You probably came in here expecting me to have a rant about these vehicles. Maybe one cut me off? Maybe one took 50 minutes to fill up at the gas station while I waited? Maybe one of my girlfriends bought one and drives like Lewis Hamilton inside, scaring me to buy a bus pass..

No.....

I love coupes. Most men do. A woman would say a man is like a coupe.
Coupes-great sales out the gate the first 2 years
Men-great sex the first two minutes
Coupes-fall flat after the 3rd year, maybe get a refresh
Men-get tired as hell after 2 minutes, makes the woman switch positions
Coupes-sell like salt water to whales the final 3-5 years
Men-are done in 3-5 minutes

This cycle happens over and over. Car companies make new coupes, they sell well at first then sell like crap(Lexus SC/Mitus Eclipse) Some don't sell well at all. Many get discontinued (Acura RSX/CL). Today, we don't even get truly beautiful coupes. We get coupes today designed by the guy that designed the companies SUV (Audi A5/Benz CL).

So now we barely have coupes with style and if you don't have style what the hell is the point of having 2 doors? Well lets add the fact that many coupes are pretty useless (Infiniti G35/37 trunk).

Now with sedans so potent and many sedans pretty slick in the looks department (Lexus IS), why not get a 4 door? Insurance is cheaper as well.

Then well with everyone and their momma driving a SUV, well if you drive a coupe, you can't see in front of you. Your lucky to drive to work without incident. If you drive a coupe, you are Spud Webb and everyone else is Dikembe Mutumbo driving around. It is annoying.

Enter Car Mutts. Marketing will have you believe they are SAVs or Coupes. No, they are just confused creatures. More Frankenstein than Jackie Joyner Kersee. HOWEVER, I had a "vision" over the weekend and well, this market just makes sense to enter.

We talked about coupes. I love coupes, I had a SC, I will get another coupe in the future. This is not a "coupes suck thread". No way in hell. So lets talk about what people hate talking about. You might click away with me just typing it....

WAGONS

There I said it. Are you still here? We have to credit (or hate) the Rav-4/CR-V and RX 300 for basically stabbing, shooting and slicing wagons to their demise. Wagons my friends, is the equivalent of the automobile anti-christ. No one wants one (well 13 of you do) no one wants to be seen in one, no one shops them, they fail. The LExus IS 300 while fun and with cargo room sold to MMarshall, 5 other guys, a lady and a priest. Lexus discontinued it.

In contrast, the RX 300 sold so well that every other car maker makes their own RX. Some made them sportier, some less sporty but ALL entered this market. And it is LUCRATIVE. PROFIT MACHINES they are.

So lets see here: (light bulb)
-People hate wagons like Bush's approval rating
-People like coupes then hate coupes
-People like SUVs, no matter how crappy, big, small, good, bad or expensive

So why not let us mix a wagon and SUV and tell you it looks like a coupe and try to make it drive like a coupe. Lets make it taller than a car but not SUV tall. Lets give it some useable cargo room in the back, especially with the seats down.

Maybe this is not a bad idea after all. No one liked the AMC thingie but some people did buy the Infiniti FX, maybe the first luxury mutt. It is now redesigned and it does have an audience who likes a sportier drive, the taller ride height and some cargo room.

BMW now has the X6. I checked it out and while it looks like Frankenstein its pretty big and the rear cargo area had more room than I thought, with the seats down, it should be pretty decent.

Infiniti also now has the EX. However this is truly one mutt that should be put to sleep and looking at initial sales, it will become another discontinued Infiniti. It can't tow and I have more cargo room in my Air Jordans with my foot inside. I really question what they were thinking with that one. At least the FX/X6 does have some cargo room.

I think BMW with the X6 is onto something. You see BMW is an auto leader. They are seen as such a leader, even though the X6 is basically their version of the Infiniti FX, down to full of ugly, car companies will jump into the "mutt" arena b/c BMW has. Infiniti has 2 mutts and no car company cares or has cared for 5 years now. Pretty amazing how much "image" comes to play here.

Are mutts also "cute-utes". Yeah, possibly and people DO want them. At the expense of true 2 door coupes, which continue to get bigger, heavier and more SUV like than anything.

Bottom line, while some of us might not like them, they make PERFECT sense. With BMW entering the market (or creating it, it depends on who sips more kool-aid), I expect others to follow suit.

Will Lexus enter it? The HPX has been a rumor longer than the Loch Ness Monster. They have said they will avoid "cute-utes" but the GS platformed "Mutt" maybe coming.

Especially since BMW is now here.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... couldn't agree more. All people really want is a wagon; but for some reason they buy a mutt instead

 

A wagon makes about 100000 times more sense than some SUV/Coupe/Sedan monstrosity. There are some decent looking wagons too, I'd take an Audi RS6 wagon over a BMW X6 any day

 

The 3 series Touring is:

- more fuel efficient
- better handling
- more spacious in the cargo area
- cheaper to buy
- cheaper to insure
- also equipped with XDrive all wheel drive

and yet the X3 sells better. . Some people really believe in marketing crap.

I was one of those that hated the X6 when I first saw the pictures. However, I sat inside one at the auto show and the interior is fantastic. Now.. if they can transplant that over to their cars....

 

To me, the wagon makes more sense than cute-ute.

 

+1

 

No. I didn't have an IS300 SportCross wagon. I had a yellow 4-door. And when Lexus discontinued the IS300, they DID add one important feature to the new IS that I had originally wanted......AWD. But I felt Subaru had a better and more proven AWD system.

 

i knew the infiniti EX would be a failure the second i laid eyes on it.

 

I agree with you here. The X6 is a good-looking vehicle overall, even if it does have a Pontiac Aztek roofline. And it combines good looks with high ground clearance, all-weather capable AWD, and the famous BMW steering/handling and chassis competence. It is far better looking than either the X3 or X5, but, of course, with the sloping rear roof, does not have the same cargo efficiency.

 

Thing is, its one of those internet popular items. "Wagons are better". People say this all the time, but don't vote with their wallet. No ones buys wagons.

Its like some cars people LOVE to recommend but they don't buy.

My bad Mike, I thought you had a wagon.