Drew Dowdell

Again, I'm not advocating for the closing of either. I feel each according to his gifts. Opel does certain things very well. Holden does certain things very well. GM should retain both. I also believe that if Reuss has any pull at all, Holden will remain. Zeta isn't as flexible down in size as it needs to be. It can go up easily, but not down without retaining too much weight. That said a good lot of what was learned in Zeta have been reincarnated into Alpha using better materials.

I'd say it does. For many people, a smaller car that is comfortable on the road and not a penalty box is a holy grail. There are a lot of people in my age group that find the camry way too large. One friend in particular expresses frequent hatred towards his mom's "boat" Camry... yet he is a Toyota buyer himself.

Not really... as I like the Buick styling less and less and it all looks like a Opel. And being a Riv/Buick would seem to imply it would be FWD. A large coupe would be nice, but how about a sedan that didn't require me to sit 6 inches behind the B-pillar. Or a large wagon. Something like the Challenger with a trunk or a Magnum/Flex that looks better. Wait, wait, wait. BTW, I couldn't care less about the new RWD platforms. Zeta was fine, Sigma was fine... B-bods were fine. I'm not buying a car based on what the dirty parts look like... I am buying based on the driveline configuration and the functionality of the body on top. Looking bad-ass would be a plus. I very seriously doubt anything of Opel origin will ever grace my driveway on a regular basis. Zeta and Sigma were too heavy and not flexible enough. The Alpha is highly scalable on either side of the ATS. The ATS also clocks in at 350lbs less than its primary competitor. Alpha platform is superior to the Zeta in just about every way in terms of production ability. Omega is coming to take the Zeta long wheelbase end of the lineup. This is what we in the industry call "progress". I wouldn't bet on a Riviera being FWD. I got pushback when I suggested it should be. No, I don't as I stated in an earlier post. Addressing the problem doesn't equal solving it. Look at it this way, if all of the recent Opel-derived products sold here had been kept as Opel property built in Europe and shipped here, just how well do you think they would have sold at the increased sticker that would require? Opel needs to back away from production in a large way. .....and... they.... are.... The Regal sold just fine being built in Russelheim

Have you ever driven a Tesla roadster? A Tesla Model S? One of those 600hp AWD mini coopers?

Do you deny that GMNA, GMDAT, and GMAU have all benefitted from Opel R&D without paying much for it at all? GM is already addressing the labor issues as Z-06 pointed out.

yet...

Opel is massively over capacity and suffers from the same debilitating legacy and labor problems that GMNA did pre-bankruptcy. Add-in the disaster that the EU is in general, and something clearly needs to be done. A much smaller Opel with an emphasis on FWD development has value - I realize this. However, as a manufacturing concern, and an export concern, they are nearly hopeless and geographically challenged. Let's not forget that Opel has lost $14.5 billion since 1999. You really can't wrap your mind around the elephant that is the GM accounting department can you?

It was pretty much what the sticker says. Highway cruising (at legal speeds) got me 36 mpg. City I got 27.6mpg. Blend that to suit your driving.

100% of trips can be made in a Chevy Volt with 95% of them being electric only.

But is Opel 30% over capacity or should they just take the entire hit in the European market because you don't like them? Opel being responsible for the development of 50% of GMNA's lineup is certainly NOT beside the point. It IS the point. Opel has developed excellent front wheel drive cars for GMNA... and excellent SMALL cars... something GMNA has NEVER been good at. You may not like the Sonic, Cruze, Verano, and Encore but they are nessesary parts of the GMNA lineup.

a good buy for the eccentric collector. Basically... me if I had money.

Is is possible that the AWD feels more "on" all the time?

Not really faint praise at all. It's a 4-cylinder that rolls like a 6 and gets great gas mileage verse a 6 cyclinder that needs to down shift often and gets relatively poor gas mileage even amongst its peers.

We get it. you want a coupe. A Riviera is coming.

GM is just now, after 25 years of stumbling around in the dark and stepping into a huge pile of dog $h!, regaining its balance. No, they don't make large coupe right now... you know what they do make? Three very competative small cars that the market is responding very well to. They are making Buicks that people under 75 want to go out and buy. They are making Buicks that have Lexus saying stuff like "You just wait! You just WAIT till we come out with something new! Then you'll be sorry!". They are making Cadillacs that the only way for the M3 to beat it on the track was for the BMW to be driven by a 22 year old and the Cadillac driven by a 78 year old. They are making a mid-size crossover that is selling so well they've had to move production twice in order to keep up with demand. They are making a Camaro (a large coupe if I've ever driven one) that is beating the Mustang in sales. They have two brand new RWD platforms, one coming on line this summer and another we will see for the first time sometime next year, both with a multitude of cars planned for them, both started after bankruptcy. Question: What other car company out there has two brand new RWD platforms? Not even Benz or BMW can claim that. The new 5-series is a cut down 7-series. The C-Class is a rehash of a platform going back to 2003. BMW and Benz's newest platforms are front wheel drive.

With the miles, the condition, and the claimed maintenance, I could see it going as high as 8k... if someone from the Reatta club picks up a whiff.

The nice thing about the VR6 is how smooth it is. It is almost an I-6 in that regard while only taking up the space of a longish V6.

I may only get 14mpg out of my Toronado (needing a carb tuneup I believe) but it still used less energy than if I bought a brand new car, especially seeing as I only do about 4,000 miles a year in it.

I think all of the Olds posted by WMJ lately I haven't liked.

Mobile-1 is fine in everything, just get the right weight.

Well, gold is $1,685 per ounce, guessing Gary at 180lbs means we owe him about $4,852,800..... give or take...

The Terrain IS ridiculously low in front.

Zeta is dead in the future. No new Zeta cars are coming. Dead Dead Dead Deader and Dead. Get over it, cry a little and move on. Alpha is able to be scaled up above the current sigma chassis. Omega is being built to run the next size up. Zeta is DEAD. Opel is where development for well over 50% of GM's lineup originates. Just because the Opel BRAND is losing money doesn't mean that Opel isn't an important link in the GM chain. I'm not advocating closing EITHER. I just think all of this ire directed at Opel is FOOLISH AND SHORT SIGHTED FOOT STOMPING by people mad they might not get their way.

Everything based off that list sucks. Everything based off of that list generates a profit for GM. GM cannot survive on Camaro and G8 alone. And no, the cars do NOT suck. They are exactly competitive in their respective segments. Corolla and Camry combined sell 800k a year. You want GM to just cede all of that potential money to Toyota?!? The Focus was widely reviewed as the better car than the Cruze. Look which one is selling better. Chevy can't keep Sonics on the lot more than 17 days and the Sonic is a surprisingly good car... much more so than the Fiesta or Accent. No, we know you won't physically fit in a Sonic.. but that is why GM MAKES A WIDE RANGE OF CARS FOR EVERY PURSE AND PURPOSE.