Northstar

Congrats!

It's kinda cool, but you are going to get tired of that pretty quickly I think.

That black one is actually pretty sweet, with the red interior. I'd go with that or Cyber Gray. That dealer would need to come way down from what they've already come down to though, considering you can get a 2011 for the same price. Can you take the little fender stripes off if you get tired of them, or is that actually painted on?

It is both I think. The cell phone gives you only one hand to do everything else while driving. Hands free is much safer than a cell phone. If you don't have it sitting in your lap or a cup holder, etc., and have to go find it in your pocket or purse then that's a pretty big distraction. When I get a phone call in the Camaro, I just press a button on the steering wheel and never have to look down to get the phone to answer it. The bigger problem is texting, because you have to look down constantly, at least on most phones, to see what you're writing.

I don't care much for the stripes or headlights on the orange one. Don't think that color really goes with orange. I'd go with the cyber gray. Less chance you will get tired of the color, amd it looks awesome with gunmetal wheels. I don;t know that there's a whole lot you can do with orange in terms of customization that doesn't look tacky.

Here are some good pictures of it in the sunlight: http://www.corvetteconti.com/blog/?p=11942

I think the Inferno looks great. The local dealership here has one and it looks really nice out in the sun. I'm actually going to head out in that area to go shopping in a little while, if you want me to take some pictures of it in the daylight. I'm sure you could find pictures on a Corvette forum also. My point is that I think the color looks way better in daylight than inside the showroom. What other colors are available in your area? Did you search online? You should be able to get a killer deal on a 2011, check www.kerbeck.com, they have Corvette Grand Sports for $11.3k+ off MSRP. No reason you can't get a similar deal elsewhere.

The driver's seat is plenty comfortable. The GTO seats are better, but the GTO seats are pretty much unbeatable. You definitely sit in the seat rather than on the seat. Side bolstering is pretty good, could be a bit better (GTO's is better). I don't think there is a lumber support adjuster, which is odd but I guess I don't feel like I need it. Coming from the GTO, most seats seem awful. I can't complain about the Camaro's, so I suppose they're pretty good. I will say I sat in my sister's Cruze today and the seats were way less comfortable than the Camaro's. I'm 6'0 tall in case you were wondering.

My dad drives it. He's driven it pretty much since I went to college 5 years ago except sometimes in the summer when I would get to drive it. It just recently crossed the 30k mile mark. I considered driving it instead, but I'm getting much better MPG with the Camaro, it's more fun to drive because of the stick, rides and drives better, and looks better. Also, insurance with a V8 for a 23 year old is pretty insane. Speaking of insurance, somehow a 1LT Camaro was less to insure than a Cruze Eco. I'm guessing perhaps because the Cruze has so many airbags and they're very costly to fix. A 2LT was about $100 more per 6 months than the Cruze, and about $120 more than the 1LT. Yes, I'm really happy I got the 2LT instead. I sort of wanted a sunroof, but I got everything else I wanted on the 1LT, plus HUD (which is awesome), leather, heated seats, ambient lighting (which is really cool at night), and the 4 gauge cluster on the center console, which I think looks pretty cool and helps to tie the center stack into the console. I think that's all you get on 2LT that I wanted on a 1LT (upgraded radio is std on 2LT, along with 19" wheels and connectivity package). For $700 I'd rather have the 2LT with no sunroof and the additional upgrades.

So as I posted in the "how much car can you afford?" thread, the old '95 Olds LSS hit the bucket and I had to find something. Originally I was really leaning towards the Cruze ECO. However, after driving a 2011 Camaro, I couldn't resist upgrading. It's black/black, V6/6-speed manual. Originally I thought I wanted a 1LT with a few options, but there were none within 3 hours of where I live (apparently no one wants V6/manual). So after realizing the 2LT was only about $700 more than the 1LT equipped how I would want it, I went searching for a 2LT with manual transmission. I found one about 75 miles away and contacted the local dealer about it. It was also the only 2LT/manual within 3 hours. Only options it has are floor mats that are definitely a nice upgrade over the stock ones and a spare tire. I took it home June 30th. Hadn't had time to detail it until this past weekend/week so I didn't take any pics until tonight. It was built in Nov. 2010 and thus sat on the lot forever. With that, it probably got washed with wash mitts full of dirt quite a few times. Thus, it had tons of swirl marks all over it. After probably 10 hours (wash, clay, wash, polish with 2 types of polish, wash, wax) it looks pretty damn good. Only mods I have done are taking off the front plate and plugging them with these little plastic things from Lowe's (you can barely tell from 10 feet away), which I guess isn't really a mod, and I put black vinyl overlays over the bowties. Only other thing I might do is blacking out the side markers and possibly tail lights, at least for the time being. I get about 19.5 mpg, all in town driving. Not Cruze ECO mileage, but also much better than 14mpg I used to get in the GTO. Anyways, pictures:

I doubt he wants any of those except perhaps the A6. The other three are just asking for tons of repair bills. For me it'd be between the A6 and CTS out of everything listed.

I still say you should search all over for an '08 CTS for $25k. It gets considerably better mileage than the SRX, has a better interior, and looks way better. More fun to drive and quicker, too. The only thing you might get in the SRX is a little more utility, but the SRX doesn't really have that much usable cargo space unless you fold down the second row of seats.

It looks way better than the Tribeca despite the only noticeable difference being the front end.

You said he liked your CTS... how about an '08 AWD CTS? You should be able to find a CPO one for under $25k. As for the heated seats... you can install them from after market manufacturers. I'm not sure how it's all done, but I assume that it doesn't require cutting holes in the seats to install. Probably costs you an extra $500 or whatever, but on some cars with the bundling, it might be worth it if the heated seats are in a bundled package that you don't want anything in except for the seats.

Happy birthday, Mr. Cheers and Jeers.

I found it by searching "gm new certified pre owned owned june 1 pdf gmcrc" I remembered the June 1 part because the CPO plan changed June 1 and the website has "gmcrc" in it. See if the link below works. I couldn't get the PDF to open but google docs opened it just fine: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:AlzVnnqpmOMJ:gmcrc.dmotorworks.com/dms/gm_cuv_cpo/CPO-Relaunch/New-CBG-CPO-Program--FAQs-051711final/New%2520CBG%2520CPO%2520Program%2520%2520FAQs%2520051711final.pdf+gm+new+certified+pre+owned+june+1+pdf+gmcrc&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjfc6Sstkkl6qR8P4ihUlffqbn0Pk_srbjdaM4Ozp9hUr4FuMWmq3K7cXhNNbL06xuckECYqt5EMfmDy_gNaXv8HtUuBfx9bFP48-9Et02GTYq8XDbxzCVscPXolZE61rnkjULI&sig=AHIEtbSdZT6d7xIcSK-_t5XXVhdMaYKXng

I looked through my history, and I think this is the pdf based on searching for pages with ".pdf" in the last week. http://gmcrc.dmotorworks.com/dms/gm_cuv_cpo/CPO-Relaunch/New-CBG-CPO-Program--FAQs-051711final/New%20CBG%20CPO%20Program%20%20FAQs%20051711final.pdf However I can't get it to open right now for some reason.

Can you attach the PDF, or post a link to it here please? If I can find it again I will, give me a minute.

How much do you want to pay? The scrap yard is paying us ~$400 for it, but we haven't taken them the keys or title yet. It's in really rough shape. Radio display is broke, molding on the passenger door fell off, no passenger side window, front fenders are in bad shape, dent in trunk. Trust me, you don't want the car. I've decided that I'm going to wait a while and save some money, and in the meantime play musical cars with my brother and parents.

The dealer recommended not fixing the LSS. They said one of the hoses that is connected to the ABS module is what ruptured, and that it's several hundred dollars to fix. Additionally, the brakes themselves are bad, and there are 6 hoses connected to the ABS module, all of which are quite rusted and could also rupture at any time. So first of all the car is in pretty bad shape. It's no surprise that it's rusted quite a bit underneath considering it has never been regularly garaged since 2004. So besides the first 9 years of its life, the last 7 years it has sat outside in Illinois winters (not terrible, but still considerable snow, and thus salting the roads). Second of all, if just the one line is replaced (cheapest way to make it be driveable), the chances that one of the 5 other lines bursts and I rear end someone or can't stop at a red light, etc., is pretty scary and not at all safe. And fixing all of the lines would cost way more than the car is worth. So, I pretty much have no choice but to find something. Either I find something and drive the TB EXT (which does not sound like much fun), or my parents get something new. They have $4k in GM card credits they are willing to use on a car for either them or me. I could buy a Cruze Eco with their GM credits and putting $4k cash down in addition to the credits for about $250 a month for 60 months. It's a stick, and with my somewhat crude shifting I was able to achieve 30mpg on a city-only test drive. I'm sure with some practice and smoother shifting it would improve. So my gas bill would be quite low. Right now I think that is the direction I want to go. Having the $4k of GM card credits lowers the price considerably and really makes it difficult to find a better deal on a used car that still has warranty left. Plus the mileage is great. I'm not sure what I would have to pay my parents for the Trailblazer, if anything. But the Cruze gets at least double the mpg (the Trailblazer, driven by my mom who is a very conservative driver, gets 13 if she's lucky), so I'd probably save $100 on gas a month and the net cost of the Cruze would only be about $150 a month more than the TB.

Ok, so revisiting this thread... Finally got a job, start on July 1. Not making quite as much as I posted earlier, but still a pretty good amount and have great benefits and I get 5 weeks vacation a year. But, the LSS leaked brake fluid all over the place and is now in the shop. I'll find out what exactly is wrong with it today. Depending on the severity of the LSS repair, I may be forced to get something sooner than I wanted to.

So my friend is likely going to buy a CPO TrailBlazer on Tuesday. However, the dealer told him that the 2 year/30k mile maintenance that is included in the program is only good if he has the service done at their dealership. I'm pretty sure this is not correct, and that you can get the service done at an GM CPO dealer. However, I can't find anything that says so definitely either way. They claimed that the 2 year/30k mile was only good at their dealership, but the 12 month/12k mile bumper to bumper warranty is good anywhere, which doesn't make any sense to me. The dealer is reimbursed by GM for the oil change and tire rotations, so I don't see why it matters which dealer it is performed at. Anyone know the answer? Edit: nevermind, found a PDF all about the CPO program and it answered the question. Answer is yes, it can be done anywhere. CPO dealers have to do it for free, non CPO dealers don't have to, but can be reimbursed by GM>

Those people are probably buying BMWs and Porsches Exactly. But current Corvette buyers are not going to all of the sudden stop buying Corvettes because the interior is improved enough to compete with BMWs and Porsches, and BMW and Porsche buyers might actually consider a Corvette if it had an interior up to par with BMW/Porsche/etc.

The thing is that Corvette buyers wouldn't be turned off by an improved interior, and there is a group of people out there that would consider buying one if the interior was better.

I don't think the MPG is that big of a deal here. Those who are worried about MPG probably aren't looking at the GS anyways.