G. David Felt

Nah... the Northstar has too much negative baggage associated with it -- a spotty reliability record with earlier renditions and a mediocre performance throughout its life. I am not sure anyone ever revered Northstar or was impressed by its performance. Although it was a decent enough engine it was never truly impressive in any way. If they want to name their V8s and stick to the same theme, try Polaris. It means North Star and it is the US's first submarine launched nuclear ballistic missile. Polaris is also a snowmobile/snow machine. Not sure they would want to use that one. Just as the Camaro and ATS having the same identical engines be all good with you. Most people who are buyers in this call like to feel they are getting something special and more even if they are just fooling themselves. While the Camaro engine is fine it does not fool most of them. Engines are more than just a bunch of assumed numbers in this class people want to look and feel special with the car and what it offers. You want to prevent the detractors from pointing out it's just a Chevy with more chome. Here is a good example of marketing that GM did get right. The Alpha was designed and built for Cadillac first. It will next be shared with Chevy. On the other hand it would have hurt them to build it as a Chevy and then share it as a Cadillac. While it is still the same damn thing people precieve this as Chevy being based on a better platform vs the Cadillac just being a fancy Chevy. People are idiots and if you play the platform or engine shell game you have to keep the ball moving. It is not a sin to pass things down from Cadillac but it is a sin to pass Chevy things up to Cadillac. It makes a difference in how it is precieved by the general buyers. In this day and age it is easier to built a car vs market as marketing today has become even more important since there are so many models so close together. (1) The same argument about engines can be made regarding sharing of power plants between Nissans and Infinitis, Honda and Acura, Toyotas and Lexus, or VW and Audi. In fact within the GM family one can say that no one will want a ATS 2.0T because the Malibu will have a version of that engine, or a 3.6 DI V6 CTS because and Impala also uses that engine. If you go with a 3.0 LF3 Bi-turbo V6, I can guarantee that it will also be shared with a chevy, a buick or GMC -- that is going to be a 360hp class V6 applied across a large number of GM vehicles who needed more omph than the 3.6, sorta GM's answer to the Ford Ecoboost 3.5. It is not going to be an ATS only powerplant. Fact is, this hasn't been a problem with any of the aforementioned automakers, GM included. And, it will be completely impractical for Cadillac to have its unique engine lineup not shared with anybody because it'll add $10000 to the price of the car from high production costs and R&D amortization due to pitifully small volumes. (2) As for as which brand a platform is launch first with, that matters even less. People who are well informed know that a Cadillac and a Chevy built on the same platform are vastly different cars in the same manner that a Honda Civic is not an Acura ILX. People who don't probably don't know what "platform" is much less which model used what! Reality is with the ability to re-program an engine, you can take the 2.0T and have 3 or 6 different power/torque ratings depending on which product line it goes in and different tuned exhausts so that people would not even know that a slightly more powerful 2.0T with performance exhaust is the same engine as the mid power level 2.0T in a Buick or a DE-tuned version in a Chevy. All the customer will care is that they got the performance engine version for that product line.

That review makes me even more excited to go see the movie. Seems they actually did a complete different storyline. Both movies followed the book basic of memory recall, but clearly have different stories and places. I am excited to see Kate and Jessica fight. Too very hot woman!

Crazy Spinners -

So when was the last time you saw the Blue Angels fly or Hydroplane boats race? This weekend, Seattle is having their Annual Hydroplane boat races on Lake washington and the Blue Angels show Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Temps are to be in the low to mid 80's with about 20% humidity. http://www.seafair.com/default.aspx?SecID=915 The blue angels are doing their practice runs right now so Seattle is a Sonic Boom zone. Having grown up here in Washington, I cannot ever imagen summer without the boat races and the blue angels. I loved the roar of the piston powered Hydroplane boats, Have gotten used to the Turbine powered boats, but still enjoy the morning heats when the piston boats run. You can hear their Engine roar from 20-30 miles away. It is awesome compared to the whine of the turbine. Sounds off on your own stories of Blue Angels and Hydroplane boat races.

Great Read, Very exciting to see alternatives to gas growing. Course if we just went with CNG, we could have a nice clean drive at way lower cost than gas or diesel.

Agreed, the heavy Green tree huggers seem to always ignore the fact that 10 years worth of green house gas was pushed into the world for the production of your battery pack and lets not forget all the increased gas created by the coal burning power plants to give you the electricity to charge your 40-80 mile limited car. At least I can go anywhere with my car, even CNG if better than Electric. No need to apologize for what is fact.

With the Euro Depression these numbers are about what I expected. I think there is more GM can do to increase efficiencies but anyone who was aware of the world issues should have expected a drop since the Asian companies came back online after the problems in that country.

WOW, Dodgefan you are amazing with those machines. That is freakin awesome. My 6.5hp Sears lawnmower gets cleaned via hose off all the time and then I do a cleaning at the end of the season, but sadly my deck on my 12 year old mower is starting to rust and during cool weather it is very picky as I have to squeeze the fuel rubber button for the first min or so till it warms up and then it runs fine. I do change the spark plug, oil and air filter each spring along with a new blade, but it has been good for being 12 years old, yet nothing like what you have done. KUDOS to you as those are some nice machines!

It's only a matter of time. It would be good if you get two different versions of the same product line, to not only have the individual reviews, but then do a compiled comparison of the two.

I truly hope that I am wrong, but my personal experiance of our over weight sedans with hi power 4 bangers is that they still do not seem to drive like a V8 powered version even when the horsepower and torque is about the same. Wait and see.........

That looks pretty cool, I just finished using up my cleaning and polishing products I had bought about 4 years ago from Costco. Crazy to have Gallon jugs of stuff, I had to work just as hard to keep it mixed as I did to clean and wax the auto's. Going to try some new stuff I have seen at the O'Rielly's auto parts store and will post results here. Thanks for showing us how it did.

I agree, while I have been disappointed with the lack of new material, the 1990 version is one of my all time favorites and this movie has me pumped as well. Love the video on how they did those cars and while not a fan of the man they choose to play the lead roll, I do love both woman they got even better than the original movie.

I agree Olds that it is amazing about them calling it the Town Car. Yet anyone who has driven one I think will find the FWD 4 banger engine to be sadly under powered.

They might be out selling the Escalade now, but I do NOT consider the GL full size. At 6'6" tall, I find the GL to not as comfortable as my Escalade ESV. The GL is between mid and full size. The interior while nice has seats that remind me of airplanes due to the shortness of the bottom cushion, poor leg support and then over all mid and upper body support. I think they went to the asian rim to get people to test their seats rather than use some big people.

In all honesty, I think GM has the right focus and the right people working on the ATS-V project that regardless of the count, 6 or 8, we will all be very pleased with the end result. C & G I hope can get their hands on an ATS and then ATS-V to test drive and review.

Just about all the asian eco box cars are in this list to me. They are dull, plastic bad interiors which remind me of piss poor american cars of the 90's and just about any BMW or MB as they just cannot seem to stay out of the shop for repairs. Do not get me wrong, I think the design language of BMW and MB is very nice, just their quality sucks. Chrysler has it's own issues with the 200, Sebring, Caliber, etc Even the mini van has gone down hill in my opinion.

It could be built into so many things, Great way to start a project with what appears to be a quality clean foundation of a truck.

Sweet job on that pour, It will really help you gain a warmer, cleaner and varmit free work zone.

I think for the most part, people who held off on buying from 2007 to 2011 are now either being forced to have to settle and stay with their old car or if they have the cash are finally trading in.

I want to add this lusty car to my bucket list!!!

Sadly this is due to the politicians and lawyers. Blame all those people who are not willing to take accountability for their own actions. Lawyers have so many people in the "It is not my fault" that it has driven variety away.

Car list: 85-87 Areo Monte Carlo SS in black or Maroon. Custom Duramax Diesel converted 93-96 Suburban SLE, do not like what they did to the interior in 97-99 models. 68 or 69 Camero 57 Chevy Belair 70's Cougar GMC Syclone GMC Typhoon 2001 - 2004 Chevy or GMC Dually 1 ton Duramax Pickup 50's era GMC Truck Current model ZR1 Corvette Current Model GT500 mustang Current Model ZL1 Camero Current Model Challenger 2001 AWD RT Durango for my daughter. Yep, I will pass on all the exotics except for one. Customized R34 Skyline. This is one asian car I loved and drove while going to college in Japan, would love to have one here. I have to agree with you, I always seem to blank out on the older cars before 1960, but I would love a chopped 49-50 Merc, There is something very sexy about the design.

This good news for Mazda, thought I still do not see them as a stand alone player in the long run. Weird part is that everything I read on their web site really did not give me a clear picture of what SkyActive technology really is till I read this older story on it and now feel I have a good grasp on what this is all about. http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110805/CARREVIEWS/110809919 Masda really needs to change their marketing as their commercials leave one still wondering just what the hell is SkyActive technology? I figure if a gear head like me is left to search for better answers, how is my wife who watched the same commercials and asked what were they trying to sell me? A car or something else called SkyActive technology? That right there tells you their marketing is a failure.

Seems the fire sales at VW dealerships is working to take market share, but I wonder at what expense to the long term life of the company? Stopped by the VW dealership lot last night and was not that impressed with the Passat. I do not see what people get excited about in these bland appliances.

So have you actually gone and looked at one in person, sat in the back seat and truly checked it out yourself or is this just part of the reposting of other comments?