PurdueGuy

Stories I've heard from those working directly with VW for many years indicate that they EARNED the unions in their NA plants. I'd love to see every company consistantly treat their employees well enough to cause the unions to have no point in existing, though.

What, no Kodiak pics?

what's your beef with the Ion?

+1, but I'm biased.

except now that would be a copycat ad... :AH-HA_wink:

That's the backup light. Suppose it might do double-duty.

Must be nice to have enough money to buy a new car knowing you'll trade it in in 4 years...

That'd be more like direct injection. Still, it's a much closer to optimal a/f mix.

Chevy-based Ion? You should check the years each car started...

mmmmm... dual exhaust... turbo... mmmm...

most people would never know. Pontiac is the only brand that's somewhat famous for its gauge illumination.

My guess on the tire learning is that it's a feature of the tire pressure monitoring system. After you rotate tires, the car needs to re-learn the position of each sensor, so it doesn't tell the the front passenger is low when it's actually the rear passenger, for example.

IMO: Must be semi-old. Teenagers in general do not deserve new or semi-new cars. Parents argue wanting their kids to be safe to justify buying newer cars. Buy them an old boat - they'll be plenty safe. Must be something they'll have to work on. This will either teach them to work on their own car, or appreciate the importance of doing well in school so they can get a good job and afford to pay someone $80 an hour to fix it for them. Can be somewhat cool, but unless they save up & buy their own car, the first car should not be more about being cool than being safe & getting from A to B. Teenagers generally act like idiots with their first car, doubly so if it's a cool car.

I like them as long as they work with the lines. I would think more modern cars would likely work better with ones that either point out forward (jag-style), or sweep a bit back. Straight up & down wouldn't look right on most current cars.

did I miss official news of this, or is this still in the land of "high speculation" based on a trademark?

wonder what it would take to make all GM vehicles flex-fuel capable? From what I've heard from farmers, older machinery have problems with seals when using high levels of eth. I would assume the same is true with cars & trucks (though I suppose that could be a bad assumption). Wouldn't think it would cost THAT much more to upgrade the seals across the board, then have big bragging rights & push this forward.

I would think with the apparent popularity of the new Tahoe that an SS model would definately sell (in low quantities with high markup, of course)

yup. I just stopped reading once they claimed there was nothing like it. I kept thinking "carspace... doesn't that already exist...? hmmm... no wait, that's carDOMAIN... which is the same thing...."

Interesting... though I wonder how many people never bought the first one because of either the styling (which I don't think is terribly good or bad, but I've heard a lot of negative comments about), or the center-mount gauges (which I've heard a lot of people like once they get used to them, but it seems they just cause some people to run...) A restyled ION (perhaps with a different name, I dunno) is needed. Could be the same platform, I think the platform is more than fine.

Pretty sure I saw the one you're talking about. While riced-out cars like that annoy me, that commercial annoyed me more. It was just.... ugh. Good commercial idea in general, annoying execution.

Funny, I've been saying that you have an incomplete/biased perception of Saturn's image, and you've fought me tooth & nail on the point. Then you say this. I'm not saying everyone loves Saturn. I know there are a lot of people who have had Saturns (partucularly S-Series cars that have been abused & not held up well to it), and think they're total crap. I know they're generally not respected for performance folk. I also know a whole lot of people across a wide spread age group that DO like the cars, and I've gotten unsolicited complements on mine.

You have STUDYS to back up this viewpoint? I don't, but I can tell you that what I see doesn't line up with what you do. If you have actual studies, I'll back off, but I think your view of Saturn's image is skewed by your own bias. BTW, I AM a young adult who likes Saturn.

I already wonder if Toyota has to pay GM to use regenerative braking - they came up with that in the EV1.

Absolutely nothing is clear. This thread is like 90% speculation. Sure is fun, though. Plus, with how the general look of the Aura and the current Opels is so incredibly aligned, plus the sharing of the Sky/GT, I'm getting to the point that I'd be suprised if they don't start doing more Opel/Saturn shared cars. I'll take that hatch quad-coupe style, please! Dang, that'd be sweet... *drool*

To those who think that Saturn has such a bad image, you need to talk to more people who bought them new, not the people who bought the old beaters, spun the tires, threw a differential pin, and cursed Saturn. To say Saturn has a bad image is to ignore all the customer satisfaction awards and repeat buyers Saturn has. The upcoming Saturns should be Buicks? I hear simple jealousy. Buick just got the LaCrosse what, 2 years ago? Now they have the Lucerne. Some SUV's... Buick has a full, and decently up-to-date linup, even if it isn't terribly inspiring. Saturn has been longing for a complete linup for, well, it's entire existance. THAT'S why it hasn't made any sizable amounts of money. Infighting? Yup, here it is. Personally, I think the other divisions need to suck it up. Saturn has treated its customers well and built a base. Considering how little it has been given since it was started up, I'd say that's doing pretty well. This isn't to say I don't like the other brands. My wife & I have a Buick LeSabre, which we like very well. I've had a Chevy Corsica, which I also liked very well. I had a Buick Regal, which was rather uncomfortable, but lasted well over 200K before the tranny started slipping & the motor quit. I wouldn't mind having a Caddy (though I'm probably too much of a tightwad to actually buy one), and kinda liked some of the Olds models. I'm quite open to all the divisions, but the fact is Saturn has its place.