BuddyP

Ah, only been there once. Did you hit up the car show this weekend? Was around most of the day.

Are those margarita's from Applebee's?

Don't get me wrong, I would hate to see Pontiac go... I've owned 2 bonnevilles and a grand prix in recent years. I was just throwing out me opinion between the Pontiacs and the Saturns. A person could go in circles about all of that. But just for kicks, here's my thoughts on those that you mentioned as well. 1. The Malibu dash is nicer than the Aura... but I still like overall exterior stying of the Aura better 2. I'd take any of the other Lambda's over the Outlook. It is just my least favorite dash/front facia design. 3. I like the Astra exterior, don't like one bit of the interior. I'd take a Cobalt SS over it as well 4. I do like the Solstice targa (but isn't available yet)... overall I'm not much of a convertable fan. But still like the Sky interior loads more than the Solstice.

Let me reword that... Let's throw away some Holden rebadges for some Opel rebadges

Can't say that I'd shed a tear, however after planning on getting the wife a G6 for her next car, we bought a Aura instead. It was a little more coin but much nicer car in and out... and we got the 3.6 and 6 speed in the XR. If I were between the Sky and Solstice, I'd pick the sky... again, a much nicer car inside and out. Vue vs Vibe? Well, I wouldn't own a Toyota so that answers that one too. All in all, the G8 is all pontiac has to stand out with (yeah they have the Solstice but Saturn also has the sky). 2007 is the first time since Saturn's debut that I've actually paid attention to their products. The name is keeping most people at a distance, however give em a couple years and I bet that will change.

So what happens with the contract runs out? I guess I'm just curious what exactly does the UAW have ahold of that they can picket once contracts are up and continue to keep thier jobs. I'd like to hear the whole detailed reason. Just from a learning standpoint.

Here's a dumb question... why can't GM just completely dump the unions? Obvioulsy there's a reason they can't, but why is that and if they did what are the concequences?

ok, only good looking subcompact in the NA market.

yup, round and round we go. I remember reading the articles back in '99 - '00 about GM's autonomy project and how it was going to be such an affordible and viable platform by 2010 or there abouts.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120890912345836455.html

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/05/news/compa...igoil_hydrogen/ Toyota, GM: Hydrogen fuels cells are not viable http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0305-fuel_cells.html

Saturn's lower sales are only due to the mentality of the common folk. I just am not one to focus on a "name". While I wouldn't (nore did I ) buy a saturn since they came out I was very interested when the Aura and Sky came out. Now we own a Aura XR. It's a good looking car! I still think there will be a turn around in sales with saturn in the next year. Give the astra a year. It is the only decent looking small car in the market right now. It just needs an updated interior.... badly! But to say that Saturn has to go?? Compare them to Buick, Aura sales are up, Lucerne down. LaCrosse less that 4k. Maybe buick should be looked at. I just don't get the design of the aveo... or any small car in the US. Why do manu's think a small car has to look bubbly or like a cartoon character???

It's no suprise with how ugly their newest lineup of vehicles is. I used to like a lot of their vehicles. The new lancer looks decent though.

The focus sales show just how bad GM needs a new small car. If that ugly arse focus can sell that good, imagine if GM built just a decent looking small car or even a good looking one!

Looks like the FJ is thier best-ever flop

You don't lose power, if anything you gain about 5%. But you do loose approx. 25% economy.

bunch of E85 stations here in Indiana. Got 2 of em in our town of 12k. Just with the Avy or the new Aura would run on it! I don't understand why most, if not all, of GM's vehicles aren't flex fuel!!!???

Really wish the aura was flexfuel. I still don't understand why GM isn't making most, if not all, of there vehicles flex fuel???!

33 mpg vs 34 mpg vs 35 mpg vs 36 mpg... who cares! The driver in the 36 mpg car could get way less milage than the driver in the 33 mpg car. Like 3 mpg's will break the bank? back in the mid '90's the 53 mpg Geo Metro wasn't really needed, where is it today, now that it is needed? Could you imagine the sales if they made one that looked decent and was trimmed out nicely? Yeah I know, they would've profit from it. But if they could break even it would be great PR. BTW, the wifes new Aura XR (18/26) get's 28-29 on the hwy. I'm sure one could see 40 mpg's hwy with the XFE Cobalt. Mmmmm, only a couple MPG's from the Prius in real world driving??!!

Thanks for the info! I keep hearing about the ISS, had this replaced in my Avalanche with I first picked it up. That one I remember feeling it in the steering wheel when hitting bumps in the road. With this car, I feel a "popping" in the floor board when turning and accelerating. I drove it down to my work yesterday (45 min. each way). Got almost 29mpg on the way down, and 29.5 mpg on the way home. Very pleased with fuel economy.

That was our stipulation... black leather (which only comes on the XR anyway) of course I wanted the motor and drivetrain :-P If we found a nice enough one with tan leather we would've been ok with the woodgrain in that though. I'm just not a fan of fake wood. I was wondering that, but not sure that it has had em done. I'm still under 36k miles and want to get that all sorted out in the next couple weeks. I do feel a pop once in awhile in the floor board when turning.

Nice cars! The dk blue was my wifes favorite color (same color as my avalanche!)

For those of you that didn't see my last post, I had a buddy of mine at the local dealership pick up a '07 Aura XR off smart auction for us. Got the car home yesterday morning and spent most if the weekend on it detailing and checking it over. It cleaned up a lot better that I thought it would. One wheel had been curbed and has some scuffing on it, just bought a new one off ebay to replace it with for $57!!! Here's some pics from today....

Here's the pics that were up on smart auction.... it needs some detailing