pbm317

But conversely, the closest rival in the American market, to the Maxima, that Kia offers, would be the Cadenza.

mmarshall

No, not IMO. The Cadenza is essentially an entry-level luxury sedan...along the lines of the Lincoln MKZ and Lexus ES350. The Maxima is a somewhat different animal......more sport-oriented.

LexBob2

The Maxima does seems like a stretch as a Stinger competitor. Maybe one of the Red Sport sedans from Infiniti if you want to have something from the Nissan family, but clearly the A5 and 4 Series Grand Coupe are the direct target vehicles.

corradoMR2

New Regal and Maxima, not even close to being considered when I bought the Stinger as they are family mid-size sedans first-and-foremost and not designed from the ground-up to be RWD-performance oriented sport sedans.

The one I most seriously considered, and IMO, the Stinger's closest competitor, was the S5 Sportback. It's an incrementally better car, and for perhaps 5-7K more I would have gone for it, but not the 25K premium (in Canada). Even a 2.0T A5 Quattro Sportback, similarly equipped is 8K more! No brainer for the Stinger if one can get over the badge!

mmarshall

Did you actually price an A5 or S5 at a dealership...or just go with the factory Build-Your-Own prices on the web site?

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

that's like saying the toyota camry is the closest rival, in the American market, to the Stinger, that Toyota offers. while perhaps true, it's irrelevant as they're so different. the maxima is marketed as a sporty sedan but it's really anything but. reminds me of some fwd pontiacs of old, all flash, little substance.

even if the maxima is more 'sport oriented' (about as much as a 'sport' in 'sport utility vehicle' imo ), the maxima is still entirely different than the stinger. i expect the stinger is smaller, less back seat room, but being rwd/awd and with the amazing ttv6 option, the stinger is more alfa giulio competitor than crapmaxima.

corradoMR2

In person, after taxes (all-in) price difference. Very little negotiation on the S5, while a little more wiggle room on the A5. Due to the high price difference and the fact that I owned an A4 (similar car as we know), I didn't bother with a test drive and walked away. Remember, this is Canada we're talking about where the Stinger is aggressively (cheap) priced and not so much in the US where the price gap is far smaller with Audi and others. 52K USD for a GT2 AWD gets you into the German luxury cars similarly equipped (with their 4 cyls though) which makes the case to purchase a Stinger GT in the US a tougher sell personally.

pbm317

These are the exact two vehicles (A5 Sportback - since it existed internationally in the last gen, and 4 Series Gran Coupe) that were benchmarked for the Stinger, even years ago when I was in Korea for initial product scoping/design reviews for the Stinger.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

yes, but let me clarify... the miata is about being LIGHT WEIGHT with lower hp, somewhat like a lotus elise, and as you say, RWD is lighter than AWD so that makes sense. but when you get into higher horsepower, rear wheel traction becomes an issue with rwd. at the extreme you have a car like a viper, with tons of hp and rwd and it's a pig in terms of handling (rear spinouts). with previous mercedes amg coupes and sedans were rwd with higher and higher hp and they'd become good mostly for burnouts and drag races. now they're awd.

if i had a high hp car, awd would be a requirement.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

do you have the coolest job ever, or what?

webra

Toys4RJill

LexBob2

How long will this wait be??

Toys4RJill

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)