G. David Felt

I will tell you this, you will like some of the changes GM has made to their ordering program.

Shrooms

My brother in-law who has sprinters for his service repair business wishes GM would update their vans as he really hates the poor quality of the sprinter and the Euro roots. Hate to say it, but while many will buy the Euro re-badges to get the job done, many would prefer that they be American Engineered and built.

If they have the sales, then why not continue production till the new one arrives? Check out the competition of mid size trucks and then finalize your new product features and roll out the new Ridgeline.

Exactly, Thank you

Interesting that they are expanding their R lineup to cover everyone now. I just hope they do not loose the performance by throwing the R badge on everything. Chevy lost their way when they started to throw the SS badge on every model line and yet so many of the so called Top of the Line SS models were not really SS qualified IMHHO.

2014 Crew-cab CNG GM Truck, The GM Police Caprice, a wide variety of fleet trimmed auto's at the 2014 GM Fleet road show I attended last Thursday. Got some cool stuff to talk about once I finish my write up and review from the power on top. This includes some cool announcements from GM and a awesome Motorized seat that is available.

As we move to high strength steel, I can see the convertible only being in the luxury segment and select pony car segment as a full sky roof that opens will be far more practical for people. So far I see more people buying auto's with a sky roof that opens over a convertible desire. Just too limited a use if you live anywhere other than California or Florida it seems.

True black knight it could just be a bad surface ulcer, but my year and half in NJ showed me just how nice a car could look on the outside but be a rusty bucket of bolts on the underside. I agree the car is still worth checking out, but I would keep my hopes tempered till I had a chance to truly review the underside.

Loki, are you saying that like what GM is doing with their new Ecotec Engines, build a crate motor for replacements that includes VVT, cylinder deactivation from 6 to 3 during cruzing and direct injection? All 3 of these items are on the new Ecotec3 v8 engine lineup.

From what can be seen it has a single red seat and a metal dash and I agree with PurdueGuy, while they might have a record with this auto, it does not mean it is worth that price. Personally I would not even pay $500 let alone $50 for the ugly R&D auto. That is one best left in the history books as a learning exercise.

I have heard this from others as well and I am glad GM built a solid Turbo engine as far as people can tell at this time. Plus the cruz is considerably bigger than the Fiat 500 which I have always felts was a coffin on wheels.

Boy that rusted out rear bumper would make me want to double check the whole underside as I suspect it is rusted out and finished without some major restoration work.

Not sure what glue this guy is sniffing as DOHC has never outperformed a traditional pushrod. They have lots of HP and very little Torque and as such require masses of fuel and other gadgetry to make them fly. Yes I know many will point to all the exotic cars and even Porsche with their DOHC motors, but when you get it down to a basic motor, they all fail when you compare raw basic output compared to a pushrod.

Very Cool!

My fear is that these entry level turbo cars will lul people into a false sense of security and then when they really need instant power they end up in an accident. I personally do not feel these cars are really all that safe on todays freeways.

But the AMG will not bring down the mighty MB like the Aztec did to Pontiac. Course more than just that turd was to blame for Pontiac's death.

I am so shocked it could actually handle the weight. Usually those steel box's filled with tools are freakin heavy. Pretty darn good shape for the area with all the road salt they put down. This just again confirms my belief that they need mini pickups back in the market for sale.

Visual Stimuli

I agree with what Drew said, I wonder if this is a demo car that has not been kept clean and updated as the new CUE updated interface is really good compared to the prior version. In regards to the rear seat, all three for me are the same, once it is setup for a 6'6" tall person no one can sit behind me. Is a much shorter person is driving I can fit in the back of all three but the BMW has the least amount of headroom and then it is a tie between the Audi and Cadillac. From a Power Performance stand point, the ATS wins hands down. Far superior driving machine compared to the other two.

I normally would want to say that a ubber luxury car company should stay focused on what they do best, but we all know the profits that are here and I like the style Jag has so I am excited to see their SUV. It has to be better than the mess that Bently or Rolls had that is still supposedly moving forward.

You could be right that Fiat wants to try and crack the nut again of the US market, but then they are going to have to change their designs as currently the Fiat lineup will not appeal to the majority of the US population. Then again, they could be looking to do what Europe really needs to do and that is close down the over capacity production lines and lay off people and this could allow them to swallow and consolidate and force change that gov's have been fighting just for political survival. I think the next 3-5 years we will still see 2-3 more companies go to the History books as the global corporations consolidate and streamline product plans. Next big hiccup will come from China where they have a ton of gov supported car companies that are cloning what is in the market already and once they try to push out beyound China, some will make it and most will die.

I agree with Drew and many others here that this is a perfect chance for GM to use the Opel Division to build a global compact to large van line that would compete rather than re-badge an ugly, very ugly Peugeot or Fiat which I just do not see what is so great about those vans after looking at all the links. It just makes me want to

Always interesting to see what responses I can get out of people!

I think besides a body siding with manly bulges over the wheels, a dual hood scope that feeds a twin turbo's into the 4 banger with at least an 8 speed manual and a posi lock diff would do it.