regfootball

I could sell more Buicks than you can............!

again, see my caravan vs. odyssey analysis in an older thread in the r1ce marques board.

there is no investment component to a car. it is purely an expense proposition. how much money are you going to spend on transportation over x amount of time. add up car payments, insurance (something that GM and Ford are usually still cheaper in), gas (hopefully not premium), license tabs, maintenance and repair costs. there is no investment component to a car. there is no investment component to a car. you are not investing in anything. every damn car loses money. you INVEST to make money. so the cars that have 'higher resale'.......also cost more to start almost without fail. much more. maybe mr. true delta can plug his site here. you're not always gonna get assfked on a domestic, and your not always going to come out smelling like a rose on Honda or Toyota. If there is one trend I fully expect to see with the sales increase of Toyota, is there resale value to go down. two reasons, they are bigger and need to feed the machine in the future and fend off HEEYOONDIE so they can't resist flooding the market. increased supply = lower resale. Second, the 'status' of owning one will start to go away, as more and more non-privileged folks start to buy more toyotas, and as their quality inevtiably withers, the mystique will start to die and the resale phenomenon created by it will still to erode. Plus you've got all those folks trying toyhonda for the first time and in 2-3 years might simply decide its not wroth the fuss anymore because the cost is too high. So now we'll have a glut of used ToyoHondas. Its inevitable. Toyotas resale will start to fall into line more with the average of all other makes. There's only so many stupid folks who believe the myth that its 'more than just a car'. Check another topic to see my Caravan vs. Odyssey cost ananlysis and why even the most stuffy yuppie can't justify the notion of an Odyssey being cheaper to run than a Grand Caravan, because no matter how you slice it, the Odyssey is much more and it is due to the luxury over necessity factor. Even though the ODy's %age is higher on resid., the price difference from the start comparably equipped in either a lease or a buy situation in no way can be manufactured in favor of the Odyssey. So in the end, you are spending more, yes, maybe on a better van, BUT DON'T DARE CALL IT AN INVESTMENT. IT'S AN EXPENSE.

responses

did gm screw saab's plug in hybrid?

here you guys want more juicy info, g.M.-i has a topic with more interesting links. the scuttlebut is Saab was ready to debut a plug in hybrid at Stockholm and GM 'pulled the plug' almost literally at the very last minute. Another GM brand will be getting credit for the plug in hybrid. Like I said, mosey over there and you will find it. its all to common these days to find all the new news articles at that site......i never see them here anymore........... GM, the plug in hybrid king?

THE ANSWER IS FOR BUICK OR GM TO BUILD A CAR THAT SOMEONE WITH BIG COIN WILL BUY OVER AN ACURA TL, RL, MAXIMA, M35/M45, S60, S80, A4, A6, 3 SERIES, 5 SERIES, C CLASS, E CLASS G35, IS, GS, LS FOR GM TO BUILD A SEDAN THAT WILL TAKE DOWN THE CAMRY, ALTIMA, ACCORD. A MINIVAN THAT WILL OUTSELL THE ODYSSEY, SIENNA, CARAVANS NEED I GO ON?

SEASONS IN THE SUN - TERRY JACKS

CARS ARE not AN INVESTMENT, THEY ARE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AN EXPENSE!!!!

moody blues gemini dream

with all respect to buickman, he is selling in michigan to a local and loyal clientele.i.e. hondas and toyotas and german cars don't have any inroads there to make it a realistic scenario like the rest of the country. let's see him sell buicks to college professors in the pacific northwest or to young professionals in California. Or to hispanic or oriental folks in Texas.

to expand on what another may have hinted at, if she seems like a bit of a dud right now......i don't see it improving. however, it doesn't hurt to try to keep working on her. It just could be she considers her life fun as it is, and obvisouly she's not outgoing. over time it will become clear to you if she is just shy now, or if she really over time will be a long term non-butterfly.

'you're so funny, chandler, you're so FUNNY, chandler, you're SO FUNNY'

and its not that what you have now is not satisfactory, it's just that when you look back on missed opportunities and you contemplate the good of how they could have turned out, you don't ever want to say what if. You want each personal experience to be amazing, even if a relationship doesn't work out and you move on. One of those, 'I wonder if Connie REALLY DID like me back then, when she was calling me more and more and going out dancing'. The point is to find out, see where it goes and NOT Sit on it and not be left wondering. Or "I wonder if we would have been more than friends if I had slept with her like she begged me to when i took her home from the bar that night, because I sure wanted to be' or the 'I guess I never realized it until now but I think my coworker Jane always liked me as more than a friend. why didn't i ever date her and find out for sure?'. Or, had a I stayed with Naomi in her dorm that last night of school after we kissed the first time, instead of leaving after the kiss, would we have both realized that we WERE more than friends?' somehow, let her know..or it gets to you and wears you down, wondering. my life, i always waited waited waited too long. You got the chance, bud. It doesn't hurt to put your heart on your sleeve sometimes.

i think the most ideal combo platter here would be a phone call while you still can, don't spill the beans but hint at 'i'm excited about camp but I am a bit down because I an going to miss seeing you this summer while I am gone' and just kind of leave it sit a few days. then I would chase it with a letter not long after to say 'it was tough for me on the phone to say anything because i wasn't sure of what i was feeling was just me beiing nervous or whatever, but now that i am here i knew i was right and that i think i like you and i was only going to miss you more. i sure miss seeing you and i think about you a lot now that i am gone, and our friendship. I just wanted to say that. even though i am having fun at camp i am looking forward to fall when i get the chance to see you again. Thinking of you as my friend makes me smile. I hope your summer turns out to be everything you want it to be. I guess that's what i really wanted to say on the phone the other night. I sure wish you were here right now! Wow, I wish you could visit!" or something of that nature.

oddly, the 20 grand almost gets you a mazda6 trimmed the same way........

A lot of the love for foreign nameplates in the car biz is simply the same thing as designer clothing. The product mainly exists for self affirmation of the more highly paid professional types, and the well to do. Its like Polo jeans vs. Levis or even wranglers. They inject enough style difference in the product to enable them to sell it for x more. Then through marketing, press and self indulgent chatter amongst other 'haves' they find multiple ways to justify why spending more is 'worth more'. That's why that Cobalt doesn't appeal to a yuppie. The name. Sure Hondas are more refined in a lot of their cars, but its not enough to justify the price differences, at least for people whose checkbook is very important as opposed to worrying about what image the car does for them. Myself personally, the loaded Cobalt with the bigger engine and thicker sheetmetal at a cheaper price is a no brainer. Especially when the latest Civic is so DAMN UGLY.

so, is it about product or not?

just a momentary smoke break from the topic........ did u watch the video? that's be where the quotes are from.

"it's not product" "the right product makes the difference" ?

yet, I am very.............................. DRAWN TO HER I wonder what her favorite liqeur is...........

UGH! that Carol Cain is NASTY! A definite TWO BAGGER!

"without directly answering your questions with specifics"..........

chevy needs a kick ass camry killer and a whole new line of crossovers. they need a competitive minivan and a camaro. they need a large RWD based car like a new impala. they will soon need to redo the cobalt. they need new vans to battle the sprinter in the commerical market. the trailblazer could stand an interior update. chevy needs a cheap convertible. i think a large but simple hatchback called the chevette with hybrid and diesel options is needed. they need a new monte. pontiac. they need a camry sized car that has serious performance and i would keep it FWD based. they could also use a serious RWD based sedan that is about the same size or larger. i would have one crossover akin to the new CX-5, but with a real motor and without the pu$$-y styling. I would take the Grand Am/G6 down to a size between the last GA and current G6. A GTO like coupe is needed with RWD. A smaller TT sized RWD based coupe is needed, i.e. a 2+2. I am ok with a G5 type car as long as it has a better performance option than cobalt. I would consider a kick ass vibe replacement if they could make it look bitchen. rest later.

the hp ratings are good, which to me suggests maybe the same thing that occured with hyundais 4 cylinders from a few years ago.....underpowered/overrated the compass is a vue competitor and a way for jeep to use the cache of their name to peddle cute utes as well. i love the caliber, but hate the scrunched roof. it looks cool, but the windshield is a mailslot. i can see now with the raised roof on the compass how the interior would seem more spacious and less claustrophobic. i'm not fond of the looks, but a stick and AWD has merit for me. Still, I'd rather do the SRT Caliber. The Caliber is meant for the tuner/hot hatch crowd. The jeep makeover makes the same car more into an SUV. DCX can serve 2 markets then with essentially the same car. nice job.