2QuickZ's
-
Posts
745 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Forums
Articles
Garage
Gallery
Events
Store
Collections
Everything posted by 2QuickZ's
-
Mazda seems to keep getting better and better while Honda and Toyota continue to decline. I personally would take this over a CRV or RAV4 any day but of course I like vehicles that have character and that don't put you to sleep with their driving dynamics. It amazes me they have not managed to pick up more market share with their newer offerings. I guess we'll see what the new Mazda6 can do for them. I saw one on the road the other day and it looked damn good. And the guy hammered on it to pass someone and it moved out much better than I would have expected. Maybe they'll eventually get the diesel in this little bugger! That would be sweet.
-
Did you get this done? If so, did you do it yourself? I should have warned you before that if you looked at any of the throttle body "rebuild" places, ask them what their "rebuild" involves. It seemed the ones I contacted for my Saab TB basically just cleaned it and adjusted calibration if necessary. They didn't really replace anything. That is why I wound up buying a new one. You pay 50% of the cost of a new one on a "rebuild" that amounts to nothing more than a cleaning.
-
I always wanted a 2008 (interior mods) AWD v6 magnum. the 08 had the nice new interior and the nicer front end. This! It really sucks that they only got at most a half model year of production out of the '08's. I thought they looked soooo much better after the refresh but they killed them so quickly after they started building them that you hardly see any around. A nation wide search for 2008's nets a TOTAL of 158 listings. Edit: And only one of those listings is for an R/T. They are probably 75% SE's with the 2.7.
-
Area under the curve! That is what it is all about, especially when it comes to horsepower.
-
Well, my Dad figured out the charging system issue on his Terrain today. My parents travel a lot and back when they weren't disconnecting the battery, they were having to replace it a lot because something was sucking the juice out of it fairly quickly. They went through two or three batteries in the first two years they had it. Lately they have been disconnecting the negative terminal on it before they leave. No battery problems since he started doing that, BTW. Anyway, he disconnected it and I reconnected it for them the day before they got back. Apparently there is a second wire that comes up to the battery terminal (not the main battery cable) and neither he or I had noticed that it had come loose. He was scheduled to take it into the dealership tomorrow but thought he'd give it a once over before he took it in. A quick inspection and a couple turns of a wrench and problem solved! I'm sure that saved him a few bucks!
-
April 2013 - Mazda North American Operations
2QuickZ's replied to William Maley's topic in 2013 Sales Archive
I'm thinking sales of the Mazda6 will really start to climb in the next few months as the new model is more readily available. When does the diesel launch? -
April 2013 - Volkswagen of America, Inc
2QuickZ's replied to William Maley's topic in 2013 Sales Archive
Both Jetta and Passat down? That's a little surprising. I guess the newness of both are wearing off already. -
April 2013 - Mitsubishi Motors North America
2QuickZ's replied to William Maley's topic in 2013 Sales Archive
I'm really confused as to what Mitsu's plan is in the U.S. The Galant is already dead (2012 last MY) and they still haven't announced timing for a replacement. Didn't I hear a rumor that they were going to kill the Evo in the U.S. or was it just that, a rumor? How much longer will this razor thin product line be expected to carry the brand in the U.S. before the reinforcements arrive? -
Wow, big drop for the 300. I wonder what is up there. It looks like the Grand Cherokee refresh is helping. Durango sales were way despite a refresh coming soon. I wonder if that is Chrysler trying clear them out? Dart sales make me sad. I really like that little car but I think the powertrains are hurting it. Hopefully the 2.4L will help but I haven't really heard how soon it is launching.
-
Trucks mostly saved GM's bacon this month. Tahoe was way up, also. Big incentives? Sonic sales looking quite good. Regal down big. Camaro down and barely sold more than Mustang (7949 vs. 7751). AS many or more models that were down than those that were up. Kind of a weird month for GM. Not sure what to make of it.
-
By looking at Lincoln sales numbers! LOL Still, I am rooting for the Lincoln brand as I would hate to see another legacy nameplate go bye bye. It's good to see the MKZ is finally having some success. Let's just hope they can sustain it and that MKC is as popular among its competitive set as the Escape is amongst its.
-
My parents have a 2010 Terrain. They got an early build of a new vehicle so generally that can be trouble. I think it has around 50K miles on it. Overall they like it but it has not been completely trouble free. It started almost immediately with two minor issues: The chrome on the trim piece above the license plate started bubbling within a couple months after they bought it plus the first time my Dad set his bowling ball in the back it punched a hole through the carpeted spare tire cover. My Dad is 73 yo so it's not like he was slamming the bag in there. Both were replaced under warranty. He now seems to be having charging system issues as for the last week or so it keeps going into a power saving mode that will not allow them to use the A/C and other power features such as the windows. He is taking it in next week to get that one sorted out. Overall it has been trouble free enough and they like the ride and drive enough they may replace it with an Equinox, though.
-
Have you checked into what is involved in replacing the throttle body yourself? They are usually pretty quick and easy to do. The one on my Camaro I used to have took at most 30 minutes to swap. I also put a new throttle body on my Saab 9-5 right before I sold it and that was at most a 1 hour job taking my time to do it right. Not difficult at all. It just takes time to get all the bolts loose, new gaskets in place and all bolted back together. Even with coolant lines running through the TB you usually don't even need to drain any coolant. A small amount will leak out when you disconnect the lines but that's about it.
-
What is BMW's fascination with sloping roof line SUV's (I mean SAV's) that in effect just make them high riding sedans? Do they sell that many X6's (and Gran Turismo's for that matter) that this vehicle even makes sense? The sales ticker shows they sold 877 X6's in April and it doesn't break out Gran Turismo's from 5-series numbers but I can't believe it is that high of a take rate. I guess the real question is, how many of those do they sell internationally? It's not a bad looking vehicle but it really makes no practical sense. I guess that won't stop people from buying them.
-
I find it interesting you considered it "horrific" turbo lag. I mean this as a serious question: Have you driven many turbo cars? I've owned a half dozen and driven a few more including the Dart (w/ manual) during a test drive event. Maybe my memory is bad since it was right around when they launched (May 2012?) but I didn't think the lag was all that bad, especially for a very small displacement motor. The worst lag on any of the turbo cars I owned was my 2005 Saab 9-2X Aero (aka Subaru WRX). Now THAT had horrible turbo lag. My 1990 Plymouth Laser RS-T had some pretty serious lag as well. I've driven many turbo cars--my previous car was a VW with a 1.8 turbo. I found the 1.4 Multiair in the Dart to feel completely dead off-boost. The engine would bog down and take a second or two to gather itself if I didn't give it a decent amount of revs from a stop. In my experience, you have the drive the car pretty hard to get anywhere, and in the process, fuel economy suffers. I much prefer the normally aspirated, DI 2.0-liter in my Focus, which has a more linear power delivery and better overall drivability despite having one fewer gear. I also found the gearbox in the Dart to feel loose and imprecise... not as satisfying to use as the Focus's. I agree with most of your observations. I was just surprised by your "horrific turbo lag" comment as I didn't really get that same impression. I can understand you thinking it felt dead off boost. It is only a low compression 1.4L.afterall but I recall that it spooled at a pretty low RPM. Either way, if I were going to get a Dart, I would get the 2.4L as well and that is coming from someone that loves turbo motors.
-
Poor Lincoln. I hope Ford can turn them around as it would be a shame to lose another brand. The MKZ looks like a pretty nice car but I'm not too sure it is all that competitive. Since Ford sold PAG, they probably don't really have any other choice but to keep trying to revive the brand. They have to have a luxury brand, after all.
-
Malibu and Regal not looking so hot. The refreshes can't get here fast enough. Let's hope they can sufficiently address the Malibu's issues. Encore seems to be selling okay. HHR, Aveo and Lucerne are not doing too well. LOL It's amazing they are going to carry the Cobalt on the chart for the whole year just because they sold 3 of them in all of 2012.
-
Anybody know the fleet percentage of the Crapolla? I'd have to believe it is pretty high. You see a ton of them in the Detroit area on rental car lots. It still never ceases to amaze me Toyota sells so many of them. It has to be one of the worst, if not THE worst car in the segment.
-
Hmm. This is a tough one. They currently have ATS, CTS, XTS, SRX and Escalade. What of those should they even consider trying to sell in Europe? ATS & CTS for sure. SRX yes. XTS and Escalade? Probably not worth the effort. I think if GM made a serious effort in Europe, the ATS and new CTS could do quite well. Will they commit to the powertrains that would be required to make it a serious effort? Small displacement gas and diesel engines in the ATS and CTS? A larger "performance" diesel in the CTS? Manual transmissions available? Will they build them in RHD? Will they build wagon variants of each? That would be required. A coupe would be nice but probably not necessary. A diesel in the SRX? It could work if GM was committed to making it work. The problem is, I think GM would be happy just to have Cadillac being a respected niche player in that market, at least in the short term, so I don't think they would make the commitment required for a serious effort.
-
I find it interesting you considered it "horrific" turbo lag. I mean this as a serious question: Have you driven many turbo cars? I've owned a half dozen and driven a few more including the Dart (w/ manual) during a test drive event. Maybe my memory is bad since it was right around when they launched (May 2012?) but I didn't think the lag was all that bad, especially for a very small displacement motor. The worst lag on any of the turbo cars I owned was my 2005 Saab 9-2X Aero (aka Subaru WRX). Now THAT had horrible turbo lag. My 1990 Plymouth Laser RS-T had some pretty serious lag as well.
-
Overall I think it is a very nice package but I'm still not so sure what that front end will do for sales. My initial impression was shock but now that the pictures have been out there for a while and I have seen them a number of times, I have warmed to it a bit. I still think it looks odd but no longer think it is ugly. I guess that's something. On the plus side, the interior should be really nice and even though the torque numbers are pretty low for the 3.2L, I'm betting the 9 speed more than covers up its deficiency.
-
Wow! GM did a really nice job with this. The rear end is the only shaky thing to me and I'm sure that will grow on me. I can't wait to see the performance numbers for the TT3.6 version! I only wish they could have gotten that powertrain into the current car before the end of it's life, especially in the wagon. My current dream car is the CTS-V wagon but a TT3.6 wagon wouldn't be too far behind! I think I am one of the few that prefers a sport wagon over an SUV.
-
I like this exterior much better than the current car, I think. I'm surprised they made as big of styling changes as they did. If only they would have spent a little more money reworking the interior. That is where the biggest short coming is on the current car. Well, that and obesity but the Z/28 fixes that.
-
So really their "lineup" is two models. At least so far and will be four after it has fully expanded. It's not like the 500, 500C and their Abarth variants are different cars so I count them all as one vehicle. I'm always curious why things get worded like this. Maybe it is just the way I think. To me the Chevrolet "lineup" includes the Camaro, not the Camaro, Camaro SS, Camaro 1LE, Camaro ZL1, and the convertible variant of each. They are all the same vehicle. I do have to say in this case, though, I don't understand why the 500L and 500X didn't get their own model names unless Fiat is attempting to make 500 a brand.
-
Dart sales are finally on their way up. The GT going on sale should help those even more. It is a good little car but a little too fat for the current engine choices, at least until the 9 speed auto launches, whenever that is. What the heck happened to the Caravan this month?
