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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    I think they will act the same way. The good news might be they'll travel to more places or do more cars from outside of Western Europe.
  2. smk4565
    There are so many copy cats and wannabes also, but no one can replicate that chemistry. And they have the perfect mix because Clarkson likes an AMG, Hammond will want a 911 and May will want a Ferrari or something sensible like a Golf. Who else is going to buy $5,000 SUVs and drive from Boliva to the coast of Chile? Or race a GT-R, DB9 or Veyron in a race against public transport or an airplane. Or convert a Ford Transit into a hovercraft, or a make their own police cars and ambulances out of cheap used cars? Last year they even raced a Silverado 2500 HD vs a Ford F150 Raptor in the Canadian wilderness to see who could get to the top of the mountain first to rescue Hammond. So they have done some American car stuff too.
  3. smk4565
    I think the new show will be better than Top Gear because it is global now. They aren't going for the BBC audience, and then putting it on all the BBC world networks. Now they it is made for a global audience from the start, I think they'll do a bigger variety of cars, some more American and Japanese cars, and they can make a broader reaching show. Still, 350,000,000 people watched Top Gear, now that it will be online and not just on BBC, I think more people will watch. And since it isn't dependent on sponsors, they can still rip a car to shreds if they want. Clarkson makes fun of anything, he has made fun of Mercedes before, and his personal drivers have been Mercedes-AMG for a while, he had an SLK55, CLK55, and he has a S63 coupe now.
  4. smk4565
    A Mercedes 2.1 liter diesel makes 201 hp and 369 lb-ft. So I just thought they'd get a big more power out of 2.8 liters. Although I'd wonder if GM could have got the same power from a 2.4 liter diesel, rather than the 2.8 and maybe gotten a little more in the fuel economy dept.
  5. smk4565
    Well not no one, just 1/2 to 1/3 as many people as many of their competitors.
  6. smk4565
    This is the best news of the year! I will be signing up for Amazon Prime in 2016. I think this show could be better than Top Gear, since they don't have to worry about the stupid BBC.
  7. smk4565
    Lincoln is dead, Ford just doesn't know it yet. The Navigator sales have slumped big time, when the BMW X7 comes, sales will probably drop even more. Then there are the Jaguar and Maserati SUVs, maybe some people will buy those too. They'll overprice the Continental, it will probably tank, and another 5 years of re-bodying Fords isn't going to get them anywhere. Lincoln's future is probably in the livery market. I am not so convinced Johan is the savior, he did nothing for Infiniti but re-name the cars and destroy the equity the G37 had built. Infiniti is mess now. Plus he is a marketing guy, and the weakest part about Cadillac is the marketing. They make a good handling car, yet no one buys it.
  8. smk4565
    Turbo engines often don't offer fuel economy and power. If you drive a 4-cylinder turbo with a light foot and keep the revs low, then you get good fuel economy because it is a 4 cylinder. If you push it hard because you want V8 like power and are always on the boost, then you get V8 like fuel economy. Not surprised at their findings, and I always thought Mustangs were way over rated on performance, other than the Shelby models of course, and the recent 5.0 V8 coupes are pretty quick. I am a bit surprised it did 0-60 in 6.1 seconds, a V6 Camry can do that, probably beat it.
  9. smk4565
    What platforms did Mercedes and Chrysler directly share? The only one was the Crossfire was built on the existing SLK platform and used the same powertrain as the SLK and was made in Germany also. The Chrysler 300 and Grand Cherokee platforms were made based off existing (in 2004) Mercedes platforms, but Mercedes has since moved on, and the 300 and Grand Cherokee still used that old Daimler tech from the early 2000s, and those are their 2 best vehicles. I still think there is no way the Impala ends up on Omega, they want the Impala as an inexpensive large car, and need it to be, because the LaCrosse has to be more than the Impala, and the XTS will be dead, but the Cadillacs have to be more than the Buicks. So you can't throw a $40,000 base model Impala out there, and a $60,000 Impala SS. A car like that won't sell, and the 100,000 or so Impala sales per year will go buy a Taurus or Accord or something. Plus you don't want a Cadillac CT8 sharing a platform with an Impala. See Lincoln and Acura as to why that doesn't work.
  10. smk4565
    I am surprised the horsepower isn't more like 220-230. Torque seems about right, although some 3.0 diesels are making 425 lb-ft.
  11. smk4565
    I said a CTS coupe should be $50k. That would be $5k more than the sedan, so you'd have to have more standard equipment than the sedan, but easy to do you just start up one trim level. If the Impala is on the Omega platform, I don't think that bodes well for Cadillac to have their CT6 and CT8 which are to compete with the A8, S-class, Jaguar XJ, 7-series, Bentley, who knows shared with a Chevy Impala. Goodbye credibility if a $100,000 Cadillac is on the same chassis as a $30,000 Chevy. And how can the platform be that cheap to make? If it is Mercedes/BMW good, it can't cost Chevy dollars to produce.
  12. smk4565
    The V8 lives! I am not a Charger or Challenger fan, but I am glad they selling more than they thought they would. We need more people demanding performance cars, and less people buying dopey Camrys.
  13. smk4565
    I don't think the Riviera name is so hallowed that it couldn't be used for a $35-40k car. The 90s Riviera was $35k, and I understand we have had inflation. Sports car buyers buy a Camaro. You make the Riviera a entry lux car, that doesn't have a lot of performance. Actually the perfect way to design it is to think of it as a 2 door Lexus ES350. Soft luxury, a 2.0T is enough engine for it. An Avenir sedan would do better than any Buick coupe on Omega, but a Buick Avenir is going to be CTS money or maybe more, why overlap Cadillac with Buick. And I am not so convinced that Cadillac is such a huge profit center (outside of Escalade) when the CTS is priced $5,000 below most competitors, and Cadillac's incentive spend has been among the highest in the luxury segment. If GM wants a $50,000 luxury coupe, that should be a CTS coupe, there should be an Omega coupe as well so Cadillac has a 3 coupe lineup, I think they should have at least 2 convertibles too, Mercedes is about to have 5 convertibles.
  14. smk4565
    If they can make a Camaro 2.0T for $25k, and a V6 one under $30k I'd assume, you use those same engines in a Buick Riviera and you add $10k into the interior, making a $35-40,000 coupe. They can make a fairly well optioned LaCrosse for under $40k as even the LaCrosse starts at $31k. I am pretty sure you could make a car equally nice to the LaCrosse in 2 door form for the same price. Coupes overall are a hard sell, the Monte Carlo and Camry Solara are dead, Acrua CL is dead, Lincoln doesn't make a coupe. Cadillac and Lexus have 1 coupe each. The coupe market is small, I think for a Riviera to have a chance you keep the price low, even if it was like a 2 door version of the Regal with 4-cylinder only for $30k. I don't know what the best course of action is for a Buick coupe, I am just saying coupes in general are slow sellers, the one segment they sell is the 4-series, C-class, A5 segment, and Buick isn't going to make it against those guys, so they need to find another segment. As far as Omega platform, the S-class platform underpins 1 car (unless you count sedan, coupe, convertible as 3 models) and it is more than economically viable. So it is possible to make money on Cadillac only Omegas, make a CT6, CT8 and Eldorado, hell make a crossover on it.
  15. smk4565
    On the Riviera, if they made it $55,000, who buys it? There is no market for luxury mid-size or full size coupes. You can get a E400 coupe with a twin turbo V6 and AWD for $56,700, add $6,600 for Premium 1 and 2 packages and you at $64k. This is the only mid-size luxury coupe for sale right now. The only large coupe in the $40-70,000 space is the Dodge Challenger SRT, since a base challenger is $27k, hard to count that one. Obviously demand for $45-60,000 dollar mid to large coupes is tiny. The 2 door coupes in that price range are things like Cayman, Corvette, 4-series, ATS, RC, Audi TT, Alfa 4C, etc. Pure sports cars or compacts.
  16. smk4565
    If Cadillac can do an Alpha coupe for $40k, I am pretty sure Buick can. The ATS starts at $33,000, even a near loaded ATS is around $50k. And if you do a Riviera for $45-50k, I still don't see people buying that over an Infiniti, Lexus, Cadillac, Mercedes, Audi or BMW. Because all those luxury brands can make a coupe for $40,000. This is the same reason the Equus and K900 don't sell, they aren't from a luxury brand. Very few will buy a Hyundai when you can get a Lexus or Mercedes at the same price. Cadillac hasn't made this pricing move up market yet either, the CTS is priced below the 3 Germans, the Jaguar XF, Lexus GS and Infiniti Q70. The ATS is priced below the A4, C-class, IS, and probably Jaguar XE. So Cadillac is playing to the lower end of the price spectrum of the luxury market already. Moving to equal the others doesn't really create all that much more room for Buick, a few thousand dollars maybe. Cadillac isn't going to some super high end pricing like where Porsche is. As far as profitability goes, GM just released their 2nd quarter numbers. 2.4 million vehicles sold, $1.1 billion in net profit. That is $458 per unit. We know GM makes money on pickups, they are probably losing money on their sedan lineup with those numbers. Daimler by comparison, 714,800 units sold, $2.4 billion in profit, or $3,637 per unit. (those include their commercial trucks also)
  17. smk4565
    They sold a CL, they never went without a big coupe.
  18. smk4565
    V6. I figured that was a typo. And we'll see Cadillac coupes, convertibles, diesels, hybrids, etc, etc in the future. The other guys have it now though, and Cadillac used the same arguments in 2003 how rear wheel drive was coming, then a longitude mount Northstar was coming, 6-speed autos were coming, etc. They have been in catch up mode for years. So the question is will they ever really catch up.
  19. smk4565
    Suppose Buick makes an Avenir with a twin turbo V6, what would that cost $55-60,000? Let's say they price it like an Equus or K900, which have 430 hp V8s and a lot of equipment, and yet we see those sell less than 3,000 units per year. Not a lot of volume there. Then what happens to the CT6 if there is a Buick with the same chassis, same size, and a 400 hp engine for less than the 265 hp engine CT6, talk about stepping on toes. The LaCrosse is supposed to grow in size too, it could be similar size to an Avenir. You can use RWD and more luxury and power as the differentiater, but I'd see that car would have to be priced more like a Genesis or top end Chrysler 300. Maybe they can have room for the current LaCrosse to go up $2,000 in price and still get the Park Avenir in around $40-50k segment. That could be a solid product, probably not a lot of volume in the USA, but they'd have China sales. I think a mid-size Riviera could easily be priced around $40k (regardless of platform they choose) and this would be priced in line with the A5, RC350, 4-series, and Infiniti Q60 or whatever the G37 is now. Granted those are all a bit smaller and sporty, the Regal could offer interior space and a quiet, more comfortable ride. Even at $40-45k you are asking buyers to pass on a Lexus, Infiniti, Audi and BMW and pick a Buick that is a tough sell as it is, maybe doable if it looks great and is mid-size compared to the competition's small size. To price a Riviera in the $50-60k range is suicide. One coupe has a base price in that range and it is the E-class, the rest all gave up. Even being the only mid-size luxury 2-door on market, the E Coupe isn't a huge seller. So you think the Buick Riviera can challenge the E-class and buyers are going to spend $60k on a Buick coupe? Never going to happen, it would sell worse than the Cadillac ELR. Let's remember the Cadillac sedan sales are weak, and their sedans have base prices at $33k, $44k, and $44k. Hard to say Cadillac will rapidly move up market when they can't get sales where they are, and if Cadillac can't get big volume at those prices, how does Buick do it?
  20. smk4565
    Twin Turbo V8, for sure you'll get 500 hp, there are lots of those on market. No way GM makes a 500 hp V6.
  21. smk4565
    GM is going to make a 500+ hp V6?
  22. smk4565
    The S-class has 60 onboard computers/microprocessors 4 wide angle cameras 1 far infrared camera 1 near infrared camera 12 ultrasonic sensors 1 long range radar 4 short range radars 1 multi-mode radar 1 stereo camera
  23. smk4565
    I am sure the system would help a lot in those potholes. On Top Gear they drove an S65 on equally bad roads and it rode pretty smooth they said, and that is was the old car before Magic Ride Control was invented. Also important to note that the S-class did win the competition and was named the best car for a leading light in the Albania Mafia.
  24. smk4565
    The S-class can go over speed bumps without you feeling it, I am sure it can handle pot holes. The system can read road imperfections as small as half an inch. Here is a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZLKxoFAsh8
  25. smk4565
    A base CT6 is said to be around 3700 lbs, but Cadillac hasn't put one out yet for the magazines to test either. But that is also a 4-cylinder, rear drive car. Add a twin turbo V6, bigger wheels, bigger brakes, all wheel drive, and I bet you are crossing over 4,000 lbs. Still a 10 lbs per hp which is what I would call ideal. Which is why I wish the TT V6 was base, and they had a TT V8 ready to go. Remember the S550 has 516 lb-ft of torque at 1,800 rpm. Torque affects acceleration, not horsepower. And that is the bottom S-class, they sell it with more power. The CLS has a 9-speed automatic, I am surprised that hasn't hit the S-class yet. The 750i is .5 seconds faster 0-60 than an S550, if the 7-series is the CT6's target, it will have to be fast. S-class beats all these cars in ride quality though, they all have reactive suspensions, only the S-class has the camera that scans ahead and prepares the suspension for what is coming.
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