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2QuickZ's

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Everything posted by 2QuickZ's

  1. 2QuickZ's
    I doubt they make any money on the Mirage so lets hope they aren't counting on that for their future in the U.S. market. I can't even begin to understand what buyer picks that car over anything else in its class. Is it really that much cheaper than everything else? I guess I'm not even interested enough to investigate. Honda matched all of Mitsubishi's sales last month in only three days of Accord sales. How's that for perspective?
  2. 2QuickZ's
    Overall the numbers are great but as others have stated, I'm sure a good bit of that is incentive and fleet driven on older models. For me the telling vehicles are the new or recently refreshed ones. Durango being down and Grand Cherokee being relatively flat are a little surprising for an otherwise great month but I guess there was one less selling day than last year. Dart is better now that cheap Avengers are just about out of stock so that is expected. Cherokee continues to sell quite well. I keep waiting for the fall off but it hasn't happened. Honestly, I think the brightest item for Chrysler is that 200 sales are up slightly and most of that has to be the 2015 model which I don't think is being fleeted much yet.
  3. 2QuickZ's
    F-Series down? I wonder if that is due to inventory getting low or if their customers are buying the aluminum hype and holding off for a 2015? If the latter, that should mean there will be some great deals on 2014's soon. As for Lincoln, I guess there isn't much I can say that hasn't been said in the last year. Even with the new MKC, sales where still down for the month. If I had to guess, I'd say 2/3 of those MKC sales happened in the metro Detroit area. I'm seeing them everywhere.
  4. 2QuickZ's
    What change? Are their upcoming refreshes going to do it? The three row that won't be on the market for a couple more years? That's the problem with VW. Do they even have a clear strategy for this market? Somehow they have Audi figured out but can't get the mainstream brand online.
  5. 2QuickZ's
    I agree. With the Ram being a truck I just don't think it will need to be advertised much for buyers to know it exists. I think that specific market has a more powertrain savy customer base and people pay attention to what is being offered without advertising dollars being spent to make them aware. In the case of my Cruze and the Grand Cherokee, most people aren't going to be coming into the dealership looking for a diesel. Either the dealership or the OEM need to make the consumer aware that it exists and what its benefits are. Unfortunately, it appears the OEM's can't afford to or won't pay for the advertising. That leaves it up to the dealer. Now your potential market has already shrunk just to people that actually come through one of your dealerships doors and what is the incentive for the dealership to push the diesel option? Yes, they want to sell vehicles with higher transaction prices so they make more money but I'd venture a guess that it is much easier to do that with "luxury" content than with a diesel engine. A dealer's primary goal is always going to be a quick, sure sale. Honestly, I almost wonder if they hope diesel passenger cars fail. That way they can say, "Well, we tried and nobody bought them." Kind of a self fulfilling prophecy where they went in to it thinking "It's not going to sell in the U.S. but we will give it a try anyway" and then since they don't think it will succeed why spend money advertising it?
  6. 2QuickZ's
    The tough part for them is they have so many makes and models in their portfolio that it is tough for them to put a significant chunk of marketing dollars on any one model for anything more than its initial launch. Now take a subset of the model like my diesel and it is even tougher, though I would argue that as something new to segment in a Big 3 vehicle (really anything outside of VW in a non premium brand car) it would be even MORE important to spend that money and make people aware. I don't really recall seeing any significant advertising for the Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel or the Ram 1500 diesel. Maybe a little on the Ram and that is about it. Everything else has been through car reviews.
  7. 2QuickZ's
    Three more tanks to report, two of which are somewhat interesting changes of pace: Tank one (same old, same old): 508.7 miles on 14.055 gallons (@ $3.63/gallon) = 36.2 MPG. Split was probably 65/35 but with fairly heavy traffic. Per EVIC, average speed was 32.2 mph. Tank two (partial tank): 100% city driving in heavy traffic. 125.9 miles on 4.136 gallons (@ $3.869/gallon) = 30.44 mpg. Per EVIC, average speed was 24.1 mph. This small tank was for two reason. One was to see how 100% city driving in heavy traffic would turn out and two was to give me a clean calculation for tank 3 below. Tank three: Trip from Detroit area to Chicago --> 551.6 miles on 12.489 gallons = 44.17 mpg. 99% Interstate. Per EVIC average speed was 56.7 mph. I have to say I was initially a little disappointed with this result until I mentally calculated in a few factors that probably hurt the economy by at least a few mpg. 1) Got stuck in a traffic jam where it took ~50 minutes to go approx. 5 miles with a lot of stop and go. 2) Typical Chicago traffic due to later than anticipated arrival because of issue 1 (caught the early stages of rush hour). 3) Air conditioning on for 90% of the trip. My average speed while in Michigan was in the 75 - 80 mph range other than the one massive traffic jam. It was in the 65 - 70 mph range through Indiana and Illinois other than the metro Chicago area. We did not drive around Chicago other than to the hotel and then on to our parking spot. One cool thing was that when I arrived at the gas station to fill up after putting the 552 miles on that tank, the EVIC still showed 135 miles of range.
  8. 2QuickZ's
    Next tank in: 36.2 MPG with an approx. 70/30 city/highway split with an average speed of 32.2 MPH. This includes a couple of pretty bad traffic jams on this tank. 508.7 miles on 14.055 gallons at $3.63/gallon. EVIC said 34.6 MPG.
  9. 2QuickZ's
    I hope GM really goes through with this and I would love to see Chrysler crank out more diesels since they seem to be already headed that direction. Ford should get in the action, too. They just all need to be patient and understand it is going to take time to win people over in this country. They need to find a way to reduce the cost premium to buy a diesel so they can trickle it down into the lower trim levels. I couldn't be happier with the performance of my Cruze diesel. Do you hear some clatter outside the car or when the windows are down? Yes. Do you hear it in the cabin when the windows are up? Not really. In fact, I think you could argue it is quieter inside than the gas version. From the one decent length steady trip I have taken in the car, I think it could easily pull 50+ MPG on a longer trip. Now imagine what kind of FE could it could get with an 8 or 9 speed trans? They could actually use 9th gear since the diesel is not going to care it is only at 1400 RPM! Torque FTW!
  10. 2QuickZ's
    How did I get drug into this? lol I love my '12 Charger R/T. My GM retiree Dad and my Mom both love his '12 T&C and her '14 Durango. I think Chrysler has come a loooong way since Fiat entered the picture. Do they still have a ways to go? Absolutely. You can't change everything overnight but I get more and more encouraged with each new vehicle they put out. I used to get frustrated because of how quickly Hyundai and Kia were able to turn around their quality reputation while for the Big 3, it is taking much, much longer to for perception to catch up with reality. It finally dawned on me that the reason was probably quite simple: When Hyundai and Kia were making abysmal quality vehicles, they only had what, 0.5% market share? When the Big 3 were doing it in the '70's and '80's, they probably had up to 80% of the market. It takes much longer to forget when you have personally been burned (sometimes multiple times) than when you simply read about other people having quality issues with a brand you've never owned. Either way I am going to continue to cheer for all of the Big 3. Even the one that has been foreign owned for quite a while now.
  11. 2QuickZ's
    Thanks for getting the vehicle breakdown posted. I continue to be amazed that Encore is outselling Verano.
  12. 2QuickZ's
    I wonder what VW's sales volumes would look like if they weren't selling TDI's?
  13. 2QuickZ's
    So Accord and MDX are up, pretty much everything else is down. Yikes! What is going on at Honda? Have they strayed too far from their roots are losing their luster? Obviously Acura doesn't help. Of course, they did manage to sell 7 ZDX's last month!
  14. 2QuickZ's
    I just read a story a couple of days ago where someone said the Ghibli is the worst car they had ever driven. Over dramatization for sure and the whole article was stupid. Obviously there are a lot of folks out there that like it. If I had $70k to spend on a vehicle, I'd consider one. I like the oddballs, though, which is why I'm a former Saab owner and still a Saab lover.
  15. 2QuickZ's
    I'm not a huge fan of their interior styling but they do make good overall vehicles. I love the Fiesta ST and like the Focus. Their SUV/CUV lineup isn't too bad and with how loyal truck buyers tend to be, I think they would really have to screw it up to lose the sales lead in that category.
  16. 2QuickZ's
    I wonder how many of those 200 sales are the new model vs. the old? It would be interesting to know. Cherokee is still selling like gang busters. It must be getting good word of mouth for such a polarizing design to sell so well. Dart sales are up but still pretty disappointing. I wonder when it will get new powertrains?
  17. 2QuickZ's
    Is there a vehicle by vehicle chart? All I am seeing is the brand summaries. Cadillac sales being down is a bit baffling to me. Since when does better product = lower sales? I guess it must be that CTS moved up in size and price and ATS matches the previous gen CTS prices in a smaller package? I don't know. It can't all be explained away by the powertrains and CUE. Neither of those is THAT bad.
  18. 2QuickZ's
    Interesting. Without A3 sales they theoretically would have been down for the month but I suppose it is tough to say how many of those A3 buyers would have chosen something else in the Audi lineup if the A3 weren't available.
  19. 2QuickZ's
    It's not the tuner companies I don't trust. It is GM honoring the warranty. That is why I would only do a GMPP tune.
  20. 2QuickZ's
    Let's not forget that any attempt to "streamline" the Chrysler brands and fold them into VW in the U.s. would likely be a disaster. Even though Chrysler has been mostly foreign owned for the last couple of decades, if you killed off the Chrysler and Dodge brands and threw VW badges on the same products, sales would plummet. It's not that easy. VW would have to keep Dodge and especially Ram around along with Jeep. The Chrysler brand would be the only one ripe for a shut down but even at that, you would be killing the namesake brand and would probably take consumer perception of the other brands down with it.
  21. 2QuickZ's
    Well, I finished the tank off today. In the end, my regular commute for the rest of the tank killed the final mileage number. All told it went 578.3 miles on 14.221 gallons for an average of 40.67 MPG. The VIC was actually higher than calculated on this tank saying I got 40.9 MPG. Average speed for the tank was 41.2 MPH and we'll call it a 50/50 city/highway split. Due to the VIC being way off on fuel economy the last tank compared to calculated, my guess is I didn't get a completely full tank last tank. That being said, I'd say my last tank was a little lower than calculated, this one a little higher than calculated. You know, if GM would come out with one, say a stage 1 or something like that and it would not cause any problems with the warranty, that is something I would jump at if the price was right. I wouldn't want to take a chance on something aftermarket.
  22. 2QuickZ's
    Optima would have already been my choice over the Sonata. This redo just confirms it for me. Hopefully they don't kill the looks of the Optima for its refresh. I'd take a Mazda6 or 200 over either of them but I prefer not to drive what everybody else is driving (says the guy with the Cruze).
  23. 2QuickZ's
    Another updated on the Cruze. No more problems with the O2 sensor code popping up since they replaced it. My next tank is in: 508.2 miles on 12.761 gallons (@ $3.69/gal - about midgrade gas price) for an average of 39.82 MPG. This tank was probably more like 65/35 city/highway split and better traffic. The EVIC in the car said 35 MPH average speed and 37.1 MPG. The EVIC MPG has never been this far off before but when I filled up this morning it showed full and a range of 551 miles which is right around what it always shows. It usually is off by 1 - 1.5 MPG on the low side, not 2.7 MPG low like this time. Anyway, I finally got to take it on a decent but short trip that was mostly interstate and 2 lane highway today. I filled up before I left. The results per the EVIC were 224.1 miles with an average speed of 51.1 MPH at 47.4 MPG. Assuming this was more like my typical EVIC vs. calculated MPG mismatch, that should mean I got at least 48 MPG on this trip! Again per the EVIC, my best 50 mile average was 53.1 MPG!
  24. 2QuickZ's
    The next tank is in: 539.5 miles on 14.575 gallons = 37.0 MPG. I guess 70/30 split with better traffic but using A/C 50% of the time. VIC showed 35.2 MPH average and 35.7 MPG. No return of the engine light and all is going well.
  25. 2QuickZ's
    I do hear CUE is a bit laggy. That has not been my experience with the MYLINK in my Cruze. It is not as quick or intuitive as the Uconnect in my Charger but I don't think much is. The main complaint that I hear about the CUE system is regarding the capacitive buttons not being at all responsive. I had this experience myself the one time I tried it. I'm not sure if my iron level was low that day or what but it would take me multiple attempts stabbing at the capacitive buttons to get it to finally acknowledge my command. Since it has haptic feedback, I know it was just slow responding. It just flat out did not recognize my touch.
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