regfootball

i'd be more than happy to be a road tester, send any and all vehicles my way, including those in development. can you even put me on the payroll? the things i am seeing out of Buick will help blunt the Pontiac loss. And even then, Pontiac.....who knows what will happen. I'll miss Saturn also, but if Chevy becomes better as a result, then maybe that's ok too. Some folks are getting pretty emotional about A car, or A brand, thing is its just a car. In the grand scheme of living and dying, we already have tons of cool cars on the market. Its not worth investing that much emotion behind it as a consumer or fan. If you are one who makes and sells these vehicles, it does matter on another level. i bought some stuff (t shirts mugs etc) from saturncollection.com last night. i wondered if i would look stupid with all that saturn wear now that the brand is dead. i decided i didn't care, i wanted to have it. at the same time, i realized i still have chevy, ford, buick, etc. i wonder if pontiac will be selling all their old apparel and stuff ....i got me 2 astra t shirts for hopefully that time when i can find that lightly used white XR five door with all options and stick. if i don't then a new Buick or Chevy or Ford will be just fine. Pontiac had to put on pause because they couldn't bring the big prices, saturn is similar, new saturn was to sell cars with similar capabilities of opel and saab but at low low prices. Buick will deliver the pontiac level performance at higher prices which is what GM needed. It is fair to rip on GM for mishandling pontiac and creating the parameters on which to rip them (i.e. cladding, G3's etc.) its ok if we have fun with it, i feel. Some take it too far. there is a middle ground here we all can coexist on. its ok to take a friendly jab at GM for messing pontiac, and at the same time we should understand why someone might feel bad if pontiac or olds or whatever has gone away. there is a middle ground.

i'd be more than happy to console Susan over a few martinis.......

to me this car has all the AURA of 'Corsica, part 2'. the corsica sold, everyone had one. but it never felt like a substantial piece.

NO! the G3 is a performance vehicle!!!!!!!!!!

ouch! the dash lighting on the second one though,,,,,, kind of neat.

end of October i was forced to get a new phone and plan so i went verizon and got us two samsung rogues. last week i took those back and got what i really wanted. 2 iPhones. the samsung even though it was new was so inferior to the iPhones....the iPhones are phenomenal. best money i have spent in a long time. my wife even hated the samsung and she generally will not speak up to me about tech unless its an issue. she loves her iPhone now too. right now i am seamlessly putting some xmas tunes on her phone for her and told her i would rent a movie for her if she wants. she loves the email and facebook....everything is so EASY on the iPhone. and it was cheaper than 2 blackberries and about as cheap or a little less than 2 droids. the droid wasn't bad, i played with it. nice piece. i determined i did not like the keyboard on it all all. too flat, no tactility, all the keys line up instead of staggered. the rogue had the same issues. truth is the physical keyboards are useless when there is no feedback. now perhaps the droid is a far better tactile keyboard and perhaps its on screen keyboard when the slider is closed, is ok. it was better than most phones i played with. but even my wife has had no issues with the keyboard on the iphone. you can type one handed or two in either mode, and you get a click and a flashing letter as your feedback. the physical keyboards, if they are too hard to press, or feel where you are, all that...are actually tougher than the best touch screens. A friend has a Droid and likes it. Good to see competition, and good to see Motorola making a comeback. You won't be able to pry this iPhone out of my cold dead hands though. I suspect Droid owners will have a similar feeling about their Droids. I have a feeling Blackberry is the ones who will take a huge hit in this battle. the storm 2 has not had great sales to start.......

i will always defer to the Pontiac when we have SIDE BY SIDE EXCITEMENT!!!! plus the G3 has the spoiler!

don't worry camino. no one will molest you.

the RAV4 is a terrible vehicle. I know from renting one once for a week. yuk. so many better choices.

i keep forgetting i need to order some stuff.

nice car. no doubt fully capable transport for most folks day to day. big advantage over the cobalt is lots more room. i'd like to see a nice 200+hp version for fun. but it wouldn't preclude me from looking hard at this in the meantime.

it's a shame, really.......

agree, but perhaps i could have mine in diamond white, or a mocha beige on the outside......... i am seeing it with optional all wheel drive myself..........

Suzuki was bringing the Swift here i thought. the Kizashi is getting a v6 and the Sx4 lineup is expanding. Suzuki downsized their dealer network but i think they see any USA sales as gravy and between their 4-5 lines of tightly focused niche vehicles, i think they see it as being able to amortize their operation elsewhere in the world. Mits, kind of the same deal. i know they are downsizing a few of their products and possibly bringing a unique product or two here. they can exist on Lancer, Galant, Outlander, Eclipse. they will prob bring that little electric car here and jury is still out on a large crossover replacement (that is badly needed). In fact, Mits has gotten aggressive in pitching the Lancer with many sportback ads and lots of advertising for lease or buy offers on the Lancer. and they don't want to lose the EVO crowd. the fact that few current brands are willing to go down is why i wonder why Fiat cares about this market. It will be easier to sell dodges and chryslers instead of Fiat badges, but the conquest attitude is the same. i guess the market volume has to swing back up soon and maybe that is when fiat thinks they have a chance to gain a foothold. you gotta wonder though why Citroen, Pueguot, and Renault havent set up shop. I think the question is more about who is not coming here and who is growing their business, as opposed to who is leaving. Because clearly Mits and Suzuki should have been killed off by this recession as much as anyone, yet no whimpers from either really. Myself I would prefer to see Honda, toyota, and Nissan kicked in the nuts a little and lose a fair amount of share before i see any loss of variety in this market..... part of the explosive market growth in the early part of this decade was due to people's desire to drive brands and cars that are NOT bread and butter makes. 'i dont want a chevy'....could just as easily be turning into 'i don't want to drive a stupid toyota' or 'i don't want JUST a Honda' when the big buying wave starts again. smaller brands have a chance to gain share from that way even though they compete in the lesser price classes and not among the many lux brands. Oddly enough, Chrysler as Fiat may have a better chance to make profit on a smaller scale, and gain back somewhat of an exotic status in this regard. I think makers like VW and Subaru, and now Buick, have great chances to increase share in this new car buying climate.

you give koenigsegg a little dough to make like they wanted to for a few months until the beancounters could recook the books right before the new bun comes out of the oven?

what did CR say about unintended acceleration, rusted out or cracked frames, buckling tailgates, sludge, engine schrapnel, and transmissions that won't shift again?

more and more i see and read about it, the car that can do the most for GM's rep is how well the Buick Regal is accepted here in north america. that, and the cruze. the cruze will define chevy's future and credibility in a critical segment. the regal will prove whether GM can compete in mid level markets with the plethora of big boys with respect, and then the issue if the consumers notice. i usually poo poo marketing as drain of expense from the technical resources of a company, but those two cars must launch perfectly. the cruze must get good mileage, feel well made, drive decently, and gain mainstream approval or chevy will never have cred in this segment. buicks whole future rides its ability to duplicate opels now and be able to pass them off in the US. the regal is critical to giving the example of buick's new approach. the spark and aveo will be important but they will not be volume segments in the US.....although they will be a media scrutiny magnet. i am not sure why both the aveo and spark are needed. by the way, GM is a Detroit based company, but quietly we have noticed that the majority of their mainstream car lineup has now been developed elsewhere besides USA...... Zeta, AU cruze, spark, aveo- Korea...... regal/lacrosse are epsilons.....more done in europe.......astra...... ........

i figure that by Nov 2012, gas will be back up over 4 bucks, and the ATS with a turbocharged 4 cylinder would be about the right vehicle for that time when it hits market.

if i am forced into crackerboxes like the spark, i WILL convince the wife to move to a warm state, and get a motorcycle for myself. there's my contribution to saving the planet.

you can borrow the aztek any time.

does C-P F getting bounced have anything to do with this turn of events on Saab?

i love saab, but it almost seems like if they stick around, they'll be a department at Crate and Barrel.

you made a typing error, it should be a J unstead of an F in funky

despite the $h!ty year, i have a wonderful family including a brand new son, and so many people who have demonstrated acts of kindness to us this year. glass is more than half full. humble thanks to all that are the blessings we receive. thankful too for those sweet opels headed across the pond, wink wink, nudge nudge....

i'd buy one if it had enough hp and a six speed manual. its more dynamic than the Golf. 3 door and 5 door ASTRA should be made available in this country. end of story. this is one of the products that can REDEFINE what GM means to a lot of people. piggybacking on the Regal, the ASTRA and the regal could be a nice one two sledgehammer punch that brings a new demographic back to Buick, and GM. if they bring this hatch here i can honestly tell you two of my top three within reach new car choices in the next 1-2 years when i can buy would be the Astra and Regal. the ecoboost fusion would be the other.