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Sedans Luxury Performance Sedans
10006 messages, Last post on Nov 26, 2009 at 6:59 AM
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Replying to: kyfdx (Oct 22, 2006 4:54 pm) The move by Porsche, last year, was thought, by some analysts, to have been forced by concerns that a European court might have been getting ready to overturn a law protecting VW from takeover. As a major parts supplier, Volkswagen is obviously incredibly important to Porsche. Porsche doesn't want to see Volkswagen in new hands, and Porsche wants to buy the requisite 25.1 percent of Volkswagen stock to give it control. Porsche shares the rest of the stock with Volkswagen and the Government of Lower Saxony. Once the approval of the takeover plan was granted, Porsche became legally allowed to purchase the remaining 3.5 percent needed to gain a controlling interest and stop worrying about a hostile takeover. |
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Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 22, 2006 4:14 pm) I said, "Japanese cars all drive the same and feel the same to a degree," I didn't say they were an exact copy of each other. If you sit, feel, & touch the inside of a Camry, it's not much different from an Accord, or Altima, or Civic, or Sentra or Scion and the driving experience is not much removed either. I can tell the difference in quality, feel, and handling when I'm in the 350z or TT. When I'm in my coworkers CLK or ML and that "difference" I can't quantify it, but it's there in the Germans and the Americans and/Japanese don't have it. you said: There must be folks who don't like the German driving feel -- Lexus couldn't exist otherwise, don't you think? There are folks who riding or driving my German cars think they are stiff, harsh and "bumpy." my reply I never said anything about people who didn't like a German driving feel. There is nothing wrong with vehicles that don't have a "firm/smooth" ride, but the Germans are the ones being targeted by every carmaker. Go figure. It's funny and ironic. (Acura, Cadillac & GM, Honda, Infiniti, Mazda-Ford, Lexus, Nissan) apparently feel that if they copy the "German" driving experience to their cars, then mission accomplished. Oh and another thing, if I get/got a Lex as a perk, I'd drive it as well.. 
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Replying to: 610looper (Oct 22, 2006 11:08 am) Japanese auto faces a very, very uphill battle in Germany's backyard market. There's slightly less of an incline in the UK auto market. In this market though, Japanese auto has nothing to worry about. Corolla\Camry makes for over 700,000 sales a year, and Civic\Accord is over 600,000. VW will never match that, and certainly the rest of the German companies won't come within a country mile. For Subaru, Nissan, and Mazda, the situation is a little different. Toyota and Honda seem invincible to market shifts, but Nissan is hurting quite a bit right now, and I think the short term outlook for Subaru is only mediocre. It will be interesting to see what kind of approach Toyota takes to managing their new investment. GM used a hands-off approach with them, and it didn't really work. Then again GM's hands-on efforts seem to come out worse (Saab, Isuzu). In the US, the only place where Japan really seems to lag behind Germany is in the LPS arena. (I'm talking just sales, not performance). The TL and G outsell the German competition at the entry level, and the LS outsells the competition at the high end level. The GS and M still get hammered by the 5 and E though. Clearly more improvements need to be made there.
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Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 21, 2006 7:51 pm) I have a question, though. What do you mean by "minus zero the 235s"? I could find no one, including the Cadillac dealer, that could tell me if it would be bad for my all-wheel drive to put four of the same size all around.
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Replying to: mnjasper (Oct 24, 2006 7:00 am) The best bet (and over the course of two or three years the least expensive) would have been to follow the TireRack recommendation of 235/55 R17 tires. Is it too late to change your order? Best Regards, Shipo |
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Replying to: mnjasper (Oct 24, 2006 7:00 am) For instance, if your car comes with 225 x 55 x 17 tires, you can PLUS ZERO size them to 245 x 50 x 17, gaining a wider tread, a lower profile and retaining the 17" wheels. The distance the tire travels per revolution is "very close" to the factory set up, so everything continues to function normally. Plus One in this case could be done and you could go to a 245 x 45 x 18" tire/wheel combo and again potentially gain improvements from this change. Appropriate tire ratings, capabilities, compounds and design, too, will effect the outcome of such a Plus sizing. Some folks plus size ONLY for appearance sake, but often a performance boost (handling) can be gained too. Minus sizing -- is usually done for winter driving. You could minus zero or one your tires/wheels on your Cadillac. If you minus zero your wheel size will not change, your tread width will narrow and your aspect ratio will increase. If you minus one size, your wheel size will decrease by one inch. Why your dealer wasn't conversant about this is another matter. Tirerack has help on their site on this subject. I have often plus zero'd my tires on my cars to gain a bit of improvement in "turn in." Such an approach is not expensive since no new wheels are required. |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Oct 22, 2006 9:35 pm) Infiniti car sales in the U.S. were down 12.4% through Sept, compared to first nine months of 2005. The only model with sales higher in 2006 is the M. However, third quarter (July+August+September) 2006 sales of the M ( 2,293+ 2120+1933=6346) were down 22% from third quarter 2005 ( 2,755+2623+2351=7729). Lexus passenger car sales in the U.S. were up 22.2% compared to the first nine months of 2005 (131,595 versus 107,246). Most of the increase, however, was the IS 250/350: (41,666 versus 4,261) an increase of 873.6%. GS 350 was down to 18,219 from 20,332 (a decrease of 10.8%). And the GS 430/450h was also down to 3,026 from 4,430 (a decrease of 32%). At the end of September, Mercedes-Benz USA reported its highest September on record with sales of 19,873 new vehicles, an increase of 13.2 percent over last September. This brought MBUSA's year-to-date sales to 177,001, a 13.3 percent increase over the same period in 2005. Sales volume September was led by the C-Class with 4,238 units and the E-Class with 4,112 units. Nonetheless, this represented a 9.5% decrease (September to September comparison) for the E-class, which has been down 6.3 compared to first nine months of 2005. And, during the third quarter of 2006, the E-Class sales have been down 16.7% as compared with third quarter 2005 (15,061 versus 12,546). People appear to be buying fewer LPS category cars as the year unfolds.
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Replying to: sfcharlie (Oct 25, 2006 3:03 pm) I analyze data for a living. It's nice to not have to gather & parse it myself. It appears that the great unwashed care not a whit for the abysmal Mercedes electric/electronic reliability stories. Or, maybe they've gotten better. Thanks
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Replying to: cdnpinhead (Oct 25, 2006 3:53 pm) |
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Replying to: sfcharlie (Oct 25, 2006 3:03 pm) Just about all of Infiniti's sales come from G, M, FX. The '06 G is EOL, and the FX is starting to showing its age. Infiniti should get a healthy boost for the '07 G35. The additional showroom traffic may also boost M sales. The IS is doing pretty well, it will be interesting to see if it can maintain these kinds of sales numbers and avoid the curse that has killed all of Lexus' previous performance cars after a few years on the market. It looks like the GS may be falling into the same trap for the 3rd time.
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