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Comments
Dollar's been gaining a little, but I still have doubts if it'll hold long enough.
TM, I agree. Even though the Jag's styling looks older, being in an S-class feels like I'll feel much older. Maybe its the Jag's sleek, slim look. The S otoh, looks stodgy, stiff and aged.
The last pic is perfect!!! 5-spoke non chrome, no leaper, minimal chrome lines. Tag, what XJ trim is that?
My portfolio did not do well last year, so I was 75% in cash up to this week, dumb luck. I feel like a child in a candy store right now. However, I must be careful about what to buy in the markets. Then there is this tempting real estate south of the border as well. Hey, maybe with some more luck in stock picking, I can do both by next year... dream on
All of us should have a plug in hybrid for DD. That way NA will seriously reduce its dependence on imported oil. That would make the economy much stronger.
The last pic is perfect!!! 5-spoke non chrome, no leaper, minimal chrome lines. Tag, what XJ trim is that?
Yeah, the styling has been around for a while, but the car looks sleek, and not fat, so the feeling is young enough, yet driving a classic. The S-Class is a great car, but does feel a little more like "old money", at least to me it does.
The recent XJs don't have the cat on the hood any more. Personally, I love it. The wheels in the pic are polished, which is a normal option. Mine are the same wheels, but they are the chrome that you don't care for... but I find them to be OK, as they don't really have too much bling. I'd have been fine with either. The rest of the car makes up for it nicely.
Anyway, it was just a little plug for the XJ, since I sort of re-connected with mine this past weekend.
TM
I think the previous gen S-class is aging very poorly. The materials are nice but it doesn't look particularly luxurious on the inside, the electronics are badly out of date, and there's the quality thing. I was never a big fan of the 7, but I would definitely take a post refresh 750 over the old S. At least it still looks interesting. The S just looks old. If I were going to buy a Mercedes, it would be a CLS. The deals on those are actually not bad right now. In the full size segment, give me an A8 or an XJR.
It's so true. It's somewhat out of character for an S-Class to look so bad just a couple of years after it's model run completed. But it has happened.
In the full size segment, give me an A8 or an XJR.
You are consistent, as you always seem to prefer the the "R" variant when discussing the XJ. Certainly it is a more powerful car, but the non-"R" has plenty of get-up-and-go, awesome gas mileage, due to the aluminum construction and N/A engine, and there's also something to be said for the XJL's or the Vanden Plas' longer wheelbase... something more than the smoother ride often associated with that long-wheelbase car... and that something is tremendous rear passenger room. It's quite significant. And, the longer XJ just looks sleeker, too... IMO.
Whether it's the quicker "R" or the more luxurious Vanden Plas... they are both great choices, and they can be had for a song right now in our history. I continue to recommend the '05 (or '06) when it comes to tremendous value. These cars are the steal of the century.
And, of course, previously owned A8 is a great value as well. I just happen to think the Jag XJ is a freakin' steal.
TM
These are the people, who don't give a damn about reliability or electronics
trouble.
There are fans and then there are obsessive fans. The latter goes for one fan that brought a crashed Aston Martin DBS that plunged into a lake in northern Italy during the filming of Quantum of Solace.
According to 007 Daniel Craig himself, the crashed DBS was brought by a collector for a total of £200,000 - that converts into $350,364. That’s about $120,000 more than a new Aston DBS sells for.
The DBS was one of the 6 used during the filming of the James Bond sequel
This car was bought because it can become a collector's item, just the way it is... all smashed up. It could be on display for the very fact that it was one of 6 cars used during the filming of a James Bond movie, and got wrecked in the process. If available, the video footage of the actual accident would be a great addition to the car. The vehicle's value isn't about the car itself, but the events surrounding it.
TM
LaurasDada, Tagman and GS430,
The end of of a prosperous free-market civilization as we know it is definitely dead. Major new regulations, trillions of dollars of new government bail outs and debts , a good likelihood of higher capital /income taxes and accelerating inflation are all death knells for prosperous returns in the stockmarkets. At least for the next few years
But what about the long term(hopefully the long term wont be three years after an investor's death)? Buying equities now may be a very painful experience but maybe not? It all depends on your time horizon.
Despite the above this situation may not be as bad as the Great Depression. There are so many great compelling values out there(companies with little debt whom generate oooodles and oooodles of consistent cash flows). Beware of all companies who are so indebted that they have to rely on the kindness of strangers for funding.
Benjamin Graham who was Warren Buffett's financial teacherkept on investing in stocks during the depression no matter how low they became. As markets dropped 25 percent he was happy. When they dropped 50 percent he was even happier. When they dropped 90 percent he wanted to sell all his stocks and buy bonds instead. Despite his inclinations he chose to keep his stocks because he knew there is more value in cheap stocks than expensive stocks. In the end he became one of the greatest investors in history.
As Warren Buffett once said being a great investor has little to do with intelligence and everything to do with having emotional stability during tough times. The time to panic and sell is when markets hit peaks and the time to buy is when markets are very pessimistic.
Anyways enough of my long winded preachings about the markets. Now for my next post which relates to cars.
Oops did somebody say Toyota?
WRONG!
It's humble VW. No kidding. :surprise:
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- VLKAY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest automaker, on Tuesday briefly passed Toyota as the world's biggest car maker by market value.
link title
BTW, I want to thank you for your post on the stock market. They are true words, and if emotions can be steady, I might just look at this as an opportunity of a lifetime.
TM
If I were going to buy an XJ, it would be an R. I appreciate the benefits of the normally aspirated version, but to me the fact that they are so darned cheap makes up for the drop in fuel economy. The XJR is also the best to drive, and IMO is by far the sleekest (and youngest looking) XJ. I'm not really a fan of the 5-spoke wheels, to me the car looks best riding on the 20" Sepang style. I wholeheartedly agree that any used XJ is the luxury steal of the century. Even the Super V8 Portfolios are now in a range that mere mortals can afford.
I did notice that. The one thing that concerns me about the eventual total takeover of VW by Porsche is what will happen to Audi as a result. Porsche and Audi have already had a few minor clashes, but once Porsche actually owns them, will they be allowed to continue to develop products that compete pretty much directly with Porsche, like the TT-RS and R8?
Great pic! Yes, I'd prefer those wheels myself, but they weren't included in the deal. I'm very happy to suffer with the 5-spoke.
Yes, almost ANY of the XJs is the luxury steal of the century... that's one reason I question the idea of getting rid of mine. Why give away so much car?
TM
Credit to the Evil Wife, as you note, she "panic" sold at the recent top and has preserved her capital over the last year+ (and made a few pennies). She has begun to dip her toe back into these murky, rocky and somewhat polluted waters.
This is the second time I've played "Deal or No Deal" with the market this decade. Second "No Deal!" Second mistake-ish. My largest single stock holding is in a Canadian company I worked for for 11 years. I bought into the debt at the MBO, co. went public had a rather large stock split and went up from my original investment at its peak ~60 times my original investment as the Cdn $ traded at par (or better!) with the US $. Co is now paying a nice divy, too. But 20/20 hindsight, shoulda sold at least some when that perfect storm (for me in this case) of weak dollar/high stock price passed through my financial neighborhood. Oh, well. I'll collect the divy...
Maybe I should buy a bunch of brk-b. Well, can't afford a bunch, maybe one share...
EW reminds me, given the $ lost since the rockets red glare of the July 4 celebration of the fact I could have bought any car (ok, no Bugatti) I so desired. And one for her...
Ok, enough of my pity parade. I know I'm not alone and my blessings far outweigh my misgivings. And my blessings certainly outweigh my net worth!
Hope y'all are well, both physically, financially and emotionally!
Oh, yeah. There's now a fairly shiny, white Porsche 928 S4 at work! A blast from the past...
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
I hear that Jag will announce tommorrow at 15K rebate on all new '08s. This will bring the cost of a brand new 2008 XJ down to 50K or so. This is indeed the steal of the century
Isnt that great? How else would unreasonable men like us can get the smart and pretty ladies? :P :P
"The terrorists have threatened to destroy our economy... well, it looks like they might have to wait until Washington and Wall Street destroy it first."
Get in line, Osama. Wall Street and DC got here first. :P :P
"Mission accomplished"
You still need to get in line, Osama. Obama and McCain are next. :P :P
"There was a great line in Bill Maher's show recently: "Maybe they are trying to get Bin Laden to die laughing." "
Gee, George, you cant be that desperate now, can you??? :P :P Maybe you'll get your dad to die of embarassment 1st.
The Audi LEDs may be a vegas bling kinda thing, but Audi isnt the first company to do this. BMW came first with the so called "angel eyes". It turned heads and garnered a lot of "wows" for about a year or so, then people just stop caring (though I must admit they still look clean and classy). I believe Audi is getting those LEDs to establish a trademark for its vehicles, instead of trying to get the bling part alone. Nice but I admit the BMW angel eyes still look classier. I wonder if Mercedes will come with a trademark of its own... someday...
If the best thing you can say about your car is how neat the headlights are, you're in big, big trouble. Infiniti tried that back in '02 with the "Gatling gun" headlights on the Q45 - all of the ads were about the headlights. Too bad the rest of the car was lousy, otherwise they might've sold more than 5 of them.
The A6 and its somewhat controversial nose really got the modern Audi styling theme in motion, I think the LED lights still play a somewhat secondary role to that. I don't think they detract from or cheapen the looks at all. The A5 is a very classy looking vehicle.
Mercedes really doesn't have a brand wide styling theme like Audi and BMW. They have one look for the SUVs, another for the coupes, and another for the sedans, and then the E kind of does its own thing. Mercedes still has a problem with cheap interiors in its entry level cars, but the CL's interior is a thing of beauty, easily best in class. I do think that the AMG body kits with their skirts, spoilers, vents, and slats cheapen the designs they are attached to.
TM
Ay ay, Captain! Message heard loud and clear!
Regards,
OW
Quite hilarious and also quite insulting towards BMW, Lexus and Mercedes Benz owners.
Enjoy:
AUDI VIDEO AD
The above is the usual greeting I get from my clients these past few weeks.
I wish I took some financial advice from your EW.
Oops that's the telephone again must be one of my clients. :sick:
Quite hilarious and also quite insulting towards BMW, Lexus and Mercedes Benz owners. Enjoy
Audi, fair and balanced. How can it be Lexus neglected! :P
Regards,
Jose
It ain't over yet....hang in there everyone...this, too, shall pass.
Regards,
OW
Now I see... You're the one behind all of this... the gentleman from Toronto... why of course!
Are you serious?... they actually blame YOU?
Tell 'em to turn on CNN or Fox Business News or CNBC.
TM
The more I think about it, after considering Dewey's post, I wish I had an extra stash of cash...
I'd buy a ton of stocks tomorrow.
TM
Regards,
OW
Which would double their viewership!
A new financial indicator: The EW index? :confuse:
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
Like I said a few posts back, if I had a stash of cash, I'd buy a ton of stocks tomorrow. You see, the truth is, we don't have to hit the bottom perfectly. A bullseye isn't necessary here. Just anywhere close is good enough.
Mark this post, print it out, or do whatever you want to with it... cause I'm going on record and predicting that anyone putting money in the stock market tomorrow will make a 20% return in a short time and a 40% return within a few years.
TM
You may be right about that. I've been watching some of the techs lately, and there are definitely good buys in the chip makers right now. On the other end, I hope nobody here has anything in Circuit City. The outlook for them is shall we say not good.
Just like the now popular big grille. Many try to define the brand with the grill, but like it or not, it doesnt suit every brand. Mercedes and Infiniti realize that and resist smacking huge grilles to its cars. Acura unfortunately refuse to face reality, hence the "shield". Now BMW is giving us a new 7-series with tiwn kidneys the size of dinner plates. I found them goofy looking at best, not to mention the whole Lexus-copy styling cues, but maybe its just me...
I just think the car looks bland. It's a step backward from the old car, which looks sleeker and more modern than the car that is replacing it. The new interior is much better, but it's basically just a clone of the X5's nothing special.
Maybe we should just spend our money on nice cars instead - we know they will lose value but they are more enjoyable during the ride down.
Today, the futures show another loosing day. Buy into the downturn which is very close to the mid '70's downturn if you have any cash. Never search for the ultimate bottom...that's fools folly. Even the S&P 500 Index Mutual funds will return the stated upside that TM posted.
Ahh, another Indian Summer day in the NE to enjoy! Have a great day, everyone!
Regards,
OW
Aye... we're thinking the same thing
If Porsche by any means control Audi, I'm afraid it'll be the doom for R8 and Lamborghini Estoque. And from what I hear Porsche execs actually rejected the creation of R8 (but they weren't the majority back then), not to mention they also got heated up by the introduction of the Estoque. I like Audi and Lambo, so it'll be painful to see Porsche messing those 2 just to keep Porsche in profit. Oh yes, I bet Porsche will do its best to keep Lambo from growing, despite different price market.
"And, of course, previously owned A8 is a great value as well. I just happen to think the Jag XJ is a freakin' steal."
With over $8000 in price difference from same MY A8, of course the XJ is a total steal. And I agree with LG, the R is the youngest looking, the Sepang wheels look ok, theres an aftermarket look to them, but I think it'll look better on lighter color cars.
Yeah I can see that, they do have a bit of an O.Z. Racing look, but the star shape of the 5-spoke just bugs me for some reason. The 5-spoke wheels on the Super V8 look much better.
I think the same about the 7. And perhaps BMW thinks the huge kidneys can also serve as BBQ grills.
I went shopping at local Safeway this afternoon and spotted an XJ with Sepang wheels, like I said it looks like an aftermarket product. Not bad
Here I am thinking that Jaguar's luxury image is already in jeopardy. Apparently not
One day, when I get that nice camera, I'll take some pics of my cars and post them here for you to see what I'm talking about.
TM
TM
Easy enough. The statements were made by Toyota managing officer Toshio Furutani to Japan’s Nikkei business daily. There are lots of references to the statement on the internet. Here's one of many:
link title
TM
Indeed, unfortunately it also probably spells the end of their rather short experiment with the F brand. The Infiniti G35 Hybrid actually looks like a promising alternative to a G45. It'll have a combined 350hp+ with similar levels of torque, RWD, and lithium ion batteries. Supposedly it can average around 30mpg.
Hope they dont stray off the mission like Acura now.
I watched the news a few days ago and BMW rep said theyre cutting down production due to the extreme drop in sales. Wow...
There is no reference to killing the F lines in that article. In fact, it speculated that the LF-A might be a hybrid :surprise:
I am betting that with the right battery technology, we will get a full spectrum of hybrids from them. There will be gas misers, and there will be equivalents of TT V10's.
This is actually an extension of a previous committment that was made quite some time ago that was to be fullfilled by 2010. IIRC, this is the third extension of that time line. Personally, I believe this is because the battery technology has gone slower than anticipated, and the marketplace didn't initially receive the larger hybrids as Toyota expected... but with the recent shakeup, Toyota is smart to see that fuel economy concerns are much more engrained now, and that all models, including larger ones, can most likely be be produced and accepted by the buyers, with more efficient hybrid technology, which itself has also proven to be much more widely accepted now as a viable powertrain.
For some reason, Toyota doesn't claim to see itself with a total fleet of all-electric plug-ins, but I suspect over the much longer time span, this will change, unless there is a technology breakthrough that we haven't witnesses yet, which could change the entire landscape for everyone.
Toyota is smart.
TM
It couldn't get worse but it did :sick:
The advice I gave my clients and myself is "DONT PANIC". Apparently that was the worst advice I could have ever given.
Now that my clients and my own money has turned into ashes I do feel responsible. Very responsible. I have multiplied the wealth of my portfolios but now they are way off their peaks. Anyways I am not the only sucker out there. Warren Buffett is losing billions at in terms of paper losses on S & P Puts that he sold. Fortunately for him these Puts do not expire until about 10 years hence.
And that is precisely my point on a prior post. The long term may be longer that we expect it to be.
Also some posters here picked Citicorp with its juicy dividend yield. Unfortuantely that dividend yield is not paid with actual earnings. BUYER BEWARD: Look at payout ratios before looking at the dividend yields. High dividend yields can be more of a warning than a temptation.
Despite the above believe it or not I feel like an alcoholic with the keys to the liquor cabinet. I have never ever seen such compelling values in my life and I am continuing to increase my portfolios with equities.
Tommorow Monday I do expect a nasty hang over. :sick:
Good luck to us all and Happy Thanksgiving!
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
Most my family is in Toronto so I did not have to travel far ( a 15 minute drive).
Tomorrow have a good Columbus Day.