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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    I don't like gloss black on any car, but other than the the shape and styling look pretty good and fits the Kia brand. This wold be sales fire if there was a tax credit, I think it will do okay but a Seltos is so much cheaper, that is what they are up against.
  2. smk4565
    Does Subaru have more EV models than Tesla now? LOL.
  3. smk4565
    I agree that a 2.0 turbo in a GLE is nuts. Yes it can get a sub 7 second 0-60 time but I am sure it revs like crazy to do it, and the inline 6 gets the same mileage. I hit a deer last November which totaled my E550. I did a 2 year lease on a sales demo C300 because I am waiting for EV's to get better then I am going EV and never going back, especially if the Bozo drives gas to $6 a gallon. The 2 liter mile hybrid is totally fine for a C-class (or GLC) not fast or exciting but more than adequate to get around. In a big SUV I think it would be a dog, and VW doesn't have electric assist. Although not like a Taos is fast either. And probably why EV's will take over easily when batteries get cheap. Even weak EV's like the Bolt are much faster than a garden variety 4 cylinder crossover and 1000 times better NVH.
  4. smk4565
    Kind of boring design still, which is a VW theme, a lot of forgettable cars. The 2 liter turbo is probably fine in every day driving, but if this thing were loaded with people or going up hills, then I bet that engine has to work really hard and I don't know if they have gotten better, but long term reliability was never a hallmark of the VW/Audi 2.0 engine.
  5. smk4565
    They better hurry before Nissan gets a new Xterra or Toyota gets a new FJ. This off roader segment is getting pretty flooded, but Hyundai should do this and a pick up. Chevy missed out with the Blazer, not sure what they were thinking.
  6. smk4565
    The Cadillac Vistiq is a 3 row crossover with like a 3.7 second 0-60 time. All these EV's are really faster than they have to be, they just need to get prices down and these 4 cylinder over stressed gas motors in 3 row SUVs will be a thing of the past.
  7. smk4565
    This thing is so dated. I can't believe people will pay $50k after destination for the Select trim, let along $60k for Pinnacle trim. But there will probably be $5-6,000 cash on the hood to try to move these. I also think in 2033 they will do another facelift and the Pentastar will carry over.
  8. smk4565
    This never made sense in the first place. Honda scrapping all their EV plans will probably come back to haunt them in 5-10 years when the Chinese take their market share.
  9. smk4565
    The GT-R was on the market for 16 years. I don't see why they can't let this soldier on until 2035 with some "special colors" and "unique badging"
  10. smk4565
    They over priced these, and the market seems pretty stale on the Z now.
  11. smk4565
    The VLE probably has better interior space for passengers than a GLS or Escalade, and can offer roomier seating like a big first class airline seats. Better kid hauler too. But this won't sell in the US. Probably works in China. I don't know what the price is going to be, but I feel like people won't pay it, they'll buy an SUV even if it doesn't suit their needs as well.
  12. smk4565
    This should sell pretty well. Even a Rav4 can hit $50k now, a well equipped Bronco Sport is over $40k. So $50k for one of these seems like a pretty good deal.
  13. smk4565
    Grand Highlander is slightly bigger, but still close enough in size that you wouldn't need both if they had the same powertrain.
  14. smk4565
    I think this is a smart move to make the Highlander EV since you have the Rav4 and Grand Highlander hybrids, you don't need another hybrid SUV, especially when they have 4Runner and Land Cruiser and Sequoia hybrids. A big reason EV's don't sell is they make the, look quirky or super futuristic or like a space ship or something thinking that is what early adopters wants, and then they dish out terrible names like bZ4x. If you really want to sell EV's, you make it look generic and use a proven name like Highlander. People coming back that have owned 3 Highlanders in the past will probably buys this just because they buy Highlanders.
  15. smk4565
    I like the bigger grille, but the black surround piece copied from the E-class looks dumb, and not a fan of the little stars in the grille. The hyper screen looks dumb like all other massive screens. At least it still has a V8, and a new flat plane crank one that sound sound pretty good, so skip the 6 cylinder and the hybrid which I assume is an E53 powertrain carbon copy. Hopefully they put that V8 in more cars, AMG killed 4-cylinder cars, so that is a start.
  16. smk4565
    I think this design will look better on a sedan than an SUV, but I like the direction they are going. And this is one generation, I bet the same happens to the generation after this, and we start seeing EV cost and weight going down. 10% less weight 20% lower cost 40% more energy efficient
  17. smk4565
    Consider that in 2015 a 55 inch 4K TV was $1000 for the cheapest one out there, and like $2500 for a Sony or Samsung. Now they are 1/3 that price. Laptop computers were $2000 25 years ago, now you can get them for $500. The cost of this tech comes down over time and with economies of scale. These EV's that are $40,000 today, will be $30,000 in 10 years, while today's $30,000 ICE cars will be $40,000 in 10 years. Once they scale out the batteries and motors and they get super cheap, ICE won't be able to compete.
  18. smk4565
    If there was no tariff on Chinese cars, I think by 2050 GM and Ford would be done. It would take the Chinese companies 10 years to build factories and dealer network, but once they had that and cars were flowing in, the domestics would be screwed. GM has a few winners at least like the Trax and the Yukon/Suburban that are segment leaders, a decent EV line up. But not offering car play, having some hit or miss quality vehicles, some lackluster stuff like the Equinox and Blazer, etc, there is enough for the Chinese to exploit. Ford would be easy to put away, they rely on fleet and commercial sales, if Chinese come in with low prices, business buyers who care about the bottom line will buy them.
  19. smk4565
    Ford (and everyone else) went into EV's because they saw Tesla's $1.5 trillion market cap, and the investors were like "what the hell Jim, why does Ford have a $50 billion market cap while this start up that sells 1 million cars a year is worth 30 times more? We want return on our investment!" Ford could see F150 sales double and my guess is their market cap would move from $53 billion to $55 billion. If you aren't on the cutting edge of technology it will be too easy for others to just eliminate you. Ford gave up on sedans because they couldn't compete with the Asians, gave up on the Ecosport, the Escape ended production this month also, because they admit they can't compete in those segments. Ford is going to be pickups, commercial vans, and Bronco. Would be really easy to the Chinese to copy pickups and vans and come in at a much lower price and wipe out those pick up and van sales.
  20. smk4565
    So the Lightning was too expensive and the solution is to add an ICE motor and more complexity on top of that. Can't wait to see the $99,995 F-150 XLT EREV.
  21. smk4565
    Yep overdone gimmick. And Mercedes is a bit too gimmick heavy on the CLA/GLB unless this is a plan to attract people that never bought a Mercedes and leave the C and E-class as classic, clean styling. But the CLA some years barely outsells the S-class, so I don't know if they feel like they need to take a gamble and go off script.
  22. smk4565
    The front and rear light bars are a mess of design. But other than that, much like the CLA, great EV specs for range and charging. If priced like a CLA, it will be pretty good value, tariffs will probably make it a little more than what it should be. From an engineering standpoint, they are for sure on track with the EV and software side, something the EQ cars failed at. I've seen reviews that say the chassis of the CLA is outstanding and this is the same platform, so this new platform seems to be getting Mercedes back to form.
  23. smk4565
    The front light bar is dumb, that trend is already overdone, Hundyia and Kia, VW, F150 Lightning, etc. Too many cars do it and it doesn't look good on any of them really. Other than that I think this car looks pretty good. The range, charge times and EV specs are great. I think if the Exclusive trim options were standard at the base price this would be a home run. For $50k people are going to expect ambient light, rear arm rest, dual zone climate and keyless go. With options these become $55-60k which is right in C300 4Matic territory, which is more luxurious, bigger and better looking car. If the CLA EV was in the $50-55k with options and the gas version in the mid 40s I think it would be a strong seller. They publicly stated they want to sell over 400k units in the North America by 2030 and take back the sales crown. Maybe tariffs are part of the problem, that without them this car drops $3k in price and looks like a winner.
  24. smk4565
    Hyunfias and Toyotas are $50k now. The price of these cars is nuts. I am surprised the Chevy Trax isn’t the #1 selling car.
  25. smk4565
    Pretty soon everything will have 1,000 hp.
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