Drew Dowdell

lots of hot, shirtless gay guys...

Not everyone wants a 3-series. If that were the case, the debate would be when BMW is overtaking GM as number 1, not Toyota. Cadillac is still selling the CTS above it's initial estimates without having to resort to incentives 4 years after it's intro. There is still a market for large, soft, luxury cars..... otherwise the Avalon would not exist. In spite of this poorly researched Edmunds article, the Lucerne is quite competitive with the Avalon. Lucerne is selling pretty well.

You guys still blast the BLS, but it'd probably do equally as well as the Zephyr and according to that other thread, that wouldn't be a bad thing.

So, apparently DCX is selling Mercedes branded Sprinters now?? I saw one today.

I was actually going to start my own complaint thread on GM seat heaters. It's one of the few annoyances I have about the CTS. The seat heaters have two settings, 2nd Degree or Tepid. The Avalanche has 3 settings, 3rd degree, 2nd degree, and tepid. Reostats have been around since the 1920s. Can't GM use those instead?

crackberry it was a major source of stress for me when I was supposed to be relaxing. It would go off all hours of the day.

I though the Lacrosse and Lucerne.... while not exactly a Chrysler 300 were selling better then the cars they replaced.

I don't know... that material doesn't look like the nice soft touch stuff I sleep on on the Passat's dashboard. [/sarcasm]

None taken, but I can't wait to trade my '04 in on an '08

Great marketing doesn't work if the product is crap. All the marketing in the world wouldn't make the Cavalier better then the civic.

that interior was the NG CTS interior

That was the NG CTS interior too!!

by making it better

I guess that makes me the half wit of C&G

I had a completely different expectation upon entering this thread.....

for some reason I keep seeing GMC XUVs.... 4 today alone. It's like GMC sold every one they made to people in Western PA

Isn't the 3800 wedged in there pretty tight? So tight that they had to move the battery under the rear seat? My guess is no. Besides, if you're going to do that, just get a full northstar. They're the same external dimensions but have more power.

uh... how do I bid on contracts at GM?

what he said! It's been a week... I'm still not comfortable in the Avalanche.

I love the new Escalade. I sat in one at Detroit auto show. I have never owned or for that matter driven an SUV until last Saturday when I bought my Avalanche. Here is my take on SUVs after driving my CTS and Cutlass Supreme for the past 6 years: 1. I don't feel safer at all. I feel tippy and ungainly. 2. I drive fast not because I'm a fast driver, but because I feel like I'm moving slowly. 3. The Avalanche is extremely useful for me in my new business venture. Now that I have it, I really must have it nearly every day. The catalyst for purchasing "Hercules" was me trying to get 8 foot long pieces of trim into the CTS at home depot and having to rest them on the dash. I feel the basic premise of your average SUV driver/buyer thinking they'll be safer in an SUV is substantially flawed. Sure they might be slightly safer in an accident, but given the choice of the Avalanche or the CTS in a hairy driving situation and I'll take the CTS every time because I can actually avoid the accident in the first place. Thankfully the CTS has a good safety rating and so many airbags that if I were to be in an accident, I'll probably survive. Conclusion: For 99% of the buyers who buy an SUV for "safety" alone would be better off in a Subaru, Volvo, 500/Montego or Impala. Not only could they avoid accidents easier, they would be safer in one of those cars if an accident did occur.

GM will sell all of their shares of Isuzu to Ken Yackamack who lives down the street from GM headquarters for a total of $240 dollars in cash and a book of free Vente Latte Starbucks coupons good only at the Ren Center Starbucks. When asked for comment Mr. Yackamack said, "I own me a car company now! I wonder if that means I can get a free car."

I had a Jeep Wrangler Extreme from Hertz when I was in Florida two weeks ago. They were out of Mustang convertibles, so they gave me that.

That would make a very nice Buick.

Nope, just a nordicware cake pan. They have lots of patterns. I've been slowly collecting them as they go on sale at TJ Max. I have a pan that makes six small roses about the size of a very large cupcake. Chas and I decided that flowers were too expensive around valentines day, so I made him roses <french vanilla cake with red food coloring> instead. I used a small heart shaped pan to make green "leaves" for the roses. Arranged it all out on a platter, a *bam* I've got flowers for my honey on Valentines day. I earned big points for that one. :AH-HA_wink: I can do some great dinners, but my best work is always on the dessert tray.

Cooking with Drew: Triple chocolate cake, dark chocolate layer, white chocolate layer, milk chocoalte layer... with white chocolate almaretto iceing. Home made pound cake with a full pound of butter. Maple rum glaze and powdered sugar topping Dark chocolate tart with almaretto icing and crushed almonds on top