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The ZL-1 may be the lone exception, I haven't researched that one much, but then again, how long has it been out? From the one review I did see, I'm guessing they trimmed some of the pork out of that model.
I think the track tow truck was nice enough to tow him 100' off the property onto the street so that Hertz wouldn't raise a flag.
To me, a Corvette owner is almost always a middle-aged man of lower sophistication who wants a muscle car to show his continuing virility. He often is wearing gold chains, too. he can afford to get a less-sophisticated raw-power muscle car as the "entry-level" to powerful sports cars.
And by the way, this is the perfect description of my next door neighbor with, yes, a red Corvette.
If a woman, she's a cougar trying to live a younger life.
I guess we each have our own stereotypes.
To be fair, I probably see about the same low ratio in regards to Mustangs (though it was a Boss/special type). Also saw on Challenger, so it seems 1 of each shows up.
When I see Cruzes on tracks I'll think GM's taking the compact car market seriously. There needs to be a Cruze SS.
Just yesterday, during our first serious snowfall of the year, I witnessed a driver of a larger BMW run a stop sign and nearly get t-boned, while the pedestrian car that nearly hit him (so 'pedestrian' I can't even tell you at this point what it was) just laid on the horn.
Funny, I like sport/luxury smaller cars with very high interior quality. So of course that takes me to brands like Audi. I owned an A4 a few years back and loved that car, except for the cost to repair. I'm driving an Acura TL right now, which has had nearly flawless Japanese reliability but is a bit bigger than I like, and a bit softer than I like.
I've been eyeing the C-Class MB as I love the lines on the current model. Was thinking of trying to find a slightly used one, preferably with a manual! The leather interiors smell wonderful and the cockpit just cradles you. Not like the run of the mill sedans. There is a big difference. Even I worry about getting an MB, first for maintenance costs, and second for the image. I don't want the image, I just like that type of vehicle.
There isn't much in the US nameplates that fit that mold. I may take a look at the ATS, but there aren't going to be any used ones yet, and I'm not paying $50K to get any vehicle.
It seems that our brand preferences mirror the strengths of each brand and our personal likes. If you like soft, large sedan - you go large US metal (lemko); if you like low cost, value, you go somewhere like GM or Ford (you), if you like small, quality/sporty you go Audi/MB/maybe Mazda (like me), etc. So really each of us in our own way is "rational" based upon our personal vehicle type preferences.
Do you live in Key West?
I ask, because the last time I was down there (around 5-6 years ago), that was a perfect description of every Corvette driver I saw.... Not that there were tons of Corvettes there, though.
Here in upstate SC, its rare to see any driver wearing gold chains nowadays, regardless of make. I guess the "new" must have worn off by now...
Oh, I agree. I just wouldn't limit it to the BMW brand. I see the same behavior here with Lexus, Audi and MB drivers. Several years ago I would have also included Volvo drivers, but once Ford got ahold of Volvo, the owner dynamics seems to have changed.
If you drop the "I'm socially better than you" part of the description, I would say I see a lot of that the of driver in any car model that's marketed as any type of "driver's car". I think these folks somehow think that driving a performance-style car translates into a "performance-ability" driver.
Read more: Workers at GM, Ford to Score Nice Bonuses This Year - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/12/21/workers-at-gm-ford-to-score-nice-bonuses-this-ye- ar/#ixzz2FonO3cvc
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Ironically, the rear end is IMHO the best-styled feature of the Camaro. The Mustang has a nice profile not unlike the first 2+2 Mustangs I think.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38389354@N07/6804036218/in/pool-44119739@N00%7C3838- 9354@N07
Another goofy Subaru I think, is the one where the side windows open like a drive-up window at a fast-food place. WTH were they thinking?
Although, the rest of the car looks pretty nice I think.
Other than the windows, I always thought the XT was pretty sharp looking though, and they manageg a .29 drag coefficient LONG before most of their competition.
Let me know how many of the foreign car companies from other countries have never received any assistance from their governments be it protectionism, currency undervaluation, etc..
It looks to me like the US people got their economy saved by not losing all the suppliers to their foreign brands who are building some of their cars here at that time and by not losing as many jobs as could have been lost.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I think I've seen that movie before...
When I went to pick up a minivan to move my younger daughter to college a few years back, there were 2 sporty-type models (don't remember the make) in front of the rental office, both obviously totaled. I thought 2 wrecked vehicles out front were a bit odd, so as I was doing the sign-in procedure I asked the clerk why they were there.
According to him, 2 young idiots had rented the cars for the previous weekend to do a little street racing. Not so good at driving in a spirited manner, one of the dudes took his buddy out. Somehow, they escaped serious injury.... But, not the cops, as they were charged with drag racing, speeding, etc.
The clerk said when they were talking to the branch manager, they didn't seem too worried about the damage... After all, they had signed up for the rental insurance. Evidently, when he explained to them it didn't cover damage caused by racing and intentional neglect, and they were still "on the hook" for the damages, their attitude changed. I never found out how it ended up...it may not be done yet...
Both of these examples are why I would never judge a vehicle based on a rental experience, other than the design layout, comfort, etc. I've seen car renters that could break a hammer and anvil... Heck, I used to work with some of them!
To me, I think the Challenger, Camaro & Mustang have all suffered a little "middle-age" broadening of the rear end as compared to the original models they're based on.
Maybe we could say they've been "Kardashian-ized".
...yet I wonder how much more competitive we MIGHT have been, if Ford could have done much better due to the demise of GM, and we could have had the few good parts of GM bought by somebody else who actually cared about running a lean, competitive car company. Oh, and no UAW legacy contracts, either.
Balance.
Regards,
OW
Completely agree. The Challenger wins the Retro theme in pony cars presently. In looks only!
My order is:
Challenger
Mustang
Camaro
Regards,
OW
And Audi drivers...well, I share Jeremy Clarkson's observations there :shades:
There are a lot of status seeking drivers of most brands. You'll even see it in the type who will buy a loaded Suburban thinking it is an exotic, especially if they are in a small town with little exposure to global highline brands. And many leasers of premium cars are in it for the badge. That's what drives the astounding sales volume of late. IMO...as it becomes harder to actually make it, there are ways people can kind of fake it and still feel like they have something.
I like something rare, fairly subtle, with a high quality interior, the ability to be driven hard, and something that has a consistent smooth ride on top of it. A sport model MB is good at that, a BMW in comfort mode is there too.
As far as I recall, the govt actually MADE money on companies like AIG.
Which of course is no reason to reward them. They and the big banks should have been split into little pieces, but of course that would have endangered certain campaign contributions.
I just don't see there being any fundamental change that will prevent it from happening again.
Are there fundamental changes enough to keep GM from happening again, too? It's not trending the right way. A non-government interference bankruptcy would have been much likelier to produce GM offshoots that could have been successful, IMHO.
I'm certain I could find things on a new Lexus, Benz, or whatever, to take back during the warranty period. That's not a slam on those cars, but it's a description of me.
Of course, my usual track event is with the Audi club, so it's Audi biased, but I have heard the phrase "Subie is the Japanese Audi."
I'd say there's usually one STI in the mix, along with 2 or 3 Evo's.
BRZ is too new... get back to you in April on that. There was a regular old souped up Scion, so I'm sure the newer and much better Subie clone will make an appearance or two, if not the BRZ itself.
My view is that for thousands of dollars, I can be fussy, if they lower the price of new cars down to the 4 digits range, maybe I'd be willing to be less fussy, but at 5 digits, no way.
If you don't mind me asking, where did/do you live with tha Audi A4?
Were you able to find a good independent mechanic? I've found that a good mechanic makes German cars seem very reasonably priced to work on and maintain/repair. Of course, I haven't owned an R8 yet :P
That's one way to look at it I suppose. A reasonable view I'm sure. I, however, take the other side and as an owner, I particularly want to know how a car works, runs, lasts under hard use, such as rentals.
Good demonstration of durability, reliability, being driving by different people under different conditions.
If it can't handle the heat, I might not want it. (If the rental agency skimps on maintenance, that's another can of worms). I've always imagined rental agencies to be vigilent on routine maintenance intervals.
Near the LA metro area. I had a pretty good mechanic, but was going to the dealer for a while. And that was sort of a bend-over period ($$). Although they were certainly nice, they couldn't always diagnose the problem correctly.
Michigan is a city now?
I don't see any changes that would GM from getting sick again. You are correct that a normal bk could have fared better, but it also could have collapsed and caused an economic tidal wave of sorts. I think in this case, the feds were engaging in risk mitigation, at a price of course.
A normal bankruptcy with the federal government providing cash to keep things going was what most smart folks were expecting. Instead the idea that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste was used to give ownership to the UAW taking it away from bondholders as far as equity left in value of the old GM. In a bankruptcy as described earlier and money supplied by the government, the unions would have started over on negotiations. The high cost of labor for GM would have been mitigated and a much stronger GM in terms of pricing, money spent on R&D, quality of interiors, would all have helped the current position. Even the choice of size for the new Malibu would have been more market oriented.
So the wrong games were played in the bankruptcy and GM is still being criticized for doing the best they can under the "leadership" of the government we have.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Attorney Michael Richman, who represented a group of unsecured creditors during the bankruptcy, said GM's restructuring could have ended differently if the hedge fund deal had been disclosed immediately."
Creditors' claims that old General Motors shorted them will be ruled on soon by a federal bankruptcy judge (Detroit Free Press)
Risk-based, certainly. With these things you can't run both sides of the experiment. We can conjecture on what would have happened. There are scenarios from most good things to mostly bad things. And nobody can really know how it would have turned out had the bailout of GM and C not happened.
So the wrong games were played in the bankruptcy and GM is still being criticized for doing the best they can under the "leadership" of the government we have.
Absolutely.
I find a fundamental flaw in your analysis.
First, usually the smark folks follow the smart money and the smart money follows the smart folks.
Second, if the smart folks were expecting a wonderful GM through bankruptcy, then they should have put up the smart money instead of the government.
Why would the Federal Government need to provide cash when the smart folks have plenty of smart money to have moved GM along.
I think the truth is that the smart money and folks wouldn't touch GM with a 10' pole.
Umm, not that I'm a devout fan of the show, either! :P
Not that I started watching Smallville because I heard James Marsters was in it or anything. :P
After working over the years and being involved in capital-raising ventures, I often find the term "smart money" laughable... Not that there isn't some smart money, but that there is so much stupid money that so many interpret as smart money, if for no other reason than it simply being available money.
IMO, relatively speaking, smart money is in the minority.
As I see it relating to the bailouts, the smart thing to do was to just sit on the cash until some market direction could be determined, while everyone else was so overextended by hedging and speculation they simply didn't have any available cash reserves.
In any case, what's done is done. While debating the issue of whether or not it should have happened will go on for decades, it won't make any difference.
I'm looking to see if GM can change its old ways on its second chance at life, much like the guy that has potential but never uses it, has a brush with death, then decides to do something meaningful with his life. Of course, he may simply decide to keep on doing the same things, too.
Time will tell. I would say GM better make it stick this time. I really don't see round 2 of government funding/bailout coming anytime soon. What I do see is the continued consolidation within the global auto industry in which fewer players are around in 10, 20 years.
Even a Buick LeSabre.
None of these rental experiences gave me any confidence in the way the Big 3 is making cars.
For balance... the Cobalt was way better than the Cavalier. But that's like saying Tebow is better than Sanchez.