caddycruiser

Sounds good :AH-HA_wink:

It's had a 6-speed automatic since the 2nd model year of the current style, with paddle shifters--and this is the popular choice for obvious reasons. The LS3 is also apparently 6.2L, just like the current Escalade/Denali truck engine. Beyond that, looks like nice little changes to keep it fresh, including updates to the blah interior. Then again, you just can't beat the combination of style, performance, and price...not to mention also being an extremely fuel efficient one at that. Anyone want a 30 mpg highway cruiser that will hang with the best of them? Here you go...in the most unexpected of packages, to a lot of people.

Had a very similar reaction to my test drive in a new '07 Yukon SLT 4wd that was fully decked out, coming from both an '02 Avalanche and now an '04 Suburban. The new truck just felt SO much more solid and substantial, both in material quality and just the way it felt on the road. Steering was MUCH better, and the brakes were no longer miserable as so many of the GMT-800's were known for, and I was just as comfortable in the seat as in the sublime '99-06 seats, but still did miss having the individual armrests and not just the console lid. Power wise it felt more refined, and not as twitchy or jumpy, and shifted better as well, but overall felt about the same all around--i.e., strong at most speeds, but yes, a kind of dead spot right around the usual cruising range largely due to that wide gapped 4-spd. Ride wise also felt exactly as firm as the older trucks, but not as skittish or bouncy at times, and overall more settled over a large range of undulating and broken pavement that would have the old style buzzing a bit. My exact words to describe it to my father on the phone later that day was "take mom's '04 Suburban, make the fit & finish 10x better, make everything feel and sound more substantial, add extra insulation and finally change the brakes and steering to be linear and solid like a great car, and that's what it was like." Still, not perfect, but an incredible improvement over the last gen trucks that, although terrible in regards to general fit & finish and interior materials, were some of the best in terms of refinement, comfort, and general classy looks. Get the 6-spd in there NOW, even bump the power up a bit more--the 5.3L's number is nice, but it still can be a bit weak in the larger models when loaded--or just expand the 6.0L availability, and keep the colors and options fresh, and it'll continue to do well.

Hey, I very well might be. We live minutes from Rehoboth, I work there, and that's where we're always at--OC not so much, but it's just a hop, skip and a cruise down Route 1 along the ocean. May just HAVE to come, to give the Fleetwood a nice cruise and show off since I'll finally be back down from PA for the summer by then

I think I would have used something other than "ugly", but regardless, cool ad and VERY fitting of the vehicle and market.

So true...haha

Great! I really hope this comes back, and they schedule others in coming months.

Haha, and probably true! I've really been wondering a lot lately about the morale of everyone there. Hearing everyday about the new person wanting to buy the company is one thing, and potentially scary, but when you clearly are just putting out product after product lacking in major ways and getting blasted for it...that has to hit you sometime. Was this the new Dodge crossover? Seemed intriguing, at least if it were to end up at all worthwhile...

Really b-l-a-h, at least from that one bad view. I'll wait to see more before a full judgement, keeping in mind that Buick should be distinct and eye-catching luxury...

Agreed, it seemed to get a bit bloated and too soft, and as was said for the first few years--had a very "Buick" butt and such to it. Of course, that was changed, but even then looked a tad awkward. This, styling alone, is a nice improvement, and you can only wait on the interior and drivetrain details, which are always class topping--as prematurely biased as that sounds.

Exactly. Seems dumb, and it kind of is, but they like to make slight changes in shading or tint alone sometimes, hence giving it a new name for significance. At least nothing went away here in that regard, just got little feather revisions.

I really like it. Tight, trim, sharply sculpted and modern, all while still riding a generally conservative line--exactly what sells. Perfect timing too, as the current car still has the best driving dynamics and finish overall, but is looking old and was never much of a looker. Combined with even better dynamics and performance, and it should do very well. Really want to see some new Accord-Camry-Altima-Malibu-Sebring-Optima-Sonata-etc. huge comparisons again, before long.

Yes, it certainly did, which will only make what happens with the Enclave that much more interesting--particularly with people trading Acura's and Lexus's in on Acadia's and Outlook's already right now. There's a very small number of people who prefer the Rendezvous, whether for size or whatever reason, but they're few and far between, so once the Enclave hits, it'll sell itself from a variety of angles.

Actually, the Outlook is doing VERY well, but with the increased number of sales because of vehicles like it and also the Aura and Sky, people are now bringing up the relative lack of Saturn dealers in general that they can go to. There's still a lot of them in some places, but it just doesn't compare to, say, the typical Chevy dealer in others. So, with this new popularity, I'm wondering how many more new Saturn places will be popping up. They don't need to hit overload, as the need for some exclusivity can actually be a great thing, but just enough so more people have greater ease in finding, buying, and servicing an exciting new Saturn.

Wonderful...now just if this was happening a year from now, when I was in my senior year as an ME major and not a junior. From the development of things, though, I hope the job market for auto loving engineers as myself continues to grow back up again.

The window and pillar are fine, it's just nitpicking. At least, for once, they're getting overall body proportions right in conjunction with lines and details that are very interesting. Right now, a lot of people who don't like it DO like the Acadia/Outlook, so that's great, and shows differentiation at its best. Still not a perfect vehicle, but based on the success of the Acadia/Outlook so far, and their raves, add a distinct new luxury look and feel and an even better features list, and this should do extremely well. Imagine, alone, how many people will ditch their gawky Rendezvous and move up from Buick sedans--the latter especially of those who didn't like the Rendezvous or Rainier--and the increased number of import drivers who will switch. Should be a great thing. Now we just have the Chevy to wonder about...and cross our fingers it really does NOT end up as just an Acadia/Outlook with new trim and a fascia, just for the sake of rushing it out.

Doy! And I can't believe I'm so dense as to not catch that twice! So, yes, I do agree on blacking out the C pillar. As is, it's not objectionable at all, but that photoshop shows it positively if it were done--and it probably sticks out more on the lighter colors.

Well, the simple issue is fuel economy, and in the midst of engineering development, they realized they weren't hitting high enough goals on that extent. All the better, even if it does delay a great stretch of cars, because one key factor with any new vehicle IS fuel economy, and having the most stunning and wonderful to drive vehicle that guzzles gas is not a good idea. So, hopefully with the delay, they'll be able to resort some things and ideas, and get a better handle on meeting some really respectable fuel economy stats. We'll see. But in the meantime, at least the Camaro and G8 skipped out under the door early, and will just have to be dealt with in this regard as time goes on.

It definitely seems like GM is trying their best to keep a roll on continual little upgrades and fixes--they said as much, not long ago--but as always, problems are problems and some should have been gone before the first were produced. The top on the Kappas has always been a bit iffy, but as GMTruckGuy said, apparently has seen some upgrades, and the differential...well, GM has had issues with that for years, and still can't seem to straighten it out. CTS's with the same rear have been having them fail in various ways since intro, and it's still happening on '07s, not to mention present here on the Kappas. That alone is one big issue that should have been fixed years ago, but still doesn't seem to have been much at all. IRS rear diffs just don't seem to be their strong suit, for whatever reason. Still, they are keeping a very close eye on all the Kappas for sure, and are making little changes here and there continually and not just at model year switchovers, so that's good. Just is a bit questionable why certain things really weren't 100% ironed out earlier. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, because most Solstice and Sky owners are infatuated with their cars, as is even most media--they'd just be that much better with another couple of months of development. To this extent, I wonder if anyone here also might have a more up to date list of what they've been playing with as of late--anything in particular? Should be some more significant things for '08 then, too.

That's fine to say, and a valid point, but when you are begging people to buy them, there's only so much to the "being different because" idea. At first look, I actually REALLY like the new look, as it keeps the same overall smooth and sculpted aura to it and pleasant size, plus the cool interior and Subie refinement, but now doesn't have the gangly design details like the clumsy--if unique--nose and hideous wheels. I just find it very attractive now, in a mainstream way, and the engine updates--the other thing it REALLY needed for both power and economy issues--plus other refinements are all a nice refresher. Not to say they won't loose a few sales for people who liked the uniqueness before, but you can't bank on 3 people...and now it will hopefully attract a lot more and be advertised too.

Like I said in the pictures thread, all very cool, and they actually shocked me at first for how cool and young the styling came off. The same kind of aura as Scion, but somehow more expressive and even exciting. At least one or two would fit terrificly with the cool value status of Chevy, and bring in even more first time and younger--not to mention even older like Scion has--buyers, and even turn them away from Scion. I'm usually not a huge fan of minicars, so that's saying a lot from me.

Whoa! They all actually look very cool and definitely highly styled--in a great way. Reminds me of Scion, for sure, and I really think they need to go into production, at least one or two of them, that is. The Trax is a little gangly, but maybe the other two. Either way, it could be a great way to expand Chevy and they're really fitting of Chevy being the cool, value brand of GM.

Yep, NYC in particular has a pretty big fleet of the first gen, and now a few of the new '08s are popping up. And according to an article that came out months ago, not only did the cabbies enjoy the fuel sipping and being able to coast around in electric mode a lot, but given the demanding and high mileage route, they found out after about 50k+ miles on some of them, they were virtually problem free aside from a water pump issue on some earlier ones and even that helped Ford see a problem they didn't, and is now fixed. Otherwise, I myself have been wondering about the Siennas, because there is a TON of those. Granted, they're well built and refined too, but don't really have the persona of being tough and hearty beasts, yet they seem to be holding up. With the struts and FWD and all, likely more expensive to fix than an old Crown Vic, but probably nicer to drive. As for the Uplander, I can appreciate the effort to get special disability equipped models out there for those who need them, but hopefully it stays just to that--they have enough issues in general owner use, or at least used to, let alone in standing up to day in and day out taxi rigors.

Very much agreed, and driving something that's like a fridge makes me crazy. That said, I've been in and driven several different 3.8L cars over the years, and actually very much like that characteristic slight to moderate growl, that's just it's nature because of the pushrod and old design. It's fun, and helps the torquey character, but is still extremely smooth and in most cases VERY refined and even mellow sounding. What I, at least, was referring to in the Lucerne--which yes, is a very well insulated and silent car overall indeed--was that, the same stump pulling character was there, but from a stop, the first few seconds were the sound like there was a hole in the exhaust and/or no firewall insulation. It just struck me as odd, because even almost semi floored in an Intrigue and a few older LeSabres, I never felt and heard the same gritty growl--they just sounded very smooth and were more of a purr. Still, not bad, but just really seemed odd to me, and especially now that others have mentioned something similar. Not that I didn't get used to it after 10 minutes, and actually enjoy it a bit, but just how it would be a gutteral rumble for the first few seconds then immediately mellow to almost nothing was strange. The first time I took off I thought something might have been wrong or that it had just been sitting for too long, but it stayed the same for my total 45 minutes of driving. So I'm not really sure what it is, or if it really is just a hit and miss issue that some notice, but it's worth mentioning at least out of curiosity.

Well, I know people like to disagree, but out of all the magazines, they usually know what they're talking about most and have an eye for picking what really is the best in a crowd--you just can't get stuffy when you're favorite doesn't win and say they were paid off, etc. That's just dumb. So I can't wait to get home tomorrow and read this comparo Pretty much, but that isn't a bad thing, as it's always the appearance and feel that are key, and using real leather to wrap the dashboards of a mass market vehicle...well, that just isn't done, and would be one hell of a supplier and cost issue, that's for sure. Plus, the vinyl not only looks and feels 95% the same, but can be made to stand up to the heat and such a dashboard takes, better.