balthazar

I like the era '57-65 the best, and I greatly prefer the full-size cars. A-Bodies were just de-engineered from the B/C-Bodies, anyway. I love Cadillacs and maybe a bit moreso: Pontiacs. I love the 1st gen Grand Prixs, and will pinpoint my favorite as my first car: 1964 Grand Prix Sport Coupe.

> panel seams used as styling elements. > when a --say-- rectangular taillight's NorthEast corner just touches a side window's SouthWest corner... creates visual tension. SRX is one that does this. > when the primary interior material is plastic- no atom-splitting degree of 'plastic quality' assessment can make up for the fact it's still the cheapest material possible. > taillights that light up NOTHING like their overall shape. The worst here is easily volvo: 3-foot tall lenses and a 1.5" x 1.5" brake light. How stupid is that? > 'repeater' signals on the front fenders. > dual OUTLET exhaust tips on single exhaust cars (which is just about every one).

So; you're dropping the whole "shiny & glossy" claim then?

>>"Yes the Lucerne and Impala LOOK like hard plastic. The dash materials beneath the woodgrain trim are shiny with a glossy texture that screams "cheap.""<< My father owns a Lucerne and I've been in it more than once. The dash below the woodgrain is neither shiny nor glossy and neither screams nor whispers "cheap".

Uh-oh: smallchevy opened the door to "art pics" !

I wonder if it'll turn out the toyota's ball joints separated. If not, hope a valuable lesson was learned. Here's to full recoveries for the 2.

My bad RE: being in the lounge; I cruise by 'new posts' and not by individual forums. I never bother with checking the forum title. Regardless, leveling the playing field should be an objective of all who support General Motors and their products. I remember overhearing 2 women talking a few years ago: "Why did you buy an acura?" "Because they're built to go 200, 300,000 miles with no problems." This woman is misinformed. As you yourself stated BV 'all manufacturers have problems', and they do; that's a fact. But the PERCEPTION lags FACT, and it needs correction. >>"Let me get this straight... You are saying that the perception of Hondas/Acuras/etc being imaculate while the perception of Pontiacs/Chevrolets/etc being far from imaculate is wrong, and the perception of the former is more incorrect than the latter, while no vehicle is immune to problems, and you'll point out problems on the one of the former only because of the perception problem, but leave alone the fact that many vehicles suffer from the problems... You're essentially letting the latter get off scott-free. The former is okay to take issue with because of its perception, but the latter, no, let's not worry any problems of those. "<< You got it crooked. I never said I was OK with any vehicle's shortcomings (that said, I do not obsess, either). You're making extrapolative assumptions with my words. I am not addressing the reality of shortcomings, but the perception of shortcomings (or lack thereof). You understand the difference, right? Reality vs. perception? It IS entirely possible to address misperceptions of one manufacturer, without making a full comparison evaluation of every other competitor. IE- discussing an overblown perception should not automatically open the floor to 'OH YEAH? WHAT ABOUT (xxxx)'s CHEAP PLASTICS?' counterattacks. And again, it confuses reality with perception- 2 different criteria. Again, even if this is a closed forum and 'we are all enthusiasts'- do we all agree with each other here on the 'facts'? If we did, there'd probably be 75% less posting going on.

I do not believe the locking rear is worth a great effort to locate if you are not going off-road or in mud. Have an open rear in my '94 F-150, got stuck a few times off-road where I shouldn't have been. I learned. Never got stuck in snow, tho. If you are on hard ground or pavement all the time- you won't need the LR. Another factor to inquire about: when I bought my F-150, it had the optional 3/4-ton springs in the rear- so overloading it was no problem. I don't know if Chevy/GMC offer this, or the dealer can retro-fit it cost-effectively... that is worth more than the LR, IMO. I believe the 1500 HD suspension is only available on the Crew Cab. It all depends on your performance desires/expectations as far as the motor goes. If the mileage is comparable to the V-8, I would agree, the resale on the V-8 would be better, tho what the gas cost differences vs. the option cost over the time you own it would be, I don't know. 2006 GMC 4.3 V-6 is rated at 195 HP & 260 TRQ. 1994 F-150 4.9 I-6 is rated at 145 HP and 265 TRQ... with an automatic & 3.08s and let me tell you, it's more than adequate for a work truck. I've towed about 5600 lbs on a 4900 lb rating- motor did not struggle (the 4.9 IS a great, strong motor). In looking at the 2006 GMC Sierra brochure, the 1500 RC has a payload rating (4.3/4.8/5.3 and manual or auto) of 2052 and a max trailering weight of 9100. Look how far up that is over my '94, which never couldn't do what I asked it (furniture, dirt, stone, lumber, firewood, sheetrock, engines, towing, etc, etc, etc.

A buddy of mine bought an '07 Silverado RC/LB- he says the V-6 has plenty of power for him. 3 in a regular cab is no problem- these are true full-size vehicles as far as width goes. I would choose vinyl over cloth and get a cheapie seat cover to insulate agains temp extremes. Vinyl will last longer and is easier to clean. A/C isn't standard at this point? Even if it's not, I doubt you'd find many without it.

Talked to a guy today I am going to do some work for. We were looking at my 2500HD and he said he wanted to get a truck (he drives an '02 jetta) and he was thinking about the tundra "because toyotas are supposed to run forever". After discreetly vomiting into the bushes, I asked him if he had heard about the camshafts snapping on the tundra. He hesitated and said 'Well, I was thinking about the tundra." Nice.

'blackviper8891' =>>"Again, you're point is?"<< Again, it's a public service / perception correction. FAR more people read these boards than post on them- undoubtedly many of them come here as non-enthusiasts to learn. You may have made up your mind, but not everyone else has. Even among us enthusiasts, who 'know it all', opinions of 'facts' vary w i d e l y. >>"The above is a rather pitiful excuse and is basically you justifying these problems occurring in a lowly Chevrolet."<< Bull&#036;h&#33;- I justified nothing and addressed nothing specific about Chevrolet. But feel free to vicariously lambast Chevy thru the (non-)posts of others all you want. :wink:

>>"OK....going back to Fly's previous post.....holding the gear is nice....because....it gives you complete control over the transmission (like one of the true virtues of a traditional manual transmission.) If you want lower gears available, leave the damn thing in "drive"....or, gasp, manually grab a lower gear yourself when necessary. If I'm in "manual shift" mode, I don't want the computer trying to determine when I need a downshift....but in the Enclave, the computer is still in control."<< Prolly not your intention, but this reads exactly like it's all about the subjective 'I'm in control over the transmission' than it is about the performance of the vehicle. I always find it humerous that seemingly most of the people who love being in control of the gear they're in are simultaneously quite content with having zero control over the, for example; brakes or suspension. :wink: >>"For example, the geography in SoCal is varied....with many hilly areas, etc. If I'm towing my Seadoos, for example, and going up over the toll road (which cuts through the local mountains here) I can go to manual shift mode and lock the tranny into, say, 5th gear to pull the grade...and in a true "manual shift" mode, it won't "hunt" annoyingly between say 4th or 5th, etc. You can use as much throttle as you need to pull the grade without worrying about the tranny still cycling between a lower gear(s) and what you've "locked" it into."<< This at least is more objective. I've never ever had an automatic 'hunt annoyingly' on me (I currently drive a 5-spd auto), either in flat NJ or the very hilly PA & NY, but the very nature of more and more gears is going to shorten the time spent in each under any circumstances. Yet I must ask: if a trans is 'programmed' to remain in 5th as you state in the above example, are you in fact "in control" or is it again --ala the Enclave-- the transmission in "control" ? :wink:

I am totally with you on this one, Chris. The Sky is a sweet design, but it's nothing new: horizontal headlights, horizontal grille, a 'bumper'. The Solstice with it's 'bumperless' and radical nose, along with the breaks-the-headlight-plane split grilles is unique. It just comes off as more purposeful rather than 'pretty' to my eye. Most people gravitate to the familiar- I for one tend to value the unique (as long as it's also a great design; no Pacers on my wish list!)

The point is --as alluded to by 98-- is that hondacuras are not supposed to have ANY of these issues, whereas Pontiacs & Chevys are supposed to be loaded with them. Consider acura's mention here as a a public service / 'perception correction'.

Ugly, as all subarus have traditionally been. The 2-tone paint, hugely reminiscent of the bloated cladding which is subaru's trademark, is both strange & hilarious.

Not that anyone's keeping track, but I am NOT putting VentiPorts on my B-59. I have considered stacking 4 vertically at the trailing edge of the front fender (I am partial to the '55s but the '56s would be more fitting to the '59 design), but I'm not going to do it. Too much of a focal point. Sixty8- don't forget that it was the B-58 that first jettisoned the VentiPorts... I, too, like the idea of a Buick VentiPort/flattery commercial, just make sure the maserati is in there. :wink:

How is manually shifting a trans and holding ONLY that gear preferrable to ALSO having lower gears available? I've driven both numerous times and have yet to discern a reason why locking out all other gears offers any sort of benefit. Indeed, it seems like an engineering stumble in my experience. Which is going to perform better: dropping the trans into 2 and having 1 & 2 available, or being stuck only with 2 and having to potentially shift again?

>>"On the other hand, GMC's brand equity is limited - GM will never be able to leverage the GMC name worldwide and growth here has limited potential. If you made GMCs into Chevrolets and changed the GMC signs to Chevy ones and lost half your buyer base because of it, you'd still have 200,000 additional vehicles on the road wearing the bowtie. That's not insignificant. The extra exposure is a cheap way to advertise Chevrolet. People like a winner. The next few years will be the perfect time to do this as fuel prices and recession kill demand for trucks - especially leather-lined and Nav-equipped Denalis."<< GMC has been growing it's sales steadily- setting historical sales records in something like 10 of the last 12 years. If the potential is limited, GMC hasn't hit that limit yet. 200,000 more Chevrolets is one way to look at it. 300,000 LESS GM trucks is another.

buyacargetacheck= >>"GM is struggling to invent an identity for {Saturn}"<< Quantify the degree of 'struggling', please. >>"Moving Saturn into Oldsmobile's place in Sloan's structure is not going to work."<< Psst! The Sloan Heirarchy was dissolved in the late 1950s, you have some catching up to do. >>"Adam Opel has been making genuine value-priced German-engineered road cars for 108 years."<< No one gives a tin sh!t about this- it will not sell cars. In fact, as the consumer at large becomes increasing better informed, playing up a German heritage when the present German-based makes are lagging in quality is, again, NOT what GM needs. Like Cadillacfan stated: the U.S. market is ALREADY oversaturated, and the manpower & cost to 'switch over' from one name to another is a collosal distraction when there are many more pressing matters for Corporate to focus on. Opel has NO image, there is no advantage, it's a waste of time, how can you not see this? Not to mention once again, you fail to consider the marketing aspect of GM 'discontinuing' ANOTHER division. The media will pounce on 'another GM failure' like a Great White.

B-59s don't have 12" cross-drilled rotors, but they do have 12" finned aluminum drums, which means zero brake fade. The primary factor in not wanting to drive something 40-50 years old everyday is the tires- if you have anything close to the stock tire- you have 4" of tread on the road; I think even an echo has more rubber on the road than that. Slam a beefy set of radials on a B-59 and it'll outbrake most modern family sedans. Add to that if you desire: drilling the drums (there's a procedure for that) and Kevlar-impregnated shoes and you'll challenge some cars most here would think impossible. I drove a 30-yr old car (4-wheel drum) everyday for 2 years, but I put fat radials on it. Brakes were absolutely fine and they weren't even the class-leading Buick aluminum drums. BTW- crossdrilling rotors is currently only an asthetic- not a technological neccessity. Brake pads are no longer manufacturered as earlier ones were, where major offgassing effected braking performance.

>>"It will take generations for Saturn to lose it's lame image. "<< Saturn's image isn't nearly as lame as hyundai's 'rollling garbage' image was, and it took about 18 months for people to forgive that. I agree with the majority here and will further state: there was just possibly a chance at a name switch before the new product rolled into the dealers; now it's far too late. Continual name juggling does not inspire confidence, either. Opel has no cache' and no image here- and those that remember Opels before they pulled out of the US Market remember prematurely-rotted, oil-smoke belching tin cans and a cheap-o corvette knock-off. NOT a step up.

buyacargetacheck= >>"I... live in... Los Angeles, CA."<< Oh; this explains so much!

Wow- what a step backwards! So clunky & upright; This would be the bastard offspring of an older BMW and a Plymouth, if it was around for '08. The accord used to be sleek, the current civic is sleek, but this is just dumpy and derivative.

Latest example of apparent widespread Chinese business mindset (F everyone, take cash now): WABC radio reported that a company in China that sells 100,000 chopsticks a day was selling recycled (ie: USED) chopsticks, without any sort of disenfecting whatsoever. Bejing News: 'What will come out next?'