MisterMe

Not to be the skunk at the picnic, but bringing a Ute to North America is an incredibly dumb idea. American's like trucks. If the truck has a crew cab and all-wheel drive, the better. It is not like Americans don't know what a ute is. The Chevrolet El Camino and the Ford Ranchero drove the American highway system for decades. They were marketed to people who needed utility, but did not want a drive something with the stigma of a farm or work vehicle. Today, the world is upside down. Trucks today are cool. The bigger, the badder, the better. The most popular vehicle in the USA is the F-150 pickup truck. The Chevrolet Silverado is one of Chevrolet's top sellers. It is interesting that to date, Ford has not seen fit to revive the Ranchero. Chevrolet has not seen fit to revive the El Camino. No major Japanese manufacturer, not Toyota, not Nissan, not Honda, not Mitsubishi has seen fit to jump into the ute business. The Koreans, the Germans, and the Italians have all chosen to stay on the sidelines. Do ute fans know something that all of these manufacturers don't know? Its possible, but I don't think so.

Two--2002 Grand Prix 4DR Sedan, 2004 Grand Prix GTP Comp-G Yes--Either G8 GT or G6 GT or GXP (Decision will be based on the price of fuel.)

The wagon has the same wheels as the LWB Mid-Eastern Chevy. Sometimes a Commodore is just a Commodore.

I must say that I agree with you. I have bought only Pontiacs since 1978. It is about time to replace my 2004 Grand Prix GTP Comp-G. I want my next car to be a Pontiac. However, this rebadged Holden does not speak to me. Still, I may get one, but only as a transition to its Canadian-built successor.

What is your fixation with the past? The Pontiac Grand Am abandoned cladding in the early 21st Century. The Grand Prix abandoned it in 2003 with the 2004 model year. The G6 never had cladding. No current Buick passenger car has cladding. Doesn't it get tiring to constantly try to push the "cladding" rope?

The Holden Stateman reengineered as a Chinese Buick Avenue is not a great car just because it is not manufactured in North America. No, you don't need to move to China. You probably wouldn't like it there anyway. Neither do you need to import the Park Avenue. Your local Buick dealer already has some wonderful models with more on the way. Your local Buick dealer has the LaCrosse and Lucerne. These cars are among the most reliable on the road; they get great fuel mileage; and they are great to drive and ride. Buick in North America is on a roll with a product plan to develop some really wonderful cars that are distinctively North American Buick. Buick in China is taking similar care in giving its Buick design language a distinctive Chinese accent. There is no need for Buick to mix Chinese-market models with North American-market models in the same showroom. The discordant mixture of design themes would be counterproductive to the good work that Buick has done lately.

What "all RWD lineup"? I don't recall reading that anywhere. I recall Lutz saying something quite contrary to this. To the best of my knowledge, the "all RWD lineup" was a fanboy's fantasy.

When you are able to buy one, you get to sit in the Yukon XL's driver's seat and adjust it to fit. Second, sunroofs cut headroom, they don't increase it.

Bob Lutz said otherwise. Go back and watch his interview at the Chicago Auto Show. He said that the G8 will eventually replace the Grand Prix, but that Pontiac will sell the two cars side-by-side for the foreseeable future. 30,000 hotcakes or even 50,000 hotcakes are not a lot of hotcakes.

Sorry, but you missed again. The Nissan 350 Z-based four-seater is an Infiniti, not a Lexus.

Contrary to earlier speculation, the Grand Prix is going nowhere for quite awhile yet. This according to Bob Lutz. It appears that Pontiac will continue to rely on the Grand Prix and G6 for its bread and butter. The G8 appears to be an experiment, the purpose of which Lutz is not sharing with us.

I love driver-oriented instrument panels. I hate it when some dweeb changes the settings in my car without my permission while I am driving. Perhaps when you are old enough to drive a car of your own, you appreciate driver-oriented controls as well.

This is a very bad idea. General Motors has a serious effort to reduce its fleet sales. Police cars are sold to fleets. Worse than that, they are sold by the lowest bidder. It is not at all uncommon for police cars to sell in the $12K price range, which often means that they sell at a loss. Bad, bad, bad.

It is sort of obvious that the covered car is a high-content G8.

You are correct about the date when GM introduced fuel injection in passenger cars. However, 1957 is just two years after 1955 when Mercedez-Benz introduced the first commercial FI system on the 300SL. Two years is hardly long enough for FI to be considered a signature feature of European cars.