Tampilkan postingan dengan label 2013 The Bad 8. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label 2013 The Bad 8. Tampilkan semua postingan

Selasa, 25 Desember 2012

2013's The Bad 8 - Toyota Corolla CE

TOYOTA COROLLA CE
Like any good Mac user, I perpetually believe that every Windows user is in a constant state of frustration with a computer that's in a constant state of disrepair.

 Likewise, Toyota Corolla drivers like to believe that drivers of every other car - especially those vile Hyundais, Kias, Chevrolets, and Fords - are forever visiting their dealer with never-ending warranty claims.

2013's The Bad 8 logo
Drivers of the basic Corolla don't seem to understand that reliability can be found in other more stylish, more powerful, more fuel efficient, more refined, better equipped, and less expensive cars.

 The Corolla CE, as it's called in Canada, is a $15,450 CDN car lacking air-con, power door locks, and keyless entry. The door handles are that nasty black, rather than body colour. You'll need to upgrade through two packages to get power windows and cruise control. If you select the automatic transmission option, it's a 4-speed. Because the Corolla CE wants you to believe it's 2003. You might as well put Hey Ya! on repeat.

 In my jurisdiction, a typical 5-year finance arrangement on a Corolla CE that includes power locks and windows plus an automatic transmission results in a taxes-in monthly payment of $395. Hyundai's more powerful and efficient Elantra - which uses a 6-speed automatic, generates more power and superior fuel economy while also looking a lot better inside and out - costs a few dollars less each month. Mazda's 3 is cheaper, too. Honda's best-selling Civic costs only a bit more than the Corolla but is an infinitely better car in every meaningful way. 

 No wonder the Civic, Elantra, and 3 all sell more often than the Corolla in Canada. They shake it like it's a Polaroid picture.

-----

Alternatives: The aforementioned Civic, Elantra, or 3. Kia's 5-door Rio hatchback is an impressive vehicle for the price. It must be said, the Toyota Prius C is interesting, too.

Base USD/CAD Price: $16,230 (Corolla L) / $15,450

It Sucks, But... It's a Corolla. So you can drive it to the moon and back and it will still be your baby. A baby you respect, but not a baby you can love.

Sales Stats: The Corolla has been and will continue to be one of the three or four best-selling compact cars in North America and around the world. A new version will bow soon, and hopefully it will be a little more exciting.


Diposting oleh di Tidak ada komentar:
Label: , ,

2013's The Bad 8 - Lincoln MKS

LINCOLN MKS
Originally, the Lincoln MKS had but one stylistic fault. And that's where this story gets really bizarre. Lincoln's designers took that one fault, the MKS's ungainly schnoz, and enhanced it. No, enhanced is the wrong word. 

 Lincoln amplified it. Exaggerated it. Embellished it. They took an ugly Santa Claus sweater and ironed on snowman appliques.

 2013 the bad 8 logoIt's established then. The Lincoln MKS only looks good in the dark. 

 The MKS has other problems, though. It's big inside, yes, but it's huge outside. The gargantuan exterior doesn't pay off inside to the degree you'd expect. With just two extra inches of length, the Mercedes-Benz S350 BlueTec has 18% more interior passenger volume. 

 The 365-horsepower EcoBoost six-cylinder is only as eco-friendly as the 402-horsepower V8 in the Mercedes-Benz E550 4Matic.

 The Lincoln MKS is far from pretty. Sadly, it's not as roomy as it could be, not as powerful as it should be, and not as fuel efficient as they lead us to believe it might be.

-----

Alternatives: Like big American cars? Why not drive the Chrysler 300C? Like big luxury cars? You should consider the Audi A6. Like Lincolns? The new MKZ is unusual, but its retractable roof is cool.

Base USD/CAD Price: $42,810 / $47,700 

It Sucks, But... You could get the very similar but much better-looking Ford Taurus SHO for $39,200.

Sales Stats: Canadians don't know the MKS exists. In the U.S., the MKS sold just once for every 3.6 Cadillac XTS sedans in October.


Diposting oleh di Tidak ada komentar:
Label: , ,

2013's The Bad 8 - Nissan Versa Sedan

NISSAN VERSA SEDAN
Usually, car segments are defined by size or status. Sometimes they're called subcompact, compact, midsize, or large. Other times they're labelled as A-segment, B-segment, C-segment, or D-segment. There are cars, SUVs, crossovers, pickup trucks, convertibles, roadsters, supercars, sports cars, and grand tourers. 

2013 the bad 8 logoThere is another way of categorizing vehicles. A newer, better, simpler way. 

Start with the beautiful good cars. Then there are good cars. Third, there are beautiful cars. These are followed by the beautiful bad cars, the bad cars, and the afterthoughts, also known as the nondescript cars.

Finally, there are ugly good cars, ugly cars, and ugly bad cars. Those middle groups - the cars that are either beautiful, ugly, or just good - make up the majority of nameplates currently on the market. Rarer is the car that is both beautiful and good, the car that is ugly and good, and, as is the case here, the car that is ugly and bad.

Not only is the Nissan Versa sedan an odd duck to look at, it's curiously awful in other ways, as well. A bit uglier than the plain first-generation Versa sedan, this second-gen car is no more exciting in any other way. It's still laden with Nissan's worst CVT application and it's still poorly equipped compared to rivals at Hyundai and Kia. The Versa's steering is wooden. Cornering isn't a pleasant task. The Versa's engine will have you wishing you didn't have to accelerate.

 It doesn't have to be this way. Some subcompacts are plenty swift. Others are handsome. The Honda Fit is more spacious. So if a bad driving experience, an inadequate interior, and an ugly exterior can be avoided, there's no reason to consider a car from the UBC class.

-----

Alternatives: Every other subcompact, particularly the hatchbacks, from the Chevrolet Sonic to the Hyundai Accent to the Ford Fiesta and Good 12-winning Kia Rio.

Base USD/CAD Price: $11,990 / $11,878

It Sucks, But... It mostly sucks, but it is ridiculously spacious.

Sales Stats: The Versa sedan is half of Nissan's Versa lineup. It's America's best-selling subcompact and Canada's third-best-selling subcompact.


Diposting oleh di Tidak ada komentar:
Label: , ,

2013's The Bad 8 - Ford Escape Titanium AWD

FORD ESCAPE TITANIUM AWD
Generally speaking, the second-generation Ford Escape's deficiencies are minor. It's perhaps a bit small in the back. The user interface isn't the most intuitive. Styling, though clean and classy enough, is cute where it should be muscular. 

 2013 the bad 8 logoOverall, the efficient powertrains and modern on-road dynamics are more than enough to make the Escape one of the two most popular utility vehicles in North America. At $27,780 USD, the front-wheel-drive Escape SEL is priced nicely, too.

However, Ford wanted the Escape to cover all bases, even the base where Lincoln should reside. From a low of $22,470, the Escape can climb to $32,945 before options. With White Platinum paint, a panoramic roof, full leather, and Ford's famed parking technology package, the all-wheel-drive Escape Titanium is a $38,235 vehicle in the United States, just $1310 less than Lincoln's MKX. In Canada, a loaded Titanium AWD Escape costs $42,999, 12.5% more than it does in the U.S. despite the fact that a basic Escape costs less in Canada.

 Premium badging isn't everything in this world, not when you can have a mainstream brand vehicle with ridiculous levels of equipment. But the idea of a $35,900 Audi Q5, $38,500 BMW X3 xDrive28i, $37,090 Mercedes-Benz GLK350, or a roomy $39,310 Lexus RX350 has me questioning the appeal of a $38,235 Escape. I've managed to do the parking myself so far. And in the future, I'd rather park a Q5 than have an Escape park for me.

-----

Alternatives: The $30,275 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0T AWD comes to mind. For customers who feel they should be spending $40K on a new crossover, more space and superior refinement can be enjoyed elsewhere, even inside a Ford showroom.

Base USD/CAD Price: $32,945 / $37,499

It Sucks, But... You can have an Escape and spend a lot less. That's good news for Blue Oval fans.

Sales Stats: The Escape is routinely Canada's best-selling SUV, month after month. In the U.S., the Escape generally ranks as the first or second-best-selling SUV.


Diposting oleh di Tidak ada komentar:
Label: , ,

2013's The Bad 8 - Honda Crosstour

HONDA CROSSTOUR
When attacking the Crosstour, the typical response from Honda defenders sounds something like this: "It drives like an Accord and it's really practical."

 2013 the bad 8 logoDo they think the Crosstour is the only hatchback on the market that drives like a midsize sedan? That the Crosstour is the only practical vehicle on sale? Do they not realize that there are many handsome and practical vehicles that are priced more appropriately and drive at least as nicely as the Crosstour?

 Now that Honda has begun selling the Crosstour with a four-cylinder engine and lowered the Crosstour's price, there remains one key complication.

 The Honda Crosstour is ridiculously ugly. There, I said it. Oh my, such a controversial opinion. I generally love referring to beauty and the beholder and all that, but the Crosstour deserves no design defence. I might even delete your comment if you try and defend the Crosstour's appearance. Defend something, just not this car's horrendous design.

 Recent tinkering hasn't helped. The big grille is so painfully shiny. The line that begins just ahead of the front door and continues through the door handles doesn't know where to go. This line doesn't do a good job at whatever it's trying to do, and the abyss created by Honda's designers between the bumper corner and the beltline continues to aid in the rear end's quest to offend us all. 

 The swathe of plastic that stretches across the hatch is cheap like dirt. The size of the rear overhang begs the question, how does the Crosstour not tip over onto its exhaust outlets? The proportions are all wrong, the stance is awry, and there's enough room for a family of elves to live in the space between rubber and wheelarch.

But it's practical? If that's enough justification for buying a vehicle, we should all be driving the Ssangyong Rodius. 

-----

Alternatives: The Toyota Venza is the obvious choice, but even Honda's own CR-V, though not especially pretty, is a worthy way of avoiding the Crosstour. Subaru's Outback has that SUV thing goin' on, and the Volvo XC70 starts at $33,600, $3490 below the top end Crosstour.

Base USD/CAD Price: $27,230 / $28,990

It Sucks, But... It doesn't cost as much as it did last year.

Sales Stats: Through the first eleven months of 2012, the Crosstour accounts for 0.8% of all Honda Canada sales and just 1.6% of Honda's U.S. output.


Diposting oleh di Tidak ada komentar:
Label: , ,

2013's The Bad 8 - Chevrolet Spark

CHEVROLET SPARK
2013 Chevrolet Spark red
Oddly, the Chevrolet Spark's problems aren't self-inflicted. Okay, some of them are. The Spark's headlamps are outrageously disproportionate. The upright body, necessary in order to find adequate passenger space in a car that's only twelve feet long, makes it ripe for cow tipping. 

2013 the bad 8 logoSome of the colours Chevrolet has chosen to offer - Techno Pink and Lemonade in particular - are downright offensive. And the Chevrolet Groove Concept with which the Spark's concept predecessor competed appeared to have greater stylistic potential, so in the Groove's shadow, the production Spark has always been a bit of a letdown.

One would assume that complaints about the 83-horsepower 1.2L four-cylinder would be front and centre in a derisive post like this. Indeed, the Spark's power-to-weight ratio is worse than the Scion iQ's, worse than the smart fortwo's, as well.

But the Spark's dreadful design and weak engine aren't what landed the littlest Chevrolet in the 2013 edition of The Bad 8. Chevrolet's own Sonic did that.

A basic Sonic 5-door is only $1000 USD more than a mid-grade Spark. The Sonic has 55 more horsepower and is widely regarded as one of the best-driving subcompacts on the market. The Sonic hatchback has 5% more passenger volume, 67% more cargo capacity with the seats up, 53% more cargo capacity with the rear seats folded, 7% more shoulder room in the rear seat, and 7% more hip room up front.

What reason is there to buy a Spark? Fuel economy?

 Nope. Depending on engine and transmission, the Sonic can actually be more fuel efficient, the EPA says. More likely than not, because you won't be driving it like you stole it just to keep up with traffic - as you would in the Spark - even the least efficient Sonic will end up being about as miserly as the most efficient Spark.

 With no redeeming features, it's hard to think of a reason for any buyer to accept the sacrifices a Spark inflicts. 

-----

Alternatives: You've read the above paragraphs, right? The freakin' five-door Chevrolet Sonic is the key alternative, for goodness' sake. Or the Kia Rio 5-door, a Good 12 winner.

Base USD/CAD Price: $12,245 / $11,845

It Sucks, But... For a car of this size there's a shocking amount of space inside. 

Sales Stats: It's too early to adequately gauge Canada's reaction to the Spark. In the United States, Chevrolet is selling way more Sparks than analysts expected.


Diposting oleh di Tidak ada komentar:
Label: , ,

2013's The Bad 8 - Chrysler 200 Convertible

CHRYSLER 200 CONVERTIBLE
Does the 200's presence here really require explanation?

If you want to look like somebody who lives at a place called Arizona Grand Senior Living, then go ahead, buy a Chrysler 200 Convertible. But even the people who live at a place like that don't want to look like they live at a place like that. So these days, they wisely buy Chrysler 300 sedans. 

2013 the bad 8 logoOf course, a car should not be judged only by the demographics of its owners. Well, maybe it should be judged that way a little bit, but we'll add some non-owner-related judgements to this verdict. Rear ends should make you turn around for a second glance, but the 200's backside makes you want to pull your wool (toque) down over your eyes. It's worse with the roof up, somehow.

 The 200's V6 is excellent, but if you're buying a Chrysler product because of the Pentastar 3.6L, buy a Wrangler or Ram or just about any Chrysler vehicle. Besides, the V6 is optional. In a world where base 305-horsepower Mustangs can lay black strips, the base 200 Convertible is still fitted with a pitiful 173-horsepower 2.4L four-cylinder. 

-----

Alternatives: Getting a grasp of all that is good and right in this world. Or you could rely on others to tell you that the purchase (or rental) of a Ford Mustang Convertible or Volkswagen Eos makes more sense.

Base USD/CAD Price: $27,100 / $29,695

It Sucks, But... If you need a convertible and space for rear passengers is your foremost concern, they will be comfortable.

Sales Stats: Through the first eleven months of 2012, the Chrysler 200 was the 26th-best-selling vehicle in Canada. Without the 200 Convertible, sales of which were down 10% year-over-year, the 200 would have dropped to 30th spot. Chrysler doesn't separate sales of the regular sedan and 200 Convertible in the U.S., but incidentally, they combined to be America's 31st-best-selling vehicle through November.


Diposting oleh di Tidak ada komentar:
Label: , ,
Langganan: Postingan (Atom)