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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. ^ Hey! The frame is still a cohesive unit! '71-72 Chevy K-10, white over green, lifted, historic plates, super clean, parked.
  2. It's an interesting scenario. One one hand, it appears much more like a 'proper' pick up, whereas the prior version was a bit more unique. Question stands; is that going to be more attractive for honda buyers, or less? IE; now that it feels more 'trucky', will it suffer in comparison to so many established small trucks? There's no actual cues I can put my finger on, but it has a strong early 2000's look to it.
  3. Budget-wise, would like to stay around $8K, but it could go higher if the value was there.
  4. You couldn't pay me $100K/yr plus benefits to be a mechanic on modern vehicles.
  5. The top end & concept arena of larger coupes, unfortunately, is increasingly homogenizing. Short high tail, long diving hood, angry headlights, low grille, rear fender haunches, some sort of front fender vent/scoop…. that just about is the complete recipe for designing one of these. There's going to be overlap because the range of coupes gets tighter & tighter (outside heritage designs such as the Camaro & Challenger) Add to that scenario the supposed "need" for all 'competitive' brands to offer (or display a concept) coupe, and you have more players than ever, it seems. No surprise here, whatsoever. That said, I think the Avista is very well executed.
  6. I don't recall (after looking them up) ever seeing a Taurus X in person. Those within 200 miles of me seem to all have over 100K on 'em. Transit Connect is a bit too utilitarian. B-body wagon is too large. mercedes' are too junky. Am I being a PITA with this yet?
  7. Hoping to get something one can fold the 2nd row flat & get like 6 linear feet inside. Taurus has a pretty good sized, totally flat 'bed' inside, I'm not going out in the dark now to measure linear footage, but the '93 brochure says the wagon has 81 cubic feet with the 2nd row folded. In comparison, a '16 Escape has 67; you have to go to an Explorer to get 81. Flex does hit 83. Again- cubic footage is a misdirect, I want square footage. Cubic 'advantages' as seen in CUVs are not real world practical, IMO. I'm certainly not married to Ford, BTW. HHR is small; 57 cu ft.
  8. Yes : definitely used. Prices even on 3-4 yr old stuff is surprisingly high, now that I'm looking at stuff, ESP for an intended 3rd vehicle my sons will split. I'm willing to 'spend more' (still talking out how much) to get a reliable, worry free vehicle. AWD would be nice, but not necc. Solid cargo space is a bit more of a criteria, but budget is going to rule over all. Japanese brands are off my consideration list; too many problems… not to mention; I'm an automotive bigot. We've done what I would consider really well WRT recent vehicle purchases. Bought an '03 GP in '05, 29K on it, cost $13K. Put 108K on the car, only non-maintenance repair was the infamous intake gasket ($600). Replacement '09 Malibu, bought new, stickered for about 24K, got 2K off via incentives, 1K off via GM card, plus $4600 on my F-150 trade- so we paid around $17K for it. Has been very reliable with no issues other than maintenance, still no rattles, has 102K on it now. That's 210K miles over 2 sedans for $30K.
  9. Yeah- I'm working on that….
  10. ^ How is "the worst" also 'mid-pack'… and in what venue am I competing against vehicles I didn't buy? Flex's are a bit steep in price from the few I saw online. Full-size truck is out, I think… but I'll look into them (IE: Tahoe, but definitely not a Suburban). Not looking forward to this process….
  11. '72 Cadillac Calais hardtop coupe, medium yellow, steel roof, historic plates, nice shape, rollin'.
  12. please; no.
  13. I am fearing our 3rd car, a Taurus wagon, has transaxle issues, as a filter/fluid change today did not remedy shifting issues it intermittently has. Trans has no adjustment capabilities; it was suggested that a cracked filter may suck air; old filter showed no signs (it's plastic, floating in a sea of liquid- how's it going to crack?)… but pan gasket was fairly weepy anyway. It's a '95, bought it cheap a year & a half ago (from a friend) with 70K on it, now has 86K. Not worth rebuilding the transaxle. Not worth it as a 'local only' car, either. Haven't yet determined a budget, but would like to get something with actual cargo space. I know that's not easy to accomplish anymore- most of the CUVs are jokes as far as square (not cubic) footage goes. I don't really have much else in the way of wants, other than I'm not partial to foreign brands. So with that distinct lack of criteria, who has any suggestions?
  14. If mercedes can sell a cargo van on the same lot as an s-class, with their reputation from the 1980s, Cadillac obviously can sell an actual luxury product (this pickup mentioned above) on their lots.
  15. {this is for Bill…} Let's see, Spark, Sonic, Volt, Bolt, Cruze…. Chevrolet is really becoming the Little Car Company.
  16. smk :: >>"If you have 3-4 Buick crossovers at a mid-level, why do you need 3-4 GMC crossovers at the same level?"<< smk :: >>"GM Divisions need more product."<<
  17. Exactly. 'Value retention' is always expressed in percentages, which only serve to make the people losing money feel better. If I bought a luxury sedan and only lost 20% in 3 years, all my millionaire friends would clap me on the back & congratulate my sound fiscal sense. I would just happen to fail to mention the car cost $1 million and I had $200,000 vacuumed from my account. Money (or the allusion thereof) certainly doesn't make people any smarter. You mean; leased.
  18. Ya, but with s-class base MSRPs ranging from $95.6K to $224.6K….. $118K still bears the question : how big are the total incentives on the model??
  19. huh; every single car line down, month over month. Lost another percent, now 45% a truck brand.
  20. There is definitely NO WAY to tell a car's .cd from visual appearances. That said, MB has rendered their credibility thin WRT .cd claims.
  21. Allow me to ask for clarification on the above quoted portion. If the '16 e-class fits these superlatives, in your opinion is this random '16 model below, any different or lesser so?
  22. MB has been caught (more than once) fudging their .cd numbers downward.
  23. The rear is lifted from the 2005 s-class. It's already tired; so tired it's boring. MB needs new designers / anything new.
  24. Let's hope to hell Cadillac comes to it's senses and abandons all subcompact plans, CUV and car-based alike.
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