regfootball

i cried when they cancelled terraza and relay

the return of the gt and awd and new engine. all welcome. the odd thing is even though they say its all new, it's like the corolla or altima, it looks terribly similar the model before it. the side windows look near identical, even though the sheetmetal is obviously changed. the dash has been revised, but everything is in the exact same spot and even the vents are the same seemingly. the vibe exists because its 300k sales. it prolly shouldn't be a pontiac but no way are they going to mess with that. it brings women to the brand. the mpg doesn't seem good and some options seem like it will get spendy. so many of these small crossovers barely get 20mpg. so we'll have a pricey small crossover with poor mpg. doesn't make sense but pontiac is not the only one. i've always liked the vibe so i may check this out when it arrives. it is cooler than the awful matrix, but the toyotaness on the interior is offputting.

the politicians would not be against cars if they had like 4 manufacturing plants in their state. or who knows, maybe they still would. if GM ford and chryco decentralized I think they would get more empathy from the bloodsucker politicians. People hold a lot of venom against automakers because they think its self serving for Michigan and some industrial states. But, who lame here? California as a state is the biggest bunch of bitchers and whiners and set the most useless laws, but never in the last 50 years have they stepped up to the plate to develop breakthrough mass scale technology for cars and neither have they stepped up to the plate with radical new infrastructure or manufacturing breakthroughs. yet they consume and consume and consume. And bitch. They could be a huge part of the solution on the 'fix the problem' side. All they've done is pass the buck and pass legislation. That's politics for you. They have enormous potential to fix the mess they created.

the toyo dealers here ad like its going out of style and advertise healthy discounts (up to 8k off tundras) and dirt cheap leases and 'plenty in stock'. toyota is whoring as much as anyone these days. moreso, perhaps. the 08's on carsdirect.com are already 1500 bucks off. even the commission free, one price places that post their new car prices on the net have big discounts. available to many, first come, first served.

young uns a couple years out of school and with their first real job which they are getting overpaid for might be fine with blowing their wad on a compact because they have never had a real car otherwise but cadillac buyers tradtionally have requested some size in their car along with style. performance is the new part of the equation for cadillac. people have always forgiven sparse interior environments on their BMW's in exchange for top performance. if I came into a bunch of dough and decided i wanted a lux car in this sort of price range, i might look at the BMW but I would probably need the size of a 5 series. the current 3 is too tough to wedge in and out of. The previous 3 was ok in that regard. But for my money, the extra commodious nature of the CTS more than offsets its discrepancy in performance. I'd also know and bet the Caddy is engineered for Michigan frost potholes and such the bimmer may be a bit underdesigned to take on a continual basis. I would guess I probably would like the CTS to shed a couple hundred pounds, sure, but the car has a lot of stuff in it and is comfortable. I've sat in recent 3 series and it simply does not feel accomodating. The dash is blah, the door panels are cheap. The 5 series just is too expensive. the reviewers always come at it from a track racing perspective and i guess that's fine, but really it's annoying. Not every buyer is concerned with the incremental performance differences. especially if the cadillac is a better long distance cruiser or is more comfy and striking for a night on the town. which brings me to the G8. i get the feeling the G8 has enough interior wow for me and would allow me to save some cash over all the cars compared here. I'd kind of like the G8 to have AWD available though.

we'll need some music in the background.....boom, chick, boom, chick, wocka, wocka, woooooo!

nah, i might like it too much. I'll just run the camera.

my dang kid woke up an hour early too.

LOL.....you know, it was scary that G6 street edition coupe even looked good in that ad. the pictures of the interior of the G8 look especially luscious. even the red seat inserts looked hot.

ok, after seeing the new G8 ad in the new motor trend, i think we all need to bend blu over and give him a cherry red spanking for all his ongoing thing about the g8 not looking good. anyone PLEASE look at the fold out photo of the black g8 on the test track and PLEASE tell me that that car is not effing hot! damn near soiled myself what i sat down for dinner tonight and unfolded the g8 ad and the 'oh my God that's hot' moment came.

no sunroof = pretty much kills any sort of desirability in my book

don't worry. the 'lifetime powertrain warranty' will take care of it.

hate to say it, but the plastic looks cheap on the doors and the parts bin center stack and sw look bad. but i will reserve judgment until i see it in person.

toyota's appeal is one dimensional. take away the reliability card, and they do not have much else to stand on.

12 year rust warranty....hmmmm....too bad so many beemer engines need work over time. you always want to compare the 335i but fact is not all 3 series buyers buy a 335. many buy 328's or 325's or 330's or whatever effed up designations that they dream up. check the weight balance on the cts. i do not believe your 57/43 is right.

DTS was up nearly 18 percent.

all crossovers have weight issues. one of the recent road tests i read of the cx-9, it tipped the scales at 4600 pounds. the lambdas are not much more. plus they have more cargo area and 3rd row space so the tradeoff is ok. i am not sure why the CTS has to be an exact equal to the 335 in terms of performance. the CTS holds up pretty well versus most versions of the 3 series while having a far superior interior. again, not everyone buying a luxury marque needs track performance. the CTS holds its own on the track and in its price class provides a unique combination of luxury, features, usable space, and design, that the spartan 3 series cannot. if you want your 3 series to feel luxurious, you gotta pay 50k.

new accord interior is merely average. it is awash in 90's matte black plastic and has a tired rice oriented design which will not play well with conservative buyers. it's plasticky. even though the G35 beat the CTS in that one test, you'll also notice they said the CTS has the nicer interior. for many people that is what they want. and it has more accomodations. and is more stylish. some track numbers being a bit off the G35 won't hurt it. CTS sales were up WHAT PERCENT last month?

http://www.canadiandriver.com/roadtest/09corollamatrix.htm that plastic looks AWFULLY cheap.......that interior is right up there with Kia the Matrix is a visual DISASTER.

keep in mind that the accord interior is like a big and bloated 90's sequel. it may have been assembled well, and looks great in ads, but sit in the seat and enjoy the rehashed story and script. the story of cheap matte black plastic, dour cloth, and pebble grained glossy plastic in bland forms. hardly aspirational. look at the half ass job framing the display screen. the plastic is so glossy the photo is practically glowing the last car with that much matte black on the center console was my old 95 tbird

edited. NAV should be offered on the Malibu, but for like 500 bucks. Its dumb for chevy to offer nav and try to charge 2 grand for it. let chevy offer it when they can beat all competitors on price. my guess is also they are trying to find a way to integrate the on star turn by turn with a traditional screen nav. when they do that, look out. in the meantime, chevy won't lose any sales because of it. oldsmoboi, you're spot on

wife's citation was utter crap. friend's ciera was too friend's calais was too.

glass half empty today? saturn's strategy is to no longer sell big volume models. Aura at 60k might be biggest. Outlook at 30k is a contributor. Astra was to be what, 50k? ok, Vue biggest, 80-100k? It all adds up. Saturn is more successful with 6-8 products of differing price ranges instead of trying to push 2 or 3 cheaper models in volume. enzl is gloom and doom but consider how each new GM model is desirable and has a good buzz. GM is quietly putting out one or two new excellent products per division per year now, and over time that should stabilize sales and profits. Nearly all of GM's new products this year come in with high desirability (even if CR trashed the new Vue this month). Vue, G8, CTS, yukon/tahoe hybrid, malibu, lambdas, astra, aura......all positive. the malibu may cannibalize the impala some in the showroom, but not as much as you think. impala will get fleeted more, and malibu will pick up the slack in the showroom. Overall, the combo of those 2 should post a net gain in both volume and profits and set the stage for big gains when the zeta impala hits.

well, 4,000 taurus X = 50,000 units on top of the edge. that's not bad, and C/D just had a positive review of the taurus X so who knows if over time the taurus X might outsell the taurus itself, and to think they almost killed it. It won't surprise me if it does outsell the sedan one of these days. The freestyle was only ever available with the CVT, which may have prevented sales. the question is whether all ford's crossover success is coming at the expense of explorer and expedition sales. And it probably is. at least GM is increasing tahoe sales i think. the inverse of that is Ford could potentially have that much more market to tap into, conquests of other makes. pacifica was put to pasture so look there is a chance for gains there. face it folks, crossovers are where its at. i was projecting the flex to be a sales dud, but they only expect 50,000 sales per year once that hits the floor. Nowhere near the Lambda projections. strange as it sounds even though so many want 3 row vehicles......because the edge and mkx are unashamed 2 row vehicles, i think it becomes a great choice for someone who is 'anti' third row and doesn't want the extra length and volume of the 3rd row. what ford needs is an effective media push. I have a theory, they are deliberately holding off on a big push until they get the UAW issue resolved. I think once the contract is signed, and year end rolls around, we'll see a great big push. I heard ford was working on more buyouts too. also ahead, i believe on BON there was lots of info on 09 Fusion updates. For the Fusion to maintain sales right now while it is becoming dated is good. I do know some folks that have fusions and they seem to like them. Ford has many things planned for the Fusion which will make big sales increases. The Mustang sales drop is troubling. They need to get a decent 6 cylinder in the car and maybe update the interior. the mustang will get crucified when the camaro hits. I just wish I could see and sit in a production spec Flex very soon. I want to know if its worth waiting for.

they always forget to mention the 'best ever' recalls count too.....