cmattson

Side topic: Hey James -- haven't seen you post around here in a while. Hope things are going well for you. You still in Aus? How's the weather this time of year? Up here in Minn, the weather just turned towards the cold side (about 24 deg F today -- which will look warm in about 6 weeks). This is the part where we hibernate until late March while dreaming of warm places (like Aus).

Well, their hp-ratings weren't worth a damn -- whadya expect?

It didn't help that I was making wise cracks like "how many miles on your Jeep? 85,000?! And you trust that in the winter? You know that they forecast snow for tomorrow, don't you?" LOL -- she was thinking about a new car anyways & she had previously owned a '96 Impala SS (that she misses dearly); so I didn't exactly lead her to the new-car-cliff; I just gave her a little push.

I'd have agreed with you F_O_G, but I just dropped by a Chevy dealer yesterday during lunch to talk with a high school buddy of mine -- he's a new car salesperson. I had to check out the Impala in person. I would've checked out an HHR, but they simply don't have any to sell. The turnover time for the HHR is about 2 days for them. They'd *love* to have more to sell. Anyways, I throroughly checked out the Impala & one of the things I noticed was that the backseat of the Impala seemed small. I expected it to have more room than my Malibu - but they seem to be roughly the same. To make a long story longer, I convinced a co-worker to check out the Impala after I raved about it comming back from lunch. She checked it out via the Chevy website, went down there last evening & talked to my pal, test drove one and ended up buying a black '06 Impala SS; w/leather and sunroof right there on-the-spot. I'm envious as hell. The Malibu is the car I need. The Impala SS is the car I want. I call shotgun...

GM's historic "good American" policies may put it out of business. Consider if GM could fire all of it's engineers and off-shore all of the work. Now consider the idea that they build all components over in China and assemble them in Korea. They then import them and sell them at a tremendous profit. Of course, GM could incorporate off-shore, at some island nation along the way -- and retain a far larger percentage of their profits. All of those moves would be applauded by Wall Street. Their stock would soar. Would YOU support it? Would YOU be proud of it? I know I wouldn't. Yet that is what today's "global economy" is drilling into our businesses. Look at GM's negative press. Look at their stock performance. GM is solely being judged on their ability to rake in mega-profits. Through the years, GM has paid (and yes, overpaid) it's employees. Those employees have purchased houses, cars, and everyday supplies -- causing economic growth in all areas they work in. GM has been a very gracious American citizen. GM had high employment levels at a time in our history when pensions were common-place. If you worked 35 years for an employer, then the employer took care of you in your retirement. The days of a business functioning as a good American citizen are a large part of what is putting GM out of business today. Healthcare and pension costs alone are the biggest millstone around GM's neck. GM cannot swim with the companies that aren't burdened by such obligations. Our healthcare industry operates in this same "profit is king, survival of the fittest" mentality -- and it's crippling all Americans -- starting with our labor-intensive businesses first. Take a look at any high-employment/service industry: Manufacturing? Education? Airlines? All of them are crippled as a result of our inability to wrestle with healthcare's stranglehold. I consider it very sad commentary that the very thing that makes me proud and respectful of GM as a company (their American heritage and their ongoing legacy to their workers--both current and retired) are what is putting them out of business.

If I beat on my Malibu, mileage drops to 30-31mpg. If I baby it, it reaches into 36 mpg.

Drucker was huge on the business ethics side of things; responsiblities of a business to it's workers, etc. I had a business ethics class in college & it was fantastic. It was one of the most enjoyable classes I ever had.

HERE'S YOUR WARNING: I'M A BAD INFLUENCE. If you are going to put money into it, you'd be better off finding one at a boneyard, dropping it in and ditching the car. I had a '88 Chrysler Lebaron and at about 68,xxx miles, I vibrated loose the retaining clip that help the valve stem in place. It made a real mess when the valve dropped into that #2 cyl. (especially at the speeds I was going; which is probably why it vibrated loose in the first place -- what can I say -> I was young, stupid, invincible, and always poor as a result of items such as this). Anyways, I picked up a running 2.2l at a boneyard for $600 and one week later, I traded the car away for $2500 (my car had a salvage title, otherwise I coulda got more for it; this was actually engine #2 - did I tell you the young, stupid & invincible part yet?) - so you can make out ok on items such as these. I'd check the local area high schools, see if they are willing to drop the engine in and then I'd make a few phone calls to your local auto-recyclers and see what you can find. BTW, did you know you can "chicago-punch" (i.e. hotwire) a mid-to-late-eighties mopar (think Daytonna, Lebaron, etc) with your bare hands? The tilt-steering lever just unscrews and there is a plastic piece of the steering column that you can squeeze and pop right out. Reach your finger up in there and you can grab ahold of the ignition switch /wheel release assembly. Pull it down (towards the dash) and voila - car starts & the wheel is unlocked. I've got friends in low places..la la la la la.

Don't kid yourself: the president can have a large effect on our economic health. Take a look at the tax cut policies that were supposed to spur economic growth. All I see is a sea of debt and the middle (spending) class getting squeezed. Who was stumping for those exactly? Doesn't the president have veto power? You certainly wouldn't know that from this president. Has he vetoed anything yet? It might be worthwhile to consider cutting spending once in a while. I'd have so much more respect for GWB if he was true to the traditional conservative principles of less spending and smaller government. I don't recall him championing close to that.

Being that I work in the accounting industry (and have for 11 years), I can shed a little bit of light in this area. Actg firms woo large clients by showing them large cost savings that can be had by various accounting "strategies" (I've actually seen a pitch for one of the non-domestic automotive giants, promising tax savings of $110m/year) -- (they bit on that, btw). Basically, your actg firms were playing fast and loose with the rules, all in a race to pitch themselves to large companies. This is largely why we now have the Sarbannes-Oxley stuff.

It sounds like Holden will take the lead in engineering/designing the platform. I'm all for it. How long has Holden been building RWD vehicles? Plus it gives GM a fresh perspective. Take a look how exciting Opel designs look in comparison to some of the how-hum models we've been seeing from GM NA lately.. I think it's a great idea to harness GM's worldly resources.

Ok, think of the top of a cylinder on a GM pushrod. Ideally, you'll have 3 valves, put possibly only 2. You have a rocker assmebly sitting over the top of the valve that actuates the valve itself -- and that takes room. You don't want to limit placement of the spark plug -- ideal location is dead center of the cylinder -- to provide with a complete, uniform spark -- which will give you the cleanest, most efficient fuel burn. How do you squeeze a fuel injector into that all that? If direct injection provides the substantial power boost and fuel economy gains it's rumored to deliver, does this deliver a death-blow to GM's pushrods? I'm not saying they'd immediately go away -- I'm saying that if/when direct injection becomes common-place, if GM cannot adapt the technology to it's pushrods, GM may have to make the decision to not create the next-generation pushrod engine. Your thoughts? Has anybody heard of GM attempting direct injection on a pushrod?

I'm not sure how hard it is to replace on your vehicle; the last one I did it on was my old '01 Dodge Stratus. I can't believe the design on this very basic part is all that different. It's very, very common for the resistor to be located under the passenger dash/glove-box area. On mine, once you removed the kick-panel, you had one bolt that held the resistor in place. Remove the bolt, unplug the old one and that was it.

For some reason, I find that ridiculously funny.

C'mon guys; it's obvious: that Cav has a full tank of gas.

Boy it's been a while; I seem to remember that it clips into place. Have you tried putting a screwdriver in between the headlight and the side-marker-headlight and gently prying?

Gee, I didn't know GM had a shock-blowout option. I wonder what option code that is..

Yup, here's the sales stats: Colorado: 113,062 Canyon: 30,857 Total: 143,919 (S10 and Sonoma sales total 212 units this year), if you add them in the total is actually 144,133 for GM. 2005 Tacoma sales: 139,600 The Tacoma is the best-selling small truck only because GM has their models split between two divisions. This isn't unlike how Ford advertises their F-150 as the best selling pickup, when there have been multiple years that the Silverado+Sierra twins surpass it. Lastly, the Colorado is enjoying a 17.x% gain over it's sales pace from last year. The Tacoma is up 7.x% from last year. Sales Stats (thru Oct): GM: http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet...n=3&docid=20121 Toyota: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/11/01/147202.html

I agree that GM isn't behind, but it isn't a clear-cut leader either - and GM needs items to define itself by. GM doesn't have the reputation for quality that affords it to be only marginally better. If GM wishes to garner conquest sales, then it needs to be noticably better in some or multiple areas. Take a look at Nissans VQ motor; that engine garned Nissan a "performance" aura that has permutated into their very design philosphy. The 3valve heads could provide a way for GM to "jump out ahead" of it's competition. It could also go aways to quieting the automotive press that complain about GM's "wheezing" pushrods. Didn't Edmunds have a review of the G6 where they compared the 3.5l to a bathroom fan? I've driven the 3.5l in a Malibu and while it isn't the industry benchmark for refinement, it certainly isn't bad. Edmunds declaration is flat-out ridiculous. The sad fact remains that Edmunds (and others like it) are well-read by the public - and the perceptions hurt GM's ability to recover (and retain) sales.

That's pretty good speculation. I could see that myself. One of the big knocks against DOHC configurations is their large dimensions. When designing an engine, you'd ideally want to spread it's development costs across multiple vehicles -- so it would seem logical that the Ultra would be used beyond Cadillac. It would also seem logical that you'd want something "extra" for Cadillac as well. A SOHC variety for Buick (or Pontiac, or Saturn) would allow you to still share a chunk of the components -- and realize savings much the way you do with the I4,I5,I6 Atlas engines or the Vortec V8 siblings.

Upcoming? Like when? During our lifetime? The 3-valve heads have been nothing more than GM press-release material for 2+ years. I'm get discouraged when GM refuses to put their best-foot-forward. 3valve designs could push performance and gas mileage higher on a mediocre-performance-wise 3.5l or a mediocre-gas-mileage-wise 3.9l. How about what it could do for the new GMT900's?!? GM needs to stop producing "good enough" material. It's why I'm encouraged when I hear about the 6-speed transmissions -> it keeps my hopes high that GM is finally getting it's priorities right.

Hey Fly, you missed the funniest (and most dead-on) quote of the entire article: . I couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm sure Toyota will just raise prices again--to help the US automakers, of course :lol:

You gonna change your username, Northy? "UltraV8" doesn't do much for me, but hey--it's your username..

Congrats man -- college is a fun time. Don't let it get to be too fun! Before I share some advice, let me put in a disclaimer: I'M NOT THAT DAMN OLD. I'M THIRTY-FREAKING-FIVE. Okay, now that that's out of the way, here's my story: High School was easy for me. Finished 6th in my class. Got accepted at the Univ. Of Minnesota's Institute of Technology (top 2% of the college). UofM's IT is well-known for it's computer science and it's electrical engineering courses. I was a CSCI major -- so this was going to look damn good on my resume. About 6 months into my first quarter, I overslept my alarm and found out when I arrived in the middle of the class that this wasn't like high school. Nobody cared, nobody took attendence. You were a number. You were expected to do homework, but it was never turned it & never graded. You took tests and you looked up your grades by your student number. Well, with that much freedom, I slipped into full party mode -- sleeping in, skipping classes & expecting that college would be as easy as high school -- that I'd be able to study or cram at the last minute & skate by. The result? I was expelled at the end of the first year with a 1.11 grade point average (that's NOT a typo). I was devastated. I enrolled at a community college (which I'd recommend for everyone leaving high school). The classes were smaller & the courses were cheaper to boot. I actually had some very good instructors there. Anyways, at the end of the first quarter at the community college, I had the same crappy grades & the light bulb finally went on: "it wasn't the school that needed to change". With that revelation, I rededicated myself to my school work. I can't say I showed up everyday, but I made a much better effort. I did my homework and I studied more for my tests. After 2 1/2 years, I transfered over to the University of St. Thomas (a private college). I finished my last two years at UST & graduated with a 3.00 (technically a 2.9997). It was difficult and it taught me a lesson. Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing. Best of luck!