I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

carnaught

Looks great in photos and in person. No need to grow on you, any angle looks good, too.

Pleasant surprise.

They'll be even better when they're not such a slug with only the 4-cylinder available.

ateixeira

Turbo + Manual sounds intriguing.

Funny thing is I'd have to get over the ageism bias. I used to joke that a Buick was the last car you bought before you died, so I'd never buy one. LOL

lemko

Shoot, if that was the case, I should've been dead a long time ago. My first two cars were Buicks!

ateixeira

Nobody told you?

I see dead people

You didn't know? :P

tifighter

I saw the new Sonata Hybrid driving around on Sunday...don't think these are out yet and this one had manufacturer plates. The giant front grille looks okay in person.

andys120

Two new ones from Goverm...er..General Motors:

Cadillac CTS-Coupe- The black one I saw yesterday on the road looked much sleeker and better than the silver item I saw at a car show.

Buick Regal-looking very nice in dark blue. It's nice looking unit but I'm one of those who still thinks of Buick as an old fart's car even if at 67 you could I guess call me an OF. I've spent a lot of time in FL and AZ in recent years and they're just everywhere.

It wasn't always so, there Buicks around in the 1960s that I really liked.

stickguy

saw a new style (not even sure when they came out, and I assume it is the newest style!) E class in titanium/dark silver/whatever they call dark grey. Man, sharp looking car.

and a Jeep 4 door wrangler. In bright, mary Kay pink. Flat out nasty, and so wrong on so many levels.

stickguy

looked on line, and the E class I saw was the last body style (through 2009).

Now I cant recall if I have seen any of the 2010 body style (or if I did, if they made an impression on me!)

My daughter really likes the looks of the newer C class. It is actually kind of growing on me too.

explorerx4

Several of my family members love Buicks. Only the supercharged versions. Those cars define 'Sleepers'.

euphonium

I'm one of those who still thinks of Buick as an old fart's car even if at 67 you could I guess call me an OF. You're not an OF because..........

An OF is one who is 10 years older than you at the time!

stickguy

328i wagon. in dark gray. This, I liked the looks of. I assume though that it was an xDrive, so probably quite the little porker. But, I would not kick it out of my garage.

And visited a friend today that recently had twins (1st kids), so they got a minivan to tote them around.

ended up with a nice red T&C touring model. Nice and loaded, with dual screen DVD, and plenty of other bells and whistles. Really nice looking interior too.

They did look at honda and toyota too, but the difference in price (including an over allowance on a trade) was huge, and ChryCo also had .9%financing.

they actually liked all 3 (in different ways), but found the T&C to be a fine option, so the major $$ savings (hey, twins can get to be expensive) was too much to pass up.

and they tend to keep cars a long time, so resale is not likely to be an issue.

ateixeira

Saw one driving West from DC to West Virginia.

Some rich guy owns a farm.

anythngbutgm

One of those CTS hearses, ironically it was black. Even with the bigger wheels it was completely dull and uninspired. Visibility through the D pillars must be gawd awful... :sick:

bhill2

One of those CTS hearses, ironically it was black. Even with the bigger wheels it was completely dull and uninspired.

Get it with the "V" option. Completely dull and uninspired and blisteringly fast. You can have a lot of fun with that combination.

ateixeira

CTS wagon doesn't look like a hearse at all to me. Looks more like a stretched CTS coupe with 5 doors. I wouldn't mind having one of those in my driveway, not one bit.

lemko

...brown Kia Sportage in a driveway at the corner of Napfle and Verree in NE Philly.

ateixeira

I saw another one the other day.

Definitely one of those that looks a bit better in person.

I still think it needs a window behind the C-pillar to erase that big blind spot.

fintail

Isolated driving experience for an oblivious motoring public...

ateixeira

Well, it's cheap wheels and they can cram lots of stuff in it. AWD makes it all season, and you sit up high for good forward sightlines.

It's not really meant to carve canyons.

fintail

And with terrible side and rear visibility, so the same terrible parking, random thoughtless lane changes and other mindless traffic maneuvers we are all accustomed to from the crossover/small SUV class will continue :shades:

ateixeira

Forester owners excepted.

Those things have excellent visibility. Huge windows all around, thin pillars, big mirrors, and the option of 2 or 3 different backup cams (not that you need them).

lemko

...black Lincoln MKS travelling south on Oxford Avenue near Cottman in NE Philly.

ateixeira

I'm not sure these have grown on me. The Infiniti SUVs and crossovers all seem a bit odd to me.

The QX' headlights seem to be mounted too low. That's an awful lot of sheetmetal for a hood, too.

anythngbutgm

Pulled up behind one of these blobs tonight and for some reason smelled the strongest, most pungent mildew/moss smell. Ironic because there was absolutely no swamp-land around this area... So I followed it for a few miles and the smell never, ever disapated until I turned off to Trader Joes. There were no other vehicles in front of it and I never crossed any wetlands so it was definitely this thing in front of us.

Nasty... :sick:

The Lamdas are notorious for water leaks (along with busted camshafts, bad trannies and other problems...) but this is the first time I've ever smelled something like that from a car. Can't imagine the mold that must be lurking in the body, enough to permeate the trail behind it! :surprise: Blech.

explorerx4

I think it was a Lamborghini.

lemko

...white Porsche Panamera travelling east on Rhawn Street near Verree Road in NE Philly.

ateixeira

To be fair a reprogramming of that trans seemed to have helped. Owners reported improvement.

stever

I'm not too good at identifying cars. The last couple of days however, I've been on the road and have spotted a Jeep factory, the factory where they make the Mazda6 and caught a brief glance at some of the construction going on in Chattanooga for the new VW plant. :shades:

tifighter

Wow Steve, are you on some kind of factory roadtrip tour or what? :P

You really should take a tour inside if you can...watching big machinery like that in person is really impressive, whether you are a car guy or not. I toured the Audi assembly line in Ingolstadt Germany, and watched the A4 wagon get built. When you see sheetmetal go into a giant press, watch it come down, then out comes the side of an entire car (minus doors of course), it makes your jaw drop.

qbrozen

drove past a Ford dealership and saw a 3-door Fiesta parked out front. It was that metallic puke green color that the mazda2 has been shown in all the time.

stever

on some kind of factory roadtrip tour

Boy, I wish - I love stuff like that too. Was in the area of the Henry Ford Village last week but didn't have time to check it out either. Some travel company could do a good business busing people around on factory tours.

euphonium

I don't think you can just "drop in" & tour. When I toured the Lincoln Wixom plant, you had to apply, reply with information enabling them to get a Security clearance on you. They then scheduled you for a date weeks in advance giving them more time to investigate. Not all who apply even get a reply.

explorerx4

You need to visit the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.
Last time i visited the 'Henry' they had this car on display as soon as you walked in.

tifighter

I don't think you can just "drop in" & tour.

Might be. I've never done a US plant tour before, just in Europe with Audi and BMW. No issues with same day arrival and tour, and the tour guide at Audi even ate lunch with me after the tour to see what I thought. Apparently, Americans are a rarity there.

stickguy

new S60. Attended local Volvo dealer launch party. Pretty crowded, so I did not bother to wait for the abbreviated test drives they were doing. They also had a test course set up so you could try out the pedestrian safety system. Did not fill out papers to do it. Not that exciting to watch (a car drive at 20mph toward a dummy and just stop!).

Anyway, very nice car. Big upgrade from the old one. And roomier in the back seat (noticeably). Just not sure that it will sellat 44K (the sticker on an absolutely loaded to the gills sampe they had).

When they show up with a smaller engine and FWD at 34K instead, then they might have something going!

tifighter

This does not bode well for V60 pricing...

fintail

Hopefully that safety junk works better than this example

stickguy

well, it may not matter, since I am pretty sure I saw recently that they were not bringing in the V60 to the US. but it does look sweet.

I did see a nice XC60 the other day that stickered for right around 40K, and that is the same engine/drivetrain as the S60.

I have to figure that a smaller engine (2.0turbo? Or the old 5 cyl) with FWD will be quite a bit less.

the 44K also included about $2,700 for some nav+ techno package. and pretty much everything else they could jam onto the car.

stickguy

Oops. but, these are supposed to be extra "bonus" tools. And given the limitations, they can't be fool proof, and almost have to err on the side of not being stupid. Last thing you need is your car slamming on the breaks at random times, and getting rear ended!

qbrozen

new Lacrosse in the parking lot. I took a minute to walk around it. Big car. Nice looking, though. Wife thought so, too. Not really a fan of the portholes on top of the hood this time around.

ateixeira

Mercedes demo'd a similar system in front of a bunch of journalists and the car also crashed.

Can someone translate, did it malfunction in front of those journalists?

My other concern would be a squirrel in the road, or fox, coyote, etc.

fintail

Regarding the Volvo crash video, I think there is something there about the car going too fast for the system to be functional.

I saw a new facelift C-class today...LEDs, the new cliche.

ateixeira

Yeah, I thought I read about a 12mph limit?

Perhaps the hosts got a little too ambitious and exceeded the max speed.

ateixeira

LEDs, the new cliche.

Yeah, I wonder if those will stick around.

I'm not usually a fan, too bling-y. It's like overdone make-up with glued on jewels.

fintail

I don't care for it either - as it is almost always show-off running lights with no real practical purpose. Just "look at me" tech.

ateixeira

Infiniti got lighting right, with the gatlin-gun style lights on the Q flagship. They even did without fog lights because they worked so well.

The new trend is style over substance - today's giant tail fins, if you will.

fintail

Those final series Q45s have to be a bargain. I saw a loaded up 2005 model (the last year?) for sale by a local Infiniti dealer, they want like 15 or 16K for it. Hell of a lot of car for the money.

In 2030, a 2010 car will be dated by its LEDs, I wager.

ateixeira

Cars may be using night vision inside and have no lights at all. LOL

I never warmed to the style of the Q, so I'd prefer an M, or even the G.

andys120

Last March a friend of mine acquired a new Mercedes E350 4-Matic, even went to Stuttgart to pick it up. The other day I rode shotgun in it for a 100mi or so round trip.

I must say this is a pretty nice car, not necessarily what I'd get for the $$$ but certainly a nice car in many respects. I'm at sixes and sevens about the styling- it's good looking but unless you see the grille it could as easily be a Bimmer or a Lexus.

Like many Benz owners, he's a busy guy who owns multiple businesses and hasn't had the time to study the owners manual to learn the fine points of the many systems and gadgets on the car. This creates an odd paradox in which buyers pay big bucks for fully optioned cars but don't take full advantage of them. :confuse:

I'm thinking of asking him to give the car to me for a couple of days and then I'll give him a tutorial. :P

Like most Mercs the car feels solid and rides beautifully. He demonstrated the radar-controlled cruise control which is easy to use and works very well. He also demonstrated the handling by way of almost overdoing bit on an exit ramp. This tank will corner quite nicely.

I was struck to note that the shifter has been moved to the steering column which is counter to Mercedes' tradition and the current trend toward manu-matics. They were the first to move the shifter to the console and the first to offer a manual shifting capability (via gated selector grid). It didn't look like it would be easy to manually select a lowerr gear but the transmission was utterly smooth in it's operation.

According to the owner the E3250 is worth the money.

lemko

The Ultimate Automotive Lighting System!