rimtrim

I don't think this has been mentioned yet: http://eogld.ecomm.gm.com/NASApp/domestic/...mp;divisionID=3 Click "Print Book" and select Malibu (nothing will print out, it just opens a PDF file). This guide clears up a few questions that have been bouncing around. The 3.5L V6 is available, but only for fleet cars. -Andrew L

I know a guy who works at a Toyota dealership. He tells me that the Corolla, Yaris, Camry and Scions are flying off the lots, retail. The slow movers are the SUVs (except RAV4) and the Sienna. That's pretty much what the sales numbers show. I'd say the Corolla and Yaris sales are all about MPG. -Andrew L

Although some other brands have used the basic idea of making the wheel cover slots align with the slots in the wheel, GM is indeed the first to use an entirely new type of wheel to make this more convincing. They are called Kuhl wheels. I have always preferred steel wheels for durability reasons, and it seems like a no-brainer that these should be widely used on passenger cars. Alloys are good for high-performance vehicles where every ounce counts, but on a family sedan or minivan, they are a bit silly. -Andrew L

http://eogld.ecomm.gm.com/dmdindex.htm Select 2007, select make and model, click "Print Book". Nothing will actually print. The guide will open as a PDF file. -Andrew L

Apologies if this is a repost...GM recently released some '07 ordering guides (see http://eogld.ecomm.gm.com/dmdindex.htm) and I noticed that the CSVs all have the 3.9L V6 standard for '07. The 3.5 is no longer available. They are also dropping the Montana SV6, so there are only 3 CSVs for '07. '07 Aveo guide is out too...and the GMT900 SUVs, but I think those have been up for awhile now. -Andrew L

I do wonder about the Saturn Ion news. GM has already announced that the Ion line at Spring Hill will shut down at the end of calendar 2006. That means, at most, a short 2007 model year run, or maybe no 2007 model at all. I doubt it would even be possible, let alone make financial sense, for GM to move production of the existing plastic Ion to Lordstown (Cobalt). So, what does this mean? Saturn has NO compact car for an undefined period of time after 12/06? That seems like a good way to destroy the brand. -Andrew L

I find this one the most interesting. They will have to replace the LaCrosse with something, unless they are going to can Buick altogether. Rumors before were that new RWD cars would come out of Oshawa #2 after the W-cars are done. I guess not. If the LaCrosse replacement is a FWD on Epsilon instead, where would it be built? Isn't the existing Epsilon plant (Fairfax) already at capacity? -Andrew L

I believe Toyota's fleet percentage is about 6-8% of overall sales, while GM's is about 20-25%. I'm fairly certain I read that in Automotive News but I wouldn't bet my life on it. -Andrew L

$30/wheel is very cheap for repairing alloys. The scratches must have been very minor. What I worry about more (here in the NE USA) is alloys getting bent or cracked by potholes. I just bought a 1990 Buick Electra Estate Wagon that came with factory alloys...next time I go to the junkyard, I'm going to pick up a set of factory steelies and send these alloys off to be made into beer cans :P Durability is very important to me, and I just don't trust alloys on poorly-maintained roads. -Andrew L

I would like to see a stainless steel wheel cover used with these wheels. That would look beautiful, IMO. I always liked the brushed stainless wheel covers of the '80s better than either alloys or plastic painted wheel covers. -Andrew L

I'm not that familiar with franchise practices...but do you mean that these dealers are being bought out and closed down? It seems like, if this were happening on a large scale, Automotive News would have written something about it by now. They usually cover a lot of dealership-related stuff. And it doesn't make sense to me that the brand would be shrinking its dealer base while sales are on the increase. I could see Mitsu, Isuzu or VW shutting down some underperforming dealers, because their sales have declined significantly over the past few years and they may just have too many dealers. But Suzuki never had many dealers in the first place. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. -Andrew L

Doesn't anybody care about the issue of build quality? It seems like the choice here is either, have parts made by angry UAW workers making $9 an hour, or fire them all and have parts made by people who have never done manufacturing work before and took the job because the pay was $1 higher than they used to make at Wal-Mart. That doesn't bode well for the quality of future GM cars and parts, IMO. There seems to be a perception that the labor you get for $30/hr is really exactly the same as the labor you get for $9/hr, only more expensive. -Andrew L

I just did some major brake work on my '86 Pontiac Parisienne -- new calipers, new stainless steel lines, new flex hoses, new proportioning valve and new wheel cylinders. The problem is that I can't get the brakes to bleed properly. I am not getting significant amounts of air out of any of the bleeder valves at the wheels anymore (I got lots of air at first as expected, then clear fluid), but when the car is running, the pedal is mushy and the BRAKE light flickers. The booster motor cycles at every brake apply, when it is supposed to cycle every 3-5 applies. These are the electrically boosted brakes with the big booster motor that sits below the master cylider -- not a regular vacuum boost system. I believe they were used on 1986-87 GM wagons and Buick Regal Grand National/GNX/T-Type. Is anybody intimately familiar with these brakes? Is there a secret trick to bleeding them? I am starting to suspect that the accumulator has failed, but it was fine before... -Andrew L