siegen

It is a predicament for Hyundai, and I think they chose the right decision for the short term. Unfortunately doing this isn't going to do anything to help the Hyundai brand. I think making a new luxury brand is Hyundai's only real way of properly marketing and selling luxury cars, because "Hyundai" just doesn't cut it, too associated with economy cars (like they said) and doesn't have any sort of luxury sound to it when spoken.

What a silly person... Honda would never join Nascar. :AH-HA_wink: That would be like a major league baseball player joining a college baseball team.

A chop I did. Changed grill and head lights.

Truck? Unibody?? Count me out! Probably bend in half the second you throw some 2x4's in there!

This is a mid-cycle change, it is not all new like they have said. Although it has significant changes for a MMC. Yes the grill looks horrible, unless it looks very different once it hits the showrooms (which isn't for a few months I think) it will be laughable. But then it might look different in person, I dunno, the shots I've seen so far are anything but flattering. The mechanical and feature improvements are worthy of note however, and comprise most of the changes for '09.

If you can drive a Smart without losing confidence, you're manly. If you need to run and jump back into your Camaro immediately after to feel ok with yourself, uhh..... you might be a redneck. lol (that and you need to have your manliness checked)

Moreover, why is the GS460 and GS450h listed together? Is that a typo?

I was responding to the statement that it was a mistake from day one. I didn't say it wasn't a mistake by year 2. :AH-HA_wink: Things could have gone very differently with the RL had the stying been classier and the marketing department did their job.

Now exactly, the RL sold nearly 2000 per month for a while when it came out, then fell off into the mid one-thousands, then to around 1,000, and has declined to where it is now. The RL, regardless of how it's doing now, did pretty good its first couple years. Had they made some drastic changes to it in 2006, they could have prevented the downturn. The old RL which sold into late 2004 was taking a sales dive similar to what's happening right now, down to the hundreds.

Oh wait, I know why the Accord sales are low.... Production Capacity! Gotta be production capacity. Just can't get em out fast enough! That's all. Nothing to worry about. The whole industry was pretty down this month though. Here's a nice breakdown.

Too many dealers marking it up? Malibu sales increase? Your guess is as good as mine. I don't work for Honda.

Honda was down as well. This post wins the award for most line-breaks!

"sold or registered" - meaning that if you buy a car from a state not on the list, and register it in one of the states on the list, you still are covered by the recall and will probably receive a letter. And it's not a serious issue IMHO. If the conditions under which this event might occur (the article does not mention any occurrences), the airbag will still go off. And you should not be putting small children in the front seat anyway. The possibility of this issue actually effecting anyone adversely is incredibly remote. If this was a Toyota issue, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they issued a service announcement.

So are we including SUV's and crossovers now? Because if so, the Element and Ridgeline definitely quality as unique. And yes the Aztek does as well. I think the Tahoe Hybrid also qualifies as unique in that it's the first full-size SUV to receive a hybrid powertrain. The Solstice/Sky are only unique in as much as they were the first cars from GM that attracted people who would otherwise never consider a car made by GM. They were unique for GM, but from what I can tell, they didn't do anything differently than the Miata, except offer a turbo. I'm not knocking them, because I would absolutely love to own a Sky Redline. The S2000. 120hp per liter naturally aspirated (under 2000 EPA rating system), x-frame made it stiffer than most coupes, without the weight penalty of a convertible. Usable trunk.

I feel for you. But hey, at least things can't get any worse, right?

So the Edge during its first model year outsold the Pilot during its last model year. If the Edge is still selling at the rate it is by its last model year (and not to fleet), then I will stand corrected.

My friend had a '99 coupe with the 3rd door. I drove it a lot (usually when he was too drunk to drive), and I hated everything about it. But then I was comparing it to my Integra. :AH-HA_wink:

Scion xB Toyota Yaris Lexus LS600h

Damn, you took the words right out of my mouth, lol.

I do see the difference, one being a vert and the other having fins on the back and angled head lights. Other than that, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I kinda like the red one better.

I will reserve final judgment until I see a production version in person. From watching videos from the show, I can tell already that it looks very different from the pictures. It's a gamble on Honda's part, to go more rugged looking while others (Acadia, Highlander, etc) have received a softer look. I get a bit of a laugh from this Edmunds piece. The last Pilot was equally bland. A good point.

And those pictures are from the 4 banger model. The V6 looks considerably nicer IMO. Much nicer rims, leather seats, chrome accents, dual exhaust, fog lights, etc. Lots of V6 Coupe owner pics here.

Well I gave one possible advantage, that being low end torque with a properly tuned and sized turbocharger. And I'm merely saying it will at least match what current offering do, otherwise they wouldn't pursue it. I didn't say it might not exceed them. :AH-HA_wink:

I'll reserve judgment until I see the EPA estimates and the real-world fuel economy. It should at least match what current N/A engines do in performance and fuel economy. The advantage might be that the turbo provides good low-rpm torque (if it's tuned that way), which would be more ideal in an appliance.

But there's 4 of em!