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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. There are S600s with under 50k miles for under $40k. I'll bet on an S-class lasting longer than anything from Japan. Every Japanese car gets rust on it in 10 years or less. Those S-classes last for 200-250,00 miles.
  2. You could get an 03 Mercedes S600 for that much money, and a 500 hp, 590 lb-ft, V12 is cooler than anything on an Acura lot.
  3. Does that mean the LaCrosse breaks the 8 second barrier for 0-60 times that Buick has longed for? I've seen those ads for fastest Buick ever, since when do Buick buyers care about 0-60 time though, that is like BMW advertising, most floaty Bimmer ever! The 1987 Buick GNX is 0-60 in under 5 seconds, that crushes the LaCrosse Super, maybe Buick forgot the one good car they built in the last 25 years. The not so new RL is bad, and a good reason why Acura sales have been dropping in the past couple years. Dressing up the mainstream car and offering V6s only, no V8, no hybrid, no diesel doesn't work in the luxury market. Cadillac better be watching because they are steering themselves closer to Acura (but with rear drive) than BMW.
  4. The GM and Ford minivans were average at best around 1998, but around 1999 and ever since the Honda Odyssey has been known as the best minivan, and Chryslers vans ere better than GM's back then. I was originally referring to the 2006 GM and Ford vans that were garbage compared to the new Odyssey and the other Japanese vans and the 07 Chrysler vans. GM and Ford knew their van couldn't compete with that crowd so they dropped out. If they didn't need them for CAFE, they both would have given up on the Focus, Cobalt and Aveo by now.
  5. The Freestar was horrible, the GM vans were almost as bad. Of course they had low transaction prices, they were bad vans that had to be sold to rental fleets or given a $3500 rebate. If it was a great van, people would have paid more for it. The Honda Odyssey outsold all 3 Lambdas combined last year, thus you could argue that people don't need crossover SUVs with similar length and weight to a Mercedes S600. The minivan market is still about 1 million units per year, it is a big segment, GM and Ford just gave up on it. I know it is impossible to compete in every market, but GM and Ford gave up on midsize cars in the late 90s because SUVs were the rage, now they are screwed and the Trailblazer and Explorer are headed for the grave while the Camry is selling 450,000 a year.
  6. GM and Ford gave up on minivans because theirs were drastically worse than the Japanese ones and Chrysler's. Just like GM has kind of given up on small SUVs like the Rav4 and CR-V and GM and Ford barely compete with the Fit, Yaris, Civic or Corolla. GM and Ford can't rely on big pickups and SUVs forever, at some point the Japanese will do that well also.
  7. And 6 seater cars are terrible. They went out of style in the 1970s, Buick and Lincoln just tried to keep the dream alive for 30 years because they aren't in tune with current technology. Aurora is 199.1 inches long, full size car. I wish it was midsize, it would handle better.
  8. 205 inches long is 5 more than a Tahoe, and 30 inches longer than an Escape, that is big vehicle. I never said the minivan had comparable feature list, but for people that need a cargo hauler (contractor, flower shops, shuttle van, etc) or families that can only spend up to $25,000 on a new vehicle but need seats, they minivans are the vehicle of choice. Most minivans are 400 pounds lighter than the Lambdas, so 240-250 hp in the vans vs 275 in a heavier vehicle will make them accelerate about the same. The Lambdas don't offer the low cargo floor and total cargo volume that a van does, so it isn't a real replacement for a van, GM should still make a van.
  9. The Aurora is much better than the Lucerne, and the Aurora came out in 2000, vs late 2005 or 2006 for the Lucerne. In 6 years Buick did nothing but make a bigger, heavier, uglier car, and cheapen it with cloth bench seats and a 3800. The Aurora had leather and real wood (Lucerne has fake) in the base car and was never on a rental car lot like the Buick. The Lucerne has a slight 0-60 advantage with the Northstar, but the Aurora has better handling and braking. I have the 4.0 with every option, the Lucerne's interior has cheaper plastic and is shaped like the Impala. I love the center stack angled to the driver in the Aurora, and every button on the console is reachable in the Aurora when your elbow is on the arm rest. Do this in a Lucerne and you fingers touch air and can't reach the HVAC controls. I think going from the Aurora to the Lucerne is a downgrade, most would see it as a lateral move. Either way, Olds buyers weren't going to make a lateral move, when other brands had more modern technology and better products. As for the Outlook, people don't want big Saturns. It is like the Mercedes R-class, that doesn't sell because people don't want a Merc Minivan looking thing. It just doesn't fit the brand. If the Trailblazer, Envoy and Outlook die, I am ok with 3 Lambdas, but they need a better small and a good midsize suv also. The Lambdas don't replace minivans either since most minivans start $8-10,000 less and offer more cargo space due to the lower load floor. People that need cheap or lots of space will stick with the van.
  10. This looks very close to the old one that nobody bought, just with an uglier grille, so even less people will buy this. It seems all they did was add some wood trim to the inside and put the new grille on and call it a day. That is worse than Buick trying to pass the LaCrosse Super off as something new. No V8, no success. Can't compete against the Germans with a V6 only car. They at least could have done a diesel or hybrid that got 25 mpg, at least then it would have an advantage over other cars, but this is like a run of the mill average luxury car from 2005 trying to compete in 2009.
  11. In response to Croc, Saab sales worldwide are poor, only 120,000 or so last year and GM LOSES MONEY on the brand. Why continue to throw good money after bad in a brand with decreasing worldwide sales that doesn't make money? Why not spend it on Cadillac and make it a real global brand. If a rear drive Impala and a V8 Cadillac that get 19-20 mpg are killed due to CAFE, then why are 13 mpg Hummers ok? These aren't global sellers, they can make that money elsewhere. There may be local ads for some cars, but they don't nationally advertise them all, they focus on the newest stuff and the Silverado. Toyota has half as many models as GM so they can advertise each one twice as much, and has a smaller dealer network so competition on price is less. I own an Oldsmobile Aurora. I know exactly why Oldsmobile buyers left GM, and it is because the cars Olds built in 2000-2003 were better than the ones Buick and Pontiac built in 2005-2007. Why would an Intrigue or Aurora driver that got DOHC, Bose, stabilitrak, etc in 2001 go buy an 06 Lucerne or LaCrosse with a 3800? I sat in every Pontiac and Buick (enclave wasn't on sale yet) at the auto show last year and none of them I thought were even close to my car, it felt like sitting in one stripped down rental car after another. GM had nothing to offer Oldsmobile drivers so they left for Acura, Lexus, Lincoln, etc. If they got rid of Pontiac Avis and Enterprise would hurt the most, and the SS Chevy's could easily fill the cheap performance void. If GM had Toyota's money I'd say sure keep 10 brands going, but they don't. Toyota's yearly profit is more than Ford's whole company is worth. For GM to compete with that they have to cut number of models and spend far more per vehicle. All 3 Lambdas sold 137,000 units in 2007, the Ford Edge sold 130,000. When you focus on one vehicle you can get the same sales as 3 vehicles with diluted funding.
  12. Platform or Badge engineering hurts because now people can cross shop and Acadia with an Outlook and Traverse to drive down price. GM creates competition for themselves. They also can't advertise all their products, so they advertise the first 6 months it is on sale then not again until the new model comes out. I think they should sell or kill off Saab (money loser, sales loser) and Hummer (sales loser, CAFE penalty), let Pontiac fade away and join Oldsmobile by 2013 and dump the Outlook and get Saturn selling small, fun to drive, fuel efficient cars. Then they'll have better brand focus and can develop better products and advertise them more.
  13. The Lexus RX400h gets 27 mpg city, that whoops the Saab (19 mpg) or the 18 mpg Enclave. Mercedes has 4 diesels now (E, R-class, ML, GL), with the S-class diesel/hybrid coming and BMW has diesel coming this fall. Cadillac has nothing small or gas friendly coming until 2012, by then they will be very much behind. I didn't really consider Volvo, Lincoln or Acura as real luxury brands they are entry level only.
  14. The Escape is only about 176 inches long, and is a big seller, especially with the 34 mpg hybrid version propping up it's image. The Equinox is near 190 inches long, as is the Trailblazer. Lambdas are 200 inches long like the Tahoe. The Trailblazer is dying, so Chevy is left with Traverse, Yukon, Avalanche, Suburban (plus GM has 2-4 versions of all those) for full size SUVs and only the Equniox left to cover the small and midsize SUV markets, which are the biggest 2 segments. It's poor product planning at it's finest at GM, just like how Cadillac has no small car or gas friendly car, while all the other luxo brands have hybrids, diesels or smaller than a Cobalt sized cars.
  15. The tan helps the interior a lot, but there is still a lot of plastic over lapping plastic. If it's priced cheap that shouldn't be too much of a problem though, the Trailblazer has an all plastic dated interior, this is a step up from that. I think this will compete more with the Trailblazer, Acadia and Tahoe more than anything from Japan, really GM is just creating competition for themselves, but the GMT360s are near dead, and I suspect that when the GMT900s hit the end of their life cycle, they do fewer version than they have now. When does the minivan or 180 inch long CR-V/Escape style SUV come out? (the Vue is well over 4000 pounds, that isn't a compact) They have zero offerings in those segments and a dozen full size SUVs.
  16. Agreed. Too many rebadged vehicles. Saturn should lose the Outlook and focus more on smaller, fuel friendly Euro-syle cars, kind of like VW. GM just has too many brands that offer the same rebadged stuff, not much is different from the 80s or 90s. Same thing is about to happen with Epsilon: Malibu, Impala, LaCrosse, Aura, G6, 9-3, 9-5. 7 sedans off one platform. Then they have to market them all and update them all. No wonder GM has so many average products that don't get advertised.
  17. Overall I think it looks good on the outside, the rear end looks like the Enclave. I think this vehicle will drive the price of the other Lambdas down a little bit. The horsepower bump is good since the Lambdas are all over weight. They don't really need the Saturn version once this comes out. I'm not a fan of the Dodge inspired 2-tone, rental car gray interior with overlaping plastic. What I don't like about the Lambdas is they all have the same radio/center stack and same shifter and cupholders. They really only need 2, like Ford with the Edge and MKX. The Edge almost out sold the Outlook, Enclave and Acadia combined last year, and Ford has a poorer image than GM.
  18. I consider BMW a good car because the 3 and 5 series win awards and magazine comparisons like crazy and have for nearly 20 years. They are also strong sellers, and BMW has the best resale value of any luxury brand. They usually rank top 10 in dependability by JD Power, they may have some mechanical problems but they usually last a long time. Of course the CR-V doesn't feel as a solid as a CTS, the CTS is a good car and the CR-V is a $17,000 piece of junk. Honda makes a lot of good vehicles, Toyota has average vehicles, but a great reputation and people buy that reputation. GM has dated cars that are sold to rental lots and local governments. A diesel rear drive Impala would get better gas mileage than a 4 cylinder Malibu. CAFE is no excuse for GM to not have a rear drive Impala on sale within 1 year, the real reason is wanting to save R&D dollars for trucks.
  19. It's GM's own fault that they lose money and have negative cash flow. Consumers looking to buy a car don't care about GM's financial struggles, they want to buy a good car (or what they perceive to be good) so they buy Hondas, BMWs and Toyotas. BMWs are good cars because they constantly innovate and re-engineer their products. I wish they would just sell Cadillac to someone that can turn them back into a great American car company that builds world class vehicles. GM is more concerned with pumping money into 4 of their damaged and dying brands than saving their second most important one.
  20. I don't think GM knows what they are doing. They don't know how to build a global luxury car, and they don't know how to build sedans that cost $75-100,000. The quote at the bottom of your posts that states how with the V8 dead and making cars off corporate platforms and corporate V6s makes them no better than Lincoln is very true. 2012 for a Zeta Cadillac is a joke, the Zeta platform came out in 2007, so Cadillac will get a 5 year old platform that was used for middle class sedans. That is like building and 08 Cadillac off of an 03 Impala chassis, although the DTS built on a 95 Aurora platform is basically that. Sigma came out in 2003, since then the 5-series got an all new platform in 2004, and will get another all new platform in 2010. Cadillac needs to update platforms and engines more quickly, but I don't think GM gives them the money needed to do it. I hope Cadillac can come back, but since 2005, I've seen them fall more behind the Germans rather than catch up.
  21. Usually larger engines use more gas than smaller ones. I am assuming the reason GM is doing a 4.9 liter DI engine with cylinder cutoff is to replace the 5.3 liter with a more efficient engine with no loss to power. This is a good move. Pickups have high volume due to few competitors and the commercial market. GM has 2 vehicles on the top 10 sellers list, Silverado and a 58% fleet sale Impala. The top 3 selling SUVs are the CR-V, Escape, Rav4, GM doesn't have a good small SUV or a minivan anymore. Two huge markets they don't compete in because they keep making big trucks. This GMC pickup thing is 5 inches longer than a Yukon, this isn't a downsized product. If the Canyon/Colorado were as good as the Japanese pickups they could do a hybrid or diesel version of them that would help CAFE greatly and get people that don't need a half ton to downsize. As for the Lambdas being the most efficient 7/8 seaters out there, they aren't. They are rated at 18 mpg (19 for front drive) which isn't bad, but the Honda Odyssey is rated at 20 mpg. The Mercedes ML320, R320, and GL320 diesels all average 21 mpg, 1 more than the Tahoe hybrid.
  22. Ugly. It looks really bad from every angle. Do people really want an El Camino/Ridgeline/Subaru Baja combination? I suppose we'll find out soon enough. On the plus side, 326 hp from a 4.9 liter pushrod is a solid improvement over the 315 hp 5.3 liter. GM needs to be able to downsize engines and increase efficiency without sacrificing power to stay competitive. Is that 326 hp running E85 though? If so with 87 octane gas it may not be as powerful. GM is addicted to trucks though. How can they kill plans for V8 Cadillacs or a rear drive Impala and say CAFE is the reason, while they have 3 brands of GMT900s, the H2, and soon 4 brands with the full size Lambda SUVs, and now bring out a Zeta pickup/suv combo. GM has 3 good cars (Malibu, Corvette, CTS) and a ton of bad ones. They should fix their car lineup and not worry about a Hummer H4 or 3rd GMC pickup.
  23. Yes, but they don't sell 6 cylinder S-classes in the USA anymore. They due in Europe due to $8 a gallon gas and government/limo use for cars that stay in the city and never go fast. The S400 hybrid is a V6 plus electric, expected to deliver 40 mpg. If the DT7 (they should use CTS, DTS, etc, CT5 or CT6 sounds dumb) can beat a Civic or Aveo in gas mileage, I'd be fine with a V6, otherwise bring 400 horses from a DOHC V8. Cadillac's global sales are about 1/4th of Mercedes or BMW. If they were a bigger player in foreign markets it would make more sense for them to have a diesel V6 in their flagship. But Cadillac seems reluctant to do a diesel or hybrid sedan in the USA, and they don't sell much outside the US. The design cars for the American market, the American market S-class is 382-612 hp and $88-180,00, that is what they need to build.
  24. If the DT7 has a V6, that disqualifies it right away from competing with the big boys. The LS460 and S550 are 382 hp V8s as the low end engine, the 7-series is all new for 2009 and will have 407 hp as the base engine. The S-class is the standard, if Cadillac wants to challenge someone, they might as well go after the best. Cadillac will never get ahead of the Germans by beating them on price, people that shell out $95,000 for an S-class clearly don't care about 90% the car for 75% the price, they want the best and most prestigious car.
  25. DTS buyers are dying, and the DTS and STS have horrid resale values that drive down the resale of other Cadillacs. I just saw a 2008 STS V8 with nav system and all options for $36,900 on Autotrader.com. That is over $20,000 in depreciation within the current model year. Cadillac must give up on the land barges if they ever want to be anything but a better version of Lincoln. If the DT7 has a base price of $88,000 it is an S-class competitor, otherwise it's a Town Car competitor. Zeta's not good enough to compete with the S-class, GM knows that; the DT7 will be a 200+ inch long floaty car with plush seats and a 300 hp V6 costing $45,000-55,000. And they'll cling to 30,000 sales a year to a 70 and up crowd and limousine market.
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