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As always, hi-res pics are available upon request And now, everyone's favorite Segway-pooping giant red egg on wheels, the Flextreme.

I'm still a pitcher for the blue team . Whatever their image, I've really gained a lot more respect for Saab after spending some time with them and the people who make them. I really like the looks of the refreshed 9-3 (not that the 03-07 was ugly) and will consider a used one when I'm ready to upsize. The 250hp/5 speed Aero has got to move like a rocket yet hardly gets a fair shake.

Hi-res versions of all these photos available upon request.

Me, feelin' all jet inspired.

aaand, here's one more Saab:

I do have hi-res versions of these photos available, so if you want one, just drop me a PM.

Those are impressve stats for the Benz, but remind the rest of the board what the price range is of the S class and its competition. I should be able to afford a Volt and a G8 GXP to use on weekends for that price.

Funny you mention that, because that was one of the questions. I didn't mention it because it wasn't pertinent to the Vol. Lutz answered that by responding that even if he were to leave, the leadership at GM knows that the bold, risktaking approach taken by GM currently is the way to go. They understand that taking the safe, cautious approach that GM used before he got there just will not work. At the Pontiac dinner I brought up Lutz' blog, and we got into a conversation about how much they love Lutz. They said that even though they occasionally have to do some damage control when he speaks, it's well worth it. He says it like it is, never reads the script, and not afraid to ruffle feathers. The proof is in the pudding - everyone I spoke to had just an awesome attitude. They were excited about the cars they created, and looking forward to he challenges facing them. They know they're in deep doo-doo with the CAFE regs, but they are not shrinking down from it. They want to face it head on. Moral of the story, if Mr. Burns gets the job, he better not screw up what Lutz created, or GM is screwed.

Thanks. All I can say is, if this was a coregraphed PR event, they hid it very well. Anyone on the street could have walked into the Javitz center lobby, signed up for the event, and participated. The table was there (unless of course it was a decoy ). Some 250 people attended the event, some coming from as far as Arizona and Colorado. I highly doubt GM paid airfare (at $500 a pop in some cases), train fare, taxi fare, or whatever for any of those people. The questions asked were not light, as in "Hey, thanks for the Volt. What colors will it come in?" As I've said before, I would seriously keep an eye out for the transcript and/or video of the event before rushing to judgement about its relevance. I have two examples from the recent past that should have some indication of whether or not the Volt will meet expectations: Solstice and GTO. What do they have in common? The full, unwavering support of Bob Lutz. Those two happened despite much internal resistance from GM. Lutz pushed and pushed for them and got them to market as he said he would. The Solstice is an epsecially good example because, at the time, GM had nothing that it could use to build it on, much like the Volt. What the Volt has that the Solstice and GTO didn't have is the unwavering support of the board of directors and the rest of GM. Lutz has said, not in so many words, that the Volt is the single most significant project in his career. He wants it done. The rest of GM wants it done. It will get done.

Some of the early 6s did have some rust issues, but other than that I guess they're OK. They use "venerable" Ford engines, for whatever that's worth to you. Do look into the Saabs, though. Tru dat, but the Cobalt probably doesn't have the interior room she's looking for. Maye a used base-model Fusion might fit the bill. Satty has one and seems to like it. A used last-gen Sebring can probably be had too, but I'm not sure of their reliability.

Give the 9-3 a shot. You should be able to find a 03-05 specimen within her price range that meets all of her requirements and be a blast to drive. You might also want to try to find a 2002 Alero. 5spd Getrag + 2.2L Ecotec =

FWIW, of the three Pontiacs that debuted yesterday, the ST had by far the biggest crowd. I wasn't able to get a single good photo of it until after the Volt Nation event where everyone was pretty much leaving. Reaction was overwhelmingly positive at the PC and afterwards, I'd say.

I wish people would stop giving Saab a hard time. Saab's predicment was worsened by GM initially, who did absolutely nothing for Saab for the first ten years of ownership. Saab was a huge sinkhole and was alowed to remain so. Now, it's less of a sinkhole. Saab's strategy is pretty apparent to me - they intend to appeal to higher class, art appreciating, iMac buying, trendy, fashionable people who care about the environment. Personally, I felt the clothing line is a gimmick, but that could be because I'm the polar opposite of that type of person, with the exception that I try to be as environmentally conscious as I can. Saab's biggest roadblock to success now is that it's one of the best kept secrets in the industry. Ask anyone who bought a VW, Audi, or Volvo if they even considered Saab. Everything turbo said about Saab is true, and on top of that, they're using known reliable GM technology in them. Yet, they're hardly on anyone's radar. GM really needs to get the word out about the brand - the new Saabs are phenomenal looking. My seat time in the 9-3 vert ilicited some impure thoughts inside my head. If they follow through wth the whole BioPower thing (engines designed from the ground up on ethanol), that would be a huge shot in the arm for GMs image as a green company. Simply put, people need to be informed that Saab is out there. They deserve a fair look.

The trip wasn't free. Those people came on their own dime. As for the small cars, last check they were a model year or two out anyway, which would put them at or after the Volt comes out. So take your pick in '10. Your suggestions for allocating the funds being used on the Volt have one flaw, they only decrease fuel consumption. The Volt, for many households, could eliminate it, so it makes sense to throw the $$$ where it'll have the most impact. Same reason why it made sense to stall Zeta to get the cash-cow GMT900s out sooner. No, the battery tech isn't nailed down yet, but GM is intent on building the car as promised. Someone did ask if GM considered building a straight electric version to cut costs, and the answer was no. Again, seek your answers. Go to gm-volt.com and find out everything you can. The creator and the site and GM are in touch regularly, and I'm sure this is not the last time they'll hold an event like this.

I can tell you this event wasn't staged, since there was a registration booth in the Javitz center lobby. I don't think GM's script writers would have Lutz say something like "A secondary goal of the Volt is to kick Toyota in the teeth." These were regular people from all over the country asking questions, not media personnel. Some of them were rather pointed, and the team answered all of them without stumbling or tripping over their own words. I think you should wait for the video before dismissing this as just a PR stunt. As far as why GM would bother spending money on the Volt, consider this: I live 7 miles from where I work. If I own a Volt, I can go a full work week without having to charge it, much less use a drop of gasoline. Many Americans are in similar situations where they don't live very far from work, and a Volt would eliminate their gas consumption while a conventional hybrid would only decrease it. I can't see why anyone wouldn't be behind something like that. Lutz is "95%" sure that GM will make the target date for the Volt - 2010 some time (I forgot what he said). Obviously the battery tech is the wildcard, but he did say that he did not foresee anything more than a slight delay. Point blank, there is zero chance of the Volt not happening. I honestly don't know what you're looking for. Noone has anything like the Volt out now, and noone will have anything like the Volt out when it does come out. Instead of going on and on about how you think the Volt is a crock, how about this: keep tabs on Volt-specific places like gm-volt.com and see if they decide to hold another event like the one I attended. When they do, register, attend, and ask your questions. After that, come back and report your findings on here. It's fine to be devil's advocate - the events I've been to suggest that GM wants you to - but do seek the answers to your questions, because GM has the answers.

The last event I attended for the NYIAS media days was the Volt nation event, a "town hall" style meeting between members of the of the Volt production team and 250 or so people who registered for the event on GM-Volt.com. The creator of GM-Volt, Lyle Dennis, engineered this event, which brought together the car's creators and its enthusiasts and, in all likelihood, its first buyers. A little more than halfway through the event, Bob Lutz dropped in and answered a few more questions and basically reaffirmed GM's unwavering commitment to the Volt. The full text and video coverage should be available on GM-Volt relatively shortly, so be sure to keep an eye out for it (unfortunately my sightlines were obstructed by huge video cameras from major media outlets, otherwise I'd have a video in a couple of days). Here are some of the key points. As I said earlier, GM is hands-down committed to the Volt. So much so, that they are more than willing to take a loss on it. Lutz noted that GM has had the technology for hybrid propulsion since 1967, and when the first generation Prius came out, that GM was gun shy about taking on the huge financial risk to develop a competitor. However, GM failed to take into consideration the billions of dollars lost due to lost sales and GM's own image as a leader in technology. This time around, there is company wide support for the car. The official word from the board is, "Don't worry about profitability. Just gets this car done." GM really has no idea how it will be priced, but it will be a tremendous value The Volt will be designed to sell in every market all over the world. Lutz sees a million sales worldwide as an eventual possibility. The final design for the exterior will be nailed down "in a couple of days" Currently the team is just focusing on the sedan bodystyle, but the technology could eventually have a minivan, a sports car, an SUV, etc. built around it. The Volt will be fun to drive, and will change the average person's view of electric cars. The car will provide the exact same driving dynamics when running on gas as on electric. GM sees a huge future in lithium ion battery technology. The company is paying attention to a university currently researching a form of lithium ion battery that could allow a 100 mile range without using a drop of gas. Something like this would have to wait until future generations of the Volt. The battery pack design hasn't been nailed down yet and is undergoing testing. Note to CD: if you aren't already, be on the lookout for hacked up last-gen Malibus with black fender flares. The Volt will have auto-sensing technology that will determine what type of power receptacle you plug it into. A question was raised about the effect on the power grid will be when plug-in vehicles become more mainstream. Several hundred thousand Volts will not put strain on the power grid. Overall, it was nice to see just how serious GM is about this car. It's not a research product. It's not a marketing tool. In the words of Bob Lutz, "It's the next Model T, a game changer" After the show they let us up on the turntable to get up close and personal with it. Even though it's a concept, you can see how designers effectively combine marry function to form. The lines of the car are both beautiful and purposeful. Hopefully the soon-to-be-final design doesn't lose any of that.

According to David, the plan was always to have 350hp for 04 and 400 for 05. Simple reason - the LS2 wasn't going to be ready in time for the 04. Switching to the LS2 wasn't a reactionary move in the least.

Trust me when I tell you that GM knows where it's at, and that's here. They come here to get news about their company. There's just no need to comment on any other site.

I did manage to sneak in 45 minutes of sleep between 3:15 and 4 this morning. I got home for good around 9 tonight and have been winding down fast. I have quite a few pics that I need to sort through, and I had the privilege of doing four video interviews today. I should be getting the master video file within the next couple of days. I'll just have to splice each interview and edit out the stuff I dont want, like the guy who stuck his huge camera in the way while I was filming the 9-x last night. I can't wait to get all this up - I had an absolute blast, an I hope you guys enjoy what I come up with.

Wait until you see it in person. Your legs WILL turn to jello. For all those drooling over the rear 3/4 pic, today while I was snapping my own rear 3/4 shot, Bruce Koshbab (chief engineer for the Solstice) told me he referred to the rear 3/4 shot of the car as "the money shot". It's not hard to see why.

Shortly after my conversation with Mr. Jan-Willem Vester of Saab, we began piling into the seating area at The Park restaurant, and I had the privilege of sitting next to David Poniatowski (product manager for the Solstice and Vibe, former GTO product manager) and Bruce Kosbab, chief engineer for the Solstice. Here are main points of our conversation Building the Solstice using as mny off-the-shelf GM parts as possible wasn't only cost effective, it was also a lot of fun. The program felt almost like an episode of "Junkyard Wars" The Kappa architecture is actually smilar to a BOF vehicle, except that the body is welded to the frame instead of bolted to it. The base Sky suspension has slightly more travel than that of the base Solstice, resulting in a more compliant ride without sacrificing handling. The Solstice GXP and Sky Red Line use the same suspension components When I asked about the truk space in the Solstice Targa, Mr. Koshbab stated that it had "a better shape to the trunk" It may have the same number of cubic feet, but it will be more usable due to its shape and height, and the presence of storage bins. The Targa will carry two people in the cockpit with enough for a weekend getaway stowed solely in the trunk. Mr. Koshbab prefers the production Solstice roadster and targa to the concept. Now that the production cars are out and about, he feels the concepts seem kind of cartoonish and unrealistic. A Sky Targa isn't on the immediate horizon. Due to the different trunk opening on the Sky vs. the Solstice, they just can't do it. They are "working on something" though. Mr. Poniatowski was upset over the negative critcism surrounding the GTO after its debut. He said the biggest detriment to the car was its name, that it had to take on the legacy of an absolute icon, and had it been given any other name it wouldn't be fine. He wasn't knocking the GTO as much as the ignorance surrounding the perception of it. He stated that those who said it looked plain and was nothing special seemed to forgot that the first GTO was just a ho-hum Tempest with a hot engine. As for those who comlained that it didn't look like a GTO, he stated that he wasn't sure which GTO from 1964-1972 they would like to have seen. Mr. Poniatowski has driven a GTO from California to Detriot over 48 or so hours, and after pulling into his home he immediately got out of it and played with his kids. It's that comfortable. The LS engines used in the VX, VY, and VE Holdens are all built here and shipped to Australia. He joked that by the time a GTO or G8 is ever driven in NA, the engines already have 25K miles on them. The differences in hp between the LS3 in the Corvette and the G8 GXP are through, among other things, a slightly hotter cam and different timing in the Corvette. The Vibe is more Pontiac than I thought (though I would still never get one). Pontiac designs the car from the ground up: size, shape, peformance, economy, and handling requirements. Once every spec on the car is complete they forward it to Toyota, who executes it using their parts bin.

Saab has made quite a showing at the new York Auto Show this year, showing the 9-x and 9-4x concepts in Noth America for the first time while debuting the "Pure Biopower" clothing line. More on those items later. Before dinner at The Park restaurant I had the opportunity to have a nice concersation with Jan0Willen Vester, Saab USA Brand Manager. Being someone who's grown up lusting after tire-melting Chevys and Pontiac, I never had much insight into the Saab culture, so my conversation with Mr. Vester served as quite the eye opener. Here are some of thekey points: GM basically kept a hands-off approach with Saab from the time it purchased 50% of Saab in 1990 until the time they bought the rest of it in 2000. Starting in 2000, GM changed its strategy and decided to invigorate Saab with some help from the worldwide GM parts bin. GM knew that Saab's lineup at the time needed serious help for the brand to stay alive, but at the time it didn't quite have the resources to create from-the-ground-up Saabs in burgeoning market segments. Enter the 9-2x and 9-7x. Mr. vester and the rest of Saab knew they couldn't pull the wool over anyone's eyes with these, that noone would see them as anything but rebadges of other vehicles. They did, however, view them as adequate "bridge vehicles" that would "keep the lights on" while GM went to work on cars designed from scratch as Saabs. Despite the negative criticisms about the 9-2x and 9-7x, they were a boon to Saab as they were very profitable despite modest sales compared to their GM siblings. Mr. Vester's personal fleet includes a classic Saab 900, an older 9-5, and a recently purchased CPO 9-5 SportCombi. When I asked him about maintaining the older Saas, he informed me a bit of the Scandinavian attidude that is put into every Saab. Scandinavians prefer to be neutral (political dand otherwise) and do not prefer outside assistance. Saab has built this principle into both their military aircraft and their civilian vehicles from day one. Saabs are designed to be safe and durable. With attention to periodic maintenance, a Saab will last several hundred thousand miles, and there are million mile Saabs out there. After dinner I took a short walk to the IAC Building, site of the Saab party featuring the North American debuts of the 9-4x and 9-x as well as the debut of the Saab Pure Biopower clothing line. After seeing these cars in person, I see a bright future for Saab. They may never sell like Chevy, but they don't have to. At long last, Saab is getting a lineup of visually exciting vehicles. The 9-x (the concep version of the 9-1x) clearly has the Mini in its crosshairs. This has "fun little car" written all over it. The 9-4x, while less appealing to me personally, is what a Saab SUV should be. Shortly after the canvases were pulled off the 9-x and 9-4x, models walked around the stage wearing Pure BioPower clothing. This new line of clothing is an extension of Saab's commitment to the environment. Each article of clothing is made using materials and manufacturing processes that serve no harm to the environment. Pics will probably come later, as I have one more writeup to do, with less than three hours before I have to start getting ready to go back to NYC.