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riviera74

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Everything posted by riviera74

  1. riviera74
    That is great that Tesla really made a VERY safe car. Now if only GM and Ford can be just as good. . . . .
  2. riviera74
    Now if Jaguar went all-electric, that would be an interesting development. The better question is whether ANY carmaker can make a car with an electric motor (as opposed to Tesla with just a battery) that just works and is affordable.
  3. riviera74
    Go for the Genesis; it has more room than the E550. If you want a badge, that three-point star is all you need.
  4. riviera74
    Jaguar dispose their V8? WHY? This is worse than Cadillac without V8s (Escalade and V-series aside). I was very concerned that Jaguar would succumb to those inane new regulations that the EU proposed recently. Now it has become obvious that Jaguar is willing to sacrifice part of their identity just to meet those regs. A total shame if they essentially turn Jaguar into a tarted-up, soulless Lincoln.
  5. riviera74
    Excuse me, but what is the point of Scion again? Fewer dealers does not correct for poor product mix and falling sales. Just terminate Scion; this is looking more like Saturn semi-done right.
  6. riviera74
    I have a question: is it 300k vehicles worldwide, or just sold in the EU? If the EU means worldwide, dwightlooi has the right idea. If that rule only applies to cars sold in the EU, then abandon Europe as a car market. Neither Jaguar nor Range Rover should deviate from their unique selling point if they are to remain viable. Screw the EU for their excessive rules.
  7. riviera74
    The SRX went FWD and sales more than doubled from the 1st-gen RWD model. RWD will never return because the market demands a luxury FWD crossover. Caddilac did this to chase down the Lexus RX and it worked like gangbusters. No need to mess with success.
  8. riviera74
    Perception seems to be the real issue here. Why go DOHC at all if the benefits do not consistently exceed the cost? Some people still believe that pushrods are obsolete and that DOHC is inherently better. 1970 called and they want their misconceptions back. I have wondered why GM (and Ford too) have essentially ditched pushrods for all non-BOF vehicles (Corvette, Camaro, Mustang aside). I am not sure if there is an inherent advantage to DOHC anymore. I do believe that Honda had SOHC engines as recently as the 90s, but I am not sure if they still use an SOHC rather than DOHC design.
  9. riviera74
    El Miraj, really? The name is kinda lame. Either go with Miraj or just return to Eldorado. The car itself is exactly what the doctor ordered. Although that interior dash will probably not make it into production unless it is a pop-up like the either the CTS or the SRX.
  10. riviera74
    I have a Q: Why does GM insist that all v6 engines in nearly all cars be DOHC? GM has made the best pushrod v8 engines ever and the best GM v6 is still the Buick 231 (the 3800 for metric), which was derived from a 1962 Buick v8. Supposedly the 3900 was even better than the 3800 when it came out pre-BK, but now it is apparently discontinued in favor of the 3.6 DOHC. (Why?!) The 3.6 is of course from the same family as all those Ecotec 4cyl straight from Opel in Germany (where displacement taxes mandate small-displacement engines). The 3.6 NA needs real torque right now. While a twin turbo patches that up (such as next year's Cadillac XTS), a pushrod v6 derivative of the v8 is what would really solve this issue. Why run away from a strength (pushrod v8 and derivatives) for some illusory upgrade that is DOHC? This is 2013, not 1973. DOHCs need more torque, period.
  11. riviera74
    Great idea. My only problem is that it should be required as of January 1, 2014. All car owners need this information STAT.
  12. riviera74
    Of course the Camry is riding on a reputation that may no longer be deserved. The 1990s have ended, and the competition is either catching up rapidly (Sonata, '14 Malibu) or has passed the Camry already (Fusion, Accord et. al.). If I had to buy one, I'll take an Avalon instead. Midsizers to me are too small these days, especially in the era of the CUV, which was invented by Toyota and Honda as a response to the BOF SUV boom of the 90s.
  13. riviera74
    The V6 also exists in the LT trim of the Impalas too. It is optional though. http://www.chevrolet.com/impala-4-door-sedan/specs/trims.html
  14. riviera74
    Q: Why is a urea tank necessary in a diesel engine?
  15. riviera74
    Hyperv6, You are right about the power grid issues. The best thing to do is to upgrade and replace the grid, much of which dates back 30 or more years. Down here in FL, a lot of our electricity is generated from natural gas rather than oil or coal. That has led to lower electricity bills all around from my utility. We do need more natural gas and more nuclear energy just to get ourselves off of coal-generated power because coal is the least efficient hydrocarbon we have for power gereation. Green energy is nice, but it is probably not good enough (or cheap enough) for baseline power without subsidies. As for the Volt, even their new prices are too damn high. Remember when the Prius first came out? It was actually affordable then, and it is largely under $30K now. If the Volt were priced to match the Prius or Leaf, sales would probably take off quickly.
  16. riviera74
    I generally agree with most of these ideas on principle, but that requires replacing our political class first. Now as for the chicken tax, the real elephant in the room is that the USA is almost unique in our almost laissez-faire free market in automobiles and no one nation does this. Japan (and China) have essentially used the US policy of near free trade to leave economic poverty to join the global middle class. Japan became wealthy (until 1990) because of those same policies. 90% of what is wrong is that other nations protect our industries and the USA does not. They need to change their stripes long before we should ditch the chicken tax.
  17. riviera74
    I agree with the GM economist for this reason: the median price of a new car is just above $30K. If automakers were to cut that by $7500 to $10,000 then younger buyers will show up in droves. Given that the average age of a car is now 11 years old, there should be a massive push by automakers to push prices down so that young people can buy used cars already exchanged for new cars at lower used car prices. Loosening credit standards help, but new cars could stand a price cut STAT.
  18. riviera74
    I was never a fan of the steering wheel of the '14 Impala. Other than that, I think this is a winning flagship Chevrolet has deserved for the past several years. This model says "cars matter here", whereas 5-25 years ago Chevy wanted to be all about trucks (and the Corvette). This car says to all comers, Game On.
  19. riviera74
    I never thought I would see this, but check this out. http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2013/07/2014-impala-dazzles-consumer-reports-testers/
  20. riviera74
    Who are these hipsters that hate the wreath and crest? OK, the logo was on cars Cadillac is not proud of, but what would a new logo actually do? The wreath and crest is already on current Cadillacs and there are no real problems with the cars themselves.
  21. riviera74
    Even though the writer mentioned that a twin turbo 3.6L V6 is forthcoming shortly, I think this car deserves a new Ecotec(?) 5300 like in the new Corvette instead of the DOHC engine.
  22. riviera74
    The S-Class can drive itself?! As for the Cadillac, I only suggested $65K as a starting MSRP because they can simply follow what Lexus did with the LS series from 1990 to now: Start lowish and then raise the price with each successive generation. Cadillac does NOT have an $80K+ flagship and they have not quite earned that kind of brand equity yet to earn an $80K+ transaction price. As Caddy moves upmarket, so will the flagship price. Simple as that.
  23. riviera74
    Wow. I guess nobody is really impressed with the new Malibu.
  24. riviera74
    I think the only reason the Phaeton died was because it started at $68K and the Passat ended at about $38K when the Phaeton was discontinued. I actively wondered why VW priced the Phaeton at Audi A8 levels then, when NOBODY would buy a VW at Audi prices. As for the Equus itself, it really looks like a larger and probably better Genesis sedan. The market will almost certainly accept $61K to start since the competition insists on $75K+ these days.
  25. riviera74
    I agree. $65K should be where Caddy should go for the large sedan. No reason for Caddy to price cars like Hyundai. Hyundai will always be what Honda and Toyota used to be about 25-30 years ago.
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