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  #11  
Old 10-26-2012, 12:37 PM
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If I had the money for a sports car, I would buy a Volt. Perhaps is should have been marketed more as a vehicle for elites. Then we would have had all sorts of covetousness going on.

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D-Ray
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  #12  
Old 10-26-2012, 12:41 PM
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Originally Posted by piece-itpete View Post
Oh yeah leftie, pretend you didn't mean it



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  #13  
Old 10-26-2012, 12:50 PM
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Originally Posted by whell View Post
It is a great car. It's a great piece of engineering. It has been in development for years before Obama took office. It is surrounded by a great product development and support team.

...and yet the market economics for the vehicle are all wrong.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88904J20120910
Cept that article is dead wrong. That is not how you cost out something like a new automotive technology. It was just recently written that using the same approach, the first new Ford Fusion sold lost Ford $2 billion. Thankfully, once they sold the second one, the loss dropped to only $1 billion per vehicle.

Lets keep in mind that when the Prius was launched gas was under $1 a gallon. They have now sold more than 2 million of them, even though they lost a ton of money on each one when it entered production. Same deal for the Honda Insight.
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  #14  
Old 10-26-2012, 12:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by d-ray657 View Post
If I had the money for a sports car, I would buy a Volt. Perhaps is should have been marketed more as a vehicle for elites. Then we would have had all sorts of covetousness going on.

Regards,

D-Ray
It's not doing too badly, actually. They have sold about 30,000 of them, putting them well ahead of the Prius at this point in its sales history, and twice as many Insights as Honda managed to sell in 7 years.
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  #15  
Old 10-26-2012, 01:05 PM
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I drove a Volt last week. It was a 2013 model. Full price was $39,150, they pay the sales tax. Max out the options you are looking at $44,500 We drove a few Toyota Avalons the week before 2012 models one option down from the deluxe model. $46,500 I pay the sales tax. Both cars were very nice.

For practical purposes the Volt is an ideal car for Janet. She drives a few miles to and from her office, likes to shop at the stores with overstock items from other stores like TJ Maxx that are all very close to our house. The fancy stores, she likes to shop at, are in the Promenade Mall in Rogers, AR about a 20 mile round trip.

We have driven Mercedes, Lexus, Porsches, Chevy and Toyota trucks since 1978. I am not going to say the Volt was like driving a 126 body 560SEL Mercedes, but it is a very well engineered car and is a joy to drive. Janet drives about 3000 miles a year. The Volt would be perfect for her.

We drove the new Chevy Malibu and were underwhelmed. It is reviewed as a very solid handling car. I did not get that impression. I felt like the rear end was trying to break loose and the suspension was clunky. The LTZ package is maddening. Starting off with only two cylinders firing and then the full eight kick in it felt like driving an old turbodiesel Mercedes. The bumper to bumper lifetime warranty was enticing. Fully optioned they sell for about $34,000.

I don't see what all the fuss about the price of the Volt is. $40,000 won't buy a fully optioned, 4x4, extended cab, Chevy half ton truck nowadays, and there are a whole bunch of them on the road here.
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  #16  
Old 10-26-2012, 01:11 PM
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Still $40k is not exactly a budget car. In fairness to the PU owners they often (but not always! ) have work reasons.

I was thinking about hybrids and their perceived complexity the other day. It occured to me that internal combustion engines, particularly modern ones, are incredibly complex. The sales folks for hybrids should be pointing that out.

Pete
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  #17  
Old 10-26-2012, 01:32 PM
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I don't see what all the fuss about the price of the Volt is. $40,000 won't buy a fully optioned, 4x4, extended cab, Chevy half ton truck nowadays, and there are a whole bunch of them on the road here.
OTOH, you can buy a new Mazda3 for ~$18K and get an honest 40 mpg in a fun-driving package.
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  #18  
Old 10-26-2012, 01:44 PM
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Originally Posted by d-ray657 View Post
If I had the money for a sports car, I would buy a Volt. Perhaps is should have been marketed more as a vehicle for elites. Then we would have had all sorts of covetousness going on.

Regards,

D-Ray
Raise the price to $80,000 and sell the design to Daimler Benz and slap a star on it it just might sell to people with more money than brains. The interior would need a lot of wood trim and at least an E class interior.

Me, I am gunning for a used Mercedes 560 SEC AMG hammer. Surprisingly I can buy one at auction, in pristine condition, below 100,000 on the odo, for less than $10,000 So what if it only gets 10 mpg highway 8 mpg city. It's just money and you might as well have fun.
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  #19  
Old 10-26-2012, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by wgrr View Post
Raise the price to $80,000 and sell the design to Daimler Benz and slap a star on it it just might sell to people with more money than brains. The interior would need a lot of wood trim and at least an E class interior.

Me, I am gunning for a used Mercedes 560 SEC AMG hammer. Surprisingly I can buy one at auction, in pristine condition, below 100,000 on the odo, for less than $10,000 So what if it only gets 10 mpg highway 8 mpg city. It's just money and you might as well have fun.
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  #20  
Old 10-26-2012, 02:48 PM
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Originally Posted by finnbow View Post
OTOH, you can buy a new Mazda3 for ~$18K and get an honest 40 mpg in a fun-driving package.
You could make that case for pretty well every car that costs more than a Mazda 3. The one thing you don't get with the Mazda is the opportunity to buy American.
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