Drew Dowdell

Because not everyone needs or wants a race car. Why is Mercedes offering a 200hp 1.8 Turbo?

C/E/S-class fleet sales exist across Europe. The C-Class is the "Chevy Impala" of the rental car business over there with the E-class being the "Buick Lucerne". The C-Class/E-Class/S-Class image over there is flawed. They are not aspirational cars. If you personally drive a black C-Class sedan or Wagon, the common assumption is that it is a corporate lease that you get with your middle management job at the bank. The SL and CLS and other niche vehicles do have a good image, but they are not sold in any volume like the executive saloons and taxis are. Mercedes makes its volume the good old fashioned way.... by fleeting to fleety fleets with fleets of fleet cars.

I need the rear most universal joint for my '81 Toronado.

We'll have a Sonic Turbo coming on Thursday.

give it time... I can certainly see a FWD small SUV at Benz some time in the future. The SL and S-Class won't go FWD and neither will the Cadillac flagship or any future roadster.

Zero in the US, I would think. He's quoting global numbers, so the U.S. is relatively irrelevant. not.going.to.happen. Cadillac needs to be itself and not try and emulate M-B. Unfortunately, being part of GM means there will be FWD volume models because GM is a mass-market FWD car maker. So Cadillac's product mix is going to be closer to Lexus in the near term than BMW or M-B... So MB is going to be emulating Cadillac then by introducing more FWD models?

December 19th, 2011 - Drew Dowdell - CheersandGears.com - It looks like the end is nigh for troubled Swedish automaker SAAB who filed for bankruptcy in Vänersborg, Sweden today. After receiving a number of life lines in the way of funding promises via various Chinese banks and auto manufacturers, the final life line by Youngman Automotive was cut when General Motors officially stated that they would not approve the deal. Just last week, the court appointed administrator for SAAB's voluntary reorganization, Guy Lofalk, quit giving SAAB another two weeks to finalize the deal with Youngman Automotive. The official press release from SAAB is on page 2 Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 19 December 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile), Saab Automobile Tools AB and Saab Powertrain AB filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden this morning. After having received the recent position of GM on the contemplated transaction with Saab Automobile, Youngman informed Saab Automobile that the funding to continue and complete the reorganization of Saab Automobile could not be concluded. The Board of Saab Automobile subsequently decided that the company without further funding will be insolvent and that filing bankruptcy is in the best interests of its creditors. It is expected that the Court will approve of the filing and appoint receivers for Saab Automobile very shortly. Swan does not expect to realize any value from its shares in Saab Automobile and will write off its interest in Saab Automobile completely. Source: SAAB Global Media View full article

How many of those C and E classes were Taxis?

did he say it in a deep melodic voice?

In case you haven't noticed, unemployment isn't temporary lately.

Happy belated

I've got spiders in my socks.

you've gotta watch them as they come back up out of the depression sink hole. Sometimes the depression eases up enough that they get the energy and motivation to try it again. There are people out there who are too depressed to even bother to kill themselves and putting them on medication without constant observation can lead to disaster.

Wagon is the word while the kids are still small. Subaru, Volvo, Flex, A4, Passat or Jetta. If you do go minivan, the new Quest is actually very handsome for a minivan.

Over the next few days I'm going to be cleaning up and consolidating some forums. Check this thread for where things end up.

You can't make the claim that Cadillac should have the sales volume of Mercedes and then refuse to acknowledge that Mercedes has gained almost all of that sales volume by moving down market. Do you really want a Cadillac version of the Spark and Granite? Because that is what it will take to get Cadillac's volume to match Benz's.

now you can solve practical problems

Been in your same situation before. Also been in one where two prescriptions that shouldn't have been mixed, were accidentally mixed.... and the effect of the mixed drugs sent the user into confused panic where he was probably going to hurt himself.

We had a neighbor with a green diesel Checker. I hated that car.

If Cadillac wants to be like Mercedes, they better be developing a STV (Savanna Touring Van) and fleeting the CTS and XTS out to Taxi companies. Edit: Oh yeah, and they'll need their own version of the Spark and Granite. Maybe they could reuse the tooling from Hummer to make their "old military vehicle turned luxury" SUV. And a garbage truck..... GOTTA make a garbage truck to compete with Benz.

I rented a 2011 F-150 Crew Cab for the weekend to do some haulin. It has me thinking about a truck again. This truck is too big to get around comfortably in my driveway though, as much as I liked it. The Avalanche is 22 inches shorter and I could really feel the difference.

I think we should be doing everything we can to encourage new car company start ups in this country. Even if they start off just building cop cars. There is always a market even on the civilian side for durable and efficient. These could be the new Checker Cab for areas that don't have the NY Taxi board.

That means an Impala with 37mpg

jeers