regfootball

no sunroof, no get

i tested it when it came out...i have driven the v6/ 5 sp twice. one time i did that i drove it back to back with a 9-3 linear and preferred the saab. i did not like the lack of grunt of the grainyness of the motor compared to say, the nissan VQ. i don't like to tuner my car, i like it stock. i know the M6 got props, but it didn't strike a chord with me. don't care for the interior either. i guess if it had a ford badge on it,,......L:OL

for me, my old 89 SHO had the perfect blend of ride stiffness and suspension / ride forgiveness. my 99 SHO had too much impact harshness although the ride was good. let's settle on the difference between simply a stiff suspension and one that is designed and has quality parts that it can perform and have some suppleness on bumps as well. one time on a day off i drove a BMW 3 series non sport package and a CTS 3.2. That CTS was probably the most fave car I have driven or close to it. The BMW was nice but to be honest was too tame. i thought that BMW was a bit soft and floppy. the cts had perfect ride handling and steering, and was not intially harsh on bumps like that G8 was. now the g8 drive was short, maybe 15 miles on mostly freeway at maybe 60 mph average. but in spring the roads here are harsh with freeze thaw and potholes and various pavement breaks. so suspension compliance and road noise and tire noise were under big scrutiny. tires have a lot to do with it also . that 89 SHO i had had what was at the time new goodyear first gen or second gen eagle aquatreds which had a sticky but soft and quiet tread. it was the quietest car I have ever driven when you took it on the highway and weren't abusing the throttle. the g8 had the evil RS-A tires, which are the performance tire equivalent of a barely adequate performer. my 99 sho had those tires on it and even though they are surprisingly adequate in rain and even some snow, they ride hard, are hard tires, and make assloads of whining noise on concrete, they are even not all that quiet on asphalt. perhaps on a g8 with real tires on it (that aren't like round bricks) and some time for the suspension to break in, like afew thou miles....maybe it falls into the ok range. that is why i think i may need to go another test drive later....but even so I probably don't need the small block. maybe it was the AFM or whatever, but that v8 did not rev quickly and it took quite a bit of thottle to get it to wake up. If you stood on the throttle it came alive, after a brief hiatus. even with all that power on tap, i don't want to have to abuse the gas pedal just to get the revs up and to get it to zing the tach. but i usually have favored OHC motors.....it could just be i hadn't figured out the magic sweet spots on the gas pedal to make the car fly or maybe i was just too bashful with the sales guy with. i sure drove the p1ss out of the accord i drove right after that. the interesting difference between the GTO and G8 was how much noise and vibration was present in the GTO and the G8 was a kitty in comparison. my guess is the CTS has an extra amount of suspension refinement that the g8 maybe doesn't immediately seem to have, as well as having different suspension packages available as well.

wow, and toyota has a golden legacy........?

yes, you are right. i have driven the new style passat with tiptronic, but not with stick. it's a good drive. to be truthful, the passat is a bit small, but probably adequate, it's bigger than the epsilons. VW has sign and then drive leases which means true 0 down whereas honda wants big bucks usually. passat can be had with wagon too! maybe i need to DRIVE ONE. i have been seeing more new passats now. nearly all of them are turbo fours. lower level passat w/ stick and leatherette, heated seats. sunroof. that would be a very good choice.

i can't wait to see how BAS compares when it comes out.

the fact that we spend hugebucks in Iraq is what is keeping people from spending here, both companies and individuals/couples/families. i'm all about making sure we don't have to deal with that bunch over there but honestly the oil companies and iraq war as well as corporate greed in general / outsourcing and hell let's add unfair trade have is in a position to destroy our economy if things don't swing SOON.

i think the new epa procedures are effed up badly. in the buick dealer this weekend was a base lucerne with the 3.8/4 pot powertrain and the numbers were 16/25. my FIL had the same combo in his last car (he just got an 08 grand prix last week!, and he's 82 or something) and he would get 30-33 on the highway, yet the lucerne only gets 16? BS!

IMO, this is one of the RARE Japanese brand sedans that largeones like myself can actually be happy in. The Galant is an amazingly spacious car as well, for those who might like it. It makes me mad that you can't get an LX cloth accord with a simple v6/6 speed and sunroof for like 24 grand. Its amazing with all the cars on the market that still, virtually no one makes this kind of car. Mid - large fwd sedan with good (not extreme) road manners and v6 / manual for a price you can afford. Mazda6 don't count...the engine is not worthy.

i thought the accord seats were very supportive but the trunk struts are a huge cheap thing i was surprised to see. really, lifetime accord bangers will hate how big the car is now although that is exactly why I like it. But in the end, the styling inside and out kills it for me.....I may have to stoop to a new low and look at altimas....wait, i would be perfectly happy with a new AWD v6 taurus.

still having the 3500 in one of the epsilons is a safeguard against how many 3.6's they can crank out. if demand for the 3.6 in other vehicles is high, then some g6 production can still take up the slack with the 3.5. For fleets and rentals I don't see the problem. And, it gives them a low price v6 for those who don't want the 4 and can't afford the HF. The bigger crime is that the G6 has had no interior gut and redo. and it could use an exterior freshening. Still, look how long the modiocre mazda 6 has soldiered on with a crappy 3.0 buzzbomb and 4 pot under the hood and no visual updates. IMO, pontiac is readying the next G6 for eps2 and i think they are just riding the current g6 out until they get there.

i would agree with some of what you said. the terrible dash design really keeps this from feeling like a premium car though. no wonder camry sales are still going up.....the camry feels comfortable without the weirdness of the honda. one thing about this car....if you want to get your game on, and flog the snot out of it, it's willing. I still think it's way undertired. then, at the end of the day, if you want to just baby it, its ok with that too.

ah, i get it now. alfred sloane did not invent rebadging. it seems as if there may be several models and variants running around on the borger platform, however. probably none in AU though....LOL

6 speed DI would be tasty. after driving the GT this past weekend, i really don't need the smallblock and will probably prefer the v6.

aztek - worst? this as i go back through my head and remember that in 3 1/2 years and 85k miles i've only done tires and brakes and a couple front wheel bearing under warranty. i dunno, i've been happy. i think CR is wrong here.

its one thing to stiffen the suspension to allow it to perform on the track and in the twisties, but to me it's like they can go to a whole new level of effort so they can keep that high performance but allow it to have a little bit more suppleness in daily traffic where you use the car the most. i hear bmw is adept at that. maybe i need a couple more test drives on some different roads and more seat time. maybe its a matter of getting used to it.

so i guess i have a little time to jot down my thoughts here.... black / black EX-N 4 cylinder 5 speed accord. car feels substantially large.....wider in fact than my 500. actually, it feels large, but not huge. i like the size of it but i can understand that many accord bangers might feel the car is too large now. well, at least the car is useful. Front and back, there is plenty of space, like in the Galant and Taurus. it's definitely not a beautiful car by any stretch, inside or out. actually being inside the car almost induced vomiting from the ultra busy dash, center stack, and door panels. tan interior would have been better. the black was like sitting in a bathtub of death. it's just terribly haphazard, busy and overdone. i will say the gauges were nice and the steering wheel falls right to hand beautifully. What was bothersome was the location of the shifter. it's too far to the right of where the driver's hand wants to be and the shifter knob does not lean back to the left in first. So you have to reach for it. It kind of puts you into a bit of an unnatural arm motion instead of falling to hand. The center stack buttons are confusing and you have to take your eyes off the road to use them. The two knobs sticking out, well, it's rather phallic. You almost get an ill feeling reaching out to grab one. Nonetheless at least those two knobs do their functions somewhat intuitively. The nav is set into a really deep well in the dash and is the dumbest thing i've seen in awhile. It's like looking down a large plumbing pipe. It is hard to read so far down there and takes your eyes off the raod quite abit and the graphics themselves are pretty crude. now for the drive. steering....a little light for my tastes but really is quite good. the ratio is a tiny bit twitchy but i bet once i would get used to it it would probably be perfect. you can feel things on the road and that's probably ok but some hondas i have test driven have telepathed way too much road stuff through the wheel and it also makes you wonder about the durability of the steering system if it's that unfiltered. this car was well undertired because i hustled it up a few cloverleafs and i could feel the sidewalls flopping and the narrow tires losing grip. but it's pretty easy to point the car and keep it on a line.....good job honda, just get some real tires on there. the suspension was decent....maybe a tish stiff on bump compliance even if the roll stiffness seemed spot on. no real complaints. i had some torque steer launching on some hard first gear starts and i had to control the bucking bronco a bit. this car has some low end grunt that you can occasionally find if you are at exactly the right launch rpm. the car goes flat as far as pull in the mid band, but the throttle response is so awesome and it freely revs....so the car seeks the high rpm where the power is at. for a 4 cylinder the car is exceptionally smooth...but in the end i still thought its not liquid glass like a good v6. probably just fine for most buyers....it's the trade off for having the lighter more tossable front end. i'd like to see them put mid range grunt in the engine, and some more low end.....and maybe quiet down the high rpm noise a bit. clutch and shifter were both nice feeling. shifter is liquid and clutch is initially light but can feel a little stiff at a stop light. shifting action is pretty effortless and the thing glides into gear most of the time. it's a pretty easy car to drive aggressively..... i think the car could be a little quieter and i would like to see the power band retuned to be more across the whole rpm range. Another 30-40 hp would be perfect. turning circle is a bit large. truth is this would be enough car for me as a daily driver, but I am not sure the virtues for me outweight things like the terrible interior and exterior, lack of tires, and somewhat peaky motor. this car has a real offputting personailty that I do not think the powertrain excellence can overcome. yet...... at least for me.....Having driven a new Passat, i would reason to think that for many folks that car would make more sense. Now I must drive the Altima and maybe the Malibu. If someone gave me a good deal on this accord, i could probably stomach it.....its a very good car. but i'd like it to be slightly less hardwired.......just a bit......and get some heft and decent tires under the car and soften the suspenders just a teeny bit. fix the exterior and gut and redo the interior. my thoughts on this car are quite random, so fire away. i think a lot of folks would like this car, but to me it just doesn't quite cover all the bases. Now i see why it didn't get NACOTY.

whoever our next pres is, we need to start a massive PR campaign built on change and postivity, despite what we may do in Iraq...but at a minimum, we need to convey to the world that the US in under new leadership. i do think the world will benefit from the execution of saddam, however, i was mistaken in thinking that that alone would bring momentum to our efforts there.

yup, too much. first off, the car is drop dead sexy. you almost need to get a room with yourself after looking at a g8 because it is a gorgeous car. aside from that, you can acclimate yourself ergonomically pretty quickly and stuff falls to hand nicely. I was bothered by mirror and window switches on the console. THEY SHOULD BE ON THE DOOR. The climate control display is like on my 500, too low.....but at least it has large buttons and nice rotary controls. Yet we have the stupid bar graph voltmeter thingie at the top of the center stack.....dumb. So you have to take your eyes off the road to see the nice color radio display. shame. Mirrors are small. Seats, steering wheel nice and adjustable. Gauges are nice and readable. You really become aware of the massive size of the car once you get driving. Visibility is alright......originally i never grasped just how much rear leg room this car has until we got our seats adjusted....my gosh there is leg room. But the car is WIDE too, normally i am ok with this but this car has serious girth, maybe just a tish too much for me. Seating was lower than i was used to however it is just fine by 95% of sedan standards. The A pillars are NOT an issue. Also, this is a very quiet car, until the goodyear RS-A's (LOUD TIRES, i have had them before) start making howling noises on concrete as they are quiet on asphalt. I will never buy another car with RS-A's if i can help it. In addition to the physical size of the car seeming a bit much.......i noticed the weight of the car, which is weird. My 500 does not weigh much less but feels a lot lighter and nimbler.....although....yes, the g8 has quicker but heavy steering and firm, ok STIFF suspension. I am sure the steering is to keep things from getting out of hand. I guess I would say the car feels like a stiff riding big car, a capable one, and not numb, certainly by no means mushy, but not at all sprightly. Secure, yes, firm (too firm, actually). the v8 did not rev as fast as I am used to a car revving. yes it has power, but to access it you really got to prod the throttle and the tranny was slow to kick. i am used to instant rpm on my 500 and this car you just have to wake it from a slumber to access the hellfire under the hood that is canned up. manual mode was good and reacted nicely, but the shifter is ass backwards IMHO. oddly, i had driven a used GTO today also prior to this test drive and the engines indeed both have that 'gotta wake it from its slumber' sort of behavior. since traffic was always bad, i could not brutally flog the car so maybe it will be more engaging if driven 9/10th. Maybe it is an issue of getting to know the car and all the nuances of it in order to coax it into being bad. As a road trip car, of course it should excel, aside from the too initially stiff and initially uncompliant ride. The car does feel worth all of its price. It was interesting the contrast....right after driving the g8 i drove a 4 cylinder 5 speed accord EX and to be honest as a daily driver that car was more sprightly and engaging and offers similar space. I know the accord will not be capable of the gaudy g8 performance but in city driving the accord can be driven adequately aggressively i think. I had the accord SW leaping out of my hands and was spinning the drive wheels with only the 4 popper.....and its steering feel was more instant and its ride less harsh (although i thought that car was a bit too non compliant also). I told salesguy I will want to drive the v6......my hope is the cammy feel of the DOHC v6, revving quicker, and just giving me the horsepower i need with a little less weight on the front end will maybe be a better drive for the daily grind. i remember how much i liked my magnum 3.5 rental last year. that car was a good daily driver type of car and not as firm as the g8. I wish black was not the only interior color. I know this probably reveals that the g8 is maybe a bit tightly wound for old aging me. But cars can have sporting suspension AND some ride suppleness.....which my 89 SHO had. For me, it's a wait and see thing. Now at least I know a v6 may be better for me.....and maybe this isn't the car for me. If the car had the DI v6 and just some more initial bump compliance i could be jacked about it. I just think the v8 small block is not my kind of engine, i really like the sound of overhead cam engines better. it should be interesting to see how the zeta camaro turns out, if it feels a bit tanklike, like this. note: the power seats still only have manual backrest adjustment.

it seems like the whole situation is a wrong foot type of thing, but i guess in my opinion, your skepticism is justified. If the person was just a friend i would guess he's be excited to tell you about that other person and even want you to meet him.....and also the cologne thing. no one puts cologne on that late at night just to smell crisp and clean. one thought, could this merely be a friend that he's saying goodbye to in a way? Like ending a relationship with? or maybe, he is confused and really likes you and maybe just has a little bit of interest yet for another and hasn't been able to sort it out in his own mind yet?

will write up later tonight when I have time. nice car, not entirely my cup of tea, good car nonetheless.

I test drove a G8 GT today. I will have time later to post a little review later tonight. Nice enough car, but it's too much car for me. I wanted to drive the v6......will have to wait to test that.

from a poster on BON

see question above. My vote is INSIGNIA. sounds more expensive and would keep the opel / saturn versions the same name.

the accord's interior is the big plus, the size, and makes up for the fact that it's an ugly car.