balthazar

Wow- I really like nothing about this car whatsoever. Are those George Foreman Grilles that the taillights are melting over? The sheetmetal sculpting is torturous at best- WTF is up with that spiky prong sticking up at the quarter window. I've been wondering for the last half-dozen years or so: why no toyota sports car. Now I know why.

The sad thing is that new readers will suck up this sensationalistic revisionism as unvarnished truth.

So that's where BMW's early '90s 3-series sheetmetal dies got to! (cover the nose in the 2nd pic). Where's the all the bloated, drooping, ribbed 2-tone cladding?? How else are consumers supposed to know it's a subaru??

Cort = small block Chevy = keeps on runnin'. Good health & fortune to you, sir.

Moltar- I don't get your beef with the '70 GTO- while the Judge wing was a bit large- at least it was on a 17-foot long car and you couldn't see it from the front... but the '68-70 GTO hood scoops were among the smallest ever put on a performance car- intake area has to be 1/3rd of the GXP's; again: on a near full-size car. Not to mention, the Judge was quite uncommon relative to standard GTOs. I really do not see any correlation... not even the second time you mentioned it.

OK- the dark door panels (esp in the rear) in a tan interior look mismatched, and the sporadic silver accents also look like replacement parts- interior needs much more harmonious color matching.The rear seats folding down on TOP of the seat bottoms greatly reduces the cargo capacity of the rear by uneccesarily raising the cargo floor. It also places unsecured items more inline with the front seat occupants in the event of an impact- not good. Besides the schizophrenic dash- the rest of the interior looks all right, but as many have mentioned- in this segment toyota cannot simple target the class leaders, it has to surpass them, but this 3rd generation truck still misses the mark simply by bringing nothing new to the segment. Torque numbers are comparable, but mileage numbers are way off on the volume-level motor. On a more subjective note- no way in hell would I consider a brand new platform/body/powertrain from a brand new factory from a company that recalls more vehicles in a year than it builds, but that's just crazy ol' me. Also, as a contractor, it might instill a bit more consumer curiousity if I would just once see a tundra towing.... anything, EVER.

See- I would think this would target the scion/ricer quite effectively. It's not what I would like to see Pontiac offer, but scion and the like isn't what I'd like to see toyota offer, either. Kids are still buying big wings...

As long as you sticks-in-the-mud understand that a DOHC is ALSO a OHV, therefore the OHV cannot die. God, I can't even read "OHV" without thinking 'overhead valve'. I have first-hand experience with flatheads, so the OHV moniker means something literal to me, not a blanket generalization for anything not OHC.

I run tires down to the wear indicator, or I will replace them if for whatever combination of reasons, they spin/skid too often in normal circumstances. Ironic subject matter: I just rotated my tires this afternoon- fun job without a lift.

Can we please get literal with the terminology on this one? ALL engines are OHV; OHV is OverHead Valves- all DOHC are also OHV. What would be far more accurate is to call the configuration in question In Block Cam --IBC--, which is a completely appropriate comparitive term to OverHead Cam, but I can't seem to get this term in regular use, tho I've seen a reference to it with the 3.9L with it's "dual in-block cams". Hopefully it'll take off so the descriptive disparity disappears.

ocn- "When men were men and cars were tanks" -- Sgt DynaFlow

Personally, I never much cared for Olds' cars. I've never owned one (tho they've been in my family here & there & I've driven Olds's tens of thousands of miles), and I really have no desire to own one. That said, I want to address a passing comment you made in another post ("last vestige of Olds comes down'??)- IMO General Motors has no intentions whatsoever of trying to make anyone "forget" Olds or pretend Olds never existed. To answer the above: it primarily saddens me that Olds is gone, from a historical appreciation standpoint. Any anger over the situation comes from the fact that so much money has been wasted with subaru, fiat, suzuki, saab & izusu... money that could've built brand new leading-edge Olds's instead. But at this point I have accepted it fully (what other course of action is there?) and I watch eagerly to see the -hopefully- resultant rejuvination of Pontiac & Buick- two divisions that mean a lot more to me.

Edmunds = head up own arse.

My '40: no power equipment, no radio, no heat, only 2 fuses in the fues block. All SAE fasteners. A crank-out windshield. 8-spd manual. Manufacturer-grown oak flooring. Less than 3 lbs of plastic on the entire vehicle, total (steering wheel, headlight knob, distributor cap, uhhhh....). Dubs. Perfection. Seriously- plastics are the LCD of materials- the entire gibbering overwrought debate over the 'quality' of plastic is like debting the 'artistic merit' of doggie doo. We're stuck with doggie doo and we're going to make the best of it; find the smoothest pile with the nicest whorl on top and the earthiest smell. You guys crack me up. No, seriously: dealbreakers for me are foriegn-owned manufacturers, 1000 lbs of plastic, FWD, 4-cyls, owner-unfriendly engineering/servicability, and grotesquely bad values.

Linky

>>"About the only thing left is a Chevy and Ford Ridgline "<< Hi.

Interesting that's it's called 'more modern'. As far as exterior styling goes, the '48-49-based Cadzilla has fully-integrated front fenders, while the '53 Holden still retained the pontoons that none of GM's core divisons retained after '48. Not knocking either hot rod, both are awesome... just remarking.

Every single one of the 547 GNX were factory (ASC) dyno-tested: Median average was 345, overall average was 350.

GNX was intercooled, among other mods, but wasn't rated any higher than the GN's 245 HP (wink-wink). Actual output was 345 HP.

>>"GM retired the Malibu name in the 1980s and then brought it back in 1997 and slapped it on a midsize, front-wheel drive sedan nothing like the brawny rear-drive muscle cars that bore that name during the 1960s and 1970s."<< "slapped', eh? No attitude there, right? And it was the Chevelle... or more specifically the Chevelle SS that was typically 'brawny'- Malibus often ran 6-bangers or very small undertuned V-8s.

>>"My father noticed that instantly since he grew up with these cars, namely that it didn't have that "Stupid French-looking &#036;h&#33;" as he remembered them."< Curious: clarification, please.

Nice collection of well-preserved drivers. The Olds looks the nicest, quite nice in fact- restored? That price seems very good for a 2-dr, if a nice resto it's definately low. The Impy is in a grey area between the old guard, which would end with the '62s, and the 'new guard' starting in '65. Without checking, I believe '63-64 are low on the Impy collectibility totem pole. That completely non-factory re-upholstery job is a hideous deal-breaker. Push-button TorqueFlites were electro-mechanical, not vacuum or electronic. Very reliable. Carbiz- there was a '68 convert in the junkyard near me- it's gone now tho (crushed). It was is rough shape, but restorable, esp given the rarity (1 of 474!!). I want to say it had buckets.... The '67 Series 60 Special is a real sweetheart- they are so luxurious & comfortable inside (fold-down tray tables & foot rests, plus the 8 power vents windows are pretty cool). Same yar that had the Impy ragtop had a white '65 S60S. The LeS is such a nice example of the period Fisher Body fastback, tho I'd prefer a Poncho or at least a Wildcat. In general, these are too new for me to run up & lick the doorhandle of, and the one that is old enough is an Olds, which I am not into except for a half-handful of models.

Griff- a six-window sedan design still does not -by definition- include a D-Pillar. D-Pillars come into play on -for example- a traditional station wagon.

It seems to me that offering service in areas such as >>"routing calls, remote door unlocks, roadside assistance, remote vehicle diagnostic checks, stolen vehicle location assistance requests, air bag deployment notifications, emergency service requests, and Good Samaritan calls."<< is FAR and away more significant and pertinent to the consumer than testing a system with your buddies on a joyride to Walmart. Wel,, it should be. Of course, the average consumer is infinitely more impressed with "snazzy" screens and colors. I am a bit distressed that NAV is going standard- I have no desire to pay for it either initially or in any subscription fees, have no practical (nor any egocentric) need for it

Thanks Sat-Man. Sixty8- That's awesome... I just first saw that one last month in a mag. Would love to read an article on the mechanics of it.