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Sedans Luxury Lounge
21284 messages, Last post on Nov 10, 2009 at 11:17 AM
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Replying to: dewey (Jul 04, 2009 7:40 pm) In terms of economy and practicality, the Prius is off the charts. No argument from me there. Unlike the Insight, it's not a clunky penalty box that gets the same or worse fuel economy than the Civic. It shows how far in the bag C&D is for Honda that they rated the Insight above the Prius. Even CR trashed it. If your requirements extend beyond a super efficient box with wheels though, the Prius starts to come up short.
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Replying to: tagman (Jul 03, 2009 9:53 pm) Yes the MB300D is a good example to illustrate the senseless of progress in the auto industry. Mercedes Benz realized that they would go bankrupt if they continued producing cars like my 83 MB 300D which just keep on going and going and going..... The MB 300D is gaining cult status because there is no other model whose vehicles accomplish such high mileage in the history of the auto industry. In order to achieve "going concern status" MB had no choice but to make their cars less reliable with less longetivity and they had accomplished this with expensive technologies that makes maintenace for the long term uneconomic. I know a client who drove a long time ago a MB CL and he paid a fortune to replace a vacuum pump for his door ( I believe it was 6K $ but not certain since the performanc of my long term memory is not as good as the long term performance of my MB300D).  This whole notion that a luxury car has to be expensive to maintain is entrenched in our thinking (even reliable Lexuses are expensive to maintain). The old Benzes contradicted this whole notion and would make leasing a reliable Benz car quite senseless in term of saving after-warranty expenses.
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Replying to: lexusguy (Jul 04, 2009 8:04 pm) But let us not forget that a fuel efficient dull vehicle is as hard f not harder to produce than a performance vehicle. For instance below is a link to a euphoric article about how sophisticated BMW is in terms of enhancing fuel efficiency by 2.5 percent by reducing drag. 2.5 percent  I guess that means my mileage (mainly on congested city roads) would increase from 15.6 MPG to 15.9 M PG. My oh my ain't that something. http://www.wheels.ca/reviews/article/733681 |
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Replying to: dewey (Jul 04, 2009 8:06 pm) I'll give you some besides iDrive. How about direct injection? VTEC is pretty old, but variable timing and lift on both intake and exhaust valves is new. Automatic stop/start systems. Regenerative braking. Rain sensing wipers. Magnetorheological adaptive dampers. LED headlights and tail lights that last the life of the car. Sequential twin turbos and variable geometry turbos. Tire pressure monitors. Aluminum space frames. Real time traffic updates. The list goes on and on. There are some new innovations like lane departure warning and prevention that are mostly stupid and useless, but blind spot monitors can be useful even if you are actually paying attention to the road and not drifting in and out of your lane. Starting at the end of the '90s, Mercedes seriously dropped the ball in quality. When Top Gear tested a CL65 AMG several years ago, pretty much the most expensive car they made at the time, one of the headlights was out and the drivers seat was broken. I remember seeing literally a dozen lemon law buyback SLs for sale on eBay at any one time, and there were endless owner reports of perpetually broken tops and a host of other problems. They aren't alone though. Remember what Volvos used to be like? An old RWD, straight six Volvo wagon could outlast the sun. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Any Mercedes SUV that came out of their Alabama plant used to fall apart pretty much instantly. They are getting better, unfortunately the same can't be said for VW, Land Rover, or Saab. Audis were pretty terrible from the mid '90s through around 2003, but now they are doing very well. In the latest JD power VDS, they came in above Hyundai and just below Porsche and Honda. Jag did brilliantly, but I suspect they will take a huge hit once the XF is factored in. Toyota and Lexus are sort of holding the line on their stellar reputation for quality and reliability, but it's hard to argue that they are improving. The Camry/ES transmission problems are a serious concern. The V6 Camry was shockingly poor for a new Toyota, and the GS300 AWD was the lowest quality new Lexus model in their history. Supposedly Toyoda has blasted the troops and wants things to improve, but we'll see. They may have reached a plateau, and will only be able to watch while the rest of the industry slowly catches up. |
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Replying to: dewey (Jul 04, 2009 7:30 pm) Heh Heh, I feel like I cannot deny that.  Regards, Jose |
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Replying to: theanimal (Jul 04, 2009 7:16 am) |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Jul 04, 2009 12:25 pm) I know that's why I have been owning a mini fleet of 2 cars for the past 6 years, but since my wife's annexed the IS, I am giving this idea another try. I think the Audi Allroad/Avant (sp) a fantastic looking wagon that I do not mind driving, but it just fell off my list of candidates after reading about its lack off reliability on some forum. I am pretty sure Audi's AWD system is one of the best, however I want one that does not behave like an AWD vehicle when not needed. Another item to observe on a test drive I guess. |
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Replying to: cyclone4 (Jul 04, 2009 5:57 pm)
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Replying to: circlew (Jul 04, 2009 6:28 pm) |
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Replying to: dewey (Jul 04, 2009 7:40 pm) |
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