Robert Hall

Bingo..Cadillac probably influenced the decision...they wouldn't want competition from a larger, cheaper V8 Pontiac...this way they get exclusivity on GM RWD sport wagons.

I did the almost 900 mile drive from Denver back to Phoenix yesterday.... I can't recall seeing one unusual car on the trip this time (compared to last weekend when I did the reverse drive). I did see several '08 Malibus and a couple '08 CTSes, though. I was rolling along in the JGC through the starry New Mexico/Arizona night across I-40 and down I-17, fueled by Red Bull and rock 'n' roll (Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC).

I couldn't avoid loving Mustangs (and early Cougars)...grew up in a family of Mustang fanatics...between my folks and my brother, in the '70s-90s they always had at least 5-6 of 'em around..

As long as Avis is main customer of the G6, that's true. But GM already has plenty of FWD sedans...why not a RWD midsize? And the Torrent is still going to be there, just going to be a GMC Terrain now.

Not getting one. Made too much money last year.

Not necessarily...many move up to a Camry (often from a Corolla) in their late 20s to early 40s... (all the Camry owners I know are in that age range).

I'm thinking within the next two years I'll make a major decision where I want to be longer term geographically and what I want in a house...I like my condo in the Denver 'burbs, this is not the best time to sell (I'm going to rent it out while I'm in Phoenix). I figure I'll live in my sister's house in Phoenix for a while. I like urban genetrified neighborhood places, but I also think about getting a house in the 'burbs so I can have the square footage...I have 1200 sq ft in my condo, but a lot of stuff in storage, and only 1 parking spot. Part of me really wants the 3000-3500 sq ft (w/ basement) little beige tract house in the 'burbs w/ the 3 car garage and the postage stamp yard (which I can afford in the Denver area or in the Phoenix area, and could do even better if I went back to the Pittsburgh or Columbus area)... I figure by June 2010 (40th) I'll have my plans figured out..

Cool...I see they have Bit O' Honey, Mallo Cup, Zagnut, and Zero candy bars...those are some things I miss about small town Ohio (though I have found Zero bars at gas station convenience stores).

Like I said, I'm skeptical when I see a phrase like 'there is not and never will be'. Is he a GM insider? Remember, this is the internet...question everything.

Yes, real 'small towns' that I know of from when I lived in Ohio were 150-2500 people or so, where the nearest city of 50,000 or more was at least 50 miles away...depressing little towns out in the middle of nowhere, places that time had passed by. A few small towns in Ohio that I'm familiar with that are very nice and within major metro areas (but are not really suburbs) are Dublin and Powell in the Columbus area and Hudson in the Akron-Cleveland area. They have the quaint small town feel, but plenty of modern amenities...

I think it's going be a nice, competitive product for Buick. An ES-competitor sedan and an RX-competitor crossover with the Enclave. What's next?

Who knows? They may do a 2.2 version of the 2.0. Do you work for GM Powertrain and have a definitive answer? When someone uses a phrase like 'there is not and never will be' I automatically call BS...

Looks like a nice neighborhood.....with the brick buildings, taco places, wine bars, coffee houses it reminds of some of Denver's neighborhoods...I like the funky neighborhoods that are getting modernized. They way you have talked, I thought you were somewhere way out in the sticks..

When I moved from downtown Denver (LoDo) to the burbs (Greenwood Village) it was like that...The GV (as the locals call it) is basically a group of office parks with some condos and newer houses, and some retail...a mix of chain restaurants, local restaurants, high end shopping, etc... very nice area to live and work... I'm going to miss it, but where I'm living in central Phoenix has a lot of retail, and where I'll be working (N. Scottsdale) has lots of restaurants, etc. I have a friend here in the Denver area (lives in Highlands Ranch, the poster child for suburban spral, was on the cover of National Geographic in the late '90s) moved here from Aliso Viejo..said it was very nice. One trend I saw here in Colorado was old traditional malls being torn down or reconfigured into 'Town Centres'--a mix of condos and pedestrian-friendly street malls...it seems every Denver suburb now has at least one or more of these, and the newer suburbs that are still springing up on the eastern prariare are building them as well...

That reminds me of the Bruce Cockburn song 'If I Had a Rocket Launcher' from 'Stealing Fire'...(love that song)

Yeah, I'm only familiar with regular Mountain Dew and the Red Alert Mountain Dew. Tried a diet Dew once, not bad. I used to drink Mountain Dew all the time, but I've pretty much given up sodas.

That's true...and some of them are over $40k.. has there been any word on when the 9-3 would get redesigned? After 2010?

GM has been the underdog for a looong time..it's like in the last 5 years they have been slowly awakening from a 25 year sleep...25 years of building 'ok' or 'average' cars, but little that was truly competitive... it's taking them a long time to get competitive...hopefully they can succeed.

I did it the FIRST DAY I drove my Mustang to high school. Had to call my dad who came to school with the spare set of keys. The embarassment of that situation (my friends all standing around laughing) kept me from doing it ever again (over 20 years now without doing it). I think what has kept me from doing it is the both the warning chime (when you open the door w/ the keys in) and that I now always use the remote to lock...

< 25.

As citizens, I think we deserve to see an accounting breakdown of precisely where th gas tax is going...doesn't seem to go to paving the roads...

Nothing wrong with the vintage Tempests...maybe he was referring to the Corsica based one they sold in Canada.

Hmmm..strange. You know, speaking of dreams (daydreams, maybe) I'd love to be able to buy a new G8 in the US with RHD and in Holden HSV W427 trim and badging.

One drawback to being addicted to caffeine...the need to go the bathroom and that can be a challenge sometimes....last weekend in driving from Phoenix to Denver, I had a selection of bottled water, Starbucks mocha and double shot cold coffee, and Red Bull to keep me going... unfortunately, every hour or so I was looking for a bathroom (the ones in NM aren't that great). This could be the start of another thread--favorite road trip foods and beverages. I love road trips. Esp. in the Southwest where everything is so far apart and the vistas quite often spectacular.

There's a big difference between desirable small towns like that, though, and the depressed, dying ones in Ohio and PA I'm familiar with, though---I wonder if there are more in the later category nationwide. And of course, there are the small resort towns, which exist in their own world... (I've lived in one, Marathon Florida).