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Sedans Luxury Lounge
21283 messages, Last post on Nov 09, 2009 at 11:40 PM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: m4d_cow (Jun 27, 2009 9:03 am) The NA market. For some reason Americans just don't "get" the A6. I don't know why that is, I think the 3.0T Sport is currently the best car in the segment. As for Cadillac, they have the new Equinox based SRX, they're supposed to get a new large sedan, the XLR is dead, most likely along with the CTS wagon and coupe. Now that the Vue and Torrent are dead, Saab (even though Koenigsseg technically owns them now) and Buick will pick up the "slack" with more Equinox rebadges. Not even C11 can stop the rebadge masters.
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Replying to: anthonyp (Jun 24, 2009 12:29 pm) Not sure what you are saying, A8 owners are complaining about getting 10 and 12 mpg, but you will stick with the Audi? I have an A8L, and frequent the user boards, and I get what nearly everyone else gets, 16 around town, 24 on long highway trips. Not too shabby for such a large car. |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Jun 27, 2009 12:17 pm)
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Replying to: m4d_cow (Jun 27, 2009 10:25 pm) It's not even that they're back, they never went away. Just as GM was saying "we're not going to rebadge everything we make anymore" during their last so called turnaround, here comes Lambda, with four rebadged versions of the same product. And in a particularly boneheaded move even for them, the volume based Chevy version is last to market. As I've said before, who's in charge here!? The answer of course was no one, but now every congressman that wants to save a plant or dealer in their district is technically in charge. Great. |
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Took the car out for the 1st time on a long trip. Charleston to MD, 8 hrs each way. Other than the tiny scratch through the paint from road debris, it was very pleasant. I still don't have the steering vibration that seems to be common. I did not feel fatigued after each leg. I did notice the seats could use more upper back support if you have wide wings like me. Something I wouldn't realize if not for the long trip. The car turns a lot of heads & led to a lot of questions from the DC area vs SC. The beltway was a lot of fun (5:30-6:30am) in the morning. I could really wring her out. Afternoon? Forget it! I used my brakes like never before in that stop & go. I'm glad not to live in a city center. No point in this car in that. Tomorrow, I'll work out the mpg figures, but 325 miles seemed liked the safepoint to refill on the highway. Leaving the needle on 1/8. |
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A couple of questions for the board. I'd like to add a nice German sedan with AWD to my stable some time in the near future. I've driven the new style '07 and up S Class and like it. A new S with 4 Matic is going to have an MSRP of close to 100K. On an '09 this late in the game, any dealer should give me maybe 4K off sticker PLUS maybe the 5K that MBUSA has now for dealer trunk money. That means a new S is going to cost me around 90K. Used new '07 S Classes with 4matic are now around 71K if CPOed and around 65K from a non MB dealer. If you go CPO you can buy additional warranty directly from MB. A CPOed S Class with all the extra warranty I could get seems the way to go. However, I looked at an '06 Bentley Flying Spur at a local Bentley dealer with 30K miles with an asking price of 79K. If I wanted it CPOed the Bentely dealer would charge an additonal $3500 per year for up to two years. As of now there is no more factory warranty left on this '06. The car is attractive and goes like heck with the W12 engine (perceptively faster, much faster than the S550). The problem is that it has optional 20" wheels (with Yokohama tires--what is up with that?) which pick up every crack in a Northeastern road. Not a good ride experience. Much worse than the S Class on the same road. The sales guy is going to see if he has any 19" takeoffs but wasn't optimistic. I don't think that extra sets of Bentley wheels are exactly thick on the ground. I like the idea of a Flying Spur. It woul be unique. It would be different than the oh-so-predictable S Class. It wouldn't get old on me as fast a a run of the mill S Class would. Moreover, to pick up a 190K MSRP car for say, 75K appeals to this business guy. BUT, I hear that even to change a heater hose or a power steering hose on the thing is a nightmare and the entire front end has to come off. Remember, it is Audi A8 ish. (Incidentally, what is it with Audi and service accessibility? To change the timing chains on the four cam A6 at the 100,000 mile service interval costs $2300 or so because, again, the entire front end must come apart to get access.). 1) Because of the service issues, am I foolish to even consider the Bentley as a 8-9 year possession, driving it 7K to 8K miles per year for a total of 100,000 miles? 2) There is an individual on the internet based in South FL who dabbles in used Bentleys. He always seems to have 5 or 6 used Continenals and Flying Spurs for sale as an individual, not as a dealership.. Has anyone had any experience with the fellow. He has an Eastern European name. 3) The new E Class is here and apparently selling well and at full sticker price. Will the new E Class ("Our most advanced car, ever" says MB) canibalize S Class sales and drive down the price of a used S Class, making a used S an even better deal?
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Replying to: blckislandguy (Jun 28, 2009 5:48 pm) Hey there B.I.G.... In light of the cars you have mentioned in your post, I suggest you consider the Audi S8. TM |
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Replying to: blckislandguy (Jun 28, 2009 5:48 pm) Yes. Especially considering you don't even like the ride quality. These cars are not designed to be like the Honda Accord that you keep for 10 years. I think part of the reason they have such epic depreciation is because there's an assumption that the servicing costs are going to be brutal. As is often said, there is no such thing as cheap Ferrari, no matter what the window sticker is. My Audi shop has $100/hr servicing rates. I'm sure Bentley's are much higher. To me the Spur is just kind of a glorified Phaeton, right down to its outdated Phaeton electronics. I don't get the feeling from a Spur or Continental GT that I do from much slower cars like the Maserati QP and GT, or Aston DB9, or even the Panamera. The Maseratis and Aston are much prettier, and the Panamera is more interesting, and will handle a thousand times better than the uber-heavy Bentleys. The car most likely to be a trouble free companion for 100K miles is a Lexus LS. If I were going to keep a big luxo cruiser for that long, that's what I would be buying. I've been very happy with my S6 and I've had no problems with it, but its gone when the warranty is up, though I'm not sure what the replacement is yet. Its 100K servicing costs aren't an issue, as I suspect they are not to most Audi owners. If the LS simply isn't an option, my next choice would probably be a CPO S8 or W12 that I'd keep for 3-4 years or so, and then move on. A new 750i xDrive isn't a bad choice because of the very low ownership costs, but I still wouldn't keep one past the warranty.
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Replying to: blckislandguy (Jun 28, 2009 5:48 pm) This way, you get to change shoes again in 2011.  Regards, OW
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