SonicStanGirl

I got on a list somewhere for 05 Mustang owners and was invited to a focus group to evaluate 5 2-door coupes this last weekend. I walk into the hall where there were conducting the evaulation and I see a Toyota Solara, a Honda Accord Coupe, a Mitsubishi Eclipse and a prototype of the new Nissan Altima Coupe they hope to market very soon. All of these cars were of the V6 variety and were very well equiped and were all silver. Then I see that the 5th car was an 06 Mustang GT in Satin Silver with literally NO OPTIONS on it at all. All the other cars listed were right at or below $23,500 and of course the base model GT showed $26K. I just couldn't believe that they were comparing a 300HP V8 to V6's. I would have thought they would have had a V6 Stang not a V8! They probably had to use the GT because a base model V6 would have been WAY cheaper than all the Japanese models they had there.

Not saying anything bad about base model GT's, but while I was sitting in the car filling out my evaluation I was very very happy that I got a GT that was fully loaded...gotta love that IUP and the nice looking steering wheel. That base model they had had only 4 speakers too and all the Japanese cars had 6+ speakers in the evaluation.

The Altima coupe had a few things that were (in my opinion) blatently stolen from our Stang babies...they tried out a honeycomb grille, a triangle shaped quarter window behind the door window that looked exactly like the stang all the way down to the black edging, AND they used very similar door handles. Otherwise, the thing looked exactly like a G35.

I got $200 out of the gig so that made all the Japanese seat time more bearable!

Rt1Rebel

Sounds like they were shopping for the responses they wanted. Not a useful marketing tool if they really want to learn something instead of just congratulate themselves.

classj

It obviously wasent a non-biased setup.

First off, most people interested in a V6 import want great fuel mileage. They did that because for less money they could have gotten a really decked out V6 that would have looked even better than the stripped GT.

STLRedbird

So Nissan hired a consulting company to do this comparison with what goal in mind? Really hard to figure. I mean, when was the last time you considered a Honda Accord or a Nissan Altima as being in the same automotive category as the Mustang, V6 or V8? Clearly, they've got some research showing that folks that interested in this new Altima would also consider Mustang. To my mind, that's like saying apple buyers are also considering oranges. Atleast you got 200 bucks out of the deal.

RED121572

I agree, thats like comparing apples to bowling *****.

Have you driven a Altima V6? I traded a 2005 Alty V6 for my mustang last november.

Off the showroom, those Altimas will scoot. 0-60 in 6 seconds and the quarter in the very low 14's. Those numbers are respectable in my book. Maybe Im wrong, but those numbers are better than the V6 mustang??

Ruffnuts

altimas could go 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and a quarter mile in 8 seconds and they still would look just as ugly as ever... nissan has and always will have one of the ugliest car and wannabe truck lines.

classj

Most mags I have seen put the big V6 altimas at closer to 7 seconds to 60 and 15 in the quarter.

But anyway, to me altimas always have and always be a great car for women. I knoe at least three women who drive them and love them. Thats great. But a buddy of mine picked one up with the 3.5 liter motor. He traded a 99 GT stang for it. To each his own I guess. I never could figure out how someone could go from driving a nice mustang with stick to an altima with an auto.

SonicStanGirl

I do have to admit that the Altima coupe prototype was way better looking than the Accord, the Eclipse and the Solara. Just no match for a Mustang and I did think that it was wrong to have a base model GT up against all of these fully loaded cars. Their horsepower rating on the Altima coupe was somewhere in the 260 range I think. I can't remember the torque.

I did hear from a few other attendees (they invited coupe owners) that they had shopped for the Mustang and then ended up with a Japanese car of some sort. One lady said she and her husband were going to get twin Mustangs and ended up getting twin Tiburons. After that comment, I walked away, that was such a stupid decision if you ask me, it was not even worth an effort to ask her why.

My only thoughts on why so many would go Japanese might be the gas mileage and the reputation of being a higher quality/longer lasting car (although I think that is BS).

There were two questions that they asked that I personally think were set up to dog the Stang. One was "Look in the back seat and describe the roominess. Can two adults fit comfortably?" The other was "Go outside and examine the trunk. Is it roomy and does it give the perception that it would be easy to load baggage, etc. easily?". All of the Japanese cars there had huge trunks compared to the mustang (and the Eclipse is a hatch so that doesn't really count) and the Altima did a pretty good job at shortening the engine bay and stretching out the cabin (as compared to the Stang's long hood and shorter cabin) enough to give you a feeling of greater room.

All in all the whole thing was set up to get opinions on their prototype and hope for consumers. They didn't like the fact that I wasn't looking for a new coupe. I tried to make it seem like I would possibly consider their car so I could continue along in the Focus group the next day. They booted me out when they figured out my devious plan....LOL! Luckily I still got the extra $100!

bodyputtyless

I'm guessing there wasn't a box to check on the score sheet to evaluate the cars "soul". Japaneese cars are transportation. Period. The sad fact is, in about 15 years the same folks who buy the japaneese cars will be buyinh the new Iraqi line of vehicles they'll be producing after reconstruction. The fastest way to economic success is to pick a fight with the USA.

SonicStanGirl

LOL!! [sm=patriot.gif]