The O.C.

I'm not......but c'mon.....compared to the Aztec? I wouldn't buy an Element.....but I can admit it's executed FAR better than the Aztec ever was.....

First of all, many would argue the Element is FAR more attractive than the Aztec EVER was. Styling is purely subjective.....so your case-in-point is not valid. Also, Element is less expensive.... Element gets better fuel economy.... Element has higher quality of fit-and-finish and material quality....(also subjective but many would agree that's oh so true when compared to Aztec.) You can't compare the two....

Of course they "schmooz" the media.... BUT marketing doesn't do CRAP if you don't have a solid product to back it up. Toyota and Honda sells lots of cars because they HAVE been superior products for many, many years. Yes, GM has closed the gap on Toyota and Honda from a product standpoint. In some cases, they are already there. In many other cases, they have a ways to go. Product is king....remember that. The general buying public is not as stupid as many of you out there make them to be....

NO....the automotive media is not necessarily "anti-american" Most of the automotive journalists are auto journalists BECAUSE they are also auto enthusiasts.... AND for many, many years....the domestic auto manufacturers have NOT offered vehicles that are as enjoyable for an enthusiast to drive. Not to mention the shitty quality and finish that many domestics have suffered from in recent decades... PLEASE I wish people would stop using the "anti-american" excuse for the media.....simple fact is, until recently (Cadillac, Corvette, Trucks) the domestics have certainly NOT earned the respect of the auto (enthusiast) journalists...because they haven't offered anything that appealed to them.

Come on guys.....you can't bitch when Solstice gets beaten in one comparo.....then cheer when it wins another.... BOTH cars are great designs and will each appeal to many different people. I predict both will also be successful. They ARE so close, that invariably you will get conflicting opinions as to which is better. I've heard the Solstice is a tad lethargic off-the-line (higher weight? gear ratios?) compared to the Miata, and there IS that issue with the lack of any sort of realistic luggage capacity. My only beef with Solstice is that when I sat in one at the Oklahoma City fair (yes, it was there) was that the seats were AWFUL...!!! They felt like mushy bags of sand with absolutely no support in the lower seat cushion at all. I couldn't BELIEVE that these are the seats they put in a sports car. It's a total deal breaker for me....they were THAT bad.... It's a shame because the damn little car is HOT.....!

As far as visual appeal, I'd rank them...... 1) Tahoe 2) Expedition 3) Durango 4) Armada 5) Sequoia BUT, for material quality and quality of knobs/switches/levers and fit-and-finish, I'd rank them as this (without sitting inside Tahoe yet but guessing it will be close to '06 Impala quality)...... 1) Sequoia - ugly interior, but by far best hard-plastic-grain/sheen, and knobs and switches that feel substantial. 2) Tahoe - Impala-like hard plastic will let it down, but everything else will be first-class including HVAC and radio controls. 3) Expedition - hard plastics but better grain and sheen than Durango. 4) Durango - Nasty hard, shiny plastics but top-quality new radio, HVAC, and other controls. 5) Armada - Bad all around....

Simple logic..... More gears equals (usually) less spread between gear ratios....equalling quicker acceleration and better use of the engine's power. Also, depending on the final drive ratio versus the top gear ratio, a 5th or 6th gear can provide a bit more relaxed cruise with slightly better fuel economy. With enough gears, you can combine this with a lower 1st gear ratio for even better off-the-line grunt. Finally, there's the argument that a 6-speed automatic has a better chance of finding the right gear for the specific driving condition. A GOOD one also doesn't "hunt" between all the gears (our X5 w/a 6-speed auto is a great example.

THANK YOU....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My point EXACTLY! (And don't use the argument that Buick and Pontiac are more upscale so they can use soft-touch....the Impala's interior would be 100% world-class with that little bit more attention to detail....)

My overall verdict? Well, based upon what I can see here, FIRST-CLASS! GM seems to have duplicated the kind of quality job that they've really only done on the Corvette. My ONLY reservations......the exterior is beautiful IF a bit too close to the old model. I would have preferred a more aggressive change. However, I DO still like it and think it's quite attractive. The interior appears to be best-in-class....! I only wish there was an optional floor-mounted shifter with the bucket seat/console setup. There's a TON of people that prefer that kind of setup and a nice floor shifter with a nice, gated shift pattern would bring a bit of import-like sophistication for all those people that might have chosen a high-end European or Japanese import truck. A four-speed automatic? I don't need to go ANY further here.....TOTALLY unacceptable, GM.....I don't care what ANYONE says.... We all can pretty much assume the engines will be as good or better than they have been....and they were pretty good to begin with. I just hope the ride-and-handling is tied down way better than it was with the older versions. The previous generation had way too much slop in the steering and handling......even compared to other leviathans like the Expedition, etc. Time will tell if the third-row seating will be acceptable.....or if the chassis and powertrain quality lives up to expectations....but from first glance, I say.... WAY TO GO GM!

Amazing..... That interior appears to be light-years ahead of the LaCrosse interior.... What is GM N.A. thinking?

Hahahahah......!!!!!!! NO....pushrods in general don't "kick ass"...... The 6.0L and 7.0L V8 pushrod engines THEMSELVES kick ass......! Like we've said before.....would love to see GM put the development time and money into their pushrod V6 engines...

.....and the sad thing is, the brochures are REALLY nice pieces.....nicely done, good photos, good color, nice paper.... But the obvious lack of editing really casts a shadow on them....

I picked up a bunch of '06 GM brochures the other day.....two of them being the 2006 G6 brochure and the 2006 Cobalt brochure. In the G6 brochure, on the page that is titled "Larger. Smarter. Faster. Pick Three" and about 15 pages into the brochure, Pontiac claims that the GT models feature "...mores standard power than Audi A4 or BMW 323i." BMW hasn't sold a 323 model since the early 2000's. The standard 2006 BMW 325i has 215 horsepower....clearly MORE than the GT's 3.5L V6. In the Cobalt brochure, on page 5, talking about the SS coupe and sedan, GM advertises a "Tuned Sport suspension and a fully synchronized five-speed AUTOMATIC make driving more playful." I almost got excited thinking GM slipped a new 5-speed auto into the Cobalt.....but alas it's apparent they meant MANUAL transmission. It's really embarrasing to see such nicely-done brochures with such OBVIOUS mistakes in the print. Doesn't anyone review these before GM sends them out to their thousands of dealerships?

Because obviously my point/opinion is not coming across in words......let's sit inside the cars and let me point out physical problems with the Cobalt design....and point out in person where Honda and Toyota do it much better.... And by the way.....my response here comparing Corolla, Civic, and Cobalt has been about fit-and-finish and material quality...I'm not talking about features, etc..... AND, I'm not at all biased. Everyone thinks that because one of us on here slams a GM product or compares it less-than-favorably to it's Japanese competition, that we are "biased." Just because I CAN point out deficiencies in GM products doesn't mean I'm not a fan of that product.....it just means I'm not BLINDLY LOYAL. I've said many times how much I like the Cobalt....overall....and would buy one over a Corolla. That doesn't mean I think the fit-and-finish or interior is as good as a Corolla....it's NOT. BUT, I'd buy the Cobalt because I think it is much more attractive and has alot more character than a Corolla. BUT compared to buying it or a new Civic, now that's a tougher choice....

......seems to be a brighter start (product-wise) than what the Koreans had to work with..... And we all know how well they are doing now.... If I was a Big 3 executive, this would SERIOUSLY keep me awake at night.....

The "dated" '05 Civic is light-years ahead of the Cobalt in terms of interior fit-and-finish, quality of materials, seating comfort and support, and feel of switches, knobs, and levers. I just sat inside a "new" '06 Civic (after just looking at one the other night) and it's even better. There are abundant SOFT-touch plastics inside the interior and the hard-touch plastics that are there are of top-quality grain and finish. LORD I wish I could be in person with some of you guys next to a Cobalt, Corolla, Civic, and Mazda3 so I could SHOW you how easily Cobalt fails to make the grade. AARRRGGGHHH

No question the Cobalt is light years ahead of Cavalier and a DRAMATIC step in the right direction....but it still can't match Civic for interior materials, fit-and-finish, seat comfort. AND, I've had experience with BOTH cars....current Civic and the new Cobalt. I just saw my first new Civic today at a Honda store in the L.A. area....and it's just as impressive as everyone feared....interior quality is top-notch....regardless of what one thinks of the style of the interior....roominess is high too... Hey...I'm a Cobalt fan overall....but I can also recognize where we still have quite a way to go to matching the competition....and the '06 Civic is going to make it that much harder for Chevy..... The car I looked at was an '06 Civic EX sedan, MSRP $19,600, with 140hp 1.8L and EPA estimates of 30city/40hwy. The only option this Civic seemed to lack was leather.

Uh, Josh....we DID call ahead.... And that's when they told us it was closed for the event.....

Razoredge, I've kept quiet through most of this post.....but now I feel I want to share two experiences that I've had when I was a white-collar worker at Buick Headquarters near Buick City in Flint back in the early-nineties.... Now, I know that one cannot generalize about every union worker based upon the actions of a few, but my examples are CLEAR reasons why many people in this country have such distaste for unions (and the UAW in particular) and those that are members of unions... I SWEAR to any God you want to believe in that these situations occured and I am in NO WAY exaggerating.... Example #1 - We were having a product planning meeting at Buick one day and the conference room we were in had too few chairs to accomodate all the attendees to the meeting. The obvious solution? Grab a few chairs from adjoining offices and roll them into the conference room to have enough seats for everyone. Unfortunately, we were not "allowed" to go get the chairs. We had to call UAW workers up to physically go get the chairs and bring them into the conference room. Something about us taking "manual labor" away from the union workers. I should say that after we waited 45 minutes (!) for someone to come up, I decided to go get the chairs myself and roll them into the conference room. I got IN TROUBLE (!) for doing that and was written up...!!!!!! How ASSININE was that? Do you know how UNPRODUCTIVE that was? Waiting for a union worker to come up to bring the chairs into the conference room? Our meeting was delayed 45 minutes...and I got in trouble with management because I took the matter in my own hands. Additionally, as I was rolling the last couple of chairs in, the union workers showed up....but I had already taken care of everything. Those union workers were NASTY to me that I had done that....bitter, nasty, and demeaning. Example #2 - Once time, there was a strike at Buick City. I don't remember if it was a union-wide strike, or just something at Buick City. However, the union workers were picketing outside of Buick Headquarters. For the white-collar workers to get into Headquarters, we had to pass through a guard shack into a protected parking lot. The union workers that were picketing near the guard shack stood there and KEYED white-collar workers' cars that passed by them "crossing the line" and going into our parking lot to work. Yup, they stood there and casually held their keys out at waist level so that, "oops" accidentally they would scrape along the side of a car pulling through them and through the guard shack into the parking lot. That's not only irresponsible and destructive, but completely childish and primitive. Strike all you want....but don't you EVER try to keep ME or anyone else from putting in a solid, honest, and constructive days' work. Your issues are your issues....they are most certainly not mine. Thankfully, my car did not get keyed because I parked on the street a block or two away....and walked through the guard shack to the building. Like I said, Razoredge, it is NOT right to generalize....but my experience is a GREAT example of why unions are held in such distaste to this day. YOU may have never behaved in such a manner....but many union workers have and do. And to top it off, obviously there was a certain layer of union management that supports that type of behavior. That's the truly sad part....

I live in L.A./Orange County and haven't seen a SINGLE Solstice....! I've VERY surprised by that....I figured Pontiac would want them all over southern California....I drive all over southern Cal for work and haven't seen them in either L.A., or O.C., or San Diego. I'm dying to see the car in person..... However, my local Pontiac dealer in Laguna Hills is not by any means a large Pontiac dealer.

Well, this one is a tough choice..... Styling? Both look good. I hated the last Civic, but this one is a conservative "looker" with a bit of a more upscale feel and appearance compared to the last one. Cobalt coupe has always looked good. Interior? Cobalt is SERIOUSLY lacking in interior fit-and-finish and quality of materials....almost guaranteed that the new Civic, hard plastic or not, will be light-years ahead of the Cobalt in this regard (especially since the CURRENT Civic is light-years ahead.) However, the Cobalt DESIGN inside looks good...kindof VW-ish...kindof European. The new Civic DESIGN is simply cool...although I'm not crazy about the digital speedo.... Performance? Civic will lack outright torque of Cobalt, but will be a beautifully-sweet, smooth, high-revving performer and there's a nice draw to that as well. I would bet the Honda shifter will be sweeter than Cobalt's as well. I predict Cobalt will have the "numbers" in handling and acceleration, but Civic will have the better "feel." Frankly, it will all come down to the "deal." Sticker-for-sticker, Cobalt's not good enough for me to pick over the new Civic. However, if the "deal" is good enough on the Cobalt versus the Honda, I'd pick the Cobalt because I do like the car....but not for the money they are asking ($24K loaded.) Unfortunately, that's the whole GM problem in one paragraph. The GM car has to be the "deal" in order to compete with the imports....

The Grand Vitara shares NOTHING with the VUE, Equinox, or Torrent. It is a totally-Japanese/Suzuki developed RWD-based chassis with a mix of unibody, and a ladder-box frame. Additionally, the GV utilizes the familiar Suzuki-designed 2.7L DOHC 24V V6 of 185hp that's been in the current XL-7. Rumor has it that the new XL-7, however, will be a stretched VUE/Equinox/Torrent to accomodate a third-row of seats. I believe this SUV is due as an '07 or '08 model from Suzuki.

Why, YES....it IS open to the public. I was told that next time I come to Detroit, I just have to call the museum ahead of time, and schedule a "visit" of the museum. Anyone can visit....whether you work for GM or not.... And, YES....it IS owned by GM.....but you didn't get my POINT..! Owned by GM or not, it is a public venue....and was closed to the public due to an event that was being held there for dealers.....

That's an absolute crap-out...... The fact of the matter is......the Big Three have NOT been building cars and trucks that appeal to a majority of the population.....or they've been appealing less-and-less to a majority of the population..... Do the Japanese have an unfair pricing advantage? Probably.... Are we restricted on what we can sell over there? Probably.... BUT.....if the Big Three hadn't effed it up so bad over the course of the last 30 years or so, we wouldn't be in the position we are today. The Big Three, and the unions, and their workers became complacent and arrogant about their own superiority. They took their eye off the ball in regards to quality and reliability....and when consumer trends drifted away from the iron the domestics were selling, they were slow-to-moribund in their responses to the market. The Big Three left the market WIDE-OPEN for the Asians and (to a lesser extent) the Europeans to come in and RE-WRITE the U.S. automotive marketplace. Things ARE better now....and should continue to improve. BUT, blaming the Imports for supposed "unfair" industry advantages does nothing to combat the true nature of the problem....and that problem is NOT the customer perception of superiority of the imports, but HOW the public GOT that customer perception in the FIRST PLACE....

Don't be confused by Patriot's car-based structure and AWD system. Latest from DCX is that the Patriot will be "trail-rated".....which means it conquers the Rubicon...! AWD systems (with the right tires) can be quite effective. BMW's new X-Drive on the new X3 and the revised X5 is a superior system off-road....it's only the performance-biased tires and stiff suspension's lack of wheel travel that keep it from going as far off-road as any Land Rover. The actual AWD system, however, is world-class. Jeep can do this too.....and will most likely equip the Pursuit with decent off-road tires, skidplates, etc.