oldshurst442

And all those SUVs sell by the handful... BUT... Those SUVs are not sold because of their performance...they are sold BECAUSE of the badge and SUVs are the flavour of the month decade plus. And BECAUSE these are Porsche, Lamborghini and future Ferrari SUVs...then what are these brands gonna sell their SUVs as? Off roading? Porsche decided to do both. The Cayenne is a great off roader. Its an OK performance vehicle.... Its great for a big heavy thing, but as a performance machine...just good. Lamborghini had an off roading SUV in the late 1980s early 1990s. Didnt do too well in the market place. So...Lamborghini does the Urus in the image of Lamborghini...but that too...is just an OK performance vehicle. Its great as a clumsy heavy machine...but as a true blue performance thing? Meh by today's standards... Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Rolls Royce... They all want a piece of the pie because THAT is where the money is. And quite honestly...if these 4 last brands did SUVs 10 years ago, they'd all fail in the market place. Their conservative clientele would NOT accept SUVs from them respectively. Let's put it this way. A snobby, stuck up, Ferrari douce is not really begging Ferrari to sell him a high performance SUV...that guy is happy to keep on buying F8 Tributos, Super Fasts and 250 Lusso SWB classics. Ferrari is gonna try to get that high priced Hollywood hooker that caters to Charlie Sheen and Harvey Weinstein when he isnt raping...and trust me...that clientele doesnt give two shytes about how fast it will be. But Ferrari WILL make it fast and make it handle...it will have the prancing horse on the front...but it will NOT be as fast or as agile as its cars though...why? PHYSICS... PS: 603 HP on an AMG GLS? That is NOT the primary selling point on an AMG GLS... Like you said... Aston Martin, LAMBORGHINI AND FERRARI will reside in that niche. Then there is TESLA. Navigator, Escalade is on the other side of that SUV coin. That is the thing... (EQS you say?) Cadillac KNOWS what the Escalade is and knows what the Escalade is NOT!!! The way YOU describe it...and thankfully for Mercedes you are not in charge at M-B, the GLS would be one confused SUV? What is it? A Ferrari fighter? An Escalade competitor? A G Wagon playmate? Its gonna carve out a niche for itself to be faster than an Escalade but slower than a Urus and somewhere in between a full blown off roader like a Wrangler but not too much as to not step on the G wagon toes? The you make the GLS sound...its one convoluted mess... And that way...it will NEVER out sell the Escalade as the Escalade KNOWS what it is...and does what it does SUPERBLY!!!

Nobody really cares about high speed FULLSIZED SUVs... However, TOP DOG trim levels that are the toppest of the biggest SUV do matter. Mercedes likes AMG to be big their top dog trim level. They slap that badge on anything...so even if some models are TRUE performance vehicles true to the AMG badge and true to performance...not all AMGs ARE true performance cars...and therefore not even worthy of the AMG badge... And in all honesty...BIG DEAL about performance oriented huge, heavy, high center of gravity SUVs!!! In this example...a GLS AMG is what counts... NO! Not the speed performance of the GLS, but the highest trim level of the GLS which happens to be AMG... The thing is. Cadillac may not have the Blackwing V8 anymore, but Cadillac is thinking about using the Blackwing NAME as a TOP trim level Cadillac and the Escalade would surely get a Blackwing trim to compete with an AMG, Maybach, Culinan and Bentayga... Whether THAT model gets THE Blackwing V8, or a supercharged version of the next LT2 V8 or is an EV of some sort remains to be seen... The outgoing Escalade? I HATE THESE DISCUSSIONS...but phoquing *SIGH* The OUTGOING Escalade is 5-6 model years old. I think its STILL the sales leader... and superior in what way? I really dont care....BUT the 2021 Escalade REALLY addresses the shortcomings of the OUTGOING model!!! BOF SUV? That would be YOUR way of dissing? GTFO with that!!! Why? Because this SUV below Is a BOF SUV... Its a skateboard platform...which essentially is BOF... Dont cut your nose to spite your face...

It is a joked that failed... I aint even GONNA try to explain it. Just flush it down the loo... Yes. I DO enjoy a good sound system. I, too, have got a Denon receiver. With JBL speakers. My system is a 20 year old system. 5.1 surround. Im looking to upgrade to a 7.1. Possibly to a Yamaha receiver. (Or Denon or Onkyo) with better speakers. My JBLs are not the top of the line ones... But not now. My system is decent enough. I do need a bigger TV though...OLED or QLED as well... PS....nice purchase. DENONS are awesome!

By kicking yourself in the ass for buying them in the first place?

1st part: Dont you mean...wrinkles? ? 2nd part: I got solution (in Russian accent) or this one (is same Russian accent) (In normal Canadian English accent) Sorry, but I too, find today's phones too big, eh?

You are all over the place... The Escalade is not losing market share. Sales dipped because new generation is going to be introduced. Sales of end of gen product cycle usually dips towards...the end of the product...cycle. Then you state that the Camaro is going to die, but that has nothing to do with the SBC that resides in it. You do realize that the Escalade is still king in sales in its market...and has been since 20 years now...all with the SBC that resides under the hood... GM gas sold millions upon millions with the SBC in its cars... The SBC is one of the most successful of all engines ever built. In sales. In reliability. In winning races. Its a PUSHROD V8. It has been supercharged by the factory. Its been supercharged by hot rodders. Im not sure if it has been turbocharged by the factory, but it has definitely been turbocharged by hot rodders. It has been bored and stroked endlessly. So when you say, GM can live or die with it...you say it as a bad thing. But why do you say that? Im perplexed...

So Formula 1 cars, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche got it wrong, but Dodge and Chevrolet get it right? Yup! Whose to say Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche gets it right and Dodge and Chevy get it wrong? In reality...you ask a stupid question...you'll get a stupid answer. In reality, supercharging has its advantages and its disadvantages and turbocharging has its advantages and disadvantages. For Chevy and Dodge...and Ford (5.4 liter V8 in the Lightning and GT and the new 5.2 liter in the GT500) use a supercharger because they need those V8s to be supercharged. The cars and trucks in question need to be supercharged because of all kinds of reasons. Engineering, packaging, image and marketing... For Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche use turbos because they need those engines to be turbocharged. The cars and trucks in question need to be turbocharged because of all kinds of reasons. Engineering, packaging, image and marketing... Image and marketing is a HUGE deal. Porsche for instance. TURBO is what they do... How much so? They NEED their top dog trim ELECTRIC VEHICLE to be a TURBO trim... So....you may think is turbo better...you'd be WRONG!!!

Must be because of the supremacy in turbocharging their engines rather than supercharging them...

Montreal is pretty clean Even Down Town. And we have a homeless problem the last decade. But no urine stench for the most part. We do have alley ways in the older parts of that part of the city, so I imagine there would be a problem... That dont bother me (for my environment). There are some billionaire sports team owners that give back to the community. The Montreal pro sports teams do plenty of charity work and funding for our community. Schools, hospitals... I do sympathize with your POV though. As also how Balthy's view regarding city life as he states it in the quote below.... I hate those types myself...and Ive got plenty of my Greek friends that are unfortunately...like that. I try to stay away from them nowadays. Balthy's, Robert's and your love for peace and quiet...I can appreciate that. I love nature myself. Like I really really love nature. But for recharging my batteries when I need to check out and go on vacation. (Im really not scared of isolation as I put it...well...I was when I was a kid...that much was true. The howling wind and rustling of the olive branches on the shutters and the annoying buzzing of them pesky mosquitoes kept me up at night numerous times) But like Robert, the sounds of the waves on the beach is really soothing to me. Birds sometimes get on my nerves though. Not the crickets.... I also needed TV/songs for me to concentrate on doing homework. I could relate to your kids. My daughter is the same way. My son a tad less. I feel at home with city noise. I want rural peacefulness on vacation.

I didnt mean it that way. LOL yes. Of course trees wont kill you. Unless of course you are drunken truck driver in the middle of a desert... (true story. Tree of Ténéré) LOL I meant it as I do not like quiet. I need noise. But...when its super quiet and you could hear the wind howling and the trees rustling...its total isolation. And when you are not used to that because you are a city slicker and people...lots of people...is a way of life...with jack hammers and car horns and engine and tire noises and police/fire truck sirens always going off...its scary because you are all...alone... Of course a human has the potential to be more harmful than anything in nature does, but its also comforting to know that you are not alone... I dont like being alone. For too long anyway.

I have always been a city slicker. I dont think Ill ever change. Im a suburbanite now, because family. I dont think Ill ever go back living in the city, but the suburbs is as far as I want to go away from a city. Where I live now, Im only 20 minutes(no traffic) away from Down Town. And THAT is what I prefer. But even the suburban town I live in, it aint small. Its got people hustlin' and bustlin' and everything you get Down Town, you get here. Well, the professional sports teams of Montreal are Down Town...but only 20 minutes away. OK...40 minutes with traffic. I dont like the rural life. Too quiet. Its scary. I mean... My mom's village in Greece is kinda like a rural environment. In the 1970s, there werent any street lamps either. So...at night, hearing the wind, the night as dark as dark could be, not seeing your hand a foot in front of your face, its scary AF. Today, its not like that obviously, but its still quiet...too quiet. Its still scary AF. I like to hear noise. Maybe not as much city noise anymore, but suburban noise is good enough for me. However, dead quiet on vacation in Greece on an island listening to crickets and birds and bats or the waves on a secluded beach is heavenly. But I only want that 3-4 weeks out of the year...

This post was about the EV1. I always hate this argument. And this argument is what the greenies always complain about and hate GM for killing the EV1. But lets be honest about this whole EV thing, especially in the 1990s... THERE WAS NO EV MARKET in the 1990s. The people that lined up to lease these were the ONLY people that wanted them. You cant expect a company like GM, who we all know at that time, had many other brands to juggle around, couldnt justify bleeding money on these. AND...the battery technology and range to sells these as daily drivers so people will NOT have range anxiety was not available yet. We barely just succeeded with the battery tech and range in 2019 and into 2020 so range anxiety is alleviated... We, in 2020, STILL do not have the charger infrastructure in place to market EVs properly...yet we diss GM for canceling the EV1 so early... The urban car for the urban environment (Chevy Trax type car) was not a concept yet. In the 1990s, this was not a thing just yet. Therefore selling an EV this way, just like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt and Volt are sold today, would be a HARD sell with the EV1 in the 1990s... The long game for GM and everybody else in the 1990s was and continues to be CUVs and SUVs... The EV1 was a great introduction to tell the world what could be with EVs. In reality, it took another 15 years to viably sell them to the world..(Tesla Model S). And even then, other than Tesla cars, its STILL a hard sell... Yet why are we CONSTANTLY attacking GM for killing the EV1? The market killed the EV1 whether we want to admit it or not. Plus...the EV1 was too ahead of its time. The technology is barely here today 25 years later to actually viably sell EVs to the mass market, and GM is a mass market automaker... Tesla would be the BEST thing that has happened to the EV world to viably sell EVs to the public. GM was tooooo big to do so succesfully back then...

Awesome that you train with your son!!! Ummmmm...like most things in today's western pop culture...things got to a start in the awesome 1980s!!! (with martial arts...a spark from the late 1960s and 1970s perhaps?) And into the 1990s... Today's UFC does not resemble what was once a 1980s/1990s movie fantasy, but yeah!!! Sorry that I derailed the thread. NOT!!!

That is God awful ugly. Swear words (as in...that is phoquing ugly) wont do justice in expressing how ugly that is. Id rather be seen in the ugliness of European luxury CUV/SUVs than this horrific thing. (high end badging and posh interiors aside)

Touché, pushee catte. But then...there is that... But then again, Hyundai could have at least done their own spin on things...its not as if the Malibu is at the top of the sales charts in their segment. The Camry, Accord and Fusion are on top and all three more or less have there own style going on. (loosely and arguably...) Nissan...Nissan is doing there own thing also with the Maxima/Altima and the Sentra (which now looks like a smaller version of the Maxima) which I like better than what Hyundai has done with the Sonata. I may be the only one to think that...and I understand what Ive just said as Nissan I believe sells even less than what Chevy sells with the Impala and Malibu. I dont expect Hyundai to reinvent the segment, but at least TRY to be original. ç Horrific front end or not, that gen Sonata launched Hyundai in this segment as a true player. It also started the 4 door coupe styling for family cars. OK...it might have helped to kill off the segment too by unsuspectingly leading more people into buying CUVs, but at least it was original FORCING Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota to copy THAT very style. 2 generations and 7 years later, for the Sonata, and Hyundai seems lost in what styling they need to go with the Sonata. The gen in between was boring, stale. This new gen has more elegant styling flair, but too bad it closely resembles a dying GM design...

I like...umm... the smaht pahk commercial??? The C Pillar and profile is toooooo much like the Chevy Malibu for me to give a shyte about the Sonata. The whole damned car just looks like it could be a possible badged version of a Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick... I wouldnt have minded the Sonata if it WERE a GM badge engineered version of the Malibu branded as a Pontiac/Olds/Buick. It is as good looking as that Malibu is. (Or had it been 100% Hyundai's design efforts). Which is not bad actually as far as medium sized family haulers go. But to blatantly mimic a design that is 5 years old already that is also being suggested that GM will kill off the Malibu just seems to be lazy design work for Hyundai. And NOT acceptable.

Wolves...that was a theme yesterday so...today I got wolves on my mind today. My first Ozzy song Ive ever heard. I was but a young boy. My best friend's older brother was a huge Ozzy fan. I remember how excited he was when he got this album back in the day. I was just as excited when I was gifted Twisted Sister's Stay Hungry at about the same time frame. And of course Duran squared Ive had fond memories with this song. Ive attended many house and aprés ski parties in the 1990s and for whatever reason, this song was a staple in ALL of them. Great party song! And when I typed Bark at the Moon on youtube, this song came up as a suggestion. Nothing to do with wolves, but it is the only song I like from Iron Maiden. But then again, I never gave Iron Maiden a chance in the 1980s. Maybe its time for me to discover them???!!! Great guitar work. Great drums. Great vocals. I wonder what was wrong with me then for not liking Iron Maiden?

I spent 4 minutes listening to that. Chilling indeed. Im hugging my Big Bad Bruins blanky for comfort. Makes me feel...safe. But now...a new thought pops into my head: You better not let him in. Little old lady got mutilated late last night. Werewolves of London again. Aaahwooooo!!! Werewolves of London! You better stay away from him he'll rip your lungs out Jim! Id like to meet his tailor. His hair was perfect. Aaahwooooo!!!! Werewolves of London. Aaahwooooooooooooooo!!!

I forgot about this little Japanese company. https://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/global/lineup/new/rock-star/ The car model in question is sold out. Only 50 were built, I guess from 2018 to today. What is it? A current gen Mazda MX5 re-engineered and remodelled to look like a C2 Corvette called the Rock Star. I think it looks BETTER than the C2 Corvette itself. (Maybe Im exagerating...but it is gorgeous!!!) So Id probably nix the Lexus LC 500 for one of these babies instead!!! Except Id opt for a LHD version....and maybe get an Abarth Fiat 124 engine and transmission in it. with these wheels!!!

I was putzing around 2-3 years ago trying to find American or European companies similar to Singer (Porsche) or Factory Five Racing and https://www.davidbrownautomotive.com company showed up in my rabbit hole internet surfing. I was smitten right away since I love Aston Martin cars. Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Corvette, Ferrari and Aston Martin are the automove brands I identify with the most. (modern lingo entering my speech patterns ) Seeing this company does a modern twist on a DB5 and if I was a 1%er, this car would be part of my daily routine!!! The engine is a Jag 5.0 V8 supercharged. The Silverstone Edition (601 HP & 565 ft/lbs) , the one I posted, has more HP and Torque than the regular Speedback (503 HP & 461 ft/lbs) I do know that this engine was used in the Lincoln LS but I do not know if this engine is related to the 4.6 DOHC and/or the Coyote from Ford. Its a fine engine...but I would want either a Coyote under the hood with power upgrades to match the Silverstone Edition's or a, you guessed it...a LS/LT Chevy Small block swap. Especially the Chevy knowing that it WILL fit under the hood. Id try to get naturally aspirated horses outta either engine swaps because supercharger whine does not befit a posh, English grand touring car. Supercharger whine maybe vulgar to some stiff upper lip stiffs Id be hanging around with...

?? David Brown Speedback GT ?? Lexus LC 500 ?? Alpine A110 (Its a special Alpine A110...its a supercharged V8 front engine RWD version with MOPAR body panels) ?? BMW M8 (Yes...I know...I HATE BMWs!!! I saw one during the holidays in the movie theatre complex parking lot when we saw the Rise of Skywalker...it is a gorgeous car in person) ?? Cadillac CT6-V

Cadillac has been waning off Arts & Science for awhile now. And hence the dismissal of vertical headlights and lack of a coherent C Pillar design across its line-up. And I think I found what is troubling for me with the Escalade and Cadillac's models in general as of late. (The last 2 year models at least) The lack of a DEFINITION of design language going forward. There seems not to have a plan in place for a new styling direction... The plan seems to be just to wane off Arts & Science and that is it... They got the general Escala look and they try to mimic that all across the board while retating some Arts & Science elements, but softening up the Art & Science look at the same time. It kinda works. It kinda doesnt. Yup...like Star Wars with the sequal trilogy. No clear path moving forward. LOL

About the independent rear suspension... True that it ousold the Gator. But that was when the Gator was still the same Gator way back when it was rotting on the vine. Also...the GLS has gotten bigger and the X7 has been introduced. If it wasnt broken then, it has potential to be broken now...independent suspension is a must for 2021. Im OK with you not liking these horizontal headlights. Im just not sharing your POV about them.

Shyte dude! I hate these kinds of discussions. I havent looked at the sales figs. Nor do I care. But...the Escalade is an outgoing model. The GLS and X7 are brand spanking new. The fanboys of M-B and BMW are gobbling these up. And when the fanboys get there fill...these will drop off DRAMATICALLY! The Escalade has a BIGGER following... Get where Im going with this? Not really. One could say that stacked lights are becoming stale, boring. One minor facial change does not bring down the franchise... It changed one major detail with independent rear suspension. I think that one change offsets the vertical headlights change...enough for folk not to give a shyte. The grille still says big ass Cadillac!

@smk4565 You are right. My bad. The Touareg looks CONSIDERABLY different. The 1st gen though not so much.. BUT BUT SHYTE...the Porsche that costs a lot of $$$ has a lesser brand and model that looks kinda like it... NOT GOOD ANY WHICH WAY YOU SLICE IT!!!