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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    They build rear wheel drive. Not front wheel drive off a Camry, Accord, or Escape platform and try to pass it of as something fancy.
  2. smk4565
    I am curious to see the size and how it does. I think a pick up that is smaller than Colorado and Ranger that is more of a lifestyle truck rather than a work or off road truck could do well if priced below those mid-size trucks.
  3. smk4565
    Acura makes one sedan, a front driver with 200 hp base and a torqueless V6 as the option until that Type S arrives. Is that thing a CT5 killer? Something like 80% of Acura's sales are SUVs. Lincoln is trending toward 100% SUV, Cadillac and Lexus are probably pushing 75% SUV, maybe higher. So if that is 80% of your brand, I would hope it is a fun to drive product. Time will tell if there German strategy works or if the Cadillac/Lincoln/Acura strategy works, over the past 20 years the German strategy is winning. If you search SL on auto trader it only pulls from 1994 and newer because before that it was 500SL, 560SL, 380SL, etc. The models that lead with a number aren't pulled into that search. The 80s ones cost more than the 90s or early 2000s SL's.
  4. smk4565
    But is an Acura SUV fun to drive? They sell like 250 NSX per year or something low. So for the masses that want fun to drive, or want a sports car but need a family hauler and need 1 vehicle to do both, Acura doesn't have it. The Germans and Alfa Romeo and JLR to can all sell you an SUV that performs like a sports car. Which is why I think a Mustang Mach E could do well because I bet a lot of people want a Mustang but don't buy it because they worry about RWD in the snowball, or need a to put car seats in it, or fit adults in the back seat, etc, so they go buy an SUV instead.
  5. smk4565
    They could have made Omega platform SUVs with a Blackwing V8 that cost more than the Escalade and had potentially an even bigger profit margin. Although they would have needed an Omega SUV priced below Escalade also to get volume and enough scale on the platform. Lots of ways to make money, but obviously the platform is dead so it doesn't matter much now.
  6. smk4565
    All Chevy and GM do for the tuner market is great and probably profitable for them too. But that is a separate issue than lack of sports cars or super cars built buy American car companies or lack of performance SUVs coming from America or Japan. This Acura has 272 hp, there are at least a dozen European SUVs with over 500 hp. There is Road & Track article about how there was going to be an Omega SUV with a Blackwing V8, but the GM top brass killed it and we got cheap to produce Cadillac Acadia instead. That’s my issue with American and Japanese luxury cars, underneath most those “luxury/performance” cars is a Camry, Pilot or Acadia chassis.
  7. smk4565
    2020 Corvette Z51 is 7:30 on the Nurburgring 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S is 7:25 on the Nurburgring. There is an even trim level comparison. And my hope with Zora is that it is an all-in effort and not designed to a price. Like a Ford GT is $500k, I like they engineered the car first and priced it 2nd. GM tends to price first and engineer 2nd which means budget cuts, see CT6 as an example. But still we have Camaro, Corvette, Mustang from America, NSX from Japan (although I think it is made in USA), a super aging GT-R from Japan and a Supra made by Germans. How do 2 continents produce 5 sports cars? Ferrari alone probably has 5 cars.
  8. smk4565
    Aston Martin uses AMG V8s. No one swaps an AMG V8 into an old car because of cost. Also I am not sure if they even sell a crate motor version. Also I never said Chevy has no business building a sports car or that they didn’t have some fast cars. I am saying America should build something faster or more than just Corvette, because Camaro/Mustang are not super cars. But American car companies only see profits in pickups and crossovers. And the 911 ran the Nurburgring in 6:47 in 2017, a year before the Camaro did it in 7:16. The Lamborghinis are both low 6:40’s, that is the benchmark we are looking for to be elite. And even if AMG One is under 6 minutes, under 7 minutes would still be in the elite club.
  9. smk4565
    The Camaro ZL1 has a 7:16 Nürburgring ring time while the 911 GT2 did it in 6:47. Pretty big gap there. As far as LS swapping goes, it is a cheap motor and easy to swap in cars, good packaging and easy to work on. And LS engines are good, reliable engines.
  10. smk4565
    Electric van makes a lot of sense because most delivery vans, especially in urban areas aren't doing a ton of miles per day. Also for things like contractors, plumbers, electricians, etc that don't put a lot of miles per day on a van. Plus with a van you can stick batteries in the floor easily, from a packaging standpoint is is easy on design. From a maintenance standpoint, an EV needs less maintenance and thus less downtime for what is a work or delivery vehicle.
  11. smk4565
    And yet there are so many left on the road after 35 years.
  12. 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.
  13. smk4565
    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.
  14. smk4565
    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.
  15. smk4565
    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.
  16. smk4565
    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.
  17. smk4565
    Same chassis, same engine, same looks. Worst "new" car ever.
  18. smk4565
    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?
  19. smk4565
    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.
  20. smk4565
    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.
  21. smk4565
    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.
  22. smk4565
    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.
  23. smk4565
    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.
  24. smk4565
    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?
  25. smk4565
    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.
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