oldshurst442

Another used car shopping endeavor? Howza 'bout a Mitsubishi Endeavor for your used car endeavor? If I were you, Id leave it up to these nonsensical coincidences of life and buy that Mitsu.... to fulfill your endeavor with an Endeavor. But if your budget permits, Id go for this Endeavor instead. This way, you could actually take a trip and visit Vader's tombstone and really fulfill your destiny...with Kylo Ren. And since you are good with your hands, maybe you could tinker with it and make it do the kessel run in 11 parsecs beating the Falcon.

So I guess...its a good thing for BMW to have their original bread and butter car...the 3 Series...lose ground to the X3... And...today...the 3 Series aint even the 3 Series...its the 2 Series...but even that model is not carrying the flame of BMW's mantra, the Ultimate Driving Machine, the very essence and rasion d'etre of BMW. Frisky...please... BMW's bread and butter was the 3 Series. BMW's soul..was the 3 Series. It was and still is (the past generation 3 Series cars) a CULT CLASSIC. The 3 Series is the stuff that legends are made of. Its what propelled BMW into a luxury giant. In 2015/2016, its soccer mom vehicles. MAINSTREAM soccer mom vehicles that drive the image If you dont think that will be a detriment in the not so distant future, I cant help you. It's not necessarily a good or bad thing. It's bad for their image, and I don't like it. But it's good for their profit margins and that's why businesses exist. The 3 Series has grown in size, like all cars. It has gotten a bit too soft, especially in base form, and I hold that against BMW. It appears they took measures to at least partially rectify this with the F30 LCI. And knock it all you wan't but at least BMW still offers a proper manual across the board, along with numerous other options and accessories for enthusiasts. As for the 2 Series, I have no idea why BMW hasn't used that platform to capitalize on the recent explosion of entry level luxury vehicles. It'd be the only proper RWD sedan in the game, after all. But that's neither here nor there. BMW has seen sales drop in their core models mostly on account of competition within BMW's own lineup with SUV's. It sucks, but that's what the market is shifting towards. But it should be neither surprising, nor a criticism to be levied. I share ALL of your feelings in this post, Frisky. With one exception. The last sentence: "But it should be neither surprising, nor a criticism to be levied." It is NOT a surprise...its a sound business judgement to go the SUV route...THAT is where the money is. However, it SHOULD be a criticism when BMW has apparently took their eye off the ball. Using YOUR OWN observations: - The 3 Series has grown in size, like all cars. It has gotten a bit too soft, especially in base form, and I hold that against BMW. It appears they took measures to at least partially rectify this with the F30 LCI. And knock it all you wan't but at least BMW still offers a proper manual across the board, along with numerous other options and accessories for enthusiasts. - As for the 2 Series, I have no idea why BMW hasn't used that platform to capitalize on the recent explosion of entry level luxury vehicles. It'd be the only proper RWD sedan in the game, after all. But that's neither here nor there. Ill repeat Frisky, in the not-so-distant future, if BMW does NOT rectify and offer cars that have stuff that legends are made of...then BMW will just be another run of the mill SUV company. A BMW X6M just does NOT pass muster. Especially since Porsche and M-B and Cadillac all have their say in how luxury SUVs are to be marketed. NOT to mention Jaguar and Bentley and Rolls Royce...and NOT forgetting the SUV and CUV pioneers in GMC and Jeep and Toyota/Lexus. And new commers in Buick, Lincoln and quite possibly Genesis. In the 1980s and 1990s...it was BMW that DICTATED to the world what a sport coupe and sedan is and how it should be.

That is a very nice blue colour on the ATS-V.

Yup. That business model passes muster in Europe, not in North America! There are countless of examples of this that has failed in North America. Hyundai and their Genesis model. VW with their Phaeton. Cadillac with their Cimarron. Hell, even M-B with their C Class hatchback. If M-B continues this path, it wont be long when this will fall flat on their face. Sure, for now, they have finally succeeded with the entry level oxymoron marketing campaign and sheeple and badge snobs have accepted this, however, when the next generation of car buyers come along, the ones to control the wants and needs of the automotive landscape in the future when it becomes their turn to dictate what is what, these guys will have witnessed the incredible cheapening of the brand, the incredible exposure that this entry level luxury perception is producing, along with those commercial vans and school buses, and those buyers will NOT see Mercedes Benz as something special and expensive....just cheap, plebeian, and utilitarian...all characteristics that are OPPOSITE of luxury... Its happening now as we speak....slowly eroding... Proof...the article says that the 3,5,7 Series sedans are in a sales decline, the SUVs are the ones that carry the sales... Quite telling... Car sales in general are losing ground to SUV/CUV's. It only stand to reason a brand with several such vehicles, and many added ones, would experience a decrease in their car sales. So I guess...its a good thing for BMW to have their original bread and butter car...the 3 Series...lose ground to the X3... And...today...the 3 Series aint even the 3 Series...its the 2 Series...but even that model is not carrying the flame of BMW's mantra, the Ultimate Driving Machine, the very essence and rasion d'etre of BMW. Frisky...please... BMW's bread and butter was the 3 Series. BMW's soul..was the 3 Series. It was and still is (the past generation 3 Series cars) a CULT CLASSIC. The 3 Series is the stuff that legends are made of. Its what propelled BMW into a luxury giant. In 2015/2016, its soccer mom vehicles. MAINSTREAM soccer mom vehicles that drive the image If you dont think that will be a detriment in the not so distant future, I cant help you.

The Enclave outclasses it and the seriously rubs noses with the MKT.. the closest thing I can think of over at the Lincoln brand, sans the Ugliness. The thing is that I truly believe that U have not been in a Buick in the last 20 years.. U shoot off at the mouth constantly how great Ford is because it pays your paycheck. I talk up Ford just as you ooze all things GM. hypocrite much??? I love GM because I own their cars and love everyone of them that I buy. U love Ford because they pay your effin paycheck. LOL.. as so many of your very own family buys GM tho. Of course U will hit me with a story about how your niece's Camaro almost killed her or left her stranded.. and she hates GM now and bought a punk ass Muskank I own 2 GM products right now. You are a hypocrite, plain and simple. One GM product that you happily threw under the bus just to make headlines for your less than genuine posts (as in trolling) in the ignition switch thread... Like Casa said...your Grand Prix had keys re-engineered to have a small round hole instead of a long oblongish hole. (and this is where I will add the "WOW" for you) WOW! (you know, for dramatic effect)

Chevy does not pretend its a luxury make. Nor does it sell its Corvette as a luxury sports car, in fact, Chevy revels in the fact that the Vette is a BLUE COLLAR sports car! They sell it that way, they market it that way. The only thing that they dont do is they dont engineer it that way... M-B on the other hand... The C class hatch from a while back...was on par as a Cavalier... The CLA, it may have a price tag of a luxury car, its too bad it aint built that way, its too bad its quality does not befit the 3 pointed star image... The B-Class..is WORSE than the CLA... The aforemntioned C Class hatchback... Like I said...these North American "entry level luxury" cars are simply called econoboxes in Europe. Over time, North Americans will come to a point where there is gonna be many of these entry level econoboxes on the road, new and especially old, when Average Joe North Americans will just look at these cars and call them $h!boxes...and THAT my friend, aint good for image... You know how you see the ILX from Acura...well, the Integra was ALWAYS a pimped up Civic, remember how the Integra could do no wrong in the 1990s? You wanna argue that M-B aint losing focus, just because they sell S Class sedans today? It aint tomorrow that this will happen. Remember SMK... Hyundai is making a luxury brand. And THAT luxury brand WONT have "entry level" vehicles... You know SMK, not losing focus M-B is? ....same sausage different length... M-B is going on a path that could be quite destructive to their image... Again...as an example...in 2015... The Ultimate Driving Machine is relegated to keep sales quotas by selling...SUVs... The 3,5 and 7 Series are losing market share... The 7 Series was also an also ran... However, the 5 Series and 3 Series were THE benchmark....the slow sales decline will dictate that luxury car makers WONT be looking at these anymore to size themselves up... The Lexus IS, The Cadillac ATS/CTS... Genesis from Hyundai... Competition comes in and picks up the pace where the Germans are GONNA fail... BMW is failing in one area...their vaunted and untouchable 3 Series is losing market share...the X3 aint...and BMW made thier name in North America with that 3 Series... SMK...it happened to Cadillac. Even in the 1980s, Cadillac outsold and out mojoed Mercedes Benz...look how they stumbled... If you think M-B does not stumble even in 2015... SMK, for every successful vehicle that M-B makes for a specific niche, M-B has at least one failure in another niche... I aint gonna waste my time searching for the failures to show you, its too late in the night for that, but they do exist. And if you dont admit to it, its because you arent true to yourself... If you think that what M-B is marketing to us now and it wont have any future repercussions, you are more naive than Roger Smith.

Yup. That business model passes muster in Europe, not in North America! There are countless of examples of this that has failed in North America. Hyundai and their Genesis model. VW with their Phaeton. Cadillac with their Cimarron. Hell, even M-B with their C Class hatchback. If M-B continues this path, it wont be long when this will fall flat on their face. Sure, for now, they have finally succeeded with the entry level oxymoron marketing campaign and sheeple and badge snobs have accepted this, however, when the next generation of car buyers come along, the ones to control the wants and needs of the automotive landscape in the future when it becomes their turn to dictate what is what, these guys will have witnessed the incredible cheapening of the brand, the incredible exposure that this entry level luxury perception is producing, along with those commercial vans and school buses, and those buyers will NOT see Mercedes Benz as something special and expensive....just cheap, plebeian, and utilitarian...all characteristics that are OPPOSITE of luxury... Its happening now as we speak....slowly eroding... Proof...the article says that the 3,5,7 Series sedans are in a sales decline, the SUVs are the ones that carry the sales... Quite telling...

I forgot how... U kno what? High road. The H2, imo, was never unattractive.. Just ostentatious, along with polarizing, a love/hate. He is just peeved that it was the Escalade and the H2 of that generation...the GMT820 platform, that cooled the Navigator... The H2 (why are we even discussing this in 2016?) was not about winning beauty pageants...it was about crashing unto the scene, stealing the show and getting the girl. In WWF WWE terms, it was Razor Ramon... A H2 meng, is just for fun, meng. The H2 probably did scar YOU your whole life, Wings...that's too bad, Chico!

Did you just compare a Fusion Titanium to a Buick Regal? HA! Maybe a W-Body Regal...Even Europe's Vignale aint exactly a viable Insignia competitor. Just because its got fancy diamond leather and a cool headlight system does not put it in Regal/Insignia territory. The Regal is waaaaay better built than a Fusion, Wings... Slapping on leather does not make it premium... And going back to the Fusion like you said, if the Fusion gets the 2.7 liter ecoboosted V6, the MKZ becomes OBSOLETE...and my conversation with you is how Lincoln may or may not be in trouble.

Its definitely stately. But its also boring. Dry. Like toast with no butter. Reminds me of the bricks they sold from the 1970s and into the 1990s. Although the roof line aint as square as those, the sides are thick slabbed with no lines or curves. Dull. Cold. There is no intimacy. I take it the C-Pillar wants to mimic its ancestor, the P1800 But this S90 has no soul. This look maybe good for some types. Its conservative. And I respect that. But...Im a vibrant Greek Boy. A Canadian Greek Boy. Some Canadians are polite folk...some are rambunctious. I more in tune with being a crazy Canuck. a Greek Crazy Canuck, this car does not work well with me... If I was gonna be into a Volvo sedan...this would be it... Its square...but its cool. And its HOT.

I Lincoln is one small mistake, one small blunder, one miscalculation away from joining Mercury.... If the Continental does not pan out...what next? Dont sit there and tell me that the Continental WILL be a smashing success...only time will tell...and as the Continental aint on sale yet... Remember Wings... Lincoln LS = failure in the market place (OK...at first was a success, left to rot and abandoned be FoMoCo., that is still a market place failure) Lincoln Zephyr = failure in the market place...it changed name... Lincoln MKZ = failure in the market place 1st generation as a MKZ... This current MKZ is luke warm...I bet Fusion Titanium trims outselling it... Lincoln MKS = failure in the market place... The SUVs are doing good... Acura too, sells a ton of SUVs... BIG DEAL!!! PS: Buick and Cadillac SUVs, many of them, are on their way...I wonder if those will have an impact on Lincoln SUV sales?

And premium trimmed Ford cars, trucks and SUV's outsell Buick and GMC combined. Easily. Congrats to BMW. Well deserved. One Ford is definitely a GREAT idea for...Ford. For FoMoCo. though, not so good. Mercury is no longer and Lincoln aint doing to good. Sure...double digit % points higher in sales for Lincoln, but...a GMC trim level....that happens to be imitating luxury from a more or less badge engineered corporate brother brand, beating out Lincoln in sales does not look too good... Dont forget...Lincoln has MORE SUVs in their line-up than GMC does as we speak...and its the SUVs that are selling hot...THAT is why BMW is sales king for 2015... So...in other words... Premium trimmed Fords are ALSO outselling Lincoln... I wouldnt be arguing or trying to stick it to 'the man' about this Wings...the numbers are NOT in your favour...

I sooooooo want Corvette to be its own brand. Corvette being its own brand COULD be VERY successful. The only problem I foresee with this is the MARKETING part of the equation. GM needs to get that in order for all their brands BEFORE they take on a new endeavor with Corvette separating from Chevy. Cadillac NEEDS to be stand alone. If some GM stores are to have on the same grounds Chevy and Cadillac, then Cadillac NEEDS to be secluded... Cadillac sales folk, F&I guys NEED to be trained professionals...not same 'ol cheesy car salesmen. Corvette could survive in the same showroom as Chevrolet though, but they too, need to have a more upscale, upbeat, professional vibe in the showroom. Denali trim outselling Lincoln and Acura individually and combined LR and Jaguar is pretty impressive. Denali definitely needs to be tapped into more. Again though, GM's marketing needs to improve before tapping into this gem that is Denali.

:CG_all:Thanx Bobo, and to all that think of me as a poster who actually brings something to the table. Thanx to all that make it possible for me to have fun and enjoy myself in here. In no particualar order Drew, Suave, El K, CCAP, DFELT, BLU, Hyper, Mr Cubital, Balthazar...and others...and even Wings...I learn and have fun with you folk.... Wings...I read that comment about you wishing somebody getting 1000 fleas from 1000 Greek Goats...that must have been the FUNNIEST thing I read anywhere on the internets....I did not +1 you, because....THAT would be against my personal vendetta I got going with you...but that comment alone deserves at least a +100...

Thanx in part to Steve for lighting a fuse to a discussion about world economics. Thanx to Hyper and Drew for shedding a new light on a subject that I already was informed on, but I learned a few things on angles I did not consider. Thanx to Casa for always being entertaining and also confirming what I always felt about modern Americans...how illogical their thought process is sometimes...

Well, coming from a Bruin fan, we dont fare that much better than you guys...we originally had Kessel you know...only to win the Seguin sweepstakes because we traded him to you... thanking you folk for it, only to trade away Seguin 3 years later...only for you folk to trade Kessel away too... So...in hindsight... Why were both teams and their respective fan bases so hyped up on this Kessel/Seguin thing? It was all for nothing in the end... At least Boston won a Stanley Cup with Seguin, he did help actually.

wow...54 000 dollars lost in two months... or 2 months salary gone... I dont care how much money someone's got...THAT is WASTEFUL and STUPID in my opinion. Billionaires the likes of Trump, Gates, Vladimir Putin and Bernie Ecclestone, where those monies get replaced through billions of products sold or...CORRUPTION...I could understand this mindset... But any poor schlep that works for a living....even an idiot 40 year old that makes $500 000 - $600 000 thousand a year is just pissing his money away. That is NOT a knock on a Mercedes product, its an observation on how stupid some humans beings could be. Kudos to Mercedes to sell (LEASE) these things to those people...

It must be because of that shot of his. Yes, Im pondering on that idea...since I dissed hard shots two posts up...

I know. Like I said, The Tesla story has not been written yet, We both have to wait and see. Listen. I know the Model X is NOT the iPhone 3, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, or iPhone 5...or iPad, whatever iPads are up to...including iPad minis and airs...and Musk may very well not be the suave car salesman Steve Jobs was, but we still have to wait and see, because Tesla is not only about cars, it is about batteries AND recharging infrastructure.

Yeah...Id keep Jones too. I think people, including GMs, have their minds clouded on "hardest shot"... Going back to Al Iafrate, sure he scored many times with that shot of his, but I believe, Ray Bourque's precision wrister had more goals... "hardest shot" for me is waaaaay over rated. MAybe its because Chara plays on my team, and while his is THE hardest, it aint the most precise, and maybe THAT is why I think its over rated. But I also believe Jones is better defensively than Weber is.

Its a cute little car. Hence why its not my cup of tea. Its cute Its little. Not my style. The Volt is where I am. In Quebec, this will sell very well. I predict better sales than Volt. Better than any other EV also.

For Ryan Johansen. Nashville needed a center Blue Jackets needed a defenceman. Both are huge pieces from their former teams filling up huge holes that their future teams need. I believe its a one on one deal. I think its good...good for both teams.

Yeah, higher price points. I wanted to specify that, which I failed to do. Higher price points to propel Buick in the higher levels of premium luxury and eliminating the few that cant afford this vehicle and consequently getting a higher status...leaving the few that wanted to own this Envision to drive off either in an Encore or a Chevy...or a Bimmer X1/X3...but its OK...even for Buick, not every garage needs to be filled by a Buick, only the few that want and could afford a luxurious Buick. PS: I hate this cliché: entry level luxury, its an oxymoron that should NOT exist, but sheeple and badge snobs continue to buy into this mess of marketing BS.

That is Michigan...part of the old guard. Quebec and Ontarion and Canada in general and California are Tesla friendly. Finland and Sweden and Norway and France and Britain are also Tesla friendly.... France...where the French are also very protective on their own car industry, do indeed help Tesla out.

Europe uses different plugs from Nrth America, right? Even different voltage ratings in their household appliances, right? For a hundred years this has been going on, right? I mean, the same LG OLED 55 inch TV in Europe has a different transformer than the one that is US bound, right? I mean, LG finds a way to produce, right? And because Telsa has invested all these BILLIONS in this infrastructure in which some monies were given by some governments to help Telsa...EL K...if you think Mizz Barra has a strong saying to what kind of plug will be used...you got another thing coming... Money talks...bullshyte walks...and Tesla has given a lot for this infrastructure...to create a 'green paradise' Dont forget, everybody seems to be wanting a piece of that green paradise dream as of lately, and Tesla is riding high on those wet dreams...governments are sleeping with Tesla as we speak...