regfootball

there's not a lot of people making 100k Mr. and there is no middle class these days. Feel fortunate if you are one of them. And be sure once in a while to look over your shoulder for the axe. The gravy train does end at some point.

in fairness accord and mazda 6 used to have v6 stick as well. camry too for that matter. mazda6 for 09, they got rid of the stick. fools.

the US aint europe. as per usual practice our quest for innovation solving problems will win out in the end rather than settling for lowest common denominator solutions

i for one applaud life's rant. he's speaking his mind and bringing up real issues. and he reflects what a lot of people feel, its just that we are forced into believing you should hide what you feel. I do not think life's rant ventured into inappropriate, its more about some of you being too sensitive and pussy eared to listen to it. now i can bring up the story my dad told me a couple weekends ago when i visited him up in farm country....(i.e. my hometown of 300 people happens to have a chevy dealer despite the largest GM full line dealer in the state being 25 miles away, and there is usually 20-30 or more trucks new on their lot at any one time and they move through them like water in a faucet). Trucks sell big and tradition dies hard. In this part, even Ford cannot sell trucks, GM is king. One of my dad's acquaintances from his implement selling days told him a story. He was out shopping for new trucks and he bit on the propaganda and went to the toyo dealer, who managed to talk him into dropping 40+ on a new Turd. The words no sooner left my dad's mouth (Tundra) and I knew what was coming. BLOWN EXPECTATIONS. Turns out it wasn't any of the common things, i.e. busted tailgate, bed bounce, engine schrapnel.....no his truck was getting EIGHT MILES TO THE GALLON. Buyer complained back to the dealer and they basically said it was his fault the way he is driving it. Stories like that get around farm country and I don't think we will be seeing big sales there. To get back to life's rant.......everyone who exclusively shops imports or is a big US brand hater, I think we need to examine why you can hate these people so much. Its because they are selfish and think their $h! don't stink and that they are untouchable. There is no reason for Camry and Civic to blow off the sales like they do being the mediocre cars they are when there are so many other excellent choices on the market. With all the choices and folks only gravitating to the lowest common denominator (camry) is absolutely insane. But it really is about how effed up in the head a lot of folks are. They sit and crticize the american automakers, and they don't even have a clue that Ford and GM are global and produce many good products. ANd these same people who are venomous in their disdain for US automakers, they think they are untouchable and exempt from criticism themselves. This is why they perceive things the way they do. In this regard, perhaps the move to outsourcing the country is ok. But let me say this. The only reason a lot of the DICKWADS in this country get away with it......example. Take your well compensated doctor who buys a Lexus. I suppose his industry is not under assault from other companies in a global market. It's not like if I need surgery I can be picky about and fly over to Japan to get my bone fixed. Said doctor doesn't need to make it up in his business for the doctors in Japan getting govt. assistance to prop up their financing. Or financial markets trader, how is that prick subject to losing all his business from foreign companies. Or the banker. Or marketing people. Let's let all these paper service industry jerks see their well being subject to companies from other nations coming in and assaulting their market. Lets see all our college professors have their status in the world threatened because we'll let the University of Calcutta send in 1000 profs for a new Masters program in DC or Denver or whatever. Basically a lot of folks are on the gravy train and their place hasn't been challenged. They think their $h! don't stink and they have no humility and don't get that chances are quite good outsiders could very easily invade their industry and displace their ass to burger king as well. I think that if a lot of these people who have too high an opinion of themselves had their run of the mill ass brought back down to earth and smelled their own turd for a change like the rest of us have been doing, maybe they would look at a few more things when it comes to purchase decisions. Rarely do i find that well compensated people in this country are exceptional people these days. They often are products of luck or snowballing people into thinking they are special. A lot of 'professional' people in this country really need to be brought down a couple notches. What they do and where they got is eye candy to cover up that they are specks of dirt like everyone else. It would be of benefit to us all if we could make all these people as replaceable as they treat everyone else. I for one am sick and tired of the self righteousness of the upper crap, um, crust in this country and the lack of worth they assign on everyone else. Chickens come roost. Maybe we need to have an economic crash to reassign the 'market value' of 75% of our country's population, the ones who make 6 figures or more. that might just send the best message.

maybe a whole new car would be simpler.

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH. honda is vanilla!

NBA players like room in the 3rd row too i guess

no microsoft sync, no sale

civic is very popular, especially when gas is spendy. in this case i can live with the civic selling, as long as it takes the sale away from toyota. GM needs to figure out how to get in on this action. p.s. even the lancer is more interesting than the civic. the astra wishes it could do this well too.

sprinter rocks. who 3 years ago would have ever guessed the 300's fall from grace. thing is, the 300 is still a good car, even with a v6 instead of a hemi. live by fashion, die by it too. down 59%? wow. thing is, many folks driving large suv's would really like downsizing into a 300. journey is doing well but it looks like it is just making up for lost van sales more than anything. chrysler simply can't keep pace with new models and such. to bad, i would rather see them stay than toyota but this is not good.

BM been tanning? Hillary has a plan for obama, maybe she knows how to neutralize BM too.

agree 1000%

why cant i get a G5 turbo sedan ? i dont want a chevy.

vibes, g3's, g5's needed to keep BPG doors open.

ah, buickman stories are so golden. i bet he is distraught since the demise of the RDV. By the way, i bet he still sold 10 cars today while he was in the meeting. 3 in the restroom while peeing in between presentations.

hence vibes and G3's.

GM's continual problem, always 'cost concerns'. what does it cost them to lose a sale? cost concerns = short sighted, narrow minded. fusion has awd for crying out loud. subaru and suzuki compacts do. vibe does. cailber does. saab does now even. sheesh. i also read somewhere where i think it was lutz even said GM was not going to make zetas with awd, no plans for it.

perhaps that same logic is why the next impala will remain fwd

IIRC, zeta is not AWD capable. major flaw for winter states

i would much rather have a 'pontiac g3' than a 'chevy aveo', likewise i would rather ghave a 'g5 turbo' than a 'cobalt ss'. chevy is too plain. too toyota.

COOL. when do we get this. what i really want is a G5 sedan with the turbo.

having driven the v6 aura and v6 g8 i would say by the seat of my pants that the g8 might be as much as a full second slower 0-60, due to weight and one less cog. so your mpg argument holds water well, but the epsilon car i do think is quicker. If GM could fix that issue with the g8 then i would agree with you fully.

yeah, those thin japanese windshields, yah know. what made me feel TERRIBLE was one vehicle parked right in front of us taking a major beating was a BRAND NEW dodge journey sxt. no lie. it had the temporary dealer sticker in the window. I would even bet they picked it up and were driving it home that moment.

thanks a lot for the advice, blu. knowing what youre going through too, makes me feel lucky. It's hard to love cars sometimes. my friend suggested waiting to fix it until the last possible moment, also. he even said try to turn in the car that way and use it as a tool for getting a new one. if the dealer wanted the new sale bad enough, they may be willing to 'lessen the pain' in terms of paying for the damage. in fact, the dealer right up the hill that got killed in that storm one of them is ford. maybe i can trade them my hail damaged vehicle for a new flex in transit and they can just put in a claim for the 500 on their dime. checking out the damage again a bit today, most of the bigger dents on the hood / drivers side. the roof dents are much smaller but in both cases there are more dents than i thought yesterday. ugh.

here's the real problem. gm is so big there is no excuse to not have zeta and alpha like platforms. whether they are fat heavy pigs or not, is another issue too. Does Zeta have alum rear susp? where's the AWD? So is GM even equipping these platfroms with all they can? in addition they need a large and small fwd delta and mid and large fwd/awd epsilon. a microcar platform too. and GM should have enough resources to redevelop these platforms continuously. It should only take these days 30-36 months from nothing to showroom for a new platform. No model should have more than 36-48 months before a significant enhancement. gm should have a stable of motors and trannies that can be plugged in to just about anywhere, diesel, gas, 4,6, 8 cyl. turbo, ethanol, hybrids. GM is still tripping all over itself and is making progress but even here in NA most of GM's desirable stuff is still not in volume segments or is in the really affordable daily driver price ranges. No wonder GM is getting bitchslapped in the market. My reminder today was seeing the GXP torrent at the local dealer here....sticker...38k!! for that? cheap interior, 5 year old chassis, admittedly now a competent motor....but 38k? MY GOD WHO ARE THEY FOOLING? at least in NA, GM still is way behind, design, interiors (INTERIORS!), powertrains, options, fun to drive, pricing, technology........ their plan can work if the management can allow it! i say fire everyone in charge of these decisions. its obvious they are not stewarding the company like they should.