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Comments
The CTS is a tweener.
I'd rather not sit in the back seat of a 3 series or CTS. But I definitely would rather be in the drivers seat of the 3.
The last time I sat in a CTS, it felt like the external bulk of a 5-series, but with the interior room of a 3-.
I agree, I know I don't fit in the back seat of a CTS comfortably.
Uh-oh...so you mean the '13 Malibu's back seat legroom is WORSE than the '08-12 style? That's a disappointment to me, because back seat legroom in the current Malibu was its biggest shortcoming for me.
According to the specs, the outgoing Malibu has 42.2" of front seat legroom and 37.6" of rear legroom. However, when I sat in the back of it, my knees were too high up to fit in the hollowed out space in the seatback, so that's why I couldn't fit comfortably.
Just for kicks, I looked up the Altima, since there's a good chance I might be buying my Mom's '08. 44.1" of legroom in front, and 35.8" in the rear.
I'd really love to know how they get these measurements, because up front, the Altima and Malibu both felt about the same to me...very generous. But, in back, I could fit in the Altima a bit better, although my head did brush the ceiling. I don't remember it brushing in the Malibu. But, at least I didn't have to crouch like I do in the Impala!
The average age of a Buick buyer has fallen from 64 to 61
The Encore should help with that. That'll find a few empty nesters and young families.
One thing, starting with '77 full-sizes, that GM used to excel at was interior room for exterior dimensions. Even into the boring '80's cars like Citation and Celebrity, they were good that way. Ford's roundish '80's Thunderbird and Tempo/Topaz seemed smaller inside to me than GM's boxy competition, although I don't know that for a fact. It seems like nobody builds for maximum interior space packaging anymore.
Pillars are thicker, and windows seem to be disappearing or at least getting chopped short.
Have you seen a Range Rover Evoque? It's gotten insane...and people love 'em.
You're one of a kind! :P
Yeah, I'm 6'3", with a 36" inseam, so there's a lot of back seats I don't fit into all that well. And a lot of front seats, as well! Plus, I like to stretch out, so just because I can physically fit, doesn't mean I'm automatically going to be comfortable.
I just found some 2013 Malibu stats online, and it looks like it has 42.1" of front legroom, 36.9" of rear legroom. So, in theory at least, that's not much of a loss.
I want to say the old downsized '78+ GM intermediate coupes only had something like 36.4" of legroom in back, yet I remember fitting fairly well in the back seat of my '80 Malibu, '82 Cutlass Supreme, and '86 Monte Carlo coupes.
One thing, starting with '77 full-sizes, that GM used to excel at was interior room for exterior dimensions.
I'll even give GM some credit for the '73-77 intermediates. They're inefficient by today's standards, especially the 2-door models, but I think they compare well to the '71-79 Mopar "B-body" intermediates and the '72-79 Ford Torino/LTD-II and its spawn. For such a low-slung car, my '76 LeMans has, IMO, pretty good seat height, while still maintaining some semblance of headroom. In contrast, the Ford and Mopar equivalents feel like you're sitting much lower to the floor, yet they're still not overly generous with headroom. The power seat in my LeMans also has a greater range of motion than what I've seen in the likes of a Cordoba or '77-79 T-bird. Or my '79 New Yorker, for that matter, a car that was based heavily on the old '71-79 B-body.
Those GM intermediates were also smaller on the outside than their Ford/Mopar rivals. My LeMans coupe is about 208" long, on a 112" wb. A rival Torino or Montego was on a 114" wb and around 215" long, while a "small" Fury or Coronet coupe was on a 115" wb, and around 215" long.
Even into the boring '80's cars like Citation and Celebrity, they were good that way.
IMO, the 1980 X-body pretty much created the mold for the modern intermediate car. Unitized, FWD, good space efficiency, choice of 4 or V-6 power. It was marketed as a compact, but by EPA standards, was an intermediate. Most midsized cars today are essentially a modernized, improved, 1980 Citation IMO.
Ford's roundish '80's Thunderbird and Tempo/Topaz seemed smaller inside to me than GM's boxy competition, although I don't know that for a fact.
I know for a fact something like a Monte Carlo or Grand Prix from the 80's roomier inside than a T-bird, but I had to look up the Tempo versus a Cavalier. A Cavalier sedan was slightly bigger than a Tempo sedan (91 cubic feet of passenger volume and 14 cubic foot trunk versus 90/13 for the Tempo). The Tempo 2-door, however, was the same size inside as the sedan, while a Cavalier coupe was only rated at 84/13. The Cavalier coupe had a lower roofline than the sedan and less headroom, which probably accounted for most of that, while I think the Tempo 2-door was the same height as the 4-door. The Cavalier had thinner roof pillars and larger windows, which might have also helped it feel roomier inside.
So a pretty decent discount to start with.
Goes back to an earlier topic - residuals. You're only paying 89% of the MSRP, so 11% of the depreciation is already taken care of.
I'd time it at the end of the model year and aim for even steeper discounts, though.
I just found a couple that are worse than that! One is a Premium 3 for $38,082 and an MSRP of $41,290! The other is a CXS for $38,099, and an MSRP of $41,240.
One thing I'll give them credit for...at least it looks like Buick is doing a better job of keeping the bottom-feeders out of its fleet. The cheapest LaCrosses I'm seeing at Fitzmall are internet priced around $28,300, with MSRP's of around $31-32K. So, at least Buick does seem to be getting a bit more premium. In the old days, they were much higher volume, but that's because a lot of Century Customs and LeSabre Customs got dumped into rental fleets. I'm sure Regals and LaCrosses still end up as rentals, because there ARE going to be people who want them. But at least they're not getting over-produced and dumped like they used to.
3 cylinder engines co-developed with a Chinese partner. What could possibly go wrong?
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/26/bmw-recalls-1-3-million-2003-2010-5-and-6-ser- ies-models/
I usually feel squeezed for rear seat head room in swoopy cars.
Regards,
OW
Oh the humanity of it. Just shows what junk they have been building all these years. Proves some of us were right. :sick:
There, now that we've taken care of a relatively innocuous battery cover problem which might, might cause a fire, we can go back to talking about a set of brake pads missing on a Sonic or one steering wheel being loose on a Cruze--the important stuff! :shades:
(I feel so much better.) :P
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Again, if we mention every other aspect of competitive manufacturers' cars here, why not mention their recalls too--in comparison with GM recalls?
Maybe 'balance' isn't the right word, but 'objectivity' is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxnui77xQOQ&feature=related
Oh, forget off the rack pants!
Wow, a 26" inseam must be a nightmare to find off the rack! Sometimes I can find a 36 inseam, but it's not often. I can often make do with a 34", depending on how the pants are made.
Funny thing is when I go to drive a car that one of my daughters has been driving I have to move the seat back! They are each 5'2" with tiny legs.
I think daughter #3 will be taller and #4 is adopted and no genetic clue but my best guess is she'll top out around 5'2" as well....
I betting whoever kept this issue "under wraps" for so long, without implementing a modified battery cable before so many were installed is looking for employment now, as he should be...
To me, as complicated as cars are nowadays, I'm surprised we don't see more recalls...
All it takes is a single part to experience a higher failure rate.
And, lets be honest about it... BMW doesn't have a "rich" history of voluntary recalls, and I say that as a multiple BMW owner...
I don't think recalls are as negative as most people seem to think, never have (I've been a member since 1998 and expressed that many times over the years).
We've all seen how they can be masked as "customer satisfaction campaigns" to fudge the numbers, anyway.
Regards,
OW
Back when Ally Financial was known as GMAC Financial, the U.S. Treasury gave it $17.2 billion in TARP funds to weather the global economic crisis. GMAC is now Ally Financial, and although it has repaid $5.4 billion of what it was loaned, there doesn't seem to be a clear path for repaying the outstanding amount. Bloomberg reports that Ally's mortgage unit, Residential Captial (ResCap), is teetering on the ledge of bankrupcty, and its banking operations didn't perform well in the Federal Reserve's stress tests that assess a bank's health.
An IPO for the entire company faces dim prospects (one was rumored back in April of 2011), so in a private equity ploy, the Treasury would like Ally to divvy itself up and sell the pieces to unlock value. Estimates are that the pieces could fetch $23.1 to $28.6 billion. The plan is supported by Elliott Management Corp, a shareholder that holds 2.3 percent of Ally stock. However, Ally's CEO and its board don't want to break the company up, and the Treasury – which holds 74 percent – doesn't want to lean on the leadership too hard for fear of "appearing as a heavy-handed owner."
In addition, the looming bankruptcy of ResCap will have an unknown effect on Ally's ability to do anything. Before the mortgage implosion, GMAC's auto unit was struggling and ResCap was restructured as a separate entity so that it wouldn't be dragged down by the captive finance department. The situation is reversed now, with ResCap in trouble and the captive finance arm supporting itself, but Elliot feels that the restructuring won't be enough to shield Ally from perhaps 18 months of litigation and billions in claims.
Ally execs feel differently, but no one will know until the trigger is pulled and the courts weigh in. With the Treasury reluctant to compel a move, it could be some time before it sees its $11.8 billion again.
Regards,
OW
That was a bit embarassing, I think...
Yes, doped-up pix for sure....but the package will be unbelievable for the deep-pocket club!
Regards,
OW
It's not a mythical resale value. For example, a dinner at an average Steakhouse for 8 would wipe out the value of a Neon with 65K miles.
The 2003 Accord V6 Coupe at 50 months and 65,000 miles of age I used to have gave me 13,250 reasons to sell it to get the 2006 A3. Those are 13,250 very real, very big reasons! That is the cold hard truth. Things change.... one day...2 doors is enough, another, you might need 4 or 5. With a big 3 car, your basically stuck, with the Japanese car, you have a big down payment.
Also, just asking...did you price the A3 with and without trade? You were 'trading up' and I'm sure that didn't hurt your trade-in value any.
When I bought my Malibu, including my GM card rebate, I got about 20% off sticker, and then got 35% of that net new-car price back with my 72-month old van trade-in, with hail damage but overall clean, 94K miles, a discontinued model and like I said, a van.
And if Uncle Sam will subsidize my restaurant that'll lose money otherwise, I'll open up a local restaurant for you, selling $5 T-Bone dinners. We'll make you and your neighbors real happy.
Like it or not, US manufacturers have themselves to blame for the reality.
Kudos for paying the market price for your cars! :shades:
Regards,
OW
Since so many people here bow to CR, my Malibu and the '11 Sonata had the same reliability rating. And circlew, you amaze me sometimes. You once actually brought up GM's 1971 recall when we were talking recalls of current vehicles, yet when faced with poor 2009 Kia quality, your take is 'that was then, this is now'.
Hmmm.
I'd sure rather subsidize an American-headquartered company, which employs more Americans and American suppliers, than subsidizing Korea and Japan.
And kernick, why don't you check out how much money governments threw at German, Korean, and Japanese manufacturers to build their plants in the deep south?
As we learned in ninth grade economics class, I'd rather save the money up front than worry about getting it several years down the road.
Honestly, I believe it has as much to do with supply/demand as anything else. Honda in particular sells very few fleet vehicles. Just look at the number of used Cruzes vs Civics. There are over 4,000 used 2011 Cruzes available and only 1677 Civics.
There are 8,645 used 2011 Malibus listed on Autotrader vs 1,343 Accords. The Malibu didn't sell 7x more Malibus in 2011. The sheer number of used Cruze and Malibus vs Civics and Accords is a huge reason the Chevs will have lower resale.
Then look at v6 Accord vs v6 Malibus. Autotrader lists 1737 v6 Malibus vs 263 v6 Accords. I'd think very few v6 Malibus are fleet yet they are dumped on the used market 6 to 1 vs the Accord v6.
When will the bad reputation of certain vehicles on sludge, runaway acceleration, brake wear, transmissions, poor software engineeering for engine/transmission control, etc., affect the reputation with new, neophyte buyers.
As for the comparison between brands and the numbers for sale, I don't think that is all due to companies dumping fleet purchases of the US brand vehicles. I believe many people buying Hotoy imports justify the extra they get charged by the stealerships by holding onto them for a long, long time. And I see driveways with replacement GM products every 2 or 3 years.
For some reason the Hotoy fans didn't turn on the makes the way that US manufacturer customers did. Is it that the US makers were the Old House of their parents?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My MIL has a 160k on her 05 Camry and only has had one repair. My dad's 09 accord has required one minor repair in 70k miles. His previous Taurus was in the shop 4 or 5 times, once via tow truck by the same mileage. The Saturn my MIL traded in was junk by 120k.
I've dumped many domestics by 3 years mainly due to them falling apart. The insanity is I keep buying them.
As far as price. My dad chose the Accord, partially due to the deal he got on it. He paid 26k for a $30k Accord, and they gave him 2k for a 00 Taurus with 180k on it. The Honda dealer was as willing to deal as the Ford dealer. He ended up with the accord over the fusion because he felt he was getting more car for the$.
This constant "well, they did it, so we should be excused when we did it, too" mentality is why the big-3 got their butts caught up in a sling and lost to foreign based competition.
While they were only concerned with each other, competitors entered the market and cleaned their clocks.
The idea that " Sure, my product is lousy, but it's marginally better that the other guy's even more lousier product, so you should buy it anyway" is a sure fire way to go out of business.
So, again, we're talking 'then' versus 'now'.
I think I look for objectivity or a level playing field, more than other routine posters here.
Again, that's probably my humble, small-town upbringing, but who knows.
Trust me, I do think a Toyota built here is more advantageous than the many Toyotas built in Japan and sold here, now or in the past.
So, again, we're talking 'then' versus 'now'.
I think I look for objectivity or a level playing field, more than other routine posters here.
Again, that's probably my humble, small-town upbringing, but who knows.
Trust me, I do think a Toyota built here is more advantageous than the many Toyotas built in Japan and sold here, now or in the past.
Probably the root of it all for me is, I hate hypocrisy.
I think there are a couple posters here (present person I'm responding to excepted) where the hypocrisy of posts is absolutely stunning. But hey, it's a free country...just like in choosing which car to buy.
As for the problems, I offer my leSabres (3), my Cobalt, and my prior Centuries (1989) as examples that had few if any problems to be fixed.
Then again, I have to respect that I had a darned good Buick/Chev/GMC/Pontiac/Geo garage who cared about their customers. The service manager told me that a major problem is that many people just drive the car from A to B without taking care of the regular maintenance. Then when the lack of maintenance allows something bigger to occur, they are all upset. Over the decades the newly planted imports were much more successful at getting import owners to return to the dealer for the mandated checkups and to only use import supplied products. I recall reading in an import brand thread last week someone asking if they could use another brand of antifreeze in their import brando--they were afraid they might hurt it with a nonmanufacturer supplied product. Same for engine and transmission oils.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,