regfootball

there is only a few ways to lighten a truck. weaker frame is one. If you reduce the size of the vehicle too, but the size of this class of vehicle is defined. You can use high strength steel, but it costs more. You can take weight out of the engine and driveline and suspension, but you are risking toughness and durability issues. Vehicle electrics and crash equipment you need and its tough to reduce that. Explain to me how something wussy like an Audi Q7 or a VW Toureg weighs so much, considering how small and useless they are and they aren't even tough guy trucks.

and then they would not be trucks. what is hard to get about that?

big bottom.......big bottom.........talk about mud flaps my girl's got em

sure, we could talk about the spears daughters instead if you like

1. TID 2. Chuck Hagel (who?) 52% 3. Duncan Hunter (who?) 4. Alan Keyes (not a fan at all) 5. John Edwards (can't stand that panderer / say whatever you want to hear) 6. Tom Tancredo (he has some real cred-o in this election, who is he?) 7. Barack Obama (I don't want no Osama for pres) 8. Ron Paul (who?) 9. John McCain (ok) 10. Gore (bite me) 11. Sam Brownback (who?) 12. Joseph Biden (he still around?) 13. Rudolph Giuliani (Like rudi) 14. Stephen Colbert (who?) 15. Hillary Clinton (don't get me started) 16. Christopher Dodd ? 17. Mike Huckabee (thank God he was not my 1) 18. Mitt Romney (oven mitt, isn't his wife hot?) 19. Fred Thompson (isn't his wife hot?) it's like car shopping. too many choices, most you hate or don't want, never can find what you like best.

vue already has 4 cylinder BAS hybrid. Um, so if you want 4 cyl and cheap get that. i could see the benefit to a cobalt or astra hybrid. but i don't think anyone will pay 2 mode prices for them. and again, BAS may be a better option there. really if the camry and altima hybrids are out there, there's not much reason to go smaller. those two cars get tremendous mpg and at least then you can justify the purchase price vs. size of car you get. i know i could enjoy an altima hybrid. maybe part of the reason the vue is so heavy is it was designed to accept all this hybrid paraphernalia. just as a side note. i was at the nissan dealer saturday and they had a buttload of cars in the showroom, many with their hoods open. If you want to see where the Asians love to trim things to the bone, take a look at stuff under the hood. brackets, mounts, fasteners, accessories. There's no forgiveness there. some of the stuff i saw were metal pieces so thin and not one iota bigger than it needed to be to assemble the car. efficient? well, until it breaks from stress or abuse or something. But the Vue you can at least tell has some heft in its parts in spots. think of the vue as the hybrid crossover for the thrifty greenie that can't afford the rx lexus. Vue 2 mode hybrid may simply be the test bed for the same parts in the lambda etc.

Toyota sure milked the Prius thing. Since then, nothing but behemoths. Yet folks wait at the door to buy anything with a Toyota emblem on it.

lt5 was expensive for GM because they had no clue how to build an OHC v8 themselves and they had to pay someone to do it. Everyone else, including Hyundai now, can seem to do it economically. But Gm always seems to not be able to solve problems like that. I am still amazed GM ever came out with the high feature v6 or anything more than a 4 speed automatic. But they will probably leave the hf v6 in production as is for like 30 years, knowing their track record for not evolving their product and improving over time.

i kind of wish GM would get over its pushrod fetish in the corvette. a top tier OHC motor in the corvette would be a nice option. for no other reason than the issues you state above. simply put, luxury car buyers are accustomed to the VHS tapes (OHC) and trying to push the betamax on them (pushrod) will do nothing but make them curl their lip and move on. Even if some say betamax had a 'better picture', the form factor and marketing solution of VHS was what people came to expect. most of the people i ever read on MB's bleating the virtues of the pushrod engine are not always the types with Lexus level dollars out buying or leasing new cars every 2-3 years. It's also time for GM to get with the program on all wheel drive, especially in cars like some corvettes and cars like the CTSv. I don't care how fast Carl Lewis was as a sprinter, if he only has one leg working and is dragging his other foot, he's not really maximizing his speed. GM is only married to pushrods because of beancounter cheapness. Less parts=cheaper but if you can't get the desired power and running characteristics for the market segment its time to move on. Until GM can demonstrate for example that a v6 pushrod they build is a better power and NVH solution then everything else, then they ought to dump all pushrod v6's. GM is so slow. They finally dumped pushrod 4's barely yesterday....only 1/2way through dumping the v6 pushrods.....and you know someday they will need to get with the program on most of their v8s. if the electric engine doesn't kill IC engines soon, the ultimate solution will be solenoid or valveless, computer electronic type setup that will not have any cams, etc. they really need to get on that.

workin on a sex farm.........

candy, MMMMMMMMMMMM

leave the pushrods for the chevy's caddy needs OHC

i kinda dislike ruining what the explorer (and trailblazer) is now. A solid, trucklike, off roadable, SUV. If Ford wanted an Explorer crossover, they should get a new name. Oh wait, they basically want to sell off the name. Maybe this means we'll revert back to 'Bronco' for the real SUV's. Can't the dumbasses at Ford put simple paddle shifters on the steering wheel? Jeez........ Forgive me if I'm not all wet over the BORING AS HECK design. I was at the Nissan dealer admiring a nice XTerra yesterday. Methinks I would really enjoy one of those. Too bad these real trucks get crappy mpg. I was really digging an Expedition I was looking at today too. Maybe GM wants Hummer to be the source of the only real GM trucks now. Maybe Ford only wants Expeditions and F150's to be their only real trucks.

oh, so who gets to decide who 'needs' a truck? hey, why not let the MARKET decide. or will we list names and go down the list and vote on everyone?

at the body shop today i listened to the manager dude explain to the person on the phone how badly mangled their explorer was in a brutal t-bone crash. he was saying to them, the important thing is your daughter is alive, the vehicle is not worth anything compared to her being here. he got off the phone and said the explorer was completely mangled and DECIMATED. imagine had that been the mini. this is your brain. this is your brain in a small car. any questions?

I just wanted to let you know its been quite abrasive around here lately and i'm going to be leaving for awhile. leaving........ to go potty and a night snack. then, if I'm tired, I'll go to sleep, and, hopefully, shower in the morning. well, between that and travelling overseas for a few months and relocating and then just PMSing in general. so yeah, i'll be gone for a couple hours.

ours goes to 11

lol. yeah, who's gonna work at burger king

this is big time progress but the buff books and edmunds will simply bleat and moan about how heavy it is. and that it's not a toyota.

how bout a water tax on CA. tax water they bring into their state from elsewhere. use the money collected to fight immigration. or britney's police bills.

check your mail. i got a thing from gm card this weekend. top off earnings promotion, 3000 bucks.

sat in a Vue again today, and a Rogue. The Vue gets hammered in the press due to heft, but the vehicle really feels more solid on the showfloor than the others. Thicker sheetmetal. Sturdier doors. Everything feels less temporary. I think that is worth something. feels roomy. The Rogue is kind of a fun feeling rig, but it is noticably tighter inside than some of the others. In the back seat mostly. Cargo area is a bit tight too. I really like the dash layout though and the seats were comfy. I LOVE the dash vents. They are the standard round vents that are either open or closed and you rotate the whole vent to direct the air. Like on the vibe. Why can't all dash vents be like that? Anyways, i got a real good VIBE sitting inside the Rogue. (no pun intended). Any vehicle that greets you with paddle shifters on the wheel (even with a CVT) has got to be fun. blu, you'd like it.

safety, NVH, solidity, gadgets, electrics, all reasons why the curb weight goes up.

update. gonna choose the dealer's body shop to get my car fixed. Why? cool beans this is, i don't have rental coverage, but they are getting some new 08 focuses signed on for loaner use. So I get a nice 4 day test drive of a new 08 (not euro) Focus. sweet. i get to see how bloody terrible the car really is. I need to email the dude back and see if those units will have sync on it or not.

wow, someone visits GMS?