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

stickguy

waiting in the HS pick up line yesterday, a nice new looking Benz E class. Parked behind a Panamera. Too many people in this town with more money than I have.

lemko

Why can't we get this car here instead of those stupid, ugly X-whatever cross-overs or the hump-backed 5-series? Do European designers think we're blind?

lemko

Feh! I stopped believing that folks with such rides had more money. They are often "frontin'" and have more debt than regular folks.

fintail

I wonder if the GT has some kind of large profit margin. But that is negated by how few are sold - not an everyday sight even in this area, where money and taste aren't usually positively correlated.

The GT is offered in Europe too, I doubt it sells well though. It's more of that German niche fixation, but this time an imaginary niche, driven by marketers.

uplanderguy

I saw my first new Fusion on the PA Turnpike headed west, near Somerset, yesterday. First, I thought it was a Focus but it looked bigger; then, I saw the "Fusion" nameplate. I'm not nutso about the Focus' styling and I feel the same about the new Fusion. I like that (I think) I read that it's built in Michigan instead of Mexico like the last one.

berri

I believe they are still making Fusions in Mexico, but will be converting the Flat Rock, MI plant (former co-production with Mazda facility) to add more Fusion production capacity later in the model year. I think the Turbo engines are coming from offshore, but later Ford will be building at least some of them in North America also.

uplanderguy

Geez, just took my daughter and a friend to Chipotle and I saw another new Fusion. I didn't think they had been out yet, but to see two in 24 hours I'm assuming they're not as 'just out' as I'd thought.

fintail

I've only seen one, but have read they are about to trickle into rental fleets already, so they are out there.

Also heard National has the Cadillac ATS already, only seen a couple of those so far.

shanian

Saw a Fiskar EV Karma in all chrome shiny
There are only 1200 in the entire USA, and one J Beiber has an all Chrome one.

Located on I 279 North.

Wonder who else has s a chrome one

stever

Probably his agent driving it on a pizza run.

Good spotting. That'd be like seeing a pink Cadillac Fleetwood in Memphis in 1955. (Gladys never drove her car either, not having a license).

iwant12

Though I haven't seen the new Fusion in person, I really like what I've seen and read in the rags and online. My wife will be in the market for a new car next year. She's tired of her 05 Mazda6 with 65 on the clock. She likes the CTS, ATS, 3 Series cars. I plan on pointing her in the direction of the Fusion or the new MKZ and try to save a few bucks. Wish me luck!

fintail

Not a new sighting, but apparently someone new has moved to my building as there's a car in a once vacant spot, and they have a recently plated Prius V. It's a car.

I think I need to drive the fintail more, buy a racing bike, or cut the cats off the E55 to keep the balance of power the same :shades:

Oh, also saw a new RX with the LED jewelry and 61 Plymouth grille.

lemko

Two Sonics and a Spark!

fintail

Another new RX this morning, this in the dreary boring beige that speaks of mcmansions and botox.

Caddy dealer has about 20 XTS.

ateixeira

Did the Sparks set the Sonics on fire?

I saw a high school kid driving a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee. :sick:

ateixeira

Kid was in a parade over the weekend with his boy scout troop, and we saw a beat up Rolls Royce in the parade that had (I'm not kidding) aluminum foil covering up rust holes in the bumper.

You can afford a Rolls, but not a bumper? C'mon folks...

stickguy

who said they could afford a rolls (the cover charge to get in is just the beginning).

anythngbutgm

Just returned from a vacation to Germany/Austria (ZOMG WWII!!!) with the wife and what a place! Probably one of the best places we have ever visited. The landscape, the archetecture, the people, amazing. Then there was Oktoberfest... :shades:

On the car front, it was amazing the things that I spotted over there. The BMW's, Audi's and Mercs were as common as a Toyota or a Honda here in the states. They were the staples of the automotive landscape. VW's as well, not as prevailent, but still common. Heck I had a Toureg blow by me doing about a buck-50 on day 1 leaving Munich! This was the Autobahn afterall, there were plenty of places to "open up" and see what those babies could do.

And here's the kick. Driving the Autobahn was one of the greatest, and most relaxing roads I have ever driven. Everyone thinks it is going to be scary to be sharing the roads with these Tuetonic Bruisers doing twice your speed but if you just obey a few guidelines it can be very enjoyable. Don't pass on the inside, and if your going to pass, get over, pass and get back into the slower lanes if you want to keep pace. Give yourself plenty of notice where you need to turn and I highly recommend a Navi. Ours was a POC TomTom that kept screwing up, but thankfully the roads are so well marked it wasn't much of a problem (although the TomTom did send us to Switzerland when we wanted to go to Triberg/Frieberg, ugh :sick: )

As far as spotting, some of the unusal ones were a Weismann MF5 (which sounded downright incredible passing us on the Autobahn), an Aston DB5, Aston DB7, Mercedes SLS63, a couple of R8's, both V8 and V10, a sinister looking triple black S63, an Ascari, (A10?) A fleet of brand new, untagged 911's around Munich and a very weird BMW 3-series with camoflage hanging out in the back of a parking lot in Dinkelsbuhl covered in dust. :confuse: Somebody forget where they parked their concept car?

Off topic, but one thing I found interesting was for all the stories I hear about how unreliable German cars are, in the entire week I was there, I only saw 3 broken down cars, an older VW GTi and a pair of Opel Vectra wagons... I saw a lot more Citroens and Puegeots on the side of the road than German cars.

All in all a very amazing trip to an amazing place. Highly recommend if you haven't been.

anythngbutgm

Even tho I said that things were pretty peaceful on the "Autobahn Speedways" (lol) I did come upon 2 wrecks during our travels. One was actually one of those mulletmobile Camaro's, a very strange sighting in Bavaria... This one was brand new, SS with the Asian style ground effects and silver racing stripes down the middle. The new Camaro exhaust note sounds like crap btw, this one was no exception... Anyways, this guy was playing chase with an M3 and about 140mph or so, lost it in one of the tunnels. Not something I would want to try testing it's top speed on, that thing must've blew apart into a million pieces! Sadly, I don't think the driver made it eithier :surprise: but I didn't stick around "rubbernecking" (something that drives me nuts here in the states) as I drove by...

The second was coming back form a day trip to Cologne, and about 9PM at night, I got passed by a dude in a sport bike that had to be doing 180 -200mph. Seriously, this guy came up on me so fast, by the time I turned my head to see what it was, all I could see was a fading taillight.

Needless to say, about 10 minutes and maybe 20-30 km later, we came upon a scene with an Ambulance, some cops and a red sportbike lying across the highway with trails of fluids (bike, driver?) all over the place. Again, cannot imagine how that guy made it.

fintail

Cool! I'm headed over next week, and a little more than a week later, will be picking up my own rental car for several days of driving fun. Driving there is a real adventure, sometimes a test, but is as fun as anything else on the trip. I remember seeing only one wreck, in traffic a CLK rear ended another car. Maybe the lack of phone yapping has a positive effect.

Last time I was near Stuttgart (Affalterbach), I saw a camo prototype ML out for testing, and last time I was in Munich I saw an "efficient dynamics" badged 7er out for testing at very high speeds on the 'bahn headed to Stuttgart. I also remember being passed by a M5 wagon that made me look like I was parked - and I was exceeding 100mph, in the rain no less.

Having nav is very important. Germany also has many towns with the same name - so make sure you select the right one. I remember going to the wrong Regensburg, I think it was.

Speaking of new models, Euro cars often hit the road a good 6-12 months before NA, so you can really see new ones there.

lemko

There's this really ghetto-looking light blue 1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow that passes through my neighborhood once in a while.

lemko

...dark blue Buick Regal at Ripley and Bingham in NE Philly.

fintail

Those can be picked up for nothing. Brake system rebuild can easily exceed the value of the car.

ateixeira

Saw a real Hummer this morning, H1 model.

Then a white Prius C.

Don't see too many Hummers any more, at least not in the DC area. Someone told me a lot of them were shipped to Eastern Europe and countries where fuel is uber-cheap.

I think the Hummer could actually drive over the C.

fintail

Didn't see it, but heard that a co-worker's gf just leased a well equipped (49K MSRP) new 328i sport for 379/month. Not sure what she put down on it though.

ateixeira

I don't know how they figure that math.

Let's say the residual is a best-case 62% (*), that's still $18,620 over 36 months, without interest we're talking $517.22 per month.

You don't pay retail, but even at a bargain $45k it would run $475 per month before you add interest.

They have the 1 series, BMW should not be giving away the 3 like that.

* Source:

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=buy&story=hiResidual&subject=bes- t_resale

robr2

Well equipped 328 (retail for $40,500), $3900 down and residual of $25,100 is $389 a month for 36 months here in Boston. Total lease payments of about $14,000.

fintail

Year end blowout, or she put a lot down. I've told him I am interested in how she made that deal happen, as it is insane. There must be something behind it.

Best local lease I have seen was a fairly plain new E-class with ~54K sticker for 499.

ateixeira

Big down payment makes BMW's loss more palatable. Every one seems to advise you to put as little down as possible, though.

Never leased, personally. If a lux brand wants to give away a car though...

fintail

Of course put as little down as possible - it's the overall cost that counts. I bet at year's end many will go for less than depreciation, though. Perhaps a production glut for the new model, kind of the same result as all the leftover 11s that were languishing on the lot months into 2012.

ateixeira

The disturbing thing is they are re-directing a lot of cars meant for Europe to the US due to the crisis and drop in demand over there.

Hello bargains. You used to have to go to Saab or Jaguar for that.

fintail

It'd be cool if we actually got unsold Euro spec cars. 4cyl diesel E in all bodystyles, for example, with available manuals.

Going to kill residuals, too, with sweetheart lease dumps. Smart money won't buy.

ateixeira

If they're giving them away I'll take a 335d.

fintail

If I could get a 50K car for 400/month with little down, I would too. Leasing can make some sense, if you absolutely must drive a new car.

lemko

Heck, maybe I can get an E-Class to replace my aging Grand Marquis?

fintail

It might not be a car that likes to be parked outside on the mean streets of Philly. It would be happier filling the role of your DTS, but I know that's not your goal.

If you want a durable daily driver MB where you don't need to worry about roads and weather, seek an old W123 or W124.

Today's new sighting - pearl white-ish Lexus ES, I still laugh at the commercials featuring the stubble faced 30 something guy who in the real world wouldn't go near that car which actually is desired by people like my mother.

Oh, also a Subaru Freeze.

qbrozen

That would be my choice, too. Although I still don't want to give up my 135, so it probably doesn't matter.

ateixeira

If you get an E Bluetec it may end up costing you nothing more than the fuel savings it offsets.

ateixeira

With the rims and the styling.

Guy was smoking, annoying. I had the top down so 2nd hand smoke in non-moving traffic stinks (literally).

Maybe shoulda posted in inconsiderate drivers.

fintail

Was it grounded to the ground? :shades:

At least he didn't throw the cig butt out the window, I hope. Last time I saw that done was by an A6 driver, which fits the Top Gear stereotype that Audi has overtaken BMW for jerks.

ateixeira

I'm pretty sure it was floating.

I passed before he finished it, so not sure what he did with it.

fintail

Speaking of that, saw a Camry XLE rental today. Must have some leftover highline cars.

Also saw a Tesla sedan, new GL (gas, why?) and one of the little Hyundai Tourings.

kyfdx

While the Fit is a great vehicle, they just keep making them uglier and uglier... Saw one on the road today, and felt like poking my eyes out....

One of my neighbors up the street has a Gen 1 Fit sitting in his driveway... Very nice looking, especially in comparison..

berri

I was driving around this weekend and saw some 2013's for the first time. Believe it or not, I just saw (or noticed) a new Altima even though I think they've been out for awhile. It was pulling out of a parking lot. What struck me was the seemingly disproportionately large front end. Maybe it was just the angle. Saw a new Lexus sedan with the spindle grill. Struck me as just as ugly as in the pictures. The most interesting was what appeared to be a Cadillac XTS. I don't know if they are out yet, but I was stopped behind a few vehicles for a funeral procession. Behind the hearse were two black Caddy's. One of them had the current angular edge styling and a six window greenhouse. I'm pretty sure it was a new XTS since it appeared too short to be a limo. Old cars included a mid seventies Nova. Looks large today, particularly with the elongated roof line they had at the end, even though it was a compact back then. Also saw a maybe 62 Ford Fairlane fake woody with nice chrome on it.

fintail

XTS has been out for maybe 8 weeks or so. I too saw an Altima and a new face RX, and a new GL (maybe the same I saw yesterday). Also a new CX-7,which seem to be popular here already, and another Infiniti JX.

texases

Saw an XTS yesterday, and a CX-5 down the street. What's a 'new CX-7'? I thought they were stopping them.

fintail

Oops that's what I meant, CX-5. I've seen at least a dozen of them now, but at least a couple were rentals.

stickguy

out in front of the local Ford dealer. Looked pretty sharp. And i think a C Maxx next to it.

once the floods recede I will stop in and check out in person. Not that I am in the market

berri

I actually got to sit in one at an auto show. Inside and out it was a nice looking car. I wonder if the C Max is much different in dimensions from the new Escape?

stickguy

I think it is close, maybe just a little smaller. But will have to see in person.