Z-06

confidence

As a matter of fact the latest version 5 (I think they came out a few days ago) is fantastic. Highly recommend that everyone get one.

I am glad you do not have the Pro version. You will probably have bed soars for not getting out of bed and being hooked onto it.

Welcome to something called Google Earth. You are 4 years behind your scheduled time.

Very top notch. Good job.

Here is Car and Driver's quotes for G8GT. And with the Link. Some of our contemporaries have been rhapsodizing that the styling of this sedan from Holden, GM's Australian division, conveys an impression of crowds gathering wherever it rolls. But in a week of Southern California cruising, we encountered exactly one guy who did a double take when we motored by. This is not to say the G8 is unattractive, and those fender flares, the forward rake, and the wide stance give it a more virile look than that of the GTO, Pontiac's ill-starred attempt at Americanizing a Holden Commodore coupe. But parked next to the brawny Charg­er, the G8 looks as though it could stand an introduction to a set of barbells. So we give the exterior a B, a grade that includes a points reduction for those nonfunctional hood scoops. But that's just about our only reservation, if you can even call it that. Once inside, with the 6.0-liter V-8 strutting its stuff, the G8 seduces the pilot with its grunt, its poise, its eager responses, and the confidence it inspires in decreasing-radius turns with blind entries, or hold-your-breath sweepers, or 100-to-0-mph stops. Like the Charger, the G8's defining dynamic trait is mild understeer, right up to the limits of adhesion. But the G8's limits are higher, the steering is more tactile—as well as nicely weighted—and the certainty that goes with high-speed driving on mountain roads is sensational. BMW might do it better, but not by much. And not for this kind of money. One additional word on braking: Although the G8's pedal travel was a little longer than the Charger's in hard use, there was no trace of fade, and stops from 70 mph in 163 feet in a two-ton sedan qualify as extraordinary. GM's six-speed automatic trumps the Dodge five-speed, although the manumatic function of both comes up average, with deliberate shifts. But six cogs are better than five for keeping the engine in the sweet section of its power band. Like pretty much any big V-8, this one—dubbed L76 at Holden, a version of an older 6.0-liter design updated with cylinder deactivation—has plenty of torque (385 pound-feet) spread across a nice fat curve. If there's any deficiency, it's in the whooma department. The Charger's exhaust note was much more reminiscent of Saturday night on Woodward Avenue, circa 1968. Inside, the G8's mostly black décor is relieved by silver trim and varied textures. We quickly tired of the oil and battery readouts at the top of the center stack—why monitor the battery in a nonhybrid car?—and Holden's cruise control isn't quite as user-friendly as those in GM's North American products. The absence of an optional navigation system—strange, given the nice big screen in the center stack—will be a turnoff to some, as will the front-seatback rake adjustment, accomplished by turning a hard-to-get-at knob at the outside rear of the seat. But most of the G8's niggles are the kind that become transparent over time to an owner, especially when that owner feels he's bolted himself into a performance bargain. Which is precisely what this car represents. Let's close the service with a money perspective. A while back, we tested a group of high-end sports sedans ["Faster Horses," November 2006], a quartet that included a BMW 550i. With the exception of the lane-change exercise, the Bimmer's test-track numbers were essentially identical with those generated by this new Poncho. The base price for a 550i today is $59,275. Subtract the G8's as-tested price, and you have $27,430, which buys a lot of premium unleaded. Hallelujah, brothers and sisters! Can we get an amen? Now tell me if my English has gone bad too, just like my German did when I read Audi A8 was a front driver. Please do not make unsupported comments. There will be prospective buyers or people looking to get into GM, reading comments and they will take your perspective as a holy grail. Perform some research. It might take 1 minute to write on a blog, but it takes several to justify that writing.

cat woman

I see a game of chess being played.

Guess Satty ran out of beer again.

monogamous

This one is for Satty. Total Hotness.

monovision

HARD LEFT -> INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S CAR

Sleeping over

Congrats Mr. Sometimes coming back is also a change worth giving a shot at. I wish you success and great second innings in O.C.

procrastination

Apparently the walls between consumers and lenders are still not transparent as they were hoped to be.

Didn't GMAC receive $5 B late last year? What happened to that money?

Linkity GM, Ford, Toyota Post Shart Decline General Motors Corp. said its U.S. light-vehicle sales for January plunged 49% while Ford Motor Co. said its sales fell 40%, further intensifying the financial pressure on the two largest U.S. auto makers. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 32% drop, as the Japanese company sold 117,287 vehicles in the U.S. last month. Its passenger-car sales slid to 67,263 from 94,586, while its light-truck sales fell to 50,024 from 77,263. Also, Honda Motor Co. reported a 28% drop to 71,031 vehicles while Nissan Motor Co. posted a 30% decline to 53,884. GM said it sold 129,227 vehicles last month compared with 252,565 in January 2008. It said its sales to fleets such as rental-car companies of just more than 13,000 vehicles was the lowest level since 1975. GM said it would cut North American production in the current quarter to 380,000 vehicles from the earlier goal of 420,000. Ford's decline was highlighted by a 90% plunge in sales to car-rental companies, which themselves have been under financial straits. Edmunds.com last week projected total U.S. sales of 730,000 for January -- much lower than the moribund results of the prior four months. And if Ford is any indication, that dour forecast may prove too optimistic as the company's domestic light-vehicle sales fell to 93,041 from 155,753, the first time in many years its monthly total dropped below 100,000. Edmunds had forecast 109,000. The Detroit Three, even before the sales plunge started in September as consumers pulled back and auto-loan financing dried up, sought billions of government assistance to carry them through the sales doldrums and credit crunch. GM and Chrysler LLC in December received $17.4 billion in loans to keep them afloat through the first quarter as the companies come up with new restructuring plans by Feb. 17. Ford has repeatedly said it doesn't need immediate financing. At Ford, car sales dropped 35%. Sport-utility vehicles continued their slump with a 53% decline. Trucks and vans decreased 42% as the F-series pickup fell 39%. While traffic to dealer showrooms has slowed, those woes have been exacerbated by plunging fleet sales. Such buyers include car-rental companies, which have financing troubles of their own amid falling rental demand and have been cutting back purchases. Auto makers, at the same time, have wanted to reduce such sales as they have lower profit margins and tend to reduce resale values. Ford's fleet sales tumbled 65%, including the 90% drop to daily rental customers, while retail sales declined 27%. The company said its retail market share rose 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier to 12.7%. It was the fourth-straight monthly gain, the first time Ford has achieved that since 1995. The slack sales since the summer ended has resulted in auto makers around the world slashing production. Ford, for its part, anticipates a more-than-40% cut for the first quarter from a year earlier. Its inventory finished January at 420,000, down 27%. Among other auto makers to report, Daimler AG said U.S. sales for its Mercedes-Benz division dropped 43% to 12,209 vehicles, while Volkswagen AG reported its U.S. unit's sales fell 12% to 12,744. "We know 2009 has the potential to be another extremely tough year for the automotive industry due to continued challenges with the economy," said Mark Barnes, chief operating officer, Volkswagen of America. However, he noted that all five of VW's new products in the U.S. have their first full year of sales ahead of them. In a rare bit of good news, Subaru of America Inc., a subsidiary of Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., said its January sales rose 8%.

Linkity GM Reports 129,227 Deliveries in January New products and GMAC financing help stabilize retail share above 21 percent for the second consecutive month Cars and crossovers were 65 percent of GM retail vehicles sold "Presidents Day Sale" begins with 0 percent APR or bonus cash offers on select vehicles for qualified buyers DETROIT - Driven by an 80 percent reduction in fleet sales, General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 129,227 vehicles in January, down 49 percent compared with a year ago. Retail sales were off 38 percent, but retail market share held steady compared with December. GM's retail share performance was assisted by reduced-rate APR financing capacity through GMAC and a GM loyalty cash offer. GM January total car sales of 43,943 were off 58 percent and total truck sales (including crossovers) of 85,284 were down 42 percent compared with a year ago. Additionally, retail sales for GM cars and crossovers combined were about 65 percent of sales mix in the month. "We're attacking this unprecedented market as aggressively as possible, while offering more vehicles than ever that provide great value and that Americans enjoy owning," said Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "Our retail market share is a bright spot, holding steady above 21 percent for the second month in a row. That's a full point above the trailing 12-month average. It's important to realize that we accomplished this retail performance as the overall market ran about 6 million vehicles behind where it was last January (on a seasonally-adjusted annual rate) and every manufacturer was deeply impacted." The newly-launched Chevrolet Traverse crossover continues to gain traction in the market place with total sales of more than 5,200 vehicles. Chevrolet's crossovers, HHR, Equinox and Traverse had 11,666 retail sales, a 10 percent increase compared with last year. The strength of Traverse's launch helped push retail sales of all GM crossovers to 20 percent of all retail vehicles sold by the automaker in January, up about 3 percentage points from a year ago. "It is important for America to realize that in cars and crossovers, Chevy is fully competitive with Toyota and Honda and continues to gain strength. The Malibu is performing well and the Traverse is building momentum," LaNeve added. "We're doing our part to get vehicle sales moving again. For example, GMAC is providing more reduced-rate APR financing capacity with the Presidents Day Sale, and we're offering bonus cash on select models. Additionally, our national roll-out of the credit union 'Invest in America' program offers supplier pricing and available credit union financing for millions of members." A total of 923 GM hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month, illustrating the wide range of hybrid product offerings available. GM offers the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade 2-mode hybrid SUVs, the Chevrolet Malibu and Saturn Aura mid-size sedan, and Saturn Vue compact crossover hybrids. GM has announced reductions in first quarter production to adjust inventories for marketplace demand. This strategic move helped reduce inventories and related costs for GM and its dealers during this historic downturn, but the lack of production also meant that fleet vehicles, which typically are built to order, have been delayed. GM's fleet sales of just over 13,000 vehicles in January were at their lowest levels since 1975. GM inventories dropped compared with a year ago. At the end of January, only about 801,000 vehicles were in stock, down about 103,000 vehicles (or 11 percent) compared with last year. There were about 363,000 cars and 438,000 trucks (including crossovers) in inventory at the end of January. Inventories were reduced about 70,000 vehicles compared with December. Importantly, of the pickup trucks in stock, 96 percent of the GMC Sierras and 97 percent of the Chevrolet Silverados are all-new 2009 models. Certified Used Vehicles January 2009 sales for all certified GM brands continue to be robust after a strong gain a month earlier. GM Certified Used Vehicles, Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, combined sold 39,293 vehicles. GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry's top-selling certified brand, posted January sales of 33,695 vehicles, up 1 percent from January 2008. Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 947 vehicles, up 73 percent. Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 3,864 vehicles, up 20 percent. Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 538 vehicles, up 25 percent, and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 249 vehicles, up 93 percent. "The certified used vehicle programs are starting the year strong despite the tight credit market and slowdowns in consumer spending and retail demand for both new and used vehicles," said LaNeve. "We continue to offer consumers the largest selection of certified vehicles and a worry-free purchasing experience that comes with one of the best warranties in the business and a factory-certified, 117-point fully-inspected vehicle." GM North America Reports January 2009 Production; Q1 2009 Production Forecast at 380,000 Vehicles In January, GM North America produced 65,000 vehicles (6,000 cars and 59,000 trucks). This is down 232,000 vehicles or 78 percent compared with January 2008 when the region produced 297,000 vehicles (106,000 cars and 191,000 trucks). (Production totals include joint venture production of 3,000 vehicles in January 2009 and 13,000 vehicles in January 2008.) The region's 2009 first-quarter production forecast is 380,000 vehicles (118,000 cars and 262,000 trucks), which is down about 57 percent compared with a year ago. GM North America built 885,000 vehicles (360,000 cars and 525,000 trucks) in the first-quarter of 2008. General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), one of the world's largest automakers, was founded in 1908, and today manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 252,000 people in every major region of the world, and sells and services vehicles in some 140 countries. In 2008, GM sold 8.35 million cars and trucks globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com. Note: GM sales and production results are available on GM Media OnLine at http://media.gm.com/us/gm/en by clicking on News, then Sales/Production. In this press release and related comments by General Motors management, we use words like "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "objective," "plan," "goal" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, representing our current judgment about possible future events. We believe these judgments are reasonable, but actual results may differ materially due to a variety of important factors. Among other items, such factors might include: our ability to comply with the requirements of our credit agreement with the U.S. Department of Treasury; the availability of funding for future loans under that credit agreement; our ability to execute the restructuring plans that we have disclosed, our ability to maintain adequate liquidity and financing sources and an appropriate level of debt; and changes in general economic conditions, market acceptance of our products; shortages of and price increases for fuel; significant changes in the competitive environment and the effect of competition on our markets, including on our pricing policies. GM's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q provide information about these factors, which may be revised or supplemented in future reports to the SEC on Form 10-Q or 8-K.

Which means you have not been to Cabin Creek, WV or Paint Creek Ky. Those people breed babies to live off tax money.

Guess it is Satty's turn to pick a case. I talked about this with my girlfriend who happens to work with the vaginas all time, and she said that during artificial fertilization, the doctors have to put more than one egg to let it fertilize. It cannot be said that it was unethical or gross negligence. Human precision is far less than nature's therefore a factor of safety of 8 needs to be applied. Chances are sometimes all those 8 can click and then like the woman, people are screwed.

Linkity GM lobbies Congress to avoid tax Automaker wants to add provision to stimulus bill to eliminate expense that could cost as much as $7B. David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- General Motors Corp. is quietly lobbying Congress to help the automaker avoid a multibillion-dollar tax bill the company faces as part of its $13.4 billion loan agreement with the federal government. The Detroit automaker has been urging members of Congress to add a provision to the $819 billion economic stimulus bill to eliminate the tax liability, which officials said could cost GM as much as $7 billion, and jeopardize the company's restructuring. GM circulated a proposed fix to Congress, but the House passed the stimulus bill without the provision on Wednesday. In essence, a large portion of the federal loans may have to be used to pay income tax and would be immediately returned to the government, certainly a result not intended," GM said in a two-page memorandum distributed on Capitol Hill and obtained by The Detroit News. Provisions of the loan agreements "could result in a significant multibillion-dollar tax liability at a time when auto companies need these funds to restructure their business operations," the memo said. GM spokesman Greg Martin declined to comment Thursday. As a condition of the $13.4 billion loan package, GM must file a viability plan with the U.S. Treasury Department by Feb. 17 and show significant restructuring progress by March 31. GM has already received $9.4 billion and is to get another $4 billion on Feb. 17. The terms of the loans require GM to seek concessions from key stakeholders, including debt holders and the United Auto Workers union. The tax liability stems from GM's plan to reduce its $62 billion debt to $30 billion by offering bondholders equity in exchange for existing debt. GM also wants to use stock rather than cash to fund half of its contributions to a retiree health care fund to be managed by the UAW. But the debt swapped for equity could be considered income for tax purposes and GM's ability to offset that income with prior-year losses, a common accounting practice, is sharply limited under a complex provision of the 1986 tax code that applies when a company changes ownership. The code was written to limit the ability of companies to buy other money-losing companies just to avoid paying taxes. GM plans to issue new stock to bondholders and the UAW and has already issued the government warrants, which may trigger a "technical ownership change," GM said in its memo. GM issued warrants to the Treasury equal to nearly 20 percent of GM shares in exchange for the loans. JPMorgan said Thursday that bondholders could get 20 percent of GM's equity. GM also noted that without action on the tax issue, the automaker would have to publicly disclose the potential liability. "If Congress does not act quickly, the investor disclosures required to complete the debt to equity conversion will need to discuss the potential significant income tax consequences... which could further complicate and jeopardize the planned company restructuring," GM's memo said. A legislative fix to GM's tax issue was included in a $25 billion bailout bill that passed the House in December, but died in the Senate. Since the Treasury used funds from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue to aid GM, no fix was included. Hilarie Chambers, chief of staff to Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, who is on the House tax writing committee, said members were talking with Treasury officials about a solution. "It needs a remedy," she said. If an administrative solution doesn't work, they will consider a legislative solution. But Chambers said the stimulus bill may not be the right vehicle to make the fix. The office of Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, a member of the Finance Committee, said "she is working with the administration to come up with the best way to address this issue that is of importance not only to Michigan, but the country's manufacturing economy as a whole." Michelle Hanlon, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said the provision was designed to keep companies from simply buying other companies to avoid paying taxes. "It's smart for GM to ask for this," Hanlon said. "It would be silly for the government to loan them billions and them make GM give most of it back." Chrysler LLC has received $4 billion in government loans. Because the Auburn Hills automaker is privately held, it does not face the same tax issue. You can reach David Shepardson at (202) 662-8735.

Thanks empowah. The reason I do not need one is because most of the time when I do need one I drive my company's pick up truck. However due to new company policy, I cannot use it for personal purposes. Which means, going to Lowes, carrying stuff is out of question. That is the reason why I want a truck but do not need a truck with a lot of dough which I will not be using, like the towing package, etc. A regular cab V6 will do fine for me. I know my decision, but I wanted to see if I was thinking straight and that is where y'all opinions count.