Northstar

Yeah, that's right, I forgot it had to be stopped for the Oshawa conversion. So in that case, there will be no '09 LaCrosse. Also, since the NG is a global car it should get plenty of funding to keep it on track, so I'm guessing it will go as planned.

Yeah, maybe we'll see the production version, but it won't be on the street. Oshawa doesn't convert until Summer '08, so how would we have an Oshawa-produced Camaro before then?

As in, say, 5 minutes?

The NG Lacrosse is a 2010MY vehicle, but it comes out in Jan 2009, so I don't even know if they're going to have a 2009 MY LaCrosse, or just go straight from '08 to '10.

Yeah, but it's going to be expensive to repair if you do back into anything. But, with the ultrasonic parking sensors, I don't think that should be too big of a problem, unless they go bad.

A coil-over wouldn't be too difficult. Also, this doesn't have to be something automotive, it's just that I thought doing some part of a car would be cool. I think I may just ask the professor if he thinks a disc brake would be too complex. Also, I'm going to be paired with another person in my class, so if he/she doesn't want to do a brake then I might not do it anyways.

We're using Pro-Engineer Wildfire 3.0. It doesn't have to be as complex as a brake, that just popped into my mind as a possibility. For instance, he showed us what someone did last year... a roller blade. The mountain bike disc brake doesn't look that much similar except maybe in the part that makes it operate. Really, I think I can make the disc part pretty easily, it's basically two round parts that don't have much depth and (if I want to make them cross-drilled or slotted) holes or slots. It's the parts inside the calipers and the part connecting to it that actually tells it to squeeze down that I'm worried about. It might be hard to get the geometry right for the mountain bike disc brake because it's not a circle.

I saw that. It's helpful but not really what I need. I have to design all the parts inside of the parts, too. Of course, this is only if I decide to do a disc brake, and it could prove to complex to even bother with. I did do some more searching there and it does have some more complex explanations with more parts, but I don't think it has everything I need.

For one of my classes (ME 170 - CAD) we have to do a final design project (this is still quite a ways away though) and I was thinking maybe I could design some new disc brake and demonstrate how using 6 piston calipers is better than 4 piston calipers, etc. Anyways, I'm having trouble finding any websites with detailed descriptions of each part. This isn't a "this is the disc, this is the caliper" type of design. We have to create an engineering model of the brake, with all of the parts, even the smallest ones, and even the parts that connect to it (in this case from the brake pedal) to make it work. So, if anyone knows of a site that would have this sort of info, I'd appreciate it.

Fleet sales last year were 24.1% for the 300, and checking this year's stats it's at 27.5%, so it has had a rather small increase in fleet sales. However, don't forget that the LX cars had no incentives last year and this year you can spin a good deal on one. So... I'd say retail sales are about even, but the average transaction price is definetly lower. Chrysler's problem is not really the LX cars. It's more that they depend on a lot of sales from trucks and the now-outdated minivans. Aside from the LX cars, what Chrysler cars actually sell well in the retail market? The Caliber does ok, but other than that... nothing does anything.

Wow, the Cobalt's numbers are impressive. I'm guessing if you put on some better rubber (not run-flats) on the Z06, it could probably beat the GT.

Yes, this is a TE, not a Lambda. Did the Saab video give those dates? That seems early from what I've seen/heard, which says the Cadillac and Saab TE's are both '10 MY vehicles.

http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/SaturnO...Images/Dash.jpg The wood on the dash is lower than that on the door (they don't line up on the bottom as they should). Hopefully this is just a pre-production issue though.

:rotflmao:

Umm, the Lucerne is a niche vehicle (relatively, the full size market is not that big), being sold as an "old man's" Buick, in a segment full of competition, with what the public considers better dealers (Toyota, Lexus), and names that are more established (Avalon, ES, 300). It looks like you're making excuses for the Millenia too, no?

Uh oh, someone call the cops! The trim from the door doesn't line up. They better fix that for production. It looks like it might line up on the passenger side, but it's hard to tell. Everything else looks great though: -The cargo area looks HUGE (w/3rd row up) -Exterior is great, even in the so-so color -The greenish interior we saw was nice, but I think I like this black better -Fit and finish (aside from the driver's side door wood and dash) look excellent I wish they would have taken a pic of the rear seat, though.

Riddle me this: If the Millenia is so advanced for its time, and the Lucerne is a 2007 MY vehicle that isn't even better than 1994 MY vehicles, how is it that the Millenia sold so poorly, yet the Lucerne sells great? Something doesn't work in this equation: Good competition (2007 MY) x "bad" vehicle (Lucerne) = good sales for bad vehicle, but... Bad competition (1994 MY) x "great" vehicle (Millenia) = bad sales for good vehicle. Hmm... something just doesn't seem to add up here. Anyone able to find my mistake?

The next thing Buick has doesn't come until Jan 09 - the next LaCrosse.

Wow, that looks pretty cool. It needs to looks the wing and some of the other ricey add-ons, but they won't be there for production anyways. I think this looks like a non-retro HHR, actually. Dare I say the head-on view says "get the hell out of my way" just as loudly if not more so than the Camaro?

I saw one sitting outside my dealer last weekend (not sure how if they just started production, maybe it was for people to look at but not buy?) and it looked just as ugly. It's as bad as the Aztek.

It would be nice if the LaCrosse got the dual-VVT (it only has single VVT now), maybe they're just waiting for the next one.

Maybe when the GMT360s are gone and they aren't producing the 4.2 (though I'm guessing they'll put it in something, since it's such a good engine) then they can produce more 3.6s. If they have over 1.2 million square feet, I'd think they could produce plenty of 3.6s. Otherwise, they could just produce them wherever they produce the 3.6s for the G6 and Aura.

Hmm, I dunno what you could use. Some sort of apoxy compound buffed into the scratches might take them out. I know you can use a buffer to take scratches out of a CD, but I've not heard of doing so on glass.

I was hoping they'd drop the price about a grand since the current ones have incentives, but I guess those aren't bad prices.

Meh, there are a host of similarly-priced sedans that are better. I'd rather have a G6 GTP (3.6), Aura Red Line or XR, Legacy GT, Altima, and others. I wouldn't buy any of those most likely, but you could even get a base G35 for similar money.