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Maybe the new cars are locked out of sight... maybe it's a seedy part of town.

Oh man... sweet little "20 footer"! He says the seats are white, but from here on the outside of the fishbowl, they appear to be Fawn, same color as the one I had (which was also a 110/PG car). I'm a bit farther than 20 feet, but I can still see it prolly needs at least one quarter panel... and I can't see the trunk floor (had to cut a good one out of a donor car I bought) or the cowl area. I'd love to see it in person though. Thanks for putting that up!

News that this new Impala look will spread to the rest of the Chevy line has me excited. I think it is a perfectly distilled CHEVROLET face that fits the brand... like a glove.

elloh ell awesome Abarth

Here's something that I hope settles this debate once and fer all:

To prevent tanking, make it in the vein of the El Camino... with a good number of variants. Base model six cylinder manual steel wheels up to firebreather V8 automatic with buckets, leather, big rims, the works. The idea of selling this as V8, hi-po only limits its appeal. A vehicle like this could once again find success in the market if it is pitched to more than "one" customer. A local mechanical home services company still has their fleet of El Caminos parked out in front of their building. It would be fantastic to see them be able to replace those late-80's vehicles with new ones. This does not have to be another limited "halo" vehicle.

So rich, authoritative, regal, and unflappable...

Is it possible that my distaste up to now for the new MKZ is coming from a place more of misunderstanding? Because this video makes the car look unique, elegant, slab-sided and clean, yet with drama... traits of the few truly classic Lincolns we can name. Maybe my earlier taunts of "too technical and cold" were not correct, and a better phrase would be "utterly refined, modern, yet still an echo of past greatness". As GM fans, we like to point to 1959 as a watershed year for the "longer, lower, wider" look that has forever taken hold as the "correct" proportion for an automobile... yet, it seems, GM was behind the times with their '59 models, by at least one year, if not two, if you count the '57 Mopar products. Check out this period Ford video. The Lincoln is clearly longer, lower and wider, with brave, futuristic styling. Sorry I couldn't embed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8HzUJh-MpY

...Aaaaaand Balthazar blasts the hell out of this thread! Full-size cruisers RULE. Fabulous 421 LeMans, too. And on the '61 Buick, nice insertion of modern Ventiports. The '60 Bel Air is perfect, it speaks for itself with just a nudge of help from stance and wheels. '56 Pontiac is sanitized nicely. I don't usually like tube grilles, but the Ranchero's blends in sweetly with the side trim moldings, and the '61 Chrysler's just dips its toe in custom.

Oh MAN... looking at the vid blown up full screen, it's clear somebody has curbed the bumper... you can see the scrapes. I see the "manufacturer's plate", it's prolly been run hard by journalists and engineers. Shame they show a damaged car in a vid supposedly produced by GM.

I see the production version has a big rectangular exhaust tip, instead of the dual round "FLOWMASTER" scripted one shown on the prototype.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KWRHmjgh1So" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I think this is a hot looking little car.

This is solid, good news about a solid, good car. A hatch AND a coupe would round out the line nicely... come on GM, give your compact all the firepower you can muster, because, ya know, the competition is NOT lying down.

I agree wholeheartedly with the SkyActiv philosophy, in that a lighter vehicle and the latest ICE efficiency tweaks are what we need to bring us forward... no other propulsion system is needed. Now, about that diesel CX-5...

New @ Hyundai lot: Elantra coupe... an appealing car, imo, sporty yet not trendy... mature. Well done. I also like the new, squared-off Santa Fe in person as well. Also, the Elantra GT looks good to me. How did this happen? The Veloster 1.6t grillework is ugly, and the whole car is too trendy looking to be fresh 15 minutes later imo, however. Salesguy there confessed to having a '68 Camaro and a Ram pickup in his garage... but his (not a demo) daily driver is a Sonata 2.0t. It could very well have been sales schtick, but he says he is impressed with Hyundai products, enough to buy one for himself (Klingon/Horseshoe crab nose notwithstanding).

whoa. Yup, srsly. I didn't know Fisker was making an SUV.

What percentage of Focus sales are hatches? Pretty high, seems like. And look at Hyundai's Elantra family. And Kia's Forte array.

No coupe, no sale. No hatch, no sale. No estate, no sale. Sudden heavy players in the market are not afraid to sell interesting variations on the core product.

What a little darlin'...

The XV Crosstrek is a sweet package.

No sane person would sully the car with an autotragic transmission. This is a car to be driven, not ridden in. Saleskid I talked to last evening says Blue Topaz is not on the list... even though the original Concept previewing the car was blue. And RS is only for the hatch. Fiesta Titanium: $21,555 with Interior Style package, moonroof, Black sport exterior package, and aluminum pedals. 5-speed manual, no 6-speed like sonic RS... plus it still has the 1.6L, 120 hp, 37 ft/lbs torque I-4. BUT... is the RS package worth the premium over the Sonic LTZ? That is a question that has to be researched and expounded upon.

I think I like the white, it has a stark, sporty contrast to the black, chrome and red ancillaries. Yes it is high, but when I remember that a Fiesta Titanium can be optioned up to that price, my hackles go back down.

Black looks soooo good clean tho... Here's to a positive outcome, intrigued.

Sawr two Sparks at one of the local Chevy dealers (green and red 1LT autotragics)... guy that sold me my Cruze walked up and said "you look familiar", so I confessed. He's working there now. So he's supposed to call me tomorrow with a price on a Sonic RS manual with sunroof in Cyber Gray (although it looks starkly cool in white per Chevy's new videos with the development engineer kid). Anyhoo, those Sparks are adorable in person, super tiny.