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

fintail

Spinners passed, then there was a short period where those wheels that give the illusion of standing still came in. Both are gone thankfully. But oversized wheels are still popular for everything, and IMO older highline cars with blingy aftermarket wheels look trashy. Most of the wheels also come from China, which makes me worry about durability, not a place known for good metallurgy. I suspect in a few years there will be huge amounts of cracked and broken wheels out there.

fintail

Who would park something like that outside in Philly to begin with? I am surprised your cars haven't been messed with. One of those things that makes me happy I live where I live...I lost a couple fintail hood ornament back in the 90s when that was cool (and I was in a college area, so idiots were around anyway), nothing since.

lemko

My Cadillacs are never left outside. If I saw "Black Beauty" looking like that Benz, I probably would have a heart attack.

I remember that fad. Cadillac wreath and crest hood ornaments were also stolen. You saw a lot of Caddies and Mercedes with the hood onaments missing in Philly back in the late '80s/early '90s.

imidazol97

>Cadillac wreath and crest hood ornaments were also stolen.

You'd see youths with chains with Mercedes and Cadillac hood ornaments. They would wear them around their belt.

lemko

...spotted both a new red Scion xB and gray Scion IQ parked together on Stanwood Street near Palmetto in NE Philly.

fintail

Especially with the insurance knowing about the depreciation on those cars. You need to keep that thing mint for awhile.

I remember seeing those ornaments used as big pendants for awhile, VWs were also susceptible to loss.

texases

"spotted ... a new red Scion xB "

If it was RED (and not some dark burgundy) you saw a

"HOT LAVA xB
RELEASE SERIES 9.0
Starting Price $18,840*
Scorching "Hot Lava" Finish
Suede-Style Trimmed Seats
Illuminated Vehicle Locator Badges
Honeycomb Grille
ONLY 1500 CREATED"

Woo-Hoo!

ateixeira

We'll try to contain ourselves.

I guess a lot of these niche cars do that, though. Miata has special editions almost every year early on. VW launches new colors for the Beetle this way, too.

anythngbutgm

Especially love this Special Edition

link title

And Miata wise, this one is pretty sweet too

link title

slorenzen

I grew up in northen California.

If your car broke down it could stay on the side of the road for a few days until it could be collected and dealt with.

When I moved to Oregon, I was astonished at what I witnessed.

If you break down here, within 2-3 hours, someone has slashed the tires, busted the windows and stomped on the sheet metal, virtually destroying the car.

WHAT IS WRONG with people here?

:confuse:

fintail

Maybe someone had enemies?

I've never seen it that bad, although they are areas of this region where I wouldn't want to leave my car out for 15 mins, not to mention overnight - and not just for vandalism, but for outright theft.

It's all part of the race to the bottom. A second world standard is slowly approaching.

martian

Saw one yesterday-ya gotta wonder what goes on in people's heads.
You buy a Chrysler 300 (a good sedan in its own right), and stick phoney "B" (Bently) badges all over the thing.
Who do you think you are fooling?
Its like the poor guy who rents a suit and car for an evening out-the rich guys who see him are laughing their heads off.

stickguy

3 that I wanted to see. All roped off of course, but you get a good look up close.

the new Escape. Very nice. The Dodge Dart is a quantum leap ahead for Chrysler. and the Sube BRZ? Man, I want one of those some day.

of the other normal cars, the Imprezza was a great package.

lemko

slorenzen's post reminded me of that E63 AMG I saw last week. That was downright evil what some [non-permissible content removed] did to that car.

ateixeira

Yes, very nice Miata. The black top sort of disappears.

ateixeira

Same here, the DC one, anyway.

Escape sure did look nice. Ford also had a pair of Focus STs. Loved the electric yellow paint ($495 option available on other models) and the seats! New Escape make the old one look 100 years old.

Dart also looked good in person. DC had a cut-away, sort of on its side, did you see that display as well?

BRZ was cool. It was roped off but we talked them in to letting us in. The seats were great, perforated leather steering wheel cover also telescoped. Back seat was useless, though what did I expect? 2 cheap details - the fake fender vents, and the front bumper insert. If it comes in at mid 20s like they say, though, look out, they won't have enough to meet demand.

Impreza was surprisingly roomy - bigger inside than a 3 series or the Lexus CT.

lemko

...yellow Lamborghini Gallardo turning right onto Robbins Street from Tabor Avenue in NE Philly.

fintail

I wonder if insurance fraud was maybe in the works. A certain amount of cosmetic damage could be an easy total.

Speaking of E63, I visited the local MB dealer to see if anything weird was hanging around. The assortment was pretty average - all normals with about 5 AMGs thrown in, one a loaded diamond white E63 that had been a demo for the owner of the dealership. It was pretty hot, everything but performance package, they wanted something like 15K off MSRP for it. But, one of the wheels had been scraped, and they didn't fix this before putting it in the showroom. Poor attention to detail.

Also saw an R8 cabrio, a newer (LEDs) GTR, and a new X3 on the road.

ateixeira

Seeing these on the road lately, seem to be getting out of the gate quickly.

mitchal

I saw a mini cooper that has a sedan look to it today. Don't know if it is altered or not. I will snap a pic of it tomorrow if it's still there. Pretty neat looking!

tifighter

That's the new coupe. I've seen a few around...there's a butt for every seat.

fintail

Walked past the BMW dealer yesterday and saw a new SWB 7er sitting amongst the LWB models. I thought the SWBs were gone.

andys120

saw a new SWB 7er

Maybe it was a 5er, they're much the same as the 7er these days.

fintail

They probably are the same size as an E23 or even E32, but this one even had 750 badges. Brought back nice memories of the rented SWB 7er I had in Germany.

fintail

Spotted a trunkback Sonic...thought it was some kind of new Mitsubishi from a distance. Rental.

robr2

Been busy at work but spotted this week:

Hyundai Veloster
RR Evoque
Plug In Prius - had CA plates and Zipcar markings

andys120

I saw a Nissan GT-R for the first time outside of an Auto show, it was bright red but looked rather ordinary if you didn't see the huge grille in front. Coincidentally I also saw an
Altima Coupe in the same color afterwards and thought that it's basically a nicer looking design for perhaps 1/3 the cost.

Performance is another matter.

ateixeira

A pair of each.

ateixeira

I haven't even seen it yet, but a friend of mine just told me he got one of these. Traded a 3 series wagon in for it.

I'll have to ask him to take me for a spin later. I have mixed feelings about a Maxi Mini, but at least it's AWD.

fintail

The Fisker Karma I saw a few weeks ago is sitting in the used car section of the local Lexus dealer this morning. In a bit I have to head that way, if it is still there I will grab a pic.

texases

There's a review of the Karma in the latest C/D - not much to like, expensive, heavy (over 5000 lbs), cramped rear seat...

ateixeira

Maybe the owner realized that and traded for a Lexus.

Or maybe the Lexus dealer is acting as an agent. How are they distributing them?

fintail

Actually I just did a little digging, and the same dealer group (family owned, inherited of course) who owns the Lexus dealer owns the Fisker dealer, but the actual sales location isn't here. Maybe a mucky muck is demoing it.

I can't imagine the same person who would buy a new LS etc buying one of those, it would scare them away.

fintail

And here it is:





No warranty!

texases

WOW - no warranty! On a limited production car full of new/untested technologies! Wonder why it hasn't sold...

And just so others know, that PV array in the roof only helps charge the 12V system, no the main battery. Takes a BIG array to do that.

fintail

You don't want to roll those dice? It's not listed on the dealer website...I wonder how much they want for it. I think it must have arrived there later Saturday or Sunday.

On a similar note, I went to the local mall yesterday, which has a Tesla dealer in it. They had a 4 door model on display. Very Audi like. Friend who was with me snickered at the 300mile/6 hour range for the best/pricey battery option.

texases

Of course the 4-door's not available..."Bloomberg reports this morning that Tesla may have seen its loss widen in 2011's final quarter. We can't imagine why. Well, other than the Model S sedan isn't expected to go into production until mid-2012 — and that they've killed the $109,000 Roadster and a replacement isn't coming until 2015 — and Tesla's main revenue source right now is supplying battery packs to Toyota and Daimler.'

lemko

I don't know if you watch "American Dad" but this past Sunday's episode had Steve Smith and Roger the Alien playing their TV detective alter-egos "Wheels and the Legman." They were driving what appeared to be an orange 1970 or so Mercedes 280S.

lemko

...black Chrysler 300 at Cottman and Oxford and bright green Camaro at Oxford and Sheffield in NE Philly.

qbrozen

temp tags at the daycare. The back end is very volvo'ish.

fintail

Pretty sure there's a new GS sitting in the showroom of my local dealer, but it's hard to tell for sure from a distance. The Fisker is gone, too.

andys120

I saw a new Camaro convertible, orange w black top. I liked it better than the coupe because the taller roof line w the convertible top up makes it look like a real car. The squashed roof of the h/t makes it look like a cartoon car IMO.

Now if they'd clean up that geeky interior...

anythngbutgm

I swear I saw one of these heading the other direction on the highway this morning. Are they even out yet? :confuse:

Saw a few new CR-V's and a slew of new Camrys this week. Along with the new Impreza which appears to be strong right out of the gate. I actually have a co-worker is thinking about getting one as well.

AWD and 36mpg is really getting noticed...

fintail

I heard the new Lexus GS is just hitting the streets, stopped by the local dealer to take a peek - they had maybe 10 of them in various trim and colors. I looked one over and sat in it, a pearl white "F Sport" trim car. Very nice, very high quality materials and with tons of gadgetry, huge nav screen which is like having a tablet screen on your dash, this car might actually give the competition something to work against. It's big too...still has some awkward design ideals, but I certainly wouldn't object to one. The one I saw had metal accents inside which were cool too, a strange textured metal that reminded me of some kind of Japanese art metalwork. Dealer was trying to get me into one too, offered me a $1500 conquest deal coming out of a MB, offered the lease deal, etc.

They also had a LFA on display, apparently you can buy them outright now rather than just be involved in some kind of lease, but buyers must meet "approval", which I was told was mostly to prevent grey market activity.

texases

Saw my first "ActiveHybrid 7" the other day. About $20k more than the 'regular' 750i, save maybe a few hundred$ per year...but it's a hybrid!

Note that I drive a hybrid, but mine's a 'breakeven' proposition (maybe better than that at $4+/gallon). I just think spending $20k to save $2k is anything other than grandstanding.

fintail

MB is the only one who plays the luxohybrid game correctly - makes it the cheapest model.

stickguy

a New Nissan work van. man, that thing is hideous. Nasty snout, and the body looks like some kids in auto shop got stoned and started playing with the tools. I have seen better looking body work on redneck pickup conversions (you know, when they cut the back of of a minivan?)

kyfdx

It may be a hybrid, but it still has a twin-turbo V-8... :surprise:

They had one at the local car show.... lots of wood and leather.... pretty nice ride, if you don't mind the price..

fintail

Saw a yellow Tesla roadster this morning, I know it was one due to large "TESLA" lettering on the side.

ateixeira

Lost count.

Camrys also.

Another Veloster, still not a turbo. Those should be out?

C250 Benz coupe at a stop sign near the kids' school.