regfootball

regarding rwd, it's simply a market choice. if ford made their volume sellers rwd, they would not sell. mass market wants fwd. its damn simple as that.

saturn is the easiest to kill but saturn sells more cars per dealer than any other GM brand. something like 470 saturns per dealer whereas buick only sells 51 buicks per dealer........

sometimes, we even get MAD COWS!!!! i hope this is another example of people starting to read between the lines and see the $h! that these GW dickheads are spewing. you can't take away an American's burger.

no, all those cars are a usable size now finally. the malibu needs to be sized to match them, and the new impala must be taurus or chrysler 300 sized. in case you disagree, note that the altima and accord do fine with their four pots for acceleration and mileage, all while being low weight and giving maximum space to the consumer. its the class of cars below this, (civic, cobalt) that need to grow in size (sentra sized or elantra sized) and fill that gap below. in a class of car where you spend 25k plus, you should not be lacking for space. the impala simply is this size by default. the previous malibu was smaller than it, and the impala is a w body, which basically defines it size. the malibu does not fulfill the needs of a person who wants a sedan with the feel of a spacious car. its not quite wide enough, and overall cabin airiness is lacking with the low roof and tough visibility. These are the reasons the Impala sells, along with incentives. Personally i don't think this is a problem. Who would buy a 30k chevy sedan anyways? Better right now when the economy is tight to have a cheaper model that can actually move units. of course the taurus will really expose how behind the impala is now. The current Impalas main problem is a cheap as $h! interior and bad powertrain choices and suspensions. If they simply remade the interior and put the 3.6/6 speed in it (they've already done this for the LaCrosse), they would have more cred. the exterior shape of the impala is fine! just fix the other stuff! by the way i am so tired of the 'gm's are rentals' $h!. hyundai is the rental king and hello, i drove by the hertz the other day. what 3 cars did they have parked by the door? new camry, accord, and mazda6. Japanese fleet cars. Hello people, get a clue. Its not just GM. Yes Honda, fleeting the accord. we already know the camry is a fleet queen.

ho hum

no, glue a buick badge on it and call it a 'rendez-vue' its just a commodity car, i don't think it will lose any more or less value than any other GM model. Auroras held their value extremely well after Olds folded.

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?