regfootball

Alrighty. Two-three years ago, it was about Chrysler's huge success with the 300 and the entire buzz of 'polarizing design'. It became all about, 'if you want to have a hit in the car market, you can't just have vanilla designs. Good designs will often offend many people, but if your design is polarizing it means you can achieve a greater passion level for your products....'gotta have it' factor (copyrite, C/D). Now, as we look back and see the disaster that is called Chrysler, its safe to say they bet the farm on polarizing design too much, and it may be their demise. Most folks won't consider an LX car, it's a 'pimpmobile' or 'gangsta car'. At best, its for a graying white man who may lack something between his lower limbs. Love or hate, strong reactions, can drive sales of a particular model or brand when times are good. But now, when the relevance of each model matters even more in a new era where the market is forgiving of excess models and brands..... Has polarizing design become a complete liability? Are people avoiding polarizing cars, especially with tough economic factors? Is Chrysler's downfall largely to blame for their polarizing model stylings? Did they voluntarily check themselves out of volume market segments by alienating large chunks of the car buying population from cconsideration because of 'unsafe' design? Has the public charicature of what a car like the 300, or Magnum, or Charger is, far overshadowed the fact that the car itself is actually a very good car?

one of my favorite comments was 'maybe the dog enjoyed it' good point though, a man works all week and just wants a little. mama treats it like gold, and uses it as a tool. too bad the dog has to pay. but i bet the freaking dog gets revenge on the lawn later.

http://jalopnik.com/5068365/aev-hemi+power...ler-first-drive

http://jalopnik.com/5067841/2009-saturn-vu...rid-first-drive Kind of a cheesy writeup, not sure how legit, but its something.....

I seriously could not stop laughing from some of the reader comments afterwards...... You have to get that Minnesotans pick fun about how WI residents are among if not the most intoxicated in our nation, and so many of these stories come up. http://www.startribune.com/local/33210424.html again, the comments are HILARIOUS

gas is 2.29. i hope the extra $$$$$ for the hybrid pays off........

agreed, the vue has the makings of a great daily driver. the handling and power are awesome with the v6 also. i did get some lease quotes, and while i like the vehicle, its befuddles me as to why with nearly 5 grand in incentives and money down i can barely match the payment of the lease of my 500 which had a higher sticker and i only put like 1000 down 3 years ago. bottom line, we all know leasing isn't there anymore. even as a purchase its more car than i can justify as the second car, at this time. if the economy and our jobs were paying off more, than the vue is a great blend between economy and luxury. i think anyone who drives a CRV really ought to take a VueXR out too, and then decide what's best for them.

si? they had a high mpg version of the crx at one time, didnt they?

we need a new 'CRX' hf. and a chevette equivalent.

the ridiculous thing is, its not. a good v6 in a midsize car will get very good mpg, escpecially, it won't consume hardly any more fuel than an overweight cute ute with a 4 popper. take a crawling recreational vehicle on a 1500 mile trip and then take a 3.5v6 altima on a trip, the mileage won't be that much different.

i just read the title of this thread. i own an aztek, there is no shortage of things said about my car.

i never got around to bothering to get a quote on the vue. dood, what mpg are you getting with yours? low 20's? if i got a vue, it would have to be a v6. i really kind of decided i would prefer to get another ford before i ante up for the v6 vue. even with the incentives, its too pricey for me just right now. but i may just check on a lease. just to make sure.

check all the cubbies for narcotics. stay away from police dogs.

in addition to having no incentives this month. which makes no sense for a end of year with so many of them on the lots. now i am even stuck. i can't decide between an astra or a vue. that is, if i go GM. in my price ranges (after incentives are factored in), these are 2 of my top 5 GM faves. The XR really shocked me for a soft ute CUV. You can actually have fun in the thing! Way better than the worthless piece of crap 09 forester i drove the other day. that's MT's "SUV of the year" but don't believe the hype. Its basic crap.

i have a mancrush for anything with a meaty steering wheel to lock the hands around and excellent handling. nothing like love of the Opel Blitz. vues got some flaws but it rocks that you can get rainsense wipers and it has the same '3 clicks and done' blinker that the astra has. best part about the vue is the dashboards vents are perfect. round, up high. in fact, everything on the center stack is located very nicely. one factoid that i did not know. the 4 cyl vue i drove had TAPSHIFT! not that it matters much with a 4 speed, but it did help keep the 4 popper in its powerband on hills and such. GM really geared that sucker to optimum speeds, even if fuel economy is down a bit and you occasionally lose some steam north of 75 mph. the 6 cylinder? all balls. tranny blasts out quick shifts too, even if its caught in a lull a time or two. sucker does cloverleafs nicely. on the XR, leave tapshift on the 6 in second gear, and then charge hard off the end of the cloverleaf, nail the gas and thumb it into 3rd. you're OUTTA there! I used to think paddle shifters were the sht but the thumb rocker is almost better because your not trying to figure out where the paddle shifter is when turning the wheel! GME may show the US a trick or two yet. Now, about that INSIGNIA.......

ish, that Opel influence is something. Test drove a Vue tonight. So now, in addition to my mancrush on the Astra XR, I have a similar mancrush on the Vue XR. The 4 cyl XE even too. Solid as a rock. The XR has mucho cajones under the hood. XE shocked me, i had to look at the Monroney to make sure it was only a 4 cyl. Corners on rails, for a crossover. HOW DO THEY SELL RAV4's? There is no comparison. The new Forester is junk by comparison. (yes, i've driven both of those). Yup, I'm a Saturn fan now. Sorry folks. Still like the other GM stuff, but Opel's done it homework here. Now if they could just get the word out! (and the prices down)

or they are princesses. daddy said their you know what don't stink. and maybe if combined with being trespassed, well yeah!

I know. it was me taking an op on a punchline.

well, that's fewer places to need to go to on thanksgiving and christmas

BEST POST EVAH

wow, how bad was the Forester before? I drove one today, a new 09 and i thought it sucked. seriously.

apparently GM wants to have access to chrysler's cash and ability to get bailout money....and then wait a couple years and sell them and profit from that. Let me ask this question, would Jim Press get a role at GM?

someone get wpb-h on the line and see what the maxx in his slacks gets.........

i used to be a bit of a matchmaker. Nowawadays i associate with lots of mid-late twenties single women who all seem to at one time be begging for me to clue them in on that perfect single guy they fantasize about. and then ultimately i get screwed because i either can't fix them up, the ones i find they end up hating, or they project all their anti male angst on me. No lie. Women find some way to hate on the men. Stay away. women are complex, psychotic all of that. you must beware.