smk4565
-
Posts
13,685 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
11
Content Type
Forums
Articles
Gallery
Events
Store
Collections
Everything posted by smk4565
-
30 years later the Corvette is still good performance per dollar, still a very good car for the money. But it is what it is, it kind of splits the middle of Porsche 718/Cayman and 911. In now way is it one of the top sports cars out there, nor should it be with it's price, brand and mission. All the top sports car come form Europe: Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bugatti, Koenigsegg, Aston Martin, McLaren, and whatever top AMG car they put out. Porsche Carerra GT and 918, etc. Sure, every 10 years or so you get a limited run of a Ford GT or Acura NSX, Lexus LFA, etc but look how few top sports cars come out of Asia and America.
-
Late 80s Mercedes SL prices are rapidly on the rise, not uncommon for those to sell over $30k and that car had 240 hp which was good for the 80s, a 4.9 V8 Cadillac had 200. Corvette wasn’t king on 1989, the Ferrari F40 was. But GM build quality is what did Cadillac in. Now in 2020 everyone has pretty good build quality, even the worst car of today has more quality and safety than the best car 20 years ago. So for a Cadillac or Acura you have to have product performance and marketing to grow sales, no one is really just bleeding sales due to building terrible cars so that others can pick up sales by default.
-
Cadillac sales peaked in the late 70s and were in steady decline in the 80s and Mercedes and BMW were on the rise. With the Japanese coming in the 90s the sales drop continued. The 1981 Seville had the 135 hp 4100 V8. The 380SEL had a 200 hp V8 with a 230 hp V8 in the 500SEL, more powerful than a Corvette of the day. Mercedes didn't have to benchmark anyone, they had more power, they invented airbags, ABS, crumple zones, stability control, they used real wood trim, while the Americans used fake. The 1954 Mercedes 300SL was the first car with direct fuel injection, and the fastest car in the world when it came out. Mercedes has the fastest car in the world in 1900-1909 decade as well. Always been a pioneer in the automotive industry since inventing the freaking car in the first place.
- 121 replies
-
- 3
-
-
- 2020
- 2020 acura rdx
- (and 4 more)
-
OK, so a 1981 Seville was $23,000 and a Mercedes 380SEL was $44,300. 1976 Seville was $12,500 and $22,500 for a 450SEL. Never competitors.
-
Seville was far from that, in the 70s it was the entry Cadillac, in the early 80s is was like the middle Cadillac, and late 80s it was downsized and still like the middle or maybe sportier Cadillac compared to the bigger cushier Deville. Nothing they made was an S-class competitor, an S-class was double the money of any Cadillac other than the Allante which was a bit closer price wise. A 1988 560SEL started at $70k, a Cadillac Seville was like $28k back then.
-
Lexus News: 2021 Lexus IS Wants To Play Spot the Difference
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Lexus
Same chassis, same engine, same looks. Worst "new" car ever. -
When the “entry level” Acura is $200,000 then Acura ca be judged like Bentley or Ferrari. Bad compared to what is in market today. CT4 is probably no more competitive today than the Catera was in 1998. The XT6 went on sale after the Telluride, that MCE is a long way off. Aviator was out for a year before XT6. XT6 is among the newest in segment and is probably worst in segment now, what will it be in 4-5 years?
-
Ferrari has an SUV coming and Bentley wants a 2nd since they killed the Mulsanne off. Those guys are also real small volume players that only exist due to being part of a parent company with the exception of Ferrari who makes as much money off merchandise as they do cars.
-
Cadillac still builds plenty of bad cars now. The XT5 is lackluster, the XT4 with a range topping 237 hp, the XT6 which is a warmed over Acadia that can’t even match up with a Kia Telluride and those are Cadillac’s top 3 sellers. At least BMW puts neat 500 hp in the X3 and 600 in X5 and X6. There is at least performance in their crossovers. BMW makes a Z4 sports car, Cadillac has none. Problem with being an enthusiast is that is a small percentage of buyers. And even a lot of enthusiasts want SUVs, look at Lamborghini, the SUV is over 50% of their sales. Sadly at the rate we are going there won’t be many sedans left.
-
What BMW was 40 years ago doesn’t have an effect on what they are now. If the 2002 was around now no one would buy it. Look at Mini, small cars don’t sell. Everyone survives off SUVs, it is the #1 selling body style. Not having 5 SUVs in your lineup is just foolish, whether you are a luxury line or not. Look at Ford/Lincoln and that are killing all cars but Mustang. BMW didn’t kill the 3-5-7-series they are still there as they always were, people just pick the SUV instead.
- 121 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- 2020
- 2020 acura rdx
- (and 4 more)
-
I watched TFL Car track test an Infiniti QX50 which has similar performance numbers to the RDX against a Mercedes GLC43 and it wasn’t event remotely close and we aren’t even talking GLC63. Suggesting any Acura outside of NSX is on par with a BMW or Mercedes is like saying a Honda Accord has performance and fun factor to rival a Camaro or Mustang. And even the NSX is 1 second slower around the Nurburgring than the BMW M5. NSX is over 30 seconds a lap behind the AMG GT Pro. Acura doesn’t know performance.
- 121 replies
-
- 2
-
-
-
- 2020
- 2020 acura rdx
- (and 4 more)
-
Ok quick, I have seen tests of the M550i at 3.6 seconds as you stated and the M5 at 2.9. The M760 and M8 are in the 3’s so are the Alpinas. Even the Supra and Z4 have sub 4 second 0-60 and plenty of handling prowess. I am not a BMW fan and never was, but to criticize their performance compared to any luxury brand from Asia or America is ridiculous. Aside from the NSX the most powerful Acura is like 315 hp and it is on a Honda minivan platform so I don’t want to hear about “driver engagement” on anything Acura makes outside of the NSX which sells like 200 a year.
- 121 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- 2020
- 2020 acura rdx
- (and 4 more)
-
SUVs sell, every one makes them. You are out of business without SUVs, and Acura only has 2, they need more. BMW is #2 luxury car in the world, their cars weigh less and handle better than Tesla’s. And BMW has plenty of fast cars still. Just a 550i is faster than any Cadillac ever made, not even talking M models. The 7-series has a 205 mph top speed, faster than a C8. How much more performance do they need?
-
BMW worldwide outsold Acura, Lexus, Infiniti and Genesis combined last year, so I think they are doing just fine. Acura might be able to pick up Infiniti’s leftovers if they fizzle from the market. But you can get the same performance Acura has from a Sonata, Edge, RAV4 or whatever other garden variety car is out there.
-
Acura builds 2 FWD crossovers with near segment bottom power. And they have the TLX with currently segment bottom power and the Type S that is coming is still less powerful than CT5-v I think and the Acura is wrong wheel drive with a 57/43 weight balance.
-
Acura isn’t adding SUV’s either, they have 2 still, most have about 5.
-
Problem is Acura wants to position themselves as a performance brand but there are 500+ hp competitors in this segment. So they aren’t even close to competition on performance. Acura is giving $12,000 off the RLX right now before they kill it off. This is another brand in contraction.
-
Nissan is facing financial troubles, and Covid-19 is only going to add to that. Look at Nissan/Infiniti’s line and look how old most of that product is. They don’t have money to keep their product fresh and they rely on rental fleets a bit which aren’t buying cars now. This is a hurting company. They could try Renault vans, they are probably better than the Fiat vans that Ram sells.
-
Corvette needs a V6 if they want to sell global. The V8 doesn't pass European emissions, and it might pass in China, but it would bet clobbered with displacement taxes. So there is one argument for a V6. What Corvette is really has no relevance to anything Cadillac does. Whether Cadillac wants to build a sports car, a Lamborghini Urus style SUV, a big sedan, a luxury off roader or anything else. Cadillac should do what is best for Cadillac, not what is best for Chevrolet or Corvette or GMC or anything else. I think a big problem of GM in general is one brand compromises another. Can't make a Buick too nice or it will step on the toes of a Cadillac, can't make a sports car faster than the Corvette, can't make anything more expensive than an Escalade, can't put too much power in a Camaro or it will steal Corvette sales. None of that crap should matter, if Ford has a 750 hp Mustang, Dodge has an 800 hp Challenger, and Chevy has a 500 hp Camaro because it can't have more power than the Corvette, then Camaro gets screwed and loses to its competitors. And I know there is a 600-whatever horsepower Camaro but I am just using that as an example. Same with Escalade, it was once one of the most expensive SUVs on market, now there are 10 or so that are higher priced than it. Now if GM decides cars with base prices over $100k is just not a money maker for them that is fine, don't go there. But you still have to make your other products best in segment, and not position them as to no step on the toes of over brands. This brands should be competing with each other to get better. I bet Ford Mustang Mach -E outsells the Mustang once production is ramped up in calendar year 2022 for example, despite Mach-E costing more. Truth of the matter is, they could sell the Corvette for $25,000 and the Toyota RAV4 would outsell it 10 to 1. People want SUVs, the sports car market is small and shrinking.
-
No, I am not saying change anything with the Corvette other than offer a base V6 maybe at $55k. They can still do ZR1’s and Zora’s. I am saying GM should build a sports car above Corvette just like I said their should be an SUV above Escalade.
-
I don’t think Corvette should be ultra expensive, I think GM should build something above Corvette. Corvette has to hit a price target, but a Cadillac super car would not. Bugatti prices a car at $3 million and it sells out, Mercedes prices a car at $2.8 million and it sells out. The price doesn’t even matter to the people buying these things.
-
Duesenberg disappeared partly because the wealthy didn't want to be seen flaunting wealth in the depression. Also FDR raised the top tier tax rate to 94% by 1941 so he basically put a limit on income because no one would make salary over that cap. Today with a 37% top tax rate, and even at that the billionaires aren't paying, you have these super wealthy that was not as widespread decades ago. Also these big corporations bet government bailouts all the time. The billionaires won't be hurt at all by Covid-19, riots, looking, etc, because the system is rigged for them. I'm a grow the economy fro the bottom up kind of guy and would love a modern day FDR tax code, but that isn't what we have. The 3 richest Americans have more money than the poorest 160 million Americans combined. So it isn't the rich that hurt, it is that 160 million people that do.
-
I know you can shave that 12 second gap from RS Q8 to C8. Take out 350 lbs and add 50 hp and lb-ft and you just got 6 seconds. Now it is a 6 second gap. And you are pretty close, not beating but very close.
-
That has been rumored, but I see one major problem. Mazda wants to be a "premium" brand for some reason, so if they make an inline 6 Mazda 6, it will probably cost $45k and no one is going to buy it. Because car enthusiasts will just buy a BMW for the same money, and the mass market will see Camry for $25k and buy that. The Mazda 6 despite being a good car already gets clobbered by the Camry and Accord and I think because they don't push themselves as "value" they push themselves are "premium" which means more expensive to buyer's minds.
-
12 seconds isn't an eternity on a track that takes 7 minutes and 42 seconds to get around. Secondly, the RSQ8 is heavy, smart engineering and some carbon fiber can shed 300 lbs off that thing easily that has to be worth 3-4 seconds, and now you are within less than 10 seconds of a C8. We haven't seen the GLE63 run yet and it has more power than the RSQ8 and so maybe it can crack 7:40, the GLC did 7:49, so I gotta imagine a far more powerful GLE with the 48 volt electric suspension can take 10 seconds off the GLC. These other guys are getting close, and those aren't even purpose built, if you go in with the idea to make a lightweight, sports SUV, I think you can get closer to the C8. Omega is quite weight efficient they could build a 4800 lb SUV on it and that gives them 500 lbs advantage over the RS Q8, use carbon fiber roof and hood to lower center of gravity and cut weight, tune the Blackwing up to a 7500 red line 650 hp, 650 lb ft, add an electric assist on top of that and you are on your way.
