Drew Dowdell

All of the manufacturers have the opinion that the way to get a new Infotainment system is to buy a new car.

Well 95% of the GMC dealers are Buick dealers with a new short wheel base Envision. I think my GMC dealer here is one of the very few that is stand alone. Note they also are one of the most productive with an average transaction price around $62,000. I know... but you and I are smarter than the average consumer. GM has noticed there are still generally strong feelings one way or the other over GMC and Buick as brands.

The C.U.E. updates are only for 2016+ models. The update includes large hardware upgrades so it is not backwards compatible with earlier years.

Absolutely! Well, damn. I was mostly being facetious and was awaiting a witty response from someone. Your experience was in a dealership, right? It fits no matter which side of the table you're on.

Absolutely!

It doesn't matter if it is boosted or not.... or V6 or not.... if you pound on it, you get crap fuel economy. C&D managed to get 22 mpg out of the 2008 Malibu with the 2.4 Ecotec! I can't imagine what they did to that car to get it to that!

Again, they had to be tromping on it constantly to get it to 20mpg. I hate when magazines do this... run a car through high(er) end performance tests and then report the fuel economy on it. No one will drive it like that day-in and day-out. It is a disservice to their readers to report it that way. Even the heavier 2014 Malibu 2.0T with two fewer gears got 23mpg when they were tromping on it..... When I drive a Regal or Malibu 2.0T, I get anywhere from upper 20s to just over 30. So take their fuel economy estimates with a Malibu trunk full of salt.

I hate the "How much are you looking to get your payment to?" question. Mostly because I usually have financing lined up before I even get in the shower to head out shopping.

Oh come on now! You most certainly have!

The incentive was over on November 2nd. I can't imagine there were that many 2016 Volts even available at that point... it just started rolling out in October. There are 172 2016 Chevy Volts currently listed nationwide on AutoTrader and the 2016 is only being sold in certain states. The real test will be to see if Chevy can move the 2017s when those are rolled out to all states. And the Volt enjoys extremely high owner satisfaction, the people who buy them, love them.

There were no good choices there.

Take off from the thread about Tesla fighting Michigan Dealership laws Tell your tale of dealership bad behavior or poor service. One experience that stands out in my mind - When cross-shopping the 2004 CTS, I visited a Chrysler dealership to look at a 300M (this was before the RWD 300C came out). I had a salesman that didn't know his product at all. He was trying to tell me that the 300M was engineered by Mercedes, and that it at a 3.5 liter supercharged engine. After our test drive, I popped the hood, got out, and made him point to the super charger on the engine. He pointed to the H.O. sticker on the cover and said that meant it was supercharged. After I had settled on the CTS, I went to the dealer where my Oldsmobile was usually serviced. I was around 25, had on ripped jeans and a ball-cap, and was walking into the dealership to pick out the car. They directed me to the Pontiac or Saturn showroom instead. I ended up finding the one I wanted online at another dealership and pre-arranging the deal over the phone so I didn't have to deal with the "get out of here kid, ya bother me" type attitude.

You could be right on all counts.... but from what I understand is that there is a short wheelbase (direct replacement) Terrain coming and that the long wheel base is above it. It might not even keep the same name, just ride on the same platform, so pulling off a stretch isn't just pulling the rear wheels back further. I"m guessing GMC dealers would not want to give up the sale volume from the current model and only have a 3-row/LWB to sell.

It's written at the top of the windshield.

Excellent points. I've been in the I.T. industry in some fashion or another for 20 years (I'm 37, so that should say something there) and nothing annoys me more than having to talk to a salesperson at Best Buy. It annoys me to even overhear Best Buy employees talk to OTHER customers because I just have the strong urge to jump in and intervene on the customer's behalf. It's not the profits that anyone is complaining about here Reg, though I do think transaction prices might tick down slightly at a corp owned store. It's the bad behavior by so many dealership that would likely be reigned in by Corporate if they were actually in charge. I don't visit a car dealer unless it is the one my friend works at. Even then, we called and told him what we wanted and that we had a prenegotiated price. He also knows that I have equal knowledge to him on the products.

Apple doesn't really have a direct competitor for their entire line-up, so that's why there is never a deal. Sure, you can built an rough equivilent out of competitor's products, but you'll be shopping a 5 different stores and there is no guarantee that it will all work together. (I am not an Apple fanboy, I don't own any of their products anymore)

Well, we do take all kinds here at C&G

And yes, I did have a senior moment.... but I have no way of knowing how many miles are on the oil. I've always used the oil life monitor. It was probably the 4th 5th oil change ever, so if you figure the oil change monitor is fairly consistent, then I average either 6,600 per oil change or 8,250 per oil change. This is the lowest I've ever let the oil change monitor go though.. I usually change right at 10%.

We'll I was told by my dealership that due to the close tolerances even on a pure synthetic, the engines get nosier as the oil gets dirtier and one should replace it. Also with the new dexos 1 and 2 spec GM, Ford, or any auto company could decline warranty if the wrong oil is used. Pretty clear to either use dexos specific oil or go pure synthetic. Good explanation on the new oils here: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/02/gm-engine-oil/ The Dexos is full synthetic anyway I thought

If you're a high end Porsche customer, you can afford it.

33k If you're changing it yourself and you don't have a garage to do it in, do it now. No telling how long the weather will hold out. If you take it some place, then just let it go till you feel really needs it.

In my case is just seemed like a rough and louder idle along with more noise under hard acceleration. Seems back to its normal self after the oil change.

Saying "Well it's the law" doesn't mean the law isn't wrong. There is essentially zero consumer protection in the law. Read what you linked - all that is required is Fleet insurance and a continuous $10,000 bond. There is no protection for the manufacturers (and frankly, I'm not that worried about that anyway, if Toyota can weather Floor-mate-gate, Ford weather electronic ignition-gate, and GM weather ignition-switch-gate, I'm sure they can handle themselves). The only thing the law is protecting is the business model of the existing dealership groups.... and yes it is antiquated these days. Costco is now the largest automotive broker in the country now. People apparently like the process of the pre-negotiated sale, pre-negotiated trade, pre-negotiated financing. It is an unfortunate anachronism that in order to complete the sale, these Costco customers still have to go to the dealership to sign paperwork because of these NADA written laws. An aside, removing the franchise laws would not remove franchises. The franchises would still have a contract with the manufacturer that the manufacturer would be bound to honor. And it is very likely that most manufacturers would want to keep a mix of franchise stores and company stores because building and maintaining a huge network of stores is very cost intensive. So it isn't like all of these dealerships would go out of business overnight. What would change would be the addition of factory owned stores or 3rd parties like Amazon or Costco that dealerships would have to compete with. Dealerships would need to justify their existence, which isn't something they are currently accustomed to. Dealerships need to up their game... people hate going to them for a reason, and they've only existed in this form for this long because they have the protection of these outdated laws.

I'm the same... My Toronado is not a sports car, it doesn't handle great, it just needs to have more get up and go. 295 lb-ft from the 2.0T would be sufficient.

I fit in the 3rd row of a Traverse and Durango just fine thanks.