A Horse With No Name

Not hijack...the GM A bodies from about 64-77 and the G body cars from 78-87 were about the best they ever built. May they rest in peace... Chris

...I'm really wondering if there isn't a future for me as a biker or walker if the present trend continues. Seriously. If GM goes and the Accord/Camry/Altima type V6 jellybean car is all that is left, I'm getting a bike. Chris

I would have the Cobalt SS. Already I'm scared that they will shut down the Solstice/Sky which is the GM car I most want right now...but at 300 units a month, it's not enough to keep any assembly lines rolling. BTW, I wonder how long it took to build the 300 53 Corvettes. ...and I agree about the Camaro individuality thing. I love it but would rather have the Cobalt SS/Sky/Solstice. It's a shame that the Astra has turned out to be such a dud, one of the best cars GM ever brought out in the North American marketplace. Chris

Mine too...but I agree, nothing good is going to come of this. Our C and G April fools thread about GM closing North American operations seemed like a farfetched fantasy to me when we posted it back in April. A lot has changed in seven months. Chris

This is what scares me. All of the import brands are working on development and refreshes, and GM, Ford, and Chrysler are kinda treading water. Until we can be profitable enough to do R and D and catch up, all we are doing is treading water and putting off the inevitable. Sadly, my family on my mohters side loved Hudson in the 50's and on my fathers side loved Studebaker in the 50's. I think that 50 years later we may well deal with the death of other car lines we love.. Chris

+1 Chris

Me too... Chris

GM has pretty much been the king of nice, midsized cars. I remember when cars like that used to rule the road. Much nicer than the jellybean cars of today. Nice work Camino! Chris

I would agree. The VW is kinda a soulful car, and not a crap-box like an average Toyota. Still want a GTI even with meyershifts problems...like I said I think it is a slave cylender and will be easily fixable. Chris

Wow, in that shade of blue...I'm pretty much tapped out at 22-24k for my next car, but if I could find a V6 G8 in that color for the mid twenties, I'd be tempted. I'd love to have that in my driveway. Chris

I hate to sound like a troll myself, but both the Infinity and Maxima are really bland IMHO. Chris

I could go for the heated seats, and I love the color combo! Chris

A very good point, she sells chevy's! Chris

Hell, in the USA today wednesday they were talking about the Detroit Lions and why they were loosing in football. There was then a picture of an Edsel and a comment about the auto exec's asking for a bailout. WTF does a 50 year old car have to do with a loosing football team? Although I will admit I actually feel bad for Michigan and how badly they lost to Ohio State. I would have liked a close game much better. Chris

Actually, Camino you make an excellent point about Pontiac products and BMW products hitting the same "sweet spot" in driving enjoyment. Out on the road, they really, really do. But then I'm not a brand snob. Chris

But for those of us who want a premium, performance oriented small car its a great choice. Chris

The whole vehicle seems to have a very high quality feel to it. Like I said, this is when I knew GM was coming "back" Chris

Beautiful! Chris

In its own way, the SSR was a nice product. It just kinda missed the market. Too heavy, too fuel inefficient, and not a real truck. I didn't like them at all when they first came out, but they ahve grown on me over time. One of our local Chevrolet dealers, BobMcDorman Chevrolet, has a couple of the first 10 SSR's built, and IIRC they both are purple or dark blue. It's been a few years since I've seen them. This (SSR) was one of the first vehicles that convinced me GM might really be on the right track, because once I got over my initial dislike of the SSR I began to see that it was built to a really decently high standard of fit and finish, and that GM had put a lot of passion into it. My fav. SSR moment is the GM ad where they run the SSR up onto the car carrier backwards after doing a 180. Chris

God will smite you...but only if you don't buy a Jesus thong. Chris

...the BMW, the Impreza, and the Pontiac are all wildly different cars. I'd love to have an old BMW 2002 for vintage racing, a WRX for Rallycross, and a Pontiac G8 for a family car. Right now I can't afford any of the above, but the point I think is clear-each car has to stand or fall on its own merits. And while I obvoisly have no hesitation at having a subie or bimmer in the garage, I think the G8 is the coolest of the bunch. Unless SMK can point to some real fault in the G8, I think my earlier point is still valid-people usually bash cars over the internet because they can't afford them. Just my two cents. Chris/66

Sounds like it could be a clutch slave cyl. or clutch master cyl. Good luck, and keep us posted! Chris

Oh, and at some point the car just becomes that muich better than its driver. Probably less than 1% of Pontiac or BMW owners can drive them at 85% of their capacity, much less 95%. The real cool part of the G8 is the musclecar essence that it conveys. LIke I said before, to me it really recalls some of the cars I really loved as a boy and haven't seen around in forever. Chris

Speed is only one comparison. For 40K it is a really decent new car...I doubt anyone driving it under real world conditions will be anything less than thrilled with the car. But smk, if you really want to spend 85k for a new BMW to go as fast as a 40K Pontiac, I am not going to stop you. That it's selling 1000 units a month in this market is really good. Almost all other "pure"perfromance cars are running 250-500 units a month. RX-8, Miata, Solstice, Sky, S2000, whatever...not selling well at all. Give Pontiac time, they'll be "back" Chris

Warning-Rabbit Trail- gm4life, I am quickly thinking Cobalt SS/TC would be an even nicer "next" car than a MINI. Going to ask a question in the Chevrolet forum to see if I can find an answer, but the new Cobalt SS has a warranty that covers autocrossing and track days. That was my biggest "arguement" for buying an older Cobalt, because usually once the carmaker finds out that you've used their product for high performance/competion use, they void your warranty. MINI does, it, Mitsu does it, Honda does it, Nissan does it, Ford does it, etc. But Chevrolet supposedly (according to several sources, including some friends of mine in the SCCA in the know) say that Chevrolet is so confident in the Turbocharged Cobalt that warranty coverage continues even if the car is used for autocross/track use. But on a personal note, I still like the idea of a Firebird or Camaro. We had a Michigan Vs. Ohio State party at my friend Steve's house, and his basement is done up with a pool table and a big screen in an automotive theme, relaly nicely with a lot of vintage stuff. He has a door cutout with a white "IROC" label on a dark blue door. One of his buddies was pulling the 350 from a wrecked IROC for a 32 Ford Street rod, and he saved that portion of the door skin. It made me think hard about a third gen Camaro. But a long rambling post to say...Cobalt SS/SC would be cool, Cobalt SS/TC would be even cooler, and there are IROC 3rd gen and Decent 4th gen cars out there for decent prices. What I really need is for the economy to stabalize so I can justify spending $ on another car. Oh, yeah...back on topic...the Prius still sucks. Chris