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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Yeah, the shifter looks horrible, and looks like it will have horrible operation. Looks worse than the push button setup the MKZ had going on. I didn't notice it at first either from the pictures, I didn't look that close to them. Not sure why they didn't use a conventional floor mount or column shifter.
  2. smk4565
    In regards to an XLR or any SL competitor, the SL only sells about 4,000 cars a year in the USA, and it is the only car in the segment. It is too small a segment for Cadillac to go into, and the SL would just beat it again anyway, just as it put the XK and SC430 out of production. I think Cadillac would be better served with a roadster at the price point of an SLK or Z4, use turbo 4 and turbo V6 engines keep it to like $50-70k in price. They could probably use Alpha or the Vette chassis. Then if they did a super car at $150,000 it would be totally far apart in price and performance. ATS and CTS need all turbo line ups and new interiors. Cadillac needs crossovers, and they needs lots of them, and they needed them yesterday.
  3. smk4565
    I think they right sized this as the Tiguan was tiny for the price they were charging for it. Now I think they need a smaller than Tiguan crossover below this, with Atlas and Toureg they'd have 4, if Toureg goes away they'd still have 3. And that is what sells, no one is buying Passats, even the Jetta seems to have slipped away and been forgotten about. The Golf line is the only car line they have that does well.
  4. smk4565
    If they have a base price around $26k I think they could do well. For them to be successful they have to target Camry, Altima, and Accord V6 buyers, Mustang and Camaro buyers, Fusion buyers, etc. They can beat all the front drivers on performance, and offer performance of the 4 and 6 cylinder Pony cars, but with 2 extra doors. They can succeed there, if they try to price it $35-50k and sell it as 3-series performance, but with more interior room they are dead.
  5. smk4565
    I liked GMC's boxy styling more, like how the Envoy was. The back of this looks like a Nissan, I don't think it has a GMC look to it, it has the GMC grille, but the headlights are a bit odd. The inside is fine for the segment, sort of gives off a Jeep vibe, in a good way though, people should like the look of it. Doesn't look luxurious, but nice enough to compete with a Rogue, Cherokee or Escape/Edge.
  6. smk4565
    Ugly as can be, but that can be expected from the current Lexus. What's up with the Nissan Maxima headlights? Look at how dramatically different this is from the LS of 10 years ago, I guess they figured all the people driving and LS460 in 2006 are dead now so they tried something radically different. The new V6 makes good power, but where has this been? The 3.5 V6 is over 10 years old, they finally added turbos to it. Still needs a turbo V8, but maybe that is on the way, the V6 will be enough for 90% of Lexus buyers.
  7. smk4565
    Shouldn't a Q8 be larger than a Q7? Why isn't this a Q6 if it is a 4 seater that is smaller than a Q7, but bigger than a Q5?
  8. smk4565
    I think it is a great size, a nice mid size car, really long wheelbase for a 190 inch long car. This is about the size of a gen 1 CTS but with longer wheelbase. If they price it right it could do quite well. If they price it like a C-class it is dead. I think crossovers ride and handle as well as most Cam Cord Fusions, that people are happy to leave the sedan. Kia has given people a reason to pick the sedan again.
  9. smk4565
    It is a good update with good engine improvements, the diesel and 10 speed should really boost fuel economy. But why does the Diesel come out in Summer 2018 when the engine already is in production? Shouldn't that diesel be on sale, like now?
  10. smk4565
    I like it, looks like they tried to copy Maserati styling too much from the back, but over all looks good. Good power and rear drive is a plus. I wonder how big it is and what it will cost, that is sort of the key thing here.
  11. smk4565
    But rental companies are offering classes of vehicles, not specific cars. This is only V-series and Platinum cars which is like 4 cars. If they allot 300 cars for 200 members I am sure there will be no problem getting what you want, but that is a lot of cars to tie up to this program that they have to garage and maintain and insure. It is an out of the box idea, I think it is good to try something different, but I don't think it will work, mainly due to the price.
  12. smk4565
    I still think it is a lot of money to borrow or ride share or whatever you want to call it a car. It is $18,000 a year to drive a Cadillac and car insurance is like $1,000 a year, even if maintenance is $1,000 (unlikely on a brand new car) we are talking $16,000 for payments to a car you don't own. The other thing with this program, say 200 people sign up, are they going to have 200 CTS-V available, 200 Escalades available? I am guessing you aren't always going to have your choice of car, and will have to wait for the car you want.
  13. smk4565
    I think the program is a good idea at a lower price. I don't see them getting enough people to sign up for it to keep it viable. Maybe at $1,100 a month. The other thing is this lets them get cars off dealer lots and after a car is in service a year I wonder if they could still sell it as new since it would never have been sold or titled. for fun, an Escalade 4wd ESV Platinum is $98,790. A base S550 4matic is $99,600.
  14. smk4565
    Where it may make sense is for a celebrity or business person who is in NYC for a month or two for work and not staying and needs a car for a short period of time. An NYC resident can lease an Escalade and have $650 a month left over. Car insurance is less than $100 a month, and it doesn't cost $500 a month for maintenance.
  15. smk4565
    I can't see that working at that price. You can lease and Escalade for $850 a month, I don't get why you would pay $1,500 to drive one. You could get an S-class lease with insurance and prepaid maintenance for under $1,500 a month, and it's an S-class.
  16. smk4565
    Continental looks like a mid-size Kia. It is bland and forgettable. Buick and Cadillac are becoming SUV brands, but Cadillac doesn't have enough crossovers. The sedans at both brands are in the tank, I don't think Buick will ever get sedan sales back, LaCrosse is the only car they need for the "traditional" Buick buyer. The crossovers across the board are going gang busters, I feel like the government could put a 20% sales tax on all crossovers and sales wouldn't drop one bit.
  17. smk4565
    FCA is going in the sales tank, and the 200 and Dart are still on sale, and the 300/Charger aren't getting an update for 4 more years. I think the Caravan is still on sale too, and about to go away.
  18. smk4565
    The Best Ever, or Nothing yet again. Although Mercedes cars were down 1% for the year so the headline is a bit misleading, however they still won the luxury sales crown, Lexus was down, BMW down 9.5%. Would be nice to see E-class sales rise with the new coupe and E43 models. The GLE outsold the E-class in 2016, 20 years ago Mercedes didn't even have an SUV, that is a pretty big market shift.
  19. smk4565
    Would make sense if they are developing the engine for race use that a version is made for road use. Spread out the cost on it. Most 100 hp per liter naturally aspirated engines aren't high on torque, usually they are high revvers, I could see it revving to 7,000 rpm, unless the race series has a limit.
  20. smk4565
    No one will miss that. People want a 3-series to be sporty or they want an X3 to fit some "active lifestyle" that they don't have. They don't want whatever that wagon-hatch high rider is.
  21. smk4565
    To OldsHurst, I was talking more about these SL's No the SLR or SLS or anything like that. Not exactly the Nurburgring killers there, they are touring cars. Mercedes has won three F1 championships in a row, their racing legacy is in pretty good shape. They build the fastest race car in the world, nothing can beat a W07 Hybrid around a track.
  22. smk4565
    It ain't broke so they don't fix it. Although there is an all new G-wagen coming for 2018, I guess they figured 40 years was enough time. And I think they had to get weight out and downsize the engine since 12 mpg or whatever it gets doesn't really work anymore.
  23. smk4565
    The Corvette has been front engine, rear drive and 2 seats since 1953. It has had a pushrod V8 since 1955 (save for a couple years of ZR1 in the early 90s). They used a 5.7 liter V8 from 1972 to 2005. The Corvette is the poster child of sticking to the formula. And it is a formula that works.
  24. smk4565
    I was comparing VW to GM, as VW doesn't try to sell premium vehicles through VW brand anymore because they have luxury brands. GM has luxury brands, use them for premium products. As we talked about Corvette has a 60 year heritage as a front engine car. If you make it mid-engine it isn't a Corvette, just like if you make the Porsche 911 front engine, it isn't a 911 anymore. And I don't want Corvette to be a Cadillac, Corvette is a Chevy. I want Cadillac to build a performance car above Corvette and the Corvette to continue being a mostly $50-80k sports car save for the special versions that hit near $100k. And I agree that we don't know what they'll do with the new 6.2 DOHC V8, they might scale it out to GMC and Cadillac to cut costs, but I imagine that won't be a CAFE friendly engine, so I don't think it will be wide spread. I still favor a 4.0 turbo V8 based on the 2.0 turbo 4, because they could share probably 75% of the parts among both engines and they already have scale with the 2.0.
  25. smk4565
    The Mercedes SL has been around 60 years, not a track car, but a 2 seat sports car. Aston Martin DB series is over 50 years running, but the numbers change. I am a fan of long time running consistent naming, The Corvette has that reputation for sure which is a strong suit. I have always said that is a weakness of Cadillac because they rehash names all the time, they don't have a 50 year running model that is iconic. The Corvette Z07 is $98,000, the ZR1 was $130,000 and these are the cars that compete with the the $130,000 AMG GT, or the $160,000 R8 or 911 Turbos, but they don't really have a Mercedes or Audi level interior or dealership experience either. It isn't like the $58,000 base model Corvette is putting up performance numbers with the $150,000 sports cars. If you look back to a early 2000s Corvette with the 5.7 and 4-speed auto, it ran 0-60 in about 5 seconds. They could get sub 5 second 0-60 now with a 3.6 V6 and 8-speed given how little a V6 Vette would weigh and it would keep the "affordable" mission they often went for. To me the Z06 at $98k should be the ultimate, because you don't really want to sell cars over $100k at a Chevy dealer, selling stuff over $75k is already a stretch. Bringing it back to a 6.2 DOHC V8 mid engine car, now you are adding a more expensive engine to produce, plus you have to engineer it and aren't spreading development cost over 500,000 small block V8 tucks a year. Then to design and engineer and mid-engine chassis with no economies of scale it going to be expensive. They are going to end up with a $175,000 mid engine car that performs like a $200,000 Hurcan, but one will say Lamborghini on it, the other will say Chevy. Cadillac would be more profitable if they had halo cars and more image. That is why all the best products GM develops should be Cadillacs, anything expensive should be Cadillac. They should have the dealerships and sales and service infrastructure to handle selling $150,000 cars. This is why VW doesn't make a $100,000 car, they tried a $75,000 car that was an epic fail. But if VW wants to sell a super car, they have Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, Bentley, all to do that, and Bugatti.
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