Stories from the Sales Frontlines

carhag2000

Hondas variable valve timing and lift electronic control ( VTEC) elegantly solves a problem all engine designers face: the need to build an engine that makes usable power throughout its entire RPM range.

This was stolen from Hondas' Safety & Engineering facts book.

stickguy

Well, My Honda can beat up your TOyota!

Oh, that's not what you meant?

Lets see, for Rover:

CBC, complete blood count
HDC, hill descent control
ARM, Adjustable rate mortgage
EAS, Electronic apple sorter?
EBD,Electronic brake distribution
EBA,Electronic brake assist
CLV Cool Landrover Vehicle?
DSC Dynamic stability control

mackabee

Bring it on! Big guy!
:P

british_rover

Mostly right

CBC, complete blood count Corner Braking Control
ARM, Adjustable rate mortgage Active Roll Mitigation
EAS, Electronic apple sorter? Electronic Air Suspension

CLV Cool Landrover Vehicle? No one ever knows this last one as it is unique to Land Rovers....

Cross Link Valves

It is part of the Air suspension that lets a Independent suspension mimic a solid or beam axle suspension when driving off road.

mac24

It's almost got to the point where you can stay at home and send your vehicle off on its own to do your driving for you. :surprise:

british_rover

Yeah just about. With an LR3 or a 2007 and up Range Rover I could teach someone to do our off road course in less then five minutes.

All the technology makes it almost painfully easy. Even a course a bit more difficult then ours with real chance for body damage, you could damage a car on our course but it would be hard, wouldn't take me longer then 20 or 30 minutes of instruction.

stickguy

A LR is a nightmare to fix, and you don't want to own one out of warranty!

Makes you wonder how anyone managed to drive when they actually had to know how, and control the car by themselves.

Also points out how inherently dangerous and unsuited to normal use something like a LR is, when it needs that many electronic nannys just to stay shiney side up!

british_rover

Ahh you show your ignorance...

All of that stuff, with the exception of the cross linked valves for the air suspension, is standard on Volvos as well. BMW has most of it too along with Mercedes and Porsche or at the very least their own version of it.

isellhondas

Oh bull...! Don't believe everything they tell you!

british_rover

Exactly do not fall to the temptations of the Dark Side.

isellhondas

Me either and I've never been called on it.

As the Internet Manager, I don't qualify fot anything and I don't care. Spins would be nice but I don't get them.

I also don't have to take those tedious product knowledge tests which makes it all worth it.

In my garage, I have boxes pf plaques from the days I qualified. Very selsom do I get stumped by an oddball question and I am always able to find the answers.

isellhondas

Toyota HAD to do something to copy us.

How many Toyota engines did you see in the Indy 500?

Hoe many Honda engines blew up?

nyccarguy

In my Prelude it like saying "Chewy, prepare for light speed" once the tach needle crosses over the 5200 RPM mark

editor2

I have to say, as a civilian (nonsalesperson), that it's rather inspiring to hear you dealers stand up vigorously for the integrity of your products. I admire your commitment. Salud!

benzserviceguy

BUT Toyota is in NASCAR as we speak ... yeah yeah yeah I know LTO is boring ...

When will HONDA make the jump?

(BTW... I now have an ALL Japanese fleet .. IS250 Toyo, 350Z & Acura RSX)

mackabee

I wouldn't be so proud of the Prelude after last night. I was driving my son's SH and a Dodge Neon R/T blew my doors off! That would have never happened with my old MR2.

mACK

mackabee

They won't. They don't have a truck.

Mackabee

jmonroe

I have to say, as a civilian (nonsalesperson), that it's rather inspiring to hear you dealers stand up vigorously for the integrity of your products. I admire your commitment. Salud!

I agree.

I haven't heard talk like this since my school yard days; "my Dad can beat up your Dad".

We never had talk like this until Mack returned. :shades:

jmonroe

qbrozen

you mean SRT4, don't you?

and an SRT4 would blow the doors off an MR2, as well, unless the MR2 was heavily modified.

british_rover

Exactly a SRT-4 is a BEAST. When Dodge launched the factory supported SRT-4s for the USA Rally series they dominated every race. They were in the 2wd class and finished one, two, three in race after race. I think they even managed a couple of over all wins over the AWD class.

Honda would never debase itself by entering NASCAR. It is funny that at one point Toyota had factory support in more forms of racing then any other brand but they couldn't win anything. I don't know if Toyota is still trying to support the wide base of motorsports that they used to but if they are maybe they should try and concentrate on just a couple.

I think Toyota even had the largest Budget in F1 for this past year and didn't win a single race.

Ahh I was right.

Toyota Winless in F1

grandtotal

Toyota really need to win something because it's hurting their sales.

cdnpinhead

"How many Honda engines blew up?"

None at Indy, I guess, but in the F1 world over the past few years it's a pretty regular thing.

isellhondas

Not compared to the others considering how many are Hondas.

british_rover

Ehh maybe in the rest of the world but in the US most people don't even know what F1 is.

How is Toyota doing in NASCAR?

lrguy44

They had the best day last week with the Waltrip team getting a 10th - Btian Vickers has done ok - no top 5 finishes yet and many DNQ races. Are u still there?

british_rover

Yeah I mean to email you. I will do it later and sum up.

wcc1968

Thats ridiculous.

I would just head over to BMW and test drive an M3.
Never did a salesperson tell me i couldnt test drive an M3.

I can see somewhat wanting to qualify a potential buyer. I know you dont want people joyriding. But no test drive what so ever???? How do you sell cars?

lrguy44

On a specialty car like our S/C Range Rover, you don't want to put wasted miles on the car. Before we drive, the customer is qualified on ability and price. It is too big an investment to give joyride test drives.

snakeweasel

Toyota really need to win something because it's hurting their sales.

I would think that the vast majority of the people don't know and wouldn't car either way. I would think that not winning barely made a scratch in their sales.

jmonroe

I would think that the vast majority of the people don't know and wouldn't car either way. I would think that not winning barely made a scratch in their sales.

I have to agree. When I buy a family sedan I buy it for reliability, safety, comfort and styling/color that doesn’t gag me (of course beauty is in the eye of the one doing the looking) to name a few. Even in my younger day I didn’t care if my car was the fastest thing on the block cause there’s always something faster and if it’s not there now it won’t take long, so what’s the use in trying.

Now don’t get me wrong, I would never buy a 4 cylinder family sedan because when I pull onto an interstate I want to get up to traffic speed as fast as I can because I feel this is the safest way to do it and I have never driven a 4 cylinder family sedan that satisfied me in this regard.

Speed kills, it really does.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

You're right in that respect, the Prelude isn't the fastest car on the block (far from it compared to most of its "competition."). Drag racing isn't my Prelude's (or my) forte. After 5+ years and over 83,000 miles it is just as tight as the day I took delivery, it eats up highway miles like a German car, handles brilliantly (If your son doesn't have a set of SUSPENSION TECHNIQUIES anti-roll bars, I HIGHLY recomend them), and has paint that still shines showroom new. I'm often asked if my car is an '04 or '05 and people are shocked that it is in fact a 2001 (the last year of production). It isn't babied by any sense of the word and I'm lucky if I wash it once every 4 - 6 weeks. Have you ever heard comments like that from an SRT4 Neon owner?

My '01 Milano Red SH Prelude certainly looks fast. I've been pulled over twice in the last 3 weeks for absolutley no valid reason other than pure harrasment.

oldfarmer50

"...been pulled over twice in the last 3 weeks for no valid reason..."

If as I suspect from your name you live in NY state, there was a reason...to try to get their hand into your pocket.

grandtotal

Toyota really need to win something because it's hurting their sales.

snakeweasel and jmonroe,

Sorry guys, I thought you'd recognise sarcasm when you saw it. Edmunds doesn't have a sarcasm smiley.

jipster

Edmunds doesn't have a sarcasm smiley.

I'm as sarcastic as they come... try ";)"... has always worked well for me.

mackabee

Not exactly. Sales in May 07 were up 9.7% over last May 06. Check this link out: http://www.pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/View?id=TYT2007060159103


Mackabee

mackabee

Yeah, that's what it was. SRT4. My MR2 used to pick on cars twice its size and WIN! stock unit. But back then I was a better driver too. I'm used to an automatic now and whenever I get in a stick shift I'm noticeably slower!
Mackabee

british_rover

The RS4 is much more limited production then the M3. Around here a M3 is almost as common as a Camry. There are five of them in our autogroup's used car inventory right now. All different colors, years, prices both coupes and convertibles.

I have driven many, many M3s. I have never driven a RS4 and only driven one S4.

joel0622

BUT Toyota is in NASCAR as we speak ... yeah yeah yeah I know LTO is boring ...


Oh thats funny. They may have cars but there not IN many races. Those POC can't seem to qualify . DW and DJ are getting exactly what they deserve for being part of bringing an import into NASCAR

joel0622

They won't. They don't have a truck.

Toyota doesn't either

I think the whole toyota truck thing is hillarious. For year the imports have ragged on domestics for big incentives/rebates, and that they are so superior and only need brand recognition to sell vehicles. Now that Toyotas smoke and mirrors advertsing isn't working with there truck sales what do they do? They start throwing rebates/incentives at the consumer.

Its a glorious day in the Automotive world.

british_rover

I can see you are having a good morning.

joel0622

I can see you are having a good morning

I enjoy talking trash about my competition with folks in the biz but I have always shyed away from it on this site because I thought it may be frowned upon. This is the first time the convo has really came up.

But yes it is a great day to be in the car biz, our dealership is two units shy of leading our zone, Fusions, 500's Mustangs, Escapes and F150's are selling at a great pace, we are 25 units ahead of the same time last year, the management hit a bonus and got 500 clams apiece, a big chevy dealer in town is getting closed/forced to sell because of bad business practices and tomorrow is my B-Day.

So once again it is a grrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeaaaaaaatttttttt day to be employed at a Ford Store

mackabee

Enjoy it while Ford is still around. The way they are going you may not have a job in a couple of years. Around here the Ford plant has shut down and lots of Ford salespersons are jumping ship to (gasp!) Toyota. Yeah, there may be big rebates on Tundra now but it sure is a better truck then the F-150. We are getting a lot of those folks in. Price will always sell a vehicle no matter what the experts say about "building value".

Mackabee

british_rover

I sense a rumble brewing.

jipster

Enjoy it while Ford is still around.

Sheesh... you could have at least waited until after joel's birthday to layith the smack down. :sick:

Ford's going to be fine though.

mackabee

Well, how about that new Ford Taurus heh? You can fool some of the people sometime, but you can't fool all the people all the time.

Mackabee

joel0622

Mack, Mack, Mack, The absolute last thing in this world that I am worried about is that yuppie truck you all build ever over taking Ford in Truck sales. Get comfortable in the 3 or 4 spot on that list. Like I said earlier smoke and mirrors advertising does not win a real truck buyer. You may get a little bit of the wannabe an urban cowboy segment but you won't put a dent in the core truck buyer market.
Chevy and Dodge have been trying for 30+ years to knock us out of the #1 spot and they know a heck of allot more about building a truck the Toyota does

I do want to thank you all for the very entertaining video of when TOYota was setting up for the commercial with the truck on the huge See-Saw and every truck on the Job Site that was there to work was a Ford.

BTW how much will your 3/4 or 1 ton truck pull with a diesel engine and dual rear wheels? Oh thats right you don't build one, you are marketing the metrosexual.

mackabee

"Oh, thats right you don't build one, you are marketing the metrosexual"

Ho,ho,ho, "metrosexual"?. Good one joel! duallie? We don't build one yet but it's coming. So keep your eyes on your rear view mirror because we're catching up to you. :surprise: And last time I checked we were kicking Ford's butt in the passenger car segment. Plus we've already overtaken GM as the largest manufacturer in the world. Last frontier to conquer is the USA. :shades:
Mackabee

thenebean

:imagine emotorcon munching on popcorn here:

this is quite entertaining to watch(read)

-thene

jipster

Yeah, pass some of that imaginary popcorn over this way... will ya beanie?

I keep thinking about the referee for the Ultimate Fighting Conference.

"ARE YOU READY!" (Looking at Mac in his corner)

"ARE YOU READY!" (Looking at Joel in his corner)

"LET"S GET IT ON!!!!!!"(They both come out bobbing, weaving... and a stumbling) :P

imidazol97

>I do want to thank you all for the very entertaining video of when TOYota was setting up for the commercial with the truck on the huge See-Saw and every truck on the Job Site that was there to work was a Ford.

Did I miss a good video? What's the link please.