Mule Bakersdozen LS

I don't know why it posted three times-can someone delete 2 of those please? Thank you!

Remember, the 2nd-row bucket seats COULD be optional-3 in the rear, 3 in the middle, 2 in the front. What is GM thinking? I thought the 3.6-liter DOHC HF V-6 wqas to be standard as it should be? Why do the High Value engines even exist? The HV's are not acceptable in any vehicle and they should be dropped immediately! And what happened with the Northstar replacement V-8, and why would a front-drive car-based crossover need a 5300 V-8?

For what it is, its unique, I honestly don't think its that ugly-asnd the front end is interesting and I like the color-why'd Pontiac Vibe ditch the Yellow or Chartruese again?

I just don't see any additional (in this generation anyway) Lucerne body styles-the CX sure isn't worth $27,000-its worth as much as a base Impala, or $22,000, if not less than that. The interior I saw was so cheap-looking, I thought the cloth upholstery was ripping apart. Thanks Ven for pointing out the last, beautiful 1995-99 Riviera.

Terraza convertible? That's the strangest idea I ever heard,lol... But this Bengal seriously should've gone to production-a bit less bloated in the exterior styling and design, based on stretched Kappa (98" or so wheelbase), with 2.8-liter and 3.6-liter DOHC High Feature 210 and 255hp V-6 engines, and to compete with Chrysler Crossfire and BMW Z4.

The new Escalade looks even closer to a rebadge of the Tahoe and Yukon, right down to that bland, dated-looking interior, and the same bodyside moldings and OSRV mirrors. The last Escalade looked somewhat, but not enough differentiated from Tahoe and Yukon, but this one just looks like a plain shameless rebadge other than front end and wheels. It might have more power, but it doesn't have the size or luxury look or differentiation to it that Escalade-or any Cadillac should, and that's very disappointing.

I bet this 2.5-liter I-6 is totally unchanged in the restyled Epica as it is now, just like the still-used, underpowered (not by much), poor gas-mileage Aveo engine. And that Forenza/Optra engine needs to die too.

Why's the Chevy Epica on hiatus for 2007? I thought the restyled model was going up.

Yeah its going to pale miserably next to the Dodge Caliber, and that 2005 facelift and over-emphasis on bland grey (Platinum, Stealth, etc.) colors didn't help the Vibe-it just made an edgy car really bland, and the weak engines, cheap interiors, and sky-high price tags (where features such as ABS, power windows, etc. are all optional), and where the power window controls look like they were directly lifted from a 1990 Chevy Cavalier (yes, go ahead and try to find one-but it was in the '90 full-line brochure). Its turned pretty sad. I think this car should be shifted to Chevy, if Pontiac wants to truly shift toward performance that is, as a Delta-architecture tall 5-door hatchback sedan cousin to the HHR (i.e. Journey, anyone?).

Yeah its going to pale miserably next to the Dodge Caliber, and that 2005 facelift and over-emphasis on bland grey (Platinum, Stealth, etc.) colors didn't help the Vibe-it just made an edgy car really bland, and the weak engines, cheap interiors, and sky-high price tags (where features such as ABS, power windows, etc. are all optional), and where the power window controls look like they were directly lifted from a 1990 Chevy Cavalier (yes, go ahead and try to find one-but it was in the '90 full-line brochure). Its turned pretty sad. I think this car should be shifted to Chevy, if Pontiac wants to truly shift toward performance that is, as a Delta-architecture tall 5-door hatchback sedan cousin to the HHR (i.e. Journey, anyone?).

Forgot to list a couple categories: Near-luxury FWD mid-size: Lexus ES330 Used: (tie): 1995-96 Chevrolet Caprice Classic, Buick Roadmaster or Cadillac Fleetwood, and/or 1985-87 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme sedan.

I'm totally with you there-the only way I could possibly support a vehicle similar to the Aveo is if it is a 2-door fastback or 3-door AeroCoupe fastback hatchback sports coupe-a fuel-efficient, sporty-performance kind not seen since the Toyota Paseo. Of course, this potential Sunburst would be larger and more powerful than a Paseo ever was or could be. Torrent and Montana SV6 (in the latter's current form) both need to simply die, as well as many other current GM vehicles. And I don't support badge engineering anywhere else either, unless its exported to Europe, Asia, and Australia, or wherever else in the world.

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=103810 Some news everyone saw coming-apparently the CEO thinks Isuzu has a chance-I'm not even sure what the point is anymore.

He's the CEO of GM-Daewoo Automotive Technologies.

Why does Daewoo always change names? I don't get it...so this will be the next Pontiac Wave in Canada too, right?

Yeah how flexible is Epsilon II anyway? Because I remember Epsilon was supposed to be flexible, yet it only has two wheelbases (106.3 and 112.3") and is narrow at 69-70". Its just not 1985 anymore-those widths need to go up to 72" or so, and the wheelbase I think should be at least at 109". I see Evoke being Delta-based and that underpinning the next Astra's-GM Europe will have to suck it up and deal with it, and GM will have to do a better job with it-no more 180-185" overall length for a modern compact car-that's just obscenely too long, and it could use an inch or two on the wheelbase, and class-leading passenger and cargo room should be a top priority. GM really needs to eliminate overlap and fast. While those Evoke pictures look nice (more from the pleasently bland school of design, even if Insignia concept and Mazda 3 influenced), Saturn S-Series and ION have always seemed to compete...well....with the Chevy Cavalier and Cobalt. Personally I don't know how Saturn is supposed to stand out-and I really really don't see a mainstream entry brand like Saturn going to compete with VW overnight-its just not going to happen. And Mazda should be Pontiac territory, but Pontiac lacks a compact, and at this point, direction as well. I'd like to see Buick compete with the VW Jetta, Volvo S40/V50 and Acura TSX, but they don't have the ambition to do so, but its at their own expense that they don't.

2-Seater: Chrysler Crossfire Subcompact Car: Chevrolet Aveo Compact Car: Mazda 3 Mid-size car: Ford Fusion Large car: Chevrolet Impala Sporty large car: Dodge Charger Wagon: Dodge Magnum Near-luxury car: Cadillac CTS Luxury car: Chrysler 300C Tall crossover wagon: Chrysler Pacifica Car-based crossover SUV: Chevrolet Equinox Mid-size pickup truck: Toyota Tacoma Large pickup truck: Dodge Ram (and yes, with a HEMI) Large SUV: Dodge Durango (ditto) Mid-size, truck-based SUV: GMC Envoy, 2002-05 (those 06' bodyside moldings ruin it for me) Minivan: Dodge Grand Caravan SXT (the others except regular SE are okay too) Coupe: Ford Mustang GT-what else is there? Full-size van: Chevrolet Express Large luxury SUV: Infiniti QX56 Luxury crossover RWD/AWD SUV: Cadillac SRX (wagon), Infiniti FX35/45 (non-wagon).

Not bad looking, save for the sketchy front end-a bit too square looking, IMO. Nice to see they gained a little cargo space-it was still pretty good, but now its even better. I figured that a Base below LS would be offered, but I can see why the SVM got dumped-hopefully ABS will be optional on LS (and standard on LT, though it would be better if it were standard on all models), and its too bad a CD player isn't standard on the LS. Otherwise, it looks like another winner-thanks for posting!

Sounds nice Ghost Dog, but what would the point be of another car to bridge the price gap between Evoke and Aura? And wouldn't this overlap into Chevrolet's Cobalt and Malibu? And what's with the compact class? They're all getting larger on the outside, smaller on the inside, and just inefficient altogether? I'd like to see GM just do the Cobalt (and other similar derivatives) right and make them 175-178" overall length, 104-105" wheelbase, and a 94 cubic feet of passenger volume, 13-14 in the trunk (make it 90 in the coupes; 64 minmum on seats-folded wagons and 67 min. in compact crossover tall wagons/SUV's).

Anybody else think the Caliber will be a dog with the 1.8 or 2.0-liter engines? I was looking at some of the equipment listings, and some things looked like they needed to be standard and not optional-interesting color selection too, including Maroon, Tan, Olive, etc., but surprisingly no reds of any sort. Orange and yellow are extra-cost $150 options, but the other colors are no-charge. Also offered: Black, White, Blue, "Silver" (really a Cool Grey), and Dark Blue.

No, the 3.6-liter DOHC High Feature V-6 engine, with 255hp, should be the standard engine for all current Buicks. The High Value engines should be phased out immediately, the 2.8-liter brought to the Pontiac G6 as standard, and on a Buick version (Skyhawk) of the Chevy Cobalt (because the Cobalt's a compact and the Epsilon is a mid-size, and not a compact). And where is the long-rumored 3.2-liter version of the High Feature/Alloytec V-6 family? It would be perfect for Chevy Malibu, Malibu Maxx, and Equinox, the G6, Saturn Aura and VUE, and maybe even the slightly smaller LaCrosse. And I never heard once on GoAuto about a 3.8-liter version of the HF/Alloytec-it was probably a misprint if it was mentioned.

BTW, Enclave=Pacifica=Magellan (aka Mercury Freestyle).

Really? I don't-do you have any idea how popular the Chrysler Town & Country has gotten? I really think a GMC car-based minivan is a notoriously bad idea. I've never ever understood the point of the Relay (though I like it stylistically better than the others, but that really says nothing since I hate them all), and if Saturn were to continue with a Relay, then it should be a North American version of the Zafira, complete with the Flex7 seating system. What I'd support for the Lambda minivans are a standard 3.6-liter DOHC High Feature 255hp V-6 engine with 6-speed OD electronic automatic transmission (all models-minivan buyers don't need a V-8 and they probably don't want one either-I'd say keep the Saturn Outlook V-6 only too), and offer Chevrolet Kingswood and Kingswood EXT 8-passenger vans, Buick Rialto 5-door 7-8-passenger luxury extended-length minivan (see old drawing of Ted's for styling), and finally, a sporty-performance Pontiac Montana 7-passenger 5-door regular-length minivan. Don't add a regular for Rialto; do not add an extended for Montana, and do not add any others beyond these three. The Montana GT/Thunder would have a RAM AIR 270hp 3.6 V-6 with TAPShift II. Those Outlook and Acadia spy shots looked very similar-how true would this be? And for Enclave trim levels, I'd recommend Reserve and Super, starting at $27,000 for an Enclave Reserve V-6 FWD, to about $36,000 for an Enclave Super AWD with the $800, package-less 4.4-liter DOHC 300hp V-8 (optional Super; V-6 standard both).

Epsolon II needs to be large enough to replace the W-Bodies effectively-they are oversized at 198-200" overall length, so that's not what I mean. I mean, they need more passenger and cargo room not just more than current models, but also more than the competition. And although I'm not the biggest fan of the 2004 Velite concept, its a better direction than on say, Lucerne (or Centieme for that matter). Personally, I think all new Buicks should follow the 1998 Signia, 1999 Cielo, and 2000 LaCrosse concepts in styling, and even the 2001 Bengal, though I thought that one looked a bit bloated. Those Daewoo platforms have got to go-they date back to the J-Bodies and even older T-Body, and a 1994-vintage Opel/Vauxhall Vectra. That's pretty ancient. And what's with these G6 short and long-wheelbase rumors? 112" is too long for the current cars (given how little passenger or cargo room they have), and 106" is too short. I'd say a 109" compromise is in order-on par with the competition, and actually a little larger. These cars should not be any larger than 194" overall, and no shorter 189" I think (roughly matching Mazda 6, Toyota Camry, you know, class benchmarks). And the Vectra needs to grow massively-okay, a few inches, and I'd assume it needs more passenger and cargo room too-it needs to match Ford Mondeo, and that's something the bland (even with the facelift, and cheap-looking in base model pictures-when it looks cheap in pictures, its usually much worse in person) current model can't do.

I love the Phantom's style-it looks like if scaled down and Lincolnized, it would make a nice Town Car. But we all know how apt Ford's management is and how Lincoln has an actual future. Phantom Convertible...that's interesting...