[quote=md11;999794]Then there is of course the finished and slightly larger model, the Lancia Delta, which I think was great when I rented one, but it's now in need of some attention. It's been a few years after all.[/quote]
We actually ran a Delta for almost four years. Lovely car; dynamically as competent as a Subaru is unreliable, but it was utterly comfortable and a very nice place to be in with nice touches and details. I think that it was an honest car; it didn't pretend to be sporty and it was all the better for it.
[quote=md11;999794]On the upper end of the market though there is much more room, both in terms of cost you can add to the car, and in terms of differentiation. The profits are much larger and therefore you need much less cars (comparatively) to balance the costs. In this case I'm thinking specifically of the E Class and CLS, which share a lot of important parts yet turn out to be completely different. That's because the E Class is completely oriented to comfort and luxury, the CLS is the sporty variant with little importance given to the comfort of who is sitting in the back seat. Men like sporty and low cars, so it's not much of a risk. On the contrary, Mini found the hard way that as much as people were looking for a sportier car, possibly a coupe, there weren't as much actually willing to pay for it. Indeed the Coupe isn't performing well on the market, same for the Veloster and all the other bold products that are expensive but still belong to the part of the market where customers may have some money to spend on a car, but the margin is very thin.[/quote]
Well yes but there always the AMG/Sport packs for the E-Class if you fancy something a little bit sportier. I like the CLS and (especially) the 6er Gran Coupé, but I don't feel like paying 90 grand for what basically is a slightly sleeker executive saloon car.
As for the Mini Coupé, I looked at it when shopping for my current car, but honestly if you are going to put up with two seats and impracticality you might as well go for a proper sportscar, a car which has been designed to thrill. The standard hatchback is sporty anyway (or at least the Mk1 used to be) and the Coupé suffers from sharing its underpinnings with front wheel drive econobox (even if it is a sophisticated one). In terms of a customer who is not interested in any of that it is also fighting against the cuteness of the standard Mini hatchback, which is hard to overcome. So in the Mini's case it seems like a lose-lose situation.
As for the Veloster it is just a car designed for the North American market, which for some reason Hyundai decided to import into Europe. The i30 is a much better proposition in terms of driving, practicality and costs; also the strange styling and details haven't done any favours to it. Lack of a diesel engine option is the final nail in its coffin.
[quote=md11;999794]As for the little part of the market who does care about how the product is and how it behaves, we enthusiasts, the problem instead is about education and knowledge. An uninformed and pretentious enthusiast, which these days means about any kid visiting some blogs and lame websites, can deliver quite the wrong message to the uninformed relative or friend. I think I just described 99% of all automotive journalists as well.[/quote]
I call them [I]Audi-beliebers[/I]. The specially hilarious kind are those who come up to you to tell you that their Audi diesel automatic with the S-Line with the Sport PackTronic is the best sports saloon to have graced earth, when in truth it is just a car that rides badly [U]and[/U] handles badly.
[quote=md11;999794]Reading the whole post, two things: 1 I write a lot, 2 I'm not criticizing this place, in case it wasn't clear. :)[/quote]
Writing a lot is a good thing. A good discussion about our predilect subject is something that always is enjoyable. :)
