Eric77TA

They don't sell a 4-cylinder BMW in the U.S. anymore - all current U.S. 3 series have at least a 3 liter 6 regardless of model.

They won't be 'collectable' but I bet Buick would give anything to have sales even close to what those cars were selling. I can't find any 1986 Buick sales numbers, but I know that the dealership my dad worked at was selling 3 or 4 times more cars in a given month in 1986 as they were in the late 90s and early 2000s. The franchise was sold to the Cadillac/Pontiac dealer down the street a couple of years ago.

Exactly, it just gives them a chance to advertise with a "starting at only 1X,XXX" price that's a grand less than most of them will actually cost.

I'm guessing facelifted G6. It's probably due for an update soon. Aura is brand new and Malibu will be reskinned for 08.

That's what they say in the article: "The latest images that have appeared show a couple of views of the new car with all the striped mylar photoshopped away to give us a clean look at the first vehicle built on General Motor's Epsilon II platform. "

Actually, I think that the Optra5 is our Suzuki Reno. The Optra Wagon is our Suzuki Forenza wagon. They're all essentially the same underneath. Under the new 2008 EPA estimates the Reno gets 19 MPG city, though. Doesn't sound like the mileage he's looking for: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calculatorC...=1&id=23209 and I would say it's outright poor for a car that size. My wife and I had a 2005 Vibe up until last month (lease was up and we bought a Saturn Vue hybrid - probably would have considered another Vibe if they weren't IDENTICAL for 2007) and it was an extremely useful and reliable car. It was not fast, but I thought it was fun to drive in the right situations and I would not hesitate to recommend it for someone looking for a practical wagon that gets good mileage. It averaged about 26 MPG for us in real world mixed driving which is right around what the "new" 2008 EPA ratings are. I want the turbo diesel Astra, darn it! But I know we won't get it.

Absoltuely beautiful. I would put the (IMO) better looking stock wheels back on, though. Looking at that car just reminds me how boring looking cars are now. My dad sold Buicks from 1970-1987 (and then again from 1994-2005) so I spent a whole lot of time in these cars growing up. I can't remember a time that the brand was in as dire straights as there in now. Hopefully things will start to turn around.

I'm guessing yes: "In addition, the Pentastar will get a redesign to update its look."

Very true. I had a 1989 Plymouth Sundance with an interior identical to the Shadow shown (though mine was a manual) and it actually had higher material quality than most cars on the market now.

Thanks, Chris. Do you think that Dsuupr is on the nose, then? Think that the Deltas and Vibe could show up at Chicago, maybe?

I see it gets the big ol' sunroof from the G6. I assume that there will be a smaller "normal" roof offered as on the G6 as well?

Hey, Chris...what about the HHR SS (Sport?), Cobalt refresh, or 2008 Vibe?

Wagons are grea, but none of them today have enough seats. I would give anything to have the modern equivelant of my mom's good old Century Estate Wagon with seating for 6 (Chevy, how about a Malibu wagon, real wagon?). Problem with today's wagons is that if you have two kids, you can't take anyone else but the family along. The Lambdas have the seating, but I'm assuming that the middle seat has to be split/hinged forward to access the rearmost seat - which means you can't put a carseat in that position - which results in having to put the carseats in the third row and climbing back there with two kids each time you want to go somewhere. With a minivan with sliding doors, you can have kids in car seats in the middle (and not have to crawl or crouch to get them there) and still have an occasional 3rd row to take other folks along.

It's actually only 86 horses difference - so it's more of a gap than in the Accord - 78 horses difference between 4 and 6, but Altima has a 95 horse difference and Camry has 110 so it's not a gigantic gap for the segment.

Rear drive would be nice, but I don't think you're ever going to see a body on frame car again. The only body on frame car platform on the market is Panther, isn't it?

Maybe too bland in this case. The rumor is that the U.S. launch of the Corolla was delayed until the 2008 MY after Toyota saw the new Civic, so they're doing a last minute facelift for the U.S. version.

I've heard rumors Chevy will end up getting a Lambda when Trailblazer is discontinued and the Acadia will eventually completely supersede the Envoy.

I would wager that the majority of cars ever made with the SS badge can't break 6 seconds 0-60. The 1983-87 Monte Carlo SS, 94-96 Impala SS, and 454 SS truck, revered and respected SS models aren't that fast nor were the six cylinder Nova SS and base V8 SS cars across the model lines from 1964-74. I think when it comes down to it, it's really the holes in the block and the drive wheels enthusiasts get bent up about. Slow, V8, RWD SS OK, fast FWD 4 or 6 cylinder SS bad.

As a comic book collector AND a Pontiac enthusiast, I'm definitely picking up the first issue, but my guess is it won't be especially collectible and the series itself won't last that long. Nonetheless, I applaud Pontiac for trying something innovative. They've been running Solstice ads on the back covers or inside back covers of the majority of DC comics being published for the last several months.

It is quite frustrating, but from what I understand the EPA does very little of the actual testing. Most of it is conducted by the manufacturers to the EPA procedure and then the certified results are submitted to the EPA.

And an incorrect stereotypical rant as well. From the demographics I remember there were years where 4th gen sales ran nearly 40 percent female for base Camaro coupe and 30 percent female for Z28. No, it's not the 56 percent female buyership that V6 Mustangs have, but they can keep that distinction, IMO. This guy makes it sound like no woman ever bought a Camaro. I see women driving them all the time! And as far as GTO, it doesn't meet 2007 MY airbag standards. That and the end of Monaro production are the main reasons why it is going away. it was a rebadge of a car with already amortized tooling and helped the plant run at full capacity. Like many others have said, it did what it was supposed to do. However, I do think if it had come out in 2004 with the hood scoops and 2005 rear end and dealers had sold them at sticker, it could have met the 18,000 number.

Man, with that trap speed I would think you'd be running the quarter in single digits!

I should have had the LX470 on my list, but intentionally didn't include the RAV4, since it gets pretty decent mileage. Rather than trying to name all the Toyota SUVs my point was that Toyota's big SUVs get poor gas mileage, too. But these somehow disappear whenever there is an article in the media about Toyota's "fuel efficient" cars.

I'm with you. I don't see why "mock-up" is unbelievable. This interior looks much more production intent than the concept car does. Yes, it uses many parts bin pieces - which I'm sure saves not only time, but huge amounts of money (it's done in production all the time, afterall), but why go to the trouble of making the shifter in the console mimic the showcar shifter, redoing the layout of the door panels, making a more production looking dash, but keeping the dual pod layout and console gauges, if you weren't trying to at least reflect what the real car's interior is going to look like? If they didn't care, and this car is built on a GTO (though Settlemire never said that) why not just use the GTO interior, maybe change the steering wheel and call it a day. Seems to me that at the very least that this is a very good indicator of what the production interior will be like - if not identical down to every detail.

Yeah, I don't get this at all. Every time someone talks about GMs "Poor fuel efficiency" and holds Toyota out as an example they never point out the fact Toyota makes the Sequoia (15 MPG), Land Cruiser (13 MPG), GX470 (15 MPG), and 4Runner (16 MPG). And the Highlander (non Hybrid), RX330 and FJ Cruiser all get under 20 - not spectacular, really. And that doesn't even include the trucks - especially not the new, bigger Tundra that's coming. And you know what? Even If Toyota WERE to buy GM, I think they'd still build the GMT900s.