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Sedans Luxury Performance Sedans
9978 messages, Last post on Nov 02, 2009 at 1:30 PM
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from hoovers.com "Nissan North America Announces June Sales... GARDENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 3, 2006--Nissan North America, Inc. (Nasdaq:NSANY) (NNA) reports sales of 75,154 units in June, which is a decrease of 19.0 percent from the prior year. While NNA's Nissan Division posted a decrease of 18.9 percent over last year, the Murano had its best ever June and the Frontier posted a strong sales increase versus one year ago. The Infiniti Division posted a sales decline of 20.0 percent versus the prior year. M35/45: June 2006--2,012; June 2005--2,480 -18.9% drop in sales from June last year But Year-to-Date sales are up 38% to 13,128 in 2006 from 9,506 in first six months of 2005. |
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Also from hoovers.com A6 sales totals were 1,748 in June, 2006, up from 1,581 in June 2005 Increase of 10.5% For first six months of 2006 sales of A6 were 9,384 as compared with 8,683 for first six months of 2005, an increase of 8.1% |
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You may care. You may not care. You may find the following piece of information of low value (I must say, I think I don't find it all that valuable.) You may find this information pushes you off the fence. Here goes: My 2005 A6 3.2 has been as close to "bullet proof" as any car I have ever had (truth in advertising: this is Audi #28 -- and we have had two Bimmers, two VW's and several Chrylser products). I just get behind the wheel and everything seems to work and work well (also TIA, I did have four pushbutton starter buttons in the first four months -- of the 13 I have had the car.) The car is tight, quiet, powerful (within its 255HP limitations, of course), able to sharply turn in with aplomb -- everything works and the performance has not deteriorated. I have recently rented for 1000+ mile milk runs a Cadillac DTS and SRX (two long weekend jaunts.) Both were 2006's and were sooo loosey goosey, I could hardly believe it. I don't think this has much to do with Audi's strong 2006 vs 2005 sales increase or with Infiniti's decline. I have no clue what is going on here. The quality of the cars (and this Audi in particular) continues to improve. I am certain I would be still loving my M35X had I taken that path, don't get me wrong. I am simply telling you, if you care, that the A6 3.2 that is sitting in my garage has been darn near flawless. You Lexus owners probably take this for granted and may have done so for years -- thus has not always been the case with German cars. My wife's BMW X3, too, has been fantastic. Normally, at this time in a lease, I start to get the itch -- now, don't get me wrong if I win a free Audi S8, I will gladly surrender my A6. But, short of that, I am, at this point, not planning on doing anything other than taking this puppy to term. Thanks Audi. |
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Replying to: markcincinnati (Jul 05, 2006 4:24 pm) Some, I'd speculate, will read your post and focus on the four trips to dealer to replace push-button-start switch. But if some other reader of your post has driven an Audi A6 and loves it, then it's your year of trouble-free and excited/delighted/engaged driving that they will care about when they read your post and they will be encouraged to get what they really want. I went through a month of debating Audi A6 versus Infinity M35. I kept test-driving the various Audi models versus kept looking at and sitting in the Infinity (and reading all "the Germans have met their match" articles) after a couple of test-drives. To my own retrospective surprise and mild regret, I chose the M35 (despite the most enjoyable test-drive having been the Audi A6 S-Line and despite assurances from you and two friends who drive A6s everyday that there either were no problems or a minor one that was fixed). I can tell already that the tires will need to be switched for something better, especially for driving in rainy season, but also for better and more quiet ride -- the standard Goodyears on the M35 are a not-reported-by-CR $800-$1000 defect in my opinion. Also, qualifying as a defect, IMHO, is Nissan's failure to have done anything over the years to update their (otherwise wonderful) V6 for a better horse-power/mpg ratio. I'd expect either 300+ horsepower from a 2006 engine that drinks a gallon of gas every 17-18 miles, or, conversely, I'd expect 20-21 mpg from an engine that puts out "only" 275 hp (and depends heavily, I now realize, on a transmission that runs at relatively high rpm -- and low mpg -- in every gear, of which there are only five, to create acceleration). |
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Replying to: sfcharlie (Jul 06, 2006 3:50 am) When she first took delivery of her then new BMW X3 in early May, 2005, she was told "first service interval" is either 15,000 miles or when indicated here. "Fifteen THOUSAND miles?!?" I heard her say. Now, truth in advertising, we enjoyed our multiple test drive visits to the Bimmer store. They have TWO Starbuck's gourmet coffee makers for pity's sake! The have a HUGE Internet cafe waiting area and a fridge full of bottled water, juice and sodas of all flavors. All the employees in the service department are wearing white coats and have great bedside manners. Every Saturday is free carwash day and the line for the wash is sometimes hundreds of yards long, yet people sit in line, queuing up for their hand car wash and vacuum -- and fresh pastry, fruit, coffee and so on. What do they put in the water, I often wonder. The quattro cafe at my Audi dealer is much the same kind of affair -- and both of these dealerships are known to have several annual closed store affairs, picnics, grill outs, tours and customer orientation soires. Going to the dealership for us once every 10 or 15,000 miles would practically feel like punishment. We WANT to go more often. See, I told you we're not typical. Our current BMW "client advisor" was an intern when my wife got her new X3 -- he was a senior and he was a German studies student who we met up with in Munich while we were there on vacation and while he was on his one semester of overseas studies. See, who actually vaca's with their car salesmen other than odd couples like us? My four trips to the dealer for new starter switch buttons were, from the odd couple point of view, good excuses to catch up on the inventory, talk with the service manager, sales manager and sales people and take a few test drives just for the heck of it. About the only thing we haven't driven is a W12 A8L and RS4, in fact. So, while the failure of the part (the switch) may be the focus for some, for us it has been (from a certain point of view) a treat masquerading as an unscheduled service visit. I needed my tires rotated last week, so I dropped by and they gave me a 2006 A6 with 900 miles on it for the day while they balanced, rotated and washed/vacuumed my 2005 A6. When I returned I was given tire pressure and tire tread wear depth devices as a "parting gift." Yesterday, our Bimmer sales guy called me to apologize for having sold the BMW 530xi STICK before I could take a long long test drive -- but he offered instead to have dinner with my wife and me at a local German pub and catch up on our trip to Munich and Oktoberfest last September. We've gone to Ingolstadt six times for plant tours and we've been to the BMW museum in Munich more times than I can remember and are hoping to visit, soon, the BMW delivery center that was under construction in Munich last Sept. Not typical. Passionate about cars? -- uh, yea. We enjoy the education and pleasures of visiting these dealerships and with our long term behavior as witness, we would make up reasons to visit the dealership (and have) now that service intervals and reliability are so long and so great. Maybe if we were buying Cobalt's or Neon's (or whatever they have du jour) we wouldn't do this. LPS cars -- in their native habitat -- are a little bit, for us, like enjoying dinner in a fine restaurant where we know the owner and server; a little like going in for that monthly massage with our long term favorite massage therapist we affectionately call, "Stuff" as she ends every sentence with "and stuff 'ike that." Don't go by us. Heck, in September we're going for the two day X3 driving affair at BMW's US facility -- somebody stop us! (just kidding.) None of this should be interpreted to suggest we want our cars to require more maintenance or require more visits to the dealer for unscheduled needs. No one likes it when something breaks on one of these $50,000 wunderkins, especially us. We just happen to enjoy these cars, their caretakers and sellers in their native habitats. Odd couple, out. 
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Replying to: sfcharlie (Jul 06, 2006 3:50 am) Good points. For the record though, Acura's 3.5L is no better when it comes to fuel economy. I like the VQ's burly, somewhat crude nature, but the new Lexus 3.5L is definitely a much more efficient engine. |
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Replying to: markcincinnati (Jul 06, 2006 4:25 am)  , but I also look forward to taking my TSX or my wife's MDX into the Acura dealer for service. I spend the time walking around the lot, checking out the vehicles, and usually chat it up with a couple of the salespeople for awhile. I've been "lurking" in this forum for quite awhile, as I'm becoming more and more obsessed with replacing my car with a larger, AWD vehicle. My preference rotates pretty regularly between the A6, 530xi, RL, GS300(350) and M35x, though my top choices right now are the BMW and Infiniti. Here's a thought I wanted to share: Many say you "can't go wrong" with any of these cars, that they are all such great cars that you'll enjoy whichever you choose. I agree with that. But by the same token, I've also accepted that I'll experience some level of regret once in awhile too. If I go with the M35, I'm confident I'd see a 530, or an A6, etc. pass by on the road and think perhaps I'd rather have that other car, and vice versa. For me, accepting that simply lessens any anxiety of feeling like "you made the wrong decision." It just speaks to how great the cars are, and appreciating what they have to offer. So, having said all that, I'd say most of the decision in this segment comes down to simple emotion. What gets you most excited? Right now, the M35x and 530xi are it for me. The Infiniti seems like a real smart choice - lower cost, LT reliability likely better, etc. And when you're shelling out $50k, those are decent reasons. But, practicality aside, the BMW simply appeals to me more - it feels more like "me," to put it simply. And, the idea of not giving up the manual trannie certainly is appealing. OK, sorry for the long post. I'm back to lurking 
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Replying to: lexusguy (Jul 05, 2006 1:44 pm) So, what about some other model that's 100%(!) less reliable? Well, that's 2 nits and the difference between it and the LS is therefore ..... a nit. It's an helpful perspective to have as you use the CR, or any other, reliability data. Keeps you from being overcome by fear and panic, regardless of how much emphasis you place on reliability. End of sermon. |
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Replying to: sfcharlie (Jul 06, 2006 3:50 am)
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Replying to: anthonyp (Jul 06, 2006 2:06 pm)
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