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rivieraranch

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Everything posted by rivieraranch

  1. I don't post here much anymore but that is another story, which if I went into it Mr. Oldsmoboy would probably delete the post. I have accumulated several original sales brochures: 2003 & 2004 Park Avenue Ultra (2003 has some slight water damage); 2006 Lucerne (3); 2008 Lucerne, 2010 Enclave 2010 CTS Sportwagon. I don't want these any more. Free to a good home, just pay the price of shipping, Media Mail.
  2. Before clear coat finishes one who polished and waxed frequently could achieve that wet look. Everybody else's finish turned to chalk board. Now the clear coats all look wet, but the clear coat dulls quickly, too. You're not really taking care of paint any more, just a clear coat.
  3. I used a K&N air filter in my previous ride, the leased 2006 Lacrosse, from 2,000 miles to 35,000 miles. During this time I cleaned it several times and it performed fine. I did not experience the parade of horribles others forewarned - such as messing up the MAP sensor. I think I did a pretty good job of oiling the filter right, without exceeding what was required of a recharge. It seemed to me that the car got better mileage with the filter in. Should I get one for my new ride? It has 3,500 miles on it now and I am thinking whether I should K&N or not.
  4. These people will not be content until everybody has to use balsa wood cars with electric sewing machine engines.
  5. The chrome moulding on top of the rear tail lights makes me think of the rear of a '59 Buick with the fins going up and sideways.
  6. The Enclave is sweet indeed. We drove one and felt that it was very luxurious and high off of the ground. I think the little digs in the article about the vehicle's tiny details are inconsequential. This vehicle is a real competitor against all those Japanese vehicles that litter the road.
  7. I do think it is a mistake to feature their cars in touchhole brown. At least they lightened up the background a little. People are already tired of all the brown around, like all the kitchens and bathrooms that were done in brown and other "earth tones" in the '70's. When I was shopping late this year, I remember seeing a ton of Lucernes and Lacrosses in that touchhole brown color. It is just not a nice color. In the sun it doesn't even look good. In shade it looks like a light, washed-out shade of black. I like the Enclave brown color because it is lighter. That is a good color.
  8. Hey Ron, could you help me with make a new signature with the Park Avenue and the new Lucy? I want to take some better pictures of the new one.
  9. I am sure they have already done that.
  10. I just bought a Buick Lucerne that has a 4.6L Northstar V-8 and I was wondering what grade of fuel would be best for it. This is to seek maximum fuel economy, performance and engine life. I want to keep this vehicle for several years so I want to use fuel that will help with overall longevity. Also, what engine oil would be best for long term operation and economy.
  11. The exhaust note is one of the things that attracted me to this car in the first place. At idle it is there. My 1992 Cadillac did not have this kind of exhaust note. That had a 4.9 pushrod V-8. The sound of the Northstar at idle reminds me of a 1950's Cadillac, very opulent sounding and hinting at the power it posesses.
  12. My New Lucy! 2007 Buick Lucerne CXL V-8, light quartz metallic, cocoa shale interior, 5-passenger seating, sunroof. Lured into showrooms in August by GM's Employee Pricing Scheme then in effect I thought I wanted a 2008 Lacrosse Super with a 5.3 liter V-8. I drove 3 of them at different dealers but did not really like them. Something did not seem right. The colors available were odd, red with a chocolate interior? I have never seen that. Touchhole brown? I don't think so. At one of the dealers (Schumacher Okeechobee, West Palm Beach, Florida) I noticed a 2007Lucerne CXL V-8, light quartz metallic with a titanium interior sad and lonely on their new car back lot. I drove it and decided to pursue one. Schumacher is a huge place that employs high pressure sales tactics with heavy duty psychological warfare and every trick in the book to pad the bottom line. The MSRP for their car was $32,800.00 and they were trying to pound me for $26,600.00, then $25,600.00. I went in there several times over a couple of months. Each time I told them I would go 30% off of MSRP but they acted like I descended from Mars and there was "no way" they could [translated: would] ever sell for that, blah blah blah. I spoke to several other dealers here in Florida who had 2007's. Roger Dean Buick GMC in Fort Pierce had a 2007 Lucerne CXS in sharkskin but they were total jerks about it. The MSRP was $37K as I recall and the internet rep was just nasty. They wanted $30 grand and would not even negotiate. Meanwhile the car is sitting outside. I told them it is time for them to get reasonable and that it would start growing whiskers but apparently this had no effect on them. They are a disgusting dealer with a ratty facility. I visited Lane Pontiac, Buick GMC in Melbourne, a very nice dealer with a personable lady internet rep. Their '07 CXL V-8 was white, with cocoa/cashmere interior, chrome grille and wheels, MSRP $33,100.00. They offered it to me for $24K and they would have been willing to reduce that probably to $23K but I hesitated because I have never owned a white car before. I saw a 2007 CXS at Coggin Buick, Pontiac, GMC in Kissimmee but it had an odd color combination, sandstone with a black interior. That MSRP on that was $37K and they would have sold that one for $25K. I could not warm up to the color combination. This was a very nice dealer and their internet rep was a very nice young man, knowledgeable and personable. The car I bought was MSRP $32,500 and the selling price was $21,700.00 plus tax and tag. This was a great deal. The car was delivered to the dealer in October 2006. I just got lucky because the planets all lined up and the dealer decided to let it go for a price I thought was reasonable. My GM card points basically took care of the tax and tag. The Perrine Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Hummer dealer in Cranbury, New Jersey has been in business since 1927 and after making this deal and going there I can see why. They have a lovely lady internet rep. who was straight up with me and helped me make this deal. the other folks there were consummate professionals. The car was exactly as described. We flew to Newark on Saturday and took a train to Princeton. The dealer sent somebody to pick us up at the train station and we did the paperwork and drove away. We planned to drive to Hershey, Pennsylvania to see the Chocolate World. After entering Pennsylvania after driving for an hour we broke down, coasting into a turnpike rest stop. I saw transmission fluid hemorraging from the front. I called OnStar for assistance. It took a long time for a tow truck to come out, chiefly because there are only a few tow companies approved by the Turnpike Authority to do tows on the interstate. OnStar identified a local GM dealer and found us a hotel nearby. The car was towed to Lankford Buick, Pontiac, GMC in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania and we checked into a very nice Hampton Inn one mile away. Sunday we rented a car (ironically, an '09 Lucerne 3.9 V-6) and went to Chocolate World. On Monday morning I went to Lankford and they fixed the car very quickly. It turned out that the transmission cooler line had no clamp, an oversight at the factory. When the car got good and hot the line had just popped out. I was very satisfied with how OnStar handled this and the Lankford dealer was top notch. On Monday at around 10:30 A.M., we began driving to Florida from Pennsylvania. My wife and I took turns. The trip ended the next morning and was just over 1200 miles. The car performed flawlessly; it was powerful, quiet, and very comfortable and easy to drive. It also got around 25-26 MPG despite going at expressway speeds, 55-75 MPH. I think that despite breaking down we had a nice trip. OnStar was excellent and the dealer in Pennsylvania that did the repair was top notch.
  13. Many people buy a Prius just to make a political statement, about "caring for the environment" "saving fuel" "saving the planet" etc., I hate these cars. I have a big fantasy of deliberately smashing into one of them just to take it out.
  14. I have looked extensively at these cars and have decided to eventually buy either a new 2007 Lucerne CXL V-8 or a new 2007-2008 CXS. The 2008 Lucerne "Special Edition" CXL V-8 looks odd with those exhausts directed out of some black part of the bottom of the rear bumper. This version is overstyled and I don't like it. I saw one in red, which I would normally have reacted very positively to. Instead, I looked at it long and critically and concluded that because of the additional styling touches, including the "Special Edition" plaque and all, it was a silly looking vehicle. The 2008 Super looks gaudy, is expensive and as to fuel mileage, is EPA rated at below the 275 HP Northstar found in the CXL and CXS. Good luck to GM on getting rid of all these Supers that are now sitting around on dealer lots. I liked the 2007 CXL V-8 because the styling is clean. It is not gaudy and junked up with nonsense additions. As an example, I looked at a white one that had the cocoa/cashmere interior combination and chrome wheels. I have never been a fan of white cars and at times have actually been an open detractor of them. However, after spending some time with this vehicle, I felt that it looked very clean and even sporty with the combination of chrome wheels and the light, warm color interior. The '07-08 CXS are nice and I have driven two of them. Unfortunately, it is hard to find a dealer who will sell an '07 for a big enough discount to make it worthwhile. As to the '08's, they are plentiful in dark mocha brown. It was a big mistake for GM to have made so many cars in this color. On a cloudy day it looks grayish and very unappealing. On October 15th, GMAC expanded their lease pull ahead to 4 months instead of 2, which makes an '08 now cheaper for me.
  15. I am sure that you're a good person, but you obviously do not know anything about my situation more than what I may have posted. My complaint is with the aribtrary nonsense reasoning underlying GMAC's erratic actions. It happens to impact me negatively, so therefore, I exercise my prerogative not to deal with them any more. I am not asserting 'entitlement' to dick here. My salesperson? Don't get me started about that. I don't have one any more. He sold my wife her Mercedes Benz wagon when he was at MB and after he moved to B, P, GMC, he helped me lease my current vehicle. Love him. But he moved out of state and no longer works in the car business. The dealer I leased from is a butthole place I'd rather not deal with. That place never apprised me of crap. I'm working with some dealers right now on what I am looking for and eventually I will land something, but it will be in spite of GMAC, which I will forever despise and villify, so, "screw them," I say.
  16. My situation with GMAC is not such that I will ever deal with them again on any product or service. I was shopping for a new 2007, which once qualified for the pull ahead, and arbitrarily GMAC removed the pull ahead program from the new 2007's. Their pull ahead program is only a miserable 2 months anyway on an '08. GMAC is not helping GM or the customer right now and that is why I wrote: "screw them." There are only a few companies on my list (i.e., Homedics) but when they are on my list I will never deal with them ever again.
  17. SCREW GMAC and their phony plans and schemes.
  18. I understand what you are stating, but in October-November GM needs to offer the incentives to make that 2008 model available for slightly less than it would have cost in August-September with employee pricing and the smaller incentives.
  19. What bothers me is that the prices for vehicles are not falling to a reasonable level given the current economic circumstances. Dealers are being jerks, holding onto inventory as if it were going to increase in value.
  20. The Employee Pricing Scheme is over so now it appears that a person shopping for a new 2008 would have to pay more for one than they would have paid in September. Something is fundamentally wrong with that picture. The incentives available on the 2008 are tantamount to a joke, given that these cars are held over; the 2009's are already out. What is GM thinking? What are these dealers thinking? That the economy will suddenly improve and people will flood GM showrooms, willing to be pounded on high gross profit deals? There is no reason why they can't sell a new 2008 now for the same employee pricing less current incentives, but they won't. I hope that all these jerks go out of business.
  21. I am not using my GM card right now, but have accummulated sizeable points. I will call them to see whether I can get that same $500.00 incentive.
  22. Now the 2008 Lucerne has $3,500.00 on the hood, $1,000.00 in dealer cash and $2,000.00 cash plus 2 months pull ahead for turning in a GMAC contract early. The cars direct site has the 2008 CXS priced at $27,500.00.
  23. I called GMAC today and they still offer the same lousy 2 month pull ahead program as they did for the past 3 months. Now it only applies to model years 2008-2009, not 2007. In September GMAC told me that the pull ahead applied to a 2007. I had been shopping for a 2007. Now there's no use. The Nazi style bureaucrats at GMAC have no grip on reality and no desire to cooperate with GM to retain the dwindling number of customers they now have. I am done dealing with these people. They can take their deals and shove 'em. Screw GM; screw GMAC and screw OnStar; I turned off my subscription tonight.
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