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Drew Dowdell

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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    2010 MY vehicles being financed for 84 months? That's gotta be social climbers chasing used money pits Benz S-classes just to have the badge.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    Cadillac also sold the Catera in the US. Again, reliability issues owing to the US getting the worst engine option in the GM lineup at the time (See what happens when you insist on DOHC instead of what actually performs well @smk4565?), it was actually a very good vehicle. The Australians had the right idea and put the 3800 and 3800 S/C in them instead and they were fine. It had the same wheelbase as the 3-series, but had a larger trunk and front overhang allowing for a slightly larger interior. It did compete in the same price class as the 3-series. The Omega which the Catera is based on is still a well regarded cult car in Germany.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    Putting a big engine into a small package isn't all that big a deal... GM started the practice 50+ years ago depending on which vehicle you want to count. The vast majority of CLAs sold do 0-60 in 6.4~ seconds. A Saturn Ion Red-line could do better than that 13 years ago with a base price of $20k. The AMG CLA 45 base price is $50k. I can think of lots of better ways to spend $50k than a sub-compact sedan that goes to 60 in 4.2 seconds yet doesn't even come with Leather, AndroidAuto/CarPlay, NAV, XM Radio, Auto Dimming Mirror, or Heated Seats. (Minimum total MSRP to add all those options = $57,825 )
  4. Drew Dowdell
    I think only the Miata/Fiata and FR-S/86/BRZ really qualify for slowish tossability. They're not fast straight line cars, but I'll be damned if I didn't have more fun in the BRZ than I did in a ZL-1 on the same day. The ZL-1 just had so much power that I couldn't use on unfamiliar back mountain roads where the BRZ I could push to its acceleration limit toss into a corner and not worry. Chrysler really needs to invest in the suspension of the Hellcats
  5. Drew Dowdell
    1983 BMW 320i 1982 Cadillac Cimerron Cadillac wasn't even behind the curve here on Luxury. Even the Cimarron had a better interior than the 320. Handling was another matter, but in terms of being an actual luxury car, the Cimarron was there with the Germans.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    The 3-series succeeded here on the pretense that "Euro" = "Better"... a subset of the pretense that "Import" = "better". 80's 3-series are absolutely NOT luxury cars... not by today's standards and not by the standards of 1983. A 1983 3-series was a decent handling VW Jetta. Aside from their Jetta level interior, they would also return to their Eisenoxid roots at an alarming pace. But they were expensive and handled decent... so whatever the '80s equivalent of a rich hipster is bought them. They were significantly, not luxury, just pretense. If you want a modern example... the CLA should fit the bill.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    There is no replacement for displacement..... they have other engines out there, they should have turboed them.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    The Hellcat LX cars = white knuckle, hold on so you don't spin into a tree level of performance. The Chevy SS = Fast, balanced, and most of all fun because you feel far more in control. You're part of the car rather than a rider on a bucking horse. The CTS-V you mention is the same way... sure it's only 0.3 seconds faster than the previous one... but the handling is substantially better. The prior one, while not a brutish Hellcat in it's manner, was more of a handful than the current generation.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    GMC prints money for GM. Cadillac is more profitable than you give them credit for and is a larger chunk of GM's profits than their volume suggests. This is even more true lately with Cadillac distancing themselves from the loss leader $299 a month lease specials that Benz is chasing after and sticking to their guns as much as possible on incentives (there is a certain level of incentives expected in every segment... people expect a $3,000 rebate on a car even if the price is artificially $3k higher) GM builds the Cruze because they have to. They build the ATS because they make money doing it.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    Ford largely didn't import any products to Europe. They had a known brand there and largely operated as a separate entity well into even the 1990s and 2000s. Ford was also producing for Europe what we would charitably call "sh!tboxes" in the US. You'll note that they didn't bother producing Lincolns or an equivalent there either... and that was with their status as a well accepted "import". SMK, you simply have to understand that until very very recently, European automotive tastes were vastly different. That is still largely true today except that the size differential is closing slightly. In the US, cars the size of the Fiesta and Sonic Hatch are not very popular. In the EU, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a car of that size class. A standard size family car is a Focus. Cars the size of the Fusion/Mondeo are considered full size. Contrast that with the US where the XT5 is considered a smaller mid-size crossover and the glut of the market is larger than that. There simply wasn't a market for Cadillacs in Europe based on what Cadillac has been building for the past 90 years. There was no point to a factory on the continent for that small volume of cars while shipping and import taxes were too steep to make the process worthwhile. Again, a situation that is largely unchanged.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    And still, here I am driving my German designed, Korean built, American branded car.... And like the sands through the hour Glass, these are the days of our lives...
  12. Drew Dowdell
    Mercedes G Wagon - 1979 Chevy Suburban - 1935
  13. Drew Dowdell
    You apparently have no concept of the difference of the economic power between the US and Europe or Japan after the war. There is a huge difference in exporting from war torn Europe or Japan to the US verse the US exporting top tier luxury vehicles to countries that have bread lines and closed markets. Japan's market is still largely closed.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Again. Closed markets with a nationalistic populous. The volume of Benz sales that you cite was largely the W114/W115 models. They were "powered" by 2.4 liter 6 cylinder engines that made 146hp. The interiors were barely Pontiac level. W114 1967 Grand Prix 1967 Riviera
  15. Drew Dowdell
    To drive home this point... Packard, Imperial, Auburn, Duesenberg, Lincoln, and Chrysler didn't bother sending cars over either.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    Cadillac didn't go to Europe because there was always a strong sense of nationalism there. The Germans bought Benz. The French bought Citroen. The English bought Daimler, Jaguar, Bentley, and Rolls. The Italians bought Maserati and Lancia. Swedes bought Volvos and Saabs. Most of the continent was torn up by war and the economics of sending Cadillacs by boat over the Atlantic to people who were still rationing meat, petroleum, and sugar (Britain till 1955), rebuilding cities (France, Belgium, Denmark), or were occupied countries split in half (Germany), weren't good. By 1946 the Eastern Bloc countries were off limits. @smk4565 you seem to think that all of Europe was rolling around in Adenauers, Grossers, and Silver Clouds. That might be what the movies tell you... But that wasn't anything close to reality.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    Tsk tsk Yoda. The longest continuously running name plate in automotive history has been a 3 row wagon on a truck frame since 1935.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    Lexus has zero personality. Even when they slap that ugly mug on the front, it is still a soulless vehicle. Sure it's reliable in the long term, but that doesn't matter much to the first leasee who only has it for 36 months.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    It's a manufacturer sanctioned kit car tolerated only because of the obscene profit margins made building a vehicle who's tooling was paid off in 1981.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    Well yes.. but that bucks the industry trend. That's what makes it unusual (if you prefer that word) The only other manufacturer that I can think of that does it is Nissan / Infiniti.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    GM has taken the time to pre-certify their latest diesels with the EPA, so if something comes up later, it's on the EPA.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    I was speaking of within the same brand. The Touareg has always been a very premium 2-row, but now the Atlas is coming on the scene as a 3-row, but isn't as premium as the Touareg. So I'm assuming it will remain the top dog of VW brand crossovers as it is sharing directly with an Audi on MLB, and thus, above Atlas which uses MQB.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    It seems odd to go with the Nissan pattern of "Flagship Crossover = 2 rows" and "Mid/Large-size family hauler crossover = 3 rows" (Murano / Pathfinder)
  24. Drew Dowdell
    Nice Car! Good to see someone picking up a hatch
  25. Drew Dowdell
    The problem is the huge price disparities between the models mentioned. The 7-series and S90 may be close in volume, but the 7-series is a good $30k more expensive. The Continental has the lowest base price I believe (without checking and two whiskeys in for the night)
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