Luxury Lounge

lexusguy

Both 740i and 740Li are powered by a 3.0L twin-turbocharged 6-cylinder engine that produces 326-hp and torque of 332 lb-ft.

It's rather odd that BMW has chosen to give the turbo I6 a different designation in the 7 series, and be honest about its actual power output. The "35i" cars are also producing around 330hp and 330ft.lbs. What gives?

dewey

The point is, I've finally got a real keeper!! It's early yet, but it could very well be one of my all-time favorites. What a surprise.

You and your 135i sounds like a marriage made in Nirvana.

I've no desire for another sport sedan at this point of time. In other words I will continue my monogamous relationship with my BMW 335 with no roving eye whatsoever towards any other exhaust pipe. I myself have been fighting off all those flirtatious women who hunger for men who drive twin turbos (if my wife knew the truth I'd be driving a Prius instead)

dewey

he "35i" cars are also producing around 330hp and 330ft.lbs

Those 3.0 twinturbo specs were always quite suspicious. Many reviewers had doubts and I myself know that the engine under the hood of my 335i is far more than those specs.

dewey

will never own a VW...I feel BUGS crawling all over me when I think about it!

Oh yes those resilient and persistent VW Bugs which are also called coil/electrical bugs.

dewey

Yet it should be nice to have it escorted by a -35d sibling in the new 7-Series offer

Power and Frugality, where do you draw the line between the two?

BMW chose a 30d over a higher displacement because as far as I know the person who buys a diesel BMW 7 Series will have fuel economy over performance on his mind otherwise he would be going for a gasser model.

In the distant past like last year when fuel prices were not so high performance was prioritized over efficiency. Now as in the 70s and early 80s when those slow diesel boats called the MB S300D Class existed it is a different era altogether.

The Tortoise and the Hare story seems to apply here and the Tortoise BMW 730D definitely wins over the Hare BMW 735D.

oac

As a Lexican, I have avoided pulling the trigger on buying any of the German cars. Well, strange things happen. Though lusting after a Boxster and a Bimmer for these many years, I always hesitate at last minute. Well this past week I finally took the plunge... But it was neither of these two cars. Rather, I went for the perenial "unreliable" Audi A4 3.0 CVT. The car is for my 16-yo who started driving 4 months ago, and is due for her CA license next month. Should be fun with my very first German car. If I am lucky to get 3-4 years of use out of the car by the time both of my kids go to College, I'd be glad. Its got like 60clicks on the ody (its a 2002 MY), and cannot imagine riding it to the 100K mark without a lotta cost... But we'll see....

My wife is still not too pleased with me for not buying a Bimmer, but I think for the money, the Audi 3.0 is a much better bargain. I am hoping I won't have egg in my face and the car turns out to be a complete lemon.... From reading the Audi forum and a few other sites, it appears I should buy an ext. warranty so I am actively shopping for one. Any ideas or suggestions for ext warranty shops to avoid let me know. So far I am seeing between $1K and $1.5K for a 100K bumper-to-bumper coverage.... I've never bought an ext warranty for any car before, of course owning Toy/Lex spoils one :P

jlbl

The Tortoise and the Hare story seems to apply here and the Tortoise BMW 730D definitely wins over the Hare BMW 735D.

Good point, Dewey. Yet BMW offers any other Series but the 6 with the -35d engine. I wondered why they are not going to put this engine in the heaviest 7-Series. It obbeys to a strategic change that would lead the way for every Series? I don't think so. To simply thinking that only new-7-Series potential owners can fit into two categories: performance&gas or economy&diesel? May be, if they associate the 7-Series to a more corporate/conservative owner/driver. Of course, I am thinking about the European market.

Regards,
Jose

anthonyp

After reading the interesting article in the N Y Times, it seems that we Americans will adjust to the higher fuel costs in time, The European population is facing much higher costs and have adjusted admirably.....I guess for me it will be an adjustment that I will take as a challenge, although I haven`t really seen a car that is all that exciting...The Audi gets around twenty seven on the road, and less that twenty in town, so I`l need something that just gets way more than that to be a real change..

Will start a diking project shortly and will have to hand carry five gallon cans of diesel out to the dragline---am told it used forty gallons a day, and as I have expressed my dislike of the smell and everything associated with diesel, I`l now smell like a spill for the next few months---although I won`t carry all of it--just a small amount goes a long way....This will be expensive ....Tony

blckislandguy

I haven't posted in a long time and I hope that people will indulge me in some random thoughts:

1) The cracks in the BMW mystique are appearing. A columnist in the current issue of Autoweek or Automobile (it rained this weekend on Block Island and I got a lot of reading done), reports that the whole BMW mystique rests on the 3 Series and nothing else. The other Bimmer models don't compare favorably in their class (he even rates the new Jag XF as superior to the 5 Series) and people buy them only for their halo effect. If this gets out, the overly pumped up BMW lease residuals (BriteOne, are you still with us?) may be in trouble and the house of cards could come tumbling down.

More cracks. If you really want the scoop on BMW, read Rondel, the BMW CCA membership rag. Gee, the Ultimate Driving Machine has some maintenance issues that rear their head just as the second owner is about to bail. Apparently the cooling systems, to include the water pump impellers, are made of plastic and self destruct at 70K. When the factory went to 100% free maintenance on leased cars, they cut the maintenance schedule way back. If you follow the previous schedule it is very, very intensive and not something that Americans are used to. Seemingly, Bimmers, especially the 7 Series, become money pits around 70K miles.

2) Whats a car dealership worth? A column in the current issue of Automobile has a dealership broker saying, predictably, that Toyota, Lexus, etc. dealerships are the ones to buy and that you can't even give away a Saab dealership. Surprisingly, he claims that a Porsche dealership can't make money because of too few models and too few customers. Gee, when you get $500 to change the oil in a V6 VW engine (i.e, the Cayenne), your service should be a money maker.

According to the business broker, a Lexus dealerhship will set you back 10 mil. (He neglected to say if this included the real estate.) A so-so Ford dealership, maybe $500,000. He claims that Lexus of Las Vegas just sold for 100 mil. Didn't anyone tell the buyer that Clark County, NV has the highest home foreclosure rate in the US?

3) Saab may be coming back. I see a lot of new 9-3's driven these days by the same young demographic that drove Audi A4's 10 years ago. The 9-3 rag top seemingly also is doing well and I see a lot on the road. Saab dealers now have an AWD 9-3, they'll have a souped up (Ice ?) AWD 9-3 in the fall, and a new 9-5 in a year or so. Might be a good time to snap up a Saab dealership because the price can't get any lower.

4) There should be a national contest to come up with the best idea for the soon-to-be empty Hummer dealerships. The stainless steel quonset design is attractive. I think that these Hummer facilities would make excellent locations for United Rental, Nations Rent, or Hertz Equipment franchises. Oh, wait, I forgot, no one is renting stuff to build houses any more.

5) If you have to have an S Series, I'd buy the S500, the predescesor to the S550. The styling isn't as controversial, the price will be 50% of a new S550, by MY '05 or MY '06 they surely have worked the bugs out, and you wouldn't tee off as many clients/patients/customers/employees as you would if you rolled up tommorow , Monday, AM in a new S550.

6) The much reviewed, much discussed Tahoe Hybrid looks great. Its fast, gets good mileage, etc. Amazingly, GM has only sold 1000 of these things since January.

7) People do change driving behaviors with a change in the price of gas. In New England, the many-mile back ups at the Hampton, NH tolls, the Bourne Bridge leading onto Cape Cod, and other trouble spots are just not happening anymore. People are staying off the roads.

YMMV as Nevadabanker used to write

lexusguy

Saab may be coming back. I see a lot of new 9-3's driven these days by the same young demographic that drove Audi A4's 10 years ago. The 9-3 rag top seemingly also is doing well and I see a lot on the road. Saab dealers now have an AWD 9-3, they'll have a souped up (Ice ?) AWD 9-3 in the fall, and a new 9-5 in a year or so. Might be a good time to snap up a Saab dealership because the price can't get any lower.

Good luck with that. I can't even remember the last time I saw a Saab. There are still a few crazies out there who will buy whatever the brand sells no matter how indistinguishable the products are from a Chevy/Saturn, but I don't see Saab ever being anything more than a tiny niche in Volvo's shadow. Also, if GM's fortunes take a turn for the worse(er), Saab I'm sure will be the first to get the boot.

Amazingly, GM has only sold 1000 of these things since January.

Amazingly? Who in their right mind would pay $53K for a body-on-frame SUV with the market where it is? In June, Durango was down 67%, Aspen 50%, and Commander 68%. Expedition was down 60%, Explorer down 52%. GM was only able to prevent a similar bloodbath by using the tried and true fire sale.

Used values on these things are dropping like a 16-ton weight in a cartoon.

blckislandguy

Lexusguy, you are right about the importance of Saab to GM. But, here in the Northeast there are a lot of Saabs, relatively speaking, and I am seeing lots of recent grads driving new 9-3's whose older cousins drove 1.8 liter A4's 10 years ago. My main point was that Saab has a lot of new product coming on stream, the 9-3 seems to be doing well, and the sky is always darkest an hour before dawn.

Who in their right mind would buy a body on frame hybrid SUV? Well, if a guy was going go up to his second home in mid-coast Maine with his family 30 weekends a year, a Tahoe Hybrid would be a nice thing to do it in and still get 21 MPG.

tagman

Saab has a lot of new product coming on stream, the 9-3 seems to be doing well, and the sky is always darkest an hour before dawn.

blckislandguy, I appreciate your posts, and am glad to see you posting, but I can't agree with your assessment of Saab here. Saab is an anchor for GM. GM should get rid of Saab ASAP and get seriously focused on delivering ultra modern vehicles through their Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC divisions... and get rid of everything else in the US market.

Well, if a guy was going go up to his second home in mid-coast Maine with his family 30 weekends a year, a Tahoe Hybrid would be a nice thing to do it in and still get 21 MPG.

No chance in hell.

The "real-life" reports I have heard about suggest that the hybrid Tahoe doesn't get all that much better fuel economy than the non-hybrid model. A couple of MPGs is all, and that's pitiful.

Until there is a significant improvement, GM won't sell many.

Keep the posts coming... even if I don't agree with all of them.

TM

lexusguy

Saab is an anchor for GM. GM should get rid of Saab ASAP and get seriously focused on delivering ultra modern vehicles through their Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC divisions... and get rid of everything else in the US market.

When I was in Stockholm a few years ago, the ratio of Volvos to Saabs was about 900:1. I believe I saw one 9-5, and maybe an older Saab hatch. Meanwhile, there were more V70s on the average street than in a US Volvo dealer's entire inventory. Volvo is still of at least some use to Ford, though the rumor is it won't be long before they go the way of the rest of PAG, Ford starves Mercury to death, and they become the two brand company they should have years ago.

Saab is of absolutely no use to GM. The 9-3 competes with the Aura, and the 9-4x will compete with the Vue. It's brainless. At least one of them has got to go.

laurasdada

I'm not sure some of the folks here understand how prevalent Saabs (and Subies) were/are here in New England. Especially for Saab, NE was the bulk of their market for many a year. I have a sentimental attachment to the quirky Swede as it was the brand of my youth. I learned to drive in a '71 99 (with freewheeling and a fold down rear seat!). In '76 my father purchased a lovely metallic brown w/gold highlighted alloy wheels 99 (it looked better than it sounds...!). Which, unfortunately, was rendered 2/3 size about 6000 miles into its life when a "friend" of mine rear-ended me doing ~ 35mph whilst I was stopped at a four way intersection. The trunk of the Saab sedan disappeared, but none of the three occupants of my car were even mildly hurt (seatbelts!!!). And I was able to drive the car home, his Capri was just gone... And, he was unhurt. (His insurance co. totalled the Capri, his father bought the car back, had it repaired and the kid totalled it again within a year...).

When we were expecting our first child in the mid '90s, a shiny new Saab 900 became our minivan/SUV. Except it got mpg in the high 20s! The hatchback swallowed everything we could throw into it, Saab safety, comfy cloth seats and even style! A faithful servant for 7 years, but like most women that i've observed, the Evil Wife was bitten by the Lexus RX bug. And was tired of the manny tranny. C'est la vie...

In the late '80s, I converted a roomate from Tenessee from a big, floaty Mercury Cougar to a Saab Turbo. He was a "be American, buy American" type who became an instant import fan thanks to the Saab. I've lost touch, but I'd have to believe he graduated to BMW at some point...

I think the "SportCombi" is a bit more Saaby simply by virtue of its hatch than the sedan. I've seen a couple of new 9-3 here at work. For a few years, I had a Sonnet lust going on. Well, maybe not lust...

When we used to go as a family to our condo in Florida for vacation, we'd be amazed/amused that during that time period, we would see NO Saabs! I think the first Saab I ever saw in Florida had Massachusetts plates on it...

I hope Saab somehow survives and thrives. I'm getting old, I'd hate to see a dear old friend just fade away...

circlew

Remember Olds...near and dear to my heart as well. C'est la vie!

Now, perhaps we will say au revoir to Buick, GMC, Pontiac and Saturn as well!

At the end of the day, no real loss and much to gain.

Regards,
OW

laurasdada

My father in law still drives an Aurora, but I was never a domestic guy until '99. Olds never "Intrigued" me.

carnaught

Remember Olds...near and dear to my heart as well. C'est la vie!

Now, perhaps we will say au revoir to Buick, GMC, Pontiac and Saturn as well!



I've posted this before. I think that GM should make one or so model under each of these names, instead of "Impala", "Cobalt", etc. all Chevrolets, for example. It's one way at least of decreasing their models and eliminating the separate divisions. All would be just GM.

louiswei

The "35i" cars are also producing around 330hp and 330ft.lbs. What gives?

I would think it's the same engine but just tuned differently. A turbo engine is easier to tune for different specs, usually all it requires is different software.

I've driven the 335i twice and it definitely doesn't feel like 330hp and 330 lb/ft. The E46 M3 at around 330hp felt noticeably faster than the 335i.

tagman

Regardless of HOW they do it, GM needs to cut off the excess blubber and focus.

And... laurasdada, that includes losing Saab.

New England will survive nicely without Saab. They've still got Subaru.

BTW, have they allowed a Wal-Mart into New Hampshire, yet? LOL!!

TM

tagman

The 135i feels a bit more than 300 ponies to me. I say that because I compare it to my Carrera S at about 355.

But, when you factor in the weight and torque, it's really hard to know with any certainty. But it feels like BMW has placed very conservative numbers on the engine. Afterall, they represented the 0-60 times to be slower than reality as well.

TM

louiswei

I was comparing it to my IS350, which is about the same size, same weight, same hp and slightly less torque.

If the 3.0TT has 330hp AND 330 lb/ft (that's 24hp and 53 lb/ft more than the 2GR-FSE) then it should felt noticeably faster than the Lexus. However, that was not the case. Also using the fastest 0-60 numbers available for both cars (4.9sec for IS350 and 4.8sec for the 335i), 300hp/300 lb/ft is again more reasonable than the "rumored" 330hp/330 lb/ft.

tagman

I tend to agree with you on the HP number. While it feels more than the 300, I don't think it's a whole lot more. Maybe 310 or 315 at the most. But, again, it's really hard to pin something like that down due to the other variables like weight, torque, and gearing.

TM

louiswei

I really don't think it's the HP, the main reason why the 3.0TT "feels" faster is because of all the 300 lb/ft of torque is availabe at 1,400 RPM plus it virtually has no lag (unlike the Audi 2.0T...).

circlew

I saw dyno runs on tests back when the TT was new and 309 HP sticks out in my memory.

I'll try to find the link. I drove one compared to my N54 255 HP and the 40 HP is quite a difference.

Regards,
OW

dewey

Rain and gray skies in Block Island? Never heard of the island before. And all this time I thought you were from the sunny Caribbean. As a Canadian I better re-learn my world geography.

Thanks for the very insightful jouranlism about BMW from such an authority publication like Autombobile (or is it from that equally reputable publication called Autoweek)? So people who buy Bimmers other than the 3 series are in it for the halo effect? (well thanks for telling me I will keep that a secret from my wife who drives a 5 Series). The mystique and faith in BMWs is mainly due to the 3 series?
WOW!! Aren't those new and interesting revelations! Unfortunately those very same revelations were made thousands of times before these past few decades.

Oh well better late than never.

Anyways let me give you the truth and nothing but the truth regarding BMW:

Every BMW 3 Series owner is a 1 series Wannabe.
Every BMW 5 Series owner is a 3 series Wannabe.
Every BMW 7 Series owner is a 5 series Wannabe.
Every BMW 6 Series owner is a ???? Unfortunately they themselves dont even know what they are.
And last but not least every single BMW 1 Series owner is an Isetta wannabe.

And here's the most important BMW truth. BEWARE of anyone who feels they are an authority in pigeonholing any car owner (BMW or non-BMW owner). :lemon:

That would be like asking me about US Geography.

circlew

Here is an old article and dyno. I am looking for 2008.

link title

Regards,
OW

louiswei

circlew, that's actually a reasonable number given that the dyno results for a few IS350 are around that range as well:

http://www.dragtimes.com/Lexus--IS350-Dyno-Sheets.html

I think using 20% for the lose is a bit high, I would go with 15% for RWD cars, 20% is almost in the AWD territory.

bristol2

I think I heard this morning that GM is talking about ejecting Saab, Saturn and Pontiac with Hummer already officially on the block (good luck finding a buyer for that bubble-driven behemoth brand!)

Laurasdada- I hear you on the Saab-love. My first car was an old white 900 with blown turbos. Loved that car.
Maybe some investment can come in from people who actually like cars (unlike GM) and keep Saab going?

tagman

Dewey,

Perhaps you can help me. I'm having trouble deciding on the color for my new Isetta.

TM

laurasdada

"BTW, have they allowed a Wal-Mart into New Hampshire, yet? LOL!! "

Don't know. I can't afford to shop at Wal-Mart... (Because the Evil Wife shops at Needless Markup, etc.) :sick:

I have to shop, along with Homer and the family, at the "Try and Save."

But, if I could and Sprawl-Mart was in NH, my shopping would be tax-free! Just like California!

laurasdada

Pale yellow is how I see your Isetta...

laurasdada

People who have owned Saabs certainly seemed to enjoy 'em! It would be lovely if Saab could've survived on its own and continued to build, well, Saabs...

I tested the 9-3, but it just wasn't competitive enough with the TL to sway me. Que lastima!

If I could talk the EW down from the RX, I'd see if I could interest her in a 9-3 SportCombi, though (come on, SportCombi!. It's a station wagon!)

laurasdada

"Every BMW 3 Series owner is a 1 series Wannabe.
Every BMW 5 Series owner is a 3 series Wannabe..."

Funny. This reminds me of a post, might have been here, where the poster noted that he wouldn't buy a Jag XK because it just screams that, "I can't afford an Aston Martin!"

I drive a TL because, "I just can't afford a Lexus GS!" I don't think so, girlfriend. Heck, I can't even afford the TL!

anthonyp

I thought of you today when a blue light came on behind me.....I recently read where the Audi`s gauge (speed) is off by three miles per hour----lower.....Officer wanted to get in the car, so I opened the door, and cleaned my sandwich off the seat so he could sit down.....What he wanted me to do was roll the window down, but since I offered him a seat, he just said to slow down, and I was going seventy mph....I really was going eighty, but who`s to argue....I hope this isn`t an OMEN... and I wonder how fast I really was going.......Tony

oac

Sorry if I missed it, but what car do you currently drive? I take it its an Audi, right?

tagman

Speaking of Audi...

Audi A4 2.0 TDI Achieves Over 70 MPG

WOW!

TM

blckislandguy

Dewey, in your rush to be sarcastic you missed the point. The point was not that I sat down and dreamed up the idea that Bimmer buyers are buying for the halo effect. The point was rather that a regular columnist for a major car rag said so in print. When coupled with other developments, the Ultimate Driving Machine may be a stock you should short. You do short stocks in Canada, right?

anthonyp

A8, and the last big car for me...Tony

blckislandguy

What do Saabs and Mack Trucks have in common?? They are both sold mainely (pardon the play on words) in the Northeast.

Laurasdada is right. Saab was THE winter car everywhere in New England. It had the market cornered because if was FWD. It even boasted of a piece of wood in the door jams because supposedly the wood was better in winter. People even put leather winter fronts on them like Peterbilt owners do to keep the cooling system warm.

Then two things happenned. Babyboomers began demanding more amenities in their cars and Volvo responded with leather, sunroofs, etc. The second thing that happened was AWD. Volvo introduced an AWD wagon and, later, also AWD sedans in the mid-80's. The upper middle class market went wild. Now they could go skiing every weekend, to hell with the weather. For those not part of the expanding New England upper middle class, along came Suburu with, you guessed it, AWD and leather for about 20K less money than Volvo. Now even normal folks, school teachers and the like could get home at night in New England thanks to Suburu's AWD.

Where did this leave the former official Maine Car? Left out. Only just now in 2008 does Saab have AWD, a full 20+ years after Volvo. Like Volvo, they just buy it off the shelf from Haldex. Why Bob Lutz and crew couldn't have called Haldex 20 years ago is beyond my pay grade. Supposedly Lutz' personal go-to-work car is an Aero but maybe he doesn't drive to work on snow days.

oac

I have become an Audi fan. Seems like its getting popular in my place of work. My boss just bought an A5, our head of R&D drives a Q7, the CEO drives to work daily in an A8L, and a colleague just bought an A5. Since our company stock has just hit a 52-wk high and seems to be flying despite the woes on Wall St, many of us are hitting the car dealerships. A good chunk of people are rolling to work in new rides.... M3, 335Ci, G35, TSX and those Audis....

I say keep that A8....

blckislandguy

I've heard a lot of the usual negatives about the Bentley GT: a warmed over Audi, too hard and too complicated to service, and a car for the noveau riche dentists of America. Maybe so, but their resale IMHO is incredible and rather than a new S Class or an AM V8, a used Bentley would seem far more attractive.

But, a cursory look from time to time at Cars.com as well as dealer ads indicates that even the '05s are still above 100K, asking price. I do note though that the used GTs all have roughly 15-18K of miles on them, indicating minimal use. You would think that a family would use it to rack up the miles going back and forth to visit Junior at Syracuse in the GT. What gives? Why the low miles? Is it a special occasions car only? When is the market going to fall for the GT?

jimbres

You say that AWD Volvos date back to the mid-1980s, but as far as I can tell (based on 90 seconds of Googling), the 1st AWD Volvo was the 1998 V70 wagon. That was just 10 years ago. Of course, this doesn't undercut your basic premise: that Volvo introduced AWD cars long before Saab. It's a warm night, there's nothing worth watching on TV, & I'm just picking nits.

lexusguy

Here is an old article and dyno. I am looking for 2008.

What made me suspect that the 335i produces closer to 330hp was this dyno comparison between the 335i and Infiniti G37. The G's engine is rated by the factory at 330hp and 270ft.lbs, and produced 280hp and around 230ft.lbs at the rear wheels as measured by the dyno. The BMW in this case produced the same 280hp, and 280ft.lbs, so either this was a particularly burly example of the 335i, or the G37 has significantly more driveline loss.

lexusguy

I've heard a lot of the usual negatives about the Bentley GT: a warmed over Audi, too hard and too complicated to service, and a car for the noveau riche dentists of America. Maybe so, but their resale IMHO is incredible and rather than a new S Class or an AM V8, a used Bentley would seem far more attractive.

Warmed over VW you mean. The various Continentals all spring from the Phaeton. The Flying Spur competes with the higher end S-Class models, but nobody interested in the V8 Vantage is going to buy a Continental GT instead. That's like comparing an F-16 with a B-52. Slightly different market there.

If I'm going to put up with the eccentricities of an exotic, it will be a Quattroporte, not a big VW. There must be an awful lot of dentists in southern CA, when I was last there, I saw at least 15 GTs and two Spurs within a single day.

circlew

While it’s difficult to find the silver lining in $4 a gallon gasoline, high gas prices actually do have an upside. From single inventors to large companies, everyone is now scrambling to find ways to improve fuel economy – something that will benefit all of us in a few years.

One such company in France’s MCE-5 Development, a research firmed based out of Lyon. MCE-5 is currently working to develop gasoline and diesel engine technology that will return the economy of a hybrid at a fraction of the cost. “It’s possible to have the fuel efficiency of a hybrid for one-tenth the cost,” Vianney Rabhi, director of strategy and development for MCE-5, told Business Week. “Even if there’s a big step in battery development, hybrids will be costly.”

MCE-5’s technology is similar to General Motor’s HCCI and Mercedes-Benz’ DiesOtto technology – which basically runs a gasoline engine as a diesel — but also incorporates a few other tricks, such as Variable Compression Ratio. The result is a 1.5L naturally aspirated engine that produces 220 horsepower and still returns 45 mpg.

MCE-5 thinks automakers will stick with internal combustion engines for the “next 20 to 30 years”, so new technology to make them more efficient will be critical. Despite the advances, mass production of these new technologies is still probably another 8 to 10 years away. However, if automakers decide to combine MCE-5’s technology with a hybrid powertrain, a 65+ mpg car wouldn’t be out of the question.

It's all relative to continuous improvement so gas prices remaining high only helps accelrate the needed changes.

Regards,
OW

dewey

his reminds me of a post, might have been here, where the poster noted that he wouldn't buy a Jag XK because it just screams that, "I can't afford an Aston Martin!"

Was that James Bond who made the comment above? Or a James Bond fan who is vulnerable to product placement ads in movies?

What's that saying again? You are what you drive? Or is it you drive what you are? Or in the case of the individual above " You drive solely in order to impress others.

dewey

Lucky you!

I always get stopped by a disgruntled unshaven office who just had a heated argument with a spouse or who just found out he did not get that long awaited promotion and is so fed up with being Mr. Nice Guy that he is going to give me that ticket no matter what. :sick:

dewey

e Ultimate Driving Machine may be a stock you should short. You do short stocks in Canada, right?

You bet we do sell stocks short in Canada though that is not what I do for my clients. I am just a stock picker who " invests long " and who lives by his returns and dies by his returns.

If I did sell short would I pick BMW? Absolutely not! BMW has the strongest balance sheet in the industry and is best prepared to handle its finace/leasing issues far better than almost any other auto firm.

BMW's key problem is being a premium auto marque. Any auto maker that is highly dependent on premium priced gas guzzlers will have BIG PROBLEMS with rising fuel costs and a slowing economy. The higly affluent may be more insulated from harsh economic winds but most US buyers of BMWs are not highly affluent to begin with. Strategically BMW will create a new division that will consist primarily of "green fuel efficienf FWD cars". That IMO is the best solution for BMW if it wants to persevere during these changing times.

tagman

I agree with your confidence in a company like BMW.

BMW, along with Toyota and Honda, as well as Mercedes and even Audi are in an enviable position to ride through the bumps and end up even stronger in the long run.

When the dust settles, I wouldn't want to have "shorted" BMW.

TM

blckislandguy

Right you are. As I recall the first AWD was the 1998 wagon and the rest is (Saab) history.