regfootball

we should have both, great mpg and awesome hp. the thing is, the legislators are already probably trying to figure out ways how to legislate out our horsepower.

yeah, but my God if you point that out, you may get struck down. Its bad enough that the automakers have to cater to california's legislative abuse in regards to emissions and such. you'd swear the rest of the nation does not count.

go to GMI someone there did a killer Buick chop on a stateman photo, with a more Enclavish front end and some curvys on the fenders. really a fking sweet looking photo. really sweet. I seriously wonder if the UAW is the big stumbling block to us getting cars like the statesman here pronto. If so, they need to be put to pasture if they are the ones keeping GM from being fully able to freely bring this car in when it is needed so badly.

the pushrod 3.4 in the aztek is fairly well muted most of the time with noise abatement and such which is amazing because in other cars I have driven with the exact same motor (Alero) the thing was a buzzbomb rattler like no other that made you feel like it was going to vibrate the car apart and make you go deaf from the horrible noise. If a stranger drove the Alero and the Aztek back to back there is no way you would ever guess they have the same boat anchor under the hood. The only time its disagreeable in the Aztek is under hard throttle and you get the signature GM pushrod sound (the strained vacuum cleaner noise). Everyone comments about how farily quiet the Aztek is. The 3800 like in my FIL's car and many others I have driven is a bit smoother than the 3.4 in most cases (but still possesses the same strained vacuum cleaner noise). Basically, what it boils down to is that GM invests more in deadening the noise and vibration in some cars, than others for their pushrod buzzbombs. the duratec 3.0 in my 500 has much less noise and vibration abatement. Its probably average to below average in inherent design as well, since the design is so old. The new 35 duratec should be much better and since the 500/taurus whole front end and subframe and powertrain is redesigned (as well as much more sound deadening) I expect to see major improvement in that area. Oddly, my 60 degree v8 SHO which was a derivative of the v6 duratec family had no vibration and was eerily smooth through the rev range. in fact, if you were out driving on a road trip, once the car settled into crusing speeds for an hour or so at 75-80+ mph you simply often could not hear the engine. And you didn't feel it. My 89 v6 SHO was extremely smooth as well and was pretty much dead quiet at crusing speeds all the time. It had brawn and barked like a dog when you wanted it to, but otherwise was like liquid glass. You wouldn't feel or hear it at all. My 95 tbird was actually a bit racous...smooth but it didn't rev as smoothly as my other cars. The modular 4.6 v8 was good but not a jewel. All the Nissan v6's I've driven have been smooth as silk and noise and vibration free. I haven't liked the Accords and Odyseeys I have ridden in or drove because I don't think they shielded enough of the harsh mechanical noise. The one Sienna v6 I drove was ok smooth but not what I would expect of the toyota hype. I really do think most of it has to do with how much they can do with subframe design and noise abatement to make up for what might otherwise be a groaner of an engine. My own rule of thumb is if a car seems loud, check for feel of vibrations in the pedals. If the pedals are buzzy, then likely they just simply haven't drowned out the engine properly. The engine itself could use more NVH engineering, sure, but the cost cutting on damping out whatever NVH exists to begin with is equally criminal.

clarkson is a bit like howard stern reviewing cars but where it falls apart is his affinity for all things brit. that kind of blows his objectivism. but this maylaysian crap should be pointed out as crap if it is crap. if the third worlders want to play with the big boys they should take the heat and STFU

duallies or no, the oinker (turdra) still has timing belts, a non boxed frame, piano black interior trim in a pickup, and a four star crash test rating. oh yeah, and big incentives.

meh. one can be spiritual and religious, but you sure as hell don't have to do everything your religion says you should do. it's ok to disagree with certain things. its all about whether you agree or disagree with the big picture and sometimes you need to ignore the minutia that goes with it. Too many folks use examples like this minutia as a crutch to automatically disagree with the big picture.

subaru is notorious in my mind with tiny cabins in proportion to the car's size. visually and spacially. they always have short doors, tiny windows......firewalls and windshields pushed too far back. I'm glad this won't be a Saab 9-2.

argh......what can I depend on in this world? there are no more constants......arggggggg

the statesman is a hellova a lot more nicer looking car than the hyundai bmw-finiti thing piece of crap ok, gripe.....window switches need to go on the door where God intended them to be, and cupholders need to move up and in better reach and hopefully not conflicting with the shifter. the arm rest then should be lengthened accordingly.

it already is. go to buick china website and you will see it is the new chinese park avenue. and the us dealers don't want it? that interior is perfect. i could lick it, its so luscious. that is my car. i would pimp my wife out for this car......(if it had AWD). Lutz and Wagner ought to be called on the carpet for this. This car can be had in China, AU, Saudi Arabia, Korea apparently, but not here. A big goddam shame. PITIFUL, actually. There is NO EXCUSE for this car to not be here. NONE.

wow, burger king must be expanding.

we all know its about width, or so i am told

that's why i said it looks all S80. its like Ford has no original ideas, they have make a volvo lite look that does not succeed and loses a lot in translation.

where's the mileage numbers on the diesel

WILL YOU MARRY ME? A MAN WITH COMMON SENSE AND WISDOM! are you secretly from the midwest? those are midwest family values, man.

hippie/extreme liberal urbanites make corollas family cars. i still laugh on every thanksgiving when i see packed corollas on the beltway. its so obvious these people only use their cars on those 2 days a year when daddy says they won't hurt the environment by consuming gas because they need to see evil grandma in the nursing home. mom dad and 2 kids jammed in the corolla and the driver does not know how to merge with traffic or keep up speed on the roads. good times, good times. its obviously too cold for all 5 or 4 to ride their bikes to grammas on such a brisk day. so much for bikes saving the ecosystem. the city buses must have scared them too...... GM will never be able to take back share until they make some sort of marketing perception breakthrough. CR prints more copies each month than GM can advertise on TV. Its a losing battle. GM needs a 'big idea' on how to cut through customer's perceptions. A good start would be pointing out how -Toyota doubling capacity of tundras to suck more fuel, while increasing GM's own mpg across the board on trucks -massive toyota recalls -tundra terrible front crash ratings and lack of boxed frame. timing belts in the engine (wise for a truck!). -the whiplash monster has arrived even though its a new design (avalon) -small junky cars (yaris, check the press reviews) -massive incentives and fleet sales toyo is the new fleet king -why no 100k warranties toyota? -toyota is not a US company -toyota is part of japan which prefers to manipulate currency and other tactics in unfair economic warfare -toyota would love to cut wages and benefits so its workers make as much as burger king and probably will -toyota ASSEMBLES cars here but still sources majority from outside US and doesn't employ near the people as US companies do Strangely enough, 'big city dwellers' need to think they are atop the curve and better in their decision making will get the best of them. In most segments where Toyota has a big seller, there is a better or equally capable entry that deserves to sell more. With all the fine cars out there, Toyota really doesn't deserve to sell like they do, because they are so one dimensional. But stubborn and correct people like city dwellers never have the capacity to adjust their thinking on the fly. I would be curious to know of how people say Japanese cars hold up better than US cars have actually owned a Japanese car beyond 50k miles. to watch it rust sooner. to watch the tranny go bad and cost $$$$$$$$. to pay 600 bucks for an alternator. to see the timing belt go. I've put 235,000 miles on 4 domestic GM or Ford cars that i got new or just barely used. I've never had to fix anything. Worst thing that happened was to replace a battery. My Aztek is at 63,000 and I still have original tires and brakes. No trannies, no engines, no major components. Tbird was 75k and no tires or brakes or anything. No toyota sludge, no TL tranny blowups. Help me, I just don't understand why that is so bad.

maybe Caddy will do a Zeta crossover to add to or replace the SRX, with better styling. Maybe Saab could get a version of that also.

i like the groove and the beat.

this does nothing for me still but the domestics could take a lesson here....subie made big efforts to correct original flaws, in about 2 years onto market. our manuf's trip over themselves and it still takes them 4 years to screw up again on the MCE. sorry to say, but our carmakers had better get used to being able to make on fly changes in 2 years or less if their new models stumble out of the gate. we shouldn't have to wait 3-4 years to get horsepower in the 500/taurus or still have ot wait to get decent plastic in an equinox, even after a freshening.

those 300's that were selling for 40k 2 years ago are selling for MUCH cheaper now

BMW makes a great car, but their designs are getting seriously tired, to me anyways.

the interior looks better in these more recent pics. almost nice, actually, in the light color. the exterior looks bad, but not brutal like the first pics. I've maintained that this new Imprez was to be a Saab also. its so obvious. jump on those cheap imprezza leases now. the newer model ain't as nice. I sure hope they got rid of the stupid ass frameless windows.

HELLO WHAT ARE THE NUMBERS ON THE NEW DIESEL????? the rest all doesn't matter........

on GMI someone suggested this thing keeps the SUICIDE DOORS. can anyone confirm? if it does, NO WAY JOSE. No one wants suicide doors. Terrible from a functional standpoint and absolute suicide from a marketing standpoint. Why put a feature on your car people refer to with SUICIDE in the name? That move alone will eliminate any sales to women whatsoever. Wow, Ford is off the deep end if they put suicide doors in this thing. If they do, I cut my my sales prediction in half or more. by the way, the new radio and climate controls might be new, but they still look like they will suck. why not simple large rotary twist knobs for auto climate controls? trying to find tiny buttons mounted low and having to hit them numerous times to adjust temp or fan speed is outright stupid, when you could simply twist a knob! these buttons are tinier and even harder to pick out than the current ones. Ford is devolving these aspects even further. where is the LARGE volume button i can use with gloves on? there is nothing tactile looking about any of these. they all look the same. they are all mounted too low and since I cannot pick them out on feel alone, I have to look down and take my eyes off the road to use them. SMART MOVE FORD!!!!!! that analog clock is so useful way down low when a-i already have a digital readout of the clock time on my radio and b-my taco bell 44 ounce bladder buster is blocking it anyways!!!!!!!!! can i work there? i'd love to drink on the job. why can't they fix this stuff? NAV screen ought to be higher. where is the manumatic!??!?!?!!? how many sedonas sold last year in the US? I would forgive them on the dull dash if the center stack and controls were a lot interesting and functional instead of boring, cheap looking, and unusable.