gmcbob

I think GM should advertise this on prime time TV. I've noticed that Hyundai has a similar type of website explaining how their cars have improved too. I still have to agree somewhat with Peter DeLorenzo and his latest autoextremist.com post about how most Americans simply don't care anymore about GM or how good it's cars are now. It's going to be very, very difficult to get people who were burned by a bad GM apple 10 or so years ago and have since moved on to the imports to get back into a GM showroom. A perfect example is my 57 year old coworker who after going through a real bad time with a late 90s Regal and a mid 90s Saturn swears he's 100% completely done with GM. What sucks about that though, is not only is he done with GM, but so are his 3 kids (who are roughly my age) and probably the rest of the people in his family who hear him talk about how much that car sucked for him. We talked about it today in fact at work- he said the only American car he'd consider would be just about anything made by Ford, but that's it. He drives a Mazda now. Which I guess is a Ford, sort of. So what does GM do about these conscientious defectors? BTW- now that I"m on the subject of Buick - why does Buick now only sell 3 different cars? When my Dad worked for Buick, you could find pretty much any kind of car you wanted in their showroom. What in the hell is GM doing?? Where is the Park Avenue? The Riviera? A Turbo Grand National? A really fun Skyhawk style hatchback (think Buick version of say, an Audi A3 or something). What about that sexy looking convertible concept from a few years ago? Imagine a full lineup of awesome Buicks - some based on Sigma - some based on Zeta - a new small Alpha Buick that's every bit as fun to drive and cool as a small Audi or Bimmer - a new 2010 Buick Wildcat based on Sigma. The commercial starts with grainy home videos of a little kid dancing around their parents Buick Electra (that kid is now in their late 30s or so) - voice is explaining how you looked up to your Dad coming home in his baby blue 225 all spiffy and pro looking - now the little kid is a slick looking yuppy guy getting into a (Holden) Buick Park Avenue or a (soon to be) Alpha Buick Wildcat with a $h! eating grin on his face - "times have changed, but the car line remains the same" OKay, too much wine tonight.

As insane as this may sound, while I was there I would periodically freak myself out about being in a catastrophic earthquake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ring_of_Fire

I actually saw a lot of Escape Hybrid taxi cabs in SF. Incidentally, my wife had to go to on a business trip this week to Ohio (yes, lots of airplanes for her this week) and she rented an Edge - she said she really liked it a lot. She's definitely favors import cars too for the most part. About the W body Impala - I haven't driven one since 2001 when I rented one in California, but if I drove a new 2008 V6 Impala back to back with a 2008 V6 Camry, would I like the Camry better? I have this sneaking suspicion that I would find the Camry a little more modern and sharp feeling (simply based on what I know about the two platforms and about the engines and transmissions on paper). Does that same feeling resonate with Joe Blow who doesn't care about how much power his V6 has - he just wants a buggy to get to work in?

I'm starting to see Enclaves popping up around Houston - especially down where I work in Sugar Land (suburb). I even saw a few Enclaves out in SF last weekend. For an SUV, I think it looks good - although the rear end has too much of an Asian look IMO, but whatever. My wife and I went to San Francisco last weekend to visit some family and all I can say is; wow. GM cars are totally non-existent there (other than rental cars). I thought Houston was bad - hell, Houston looked great for GM compared to the Bay Area. If I saw a GM product, it was an Escalade or Tahoe (and not very many of them), or a truck or van that was being used commercially (although I did see a couple of Enclaves/Acadias/Outlooks believe it or not, and some of them didn't even have bar codes on them) . I saw a couple of new Cadillacs and a bunch of older late 90s/early 2000s Saturns, but hardly anything, and I mean nothing else new from GM, other than rentals of course. If it was new and privately owned, it was Japanese almost every single time. I would say GM has about 3% of the new car market in San Francisco. That's absolutely pathetic, considering the fact that California has a high concentration of tech savvy, visionary types that GM should be going after like gangbusters. I thought for sure I'd see a few Astras at least - but I didn't see a single one. It's funny, I thought I didn't see that many new GM cars here, but I guess compared to the Bay Area, GM isn't doing so bad in Houston. I didn't see them in the same numbers as I did Japanese cars, but Ford seems to be doing okay there (especially the Edge). Of course by ok, I mean maybe 7% of the market or something. I must say though that other than everyone owning a Toyota, SF is a pretty cool town.

I love the CTS. I even saw a couple of them in import friendly San Francisco this weekend. This new V Series is just insane.

I love the CTS. I even saw a couple of them in import friendly San Francisco this weekend.

Good Caddy lineup: BLS "Alpha" sedan (if it looks like a baby CTS) CTS Sedan CTS Coupe CTS Station Wagon STS with Chinese SLS interior new front wheel drive SRX Cadillac version of Volt

There's still hope yet if GM keeps Caddy sedans rear wheel drive - even if they're smaller. I'm intrigued by Alpha a lot.

Yeah, super exciting topic, right? We all went out to brunch last Sunday and she wanted me to drive so I didn't want to pass up the chance (I had not driven it yet). It's an 04 Vue, with about 20k miles on it, that she purchased back in 06 upon our suggestion (yes, she only drives about 2 miles to work each day). I have to say I didn't think it drove that well. It felt slow, the CVT tranny was slightly annoying and anemic and the brakes felt really bad. I actually liked my 98 Jimmy better - which I wasn't expecting at all. I haven't driven a new 2008 or 09 Vue yet, but I hope for GM's sake that it drives better than her 2004. It's interesting, because the old Vue and the new Vue seem to be pretty popular. I wonder if she just needs to have the dealer give it a good once over?

I'm currently watching Project Runway on the Bravo channel (okay, my wife loves this show, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be watching it, seriously), but tonight's show is interesting because the designer's challenge is to make their clothes out of material found in a Saturn Vue. (like seat belts, fabric, floor mats, etc)

I like Argen's post too - made me think of something insanely out of the box for Pontiac. Thinking about what Pontiac could be in the future based on how cool it was in the past, I think GM could intelligently make Pontiac hip, chic and kind of fuel efficient in a sort of "what a real BMW imitator Mazda could be" sort of way: Pontiac G8 and G8 ST Keep the Solstice and bring out Solstice Coupe Alpha Pontiac Sedan Pontiac version of Volt (or Extended Range Electric Vehicle ) NO SUV's or X-over garbage. Definitely give Pontiac a version of the Volt with Pontiac styling. There's method to this madness (mileage for CAFE) - and I also think it would give Pontiac an added "green" type of swagger to it. If marketed right, it could work I think. The problem with this of course would be no small, affordable Pontiac (until the E-Flex drive train became "affordable") But it would certainly be a much more respectable lineup. I cold see this being a tough sell, but at this point, what does GM have to lose? It isn't like the G6 sells in Camry type numbers now anyway. I would market this lineup by talking up how awesome the 60s GTO's were and how that heritage was the driver behind the new lineup. Oh well, we all know GM isn't going to do anything that cool unfortunately. Cue the song "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum.

It's a nice looking car, I hope it sells. Any predictions on how many they'll sell here in the States?

As I suspected, the Impala is almost half fleet. No wonder why I see so many around import friendly Houston - they're probably either rental cars or someone's company car. I saw one at this trendy cafe the other night (quietly sitting amongst the Camry's, Accords and Yaris') - I became giddy with "Go America's Home Team" excitement - only to walk by it and see a bunch of boxes of what looked like pharmaceutical samples and sales literature on the back seat. Oh well. The Malibu is a sales disaster too guys, I hate to really say that - but it's sort of true. I really hope the General can start convincing people to buy there mainstream sedans - if they can't, they're really going to be a lot smaller than they even are now over the next few years.

I like the LX cars personally. Where is that? Western Canada? Beautiful scenery!

I wasn't trying to imply that the Federal Reserve was actually part of the Govt. Loki, you're definitely right - the Federal Reserve is essentially a private bank that loans (or prints) money for our Government; I was simply writing that they're the ones that bailed out Bear Stearns - with the complete backing of our fearless leaders in Washington. Whether or not we think the Federal Reserve should even exist would be a fun topic for the Lounge I think. As an aside, a good friend of mine wants me to read the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island" - he tells me it's a real eye opener about the Fed and their relationship with big banks and Washington.

Apparently the Big 3 are going to ask the Govt. for $25 Billion in cheap money. The term "bailout" kind of pisses me off, but that's how our brainiacs in the media love to spin it. I personally have mixed emotions about it, because there's this part of me that feels a lot of the Big 3's problems were brought on by themselves. But on the other hand, if we can spend untold millions in Iraq (Halliburton anyone?) - give money to Isreal, spend money on army bases in Japan, have the Federal Reserve "bail out" other big banks and mortgage companies, etc, etc; then I say, why not give money to the Big 3? After all, they're actually producing a useful, tangible product that utilizes American resources and employs a lot of people within our own country. http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB1219...MjMyNjI1Wj.html

It's interesting, if not humorous, to read a lot of the anti-GM comments on the website. This is the kind of Tomfoolery thinking that GM has to deal with - a strong sentiment, especially from the left - that considers GM as being full of $h! . They have to figure out how to convey the message that Toyota is just as guilty as they are for jumping on the high profit truck/SUV gravy train. People are dumber than $h! when it comes to the auto industry and what it truly looks like in North America, and they need to do a better job of getting the message out that: A) their products are good and competitive with Honda/Toyota and that B) they sell fuel efficient cars. Without that, they're f@#ked. They need a better PR/marketing department - PERIOD.

I've actually always liked watching the Charlie Rose show on CBS - especially on nights when I was having trouble falling asleep and I wanted to watch something quasi-interesting. Anywho...very interesting to watch for any GM fan. http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/8/18...eo-rick-wagoner

It's funny, I sort of forgot the Sport Truck version of this was coming out up until I saw the news about the official name a day or so ago. I like it. I'm glad the G8's are getting the DI V6 - but hopefully it will be at least 300 hp and geared pretty low (or is it high?) for acceleration (or at least have that option for those not worried about gas mileage). I've driven the V8, and it's really pretty fast, but a good running V6 G35 or IS350 could actually keep up with it to 60. I'd love to see a rear drive V6 Pontiac that could keep up with an IS costing 10k more- I think it would be pretty sweet - but because of the 4000 lbs curb weight, I think she'll need a little more than 300 - just sayin'. We can all say that that's what the V8 is all about, but I'd love to be able to say I could do it with a DI 6. At the end of the day though, I think I'd personally get a black G8 GT Sedan with the 6.0L V8 if I were really serious about this car.

Just saw it a little while ago near my house in Houston. I must say this would probably be a very interesting car to drive for a day. Especially at a track. I'd still get a Z06 over this though. (BTW - that's the hood, windshield and right side wiper on the old Jimmy)

I've actually been seeing a lot of Jimmies and Blazers like mine (mid to late 90s).

In the words of my late father - "we're turning into a Nation of ass holes" hahahahahaha! :rotflmao:

Yeah, I just wanted to see what everyone's take is on the Tundra on this site. Admittedly I sort of like them, but I'd rather have a Big 3 full size truck any day - mainly on principle, and because I think the Tundra is still a little odd looking when you get right down to it. I had two GMC Sierra's at one point (for a business I had) - a gold 2001 2WD with a 4.8L and a 2004 Z71 with a 4.8L (I was happy to find a brand new white cloth seat 4.8L Z71 on a GMC lot here in Houston back in 2004, kept the price nice and low) and I thought they were both great rides. I periodically toy with the idea of another full sizer to replace the aging Jimmy, but I'm just not sure with gas being this high nowadays. I miss the way those full size trucks drove, especially out on the open road (I took a lot of road trips between here and Colorado in those trucks).

Yeah, it kind of seems like Renault-Nissan is going to merge with Chrysler here in the next year or so. They're already collaborating on the next generation Ram/Titan and the Versa/Dodge small car. It'll be interesting to see. Incidentally, I think the 09 Ram is going to be pretty sweet.

Might seem like an odd topic for this forum, and if anyone thinks it should be redirected somewhere else, let me know. I've brought it up here before (probably in the Sales Ticker forum), but I really feel like I see more 2007/08 Tundra's than I do more Silverados. I'm in Houston, and Toyota does really well here pretty much across the board, but it's actually pretty wild how well this new Tundra does around here. They're basically everywhere - and I see all types of people driving them. I look out the window at my office, and it's nothing for me to see 2 or 3 Tundra's within the course of a few minutes it seems. I know they're doing right at about 90k a year (I think they sold 200k last year), but it seems like they're on a neck and neck pace with GM full size trucks here in the Houston area. Where would a break down of how well a particular vehicle sells for a given region be found? Anyone have any guesses as to why this might be? I know the Tundra is built right down the road, and Toyota is already really strong in Texas (Toyota Center is where the Rockets play for Christ's sake), but is it just because we're such a strong truck area anyway? I'm stumped. For the record - I've driven a Tundra and a Sierra - GM does have some real competition here I'm afraid. I know this is a dying market, but I think Toyota definitely did this truck right. No worries, I don't think I could bring myself to buying one, but still...