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Was in quarantine for 14 days after getting tested, got wildly ill. Tested negative...but not seeing people is odd. First day back to work, essential personnel so I can work. If someone would have told us three moths ago that this was going to happen, few would have believed it. Agree completely. Neat old truck!

A bit too rusty for a restoration....

I think that's a '60s German Ford Taunus...

Watching TV reporters brings home this question. If a remote reporter is covering -say- a train derailment or building fire, it makes sense to be 'on the scene'; there's something to see. But in a pandemic, if you are doing a story on -say- numbers of hospital patients checked in ... WTF are you doing going to stand on the hospital grounds? Their talking head fills 85% of the screen and the background has (almost ) zero to do with what they're commonly talking about.

First trip out this month today, had to go to the vet to pick up some prescription refills. Traffic very light, beautiful sunny day. Did see a clean black w/ black top mid '90s Cadillac Brougham in the vet parking lot.

He specifically said luxury brands...

2020 CT6 has 8 in infotainment screen, BMW 7-series has 10 in screen.

Well hell-ooooo there!

That tiny screen is in a '20 7-series?? BMW has really lost whatever forward momentum they had going.

That shifter is in a BMW?! I thought Cadillac was bad in putting a weird-working shifter in the XT5.

Great to see you back and posting @A Horse With No Name

" Lincoln has created its own switchgear for the Continental (and eventually the rest of the Lincoln line) with knurled-metal control knobs on the steering wheel and A/C system, and unique turn-signal stalks. Just about the only Ford-style switchgear I could find in the cabin were the window switches on the doors, and the overhead storage binnacle mounted just forward of the optional panoramic moonroof. " "as well as a Lincoln-exclusive 3.0-liter engine making 400 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. " https://www.motortrend.com/cars/lincoln/continental/2017/2017-lincoln-continental-black-label-awd-first-drive-review/ Ford may have missed on the platform they chose to use but the car was the first real turning point for Lincoln and making them a truly luxury vehicle automaker again.

So first off, WHO THE FUCK CARES about Formula 1, Championship, LeMans, etc. The bulk of the people do NOT watch racing or care. Mercedes is already DATED!!!!, Blah brand style. You have NO FACTS of the actual Taxi Whore price spent on the plastic interior taxes and the real reason that the E-Class has been a taxi for so long is in Europe as long as you drive 150,000 kilometers a year, you can write off the price of the auto over 2 years. Yup 50% cost write off in year 1 and the other half in year 2 and the auto is worn out. The Taxi's are driven hard, put away wet and are pretty much worthless in 2 years and worn out. Ready for scrap. I will grant you that MB has a long life as Taxis. History shows that the founder thought taxi's were the logical use of Auto's and the first ones built in 1897. https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/lifestyle/classic-magazine/daimler-motoren-gesellschaft-supplied-the-worlds-first-motorized-taxi/ The W123 being the model that was sold as a fleet auto till the W124 came out with the name E-Class in 1993. At this point the wiki pages say that MB had 80% of the Taxi market till subpar quality reduced it to 50% and allowed VW to catch up. Since then world wide Taxi share has gone to 60% due to MB Vito Taxi Van that is popular. MB web site and wiki both clearly state that the taxi versions are very different than the luxury version sold. As such, one can infer that the plastic interior with vinyl seats are sold much cheaper than the Luxury model they sell in the US. I could go on but will not bother since you cannot even compare apples to apples. Data supplied by the web site above and the following two wiki pages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_taxicab https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_E-Class In regards to GENESIS, and just about all other brands, I doubt Genesis wants to have a Taxi image as to why no one else goes after the taxi market. Value and higher ATP is clearly the focus.

Genesis certainly wins the value for the dollar award on all of its models. The problem is this: Where are the sales? I think the the G80 is a really nice luxury car. But Genesis needs MORE crossovers right now. The GV80 is not enough. Remember when Cadillac only had the Escalade and the SRX/XT5? Forty percent of Cadillac sales went to the XT5 as recently as two years ago. The release of the XT4 AND the XT6 were required to plug in the enormous gaps in Cadillac's lineup. Now Genesis has the same issues. They need a GV90 and especially a GV70 right now, not in 24-36 months. Every other luxury marque has at least two if not three crossovers, which are the sales leaders right now and have been so for the past five years. Can you imagine Audi sales without the Q3 and the Q5? Or BMW sales without the X3 and the X5? Or Mercedes Benz without the GL- class? Their sales numbers would be trending down just like Infiniti! In an era where the flagship of almost any car make is a crossover and NOT a large sedan, the G80 is a solution in search of some customers.

It is a taxi because it is the longest lasting, most durable mid-size sedan in the world. And the diesel version gets over 40 mpg. And you seem to think that how they use it in Europe has any impact here or there. If it mattered or hurt the image of the car, then Cadillac, Lexus, Acura, Infiniti, etc would have been able to compete with it, none of them could. I'd be more concerned if I were Cadillac or Genesis that my top luxury cars can't get as much status as a taxi.

Crazy Cool that a Blown LT4 V8 can fit in there. Not sure how many are willing to spend that amount of money on a truck like this but I will say it is a very cool build. Hopefully GM will realize they are missing a segment. Thanks for posting Blu, That is cool!

First off Mercedes-Benz has whored out the E-Class at lower prices to dump and keep assembly lines going in Germany due to the craziness of the Union contracts, so the whore out the E-Class and sell a little of everything else into rental and then at high prices sell a marketed Luxury version. Cadillac, Genesis, Acura, Infinity, etc. have all chosen to NOT whore out a specific model and go after profitable sales which has allowed Cadillac while a much lower sales volume, a very high and profitable ATP. IN KEEPING THIS FOCUSED ON GENESIS G80 I am sure if they wanted, Genesis could whore out any of their models to rental, taxi or any other place to get many versions moved. Yet as has been learned from looking at the past, selling into the fleet business reduces auto value. G80 has clear style points pulled from all over the auto industry on the outside and some will like it, others will hate it and some will go Meh, and drive it if they have too. Interior is high quality and I suspect at the price point they sell the cars, they will win over converts. I know one already as my brother in-law who drove a BMW, then a Mercedes, then back to BMW went with Genesis. When asked why, he said the quality of the interior for the price point for what he sees as an appliance for getting from point A to B and back is far better than the cost both in purchase and maintenance of the German brands and he suspects will maintain a lower cost of ownership way longer than what he paid for in the European auto's. He is a CPA with his own firm and an investing firm with Boeing as one of his clients investing millions of their workers 401K contributions. He can easily afford any auto and yet he does not see any reason to pay for higher priced auto's than that and he has said that while he would love a lower maintenance cost EV sedan, he also in his mind cannot justify now their cost. He figures in 2 to 3 years enough should be out that he can then reduce ownership costs further by going EV but for now, the Genesis is the best value for the dollar in the luxury auto segment. Genesis wins.

What the holy fuck do taxi cabs in Greece have to do with anything????? Priuses are taxi cabs in the US. Stop it with the long winded tedious drivel and focus on the subject of the thread...

So you want to compare a base E-class vs a top trim pickup? How about a base Cadillac CT5 with no options to a loaded Toyota Avalon? Which is more luxurious? And if the E-class isn't a luxury car, and has a taxi stigma, how come Cadillac, Acura, Lexus and Infiniti can't challenge it, and Lincoln quit building sedans? The E-class has put the CTS, CT6, Q70, and Continental in the graveyard and the RLX and GS are next. E-class is so great a luxury vehicle it has survived when the rest have all failed, and the E-class has a higher price than all those competitors, even with discount pricing none of those brands could compete. G80 will be no different.

Sedan Sales have been falling off for far more than 5 to 7 years. If you want to point to a more critical point, 2000 is the year, you had ups and downs but the real drop started then, a recovery after the Depression of 2007 to 2012 and now pretty much dead. Where as Truck /SUV sales have been going up for a long time again taking into account the 2007 to 2012 depression. I believe the G80 as will the G90 and G70 will take market share from all three major segment leaders, American, Asian and European. Yet even they will have limited sales as the market moves to Luxury Trucks / SUV/CUVs. Welcome to the new age of Luxury.

The CLA seems redundant with the A-class sedan, since they are essentially the same thing. The C-class at least is RWD.

Good lord people. Give it a rest already. Somehow, yet another thread about a luxury car gets hijacked by SMK semantics and comparing everything to a Benz (like anyone really gives two s***s) and now it has devolved into yet another semantics laden pissing match. The G80. Let’s discuss that. I’ll start with saying that on looks alone, the interior compares very well to the German competition.

The AMG E-class is a performance luxury vehicle.. same idea as the CTS-v was.

So they just call it a luxury car, and so it is. so EASY! - - - - -

Inspiration: Also...it kinda looks like a high on meth Ford designer was trying to green light a Taurus coupe.

Sounds like a Generi-mobile experience, to the max yo. Honda cultists will turn away in droves. ZERO Honda personality means it will be a lump. Sparky The Lump shall be his name.

Why? Because Mercedes said the AMG is a luxury vehicle? Why is it a luxury vehicle? Price? You already established in your mind that price got NOTHING to do with it... But Ill humour you. Starts at $108 000 F150 Shelby SuperSnake Starts at $95 000 for 400 HP and $102 000 for 770 HP Performance? The Supersnake and Raptor do things that an AMG E Class wont do and vice versa...but all 3 are performance machines. You gonna pick and choose what performance criteria is luxury and what is not? Technology? What automotive tech is available in the Mercedes is also available in the F150. Fit and finish? Quality of the leather? What about towing capacity and what you could haul? Why isnt THAT a luxury? Because when discussing with biased view points...one will always find a way to dismiss another view point when it does not match their fondness and dislike for certain vehicles...

But did Genesis do enough? Even at a $10k discount to any German sedan now, the G80 is outsold by a huge margin. They have better styling, better interior and better engines on this new one, but can they keep the $10k price discount to attract buyers? G80 sells like 10k units a year, even if they double it, it is still a relatively low volume car. And I don't think they'll double it. This is sort of like when Lincoln brought back the Continental, people got excited and now 4 years later or whatever it has been the car is dead. Because Lincoln didn't do enough and the Contintenal should have been Lexus ES money at best, not where they priced it. The Continental was a dressed up Taurus a the end of the day, while a Lexus ES is a messed up Avalon. And Lexus has way better quality, reliability, resale and image than Lincoln. A Continental starts at $46k, $60k for a Reserve and $70k for Black Label. A Lexus ES starts at $39,900, $45k for the F-sport which is the top trim, and throw $10k in options on and assume $55k for the nicest one. Genesis is in similar spot as Lincoln was with Continental. The Continental wasn't a good car, it was on a crap platform with carry over engines, Ford switchgear and quality and Lincolns have atrocious resale value. So who in their right mind at Ford thought they should charge more than a Lexus ES? And the trap all these companies fall into is they look at $55k for a base 5-series or E-class and think their car is on par with those guys, when in fact they aren't even close.

Alot Whether you like it or not. According to YOUR definition of luxury. High end trims of pick-up trucks are luxury... If you dont agree with that, then E Class Mercedes is NOT luxury either... Pick your pill and stop the bullshyte!

If it were that easy then why don't Genesis, Cadillac, Infiniti or whoever copy Mercedes and fleet sale like crazy? Mercedes has been selling E-class taxis for 40-50 years, and yet segment by segment they charge more than any Asian, Korean or American car company, and they outsell them all segment by segment. All these arguments against Mercedes, BMW or Audi with high maintenance cost, or fleet sale or whatever are meaningless. Because that has been the case for 40 years and those 3 are still the top 3. Bottom line is it comes down to product and brand image in the luxury game. What makes the Genesis brand special? Mercedes won the Formula 1 championship 6 years in a row, Audi and Porsche win Le Mans with the same frequency that people eat cheeseburgers. These guys know performance. They have legendary histories. Genesis has no grab to get people in, even if the G80 looks nice, it will probably look dated in 4 years since they mostly copy other people's past design and have an all new styling language every few years.