What are you driving?

[Brian Gongol]

Question inspired by Liz Hayes's job, which involves driving on the Autobahn.

[seganap]

I am driving a Saturn, but alas, it's not the one I got at the end of high school. I got rid of that one last November. Now I am driving an '05 Saturn Ion. It's blue and without a sunroof, but I finally have a CD player.

[Sullivan Smith]

2001 Kia Sephia. It was a wedding present. The only good thing that came out of that whole debacle.

[lizhayes]

Yeah, Brian, I get to drive fast expensive cars at work, but in "real" life I have an all too practical smart.
It is very basic but gets me from A to B.

[Brian Gongol]

For the record, I've fallen in love with the Buick Regal, and I'm hoping that the replacement model (I think it's the LaCrosse) lives up to the same standards. Reliable, reasonably economical, and heavy enough to be halfway safe.

[lizhayes]

admin said:

(I think it's the LaCrosse)

Brian- you need to have your eye out for the Buick Lucerne- that should be the replacement model.
Why am I helping you out?? I should be encouraging you to buy a Mercedes... :-) (or perhaps a Chrysler Group product...)

[Brian Gongol]

That brings up an interesting question. I always thought the marketing textbooks talked about how GM established dominance in the auto industry by segmenting their product lines -- Chevy for the new-car buyer, Pontiac as the first step-up, Olds as the next step, Buick for the middle/upper manager, and Cadillac for the wealthy and retirees.

Now, GM has slaughtered Olds, they're talking about doing the same to Pontiac and Buick, and their market share is in the dump. So now I hear "Mercedes" and I still have some perception of brand prestige, but you can get a new Mercedes C Class for under $30k. Are your brand managers completely asleep at the wheel? If the "low end" of each brand keeps getting lower, doesn't that kill off all of the money invested in branding every year? Heck, the Kia Amanti goes for $26,000 -- if there's only $3,000 or $4,000 difference between the low-end Mercedes and the high-end Kia, then which brand has lost its mind? I'm thinking it's probably Mercedes...

[el]

Skoda Fabia station wagon.

[seancorcoran]

I drive a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T quattro 5spd with an APR Stage 1 chip.

[Ross]

05 Subaru Impreza WRX


No, not the STI

[seancorcoran]

seancorcoran said:

I drive a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T quattro 5spd with an APR Stage 1 chip.

I sold the A4 and bought a 2006 VW GTI. Most fun car I've ever owned.

[jradke]

I just bought a 2005 Pontiac G6, so that's what I'm driving. I'm pretty cheap about cars so the affordable aspect of the Pontiac worked out well despite that ... well... it's a Pontiac

At least I got a V6 I guess... helps to get around in the insane traffic of DM every day.

Yes, I'm joking about the traffic.

[dg]

Porsche 951 on the track (and until recently on the road... no longer legal) and a 1973 Ford Bronco that is looking less and less like a legal street vehicle every day. Anyone have a cheap, fuel efficient car that I won't be tempted to modify for sale?

[seancorcoran]

Jun 7, 2007 23:02:54 GMT -5 seancorcoran said:

seancorcoran said:

I drive a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T quattro 5spd with an APR Stage 1 chip.

I sold the A4 and bought a 2006 VW GTI. Most fun car I've ever owned.

I sold the GTI and bought an A4 Avant. I'll report back in 2013.