Drew Dowdell

what do you mean "when."?

so dated....I mean, it doesn't even have fender vents!!!!

dollar cost averaging.

"A Banker is someone who will lend you his umbrella when it is sunny and then demand it back upon the threat of rain" - Mark Twain

A Cutlabu with two Buick fender vents on each side..... which is fine except the Cutlass came with a V6 standard.

Well... yeah. The downgrade was from "buy" to "underperform". Looking at GM's financial position, I'd probably make that same call myself.

FOG, the economic situation isn't out to get GM. GM will just be collateral damage. The numbers just aren't there. You can hate on analyists all you like but that won't change the numbers. again, we're looking at a realignment on the magnitude of 1929 through the 30s. Look how many marques we lost then.

While the fed is a problem <putting it lightly>, it isn't the primary cause of the problems we are facing today. Bernake, however, is doing his best to F it up even worse.

1 car every 2 minutes instead of 1 car every 2 minutes 9 seconds is too much? *cracks whip* Get back to work!

Banking system collapse. We're going to see at least one of the major nationals fall. My bet is on Bank of America with Citigroup a close second. There have already been runs on two banks in the past year. Retail will fall as the banking system does. Retailers operate heavily on lines of credit to purchase inventory. We've already seen Disney, Sharper Image, Linens -n- Things, Starbucks, Toys -R- Us, and a bunch of others I can't remember at 7:15 in the morning, close or announce closures. Unfortunately, Walmart will survive.

A big reason Europe is less able to cope is because their banking system doesn't allow them to "print" their way out of a recession and on major policy the different countries have to reach somewhat of a consensus. I believe the term "herding cats" applies here. The U.S. banks however, have been hiding their problems for a while hoping they would eventually just go away. They've given their institutionalized fraud many different names like SIV - Strategic Investment Vehicle and CDS - Credit Default Swap but it's still just a whole lotta lipstick on a whole lotta pig. The trouble is, instead of seeing a tarted up pig, investors saw Selma Hayek and dumped tons of money into these things. SIVs are packages of insane mortgages made to people who couldn't get a loan for a hamburger. CDSes are were investors and banks sell each other credit protection for the bad loans they've made. Europe doesn't have as many of these in their own system, but the European banks bought into the US ones as speculative investments.

The country isn't going to fall apart just to spite GM/Ford/Chrysler, but all three, amongst many many others, will be suffering from this country's financial problems. I'm afraid that something I said was missed by the readers of this forum. Banks are losing the ability to lend money even if they wanted to. This is a very very very big deal and applies to everyone, individuals and corporations alike.

I'm afraid I don't follow.

That's to help people find it.

I'll be the black sheep here and say that the guy is probably at least partially right. I base that on what the economy looks like as a whole rather than just what GM is doing. There are going to be a LOT of downgradings forthcoming. The national financial picture is much bleaker than most people realize. The next 12 - 18 months is going to be very very bumpy. A substantial part of the blame will fall on the major banks who have been playing a shell game with their massive amounts of bad debt and it's only prolonging the problem while simultaneously making it worse. I'm hearing numerous reports of banks being so far behind in foreclosures that they have started ignoring missed payments in certain parts of the country. Banks are losing the ability to lend money even if they wanted to and this is causing deflationary pressures on the market at the same time prices are rising. In summary, we're in as identical situation as we can be to June 1929. Hold on to your butts!

If you HAVE to buy a truck in this market, are you really going to buy an unproven yet fashionable (with the Consumer Reports set) new comer, or a truck that has been kicking ass for over 3 decades?

So? 1. It is still referred to as the "Chrysler Bailout" 2. Why couldn't we do it again?

except for... ya know... that last time the government bailed out a car company...

It would probably be slow to rev to 9-billion RPM even though it has a lot of low end torque. The Honda and BMW humpers would hate it.

1. 1 2. 1

Weirdest mish mash of Cutlass parts I've seen. Not an actual convertible, just has no roof. An 88-90 Dash in a 93-96 body with 93-96 seats and an engine that was never available in any Cutlass Supreme. <only the Calais and Achieva>

If you can spare the cash, it's going to be time to buy some GM stock very very soon. You don't get 53 year lows too often.

As long as it looks more mini-Escalade than Traverse + Cadillac grill, I guess it's ok. Two-mode will be available at the outset, yes?

they're picking the wrong woman then. There are a couple of guys on here that have decent <as in car buff> wives. My current BF has a CRV but 1. he wouldn't dare tell me what to buy. 2. Would be excited about me buying another CTS anyway. 3. Is pining for an Astra himself. He bought the CRV because it was the "default" choice the way Lutz described it. After being with me for a while he seems to have gained an eye for the design of a car. He really likes the Lucerne and CTS, when his previous vehicles were CRV, Jetta, Escort..... so hey, I guess he can be taught.

You can sell a man a woman's car*, but you can't sell a woman a man's car. * because he's so pussy whipped he just says, "yes dear"