roopull

Judging by your comments, it sounds like your tastes & mine are similar. If it were me buying, I'd go with either the LaCrosse or the Accord. The Aura is a new model (isn't it? Not sure considering where it's coming from.) Being a new model, if it is, they usually have more problems than 2nd or 3rd year models... gotta get those bugs out of the system. The LaCrosse is a handsome car & is even recommended by ConsumerReports. Buick is also towards the top of JD's VDS, so I doubt you'd have any reliability issues. I've read reports on the V6 in the LaCrosse that say it's rough & noisey... if so, they must have some awesome sound deadening, because I couldn't hear it when I rode in one. The Accord is always a reliable, if dull, car. Aftermarket parts are available all over the place & are often cheap, so if you do go with the 4 banger, there are a million ways to make it less sluggish... which, of course, it is. I throw the Accord out there because that's what I'd look at first (I've owned a few.) But, with Buick making such good cars, you'd be silly not to consider it. The Aura... we own a Saturn & we hate it. Of course, the Aura has virtually nothing to do with the Saturns of Tennessee. Previous attempts to re-badge European built 'domestic' brands have been huge failures, so the Aura certainly has an uphill battle... not sure I'd gamble on it.

Come on, you KNOW it's better if you let her know. Perhaps she already knows & the two of you will be dancing around the thing trying not to say what's on both of your minds. IMO, you could be passing up a great opportunity to rekindle a friendship. Besides, chicks love gay guys!

Okay... I actually laughed outloud at that!

Absolutely.... specifically if you've been driving trucks. The Japanese makes can't touch GM & Ford. The Nissan is a nice try, & the Tundra is looking promising, but imo, they have a long way to go. Through work, I've owned a variety of trucks. Although the Chevy Luv & Ford Courrier (a Mazda) were great little trucks, I doubt any logical person would argue that the only place to get a decent REAL truck is Ford or GM. That being said, I'm quite surprised Isuzu hasn't transformed their NPR model into a non-commercial vehicle. It's a stout little bugger, too. Only 118K miles? Do you only drive that thing on the weekends!?!?! My 95 Accord almost has TWICE that many miles!!! But, to answer your question, no you can't really complain. The Taurus is also a bigger & quiter car. I don't recall saying that the domestics don't make any good cars. In fact, I do think I said the domestics made crappy cars in the 70s, 80s & part of the 90s, with Chrysler still making absolute crap. Remember, Nissan & the other Japanese brands are NOT Honda & Toyota. The generalizations are rediculous & have helped sh!tty companies like Mitsubishi stay alive. Just as I wouldn't lump Chrysler in with GM & Ford, I don't think anyone should be lumping Mitsubishi, Nissan, Mazda etc in with Honda & Toyota. On this very website, there's a story about Ford shifting - not only production - but a whole litany of skilled positions to Mexico. It goes on about how this is part of Ford's way forward plan or whatever it's called. Face it... the days of GM & Ford truly being American companies is slipping away. At the current trend, in a couple of decades, the only thing they'll be doing here is selling cars.

I was wondering to myself if that would happen when they're number one... if not destroying them, perhaps they'll quit quoting the Toyota Corp's company line...

How many hybrids does GM sell - not counting the commercial busses & the like?

The LH sedans were nightmares as far as reliability goes... they've got decent power & are very comfy inside, but other than that, they're pieces of crap. Ask yourself... how many old Intrepids, LHSs, Visions & Concordes do you see rolling around?

Considering we're slowly shopping for a new ride... ruling out the GM option we've looked at, it'd be one of these in order of current preference: Subaru Forrester Mazda 5 (the new tiny minivan.) PT Cruiser, Honda Element. We want something road-trip worthy, able to haul luggage, friends AND a car-seat. get good gas mileage, and be small enough to be friendly in inner-city driving. The HHR slots right there with the PT.

Isuzu makes an absolutely bulletproof small diesel. If GM could get its hands on that, stuff it in a mini-van, SUV or two & their trucks...

Ignoring your A-hole first statement, like I said earlier, if GM builds kick a$$ cars, we'll buy them & that includes me. Of course, since I've been buying Hondas since the 80s, a time when GM couldn't build a decent matchbox car, much less something as wonderful as my first Civic, I know a lot about Hondas & how to work on them. For example, I can do my own brakes, CV joints (both Honda weaknesses, imo) and other simple little things you learn over the years. Honestly, we all do. You do realize that America also has trade barriers up blocking Japan (and every other nation's products) & tarriffs that are & were unfair when they were set-up, right? We can focus on Japan & say Japan is evil & all that crap, but America has so many trade barriers up, it's mind boggling. If you want to cite barriers, what do you say we start a little competition & see who gets bored first... sugar, lumber, corn... this could be fun! And hey, I get to cite all those nations that want to sell food here - third world countries that could really use a market for the only products they can produce, but are locked out of our nation's market because we want to protect Americans. Yeah, this could be lot of fun! My point is that Japan is no more unfair than America & America no more unfair than Japan. Each free nation's elected officials try to buy votes by blocking foreign competition. Toyota & Honda have founda way around that & bravo for them. I applaud them. And, I'm not saying the closing of domestic plants somehow pleases me, but I am pleased to see that at least SOMEONE knows how to run a business & employ American in manufacturing jobs. I personally got sick to my stomach when, fifteen years ago, I was reading that Americans couldn't compete with the Japanese. What a load of crap! To see that cars are being desined & built here (albeit by Japanese owned companies) that are among the best in the world just made my friggin' day. Now, GM & Ford are finally stepping up to the plate & actually competing. Bravo for them & I applaud them, too. It's about damn time. They wouldn't have done it had it not been for the Japs. We'd still be replacing our cars ever 100K miles in stead of every 200 or 250... I digress... You say it's about national security & fairness... well, if the national securty you're referring to is the 'comandeering of plants' they way Uncle Sham did in WWII, it's hard for Washington to comandeer a plant in Ontario, but not so hard to do so to one in Ohio, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, or Tennessee. Other than that, maybe I'm missing the national security issue (which certainly sounds like I should fear buying imports.) As far as fairness goes, it's a business. The domestics & the UAW have plenty of lobbyists in Washington doing their best to unlevel the playing field. So do the Japanese. If there's one phrase I can't stand to hear it's someone saying, "It's not fair." That kind of thinking belongs in the mouths of welfare recipients & New Orleans Bridge People. Don't make excuses, make kick-a$$ cars. Now, back to your question of the Camry vs. the Impala... All things being equal, I'd probably go for the Impala, because I'd seriously rather buy an American product... My first car was a 66 FuryIII. I loved that thing. The Fury, you might remember, competed directly with the Impala. The 60s were a time for the big three to shine. They made gorgeous cars back then... In that respect, the American companies have a bit of an advantage over the Japanese branded companies. However, throughout the 70s & 80s, the big three pissed much of that advantage away. I'm 31 & consider my love affair with big American cars to make me a bit of an odd-ball. Unlike my friends, my 'fun cars' have all been domestics from the 60s (my fave being my 63 Corvaire.) Most of my friends my age grew up driving 2nd hand Civics, CRXs, Celicas, Corollas etc... driving them until they had 200K miles on the odo & loving every minute of it. The Japanese bought our hearts with cheap reliable cars while America was trying to sell us crap like the Tempo & Cavalier. Since then, they've even started making the cars here, while the "Americans" started building their cars in Mexico & Canada & importing them here! Then, guys like you have the nerve to tell me to NOT buy my Japanese branded American built car, but opt for a Canadian imported American branded car? Huh? Am I missing something? Most folks who buy 'imports' would buy Japanese no matter where they're built... having them assembled here is just the icing on the cake. And yes, we all realize that the big three employ more folks here... God knows you can't fire a UAW employee! You can, but you still have to pay them! HA! How stupid is that! When my Fury finally threw a rod, I walked into a Ford dealership to buy a used car. The only two cars on the lot that were in my price range & were vaguely what I wanted was an 89 Civic & an 89 Cavalier. The Civic had twice as many miles, but was in much better condition. The rest is history... it was replaced by an Integra, then a Prelude, then a succession of Accords. I'm not trying to convince you or change your mind, just explain how things are... Would it have been fair to force me to buy that crappy Cavalier? I drove that Civic until it had 227K miles if I remember correctly & sold it for two grand. I'd bought it for five. The Cavalier wasn't worth a crap when I looked at it & clearly wouldn't have lasted nearly as long & wouldn't have sold for nearly as much... of course, I'm basing that off of my knowledge of how crappy the Cavalier was & how low resale values for it were. Fair is buying the best product my money can find. Fair is building the best product & offering it for the best price. For twenty plus years, the UAW & the big three ignored that fact & fought with each other. Meanwhile, the Japanese branded companies were making these decontented little cars & beginning a love affair with the American consumer. The UAW & the big three are getting exactly what they sowed in the 70s, 80s & some of the 90s (IMO, Chrysler is still making good looking CRAPPY cars.) The only way for the domestics to win MY heart back & the hearts of every other American is to quit whining about what's fair... to quit having news stories about the poor pitiful UAW workers plight (most folks, IMO, can't stand the UAW,) and to start building kick a$$ cars. Personally, I think both GM and Ford have begun to turned that corner. Caddy, Buick, and Lincoln are making great cars & Chevy is really stepping up to the plate with some reliable vehicles (aside from their trucks, for once.) If GM will continue this trend & further clean up its absolutely confuzzled line-up, they might start getting some love... don't look for that love to come any time soon, though... they've got two decades of making 100% sh!t to account for. Overcoming that will take time... time & kick a$$ cars.

I've owned an Acura - loved it. Owned several Hondas, too. THAT being said, this thing is goofy looking & overpriced. I don't mind goofy lookiing - you get used to that when you look like me, but overpriced I don't like.

Hey, I'm not making excuses for Honda... read around a bit... I've given plenty of props to Caddy & Buick for their accomplishments. Are you referring to this study, the VDS, or the stupid Initial Quality Study? You know, that's a point many of us have been making about GM... Honda has been very slow & careful in expanding its line-up. The recent problems over at Toyota, I believe, are an example of what happens when a company tries to expand too quickly... glad to see we agree... I'm assuming you're referring to the IQS, which essentially measures how happy NEW owners are with their NEW cars. The study is rather meaningless, IMO, but one can understand how Hyundai slapping some cheap leather in an SUV that stickers for $17K would really impress the folks who buy those cars.The study I posted is the VDS & Buick, Caddy & Lincoln are still right at the top... ABOVE Honda and Toyota. Tune in, buddy... I'm not the GM basher you might think I am. Re-read my post & you might be surprised.

Great... just great. Don't people enjoy the drive, anymore? Isn't there something to be said for a car that can hug a corner? Jeez... we're all getting so fat, before too long, we'll all be in heavy duty trucks!

My wife & I rented a Renezvous for a week a couple of years ago & came away seriously impressed. Yeah, it's kinda' goofy looking, but was a nice blend of SUV & mini-van that even my mini-van hating wife liked. While the Ranier may be the nicest of that line of SUVs, I'm glad to see it go. I hate badge engineering. I have high expectations for the Enclave. I expect to see plenty of them on the road.

So, GM is to Russia what Toyota is to America?

Yeah... take back the crown while making money. I'm no fan of any car company, really, but I find Toyotas to be about as exciting as a nice afternoon nap. It may be what I need from time to time, but certainly nothing I'm going to be telling my firends about. For fun, let's make a list of the exciting cars from each company Toyota... uh... hmmm... no Celica, Supra, or anything approaching exciting... GM... Solstice, Sky, GTO, Vette...

Still waiting. And yes, Toyota, Honda & the rest build plants here because the workforce is cheaper & more effecient than just about anywhere else (assuming you're not hiring UAW.) Are their other factors? Of course. Tons of them. Many of them also explain why Toyota is building plants in Canada, too, as opposed to the USA. Canada is NOT the same as the USA. Would Honda & Toyota close plants if the big 2.5 vanished? Please... that has to be the dumbest thing I've read in days. What? Like I'm going to be scared into buying a domestic. If anything, that makes me want to buy a car they don't build here, just to hurry the process along...

So...... the G5 will be LESS exciting than the other cars that share it's chassis/platform/whatever? Pathetic.

That'd be odd, since it's just the two door version of the Camry with 'special' body work.

Considering the hybrid Accord is a performance oriented hybrid, having the hybrid Aura be a gas sipping hybrid seems like a good idea. Folks who buy the 4 cyl Accord (like myself) generally choose the 4 cylinder version over the V6 to save on gas. Now, if they'll only do what they did with the Vue & NOT price the thing out of the range of cheapos like me, they should have a hit. I just hope it looks better in person than it does in the pics. It looks like a coma in the pictures!

Wow... lots of folks trying to make excuses for why their favorite brands score poorly on dependibility studies... even lumping Mitsubishi in with Honda & Toyota to make Honda & Toyota look bad. Until recently, wasn't Mitsu part of Chrysler? Whatever... the BS stops when you reach the top. For those of you with bad eyesite, it goes something like this: Lexus Porsche Lincoln Buick Caddy Infiniti Toyota Mercury Honda Acura BMW Ford Chevy Crysler... anything below where Chrysler sits is 'below average' and in my book, unworthy That being said, I love my Hondas. I've had great experiences with them & have suffered very little in the way of maintainance woes. So, I'm most likely sticking with Honda. If GM wants to earn more loyal customes, they have to figure out how to stay at the top of this list & others like it... and figure out how to get ALL of their brands up there...

Adults should be able to put their lives at risk so long as they're not risking anyone else's rights. Aside from the dolt with the smashed head, who was the victim of his not wearing a helmet? Helmet laws are just one more way for folks to mandate their morals to others.

I'll bet you a dollar to a donut they build that Imperial. It fits their strategy of moving the brand upmarket & with some 300s selling north of 40 grand to some really dumb shmucks, I doubt they'll have a problem selling them. As they say, there's no accounting for taste.

Anything to make the mini-van world less boring is good in my book... thus, I love the Quest's styling. It's the only one that REALLY looks unique. As for more hybrids... yay great... and how many years do you have to drive one to make up for the mark-up?

If they build a Monte, gave it a V8 with RWD, offered it black with red pinstriping & the topped it off with T-tops, I'd be VERY VERY tempted... Call me doubly tempted if they even put REAL Monte Carlo badges on it!