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Sedans Luxury Lounge
21336 messages, Last post on Nov 22, 2009 at 2:14 PM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: louiswei (Oct 20, 2008 12:21 pm) I do think that Toyota has its work cut out for itself, as do the rest of the manufacturers at this point in history. It's really a whole new ball game now, and these companies are being challenged to their very core. I have no doubt that Toyota will be successful in spite of some bumps in the road. TM |
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Replying to: louiswei (Oct 20, 2008 12:21 pm) The old Highlander and the old Pilot actually looked pretty similar. Toyota went with a weird jellybean shape this time, while Honda went in the total opposite direction and made a brick. The Highlander's interior does look much more modern than before, but materials quality is WAY down. Sharp and hard GM style plastics everywhere. Honda has completely forgotten how to make an ergonomic center stack. That stupid control knob has utterly ruined their interiors for me. Frankly I don't think either of them has any real style or design leaders, even just among the Japanese competition. The new Mazda6 and Maxima are both better looking, better performers, and have better interiors than Accord and Camry/Avalon. I like the outgoing Mazda3 better than the Civic, and the new '10 version will probably be even better. The 5-door version also is infinitely better than the Matrix. The Corolla remains nothing but a transport appliance for people who hate cars.
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Replying to: lexusguy (Oct 20, 2008 1:12 pm) ...materials quality is WAY down... That all gets to the point that was being made earlier, that in a general sense, Toyota's design and quality of materials has eroded. The Corolla remains nothing but a transport appliance for people who hate cars. OUCH! (but, I agree.)  The difference between Honda and Toyota is that I see almost nothing from Toyota that is getting better (with regards to design appearance and quality of materials), while Honda has the recent CR-V, the recent Civic,the upcoming Insight, which looks decent for a five door hatch hybrid and is based on the reasonably-attractive FCX limited-production fuel cell vehicle. The upcoming CR-Z looks like it might be another winner, and the atttractive open study concept, which might replace the good-looking S2000. So, there are definate signs of hope in the design department at Honda. No doubt that Mazda and Nissan have done their homework, but they have major areas of weakness as well. I guess I'll go out on a limb here and post that out of all the current and very soon-to-be Asian vehicles, a few that stand out for me are the G37, GT-R, and Z-car from Nissan/Infiniti, the IS350 and IS-F from Toyota/Lexus, the MDX, S2000, Civic, CR-V, FCX, the new Insight and upcoming CR-Z from Honda, the MazdaSpeed 3, and MX-5 Miata from Mazda of course, the Genesis from Hyundai, The Evo from Mitsubishi, and to some extent even the WRX from Subaru. I might have missed one or two, but those are a few that quickly come to mind for now. TM
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Replying to: lexusguy (Oct 20, 2008 1:12 pm) LOL,  Have you ever consider being a writer? Since every1 has answered everything, I have nothing more to ask or add  We better get back to Luxury cars
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Replying to: tagman (Oct 20, 2008 2:26 pm) Indeed. The Titan has been a massive disaster for Nissan, and I doubt the Quest and Armada are doing much better. The Versa is getting hammered by the Honda Fit, and the Sentra is just awful. Mazda still has too many rebadged Fords, the turbo four doesn't really work in the CX-7, and the V6 6 has woeful fuel economy. They're also going to have to do something with that dirty, oil-guzzling wankel. Not exactly a PC engine these days. Subaru seems to be actively trying to kill itself. Subaru customers aren't looking for an AWD Toyota. They want something weird/ugly that's at least half decent to drive. Now it's like their designers are having a contest to out-bland each other.
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Replying to: lexusguy (Oct 20, 2008 4:13 pm) Well, why not add General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford (and maybe even Mitsubishi) to the suicide list. Will they actually succeed in their self destruction? We'll see, but if they don't completely destroy themselves, they will certainly end up as very different companies than they have been up to this point. And, of course, Ford also committed homicide with Jaguar, which is now trying to survive life-support by way of Tata Motors. Honda is attempting internal sabatoge of its own Acura division, but it's own Honda line-up is poised for major success... no, massive success, IMO. And the little darling, Tesla Motors, is already in a serious cash-flow dilemma, as it must speed up production while cutting itself in half. The automotive landscape is undergoing the first steps of major change, and the question of bailouts and whether or not we will have an economy that can support the auto industry as we've known it, is in the process of being answered. On a side note, I think the Germans are going to benefit from all of these changes, but they will need to introduce their newer, more fuel-efficient products sooner than they had anticipated. The Versa is getting hammered by the Honda Fit The competitive damage will continue as the Honda Fit will receive its first hybrid powertrain in the near future. Also, I would expect that the CR-V, which is already a smashing success story, will get a hybrid or diesel variant within two model years. TM
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This may not be in the US jurisdiction but a single standard should apply worldwide......... I had my Jaguar X-type serviced at Jaguar Thailand and was charged for 8 liter of engine oil change even though the spec requires only 6.5. Several enquiries were made to Jaguar Thailand and Jaguar UK and, after over a month, there seem to be no one responsible for this unethical act. So, beware and be warned!! |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Oct 20, 2008 1:12 pm)
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Replying to: tagman (Oct 20, 2008 5:58 pm) Somebody is going to go C11. I'm just not sure yet which one will be first. My guess is that Ford will scrape by, GM will go C11, and Cerberus will cut and run from Chrysler as fast as they can. Only their ego has kept them in this money torching uber-failure this long, but they won't kill themselves to stay in a business they never really wanted to be in. GM may swallow what's left (if they can actually find somebody to give them the credit to do so) or Chrysler may be split up and sold off to various parties. On a side note, I think the Germans are going to benefit from all of these changes, but they will need to introduce their newer, more fuel-efficient products sooner than they had anticipated. We'll see. M-B isn't in great shape right now, but Porsche/VWAG and BMW are doing reasonably well considering the climate. Honda will no doubt continue to make a killing in small cars, it's what they are best at. Trying to push Acura up to peer level with Lexus, let alone the Germans, is another story. They aren't doing a cut-price LS460, ala Genesis. They are doing an LS460 priced LS460. Who is going to buy a $70K Acura? All of those Phaeton owners? |
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