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Quite. It's got the full black from CR, and not only that, but it has their absolute worst predicted score, of any brand, in any segment. Nissan clearly has serious problems with their North American plants, as the Titan, Quest, and Armada all have quality issues.
link title
So, the discussion about the Skyline GT-R has iterations within other brand families. BMW and Mercedes are much better positioned than Audi to avoid that.
Well said. Forbes list of top luxury cars is quite mid-tiered.
TagMan
The first road test review from the UK that I've read reports 26.1 miles/gallon(UK) = 21.7 miles/gallon(US) with the 4.2 FSI in the A6.
"Why you'd buy it: Contrary to public perception, Audi makes better quality cars than BMW and Benz and has done so for about the past five years. The trouble is . . .
Why you wouldn't: These new and improved Audis are still paying for the sins of Audis of old, which were not as well built. Car valuers hit Audis unfairly hard because the public and the industry are stuck in a time warp."
I looked at the latest July sales figures for the BMW 5 series, Infiniti M and the Lexus GS. And what do they have in common? All three are afflicted with the same double digit sales declines.
Take a look at this MB sales report linked below:
link title
MB appears to be quite evasive in terms of revealing their E Class sales figures? Sounds like a double digit sales decline cover-up to me!
The Acura RL sales dropped a whopping 24 percent. When will Honda have the audacity to replace the RL with a AWD TL?
The Audi A6 is a pleasant exception to the above misery? Sales levels for the A6 are close to Lexus GS levels.
5-Series - 3474
M - 2293
STS -
GS - 2075
A6 - 1652
RL - 1272
S-Type - 570
M
Best Regards,
Shipo
The 5 Series sales are +12.8% for the year through July 2006.
One must always keep the big picture in mind.
The trend of 5 Series sales is up, up, up!
A whopping 15.7% over the E Class for this year.
M
Yeah I know. I noticed that Jrock does the totals he doesn't list the S-type...lol! No one lists the S-Type on their shopping list anymore either I guess.
M
Maybe?
A real sales booster would be a twin turbo or/and a diesel 5 series. Unfortunately there is nothing official yet about such a 5 series on our shores.
I am staying tuned. And the odds are still in my favor
http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plugins/iimage-gallery.php?idpost=2741&id- g=1&idi=1
Best Regards,
Shipo
You can say that again. Here is the latest from the Wall Street Journal (Aug. 2 ,2006)
Ford Motor Co. is launching a strategic review of ailing operations such as the Jaguar brand that could lead to the sale of assets or broader alliances with other companies, according to people familiar with the situation.
The appointment of Mr. Leet comes as Ford faces difficult decisions about whether to continue pumping money into Jaguar. The storied franchise has become a big thorn in Ford's side.
Beset by design problems, among other issues, Jaguar has missed a boom in sales of luxury cars world-wide, its sales plummeting in recent years through repeated restructurings of the unit. Sales are down 30% this year after falling 34% in 2005; the brand is on pace to sell 24,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2006, down from 45,000 in 2004.
Jaguar sales also are down globally. In the first half of this year, Jaguar sold about 41,000 vehicles globally; in all of 2004, it sold 118,000.
5 - 31,309
E - 25,199
GS - 15,568
M - 15,421
A6 - 11,036
RL - 6,932
Don't know about STS est = 14,750 (need July figures)
Note that BMW's leasing program is not quite as subvented as usual - remember BMW rents most 5 series.
For the past 4 months BMW outsold MB 17,202 to 16,540
Serves them right for slapping a cat ornament on a taurus (mondeo, whatever).
Well maybe if Jag closes down, it'll be worth more than i paid for it someday, LOL!
The local BMW dealer believes the latest generation of the 3.0 (nominally at 255 HP) is being tweaked for higher HP and torque, lower emissions and better economy. At 255 HP, BMW's 3.0L like Audi's 3.1L are great and wonderful engines brimming with great and wonderful technologies. And, they are pretty much competing against cars that offer higher HP numbers in their ad copy.
I would look for upgrades to the 3.0 engine to show up first in a 3 series model (e.g., the coupes) then show up in the X and 5 series vehicles.
A US spec BMW 3.0L with a turbo that outputs 300HP would find a welcome home in a 335 SEDAN or a 535 or an X3 or even X5 SAV.
The "28" version, too, at 235 HP, would make a fine as wine entry level powerplant -- replacing the somewhat lackluster 215 HP "25" configuration (lackluster especially when it is in a 525 package, i.e.)
Both BMW and Audi could easily up the ante with these engines and their manufacturer's capabilities with respect to FSI + turbo technologies. Moreover, a turbo version with an electric "helper motor" (for the turbo impeller) that would keep the turbo "on full boil" would literally eliminate turbo lag. Both Audi's and BMW's 3L engines could easily creep up to very high "3" numbers (395 HP and like torque numbers), remain quite docile around town, achieve good to very good fuel and emissions numbers and be perfectly happy in stealth mode (not at all temperamental).
Of course the cars with these "pumped" up German power plants in them would be very capable indeed when called upon to be so.
The main issue with Audi and BMW's 3L six cylinder engines, is that when artificially aspirated and when equipped with FSI and the accompanying higher compression ratios, is that they threaten to make a non blown V8 almost irrelevant.
A 3.0L BMW 6 easily and comfortably putting out 300 HP and 295 pound feet of torque from a sub 2000 RPM spin encroaches on the non blown V8's -- big time.
Of course, what can then happen is: the V8's can add FSI and bi-turbos with electric helper motors for the impellers and crank the V8's power well into the stratosphere.
For the time being, a 3 or 5 series with AWD and the 300HP turbo 6 from BMW would be, er, ummm, AWESOME!
Don't you think? Or don't you? :shades:
Oh yeah, I "think". ;-)
One of the things that bug me about this current horsepower race is that I'm already hearing rumblings of the question "How fast is fast enough?" Thinking back to my dear departed 530i SP 5-Speed, which only had 225 HP and 214 lb-ft of torque; that car was actually a tad heavier than the current E60 530i, and yet I very rarely found myself wishing for more power. Said another way, the following is how it fit within bounds of my typical performance metrics:
- Would it get to and hold 150 for as long as I desired? Yes. Do I need/want/desire to go faster? No.
- Would it go 0-60 fast enough to make the local constabulary wonder if I was racing? Yes. Do I wish even faster acceleration? Well, it would be nice every now and again but hardly necessary.
Given the above two sets of questions and answers, and assuming that the 5-Series is soon going to become the 528i, 535i and 550i, I'd probably opt for the 528i SP 6-Speed Manual. Why? Simple, my bet is that it would be just a hair quicker than my E39 530i.
Now, if I was living in Colorado or some other geographic area that had roads that were 6,000' MSL or higher, then the 535i would be the only car that I'd consider. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
A mild turbo, and I mean really mild, would easily crank the HP number of the 530 or 330 or X3 or X5 to 275 -- but of course the torque number could potentially rise by at least 50, and come on at a lower RPM. That the HP number would still remain below the psychologically important "300," would probably not raise the hackles of the copy writers charged with writing about the V8.
The thing is, this mildly blown 3.0L engine would have tremendous 0 - 100kph times, which is of course the holy grail here in the US.
It is funny (almost) -- HP is what is "sold" but torque is what is "purchased."
"How many horses?"
"300."
"Wow!"
"Yep, 300 ponies. . ."
"What'll it do to 60?"
"7 seconds."
"7 seconds? That sucks! I thought you said it had 300 HP?"
"Well, it does -- but it only has 180 foot pounds of torque at 4,000 RPM."
"Loser."
On the other hand. . .
"How many horses?"
"250."
"Wow! -- that doesn't seem like much these days. . ."
"Yep, 250 ponies. . . is all she wrote. . . "
"What'll it do to 60?"
"5.1 seconds."
"5.1 seconds? That REALLY does not suck! I thought you said it only had 250 HP?"
"Well, it does -- but it also "only" has 280 foot pounds of torque at 1,800 RPM."
"I'm not worthy, I'll avert my eyes my liege."
“How much Horsepower ya got?"
Boxster: 201 @ 6000
Beemer: 193 @ 5500
He said, "I don't get it, my car is probably lighter (it was) and it has more horsepower, how did you beat me?"
I responded, "Probably torque. How much?"
Boxster: 181 @ 4500
Beemer: 206 @ 3500
Then again, as he didn't even know how much torque his car had, we needed to walk over to the Boxster so he could pull out the manual. When we got there I spied a Tiptronic transmission lever between the front seats. Just to add insult to injury I then asked, "Hey, you want to drive the BMW?"
"Nah," he responded, "can't drive a stick." :P
Best Regards,
Shipo
Not unless its a Series 1 E-type.
He can't drive Tip either. Should have beat you!
(Whew, TZ toll... not the best place to do that.)
Really? Why? If anything I would have thought it would have been a close race with the 328i edging the Boxter out.
True, the Boxter weighs in about 300 pounds less than the 328i (although its driver made up for some of that difference), however, the 3er has 14% more torque (even more at lower RPM ranges) and it didn't have a slush box to contend with.
Best Regards,
Shipo
The Boxster is 390 lbs less.
Weight/torque ratio is identical at 15.77
Weight/hp ratio is 14.20 Boxster, 16.84 BMW 328i
The HP arms race continues..
place in the power band. It is in my opinion very european [see autobahn] in it's application. To jump on the Shipo, Mark bandwagon "horsepower be damned, I want useable torque" and down low where all good things "hang"
The 350z was the exact opposite. I heard tell a simple computer re-map/flash was the preferred elixir
Of course its the "T" word with regards to a Porsche. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
2004 BMW 530i Sport - 214 @ 3500 rpm
2005 Cadillac STS V6 - 252 @ 3200 rpm
2005 Infiniti M35 - 270 @ 4800 rpm
2005 Jaguar S-Type 3.0 - 216 @ 4100 rpm
2005 Acura RL - 260 @ 5000 rpm
2006 MB E-Class detail, just for comparison: torque of 350 Nm between 2400 and 5000 rpm
305 Newton metres of torque – 87 percent of the maximum – is available from 1500 rpm
I didnt notice that, at least not with an automatic G35. I found the power delivery to be very smooth from top to bottom, much unlike the Acura TL, which has no low-end torque and feels a bit sluggish off the line.
And I don't care for stereotypes and innuendo. I wouldn't be hitchhiking onto the concept of a "gentleman" with that post.
Pardon my ignorance. I assume you don't mean torque? Hmm.
Torque works, however, I was thinking Tiptronic. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
I find that with the V6 in my M35. From what I've read and from watching the tachomoter, my impression is that the car "reaches" up quickly into high rpm range to get that torque at low speeds. That is one way to achieve the effect we experience when driving the G or the M. Another way, which appears to draw more positive attention in articles I read on engines and drivetrains, is to build an engine that reaches into its peak torque range at lower rpms.