lopoetve
Lopoetve
lopoetve

And they HAD good cars. The G35 was extremely competitive, although weird looking, in all forms. The G37 started competitive. It just ... never got updated, and when it did, it was just a refresh instead of an actual update (the Q60/50).  

All sorts of legal loopholes to potentially exploit, and the rules around subsidiary ownership/control/profit tracking are well known too.  Who has more money - VAG, or dealers?  Don’t honestly know, but if they manage to block enough of the early-model markups, VW wins - even if the dealers win in the end.  

Legal shenanigan or not, it works that way.  Weird things are possible with finance and ownership rules.  

Owned != managed by or controlled by.  I can let a subsidiary operate 100% independently if I wish.  On top of that, fund it like a PE/VC group - they spin up businesses with separate management.  

AMEN at that.  I always thought I’d move up to a Grand some day - if I didn’t keep my Wrangler - and now there’s not a chance.  

100% - hence the rugged comment. I loved my Grand Woody. It was a NIGHTMARE of maintenance - 1980s electrics with 70s carbs and 60s transmissions and engines... But it could do on road, off road, anything - without even blinking.

And terrifying complexity.  An AMG is scary enough as-is; hand built motor, expensive parts, etc...  now you want me to trust a PHEV performance one with a super-high-strung I4 instead of a somewhat lazier V8?  Uh....  No?  

You’re missing the 200k  Tahoes/Yukons, which are the same platform and not far off in price when optioned out, that were also sold. The expedition sells half as much as a single one of those, never mind both, and never mind that there is also the EXT version of the GM family which is counted separately too. That’s

They saw a market that doesn’t exist - the high end ultra-large SUV market is owned by GM, with the Tahoe/Yukon Denali and the Escalade. Even ford doesn’t remotely compete with the Navigator (1/5th the Canada sales of the escalade alone, never mind the slightly down-market trims, and 1/2 the USA sales - again,

For Maserati, or the industry making EVs?  

I’d totally spaced the tensioner on that too.  

Yeah, 20 years old - I don’t think it ever will, sadly.  I miss mine, but I’d run like the wind now rather than try to drive one regularly.  

No idea - no one has so far at least, and I wonder if there’s just too small a market for anyone to bother.  

100% unique - it’s the only car that got that transmission in that setup. I believe at the time Getrag/Ford thought it would be adapted to the Mazda3/etc in the future, but things didn’t work out that way. The linkages are plastic and exposed somewhat, and get brittle with time (and then snap). It’s also, IIRC,

FWIW, this is a ticking time bomb - there are several wear items that have no equivalent replacement and have been unavailable for 5-10+ years, including the shift cable linkages and the intake solenoid.  

ND. Car is currently unmaintainable - the shift linkages (cables and mounts) are unique to the SVT and haven’t been available in years, and the solenoid for the dual runner intake is also unavailable and has been for a decade.  Both are considered standard wear items - car is undrivable as they wear out.  

Not even a back door.  You have ot pay for their cell plan to use any of it, you have to pay for onstar to use apps past the first 1 or 3 years, and eventually you have to pay for onstar to even use google maps.  

1. I don’t pay more for AC. I have to pay to use the google system in GM cars.

2003 SVT Focus in Sonic Blue, in 2004. I wanted an SRT-4 Neon, especially since the 2004 ones had the stage 1 upgrade and LSD stock (about 30hp boost), OR the RSX-S... Was a Junior in college.

How about both?