oldshurst442

The Mustang and Camaro have gone with base 4 cylinder engines. I dont see as how the Challenger cant do the same. Plus, the Challenger has gone all wheel drive too on the 6 cylinder version. So, its not as if the Dodge engineers and marketing folk are afraid to mess with a supposed muscle car formula... If anything, with 4 cylinder pony cars from GM and Ford and AWD with Mopar in theirs, I think the Dodge engineers and marketing folk are full aware of the possibilities to keep the Challenger and Charger nameplates alive. 'Tis not in Auburn Hills that is the problem, but the "F" part of FCA... If the "F" part in FCA would release some R&D funds for the "C" part which includes Dodge and not totally soak up the Jeep and Ram profits only for Alpha Romeo, Fiat and Maserati, then Dodge and Chrysler will survive just fine, if not...

There was even talk about resurrecting the Barracuda name plate and making that a smaller and lighter convertible based on the Giorgio platform. And If Im not mistaken, this was why all the talk was about how the Challenger would also be on the Giorgio platform too. Or something like that... All those 5 year product reviews that Marchionne did every 6 months...had FCA projects going in all directions, then cancelling, then re-approving, then shelving, then reassessing, then pleading to other manufacturers to merge or form partnerships with, then trying to force partnerships with other manufacturers, then seeing nobody is interested, then issuing more 5 year product reviews every 6 months going in all directions, then cancelling, then re-approving, then shelving, then reassessing....rinse and repeat. Before I forget, somewhere in there in between all those 5 year product reviews every 6 months, FCA separated with Ferrari. Probably a good thing for Ferrari. As for the C in the FCA part which includes Dodge. The future looks grim Im afraid...

I agree with you on the top speed part, but the 0-60 and quarter mile stuff on the Model Y is pretty fast tho. Just like the other 3 Teslas. I guess the Model Y cant be a winner on speed on all fronts then? Because I dont know what else to say about it.

Yeah...I heard about Adidas too! Twice cockblocked. LOL Ironic to the S3X part and what I just said in that when we were young , we used to say that Adidas stands for All Day I Dream About Sex

I thought it was Mercedes... Cool, it was Ford.

And that is why the deliberately tried to sabotage Bombardier's C Series and the sales they made to Delta... Forcing Bombardier, because although the 3rd largest airplane manufacturer in the world after Airbus and Boeing, still very very small, to partner up Airbus. Airbus gets a brand new, state of the art aircraft filling a very lucrative niche, for peanuts and eventually will be buying up the the rights to the airplane... Bombardier dumped billions on this, pissing off many Canadians in the process... (there are many reasons for this though) In other words, Boeing phoqued Canada (Quebec) because they did not want that competition, but got it anyway, allowing their bigger rival to acquire the airplane for free practically... And now ironically, Boeing is in deep doodoo over the Max 8

That and European countries, other than England, stand by their automotive companies no matter what they do... Germans will never turn their backs on the German makes. Proof: Diesel sales in Germany are on the uptick and Im willing to bet the farm the German brands are profiting from that... https://www.motortrader.com/motor-trader-news/automotive-news/january-diesel-sales-increase-bucks-trend-germany-07-02-2019 As far as Boeing goes, I read: https://nationalpost.com/news/heres-the-terrifying-reason-the-737-max-8-is-grounded And apparantly the last accident, the 737 Max 8 was bobbing up and down as well, but the reasons for it doing that is still under investigation. And THAT is another reason why I dont think autonomous driving for cars will EVER happen! Airplanes have had computer flying the aircraft and controlling its flight characteristics for as it seems nowadays...forever. And as you can see, still not perfected. Awesome tech, as a F-117 could not stay in the air without computer control, but accidents do happen, as we could see...and pilots themselves are furious when they cant physically themselves control the airplane... Pilots, are still in the cockpit making decisions on flight controls, yet silicon valley thinks that an autonomous pod without a human being being aware of the driving situations will work out?

Mr. Balthy. Its part of the sex appeal of driving and owning a Tesla. Teslas are not just same ole same ole, save the planet from ourselves electric vehicles. When unveiling the Model 3 he was quoted in saying: "At Tesla, we dont make slow cars." Tesla's 4 vehicles now officially spell S-3-X-Y. 3 because Mercedes blocked him for using the letter E. SEXY And speed is sexy. And speed, apparently, sells. And what seems to be amusing is that Tesla engineers are harnessing what electric motors can do in propelling a vehicle with much speed and getting solid range with the batteries. Im sure that if Tesla engineers geared the motors and the batteries and the computer software towards less speed, that the range would be slightly more than what Tesla vehicles currently actually offer, but Im also sure that talking about range without the speed might be less sexy and therefore a lot less sales. Its Tesla's marketing and image. And it seems to be working. I wouldnt change up the Model Y's image to be different from the other 3 Tesla models. As far as the shares going down...maybe its because Tesla has hinted that in the next quarter, Tesla might be losing money...again...and therefore hocus pocus smoke and mirror announcements of another model might not have deflected that reality...

Toughie... It all dépends on the context and tone of voice, I guess. Picture a Sam Malone of Cheers fame. Or Dan Fielding of Night Court fame. In other words, a man whore. A lothario. A woman walks into a bar, but she is NOT sleazily dressed, normal attire waiting for her girlfriends/boyfriend/working collègues to arrive and this cruizer guy strikes up a conversation and it lends to say to her "You're a lot to visually process"... In today's PC, #metoo, world, not a flattering thing to say. Hell, in that scenario that I described, even in the loosey goosey era of the 1970s and 1980s, it be a hard sell... Same scenario, but the girl looks lke she wants to be picked up by a guy to have a one night stand (does that even happen anymore?) I dont think its offensive. But, if two friends are talking. Two very good friends, when consensuel flirtation has taken place many times before, I do not see any harm there. Especially if the lady has worn something tres tres sexy, not necessarily anything revealing, but tres tres sexy, I dont think its offensive at all... If two not so quite friendly acquaintances but friends just the same are talking and are together in a casual surrounding and there has been some very mild flirtations going on, and the guy says that...in a very funny and charming way, not harmful at all. But if he says that staring at the girls breasts, drooling like a pig, well...offensive. Now...if the lady happens to be..fat. Well...not a very nice thing to say, no matter what the tone suggests.

Razor-slit headlights and who inspired what? Maybe Transformers Camaro Bumblee in 2014 movie perhaps? I was always intrigued by the Soul's styling inside and out. The EV version is quite interesting too. What you posted there is the next gen Soul? Looks damn fine if you ask me. I like. Those razor slit headlights give it a sense of class in my opinion.

I could live with the term deflection. It is more accurate to describe it that way, sure. ? I agree to all that paragraph 100%. Many people continue to diss the 400 for only having 180 HP on the Olds engine (and as high as 200 and 220 for the Poncho) but what they do not know, despite all that power robbing smog equipment underneath, that the Pontiac 400 had 325 ft/lbs of torque @ 2200 RPM. That was enough to get the Trans Am moving very quickly. The Ferrari 308 of that time period made 252 HP...more than the Trans Am but still paltry to what the muscle cars just a short 3-4 years prior made and in torque...a very laughable 209 ft-lbs @5000 RPM. But nobody laughs at Ferrari...I never understood that. I will agree to the 3.8 liter (I must have some contrast between you and I. Im Canadian so Ill do this in liters. Besides, for me, anything below 4.9 liters is in the metric system. Above that is in cubic inches.) being engineered the way it was with the turbos and the pace cars, was indeed targeted for the younger buyers, but cubic inch V8s was still the way to go and Pontiac had the advantage here. At least Buick foreshadowed to what was going to come in the next decade, but I guess GM beancounters put an end to brand identity when all GM brands had lost that freedom to be independent. I guess, for all that ambiguity on my part, for not really caring to be precise, I was spot on with the 455 going away when I implied that it did. COOL! But I appreciate the more detailed response from you here! And I REALLY appreciate you correcting yourself. That is super cool with me!

And while semantics IS what you said... Semantics is also trying to focus on parts of a conversation that have nothing to do with the discussion on hand... I said that the GS above was a 1973?. It went away...1-2 years... You telling me it stayed another 1-2 years therefore you are wrong about Buick... is semantics... Me saying that the CAN-AM Poncho is the only Colonnade worth mentioning after 1975 and you posting pics of a pace car Buick 3.8 turbocharged V6 when I said the 455 went away and Buick started developing the 3.8 and 5-6 years later we get the GN and GNX is...still semantics because in the grand scheme of things, without the minute details of getting the timeline right to the minute and second, I got it right...no...not with the precision of a Bulova moon watch in the timeline side of things...but my words were still true...countering with bad badge engineering pics from what the other poster was trying to convey with said bad badge engineering Buicks, which was waaaaay out in left field... But...it is what it is...

But...still all semantics...

You dont give rebuttals...you deflect. I find that insulting to my intelligence. I like back and forth discussions. Tell me your point of view, Ill tell you mine. We duscuss. You explain yourself. I explain myself and ideas are exchanged. You could tell me I mis-interpet, Or I got that wrong. Show me where making sure that you are correct in your analysis without ignoring MY side of things and we good... Dont give me credit at all, laugh and troll me without any rebuttal and yeah...I find it insulting...

OK..I mis-interpret...with you... Not with Blu...Im on point with Blu... I do not care when the GS went away...in THIS instance because automotive history was not directed towards the GS... That whole statement above implies that a 1977 Pontiac CAN-AM was truly the one that had the effort behind it to rekindle some sort of muscle car revival in context to Buick trying to sell to the youthful side of things... That statement above implies that a real GS went away shortly after 1973...and the consequent Buick Colonnade was a neutered affair...Sure...the way its written, you could read it to be 1975...but that is not the focus on what year it went away as I did not put a concrete year on it. I questioned my own authority on it by not being sure if it was a 1973 model and then I said it went away...1-2 years after that... Signifying and attesting and NOT focusing on went it actually went away but it did in fact go away sometime soon...and what remained was a neutered car and the only Colonnade worth mentioning that had any youthful aspirations WAS the 1977 CAN-Am.. To boot...you ignored the fact that I said I was born in 1973...regardless if the GS went away in 1977, and not in 1975 or 1971...I was STILL too young to remember the GS...but cherry picking 1 thing form the whole package seems to be an issue... And this was NOT an authority of automotive history...it was a memoir of how one person views one brand versus another in the passing of time...to which a year or two or three of when a model was introduced or went away doesnt mean much in the grand scheme of things... And although automotive history means a lot to me too, not in discussions like these... I hope you get to complete your B-59 and it becomes a proper Invicta GS as only how Buick could have done one. I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart!

Balthy buddy... you tend to always ignore the message... The message is NOT wrong...a year or two difference does not chande the message... WHO THE HELL CARES WHEN THE GS WENT AWAY???!!! THAT was NOT the argument... YOU could make it the argument...and THAT would be semantics... That on top...is what NEEDED to be said... NOT this: Buick did not do that...not with the H-Body and definitely not with the J Body... Again...WHO THE HELL CARES WHEN THE Colonnade GS WENT AWAY? 1975? 1977? It certainly did not make it past 1979... But is THAT the argument to begin with? So...how was I wrong by posting pics of very bad badge engineered H-Bodies to say that Buick did NOT even try to sell to the youth? Oh...I know...I said a very general statement of "the GS went away a couple of years after that" that makes my statement wrong... Sure...whatever you say, Balthy...

Yet...no answer or rebuttal to the post where the Acura pics reside... So...you still sticking to your idea that Buick tried to sell to the youthful market using the H-Body and J-Body? Because its my turn to laugh... PSS: yet those rust bucket POS Japanese imports have caused a real problem for American car brands in the USofA... Like I said...no real rebuttal...just empty insults...

PS: What are you gonna "correct" me on? Because I said Opel sourced J-Platform? Who the hell cares about the accuracy of THAT statement? Even if its not accurate...the message is NOT wrong because I used exaggeration... Opel was a part of GM then...it dont matter where the J Platform came from...it came from GM engineering from all its brands... But GM butthurtness fanboys WILL take offense to that when someone says that it a condescending way......when they shouldnt...but its said that way to trigger you....and it works...so the irony is that when you ask me if Im triggered...its really you that is triggered... But THAT is NOT the point... The point being, is that Buick was NOT making youthful cars aimed at the youth. Buick, and all of GM's brands were trying to cut costs to be profitable and platform sharing was the answer...except it was not platform sharing they were doing...they were doing the wrong way of platform sharing...they were doing god-awful badge engineering... And if THAT to you guys means selling cars to the youth, then Im wrong then!!!

Im cool as a cucumber... Are you? That would be twice you call me other by my name and Balthy took offense for me calling him out on semantics... Stop with the blinders, both of you, and accept the fact that Buick...even with the GS of muscle car fame in the 1960s, was NEVER into the youth market. In fact, they created the GSX for it to be a tad more colourful for the young to be more muscle car than uptight old man's car like a GTO... And the GS was relatively late to the party compared to the GTO and the 442 in 1964... The Riviera was in 1964 was NOT a youthful entry...it was more for distinguished gentlemen... Its called showing you proof...and calling out your bullshyte!!! ?

But you always do play semantics... and I did NOT run astray...on ANY point... The 455 went away... The 3.8 was bought back by Buick from Land Rover that Buick sold to them sometime in that era...I really do not care about the accuracy of the years...its IRRELEVANT to the POINTS being made... The 3.8 liter V6 in the late 1970s were raced at NASCAR or something...which intrigued Buick engineers further and decided to use that for their Regal to create a new muscle car for the modern times that was fuel efficient...the GN was born... GN died because GM went to FWD for most of their cars... Dont matter...Acura did youthful FWD cars...Buick did not in that SAME TIME FRAME!!! THOSE are the points being made...THOSE are ACCURATE...anything else anybody wants to "correct" is JUST SEMANTICS!!! I JUST included a tad more details just to SHOW you guys I KNOW what Im saying IN THE CONTEXT OF TIME!!!

No! YOU are looking at them with GM blinders on! Those folk that bought those cars were GM lifers....WERE GM lifers as Im willing to bet, those folk went away and bought Japanese imports... I AM looking at them in relation to time...Its THOSE cars that started the GM erosion of market share in the US that Honda, Toyota and Nissan eventually got and created Acura, Lexus and Infiniti...to DISPLACE the American luxury brands... Its THOSE cars that were engineered crappy and failed many Americans and Americans would never return to American brands... Less than two car generations from the H-Body to the J Body and the Japanese had Acura and Lexus and Infiniti on our shores... Between that big block 455 GS Colonnade to the 1987 GNX...and Acura was selling Integras and Legends... Two years later and the NSX changed the world... YOU want to talk about YOUTHFUL, Sporty LUXURIOUS RIDES???!!! This wiped the floor with ANY T-Type Skyhawk... THAT is a 1987...It really is a Honda Civic... But Honda had this that wiped the floor with the badge engineered Z24. This is a 1986 1986 Legend 1989 You honestly think...that what Buick gave us between 1977 and 1987...is YOUTHFUL? Is WORTHY of the Buick nameplate? In context of time???!!! Take off your GM blinders...because in 1977... THIS is what Honda was giving us... So...in context of time...even with a RWD H-Body...had the H-Body been as good as YOU are trying to sell me on context of time...and then morphed in to the J-Body...you think that Acura would succeed in the 1990s? Get outta here with the H-Body bullshyte! Even worse for you to try to sell me on the J-Body... And Im a HUGE defender of the J-Body...but O know its limitiations...

And you are trying to argue with me trying to tell me that Buick actually tried hard to sell to the young...in which Im PROVING to you that is NOT the case... That GS on top, 1973? lasted another 1-2 years...then it was gone. The 455 was gone and Buick went to their tried and true 3.8. And 5-6 years later they developed the GN...but in between there was nothing from Buick to get the young folk... Pontiac developped a CAN-AM in 1977 with the Colonnade body style but the other 3 versions from Buick, Chevy and Oldsmobile were just bad, neutered vehicles...(Hey...I know why, the 1970s...we dont have to state the reasons why...) YOU mentioned the H and J platorm cars...and I showed you those were nothing but crappy FWD redundancy compliancy appliancy... in which Cadillac got jealous for whatever reason...to do a young hip car and failed in the mid 1980s with that FWD redundancy compliancy appliancy ... (The H-Body was in fact RWD...I know!!! BIG DEAL!!! Still crappy badge engineery, compliancy, appliancy) The T-Type Skyhawk??? PLEASE???!!! The Z24 barely got any respect and YOU are gonna sell me on a Buick version? The J platform was a cheap Opel sourced platform...it worked for Chevy and Pontiac to a point...but... CMON, man! GM badge engineering at its WORST!!! And people were not fooled by it either! Only GM blind faithful! Take off the GM blinders and talk to me without the bias...

You mean this Skyhawk Or this one? Or is it this one? (The only one that has somewhat different front and rear is the Pontiac version, but the silhouette is the same...) And this Skyhawk? Which one is the Buick and which one is the Pontiac and which one is the Oldsmobile? Oh...yeah...I forgot...Cadillac also tried to get younger the same way... Or is that the Chevy version? What is more younger? A T-Type or a Z24? Or are the Opel versions the youngest? The 1960s GS and GSX and the 1980s GN and GNX were only a couple of models that lasted a very short period of time that Buick themselves did not really promote. As soon as they came, they left... The 1960s GS last at least to model generations, but the GN and GNX were on the G-Body's last legs...only 1 generation for Dark Vader's automobile...and only 3 or 4 years offered on the GN. The GNX was a one shot deal... The GS is older than I am and by the time I was born it was gone, and Im 46 years old. If I did not know about cars, I wouldnt know it existed. The GN and GSX was a time before the world wide web went online to the world...almost a decade before...at a time when cell phones were bigger than bricks. CDs just came out....Cassettes were all the rage. Beta was still in competition with VHS... THAT Buick effort was such a loooong time ago, we might as well just group the GN and GNX with the GS and GSX...

Cool idea..but I dont think people will buy into the idea that Buicks are young folk vehicles no matter how hard GM tries... Crossover coupes is toooo cool for Buick. The Buick brand in North America is just about done I think. I would market Buick as a stuffy, snobby brand rather try to go hip with "I cant believe this is Buick" commercials. Instead, Id be doing "Do you have Grey Poupon" commercials and instead of the guy pulling up next to a Rolls Royce for him to ask that, the guy asking would be pulling up next to a Buick... the only thing would be that the driver of the Buick need not be an old conservative white male...but anybody, black or white, male or female, that passes off as stick up the ass, rich snob.

Yeah...I could see a darkish green, emerald metallic paint job on Mazda cars and CUVs... Like this Vette But how many dullards would actually go for that colour other than the Miata? Im willing to bet, not many.