regfootball

it's just stiffer than some other compacts. it's not no truck clutch that's fer sure.

it's a lot easier pulling the kid in and out in the cobalt because the rear door gets wider at the higher part of the door. i used to curse hellfire on my mitsubishi diamante because the door (window) got much smaller towards the top and it restricted access. PLus it was frameless glass which was an ear slicer. getting the kid in and out of the cobalt so far is alright aside from a typically low seat. now i remember all the reasons why we got the higher riding suv before....there may be a tucson in our future..... didn't realize the clutch was quite THIS stiff . a small car like this does not need a man clutch.....

the LNF is a smooth engine. rather shocking that GM does make an ultra smooth 4, but it really is a nice engine.....

dude freaks me out

lots of US buyers will still want to see one of the HF v6's on the engine option sheet. i think the 3.6DI with 320hp would be a fine mid level offering, with all wheel drive as there is no way they can sell this car nationwide with only rwd on the option sheet. the v6 / awd combo would sell a lot in bad weather climes. i do like the notion of two different turbos. perhaps the low end turbo four is the base engine for the automatic crowd. the high end four pot four is a sports model with sticks mostly. I still think the v6 as the top makes sense. then for the V series, either a TTv6 or the small block. i think a diesel might sell a little here in the US. But Europe definitely needs one.

lmao! i was out in the garage trying to get familiar with some XM, setting radio stations, and the bow tie in general. Esp, the USB and how to work it. I am telling you, its a bunch quicker to scroll through folder and files on the flash drive with the stereo controls on the bow tie, than the oral torture that is the Ford Sync system in my Taurus X. To not have to listen to an annoying nagging female voice say $h! like 'I cannot understand you'.....it's so refreshing to just work a couple buttons and scrolls through folders quickly. It's insane how fast I could find some tunes. Of course I think I only have a 2GB flash drive in it now. I am already figuring out where to sneak the coin past the other half to go out and buy a nice 64GB USB drive. I have a portable hard drive in my Ford, but i really would prefer to stick with a small USB drive in this car. Really love XM and really love the bow tie! A few weeks ago at Menards I bought a couple of entry mats for the house which i hadn't used yet. I usually like to add an extra layer of trunk liner in the car if there is not much of one there so I trimmed up and around the wheel wells one of those entry mats to fit....and the color and fuzzy texture of it is almost a match..except its ribbed. ANyways, cheap trunk mat! I had already purchased all weather floor mats at Sears for my aborted Astra back in late 08, so those were new sitting in the basement. Didn't have to buy all weather mats. What's LOL is we picked the car up thursday night and haven't driven it since then. It's been parked for 3 days because family was in town and stuff was going on. I put in the kid's car seat tonight so maybe we'll go for a spin tomorrow. The car seat install was a breeze, the latch anchors are extremely accessible in this car.

4 cyl I assume? Did you stand on it and do a 0-60? The Fusion is solid in all areas. It's outglitzed by some other competitors, but they improved it so much for 2010, it's hard not to take a look.

i wish it were smaller, its offensively huge.

yeah its mushy and unnatural but not near as bad as the aztek. but it doesn't feel loose like a toyota. thing is, the car is quiet and cruises nice so to have razor sharp steering is not in its personality, SS excluded. the SS steered nicely. even with the 16" wheels it still feels undertired. the rather inexpensive bump control is more of a bother than the econocar steering. I'm ok with it though, the steering will bother me but its a commuter and better than lots of other econocars. this is the point where i say the steering on the Astra XR i really wanted well and the shifting and ride too was on a whole nother level which is odd considering they supposed to have the same gene pool. but i'm not gonna overpay for a 3 year car i prob will have a hard time getting warranty service on if any is left. the cobalt does cruise nicely which should make out ok for an occasional family trip. you can honestly take the family in this car i think. our 99 prism was ok for 2 on the road, but really was breathless above 65 and had scary brakes at freeway speed. The cobalt brakes may not be like the super ones on the astra, but any brakes are better than the base brake setup on the aztek. is the cobalt engine flex fuel? the HHR is, but there is no flex fuel badge on mine. maybe i should pump some E85 in there and find out. lol

lol. ! care to comment on whether synthetic or part synthetic would be a good idea for the engine? how bout transaxle fluid....run the stock or will it shift better if its changed out? the ford dealer where i typically get my oil changed most of the time i think puts semi synthetic at least in my ford.

lmao! the dead dinosaurs called. they saw my pics and want the products of their remains back. "I have a corvette steering wheel"

best pics here's the big LOL...the neighbors across from me also have a Victory Red Cobalt LT with the same alum wheels. Theirs has a spoiler and gray interior though (and an automatic).

do i need to get the splash guards? the transmission was the breaking point. i really wanted to put new struts in it too because it was riding so crappy.

my new SLUMRIDE more pics later I need to know how to turn it into a GXP.....

in your scenario df it makes sense for you since you've done a lot of work on it already. i had been nursing my transmission for almost a year. it was close to undrivable a few times recently. repair was imminent. had quite a few estimates from the 2500-4500 dollar range, add that to all the other stuff i would want to do. it just didn't work. spend money i don't want to spend right now vs. get money for it from someone while they think its worth it. if i would have dumped all the money into it i would have had to commit to it for 3-4 years to break even vs. this. i was going to spend money no matter what. it just became a question on what it was going to go for.

again dodgefan, generally i know you have a difference of opinion on this. but i walk from this with cash to spend on other things and a car under warranty. the other option was to spend a lot of money on something worth nothing. it really depends on your outlook. i'm not butt tight i guess. in the past i have found through experience that keeping a car past its prime costs just as much or more, and generally involves lots of extra headache. not to mention more peace of mind when your family is driving around in it, and not having to worry about them getting stranded or something. in this case right now i get some nice gas savings out of the deal too. the first rust spot that showed up on the aztek and it basically would have been worth zero. the body is still good and therefore it is still worth something. around here where they dump roadsalt all over, your vehicle is worth nothing once they spot some rust on it.

then i'd have one of these.....

hey maybe i need to get a G5 clip and taillights for it. then i'd have some EXCITEMENT! there was a couple holdover 09 SS that i could have gotten into but it still would have been about 6 grand more. 6 grand more for a turbo, not in a position to foot that bill right now.

you missed the part where i said i had never really put a dime into it. i am cutting bait now to merely avoid having to do a bunch of general repair stuff that one would and should typically do by that point....ie. struts, brakes again, tune up, a/c, fuel system, belts and hoses, battery, and so on.....in addition to avoiding the transmission expense. never had to fix any emissions, electrical, sensors, trim, never was out of alignment, no suspension or steering parts to fix. No timing belts. I more than got my value out of the car. no breakdowns. Its just time to hand it down.

for now. not the regal or lacrosse or taurus i wanted, but its cheap miles. it will be fun having a small car again for awhile.

thanks blu, it bummed me out a little to know you traded yours before I was able to join the club. But i do look forward to flogging it. That little ecotec is a frisky thing. Like you, if i get a couple of good years or so out of it, will be exactly what I am asking of it. Can't wait to get a flash drive for the USB and prob get some cheap speakers from crutchfield to put in it.

I know a lot of the really fair skinned Scandinavian bunch that really even hate lots of the German, Poles, Czechs etc. That pervasive 'everything is better in norway, sweden, etc' thing is the most bigoted bunch I am usually aware of.

it's because people with all the lovely ideas like that which by the way are nice as far as intent, they feel they are above reproach in terms of all the economic and balance sheet issues related to it. the people that think they are on the leading edge of promoting advancing and changing culture always choose to ignore the underlying money issues so they reduce it to a hatred pissing match. they want to make it a complete emotional argument because they know their position cannot exist financially. and they simply are too pig headed and selfish to settle for anything less than getting what they want. you know, because they are better than everyone else. one aside comment. in the ag areas where i grew up, the migrants were the ones who lived in $h!ty old trailer houses and worked the field work that the privileged white teenagers would never work if their next meal or case of really cheap bad beer depended on it. They put in long full days and they sweat their asses off for next to nothing to come home and live in an unsafe tin shack. Of course, they also took their pay and welfare and food money and send it south of the border to their rellies in Mexico. And added lots of crime to the area. But they did do work lots of the too good for you white folks thought they were too good for.

no chance of that being possible with the person in charge. not that he himself may not see it as valuable. it's the party he is tied to and the votes it is tied to.

gonna pick up the new (and i do mean new) car either late tonight or Friday noon. they gotta bring it back from IOWAY. I love my Aztek, gonna miss it, but it was time. 113,600 or so. Decided not to expend a few thousand on all the things it needed or should have in the next 12 months to ensure it would be worth keeping another 2-3 years. Didn't want to chance the tranny up and giving out since its been temperamental and foreshadowing its demise. And it turns out got a decent amount on trade for it as well. We rode it hard and put it away wet. When i subtracted what I am getting from it for what I paid, it was 12,900 dollars spent for 113,600 +/- miles. I don't think that Honda Pilot has me beat in that area. I put tires on it at 70,000. The ones on there now still look good for another 30-40,000. Aside from that the only repairs the car has seen is just the front wheel bearings under warranty. I did brakes at about 70k although it seemed like they need them again soon. No tuneup, no battery, just a couple radiator and tranny flushes. Right now economically we're not in a position to get anything elaborate. So we chose to go for economical and basic. It's our second vehicle, meant to help keep our vehicle costs down and hopefully have some fun. Shopped a lot of used cars. Shopped several new ones too. Decided I didn't want to chase all over the midwest to find that used car exactly the way I wanted (and still spend too much...used car prices are through the roof). Looked at some nice new stuff that is simply too pricey or didn't want to commit to the lease right now no matter how good the deal was. We had to sacrifice some utility since the Aztek was the utility king. Had no luck finding that used Astra I really wanted equipped the way I want and the price that made sense. Too bad. Needed to move on. I wanted to pull the trigger on a 2011 Hyundai Sonata lease and got cold feet. I sort of fell in love with the car. Having had some family members help us out a bit in the last year, and not totally certain how our careers are working out here though the next twelve months we felt politically it was not a good idea to commit to a lease right now, nor, drive such a nice new car. Despite all of us knowing the Sonata is just another midsize you can get cheap....it exudes the illusion of a much more expensive car----to other people. One you might have a hard time explaining to some folks who you know. The ability to get 'that car' or a Taurus, Regal, or LaCrosse will be there in the future. There is no shortage of cool stuff to pick from. I am tired of Ford. I love my FOrds, the last 5-6 Fords all fantastic cars. But right now I just didn't want one. The intelligent yuppie a-holes are jumping on the bandwagon now, so I am ok getting off that bunch for awhile. And really, most of Ford's lesser priced vehicles are getting stale. They just refreshed the Fusion but it already feels old. Fiesta is not quite here yet and is underpowered anyways. A bit pricey too. So I figured why not and decided to stick in the GM fold. Well, Pontiac and Saturn are gone. Turn to Chevy. It came down to the HHR which I love.....and the Cobalt. Which everyone knows is a solid little car. I decided to just go cheap as possible. I figured with the glut of used HHR's on the market I could always get one of those later. I wanted something new, and as it turned out much cheaper for me. Either tomorrow night or early Friday going to pick up the new Victory Red (same color as the Aztek) Chevy Cobalt LT sedan. MyLink package (USB/bluetooth/leather wheel and shifter/ABS), alum wheels, power windows, mirrors, locks, cruise. 5 speed! As a pontiac owner I got that 1k Susan rebate, and there is a total of 4k other factory rebate on the balt right now if you use GMAC who gave us a great rate. I used the big GM card balance I had saved up as well. No Traverse or Regal or LaCrosse now I guess. I can't wait to check the gas mileage. If we pick it up friday, it will be on my son's first birthday! What a nice present! I'll get pics of it up when we pick it up. Looking forward to beating the snot out of it like the rental it is.