PurdueGuy

You forgot about the fuel cell 'noxes? Shame.

looks good, congrats!

underhood pics plz!

cool stuff. Bet those battery packs cost a pretty penny...

Similar concept, except hopefully more roomy, meeting modern safety standards, and hopefully better mpgs. Heck, maybe they could get the weight lower than 2,200. I would think they could get mpgs into the 50's with a modern drivetrain in a lightweight vehicle. Add the benefit of low cost of repair/maintenance (no huge battery pack to worry about whether you'd need to replace within the life of the vehicle at a huge cost), and I think it would have a lot of appeal.

This isn't exactly an alternative fuel item, but a high mpg vehicle related thread. In the pursuit of highly efficient cars, the focus is on electronics. Motors, actuators, batteries, fuel cells, generators... on and on. What might pay off on a broader scale, however, is simply materials. Materials like carbon fiber, among others, can be made to be strong and rigid, comparable if not better than traditional materials used in structural, body, and trim parts, and at a much lower weight. The downside of course is cost, but many of these materials do not yet benefit from economies of scale. So, how about a car such as the following: +Cobalt-sized car, 4-door, 4-5 passenger, decent trunk space. +Extensive focus on weight reduction, including some use of high-strength/low-weight materials. Weight around 2,200lbs +Small, direct injected, VVT 4-cylinder engine, 110hp (puts car's power/weight ratio in line with 2.2L Cobalt) +Design focus on simplicity, ease of maintenance and repair. +Throw in a few high tech toys (audio/nav/etc) to help justify the price over small entry sedan (cobalt) I would think such a car could get into the 40 mpg's for the EPA, into the 50's in real life, be priced below the hybrids, and have a vastly different appeal than the hybrids (very little to break/replace).

does anyone (aside from maybe tractor manufacturers & obscure asia-only manufacturers) make a 4-speed manual anymore? *scratches head* 5-speed is pretty much standard now, with 6-speed being a more "premium" offering.

^what they should have done. *edit* lousy timing for a new page, I was referring to the concept pictures.

debadged = ultimate sleeper (for a stock vehicle)

chance that some hardware is in the way of installation, not sure. Talk to the dealer about it.

Looks pretty sweet to me. I'm the opposite on those two stylings - the earlier looks more boring/awkward to me, the latter more classy, IMO.

They get bonus points for being owned by GM, but I still wish Saturns were built in the US. I remain hopeful for the next gen Astra and at least some of the other rebadges to get built here (I'm still not decided if Mexico is any better than Germany... probably not.)

Voted: They're too conservative/boring. They are an Asian/Japanese manufacturer. (This doesn't really make me dislike them, but I prefer American manufacturers.) They play dirty, but make nice with the press and consumers. Other: They've forsaken quality for quantity, but still get treated like everything they touch is bulletproof.

If they get particularly dirty I clean 'em, but I'm not meticulous.

A company can really bring down the cost of the spare "doughnuts" in it's mainstream cars when those same wheels become the standard wheels of a car like this. :AH-HA_wink:

It's a major question (one that's important to the automakers). Yes, reviewers whine about no nav, and sometimes people whine right along, but how many people actually will/would shell out for it when it comes time to buy? IIRC, the #s from those cars that do offer it show a very small percentage of cars selling with it. If GM offered it, would it be because it makes good business sense, or because the reviewers whine about it? I honestly don't know...

define "a lot"

Ah, that sounds right (at least the Catera, I don't know Saabs very well at all). I used to think the L-Series & the Catera were on the same platform, because they used the same engine and were both rebadged european cars (both opels? Vectra & ??). Then someone pointed out that the Catera was RWD... oops.

I want to know what idiot made the graph for the 2.2L VVT. It doesn't need two different scales! Especially when people are comparing the two graphs... you just can't compare them at all without sitting there for a couple minutes trying to understand the varied scales & crap. >

G6 does still have the coupe & vert models to distinguish it from the Malibu & Aura. Just something to remember as we look at the 3 and see so much overlap.

+1 to the welcome back. any larger pictures of the car in the first post?

probably better to have upward overlap than the circular overlap that seems to exist now between Malibu/G6/Aura. Plus hopefully the Insignia will be that much more differentiated simply by being designed by Opel instead of GMNA.

I think the Aura still has more standard features, but yeah, there's a lot of overlap. Next gen Aura (Insignia) should help differentiate.

I'm surprised no one has asked this yet... what does this mean for the Dodge Demon?

Of the triad of ongoing semi-petty gripes about the Malibu (Bluetooth, Nav, and rear center armrest), I would say Nav is the least important. They offer the turn-by-turn audio nav, don't they? Sure it's not as good, but it at least addresses the issue... Where's the rear center armrest? Rode in the back of a G6 about a month ago, and found it would've been nice to have. Much more important than Nav, IMO. At least they addressed bluetooth, so I guess the triad of gripes is down to a... duo of gripes?