CSpec

Yup! NASA is a bloated Cold War relic that will slowly turn into a grant-providing entity for nimble, low cost private firms. Noted right wing extremist President Obama has gotten this ball rolling.

http://www.spacex.com/ http://www.virgingalactic.com/

If the two options are terrible implementation that makes everyone worse off (except Iowa) and doing nothing, doing nothing is clearly superior. Do you see any possibility of importing Brazilian sugar and telling both the American sugar and corn lobbies to suck an egg? Not. Gonna. Happen.

There is indeed. If the US were to grow all its own transport fuel as corn, it would need 30% more land than the land it currently uses to grow food. Rainforests are being chopped down to plant palmoil trees in South America. To call this "green" is insane.

Wrong wrong wrong. E85 is a vile substance that is only used because it's subsidized to the hilt to the detriment of world food prices and supply.

There would be famine. "Organic" just means arbitrarily stopping improvement in agriculture at a certain date, like the Amish.

I'm glad that this happened, but wrong reasons.

Totally agree that the CTS is weirdly cramped. The Cruze has more room.

Is it worth paying double the price of a Cruze for it?

First of all, these are terrible photos. I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt until some better pictures emerge. Hopefully that reduces the SUV ride height of the Si somewhat. That said, the interior looks basically the same. Except it has a big, obnoxious Econ button with a leaf on it. BARF.

Sorry, I remember LOLing at the interiors when I first saw them at the 2004 Boston auto show.

Nice! Haha! The tC has to be one of worst "new" cars of the past 10 years.

You're confusing two different claims made against Toyota: one was that some accessory floormats caught on the pedal (that was acknowledged and corrected) and the other was that there was some computer bug that floored the throttle. The media lapped up the latter claim: witness the Balloon Boy guy in California who got on national television. However it has now been found to have been completely spurious.

Guys, this exact same thing has happened before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_unintended_acceleration#Audi_5000

"the most likely cause was "pedal misapplication," in which the driver stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes."

From the NY Times: The Obama administration's investigation into Toyota safety problems found no electronic flaws to account for reports of sudden, unintentional acceleration and other safety problems. Government investigators said Tuesday the only known cause of the problems are mechanical defects that were fixed in previous recalls. The Transportation Department, assisted by engineers with NASA, said its 10-month study of Toyota vehicles concluded there was no electronic cause of unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas. The study, which was launched at the request of Congress, responded to consumer complaints that flawed electronics could be the culprit behind Toyota's spate of recalls. Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said they reviewed consumer complaints and warranty data in detail and found that many of the complaints involved cases in which the vehicle accelerated after it was stationary or at very low speeds. NHTSA Deputy Administrator Ron Medford said that in many cases when a driver complained that the brakes were ineffective, the most likely cause was "pedal misapplication," in which the driver stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

Ah right, Sonic. It actually wasn't in the same area as the Cruze--it was on a different level for some reason. So I couldn't compare them back to back. I want to say the Sonic was slightly worse.

I went to the DC auto show last night. The weather wasn't great and it was a Tuesday night, so it was pretty empty. Here are some random thoughts: The CTS-V interior is lame. The center stack has one big piece of plastic covering the whole thing, which felt cheap. Also the rear legroom was pathetic; there was more room in the Elantra and Golf. Also a serious lack of headroom. The Cruze is pretty good. It looks better in real life than in photos. The Camaro is too big. The Buick Verona is meh. It was spinning on a stand so I didn't see the interior, but the styling leaves something to be desired. I sat in an Aveo hatchback. I liked the little instrument pod actually, as well as the styling. I think it compares favorably to the Fiesta in terms of quality and features, and destroys the Fiesta in looks (especially the Fiesta sedan, which is terrible). I don't like the shiny white Volt interior. I think that will look stupid in a couple of years. The plastic wasn't fantastic either. It's also hard to get excited about the Volt since we've been seeing pictures of it for years! The refreshed Chrysler interiors are incredibly bland and boring. The materials are better, but I don't see how the 300 can last a full product cycle in its current state. I liked Ford. The Focus is quite good I think. They had a Fiesta sedan in an absolutely revolting metallic purple color; who on earth would get that? The Fiat 500 is stupid. I don't like cars that are designed as fashion statements. I also don't understand why they built a brand new factory to assemble a model that's already 4 years old. I asked the rep if it was made in Mexico. He didn't like that question. The Scion tC is AWFUL. One of my least favorite redesigns ever. Toyota had a ton of floor space at the show, and they didn't have anything I wanted to check out. So. Boring. The new Civic looks OK; we'll see what it looks like with normal wheels and suspension height. Honda is amazingly good at making cars that stay at the top of their class for years. I love the Bentley Mulsanne. Such an elegant design. I would definitely take it over the Rolls Royce Ghost, which it was sitting next to. The Hyundai Equus is disappointing. The design of the interior looks like a Lexus, but the materials are seriously subpar. The door pulls for example are made of cheap cheap plastic. What gives? It was attracting a lot of attention, though. The new Elantra is a looker. I don't really like the design of the center stack, but there's a lot of space in that car. The new Jag XJ isn't all that attractive, but it has a nice interior. It looks like a beached whale. The new Saab 9-5 is very roomy inside. I liked it overall. I had some small niggles with the center stack (notice a trend here?), but overall a good car. Watch it flop. The 9-4X looked good from the outside but it was locked. I think the Z4 is one of the best looking cars on sale today. The new 6er isn't quite as good. The new Mini 4door is weird. The new Jetta is ZZzzzzz. I've already seen a lot of them on the road; don't really get it. I think that's all. I probably forgot some stuff. I didn't take any pictures.

Cube: ouch.

FRANKLIN, Tenn., Feb. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) today reported January U.S. sales of 71,847 units versus 62,572 units a year earlier, an increase of 14.8 percent. Nissan Division sales were up 15.4 percent for the month. Sales of Infiniti vehicles rose 10.3 percent over the prior year. NISSAN HIGHLIGHTS * Nissan vehicles posted sales of 64,442 units in January compared with 55,861 units sold in January the previous year, an increase of 15.4 percent. * Sales of Nissan crossovers boosted monthly results, with sales of the Rogue marking a best-ever January, up 71.9% from the prior year at 9,423 units. The Juke continued its strong launch, with sales of 3,095 units. * Versa subcompact sales totaled 8,682 units, an increase of 46.8 percent and a record January, while Sentra sales increased by 26.9 percent to 9,538 units. * In its second month of availability, Nissan delivered 87 units of the 100-percent electric, zero-emission Nissan LEAF. "Nissan sales continue to increase, thanks in part to the success of our crossovers like the Rogue," said Al Castignetti, vice president and general manager, Nissan division. "The Rogue marked five consecutive months of year-over-year monthly records, with sales of 9,423 units. And the Juke is exceeding expectations with sales topping 3,000 units for the third consecutive month." INFINITI HIGHLIGHTS * Infiniti sales for January were 7,405 units, up 10.3 percent from the 6,711 units sold in the same month a year earlier. * Sales of the Infiniti QX56 luxury SUV rose 17.8 percent to 782 units, posting seven consecutive months of sales improvement since the new model arrived. * Sales of the Infiniti G Sedan Line rose 21.2 percent to 3,248 units, lifted by the sales success of the new G25 sports sedan. NISSAN DIVISION Jan. Jan. Monthly CYTD CYTD CYTD 2011 2010 % chg 2011 2010 % chg Nissan Division Total 64,442 55,861 15.4 64,442 55,861 15.4 Versa 8,682 5,914 46.8 8,682 5,914 46.8 Sentra 9,538 7,514 26.9 9,538 7,514 26.9 Cube 1,661 2,161 -23.1 1,661 2,161 -23.1 Altima 16,454 18,636 -11.7 16,454 18,636 -11.7 Maxima 3,149 4,016 -21.6 3,149 4,016 -21.6 LEAF 87 n/a n/a 87 n/a n/a 370Z 567 673 -15.8 567 673 -15.8 GT-R 22 67 -67.2 22 67 -67.2 Total Car 40,160 38,981 3 40,160 38,981 3 Frontier 2,796 1,955 43 2,796 1,955 43 Titan 1,431 1,492 -4.1 1,431 1,492 -4.1 Xterra 1,179 1,234 -4.5 1,179 1,234 -4.5 Pathfinder 1,593 1,577 1 1,593 1,577 1 Armada 1,125 1,418 -20.7 1,125 1,418 -20.7 Juke 3,095 n/a n/a 3,095 n/a n/a Rogue 9,423 5,483 71.9 9,423 5,483 71.9 Murano 3,578 3,648 -1.9 3,578 3,648 -1.9 Quest 62 73 -15.1 62 73 -15.1 Total Truck 24,282 16,880 43.9 24,282 16,880 43.9 North American produced 46,009 43,829 5 46,009 43,829 5 Car 37,823 36,080 4.8 37,823 36,080 4.8 Truck 8,186 7,749 5.6 8,186 7,749 5.6 Import 18,433 12,032 53.2 18,433 12,032 53.2 Car 2,337 2,901 -19.4 2,337 2,901 -19.4 Truck 16,096 9,131 76.3 16,096 9,131 76.3 INFINITI DIVISION Jan. Jan. Monthly CYTD CYTD CYTD 2011 2010 % chg 2011 2010 % chg Infiniti Division Total 7,405 6,711 10.3 7,405 6,711 10.3 G Sedan 3,248 2,680 21.2 3,248 2,680 21.2 G Coupe 1,076 1,083 -0.6 1,076 1,083 -0.6 M 877 872 0.6 877 872 0.6 QX56 782 664 17.8 782 664 17.8 EX 482 566 -14.8 482 566 -14.8 FX 940 846 11.1 940 846 11.1 Total Car 5,201 4,635 12.2 5,201 4,635 12.2 Total Truck 2,204 2,076 6.2 2,204 2,076 6.2 NISSAN & INFINITI Jan. Jan. Monthly CYTD CYTD CYTD 2011 2010 % chg 2011 2010 % chg TOTAL VEHICLE 71,847 62,572 14.8 71,847 62,572 14.8 Total Car 45,361 43,616 4 45,361 43,616 4 Total Truck 26,486 18,956 39.7 26,486 18,956 39.7 Selling days 24 24 24 24

Hasn't the Malibu always been a boring sedan (this side of 1990)?

A shame, but it seems most other manufacturers do this as well for some reason.

I shudder to think what some of the recent meh cars from GM would have been like without these guys. Though it's always hard to tell with GM how much mediocre product was down to poor design or just a lack of funds.

Thanks for the writeup. Seems like a very competent car, aside from the fuel economy. That interior is so.. German. I wonder if Buick's image will really mesh with its new seriousness.

Really doesn't look that much different from the current model. However style was never really Honda's strong suit--I'm sure it will have a first rate interior and powertrain.