Robert Hall

I guess the rationale that people use in promoting a brand culling approach is that Toyota covers pretty much the same high-volume market segments as GM does with only 2 brands.... (not counting Scion, which is somewhat redundant with Toyota itself). While it takes GM 8 brands to cover much of the same segments .... It seems to me that performance cars, heavy duty trucks, full-size vans, and gaudy SUVs (Hummer) are the niches that GM covers that Toyota doesn't... (I'm not proposing killing brands, I'm just trying to understand the rationale that people that propose such drastic measures are using...)

Ford also had a lot of beautiful hts back in the day, IMHO... I'm a big fan of the original Cougars--'67-68. I love the profile and roofline... (having 3 of them in my family helps).. the '69-70 Galaxie XL and Mercury Marauders...the crisp '65-66 Galaxies and big Mercs... the formal '71-72 LTD and Galaxie (2drs and 4drs).. Interestingly enough, my favorite Mustangs weren't hardtops, per se..the '67-68 2+2 and '69-70 Sportsroof body styles.. It's hard for me to pic a favorite GM hardtop..there are so many that I like.... the '61 B-body 'bubbletops'...the '62-64 B-body 'fake convertible uptop' look... the '65 semi-fastback B-bodies... the '67-68 fastback and formal B-bodies..the '71-73 B-bodies...the '63-65 Rivieras..the '66-69 Rivieras..the incredible '71-73 boattail Rivs...the original Eldorados and Toronados..the '67-69 F-bodies...the '69-72 Grand Prix (another personal favorite)....

A venue with something like a ride & drive experience in a variety of cars is something I'd pay to play at... (kind of like the travelling ride & drive days GM has done at various cities around the country, but daily somewhere in Vegas?)

I think we have more Chipotles here per capita than anywhere else (Denver) and Chipotle #1 is close to my office (the first Chipotle is near the U. of Denver). My crew and I go pretty much every Friday..very popular with my demographic (30-something cubicle dwellers) though one of the ones we usually go to is often infested with high schoolers (noisy, rude little f*ckers) since it is in walking distance of a high school. I've been a fan since I discovered Chipotle in the late '90s--I usually get a chicken fajita bowl. They are IPOing soon, I think. I like Qdoba also... there is a Rubio's across from my office, but they are the restaurant of last resort (not very good). There is a Wahoo's Fish taco nearby also. I eat lunch out every day M-F with my cubies and we seem to alternate between burger joint/mexican fast food/chinese/thai/indian.

Yeah, the last Oldses were definitely more interesting and competitive than what Buick has currently, IMHO...

The XLR-V is an interesting car, but I would take the SL55 over it..the Merc just looks so much better inside and out to my eyes...

Vegas or Orlando (maybe LA) are the only places I can think of where something like this could succeed...it has to be a major tourist destination.

As far as the cash money vs. plastic thing, I try and use the debit card as much as possible, but I do carry some cash money (a few yuppie food stamps--$20s) to use at the convenience store in my office building, as they only take cash and the nearest ATM for my bank is about 2 miles away...

Heh-heh... Cali is the 2nd state I'd move to, after Arizona... the remainder of my top ten would be blue states on the coasts, I think. I'm not sure what my last place state would be...any state in the South or Texas and Utah would be towards the bottom of my list.

Yes, BMW I-6s (esp. the M variants) are my favorite engines. Second favorite engine is probably the good old Ford 5.0 V8 (I have one of each). I do want to have a BMW V8 eventually, though...maybe a previous-gen M5 or 540i.

I think I'd rather have a lot of buttons than nonsense like i-Drive.

Looks good...definitely a strong family resembalance to the IS. I still prefer the GS styling, though.

Yes, even my buddy's stock NSX is cool....and it doesn't even have 'Type R' badges or faux carbon fiber...or yellow windshield wipers...

Yeah, if Buick had focused solely on interior space, the Enclave would be shaped like the Terraza. The side profile is the best view of the Enclave, I think.

UV8?

I wonder if it's going to be a facelift of the current car, or something all-new? Same old engines and transmissions?

I've read it's illegal to take photos on the NJ Turnpike!

I saw a black '06 Sonata the other day that way...bare black steel rims driven by a yoof.

I've seen elsewhere that this will be the new G3 in Mexico.. The good ol' days of GM badge engineering are still around....maybe US Pontiac dealers can get this also, as well as versions for Saturn and Buick!

My mom still lives in the house I lived in off-and-on from 1970 to 1988.. a place in my family that we call 'the farm', though we never did any farming per se (150 acres of land, a large stone 1850's vintage farm house, two barns, ponds with fish, various outbuildings.. I have happy memories of living there.. it was our primary residence at times and at other times our weekend or summer place (we had 2 and 3 houses most of my childhood--2 in Ohio and one in Florida). Though I live 1200+ miles from there now, I still enjoy my visits back there a couple of times a year, to sleep in my old bedroom, walk around over the grounds, eat breakfast in the familiar dining room, drive the cars she & my dad collected ('69 Mustang Mach 1, 3 '67 & 68 Cougars), etc.. There is still a lot of me in that house--my car magazines from childhood, my Matchbox cars, etc... I'll have to go get them eventually when I get a bigger house.

Looks truckish.

Riiiiight....believe what you want to believe. The reality is car buyers are happy what Toyota, Nissan, and Honda are providing... GM isn't going to woo back buyers with the same old, same old...

That's obvious... in the luxury market, you have to have a multi-valve OHC solution to be class-competitive.

Of that group (as far as current, production models) I'd have to pick the FX for the exterior and the Touraeg for the interior. I'm looking forward to seeing the Enclave in person.

Whatever..all the competition is using OHC V6s in their midsizes....GM is still using old school engines and 4spd automatics... the reality is that the market percieves them as outdated and uncompetitive... (the market beyond Avis).