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Member55

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Posts posted by Member55

  1. the major issue with the v6 version of the G8 is a crappy tranny and lack of powertrain refinement.....its not the engine, its the NVH tuning, and mostly, a horsesh1t transmission....if i recall its an Aisin.

    the DI had better be accompanied my a proper 6 speed automatic and hopefully, paddle shifters.

    Isn't transmission used in the G8 V6 same as the one in the gen. 1 CTS?

  2. even if you take that focus at 33k with the current rate and say you are able to sell it for 23 grand, you still won't get a lot of sales. one, people (the image conscious hipsters) spending that much on a compact don't want a ford label on their car, no matter how good it is. paranoid hipsters preserving their hipness simply want a better name on their car. 2, it crosses too far over in fusion territory price wise. fusion is ford's volume seller and needs to sell in volume and at a decent price. this is pretty much ford's entire model, selling mid market vehicles in volume for accessible prices. as good as the focus SVT was they still couldn't sell any of them because the price was way too high. There is a price ceiling for a compact ford, no matter how good it is....just like there is a price ceiling for a car like the phaeton.

    Ford won't try to sell compact cars in price slots of the boutique compacts, like the A3 that can't even crack 10k units a year.

    Ford's business model requires volume and competitive pricing. They did the math and figured it was less cash (that they did not have to begin with) to reskin the US version and that they would have a better chance meeting price point and volume figures with the US model also. They also needed to save money to somewhat reskin a bunch of other models as well because they had no money for all new models.

    Considering Jac Nasser left the company with zero resources, you can understand it wasn't a bunch of fat old guys in a room saying, 'we're really gonna screw that Oldsmoboi guy, I think we'll teach him a lesson and keep the US version'.

    Also keep in mind that the diesel would have never been an option anyways. It wasn't until like this year we had clean diesel and Ford would not have invested in making any of their diesels salable here due to cost of that. Even VW had to take tdi of the market for a year.

    One more thing, Ford can't move up the Focus until it has a car smaller than Focus in the lineup.

  3. Over the 3? yes

    VW? Maybe, I haven't driven the Golf, but with the reliability problems we had with my Ex's Passat, it would be an uphill battle for it.

    Remember, I'm coming from a CTS, I'd buy the loaded out model anyway.

    This is the Focus I drove.

    Posted Image

    2 Liter <I think> turbo diesel that was as refined as any Honda 4-cylinder and easily quieter. No it didn't pull to 8,000 rpm, it didn't need to, it felt like a V6.

    It starts at 23k Euro which is about 33k dollars but remember that exchange rates are fluid. If they produced it here <or in Mexico> it would be substantially less expensive for us.

    If the price was say, 27k dollars, would you pay that for a hard top cabrio with NAV, leather, great handling, and a 4 cylinder diesel that pulls like a V6 and gets 40mpg or better?

    Want to keep the $10,000 Focuses? Fine. Brand the Euro-Focus as a Mercury and BAM, Mercury is relevant again.

    Edit: I like the *look* of the Astra, but the engine and weird option combinations give me pause. I'd have to drive it first. If we had gotten the Astra Twintop, then yeah, I'd go Saturn.

    You put that car in Mercury's showroom and ask ~$30K for it and you'll sell 5 units per year, if you're lucky.

  4. i think it's recongnizing what market is available to them, realizing the prices that they can get, and building enough car to sell them at enough profit and volume to keep the dealer doors open.

    what people are so lame to forget is that lincoln's lineup as it is now was not conceived to duel MB/BMW/Cadillac and was all conceived under the premise of Jaguar as the premeir Ford luxury brand. It's probably been intentionally positioned to be somewhere between Buick and Volvo and Acura and quite honestly its not law for them to have an M5 equivalent or an XLR equivalent, etc. I think L/M sales were up on the newer models last i checked. So if they sell the expected volume, make the sales, make profit and keep the dealerships healthy.......and there is only a limited market of top dollar luxury cars, if this keep Lincoln existing rather than dying, then you all will just have to accept it.

    Yeah they left the LS die on the vine and did not replace it. that was wrong to do but i think they are working on it. give it time.

    last I checked Lincoln has put out 3 new models in the last 2 years. Caddy has only put out 1 i think. Acuras sedans are graying. Look how ancient the DTS is and how it won't be fixed till like 2010.

    Considering how Jac Nasser starved the company and how inept bill F was running it initially, you have to accept that this is all they get for now and like GM it will take time to rebuild the lineup.

    I would venture to say the MKs will have as many takers as the new CTS. they will be for different reasons, but 60,000 of CTS sales is no better or worse than MKs sales. In light of what they had to work with and if they sell that many, I doubt they would whine about that over at Ford.

    Cadillac deserves almost as much criticism as Lincoln these days. Clearly Lincoln is down because of lack of investment, on the other hand GM made a huge investment in Cadillac just to end up with no 3-series competitor, no 7-series competitor and two cars competing with 5-series of which one is not good enough to do the job and the other one nobody even knows it's competing with 5-series.

  5. Front end looks pretty good, interior is still pretty boring even with the sculpture in the upper IP, and rear and body are very boring. Hit or miss I'm sure. Just pretty bland and they should be looking to wow the entire competition. Look at the CTS and take notes, Lincoln.

    Lincoln is getting sales on cheap. Considering the situation that might be a responsible thing to do. If they get lucky MKZ/MKX/MKS combined will sell ~100K units, that's about the same as what CTS/STS/SRX are doing for a while now. I bet that assuming a similar volume Lincolns trio is more profitable.

  6. ... yea well the impala proved that DOHC isnt champion...

    i dont know size dementions or power output, but i'm pretty sure it wins the hp/gallon war... but sometimes thats not the ultimate desire

    The only thing the Impala proved is that fleets don't care what kind of engine is in there. Personally I have nothing against pushrod engines but the standards are set by the market leaders.
  7. Don't the Edge and Escape compete for the same crossover buyers? I think the Edge will put the final nail in the Escape's coffin.

    Escape is cheaper by ~$3.5K, IMO Ford is trying to have a crossover for every budget. It might be not a bad idea since the crossover market is the next money making machine in the auto business. Ford and GM used to rule the SUV market and while that level of dominance is probably not possible today I don't see why they can't be major players in the growing crossover market.

  8. I am dumbfounded about how the MKX can sell 3k when the SRX can only sell 2.2k. I guess the MKX is quite a bit cheaper, but it's a whole hell of a lot less vehicle.

    The Edge looks like it is off to a strong start. For Ford's sake I hope it continues, though I'm not sure it's as good of a vehicle as the sales would indicate, but perhaps I'm too harsh on it.

    I honestly think that the Edge and MKX hit the sweet spot size wise. I always thought that if the SRX was shorter and didn't have a third row it would sell much better.

  9. As Fly already demonstrated:

    If the fuel economy in a family car is what you really care about just get yourself a 4 cyl. Accord. A few grand cheaper with a slightly inferior mileage but there is no battery to replace down the road and no extra maintenance bills that you are almost guarantied to have with any hybrid car. IMO Over ~10 years of driving a 4 cyl. Accord will end up being cheaper than a hybrid Aura.

  10. It was too big of a jump, for years Passat was their premium vehicle and next thing you know here comes the Phaeton. IMO it would make more sense if they came out with the 5-series competitor.

  11. Those are all add-ons, and do not pertain to the cost of the engine design, which was the statement I referred to in my previous post.

    High performance internal combustion, gasoline-fueled engines require similar external hardware, like catalytic convertors, and O2 sensors, to comply with mandated political agendas. So, those costs factor out as a wash.

    There is no way the BLUETEC technology cost the same the emissions technology used on the modern gasoline engines.

  12. From Green Car Congress...

    "Mercedes-Benz has developed BLUETEC in two versions: in the E-Class an oxidation-type catalytic converter and particulate filter are combined with an improved, extremely durable NOx trap system and an additional Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalytic converter.

    The second BLUETEC version is based on a urea-SCR system, and this is the one that will deliver Bin 5 compliance."

    MB, VW, and BMW will have urea-SCR systems by 2008, making them 50-state legal/Bin 5.

    Nice, thanks for the info.

  13. I would like a CTS diesel as described in the article so that I could have a great looking, great performing car that could run completely on BioDiesel.

    Advantages:

    1. greater range; I assume they wouldn't change the fuel tank, they almost never do. I can get 360miles out of a tank on the CTS now. 700-800 miles to a tank would be awesome!

    2. Not burning fossil fuels; biodiesel doesn't release any new carbon into the atmosphere. My vehicle becomes as close to carbon neutral as one can get.

    3. Not burning foreign oil; My partner and 2 of this brothers already served in the middle east. I don't want them to have to return.

    4. Longevity of the engine; diesels require a fuel filter change every 50k miles or so and are known to last hundreds of thousands of miles. Fuel filter change costs about as much as an oil change. Hybrids require a battery change every 100k miles or so. Costs = about $2,000. How many 300k mile Pruises are there out there? $6000 in battery changes to do 300k miles? No thanks.

    I respect your opinion but none of the points you made would make me spend more on a car than what I'm already spending. The only way I would consider a diesel would be if it's going to save me some money.

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