smk4565
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Everything posted by smk4565
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Subaru News: Rumorpile: Subaru BRZ A One Hit Wonder?
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Subaru
The BRZ could easily be a 1 and done, because Toyota doesn't really need Subaru, especially if they plan to partner up with BMW. I'd rather partner with BMW if I were building a RWD sports car than Subaru who is famous for AWD Outback wagons. They could evolve this platform for a new GT86 and a future 2-series, or jointly develop something. Same can be said with the 3-series chassis and a Supra. Although Toyota could just build a coupe on a Lexus platform and drop a twin turbo V6 in there and make a Supra. It must be a cost savings thing, rather than Toyota and BMW each making 2-3 different rear drive platforms, they probably figure they can design 3 total and just build their own cars on it. -
Z06 claimed the CLA was competing with the Cruze, clearly it is not.
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The Cadillac brand has lacked leadership and focus for the past 10 years or so. They started on a plan in the early 2000s to dump the FWD boats and bring out the CTS, the first SRX, the STS and XLR. The idea was great, a pair of rear drive sedans to take on the Germans, a badly needed crossover giving them an SUV priced below the Escalade, and a convertible halo car. The execution was just poor. Now Cadillac is sort of back to square one, the ATS is getting crushed by the Germans and the IS350, so they missed the mark there. The CTS and XTS cost the same, similar to the failed STS-DTS strategy of 10 years ago, and they have no convertibles or sports cars. Cadillac doesn't have any hybrids or diesels either so they are missing on the "green" crowd, with the exception of the ELR which no one is buying. Lexus has loads of hybrids which can sucker people in, and it makes it seem like Lexus is cutting edge technology because they were the first luxury company doing hybrids. The Germans have a wide range of body styles and engines to hit every niche there is. You can't build a luxury brand on gas V6 powered sedans: see Acura, Lincoln and Infiniti for proof. As far as profit margin goes, it is hard to say if Cadillac is successful because GM doesn't seem to break down the numbers of where the money is made. Audi makes about $5,000 profit per car, Porsche makes a staggering $23,000 in profit per car sold which is an 18% margin. A 10% margin is what the luxury brands strive for, Mercedes actually has the lowest profit margin of the German brands, they have been between 6-7% the past few years, but they also aren't dressing up Volkswagen's like their neighbors are.
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The CLA45 is a Cruze/Focus competitor? It is faster than a CTS V-sport. Last I checked the Cruze couldn't do 0-60 in 4.2 seconds, and the CLA interior is a lot nicer than a Focus. The CLA45 is probably the only car on the market that has over 350 hp, does 0-60 in under 4.5 seconds and gets over 30 mpg. Off the top of my head I can't think of any other car that can claim that, especially not a sedan. I think $64k is too much for one, but I think $70,000 for a Tahoe is too much, and $42,000 for a Nissan Maxima is too much; there are a lot of over priced cars out there.
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Does the ELR go 0-60 in 4.2 seconds? Superior depends on what you are looking for, if you want performance, the ELR is no good. If you want a luxury car, then you aren't buying a CLA AMG when you can get an E-class for that money. I will say the Mercedes dealer charges a lot, but I think a lot of dealers do and the Mercedes dealer always gives you a free loaner car which is nice. But my car has a 13,000 mile oil change interval, there is spark plug replacement every 100,000 miles and engine coolant every 150,000 miles, and air and fuel filters are the same as any other car, transmission fluid is every 40,000 miles. Pretty standard stuff and you don't need to go to a dealer for that.
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Audi is sort of the hot brand for up and comers, but I wonder how long it will last too. BMWs seems to be being designed to fit with their customer base as it ages. 15 years ago BMW made cars for 40 year olds, now it seems they are making cars for 55 year olds to satisfy the base. Mercedes, Lexus and Cadillac always had a bit of an older person's image, Audi doesn't have that image problem, the people that bought VW's and Subarus 10 years ago are flocking to Audi. Audi has image right now, but I think their car line up top to bottom is the worst of the German trio. The cars have poor reliability, are noisy, that 2.0T idles rough and is buzzy like a lawn mower, they ride stiff, etc. Smart buyers will look past the 5 spoke wheels and LED lights and buy something else.
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So what about the Cadillac ELR? That is a $76k FWD econo car. The CLA is definitely a cut above the STi and Evo, those cars have no luxury features really and basic interiors. The CLA starts more than $10k above an Impreza, I can easily see a CLA AMG costing $50k, but at $60k I think Mercedes themselves have better options. The CLA45 does get 23/31 mpg, that is pretty good for a 355 hp car, so I do have to give it credit there. I have also seen car magazines with the 0-60 time clocked at 4.2 to 4.5 seconds, that is pretty fast. There aren't many 4 doors pulling 0-60 in the low 4's, so when you think of it that way, it isn't such a rip off. Still not a car I'd buy though, but there will be a market for it.
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The diesel should get solid mileage. The smart thing Audi is doing is making multiple body styles to broaden the appeal of the car. This is why Audi outsells Acura, Cadillac, Infiniti and Cadillac. Those brands mostly make sedans and crossovers and forget about the sports cars, especially Lincoln and Acura.
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So an Impress WRX and a Chevy Impala would be competitors? Or the ATS and Lacrosse are competitors? Obviously price is a big criteria, but size and driving characteristics of the car are nearly as important. The CLA AMG doesn't have a lot of direct competitors, but I do agree at $63k there are many better options new or used. If the CLA45 for $47k base included airmatic and the premium package standard it think it would he a good deal and if the loaded price was more like $55k I could see that. Personally I am not a CLA fan, I don't like the car much, but if an STi or Evo is $40 grand then I can sort of understand the CLA's price. Not sure also why everyone assumes Mercedes have such high repair costs when they are constantly near the top in 3rd party reliability studies. And look at resale value, a 200k mile Cadillac or Chrysler or Lincoln is worthless, I have seen 10 year old, 200k mile Mercedes selling for $12,000 or more.
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Hard to compare a 300C to a CLA, they are way different in size. That is like comparing an Impress WRX STi to a Chevy SS or Dodge Charger I doubt those are getting shopped too much. If we are talking used cars at $60k one could get a 3 year old M5 or E63.
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There aren't many American V8s left anymore. Lincoln doesn't have any, Cadillac only has the CTS-V which is much bigger and wouldn't surprise me if the new one pushes $90,000. So you have the 300C/Charger and Chevy SS which are all big cars and not really luxury cars either. Hard to compare a Mustang or Camaro to a CLA45 AMG, since it is coupe vs sedan, non-luxury vs luxury, etc. I have a German V8 though and it is fabulous. I wouldn't want a turbo 4 from any country.
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I think $64k is insane for this car, if you took out the performance seats for $3,800 (which seems like a Porsche type option and price) and if they either made the premium package or multimedia package standard, then it gets down to $57k loaded, which I could see as reasonable. I mean there are Nissan Maximas and Chevy Impalas priced over $40k, and a Chevy Tahoe can cost $70k loaded, so cars all over the place are over priced. My car has a bit of a dead zone in the pedal also, I think Mercedes just does that with a lot of cars, but it is good that they do or else my neck would be snapping back every time I hit the gas. The other thing is Mercedes when in comfort setting on the transmission start in 2nd gear so they feel even more slow off the line, but I think it is done for comfort and the buyers over age 60. On the CLA45 AMG they should include AirMatic, that would help with the suspension problem, that is an easy fix they have in house, so we'll see if they bother to do it. Personally I'd much rather have the coming C400 with the 339 hp turbo V6, and you can get Airmatic on that and an AMG appearance package and it would probably be closer to $50k.
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Chevrolet News:General Motors Quietly Drops The 1500 Vans For 2015
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Chevrolet
I think GM will lose some sales, but perhaps the 1500 level wasn't really profitable and they don't care about losing those sales. I did read how the 1500 uses the older engines and they could save money buy closing that factory or reallocating it to make something else. This is a move that will lose sales, but save money at the same time, so from a business standpoint it probably makes sense. However, more business for Ford or Nissan. I saw an S-10 the other day and those were really small trucks. The Colorado is way bigger, and GM has no van smaller than the 2500 Express now other than a Nissan badge job. Sort of sad there there isn't a minivan or small van like the Astro or a small truck like the S10, even if they used a unibody set up, possibly adapted from the Theta platform. Ford has really got GM beat on commercial vehicles right now, although Ford doesn't have a little truck either. -
Who's to say the cars being built now are any better than the 2004-2009 era stuff. I mean the 2014 CTS and ATS are on the recall list now, these were supposed to be the best GM had to offer and challenge the Germans. The 2014 Silverado had recall issues too, so have things really changed? It seems like same old, same old.
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Schremp messed up. Really 1996-2005 were the weak years at Mercedes. That era E-class was worse than the W124 it replaced and they were all about the M-class that had shaky reliability in the beginning. Mercedes in the 1980s over engineered, then management decided they over did it and backed off to save money, the Chrysler mess happened, more models, no focus, lack of quality, etc. Thankfully Dr. Z came to the rescue and they dumped Chrysler like a bad habit and got back to the core values and over engineering cars. Chrysler is again a mess, and possibly with even worse leadership this time around. The 300/Charger are getting quite dated and that is really the bulk of their car sales, the 200 and Dart aren't lighting up the sales charts, nor is the Fiat 500. I don't see how this company survives for that long because they don't have the money to keep making new platforms, engines, etc to keep all these cars fresh.
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Eventually they will run out of cars to recall.
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That could all be true, but even Maserati could die. They aren't ever going to compete with Mercedes or BMW or Audi. Maserati is really low volume. I'd think Chrysler had a better chance to stick around. Really almost any of these brands could go away and few people would care. Pontiac and Oldsmobile are gone, few people care anymore, I mean they built some fun cars in the past, but people move on and buy something else.
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They don't ever move from Focus to Fusion or from Sonic or Cruze to a Camaro or Malibu? I mostly agree with you though, I could see a lot Cruze or Focus drivers buying another of the same car, or jumping to another brand that has the hot model that year. What seems more likely is small car driver moves to a small crossover for some perceived level or luxury or safety, and they feel like they upgraded when really that CR-V is the same as the Civic they just traded in, they just paid more for it. As far as Fiat Chrysler goes, anyone that buys a Fiat and wants to trade up will probably go to Mini, Audi, Volvo, maybe Volkswagen but those are a bit boring, unlikely that they trade that Fiat on a Chrysler 200. I also don't see a Chrysler 300 driver saying they want more luxury and buying a Maserait Ghibli, they'll go get a Cadillac or Lincoln because they want a big American car. Chrysler can't really even get people to move up into other brands with their line up (excluding Jeep where you can go Patriot/Compass to Cherokee to Grand Cherokee).
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So you think Dodge, Ram and Jeep are fine, all they need to do is consolidate Fiat into Chrysler and they are good. Yet then you say they might be bankrupt in 5-7 years. That doesn't make sense. And the Chrysler went bankrupt twice in the past 30 or so years, clearly this strategy isn't working, yet they keep doing it. Part of the problem they face is Fiat has name value in Europe, where Chrysler has zero. The personalities of all these brands are so different, and the platforms that sit under Dodge-Chrysler vehicles are dated. How did MB lose? 2011, 2012, 2013 Mercedes set a company record for annual sales and net profit, and they have been in business for 125 years, pretty good to have the top 3 years since 1886 in this decade. Daimler's mistake was in buying Chrysler, but it goes to show what a mess Chrysler is and how far beyond saving they are. If Daimler couldn't save them, I don't think Fiat has any chance in doing it.
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I don't like any of these brands, they are all weak in line-up and image except for Jeep and Ferrari. The brands can somewhat co-exists because they have do few models in each brand, so the overlap isn't too bad. However, can brands with 3 vehicles really survive long term? Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep are in the same dealership at least, but their brands don't have vehicles to move up through except for Jeep. Jeep has entry level SUVs like the Compass, the Cherokee for middle and Grand Cherokee at the top. But Chrysler has no entry level car, Fiat has nothing but compact cars, Dodge has a small car and a big one and nothing in the middle, Ram has 1 pickup and a commercial van, etc. It is just an odd mish-mash of products.
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What do we want? "Diesels!" When do we want them? "Now!"
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The Corvette gets its power down, the ZR-1 seemed to just fine, but at some point you reach a bit of a limit for a rear drive road car. Unless you create a car with a ton of down force like a Formula 1 car has. That is why the 700-900 hp hyper cars are mostly AWD. Although the Koenigsegg is RWD. On a side note, I'd like to know what kind of time the Mercedes Formula 1 car sound run the ring at now, because their car is tearing up F1.
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Industry News: Average Age Of A Vehicle Stands At 11.4 Years
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Industry News
Cars are more reliable and last longer now. Plus, cars are rather expensive also. I would imagine a lot of people can't afford to buy a new car every 5 years or so, so they hold on to them for 10 years. -
You better wait for the diesel and the 9-speed before you buy.
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Scion News: Rumorpile: No Hybrid Powertrain For The FR-S
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Toyota
Hybrids are heavy because batteries are heavy. The whole point of this car is to be light weight, if you put 500 lbs in you defeat the purpose. The base engine is fine, but this car needed a turbo yesterday, because no matter how well it might handle, there are always people that will want power, and if you don't offer a more powerful engine, they can go by a Genesis Coupe or Mustang.
