PurdueGuy

surgeont, perhaps what you should learn about forums is that it's rather annoying when a thread has been dormant for a loooong time, and someone brings it back just to make some off the cuff comment that doesn't add anything to the thread.

Been playing since very late alpha.

It's that land between slow and fast. It's plenty of pep for normal driving, but slow by racing standards.

It's a lot of money for assembly work in most parts of the country. $15/hr may not be excessive in socal, but in most of the rest of the US (example: where most of these plants are located) the cost of living isn't nearly so high, and $15/hr + benefits is a pretty substantial wage for this sort of work. I know, I've worked in a similar factory, and everyone I knew there was VERY happy to be making $13-15/hr. Really, I don't think it's hugely excessive (though it is unnecessarily high for an entry wage), the real issue is that the UAW will be looking for another $2-3 wage increase next time 'round, and at that point GM would be really stupid to give it. There's also no real reason to be increasing entry wages when so many workers are out of jobs & would be glad to have those $13/hr jobs.

Even in concept version they couldn't give the "GT" more hp? Have they said a weight on these? Cuz the Saturn S-Series weighs only ~2400lbs, and the single cam variants came with very similar hp numbers - early ones were 85hp, later ones 100hp. My wife has an SC1 (SOHC), and I can tell you that the letters "GT" wouldn't belong anywhere on it. These cars better be uber light.

Doesn't look like a CUV...it's a 5dr hatchback like the Focus or Caliber, that's all. The Forester is a CUV.. Unless they are shrinking the Outback for the next gen, it's a CUV.

H-O-T

The bike thing's a neat idea. I like it stylistically in many ways, but not quite sold on the front end.

Continues the shift started with the current gen - the Outback is no longer a wagon/sedan, but a CUV. It completely encroaches on the Forester, and I'm not a fan. I have seriously considered a mid-00's Outback or Legacy wagon, but frankly don't like the current gen at all. I'd just buy the Forester, which GETS BETTER FUEL ECONOMY. How silly.

I think the M-B or BMW owner will just tell himself it doesn't matter, because his or her car is more refined, etc. Doesn't matter if they have never sat in or driven a Cadillac to know if it's refined or not.

They do - jobs. What kind of work do you do that you're getting $3k-4k in bonuses annually?

Think there will be an article like this about the Malibu Maxx SS in the 2040's?

I think GM does need to occasionally test the wagon market, though. Eventually CUVs are going to become "uncool" and the popularity of wagons will come back. Of course, it might be an evolutionary thing, as CUVs get smaller & lower, and next thing you know you're looking at a CUV and realize it's just a wagon (not much of a difference as it is, just height essentially).

The turbos going to be fine for 250k+ miles? Cuz a well maintained V8 is likely to be able to do that quite easily.

I like how the dodge website currently has on their homepage an image with the headline "CARS YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO DRIVE"... and the Avenger, Caliber, and Nitro aren't pictured. lol

Anyone know what kind of real world numbers the Ford EB V6 & GM 5.3L V8 are seeing? Because I'd gladly give up 1mpg highway to not have the extra maintenance & repair costs of a twin turbo engine. Of course, I'm someone who'd be buying the truck to drive for 200k+ miles. Someone who's convinced themselves they need something new every 3 years can go with whatever floats their boat (even if it's getting a model for good fuel economy to save money while they're throwing their money away on short-term vehicle ownership).

This is basically a lux-ized Astra? Charge too much for it, and the press will just compare it to the Saturn Astra pricing & say it's outrageous. First the Opel is going up market so this may be a good sign of what the new Astra will be more like in the future. Second few here know what a Opel Astra is like or even is. The compare will be to the Cruze and the key it to make it different enough to prove it is worth the extra money to those who whant more. I agree the Cruze will be the more common and notable comparison, but I can easily foresee a reviewer that doesn't like the car to heap on the "this is basically an Astra, which was sold here as a Saturn just a couple years ago for about $5k less". And of course they'll overlook that it's a different generation Astra, and that the Buick has a small heaping of extra lux goodies than the Astra Saturn got. When a reviewer decides to have a beef, logic isn't prevalent, and I expect this to come up. Question is whether it'll be an occasional thing, or a trend among reviewers, and if the public notices or cares.

The proof is in the pudding... or rather, how the pudding looks in 6 months.

This is basically a lux-ized Astra? Charge too much for it, and the press will just compare it to the Saturn Astra pricing & say it's outrageous.

It's been a year already? Feels like less than 6 months that they've been using that line.

Since it would take VERY little cost to make this, I think it could be a good product. Perhaps call it a "Ford F50 Transit"? But I think a real Ranger replacement ("F100"?) would be a good product in the lineup as well. The Transit-based vehicle could be very good for specific purposes, but doesn't come near filling what the Ranger could do, and leaves a pretty big hole in the product lineup. And if Ford had to decide between a Transit-based small truck and a more Ranger-like product, I'd think the Ranger-like product would be the better way to go.

Clean, but it doesn't really get me excited. *shrug*

Not necessarily. The original Mustang was released as a 1964 and 1/2. Not sure it's meaningful to make a model year standards statement with an example that's ~48 years old.

I'm not seeing it, there a particular BMW you have in mind?

Better than the current one, but still underwhelming. Of course the biggest thing they need to get right is the fuel economy, Toyota is lagging behind in this class in mpg.