El Kabong
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Everything posted by El Kabong
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-searches for post where he addressed that as well -can't find it, throws up hands, repeats The Continental will, in all likelihood, be a serious wake-up call for Buick and the Lexus ES. But let's not get too excited about the styling either. It's not like it's 100% approval from the peanut gallery on that score either. I'll put it this way: if Cadillac put out a 400hp FWD-based sedan with old-school styling and traditional "quiet luxury" tastes, they'd be pillored for it. I know this because that's what the XTS-VSport was.
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I did that in the other thread. Using those exact words.
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Our wires are crossed. The NEXT 1-Series is FWD-based. The old one, while RWD, was styled like a turnip
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"Why would you use a pickup chassis as your base?" Because, as the Escalade shows, it just plain works. GM builds a bazillion of them a year so the economics of scale are insanely good.
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Wings: as I said: if you consider a transverse-mount engine car to be true luxury, you're speaking a whole 'nother language. One, I may add, that has very few speakers. On the other hand, I'm quite happy to discuss the Continental's chances of getting Buick to up their game, if indeed such a thing is required. And lest we forget, decades of futile FWD styling exercises by Lincoln (and three different styling languages in thirty-six months!) render any PR fluff utterly null. Lincoln needs that five billion dollar Cadillac fighting platform ASAP. This thing ain't gonna cut it. Again.
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No soup for you.
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But my point is that nobody is succeeding with it, assuming that the Lexus ES and similar ilk aren't what you consider true luxury cars. If you do consider them luxury cars then that's a whole 'nother thing. Having said that I'm totally on board with the idea that you just can't go with an RWD chassis and call it. If it's styled like a turnip it probably won't sell. If it has clumsy handling, not so good. If it's overpriced you may have issues... and so on. But as far as I'm concerned if it ain't RWD-based it's a non-starter. And if we are to go by the plethora of products Lincoln has sent off into the abyss since the LS sedans and Mark VIII went away I'd say it's a pretty sound argument.
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It's a pretty significant trait tho. Conversely, when is the last time ANY transversely-engined car has been considered "luxury?" The hardcore Swedish guys will bring up old Saabs and Volvos, but even those were a stretch.
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I'll see your GL550 and raise you the possibility of an Escalade with an LT4. The Lexus LX570, like the Escalade, is built on more pedestrian stuff (Land Cruiser). Toyota sells a buttload of Land Cruisers, so it ain't going anywhere. As long as the Titan exists, so will the QX, at least in theory. A QX with a 5.0 Cummins would be interesting. Ford just plain got lazy with the Navigator. The next one may or may not have F-Series bones, but Dearborn has (hopefully) learned their lesson as far as crapping the bed on product longevity.
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Indeed, the basic bones are the exception to my rule-they are premium enough on their own merits. MT's opinion, not mine... but I'm not gonna argue the point But let's not forget the bespoke interior and suspension tweaking. As I said, it takes a lot of sweating the details to bring down Range Rovers and Benzes.
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And yet it was the Body On Frame Escalade that just smoked everyone in MT's big SUV comparo: http://m.motortrend.com/roadtests/suvs/1505_the_big_test_large_luxury_suvs/ As long as Ford uses a premium platform and sweats the details, it'll be fine. But make it too close to the Explorer, and all bets are off.
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Not exactly, a lot had to do with price. At the time the difference between a midsize and fullsize was very small. that could easily change now since fullsize trucks have gotten ridiculously expensive, that is where they have to be careful. IMHO, if we see a midsize truck from FCA it will be a Jeep wrangler based truck or a shared platform between ram an Jeep. the interesting thing, they can do thise. underneath the skin the 2WD and 4x4 3rd gen Dakotas were totally different trucks. they could do the same for a Ram and Jeep truck. I'm not buying (ahem) the pricing argument. Based on what I see up here a loaded Canyon/Colorado up here rings in about the same as a reasonably-equipped half-ton. I think the production bottleneck Mopar is now facing as far as its trucks go is also a bit of a factor. Ram production is now maxed out, and I don't know how much flexibility Toledo would have to build a Wrangler-based pickup.
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Alright, I just discovered the reputation meter in here... Thanks for all the upvotes, whoever upvoted me. As for the downvotes... well, they're nearly all in one thread so I understand why they're there
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Sorry man-ten provinces and three territories are enough.
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This point is one of the big hangups I've had with guys who cite Lexus sales numbers-Lexus is both Cadillac and Buick to Toyota's Chevy. I don't like the LS a whole lot, but I have no problem calling it a luxury car. The ES, not so much. To be fair, Lexus has begun to differentiate Lexus from mainstream Toyotas again with the extra emphasis they're putting on stuff like the IS. Lexus seems to be pursuing a two tier strategy---soft FWD based models like the ES and RX for the mainstream entry-lux, and their serious models (RC, IS, GS, LS) RWD based to compete w/ Cadillac and the Germans.. Cadillac has a similar strategy. Lexus seems to emphasizing performance w/ the F models and the violent styling, hoping it catches on against the established Germans. Cadillac is gradually moving away from that strategy. The XTS is being discontinued and the ELR won't be too far behind. That makes their entire car lineup RWD-based. The CUV/SUV lineup needs additional work, but the cars are now quite separate from Buick.
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Stealing sedan sales from Ford doesn't count as success. Lincoln's five billion dollar premium platform investment just puts the final nail in your argument's coffin. Now, let's please move on. We've both seen all this before.
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Also, as I pointed out in my initial rebuff to your PR fluff, Fusion sales are down even as MXZ sales are up. If what you say is true and top-trim Fords compete with Buick, my little sales blurb seems to indicate they also compete in-house with Lincoln. It's NOT a cause for celebration if your fancy grocery-getter is up 3,000 when its platform mate is down 10,000. Lincoln needs to follow Cadillac's lead on product, and soon.
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So Cadillac's biggest issue is GM's more successful Lincoln fighter. I think Boss Lady Barra can live with that, for now.
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I've owned a Hemi for several years now. I like it a lot, but I do think it's a bit long in the tooth. Iron blocks and port fuel injection are still viable in certain applications, but it does come off a bit old-school versus the latest smallblocks. Same deal with the Pentastar V6. Nothing wrong with it, but Sergio had better loosen the pursestrings pretty soon.
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Even with the drop off in oil, didn't the conservative party run a deficit even during the boom times? In terms of the Canadian political landscape, I trust Harper, only because we know what we're getting. Prime Minister Steve has made great political mileage from being a mixture of the most desirable of Canadian traits: competent, bland, and (outwardly) boring. I suspect the real Stephen Harper, while not as gonzo as Mackenzie King turned out to be, is probably more along the lines of the guy we occasionally see who sings Beatles songs on the piano and gets all giddy about his hockey sweater collection.
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This point is one of the big hangups I've had with guys who cite Lexus sales numbers-Lexus is both Cadillac and Buick to Toyota's Chevy. I don't like the LS a whole lot, but I have no problem calling it a luxury car. The ES, not so much. To be fair, Lexus has begun to differentiate Lexus from mainstream Toyotas again with the extra emphasis they're putting on stuff like the IS.
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^^^ Ding ding ding
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The Regal got kneecapped by the fact that it was supposed to be a Saturn, and therefore not have a similarly-sized and powered Verano to compete against in the showroom to begin with. The events of '08 changed all that of course, and the Regal languished. Hopefully the next versions of each car will be better-differentiated, because neither of them is a bad car per se.
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Now, as far as this new Aviator goes... If it rides on the premium platform then it should be a premium piece. My one concern is the report that Ford is considering putting the Exlorer on it as well. It's a good idea to do long-term, no doubt. But once again they need to let the premium variant get established first.
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Yes.
