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Sedans High-End European Luxury Sedans
447 messages, Last post on May 03, 2007 at 2:41 PM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
The sport suspension for me is just right, and the a8 has worked fully right out the box....At first the windsheild wipers made a sqeeky noise as the wiped, and I thought I need new blades, but for some reason it stopped on its own..The blue tooth has worked as soon as it was mated properly, and the navigation is the best for me out of all of them for the last ten years or so....I still think a person needs to keep in mind where they are going, or the guidance can take you an around about way... The short wheelbase is also just fine...Tony
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Replying to: anthonyp (Dec 15, 2005 2:20 pm) M |
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Replying to: merc1 (Dec 14, 2005 4:57 am) I agree Merc, I like everything about the car except that grille. Or I should say, the way that grille looks with reference to the rest of the car. Designman, I don't recall if I ever saw your opinion of the grille. Am I wrong, or does it just not go with any other design element of the car? Is there anything else that gives any cues to the grille's vertical elongation? At least on the Chrysler 300, the grille shape better fits with the other design elements (even if it is not exactly my taste). Does the strip across the Audi's grille even look like it directly syncs with the bumper to either side of it? While we're on the subject of front ends, what do you think of the new RR's? Its grille is SO starkly square; but at least the rest of the car has a lot of squared off elements. But it's just too boxy for my eye. Not that RR has to worry about losing my sale due solely to its styling....
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Replying to: garyh1 (Dec 15, 2005 10:28 pm) Designman: Merc, that S8 grille looks like a sewer grid. People will be inclined to throw candy wrappers and cigarette butts into it. And it has the net effect of some fat ol’ plumber walking around with a big square patch cut out of the seat of his pants. Help me out, am I missing something? Merc1: Well just picture me jumping up and down on a table in disagreement. I think you have to look at the whole car to appreciate the grille, not just the grille itself, IMO. It fits on the A8 and A4 better than the A6, IMO of course. Am I wrong, or does it just not go with any other design element of the car? Is there anything else that gives any cues to the grille's vertical elongation? Does the strip across the Audi's grille even look like it directly syncs with the bumper to either side of it? I’m not really inclined to analyze it. In my opinion it just sucks, plain and simple. It’s like someone shaving only one side of his head to get attention. Lexusguy presented the only logic I can figure that makes any sense, curious as it is, that the motif was the old Auto Union grilles. At least on the Chrysler 300, the grille shape better fits with the other design elements (even if it is not exactly my taste). It does? That thing is a Neanderthal meat mallot IMO. While we're on the subject of front ends, what do you think of the new RR's? I like it, but not in the sense that I like other cars. To me, Rolls is a monolith, its elements and sheer being transcend time. That grille is the Parthenon. How can you look at the Parthenon and say you don’t like it? It rises above fashion so it does not really lend itself to taste, I think. If they try to fashion it, I believe it will fall into the muck. The car is not really a vehicle, it’s a venue. It’s the Plaza Hotel. |
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Replying to: designman (Dec 16, 2005 12:34 pm) Well just picture me jumping up and down on a table in disagreement. I think you have to look at the whole car to appreciate the grille, not just the grille itself, IMO. It fits on the A8 and A4 better than the A6, IMO of course. Hey I've done that before! I agree that you have to look at the whole car, which is what I do. I agree about it fitting better on the A4 and A8 than it does on the A6, but I like the way it looks on all three of course. M
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Replying to: merc1 (Dec 16, 2005 1:49 pm)
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Replying to: designman (Dec 16, 2005 2:37 pm) I love it! Merc finally found someone he could agree with completely 100% of the time - himself! ROFL  Actually, consistency is not such a bad thing. Some of the rest of us have been known to change our opinions somewhere between the beginning and end of a single post! 
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Replying to: designman (Dec 16, 2005 12:34 pm) Ah, the Plaza. It hits my heartstrings the same way. Just seeing it elicits the best feelings of NYC for me. Of course, then you go around a corner and get stuck in a smelly, dirty, congested side street and the other side of Manhattan hits you. Anyway, back to cars... I agree that the Rolls is monolithic, but unlike the Parthenon, it gets modified over time by other than the elements. It does need to be a standup car, not low slung (I seem to recall they tried to do this once with the convertible and it looked silly to me). But this new version is just too too squared off for me. Instead of subtly classic and simple, it comes off as IN YOUR FACE square. In that sense it almost reminds me of the 300. The RR can and should say "I don't need to swoop to be fashionable", but it doesn't need to say "I am so staid that I don't care if you cut yourself on my sharp edges". Sorry for all the design similes, but you got me going with that Plaza allusion. I guess I just won't be pulling up in front of it with my 2006 RR. |
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Replying to: designman (Dec 16, 2005 2:37 pm) Maybe I read it wrong I guess???? I was saying that I've jumped up on down on a table in disgreement with some of the things you've said about styling on certain cars before. I think thats what I meant.  M |
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Some interesting pics from a link in my monthly email from Maserati.    I was somewhat delighted to read this about the Quattroporte's sales: Maserati's Quattroporte is dominating sales of luxury sport sedans over $100,000 despite and in part because of its limited production. American consumers are showing they appreciate Quattroporte's unique balance of performance, style and cachet by more than 3:1 over BMW's 760i and 760Li combined. The segment in which the Quattroporte will win the 2005 sales race includes the BMW 750iL, 760i, and 760Li, the Bentley Flying Spur, and the Mercedes S55, S65 and S600. Those who have driven them all will attest that, while the Quattroporte shares a price segment with the others, it stands alone on the road. Source I wouldn't doubt the "on-the-road" observation from a sport sedan point of view compared with those cars. I would love to see the sales numbers for each though. In that last paragraph they must mean that the Maser is going to outsell the 760i and 760Li together, and the 750Li seperately as a single model. Is the Quattroporte really going to outsell the 750Li? The Mercedes S55/S65 and Bentley are all more powerful, but heavier, a lot heavier in the case of the Bentley Flying Brick. The BMW 760i Sport is a sporty car, but I would imagine that not even it has the reflexes and charisma of the Maserati. Too bad there is no "M7". None of these have a SMG type gearbox and only the Bentley can compete with the Maser on a "custom feel" point of view when it comes to the interior, but even then some of its VW switchgear pokes through. Interesting bunch of cars though, not a boring one in the bunch. I wonder Maserati thinks of the Jaguar XJ Super V8 P. Oh, there is one company that could make a sedan to match the Maser in every way, but they don't make one at the moment, Aston-Martin. Interesting they don't consider the M5 or CLS55 competitors. Alrightly then lets see a comparo between the 760i Sport, S55 AMG, XJ Super V8 Portfolio, and Quattroporte then, one of you U.S. magazines! M
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