ocnblu

I am always at least 15 mph under the limit. It's scary out there! :AH-HA_wink:

I can agree with that as well, Mr. Biz. However, I am no less dismayed. I want to be able to trust all of the people who work on my $26k brand new truck. If the kid is new, he needs to be overseen by someone with experience to make sure the end result meets customer expectations. It's the same in my department, the bodyshop.

Don't forget too, the '91 Caprice was a controversial redesign later partially fixed by enlarging the rear wheel arches. I remember seeing the car for the first time at the Baltimore Auto Show, trunk laden with brochures, so it was reallly low. I liked it, but I think people missed the previous, more squared-off '81-'90 design. The '91 was like a Bath Tub Hudson to a lot of folks. At the end, I think something like 75% of civilian Chevrolet B-body sales were Impala SSs (which should have been a clue to GM... alas, they missed it and stopped production just when they finally put an analog gauge cluster and floor shifter in the car.) But then, our beloved GM has had a long history of dropping cars just when they reach the pinnacle of their development...

The weather looks very promising for Saturday, so I plan on coming up. I will send you a PM, Camino.

A "modified X" is what the service advisor called it.

knee

Well, I dealt with a different guy each time. I made the appointment with one dude, then a different dude was there for the appointment. Then a totally different dude was there for the rotation return, and finally, the same dude I made the appointment with originally helped me today. :AH-HA_wink:

Yeah, I like Chinese food, but after reading about the horrific amounts of fat and salt in restaurant Chinese food, I get scared. A lot of local Chinese places are putting steamed white and brown rice, along with steamed meat and veggies and sauce on the side on their menus. I go for that, the taste is much cleaner.

The G8 will be a nicer car overall than any W-body Grand Prix. Yes, the name sucks and the styling is... under the radar... but guaranteed, the driving experience will trump any FWD car, even those powered by the excellent smallblock V8.

deadly

silent

fumes

Oh blah blah blah... :AH-HA_wink:

hehehe, noooo... nevermind. You guys don't want to hear it anyway, so I'll let it go.

It is time to make Pontiac back into a brand that finally, after at least 3 decades, fulfills its promise of driving excitement. Driving excitement = RWD... simple as that. FWD = appliance... simple as that, especially on midsize and larger cars. Let Volkswagen make their GTI... let Mini make their Cooper... Chevy has the sweet Cobalt SS... those cars are compatible and correct with FWD. Pontiac needs RWD... it is plain as day.

I wasn't going to post about this at first, but decided it was a good idea to air some things. A while back, the GMC dealership sent me a letter for a free maintenance service, which I appreciated, being a new customer. Two Saturdays ago, I went in and had my first oil change and tire rotation. I was there at 8 a.m. for my appointment. About 20 minutes later, they pulled my truck into the shop. I ended up being there for about an hour and 20 minutes total. It was Saturday, I didn't have big plans, so ok. Everyone was courteous. Since then, when I was on the highway, I kept hearing this reverberation in my truck somewhere. I thought it may have been the pavement or something, but it seemed odd. Then last Saturday at the car wash, while I was drying off my wheels, I noticed that the two rear tires were on backwards... my tires have a directional tread, and they have arrows on the sidewall to indicate proper fitment. So I went back right away that day, told them about it, and they put my truck in the shop to switch the tires for proper rotation. The excuse? "Oh, they didn't pay attention, they didn't think anyone would change tires so soon since the truck is new." Also, I run 35 pounds of air, the recommended pressure on the doorjamb sticker. Checking my tire pressure monitor on the DIC, I noticed they deflated my tires to 30 pounds. Then, two days ago, the tire pressure warning came on the DIC and the dash indicator, saying my right front tire was low, indicating 27 pounds of air per the DIC. I came home, plugged in my air compressor, and proceeded to inflate my tires to the proper pressure... but something was amiss. The DIC wasn't registering a difference in tire pressure for each tire as I inflated them. So I checked my owner's manual. The pressure monitors work off a radio frequency, and each position on the truck has a different frequency. Each time the tires are rotated, a relearn procedure has to be done so the truck knows which tire is which for the pressure display on the DIC. The procedure is kinda time consuming, and by this time I was kind of pissed over the whole matter. So on my lunch break today I stopped back to the service department. As I told my story, the advisor stopped me, nodded, and we said in unison "the relearn procedure...", so he immediately went and got a technician, who came out with a handy electronic GM shop tool. He had my monitors relearned in two minutes. I told him I have a compressor here at the house, and I'd reinflate my tires to the proper pressure now that the truck knows where the tires are. I did, and everything's fine... now. It's not like the 900 SUVs haven't been on the market with this same system for months now, so they should have known to do this. THREE VISITS FOR A TIRE ROTATION AND OIL CHANGE. Seems to me like two visits too many. I am happy with the courteous service advisors... but the techs, at least their oil change and rotation techs, do not set off this relationship on the right foot at all. And I was scared of the local VW service department? Hmmm...

Yeah, I had an '81 Grand Prix new with the 110 hp 231... not exactly a neck snapper... but I'm still a fan of the whole package. The powerplant was just a part of that, a primitive attempt at fuel efficiency. Technology was lacking back then, and GM was in a panic to increase efficiency. The only thing that worked for them, I guess, was to downsize, nee, gut every single platform they produced here in the USA. Every single time they did it, the cars that emerged were less impressive than what came before. I will argue that the '77 B,C and D bodies, '78 A bodies and '79 E bodies were the only successful downsized GM vehicles in terms of appeal to the customer. The X-cars were oddballs. The J-bodies were a mixed bag. FWD A-bodies, ugh. The C- and H bodies and '85 E bodies, too dramatic a change from what came before. These cars contributed to the downfall of GM, a downfall that is still haunting my favorite car company. Misstep after misstep chipped away at their once dominant position in the market. This is why I believe FWD ruined GM. Since then, the FWD G body, Delta and Epsilon have been much improved platforms over previous iterations, don't get me wrong. It's now almost 30 years after the start of this dramatic downfall, with the Spring '79 X-car debut. Bob Lutz wants to return GM's larger cars to RWD. Every single person who cares about GM and their future should support this initiative. It is of the utmost importance for GM, for the domestic auto industry, and for the country, that all of us support this plan. It is like dawn emerging after a 3 decade night. I am not asking for 400 hp V8s in every single Zeta and Alpha platform car, but I want that option, along with everything from 2.8/3.6L, Ecotec, to diesel and hybrid availability. The inherently natural feel of a RWD chassis, along with the utmost in modern powertrain choices, are critical to GM's true renaissance, in my opinion.

An outboard motor for his boat?

Nope...

dart, that's interesting. Solstice, yes, but I also see some '73 LeMans influences.

Well, I'm late as heck, but that is one fiiine looking Cutlass. Best of luck and many happy miles, sir.

Nope...

Shocking, horrible beyond belief. What else is there to say? As I shut off my radio tonight in the truck, they weren't even sure if the two events were related (dorm/classroom). I hope the mystery surrounding this whole mess gets solved quickly.

(zsa zsa gabor voice) Vell hello Zeta dahling, I've been vaiting for you... :AH-HA_wink: The old W-bodies should be the most reliable cars on the road, after all the money that's been thrown at them over the decades. They were shadows of the G-bodies they replaced, so foreign and different when they debuted, so small and puny. At the end of their run, they are the best they've ever been, but still not quite what GM needs. I am ready for a brand new RWD revolution for larger GM cars, in fact, it can't come soon enough. What are some of our favourite W-bodies over the years? First-gen Lumina Euro coupe and sedan MCE Cutlass Supreme coupe and convertible MCE Grand Prix coupe DOHC 5 speed (pre '97) '97-'03 Grand Prix GTP coupe and sedan last-gen Regal GS Regal GS coupe 3800 current Grand Prix GXP current Impala SS current Monte Carlo SS These all come close, but no cigar. Dead reliable, yes, truly exciting...no. They're Wrong Wheel Drive. They've killed the casual enthusiast because they're so difficult to modify. Question for decade's end: is it too late for GM to win back people who appreciate true American cars? People who've turned to trucks to hold on to the feel of American cars of yore? I hope and pray it's not too late. Zeta baby, come to papa!

lummox