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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Sounds like FCA heard Mercedes was doing this, and said “well they know what they are doing, let’s do the same thing” It does make total sense though, you don’t need more than 275 hp in a front wheel drive car, the chassis can’t really handle it, and you can get to 275 hp with a turbo 4 or hybrid, etc. Over 300 hp is going to be a rear drive vehicle and the inline six makes the most sense for that.
  2. smk4565
    How much would economies of scale help battery cost? Even Tesla is producing maybe 20,000 cars a month vs GM or Toyota making 600,000+ gas engines a month globally. They need more volume on these EV’s it seems.
  3. smk4565
    I bet $100 to a donut there is a Hellcat version.
  4. smk4565
    It seems pretty impressive, Audi has base and Premium trim cars, I imagine after a year a more base model at $69,900 will show up. It looks good, in and out, I still think Mercedes should price theirs at $70k and just undercut this thing.
  5. smk4565
    Of course they are making an SUV. They could probably make 2 of them. The V6 is going to be the Alfa Romeo with a hybrid electric motor I assume, that has been rumored for a while with 600 hp. Mercedes is throwing down the gauntlet with their hyper car so will be interesting to see how Ferrari responds.
  6. smk4565
    Motor Authority has a spy photo of the EQ S, but it is so heavily wrapped up you can't tell anything, I tried to post it but it didn't work.
  7. smk4565
    They can make a better EV if it is on a dedicated EV platform, then they can get more space inside and have a flat floor, rather than something with a transmission and exhaust tunnel. Plus you get a front trunk for whatever that is worth, the EQ C doesn't have that. I think at some point the lines will merge when there is no more gasoline car. I could see the 2027 the S-class becoming EV only, and then phase out the EQ S at the same time. Unless that doesn't happen until the 2030s. What needs to happen is the AMG version of these electric cars.
  8. smk4565
    This won't have a Maybach variant but the long standing rumor has been that the GLS will get a Maybach version. They also trademarked GLS73, among with other "73" models which is believed to be the 800 hp hybrid V8 to replace the V12.
  9. smk4565
    How much maintenance is there on a Lexus during the first 20,000 miles when they claim how low maintenance their cars are? And I assume the insurance is based on a group average, so if you are good driver without accidents you are paying more for insurance than you would on open market.
  10. smk4565
    They will price it too high, I don't even need to see what they will charge to know it won't be worth it. They are leasing NX's at $339 a month, plus it has a warranty that covers repairs, although not routine maintenance, but that is basically oil changes on a brand new car. And the NX is larger and nicer than the UX, I bet the UX has $299 a month lease deals and they will try to sell a subscription to it for $600 a month.
  11. smk4565
    No plastic body cladding on this trim, so I am glad there is the option to get rid of it.
  12. smk4565
    In the 70s-90s V8’s were rather common though. The V8 of then also made in the 250-305 hp range for a lot of those years. Those are V6 numbers now, or even turbo 4 numbers now. V8’s today are not that common, mostly only in high dollar luxury sedans or sports cars and full size trucks which is changing quickly. Back in the 80s every Cadillac (minus the Cimarron) had a V8, now most Cadillacs are V6 and they sell more 4’s than 8’s. Times changed and the Camaro is stuck in the past trying to be a V8 car but a V8 car of today is super expensive which is not what the Camaro should be.
  13. smk4565
    Diesel is just dead, PR has killed it, no auto maker wants to try to sell it.
  14. smk4565
    It is cost savings yes, but inline six is the smoothest engine there is and this one here makes 362 hp/369 lb-ft and they will put a 429 hp/384 lb-ft version in the GLE53. It is quite the combo of power and fuel economy. Really, GM could do the same thing, what do they need V6's for? If the XT5 was on a rear drive chassis they could put an I-6 in it, and all GM's trucks, the Cadillac CT4, CT5, CT6, and Corvette and Camaro are rear drive. The only place they "need" a V6 is on the Lambda SUVs, but you could do turbo 4 with electric assist or hybrid there if you had to, especially in the 2020s when the engine downsizing really hits. The Impala and LaCrosse will probably be dead by then, if they are still here a turbo 4 is enough there too.
  15. smk4565
    "What's happening in the sport car segment, there's a lot more volume in the low-to-mid part of the market. We do a phenomenal job with our loaded SS's, and it's great business for us, but the reality is there's an awful lot of people who just want a great looking sports car somewhere in that $30,000 range, and that's what we're going to deliver," said Steve Majoros Yeah, no sh!t sherlock. The Camaro used to be about being an affordable sports car, then they wanted it to be about putting 500-600 hp V8s in there and charging $70,000 for it, but that is what the Corvette is for. The Camaro's focus should have always been $25-50k price range, they lost focus. Nothing they do will help Camaro sales unless they totally redesign the car to give it more interior room and windows you can see out of. The Camaro has a disproportionate number of male buyers )or potential buyers), mostly older male buyers, which means you have a lot of larger people trying to fit in this car. Every year at the auto show I see guys in their 50s and 60s saying the Cadillac CTS is too small, not enough head room, too hard to get in and out of, etc. Compare that to a Camaro. If people can't fit in it or can't see out of it, doesn't matter what the price is.
  16. smk4565
    The shape is 100% GLE, easily recognizable. Looks like they went a little heavy on the plastic body cladding though, not sure about that because the current GLE doesn't have that. It would be have been nice to have the 48 volt on the 4-cylinder where that electric boost would help, but the inline six is the engine to get anyway. The air suspension and new tech sound awesome, and the interior is awesome. 3rd row seat now which I think they really needed as an option.
  17. smk4565
    It is a bust and in part because they have a V6 from the now cancelled Azera and a V8 from the 2012 Genesis, which is just an enlarged displacement version of the 2009 V8. That is a 10 year old engine in a segment that wants new tech. And the interior switch gear is from a Hyundai and the exterior styling looks like a copy cat of other luxury brands. I don’t know what draws the average consumer to Genesis, there is nothing to pull them in. And a low slung EV that no one will see on the road won’t drive any showroom traffic either.
  18. smk4565
    The Passat is pretty boring and mundane, I would have to agree with Car and Driver on that. As far as a V6 goes, no surprise, moving forward I think if you want a V6 it will only be found in luxury cars and full size SUVs. The Altima is dropping it's V6 also.
  19. smk4565
    They think a low slung coupe with a hefty price tag will do very well? Genesis needs crossovers, that is what does well. It would be cool if they made this an electric car, but I feel like it will end up with a 3.3 liter turbo V6 like every other Genesis. Bolting a turbo onto a 2012 Azera engine hasn't worked for the rest of their line up, but they seem to keep going back to that well one more time.
  20. smk4565
    It does look a lot like an Edge, but all these crossovers look similar. I do miss the 80s-90s era Mercedes a bit that looked like nothing else. This is also electric car number 1, they have an small hatchback and a full size sedan prototype in testing now, once they get a full line up out there, the revolution starts to happen. Also keep in mind a GLC43 which has similar performance to the EQC starts at $56k but with LED lighting, leather, heated/cooled seats, and multimedia packages it jumps up to $63k, and all that comes on the EQC, so I think $70k would be a fair price.
  21. smk4565
    81,000 F150's!!! Holy crap that is a lot. But Ford is killing off about 30,000 of their 209,000 sales from the month. And those people aren't going to buy an F150, but I guess Ford doesn't care if they lose those customers.
  22. smk4565
    Huge gain by the X3. Special lease offer on those or something? It seems like the X3 is the only BMW selling, the rest were dropping like crazy. The sad thing here is I remember when the 3-series sold over 10,000 a month easily, even on bad months. Now the 3/4-series were outsold by the X3. Sport sedans and the fun to drive stuff is just rapidly losing ground to crossovers, which means in time automakers won't have sedans or sports cars, except the exotics that they make money on.
  23. smk4565
    I think that Kona will sell like hot cakes the more people see it and inventories are built up. The Genesis brand is in a sad state of affairs. Those things aren't selling at all.
  24. smk4565
    This is another brutal month, especially with the bloodbath on passenger cars. The new G-wagon isn't on sale, I get why that is down 50% plus they sell 400 a month which isn't a big deal. They blamed this on no inventory, and there is pent up demand and people waiting for the inventory to arrive. So now they have set themselves up that they better have a huge month in September, because they can't use that excuse every month. Keep in mind, Year to Date, Mercedes is the #1 selling luxury brand in the USA, but they better put in a strong close to the year when the 2019s hit.
  25. smk4565
    Nailed it. I like the classic Mercedes multi-slat grille, that is how a Mercedes should look. It looks like a crossover and mid-size crossovers are what sell in the market. Odd-ball looking cars like the i3 and Leaf don't sell, the Jaguar iPace looks a mess, etc. People will like the looks inside and out, and they will like the 0-60 in 4.9 seconds. I hope this starts around $70,000, if so I think they can sell a lot of them.
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