regfootball

what a sage you continue to be. they even chose a marketing creation name for it? (project renaissance?)

the aura that is the same car as C/D ten best malibu? the vue which is a far better vehicle than the rav4/crv the same astra which outscores the fit, mini, and civic on edmunds.com user ratings? (as well as corolla, sentra, versa, yaris, impreza, and competing VW's?) focus too, BTW.....

that was so good.... it deserved a rim shot.

look at how many impalas are sold, if that aint bland i dont know what is........ regarding ford's investment in the SHO.....its part of a larger program to amortize the ecoboost development over several projects.....flex, mkt, mks, SHO......all four of those projects needs a minimum number of units per each to make the program pay off. in case you hadn't noticed, for example, those four vehicles also share the same platform and revised rear suspension. In essence then they figured maybe 5k of each model will get ecoboost. a five year lifespan of 20k min. per year on the platform means 100k sales which more than justifies the development cost. The SHO with that level of equipment will indeed sell 5k per year, even at that admitted high sticker (which will require incentives to move, but those are built in already). Not to mention Edge, explorer, and Mustang will get the same motor as well and the 4 cylinder ecoboost shares the same design costs etc. i.e. ford had a plan. regarding taurus sales in general......they will be pleased if they exceed the 08/09 model year numbers. the fusion is ford's volume car. in fact, if the taurus moves 60-70k now i think they will be fine with that. But the potential is real for it to go 100k also as people foresake infinitis and the new taurus has the goods to be a suitable 'downsizing' car for those who can't tap home equity for luxo japanese cars anymore. Ford reheated the Volvo P90 chassis and now again was able to remake the car into an entirely new model with minimal investment (i.e. mks, flex, taurus, mkt share those costs). that allowed ford to pop in sync, blis, adaptive cruise, stop me now because the taurus has way more tech than most GM cars do, and certainly more than the avalon and camry. impala cant say that and malibu doesnt have NAV even. I would not be dissing ford right now. their styling is caught with its pants down right now, but ford is refocused on fusion and taurus as main market push....both have AWD, fusion has a class leading hybrid, both have sport models, and base in base form are competent in price and capabilities.........and are gaining reliability stats that GM has yet to match with an chevy product. I am not sure i would diss ford....even with the mustang which is seeing decent reviews especially when the very excellent camaro may not even make the showroom floor (we'll know better after tuesday)........ I will hate to see that cheaper SHO beat a CTS 4 in performance also.........

and you have looooonnnngggg list of people who are 30, 2 kids, driving enclaves.

probably true when you say that. or like the coupe only will get the good powertrain.

dip asses like farago were the same ones that no less than about 6 years ago were saying every brand had to be full line or that every carmaker had to chase every low volume niche. that is why we ended with crossfires, ssr's, scions, etc. my turd from last night which i laid in the water / porcelain has more credibility than this asshole. he is writing a piece on an easy target for shock value. in the journalism world, which is his *cough* trade (sound of me laughing like a hyena in the background) writing a puff piece like this is nothing more than 'mailing it in'. I wonder what his day job is. Does he actually get paid for that useless web site and for sucking so bad? A microexample of what is wrong with this country in a nutshell. Assholes who make life's work about simply taking potshots and pointing out wrong doings, but have no idea how to actually roll up the shirtsleeves, produce something, and get something done. You get the feeling he could write about tampons and display the same lack of expertise and knowledge but still be a shock jock about it. We need to eradicate dicks like this from our society and culture, by any means possible, just so that their defective genes do not become even more effed up offspring that my kid will have to beat up some day.

in what country? so WHEN IS THE NEW ASTRA hitting the US? that is key. I need to know if i am to give up an on 08 or 010 and wait for the new one. Or just get three jobs and save up for a SHO. Other relevant question, will we at least get a performance version.....? this time? turbo 260hp with 6 speed manual is what i want.

2/17 is a tuesday....

i've only seen the 50+ set (often with white hair) driving enclaves.

I am just to the point where all I really want is a true Opel. So saturn will die, pontiac will die, and chevy is about to become rebadged daewoos. didn't want a chevy anyways. Yuk, i just don't want a Buick. NUMMI needs to fking die already.

big enough for bladder busters? one litre is never enough, ya know.

i think the new astra has some of the megane design in it.

why they keep buick and axe pontiac is beyond me. i get that saturn likely has to die, but pontiac IMHO can coexist with Buick.....and buick will NEVER appeal to a youthful demographic unless Jesus comes down to earth and turns a LeSabre into a......BMW3 or something.....

what is significant.....this could be the iconic poster child for the start of a very different US economic landscape....the $h! that's already happened not discounted, of course. i wish people got this. no business or industry can afford to have its market go near half in a year's time. the company i used to work for went from a record year in like 06, to way less than half the revenue two years later. what was built over time, is destroyed in a blink of an eye. cars, whatever the industry, our society is not set up to handle this huge a swing. at this point, regardless of what happens with GM as a company, what you hope for at the very least, is that the brands come out of this with as little long term harm as possible. Pontiac for example, may be on its death bed, but at least you hope it continues on in some form and gradually comes back to exist. The last thing we need at this juncture is to open the door for a floodgate of even more cheap asian brands to take advantage of our market.

at least the maxx and astra are nice cars

impreza - sucks mazda3 - garish vibe - rice the interior is where this astra will shine. imagine this car with the 260hp DI ecotec and a six speed manual....YES!!

would you include any possibility of extra legroom in the back of the 9-3?

wow. 350hp awd is bland............. you know. most car designs are bland. but that is why they sell.

yeah, i hear boise is good too. minneapolis, always when promoting some arts thing, they say 'we don't want to be a cold omaha'.....LOL my buddy loves living in KC....he is a midwest guy and he really likes KC.

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2009/02/2010-...ht-totally.html interior shot included. me want....except why do the turn signal stalks look so GMNA cheap?

most of the smaller strip mall starbucks are pretty unpretentious. and stocked with good looking babes (guy and gal ) behind the counters. starbucks as a whole has watered their image down over the last 5-10 years out of neccessity but the face remains as croc said the coffee and service quality remain very consistent. contrast that with mcdonalds. McD's has overall good service but their food is atrocious. They need to fix that or they will fade away very fast.

brain drain occurs because there is no jobs for the brainiacs. like you said, too much focus on ag. the people who seem to win out are afraid of 'losing their values' and turning into a big city. the brains and work ethic in those towns like that and sioux falls etc. is unbelievable....but those people move and get a taste of the seattles and denvers of the world and say 'fk this cold sht and lame ass cowboy town'. but like i said, if you just want to remove yourself from high pressure society for awhile either is a great town. (no architecture jobs worth sht there, btw) (anywhere right now for that matter, thanks banking meltdown) fargo and grand forks have about 30,000 college students.....if half of those are women, and a large percentage of those are under 30, or even 25....you get the idea.............makes it hard to study.

i don't dispute that. but even with people moving to warmer areas, its not like everything north of mason dixon will be empty NEXT YEAR....any manufacturer that wants to get some sales volume out of their lineups will want to be able to have them be successful in all areas of the country. so if say 1/3 of the country has trouble unloading rwd cars, it might be deterrent enough to get rid of them from their lineups, especially when 90% of the driving population doesn't care which wheels are driving, or know, or specifically prefer fwd. Lets use the Impala as an example. It was supposed to go Zeta, but wisely GM realized it would be market murder to put IMpala on a RWD only chassis. It takes their volume car and makes it useless in the market as a volume seller / 50 state car. Zeta's biggest downfall is no AWD available. Any platform needs to be used on several models. A RWD only platform cannot be used on crossovers or mainstream family cars because the market has proved over and over that you can offer the public more for your development dollar by a more flexible platform. Even Cadillac was wise enough to see their lunch being eaten and put the STS and CTS on an AWD capable program.