smk4565
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Everything posted by smk4565
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Bentley version of the upcoming Bugatti Chiron. Or if they don't want to make a hyper car, then a quadturbo W16 Mulsanne with 1,200 hp would work. It would perform well on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans.
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I do agree that the VW CEO, well the former one, should be fined personally. Because he got paid something like $28 million as a retirement, or payoff or whatever it was on his way out the door. Basically quitting your job and getting paid $28 million to sit at home is no punishment. He should have to pay that money back. And the punishment has to be for the lying and the cheating of the tests. They should be fined for their actions to knowingly sell a non-compliant car and lie about it. I don't think VW should be fined for polluting the air, because then you have to fine Gillig buses, Freightliner trucks, International, Caterpillar, etc who all make diesel engines.
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To make an earlier point of mine more clear. I think VW should be fined for cheating the emission test and lying to the consumer. I don't think they should be fined for their emissions leading to respiratory problems, because there are a lot of other things that are probably causing more air pollution.
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PS...I more peeved at this world wide corporate culture society that lets corporate greed rule us than the actual VW emissions scandal...this corrupt corporate culture needs to stop world wide... Agreed with that. The greed is what breeds the corruption, and often to just make the investors and CEO's wealthier while the workers don't get anything. Lots of other stuff causes pollution and no one cares. So let's clean everything up then.
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Looks like those BIllions U kept yammering on about Audi investing might be put on a weeee bit of hold. U kno what Smk.. go to your room.. and don't come out till your told. That German engineering U always hold so high, is as I have predicted for a life time it seems.. as being nothing but "Smoke and Mirrors.. NOX" Literally how a person feels after following a VW Diesel for too long >>> VW may have cheated the system, but BMW and Mercedes did not. Mercedes engineering is still at the pinnacle of human achievement. I would bet that a Silverado HD Duramax puts out more Nox emissions than a Jetta TDI. If that is the case, GM should be fined whatever VW gets fined. Because those Duramaxes and Ford Power Strokes are polluting the air just as bad. I think for sure VW should get fined and they deserve what they get. They misled and lied to the consumer, and their reputation should get shot too. The fine wont' be $1 billion or more, if you look back at previous car company fines there were never that big and always in the millions. GM knew it's ignition switches could lead to accidents and deaths, to me that is still worse than cheating an emissions test. I also think there should be one standard for emissions for all vehicles. To me trucks should not be emission exempt or CAFE exempt, they should have to fall into the same equation. Until you get to the Ford F700 medium duty level vehicles that are like 20,000 lb GVWR.
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Afterthoughts: Answering the Unknowns In the Volkswagen Diesel Scandal
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Opinion
That Audi A3 E-Tron got here just in time. They can try to shift the fuel economy seeking buyers there. -
The 2016 Avalon has adapted new technologies. They have taken the handling and rigidity properties of this, and applied it to their suspension.
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The problem with the 11,000 deaths thing, is how much of the diesel pollution is from trucks and buses. I would guess all the semi-trucks, Ford Super Duty Powerstroke diesels, school buses, city buses, delivery vans, etc out there are polluting a heck of a lot more than 500,000 Jettas and Golfs. I get stuck behind buses that spew way more fumes than any 10 cars combined I'd guess, so where is the push for making city buses electric or natural gas only and outlawing diesel public transportation? The whole thing is a double standard. That being said, VW blatantly cheated the system and should be fined and punished for what they did. I do think they'll get made an example of and their diesel sales may never recover, especially since to get the emissions they need it will add a lot of cost to the car and/or take away performance. The problem with recalling these, is I think a lot of owners won't want to fix the car. The fix is going to be to turn the emission control system on all the time and take away power and make the car feel slower and less fun to drive. A lot of owners aren't going to want to give away performance and fuel economy just so the car meets emissions.
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But a Buick Verano isn't an upscale car. I would rather pay $35k for a Regal convertible, which would be a $5k premium over the sedan. If the Cascara was Regal based it would be a good deal as it is priced. But the Camry and 200 based convertibles that were larger and cheaper than the Cascara failed. And I think that is the type of buyer Buick is after.
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The Eos is a weak seller, and it seems like for a couple years they have been saying they were dropping it altogether. That is why I think mid $30s for a compact Buick convertible is a hard sell and it won't find a lot of buyers. Luckily for Buick there are very few convertibles on the market. The 20" wheels look low profile too. I have 18" low profile tires on my car, and Hankooks on tire rack were still around $200 per tire. I have seen some 20" tires at $300 each. This isn't an enthusiast car, I don't know if the Buick buyer wants to spend $1,200 for new tires.
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Not sure standard 20 inch wheels is a good idea, 20's usually aren't the best for ride quality, especially on a smaller car, plus I bet the tires are expensive to replace. They priced it higher than the Eos and that doesn't sell. I think the Cascada looks better, but I probably would have priced it $2,000 lower than they did to line up with VW. And some how I am guessing a Camaro convertible on a Cadillac Chassis with 335 hp will cost less than this Buick on a Chevy Cruze or Spark platform costs. So could be a tough sell for Buick.
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VW News: Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn Steps Down
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Volkswagen
Bring back Ferdinand Piech! -
VW should have just used the urea system like BMW and Benz. That is a lot of cars to recall and fix. Although a lot of owners probably won't even care. But there are way worse areas of pollution in the world than what the VW diesels have done. Not that that is an excuse, that was shady, and illegal what they did and they should pay for it and produce cleaner cars. But look at the Chinese river there, or the rivers in Rio de Janeiro where the olympics are this winter. The rivers there have dead bodies, fecal mater, toxic waste and disease, and they think they can have swimming there. There is some seriously bad pollution out there that should be cleaned up.
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They might as well merge with FCA to get economies of scale to offset these losses. Sergio is probably behind the whole thing!
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Nissan News: 2016 Nissan Altima Makes Small Changes
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Nissan
I think it looks to busy and there is too much going on with the styling. 39 mpg is impressive though. -
Important to note that G-wagen sales have been on the rise, form under 100 a month 5 years ago to now over 300 some months. Still small volume, but at $140,000, there has to be at least $10,000 of profit on each one, probably more.
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I kind of like the winged look on the new grille. It is a bit busy to have the waterfall and a horizontal line, but I like this more than the current LeCrosse grille.
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I think it is more that people are SUV crazy so they could do a higher end GL just like Cadillac is wanting a higher end Escalade . I don't think either have Bentley cache. Mercedes is working on a new V12 hybrid for a sports car, but if they put that onto a GL they could get Bentley money.
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VW News: Volkswagen Issues A Stop-Sale On TDI Models, CEO Apologizes
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Volkswagen
To VW, all we can say is: -
I think the Maybach GL could be in the $150k range. When they redo it to GLS, they could push the base price up to $70k, which moves it away from the GLE also. An AMG G63 is like $125k, better interior and a V12 is easily worth an extra $30k. They won't get Bentley level prices though.
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The Unimog makes the Hummer H1 look weak. Mercedes knows how to build awesome off roaders. I still think this pickup truck would be a Frontier chassis with a Mercedes 4-cylinder diesel and 7-speed auto (9-speed eventually), the dash from a Sprinter/Metris. And it will be sold as a commercial work vehicle.
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They already make a V12 G65 that is $230,000 I think. But the G-wagen is like its own unique thing. The Bentayga competitor would be based on the GL. Which being a unibody SUV built on a modern chassis is the more logical move.
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Emissions regulations will push automakers to do more plug in hybrids. Doesn't really mean it is better than diesel, or more fuel efficient. Diesels still are great for highway driving and can rack up lots of miles. But when cities have sections that are emission free and only electric power cars are allowed in those areas, the plug-in hybrid is going to win out. Hell yes to a Bentley Bentayga competitor. Put a Mybach interior in the GL and add the V12, this stuff is already in house, put it to use!
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I think a Mercedes truck would be better suited to pair with the Sprinter and Vito/Metris commercial vans and they may want to see how the commercial market wants mid-size trucks. I don't think they plan on making a luxury pickup
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640 wouldn't surprise me either, it could be exactly the same as the CTS-V. Same chassis, I imagine they have the same air flow and exhaust abilities so power should be the same. Putting 600 HP in a car isn't hard though, the hard part is getting that power on the ground, and how usable is it.
