regfootball

i'm so bored with it. this 'eternally cool' crap is borderline nauseous

i wonder how much of this is the electronic throttle culprit again...paired with a CVT, the CVT doesn't 'get' that it needs to change ratio unless you FLOOR it.

I went to the VW dealer a couple weekends ago on a Saturday. i could not find a place to park anywhere within 200 feet of the door. All full of young hip and trendys blowing 30 g on jettas.The Honda and Toyota lots are always crawling with credit worthy people. Even mazda dealers get loaded with younguns, spending cash freely on their first new car. Its no secret who's business Saturn wants and needs to get a piece of. They have no place being what they were anymore.

well, we seldom hear the anti abortion and NRA takes on NPR, just as an example............

It makes their job easier to not have to research on their own. Its easier to spit out what it says in a press release.

ok Honda and Toyota bangers, fire away.

Aura Autoweek review topic

AW

NPR is very fringe. Most of middle America is more moderate.

toyota must give great hed. wow. unbelievable. Toyota is pulling the stick, big time. Although he DOES make some valid points here..... it is a definite product of the mindset of typical American executive and businessman. They love to skimp the product and think customer's are too stupid to notice. In my book, it would be fun to fire car people with that mindset. Costs are important, but giving the customer what they want or perceive to want is much more important and is the critical way to make your business a success. In America we tend to depend too much on marketing and less on creating something people actually need or want in detail. I guess I see the gist of his article, but to dish off the notion that the press has no role in it, is hogwash. Toyota is chewing on so much journalist hot dogs its not even funny. THEY DO bury Toyota's recalls. They DO give them too much of a pass.

when i got my 500 last fall, my first choice was a quest van. due to safety recall, i couldn't get one but i had expressed interest in a 6 speed manual maxima in lieu of the quest for the same lease rate as my 500 and for the quest. I wanted the maxima with the stick, which i had test drove and found the car to be just about right for me. But the whole quest debacle pissed me off so i went to the Ford dealer which begging me practically to get into something. Ultimately what led me not to get into the maxima was the yucky interior. I hated the dash and door panels. they still didn't really fix it, although half heartedly tried. But the CVT? Well, truth be told, if the 500 had more power I would have picked the CVT. In fact, I prefer a CVT. But i had to get the 6 speed on the 500. So now I look at the maxima and am sad they got rid of the 6 speed manual because I think they should have kept it, but at the same time the CVT I find appealing. CVT's are the way to go, once you get used to them. As far as durability goes, the Murano has had no issues with its last gen CVT. The 500 has had no CVT issues. So I would welcome and trust the CVT in the Maxima, although I would love to see the manual still avialable. In about 10 years, I bet all we have mostly is CVT's and DSG's/SMG's. That'd be fine with me. I hate slushboxes with a passion. It's like having sex with Scarlett Johannson but having to wear 3 condoms.

i just read a headline for automotive news which says the eleantra's intro has been postponed for months because of the jailing of that chairman dude for Hyundai in Korea.

it looks better in these pics than it did in the official photos........

what, is there some granola in this topic? we need to pop this chery before it sees light on our shores. CHERY GO HOME, we don't need you endangering Americans with your pop can cars.

Canadian Driver even though the console looks cheap, the center stack looks nice and the whole interior has a nice bidget Mercedes theme.

Canadian Driver

I expect C/D will give it a fair review. they have come back to being objective in the last 4-6 months. And, if you read the reviews on the Lucerne, Malibu Maxx SS, and G6's recently, you'll see they've been fair to very positive. I'll expect James Healy of the USA Today to say its 'unexpectedly delightful' or something like that. He will rate it well. I think Road and Track will like it. I fully expect Motor Trend to nitpick the crap out of it. Their noses are so far up the imports butts now with Angus atop the crew. They cannot retreat, its written in stone that they will like how it drives but will cricify it for little tiny details. Motor Trend writes like they are only writing for the California crowd. The Leinarts won't be able to admit its a good car. Ann Job will probably say some kind things. Canadian Driver will have a nicely positive and informative review of it....but for what car DON'T THEY? Autoweek will think its good. Edmunds will make sure to point out how perfect the Accord and Camry are in spite of whatever good they say about the Aura, and will make at least 5-7 backhanded potshots at GM in their review regardless. In fact, I am sure the title of the article will even have some sort of ill natured attack on GM. Dan Neil of the LA paper may be forced to write something good on it. Auto Extremist may write a short piece on it saying how nice of an example of Detroit doing things right is becoming more and more common. isn't it sad when we are commenting on what the auto journalists may say? I mean, its almost like you can write a predictions page and lay wagers on it, almost down to the sentence. Jermey Clarkson will rip it I am sure. The Truth About Cars....oh sorry, they aren't a real publication. I think GM was smart and gave reviews to the Canadian press first, to get an easier postive buzz, and so the US journalists would gravitate towards regurgitating reviews they've already read.

damn, i forgot to add hippie and npr listening......... this is a family show, you really ought not to swear. ok, let me change it then since some people are SOOOOOOO uptight and SENSITIVE. My God, it is true about everyone being so easily offended (read: pu$$-y) these days. Its like telling someone that ugly tie you wore to work is ugly, but not being able to, because they might need to schedule 3 new shrink appointments just to get over the hurt it may cause. I should have said, "the dangerously and alarmingly large portions of our American society, many who vote, who simply don't have the capacity to think for themselves and tend to gravitate towards whatever some self proclaimed 'expert' tells them to think, in order to feel part of a 'group' and to affirm themselves of making the 'right' choice because they don't have enough self esteem and fortitude to stand up to someone for making a choice on their own" Sorry I had to clarify that, whew, I feel SOOOO much better now. The reason we can't say anything in America anymore is because people have no capacity to accept criticism without wilting into personal failure. We have to candy ass it with everyone in this country, because their FRIKKING feelings may get hurt if you have an opposing view or opinion. You aren't strong enough to REFUTE IT or CHALLENGE IT or deal with it if its true. So instead of equipping people to debate facts and opinions and give them enough self confidence to function in spite of criticism, we create a nation of thumbsuckers who basically don't want to discuss serious issues. We might HURT SOMEBODY. Well maybe in some cases, we NEED to start throwing out the stereotypes again, because often times there's reason why they were there in the first place.

to answer your question...YES but look at it this way, at least they aren't ASIAN! i think they want the cache of a german car and the homerism of an American car. its a fine line to walk, but like I said, at least they aren't ASIAN. What Chrysler really ought to do to repair this is a new round of SERIOUS commercials showing Dr. Deiter Z in serious light because I think he is a likable front man for DCX, he just is missing cred. They can fix that part of it and capitalize on the recognition factor. This is a very fixable situation for Chrysler and could be turned around to be a very big postive factor.

funny thing is, that timex radio has an mp3 line in, does the camry even have that yet?

the other way around, toyota copies timex clock radios for design inspiration. not even toyoguy can put a different spin on it. hey fly, just for kicks, post that camry radio pic and the clock radio pic you had found before again. its so blatantly copied, it exposes toyota for what they are.

so you're saying the women there each weigh a ton? BBW fan I guess........

chicks. i am sure KU is a fine institute for learning.

kohl's although i hear Toyota gives them away for free if you buy the camry......

note to crash test dummie: sucks to be you