regfootball

so basically you are saying you get screwed by paying double for gas, getting nothing of substance out of it, and yet you endorse that.

mazda 5 has the third row seats which come into play for many. looks wise, the mazda 5 is stylish and its utility is unquestioned. if there is one vehicle that would benefit from that turbo 4, its the mazda 5.

all that absolutely needed to be said. my wife's first cars were a trashed omni, a terrible citation, and a fairmont futura coupe me? vegas, chevette's, trashed silverados and a buick century coupe. and then i graduated to my parents electra coupe. kids today have it so easy and i want to smack a lot of them.

i pretty much concur with this. if i had a rocket launcher with me when i drove, there'd be about 10 destroyed toyopets within the last month alone.

what just because the US didn't have overtaxed 7 dollar fuel? wow, you're full of yoself.

mazda 5 is underpowered and doesn't get good real world mpg anyways. c-max is alright but has that ugly euro nerd wagon look that US folks wouldn't care for anyways. think kia rondo.

why, you thinkin you wanna get in on some lizzie? there might be wheels on that house but its a very good point. people in the US that buy small cars are economically challenged most of the time. saving dough is the main reason they would even consider a small car. generally in the US, people will upsize their car as much as their pocketbooks can afford. it's deceiving now because after a long boom of buying cars on home equity etc. many people are downsizing, between that and spendy gas. most of the people even considering small cars now would not normally unless their waller wasn't in a world of hurt.

grand prix, lacrosse, impala, all are quite different. actually.

to underscore OC's point, i have commissioned a screenplay based on this story ACT 1 SCENE 1 location: typical car buyer's home, surfing internet "Joe" - wow, this sucks. gas has gone sky high and my -king truck is costing me a bundle! I've just put gas in again today and the pump stopped at 75 bucks! i had to put in another 30 just to top it off! man, pay day ain't till friday and i need to have some cash left to buy some bud light this weekend so we can have your friends over and get hammered! 4sum! yeah! "Liz" (rolling away from Joe's groin, fixing her jaw) well Joe, did you ever think about getting a smaller car?...by the way, Kristi and Jennie both think you smell, so fat chance" Joe - oh stop it you old skank! duh! i'm surfing for small cars right now! my buddy at work just got a bitchin car he said he cut his gas bill in half! and he gets excellent mileage too! He let me take it for a spin, he said its got 170 hp.....it really moves out....get me a beer! Liz - (bringing Joe a beer from the fridge) well dear, aren't you gonna get screwed when you trade your truck? (puts top back on) Joe - duh! that's why I need something CHEAP! hey, that Focus, you can tell it to play tunes!!!!!! cool fender vents! Liz - duh, Joe! everyone knows the focus doesn't have rear anti submarining headrests! Joe - (contemplating) oh. Yeah, you're right. Hey, this mazda 3 looks bitchen, the test dudes say its the best car....by buddy said that was a good car too. what's this one saturn......ass......trah.....hey, do you ever shave down there? Liz - aren't the saturns made of plastic? and by the way honey, I wax....but i guess you wouldn't know that since you never seem to check down there that close for yourself now, do you? Joe - ...nah, this saturn is new, bitchen car! wait, they tested this in one of those supercar magazines.......oh crap! Liz - what? (painting toenails) Joe - holy crap! dang thing can't even get out of its own way! thing is like 2 seconds slower than fred's car! and i can't even tell the damn thing which tunes to play! it's only got a 1.8 engine! that rabbit thing is like a 2.5, that's the one that won! and it looks like they get the same gas mileage? Liz - well you wouldn't be very happy with a slow beater like that, would you? Joe-you know me Lizzie, I like to GO GO GO! Hey Lizzie,! Liz - yes Joe? (looking quizzically) Joe - "play artist little Joe goes to town, baby" Liz - (walks over towards joe)

when you're michael bolton, and you tell nicolette sheridan to show you her plastic surgery scars, will she do that?

carbiz, the cobalt/ion with either the 2.2 and 2.4 with a manual, now that is a satisfying small car engine combo. i have always found those cars quite gutsy and torquey in addition to being able to rev and pull up high. that is why the wimpy 1.8 in the astra is disappointing, had it been the 2.2 there would have been no mpg penalty and the extra power would have been welcome.

the big question is how pathetic is it that vw cannot design and build a proper NA 4 cylinder about 2-2.2 litres, 150-160 hp and 30 mpg? oh and yeah reliable

dude the gf is pretty hot and what is even cooler is from the pics i can tell you guys are pretty hip on each other....congrats on that. nothing like those times when you and your SO just click. the car is cool too. lol.....

insignia is a nice car. hope they keep that name. saturns marketing flat out sucks. saturn needs to gain the pretentiousness of the euro brands.

i could do a jetta sportwagen diesel

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/12/toyota-...prius/#comments

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/11/vw-rabb...ports/#comments

the astra in the us should have had the same engines as the cobalt

the original mini has been around far longer than the smart. LOL the US smart should have had a 1.0l 4 popper with like a 6 speed manual. and a diesel option. a car such as the old ford escort EXP/Lynx LN7 would make so much more sense today than the smart, excepting the tightest packed urban areas. for a city dweller that never intends to get on freeways or highways much and simply just needs a getabout with shelter and easy parking, if they wanna pay the price, i am ok with that.

STS says active steering is an option.

there's no way to defend the astra's motor, it can't crack 9 seconds with a stick, and it gets its but handed to it by a lot of other cars in its segment. the rest of the car is pretty cool, but the lack of go juice is a big flaw and its hurting sales no doubt.

well see, this is what happens when the greenies take over. stupid things happen.

buying a car outright is actually a bad idea. buy a new car. boom, you just lost 10 grand in depreciation. wait, you ruined the car in an accident, now they won't give you what you paid for it to replace it. you just gave away thousands! maybe you should have saved your cash and leased the car with gap coverage. or took out a loan on monthly payments and invested the cash you had in the bank to make money on it instead of giving it to the greedy car dealer.

plain and simple if gm is commited to all the brands (because they are too spendy to kill for one reason) then the fault lies with not spending enough for proper marketing. this is a managment decision. its also a fault to not have proper produc development dollars. if gm wasn't buying off the unions and such, they'd maybe have the dough to do it but really its simply managment not realizing that they by nature must spend more for all that overhead if that have that many brands. then they have to find the cash to do it. anything else is half assed and 'no wonder why it fails'. all these brands, it can be done. they just aint doing it right. look at hamburger helper. there is like 50 different kinds of hambuger helper. that has to be a pretty massive promotion effort compared to say 'kraft mac and cheese'. but if you want to sell 50 different hamburger helper that is what is required. skirting doing it the proper way speeds up failure.

chevy = toyota hyundai, kia, ford, dodge (but better in all repsects) saturn = honda, vw, mitsubishi, subaru, mazda, nissan, more affordable acura buick = lincoln, chrysler, more affordable lexus, more affordable mercedes, more affordable audi, more affordable infiniti pontiac = cars oriented to performance yet attainable, cost effective BMW, refined capable cars at good price saab = green weirdo offbeat leftie liberal cars that also can perform like jets, ikea, etc. hummer = they'll figure it out just not too many models please GMC = refined quality trucks cadillac - competes with world's top tier.