plane

Give me a break.

CR fails again.

Crap article from front to back.

40 MPG from 50/50 city/highway with my 2011 ECO 6MT.

That's driving with a lead foot, heavy on the turbo.

IT'S TIME TO STOP AMERICA'S ADDICTION TO FOREIGN OIL

America is in a hole and it's getting deeper every day. We import 70% of our oil at a cost of $700 billion a year - four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.

I've been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil.

On January 20, 2009, a new President gets sworn in. If we're organized, we can convince Congress to make major changes towards cleaner, cheaper and domestic energy resources.

Video article continues at link...

http://www.pickensplan.com/

Toyota's quality will be fine I think, they don't get lazy or complacent. Even though they slipped they are still top 5 out of 37 car brands, it isn't like they are Dodge. Either way, if I were GM, I wouldn't be waiting for Toyota to screw up, I'd assume they are going to try hard, so we have to also.

2008 Accord is better than the 2008 Malibu, Malibu looks better, Accord has better interior, more power, more fuel economy, more resale value and about 16 years in a row of 10 Best awards from every car mag there is. The Malibu is a big improvement, better than most, but not the class benchmark.....

Buick sales are down 23% this year, the Lexus RX easily outsells the Enclave and the Lexus is more dated and costs a lot more. If I am GM, I am not looking toward Buick to ensure a good future.....

Everything else aside, this I have real heartburn with. The Lambdas have been out how long? And how many reviews have thrashed these? The triplets are competitive and sales should only continue to climb, especially as more people become aware of these class-leading vehicles. It will be interesting to see how long a superior product will undersell a dated, more expensive and arguably less capable vehicle.

What an incredible coincidence.

Suddenly GM and Ford don't have minivans.

What a great time to write this article.

Nissan vs Nissan.

Hyundai vs. Hyundai.

GM versus a Domestic Competitor.

Past, present and future articles are irrelevant.

The issue is this article and this article only.

Liars, cheaters, and domestic-hating journalists rejoice, for great is your reward in the burning afterlife.

Congratulations, for you groundhog day meets blind dates from #$#@.

Don't overestimate the time it will take to produce an 8-speed transmission if the program is approved. IIRC work on the 8-speed transmission predates the eCVT being produced now in Baltimore. The concept has already been fully worked out by GM transmission engineers and has not only been patented, but a trademark exists as well. While development work will need to be done to refine and calibrate the shift algorithms once that is done I believe any plant already retooled for the new 6-speeds could be producing an 8-speed version within months with little new tooling needed.

two thumbs up for that post.

:thumbsup:

What would be the difference between the 6 and 8 speed trannies, other than the obvious two gears?

Are the 8-speeds dsg-based?

Does the 8 speed require 25% more space?

Does it have completely different gear ratios?

Or the same gear ratios augmented at the top and/or bottom?

That is incredibly good news.

This is a public service announcement.

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/tund...ures-i-am-club/

By the time you reach this link, it may be dead.

In some cases, I've had to go to the website directly and then nagivate down.

There is another Tundra storm abrewing.

And it's not looking good for Toyota.

Is the liftgate really considered another door by Toyota?

Should anyone be able to use their truck to haul ATVs?

Could someone get hurt from this?

As one of the owners experiencing this problem stated, we need to let everyone know.

Promise low.

Deliver high.

I don't understand why it seems almost everything is taken at face value.

For all we know, the prototypes are on the road and the plant is tooling up right now.

I'm not saying that's the case,

but who really knows and is willing to honestly share with us

how far along GM is with the Volt?

to match the bulbous front end

A nose only Jimmy Durante could love.

Not a good idea poke a stick in the big dog's face.

GM is on the rise, and you just insulted every single GM customer in the United States.

Before this commercial, I simply disliked Hyundai.

Now, it's war.

Don't be at all mistaken.

We don't underestimate you now. No way.

In fact, we're paying homage to you daily.

One piece of toilet paper at a time.

.....hence the potential problem with the car.....focus groups.....

Oh, let's all throw our hands in the air and wail incessantly about a vehicle that hasn't even hit the streets.

Yeah, that's just the thing to do.

No....but many of us HAVE driven an AURA and HAVE sat inside an AURA and have seen the excellent interior fit-and-finish inside the vehicle.....attributes the Malibu all shares....

Fixed.

Just finished driving an Aura. Nice job GM.

SHEESH. It is this defeatest atittude that is sinking Detroit, period!

Absolutely!

Heard a live advertisement from a local Cadillac dealer yesterday.

"Come on down, we've got the great GM vehicles".

How refreshing. It was almost an epiphany. We've been so conditioned to crap on domestics, Pavlov's dogs are laughing at us.

That same day, I had lunch with a couple of ex-co-workers.

One, who is an ardent Toyota fan, remarked - Did you buy a new vehicle? It looks great!

He was looking at my 2005 GM.

Honestly, I don't think you've got room to talk when it comes to calling people bias.

The new Malibu is good, but it's got tough competition from the Accord and Mazda6. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the perception gap is still there. If you look at the attention to detail in the Accord and 6 versus the Malibu you can see that it still has work to do.

Is my pro-import bias showing again?

Honestly, I think it's a bit crass to take a Honda Accord thread and in the first post turn it into a 'Bu bashing thread.

If you want to start a 'Bu Bashing Thread, by all means, have fun.

But let's give K.C. his due in his Accord thread.

If this is true, this is fantastically great news.

Just imagine, in the near-term, nearly the entire world standardizing on the two-mode technology.

Costs are minimized.

Bugs are worked out more quickly.

U.S. and European suppliers actually have a competitive shot at hardware.

Cobasys and Saft and other non-japanese suppliers being able to bid on and receive contracts for batteries.

And allied Asian suppliers such as Suzuki and Mazda can join in too.

This would seem to be a far superior business model.

Toyota says - it's mine and you may be able to purchase it, but I will hold it over your head and limit access to critical parts.

You are my captive customer.

GM says - We're in this together. Help us cut the costs and you can benefit too, with a level playing field and full access to designs and critical parts.

We are partners.

Oh, that's a most blissfully enlightening Chicken Little post of the week.

We haven't seen the Malibu yet in person and it's already behind the competition?

Your clairvoyant powers are considerably underwhelming.

The 2008 Malibu had the highest test scores ever recorded from a GM focus group.

You might want to give it 5 minutes or so on the lot when it arrives in November, before totally bashing the 'Bu.

At least that way, you can be perceived as being less biased.

Joey, did that come out of your underwear?

No, I don't think so mom.

:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Details on this?

or a link?

Very interesting.

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/spotlight...t_id=1003634254

Studies show that up to 90% of consumers believe these word-of-mouth forums for purchase decisions, and more people are researching products and services online before buying or using them. For these and other reasons, Ertmann spends his day digesting and disseminating the opinions consumers/critics have about Toyota. Ertmann also oversees and contributes to (along with others at the company) Toyota's first blog site, http://blogs.toyota.com, which launched in June.

BW: What sites do you monitor?

BE: Autoblog, jalopnik, auto extremist, some of the enthusiast sites, the Prius chat stuff. Most of our popular models have at least one enthusiast site. I check our own site, too. There are Toyota groups on MySpace, which I wasn't aware of until recently. We don't spend much time watching those. And I generally don't worry much about the sites that are press only. I'm mostly concerned with consumers.

BW: How do consumers know that people posting to your blog site aren't employees?

BE: We created a policy here, designed to help our associates when they participate in other blogs to avoid doing what the Whole Foods guy did....

You'll notice that Mr. ToyotaBorg never comes out and actually discloses what that policy is.

The full court press is on.

Our Saturn is in the shop- Driving an Aura loaner right now.

Charcoal with metallic trim XE.

I always thought - if I were to buy an Aura, would have to go with the XR.

Not any more.

This car is that good.

Fit and finish, a well-crafted interior, center-console snobs be damned.

Quiet, great handling, and the 3.5L VVT in this tune, while not overpowering, has decent oomph.

Whew.

This thread was mighty depressing.

I was even starting to reach for the metamucil.

Until the talk about the W-bodies showed up.

You know, ever since that write up on the paid Toyota bloggers made sunlight,

there have been an awfully high number of new posters on the net quite willing

to glorify vanilla pudding melted soap bar parrot beak lemmingmobiles.

Coincidence?

Burn them in effigy.

Whip up the masses.

Stones, pile up the stones.

Get out your shotgun men, it's hunting season.

Bring those AR-15s if you've got 'em.

As a friend used to say, "These guys are a total waste of skin."

Tar and Feather would be too good a fate.

Buy the aluminum baseball bats by the dozens.

Throw in a couple dozen tasers while we're at it.

It's time to show that this has gone on long enough.

And we're not going to take it any more.

psssswwwdsddf......(muffled whisper).....

Wha?

Huh?

Oooooh.

....

....

....

....

....

....

This thread isn't about Toyota dealers?

....

Nevermind.

Looks like maybe all the hype about the tundra topping the GMC was short lived. Let's hope so anyway......

Now if we could see a sustained decline for the next 20 years, we can all be happy.

hdmax is in the house.

Nice post man. Totally agreed.

Through my travels in Seattle in Aug, I came across one interesting Avenger at a salad bar in Tukwila... This guy is THE MAN! (I'm a little afraid of him b/c of his affiliations though)

Down by South Center mall.

If you travel to Tukwila often, there are some really good restaurants nearby.

....

That is some car allright.

.....the bored ricecar salesmen.....

Now that is just sad.

Patriotic, red-blooded Americans can't even find refuge in a GM car forum.

WTH is next? Nascar?

Ahh, there's the problem, Toyota doesn't have a 4.0 L V8. It's a 4.7 L V8 and a 4.0 V6.

Fixed. Thanks.

The point remains that the 4.0, one of Toyota's newest engines, provides far less power with fuel economy equivalent to a dated GM product.

Just an honest and objective comparison.

the non-D4-S GR engine family has posted the best fuel economy in every comparision I've seen them in.

Would be happy to take a look at those comparisons if you have links.

Base Truck Comparison - EPA Ratings.

Chevrolet -

4.8L V-8

295 hp@5600 rpms

305 lbft@4800 rpms

16/20

Toyota

4.0L V-6

236 hp@5200 rpms

266 lbft@4000 rpms

17/20

59 horsepower and 39 lbft torque are an awful lot to give up for just 1 mpg in the city.

Because the 4.0 is much newer, it should have been more competitive.

Given a choice between the two, the 4.8L seems to be the logical choice.