If I bought new vehicles, well then I could just try out all kinds of new makes and models because m

Acura Aston Martin los angeles county hall of records Audi Bentley BMW Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Citroen Dodge Ferrari Fiat Ford GMC Honda Hyundai Infiniti Iran Khodro Jaguar Jeep Kia Lamborghini Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Lotus Maserati Mazda Mercedes-Benz Mercury MG MINI Mitsubishi Nissan Other Pontiac Porsche Ram Renault Saab Saturn Scion smart Subaru Suzuki los angeles county hall of records Tata Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo
Whether it's a Camry climbing up the sales chart. Or a 1988 Toyota MR2 carving up a modern day competitor over a mountain overpass. It's a rush to see 'your choice' of past and present be the best choice.
What about the brand that can't sell cars to save their ass from first base? What about the company that goes bankrupt or leaves a market? Heck, what about Rowdy Roddy Piper?. For those who don't know the guy, Piper is a funny and arrogant wise-ass whose verbal slights and  coconut endorsements  put him at the top of the wrestling business when roids were all the rage.
He was funnier than hell, quirky, and probably drugged out of his mind. But the essence of Piper  was that the more of a heel he became, the more you rooted for the guy. Piper was the guy you loved to hate… and once you got sick of the 'good guys', you rooted for him.
There are a lot of vehicles los angeles county hall of records enthusiasts tend to despise because of nothing more than this guilt by association. The Corvette is a fantastic sports car. But a lot of car buyers los angeles county hall of records can't get past paying $50k for a Chevrolet.
A Suzuki SX4 is a great under $18,000 all-wheel-drive los angeles county hall of records vehicle that would have received 20 times the volume if it had a popular emblem on the front of it. I would argue the same for the 1st gen  Ford Fusion , the current Mazda 5, and even the Pontiac G8 when it was out and about.
Am I wrong? los angeles county hall of records Perhaps. But I see writing los angeles county hall of records off certain brands and models as the equivalent of writing off certain forms of music, food… and wrestlers. los angeles county hall of records You can never get the full enjoyment of being an 'enthusiast' unless you're willing to change your mind.
I disagree. While most hipsters over try to find the next big thing, lose interest as soon as something becomes popular and therefore are a bit fickle, los angeles county hall of records Motoring los angeles county hall of records enthusiasts, generally, are weary of newcomers and typically follow the main players.
The flaw I see in your assessment los angeles county hall of records is that enthusiasts hate anything that s popular/mainstream (see: Toyota/Honda/etc.); they require a product to meet their arbitrary and often nonsensical requirements, e.g., I liked Our Lady Peace before they made their music approachable. After that they stopped being real. (see: a V6 Mustang isn t a Mustang, fail wheel drive, save the manuals). They don t follow the main players they like the boutique exotic. (See customization market even if they all get the same mods, they have to have mods so they re different from the mainstream.) They pick some obscure, discontinued product as their favorite one most people probably never have heard of or don t like (see panther love).
Last time I checked, Uncle Sam did not put $7,000 borrowed from China on the hood of a Corvette, the way he puts it on the hood of a Volt. And, in my state (and probably many others), hybrid and EV buyers don t pay any sales tax, which amounts to another $1500 or so on the hood. Ya think that money comes from the moon?
I think the source of the anger at the Volt is that government policies and subsidies encourage folks like GM to do economically stupid things . . . and then the taxpayers bear the financial consequences of the inevitable failure.
This is first generation technology, you can t compare it directly to the 3rd generation Prius. The first generation echo-prius was t half the car that the volt is now. There s nothing wrong with the price, you should expect to pay more for innovative technologies that are brand new in their implementation. The goal is not to be better than the Prius, it s about developing the infrastructure los angeles county hall of records internally at GM so than future generations los angeles county hall of records of this powertrain can be better, and put into a wider range of vehicles. Toyota did the same thing with vehicles like the Highlander hybrid, camry hybrid, and even the Prius V and C.
All the lessons learned (technology, marketing, consumer preference, everything) los angeles county hall of records since 1997, lessons which were not available to the G1 Prius, are available to the G1 Volt. And considering that it costs $40K and gets a $7500 tax credit, this car should be a far better car than it is.
Totally agree DC. Great article, but this point is way off. We give a tax break to oil producers. We shouldn t. This does not justify billions of dollars of taxpayer s money thrown away to subsidize uneconomic alternative sources of energy. Most of these companies have either already failed or are headed there rapidly. The money is gone but the debt remains.
The same logic applies here. Volt subsides are a result of government experts borrowing and spending billions of dollars of taxpayer s money to intervene in a market they know nothing about. We are now subsidizing the purchase of Fiskers to rich people and Volts to the middle and upper middle classes. The argument that we already waste money and therefore it is OK to waste lots more of it is really unconvincing.
GM should have gone through a normal bankruptcy reorganization. They would have emerged stronger, with little or no taxpayer bailout. Investors and employees would have taken the hit. As it is, taxpayers bailed out the union as payback for political suppport and investors, dealers and suppliers los angeles county hall of records got hammered.
Lower tax rates for all businesses? Sounds good to me. That is not a targeted tax break designed to favor one business over another. These subsidies are provided by politicians who are clueless or are corrupted by their friends,benefactors, los angeles county hall of records or ideology.
The person who said you can t compare a 1st-gen Volt to a 3rd-gen Prius is correct. And it does take trial and effort to make a truly great product. And as more people buy into cars like the Volt and the Model-S and the Leaf and the Fusion Energi, the technology becomes cheaper. But really, did you think the first (or even the second, considering the EV1) electric car GM spat out would be the end-all solution to everything?
The government interfering turned them into a failure-proof zombie that now roams the earth sucking profits and market share away from properly managed companies that were never in trouble in the first place and that would be doing even better now with one less competitor to worry about.
GM is most definitely los angeles county hall of records competitive in today s U.S. market, as are Ford and Chrysler. Really all three of them have improved vastly since 2009. They re all getting there. It may not be as quickly as you want, but progress is being made, believe me.
I disagree with it being similar to writing off a certain type of food or music. To me, the brand is more like the restaurant. I like pizza, but I don t like pizza from every restaurant. It is based on the quality of the ingredients, value, and workers. If a restaurant makes terrible pizza and then starts making hamburgers, why would I choose that restaurant, which I have past experience for terrible pizza, when I want hamburgers. The opposite works, too, though. A place that makes good pizza might not have the slightest idea of how to make a good hamburger. But, if their good pizza was based on quality ingredients and a watchful eye, they ll eventually nail the hamburgers as well.
We (the car guy community) generally don t understand why everyone might not love OUR choice because we, especially car guys, often fail at looking at vehicles from the eyes of someone else. We can t fathom how the Camry outsells the Mazda 6 but we neglect to see that maybe the Camry has higher resale value, more rear legroom, los angeles county hall of records better visibility, better ergonomics, or a slew of other things los angeles county hall of records that are more important to people who buy midsize sedans rather than vehicle dynamics that appeal to car guys. I m of the opinion that a midsize, FWD sedan is a midsize FWD sedan and nothing short of making it a poor midsize sedan (smaller, stiffer, lighter, los angeles county hall of records RWD) will make it truly fun to drive. At that point, just buy an NA or NB Miata as a weekend car and stop compromising your car that needs to carry kids to soccer practice. Early reviews of the new Fusion seem to drive this point home. It gives up a few things (small trunk opening, small rear seat space despite long wheelbase, hard to get in and out of) to have the style of an Aston, and no matter how much it looks like an Aston, it won t be an Aston but it still has to get the kids to soccer practice. Is putting the R D dollars in the styling worth the packaging compromises? We ll see when the sales figures come out. Betting on image is always a solid bet in the US.
This post really got me thinking. I think if I were able to purchase new vehicles then I would be more willing to stray outside of my comfort zone when it comes to purchasing los angeles county hall of records vehicles. I m currently in a position, however, where I buy a vehicles about 10 years old. Long term reliability is the key thing I look at when making a purchase. When looking at the reliability factor, I generally tend to end up with just a few choices depending on the type of vehicle I want. If you sit on the side of the road enough los angeles county hall of records times waiting for a tow truck, and you annually max out the towing allowance on your AAA Gold membership, you re eventually los angeles county hall of records gonna stop pursuing your desire for variety, and stick with what works.
If I bought new vehicles, well then I could just try out all kinds of new makes and models because most of the big problems don t usually show up until you reach the higher mileage anyway. Then I would just sell and buy another new one before I had to deal with problems.
los angeles county hall of records I m looking forward to a few years from now when I may be willing to venture into GM again (my willingness to try a Ford is probably coming even sooner since I think, based on reviews, their quality has improved). Until then Toyota, Honda, etc. are the ones that I can count on most of all. I give t