the automotive thread

[GL]

i don't know if there are any other members out there who are car junkies such as myself. i know being an automotive enthusiast encompasses a great deal of areas. for me i have always been fascinated by new models and the industry itself. so i'm opening this one up to see who else is interested and maybe start a discussion.

today i caught this one on c|net's car tech blog:

2009 VW Golf images leaked to Net

i'm really excited about the cleaner look! i love vw's truth be told and i would love to get my hands on this one when it comes to the states. truth be told i would dearly love to have a gti!

 

[Ares]

buy american

 

[Beezer]

The last piece of American junk I purchased was in 1973; a red Oldsmobile that was the bane of my existance for 2 years. Bought a Jap
Jag in '75 and have been driving import brands ever since. One I have now is Japanese brand but assembled in Ohio.

 

[racer2438]

Automotive talk>>> cool.

we love old classic musele cars, but love moe the new styles.

I have a Dodge Magnum that I have done a lot of upgrades to it.

My bf has a Chrysler 300 and he did his up grades. Both cars are very nice looking and we get a lot of looks and people checking them out.

We are also addicted to NASCAR.

 

[Ares]

The last piece of American junk I purchased was in 1973

I think they've improved a bit since then

I would never not buy an American car. My current car (Pontiac Grand Prix) is over 10 years old with 130,000 miles on it and is still going strong.

I would stick with them now, especially, since the industry is impoding around them and Detroit is in desperate need of support. Sure, a lot of it is their own fault but come on, some of their products are just as good if not better than their rivals. Their (often unfair) bad reputation is going to be a tough hurdle to get over though.

 

[fadeinout30]

Okay, I am gonna put my two cents here since I actually work at a car dealership for Honda/Acura. Buying America today is just crap rhetoric. If you buy Honda or even Toyota you are still buying America per say and creating jobs as many foreign companies are established here with manufacturing.

I just happen to run the pre-owned admin office and let me give you heads up...stay away from Ford, GM, VW, Plymouth, Dodge, Pontiac just to name a few. Not necessarily bad vehicles but if you plan on keeping such beyond 3 years or 30K miles, you are risking very high maintenance costs. Also not to mention the drop in value of those vehicles above compared to say a Honda, Toyota, Acura, and Lexus which hold their value much better. I bought my 04 Honda Civic sedan 2.5 years ago for $15K. I owe $7600. We are selling such vehicle with 30K more miles on it today for $13K. Oh and btw, I get 38-40 mpg on the highway.

I will say this, if you are in the market for a SUV/Pickup, now is the time to buy as prices have dropped BIG TIME especially in the pre-owned area.

The VW above is a hot looking car too.

 

[Ares]

I just happen to run the pre-owned admin office and let me give you heads up...stay away from Ford, GM, VW, Plymouth, Dodge, Pontiac just to name a few. Not necessarily bad vehicles but if you plan on keeping such beyond 3 years or 30K miles, you are risking very high maintenance costs.

I'm sorry but that complete crap rhetoric as well.

I've had GM made cars my entire life and so have my family and many of my friends. I have never heard of a car having trouble in that short amount of time or with that few miles on it.

 

[GL]

Car buyers sued Ford on Monday complaining that a limited edition of a modified Ford Mustang was not so limited after all.

The class action lawsuit on behalf of a New York man and other buyers of the 2007 Roush Stage 3 BlackJack vehicles claimed they paid a premium price of nearly $59,000 (30,000 pounds) last year because Ford advertised that only 100 would be made.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accused Ford and Roush Performance Products Inc of manufacturing at least 100 more of the vehicles in 2008.

Car buyers sue Ford over limited edition vehicle

its certainly a nice looking ride!

 

[Ares]

^ I agree. It's a cool car.

GM finds surprising success in China
SHANGHAI, China - The old symbols are still there: the monuments, the uniforms, even the red flag.

But on the streets of today’s China there are a growing number of new icons that Mao Zedong never dreamed of, with prestigious names like Rolex, Louis Vuitton — and Buick.

That’s right, Buick. Look anywhere in China and there they are: Buick sedans, Buick station wagons, even Buick police cars.
<snip>

Just ask Zhoucheng Ye, a 36-year-old businessman from Shanghai province.

He and his brother traveled three hours to a Chevrolet dealership here in Shanghai to buy his very first car, a brand new Chevy Aveo.

“I saw Chevrolet is very heavily used, I saw a lot of them on the streets,” Zhoucheng told us through a translator. “Chevrolet has very good quality and quality is very important for Chinese.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25950947/

Not really my style but I found the article pretty interesting. Personally, I'm thinking a Pontiac G6 for my next car.

 

[miatajeff]

I'm a carfag big time. I have nothing against buying American. I drive an American Union made vehicle from Indiana. I love my Subaru!

Seriously I think Ford has some great vehicles that could stand some styling improvements, GM is improving but doesn't have vehicles in the right segments-they are still stuck in big trucks and massive cars. I even shopped Saturn, but for all of the improvements at Saturn I didn't buy one. Better than they were, but not nearly as good as the Japanese cars I looked at.

My Subie gets better than 30mpgs highway (26+ around town) with all of the space, safety and AWD I required. Also, Subie is both an environmentally and gay friendly company.
Oh and it cost me half of what I paid for my last Volvo.

I will say that if Chrysler folds I won't feel like the automotive community would be losing anything at all. The only worthy vehicle they sell imho is their minivan. the Sebring is an embarassment and their small cars are gas guzzlers that consistently rate at the bottom of every independent test.

I know that the Koreans are coming on strong but I don't like to support their companies and find the styling generally unattractive. I will never buy a Chinese car until the Chinese Government gets their head out of their ass.

Hey American Homos-remember that your greatest power is your dollar! Ford (including Volvo and Mazda), GM, Subaru and Toyota are the most gay friendly car companies.

Honda is the only major manufacturer to still not offer domestic partner benefits at all of its sites. This is likely more a financial decision than a political statement, but they are aware-they are just finally expanding benefits in US plants to include same sex couple benefits.

 

[MidnightPrism]

for GL... my fave car currently is the Lincoln MKS. seen in THE DARK KNIGHT

Cadillac CTS

I want to have sex with this car.


if I were being more politically correct ((gas mileage and such )) I might suggest Ford's new Fiesta due out in a couple years. based on the Verve concept.
http://p.webwombat.com.au/motoring/images/ford-verve-concept-1-big.jpg

 

[GL]

oh man... i love the new cts. that is the best looking car gm is making.

 

[MidnightPrism]

I like the Saturn Sky too, but two-seaters just don't do it for me

 

[fadeinout30]

I'm sorry but that complete crap rhetoric as well.

I've had GM made cars my entire life and so have my family and many of my friends. I have never heard of a car having trouble in that short amount of time or with that few miles on it.

I did not say the the car will fall apart in 3 years. After 3 years or a certain mileage, it is a fact that the maintenance cost on some cars compared to others over a 5 year period will cost more...those cars being Ford, GM, Dodge and some other American designed vehicles. I am not talking specific cars here but rather manufacturer wide.

You can believe what you want to believe but the industry facts do not lie. Have you ever read the car issue of Consumer Reports which rates repairs and breakdowns of car manufacturers? If you have not, please do. But in the meantime, understanding the true cost of a car can be found here at http://www.edmunds.com/apps/cto/CTOintroController and you can compare costs to similar vehicles.

 

[Ares]

I did not say the the car will fall apart in 3 years. After 3 years or a certain mileage, it is a fact that the maintenance cost on some cars compared to others over a 5 year period will cost more...those cars being Ford, GM, Dodge and some other American designed vehicles. I am not talking specific cars here but rather manufacturer wide.

Hmm, I'm not seeing where you are getting this 3 year statistic..everything on this website is in terms of 5 years or 75,000 miles..not 3 years/30,000 miles that you were saying before.

From the website:

The True Cost to OwnSM calculations use the following set of assumptions:

Ownership expenses are considered over a five-year time span
You will drive an average of 15,000 miles per year
You are financing the vehicle using traditional financing, not lease financing
You are in the Gold credit tier for the purpose of determining your finance rate
You are putting a 10% down payment on the vehicle at purchase
Your retail contract term is 60 months
You represent the average demographic for insurance rate consideration

Using proprietary formulas, we calculate the five-year costs for the seven cost categories that make up the TCO (depreciation, insurance, financing, taxes & fees, fuel, maintenance and repairs). We take into account widely available manufacturer to customer cash rebates on new cars, which may result in a lower net cost of ownership. However, we do not account for other types of cash rebates or incentives due to the variability in the offers as well as the eligibility rules for such offers.

So I can see why manufacturer wide, as you say, the Big 3 would have a lower rating. Not because of maintenence costs but because of fuel (one of the seven measurements of this formula). GM. Ford, and Chrysler make more SUVs...SUVs usually get poor gas mileage...down goes their manufacturer wide rating.

So I looked up individual cars too, just to see how "risky" GM, Ford, and Chrysler are in comparisn to others. The first three I looked up - a 2008 Cadillac CTS, a 2008 Chevy Aveo, and a Pontiac G6 (all mentioned earlier in this thread) - all were close to equal, if not better, in the True Cost to Own or Avg. Cost per Mile in the comparisn to the Asian model counterparts.

I did find a 3 year statistic at this website though

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings/dependability-ratings-by-brand/sortcolumn-1/ascending/page-#page-anchor

Dependability Ratings: Measures problems experienced by original owners of 3-year-old vehicles.

Overall Dependibility
Buick
Lexus
Cadillac
Mercury
Honda
(all tie for top rating)

 

[GL]

hit or miss?

i was reading motor trend online the other day and when i saw the photo spread of the up and coming 09 acura tl i was surprised to see the negative responses posted at the bottom of the article. what do you all think?

me personally i thought it was a sweet looking ride.

 

[MidnightPrism]

I would certainly drive it, but it looks like it has big buck teeth.

 

[jaydizzo]

OMG i will always love cars i myself drive a 99 camaro Z28 and love it

but the cars i am in love with are the new ZR1 and the new camaro coming out, both stout cars and sexy as hell

 

[GL]

big buck teeth?

i hadn't seen that...