PurdueGuy

The people cry about how inefficient, inept, and corrupt the government is. I know, let's have them also run our auto industry! They'll do a great job! (Same applies to healthcare, etc.)

99% of twitter uses I have heard of are a complete waste of everyone's time.

Very good lookin' car.

fixed.

I mostly like it, but would need to see a completed pic to really judge. I agree that so far, it looks like it's great all around, except the front, which is just ok. BTW, if anyone buys a ZR1 just to rip it apart & turn it into one of these, they deserve to be kicked in the nuts. I can see doing it with a wrecked ZR1 (the driver of which ALSO needs kicked in the nuts), but not a perfectly good one.

You guys are missing one of the key important bits of info: the battery changing stations. Being able to switch out a battery at a station in under 10 minutes means that if the infrastructure was there, this could be a feasible primary car. Typical electric cars don't work as a primary/only car for most people, because it holds them to traveling within a fixed radius around their house. Charge times are too long for charging stations to make sense, so the only way you can treat an electric car (for now) like a regular gasoline car is if you can stop along the way & swap packs. With the right infrastructure, you could drive coast to coast without much thought. If the infrastructure starts to become established, and if they can put out future models at lower cost, they could really build a market and become a full-fledged automaker... IMO, the Big 3 ought to get in on setting a quick-swap battery standard with this company and really make things happen.

I'd still rather have a ZR1.

True, but remember... we're generally not dealing with the best & brightest in situations like this. :wink:

Maybe they'll actually introduce a new race car bed for kids. lol

I could see this backfiring on occasion: Old way: Guy doesn't pay his loan payments. One day he goes to hop in his vehicle, and finds out the repo man tracked him down & his car is gone. New way: Guy doesn't make his payments. Warning flashes that the car has been disabled from nonpayment. Repo man follows last transmitted coordinates of the car to find the charred remains of the vehicle, which was set ablaze by the aggravated delinquent ex-driver. Most of the time I could see it working out, and it does put pressure on people that they can't just pretend that no one will really do anything about it or track them down. I could also see people learning a lot about electronics as they figure out how to disable the device...

For a moment, I thought this thread was talking about the engine design. lol It's probably, what, 10-15yrs old now? Surely they've made updates along the way...

Yeah, I've thought about looking into a kit car. I'd prefer to avoid bodywork, tho. I haven't become familiar with my options, and don't really have the money at this point to seriously consider doing something like that anyway.

They cancelled the 2009 model for the US, because there were so many 2008's on the lots still. They do plan to have a '10 model, which of course will be out partway through '09, cuz model years are silly like that.

'94 Chevy Corsica. It had about 180k miles on it, but it ran like a top until the auto trans gave out, out of state. Got $50 at a junkyard for it, which didn't even pay for my rental car to get home. Had a great interior, engine (3100), etc - everything but the trans was good, and it probably only had issues because I didn't know well enough then to change the fluid/filter, so it may have been original for all I know. If I knew then what I know now (mechanical knowledge), I would've found a way to get it hauled home, and fixed it myself cheap. Oh well, I got a '92 Regal handed down to me after that, and while it wasn't my favorite car by far, it was reliable for a long time, and the 3800 proved itself again. Car went well over 200k miles without any major or even moderate repairs. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how far over 200k, as the odometer didn't prove as reliable as the drivetrain. lol

I'd assembly my own car if it were the right price and the resulting car would be cool enough.

Because the ones being made in Korea are going to be just different enough to matter. They probably don't meet US safety & emissions specs, and getting the plant over there set up to make them to US specs would take time and money, setting up the shipping would take time & money, etc. Plus then GM would have to deal with several months' worth of cars that were built in a different place & would have funky stuff going on, plus the confusion & possible damage it would do to the image of the car... not worth it over a less than a year delay.

I was gonna say... what '09 Astras? lol

Yeah, GM, one of the two global volume sales leaders, should definitely completely change their entire game plan and become a purely niche product company. Makes perfect sense...

dang @ how much they're charging for wheels. $5k for upgraded wheels on the V6? I don't think so - I'd just buy one with the base wheels, buy some aftermarket wheels that look better anyway, and still have the stockers for winter wheels. Of course, I wouldn't buy a V6 Camaro, so the whole thing is moot.

Here is a major problem for consideration: What happened to Toyota when they decided to gun for volume (GM)? Their focus on volume took their focus off of quality, and quality dropped. I would say this took Toyota quality from good to mediocre. So what happens to VW if their quality, which is already probably sub-mediocre, takes a hit as they focus on volume? Yikes!

The plastic car that came before Saturn.

I agree with that, somewhat. Scion went for/goes for youth buyers, but has ended up with a bunch of old farts that want to look cool. That's probably fine, except that it kinda killed the youth appeal. But yes, Saturn should have stuck with value pricing. Trying to move them upmarket just alienated their customers very badly, and GM doesn't have time for Saturn to let the customers get used to their new identity or find new customers.

Sorry, that would be a pretty stupid waste of money. Shell out billions to kill a brand just to resurrect one? I don't know the sales #s, but if someone is correct that Saturn sells more cars per dealer than any other brand (I assume GM brand), can you honestly expect a resurrected Olds to do better for more than a short burst of initial boosted interest? I would be possibly in favor of GM bringing back the Olds name in one or two special cars, sold through an existing sales channel so that they don't have the baggage that is connected to a full-fledged brand/division. If they sell well and another model is justified, make it. If not, don't. Cut and add products as the market dictates, without so much blowback from dealers because they want "volume models". But, I've said that before, and would like to see that happen with all the brands except Chevy and Cadillac. Don't kill the brands, make them flexible!

Not really disagreeing with any particular point of your post, but just thought I would note... looking at Scion's lousy sales numbers these days, I don't think it's appropriate to say that any division "should be more like Scion."

I had a very good experience with my '94 Chevy Corsica, which I bought in '99 with about 150k miles on it, and drove it for another 30k miles, when the trans gave out because I knew nothing about maintaining auto trannies. It was comfortable, good power (3100 engine), and I would have bought another one. Is it the best car out there? Very doubtful, but it's far from a terrible product from my experience.