Frisky Dingo

I'd take the used one for the manual alone. The savings and everything else is just a bonus.

Front lights and grille treatment are quite nice, but the rest is a steaming pile of garbage. What were they thinking??

Man, bench racing is fun. ?

Cool. What the car should have been in the first place.

I think that was really a lot of ranting and raving and I'm not sure what to take away from it. If you think Camaros and Mustangs are even a blip on AMG's radar, you're nuts. This hypothetical car we speak of wouldn't be targeting those cars. It would just so happen to have some overlap with the top of their ranges. This would be a car aimed at the lesser F Types, Cayman/Boxster, upcoming Supra and Z4, and whatever else shows up in that playground in the near future.

Oh, let me tell you right now, if AMG made a bit smaller version of their GT with the new turbo-I6, that fell into the 50-75K range, I wouldn't even be stepping foot in a Porsche, Jaguar, or ANY Domestic dealership. The only other car(s) that would possibly give me any pause would be a new Supra, and perhaps a 2 door Quadrifoglio. And I know a lot of other buyers who would feel similarly.

Well, if the AMG GT is anything to judge by, something in this segment could be a very serious rival to the Porsche twins, the Corvette, and lower level F Types. The days of AMG's being dull German muscle cars that are highway missiles only is long gone. They now build very credible threats to the established sports car/sedan set. I say go for it. The GT is so awesome some of its goodness should be available to others at a lower price point.

The problem with the Cruze.......is the Malibu. The only thing the Cruze really does well is soft, comfy, and spacious. The Malibu is a nicer car, that is considerably better to drive, with a ton more power, and not really a great deal more money. In its segment, I wouldn't even give the Cruze a passing glance.

Such a shame to see GM saddle the Malibu with a CVT. It is other wise a very competent car that I find quite compelling within it's segment. GM is going backwards with some of their products.

I don't hate it. It's okay. I like the idea of a 2.0T 1LE.

2014-up are IRS. As for the car, I'll reserve judgement until I see (and drive) one in person. It doesn't exactly look like a VW to me. And I worry about the driving dynamics, as VW has been a little hit or miss with those as of late. I will report my impressions at the first opportunity.

Well, it's certainly not a surprise, but GM never let this car reach it's potential. It had a nice chassis, quirky styling, a nice size, but was always just a few steps away from being fully baked. The RS model should have had another 40hp.

What is so, SO frustrating about it is that they have all the pieces needed to make good stuff. They have turbo engines, and manual transmissions, and whatnot, they just limit them to 2-3 cars. It's beyond stupid. They are resting on their laurels now just like 90's Domestic brands and mid-late 00's Toyota.

I think Subaru has replaced Toyota and Nissan as the most absolutely boring, unimaginative appliance makers on the market. F*** them.

Right, but it's a crew cab.

Looks like an unholy spawn of a Crosstrek, Rogue, and Compass.

Front 3/4 view is a knockout. Really digging the interior- clean, simple, upscale looking. And addressing CUE's shortcomings. Not a huge fan of the back, but it's not bad. In all, a quite solid effort here.

A very good execution of an idea that could have ended poorly. Clean up and tone down the lighting elements a but as Cap said, and this is on-point. Surprised and impressed w/ both of VW's concepts here.

Yeah, not a very flattering photo there. It needs more aggressive fender flares that connect to the rocker cladding. Also, from what I've seen, this thing looks better in neutral colors.

Nice to see the new engine and AWD availability, but ultimately nothing compelling here if you ask me.

Wow. Looks fantastic. Bravo, Lincoln. This brand may finally be getting it's act together.

Color me impressed. I was worried there wouldn't be enough to separate this and the standard Atlas, but VW seems to have done so. I really like what I'm hearing on the powertrain front. Though, I notice both of these attractive power figures include hybrid technology. While I don't necessarily have anything against that, it paints a grim picture of hoping for more powerful VW gas engines. How soon can they implement this tech? Other VW models are need of more power.

If you want to take a year to buy a car, be my guest. I didn't say you don't have the right to. But I also have the right to not spend my time on you when the next guy is ready to buy a car today. If you understand that, you're just dense. My greater point, which you and others are glossing over is that by shopping several months to a year out, you are wasting not just the salesman's time, but YOURS. Call up a realtor and ask them to show you a house you may be interested in buying in a year. See how that goes for you. Or better yet, how would you like it if somebody came into your restaurant, asked about half the stuff on your menu, and then said they weren't hungry anyway and they weren't planning on eating there that day. Or even next week. If that person told you that up front, would you make the guy behind them wanting a burger right now wait so you could explain everything to the non-buyer?? And if you were the customer wanting to know everything about the menu, would you not expect the owner/server/waiter/whatever to either A) try to sell you something, or B) or be confused why you were there if you didn't want to eat at that moment?? Apply the same logic to YOUR line of work and try to tell me with a straight face it makes sense. As for the people in the pictures you posted, if they aren't ready, or close to making a decision, on what to buy, then YES, they are wasting their time, too. Not that hard of a concept to grasp. Maybe I just don't understand going to look at things I am either incapable of, or not ready to, buy. Customers' time must NOT be more valuable than mine, because mine is sure as hell too valuable to do such a thing. I don't go look at clothes if I don't need/want clothes. I don't go look at cameras or phones if I don't need or want a phone. And I definitely don't get off on wasting someone else's time if I'm not interested in buying a product. But if those people want to waste their looking at things they have no intentions of buying, good for them. The person working at Best Buy isn't required to wait on them, and they don't get paid to make sales. Cell phone reps do, so stringing them along if you're just 'kicking tires' is effed up, too. I could go into a tangent about how my industry pays and trains people, but that's a separate matter, and one that could easily be the topic of an entire thread itself. Salesmen are underpaid, and it starts at the top, with the MFR's. They rake in billions while everyone below the owner/GM level makes crap. But most professions are underpaid. I'm not going to complain about that, as it's a pandemic, and it's beyond my control, any way. Helping people is under my control, and how I choose to do so is up to me, not the consumer. I've flat out told people I don't want to sell them a car. That whatever I was making wasn't enough to put up with them. And my Mgr will back me up if I do so, because he trusts my judgement. Some people just aren't worth it. If you think a salesman's role is to bend over backwards for you at all costs and allow themselves to be subjected to disrespectful or condescending behavior, you have a very poor outlook.

I don't know of anyone that expects to have even 1:3 close ration. 1:4-1:5 is pretty stellar. Much of that is luck. But much of it is also on the customer and the salesman. I can tell within the first 2 minutes how serious someone is. And in next 8-13, if they are still there, I know typically how good of a chance I have of selling them. Knowing those things takes years of practice and experience in what questions to ask, watching the customer's facial expressions and demeanor, etc, etc. You have to know how if you are going to get around the #1 thing most people say straight out of the gate- "I'm just looking."

I would much prefer to hear someone say that than to tell me they are looking at cars and plan to buy entire seasons or years from now. You're a car guy and just want to walk around and check stuff out, go for it. As long as we aren't busy, and you're cool, I might even might even shoot the breeze with you, open a hood, start something up, etc. But if you are even remotely close to a year away from buying a car, you're wasting EVERYONE'S time, not just the salesman's. The used car isn't going to be there anymore, and the new car probably won't be the same price. Best case scenario. Barring that, you could die, get fired, win the lottery, or be the recipient of a million other factors that greatly change your buying window, what you spend, and what you spend it on. I have people tell me they are looking for cars for when their 14yo turns 16, for cripes sake. That's just completely stupid. And to touch on your bolded part, I know plenty of salesmen with projects!! Lol. Oh, please. Nobody here is advocating buying something you don't want or even not putting careful consideration into what you buy. But all of your budgeting should have been done long before you ever step foot on a dealer parking lot. If it still takes you several months to pick out a car from there, then yeah, absolutely you are making it difficult for yourself. After all, you buyers' time is so much more valuable than salesmen's.