G. David Felt

Could the VOLT and ELR benefit from a Aluminum/balsa wood tub or better yet Carbon Fiber tub like what BMW is doing for the next M3? This would totally rock as the amount of weight loss would truly help push up the pure electric numbers. I would think some of the corvette weight saving mechanical ideas would be used in the volt to reduce and increase the electric range. Before anyone says anything, NO I do not see this taking anything away from the Corvette by using parts from the light car.

I agree that GM does not use Magnetic ride control enough in their car's. They could lower the cost by using it in everything and giving people quality driving machines.

There was a story that all Automakers were on the hunt for QA software engineers. This was their biggest area of growth.

Very good sales month. I have to say, I have seen allot more Audi's in the Seattle area than I used to see. Very common place now. So I wonder if they will keep up the sales drive or cool off?

Awesome read, Amazing is that last year, the dealerships had volts on the lots in Seattle, but I saw NONE on the road, this week alone, I have seen 3 volts all different color and yesterday on the bus ride home from work saw two more. Could have been the same as I saw earlier, but still 5 volt sitings in a matter of 3 days compared to none up till then does show the car is growing in popularity. Forgot about the volt I saw on my weekend road trip with the wife. Funny we saw it and then pulled in for gas and at the gas station was a California Licenses prius and they were putting Oil into the engine and Tranny fluid in also. They told me it has been that way ever since they bought it new. Always used fluid but does not leak on the ground, so not sure where it goes, but their toyota dealership could not find any problems, so they just check every time they gas up and they now are approaching 80K miles. For me, I would have demanded a new car as that one is clearly a lemon. Back to the volt, we ran into the one that I passed at a winery in Eastern Washington. Owned by a woman who just loves it. She said she gave a fair test drive to both the Volt and the prius as the Nisson Leaf did not meet her needs of being able to go anywhere. The prius was nice but to small inside and she felt the Volt was and now proven as it was her second weekend out on road trips with friends since buying it. There were many people there that looked at the womans car and liked what they saw. To quote one guy. Seems america finally got a good mid size car to compete against those tiny imports. If people can get this kind of positive, then we will see more people supporting American Made auto's. GM keep up the drive for Quality built products.

Why would he do that when you can get fullsize vans, Pickups, Crown Vics, etc. running on CNG fairly cheap? Better yet, why would I give up my SUV's when they have EPA certified Conversion kits and I can get a sweet running ride that is Greener than now! Yeah, but how much do they cost after a EPA certified tech installs it? And is it a situation where its certified for a L92 but not a L76. True, installation can run from 5K to 10K depending on the make and model, but if you are holding onto your auto for a long time, then the cost truly is returned in the savings of CNG and clean emissions you run.

So the latest report came out with software bugs being the biggest complaint now. One interesting note is that Mini is still at the bottom of the quality pile and for those that talk about how Great MB and BMW are, Caddilac again beats them on Quality. So what gives, is this just bashing to bash or is the study that flawed? http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/key-car-quality-study-ranks-software-bugs-most-170243393.html Sound off and tell me what you think!

WOW, Talk about Bloat! I thought the Volt did better than 38 miles on pure electric. Was it not rated at 80? I would have expected the ELR to drop to about 60 due to weight and the traditional luxury bloat, but this is crazy. 38 miles only????? So in rereading the C&D story, I can understand the limitations, but I still have to wonder about the battery pack challenges when you have other companies stating 200+ miles on electric. Why can GM only get so little out of the battery pack?

Great review, thank you for writting this one up. I am a bit sad to see the current status of the Maxima. This was an amazing sports sedan that actually stood out IMO to the rest of the crowd in the early days as the body style and interior made a mark. Now this just reminds me of the bland Infinity line. I can see it in the Jelly Bean Nose, the rear end is nice but they have lost their Language Mojo. Thanks again for the write up, glad to see the Maxima getting a bit more coverage.

Why would he do that when you can get fullsize vans, Pickups, Crown Vics, etc. running on CNG fairly cheap? Better yet, why would I give up my SUV's when they have EPA certified Conversion kits and I can get a sweet running ride that is Greener than now!

Let's just shoot all the bloody lawyers as they seem to be the worst evil around for making everything a gov regulation. The Lawyer attitude seems to be, it is everyone's else problem, you were just a poor victim. Now give me your life savings and your daughter and you can go back to being a Lemming. Sad State of affairs!

The left side grill does say caddy now that I think about it, but the right side due to the angle the mirror reminds me of the Camero concept

So what exactly is in a Fudgy the Whale? Chocolate and Fudge Ice cream????

Was this not called WWII last time they got together?

Very cool, I see BMW benefiting from access to Toyota's hybrid technology and Toyota benefiting from access to real driving machines rather than their dull bland current cars. I would love to see a modern day Supra, I had forgotten all about it. Nissan lost me with their ugly current skyline. Not impressed at all compared to skyline of old years. R34 and R35 are freakin amazing. Toyota could benefit in building a car to compete. BMW could benefit by bringing a exciting to drive Hybrid.

Red Red Wine!

YEA YEA YEA http://www.nwcng.com I am alive on the internet. So visit, bash me, trash me and tell me what ya think!

Ya know that this just drives home the need to move to CNG. Hold a car for 11 years and the amount of money saved if freakin amazing!

Too eat or to be done too?

Freakin awesome trucks. Looks like two V6 engines tied together to drive that low rider!

Matrix

Yea, I am very excited for this movie, the more I review what pictures and writting has been done, the more I think this will be a very good movie! I am interested in how they will tie it all together since no way in hell they wanted Mel Gibson back.

For this line of car, I think they hit the advertising on the head. This should be about luxury, ease of use and comfort. I believe they have nailed it for the demographic of Customer.

I've long thought the current Yukon would have looked better w/ the Sierra front end. But I do prefer the Tahoe/Suburban front end over the Silverado. I totally agree and I think most people also, the Chevy Suburban/Tahoe should have shared it's front end with the Chevy Truck. GMC should have ditched the but ugly Yukon nose for the GMC truck nose. This way both truck and suv have family design language that is best and looks freakin awesome! I am excited about the new Full Size SUV Family. I just hope they realize that their is a market for having a diesel in the Suburban/Yukon XL line. Due to Gov Regs, the Whole auto industry has been on a bloat diet over the last 20 years. Time to go on a Diet and loose that mid section!