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regfootball

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Everything posted by regfootball

  1. regfootball
    so then where are the all new products. 4 year cycles to survive these days
  2. regfootball
    that's fairly spot on. people who routinely say 'that is what stuff goes for', um, apparently not according to sales. the malibu hasn't been a retail giant, and the 13+ model is down even more. Korea and camrys+accords+altimas give away their cars. I think if GM added 17" and better seats to the mylink, the MSRP may be believable. All the next steps need to keep the prices in check. Maybe if they did cool stuff like make the turbo a standalone option on the LT1........or make a sport package available for the LT1.....
  3. regfootball
    nice photos and write up. i've driven the 2.5 and the turbo and like them both. they both perform well and are nice to drive. problem is, is the drive enough to overcome the other flaws (backseat, busy interior, price, slightly less mpg, some would say styling). the front end fix is welcome, and even as paltry as it is, carving a tish more rear room helps. both engines get updates. the interior fix is a partial success (handbrake? wtf). still has problems, a little more mpg, not sure if its enough (although the 2.5 fusion sells nicely with about the same mpg). 8 speed auto may be on the horizon. I think a lot of people still think bits of the car look clumsy. To me, the Fusion looks a bit faddish, but no doubt it is selling like hot cakes. Problem is there is just not much else now they can do with it until a brand new design with an all new platform. Chevy always has packaging problems with its models. I think now that the Impala is here (i saw an LTZ on the open road this weekend and it looks so badass!) to steal the limelight, Chevy needs to really determine how many of these they want to sell. If they want volume, then they need to lay it all on the table and do some things to make it move. One is lease deals (which to some degree they are doing). But they really need to load up the LS, LT1, LT2 with popular options, reduce the markup, sell with fewer incentives, or they will have to do what Chrysler and Dodge did with the avenger and 200. Give them away. Chevy will make coin on the Impala, so to do this with the Malibu.....they need to say 'every malibu we sell is one less car the competition sells'. They could stand to do little things like make heated seats with cloth a cheap option. Or, make an attractive sport package with sweet wheels and less chrome....none of the family haulers really play as a sports sedan anymore except maybe the mazda. Leverage the remote start and mylink in the marketing and really make those packages a screaming deal. of course, they also have Buick to compete with......
  4. regfootball
    Buick is flat May vs. May and solidly up 2013 vs. 2012. see regal, lacrosse, enclave
  5. regfootball
    GM's biggest need right now is to replace the Malibu and the epsilon platform with a new lighter and better packaged platform. This should arrive in 3 years or less. They can sell the current bu with incentives till then, but will not be atop te class until a completely new car with killer styling and packaging arrives like the fusion did for ford. Then GM can redo all the mid size cars on the new chassis with no restrictions on past chassis. Cruze needs work too. I recommend a new platform too to cut weight but well see. Buick updated regal and lacrosse. Is it enough? Yes they need to advertise, lower some prices too. AWD is a Buick exclusive, might help.
  6. regfootball
    Example: no Chevy Trax here. It would sell 80k here
  7. regfootball
    Congrats. New forte is much improved. Wish the interior was a bit more snazzy but overall Kia has a lot of bases covered and best thing is it does not look like the Elantra.
  8. regfootball
    i am going to guess twin turbo....
  9. regfootball
    no more of The SeX?
  10. regfootball
    I sold an amazing Lincoln LS, that I so hated to sell because I wanted to get it for myself. It was that creme color with the tan interior and chromes. Think it maybe was the v6. Prob was a 2001 or something. FREAKIN MINT but had 170k miles on it. Yet, driving it, it was more like it had 40 or 50k miles on it. Dude who bought it was a sales guy and he was gonna drive it into the ground. Loved the LS. But Lincoln never replaced it..... If you think about it, the LS was partially why Caddy invented the CTS....... quite a nice tandem for a few years. Lincoln never kept the sporting edge on the model line. I remember doing internet searches for the Jaguar twin of the LS and specifically for ones with stick. Talk about a rare cat.
  11. regfootball
    well, it's overpriced, but i guess all vehicles are today. this pretty much guarantees this as a niche model. if you want a v8, you're gonna pay
  12. regfootball
    Buick's drop is alarming. Very few Corvettes! Fleet sales existed for a reason. To help with Volume.
  13. regfootball
    1st gen CTS has an attitude the 2nd gen lacks IMHO.
  14. regfootball
    My Terrain has enough rear room to seat Shaq comfortably with room to spare. i said sedans nox / terrain lack trunk space between the wheelwells for their size and weight
  15. regfootball
    the impala is the only GM car with real space in the back now. Nearly all of GM's sedans are packaged like crap. Cruze has no room in the back. Malibu hurts for it also. Sonic is decent for class but with upright dorkmobile shaping. Spark maximizes space. Regal and Verano are not commodious. Current CTS is tight. ATS is super tight. XTS for size and weight is lacking space. GM somehow has always been huge losers at packaging in most of its cars when compared with the best. Think cab forward Chryslers, man those had room.
  16. regfootball
    just print some fiat currency
  17. regfootball
    I do like the updates mostly, but there is a few things that GM was simply blowing smoke up people's asses on. The interior redo did nothing to fix the stupid ugly POS strakes and that crap on the dashboard. It still has a $h! looking steering wheel that is on most GM stuff. It still has two pod gauges that look marginal in a Camaro but look like crap compared to the Impala. They did nothing to add rear seat space except reshape the seat and take away a little front seat padding. The big problem in the malibu is ingress / egress and the position of the seat mounts and lack of footspace due to the base of the seat. Some knee room is welcome and it will help but they did nothing to really fix the problem, and of course with like 9 inches of space under the hood that is not used and no desire to reconfig the rear structure or the position of the airbags, that is all they could do. They really should not even mention it its close to worthless. The turbo upgrades are great, this car SHOULD win comparos in this class for performance. Pluses, the center stack is among the best, that was left, thankfully. I hated the old cupholder layout, it rendered the armrest useless. That they fixed that and in an attractive way is cool. The cell phone slots are a trendsetter, why not raise em up and have the base of them see thru and put the charge ports in them? Going away from the e brake was completely stupid. Why not keep it? Love the new front end considering all they could do with not wanting to redo the headlights.. I see many new BUS on the road and coming at you, the grille looks too high and too big, this reshape will help nicely. And the Impala and Malibu will be distinctive in many ways. Stop start standard, will it be reliable, and do people want the ability to shut it off? Will the motor die when you need to make a left turn across traffic? For my driving it would save some mpg. I just hope it has no bugs.
  18. regfootball
    in side news, the Impala got a high praise and second place in the July 13 C/D comparo. The cheap interior was a contributor in that. But they seemed to really praise the car, they just couldn't give it the win, gotta have someone besides GM win. AVALON.
  19. regfootball
    It's not one specific car exactly... it's a make/model that that I already like but appears to have rock-like depreciation. It won't be the most popular choice here..but it is one that wouldn't suprise any of you and I already know it is one that would suit me. That said, I'm really all over the place on this... I got back to thinking about small trucks again... but I couldn't do a Ranger or Colorado/Canyon (hate the interiors on all 3) or Tacoma (You guys would string me up after the frame broke) or any recent Dakota (ditto the other domestics) or Ridgeline (I'd have to sell C&G).... so that leaves me with... Nissan Frontier and Suzuki Equator You won't get stellar gas mileage from the Equator / Frontier. 22mpg MAYBE max on the v6. i yo impalas with the 3.6 and low miles go for about 15 in these parts.
  20. regfootball
    I wonder if the RHD models have a different console w/ the parking brake and shifter positions reversed. here's a 2013 with stick that too. being forced into doing it
  21. regfootball
    the reason this class has come so far, because people are lucky enough to even get a 'new' car these days, where in the past many could get luxury cars. To some degree this class has absorbed some of the luxury aspect, and at prices that people can actually get into these days. Plus, in terms of real innovation aside from leather, safety stuff, sunroof, and stability control, stuff that has become common the last several years, aside from in cabin electronics, there hasn't been much new technology accessible to the masses. So the now typical technology is getting less expensive to incorporate.
  22. regfootball
    there is still something about the Passat that screams cheap (to me). The top trims only have that feeling in scant percent. Overall I think the 300 is classier. I myself can't wait to drive the Cruze diesel.. I called a few dealers here and they said 'not till fall' WTF http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-chevrolet-cruze-diesel-first-drive-review http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/1305_2014_chevrolet_cruze_diesel_first_drive/
  23. regfootball
    he smells like his name i bet
  24. regfootball
    Love the Rio, why is the Rio nicer inside than the Forte (should be Spectra)?
  25. regfootball
    It's not 2004 when the market could support a plethora of niche vehicles. And the economy is more bread and butter right now. COnversely, you distinguish yourself with niche models more than bread and butter. Honda sells 90+ percent of volume with only like half their models. I don't want GM that way. Toyota seems rely on its volume models and they become appliances, I don't want that either. It could be argued that Buick and Cadillac as brands are niche. CTS wagon, now that is a niche that could be axed.
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