage I'm getting, even though it's dropped a few MPG in this cold weather, which is normal. But it is as good, or better, than what I got with the smaller Verano.