Everything Carz: June 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

WHAT TO BUY...

Say you've come into some cash recently & you find yourself in the market for a nice new luxury car. Fresh off the lot with soft leather, all the electronic aids you'll never need & that awesome new car smell inside just itching to be one of the crowd in a sea of luxury sedans littering every parking lot in Suburbia, USA.
You've set your budget to approx $40,000-$50,000 give or take including the applicable destination charge but decided NOT to order any packages or options. What's out there in this price range you ask? Starting with a base price of $40,000 but no higher than $55,000 we picked out entries from Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, Hyundai (yes I said HYUNDAI), Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Cadillac, & Lincoln.
Most of these come similarly equipped right out of the gate. Acura should have just quit while they were ahead years ago with the Legend. I mean they are the 3rd most expensive car here yet with some of the least amount of standard flashiness that gives buyers a reason to check them out.
The XF is priciest of the bunch however it's got a lot of standard goodies like navigation for the extra dough plus it does have that certain Jaguar sex appeal on its side as well. When you compare the standard features that come on the Genesis vs. what paying $6600 more gets you in the E-Class, it seems the Koreans have a knock out here too!
Take a peek...

ACURA

$49,000

300 hp V6

Front Wheel Drive

18" Wheels
Moonroof
Power Rear Sunshade

Leather

BOSE Surround Sound Audio

Base
Tech

Advance

INFINITI

$48,500

330 hp V6

Rear Wheel Drive

18" Wheels
Rear View Monitor
Moonroof
10-way Power Seats

Leather

M35 Hybrid
M37
M37x

M56
M56x

LEXUS

$48,000

305 hp V6

Rear Wheel Drive

18" Wheels
Back Up Camera
Sunroof
10-way Power Seats

Power Rear Sunshade
Perforated Leather

Surround Sound Audio

GS 350
GS 450h Hybrid

HYUNDAI

Genesis

$45,500

385 hp V8

Rear Wheel Drive

18" Wheels
Rear View Camera
Parking Sensors
Lane Departure Warning
Smart Cruise Control
Sunroof
10-way Power Seats

Power Rear Sunshade
Ultra Premium Leather
Cooled Driver Seat / Heated Front & Rear Seats

LEXICON 7.1 Surround Sound Audio
Navigation

3.8

5.0
5.0 R

AUDI

$42,500

210 hp Turbo 4-cylinder

Front Wheel Drive

17" Wheels

Sunroof

8-way Power Seats

Leather

10-speaker Concert Audio

Premium

Premium +

Prestige

BMW

5-Series

$47,000

240 hp Turbo 4-cylinder

Rear Wheel Drive

17" Wheels

Moonroof

10-way Power Seats

SensaTec Leatherette

HD Audio

535i

550i

ActiveHybrid 5

MERCEDES-BENZ

E-Class

$51,500

300 hp V6

Rear Wheel Drive

17" Wheels

Sunroof

14-way Power Seats

M-B Tex Leatherette

DVD Audio

E 350 BlueTEC

E 550

E 63 AMG

JAGUAR

$53,000

385 hp V8

Rear Wheel Drive

18" Wheels

Rear Parking Aid

Sunroof

10-way Power Seats

Bond Grain Leather

400 watt HD Media Hub

Navigation

Portfolio

Supercharged

CADILLAC

XTS

$45,000

305 hp V6

Front Wheel Drive

19" Wheels

Rear Park Assist

10-way Power Seats

Leather

CUE Infotainment

BOSE Audio

Luxury

Premium

Platinum

LINCOLN

MKS

$43,500

305 hp V6

Front Wheel Drive

19" Wheels

Parking Sensors

Blind Spot Mirrors

Heated/Cooled Seats

12-way Power Seats

Bridge of Weir Leather

SYNC Infotainment

MyLincoln Touch

3.5 EcoBoost

3.7

Saturday, June 16, 2012

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY POPS!

Yes I know I'm a day early & here's why. My siblings & I are taking our 30-year-old acting 91-year-old father to lunch today & I'm hoping technology will allow me to be able to show him this posting while we're all together.
While he would usually buy my mother whatever she liked for her car (fortunately she drove just about anything that was paid for & reliable), as long I can remember my dad mostly made Ford his brand of choice. If memory serves me correctly his dad was also a Ford guy however his mom was a Chevy gal.
Here are just a few of the Ford's I can remember or were told of that Dean Raftery parked in one driveway or another throughout the years. I'm pretty sure I've got the model years right of the cars shown below but I will say the colors are not the same as the car he actually drove.

FORD

1959 Fairlane Galaxie 500

1965 Mustang

1966 Mustang w/ Turquoise/White Pony Interior

1966 Falcon Ranchero

1968 Fairlane 500 Ranchero

1970 Maverick (mom hated this car!)

1975 Ranchero 500 (w/ Camper Shell)

1984 LTD Crown Victoria (Mom's favorite!)

1992 Crown Victoria LX

2006 Crown Victoria LX

BUICK

1985 Skyhawk T-Type

& Many More....

Happy Father's Day!

I couldn't have asked for a better dad than you!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A BETTER WAY TO SEE THE USA

This was the tag line back in 1972 for the well known American auto maker who was as much of a household name as Monty Hall or even mom's apple pie! In fact that was part of the next tag line representing this brand a few short years later..."Baseball...Hot Dogs...Apple Pie...&...Chevrolet".

So to end my nostalgic nod to the automotive great ones from 40 years ago, the 100 year old brand Chevrolet put the below vehicles in showrooms for sale across America back in 1972. These beauties are followed by the machines they currently sell in today's automotive marketplace. Enjoy...

Vega