I've been in the car as my buddy's parents tow a boat with the X6M. It's fun as hell. I've also seen Corvettes launch jet-skis before, too.

Best friend's mom drives an X6M. Their reasoning: they are not 50 yet, they have the money, and they sometimes like to take their full-grown 23 year old son with them. They also have a boat and a beach house, and a M6 doesn't do it on space for them. For them, it's absolutely ideal. Their other car? Raptor.

I never owned an Eclipse, but I did own multiple Talons. The FWD Gen-2 with a hyped-up 420A was also fun, because it was so much lighter than the AWD version (about 700 pounds). But Chrystler-sourced engine meant that I went through engines once every few months. Got the Integra after I blew a 2nd block.

Probably to build hype.

There's another, far more complex reason for the refresh and price bump combo, and it's changing the dynamics of a topic you mentioned: price gouging.

I do believe they messed that one up when they went from 2nd Gen to 3rd gen, not just mid-cycle. Next-to-nobody on here is going to say the third gen or fourth gen is better than the 2nd gen.

2013 is my favorite model in YEARS and YEARS. I can't agree with you here, but everyone sees every car differently.

I meant as a crate from the factory with everything included, but cool.

I love the look, killer car for anyone, not just a 17 year old. Still, parts and mechanical issues are what's keeping me off older cars.

It's still a $15,000 motor, though.

It's not the #1 issue with them at all, but yes that weakness exists. Most people never use their trucks in a capability to see it.

Raptors are about twice as expensive as a Wrangler here in the states too. I'd still rather have one any day. I really don't like the Wrangler as a car at all, but the Raptor could get me to work and back, and be my weekend car too.

If you have 200 people interested enough to come in, give out their information, and are currently qualified market segment owners, but only have a 2-3% closing ratio, that sounds very much like a sales problem to me.

And cost effectiveness isn't a major benefit to consumers?

To defend Travis, the dealer inventory tool is also misleading. It will often list cars that are being held at the factory as in-stock if they have had their ship date delayed.

Just so you know, just because they are on the online inventory doesn't mean they are physically there. Our Lincoln site shows that we have 1 in stock, 1 ordered. In reality, the one "in stock" hasn't been released from the factory yet, even though it's built. I'm not even sure what's going on at this point.

Yes, on the performance "halo" model, Lexus wins out, but Lincoln isn't trying to be Lexus (an entire line in itself, not an extension of the parent company), it's trying to be Lincoln, the luxury extension of Ford. They want to build specific cars for people who want more luxury out of a domestic product, basically…

I am going to refer you to another post made in this thread: http://jalopnik.com/5980839/?post=56912423

I agree, I would have been pretty upset if he would have taken the back off my new Rolex without my permission.

Acutally, 30% is on the MKX, which shares more parts with the Edge than normal. The MKZ is even less. Interior, Exterior, and suspension are all different. Brakes, Engines, and engine-bay wiring are generally the shared parts.