2QuickZ's

Thank's guys. I must have been tired when I posted this. At least I will use that as my excuse. I didn't look hard enough for the right section. If any mods out there want to move this to "Member's Rides Showcase," please feel free. I won't complain!

As the topic says, I bought a Cruze diesel. I guess technically I haven't bought it until I sign the paperwork Thursday but essentially I already bought it! It is going to be strange switching from a Hemi V8 Charger R/T to the Cruze but I've never had a diesel and I thought I would give one a try. I just hope it is like most other diesel vehicles that retains a higher percentage of its value come selling time so I get some of the premium I paid back. Anyway, once I have it and have driven it for a little while I will start a thread with my thoughts and I'll try to keep it updated with gas mileage figures if anybody is interested. I'm not sure where to post the thread, though, so if anybody has any suggestions, let me know.

ha, notice I said "previous 4"... this is my 5th! and reg gets a major award for most stealthy, effective use of the word "fabulous" in a sentence. That's even worse! lol I guess it just proves that even when dealing with VW, if you buy enough of them you will eventually get a good quality one.

Captiva is fleet only, isn't it? Having had an '08 VUE XR, I can tell you they aren't bad vehicles at all. We liked ours a lot and only got the Flex because we needed a third row. I didn't initially notice the ATS sales until you mentioned it but that is quite pleasing!

While I agree a Verano GS would not be a big seller, it would be sweet! Even 270 - 280 hp would be fine along with suspension and brake upgrades. Honestly, I'd take that over a Regal GS. I've always loved the sleepers and that would definitely be a sleeper. Take it with a grain of salt though as I also almost bought a Buick LaCrosse Super back when they came out in 2008 (and I was only in my 30's then).

It comes with a 6 speed auto now with the CVT required for certain 4x4 packages, I think.

Glutton for punishment? Three bad VW's and still went for the fourth? It is pretty amazing that their sales are down with the market doing so well.

It looks like the 2.4L might be helping the Dart out. Too bad it didn't launch with it. Hard to believe 45 lucky people managed to buy a new Caliber this year. I never notice that before. lol Town and Country way up along with Durango. Go Ron Burgandy! My parents are one of the lucky new Durango owners. They love it so far.

I wonder what's up with the Focus this month? Also, It looks like the C-Max hit a wall.

Personally I like the Ghibli. I couldn't see taking one over a CTS V-sport but for those that are more driven by a name, Maserati still has cache and a perception of exclusivity to the brand. Not to mention certain folks will be drawn to the fact that the engines are made by Ferrari. I'm guessing the Ghibli will sell quite well as an alternative to the Germans. I'm betting there are a good number of people that want something different than everybody else. Of course, this comes from somebody that loves Saabs!

Saw a 2014 Cadillac CTS sedan today. Not too surprising in the metro Detroit area but it didn't have an M plate on it.

Two cars - both this past Sunday. First was an Aston Martin DB9 Volante. Second was a Ferrari F430. My 6 year old son was pretty thrilled with both sightings. I have to say the Aston Martin sounded damn good. I'm ashamed to admit that on first glance of the rear I thought it was a Jaguar but when I heard it pull away from the light, I knew it wasn't a Jag. lol I think that is the first one I've seen in the wild around here.

I hardly even see these.... I see quite a few here but, of course, I live in the metro Detroit area so that is to be expected. Every month it makes me sad to see what is going on with Lincoln. I sure hope Ford has some good product in the pipeline that they are going to launch soon.

Had to be big fleet sales or a lot of cash on the hood for Prius. Even though Prius is now a sub-brand, I like how they don't break down the sales for each model. It still never ceases to amaze me how many Crapolla's they manage to sell when almost every other car in the category is a better car, other than maybe the Sentra.

Buick sales aren't looking so hot though the Encore seems to be doing pretty well. I wonder what GM's annual target was for it? The Cruze actually outsold the Crapolla. I'm assuming that is a byproduct of the super cheap lease deals I keep hearing advertised on the radio. The lambda's are still selling well. The Equinox and Terrain are still selling pretty well considering they are getting pretty dated. The Spark is selling pretty well. All-in-all a good month for GM!

Only 1168 Titans sold in the whole month? That is less than Leaf sales for the month. I can't believe switching from full frame RWD to unibody CUV almost tripled Pathfinder sales. I also can't believe they managed to sell almost 17K Rogue's. I wonder how much of that is fleet?

I just read a story earlier today that Chrysler was down to 22% fleet sales, so far this year. It did say that the were mid or high 30% a couple of years ago (2011?) and I believe high 20% last year so they are bringing it down. I wish I could find the story so I could quote actual numbers. The more I see Dart sales, the more I agree with those that are saying the Avenger is cannibalizing sales. It should be selling better than 6K a month. As for Compass and Patriot, I wonder if the sales bump is due to the switch from the CVT to a conventional 6 speed automatic in most models?

While I'm not a fan of CR and don't value their opinions or autos much due to my perception that they are biased, I don't think there is any question that their glowing review of the new Impala will be big for GM and for sales of the car.

It kind of makes sense to me. Chrysler relies on fleet sales for a decent chunk of volume. Why fleet whore out your new, improved replacements when you are trying to increase transaction prices and residuals? Keep the old vehicles around for a year or two extra for fleet sales and sell some retail as well. GM did this at the tail end of a couple of generations of Malibu and are doing in now with the Impala. While it never really worked with the Malibu, I think that was because each successive generation of Malibu wasn't astronomically better than the previous. I bet it works for them with the Impala, though, as the new one is a HUGE step up. GM is also doing it with the Chevy Captiva to keep from having to fleet the Equinox and it seems to be working there. This makes sense whether or not the Avenger and Grand Caravan get replacements. It would help prevent the new 200 and T&C (and Avenger and Grand Caravan if not getting killed) from getting fleeted out which in turn should bring transaction prices and residual values up provided the new vehicles are at least competitive.

The more I think about this the more this car intrigues me. I think I'm going to have to take a test drive soon. I just want to see if I like it in case I can talk the wife into one in another year or two.

One thing nobody has clearly answered in the Dodge is dead scenario is what happens to the Charger and Challenger? I have heard speculation that they both go to SRT or that Charger dies and Challenger goes to SRT but does that make sense? Are they going to dilute SRT by selling V6 Chargers and Challengers? I could see maybe selling R/T versions under the SRT name but even that doesn't make sense. If they do that, would be the purpose of having created a separate SRT brand? They may as well have just kept everything Dodge and made SRT a trim level like it used to be.

I really hope this does well for GM. I also really hope the TD Grand Cherokee and TD Ram 1500 do well for Chrysler. I would really like to see the light duty diesel market expand in this country. Unfortunately, the extra cost penalty to go diesel is a long payback when diesel fuel prices are 10 - 20% more than gasoline unlike Europe where diesel is taxed less.

When this rumor really started to hit its stride last week or early this week, I think I calculated Dodge has accounted for approx. 37% of Chrysler's sales so far this year, including Fiat. How the hell could Fiat think they could phase out Dodge and not kill annual volume in the process? There is no way I can see them transitioning your typical Dodge owner over the Fiat or even the Chrysler brand. Maybe they can learn from GM. I do think GM needed to reduce brands but I'm betting they kept far less Saturn and Pontiac drivers in the fold then they anticipated. Case in point, prior to the two vehicles the wife and I have now, here is a list of the vehicles we bought or leased since 2005: 2005 Saab 9-3 2005 Saab 9-2X Aero 2007 Saturn Aura XR 2008 Saturn Vue XR 2002 Pontiac Bonneville 2007 Saab 9-5 Aero Here is what we currently drive: 2011 Ford Flex 2012 Dodge Charger R/T The wife is up next for a vehicle and while I could see her getting a Buick Verano Turbo or a Cadillac ATS, that's about it for GM products. I would gladly take a Cadillac CTS-V wagon but I don't think I could convince her to get one.

Actually, I haven't taken any pictures of it yet. The weather has just recently gotten nice enough I can keep it clean for more than a day or two in a row. Next time I wash it, I'll have to snap some pics. It looks identical to this, though:

Well, I'm not going to give a full write up or anything but I thought I'd throw a few thoughts/comments out there on my first ever new Chrysler product. I really wanted a V6/8-speed car due to my daily commute but got too good of a deal on the R/T to pass it up. Now that I have it, I'm glad I got the Hemi. Here are my thoughts: 1) It gets much better gas mileage than I expected. When I bought it, I was hoping for steady 17+ mpg since my 50 mile per day round trip commute is 44 miles of surface streets with traffic lights (albeit fairly well timed). For the 8k miles I have put on it, I'd say it has averaged closer to 19 mpg and since I just got it in October, that means most of that was in cold weather. It should only get better in the warmer months. 2) My wife HATES the passenger seat lumbar support. She thinks it is way too aggressive. For those I have given rides in it, I'd say it is roughly a 50/50 proposition on the comfort of that seat. If you get cloth seats (no adjustable lumbar on passenger side) and you are frequently going to have a passenger, you may want to have them check that seat out first to see if they like it. It may make you decide to upgrade to the leather since it includes an adjustable lumbar support for the passenger. 3) It did WAY better than expected in the crappy, snowy Michigan weather. I actually am amazed at how well this thing did in the snow, especially since mine has the 20" wheels. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the Firestone Firehawk GT tires that came with the wheel package. I definitely recommend those tires to anybody considering. The traction and stability control both do their job quite well, though. 4) The 8.4" touchscreen is very intuitive and easy to use. I am hooked now and this is coming from someone that still uses a "dumb" phone. It responds immediately and the voice recognition works MUCH better than the Sync in my wife's Flex. It is rare that I ever have to repeat a command. I also love being able to set favorite songs/artists with the sat radio. This feature may be standard these days but my 2007 Saab 9-5 did not have that feature or if it did, I didn't know it. 5) I really wish I had gotten the rear backup camera and blind spot alert. It is a big car, with big blind spots and a high rear deck. The blind spots are more of a problem than the backing up. I wanted both of those features but I leased mine after the '13's had come out so I had to get what I could find on the lot. If I had to do it again, I'd definitely get those features. 6) If they ever get the 8 speed tranny mated up to the Hemi, it is going to be friggin sweet! If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask.