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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    The Avalon, which they don't really even advertise outsold all of Scion. I don't get why the Scion brand is still around.
  2. smk4565
    They still have Econolines to sell? Mustang sales are on fire.
  3. smk4565
    The interior is a pretty big part of the car, I mean that is where the driver and occupants sit. A normal driver on a normal road will never get close to finding the difference between 1.02 g and .97 g. So I think the interior execution and design does matter a lot. I don't like piano black on any car, it looks like shiny plastic that should be in a Scion, even if it is expensive, they should find something else. Use carbon fiber or wood. The $8,000 up charge for 34 horsepower on the C63 is nuts. They already have margins built in there, just make the base C63 503 HP to make it stand out, and forget these S models on all trims. I am fine with a more hardcore black series that is more track geared.
  4. smk4565
    But what would sell better, a Corolla hatchback, or a Scion iM? What would sell better a Toyota GT86 (or rename to Celica) or a Scion FR-S? I think the Scion brand makes no sense. Their products are rebadged Toyotas from other markets that would sell better if they called it a Toyota. The Mazda 2 didn't sell here, so Scion thinks they can rebadge it and sell it for Mazda 3 money? This brand should be gone by 2020.
  5. smk4565
    I wonder why they didn't make ceramic brakes and option? Not that I'd want them, but a lot of high end cars offer that. Pretty good value on the pricing though considering an E63 starts at $101k which to me seems about $9k too much unless they are going to make driver assistance package and the Bang and Olufsen Stereo standard.
  6. smk4565
    ATS-V gripes were "acres of glossy black plastic, looks cheap and worse, highlights fingerprints, dust and dandruff." "gauges reek of Chevy thrift. Don't even get us started on CUE." And of course "ATS-V also suffers from the most squeezed back seat of the bunch" They said the engineers did their work, the designers let them down. If you just go on performance, all three were within 0.1 seconds of each other in 0-60 and 1/4 mile acceleration. C63 had the best braking, ATS-V had best skidpad, M3 had the best slalom. M3 had the best observed fuel economy, C63 was most quiet. The performance data was extremely close on all 3 cars, so that puts the decision on the details. The C63 lost 2 points on price, 1 point for no incentives, it would have won if it was 3-series money. Which is a complaint I have about the C63, there shouldn't even be a C63 and C63 S, the standard C63 should be the 503 hp engine. I think whatever they do on the AMG "S" models should just be standard, they already charge a lot.
  7. smk4565
    The ATS-V beat the M3 in chassis by 7 points. Powertrain let them down a bit, and the interior and vehicle really killed them, even with getting points for being lowest priced. The sad thing is they got the hard part right in the chassis, but couldn't execute on the interior of the car. Interestingly enough MotorTrend likes the Jaguar XE more than the 335i, and said it was better in every way. So I'd imagine the V8 XE is going to be pretty good too.
  8. smk4565
    One nice thing about F1 is the races take an hour and a half to two hours. I like that it isn't a 3-4 hour commitment like a lot of sporting events are.
  9. smk4565
    Maserati has that mafia hitman sort of look to it, but I wonder how long they'll last. The Quatroporte has never really gotten any traction against the S-class or Panamera. The Gran Turismo looks cool, but the AMG GT is faster, newer, more reliable, etc. There was probably some pent up demand for people that wanted an Italian car, just like how the Fiat 500 at first sold, then it cooled off. The American market likes crossovers and trucks, not exactly Alfa territory. Look how Jaguar struggles since they have sports cars and sedans only. Even the home team Cadillac is struggling to move ATS and CTS, the Alfas will probably cost more with half the reliability, and less name recognition. I don't see them selling anywhere near 150,000 cars a year in North America.
  10. smk4565
    The same reason why we get a BMW X6, Mercedes-Benz GLE - Because we can. Not that those many any sense either, but since coupes are going away (Monte Carlo, Thunderbird, Solara, Riviera all gone) and new cars are being made sedan only, we start seeing all these "4-door" coupe styling and since crossovers are the rage, I guess I see why some would buy a coupe-like crossover. Even though I personally think that body style is pointless. 600 hp in a Juke is like a 500 hp Malibu or Camry, there is no point. The type of people that would buy a Malibu or Camry would never drive a 500 hp car. If you want 600 hp, go buy a GT-R that is actually made to go fast.
  11. smk4565
    200 lb weight losses are all the rage now. So at least cars are going back to early 2000s weights, after many got fat.
  12. smk4565
    Alfa plans to go from 70,000 sales to 400,000 sales in 3 years? Is it April Fool's day? I can see them taking the Maserati Ghibli (which doesn't sell) and turning that into a flagship sedan for Alfa, turn the Cherokee into an SUV, I think them or Fiat is going to use some Miata tooling for a roadster. But I don't think that is going to get them anywhere. I don't really see Alfa Romeo as much of a luxury brand anyway, more like a Buick or Chrysler level brand, Lincoln at best, but in Europe.
  13. smk4565
    Those both look terrible, the engines sound weak and terrible, and they seem overpriced. This brand needs closed down. They don't even build sporty or youthful cars. Make the Corolla in hatch and coupe body styles, move the FR-S to Toyota (as it is everywhere else in the world), make the tC into a new Celica if they want a fwd sports car and call it a day. Interestingly I just saw some commentary on how a lot of older seniors are buying Scion, because they are cheap and simple no frills kind of cars and it has Toyota reliability. And young people aren't buying them as was the target audience because young people want horsepower, touch screens, in car apps and technology, etc.
  14. smk4565
    Seems like they stole the 3-series interior. But the power to weight ratio should be pretty good with the power bump, the A4 always lacked horsepower compared to the other Germans. The new Q7 and this A4 look a bit boring, there is just something bland about these new Audis.
  15. smk4565
    They should put the turbo 4 in the IS. That 2.5 V6 is hopelessly underpowered. 205 hp from a V6? What is it, a 1997 Lesabre?
  16. smk4565
    If I were a producer for the new Clarkson, Hammond, May car show that is rumored to go to Netfix, I would give each of them, $3,800 to buy a GM car with a 3800 V6 and set them off on a series of challenges.
  17. smk4565
    The Vue Red Line is a good SUV option, those were pretty quick and I forgot they even made that. Honda V6 too for good reliability. I thought about an SRX V8 because those could handle, but needed the CTS-V, and I felt I had to get a Corvette and Firebird V8 in there. Typhoons and Cyclones were like $15-20k, too much to spend on the truck.
  18. smk4565
    People don't need it. They just think they do.
  19. smk4565
    CAFE might actually make all wheel drive show up in more cars. A lot of people are buying these small to midsize crossovers because they want all wheel drive. In 2025 car makers need to be near 40 mpg EPA combined to hit the 54 mpg CAFE target. The more cars in the mix the easier that will be to do.
  20. smk4565
    GLK came out in 2009, thus why the replacement goes on sale in a couple months. I was never a fan of the GLK looks. Encore is really small. I'd rather see Cadillac use the Delta platform as the Q3/GLA competitor, and Alpha for the others. I imagine XT5 is on the SRX same platform, unless it has moved to Epsilon. Either way it is boring front drive.
  21. smk4565
    Good pictures of a previously not seen vehicle. I like the grille on the XT5 because it looks like a Mercedes luxury grille. But I am not a fan of the head lights or tail lights and that D pillar looks massive. The shape is really similar to the current SRX with a bit of a sloping back like a Range Rover Evoque. I don't know, looks fine I guess, I am glad the grille is larger, and not one of those little upper grilles with a huge air intake below the bumper like some cars do now. I am guessing the small crossover is is a Cadillac Encore. I think Cadillac should do one small FWD crossover, so I guess that could work, but I might like the Delta platform for it more. I'd like to see the alpha platform used for the middle SUVs.
  22. smk4565
    The 2015 Malibu has a base price of $22,465. The 2015 Impala has a base price of $27,060. The Alpha chassis is probably too small for an Impala, which would be the problem, Omega platform maybe too expensive. If they could figure out a rwd platform to use that cost say $3,000 more to make than Epsilon, but they charge $32,000 they have added $5,000 in price and $3,000 in cost. They can still use a base 4 cylinder and optional V6, same interior trim and features. No V8s, or twin turbo V6. Just like now they don't put the 3.6 TT V6 in the Impala because they want you to buy an XTS V-sport. The Azera, Avalon, Maxima, Cadenza all start around $32-34k, although some have terrible sales. But Chrysler gets 300/Charger sales, I think a rear drive Impala would work, and it allows them to price the Malibu at $23k base (which the Camry is) and there is basically $10,000 of room for options before the next car.
  23. smk4565
    My team: 2003 GMC Sonoma reg. cab 4.3 V6: $5,000 2007 Saturn Relay 3900 V6: $7,000 2005 Buick Rainier V8: $8,000 1999 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am: $7,000 2007 Saab 9-5 Aero: $7,000 2003 Oldsmobile Aurora 4.0: $4,000 2004 Cadillac CTS-V: $15,000 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06: $20,000 $73,000 total
  24. smk4565
    I just thought of a great spin-off series to the 3800 V6 racing league. The GM Relay Race Racing Series. This would be an endurance racing series of 8 hour races (3 drivers per team). Could also be done as a 16 hour endurance race with 4 drivers per team. Each team would have 8 cars from 8 different GM brands (past or present), maximum 1 car per brand. Each team would have to have at least 1 two-door car (coupe or convertible), 1 four-door sedan, 1 SUV, 1 pickup and 1 van. Max budget for all 8 cars would bet set at a pre-determined limit like $80,000 Maybe a minimum car price like $4,000 Each car has to do 1 hour of race time. (or 2 hours each for 16 hour race) The budget makes it hard to throw a Corvette in there with a whole bunch of cheap slow cars, makes it hard to afford a GMC Typhoon or Cyclone, and you could only get one. A Cyclone would take care of the GMC and pickup requirement with 1 vehicle, but if you add a Corvette, Chevy is out for the van. So you think Transport Montana, but then you can't get a firebird. And a Saturn Relay might take up more budget than you want to spend on a slow car.
  25. smk4565
    The Juke is a ugly car. Not really that spacious either, the backs of them are pretty small. Why would anyone want a 600 hp Juke? This is a classic case of how more power doesn't always make it better.
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