Admit it—you’d want one
Peer pressure isn’t just for middle schoolers. Apparently, the pressure to follow the path of others never really goes away, and the inability say ”no” can lead to some questionable outcomes. All it takes is a decision from one trendsetter, and pretty soon everyone else is trying to do the same thing.
Today I’m thinking about Porsche as the trendsetter with the Cayenne SUV. Yes, it’s a superior and well-respected vehicle now, but when it was announced there were plenty of people who thought Porsche had gone off the deep end.
Nope. Instead, it spawned a new category of luxury road-going performance SUVs. And now Jaguar wants in.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
Ian Callum, Jaguar Q-Type, Jaguar SUV, Land Rover
2009 Jaguar XF
Quick depreciation is a terrible thing. And a beautiful thing.
For buyers of new luxury cars, a sinking value can lead to abandoning a car after just a couple years of ownership. For buyers of used luxury cars, it can lead to some killer deals on cars that would have been unattainable new.
Think about it: If you had the choice between a brand-new, top-of-the-line Toyota Camry or a 3-year-old Jaguar XF, wouldn’t the Jag bring you an exponentially greater amount of happiness? Of course, it might also bring heftier insurance and repair bills, but that’s beside the point. We’re talking image here—and a well-priced used luxury car can provide ample amounts of that!
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Car Minded, Car Shopping, Domestic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
cheap used luxury cars, depreciation, fast depreciation, used car shopping, used luxury cars, used SUVs
Great Wall Steed
Imagine the irony of this:
A Chinese car company finally sells vehicles in the United States and even builds a factory here to manufacture the cars it sells. Meanwhile, an American car company selling cars in China builds a factory there to produce the vehicles it sells there.
Did you follow that?
General Motors sells more cars in China than it does here in the States, so it makes business sense to build cars there. No Chinese company, though, has ventured into the U.S. market to sell cars, much less build them here.
That could change. And soon.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Cars Coming Soon, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
Cars Coming Soon, chinese automakers, Chinese cars in America, great wall motor company, great wall steed
If you’re like any other car buyer in America, you’ve probably noticed the wider availability of diesel models in recent months. It seems like everybody is starting to get in on the diesel game, with Volkswagen adding more diesel models after the huge success of its Jetta TDI, Porsche introducing a diesel version of the Cayenne and Ram recently announcing a diesel 1500.
Attracted by higher fuel-mileage ratings, greater reliability and longer-lasting engines, consumers are becoming more and more receptive to the engines that were despised just a few short years ago, when diesel was synonymous with noise, pollution and foul odor. Driven by advances in diesel technology, the new engines have largely wiped away consumers’ bad memories and are now finding their ways under the hoods of sports cars, family cars, trucks and SUVs.
While there is already a large selection of diesels that will appear in the 2014 lineup from the likes of Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, BMW, Chevrolet, Audi, Jeep, Porsche and Ram, there are still many holes in that line-up that we here at CarGurus would like to see filled. In order help fix this, we’ve brought together the 10 cars we’d most like to see offered with a diesel option in the U.S.
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Car Lists, Car Minded, Domestic Cars, Foreign Cars, Gas for your car..., General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
Sales of the Toyota Tacoma are up this year almost 23 percent over last year. No, that’s not the most significant or exciting statistic ever mentioned in a car blog, but it could be the foundation for an exciting development over at General Motors.
GM got out of the midsize truck business last year after the mediocre GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado failed to light showroom floors on fire. Ford and Chrysler exited the market in 2011, leaving the Tacoma and Nissan Frontier as the two major midsizers in the Unites States.
The Tacoma is the undisputed king of the world in its segment, and challenging it isn’t an easy task. That’s pretty much the common consensus, as most automakers would rather roll over than even try to offer a challenge.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Cars Coming Soon, Trucks & SUVs
Cars Coming Soon, Chevrolet, chevy, midsize pickups, new canyon, new colorado, New GM trucks
2013 Audi S4
Audi could arguably be the most distinguishable car brand on the road today. Between the four joined circles on its gaping grilles and the imposing LED running lights, there’s just nothing else that looks like an Audi. Other companies have tried to emulate its looks, and most now offer some kind of LED running-light option.
Maybe Audi feels like the competition is catching up, or maybe it just feels as though it’s time for a change. Regardless, evidence is appearing that Audi isn’t satisfied with its current design and is working on an overhaul to its already iconic looks.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
Audi, audi crosslane coupe concept, design, new design, styling, wolfgang egger
It can be hard to sit here and write about cars on a day when so many humans were hurt in a senseless act of violence. I am not in Boston. I’ve never been to Boston. But that doesn’t take the pain away. This wasn’t just about Boston, but about the running community, the families of runners, the volunteers for the race, the citizens of the city and the people across the world watching live footage of the response and the tremendous outpouring of support that came immediately.
I know this is a car blog, and I’ll get back on topic, but I can’t let this event go unnoticed here, especially with so many fellow CarGurus, family and friends in the Boston area. I truly hope everyone is well, and that, if there is a positive to be taken away, it’s that the darkness of evil is replaced just a little more by the light of all those who choose to love instead of hate.
Part of recovery, of course, is moving on and finding stories of cooperation and getting back to the things that make us happy. With that in mind, I want to talk about two adversaries coming together for the better good of the automotive industry.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Domestic Cars, Gas for your car..., General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
10-speed transmission, 9-speed transmission, Ford, General Motors, nine speed, transmission
Photo courtesy Lumber Liquidators
Head on down to a major league ballpark today and you’re likely to see an array of Maseratis, Ferraris, Land Rovers and Cadillacs going in and out of the players’ parking lot. Driven by their highest salaries ever, it seems that players, coaches and owners will spare no expense to arrive at the park in style. While it’s certainly a treat for a fan to get an autograph from a player as he pulls out of the lot in his fresh-from-the-showroom Maybach or Lamborghini, the simple fact is that the only thing drawing the fan to that player is his baseball-playing abilities. We here at CarGurus think that’s just wrong.
When seeking out an autograph from a baseball player, coach or team owner, there are many more factors to consider than just how well that individual plays, coaches or watches America’s pastime. Sure, a player could hit 40 home runs in a season, bat .300 and steal 30 bases, but if he arrives at the park in a white Range Rover (a car surprisingly common in baseball parking lots), what does that say about his personality, only desiring to blend in with the crowd like that?
In order to remedy this problem, we came up with a list of the 10 players, owners, managers and organizations with the coolest cars in baseball—cars that say something more about their owner than a car straight from a dealer’s lot ever could. Some of the cars on this list are supercars, others are much more, and yet many are much less.
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Car Lists, Car Minded, Classic & Vintage Cars, Exotic Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
Have you ever heard of the Wuling Sunshine?
Neither had I. The Sunshine is a minivan built and sold in China by Wuling Motors, which is actually a partner with General Motors. According to the automaker’s website, the Sunshine boasts a “user-friendly handling mechanism,” a “reliable braking system” and “comfortable interior decorations.” I’m sure the rest of the car is top-notch as well. I don’t know about you, but I’m left wondering where to sign! That bit about the reliable braking system sold me, because that’s just not something we see enough of these days.
Sarcasm aside, you might find yourself wondering why I’ve spent the first hundred words or so of this blog talking about such an obscure vehicle. Certainly it’s not the best selling car in the world, right?
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Car Industry News, Car Lists, Car Minded, Domestic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
best selling cars, Ford, Ford Focus, top-selling nameplate 2013, worlds best selling car
Could a Hyundai/Kia pickup look like this?
News sources on April 1 are sort of a “read at your own risk” venture. That’s especially true in the auto industry, with plenty of blogs and automakers announcing far-fetched new products or “confirming” long-held rumors.
Yesterday, Volkswagen announced a supercar, Subaru confirmed just about every rumor about the BRZ, CarGurus announced that jaded teens will do your car shopping via text and Honda’s new vacuum now cuts hair, too. Good stuff!
So hearing about a Hyundai pickup, on the first of April, is something to be taken lightly. Except the news source is exceptionally credible, and now, it’s being reported on April 2, too. Yes, it seems a Hyundai truck has become a definite maybe.
And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
big-size pickup, hyundai, hyundai pickup, pickup
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