I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

ghulet · May 2005

There's a Bentley coupe living somewhat near here, I see it fairly regularly (once double parked on a side street). Today I saw my first Cadillac STS (in a strange metallic sage green) AND (even better) a Lotus Elise, in dark gray with a half canvas top. Cute little thing, looked fun to drive, though it was on the interstate in heavy traffic and was completely dwarfed by everything.

ateixeira · May 2005

I love those, I saw a yellow one the other day with the top down. Some kid behind the wheel, must've been in high school! Spoiled brat! :P

Saw 2 Cobalts yesterday, a coupe and later a sedan.

-juice

teds1 · May 2005

I saw two of these Bentleys in the last 24 hours up close, I know they aren't new but they are still show stoppers. They look fantastic, people are going to be collecting those thirty years from now for sure... assuming we still have any gasoline then. One of them looked like it was being driven by an NFL player or something, huge guy barely fit in it

teds1 · May 2005

I saw one out at Lunch today, they look much better moving than still. Growing on me for sure but i'm not yet in love. I also saw a new Mustang GT crashed into the oncoming lane... oops

teds1 · May 2005

I saw one off those Mercury Ford 500s today on my way to work... I don't get it what's the point? Car companies think they are being clever by re-badging the same car but if you have to market the same vehicle with a different grill twice where are the cost savings? Nobody thinks a Mariner is different from an Escape, or a Mountaineer is different from an Explorer. The brands don't mean nearly as much as in the 50's when everyone's dad was a "Plymouth man," or and "Oldsmobile man." When you re-badge the same platform it dilutes any brand identity these dinosaur marques may have had. What matters today is the vehicle. Look at the success of Mazda and Subaru recently. Ford even uses the Mazda 6 platform extensively in it's lines, and twenty years ago those brands had completely different images. So please American large car companies, either make different models for different brands, or lose the brands.

ateixeira · May 2005

Well, Saab sells the 9-2x, a Subaru clone.

Subaru has not yet sold clones in the US, but in Europe they sold a Justy (Suzuki Swift clone) and in Japan they sold a Traviq (Open Zafira clone).

Often it's just economics. Dealers are very powerful and they want a full line of cars to sell, so they have to come up with something cheap/quick to please the dealer.

-juice

teds1 · May 2005

Understood, but with the exception of the 9-2x (don't get me started on that thing!) you are talking about different geographical regions. It is one thing to market a car under a different nameplate in another country, but I feel that this is different from why Ford has it's Mercury division. Mercury does not have one unique product . They are all Ford clones. So why keep the separate brand? I don't think the dealer power is an issue here because almost all the Ford dealers I have seen are also Mercury dealers. I am against killing off historical brands and nameplates because there is still tremendous name recognition involved to say nothing of history. But they should have separate vehicles to maintain an identity. I'm not even talking about platform sharing which is fine. However when you produce two 500s and slap a different grill and badging on one for sale in the same dealership in the same country, you have to wonder why.

ateixeira · May 2005

Well, Cougar was unique, and look how much good that did them!

They took that risk and got bitten hard, maybe now they are gun-shy.

Around here, Ford dealers stand alone. Mercury dealer partner with Lincoln.

I thought Mercury should sell the Ford of Europe vehicles, like the Mondeo and maybe the Fiesta. Or make the Fiesta a Ford and let Mercury sell the new Focus.

-juice

navigator89 · May 2005

Saw a yellow Hummer H1 pickup today, and he was trying to overtake a bunch of cars stuck in a traffic jam by driving on the curb.

Saw a red Lamborghini Murcielago and a yellow Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution parked outside a mansion.

Saw a black Mercedes Benz ML55 AMG. The styling looks really old, I'd take a Cayenne or X5 anyday.

Also my first 2005 Avalon in white color. Looks better in person than in the pictures.

fintail · May 2005

I didn't see too many new things on my little trip. I did see a couple new ML, and quite a few Cobalts are showing up....mostly sedans. I hope it's a good sign, they do look like a decent enough car. I saw several G6 too, but something tells me they were rentals. They all looked kinda basic. The new Avalons are starting to really move up here too, I saw maybe half a dozen of them.

merc1 · May 2005

Bentley Continetal GT - now I'm conflicted. This car in my eyes had all the style of an old thrown away shoe, but it does have a presence on the road that is undeniable.

Lotus Elise - little bitty thing, but looks like fun.

Jetta - a baby Phaeton.

M

ateixeira · May 2005

Such the stereotype, too. :mad:

Saw a couple of Cobalts on my road trip to the beach. At least one Avalon, and several new Odys.

-juice

bksward · May 2005

I've seen 3 or 4 new M45s, but I haven't seen an M35 yet. Pretty nice car. One oddity about it is that the key for the trunk is inserted vertically into a keyhole in the license plate area. I guess with remotes, most people don't use it so it eliminates it as a styling element.

Actually figured out that it was the one car I couldn't identify at a market research thing I attended here in San Diego back around February. (The cars had all badging covered, but the other ones I looked at were the current Maxima, ES330, Chysler 300, Buick LaCrosse, and a 5-series.)

I also saw a new Lexus GS on Saturday morning.

I've seen a half dozen Elises on the street around here. I can remember Yellow, Blue, Silver, and Orange.

davem2001 · May 2005

San Diego would be a great place to have an Elise - you could drive it year round there - in the Northeast, it's a summer-only toy.

ateixeira · May 2005

I've only seen one or two around here. They're pretty rare.

-juice

teds1 · May 2005

I have yet to see an M45/35 which is pretty odd given NYC's ridiculous bounty of 5s GS's and Es. I have seen some Elises but not in the city... I have a feeling the potholes would be too much in that tight track suspension

kyfdx · May 2005

I think Infiniti gets a lot more press and interest from enthusiasts than is reflected in actual car sales...

So, I hear a lot about them... but, I just don't see very many...

anythngbutgm · May 2005

Spotted a CLS500 over the weekend.

My wife's business partner picked it up on Saturday... What a ride!!! :shades:

ateixeira · May 2005

And there is an Infiniti dealer about 2 miles from my house!

-juice

teds1 · May 2005

You may be right, Q45s at least are quite rare, but everyone and their mother has a G35 (with good reason, they rock) so I am surprised that I haven't seen the M yet. I did however, almost get run over by a truck today as I sprinted across the street to get a better lok at the black maserati Quattroporte parked in front of a Starbucks nearby. Every reviewer says the transmission sucks but it looks soooooo good. Then a classic jag xk 120 drove by... now that is a rare sighting in downtown Manhattan

merc1 · May 2005

As we came to one of those intersections where the right lane must turn right and the left must turn left, I got to hear the the SLK350's exhaust note loud and clear as he went left and I right. The SLK also had its top down. Very slick n sporty little Benz. Total about-face from the previous SLK.

M

ateixeira · May 2005

And they drive a lot better, too. The 3.5l engine has a lot more torque than the 3.2l it replaced. Plus that car has 2.3l, 2.3l kompressor, and 1.8l kompressor engines that were slotted below the old SLK 320.

-juice

merc1 · May 2005

Yeah this time I'm glad the 4-cylinder is history. The new entry level model will be a 228hp SLK280. I'm waiting to "spot" the 55 AMG version now. They're rare as can be it seems.

M

ateixeira · May 2005

Saw my first new Jetta, a silver one, young woman driving it.

Doesn't really stand out much, it does sort of "look like a Corolla" like everyone seems to say.

-juice

kyfdx · May 2005

IMO, they really screwed this car up, in the looks department... I can live with the new schnozz (like the Audi), but the side and rear views... Corolla is an apt description..

It is a real shame.. the previous Jetta was one of the best looking small cars on the road.. I'm all for change, but not this way...

regards,
kyfdx

ateixeira · May 2005

Sales are slow, they only had 2.5l models and even then mostly automatics. Coupled with high prices they're collecting dust on lots.

-juice

davem2001 · May 2005

That's just the new VW corporate look - I've seen pictures of the new Passat and it looks very similar, too...

Jetta seems pretty expensive to me... there was one at the COSTCO last weekend, so I checked it out.....Sticker was over $24,000..didn't even seem to be extremely "loaded", either

ateixeira · May 2005

Yeah, the one C&D tested was over $26 grand, and that's a 2.5l sedan auto. No turbo, no wagon, no AWD. Imagine what one equipped like that would cost - probably over $30 grand!

-juice

stickguy · May 2005

You should get a Passat.

Actually, if you can live with the excitement of a V-Dub (and I don't mean the driving experience), the Passat with the 2.0T and 6 speed 9or DSG if you prefer) sounds like it might be a nice package, if the price doesn't get out of hand.

Wonder when they will be out to be sighted (to keep OT)?

davem2001 · May 2005

Well, if a decently equipped Jetta is going for $24-26K, I'd imagine a Passat will be near $30K, at least... I still have a hard time thinking of VW as an "upscale" luxury brand....maybe I'm just showing my age...when I think of VW, I think Beetles, Rabbits..... "luxury VW" seems almost like one of those oxymorons like "jumbo shrimp" to me.

ateixeira · May 2005

They will market these new cars to girly-men, since we're on a roll with oxymorons.

-juice

davem2001 · May 2005

market these new cars to girly-men that's a new Beetle and Beetle convertible.

a_l_hubcaps · May 2005

Yesterday I walked to the grocery store because it was nice out, and two exotic cars passed me. I really don't pay attention to cars I'll never be able to afford, so I don't know much about exotics. One was a Bentley coupe and the other was a Maserati convertible. Both were definitely very late-model. I did not like the Bentley at all...it looked cheap, like a kit car or something. The Maserati looked quite nice, though. I have always liked the Maserati grille.

-Andrew L

ateixeira · May 2005

On the way home I saw a red Mustang GT, looked good. I like the new front end.

I was behind a Lotus yesterday, nice V8 rumble heard clearly because I had the top down.

Ford 500 later, too. Those are finally becoming more common.

-juice

andys120 · May 2005

it was coming at me so I only got a brief look, frankly it seemed a little plain but perhaps that was cuz it was white. Not a good color for a ragtop IMO.

merc1 · May 2005

ASTON-MARTIN DB9!

In front of the club last night. Oh my gawd! The car is so sleek, low to the ground and so well proportioned. Shaped like it is not of this earth and mere human designers. Without question the best looking production car on earth, imo.

M

boomchek · May 2005

I keep seeing a late model Peugeot 406 coupe in the vancouver area with local plates. Funny thing is Peugeot doesnt sell cars in North America, and you can't really import one in, the costs are huge.

Car looks nice though

seminole_kev · May 2005

" Funny thing is Peugeot doesnt sell cars in North America" - I believe Peugeot does sell cars in Mexico if I remember correctly.

210delray · May 2005

...the new BMW 3-series sedan on the road last week. I didn't know they were out yet.

ateixeira · May 2005

Test fleet car, maybe?

Did you notice the plates, i.e. where they special?

-juice

kyfdx · May 2005

They started delivering cars to customers last Friday, the 6th...

teds1 · May 2005

I thought I might have seen one this weekend, but it's tough to tell when driving. they aren't radically different in shape from the old bodied 3 s. I'm sure I will see them soon enough. I'm dying to drive one, I used to run a program with 330xis and 325xits and they were so damn fun to drive. I want to see what 30 more HP will do.

andys120 · May 2005

Today I saw two different new 'Stang ragtops, one on the road, the other at a dealer both red (different shades), both not GTs, They looked good, better than the boring white I saw last week.

ghulet · May 2005

Saw my first Mustang convertible last night, kinda dark red metallic, base model, looked very nice and well built. I also saw a Dodge Magnum, which in itself isn't all that unusual, but this one was a TAXICAB. Not a bad choice, I guess, though I know rearward vision is bad; combine that with the customary awful, careless cab driving and you have a dangerous combination.

210delray · May 2005

The reason it caught my eye was the different rear end/taillight treatment from the old model. Not Bangled, but definitely different!

andys120 · May 2005

I drive past a Dodge DDealer regularly and have yet to see a Charger, they've got lots of Magnums (Magna?) though.

kyfdx · May 2005

I saw a Mustang GT today.. It had the stripe package just like the Cobra II from the late '70s...

It sure looks a lot better on this model..

nwng · May 2005

I think the rear wing on the gt does not match the rest of the car

teds1 · May 2005

I haven't seen any chargers yet either. Anybody know when they will be out? Actually they should be my favorite of the three styles. Big and Ballsy though the 300 is (especially with a tighter mesh aftermarket grill) I could not see myself driving one... Still too ugly. The magnum is way better for me because I love wagons but it looks so big it would be unwieldy to drive. I loved the chargers at the NY auto show, not the silly yellow and orange 70's racing striped ones but the srt-8 looks mean and they had a DUB magazine concept edition that was really nice. I definitely don't mind the four door look. It should be a hit

ateixeira · May 2005

Saw a new 330i. Black, driving on MacArthur towards DC this morning.

Looked nice. I'm not crazy about the tail lights, but otherwise a nice overall shape, and by far Bangle's best effort to date.

It was the first one I saw on the road. I'd seen it at the auto shows.

Right after that - I saw my first Honda Ridgeline on the road! Dark red.

I guess we have to start talking about the 2006 models.

-juice

I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

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