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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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tyguy....thanks for the sales (almost) story. Would love to hear the outcome (if any).
Thanks guys! I appreciate the feedback. Right now the Volvo is at the top of our list, so if the van gave up the ghost today we'd place an order on the V60 and make due with the Subie as our only car for a little while.
Mike: I'm late to the party due to ongoing associate performance reviews at work, but congrats on the new MB. Very nice!
NYC: best of luck with the cell tower fight. I wish I had something helpful to add, but that's new territory for me. Not fun.
Stickguy: my biggest disappointment with the upcoming Outback is that Subaru is carrying over the same 4- and 6-cylinder motors unchanged. No turbo. Gas mileage will rival the Volvo with the added bonus of AWD, but power from the normally aspirated 4 will be significantly lower at our 5,000+ feet altitude. If you think the XC60 would be a good fit we'll check one out.
Cdnpinhead: Euro delivery is definitely tempting. My father's side of the family mostly comes from Sweden, so there's some allure to seeing the "home country" if an opportunity arises. The delivery option includes special pricing, two round trip tickets, one night hotel near the factory, insurance, factory tour, and freight back to the states. Tempting, indeed. We'd extend the time out there, making hotel, food, and gas the primary out-of-pocket expenses.
Driver: Nice photo addition. We're thinking a metal flake red would be our color of choice so as to accentuate those character lines without being so dark that I spend the next ten years obsessing over dust on the paint 10 minutes after a wash. Plus my wife loves red. I'm having the same challenges with the new Edmunds as you are. Given the newness of the wagon and 4-cylinder turbo to our market, the best reviews I've found have been the video variety from a press event Volvo held in Vegas.
Graphicguy: I'll keep everyone posted on any updates. I'm thinking the next one will be in a month or two after Subaru and VW release their new wagons.
What is VW coming out with?
I must have missed that.
The xc60 is kind of a tall AWD V60 with a bit more room inside. But probably without the new motor at this point. But free to look!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2015 Jetta Sportswagen - it's known as the Golf Variant in the ROW.
"Now you tell me..."
It's up to $11 today....better hurry.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
@tyguy,
If the diesel needs DEF, you need to add that in the calculation, too.
long time lurker; and chronic car looker...
and NE ohio resident (Cleveland area)--
replacing 05 acura tl with something smaller== looked at VW GTI and GLI (had a great offer at end of month on GLI with 6sp manual, but wrong color), fiat abarth, Civic Si but based on this winter, will need all wheel drive=AWD;
just looked at volvo s60 so enjoyed above post--
plan to drive audi A3 this weekend- a bit disappointed only coming with DSG..
neighbor has Caddy CTS and suggest ATS so may look at that but web site is not too friendly...
i think its been a tough winter for car sales here-- dealers not too busy so hope to get something in next few weeks but will see how quickly I can drive my choices..
I like your handle, coldinohio. Welcome!
It looks like you're interested in sporty, AWD, and upscale?
Spot-on robr2! Only VW is dropping the Jetta name plate and replacing it with Golf. At least we're getting a little closer to ROW.
Explorerx4, good point about the urea injection. Being BMW I'm certain it'll be ridiculously expensive despite urea being uber cheap to produce.
Honda Makes Acura a Stand-Alone Division to Spur Sales
I think the Acura alpha numeric nomenclature is an albatross around its neck. Since they went away from the classic name Acura Legend sales has plunged.
Meanwhile, according Bloomberg News, "Honda Motor Co. is making good on plans to focus more on the image of its Acura brand, is setting it up as a division within the company for the first time with dedicated management, marketing and other resources."...“Sometimes being a fast-follower is better than being a leader. Lexus specifically profited by observing Acura’s approach and doing some things differently,” Nerad said. Among these was adding a large, V-8 engine sedan, something Honda balked at, he said."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-10/honda-makes-acura-a-stand-alone-division-to-spur-sales.html
Very nice series of posts. Long yes, but good and informative reading. Let us know what you eventually buy but remember the wife always influences the final decision.
RIP to the unfortunate passengers on the Malaysian Airlines flight who perished three days ago. It is so baffling that such a large and high tech airplane can disappear without a trace.
Jetta nameplate going away with the next generation? That I had not heard. So there will be a 4 door sedan and wagon golf?
But after seeing how nice the pending Golf is, can't wait to see it translated into a Jetta too.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
There, got that fixed, bwia. Ha, ha.
Confirmed the naming of the new 2015 Golf Sportwagen. I was glad to see the name change given how different the Jetta and Golf are these days. There will be a 3-door hatch, 5-door hatch, and 5-door wagon in the Golf family. The sedan will still be called the Jetta, but will come with the new motors and apparently a few mild tweaks. Should be nice all around.
The new Sportwagen really looks attractive and the cargo area has always been generous. What I don't know about is the towing capacity with either the diesel or the new turbo gas motor. We should know soon enough. Mexico has been building the new motors for a few months now.
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One of my kids lives in Lakewood. It's been cold there, but not as much snow as we have. Snow is still being hauled away by the dump truck load in Hartford. Was out there a few weeks ago, and there are some big potholes. Hoping spring gets here soon.
There is a Fiat dealer 1 mile from my house. I'm lucky if I see 2 a month on the road.
thanks for VW info. Makes sense, since the Jetta wagon is not on the same platform as the sedan (basically the wagon is the Euro chassis, Jetta sedan is the US only platform).
Isn't the next golf getting the 1.8t? If something small, will be interesting. But I don't think something the size of a Jetta SW with the 1.8t is going to be a good tow option.
the Golf 5 door should be plenty big enough for me, but a wagon version (I assume just a stretch job) could be tasty too!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Well it's really neither, look at it this way gas is a fuel. Fill up a gasoline powered car with gasoline and run it and gather the exhaust. There is nothing you can do with that exhaust to extract gasoline from it. Now with a car that uses fuel cells if you fill the car up with hydrogen and run it and collect the exhaust which would be water. You can then run an electric current through that water and get the hydrogen out of it. In an enclosed system you can keep using that same hydrogen forever.
You see hydrogen is not a source of energy just a way to store energy.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I used to be on the hydrogen bandwagon and started looking into it.
But there is a large loss of power when you use electricity to isolate the hydrogen. It is far more economical to power a car using the electricity directly.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
We've had a brief respite of warm and dry weather, so I brought out the 2002 and Club Sport this past weekend. There are very few new cars I would prefer to drive over those two- 911, Cayman S, M6 Gran Coupe, Boss 302... that's about it. It's just wonderful to drive a light nimble small car that allows you to become a part of the driving experience. Real steering feedback and engine noises as opposed to the synthesized experience provided by 95% of the vehicles on the US market.
Meanwhile, the Mazdaspeed continues to worm its way back into my good graces; I found a GREAT factory trained Mazda tech who lives about ten minutes from my house. He works out of his garage and charges $40/hr. He charges by book rate or actual time spent- whichever is shorter.The sled needed front anti-roll bar bushings, so I got the parts from an online Mazda dealer and ended up spending just $88 total, parts and labor. The Koni FSDs, strut mounts, and the aforementioned bushings have quieted the car down and made it a considerably sharper drive. The Pilot Super Sports go back on tomorrow, snow flurries or not. A friend offered to sell me his Hypertech tuner for cheap, and I'm probably going to buy it; 288 HP and 324 Ft-Lbs of torque-at the wheels-is too much fun to pass up. It will finally justify its vanity plate- GOJIRA...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Hey Mike...look what I got today!
driver100
**You received 5 LOLs. We like that.
driver100You earned this badge March 7 **
Most guys including you got one before I did:
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I should have enough points to get my new CLA soon!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Jetta/Golf/Sportswagen
I was under the impression that the new one was going to be named "Sportswagen."
Giving it the Jetta moniker doesn't make sense because it's not based on the Jetta but the Jetta name gives it marketing clout as the Jetta is VW's top selling US model. Making it a Golf might turn off some buyers as the Golf is considered a downmarket hatch by many but having a wagon might improve the Golf's reputation.
flight who perished three days ago. It is so baffling that such a large and high tech airplane can disappear without a trace.
That accident is taking on some science fiction aspects. One reports says about a dozen families called the cell phones of passengers and someone answers and then hangs up. Spooky!
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
"Just a way to store energy"
Couldn't you say the same thing about hydrocarbon fuel? It's just sunlight stored in carbon millions of years ago and buried in the ground.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
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I am wondering if you couldn't say it about gasoline. That is also stored energy, you need to ignite it to get an action. Just me, but if I google something like "energies of the future" then I'll get links to "hydrogen fuels". I will say, how you store it is a big problem (that can and will be overcome), and how you distribute it is a problem, but, they say that can be worked out in 10 to 20 years.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Interesting thoughts about the monickers robr2, which mirror the writings in this post: autoblog.com/2014/02/06/vw-jetta-refresh-coming-later-this-year-sportwagen-to-become-go/
I just noticed that they're predicting the wagon won't be available until early 2015. Bummer.
I think you forgot about most important thing about hydrogen cell - "how do you make it so it uses less energy to make it than it later produces". Current fuel cells work only for situations where any other portable energy source is simply unavailable in similar sized package, such as spaceship or similar settings. It is still a way from being an energy positive source, just like nuclear fusion, or other "future" sources.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
It's good to see people having conversations like the hydrogen debate. More and more the general public are becoming aware that change is needed. That's the first, critical step. We disagree on what that change should be, but we do recognize that spinning a wheel via controlled explosions of a finite fossil fuel resource (internal combustion engine) is not a sustainable solution.
I'm in the camp of distributed renewable electricity production stored in batteries utilized to turn an electric motor connected to wheels.
Hyundai is working on it:
Hyundai Introduces Hydrogen Fuel Cell SUV
Also, not saying "hydrogen" is the answer, but there are other possibilities for developing fuels for our future. 10 years ago did we think there would be a car like a Tesla, - 300 miles range, in a state of the art vehicle, that runs on battery power? Every time there is a new invention there are the naysayers who say it can't be done. Those are the same people who told Columbus the world was flat.
In answer to the original question, "how do you make it so it uses less energy to make it than it later produces", if I knew the answer I would be a very wealthy paerson, I have to leave that to people more knowledgeable than me......I was able to install a new flush handle on the toilet today....that's about the limit for my technical skills.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
The Pilot Super Sports go back on tomorrow, snow flurries or not. A friend offered to sell me his Hypertech tuner for cheap, and I'm probably going to buy it; 288 HP and 324 Ft-Lbs of torque-at the wheels-is too much fun to pass up. It will finally justify its vanity plate- GOJIRA...
How do you rate those Pilot Super Sports in terms of handling and road noise? Thinking of putting summer tires on the Eclipse since I never drive it in the winter.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
@roadburner. Took me a minute to get you plate.
Yeah but a Tesla is hardly a new invention. It's an excellent refinement of a very old invention. What Tesla "invented" was an electric car that was a real car.
Actually, I think it is, at least for another 100 years or so.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
True, but a lot of "new" inventions are just improvements on old inventions. Similar to the "automatic transmission";
The first automatic transmission was invented in 1921 by Alfred Horner Munro of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and patented under Canadian patent CA 235757 in 1923. (Munro obtained UK patent GB215669 215,669 for his invention in 1924 and US patent 1,613,525 on 4 January 1927). Being a steam engineer, Munro designed his device to use compressed air rather than hydraulic fluid, and so it lacked power and never found commercial application. The first automatic transmissions using hydraulic fluid were developed by General Motors during the 1930s and introduced in the 1940 Oldsmobile as the "Hydra-Matic" transmission
And, people think CVT transmissions are a new invention, originally produced in 1923.
Many inventions are refined or are applied in new ways, or nothing is new....just reinvented or improved.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Good post; good points.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
@oldfarmer50
I love the Pilot Super Sports. Incredible grip in the wet AND dry. There's a reason that the tire is an OEM fitment on so many high performance cars.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
@explorerx4
Yes, it's a bit obscure...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
@explorerx4
I just got @roadburner's vanity plate on the second read after reading your comment! HA!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
Some people are resistant to change and will find every objection to oppose it. The electric car is here to stay and the next step in that evolution is the development of wireless technology, that is, to use induction technology to recharge batteries on the fly -- another Nikola Tesla innovation.
I'm not opposed to change, I actually love when entrepreneurs put their own money on the line and risk everything to try if their idea works. Wright Brothers, Edison, Tesla, they all used their own money, or money of people who they were able to convince to their visions. When it worked, fantastic, they were rich, everybody else has better life, at least potentially. When it didn't (Tesla), very few people were hurt and taxes paid by widows or orphans were not wasted. BTW, I find it really interesting that somebody would chose to invest in a company bearing name of arguably least successful business person of all times, but that is just a sidebar.
I even have no problem with limited amount of public money supporting fundamental research for projects that are a bit "out there", like algae, or geothermal, etc. Limited is the operating word - hundreds of thousands or perhaps a milion or two for a university, not half bilion on loan guarantees to president's friends and contributors - this is what I have a problem with. Wholesale market distortions thru tax code, subsidies, or idiotic mandates that can ruin peoples' cars (read ethanol) used to socialize risk and privatize profit just because a president, or secretary of energy believe that (fill the blank) is energy of the future. Nobody knows, what future will hold, not even president.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
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The government is not good at running profitable businesses....and government funds don't produce profitable companies. If the idea has merit, private entrepeneurs will find a way to do it. That's the beauty of the capitalist system.
The government throwing money at energy products is like throwing money at windmills (if you know what I mean). And I mean Cdn and U.S. gov't...we are doing the same.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Good post dino. Your post pretty much sums up my feelings as well. If we can't figure out some way to just "do the right thing" for the people of our country and get rid of politics, self interest, and corruption in our government, we will continue to struggle with any sort of lasting economic recovery.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Anybody just see that car chase in CO?
Wow, it really is the wild west out there. Three carjackings, one with a kid inside. The guy would still be going if he wasn't such a lousy driver.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
How may miles do you expect to get from them?
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Speaking of abuse of public trust and money.....abacomike, be careful...;-)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/11/us/need-for-speeders-puts-tiny-florida-city-on-brink-of-erasure.html?_r=0
It's route 301. Hampton isn't the first town along that road to be accused of being a speed trap. Waldo, FL which is about 7 miles away was the same way as well as Lawtey a few miles north. I used to take 301 from I10 to Ocala when I used to visit my in-laws and flew into Jacksonville. While on 301, I always stayed a couple of mph below the speed limit.
I don't see wireless charging as very worthwhile for a car. It makes more sense to charge multiple phones, tablets or laptops on a common grid---small, not too expensive and where there is no distance between object and grid.
Tesla SAID a lot of things for which there is no evidence whatsoever. He was very smart, and certainly contributed mightily to the development of AC current (he did not invent it), but probably insane as well, and very capable of distorting reality.
Of course electric cars "are here to stay"---they'be been here 100 years already!
On this topic of few inventions are really new, most are old ideas that have been improved, think about this. Robin asked Howard Stern on todays show how long has the internet been around for? Howard correctly answered 25 years, because he remembers someone coming in to his office and showing him the original messages. That was 1989, and all messages were text only, no images. Dial up service was used shortly after, CompuServe, America Online, and Prodigy. Remember dial up....and slow speed as your messages slowly got to your monitor.
Who would have thought, we would have full video capability, newspapers, magazines, huge retail business, info on any subject....all being done instantly. And, who would have thought almost every home would have access to a computer, and in fact it is almost a necessity for most people today.
Most inventions are old inventions that have been refined and made so they are useable.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
You listen to Howard Stern? I expected a little more refinement from a Canadien!!
Correct. In fact, the guy that developed the round wheel improved upon the original triangular one....