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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    The new A-class has a pretty good interior, it is better than what the CLA has. I think this car looks better to, they should just kill the CLA all together and sell the A-class sedan. They don't need both.
  2. smk4565
    I still don't get the point of this car, other than the fact that they have X1 and X3 through X7 and had a hole to fill. An X1 with a lower roof? why?
  3. smk4565
    Will it have over 600 hp like other crossovers have?
  4. smk4565
    Because the CT6 is Cadillac's flagship full size car and the $10,000 cheaper XTS has a V6. The CT6 should have had the 3.0TT V6 standard because that is what you find in a base model A8 or Lexus LS, and they should have had a V8 option. At very least the 3.6 V6 could have been the rental/livery spec engine if they needed a value leader at $55k. This is the problem with Cadillac and has been for years, they undershoot the competition and they always make this play as the value choice and water down the car with cheap door handles, cheap trim pieces, Chevrolet engines, etc.
  5. smk4565
    Bottom line is in a couple years time, ever car magazine will compere the Mercedes E-class or GLE or GLS450, C43 AMG or whatever, to the competitors from Lexus, Cadillac, Jaguar, Audi and BMW, and they will all knock the V6s for how they aren't as refined, and say how the BMW doesn't have the fuel economy of the Benz.
  6. smk4565
    Mercedes could sell flaming bags of dog poo as long as they have a 3-point star on them. The ATS isn't that good of a car, and more importantly Cadillac is a damaged brand that they haven't been able to fix 30 years of damage to. C-class, 3-series and Q50 are the top sellers of their brand and Lexus IS is #2 seller at theirs, I think the A4 is the #2 selling Audi. ATS is in the biggest segment of the luxury market and can't move metal. Keeping the ATS Coupe around a model year makes sense, they can probably build a model year's worth of them in about 2 months and have them so there is a 2 door option until something else comes along. Who knows on CT4, Cadillac seems to be giving up on cars, and just rebadging Chevy/Buick SUVs. Dropping the CTS makes 100% sense, there should have never been a 2.0T CT6 just like there never should have been a 2.5 ATS.
  7. smk4565
    Well....... We know what the engine does in the Euro S-class, but that isn't an AMG car either. And I think the overall NVH, gas mileage, power output, etc, all together will make it the best 6 cylinder out there. Aside from the Mercedes-AMG 1.6 liter bi-turbo V6 with 750 hp.
  8. smk4565
    On exterior dimensions the Passat is smaller than the Malibu, Fusion or Accord. There is no reason to make it Impala size so sales tank. The Impala, Avalon and Taurus won’t even be in production in 10 years. VW should build 10 crossovers before they consider another sedan.
  9. smk4565
    94.6 cubic feet interior passenger volume in a Cruze, 94.1 cubic feet in a Jetta. The Jetta has the largest trunk out of the Cruze, Focus, Civic and Corolla. The Jetta only gives up .3 cubic feet to the Malibu's trunk. The Jetta doesn't need to be any bigger. It is right there with every other small car. And there is for sure no reason to make a Passat bigger or to put a model i the large sedan graveyard.
  10. smk4565
    Jetta and Passat have 8 inches in length separating them, 183.3 and 191.9. There is a larger size gap between Civic and Accord, Cruze and Malibu, and Focus and Fusion. And no brand is looking to add more sedans, Chevy and Ford are trying to have less cars.
  11. smk4565
    Is there too big a space between the Cruze and Malibu? Ford plans on offering Focus, Fusion and Mustang as their only cars. Golf is a classic VW so it stays and Jetta and Passat is all the sedans they need. They are building that Aerton thing but it will be a sales bust. I don’t really think they need the Beetle, the current one isn’t the cheap entry level car the original Beetle was, the Polo is now that.
  12. smk4565
    Golf, Jetta, Passat and about 6 crossovers is their path to success.
  13. smk4565
    The white car in the picture looks large, the Jetta should be a small car, not a mid-size car. I am surprised it doesn't look more like a 4-door coupe, since car companies think that is what people want. So while people flee sedans like crazy for a more practical, more cargo room SUV, the car companies think the way to make a sedan more desirable is to cut the roof line so there is less space and it is less practical.
  14. smk4565
    Well that bi-tubo V6 goes back to 2014 model year in 329 hp guise, the E43 396 hp version came out for 2016. The business case is that it is cheaper to make I-6 engines because they make hundreds of thousands of I-4 engines and 75% of the parts are the same, so they can buy in bulk and build on the same line, etc. Economies of scale are better. And sure they have to meet emission laws, but that is good, they have an engine that emits less C02, uses less gas and makes more power. Road & Track from the Euro-market S-class with this engine, it made 435 hp 0-60 in 4.7 seconds and they said it can shut the engine off during coasting not just stop lights, and the start stop is unnoticeable, zero shake or vibration. They were very impressed by it.
  15. smk4565
    We don’t know any specs of this engine or the E53 and CLS53 but we do know horsepower, torque and gas mileage will be better than what is in the C43 and E43 now. That is why I am excited, the E43 (which has won comparison tests) will have had 2 model years and they will replace with something better. The CT6 twin turbo V6 came out at the same time as the E43, we the CT6 get an all new engine next year? Will the 540i? Is the Lexus GS even going to be in production next year?
  16. smk4565
    These companies can’t wait to put in their advertising how they use environmentally friendly Tesla trucks to ship goods. You watch, every Fortune 500 company that ships things by truck will buy them because they want to show how sustainable their methods are.
  17. smk4565
    I don't know why they dropped the inline six, probably because at the time V8s were more common and they did a V8 and V6 share of some sort, for a while Mercedes had a 90 degree V6 I think, before changing to the 60 degree. And they made some bad decisions in the late 90s. But it makes sense now to go back to it. And Mercedes has plug in hybrids and an updated system on the way, EV's on the way, etc. The 48 volt I-6 is a replacement for the current gas V6s as a way to get more fuel economy and even more power, which is a win-win.
  18. smk4565
    It 100% helps with economies of scale because they build so many inline 4’s. But they are also trading a 329-396 hp turbo V6 to a guesstimated 369-430 hp inline six that will be smoother and has better gas mileage. This is the the Best or Nothing at work, they don’t wait around to let something go stale or say our V6 is “good enough.” The E43 and C43 often win comparisons but they can still make them better. And that is why Mercedes is Mercedes and Cadillac and Lexus are not.
  19. smk4565
    So far Mercedes and the 2019 Audi A8 which isn't on sale are the only 48 volt cars, that is what makes them special, and years from now everyone will have it. That is the revolutionary part, they are the first ones and will lead the pack. A lot of Drew's comparisons are to hybrid cars, the Mercedes inline six isn't made to be a hybrid competitor, it is made to be a turbo V6 competitor, and in that regard is mops the floor with the competitors V6s and even the M3's inline six. Mercedes is making an 805 hp plug in hybrid V8 GT sedan if the CLS53 isn't enough powerrrrrrrr. That is somewhere Cadillac, Volvo, Lexus or BMW won't go.
  20. smk4565
    These tax credits are going to expire in a few years, by 2020 most car makers will have used up their 200,000 units anyway. So it doesn't really matter too much if they keep it in or out. Even if they get this tax bill passed, it don't know if it would even take effect next year, the government does nothing fast.
  21. smk4565
    That makes a lot of sense, but a lot have problems packaging an inline six on a front wheel drive car, I seem to remember the early Volvo S80s using a 2.9 liter inline six on a front driver, but other than that I can't think of any. And most car companies just want to have an engine they can use in front and rear drive. So the big guys like Ford, Toyota and GM won't go there. But there is no reason to make everything front drive either, you could build the Malibu or Camry on a rear drive platform and offer all wheel drive, but also that segment of car is dumping V6s anyway, so if you only need a six for a full size car or truck or SUV then it makes sense to go inline.
  22. smk4565
    The 4 cylinder is getting a bump too, rumor is 299 hp, it will be more than competitive among the C-class and GLC competition, and enough for a base E-class for the seniors that don't care about HP. The new 6 will be the base engine for a GLS and S-class or SL class. The new six is rumored for 430ish hp that is plenty for mid-level E-class or base level S-class. And price of a Mercedes doesn't matter, they are priced higher than every competitor and outsell them all.
  23. smk4565
    Not only 400 hp, it will make more than that. And cost too, this is way cheaper than a plug in hybrid. This engine isn’t made to compete with hybrids this is made to compete with the 535i, the GM 3.6 twin turbo, whatever Audi V6 they are using this week. The impressive thing is this is their regular 6 cylinder, no doubt with 2 levels of tune for use in a GLS450 and E53 for example. And Mercedes doesn’t red a replacement for the V8 because they offer more V8 models than any other manufacturer. Even the GLC has a V8
  24. smk4565
    It is a nice update, more leg and hip room, the new G-wagon is 5 inches longer, but that still makes it barely larger than a GLE or X5 and cut 350 lbs of weight, so all pluses there. The interior looks much better than before, current decade styling and they kept the classic grab bar and locking diff switches, so the original DNA is still there. This will probably be the #1 selling car in Beverly Hills and Dubai in 2018.
  25. smk4565
    It isn't anymore AMG than they have now, because the E43 and GLE43 type cars will be replaced with the E53 and GLE53. This is exciting news because the 362-396 hp turbo V6 is being replaced buy a 400+ inline six hybrid. More power, more gas mileage, smoother engine, that is a big win. Will be curious if they replace the C43 with a C53, or if the 53's are only on mid-size cars. Because they can't do an S53, the S560 is still more powerful than it.
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