toesuf94

Wow...your's was much better than the one I was e-mailed...so I copied it and sent it to the Japanese guy who sent me the original one.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...had to stop laughing long enough to go pee! I am no fan of anything Japanese. I am 35 and I 'remember' Pearl Harbor.

When gas prices made the climb to $3.00 a gallon and higher, I noticed quite a few of the 80's econoboxes back on the road...the glory days of the two box designs: Chevettes, Omnis, Horizons, Champs...wondering what else was lurking on the roads near you. This is the rust belt folks - most of the ones I saw were held together with spray foam and bailing wire! Spotted a rather rare mid 80's Dodge Charger Trucklet AND a Rabbit Diesel Pick Up at a light this morning...total flash back man!

if it were a Toyota recall they would be blaming the manufacturer of the windshield or the glue - Quick GM - HOP on the bandwagon and get the word out that this is not your problem and have the owner's of these cars call them!

I have said it time and time again...there are usually no toolboxes at a meeting, so there is no way that talking about it is going to fix it. Americans used to roll up thier sleeves and get something done...now it is talked about enlessly. The latest thing that pissed me off has been the Lambda launch...beautiful trucks, but it took so long to get them tested and out of commitee that they were late to thier own party! I remember seeing the Enclave at NAIAS and SEEING and HEARING the engineers from Japan scrutinizing the design and going over the truck with a fine toothed comb. Mazda and Hyundai BOTH beat GM to market with the Answer to the Enclave by 6 months! They stole design cues directly off of the trucks in my opinion and beat GM to the market with the trucks. Are they as well executed as GM's - time will tell. Either way, they fired the first shots. Hell, I won't be surprised to see a Toyota Challengier/or Cuda-er Supreme or a Mazda Camareo on the street way before I see the GM and Chrysler versions we saw at the shows 2 years ago!

"A Modern Parable A Japanese company (Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing. Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing. Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India Sadly, the End. Sad, but oh so true! Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages. Toyota has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US The last quarter's results: Toyota makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads"

Yeah! A used Alero beats a new Corolla any day...sorry Jason! The Quad 4 is a great little engine when taken care of. Lots of power from a 4. Neat car - congrats!

Glad it isn't the cam shafts! :AH-HA_wink:

XLR - Man why is everyone hating this car? We have one and it is engaging to drive, beautiful to look at and DANGEROUS to drive, as people damned near hit you to get a look at it. The hardtop is a marvel, the drivetrain is nearly euro exotic with the DOHC V8. Only complaint for us is I think it is too soft in the ride. SRX - Love the Amenities, wish it were longer and the base V6 had more power STS- forgettable design and who wanted a FWD Luxury Car - nobody...so the RWD ones are hardly known about as they automatically think of the STS as a FWD car. DTS - Looks are growing on me...but again FWD...ugh. NEW CTS - ABSOF-ING BEAUTIFUL...Scared that I might buy one when the Tahoe's lease is up. Escalade - My tahoe has everything inside that they do for 20k less. Sure my truck has a 4 speed auto, but at least I can pass the gas pumps.

With gas prices where they are - stay AWAY from the 95. The best we ever saw with our 95 was 13 mpg. Our 98 was always giving us 17-19 mpg - the vortec is that much better than the TBI. Other things to look for: Rust . Intake seals...the engines in these trucks snack on intake seals every 30-45k in my experience. The Vortecs were better. The drive shafts! They are prone to clunking on load up or when stopping...this will mean that they are dry and need greased. If they clunk when stopping or right when you accelerate, the drive shaft needs serviced. If you live in a cold climate - make sure the recall on the door panel bumper/light switch tripper has been performed. Basically a thicker button is installed on the door panel on the drivers door. This is due to the doors shrinking in cold weather and causing the interior lights to come on. The first cold overnight will result in a dead battery. If it has any where near 110k on the clock, change the fuel pump in the tank pretty quickly to keep it from failing...they go around this point. The last point is the 4x4 system, have him run it through all modes. Most of these become pavement pounders and never actuate the 4wd system. The actuators get stuck and they are pricy to repair. Other than those minor things they are bullet proof. I loved all of the ones we have owned and they never left one of us stranded. Ever. They are the most versatile trucks out there. I hope that I helped!

Gee...hope it crashes better than the last Cherry tested in Europe... Not good. I thought only the Japanese practiced Oragami...I guess the Chinese do it with cars instead of paper! See it here versus the Chevy that they copied: http://paultan.org/archives/2006/02/18/chery-qq-crash-test/ Good luck Dodge. I agree with the decision. You HAVE to have product at the low price point, and in today's world, that means manufacturing where you can meet that price. If Dodge did not do it, somebody else would. The new world order is made up of manufacturers working all over the world to meet market demads. Just the way it is now. Embrace it or die.

probably not too far from the truth here...and the blaming of the owners...so right on. Since we are on the topic of Toyota recalls...any word if they ever complied with the Government recall of the trucklets with the faulty child tethers? Did Toyota ever get around to fighting that or are they still ignoring orders?

Please see "sarcasm" in the dictionary. I am 1000000000000% ANTI-Toyota. The only thing I like about Toyota is the sound they make when they get crushed!

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL OF THE NEGATIVITY ABOUT THE PIANO BLACK TRIM IN THESE TRUCKS AS IT MAKES MY CHEVY'S INTERIOR THAT MUCH BETTER!! LET IT GO MAN! The camshaft thing does bother me though - they have been making Overhead Cam engines for like a bazillion years now. They should have that pretty much down by now you would think. It would be kind of like GM making a new 4 speed automatic that didn't work...it just should not happen. As for the poor crash test results, Toyota spokesperson Trisha Talkinowa stated that the engineers at the crash test facility misinterpreted the data due to the "engineered flex in the front of the chassis designed to lesson the NVH of the deformable barrier contacting the front bumper. Once the engineers at the crash facility are paid off..er trained to better understand how the Tundra crashes in a quieter way than the lessor made competitors' trucks, I am sure the Tundra will garner the expected 6-star safety rating it deserved."

Please notice the relative angle of the shot on the Ford take versus the other two. At the Chevy and the Tundra both, they are filming almost directly at a 45 degree angle directly aimed at the tailights...on the Ford they are more directly to the bedside, at less of an angle and higher, so that the bed hop is not as readily noticable. Stop the superimposed shot at 2:23 and you will see what I am talking about. Same with the rear shots...And not to nit-pick - but I would love to know how high they set the tire pressures on the competition's trucks - the tires on the Chevrolet and the Toy look like rocks with no flex at all! It is a wonder they were trying to fly apart! The Tundra does flex a lot, and for the bed to hit the back of the cab like that shows a lot mre movement then I would be comfy with. While this is a great test - how many of us in the real world keep our trucks at a steady pace when traveling a washboard surface? Personally, I slow down!

Best ever road kill - not that I try to do this stuff - it just happened to be the perfect time to happen: Heading back to Penn State in my 92 GMC on I 80 - I am in the fast lane in pretty heavy traffic and I am moving at a good clip. Behind me, attached to my bumper actually, is an Aerostar...no more than 5 feet between us and it looked like it was going to work on bump drafting me. From the median behind a bridge pylon comes Thumper...cute widdle bunny wabbit...at this very moment it decides to do a Frogger impersonation with two cars in front of me...dodged one, then the other, and was making its way to the median again when it stopped directly in front of me...so I moved as far over to the middle line to give it a chance...it hopped back INTO traffic just as my front wheel passed it and Directly under my back tire. Mr. Bunny EXPLODED out the back of my truck like it was shot out of that Mythbuster's chicken cannon...and ALL OVER Mr. Tailgater's windshield!!! I looked back to see the guy swerving onto the median as he was driving with his head out the side window. I felt horrible about the bunny, but great about the guy getting what he deserved for following so close!

EXACTLY the stuff I am looking for! And you hit the nail on the head. Flying cars...again - neat concept, but tells me nothing about the cars in the ad! I have not looked, but is there a mouseprint line that says "cars will not fly under new warranty?" And you are right on about the Fusion ads..."goes head to head against Camry and Accord and beats them!" Precisely. Nail on the head. We may see this with the Camry at the Chevrolet dealers during the Malibu intros...that will be in the trenches...not necessarily in media. Come on people, there have to be some creative minds out there! I am not asking for story boards or Mac studio productions of your concepts...just let's hear the ideas.

I love that car! And CLEAN! Somebody loved that car. Congratulations! I have a huge soft spot for a third gen, and you may have just pushed me over the edge...my wife and kids need a good car to carry them around this summer that gets good mileage...a third gen may be just the ticket!

Well, I have read it here a million times, and heard it bitched about over and over by the GM fans around me. After seeing Chrysler's conundrum about how to launch their new minivans, I thought it would be a great thread to see what the brains here at C & G would come up with to better promote the GM products we all know and love. What changes would you like to see in the marketing? ( I personally think the marketing sucks all around - sorry ) Hell, I am starting to LIKE the Tundra ads because the actually show a vehicle doing something it is supposedly designed for. Compare that to a guy looking at his watch one minute then the bezel flies out the window and becomes part of the GMC Acadia. Conceptually interesting, but tells me NOTHING about the truck. How many mom and dad's out there know that the Acadia and Outlook are achieving 20 MPG in mixed driving? So, we have seen you all design what you think the future product should look like, and what we all would like to see under the hoods...let's see you sell it. What are your ideas to move the people into the showrooms? Maybe we will get lucky and GM will take notice of the good ideas and run with them. Pick any car in the GM lineup and give it a pitch. How would YOU sell it to John Q. Public in 30-60 seconds? In print? What things are you aching to have GM say to the world that are just NOT getting said?

That was my first thought as well...scares the hell out of me and shows that we need to get ourselves producing here and have a secondary source when stuff like this happens. Just pray it doesn't do what Katrina did to the Gulf Coast region.

I personally cannot wait for these vehicles to hit the market. Please, GM - make them right the first time...the world is watching. There will not be a second chance for a good impression here. I know I will be looking at them, as my collective driving needs average only around 60 miles per day. My wife's car as well. In the meantime...how about a nice Diesel Vue or Equinox that will deliver city 30 mpg like a VW? Or the new Malibu? PLEASE????

well written and pretty damned accurate. The only deviation of what you put out there from what I have to say is this: The imports are working on a curve...the money they are using is 121:1 because of an exchange rate and a government that props them up. The US government does nothing but hinder U.S. Manufacturing and trade. Couple the exchange rate with the healthcare costs associated with the old line US companies, and you can see that a lot of developement dollars are being spent elsewhere than R and D. Yes, U.S. execs make too much money, and often extort huge sums from companies that are loosing money - and I really feel it is wrong in 99.9% of the cases. But you cannot tell me that the Japanese manufacturers are not paying thier top execs huge sums - I don't buy that. The savings on the exchange rates - and the profits ( every dollar made here is 121.72 yen - that is one hell of a multiplier ) Pretty easy to invest 80% of those profits towards R and D when you look at it that way! They sell just US $1 Million of PROFIT - they TAKE HOME 121,720,000 milllion yen - that is PER MILLION MADE IN THE US. Add to that a basically capped medical costs system funded by the government and private citizens, and you have a pretty nice place to do business against the U.S. Firms. Toyota has already begun clammoring about the high costs of business here in the US and they are not even Unionized yet! And, the other little bit of hocus pocus that they do here is claim that they manufacture their US sold cars here...not true - they ship them in from Japan. Over 55% come in from over seas. ALL of the Scions come from Japan. The Tundra is snapped together in Texas from Japanese parts. Look how GM has opted/had to compete: R and D in China (8 to 1 exchange rate!!!) and Australia (1.2 to 1?) as well as manufacturing over seas now. They have to to compete here now. Shared platforms for the entire world are being built in China, Australia, Austria, Spain?...all over. This is where you will see GM start catching up with content like what is in the Jap cars - the savings from manufacturing and developing outside the US will allow for the added content of the rivals. As for my cars: I have owned all makers of them I think; Jap German and American. I have had two Hondas. Hated them both. Most Boring cars I ever owned. Mere appliances. My 1982 BMW was damned near perfect when the front end would stay together! My GM's have never made me walk in 19 years of driving. Ever. Maintenance: Brakes, tires, gas and oil. In 19 years I have never replaced more than a shock absorber on a suspension. Worse problem I have had with any of my GM cars is a bad tape deck on a couple of cars where the belt dried up and refused to play. And I can say that even the worst of my GM's always made me want to drive it just a little further - the long way home every time. I cannot say that about either Honda that I owned, my wifes VWs...and no Toyota has ever made me want to drive it. Not once - and I love to drive anything with wheels.

I thought the 'rare' one had the turbo V6 in it. Still, I cannot say I have seen one of these more than twice - and the other one was the turbo, on ebay, over two years ago. I thought the Palm Beach edition was a dealer package from the west coast - much like the California and Colorado edition Buicks of years prior, but that is all I can say. Probably would make a neat conversation car for the next show. According to a quick search -it appears that there were 1900 of the cars built in 1979. One sold in Calgary last fall at the Car Crazy Auction for $3300.00.

My Corvette is averaging 24.6 in mixed driving...My Tahoe 4x4 16.9 mixed. Our Commander 4.7 12 mpg uphill/downhill/tailwind/sails extended or on a tow truck...still gets us 12 at best. Company truck is a 2006 GMC Sierra 5.3 Crew cab 4x4 Averages 17 in mixed driving. Our Lax is getting 22 in mostly city driving, and our company Rainier is around 18 in mixed with mom behind the wheel.

hell of a jump from a fwd Honda to a RWD Ford Mustang Convertible! I am really trying to fathom how that happened! Good to hear though...glad to see ANY domestic getting the business over the imports