Northstar

The interior looks a lot better, but what will it look like without NAV, and what are the materials like? The exterior still looks like ass.

And how many of those do they sell? 20k a year? That's what, .2% of the truck market?

If that one that looks too much like a Mustang came to life, I don't think many people would like it. It looks all chunky and heavy.

If this isn't bad, I don't know what is:

And you know this how?

A great review: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/dr...e1-957453b083d4 If the XR handles that well, the Redline will be on rails (for a FWD midsizer, that is).

Lots of stuff tonight: First a black Z06, next a '71 GTO in orange, then an older guy revving at me in his Century, then an Escalade EXT on 22's in Riptide Blue (that one was at the dealer I worked for), then a Jag XJ, then another QS GTO (2005), a red Solstice, and finally a new Aveo in a nice red color and the dealer. I'm gonna take some pics tomorrow.

Vodka is pretty bad if you don't have a chaser, but it's not too bad with a chaser. I like rum in mixed drinks (Miami Vices are yummy).

Let's just say it's pretty telling who the problem is when we can have intelligent discussions when a certain someone isn't around. EDIT: I cleaned up the topic a bit, so hopefully everyone can forget what happened and move on with a much more intelligent conversation.

You were expecting it to look exactly like the concept? GM said it would look 90% like the concept, and I think they were correct. >What midsizer has blingy 19s from the factory? I don't think any... >I'll give you that one, though they're still there and look better than most slab-sided midsizers >The fascia is pretty similar. The upper grill and headlights are very similar, and while the bottom is different, I think it suits the segment's potential buyers' tastes better. Plus, the RL will probably be very similar to the concept anyways. >I've never heard of anyone buying a car because it has center exhuast. It looks rather dumb anyways. >If the rearview mirrors were ugly, then maybe you'd have a ponit, but they look fine. "The production car is now just a safe, middle of the road, perfectly nice Saturn." Wow, couldn't have summed it up better myself. And because of that, it will sell in droves. Why? Because, if you've noticed over the past 10 years how many "safe, middle of the road, perfectly nice" CamCords have been sold, then you'd see GM"s reasoning. Now, does the concept look better? Yes. But, will the production car appeal to a larger amount of people? Yes again. If you want the concept car's looks, wait for the RL.

The AURA GL comes out in March (or at least starts production then). I'm pretty sure the Malibu gets a mild hybrid (like the AURA GL) and a full hybrid (with the new two-mode system) later.

A V8 in the Malibu would be dumb. I doubt it can fit anyways as Epsilon is significantly narrower than W. Also, the Malibu is definetly not moving to Zeta.

A new Maxima at the dealership I'd rather have the '06.

Oh boy, 1 mph difference over the 1/4 mile. How about times with a trailer on the back?

I think I'm gonna bring a Z06 and regular Corvette poster and that'll be it. The regular Vette poster is huge, like 24x30 or so and the Z06 is probably 20 x 20.

I think it's pretty much established the Challenger as way too much retro, I just hope the Camaro still looks good in 5 years. Yeah, it's coming in 2 1/2 years, but it will be "only" 2 1/2 years old 5 years from now, and I don't know if it's going to look fresh still. Actually, a Z51-equipped Vette is very close to the Viper in acceleration and can beat it around the race track I'm pretty sure (assuming it's not an oval).

You would have some rediculous blind spots with those huge sail panels.

Umm, I said that it wasn't a super high performance model. I said it was mildly higher performing and took longer than other brands' high performance models to get to market. The problem with adding it now is that no one will notice it. If they would have released it a year after the original TL, then it would have kept the momentum going for longer, but they didn't. If it didn't take them 3 years to develop the engine then it's even dumber that it only is getting it now. That's like GM not putting the 3.6 in the G6 for the first two years even though it was available.

The TL has lost it's sizzle, and this does nothing to bring it back. Why does it take Acura more time to come up with a mildly higher performing variant of a vehicle when Cadillac, BMW, MB, and Audi take only about a year to make a super-high performance variant? If this was a GM, it'd be "too little, too late" (as some are already saying the LaCrosse Super is, and I agree), and I sure hope the media thinks the same about this poor effort.

Epsilon II as well. There are different wheelbase lengths like the current one.I really don't think that photoshop looks very good at all, I hope it's not very close to that.

Wagoner said the Camaro will come in "many shapes and sizes," so I think we all know what that means. I was hoping we'd have other Zeta vehicles identified, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen today. I guess it's like the Solstice, but I don't know if it will look as good in two and a half years.

Most sbalesmen are idiots. I know more than all of the salesmen combined at my dealership.

I think people bash the Tundra because Toyota deserves to be bashed, but the press doesn't seem to do it. The press bashes the hell out of GM when they put out a bad product that replaces a bad product. Look at the current Tundra. It obviously doesn't have what it takes to compete, yet the press gives it a free pass, even though it replaced a truck that didn't have what it took to compete either. GM puts out cars that don't compete and gets bashed, yet Toyota puts out a truck that doesn't compete well and gets a free pass because "oh well the Tundra is only 7/8th size so these things that it doesn't have are ok since it's smaller." That's the sort of BS Toyota gets away with. The people who are really worried about towing 10k pounds are probably going to go for the HD anyways. And I don't think an extra 1000 pounds towiing capacity is going to steal many buyers, especially when both can tow so much.

I wonder if the 410HP is for the HD engine? 410HP out of 5.7L in anything is a lot of HP/L, much less in something like a truck that should be geared for low-end power.

That was before the "cancelling" of Zeta which turned into just a delay. Unless it's being built in Wilmington or somewhere other than Oshawa, it won't be here before CY08.