Cheers and Jeers for 2012

[bobo]

As a presidential election year, 2012 was marked by wall-to-wall news coverage of the primary and general elections. On Election Day, the only people who believed that Mitt Romney, taken from a cast of unelectable Republican candidates, was going to win the presidency over Barack Obama was the Romney campaign and Fox News viewers. Mass shootings, at a Batman screening in Aurora, Colorado, in July and then the unfathomable massacre of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December shook our sensibilities and sense of security. The war in Afghanistan, America’s second longest war next to Vietnam, persisted with a planned pullout scheduled in 2014. Superstorm Sandy pounded the East Coast, once again putting climate change in the news. The end of the world did not come as believed by some who misinterpreted the Mayan calendar.

Other newsworthy items were Apple Maps being a disaster, Psy's Gangnam Style hitting a billion Youtube views, Linsanity sweeping the NBA with Jeremy Lin, Obamacare found to be constitutional by a split Supreme Court, the Facebook IPO being a dud, Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France titles, and Twinkies going out of production as Hostess Brands was shut down after a labor dispute. Notable passings included Whitney Houston, Larry Hagman, Neil Armstrong, Mike Wallace, and Dick Clark.

In the automotive world, it was a year of continued recovery for most automakers, though the American arm of Suzuki declared bankruptcy and decided to call it quits. GM dumped marketing chief Joel Ewanick, supposedly over an unauthorized $559 million marketing agreement with Manchester United. Automotive legend Carroll Shelby passed on in May. Honda did a crash redesign to the Civic sedan after brutal reviews and just one model year. GM previewed the all-important new full-size pickups to mixed reviews. Toyota overtook GM in worldwide sales in the third quarter.

And now, time for the Eleventh Annual Edition of Cheers and Jeers. It was a fairly quiet year on the boards. Old arguments about RWD vs. FWD, hardtops, and pushrods vs. DOHC have largely been replaced by lively discussions of alternative propulsion, the appropriateness of classifying four-door coupes as such, and the latest government-mandated nanny device. What hadn’t changed were continued vehicular angst by black-knight and Camino LS6’s adventures in his work and hobby vehicles. Design concepts and photoshops have largely disappeared, hence there will be no acknowledgements, other than to say thanks to MRDETROITMETAL for his occasional “art car” submission. And without further ado, here it goes:

Cheers to GM for Best Retort in their forceful rebuke to the Mitt Romney campaign over their dishonest ad about shipping 15,000 jobs to China: "We've clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days. No amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country," GM spokesman Greg Martin said. Chrysler similarly responded to dishonest ads implying Jeep manufacturing jobs would be sent to China.

Cheers to Cadillac for Best New Car Introduction in the world-class ATS, the most competitive challenger yet to the BMW 3-Series, though BMW is still in the process of introducing the 3 and 4-Series variants, and a new Lexus IS and Infiniti Q50 to replace the G37 are just around the corner. This bodes well for the new CTS and upcoming flagship and shows that vehicles only like the current SRX and new XTS are not necessarily representative of what’s to come.

Jeers to Chevrolet for Worst New Car Introduction in the lackluster Malibu. It’s not that the Malibu is the worst car around, it’s just woefully outmatched in the competitive family sedan segment despite being a fairly good drive. It has an inexcusably tight rear seat, especially compared to its elegantly styled predecessor, which needed only a refreshing and some refinement to remain competitive. Supposedly Chevy will steer buyers to the new Impala, but why even bother with the Malibu when the Cruz provides a great driving experience for those who don’t need a roomy back seat.

Cheers to Cubical-aka-Moltar for the Best Mea Culpa in declaring that a front-wheel-drive Cadillac is not the worst thing in the world after driving a DTS. “I drove it for about an hour tonight around town and on the freeway, it drives great..very smooth and quiet. I guess I will have to take back all the mean things I've said about FWD Caddies.”

http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/78907-new-car-in-the-drivewaycadillac-style/page__hl__cadillac

Cheers to regfootball for the Best Thread, “New GM CEO: Mitt Romney” for its sheer entertainment value, though reg was sincere in the premise. Opening post: “Here's my proposition. Give Mitt a few weeks off to get some R&R. Ditch Dan the man, and bring in Mitt. He might be what they need.” Best Reply by Dodgefan: “This post deserves the Turd of Shame achievement. Congratulations.”

http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/80427-new-gm-ceo-mitt-romney/page__hl__romney__st__20

Jeers to the Worst Poster/Troll of the Year, Observing and Reporting, in a thread about Spyker suing GM. Excerpt: “It would have been very nice if GM in its entirety had been allowed to die. In reality, this suit seems reasonable. GM is focusing only on the Chinese market at this time as this is where their profits are being made. Their American cars, with the exception of a few buicks that are Opel clones, are junk. The Volt is a joke that is being propped up by government purchases and loss-leading leases.” http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/79640-saab-news-not-this-again-spyker-sues-gm-over-saab-sale/#entry705952

Jeers to Hyundai for the Worst Dishonesty in having inflated EPA fuel economy ratings to show a fleet full of vehicles achieving 40 mph on the highway. Ford is also in hot water because of the 47 mpg claims for their new hybrids. This issue brought attention to the fact that automakers certify their own mileage claims.

http://www.cheersand...pensate-onwers/

Cheers to Mudmonster and Oldsmoboi for Best Forum Feature with their Interactive Reviews. They are truly fair and balanced and well-written. Someone needs to teach Mudmonster how to drive a stick. Honorable mention to NINETY EIGHT REGENCY for posting old commercials, feature segments, and other retrospectives on vehicles from the good old days and bad old days as well.

And finally, Cheers to all the loyal Cheers and Gears members who continue to contribute to the forums, from dfelt, in his oversized stature and promotion of alternative fuels, to GMTruckGuy74 for his unmatched loyalty to his favorite brand, to dwightlooi for his expertise in automotive and mechanical engineering, to A Horse With No Name for being firmly grounded in reality, to the insufferable CSpec for his posts on the free market no matter how right or wrong he is, and to all the others who help make C&G the best but not necessarily biggest automotive site.

Hope everybody has Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

[Delta Force79]

This is now my 11th year on C&G, its amazing how quick the time went by, and how many people have come and gone. As always Bobo, this year's installment of Cheers And Jeers is a fun year in review to read. I do miss the design competitions and chop threads, I know we still have some great artists here, I hope to see more activity in that area in 2013. I'd like to thank Olds and Mud for their continued efforts to keep C&G running and informative. It's great the see how far this site has come since the early days, in terms of being granted media access at the auto shows, being given cars to test from various manufacturers and so on. We may not be the largest automotive site, but C&G remains my favorite and the only one I visit daily for my automotive news. Here's to many more years

[ocnblu]

Very nice, once again bobo. Thanks for the wrap-up! And here's to a bigger and better 2013 for all.

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Thank you for the mention. It is appreciated. Oh, there is more coming of the type of posts I did in 2012.

[NeonLX]

Thanks to everyone for putting up with my geekiness.

[Camino LS6]

A fine job once again, Bobo.

[NeonLX]

Oh yeah, and great summary, bobo!

[G. David Felt]

Thanks everyone for making this such a great web site and to all the efforts that Old and Mud do to keep it going. One of the best places to hang with people who have an outstanding passion for the auto industry.

Happy new year to you all,

[regfootball]

still think Mitt as GM CEO makes a hell of lot more sense than Akenson, plus now he's got right to work going on Michigan, we may see some progress.

But Mitt actually would rather hang at Costco and buy toilet paper now anyways.

Edited January 2, 2013 by regfootball

[GMTruckGuy74]

I made another edition!

I so look forward to your year-end Cheers and Jeers, bobo, regardless if I'm mentioned by name Your summation is always well written and a very entertaining read.

[Drew Dowdell]

still think Mitt as GM CEO makes a hell of lot more sense than Akenson, plus now he's got right to work going on Michigan, we may see some progress.

But Mitt actually would rather hang at Costco and buy toilet paper now anyways.

A ham sandwich would make a better CEO than Akerson, but that doesn't mean its a good idea.

[A Horse With No Name]

Finely written, sir!

[Robert Hall]

Good stuff...2012 was a good year on C&G.

[G. David Felt]

still think Mitt as GM CEO makes a hell of lot more sense than Akenson, plus now he's got right to work going on Michigan, we may see some progress.

But Mitt actually would rather hang at Costco and buy toilet paper now anyways.

A ham sandwich would make a better CEO than Akerson, but that doesn't mean its a good idea.

A grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich is always the best way to go!

Then again, if we could only find a young CEO with the leadership quality of Lee Iaccoca then I would say GM has the ultimate CEO.