PurdueGuy

I like Insignia, but I think they're best to stay with the same name they won car of the year with for more than 3 years. Either name would be good, tho.

sweet.

I kinda like it.

Actually, there are a lot of 10+ yr old ones around. 10 years would only be a '97. I see early 90's Camry's around all the time. Of course, I see early 90's GM product around all the time too. And Fords, and...

hopefully you're doing front pads and rotors (at least turning them). It's a waste to do just one part & not the other...

Actually, I would post that Toyota has been ignoring many of the principals of their own production system. I've studied lean, and the TPS does have a lot of things right, but it's only serves Toyota well if they actually follow the principals. In the last several years, we've seen Toyota become obsessed with becoming #1, shoving vehicles out the doors & down their dealers' throats (overproduction, big TPS & lean no-no), and in their push they've given incentives and demands of their plant managers that place quantity over quality. reg, your emphasis on testing... is that testing new designs, or testing product as it is produced? I know there are big trust issues with companies that move away from testing every product that comes down/off the assembly line - is that the issue, or do you feel they didn't test a new design sufficiently enough? Personally, I'd say they didn't test the new design enough AND didn't do sufficient testing initially in their new plant to ensure that processes were creating a quality product. Manufacturers can move away from testing as their processes become more reliable, but you can't just not test something when it's new.

Pros: -could probably be built to increase side impact safety -very cool looking, real "wow" feature Cons: -more expensive to build/repair than a standard car door -less space efficient than a standard car door (face it, you're basically storing a car door under your seat) -bound to be complications in snowy conditions We didn't really get a good look at the interior panels on these doors that I noticed (though I wasn't thinking to watch for it at the time) - interior panel design would definitely be affected. Overall... I think GM could be well served to look into this as a feature on a top of the line caddy. This is the kind of premium feature that would help justify moving more established features to be more commonplace on the other brands, like the Nav stuff that was discussed recently. If "wow" features like this set apart caddy and the like, then there's no need to worry about whether something like Nav will.

yay for both a fix, and good service to do so!

See... that seems silly. IMO, it should be optional in pretty much every vehicle offered by any of the upscale brands. Buick should be able to offer pretty much any features that have become somewhat standard for luxury vehicles, while Caddy does that plus pushes tech boundaries more. Some of you don't like the hierarchy of brands, and it doesn't need to be purely, strictly that way, but there is logic to it and some leverage in it.

I guess I'll hop in here & clarify my thoughts a bit (you know, the ones from like 3 pages ago. lol) I think it would be fine for Chevy to offer Nav, bluetooth IF it makes a good business case, which it probably does since systems are probably very easily swapped - if it's offered in another car of the same platform, it should be easy to offer in the 'bu. If it involves much R&D, then the minimal sales associated with it aren't worth it - chalk it up to hopefully another sale for the other division. Rear armrest... that's just stupidly simple - offer it. Don't even bother making it an option - design it, phase it in, and make it standard. Dual zone climate control... what a worthless waste of space, engineering time, and money in a car like the 'bu. Unless the experience between 90's buicks and the systems today is like night & day, then the difference in temperature is an insubstantial, silly amount. I see this as a gadget for those willing to buy gadgets even when they're completely not worth the money. The 'bu doesn't need gadgets like that. MY MAIN POINT from before is how many of you are acting about this - like it's the end of the world. You'd think Chevy came out and said "we will not offer any 6 cylinder engines - those are for the other brands." These are a few very non-critical, CONVENIENCE features that aren't available yet, and maybe won't be for this design. Seems like the appropriate response would be more like... "gee, that's kind of a shame - that'd be neat to see in the Chevy." Chevy being the volume brand, needs to hit the volume model out of the park where the volume sales are. They did that. You want Nav? Buy a Buick (please tell me Buick offers it, because that's where it needs to be, and much more the area to complain about if it's not available), or a Caddy, or a Saab. They need sales too, and maybe should have more reason for their sales than "I like how the headlights look better."

can you at least reveal how much longer the current contract is for (aka how much longer we have to suffer)?

There are different lug patterns, even within the same number of lugs, so no, a 5 bolt wheel may not fit any particular 5 bolt pattern. Being a Saturn S-Series guy, that's more what I know. So, for example, the S-Series has a 4X100 (I believe that's 100mm) pattern. This happens to be shared with a number of other cars, including the Ion, Civic, and many others. There are other patterns, though, which is why some aftermarket wheels have 8 lug holes in a square - it is made to fit two different 4-lug patterns. There can also be issues with offset, but I'm not sure I can explain that well, but even if a wheel has the same lug pattern, there is a chance it may still not fit right due to the offset.

I'm sorry, but it seems silly that some people are considering dual zone climate control (which got used pretty much never in my old Regal) and bluetooth requirements for a CHEVY. Sure, they would be nice as options, but c'mon, the way some of you rant about them not being there it's like they forgot to include air conditioning or windows. They're more gadgets than useful features - if you can't get along with your passenger(s) enough to pick a temperature, or manage to wait until you can safely answer your phone, you've got more serious issues than "what midsize car should I buy?"

highway miles are really easy on a car, not that that many miles isn't something to brag on. I'm assuming highway miles, since the car hasn't been out but, what, 3 years? 200k miles a year? Gotta be a lot of highway miles...

holy panel gap! j/k lol This is Corsa-sized?

+1 It still has some resemblance, though I agree on the Saab styling influence (and not in any bad way that I can see so far). I like it, I liked the original, I'm not sure which looks better. Guess I'll have to wait to be able to see the whole thing.

serp belt?

yeah, the replies I got basically said that the 5 speed auto spent too much time hunting for a gear. Sounds like it wasn't well executed.

I'm not really knowledgeable on the Ion tranny stuff, but I posted a link to your Q on SixthSphere.com, so I should have an answer to relay to you soon, unless someone on here beats me to it, which they might.

I would hope a professional driver knows how to use the side mirrors properly when the center mirror's view is blocked...

A couple of the SixthSphere people went to the same event & got pics & vids (vids aren't up yet). Their pics & thread are here: http://www.sixthsphere.com/astra-ride-n-dr...sry-t24804.html (warning - enough pictures to give a cable internet connection a mild heart attack)

The 'vette being compared to these other cars says a lot. Especially when it's not even the z06.

So essentially, we know... nothing. Nothing except that the MT article is inaccurate. Both brands could get the car, or just Pontiac. The only scenario that seems to be shot down is that of an exclusive chevy (aside from caddy, of course).

To be a little frank, it sounds like you don't really know what's going to happen and are just really pessimistic about it (though it sounds like your pessimism isn't unfounded). Maybe it'll be as bad as you fear, but maybe not. My advice: don't do ANYTHING out of the ordinary until AFTER the school has failed, in which case you should probably talk to your dad about what to do that won't get you kicked out of the school or some such thing. If the school ends up protecting this guy this time, why would they do differently if you physically confronted him? Bullys suck, but so would expulsion. Another thing to consider is that the school admin may be scared about how to deal with the situation. Anymore, they can get sued for any little thing, and in some cases can seemingly do no right. If they crack down on this other kid, then his parents might start crying and moaning, or sue them for this, that, or the other thing. They may very well fear a lawsuit from your end if the situation isn't delt with (and frankly, they should fear that.) They may be slow to react to the situation because they have to carefully plan out every step as if their jobs depend on it, because they might.

Chevy is not, or Chevy is not exclusively? Has the actual reply been posted somewhere and I missed it?