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Just leased the C350 - here are the details...

by theodore on Sun Jul 06 00:13:29 PDT 2008

For anyone othere who's interested, I leased this car yesterday (July 4, 2008). Base C350 Sport M.S.R.P $37,775 Exterior Color (Metallic paint is optional, resulting in an additional price of $710) Steel Grey Metallic $710 Interior Color Grey/Black Leather1 $1,550 Wood Trims Black Birdseye Maple $0 Options iPod Integration Kit $375 Packages P2: Premium II $1,350 Multimedia Package $2,950 Total MSRP $44,710 Drive-off $1724 Monthly payment $540 (incl 7.75% tax) 12K miles / year, 39-month lease I picked up the car from Penske MB, here in So. Cal. Others who gave similar lease deals (and hence I would recommend) are W.I Simonson MB (their Internet Director is very professional, courteous and prompt), Beverly Hills MB and Downtown LA MB.

The SUV Era and motivations of buyers explained

by larsb on Tue Oct 21 08:00:15 PDT 2008

This is a very informative article. Awesome story: Why we Loved SUVs and Oh How Stupid It Was According to Bradsher, internal industry market research concluded that S.U.V.s tend to be bought by people who are insecure, vain, self-centered, and self-absorbed, who are frequently nervous about their marriages, and who lack confidence in their driving skills. Ford's S.U.V. designers took their cues from seeing "fashionably dressed women wearing hiking boots or even work boots while walking through expensive malls. " Toyota's top marketing executive in the United States, Bradsher writes, loves to tell the story of how at a focus group in Los Angeles "an elegant woman in the group said that she needed her full-sized Lexus LX 470 to drive up over the curb and onto lawns to park at large parties in Beverly Hills. " One of Ford's senior marketing executives was even blunter: "The only time those S.U.V.s are going to be off-road is when they miss the driveway at 3 a. m. "

Re: Labor Day in the USA [rockylee]

by grbeck on Wed Sep 03 07:29:25 PDT 2008

rockylee: Mr. Grbeck, believes it's those nasty unions like the UAW & IUE are the main reason why down GM, is down and that currency manipulation which gives foreign car company's like Toyota, billions of dollars a year in additional revenue to use at it's disposal is false, half-truths, a giant facade !!! Rocky, learn to read what people post, not what you think (or hope) they have posted. I've never placed all of the blame for GM's woes on the unions. In fact, I have specifically blamed management, too. The difference is that, unlike you, I and several other posters can look at this in an unbiased manner, and realize that the union isn't helping the situation, and in some cases, has contributed to the problems by decreasing GM's flexibility, hampering management discipline on the factory floor (we've posted several comparisons of the daily absentee rate at transplant factories and GM, Ford and Chrysler factories) and insisting on a benefits package that companies cannot afford. If anyone is absolving a party, it is you, by insisting that the unions are completely blameless here. rockylee: (don't tell him their is several articles by economist that say otherwise) You apparently missed the posts where other members completely refuted those articles. (Sorry, Rocky, but most of us don't consider union economists to be reputable sources of unbiased information.) And please explain why the domestics continue to lose market share, regardless of the level of the dollar as compared to the yen, mark, euro, etc. rockylee: Or that Toyota, didn't keep it's recalls and other manufactoring defects a secret in the 80's/90's to give a false perception of quality....that I suppose had nothing to do with it, right ??? If a company tries to conduct a secret recall for a SAFETY defect, it has violated the federal law and will face sanctions. And it MUST notify customers directly, or face further sanctions. All companies - including GM - conduct "secret" recalls for manufacturing defects. Ask someone who has owned a GM V-6 with the defective intake manifold gaskets about how GM stepped up to the plate for that one...if the owner didn't know enough to complain, he or she got stuck with the entire bill for the repair. And this defect could ruin the engine. It cost my parents four figures to get their Park Avenue running. rockylee: The trade barriers set up in Japan, to virtually eliminate the american cars from their market is all a big lie also I suppose ??? I guess those sales of GERMAN cars in Japan (where they are considered quite prestigious) exist only in my imagination? Or that Ford's controlling interest in Mazda is a fiction, too? Since the 1930s, the preferred strategy of GM and Ford has been to either set up local operations in a host country, or buy an established company, and serve the market directly. They have not exported cars from North America in large numbers for well over half a century. Now Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai have taken a page from their playbook and are building factories over here to serve the North American market, because they are designing cars specifically for this market. Which is one reason why they are so succesful - unlike many of the Europeans, they listened to the feedback from American customers and built products that reflected local tastes and conditions. rockylee: I also suppose that automobiles sold in China, must be made in china, is all a lie as well, right ??? And when you can show me the large numbers of Chinese-made automobiles sold in the U.S., let me know. rockylee: Or that states give multi-million dollar tax breaks to set up new, modern plants, in the U.S. and buy their politicans from both major party's hasn't contributed to the demise of GM and the rest of the big 3 either. States give multi-million tax breaks to the domestics, too, when they build a new plant, or modernize an existing one. (The main problem is that the domestics are largely shutting down plants, not building new ones, so they can't receive subsidies for plants that they are not building.) If you think that only the transplants benefit from the largesse of state and local governments, you are wrong. rockylee: Or such companies, don't threaten or fire union activist that have attempted to unionize the transplants for better wages, working conditions, etc. We'll need more proof of these accusations beyond what is posted on a UAW website or the "This is what happened to me" that comes from the mouth of a union activist. Let's just say that some of us, who have followed this issue, realize that these sources are quite often less than truthful. rockylee: It amazes me that many of you that have never turned a wrench in a factory and have nary a clue to what it's like have all the right answers. We need to know how to turn a wrench to install a fender or a seat. We don't need to know how to turn a wrench to decipher productivity figures, judge reliability surveys and compare daily absentee rates of various plants. rockylee: The evidence points that GM, cars are made just as well as Toyota's and in some even cases better but with extremely high energy prices, millions losing their jobs, domestic cars have taken a huge hit. The evidence points that SOME GM cars are getting much better, but we'll still have to wait a few years before judging whether even GM's newest vehicles are as good as comparable Toyotas in the reliability and build quality department. These newest vehicles are, however, very competent, and do perform as well or better than comparable Toyotas. rockylee: I personally believe GM, never thought gasoline would stay around $4.00 a gallon thus it took the risk and built some of the finest Trucks and SUV's in the world. With $2.00 gas/diesel prices they would be selling much better. And if I looked like Brad Pitt, I'd be hanging out in Beverly Hills or Malibu, not posting on Edmunds.com. But we have to accept the world as it is, not as we or GM management wish it would be. Economists and others have been warning for years that gas and oil prices will rise. GM put all of its eggs in the truck basket. It builds excellent large trucks and SUVs. Unfortunately, its passenger cars, with few exceptions, are half-hearted efforts. Not a good strategy in a market faced with volatile gasoline prices.