nightwave

Is it bad my first thought was "Sand Boils; hmm, I wonder if that's what Sand People get from walking too much." Seriously, though, the flooding has been interesting to me, simply because I live in Evansville, IN. For those who haven't heard of it (and you'll be forgiven ) it's as far south as you can go in Indiana and still stay within the state; we're right on the Ohio. With all the water we've gotten, it wouldn't take anything severe of a 'quake to make life interesting. Hadn't thought about that until now.

Should the Corvette be "stripped" and offered for the kids? Yes and no. Let me explain. No, there should never be a spartan car with the "Corvette" name on it that sells for $20k-$30k. That may be what the Corvette was, but that's not what it is anymore. Doing that would effectively throw away everything Chevy & GM have developed with its image. Besides, if everyone can afford one, then it loses its magic. Once you make it "un-special," and put one in the hands of everyone who wants one, it becomes meaningless. The Corvette is there for people to aspire to own; it's not for everyone. The car is fine as-is. Once the new model comes out, everyone will forget all this "doom and gloom" BS and go back to talking about how awesome it is and how they want one. Now, should there be a lower-priced "Mini-Vette" for more of the masses? Yes. It would, however be rather expensive to re-use Kappa, even if they did own the tooling and the factory (assuming my understanding that Kappa was under-priced with the Solstice and Sky). They do, however, have a sports car platform and factory combination that could possibly accept more volume: The Vette/Bowling Green combination. While I'm not an engineer, I've always wondered how much cost you could take out of the Corvette without losing too much of the sporty nature of the car. Is there enough that you could have a "Y-Plus" chassis for the Corvette, and a "Y-Minus" chassis that would underpin a mid-$20k two-seater (call it Monza)? This would give not only the lower-priced model that everyone wants, it would save the name and the history of the actual Corvette. It would also have the side benefit of making sure that Bowling Green would have more volume for the factory. To continue rambling, I could see a Monza as a V6-only car, with about 300ish HP. Keep the option packages simple; this should be a low-frills car. Make it a traditional body (steel, aluminum) rather than fiberglass. Offer it in fixed-roof and true soft-top, or maybe just soft-top only. At the most, give it some minor Vette cues here and there; just enough to sell the "little brother" look. Make sure you put a new Corvette in the ads with the Monza, saying "Hey, you can't afford the big one, but this is just as much bang for the buck, but less bucks!" This is GM's solution to the non-existent problem. But this may just be me.

Not a bad car; more interesting visually than the outgoing, thanks to the side scoop and the faster roofline. SRT-8 actually looks quite interesting with the new grill (took me a couple looks to figure out exactly what was going on with the crossbar). All-in-all, I'd say it's a pretty solid entry.

On my '06 you hold the "Unlock" on the door locks for a couple seconds. Hate to sound like an @$$, but have you tried that?

+1. Like that line a lot.

Also, it's (relatively) easy to get more power out of a supercharged engine; just crank up the boost. So, should BMW's power jump in a year or two, they'd be able to turn up the power quickly. At least that's my view on it.

Yeah, the fender flares give it away. The headlights look interesting, though.

How on God's Green Earth are you supposed to fit in one? Is that why they make the convertable; so real people can actually ride in one?

Much, much, much better than the S-Type, which has got to be one of the ugliest cars on the road.

If it's loaded at $27k, I'd actually expect around $21-$22 for it with nothing. I'm seeing an Aveo with a battery pack and a better motor/aero for the hybrid. Don't know how accurate that is.

Just my guess, but could the cars being photographed be powertrain mules? Or, could they be "electronics mules," cars built to test new nav/traction control/powertrain software?

Oh, don't forget, that expanding Buick would have solved many problems! After all, Buick has got to be a goldmine. I mean, if they're selling so well in Michigan, they should be everywhere, shouldn't they? [/sarcasm]

Truth hurts, don't it Jimbo.

+1 That would be quite amusing. I'd pay to see it.

I actually think the TV spot is quite cool. Love the music for it.

Yeah, they'll clamor for it now, but mark my words; as soon as it gets here, they'll call it "bland," "telephone company car," and "anonymous." Just like what happened last time.

They've got the "8 plants, too" billboard on my way home from work; I've been meaning to take a picture of it. I'll see if I can get up early enough one day if anyone still wants a picture of it (I work 2nd shift). I think they've got one here because the Toyota plant in Princeton is about an hour up US41. A buddy of mine saw it first and thought it was amusing. I think it's something they've been needing to do for a while.

This isn't the 60s where we had 50% of the market. As much as I'd like to see a big Pontaic again, I don't think we will for a long time.

I think Rick has publically laid out his goal: "I will turn GM around and lead us away from bankrupcy" I think the consequence of not succeeding at that is far greater than quitting. Imagine being known for the rest of your life as the guy who destroyed an American Icon. That's enough to keep me from sleeping at night.

So you've magically learned engineering and Harvard business in your off time? Wow, you sure are talented. Maybe this guy really is the one to save GM!! Oh, wait...that was just the crack talking. "How can you tell when a salesman's lying?" "His lips (or in this case fingers) are moving."

Dang. That's the first Saturn I'd actually run down to the dealership and sign a loan for. If the next VUE looks like that, they should have no problem selling.

My understanding was not engineers, but desk jockeys. I could be wrong, though.

I'm astoinished he hasn't yet mentioned his Plan, and how he should be CEO.

Doesn't the HHR have optional AWD? I thought I read somewhere that it did.

I don't believe the little black "Faux Vents" on the hood of the LT1 Camaros worked. I'm not sure, but I think they're just there for looks. I believe the LT1 Firebird had something similar on it, too; reverse facing on the 6ers and Formulas?