Posted on 01/11/2009 8:22:03 AM PST by shove_it
DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- The Hyundai Genesis won the prestigious Car of the Year Award Sunday at the start of media preview days for the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. The redesigned Ford F-150 won the Truck of the Year award.
To be eligible for the top prize, a vehicle had to be all-new, completely redesigned or "substantially changed," and available to customers during calendar year 2008.
From among those vehicles, a jury of 50 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada narrowed the list down to three cars and three trucks that were eligible for the final award.
The three finalists for Car of the Year this year were the Genesis, Ford Flex, and Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The Jetta is powered by a diesel engine.
The nominees for truck of the year were the F-150, Dodge Ram and Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC. Like the Jetta TDI, the ML320 BlueTEC is a diesel-powered version of the Mercedes SUV.
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(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
My 2006 Sonata was under $18k with all the rebates and discounts. It seems like all Asian companies have a top of the line model Toyota->Lexus, Honda->Acura... that is a lot more expensive than their similar standard line. How much are BMWs, Audis, Lincolns, Cadilacs?
Especially right now. The past 2 years have not been kind to the truck market, but I guess you can lump most of the car business in with that.
However, if you want a truck, now's the time to get one. I purchased a 2008 LTZ Tahoe back in November and got nearly $16,000 off MSRP. I'm self employed, use it for work, so I also get to deduct $25,000 of it.
The current Tundra is dang nice, but a steep price comes with that niceness. I think most of the 5.7 trucks are starting in the 30s, and go up to 50k for some of the limited crew-max models. I almost purchased the Tundra, but it made more sense to me to buy the Tahoe, along with it's perk of deducting.
I owned one. As did my Aunt. No problems with them. Not like the chronic problems I had with a Ford and a Chrysler. That could never be fixed. No matter how many times I had them serviced.
Lovely! LOL!
They lip-skidded with the Entourage. Piece of junk.
It’s too bad that it looks just like every other car on the road.
I have actually heard that truck sales have picked up since gas prices catered.
I get your point. And they are.
I wouldn't get it if it's being driven 100% on pavement. It's tuned for off-road driving, so the suspension rides as such.
If someone doesn't like the decals, pull them off, or have the dealer take them off as a deal to buy the truck. The trucks aren't moving, so I'm quite certain they would be more than happy to pull them off to move the truck.
ROFLOL
Jeez, now I'm going to have to go look at my Santa Fe. I'm not sure if I want my car to be looking at me!
Let me qualify that with the fact that I own both a 2007 Entourage (since Sept. '06) and a 2007 Elantra (since Aug. '07). The Elantra is great. Bought the GLS as a commuter-go-getter. No better deal for my money. Never less that 30 MPG commuting, even when they go to 10% Ethanol in the winter. Runs great. No squeaks and rattles like my Honda Civic HX that I owned 10 years ago.
But the Entourage is an entirely different deal. Quality of fit and finish is not there. The engine makes sounds I've never heard an engine make, and I've been around a lot of them. I honestly do not think the Entourage will make its 10/100 warranty without a major failure. Thankfully, I have a 5/60 bumper-to-bumper. Hopefullly by then, I can trade it for something else.
How about the Tundra, who would name a truck after frozen dirt?
I bought a used 2006 Hyundai Sonata V6 in 2007, and it is a very good car. gave up a 1983 Toyota Corolla, still running with 280,000 miles on it.
They probably are selling more, but the profit margin is nowhere near what they normally would be making. I'm sure that they would be selling well if the market hadn't tanked this past Fall.
A salesman killed a deal for me in McKinney back in November on a Tundra. It was an 08 Tundra, but they weren't coming off what I was comfortable spending. We got to within $1,000, but they wouldn't budge. So, I didn't buy. However, instead of trying to sell the truck, I got the story of how they are the #4 dealership in America, that they don't have to come off that much, and that they aren't having any problems selling the trucks...and that this truck would be sold within a day. I walked back up to him and asked him what his explanation was for that truck sitting on that lot since March. I further stated that they should strive to be #1 instead of #4, then they could probably have sold that truck before it sat there for 8 months.
Dude, that picture is awesome.
The best thing that could happen to a US automaker like GM is to be bought out by Hyundai. Hyundai used to be known for building some of the worst cars in the world until under new leadership the CEO fired 7,000 bean counters, hired 5,000 engineers and vowed to make Hyundai a quality car maker.
We bought our son a small Hyundai when he graduated college. He drove it like any 22 year old American guy would, iow, he beat the snot out of it. Two cross country drives (round trips) and 140,000 absolutely trouble free miles later he sold it and bought guess what....another one, a little bigger and nicer one. He is a Hyundai guy, with good reason.
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