Mule Bakersdozen LS

I see where you guys are going with the three-in-one division, and I agree to an extent. I think Pontiac needs to focus on the sporty-performance (i.e. Mazda) aspect of things, Buick the near-luxury portion(VW/Acura/Mercury/Chrysler), and GMC-real trucks only-send Lambda and Theta-based vehicles to Chevy (Lambda), and to Buick for a compact, not mid-size crossover car-based SUV. A Buick version makes more sense because of rising competition from Mercury Mariner, Acura RDX, and BMW X3. Buick can take them if the Rapid (my name suggestion) is good enough. GMC is more premium than Chevrolet, but not as much as Acura or BMW. I think a Cadillac BRX would cheapen the brand, and why Buick should take it, with 2.8-liter DOHC High Feature or 3.6-liter HF V-6 engines.

Yeah I forgot the 3, but yes, it does get pricey-too bad Pontiac is missing out on that segment-it could be a popular go-getter (and yes, I see 3 and Cobalt as different compact car segments-the 3 has a more premium image-Cobalt and Toyota Corolla have a mainstream image). Thanks for the numbers VenSeattle-they're some mediocre or really poor numbers-30.3" of legroom in the coupe? Absolutely pitiful. And at a time when compact sedans are pushing toward 36" of rear seat legroom (the last Civic had 35-36" I think), the Civic loses it due to "style"-that car is so ugly in the pictures. And don't get me started on the downright pathetic Cobalt's 33.7" rear legroom on the sedan (31 I think on the coupe, which doesn't have an Easy-Entry sliding front seat, thus making rear seat access even more of a chore than it already was on the Cavalier).

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Colum...ubsubtypeId=216 Great article-it doesn't go too much into detailed ideas unfortunately, but I agree with what it does have to say-Chevrolet is fast (again) becoming like Rodney Dangerfield-big and not getting respect. It would help of course, if they had more style, and Cobalt, Malibu, and Uplander in particular had more passenger and cargo room.

Yeah I agree-I'm not seeing the good compact cars I used to-the Dodge Neon;s dead (note: there is no 2006 model-no brief fun after all), the Ford Focus is drastically cheap-looking and has an even worse price-to-equipment ratio than most GM models, Saturn ION, though it makes upscale marks by shedding the 1 sedan bottom-bunk level for 2006 is still an overall lousy car, and the Chevy Cobalt lags behind virtually every single compact car in terms of passenger room, especially the coupe. Are there ANY desirable compact cars? I also read the Consumer Guide review, and it got little more than an average rating, yet I'm sure it will be a Best Buy. Beats me.

Don't forget the 1999 Recon' concept car, it was to be productionized and codenamed GMT317 I think and of course, cancelled.

I still don't understand why these cars lost passenger and cargo room despite growing larger on the outside. I don't care what it is, I'm all for styling, but I'm even more for space efficiency.

Packaging-efficient? Have you seen the Pontiac G6, the coupe in particular? That is so inefficient, it makes a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass want to beg for packaging efficiency! GM and the other manufacturers (save for Toyota and Ford in most cases) have been getting ridiculously lazy in this regard and there is no excuse for it. Every GM car and truck needs to make the most of its passenger and cargo room available, and if they don't do so immediately, they will be in serious trouble, just like the 1970's all over again (though they weren't anywhere near as atrocious as Chrysler Corp. and Ford were).

Now that I look back on it, I'm a bit disappointed. I mean, if the TrailBlazer/EXT and Envoy/XL can have fully different exterior and interior styling/design and a different dashboard, why are Tahoe and Yukon exempt? The body is too soft, especially on the GMC, which should be chiseled professional grade. They may be raking in the profits, but they're still little more than a rebadged/regrilled Chevy. Sad, sad, sad. And why will the 4800 V-8 be standard in Tahoe or Yukon 2WD?

That's pretty high-but its still cheaper than an M5, which is $86,000 I think.

http://www.autodeadline.com/detail?source=...435247&mime=JPG Looks more different than I thought it would from the drawing-still interesting.

Not bad looking, though I'm still trying to understand why the Denali and SLT have not been merged together under the SLT trim. It would make sense so that it didn't intrude on Cadillac Escalade/ESV/EXT.

How is this car under the Malibu? Same class, same potential buyers.

Agreed-also toss in the 2.8-liter DOHC High Feature 210hp V-6-standard LT, optional Base/LS. Its a nice car with a great interior and great price to equipment ratio, decent passenger room (according to the specs, more cargo room should be in order with more power), but it could use a little imaginativity to it as well-like in the badging for example-exact same badging style as the dead Cavalier, Aveo, and Optra, and Uplander. Come on. Its a small detail, but still-I think even the smallest things can make a difference. And what gap would this leave in the lineup? I don't think it would leave any-Aveo covers the subcompact class, Cobalt the compact class (it desperately needs more room though), and Malibu for mid-sizers, at least on the front-drive sides.

I doubt we'll see a Caravan SRT (or even R/T-if they have a performance version, name it something else-PLEASE!), but I think we do or did have a Ram (1500) SRT-10 Quad Cab-don't quote me though. Also interesting to note that this is the first Ram crew cab (note: the Quad Cab is really a Club Cab extended cab with conventional doors and shrunken front doors fitted to it) in over 20 years-around 1985 was the last one I think.

Not a bad car-a little awkward on the 4-door notchback sedan styling, and the pricing could be a little lower, but on the other hand, they have a lot of equipment to offer for the $12,000 starting price. It comes in S and SL trim levels, both with a 1.8-liter DOHC I-4 engine I think it was. According to AutoWeek, the wheelbase is a (long for what's supposed to be subcompact) 102.4", and an also-long-for-class 169.1" overall length (probably a little shorter for the HB sedan).

Looks nice in that Midnight Blue (or is it Patriot Blue?) color, but those dually fender flares are unimpressive, recalling those archaic dogs known as the 1972-93 D/W-Series/Ram pickups. What happened to the other fender flares on the DRW Ram 3500's?

I'd prefer the 3900 V-6 over the 3500 V-6 for sure, but neither one of those engines have a reason to survive when there are 2.8, 3.6, and supposedly (at least it was once planned) 3.2-liter DOHC High Feature V-6 engines. There's absolutely no excuse for the HF engines not to be in the other cars.

Yeah and so did the LS (now LT) trim levels. It seems in 2006, Chevy seems to think people want wheel covers on non-base models rather than aluminum wheels. I saw the Maxx LTZ yesterday, I forget which color, the front end was okay I guess, but the bright-insert (I won't say chrome because they look and probably are fake) bodyside moldings didn't look like they belonged. All in all, I just wish the redesigned model would come sooner.

Thanks a lot for posting HarleyEarl! I'm looking for schools to transfer to in a year or two, and since I want to style for GM, I'd like to look at more than one place.

I guess they figure waste as much potential as possible considering the Chevy-looking Lucerne and a nothing-but-facelifted-DeVille...er....DTS.

Curvy, interesting truck. I prefer straight and stylish lines though for a pickup truck or truck-based SUV or van, but yeah-better than the ugh Montero Sport-based L200/Triton. I posted a topic on this truck via a GoAuto article a while back-had a picture of the extended cab.

LOL! What a waste of website space if its just that one page! I was thinking of Vertex, a cloth upholstery pattern in a previous Dodge or Chrysler (check some old brochures-they occasionally name their vehicles after the name has been used for an upholstery or wheel), but I guess Avenger would go well. Mopar better advertise this time and differentiate heavily, two things that I'm sure have had a major effect on retail sales. Yeah that pic's a 2005-06 Stratus R/T sedan, or an SXT with the Sport package.

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=103235 Sharp car, I've always loved the exterior styling and design, as well as the well-crafterd interior. I wish Chrysler would use this and Airflite styling on all its vehicles, Pacifica and Town & Country included. My family friend just got a red 2004 coupe recently, he loves it. If I were to buy a 2-seater, this would be it, hands down.

Interesting car-hard one to draw too-I drew one this weekend-Mopar could use a minicompact and/or subcompact car, and Akino Tsuchiya has great potential as an automotive designer-she knows the design language, it seems (she also did the 2002 Dodge Razor concept).

That's what I was thinking! Especially since I saw it trademarked a while ago. Now what body styles would Evoke come as in addition to a 4-door notchback sedan? I'm safe to assume they're dropping the 4-door Quad Coupe, right?