regfootball

sears and k mart need to redo their stores, and upgrade their merchandise, and then makeover their marketing, and....... its easier for them to coast. here is the deal. sears has prime real estate in many malls. sears did not opt to go big box. sears is waiting to see how this shakes out. if sears vacates a mall, they basically give up market share. the mall loses a tenant and has no one else to put in there. to some degree macy's is the same deal. it really is in sears best interest to not be a big box store, yet to make over their concept it would prob require them to do so. sears keeps soft goods sales up by being in a mall, but if they were big box, their automotive and hardware sales and appliance sales would go up. target and walmart will forever be diametrically opposed in the minds of many consumers, although target for me is a default choice. positioning Kmart as the anti walmart is tough since target is already there. But the lack of great store sites now is Kmarts biggest problem. Walmart and Target have all the real estate locked up for discount stores. Plus both have grocery in many locations. Furthermore, the costcos and sams have hit the discount retailer industry hard as well. I can't see any scenario that can revive Kmart, but I'd love to see them try and I think Sears could be the only ones who could do it. It will go the way of Monkey Wards, etc. unfortunately. Mainly because Walmart got aggressive and moved in on all the small town Kmarts. I for one would like to see malls become vibrant again. Anything that would take down Walmart i could get on board with.

A red G8 all clean and waxed drove by me on the freeway this evening. STUNNING car! but then i had to say, well aint that they $h!s you can't even buy that car anymore. Who sold those anyways?

they retained the SE version for fleets and loss leader ads if they need to fall back on that.

funny thing is, myself, i don't like the interior color choices for the SHO, or the suede inserts, or the metal like dash accents. I wish if i had the chance to get a new SHO, that i could get a beige Limited interior instead. wait, excuse my dreaming, i couldn't afford an 89 SHO right now, much less an 010

with holden badges on them? in AU?

well hudson, i respect that you like yours but honestly it does need more low end power in my estimation, and the driving position is tough. its steering nor suspension is not top drawer. the interior is loud and noisy, since a new Fusion is much much quieter inside. i am not saying its a bad car. or something akin to evil. i am saying its prob not up to the expectations of a luxury car badge. luxury amenities inside the car and interior accoutrements, its really nice i think. A new basic Jetta S to me would be a more rewarding automobile to drive daily. but at the right price, i could like the Jag. by right price, i mean 7 to 10 grand and not having to replace anything any time soon. i would need to find a 3.0

a few in particular i have been scoping out are even as low as 6500 bucks......it would be an ok throwaway car for a couple years at that price. problem is, i really didn't get off on the car. i'd rather have my old 500 back. an 09 taurus is a mercedes in comparison. comparitively speaking, a used saab would be a better discount lux car buy. i like driving the 9-3.

It really is a nice looking ride, isn't it. Makes the TT look sort of plain in my opinion. I'd rather have this than a stupid Z BMW. Saab needed a car like this.

well, I don't think its worthy of a lux car badge. I had this inkling to try an X type since they are CHEAP on the used market. They are compact, but sort of nicely appointed. AWD standard. They look nice. Trunk is actually an ok size. Found a used 5 speed 2.5 to drive today. Had like 60k miles on it. Well, I don't think i will pursue one. Basics on the test drive......the 2.5 needed to be wound up a bit, but had some guts once you got up 35-40 mph plus and had it in the right gear. If the 2.5 worries you they say there is a 3.0. At first I did not like the clutch since it was stiff. But even though it does require a little more leg than you should think, its not too bad, and the shifter while not snick snick had a nice positive feel. On the road at higher speeds there is a LOT of cabin noise. I thought it was supposed to be a JAGUAR. The quality of the engine noise was not real offensive, I just think in general there is a big lack of sound dampener and was just too loud. This is not a Honda. I wondered if the struts were shot becaise it kind of drove like a dump truck as far as dealing with impacts, and dampening, and rebound and such. It laid flat mostly on the cloverleafs, but the tires were giving up kind of easy. Must have been cheap tires. Honestly simple bumps that should have been a muted kathunk were quite intrusive. New shocks and quieter tires maybe would help. Power was decent once revved, it only has a 5 speed. i wanted a sixth. gears did seem widely spaced. rpms were still kind of high in 5th. Steering did not feel A+. It was not quick, but not slow. Maybe it would have felt quicker if it had less play and more feedback and feel. Overall it needed a better driving experience, although it was not dreadful, it would have made a nice Ford...LOL instead of a Jaguar. The interior you are forced to lay back the seat back as thw windshield pushes you back, yet the pedals you need to move the seat bottom up for. It took me awhile to find a spot i could function in. The armrest is small, and cupholder could use improvement. I thought the gauges were highly readable and once you figure out the center stack controls they are handy too. I could kind of feel a little extra drag on this car with the AWD. Truth be told even though you could feel the front weight bias on this thing, the slop in the whole vehicle was more noticable and overall the car felt a little heavy to me. The suspension could not make up for it. The car like this should have been a 3.0 and a 6 speed and front drive. But then that too, would not have been a Jaguar. I like the idea of an S type or an X type. I think Jaguar needs that A4 type car again. But this got watered down enough that between that and apparently some reliability items to keep a watch on, I can see why this car is not coveted on the used market like the German marque vehicles are. A product of the free spending earlier part of the decade, I know Jag wanted a piece of the cash flow, but the execution came up short. As a used vehicle, I think there are better choices, unless you need a name and scam a great deal.

the large newspaper in this metro area has taurus ads and sho ads plastered all over the front page of their web site lately. i haven't seen any GM product save possibly the malibu that's been advertised to this extent on a local high traffic web site.

ford whole point with the ecoboost and its AWD system is they are spreading its application over several products. MKs MKt Flex Taurus new Explorer possibly Edge, possibly they could even do the Fusion. Maybe Mustang? F-150? they can amortize the development over all these models. Even if say, they sell 5k a year in each of these models, thats like 40k a year, and they do it for 5 years, they have made 200k of them. kind of like making the W body for 26 years, only not to the same beating a dead horse extent. If you want to talk niche model, i think the G8 would qualify, 1.5 yrs in the showroom and bye bye. So niche they can't even put the window switches on the door.

oops, beat me to it....lol

how many pontiacs / GXP's will they sell in 2010? lots of buff books have exceeded over 20 with their ecoboost vehicles in tests. bottom line is in standardized testing, the SHO gets about 33% better mpg and you can get up your inclined driveway with it in the winter.

sho gets like 33% better mpg than G8 GXP

incentives.....wait for them..... BTW the new Taurus is a BEAST in the flesh. too big, too over the top inside. Of course, i like the 08/09. the 010 hulks over the 09. but a twin turbo v6 can make up for that....

the people in Vegas are interested in knowing what the...."over / under" .......is on this thread................

penske ought to just let the saturn name be a store name and sell the brands, renault, peuguot, citroen. i think they would have more brand equity selling the actual brands instead of putting the lame ass saturn logo on a killer car. love that dash. simple, straightforward. steering wheel is sexy even. those seats, my uncarraige would tingle sitting on those.

i thought i had heard that they were going to try a new concept store for sears that was like a great big sears K mart mix store. the mother of all big box stores. Kmart i have soft spot for. My grandma always took ws there (and Pamida) when we were little. i used to buy all my 45's there. and she'd always buy us candy and snacks. the blue light specials were fun and yes, Icees and popcorn and stuff. I miss my Grandma. Walmart for sure took over for Kmart, but there is a sinister / rogue feel to walmart that just feels almost anti human. Kmart simply didn't keep pace with change.....sort of like GM. I think Kmart could have some brand equity left, but it would take a major repositioning and a serious marketing effort and lots of capital investment. If Sears didn't have tools and appliances, they would be out of business too.

Saturnfans says this might be the next Saturn SKY. http://www.km77.com/00/peugeot/rcz/2010/t01.asp http://www.saturnfans.com/cars/sky/could-be-next-saturn-sky

didnt the GNX do mid fours in the 0-60? this thing is not that fast.

shortstar was a 90 degree design which is not preferred for balance and packaging reasons over a 60 degree design buick better bring this car, but in no way should this be called GNX. they will crucify it like the GTO then. Gran Sport, maybe.

the soul and forte share some interior stuff, but the soul's interior is done way nicer.

depends on the option level and how much i have to spend. if those two cars are my choice......at 30k and a little bit i say taurus SEL with a few options, fwd. great mpg, no cheesy base motor. at the high 30's price range i might say lacrosse based on style. but ultimately the SHO's will be massively discounted and 365 turbo hp and AWD with a useful trunk FTW.

familiarity breeds contempt? that is, if you even breed with those granola girls........

not sure. they had a lot of models back then!