Drew Dowdell

Well there is no mistaking a Duramax for a Northstar in sound.

Um, foreign companies deciding it's not worth the cost to bring all of their vehicles here has nothing to do with a lack of a free market. Heck, it has everything to do with us HAVING a free market! How so? From Wiki: A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts. We obviously no longer have a 'free market' as far as automobiles go. You can't buy a Pagani... they tried, and the government felt it needed to interfere with it. You can't buy a Caprice, or the Holden zeta models because GM claims the costs to federalize it are too high. Its virtually impossible for a small company to enter the automobile market. Tesla and Fiskar have spent billions to get off the ground. Panoz, Mosler, Saleen and Shelby have to fight tons of government red tape to stay in business. According to Wiki, this is a regulated market or controlled market. Now, I'm all for reasonable safety, quality and clean air, but the government has gone off the deep end and over regulated the automotive market and their heavy handed approach has caused most cars to be uniformly boring and has raised the bar to enter too high. We can never have a truly free market for automobiles, but we need to take a step back from the crazy overregulation going on right now. It's not over regulation or under regulation. It's different regulation. In many ways, the European standards are stricter than our own, but because the standards don't mesh well, we lose out on some interesting cars.

Looking around at Malibus over the weekend, I didn't notice any out of alignment hoods. Nothing I could tell without getting a micrometer out.... they were visually fine.

Was the MKS Ecoboost the saving grace of Lincoln? That pretty much went unnoticed in 2009, Buick/Cadillac doing the same sort of car in 2012 I don't think is going to set the world on fire. The problems was that the MKS Ecoboost has a complete letdown of an interior and doesn't have much going for it on exterior looks either. The XTS concept is unlikely to be that far off from the the production model in overall looks and is eons beyond the MKS in both having a strong family heritage look yet also being very modern in appearance.

So? RWD proportions are better looking than common, generic FWD... Check out these long hood RWD proportions....

Well, the VR38DETT is 480hp at 240 kg, the LS7 is 505hp @ 204kg. The 7.0 liter V8 not only weighs less but also require less room under the hood and turn in 15 / 24 MPG (3 mpg better than the GT-R on he freeway). If the GT-R is powered by the LS7 V8, while retaining its AWD system and chassis, it'll actually be a faster and better handling car. this.

The Sprinter costs too much in the US, it's an easy $10k more than an Econoline base for base. Everywhere else, the Sprinter and its European competition reign supreme. The Econoline and Savana are actually in the minority. If GM can set a new lower bar on pricing, they can really corner the market. Has Ford announced where the Transit will be built? That is key to pricing and avoiding the Chicken Tax.

Another pontiac that I can't get into and the Olds doesn't do much for me either.

Umm Camino. In these pictures, the bolts on the Cam gear are not in the same position, yet the timing tooth on the crank gear is.....

it's all about the badge. Typical BMW and Mercedes Benz drivers are just as clueless about their cars as a typical Camry buyer, they just have more money to spend and want to be able to say "I drive a Mercedes". The latest C-Class interior has nothing on the CTS in either build quality or materials and certainly not in styling.... but people still buy it because it's got the 3-pointed star.

Toro can hit 100mph, since my worn out 307 in the '86 Estate did... barely, took forever, but did. Had to use GPS to determine the speed, as the speedo stops at 85. You would have a 4-speed in that. I only have a 3 speed.

"Long time ago- no one remembers that." Mid 90s is when they switched to pedestrian V6s, IIRC. That's like 6 car leases ago dude! They aren't going to remember that.

I'd like to see Cadillac do an XTS-V, even if just as a concept, and then go beat something like a 335ix around the 'Ring just to say Cadillac can beat BMW even in a 4,000lb, FWD, Land-land barge.

did you use a paypal email different than your C&G registered email address? I have one payment in there who didn't put their username in so I don't know if it is your or not.

BMW has even gone so far as to remove the oil dipstick haven't they? Now the only dipstick in a BMW is behind the wheel.

don't show a pic of the interior

My anecdotal observation has been, at least locally, they go straight to Hyundai. Of course it probably has something to do with the fact that not one, but two of our largest Pontiac dealers became Hyundai stores. Neighbor across the street: Torrent -> Santa Fe Sunfire -> Elantra Still have a Vibe Friends with G6es -> Sonata One neighbor next door went Vibe -> Rogue

not this week, and still waiting on VW.

Click the blue dot next to the post title in the list. That takes you to the most recent unread post.

I'm not going to be able to get these out today. The Toronado blew a heater hose last night and I have no transportation during the Post Office's business hours.

I got a note that the InvisionPower people will be in to look at our software issue today or tomorrow. There might be some flaky website operation during that time.

GM is already able to produce a 4-cylinder turbo that has a better power curve than a naturally aspirated FWD Northstar. If they can tame some of the NHV demons down a bit, they should be in good shape. Cubi... sometimes you make me

that's the other site that MudMonster writes for I think.

I've never noticed Malibu hoods being crooked. I'm going to have to start looking now. I do remember Lutz discussing how difficult that particular stamping was.

I don't think BMW and Mercedes are that concerned about offering 4-cylinders here. All they have to do is click "Send" and get the engines certified for sale in the U.S. It's not like they have to go out and develop an all new engine.