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You surely know that 2013 models are for sale now, by every manufacturer. His was a 2003 model. Hopefully I won't need to do the math for you.
This reminds me when I had to explain on this forum that when you are adding years to a beginning year, you don't include the first year (e.g., 1958 to 2012 is 54 years old, but would include 55 model years).
LOL--geez, in my cars, the "Check Engine" light is yellow. Now on my Studebaker...oh nevermind, it has all gauges.
As far as the Altima, bpizzuti...to me, it looks so...Asian. That's a turnoff to me.
I thought the 2002 restyle of the Altima was a good one, but at Advanced Auto Parts yesterday, a guy got out of one of that era and the driver's door dropped the way I haven't seen since mid'70's Monte Carlos...no s**t.
One year I decided to take out a new Lexus LS430 for a test drive when I was shopping for a new car. The car drove like my Buick Park Avenue. My mind was telling me, "this is a Buick that costs tens of thousands dollars more!" I couldn't see myself paying a huge premium just to get a Buick with a nicer interior. Nowadays, you can get a Buick with an interior as nice as a Lexus.
About the only import car that could've had a realistic shot at being in my driveway is the Toyota Avalon. My wife and I sat in one at the Philly Auto Show and thought it was nice. However, they had to go change it and put that huge ugly gaping maw grille on it.
The Asian imports usually blow it with me right out the door with their styling. I want an attractive car, but their styling is often alien and bizarre and immediately turns me off. I could care less how good they might be if they're ugly.
European cars are very attractive, but the maintenance and repair costs scare me away. Buying a European luxury car is one thing. Being able to keep up with it is quite another.
This is why I stick with GM and the domestics. The cars are attractive like European cars yet affordable and reliable like Asian cars.
Here's your balance:
The Cobalt stinks (paraphrasing).
Later confesses: Never rode in one, never drove one, never will.
You have never seen comments like that from me here...where I say "(Fill in the blank) sucks/stinks/is lousy/I'd never be seen in one".
The very palpable difference is, you guys come here, flame for fun, make blanket statements, more than sometimes are factually incorrect, can't admit anything, then complain when you're called out on it.
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/09/14/honda-recalling-2007-11-element-2012-ridgelin- e-models/
I did chuckle at the comments posted underneath the recall announcement online.
You did not see me start the conversation with "The Altima is awful/stinks/etc.".
I cannot buy a car I think looks 'alien', as lemko puts. It doesn't have to be beautiful--but it can't look 'alien'. That would trump a lot of things for me.
I like 'made by a U.S.-based company' (as opposed to a company in a country whose goal was to kill us, only several years before I was born), good domestic content, assembled in U.S., and with a better warranty than others. Add in looks, excellent dealer, low maintenance costs, and that's what keeps me where I am.
If you want an Altima, fine..celebrate them over on the Altima forum.
Again, not a large number, admittedly--but another Ford recall.
I'll try to be more correct like you.
Here's one for you that is fact.
In the 1960s, GM averaged a 48.3% share of the U.S. car and truck market. For the first 7 months of 2012, their market share was 18.0%, down from 20.0% for the same period in 2011.
Let me know when they regain their top historical market share. Current Malibu ain't gonna do it!
In their March 2012 issue, Car and Driver published another D-Segment comparison test, pitting the 2013 Chevy Malibu Eco against five competing vehicles. This time, the Malibu came in dead last.
Not only was the 2013 Malibu (183 points) crushed by the winning 2012 Volkswagen Passat (211 points), it was soundly beaten by the 2012 Honda Accord (198 points), a 5-model-year-old design due for replacement this fall. Worst of all, the 2013 Malibu scored (and placed) lower than the 2008 Malibu would have in the same test.
Uh-oh.
Regards,
OW
A picture is worth 1,000 words.
Regards,
OW
There are other words I'd use:
Boring
Dull
Tasteless
Bland
Anonymous
'Alien' to me means 'insectoid', as lemko once put it....long, slanting taillights and/or headlights, funky emblems and nameplates, etc.
And you did not hear me say 'The Altima stinks IMHO'.
And as usual circle, you post something without a link to see the complete story. Did the magazine actually say it would have scored less than the 2008 Malibu? First I've heard that one here. It's no secret that the Eco wasn't a favorite, but I've yet to see a review that did not say they'd have enjoyed a non-Eco version better. Another thing I've repeatedly seen in reviews is 'don't overlook the Malibu'.
I wouldn't buy an Eco either. And the legroom bothers me in the big picture of things because it is less than the previous car. But there are other things about the current car that look nicer than the previous car. I'll concede that styling in profile isn't one of them IMHO.
Has anyone seen/read/done anything to see if the published rear legroom in the Sonata--over two inches less than the Malibu--is accurate/inaccurate or what? The cars compete in that class, so it's worth mentioning.
I have to admit, that I'm swayed by style. So, if I found one car to be drop-dead-gorgeous and the others all looked like toads, I'd probably buy it, even if it came at a slight expense of fuel economy, power, handling, etc. But, overall, that expense would have to be slight.
however, with the current crop of cars out there, I don't find any of them pretty enough, or ugly enough, that style alone would sway my decision. I don't find the 2013 Altima to be particularly attractive, but I don't find it ugly enough to not consider one, if I needed a new car. And, its other attributes (performance, fuel economy, comfort, and so on) look pretty good...at least on paper.
And the Malibu, while it looked pleasant enough, turned me off a bit just from sitting in it, and I didn't even drive it. Made me think of that Eugene Levy line from "National Lampoon's Vacation". "You may think you hate it now, but wait til you drive it!" :P
See? It's not so hard. Come over to the dark side with us. Maybe GM will listen to our criticism and improve.
I drove "around" Pontiac last week but have never taken the exits to actually see the town. Sounds like it's not going away anytime soon, thanks to GM.
Pontiac Stamping pressing ahead (Detroit News)
I need to get off the freeway one of these trips and check out Flint too.
It does seem like posted numbers don't tell the whole story. Some cars just feel like they have more room despite numbers that say otherwise.
I haven't looked at a Consumer Reports lately, but the way they measured legroom at one time was to put the front seat back to something like 41 inches (if it went back that far...in the old days, some didn't), and then measure what they called "fore-aft" seating room. This was how much horizontal distance you had from the seatback. It was usually a number ranging from around 20-30". Nowadays when they measure legroom, the number usually ranges from about 30-40", so they're also working in the factor of how high the rear seat cushion is from the floor.
As for the Hyundai Sonata, I sat in one at the auto show when they first came out. Don't remember it all that well, but I don't remember legroom being a problem in back.
Since I think I'm the first to bring up rear seat legroom in the '13--have you sat in the back of one? Like I said, yesterday was the first time I had. It was OK for me, but the backseat of our '11 feels almost cavernous to me in comparison.
Of course. They all are, although my worst car buying experience was when we bought a Nissan Maxima. I felt like I needed a decontamination procedure afterwards.
Best experience by far was Saturn.
I'd imagine even infants and toddlers who have to be put in a child car seat could be a problem, if there's not enough room back there. Those things are supposed to be facing backwards, right? That's going to take up more space than making it face forward.
Answer: Yes. That's why they made the Kia Optima! The home and family life would fantastic and the looker goes on the road! :P
Regards,
OW
The VW light was probably a faulty light, it is a VW after all.
Asian designs tend to be "alien" or cartoonish. That being said, I'd rather drive an alien than a pokemon :shades:
Yes. Because just like with cars, what's inside is more important and what you have to deal with every day. :shades: