regfootball

in the banking and insurance industry as a technology manager for support staff and agents. travels a lot. good thing he loves GM. in the last 6 months he's had Malibus, Impalas, A monte, a caddy srx, a century, i can't recall if he's had a G6.

visit mercola and search for articles on aspartame and splenda. you likely won't sleep well after you read those. still, i have my diet cokes everyday. this is NASTY stuff.

i prefer to let a big juicy fart and let it consume the airwaves.....

the AWD and GT were too spendy, plus the GT only made power above like 7000 rpm. for those who are distrought, i think they still offer the dealer installed factory supercharger kits. those had more torque than the GT anyways.

new sclade is nice. and even anita likes it. did hell freeze over?

sorry, the Escalade is not Japanese. Therefore, it can't be any good. I'll take my Toyota, please.

5300 pounds. RAV4 meets endeavor as far as styling goes

whatever. good luck getting t-boned by a Ridgeline. interior. i've been in one, its average to medicore. Not really any more spacious than your average compact, certainly not as roomy as this writer suggests. Most compacts on the market will get 30 mpg compared to the 32 mpg they got. not even 110 horsepower. Sure hope you're still ok with that when you're only #20 on your payment book. if you like the fit, just be sure to drive a few other competitors and then decide. Don't let a few stupid articles decide for you. Yaris-better looking, as economical Aerio-50% more power and has more space, warranty, better interior Sentra or Versa-much better looking Cobalt-less expensive, more substantial Mazda3- class of the field Aveo-save a bunch of dough Focus wagon-hold a lot more + more power Accent/Rio-warranties and cheaper PT/Caliber....more solid and useful all around

maybe if they do go belly up, then that would fix the union and pension issues, then also maybe it would cancel out all those dealers out of it too. Let those owners go belly under too, I don't want some schmuck dealer owner making profit off me buying a car. I got no issues with a salesman getting some money for providing service, and the service dept too, but these kingpin owners need to go away. they are contributing nothing to my buying experience.

it would be nice not to have to vist a dealership to get a car. most folks can't stand going to one, anyways. I'm all for purchasing factory direct. All I want to do is test drive it. I don't want to have some dude who sits and smokes outside in the lot ask me all sorts of useless questions and then harass me about what i should like and what i should not like. I want to drive the car and talk to the man in charge of the money. I want the best deal on the table right now, I've only got 15 minutes to discuss it. I'm not going to 'bring the kids'. Imagine a world where you simply go check out some keys to test drive a demo model with no hassle, and then order your car to the specs you want, and boom, its there a couple days later, delivered to your door. No having to pad Denny Hecker's or the Luther's pockets. that would be nice. Think of all the prime real estate that could be redeveloped for real uses like housing and such, rather than big open wastelands of cars rotting on dealer lots.

RWD is not an efficient trasnfer path, so i doubt you'll see too many RWD/hybrids other than the new GS. 35 mpg combined in a large midsize like the Camry with some power to spare = GM death knell, unfortunately. The appeal of a 35 mpg daily driver with room and comfort is far too great. Everyone will want one. I guess the floodgates will open. but, that also gives gunner Dick and the Saudis and the exxons of the world the reason to raise gas another dollar also to compensate. The less we use, the more the price will go up. If we use more, the price will go up too.

nice, but tiny. chick SUV

Driving by the Hertz today I saw a new Kia Sedona parked outside. This is the second rental Sedona I've seen. My buddy who rents cars for work a lot had an 06 Impala last night. He likes it. Says its pretty good. What have you all seen are the hot fleet cars lately?

if the new miata weren't so UGLY

6 speed on the way?

the mazda6 hatch is clever. its sexy looking (looks like a sleek sedan, not a hatch), has 95% the utility of the wagon version and has loads of space and a fold down open cargo area. too bad the motor and interior sucks.

the only 9-3 i've drove was the 175hp Linear, and it was ok, but not impressive. the 210hp turbo has only a bit more torque so its not that much faster. The v6 in the saab is the way to go and that gets pricey. the maxx SS needs the 3.6vvt and a 5 speed minimum.

yeah, i think the camry hybrid will sell huge and it probably deserves to. I wish it were about 2-3 grand cheaper. I sure hope GM can bring out a hybrid sedan just as efficient and with as good of performance. Folks, if you think the hybrid publicity is overwhelming now, the camry hybrid will bust the door open with more toyota good / gm bad press. i must say, if it were a bit cheaper, i would consider owning one if the mpg is a consistent 30 in the city.

Wagoner or not, here are the things the GM execs and managers will need to commit to and buy into going forward for GM to be relevent. -commitment to shorter product cycles and faster time to market. and I'm talking new products, not refreshes. a program from start to finish will need to be 18-24 months total from start of design to hitting the sales floor. 36-42 months will be what the public will demand or even shorter, for full model cycles. trucks, maybe 48-54 months. -product development and manufacturing costs will need to amortized based on set, shorter schedules done in response to continuous improvement and the market, not to how long the beancounters want to stretch it out. Example, 1,000,000 engines of a set design, and then boom, new design and new tooling etc. They will need to do this to keep pace with engine and manufacturing technologies. No more '3800's in new Lucernes' just to write off more tooling cost or because its cheap to make. Develop a platform, use it for a few years and share it with as many models as possible, but then, don't milk it for ten more years. Say, we'll build 2 million units off this platform, then we'll move on. all powertrains, engines, chassis and hardware should be world class and should not be downgraded or dumbed down for America. -learn to make desirable interiors and do it. when you look at how things fit inside a VW or a Toyota and see the quality of materials and such, GM still has a ways to go even though they are improving. GM's management needs to lay down the gauntlet and really commit to becoming relevant in interiors. Fire any beancounters or execs or managers that don't get on board with this. -extend warranties to compete with the 4/50's and 7/100's. Also improve quality in powertrains etc. overall, even though they are already doing ok there. The public perception is still way behind. -stop putting out ugly vehicles. set the stylists free! this is where GM can do the best, because the Asians typically hamper their designers so much in order to sacrifice for the engineers. -fix the albatross that is union labor and legacy benefits. tough issue, but competing globally means if we want to make it here, we have to make it cheaper. The car should not have to sacrifice for the high excessive labor and benefit costs. Close plants, more if needed. -any model should be able to be built in the US or elsewhere with little fuss, that is, flexible manufacture. common platforms and processes, global mechanicals, etc. if a plant here gets too expensive, then it should be little fuss to move production overseas to keep things in check. if we are more flexible here, then we won't need to close a plant if one model is deleted or does badly. can't really comment on the marketing other than to say GM and Ford are not connecting with the mainstream Americans who have money. Those folks' self centered idealisms are on a new level and GM and Ford are still too caught up in the 'salt of the earth' buyers.....i.e. those who don't spend as much or as often on cars. any execs or managers who don't buy into this? FIRE THEM ALL. get in some youth, new perspectives, people from other countries, men, women, gay, elsbian, trans, albino, Asians, Germans, Koreans, Indians, any color of skin or background, FLUSH THE TOILET and get in some folks who can GET IT DONE. Decentralize from Detroit if needed. Move to Nebraska, if needed. Move to California or Atlanta if needed. It might be time for all the GM lifers to be purged unless they can get on board with what is required to keep pace with the other makers.

agree

the EXPLORER has better plastics...... i do like the commander's seat cloth interesting, according to carsdirect, i can get a v6 LR3 for 36 thousand....add leather and some other stuff, still under 40, the third row package with leather finally kicks it up over 40 grand.......The LR3 is AWESOME. the commander seems roughly just a couple thou below the LR3 only...I go for the space and comfort of the Lr3...... by the way, Jeep is offering a really cheap lease on the commander right now. i just saw an ad for 279 a month for 24 months but with a lot down.....

an ecotec malibu will easily see 25mpg and over 35 on highway trips. A good base one is ten grand cheaper. i do know the camry hybrid is a nicer car likely, and more powerful...but if fuel is your only concern....

Josh, I would bet any of those writers are too big of p*ssies to ever reply to any sort of questioning of their 'journalistic integrity'. I would love to see one of these dolts answer honest questions about the industry. My bet is they would exposed for all they are worth, 2 bit hacks who couldn't cut it covering semipro sports or restaurants. Most of them anyways. Some auto journalists are good. i am in favor of the CAFE raise, however, i know that GM and Ford will be singled out for bad press because of it. Interesting today. Had to ride with a coworker to a work function today in his Pilot. While he was driving, he made some comment about the H2 in front of him and GM's 'fuel sucking vehicles'. Funny, my other friend has a Pilot too, and it gets 15 mpg on a good day. I wonder if that's what my coworker gets with his. If so, its pathetic. But its a Honda, so its ok if that drinks gas. BTW, I consider any vehicle that gets less than 20mpg regualrly to be a thirsty car or truck. this could be a very good daily board. I would love to see it gorw a following and have some people see some of the bias that occurs here.

the commander is 40k, and its plastics are not nice enough for a 40k vehicle. just like the 300.