gmcbob

I don't feel overly comfortable getting into prolonged political discussions, but I honestly think that Barack Obama truly does want to help the Big 3 auto makers. I know he needs votes in key Midwestern states, but I also think he actually will try and do something about the predicament our auto industry is in if elected. (This particular discussion starts at around minute 2:20) Thoughts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV1Yq_KEAHQ

We drove through Kerrville on our way to Garner State Park (we hiked up "Old Baldy"). I've never heard of the Kerrville Killer.

You know what would really get me super pumped? If they dropped the name LaCrosse and called this car the Buick Regal.

We rented the cabin for the weekend - I actually thought it was a little too expensive for just a couple of nights, but it was cool. I like Central Texas - very hilly.

I love my new Vue XR with the 3.6L V6. The more I drive it the more I'm really happy that I decided to get that (I looked at that and a new 4.8L Silverado). I went with the Vue for a couple of reasons - 1) I've already owned 2 full size trucks and 2) my wife really liked it too, ,and that was important to me. In all reality, I really wanted a go fast G8 or a Mustang GT, but the wife has a new G35 and I have that old Impala, so if I really felt the need to go fast, I already have two other options sitting in my driveway fortunately. At first I was slightly skeptical that I'd really like it as much as I do, but in all actuality, I can really say that it's one hell of a nicely equipped, well built little SUV that I'm very happy to own. It's one of those vehicles that grows on you the more you drive it. It was perfect for me as a daily driver. And hell, the 3.6 with the 6 spd. runs pretty strong IMO. My only gripe - and I've learned to adjust to it (literally, adjust the seat to it), was that the steering wheel, when down all the way, which is how I like to drive, doesn't tilt far enough backwards. I feel like it's slanted a little bit too far forward. But the precise steering and the feel of the wheel itself more than make up for it. Okay, gripe two, I am a little disappointed with the mileage right now (around 20 even), but it sounds like it will start creeping up as I break her in a little more. I'll put some better pics up of it when I actually take the time to take some good photos (i.e., not using my camera phone) and give it a good cleaning. In the few weeks I've had it, it's become insanely dirty. We took the Vue out to Fredericksburg, TX last week:

Far cry from this article he wrote in February of 2006. http://www.forbes.com/columnists/forbes/2006/0213/105.html

Cool, thanks guys. Looks like it was built in Janesville based on the comments and the yearone website. Perhaps I'll drive her up there in December to watch the last vehicles roll off the assembly line and show her where she was born. She'll probably leak a little oil out in the parking lot as if she's shedding a tear.

This sucks - a strong and vibrant independent Chrysler would be awesome. Clearly I'd like to see GM survive and thrive over the next few years, but as a true blue American car enthusiast, I'd be very disappointed at seeing Chrysler go away because GM needed the cash. To be perfectly honest, I actually think some of the coolest vehicles on the road these days are Chrysler products - the 300C and Dodge Charger are cool, the Jeep Wrangler and Cherokee and Wrangler are both really cool, and ...oh, wait, okay, those are the only Chrysler products I like - but still, I'd hate to see anyone take them over right now and destroy them. I dunno, the whole demise of the American auto industry really bugs the hell out of me.

Alright, I looked at the VIN number and the only letter in the whole series of characters is a "J". What plant might that be?

I'll look at the VIN tonight when I get home. I'd really like to know.

Can anyone tell me the best way I can go about figuring out where my 68 Impala was built? I'm assuming the VIN number? I'm not sure how to quickly determine that though.

Interesting. Very very interesting.

Closing down GMNA altogether? Hmmm...that would be absolutely insane. Why give up all that revenue? That would be absolutely stupid. I do think GM will survive here in NA - keep focused and realize that GM brands still do have clout in this market - with the correct product (from what I can see it looks promising) and the right advertising, I think GM can and will maintain it's lead here in NA. Don't give up GM. Oh, and if you do buy Chrysler, I would take a long, hard look at keeping all three of the brands that are left there. They all still have a viable reason for remaining I think. Maybe. Okay, well, Dodge Trucks and Jeep do.

This is my first day back with my own, secure internet at the house (yes, it's been one month since the storm and it's taken this long to get the cable hooked back up to my house). I've been using other internet connections that don't stay up long - it sucked. I'll get some pics up soon. I'll have to scan some older photos of the Jimmy that I think I might have laying around in an old photo album or something. I need to wash the Vue before I post pics. I'm on my couch right now, feeling very lazy. My Jimmy was built at Moraine, Ohio. As we all probably know, my new Vue was built in Mexico. Incidentally, how can I determine where my 68 Impala was built? I know that info is in the VIN, but I'm not sure how to go about determining that from that old VIN number.

This is insane actually, I'm not really sure what to make of Ford and GM being as low as they are right now. Is it overall market panic and F and GM are just going along for the ride? Or is it because we're seeing these two iconic car companies on the precipice of something a lot worse? I tend to write off the douche bag analysts and financial blog posters, but still, I'm a little concerned.

This is great news. (I think all 7000 of those Tundras sold last month were sold here in Texas - I see tons of them around here). Toyota probably doesn't bug me as much as it does a lot of the people on this board, but for some reason, the Tundra really gets under my skin. Actually, I'm seeing TONS of new Silverados around though too. A friend of mine bought a new black 5.3L Z71 about a month ago - it's really pretty sweet.

The interior on my Jimmy was pretty bad, and it was really starting to show it's age inside and out, but I must say I am going to miss that old beast. That old 4.3L V6 wasn't all that bad really (although under full throttle it sounded kind of sick and a bit tired). But I didn't really drive it like that, I sort of took it slow and just respected the motor, transmission, steering and suspension for what it was, and I more or less enjoyed driving in it. Now it's going to that great big car lot in the sky (stupid Hurricane Ike). I'll have to post pics of the replacement vehicle as soon as I get it washed. Only a couple of weeks and it's dirty as hell. I would have taken pics when I first got it, but with my life totally upside down form the hurricane, it just didn't really register on the radar to do it right away.

Okay, maybe they didn't quite look the same, but they used similar materials, stalks, switchgear, coloring schemes, etc, etc..The GMT-360s were more Jimmy-like on the inside than say, the 2008 Vue that I just bought. I'll admit, I actually kind of liked them, and I sort of think having a new 6.0L TrailBlazer SS would be kind of bad ass...but they sort of make me think of the old, out of touch GM.

I remember when these came out back in 2002 (or whenever it was) I was actually pretty psyched about them. At the time, the interior didn't bother me too much, although I do remember thinking that GM could have done something totally different than what they had been doing (they were basically the same interiors as my 98 Jimmy). But as time wore on, and Jeep upgraded their Cherokee and Toyota changed the 4Runner, GM did absolutely nothing to these vehicles - which I always thought was completely insane. But whatever. I really hate Toyota, but I must say the 4Runner is better looking and has a much more contemporary and modern interior, which hands down makes these GMT-360s just really bad in comparison unfortunately. I like the newest GM cars and trucks a lot, almost all of them are hands down better than these. But in their current form, they truly have no business being part of the GM lineup these days. It's a shame that GM kept the old school, 90s looking interiors in these. It may or may not have helped sales, but it at least would have been fun for me to see a mid size rear drive SUV from GM that could really go toe to toe on looks and interior quality with the 4Runner and Cherokee. We can argue the the H3 kind of did, but Hummer gut such a bum rap overall for GM (over time), that Hummer being competitive with anything in the 4x4/off road/old school SUV world has been almost irrelevant to GM since about late 2006. But I digress - as the economy tanks, and as people think practical and MPG, even the best of this class could soon see the exit door.

Yeah, I fell pretty lucky that the tree didn't go the other way and come through our bedroom, that would have really sucked. I'm hoping we'll have power in the next 2 or 3 days, as we're starting to see more bucket trucks, etc, in our neighborhood over the last 12 hours or so. Well, I'll kill the suspense on the car (and I'll post pictures from home when I get fully up and running), but it's a brand new 2008 Saturn Vue XR in Carbon Flash with the 257 hp 3.6L. I never really thought I'd see myself in a Vue, but one drive and I was really impressed actually. We wanted something versatile to go along with the wife's sedan (great example: hard to fit a generator in the G35 we determined - although the generator fit very well into the back seat of the old 68 Impala Convertible, hahaha). My only gripes so far about the Vue: 1) weird steering wheel position - it's tilted too far forward. And 2), the lack of a temperature gage. No temp gage is puzzling to me, but obviously not a deal breaker. With employee pricing and rebates and some money I had on a GM card, I got the car for about $4500 under sticker (or so). I looked at a 2008 Silverado, but after determining that my wife would never drive it, I figured it would be best to get something we'd both drive. (she hates trying to park big trucks in small parking garages). Pics of the car and my downed tree in the back yard to come!

Well, I'm still alive and doing well. However, I'm writing this from my computer at work as I still have no power or cable at my house. Which totally sucks btw, considering the storm hit September 13th in the wee hours of the morning and I haven't had power since then. My wife and I are living off generator power - with electrical cords all throughout our house. Our beautiful huge cypress tree in the backyard uprooted during the storm and came crashing down on our shed, ripping the main power line running behind our house on 11th Street totally off it's pole, and damaging my service line too. The big news from a car perspective though is that Ike basically killed my Jimmy as well. I had to drive through a flooded street on the way to pick up a generator for the house when a rogue wave came up through the air intake and killed the engine - and I mean utterly destroyed the engine. Pics of my new car, purchased last Saturday, will be posted as soon as I get power and internet up at my house. And yes, it's a GM product. And it's not in a million years what I thought it would be. I'll drop a hint though: PCS will be thrilled and probably ready to make a comment about how I've been "GME'd" or something. :AH-HA_wink: I'll still be GMCBOB though.

At the end of the day though, the demise of Buick as a full lineup of really cool cars is whole heartedly depressing. Moreover, the same can be said for Pontiac as well (although I have more of a soft spot for Buick). I'm not too sure if GM upper management really quite knows what they're doing, or whether or not they realize that these brands still can have some major clout in the market place if they just creatively marketed them. (And had already borrowed some of the international architecture of Holden and Opel a few years earlier) and actually gave them a real compelling full lineup of vehicles for each name under this same brand. Alongside a G8 could be a luxurious version of Zeta (Chinese Park Avenue). Alongside Solstice could be a larger, 4 seat rear drive convertible called Skylark or Riviera. And who says that these cars, marketed and branded as both Pontiacs and Buicks couldn't be under one showroom? If the dealers were taught to think outside the box, this could be a very strong "brand". Instead, GM chooses a strategy of starvation. While it seems as if this company is short on cash, I still think they have the economy of scale to pull this off. I dunno, it's a different world now than compared with the 1970s, but I think if the cars were truly uncompromising and insanely bad ass (like Audi A5 bad ass, or hell, new CTS bad ass), it could be pulled off.

If priced and marketed correctly, this is one little Chevy that I think would sell very, very well. I really like the design on that interior, and the exterior would make a very interesting addition to the upcoming Chevy showroom. I like it.

I agree with your analysis of the Wikipedia definition for this example, but I also can sort of understand what GM is doing. As for what the standard definition would be compared to what GM's definition of "brand" would be, I really don't quite know what GM is doing. (in other words, instead of referring to B-P-G as a new "brand" - refer to them perhaps as a "division" of GM, not in the way GM was structured in the 50s, but then refer to B-P-G as separate brands within this new "division" we created. Hell, I don't know - I see what GM is doing and they're defining BPG as a new "brand" now - a new brand that was once 3 different old brands. What in the world am I saying? :rotflmao:

I like it. Think about what this car actually is and that in and of itself makes it pretty crazy.