RichW5

Great thread Ah-Ha! 1. I'd buy a Saturn Sky. I miss my Vette and since I once said Saturn should be discontinued, what better way to admit my error than to buy a Saturn. 2. Malibu. It's time for GM to get the title of "best selling car" by making the Malibu better than the competition in all categories (exterior, interior and performance). Make the Toyo generation want one. GM needs to make a profit and the Malibu could be the vehicle to turn the trick. 3. Start a Saturn traveling road show (Motorama). Travel the country offering test drives and a discount or reward to those who buy an Aura at the show. 4. The next big trend (Fad) will be diesel engines. Some posters need to get a life. I don't care how long anyone has been in any business or how old you are, you can always learn something new. You can teach an old dog new tricks!

JamesB ..... Sorry to hear about your sisters ranch. The American southwest is currently experiencing a precipitation (rain) shortage, similar to, but not as critical as the one in Australia. There has been talk of a return to the "dust bowl" conditions of the 1930's. I don't know whether this is the result of global warming or just part of the weather cycles our planet goes through in it's excentric orbit around the sun. Whatever the cause, I feel sorry for the people affect by this drought, more than I feel the need to blame someone, like the global warming people. I believe the people of Australia, much like the people of our southwest, are strong and will work hard to find solutions to the drought. Our countries have a strong kinship, so I wish you well, for your sister and the people of Australia.

Back in the stone age, I had a chance to talk to one of the "Owners" of a Chrysler turbine car and ride in the car. It was great! However, the program was cancelled and the cars recalled by Chrysler. Here's the details of the Chrysler experiments: http://www.allpar.com/mopar/turbine.html It seems that engine noise and exhaust temperature, along with poor mileage and the government, killed the experiment. It'd be interesting to know if todays technology and/or the switch to electric motors ( with a smaller turbine used for electrical generation) could resolve those problems. Thanks again Dwight. This thread pulled me away from the drudgery of doing income taxes for the family and "honey do" projects for the wife. It's a break I really needed. Next year I'll let them do their taxes on their own.

Excellent post Dwight. My only question would be ....... gas turbine size (fit in a glove box?) and the cost of producing the turbines. I would probably go AWD and have electric motors for both the front and rear wheels. Otherwise it sounds intelligent and the right thing to do. That's why it'll never happen.

I think the grill looks pretty good, but the fog/turn signals look too busy. Same for the side marker lamps. The interior would look better with the "chinese" steering wheel or the entire "chinese" interior. The rear end still doesn't impress me. It'd be interesting if someone put a "sixteen" rear end on the STS or made the front end a little easier on the eye. Anyone up to the challange?

I love my NAV, but the wife is always on the cell phone when driving. I think we should ban cell phones (or my wife). "Just joking dear"

While I can't get into the article, I can easily guess it's substance, based on the postings in this thread. First, I believe in "Fair Trade", not free trade. Fair trade is trade between partners without protectionist barriers form either side. Examples are the trade barriers Japan erects against the import of American goods. Apples and beef are two examples, since some posters don't want to talk about the barriers Japan erects against the American auto industry. If we were to dig deep enough, we would find that the policy of of government closing it's eyes to the unfair trade policies of Japan were the result of an effort to rebuild Japan (and Western Europe) as an ally against the Soviet Union and Communist China. Since that's political, I'll end that statement here. Unfortunately, in rebuilding Japan, American corporations found that they could make their products for less cost in Japan, reaping hugh profits. It got out of control and before we knew it our electronics industry was history. Korea adopted the same type of trade policies as Japan and has erected trade barriers against American autos and others goods, while we are protecting their borders at American expense. Finally China became part of the equation, demanding that companies trading with China must build their factories in China. American companies jumped at the chance to build their goods, with cheap labor, in China, while checkmating unions here in the US. It was a win-win for corporations and China, and a loss for manufacturing and jobs in the US. Our government, under both parties, has closed it's eyes, because they believe that if they keep China busy manufacturing, it will have no interest in spreading communism or war. They believe that if the Chinese people get rich in trade, they will switch their government from communism to capitalist. Guess what, it ain't gonna happen. Now if I were in charge, I would institute a "Fair Trade" policy. If a country had a trade barrier against an American product, I would enact an equal (fair) trade barrier against their products. Japan has restrictions against "foreign ownership" of Japanese corporations, while we've allowed Japan, Inc. to buy up our companies. That would stop. China should scare everyone here. If it's allowed to export it's vehicles to the US without equal trade agreements (build your products here as they demand of us), our auto industry will be history.

Let me see ......... on Gores electric bills Kalee Kreider, a spokesperson for the Gores, did not dispute the Center's figures, taken as they were from public records. In fact, while in office, Gores income tax records are "public records" that show Al lives by a different standard than he preaches. Apparently you don't research from both view points Pops, just the Gore side. Gore's energy credits are purchased from a London based company which he co-founded and has a financial interest in. In other words, he makes money by selling his energy credits to his own company. Do you believe everything a Gore spokesman tells you? Where's your honesty check? Al Gores speakers fee is $100,000 to speak about an "Inconvenient Truth", so he is getting rich off the book and movie. Check it out, that is the price the U of Arizona paid to Gore. Al gore only used private corporate jets until the it was in the news. That info can be found in most news archives if you really want the truth. Is the zinc mining on Gores property green? He gets $20,000 a year from the mining company, while it pollutes a nearby river. I grew up as a Chicago Democrat and helped dead people vote. I worked on the Kennedy campaign in 1960, as a student helper, so I'm not a right-winger. But I know a phony and a hypocrit when I see one! As for my beer drinking, I have a couple of beers a week, mostly in the summer, but that comment is something I expect out of people who resort to cheap shots in place of honest discussion.

What a bunch of hogwash! Do you have any proof that this right-wing group didn't get the information from the utility company? How do you guess at what could be expected and then make false comparisons? Further more, national averages include Tennessee. It is a part of the nation. Twelve times the national average is a huge amount, by any standard. By your standards, the southwestern states use more electricity due to climatic differences. How do you know that Gore pays a premium for electricity produced from green sources? If you can't prove what you say, don't say it! Otherwise you're just repeating the lies of left-wing organizations. Since I'm neither left-wing or right-wing, I can honestly say that Al Gore has made a fortune traveling around the world promoting his movie and himself. He's used private jets in the past and probably still does. These jets pollute the air and waste enormus amounts of fuel that could be used for the good of the general public. If I use your figure (12 times the average utility usage), that's still an enormus amount of energy. If you look back at Al's past statements, he proposed a 50 cent a gallon gas tax. In today's environment, it would probably be a dollar a gallon. Regfootball is right! We have no real leaders in our government and in most of our corporations. Government leaders need to set the example for all of us, by reducing their energy footprint. They need to subsidize mass transit and use it themselves. Tax the use of corporate Jets! Eliminate oil company subsidities! Institute government funding of elections, with no private funding allowed! Bring back American industry! Stop sending my grandson's future to China! It's just not gonna happen, so I do my part by recycling, using fluorescent bulbs where ever I can and not being a stoplight dragster. Sorry, I lied about the stoplight dragster, a guy's got to have some fun.

Hey guys, it's always good to start the day with a joke. So today we have GXT's sales pitch for the Pee-us. Considering this is a GM fan site, I would expect some respect for GM, along with the constructive criticism that most of us offer every day. Yet here we have a little troll boy who can never say anything except for Pee-us, Pee-us, Pee-us. Gimme a break. Pee-us cost effective, gimme another break. When you consider the environmental and energy cost of mining nickel for the Pee-us batteries, along with the cost to US taxpayers (tax break for hybrid owners), the Pee-us is nowhere near being cost effective. While GM has made mistakes in the past, I believe that they are committed to change, especially in the development and production of technologically advanced vehicles. It all takes time and money. Flint has developed a hatred for GM over the years (I wonder why) and would continue to criticise GM if all it's vehicles were perfect. Is it the bulley factor (kick someone while they are down) or just the hate American corporations factor. If an electric car is in my future, it will be manufactured by GM (or Ford).

Damn it griff. Nader just read your post and is demanding that auto maunfacturers provide "foot and ankle" protection in the 2009 models.

The first car I fell in love with was the 1951 Buick LeSabre Dream (concept) Car. At the same time Buick came out with the XP300 concept, my second favorite. Then they built a limited production car the 1953 Buick Skylark. If I were to win the lottery, the first car I would buy is a '53 Skylark. With all my love for Buicks, I've never owned one.

Over the years, I've seen some posters at C&G complain about the lack of good paying jobs. Most of them are young and have to accept minimum wage jobs at some fast food restaurant for pocket money. Many posters complain that they can't afford to live (and buy the cars they desire) on their current salary. Guess what? Much of the middle class is vanishing due to the movement of manufacturing to low pay countries. We have two classes of people, the very rich and people who can just get by, stuck in boring jobs with no future. Then there's the immigrant class, people who are hard working and take jobs for less because they can. Much of their money goes to other countries and does not help the US or Canadian economy. There was a time when young people who could not afford or chose not to go to college could get a good job with a "manufacturing" company. They would get married and save their cash for a home and the car of their dreams. Today, most of those jobs are gone. If everyone followed the principle of "Enlightened Self Interest", this economy would support better jobs and a better life style for all of us. That principle tells us to make decisions that affect others around us and in return affect us. Example: I bought a CTS assembled in Michigan. The GM employees that assembled it, got paid and in turn would spend their money to buy a house, car, groceries clothes, etc. Their house would need phone service and Ma Bell would have to add equipment to existing offices or add new cell towers. MA Bell would order that equipment from Western Electric (my employer) and I would get paid to engineer the the equipment. My money would come back to me. Today that process has been disconnected. Western Electric is gone and if as some have suggested, I buy a foreign car, that money would never return to me (or any of you). If we continue to buy foreign goods, at the expense of our own people, we will be owned by China and Japan, as Walt suggested.

Walt ...... I'll be 65 this year and have seen the USA at it's best (just after WWII) and what you and I believe to be it's worst. I still have my first transistor radio, a GE, made in the US in 1955. It was the first true walkman (pocket radio), but Sony got the credit for inventing the walkman many years later. I could go on about all the reasons for moving some of our manufacturing to other countries, but that would be long, boring and somewhat political. There are three groups that disappoint me, old folks who buy Toyota's, young people who think buying American doesn't matter and the government, who doesn't enforce equal trade policies with the rest of the world. I have several friends who fought the Japanese in the jungles of the pacific islands, who drive Toyota's. They constantly use derogatory terms for Japanesea and talk about their friends be killed by a Japanese sniper, but don't have a problem driving their Lexus or Camry. It's just wrong. Kids don't know any better. They've been brought up with cheap Japanese cars and have developed an allegance for the brands, no matter how bad that first riceburner was. They ignore "rust", "sludge" and "cheating about recalls", in their support of their "wonderful" Japanese cars. I could go on about the import taxes and regulations Japan, Korea and now China impose on "US built" imported vehicles, but it wouldn't do any good. Our government, under both parties, has failed to bring about "Fair Trade" with these and other countries. So, I can only say that I will never buy a car/vehicle from an manufacturer other than GM, Ford and maybe Chrysler. I will encourage my friends to do the same and as for my grandson, he's already got a Silverado electric truck to drive around the neighborhood.

No bill or government law will make cars "kid safe"! The only thing that will make kids safe is drivers that pay attention to driving, not talking on the cell phone or reaching for that cigarette (distractions that take their focus off driving). Another kid safe practice is to be a real parent and watch your kids, know where they are and what they are doing, at least until they reach an age where they should be somewhat responsible on their own. It isn't a perfect world and sh*t happens. I lock all the power windows when my grandson is in the car. My wife yells at me to unlock them so that he can lower the window when he wants to. I won't do it unless we are stopped or she's sitting right next to him and not on the cell phone. It's just common sense. I feel terrible about the kids that have died as a result of these accidents, because they should not have happened, but all the backup TV screens and transmission interlocks in the world will not save lives unless the parents use them properly. Finally, if you go to the Kids and Cars.org web site, you will find connections to Ralph Nader and Consumers Union, yet there's no description of who is funding this organization. I wonder why?

I'm glad you and your wife enjoyed the "First Look". My wife and I did it for a few years along with some friends and had a good time, even though my wife doesn't like "car shows". It sounds like you and you wife are smart enough to "budget" for something special, so $200 a ticket isn't bad. I wish my step-sons knew what the word "budget" meant. They piss away all their money and then come to "mommy" to pay their bills. Most people that complain about the cost of "First Look" probably waste their money on trivial trash that doesn't leave them with the memory of sharing a special moment with someone you love. Maybe we'll go next year, although my wife has promised the grandson a trip to Disney World or a Disney Cruise. Personally, I'd rather take him to "First Look", but at 5 years old, Disney is his #1 priority.

Real-life pictures look so much better than the "original release pics". I'll be at the show today, which is good planning, since we should be getting 6" to 8" of snow tonight. Tomorrow should be a great day at the show if you have a snowmobile to get there.

Retirement and the fact that my wife spends most of her money on her sons (who spend more than they make) force changes in my car buying. My first change should be an 08 CTS (replacing the 03 CTS) in early 09, followed by an Acadia (replacing the 04 Trailblazer) about 2 years after that. However, if I win the lottery, it'll be an 08 CTS this fall along with an Acadia, followed by a Vette roadster next spring.

Back in the 60's, Pontiac's were Pontiac's, not Holdens with sticker headlamps and a sticker grille (just like Lightning McQueen). The body lines look like an old Malibu and most of the interior looks to be hard, cheap plastic. Caddycruiser, you got to catch me to hurt me and you couldn't catch me in that tub. However, since I've pulled your leg for a few minutes, I look forward to seeing it at the show next week. Nothing looks as good in pictures as it does (or doesn't) in person. Pontiac needs to become GM's sporty (performance) division again, hope the G8 will help.

Consumer Reports .... Unsafe to Read!

I have to reserve some of my comments until I see the car in person. It looks terrible in some pictures and great in others. As for things I don't like, you can start with the seat crest (which probably won't see production) and the heavy chrome bar on the trunk lid. In fact the whole trunk lid looks too busy or out of sync with the rest of the car. Some pictures lead me to believe that I can buy a NG CTS for a snow plow, the car seems to be raked so much that you could plow streets with it. Analog clocks do not belong on a modern car. It reminds me of the clock on my current CTS. On cold mornings, when my wife is going to work, the clock hands spin out of control for a minute or two and then return to the correct time. Its haunted! After 4 1/2 years our '03 CTS has proven itself to be an exceptional "drivers car". It's still fun to drive, even though it's got the 3.2L engine. I sometimes forget about how good it handles, because it's my wife's daily driver. Color means a lot on the CTS. Our white '03 CTS doesn't look as good (side view) as some of the other colors. I have the feeling that the '08 CTS will have the same problem. Overall, I would give the '08 CTS an 8 out of 10, based on the pictures I've seen. I honestly believe that my rating will go up once I get to see it in person and drive it. SEVENFEET - Welcome to C&G my friend. How's your SRX doing? Some of the posters here would be surprised to know that you are 6'11" tall and picked a CTS as your daily driver.

It's been about 3 years since we went, but most men wear a Tux with a cumberbund (?) and bow tie. A few guys wear a dark suit and regular tie. My wife bought me a tux at JC Penney's the first year (about $100) and I've used it a lot. There will always be a few guys with a Tux and a vest, but go with whatever makes you feel good. It's all about doing something special, having fun, contributing to a good cause and seeing lots of great cars.

1. BMW, the brand - Overpriced yuppie wannabe vehicles. 2. Mercedes Benz, the brand - Overpriced defect ridden vehicles trying to live off the great racing cars of the 50's. 3. Toyota Prius - Overpriced, over rated little cars that are more perception than reality. 4. Toyota Camry - See Petra or other poster comments above. 5. Toyota Corolla - See above. 6. Toyota FJ Cruiser - Winner of 2006 blind spot, side view competition. 7. Toyota Tundra - Neighbors Tundra beats Yugo for "Time in Shop" trophy. 8. Honda Ridgeline - Truck "Pretenter" of the year award. 9. Honda Civic - I can peddle the grandson's trike faster than the neighbors Civic hybrid accelerates. 10. Italian Exotics (Ferrari's, Lambo's, etc.) Please bring money and have your own mechanic for frequent tune-ups.

Congrats, your wife is a wonderful and understanding woman! My wife and I've been to three "First Looks" and it's a great experience. There's plenty of food to sample around all the exhibits and it's a little less crowded than a regular show day. I believe that about 75 - 85% of the ticket price is tax deductable. There will be at least one (or two) cars raffeled off to attendees, so hang on to your ticket. Maybe you'll get to ride home in a new car. My wife is not the car-nut that I am, so I'll probably wait a few more years before I suggest that we go again. Have fun, take lots of pictures and take good care of your wife (she's one in a million)!

My wife worked at the US Open in 2003 and got to see Tiger every day. She said that he was a terrible person, throwing fits when he had a bad day and treating everyone around him like servants. Some spokesperson!