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riviera74

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Everything posted by riviera74

  1. riviera74
    Is the Holden brand worth saving? Maybe not. Only in Australia is it known as Holden. When the Commodore and its siblings are sold in the ME and elsewhere, they are sold as Chevrolets. The Chevy SS in the USA is a Commodore (of sorts). Since there is no unique selling point to Holden (a RWD haven in this era of FWD appliances), especially given the ridiculous strength of the Australian dollar, Holden can go peacefully into the night. Holden RIP. And I say that as someone who mourned Oldsmobile's untimely passing in 2004.
  2. riviera74
    I disagree. Remember when FORD tried to harp on the fact that they never got bailed out and the federal government told them to back off? There are some people who think that GM and Chrysler should have died nearly five years ago. GM is much better off having no financial relationship with Treasury.
  3. riviera74
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buick-Riviera-Rebuilt-Supercharger-1998-1999-GM-3800-/171189312424?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27dbad9ba8 I guess you mean this part.
  4. riviera74
    I think my 99 Buick Park Avenue Ultra just died. One night, just before I got home, a pulley snaps off and the engine loses power. It is at the top of the 3800SC engine, all the way up front. Yes, I got it towed home, which was only a few blocks away. When I described the problem to a service guy at Pep Boys, he said to bring it in and they can replace that pulley. I get a call 90 minutes before the appointment that the supercharger locked up and that will also need to be replaced. Not just the pulley and the regulator attached to it. What was going to be a $400 job turned into about a $3000 job, because the entire SC had to be replaced. That is only because the SC is a dealer part, and those get expensive. Four questions: Is he right? Why would a 3800SC have its SC fail with only 79000 miles on the odometer? Is it worth getting it replaced, given that the car was bought five years ago at $6500+tax? Is it common for a SC to fail so spectacularly?
  5. riviera74
    Chevy as a European brand was always a laughable idea. GM should pull Chevy out right now rather than wait until 2016. Also, GM probably needs to ditch Opel and Vauxhall right now since Europe STILL has not fully recovered from 2008 and is in far worse economic straits than the USA.
  6. riviera74
    Chrysler LLC does not have any luxury brands (or cars!) to speak of. Not even the old New Yorker of the 80s or the 90s qualified as luxury.
  7. riviera74
    The SS needs to be built here and directly challenge the 300/Charger twins NOW. No need to build it down under if the market there is already shifting towards FWD. It may well be cheaper to build it here and export the new SS around the world as Holden has done for decades. No need for Chevy to go nearly all FWD appliances (Camaro/Corvette/trucks aside) like Ford has.
  8. riviera74
    Thanks very much, especially that first post.
  9. riviera74
    Why is Kia getting an Equus clone and NOT a Genesis (sedan) clone? The name K900 sounds like a name that belongs on something else, like a code name for a platform or something else. Having said that, this may well be a sweet car.
  10. riviera74
    I agree, but one step at a time. Ideally, the ethanol mandate would be scrapped because ethanol is surprisingly poor as a fuel choice. The fact that all of it seems to come from corn makes it worse. Cutting back on the ethanol mandate is the first step in ideally repealing this bad policy.
  11. riviera74
    OK. So why isn't the Encore with a turbo 4cyl so that the car can actually move? The Encore needs torque right now.
  12. riviera74
    http://www.dailytech.com/GM+Will+Offer+Internet+Access+in+Most+2015+Year+Model+Vehicles/article33737.htm Uh, is this really a good idea?
  13. riviera74
    It should NOT be called the Eldorado; it should be called the Miraj instead.
  14. riviera74
    All I can say is Thanks Jay Alix for saving GM. I find it interesting that he does somewhat rehabilitate Wagoner's reputation in a few respects.
  15. riviera74
    Von is right, but costs come into the equation. Ideally, you get the best chips AND you streamline the code so that the infotainment system is not sluggish and reduces the possibility of it crashing. What GM and others should do is allow one vendor to do the whole infotainment system so that it no longer has performance issues. Basically they could call Apple to have them do this well.... or maybe Google.
  16. riviera74
    The best news about this is that the new Impala will not take the massive hit that the old model has already taken. Reminds me of the "Malibu Classic" GM allowed to stay around for a year. Only this time, GM is doing this the right way. Let the rental car companies have the old one; virtually all of the old Impala was paid for already.
  17. riviera74
    I understand why analysts would (and should) be concerned with a high number of subprime loans. There is one thing they are not counting on: everyone needs transportation and public transportation thorughout most of the USA is not very good. (Compact cities do not count.) If there is another nasty recession where jobs are really scarce, expect all other expenses to be cut back except for car loan payments. There might be some more delinquent loans and even a few more repossessions, but it may not be that bad.
  18. riviera74
    I agree with making diesels an option on all GM vehicles. But why is an 8-speed necessary?
  19. riviera74
    There is a reason the Crown Victoria survived as a NYC taxi ever since Checker went out of business in 1982: Crown Vics were everywhere and they were cheap to maintain. Nissan's Taxi of Tomorrow is the exact opposite! The NY Supreme Court made the right decision and the next mayoral administration would be wise to dispose of this well-intentioned, poorly-executed Bloomberg idea and start from zero. Virtually any CUV can be a taxi in NYC and it should be open to a proper auction rather than the beauty contest that Nissan's idea supposedly won.
  20. riviera74
    Nice idea and very good execution. But 30K for an Accord Hybrid will not cut it in today's marketplace. A $20K Insight will all of this tech would scare the Prius out of its complacency in a heartbeat because an Insight (with the new hybrid setup) would actually directly compete against it. Honda is being too rational again. Put that in a TLX or RLX, and it would work very well. Put that in an Insight so that the eco-conscious can brag about their MPG. Unfortunately, this is a well-executed idea that fails to adjust to the fact that many new car buyers want to make a statement a middle schooler would understand. A Prius does that; an Accord Hybrid does not.
  21. riviera74
    I wonder how much $$$$ GM will get for selling VM Motori to FIAT.
  22. riviera74
    I agree, but who will buy a midsize (off-road capable) SUV these days? $4 a gallon killed the GM midsizers off entirely.
  23. riviera74
    Ever met an exciting interior in ANY German car? I don't think so. Also, at least the Jetta steering wheel does not look misshaped like the '14 Impala steering wheel.
  24. riviera74
    ^^Right now, maybe. That may not be true in the next decade. Right now, there really is no real reason to buy a Lincoln, even though I do find a few on the road down here. Not Cadillac or Lexus numbers, but some are out here.
  25. riviera74
    Channeling Dinah Shore, eh?
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