WCCPSGM

Diesel isn't prohibitably expensive on the rabbit.

Yeah I checked the website and it says they have 'em. I don't think this dealer had enough sense to know the difference. Are they new this model year? These could be 2006's still on the lot. Now they needc a five or six speed tranny, after that, the mags will be down to "ergonomics" again as the prolem with Impala. Oh, that and its "Vanilla" styling, which they loved on the Japanese cars for years.

Last I heard, we can't expect a G8 until 2009. Has this changed?

Uplander follows an old, failed, American philosophy. If you change the name, people will think the same POS is a wonderous new model. I've screamed against this idea for years and Kia proved it wrong. What was then name of Kia's crappy old SUV? Sportage. Name of Kia's new, really good, SUV? Sportage. Number of people who seem to care that it has the same name as the old one, zero. The Uplander has not gained a single customer by not being called the Venture, the sales figures prove this.

Funny. I looked at two brand new LS's today on a lot. Niether had side airbags. Dealer said they didn't come with them.

WHAT! How dare you insinuate something NOT look just like every other car! At least Buick is not as pug-ugly as that new Camry! I prefer Lucerne's style though.

C'mon you guys. Don't you know ANYTHING about GM! The LaCross is Buick's Chevy. Look, like has been said, it doesn't slot all that low below the Lucerne and it really is a stop-gap vehicle flung onto the market because the Century/regal thing wasn't working. That said, this reviewer is typical of the breed. 1. He seems to think because HE prefers the handling characteristics of a ricer, everyone does. Some of us like cars to feel like AMERICAN cars. 2. He still believes the Japanese quality myth. 3. If all else fails, pick nits! Find something trivial that the jappies have and make it a major selling point. I saw a good example of this in Autoweek this month, they showed the new Caravan and stated that Chrysler added, "finally" roll down windows. This has been a battle cry since stow and go trumped the Honda's rear seat trick. Now, I live in the mid Atlantic region. That is half way down the country. I have never, let me repeat, NEVER seen a minivan with the windows rolled down. 'Round here we use something called AIR-CONDITIONING, you may have heard of it. Buick needs to sell what Americans want. This is not a country of twisties, its a country of interstates. You don't want the car to wallow, but its far more important to deliver a Buick that quietly chauffers 4 real-sized adults at 80 down the interstate than to worry about the roughly 1% of buyers that go to the track and aren't going to buy a Buick anyhow. That said, I would like to see the new Lacrosse focus on a sporty character next time out, and a less gay sounding name. I liked Regal and Century myself. Liked LeSabre too FTM.

Color me jealous!!!! I'd love to be making such a "hard" decision!

That will NEVER sell to a minivan buyer. No chance. Look at what sells in minivans. Chrysler's new minivan is even squarer that the previous because that's what the market demands. Minivan buyers tend to put utility above all else, so you cannot hope to win them over with flash styling. GM needs a big box, FWD, possibly awd, that is as useful and safe as Dodge, Honda, Toyota, and Kia's offerings. I'm all for a new Astro, but it can't be looked at as a replacement for a real FWD mini. They just don't sell as high. But for camper towers and others, a tough Cayon based Astro w/ 4 doors could be a real hit, Esp. if the Trailblazer disappears.

This drives me crazy. They want to sell the top trim level, but they are Chevrolet. They are supposed to produce the AFFORDABLE vehicles! I know success with 40K tahoes can cloud your vision, but the Tahoe has few true competitors. The top Impala begins to compete with luxury cars pretty soon. That used to be Oldsmobile's job, but hey, who needed them right? Especially when the company with a rep for lackluster plastic coated cars can do the job just as well!!! The fleet thing is a catch 22. Any economist or other "money" expert usually satrts off their tips for making money by saying "Don't buy a new car, buy a program car." The Impala is an incredibly compelling program car, its big, powerful, and thanks to low initial prices and depreciation, a knockout bargain on the used market. If you reduce your, fleet sales: a. will you be able to convince those buyers to buy a new car instead, b. will you be able to keep dealers in line, many of whom rely on used car sales for the bottom line and LIKE 12000 mile fleet vehicles, and c. can you deliver a premium produt to draw away the competitors products. If you can't do all three, your only hurting yourself. The Impala simply has trouble competing with Camry and Accord in several key areas. 1st, it doesn't have the legion of loyalist who will buy anything under the marquee. 2nd, it has a 4 speed against cars with 5 and even 6 speed trannies. 3rd, after several Datelines showing how great side airbags are, the competition offers them standard, while they are options on Chevies, along with ABS. I looked at the website today, they were touting 5 sar ratings from the gov. Newsflash chevy, the Japanese's customers EXPECT that, they assume its true and are unimpressed by companies touting it as if it were a major accomplishment. Kia, of all people, just released the safest minivan in history, Hyundai sells cheap cars with a long list of standard safety equipment, and Chevy will have trouble luring safety minded parents from those lots with the current Impala. The Impala has a huge advantage in size and price though, if GM will just meet the competition head on, they have a winner. I agree totally on updates. If Chevy would update its cars every three years, with a redesign every 6, they will be able to stay on top of the competition. The Tahoe is great, but if gas continues to go up, they can't count on Tahoe sales. Eventually, gas will be so high as to hurt even Tahoe sales.

Be warned from someone who's spent time in the segment. Minivan buyers do not typically like "radical" styling. The best bet, used by the Japanese and Koreans, is to copy the demension of the Grand Caravan and give it conservative corperate styling. Nissan went radical on the Quest, but this year toned it down and made it more conventional because it was hurting sales. Space ships? Anyone know that the dustbusters were a virtual clone of a startrek shuttlecraft? I think spaceship is definately the wrong way to go. GM is not as far off the mark as you think now. The vans need to be wider, have better seating, and a more powerful motor. How does a GMC minivan, not truck based, make any sense? I thought GMC was "Professional Grade"? Nw its Professional grade + a minivan!

When the all-american chinese design a new engine of course. As a child of the fake burled walnut 70's and 80's, I have a natural aversion to anything involving "fake wood". How about a nice soft-touch plastic that matches the rest of the interior (ie. NOT BLACK!)? The steering wheel looks busy as hell. You'd have to be Mr. Sulu to understand how it works!

I've heard on camping sites that GM vans wre popular in Canada. BTW, Trailblazer sales are off by almost 25% this year, hardly "ruling" The big utes continue to do okay, but I think non-trailering sales are off. There's a reason Chevy is suddenly getting a rebadged Saturn crossover!

No, The new crossover is a recent decision. Chevy and Saturn have been slated to recieve a Lambda van from the start. I had heard 2008 for the first model year. They were definately to follow the crosovers which, in typical GM fashion, seem to be growing to obscene numbers of offerings. Any word on the rear, is fold away something GM is considering? I know its not on the current van in favor of awd, but I was wonc=dering if both could be offered on the new one. You know, a FWD model with the hidden seat, and an AWD model with a seat similar to the current one.

First off, minivan buyers will not buy anything with swing out doors. Honda proved that. Options, doors you have to swing out and an interior you crawl into, or... push a button on the remote and a door automatically slides open to allow your rugrats to jump in. The venture is a bottom feeder. It simply does not compete with the vans from Chrysler. And before anybody gives may any of that "No big sales numbers" garbage, good mini's out sale all but best selling SUV's, and the minivan market is not shrinking, lik the mid-size SUV market. Business week said last month that Jeep, Chevy, Ford, and Toyota all suffer 25% or more declines in sales on the truck based mid-sized SUV models they offer. Chevy and Ford abandoned this market. They chose not to spend money on vans in favor of SUV's, nobody made them do it. The result, Chrysler is stil the minivan king, Toyota and Honda have swept in and gobbled up most of the remaining market, and now the Koreans threaten to eat the rest up. All while GM continues to put all its faith in SUV's. Ask Toyota and Honda if minivans are worth investing money in. Chevy lucked up with Colbalt. Ford skipped a refresh on the Focus because Explorer demanded more money, now, with the small car market heating up, Chevy, Dodge, and the Japanese all have new cars out and the Focus is old by comparison. The facts are simple. The days of hiding in a market niche with no Japanese and Korean players and reaping big profits are over. GM is going to have to get competitive in all areas or cease to exist. And that includes a competitive minivan. The first step is actually limiting who sells minivans. Its easier to compete when you have less seperate products to advertise and equip. Chevy should sell minivans. I'm not sure if Saturn even needs them, but if so, that should be it. The market is too small to support 4 vans from one company which are essentially the same. Nobody does that. If you look, the Chrysler vans, despite being "dodge" and "Chrysler" align up perfectly pricewise, other than Dodge offering the pannel vans and short models. Mercury may command a small premium over Ford. But really, the Japanese have the best approach. Vans belong in the basic lineup, not the luxury. You can offer a Chevy with all the options like leather, climate contrl, etc. Van buyers are not typically looking prestege names, they want function. Fnally, I have four families of freinds who have moved to vans, one from a car, the others from SUV's, and none of them, nor anyone else I've met who owns a van and kids, would have another vehicle for hauling children. Chrysler commands loyalty despite having bad trannies from 88-98 in their vans. All Chevy needs is to offer a great package, and they could command such loyalty as well.

Do I have any hope at all of expecting a decent Chevy mini next time I'm in the market? I understand Lambda is supposed to brng a new van with it, but I've not heard anything about what it will be like. Chevy abandoned vans when the original Venture arrived and the uplander combines ugly with out of date in such a wonderful way . My current van, a '96 Villager is showing its age and functions as a second vehicle. I would like to get a new mini in a couple of years to replace my car, kids are getting big and all, and would like to move back to Chevy again. So does anyone have any info on features on this proposed van?