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Chicago Autoshow Pics... Lots of them! (100ish)

gm4life

By gm4life
in Chicago Auto Show (CAS)

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gm4life Newbie

gm4life

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Okay first off this is not John, this is his son Chris. I browse around the boards sometimes, and because myself and my mother had the experince my dad said to post here and give you all the low down.

Lets start with the Asian compaines like Toyota they pushed the Toyota Truck thing with the Tundra waaaaaaay to far and then the Nascar thing with the Cat Camry. They even had a nice looking blue eyed blonde haired model in a racing suit by the Cat-Camry. They tried to be as American as the can but it didn't work for me. I also had the displeasure of sitting in a new Camry the interior was sub-par and wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, the Lucerne's was better in my book. Also I took a quick trip through Honda and was very impressed by the Fit and its price. The Accord Coupe Concept was disapointing it had tinted windows and NO INTERIOR a true no engine showcar! (Pissed me off so everything I liked about the Fit was a wash!) DCX had the test track tho I spent maybe 10 minutes over in that area. I also spent extensive time in Chevy, Pontiac (alot... G8 afterall), Buick (Enclave and Lucerne), Cadillac, Hummer and even Saab. The displays keep getting fanicer and the Rick Wagoner approved Enclave waterfall was back to tie in with its grille. All in all the GM portion of the show was just right and really fit them, they didn't push the trucks, although they had tons of Silverados (GMT-900's) with TOTY stickers in the windshields. The new pace car edition Vette was pretty sweet, and the car that stole the show and ATTRACTED huge crowds the G8... I heard many people say, "Thats a Pontiac?!" I couldn't have been happier one brave middle-aged man went as far to say that thing is better looking than a BMW, next time I get a new car instead of a Bimmer I will look at this. Another man said "It is all M3, look at the lines..." I couldn't agree more, many, many people were very impressed and one poor man thought it was another FWD V8 powered W-Body... Wrong, he did wonder tho how it could look so good! Erica the Pontiac spokesman for the G8 announced no formal pricing I was quick to point out pricing will be about 25 or 26 for a G8 V6 and 28-30 for a GT V8 (stripped), she gave me an evil stair... Then I told her that is what I heard and if it were to replace the Grand Prix/Bonneville it would slot right in-between for price too, made sense to me and other not her. I have no offical pricing she repeated! *(She was a lil ticked I think!)* I explained to alot of people where the car was really built and that Pontiac really didn't design that much of it, but most people had never heard of Holden except for a few and really didn't care that it was already out as a Holden and Chevy in other countries. I asked Erica if it was a true Pontiac design and she obviously said yes and that it was uniquley Pontiac with the lines and bold fenders. I laughed and said the funny thing is a car very similar to this made by Holden is sold in Aussie land and the G8 has a different front end and wheels. She really didn't care to here that either. Other people who heard my pointed comment couldn't believe it, it was to discredit the car but just to credit Holden/GM/Pontiac for coming out with such a wonderful car and making good use of Gobal resources. She agreed. Erica did okay she did piss me off some... Having said that the rep for the Buick Enclave was EXCELLENT she was very pretty (not that Erica wasn't) and had a nice way about her and really spoke to you it was a sales pitch but was enchanting almost! Way to go! Funny how you can recall the lady that bothered me and the one that was good for the Enclave I can't! I also spent lots of time looking at Ford Mustangs and Camaro Concept 'Vert. Then I showed my mom the Pontiac Torrent GXP what my dad is thinking about, all in all it was a good day! I will be uploading some photos tomorrow out of 350 pics I took! So tell me what you want that is GM or American... I will give you what I can and have!

Thanks Guys for reading I know it was long!

-Chris

I hope to post here somemore.

^That was my review with a few type-o's!^

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Regalguy01 Newbie

Regalguy01

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Thanx yours were much BIGGER!

These photos are excellent! As a chicago-born and raised kid now living in the south, I miss these auto shows. You certainly took some good shots of all the vehicles I would have cared to see. Did yall see that Malibu? WOW look out pig-snout Camry!!!!! :pokeowned:
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FUTURE_OF_GM Newbie

FUTURE_OF_GM

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Random ramblings;

Most of the Cadillac wheels look gawdy and aweful. Think of how much better the STS-V would look with a bit of a suspension drop and dramatic, bold wheels that are actually worthy of the cars performance. And WHY does GM NEVER mount the 18's on the STS for shows or sales?!?!?! The car should come STANDARD with 18s!!!! The older Cadillac models are becoming WAY too dated already.

However, the new CTS and Escalade are quite possibly the most attractive Cadillacs since the 60s. GM needs to update the STS/XLR/SRX and phase out the DTS quickly!!!!

The Equinox Sport looks better in real life pics and the Ron Fellows Z06 is gorgeous!!! I think the VortecMAX Silverado, with it's ever-so-subtle styling changes looks better than the regular 1500. The Malibu is GORGEOUS, but I still think the Silverado HD looks unfinished with the chrome bumper 'caps'. And WTF is up with the 2 foot wheel to body gap??!?! I mean, I know it's a HD truck and all, but damn! I'm not sure which I like better overall, the HD or the Super Duty Ford. It looks mighty impressive.

The Camaro is gorgeous and I'm almost certain that it'll be my first new car purchase since Pontiac went tepid with the G8. The Volt has it's own beauty and draw, I definitely think GM should fast track it, or something like it to production! However, I still think the Z71 trucks are missing something.... They're just not distinct enough, especially in the face of the imports launching their own "off road" packages.

Has Ford even sold any GT500s???? The publicity hasn't been that big and I have yet to see even one in a dealer showroom around here. (I'm not asking the question of IF there is demand, rather, has production been slowed or halted or delayed for some reason) the Focus looks pretty classy in that pic. I think it'll either be a surprise success or a HUGE failure. I don't think there will be any middle ground with this design in the RETAIL area. The Interceptor is just straight bad ass and needs to be rushed to production IMO.

Solstice GXP is another car that I haven't heard much PR on, especially compared to the launch of the car. I wonder how well it is selling. Our dealership has on and it's gorgeous! I'd look in to buying it if I could fit in the damn thing. The Torrent GXP is too subtle and shouldn't even be called GXP. Pontiac seems to be very schizo with their new offerings, with the off the wall G6 GXP contrasting with the tepid to lame Torrent GXP and the "conservative" G8 contrasting with the BEAUTIFUL Solstice.

You know, I could REALLY fall in love with the G8 if it had a few subtle changes.... For instance, these wheels would have to be standard or optional. I have a feeling that the absence of the wheels will make the design A LOT less desireable. I'd also love to have the arrow head brake calipers. Pontiac painted the calipers on the Comp G GP, so why not on the G8? Up front, I'd LOVE to have a more aggressive headlight design, the untis from Holden are just too generic (90s) looking. And in addition to that, the lower air intakes could be more aggressive, maybe more "cut" at the point of the nose and the less flared at the ends (where the foglights are) Overall, they need to be more flat and more dramatic.

That said, I'm sure the car will find PLENTY of happy owners and maybe it'll grow on me. It certainly is attractive, just not for me. (Yet :))

The G6 GXP Street is a joke.... The stance SUCKS, the wheels are EVEN MORE HORRIBLE and probably the tackiest design GM has even created and the powerplant, or lack there of, is a disgrace. If the G8 has taken Pontiac 3 steps forward to becoming performance division once again, then the G6 and Torrent GXPs have taken it 2 steps back. They shouldn't be called GXP in the first place and the gawdy tack ons shouldn't even have made it past SEMA.

Toyota will destroy GM and Ford if they have even half the chance.... I hope everyone can comprehend that. They will advance themselves at the expense of these two companies, ESPECIALLY while our companies are weak. GM will probably survive for the short term... Ford, I'm not so sure about. They never fully recovered from the anti-Ford media blitz perpetuted by the exploding Firestones. And now they, unlike GM, seem to still be in the crosshairs of media hellbent on shredding Detroit.

P.S. Those are EXCELLENT pictures! 3x better than any of the rags and 10x better than GM media photos.

Edited by FUTURE_OF_GM
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the_yellow_dart Newbie

the_yellow_dart

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However, the new CTS and Escalade are quite possibly the most attractive Cadillacs since the 60s. GM needs to update the STS/XLR/SRX and phase out the DTS quickly!!!!

I'm glad to hear somebody say that. As much as I want GM to succeed with the new CTS, Escalade and also the Malibu - I'm just not feeling the designs. In fact, I like the previous CTS and Escalade better, and I'd have to say even the awful new Sebring is better than that Malibu. Yeck. I don't know what people are praising, but I'm glad somebody gets it...

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