Z-06

Call it CAB or call it decision making honchos heading Chrysler the effect is the same. Just because you name a committee which works with the decision of future of the company and has a fascinating name does not take away the strategic decisions it makes and justifications it provides about those decisions. CAB might not have existed then, but someone did make the decision of merging with Diamler and justifications were given then to as to why the merger was the only river to set sail on. Ten years later results were more than appalling.

They said the same thing regarding the D&C alliance/merger. Except this time around C is broke and it is not a complete acquisition.

Is it groundhog day in Cheers and Gears Pittsburgh area?

Here are some good BMWs from FL: BMW 1 BMW 2 BMW 3 I will take you to the car's location if you get a one way ticket. Best yet ask FLY he gets some good cars and ask for CarFAX reports from him. A good clean FL car will go long way considering you will have something which may have never seen snow. I would rather go with Jetta than the Cobalt considering the Cobalt is an auto. But Cobalt will be a dependable vehicle. Delta has been proven to be a solid platform barring the Ion. I agree with Blu, stay away from the V-6 Jetta/Golf. Not only it is problematic, but also it is nose heavy and will ruin the fun factor for your car, plus it is a gas hog. 1.8T is a different story. Moreover, get something which you want rather than what you need. Something when you sit in it will make you smile rather than just satisfy. Here are some good VW for that money. Volkswagonasm Florida is one of VW's largest market so chances of finding one you like may come true.

Get a Camry do justice to the TMC by reducing their average age of Camry buyers.

I is standing corrected.

IIRC the gage pack is standard on 2SS and optional on 1SS for $495 or so. V6 does not have gage pack, but may be I am wrong.

In some ways new EPA ratings are real world conditions compared to the archaic ratings which were based on the 55mph speed limit. Come to think of it the actual driving conditions would be pretty close. I do not know about low resistance tires. The one noticeable difference between the CTS and Camaro which use the same 6-speed auto is the final drive ratio of the CTS is 4.06 while the Camaro has a final drive ratio of 3.27. That will make a significant difference in highway cruising. While in the city driving both cars fare the same.

But RWD<<<<FWD in terms of fuel economy according to GM's own experts. Cafe = death of RWD according to GM's savants. Zeta is suckerz and hence is on death bed according to GM's prophets. Cars = Appliance therefore no frills and hence FWD according to GM's gurus. A light comparison: Malibu LTZ V6 Auto - 3649 lb 17-26 mpg Camaro LT2 V6 Auto - 3719 lb 18-29 mpg. Where is the argument for FWD>>>>>>RWD in terms of fuel economy?

My No Frills - After thinking long and hard, I think I need a V-8.

They had a perfect opportunity of selling it as a diesel only vehicle with the 2.9V6 and 4.5V8 to satiate European Diesel-philes. But guess not.

B-52 Park Orlando, Florida Orlando International Airport (MCO) is often jokingly called as the Mickey's Corporate Office, but little do people know that it used to be once McCoy Air Force Base from which it gets the airport code. McCoy AF Base was one of the bases on the Atlantic which handled the heavy hitters B-52 hence boasts a pair of one of the longest runways to let those beasts take off. As a fitting tribute to the B-52's, which flew from the McCoy Air Base, City of Orlando has built a nice little park and placed one of the m in the center. Known as the B-52 Memorial Park, the Park has a retired B-52D Stratofortress #56-0687 which belonged to the 7th Bombardment Wing while in service. The plane is said to have flown from Carswell AF Base Texas to MCO for its final flight in 1984. After living for nearly five years in this flat, sandy, palmy and hot town, I finally got a time to visit this little park which I always wanted to as I have a soft spot for the B-52s. It was a beautiful, sunny, Sunday afternoon in January. Before seeing of my girl to snow struck Michigan, we went and spent a little time with the monster machine. If you ever visit Orlando, please do not miss this place. Not many people lurk around the area, and it is a nice quiet place to just relax and watch the prowess of the machine - and let me know if you are there as I can literally jog from my home to the B-52 . The Wing Body and the W-Body YES I CAN HOLD IT UP!

Dave you have really drunk something, I mean wife drinking a motor oil? Am I reading it correctly?

It is interesting to note how they are pushing for the middle of the road 2LT RS version on the ads, start up page, photos rather than the full loaded 2SS-RS.

The person standing behind the car and not looking at it is the owner/driver. Is it towing the camper? Wow!

I understand, but hey look at the bright side, you can still get it later. Those numbers are impressive. Let us see how it will perform.

I have none of them so cannot comment. How long do you keep your history and files in the browser?

Well it does but the problem is GM is not good at following either. Ipod worked with marketing and glitz those abilities lack in GM.

IE8 Beta is out. How much memory is the FF consuming? And what extensions do you have. Extensions like twitters, weather and others can be resource hogs. Mine saunters at 158 megs.

Good Lord Man. That is puke generating. Way to start the week.

Linkity First Drive: 2010 Chevrolet Cruze Forget the Volt -- This is the Car That Must Save GM Highlights: Solid Delta II Structure Choice of diesel, gas 4-cylinder engines (Euro Version) Good Interior Layout The Chevrolet Cruze has different jobs wherever it's sold. In the U.S., where it goes on sale from mid-2010, it will be a locally made rival to the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. But in Europe, where we've just driven it, it's GM's Korean-made budget-brand entry and sits beneath the same-sized Opel (and sometime Saturn) Astra in GM's price and brand hierarchy. GM's been promising Americans an "import fighter" small car for years -- and has consistently failed to deliver, whether it with home grown products like the Cobalt, or with rebadged Opels like the Astra. So here's the key question: if Cruze is positioned as a bargain car in Europe, does it really have the quality and style, the functionality and value, to seriously rival Honda and Toyota in America? Out on the road, the Cruze catches the daylight respectably. The stance is strong, the wheels pushed out wide in their housings. There's a well-defined shoulder line, a simple but assertive dual-port nose and a rear view that has a surprising hint of BMW 5 Series about it. It's a more interesting shape than the Corolla, for sure. Inside, the three-port instrument binnacle sits beneath a flying visor, the centre console is well-organized and nicely garnished, and a swath of modern rucksack-type cloth runs across the dash and doors. It's reasonably fresh and nicely executed. Come dusk, the dials light up crisply in Chevy's ice-blue, with red pointers. Roominess has been carefully benchmarked: out back you get plenty head and knee space. In front the seats support well and adjust through a wide range. This feels like a compact car built for the American human. Germany's Opel was responsible for the basic platform, GM's new new-generation Delta architecture. Notable features include a high-rigidity shell and relatively sophisticated front strut geometry outfitted with hydraulic bushes and aluminum lower arms. You can certainly feel the solidity of the body, as it traverses rough surfaces with nary a shake, and less audible clang than in most of the Japanese rivals. This despite the reasonably firm spring settings in the European-spec version. The firmish springs make the ride a bit lively over rough roads, but the damping is well-judged provided you limit your speed. Which you probably will. Why? For a start, the engines discourage active driving (we'll come to that) but so does the steering. It's reasonably accurate, but it's low-geared and features an artificially strong self-centering action. This might help keep dozy drivers on track on the highway, but it entirely masks steering feel or driver involvement through what would be interesting curves. We did push the Cruze a bit -- solely in the interests of journalistic enquiry you understand -- and found a car that rolls little and handles tidily, before eventually surrendering to understeer. The Cruze's engines are all four-cylinders, with five-speed manual or six-speed auto transmissions. By far the best Euro-unit is the 2.0L diesel, as is often the way in cars sold on the continent. It's reasonably peaceful, and full of torque. However, Chevy is demanding a substantial price premium for the engine (about $2000 over the equivalent gas motor) and in a budget car that's a lot to ask. The gas engines are naturally aspirated, and come in 1.6 and 1.8 DOHC variants. One sample of the 1.8 was unacceptably harsh -- far more so than the 1.6 -- so we requested a substitute and found it a match in refinement terms for the 1.6. Not that this is any great citation. Both engines, while reasonably smooth, have a dull drone to them, and have flat spots and seem unwilling to rev even to their modest red-lines. And they don't deliver much performance, or much feel of it. If you loaded the 1.6 up with five passengers and their bags, any uphill passing maneuvers will be a stern test of nerves and patience. What's needed is a unit with diesel-like torque, but free-spinning gas engine refinement. And with any luck it's coming: in the U.S.-market Cruze the engine will be a downsized 1.4L gas turbo with direct-injection. We await it keenly, especially as GM is promising city gas mileage in the high 30mpg range. The Delta platform, of course, is protected for a giant array of powertrain technologies. We hear a Voltec version is in the works. Compared to the original Volt itself, a Voltec Cruze would suffer in the aerodynamic stakes and so the economy numbers would be worse, but the sticker price should be lower and accommodation better. As for bodystyles, the European lineup will include a hatchback model. No word on whether that will come to the U.S. Also in the works is a closely related seven-seat compact minivan, accurately previewed at the 2009 Detroit auto show as the Chevy Orlando concept. As of now, a lot of things could happen between this first drive of a Korean-built, European-market Cruze and the U.S.-built, U.S.-market edition. But we now know several positive things. The design is strong, the interior habitable and nicely furnished. The bodyshell is rigid, and will crash safely. The suspension and steering will be re-tuned to U.S. tastes (which probably won't suit the average MT enthusiast). Is the Cruze good enough to take the fight to Honda and Toyota here in America? Right now GM can hardly see beyond the end of the week, let alone next year, but assuming the corporation survives, the basic soundness of the Cruze is beyond doubt. The performance, refinement, and fuel efficiency of the 1.4L turbo engine is key to the Cruze's "import fighter" credentials, however. If that engine is not substantially more energetic and responsive than the 1.6 and 1.8L gas powerplants in the European Cruze then GM will have failed us. Again. [source: Motortrend]

The website is up and running. The RS rims look hot.

Yup, they are bastardizing it to fit OUR standards.

GM does not know what to do about GM period.

No you are wrong, that wise man on C&G says Audi A8 is a RWD just like the Bentley Continental.