arrowsmithdzlperformance
Veteran Member
Hey I figured I would report my reflections on the Vancouver International Auto Show, which I attended with my business partner today.
First off my likes and best of show (for what its worth) I am excited about what is to come from VW they had a few of the new Jetta and Passat Wagons on display and that new sun roof is increadible!! Unfortunately they had no actual release date on the TDI versions of these 08 cars.
I was dissappointed with the Audi booth and the reps sad explanation for no TDI's in North America. They tried to tell me that ULSD is not yet available in NA and they wont bring their TDI's till it is... BS!! is all I can say..
Mercedes Benz seems to have seen the light they have brought back diesel in full force and in my opinion their 7passenger GL CDI wins BEST OF SHOW. Priced reasonalbly for a MB at $75000 in Canada I was thrilled with the typical MB fit, finish and overall quality of this and all of their diesel cars. Who would have thunk it bang for your buck in a mercedes??
Of course we here at Arrowsmith Diesel have invested interest in the truck market and so we had to get all the propaganda that the big 3 could tell us about. GM seems to be barely holding onto their share of the market with their sad attempt at making a Cadalac fit into a traditional work truck, I dont get it why they seem to think that if you drive one of these trucks you need to have all the amenaties of the Coupe De ville. ITS A TRUCK THAT YOU DO WORK OUT OF!!! Get the point GM work boots and Carheart jeans dont fit in leather power seats with heated steering wheel and vibrating foot rest with a wet bar and subway restaurant inside. (ok maybe I went over board there). Fords trucks look good but they seem to miss the environmental point when they are selling an F450 or 1.5tonne commercial work truck as a grocery getter. They also better inform the potential new owner that they will need a comercial drivers license to operate it. My fav regardless of party lines within our Company was the Dodge Mega Cab with the famous Cummins engine. The automatic Trans does nothing for me but the finish inside the cab is just right when it comes to a purpose built TRUCK. With that I dont know that I look forward to any kind of work on any of these trucks since they have only a few spare inches of space under their hoods. My problem stems from the fact that a truck that is already nearly 30 feet long why can't they make a few extra inches available in the engine bay??
Jeep had their Diamler based 3.0 CRD on show in the Grand Cherokee, I liked it, nice car, and I say car cause I dont think you would actually ever take this thing off road. They also had the New Rubicons there, though not yet available in diesel I was promised it would be with in 2 years.
I may even be cought back in a Jeep if that is the case.
Subaru well where to start? First Im betting on an investigation of a Suicide within the design department over there in Japan.. The latest release WRX and Impreza is A$$ ugly!! Though again promisses of the Boxter diesel within a few years. Nothing really to write home about.
Suzuki had a shell of their Pikes Peak car on show WOW impressive now if they could make a good production car they would have things almost figured out.
Back to GM... H2,3,4,5,6 (lol) Hummer Ok Get your sorry head out of your a$$ GM these cars (same reason as above mentioned Jeep) have no business being on the road in a pre hightide world. Its an inconvenient truth YOU ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE WORLD!! you and your George W oil lovin hillbillly ways need to come to an end!! E85 fuel better not be your answer for oil dependency and I dont appreciate having to send our Canadian Armed Forces to foriegn countries to bail you out when you get over your head. We call it national defence becuase they are supposed to be here defending us not away for the next 10 years policing countries that will do as they have been for hundreds of years. **Sorry I got side tracked and off topic there.** Your assebly line workers need to take a trip to Europe and learn how fit and finish is done. Im sorry but for $40grand you wont catch me driving a car that when you look at the spacing and fit of the bumpers hood and doors is off by more than a few millameters. I now understand why you need to offer a 6 year warranty with your sad attempt at quality. NUFF SAID.
Toyota seems to be in the same boat as Suzuki if they could only make their so called trucks full size and there cars with steel, they would have winners all around. The FJ cruiser is a brutal rendition of the Classic, and again they need to realize what made their old truck classics was the option of DIESEL!!
Last but not least why oh why has the Canadian Government embrased those silly gas electric hybrid cars? The acid rain those bateries will produce in 5 years when you have to through them out makes me sick to my stomach to think about. The people that buy them that are driving on the highway should be pulled over and shot on sight. Im sure they work just fine in gridlock traffic but once they hit the highway and start racking up the miles I see bad things in the future.
Ok if you made it to here and have not started thinking of ways to send me letter bombs, you will have noted my basic discust of what is available in the North American Auto Market. My only hope is that Arnie and is Sunshine state can start directing the automakers into bringing more diesels to NA so that Canada can have access to these cars as well. Since there is more new cars sold each year in California then there is new cars sold in all of Canada.
I hope that things get better soon.
Cheers
Erik
Of course the opinions expressed above are mine ane mine alone and I encourage meaningful conversation to follow.
First off my likes and best of show (for what its worth) I am excited about what is to come from VW they had a few of the new Jetta and Passat Wagons on display and that new sun roof is increadible!! Unfortunately they had no actual release date on the TDI versions of these 08 cars.
I was dissappointed with the Audi booth and the reps sad explanation for no TDI's in North America. They tried to tell me that ULSD is not yet available in NA and they wont bring their TDI's till it is... BS!! is all I can say..
Mercedes Benz seems to have seen the light they have brought back diesel in full force and in my opinion their 7passenger GL CDI wins BEST OF SHOW. Priced reasonalbly for a MB at $75000 in Canada I was thrilled with the typical MB fit, finish and overall quality of this and all of their diesel cars. Who would have thunk it bang for your buck in a mercedes??
Of course we here at Arrowsmith Diesel have invested interest in the truck market and so we had to get all the propaganda that the big 3 could tell us about. GM seems to be barely holding onto their share of the market with their sad attempt at making a Cadalac fit into a traditional work truck, I dont get it why they seem to think that if you drive one of these trucks you need to have all the amenaties of the Coupe De ville. ITS A TRUCK THAT YOU DO WORK OUT OF!!! Get the point GM work boots and Carheart jeans dont fit in leather power seats with heated steering wheel and vibrating foot rest with a wet bar and subway restaurant inside. (ok maybe I went over board there). Fords trucks look good but they seem to miss the environmental point when they are selling an F450 or 1.5tonne commercial work truck as a grocery getter. They also better inform the potential new owner that they will need a comercial drivers license to operate it. My fav regardless of party lines within our Company was the Dodge Mega Cab with the famous Cummins engine. The automatic Trans does nothing for me but the finish inside the cab is just right when it comes to a purpose built TRUCK. With that I dont know that I look forward to any kind of work on any of these trucks since they have only a few spare inches of space under their hoods. My problem stems from the fact that a truck that is already nearly 30 feet long why can't they make a few extra inches available in the engine bay??
Jeep had their Diamler based 3.0 CRD on show in the Grand Cherokee, I liked it, nice car, and I say car cause I dont think you would actually ever take this thing off road. They also had the New Rubicons there, though not yet available in diesel I was promised it would be with in 2 years.
I may even be cought back in a Jeep if that is the case. Subaru well where to start? First Im betting on an investigation of a Suicide within the design department over there in Japan.. The latest release WRX and Impreza is A$$ ugly!! Though again promisses of the Boxter diesel within a few years. Nothing really to write home about.
Suzuki had a shell of their Pikes Peak car on show WOW impressive now if they could make a good production car they would have things almost figured out.
Back to GM... H2,3,4,5,6 (lol) Hummer Ok Get your sorry head out of your a$$ GM these cars (same reason as above mentioned Jeep) have no business being on the road in a pre hightide world. Its an inconvenient truth YOU ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE WORLD!! you and your George W oil lovin hillbillly ways need to come to an end!! E85 fuel better not be your answer for oil dependency and I dont appreciate having to send our Canadian Armed Forces to foriegn countries to bail you out when you get over your head. We call it national defence becuase they are supposed to be here defending us not away for the next 10 years policing countries that will do as they have been for hundreds of years. **Sorry I got side tracked and off topic there.** Your assebly line workers need to take a trip to Europe and learn how fit and finish is done. Im sorry but for $40grand you wont catch me driving a car that when you look at the spacing and fit of the bumpers hood and doors is off by more than a few millameters. I now understand why you need to offer a 6 year warranty with your sad attempt at quality. NUFF SAID.
Toyota seems to be in the same boat as Suzuki if they could only make their so called trucks full size and there cars with steel, they would have winners all around. The FJ cruiser is a brutal rendition of the Classic, and again they need to realize what made their old truck classics was the option of DIESEL!!
Last but not least why oh why has the Canadian Government embrased those silly gas electric hybrid cars? The acid rain those bateries will produce in 5 years when you have to through them out makes me sick to my stomach to think about. The people that buy them that are driving on the highway should be pulled over and shot on sight. Im sure they work just fine in gridlock traffic but once they hit the highway and start racking up the miles I see bad things in the future.
Ok if you made it to here and have not started thinking of ways to send me letter bombs, you will have noted my basic discust of what is available in the North American Auto Market. My only hope is that Arnie and is Sunshine state can start directing the automakers into bringing more diesels to NA so that Canada can have access to these cars as well. Since there is more new cars sold each year in California then there is new cars sold in all of Canada.
I hope that things get better soon.
Cheers
Erik
Of course the opinions expressed above are mine ane mine alone and I encourage meaningful conversation to follow.
