Jump to content
Create New...

smk4565

Members
  • Posts

    13,726
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    11

Everything posted by smk4565

  1. People can charge at home. The only place you really need the charging stations is on turnpikes, interstate rest stops, and the sort of places that are along long haul driving routes that aren't near a city. The people that are afraid of electric cars act like there aren't electric outlets all over the place. I don't see people freaking out needed a gas powered battery extender for their phones. They just plug it in and charge it at night and use it all day, and charge it the next night. If you travel on vacation for a week, you take your charger with you. The car will be no different.
  2. They have a Prius V, maybe they can call it Corolla V or Corolla hatch. As for the iA, there is always the Tercel name plate.
  3. With or without Tesla, electric cars would eventually replace gasoline. It may not happen in the next 10 years, but it will some day. Once a 300-400 mile range electric sedan with solid acceleration is on sale for $25,000, then the gasoline engine is in trouble. One day battery technology will be cheap enough for a Bolt to be priced like a Chevy Sonic, or for a Nissan Leaf to be priced like a Sentra. This is probably the same time when a Camry becomes a pure EV and it still costs the same as it does now, and they'll still sell 400,000 of them a year. Might take 20-30 years, but it will happen.
  4. The Model S outsold the CTS and XTS too. But the Model S was the only Tesla on sale, and there isn't another pure EV in that segment either. Once Tesla has 3-4 models to spread the sales around, and others start to sell pure EV luxury cars, we'll see if the Model S sales hold up.
  5. I think all CUV/SUV should have a 10% tax on them. That money should go to pay for better roads so those of us that buy performance cars have better roads to drive on.
  6. Back in the 50s and 60s you had fewer car companies too, or at least fewer large companies. The Big 3 pretty much had free reign to do whatever. Enter Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes, VW, Nissan, etc, and competition changes everything. Cadillac was ruined by poor management at GM, plain and simple. They either thought they were untouchable, didn't think the Germans and Japanese were a serious threat, or just plain didn't care. Maybe they just wanted to rake in as much short term profit, cash in their bonus and retire. Regardless we all knew the slew of bad decisions made from the last 70s into the 90s. As far as income vs the car people buy, that is irrelevant. People have always bought cars above their means, and some value a car more than they value other things. There are millionaires that drive a Prius because they don't care about cars, there are people making $37,000 a year driving a $50,000 F150 on a 7 year loan because they had to have it to go hunting or to haul tools in. The car company wants to sell their product, I don't think they care what the occupation of the buyer is.
  7. Interesting that the S-class left the 7-series in the dust, so now they need to bring out a 9-series. Bring it on, the S-class will beat it too. Mercedes knows luxury, they know ride quality, interior space, and over the top horsepower. BMW was the sport sedan brand, yet in the past 10 years they are are trying to be more like Mercedes, making heavier, more solid feeling cars, making bigger, roomier cars, now making a chauffeur driven car. Well I am sure BMW will enjoy 2nd place with their 7-8-9 series combined effort losing to the S-class.
  8. 37 mile range and 0-60 in 5.4 seconds is pretty good for an overall balance of fuel economy and acceleration/performance. The price point is key. It should be priced the same as the TT V6 car, so you trade a little acceleration but pick up the electric range. As far as Tesla goes, they can't go after them with a plug in. If it burns gas it doesn't really meet the emission free drying idea, and a Tesla has 13 moving parts or something crazy, there is hardly any maintenance on them. Plus a Tesla Model S is quicker than a Corvette Z06 or Ferrari 488 GTB.
  9. James Bond is a blast from the past. Welcome back.
  10. Mercedes doesn't own Seat, VW does. The A/B-class level cars have been in Europe since the 90s, that market favored them. The CLA/GLA are much more geared to the American market. These cars are needed mostly for the fuel economy mix. It isn't about economies of scale when most of the parts aren't on the higher end cars. Unless you are talking thinks like wiper stalks and a gear shifter.
  11. 2017 Mercedes-AMG E43 for daily driver. Jaguar F-Type w/ 380 hp 3 liter V6 300SL Gullwing for a classic Here is the shocker, a Pontiac Aztek awd 3.4 liter. And I would drive it off road, through streams, over hills, and abuse the heck out of it until it was broken in half. For number 5, I am not really sure, but probably a Ferrari 275 GTB because Steve McQueen had one.
  12. The body is very BMW-like, but the front is classic Alfa, so it is something different. It is fast too. But not my cup of tea, probably unreliable as well.
  13. Wonder what will happen to Cadillac's image with 3 front wheel drive crossovers and a sub-ATS, and a front drive XTS. If 2 front drive Mercedes is doom and gloom, oh my.
  14. I would tell people to spend extra on the C-class or GLC over the CLA/GLA all the time. But That CLA is there to compete with the Mini, VW, Volvo and former Saab style buyers that want a small Euro car without spending crazy money. These are non-traditional Mercedes buyers. The C and E classes and GLE are still leading the sales charge. The anti-Mercedes fans keep saying the CLA will be the downfall, yet they keep getting stronger.
  15. The Fiesta ST and Miata are good choices. I'd probably take one of those for something newer, I like the Renegade too. But game over with this one.
  16. 2012 E350 Bluetec (which had a 2.987 liter engine) if that counts for 3 liter, then I'd pick an E250 Bluetec or a 2017 E300 for everyday use. Ferrari F40 for sure, still one of the best super cars ever. Mercedes 280SL for a convertible, in silver though. And we save the best for last, the Ferrari 250 California, with a 2.95 liter V12
  17. Someone in Stuttgart thinks 0-60 in 4.8 seconds is too slow, so they decided to make this one with a 503 hp V8 and test it on the Nurburgring! That is how you make the Best or Nothing.
  18. Mercedes 2014 total without CLA/GLA and B-class (and without Sprinter) was 295,363. 2015 total without Smart/Sprinter and GLA/CLA and B-class is 285,946. That is more of a 3.3% drop for the rear drive passenger car line. Sprinter sales were up 16% in 2015. The S-class outsold the CLA last month, so that debunks the theory of Mercedes relying on fwd cars to get sales. And The E-class is the #1 selling Mercedes in history and we get a new one this year, that is going to turn the sales chart around. Plus you have C-class coupe, hybrid and convertible hitting, GLS and SLC, and SL refreshes, so most of the new product is rear drive, where as most of 2015 calendar year had a GLA that added 26,000 units vs 6,000 the prior year. But imagine if Cadillac said the next-gem CTS was going to the Malibu platform and would have a 250 hp turbo 4 standard, and a 350 hp turbo V6 as the range topper, and V-series was cancelled. How would that taste? Because essentially that is what the Cadillac crossover line is becoming.
  19. I think the "F" stands for failure.
  20. My mom had an Audi, horrible reliability. They had to redo the coils and ignition wiring at one poi t and some other engine overhaul less than a year later. Those totaled $6-8000 I think and she got rid of it a year later at 155,000 miles because she thought the turbo was about to go.
  21. Sales will double since it says Toyota on the front instead of Scion.
  22. Well first off, any sedan is better than a GS350 F, except for an Acrua RLX which you could run up over $60k. I would take the 2017 E-class first, but since we don't know pricing on it, I can't configure it. If I picked form 2016 cars, I would get a base model C63 at $65,250 and add the LED lighting package, electric trunk closer and air fragrance package for $1,400 more for a total of $66,650. And that leaves $1,000 left over for gas in the V8. After the two Mercs my third choice would be a Jaguar XF S with the 380 hp V6 and the comfort and convenience package since it has ventilated seats and soft close doors. That would come in around $66k.
  23. Maybe on the coupe it was 27%, but no way nearly 1 out of 3 of 2nd Gen CTS on the road are V-series But if it was 27%, then look at all the market Cadillac is missing by not having performance crossovers. 27% of SRX sales would be about 25,000 cars a year.
×
×
  • Create New...

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search