A Horse With No Name

My old neighbor had a Dale Ernhardt special edition Monte Carlo with a bunch of Jeff Gordon Stickers and a big #24 on it. Suprised that car didn't get keyed from a loyal Ernhardt fan. Most of the Nascar fans around here seem to still buy domestic BTW. Chris

...and the nicest thing about the car IMHO is that the two door (excuse me, three door) is really HOT in the styling department. Up close that thing is really a looker for a modern car. Chris

Say what you will about Honda, those boys build some fuel efficient cars. Would love to see the Astra do better, but it is a cool small car. I drove one and road noise was not an issue at all, but the car I drove didn't have the sunroof. Noise seems to be more of an issue with sunroof cars, IMHO. Manual trans in the car I drove was really slick, almost like a Miata or a Honda S2000. I wonder if it varies from car to car? Chris

Actually I think GM sold the Doraville plant where the Uplander was made. My understanding is that they still hold plenty of real estate in Flint, though... Chris

Ottawa and Washington have this in common-they are both about 15 square miles surrounded by reality... Chris

Congrats on the car! I may be buying one in a few months also. Good to know you didn't buy the slushbox! Chris

Would be interesting to see what could be done with a refreshed Trailblazer. Chris

Looks good in both the silver and the blue. Did you get a manual or an auto? Chris

...o.k., so what do you replace the Colorado with? I love it, but it seems to be too big to be a small truck and too small to do the work of a full size. Also, does Chevrolet really need two small cars? Why? My mother has an Aveo and it is not THAT much more fuel efficient than a Cobalt, and the out the door price is not that different. Would love to know what you are thinking. Chris

My take- Solstice-refresh with a better top and a real trunk. Keep the SCCA race winning suspension, the good looks, and the ecotech 4. Put a little more hip and shoulder room in the car-this is another area an already great car could be improved. Vibe-keep it... G-5-build a small car on the same chasis as the redesigned Chevy platform I talked about in the Chevrolet thread. G-8-keep- Grand prix is already gone or irrelevant, or both. Pontiac needs to develop another sexy midsized car other than the G6, perhaps a really good, slightly smaller g6 replacement for about 2011. Give this car a hybrid option and skip the convertible and the goofy GXP street edition, build instead a reallly sexy 2 door and really comfortable 4 door version of the car. Test the 4 door version with average sized Americans and make sure they fit... Chris

Keep- Full sized vans and p/u trucks-we in the trdes need them. Put a smaller diesel in the half ton p/u and van. Corvette-development work is already done and it's a great halo car. Build a few mid engene concepts and a few wild show cars to keep the public guessing. Malibu-what else can be done or said? Next version should have a sporty two door model, however. Update-redesign- ...Aveo and Cobalt into one really good small car, similar to Astra. Start with a fresh sheet of paper, and go all new from the ground up. Build a hybrid and diesel version, as well as a sport compact version. Impala-perhaps an RWD car on the Pontiac G8 Platform. Don't they already sell such a vehicle in Saudi and so forth? Make it a limited production car. Plan on selling about 35,000 a year. Should be a niche vehicle. There are lots of older people with money, as about 80% of the wealth in the US and Canada is with people over 50. These are people who remember RWD sedans with power.Houston, you've found your market. Trailbalzer, Equinox, HHR, et all-consolidate into one good economical smaller SUV type vehicle, smaller than current CRV/RAV-4-etc. Lots of females seem to like vehicles like these, the Hyndai santa fe, etc. Work on making this vehicle fuel efficient, because Carbiz is right, with the weakness of the Dollar $5 gas is gonna be a reality and people are still going to want to buy SUV's. Colorado-Discontinue Chris

It's called the Mustang...to be followed by the Camaro and the Challenger. Seriously, though...I really wonder what a modern BMWish version of a Malibu/Cutlass/Skylark/Torino/Cyclone/whatever could be. High winding v-6, couple of different suspension choices, a slick paddle shift automatic or a 6 speed...built in Michigan and available down the street at your local dealer. Chris

But if we could capture and burn that Methane we could have renewable fuel. Perhaps future cars will have ducting from the drivers seat to the intake manifold? Chris

If your ever in Ohio, try a fried Balonga sandwich at the bar in Waldo. They are world famous for a reason. Chris

Now we just need a red line version of the Astra and we'll be all set. Looks good in the photo's, GM did a great job with this. Chris

I don't really follow NASCAR, but didn't the Toyota trucks do well last year? Chris

It will still take time to bring up to speed...but I really hope we continue to invest in E-85. Chris

This is overly optomistic. The way the economy is headed, no one will be able to afford fast food. Chris

Interesting to see what happens to the economy here in Ohio if the Lordstown plant (Cobalt plant) gets shut down. Not only do you lose the plant, you lose the supplier base and seconary economy as well. Chris

Actually, BV, I can get this from my wife anytime I want. Would prefer a car, but instead of the Hummer in the photograph I'd settle for a Solstice. Chris

...or sneakers. Chris

Exactly. Chris

I drove an Astra Wednesday. Like it very well, nut sure a 3 door would improve the current design. My quick thoughts: Love the styling, better than Mazda 3, Civic, GTI, etc. This car does not photograph well but in person IMHO it is the best looking car in the segment. I'm a big guy 250lbs and almost 6' tall and I can ride in the backseat of both the 3 door and 5 door with zero problems. The center stack on the dash is about as awkward as that in the MIni-Cooper, but if I can forgive the MCS for that I can forgive the Astra. Car does not have great visibility out of the rear window, esp. in three door form. Since I'm used to driving a Mustang Fastback, a Miata, a GMC Safari van, and a Ford Econoline work truck, it doesn't bother me. But if you like lots of rearward visibility you'll be disapointed. Fit and finish on the car beats Honda and Mazda. As a Current toyota owner I can say the car hands down IMHO beats Toyota Fit and finish. The interor has some plastics some of our members might quible about, but its a 17k car, its not a CTS. As such, Astra reminds me more of Volkswagen-Audi than say Ford. Driving dynamics? Some people might flame me for this but it is IMHO a four door 5 seat Miata. Hands down the best road feel and handeling of anything in its class. By far. Guages are the nicest of anything in the price range and very easy to read. My Safari van has oil pressure, temp, and battery chage guage and this car needs that also. You can probably get that info through the small screen in the dash, but I'd prefer a guage. The Oil pressure guage saved the motor in the Safari and the Motor in my 55 Chevy when I lost oil pumps in both vehicles, so this is kind of a turn off. The car is definitely a drivers car, gives you lots of feedback. Driving position is much better than other cars of its class and size. It is a night and day difference between this car and say an Acura Integra, the other small premium car that sold well here for years. If Saturn can get people into the showrooms to look at it they should sell a fair number. Overall, I liked the vehicle far more than my post above suggests. On a scale of 1 to ten I rate it about 9.5 or 9.7. Personally, I was going to be able to pay off my xB and buy one until my son Joel had emergency surgury and I got laid off work. My tax return should pay what health insurance doesn't on the surgury, and I( probably start a new Job Monday so I should hopefully still be able to buy one within the next year. Chris

Happy birthday, sir...this makes what, 96 years young? Chris

Actually IIRC the TC was the car with the YOUNGEST average age buyer in the US at about 30.2 years or something like that. But if GM/Saturn does its job Scion will have a dogfight on its hands. The new Astra is a MUCH better car than the TC IMHO. Maybe Scion needs one mainstream car (the new xB) a revised sport coupe (The TC design is a little long in the tooth) and a funky JDM car to replace the xD (which isn't selling that well.) Chris