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Cars You Hate/Cars You Would Kill
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Comments
Honda may be marketing the Element to trendy Generation Y surfer dude/dudette types, but in fact it's quite popular among senior citizens. Its seating height and wide-opening doors make it easy for people with limited mobility to get in and out of the vehicle.
I believe the xB is also popular with seniors, for the same reason.
I know a lot of people who are interested in the 3 door versions, but if the 5 door versions get here, and look like "me-too's"(like other 5 door "wagons", and 5 doors suvs, for the Vue replacement/Antara)almost no one(I know, who also is interested in the Saturn/Opel cars) is going to even bother going to the lots.
Let's just hope they decide to Not mess them up!
take care/not offense.
No. I think that all cars intended for the general public should have efficiency as one of the highest priorities. It hasn't been a priority for any of the domestics.
GM could bring us that cute little Opel Corsa as a rebadged Saturn. I could go for something like that.
Same here. Put the 1.7 turbodiesel in this and I would actually go take a look at it, which is more than I can say for anything GM offers to the US market now.
Cars could also stand to lose about 500 pounds across the board, but there's no way around that short of building your own tube-frame kit car.
Are you implying fuel economy is a priority for the Japanese? You should compare the 2006 Camry and the 2007 Camry 4 Cylinder cars. The 2006 is larger and gets better mileage both rated and according to owners. Only one person has posted his mileage on the 2007 Camry and it is 19.5 MPG. Pretty shabby for a car that is EPA rated 27 MPG. the average for those posting on the 2006 Camry are averaging 27.2 just below the EPA rated 28 MPG. Notice the smaller 2007 Camry gets a lower rating. Actually the 2006 has a better emissions rating also. All that and the 2007 is not as attractive as the 2006 Camry. What's going on Toyota?
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm
Overall length is essentially unchanged, but wheelbase has increased by 2 inches.
I've been following the gas mileage board, and the numbers for the '07 are all over the map. The same person that reported 19 mpg ("mostly city" only) said her husband got 32.5 mpg on a highway trip. She also said, "I DO sit at stupid red-lights in this town a LONG time."
Since I have an '04 4-cyl. 4-speed auto and an '05 4-cyl. 5-speed auto, here are the EPA ratings:
2004: 23/32 (I get 23 to 35-38).
2005 (& '06): 24/34 (I get 21 to about 32).
2007: 24/33
Emissions: no change between 2004-07 for all 4-cylinder models (the biggest sellers by far), according to the EPA link.
Styling: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I don't think Yaris has anything over Echo in the efficiency department. The new Civics are worse than the old ones, and the Fit's mpgs are nothing to write home about.
To me the '07 actually did feel bigger than the '02-06, probably because I noticed the slight increases in shoulder/legroom, but the decrease in headroom wasn't enough to bother me. Also, where they measure headroom isn't necessarily where you sit. I remember the '00+ Taurus had something like 40.6 inches of headroom in the back seat. That's like 2.8 more than the '07 Camry! Yet in the back seat I have to slouch over, because otherwise the curvature of the sides of the car put the ceiling right into my head! I have no such problem with the Camry though.
The EPA also rounds to the nearest foot, I found out. For instance, I remember their interior rating for my '00 Intrepid was 104 cubic feet, while the '00 Impala and Taurus were 105. However, according to the Dodge website, the Intrepid was actually 104.4 and the Impala was 104.6. I forget what the Taurus was, but no doubt its figure was inflated by that silly rear headroom measurement.
Still, nobody's going to notice a difference of a cubic foot, let alone 1/5 of a cubic foot! What they're going to notice is if their shoulder rubs against the door or their knee hits the steering wheel when they go for the brake. Or if their leg cramps up because of an awkward seating position, or their head brushes the ceiling, etc.
I found out years ago that if you multiply front headroom X front legroom X front shoulder room, and then do the same for the rear measurements, add them together, and then divide the total by 1728 (the number of cubic inches in a cubic foot) it gives you a number very close to those published interior volumes.
plugging in the numbers for the Camry, I got 101.9 cubic feet for the '06 and 101.8 for the '07.
And since they round off trunk volumes as well, that 17 for the '06 and 15 for the '07 could actually be 16.5 and 15.4, a difference of only 1.1 cubic feet. Or it could have been 17.4 and 14.5, a difference of 2.9.
Rounding off can do funny things, sometimes.
BTW, why do the SE and XLE lose half a foot of trunk space over the other models? Is there a CD changer or subwoofer in the trunk or something similar?
Regarding your last question, the SE has a cross brace to stiffen up the car, and the XLE has reclining seats like those on the current Avalon. In neither model do the seats fold down (unlike the CE, LE, and Hybrid).
It would help if they'd quit making cars bigger and heavier all the time. You could probably get 50 mpg out of the Yaris engine if you put it in an AE86. Meeting US bumper and crash standards adds 2-300 pounds to a car all by itself, and tuning engines for low emissions also hurts the mileage.
I think they already screwed it up with the name. Are they actually going to use that tired old name that was the rebadged Vega? What did the marketing department get paid for that decision?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Astra
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I was 23 years old when Honda put the Element out on the market. My reaction to when the Element first came out was like 20 somethings are not going to buy this. I don;t consider myself generation Y even though I do have some why Y in me(hate to admit.)
Young people buy people buy Honda Civics, Ford Mustang's, Mazda 3's and 6's not Elements.
"The new Civics are worse than the old ones, and the Fit's mpgs are nothing to write home about."
Well the Civic gained some HP for the new 06 model over the 05 model so thats probably the reason for the fuel mileadge downfall of the Civic.
I like too to see fuel mileadge gains industry wide but with HP increasing industry wise those fuel mileadge figures get harder to increase.
I have a total soft spot in my heart for the recent Mercury Cougar hatchback. I like the styling, that it's a hatchback, that the spoiler was always optional and that Mercury for once offered something unique. I know it didn't stack up against its competition and the automotive press without exception panned it, but there's just something about it that appeals to me.
I saw one recently(of course, it is an old-er model, since they no longer make the Mercury Cougar/hatch) in town.
It did look good.
I like hatchbacks, especially 3 doors.
I wonder if Ford is seriously considering building the Reflex, from the autoshow(forgot if it was Detroit or Chicago).
I know that the Scion tC, it sold nearly 75,000 units in 05(3 door).
Rocky
The Prius weighs 2890 pounds, about the same as my '80 Volvo 240 2-door. Not exactly a small car!
Rocky
Rocky
No, I wouldn't want to run it head-on into a Cadillac DTS (just over 4000 lbs), but the same holds true for my Camrys (about 3200 lbs). In my view, there's a happy medium between efficiency and safety, and both the Prius and Camry are in my comfort zone.
Even the "small" Jetta has porked up to 3200 lbs.
BTW, I'm "letting" my son buy a Prius, with optional side airbags of course. (He's 28 years old, so he can really make his own decisions.) However, he and his wife live in New York City (Queens), and they still plan to take the subway to work in Manhattan.
Rocky
These guys mean it literally. :surprise:
Rocky
Buick Rendezvous
Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable (1996-2000)
Buick Skylark (1992-1995)
Eagle Vision
Chrysler Sebring Coupe
Pontiac Montana (1997-2005)
Saturn L-Series
Saturn Relay
A bit random, yes, but I really would like to hear what you guys think about those cars.
I like to think some designer in Buick was thinking "WWHD?" (What would Harley do?). Yeah, the result was less than an automotive sex symbol, but cool that Buick at least tried...
I'm sure though I'll get as much disbelief for this as I did when I said I liked the looks of its stable-mate, the Olds Acheiva...
Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable (1996-2000)- Yuck! Looks like a catfish. The old style became sort of passe' by 1995, but this was no way to jazz up a somewhat dull car. It reminds me of the 2007 "pignose" Camry. Of course, Toyota can sell anything regardless of how ugly it is. Ford doesn't have that luxury.
Buick Skylark (1992-1995) - Loved the bold earlier design. Hated it after they toned it down.
Eagle Vision - liked it, but feared concerns about reliability.
Chrysler Sebring Coupe - Depends on which year. I hated the ones with the fake grille.
Pontiac Montana (1997-2005) - NO PONTIAC MINIVANS EVER! Minivans from the "excitement" division? "We Build Boredom!"
Saturn L-Series - "L" for LOSER!
Saturn Relay - least offensive of GM's "bottlenose" minivans.
Just spit up a cup of coffee after I saw this...
Right before the "American Revolution"
You mean this car wouldn't look intimidating to you if it pulled up next to you at a stoplight? I'd be very intimidated...
If I was on my Bicycle
Rocky
And is that an Infiniti I30 reflected in the paintwork?
Funny, I went to college with a guy who had a Geo Storm, Black with white stripes so I guess anything qualifies :sick:
Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable (1996-2000)
Buick Skylark (1992-1995)
Eagle Vision
Chrysler Sebring Coupe
Pontiac Montana (1997-2005)
Saturn L-Series
Saturn Relay"
Ok, HATE the Buick Rendesvous minivan, SUV poser.
Neutral on the Skylark, since it's been dead 10 years.
Liked the Eagle Vision, also irrelevant today.
Like the looks of the Sebring coupe.
Hate all GM Minivans, so the Montana falls in.
HATE all Saturns, always have, always will. I'd kill the brand.
I've been thinking that as well. Which is why I wonder why Toyota developed the Scion brand, but then again, whatever they do works, they do it very carefully and cost effectively.
GM is brand poor though, they need to fold at least 3 divisions.