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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    I meant that Chevy had a 5.7 liter V8 back in the early 90s. Now they have the 5.3, and Ram and Toyota have a 5.7. But family sedans have basically cut engine size in half and increased power at the same time, while increasing fuel economy. Interiors in everything has gotten better, I'd say small cars probably saw the most improvement, look at how bad a Cavalier was and they sold that in 2003, compared to the Cruze or a Focus now. In 1994 the Silverado 4wd had a 4.3 liter V6 as the base engine, 14/18 mpg. In 2014 the Silverado 4wd has a 4.3 liter V6 with 17/22 mpg, a 3.5 mpg increase in 20 years! And from 4 gears to 6, and the transmission probably got them 2 of that 3.5 mpg. As said I give Ram some credit for putting new things into their truck, it is what has helped the Ram pass the Silverado in sales. But the diesel engine isn't a Chrysler innovation, Fiat made that engine and gave it to them. The engine is made in Italy. A smart move to use it, but without Fiat, the Ram pickup would still have a Chrysler engine from 2005 under the hood.
  2. smk4565
    How about a 2006 Subaru Baja with 210 hp turbo for $13,000? Although that seems like a ripoff too since it was probably $27,000 8 years ago.
  3. smk4565
    Some used cars are a lot and I don't get why. I do think since new cars are so expensive, that used cars are more in demand so the huge drop offs in price aren't seen as much as they used to be. I shipped a car from Florida to Pennsylvania for $650, it isn't that expensive to buy long distance and ship it, probably cheaper to ship it than to buy a plane ticket then drive 1,000 miles and spend the gas and risk wear and tear on the trip.
  4. smk4565
    Yeah, when Pontiac died, Toyota should have pumped money into Scion to make a Grand Am/G6 sort of coupe/sedan that was a little bigger than a Corolla, keep the tC fresh, they could have locked down the compact utility market before the Kia Soul ever arrived, but they missed the boat. In 10 years the brand has never really taken off. Toyota could just make the next-gen tC the Celica, dump the FR-S name and sell it as the GT86 as they do elsewhere, then add the Auris to the US lineup and you have 3 youth oriented cars under the Toyota name, no need to advertise 2 brands.
  5. smk4565
    Well the Yaris should be the only sub-compact, then the Corolla would be their small car. Chevy has Spark, Sonic and Cruze so they use a 3 car approach. Scion doesn't really need a subcompact, I don't think Toyota should position Scion as just an entry level crap brand, they should make them a sporty/fun brand. The xB and xD sucked, but most Toyota's lack style, imagination, modern powertrains, excitement, etc. If they could properly execute some products, Scion could be a solid niche brand.
  6. smk4565
    I do give credit to Ram for the diesel and 8-speed. And the 90s Ram had the Kenworth truck look which was cool for the time. Overall though pickups look about the same as they did 25 years ago, still using 5-5.7 liter V8s as they did 25 years ago, they swapped out 4-speed auto for 6 speed. It isn't as bad as full size vans like the Econoline that went 25 years with one update, but I think other segments advance faster than trucks.
  7. smk4565
    Well there are only 4 truck brands, unless Nissan still makes the Titan. But it is GM, Ford, Ram or Toyota. There are a dozen luxury car brands, and luxury car buyers needs may change more frequently, than those who just buy a pickup every time. Luxury market is more like mid-size sedans, there are a dozen cars to pick from and people come and go from the segment. I think the lack of competition lets pickup manufacturers get complacent, Toyota is so weak and they don't invest in new engines, they still have the 4.0 V6 from a 1999 4-runner, and that 5.7 liter V8 from 2007 with no improvement to horsepower or fuel economy in 7 years. It is laughable, Ford is the only innovator in the segment, that is why they are the leader.
  8. smk4565
    Toyota has really dated powertrains and a lot of their models seem dated. I don't get it for a car company that sells so many cars, that they can have stuff that is so old still on market without updates, like the 4-Runner lived on for years past its expiration date, the previous generation Corolla was laughable, etc. Scion has been neglected, I think the FR-S would sell better as a Toyota, and they could just do a mini box like the Kia Soul with a Toyota badge and make the tC the new Celica and ditch the Scion brand all together. With some youthful models, Toyota wouldn't seem like your grandparents car brand either. I think the idea of Scion is good, but they have screwed up the brand from the start. If their goal is to get younger, urban type buyers, they can do that with the right products. A rebadged Mazda 2 would give them the entry subcompact, the FR-S needs a turbo and convertible version, the tC needs an update, but the idea of a 2-door sporty coupe with a roomy backseat works, especially with the Cobalt coupe gone, G6 coupe gone, no Focus or Jetta coupe, etc. The Hyundai Veloster is pretty much the only alternative to the tC. They need a Golf GTI style hot hatch and a Kia Soul competitor also. The problem is Toyota makes generic crap with dated engines, so they aren't likely to build a more fun or interesting mini box, or a more fun to drive Golf GTI. Scion could be the Japanese Pontiac if done right, and a good version of Pontiac, not the rental car Pontiac we had near the end.
  9. smk4565
    That sleek roofline for aerodynamics is myth, my E-class has a .27 drag coefficient and it is basically a 3-box design, the new S-class has a .24 drag coefficient, it beats the Prius, and the S-class doesn't look like a 4-door coupe and it has a big vertical front end.
  10. smk4565
    Ever since the Mercedes CLS, everyone wants a 4 door coupe, but it is so overplayed now and most of these supposed 4-door coupes don't look at all like a coupe anyway. And the CLS worked for Mercedes because it was a niche car, and they had the traditional 3 box design sedan in the E-class already there. GM trying to redo this Malibu over and over shows how desperate they are. They did a new one for 2004, refreshed it in 2006, a new one in 2008, another new one in 2012, a refresh in 2013, and it still sucks. The Malibu seems to sell worse now than it did 5 years ago, and the competitors keep getting better. I don't get why this segment is so hard for GM to figure out.
  11. smk4565
    Agreed with Reg, GM is always chasing. They can rush the new Silverado, but it is still 4 years away, when the aluminum, Ecoboost F150 is here, the Ram diesel is here. They didn't go far enough with the 2014 Silverado, when they redo it, you wonder if they will do enough to leapfrog the competition, or if they will just catch up to Ford's 2015 model and see the goalpost moved on them again.
  12. smk4565
    C-class comes out this fall, so I guess we'll see how long it takes for coupe and AMG models to follow. Maserati I don't think is making much impact here, but the Quatroporte and Gran Turismo use a Ferrari engine at about half the cost of a Ferrari, so that is their appeal. Cadillac uses a Chevy engine at double the cost of a Chevy.
  13. smk4565
    Good points on several accounts. I think the Chrsyler brand is the one to dump, becaue VW could sell a minivan and they could take the 300 and turn it into a VW Phaeton priced in the $36-50k range, it could still be a large RWD american flavor sedan, but with more of a VW look inside and out, and then you don't have an $75k Phaeton that no one is going to buy, and it gives VW a car above the Passat, and it splits the Charger and "new Phaeton" out of the same price point. Rename the Chrysler 200 and give it to Dodge to replace that awful Avenger, then Dodge and VW both have strong lineups. Jeep is in good shape, with VW's European and South American sales network they can sell more cars there. The luxury brands do well, not much needed to do there. They would have to make layoffs in certain places obviously, but maybe not 20,000. The problem for Volkswagen is the VW brand doesn't make a lot of profit but they can't really expect them to produce Audi-like profit margins. Ferdinand Piech is worth over $5 billion, maybe Piech should have had this idea a few years ago and just bought Chrysler himself and forced a merger. He is 77 years old, so if he wants to create a lasting legacy he better move quickly.
  14. smk4565
    I agree that this is one of the better looking S-classes in a while probably since the W126 model. The previous one had sort of an imposing look, but the wheel fenders were a bit tacky as time went on. I'm not a fan of black wheels or red brake calipers, those are options I'd leave behind for sure. I have wondered how much better Active Body Control makes it, and I've read and seen reviews that with the road scanning suspension that the car basically glides over anything without feeling it. My car has Airmatic which is great for ride quality but I can see how ABC would help take out any body roll or lean. I myself thought they would have used the 9-speed, but perhaps they didn't want to risk a new model with a new transmission, but 2015 S-classes still have the 7-speed. The 2015 CLS will be the first to get the 9-speed, then it will spread to other models, that should help fuel efficiency. But the S63 still gets better mileage than a CTS-V or BMW M5 despite being larger and more powerful than both of them, and having AWD which hurts fuel economy.
  15. smk4565
    Buick is also supposed to get the Opel Cascada convertible, which GM sorely needs a convertible that isn't a Camaro or Corvette. Especially since Honda and Toyota gave up on convertibles too, the market is wide open.
  16. smk4565
    Perhaps this is where Piech's grand plan could come into play. If he could add Jeep and Maserati to the VW portfolio, he'd have 2 brands that are solid on a profitability basis. To get VW more profitable he could streamline Chrysler's and Fiat's products into VW, get more sales out of VW without really having to spend more on development costs. Plus if VW took over FCA then you don't need all that duplicate payroll, HR, accounting, etc. They can streamline there also. More likely though they'll just cut jobs and downsize, but few companies really cut their way to prosperity.
  17. smk4565
    I bet it comes to the USA, because the Encore is really little, and the Enclave is over 200 inches long and has 3 rows of seats. It would be like Chevy selling a Sonic and Impala with nothing in between. But as they continue to fill the Buick-GMC showrooms with Buick SUVs, what does that do to GMC? At one point Buick was cars, GMC was trucks, sort of like Jaguar-Land Rover. But if Buick has 3 crossovers, and Chevy makes the same stuff GMC makes, does GMC really need to exist, unless GMC was going to be a work truck brand like Ram sort of is. I think Cadillac should make a crossover off the CTS, but I can see the bean counters saying that costs too much, lets turn this Buick into a Cadillac to compete with the GLA, Q3, X1, X3, and the Lincoln Escape.
  18. smk4565
    The CTS-V is coming next year. Even the Germans release their Hi-Po versions a year or 2 after the pedestrian model comes out. Except the S63 AMG that came out the same model year as the S550, and the S600 and S65 were released 6 months later. On the S-class coupe the AMG versions available right away. BMW is a bit slower though.
  19. smk4565
    I read this thing is about 183 inches long, this could produce a Cadillac to go below the SRX, although the SRX bases around $35k, I'd imagine Buick is looking to price the Envision around $30k to split the difference between Encore and Enclave. But Cadillac's new boss wanted to take Infiniti into the small and compact area, I bet he will want to do the same somehow with Cadillac. Tough though with Buick and GMC there.
  20. smk4565
    Oh no, not the ELR too!
  21. smk4565
    It looks similar in shape and style from what can be seen, so I assume it will be an evolution of the current car. It does appear to have even less head room or side window glass, that confined feeling interior may return. It looks big to me, when you see it next to the Impala, it doesn't look that much smaller, and the Impala is a big car.
  22. smk4565
    If VW bought Fiat they would be producing about 14 million cars per year, I'd imagine they would have to phase out some brands, Skoda and Seat could surely go away. But you do wonder if it is manageable, or if they will try.
  23. smk4565
    Agreed. If we had gas at $6 a gallon, let alone the $8-9 per gallon they have in Europe, sedans and station wagons with 4 cylinder diesels would take over. $3.80 a gallon is relatively cheap and the car companies market the crossovers. I'll take a sedan any day and take the better handling, I could drive a coupe every day if I wanted, but there wasn't a coupe I liked that I could afford. I did see a Jaguar F-type on the road today, looked absolutely epic and sounded even better. I wouldn't mind driving that every day.
  24. smk4565
    I for one would like to see the Auto Union comeback, the potential of this deal would be huge, but they would have to shudder some brands in the process. VW would gain in markets they are weak though, and the economies of scale could really come to be a big advantage. I see it like this: Fiat does what it does with the compact cars, VW could build a future Up! off the Fiat 500 platform. VW adds the Chrysler minivan and a 300C based RWD sedan to slot above the Passat, Chrysler brand is shut down. VW adds Ram pickups in global markets outside the USA, a small pickup could be sold under Ram name here and VW name abroad. Jeep expands globally since the Cherokee can be built in Fiat/Alfa factories, as could the Renegade. Future Grand Cherokee, Toureg and Cayenne could platform share. Maserati could platform share with Audi, which gets the A8 and A6 on a RWD platform. Quattroporte, A8 and Bentley Continental/Flying Spur would platform share, Ghibli and A6 could also. They could share a lot of engines and transmissions also. Alfa Romeo expands globally as the smaller, more value oriented performance/luxury brand. The Mito and Giulietta would platform share with the Fiat 500/VW Up! and VW Golf. I think Alfa could potentially replace Dodge, but the Charger/Challenger wouldn't fit in with Alfa.
  25. smk4565
    Ferdinand Piech reportedly has a grand plan to make VW the #1 auto manufacturer in the world by buying up Fiat-Chrysler. VW has $24 billion in cash so they have the money to buy controlling interest in FCA, assuming they could get the regulatory approvals. He would then revive the Auto Union name to be the parent company with Fiat, VW, Jeep, Chrysler/Dodge and a luxury group of Alfa Romeo, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Maserati and Porsche. This would give VW a substantial lead in global sales volume over GM or Toyota. Full Story at link: http://europe.autonews.com/article/20140721/COPY/307259994/a-vw-fca-deal-would-be-risky-reasonable
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