TaurusSHO

This looks really good, much better than I was expecting. Hopefully Ford will follow with the Mustang and Toyota with the Supra. http://www.motortrend.com/news/chevrolets-new-nascar-race-car-will-look-like-camaro-zl1/

It was my grandma's car and has always been garaged except for a few years after she passed. I started driving it with 58k miles and it now has about 67k. I know it's just a LeBaron, but I hate racking up the miles on it. I couldn't turn down a free car though. Thanks. Back in my MT forum days, most people thought I was in my 40s or 50s before I revealed that I was 15 lol.

Well if I actually had a Taurus SHO I would gladly race you somewhere! I'm currently driving a 1989 LeBaron until I get a full time job after I graduate college.

No doubt it would.

It's not a moving goal post at all. I chose those specific vehicles because I knew they were on the same platform. You know, an apples to apples comparison. Check the tests and you'll see the sedan performs better each time. As far as a Trailblazer SS goes, I'd pick a Taurus SHO to win the race every time. Assuming equal drivers of course.

Does the Explorer handle better than the Taurus? No. Does the Edge handle better than the Fusion? No. Does the Escape handle better than the Focus? No. I can go on...

Good to see the S90 is doing much better.

Looks like the Continental is going to settle in the 900-1000 units per month range. I was hoping it would do 15000-18000 per year, but that was before the shift to CUVS really began to set in. At least it's outselling the CT6 and XTS. I read that Transit sales are so low because of a hold due to a recall. Bronco and Ranger can't get here soon enough.

Lack of space is just another lame excuse in the same way people buy trucks because they might need the bed once a year. In my old Taurus, we had no problem getting all of our luggage in the 16 cubic foot trunk. Granted, it was just three of us, but if there was another kid in the back seat there would still be enough space. In our current Taurus, the trunk is a cavern, but I recognize most trunks aren't that big. Bottom line, if you have two kids or less, there's no reason to not buy a sedan.

Good point about the union contact, although I thought the XTS was originally supposed to be killed off by now. Maybe that was just a rumor.

They really need to drop the XTS. I find it hard to believe that XTS buyers wouldn't move to the CTS or CT6. Now they're giving it a (ugly) refresh in a down sedan market. Makes no sense unless a good majority of those sales are fleet.

Last weekend my brother got married in Destin. Since we were only staying a few days, we decided it was worth it to rent a car for the trip from Cincinnati to Destin. I was hoping for a Malibu or Fusion and we received a Malibu that had about 1900 miles on it. The 1.5L was a solid engine. I've read where some people complain about turbo lag, but it seemed fine to me. The sound system was pretty good, although it had a weird issue with my iPod where it would randomly skip a few seconds ahead in the song. The usb location could have been better. It's out in the open, so you have to remove whatever device is sitting there if you don't want to worry about someone breaking in. Not a huge deal, but it would have been nice if there was some kind of cover. The ride was really smooth. I'd say it was about a half step below our Taurus. Wind noise was minimal as well. On the way down we averaged 33mpg, which I guess is on target considering we were doing about 80-85mph most of the time. Driving around in Destin brought the average down a bit and when we got home it was at 31.3mpg. I think the EPA rating is 37mpg highway I can see why people want GM to give the option to turn off the start stop feature. Too many times it almost felt like the car was stalling instead of starting up. If there was any kind of incline it had issues as well. This was my first experience with it, so I'm not sure if it's an issue with all cars, but it definitely felt as though there were some kinks to be worked out. It's also possible that over time I would adjust how I let off of the brake pedal to make it feel more seamless. Overall, I really enjoyed the car and would consider it for my next car if I liked the front end. Maybe they will fix it in the next refresh, but the Impala will probably always have my attention before the Malibu anyway.

I finally drove the Continental today. It was a base Premiere, which of course has the 3.7L. That was my biggest concern as I wasn't sure if it would be enough for the car. Turns out I was right that it is more than adequate. It even shifts a lot smoother than the MKX I drove last year. I was also impressed by the sound system even though it wasn't Revel audio. The ride quality was everything I expected, I'd say it was even better than the MKX. The one negative I discovered was that if the battery died, everyone would have to climb through the driver's side door to get out. Overall, I was very impressed. I was expecting to come away wanting a higher spec model, but that wasn't the case. Once I start seriously looking next year I'll still try a Select to test the Revel audio system. The 10 way power seats were more than enough, but it would still be cool to have the perfect position seats. It's still going to be at the very top end of my price range, but hopefully I'll have a job once I graduate that allows me to afford it! Here is the link to it: http://www.montgomerylincoln.com/new/Lincoln/2017-Lincoln-Continental-cincinnati-oh-04eff6420a0e0ae8307c0e35b0252e81.htm?searchDepth=2:7 Here is the window sticker:http://www.windowsticker.forddirect.com/windowsticker.pdf?token=vJ2mtP%2FG6eZZzBvRn90ZF%2BDUlmbPP55WvsCJR9gJRloUr4qMGWCPkoWhmvjMdxskFg1%2FbXS1DOyhsV3chWLbM1cv1O%2FjEIbxvNfp8ALFrZOU%2FQydjnuxTrhMd1PmXnpn4oagitYH7dY3ePS6qaU7sOcAb1qp6tXYDu5TdQGmHX0%3D

And as far as not being wide enough, it's four inches wider than the CT6 and 5 inches wider than the XTS.

None of that refutes what I said. So now you want to bring in another entire brand to prove your point? Keep grasping.

Ok, but that has nothing to do with US sales where both are established players. As for the last half of your post, I already detailed that in a post above.

The Envision has been out since May. Even if the product mix was the issue, the sales gap is too large to surpass the MKX. The MKZ has outsold the Regal every year except 2011. If you feel that way about the Continental, you'd have to feel that way about the XTS as well. It's not silly considering the Navigator has had one minor update since 2006. I don't expect the new Navigator to outsell the Escalade, but I bet sales will be much closer.

Take out Verano and Envision sales, both of which top out around where the cheapest Lincoln starts, and you will see that Buick has sold less than 10k more units so far this year than Lincoln. MKZ outsells the Regal even though the Regal starts for about $8k less. The MKX handily outsells the Envision even though the MKX starts for about $4k more. The Lacrosse outsells the Continental, but a fully loaded Lacrosse is only about $6k more than the cheapest Continental. GM fans have a number of valid arguments against Lincoln, but using Buick sales to put down Lincoln is grasping at straws at best. He said large SUVs, not SUVs/CUVs in general. Huge difference. You're right though about Cadillac offering more high end/performance trims than Lincoln.

Good luck with everything! It's always good to get away for a while from the intense debates that occur on forums.

^It also seems like more automakers are doing standalone events.

Thanks for the kind words. Casa doesn't bother me though. He's like that crazy uncle that's fun to be around just because of how crazy he is.

That's what I've been saying. People ultimately shop on price and the CT6 has a huge overlap in price with the Continental. We can talk about all of the engineering that went into the CT6 and talk about how well it handles, but when the average customer can get a better equipped Continental with a much smoother ride, you can see where the CT6 falters. The XTS certainly competes with the Continental, but to say the CT6 doesn't is entirely inaccurate.

Of course not everyone will think that way, but some people would definitely move to the Lacrosse since it serves the same purpose as the XTS. Ultimately, I believe the XTS was kept around for a few more years because the CTS is not selling like they had hoped.

Isn't the Lacrosse's extra volume enough to justify the Impala? With the XTS gone I'm sure the Lacrosse would have a noticeable sales gain as well, which I thought was the original plan.

I guess it all depends on how you sit. I am 6'1" and have no issue sitting in the back of our 2013 Taurus. On a couple of road trips with my 6'3" uncle in front of me, it didn't feel cramped at all. I imagine the Continental would seem like sitting in the back of a Town Car in comparison.