NOS2006

My apology, post edited. You're correct that it is not a subcompact. My mind was elsewhere...

Back from the dead... Nope, car's not finished. I run into minor things I don't like about it here and there...

• Suspension's not as tight as I'd like it, so I'm fixing that with some struts, springs, and sway bars in the summer
  
• Tranny has a real nice grind upshifting/downshifting into 2nd (well, I did buy a Dodge...). A rebuild kit costs over $500, plus installation. My fix? Bought an SRT drivetrain out of a wrecked '04 with 33k miles. Total swap will cost around $3-4k with full exhaust and a couple modifications (fuel system, bigger intercooler, etc.), minus what I will make from selling my OEM parts
  
• The cheapo tires I put on it "just to get me by" aren't quite cutting it in the snow, so I'll have to get a set of winter tires and summer tires (on aftermarket 17s).
  
• Other minor gripes I can't think of right now too...

Yay, make cuts to the industry I'm going into. FU once more, current US administration.

So you buy a new house and have to give up the car and buy a bicycle, eh?

Congratulations, bud!

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haha Ohh you better believe I will. Tonight will be a direct repeat of last year... probably not a good thing lol. Tomorrow will be another party sponsored by the under-21 crowd who can't go to the bars with us tonight.

Here we go... though I may make a few small changes still.

Speaking of getting old, I turned 21 for the second time yesterday. haha

I see it too, sNOSage.

haha I forgot about that one..

Are AWD and manual transmissions available on these base models?

Also, does anybody know the difference between the GS's engine and the CXL's engine? Is it just a tune that made the CXL's power ratings smaller and MPGs higher?

My bad with my wording - I was saying that unlike Ford, which didn't claim bankrupcy and didn't fall behind in product development (my statement makes it look like I said Ford fell behind when I meant that GM fell behind). Sorry for the missing word. I do believe that ford is the strongest of the Big 3 right now and as usual, GM is playing catch-up with them.

haha Yeah, I was a little confused by that. I was like, come on now man, I know you're smarter than that!

That's pretty good pricing, and I didn't expect such good MPG ratings. I wish I were in the market because I'd be getting a GS, although I still agree that they screwed it up by not having the 2.8L in it. But that's alright because the LNF stage kits are more than sufficient.

Was the hatch on the GMC Granite ever opened? If yes, how much space is availabl back there?

I never saw the hatch opened... That would've been nice to see though.

Nice set of shots, Nos. Thanks for posting these.

Thanks, oblu, and absolutely no problem.

GM is screwed, really screwed. I went to the show with an open mind, and out of the big 3 I think Ford is poised to overtake GM and Chrysler and be number 1 overall. Chrysler's situation well we know what that is right now, holding on barely. GM...this a hard one with me since I'm a 3rd generation GM worker. I thought the entire lineup save for a few cars I cant't afford(Cadillac, Corvette)were nice, but their lineup looked really really tired and dated. Even the new products to me look dated already, except for the Equinox, even the CTS is starting to look dated(gulp!). I had to stand there and listen to my friends bash on GM and I didn't really have much to stand on to throwback at them. The Cruze is a complete and utter disappointment compared to what Ford is going to bring out in the new Focus. That car blew me away!!!!

All in all I walked away from the show with a bad uncertain feeling for GM, a lot of concern, they need to turn it around quick because Ford has a head start and is off and running and we are losing sight of them.

I agree that the Ford stuff looks great.

Chrysler was subpar, but what more can you expect from them right now honestly? They're in the middle of a huge change and they're doing all they can. Next year they will have much better product out there.

I'm not sure why the CTS is starting to look dated to you, other than because you're being the ultimate pessimist. Matter of fact, I went downtown yesterday for a game and the guys I was with were talking about how much they love the CTS's styling, and we all live in metro Detroit so we all see these cars every single day. I don't know how the hell you can say the Cruze is a disappointment. In terms of design? That's all personal opinion. Nobody has driven the Cruze to judge it, so now you're sounding like an import fanboy who is just judging literally all aspects of the car off of aesthetic perception alone.

I'm not counting out GM yet and I'm not proclaiming doom and gloom, I'm just telling you what I saw and gave you the opinions of my friends who do not work in the industry. So, to me their opinion is invaluable being outsiders. GM historically being behind DOES NOT CUT IT THESE DAYS!! There is no excuse! Sure the Terrain, Equinox, and CTS are selling. So what, again I said what does GM have to appeal to the average buyuer in their upcoming lineup? The Spark is shockingly disgusting, and I saw not one, NOT ONE PERSON looking at it, or the Cruze! GM once again dropped the ball by doing the HD pickup intros in...Chicago??? Michigan is pickup country not Chicago. So out of the show as far as small to midsize cars, the Aveo RS is nice, but GM will find a way to screw it up once it comes to market, the Spark well... , the Cruze not so good, but nice try. The Regal has lots of potential but in typical GM fashion they could have gave us the all out version with 325HP but instead gives us the 255hp version WTF??? This car in general all of my friends really liked and was the only bright spot other than the CTS-V coupe and of course the XTS.

I do the powertrains for these cars and trucks, and I'm very proud to say we have THE BEST, but I can only hold up my end, now its time for the designers to hold up their end.

I fully agree on the Regal GS needing the 2.8 and not the 2.0, that was a very stupid move. Makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. The Cruze, Aveo, and Spark aren't as bad as you're making them out to be honestly.

I figured out the rear end...

Also, I don't think a lack of RWD products from GM has been because of CAFE. I think it has been because their business plan from old school bean counters said no to it.

+1

Yesterday I was able to go to NAIAS for the Industry Preview. Overall, it was a pretty small show as expected. Nothing really glamorous or exciting. Ford had a pretty nice display, and the whole show was nice for what the industry is going through right now. However, again, there wasn't a lot of pizzazz, not much new, just kind of a bunch of dealerships in one place with a few concepts. I can't complain though; nobody in the industry has money to throw something new out there. It was definitely weird to not see Saab, Saturn, Hummer, and Lamborghini (among others who were missing) this year.

I was pretty impressed by the setup in the basement. The pictures turned out terrible due to the poor lighting and not fixing the settings on my camera, but it was pretty nice. We took a ride in a Tahoe Hybrid. I've been in one before, but I jumped in to join my coworker. It was a nice ride and I think you should all check one out if you get a chance, even if you can't afford its steep MSRP. It's really pretty respectable to hardly ever know if that big six-liter V8 is pumping or not.

While I was there, I figured it'd be fun to eavesdrop on people looking at the GM vehicles to hear their opinions on GM's latest offerings. So, here are a few direct quotes I heard from other onlookers...

"Not too bad overall." (said with an optimistic tone) -- GMC Terrain

"This is real nice!" -- Cadillac XTS

"It just screams 'get out of the way.'" -- Cadillac CTS-V Coupe

"This blows away the A4 all day long. This is really nice." -- Buick Regal GS

To view my gallery of this year's show, CLICK HERE

I just feel that there's much more influence from this concept on these two designs, not so much in the others (CTS, XLR, SRX, BLS, etc). Look at the sharpened taillights, very raked windshield, razor-like C pillar, especially on the Converj look at the side sweep and sweeping headlight design...

I just noticed something... are the CTS Coupe and Converj designs based loosely off of the Cien? Look at these side profiles:

Cien

CTS Coupe

Converj

haha Alright, I think I can handle THAT... :camarosmile:

Yeah, if you notice I come and go every three months. Once I'm back at school, I'm never here... Unfortunately. But right now I'm away from school until Easter, so you all get to deal with me. lol

Umm yeah.. last night actually. I just got out of work and stopped by the local USPS. Pulling in behind me was a brand new, murdered out (black paint, deep tints, black-out taillights, black powdercoated rims) CTS-V. I wanted to knock him out and steal the keys while we were standing in line, but I was nice. lol