intrigued

as some of you know I got my license suspended for irresponsiable behavior this past january. Next month I get it back and since I sold my 06 malibu SS I will need a car. For a while I batted around getting a used rwd g-body as project car but I decided I wanted to go new or at least newish again. My budget is 20k, 21 if I need it, this is what I'm looking at so far. 05' CTS 3.6/sport package 34k miles $19.5k 07' pontiac G6 GTP coupe or sedan 3.6 6 speed sunroof leather. found one for $17.5k with only 21k miles as well as a few sedans of the same trim and miles for about $1k more. 07' aura XR with leather 11k miles only $20.5k the dark horse canidates 02' BMW 540 I 45k miles $16k 02' BMW 330 XI 43k miles 18.5 k These are the cars I am considering right now. I am not limited to these particular cars per say but I do have some criteria that is NOT flexiable. 1. Cannot be an asian brand. 2. No pushrods unless it's a v8 3. No 4 bangers unless it's got forced induction. 4. has to be a car, 4 or 2 doors newer than 2000 than I have my preferences that I will bend on if other pro's outweigh the negatives for me 1. Be a GM 2. If not GM be a domestic 3. RWD if possible 4. have a substantial factory warranty intact 5. automatic I really like the BMWs and have even been to see the 540 which is immaculate with good service records but BMWs that old are not certified with the 100k warranty. I am extremley nervous about getting a BMW without a warranty because I really wouldnt be able to afford a huge repair bill if it broke down and I had to take it to a dealer. Great cars, TRUE drivers cars in this generation before bangle messed them up but I'm very warry about owning it. The CTS has much the same problem. great car looked good in the pics but I know that they aren't the most reliable cars in the world even though they're not terrible and they can cost a fair bit to fix. plus for both this and the beemer I'd feel a little young driving it even if I did pay for it on my own. The aura isn't really my stlye but it's got a great drivetrain, handles very well and has a lot of bang for the buck. I albsolutley love the 3.6 6 speed combo. I've driven a good 4k miles in my parents so I know know it, not just think I like how the car drives. The G6 is the front runner right now. Found a well optioned black coupe for a low price. It is the 07 GTP so it doesnt have the hideous GXP package. I really like the fact that this car still has 80k powertrain warranty left. I'd only have to worry about the suspension and brakes then for the next 3 years and its a sharp looking car. What do you guys think?

You know what could be an interesting update to both help CAFE and make this car better differentiated from the other LWB epsilons? all 4 bangers. 2.4 VVT base with 175 hp and the 6 speed auto. That would be the base car as it stands now just with the 6 speed. Then starting at about 23.5 k for the GT give it the 260 hp 2.0 DI Turbo 4 in the cobalt and the gxp solstice with a 6 speed auto and maybe even the 6 speed stick from the 93 . Should provide equal if not slightly better berformance to the 3.6, much better fuel economy and it will make the g6 feel lighter and more athletic. Then for the GXP, besides restyling the hideous thing, you use the more powerful version of the 2.0 turbo thats coming soon for a 285 hp or so GXP version and maybe even give it the AWD off the 93 sedan. I think come CY 2009 when comes around Epsilon and Epsilon 2 could look like this in terms of drivertrains - Malibu/aura - stay as is but standard 6 speed 2.4 across the board. Maybe give the 2.4 DI for better power and fuel economy. 3,6 option for mid and top trims. Sport/redline model is detuned 3.6 DI makeing about 285 hp. 93 - Might as well give the 93 the new 2.0 DI turbo as the base. Why have a weaker 2.0 t in production? Make the 2.8T with 280 hp and 300 ftlbs the only v6 option. Should probably increase its power with Di though and make it more like 310/330 on AWD models though. G6 - 2.4 6 speed base, 2.0t with 260 for the GT and 2.0 with 285 for the GXP Lacrosse - 3.6 with 260 hp base. 2.8t with 315 hp and AWD optional. No more pushrod v6s and with the exception of the malibu and aura no direct drevtrain matches yet there is still enough sharing between cars that it can support the 4 basic engines on an economy of scale to make this work.

once a 99 civic rearended my moms 00 Intrigue back in 2002. Civic Totalled, frame crumpled and engine dropped to the pavment, air bag deployment the whole shebang. Intrigue needed paint and the bumper to be realigned. The bumper didn't even need to be replaced! Just pulled it off painted it and popped it back on. That intrigue also caused $5k worth of damage for a ford explorer once. It was an emergency stop situation on the highway. Explorer was following me too close and when I had to haul to a stop to avoid a disabled car it rearended. The explorer was nose diving so much that it made solid contact with the intrigues bumper rather than riding up over it and FUBARing the car. Intrigued needed a new bumper and shock mounts for about 600. The explorer wasnt so fortunate. The car also killed a full grown buck by sideswiping it once. Minor scractch front fender. We alwasy joked that the car was invincible.

^^^ that's histerical

I saw genisis at NYIAS. Not bad looking but like most Hundai stuff it's so derrivative. I wonder if they will well that sweet sounding engine to GM as the new northstar though since the UV8 got cancelled.

I just wanted to ammend my previous prediction by saying that the orieos, as i like to call them, will win teh world sereis despite the 65 game winning prediction they currently have.

I disagree with your statment BV. It's like saying I can't like another baseball team or player because I'm a Mets fan. I will never root for another team but I can watch them and be entertained by them. Besides like Despur I am of the opinion that I want to do my .02 cents to help reduce the trade defecet and support the economy by buying domestic. MY family's been all GM for new purches since 1978. Before that it was always domestic except for a volvo that went horribly wrong. From '85 through its end we were an Oldsmobile brand owning 7 new purchases and 3 used ones in that time period. Since Old's demise we have all went our seperate ways within the GM family, Mainly to Saturn (3) and a Chevy. My brother is the one exception, trading his alero on an 06 mustang. He likes it and plans on keeping it till he an trade it on a camaro with no negative equity. Than we will be 100 percent back in the GM fold.

Mets over Redsox in 7 for the world series. Can't wait to see Santana pitch rfor Mets tomorrow

For me it would be the malibu vs the g8 v6. The v6 g8 just isnt going to be that quick. Too heavy, not enough power. The Bu' ripps it to 60 by comparisson. Now a G8GT vs a Bu' LTZ, Thats hands down G8. They should get the 3.6 DI in the base g8.

I'm my folks youngest (I have one older brother) and was born when my mom was 36 and dad was 37. My brother was 12 at the time so there was quite a gap. My folks had tried for a lond time after my brother to have another kid but it just didn't work out, with one miscarriage in the middle till i finally came along. I know my folks have told me in hindsight, I'd say im 97 percent grown up at almost 22, that the relativley long age gap worked out very well. My brother and I both had the single child attention when we were younger and craved it more but my brother wasn't constantly in the parental eye when he was in highschool because I was a toddler and I wasnt as much when by midway through my hgihschool career when my neice was born and my mom did a lot of babysitting. Eiherway my parents kept on trucking even though my dad has moderatley bad MS and is less than two years from 60. For a guy who struggles to walk he is still pretty active in most ways that matter, and loves every second with his family and by not overspending and having saved a lot of money when he was younger he still supports a lot of the family though my brother and I both contribute. My Mom loves her granddaughter, (with another due this week!) and has never had a long bought of empty nest syndrome thanks to my brother. She already wants me to start thinking about settling down to have kids! (no way thats happening for a while.) It all depends on who you are, what your life goals are and if your healthy. My parents were even thinking about adpoting anothe in their late 40's but with my fathers MS getting worse they decided it wasn't a good idea. Just my few cents on the subject from the perspective of someone who was born and raised by to loving folks who were only a year or two your junior.

While I worship the 60's era cutlass I don't want to have to find one that is rust free and stuff. They are also to valuable and frankly i don't feel i'm in a position to take care of them as well as they deserve since this car will be parked on a city street. I always liked the 80's g bodies and the 60 era cars in decent shape would honestly probably be a good bit more price wise. I've read that the 350 bolts in place of the 307 in 90s G-bodies without any fabrication. That's good news but there is still a lot of work to be done for me...

there were several attempts to break into japan in volume but the government there stopped any large attempt by "inspecting" cars that were imported for months on end at the docs and tariffed the hell out of them so it became impratical to try and sell and markey in bulk. If the US pulled off the gloves and played by the same rules Japan would loose crap loads of money on their imported models. That would cause one of two things to happen. They build all their cars and components here in the US so while not ideal at least a decent amount of US citizens are employed, or number 2 they are forced to give us the same unrestricted access to their markets. I think some of the new GM products could do very well there if they werent handycapped by the japanese government. Also while I made a very clear declaration about how I look at car buying I don't belive it is nessasary for everyone to buy for patriotic reasons. I think it is important that people become educated consumers and try and make sure that if they decide on an import that they will make sure they ship US more in other areas of their lives. I don't shop donmestic everything, I just make sure that Most of what I buy is homegrown. It's the defeatist people who say "it's not my fault the governments f-ed up so why should I give a crap when I know what's going on cause its their fault" group that pisses me off. And by far and large Europe practices far trade with the US unlike asian countries. If they're playing fair it's okay to buy it in my book.

I guess I'm in the minoritry with Dsuupr here. I'm a car enthusiest and there are a bunch of cars that I like that are not GM cars but i'd never get, not because I think they're crap but because I belive that a difference can still be made by me purchasing a good domestic car every now and again. It goes back to the quote "ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country." Yes I am very disapointed with how our country is being run. The war in Iraq, irresponsiable spending, lack of quality public education in many areas to name a few. Jobs being lost and an incrediable trade defict and politicans who all have agendas. But i come back to this quote and I realize that our country has been in these sitations before and if enough people say, "I'm going to buy american because our dumbass politicans aren't smart enough to impose a fair trade reform." Than we can start helping ourselves regardless of what our politicans do or don't do. it's like the people who don't vote then complain about the goverment. They have no right to complain unless they to the intrest to help choose the leader messing things up. People think have the right to spend their money on whatever they want but it really pisses me off when they use the excuse, "this system is so broken that it doesn't matter that I buy this or do that. How can I make a differnce?" that's just defeatist, rationalistic bull crap. If everyone says that of course it will stay broken. I may be fighting an unwinnable uphill batle but i'll be damned if I don't do my tiny infentesimal part to try and fix it

Can't wait for the Mets to redeem themselves after the way they went to $h! last september. Santana should help a lot.

Hey all. As some of you know I had an 06 malibu SS that I was planning on trading in on a G8 GT when they came to market. Well due to the fact that I was a complete dumb ass those plans had to be flushed down the drain as I got a DUI last december. long story short with that is that I was at an office party and had been drinking pretty steadily for a few hours. Normally If I have more than two beers I don't even consider driving as I've seen first hand how a DUI/DWI can affect a persons life. Unfortunatley I was a bit under the weather and I was also homesick as I hadn;t visited my family in a few months. I was supposed to go up there that night and I felt a very slight buz so I figured if I waited a bit I could still drive home since it was late at night and it was almost all highway. I waited about two hours driniking water and drove the 60 miles home. I got off I95 and was 3/4 of a mile away from my folks' place when I came around a bend to find a checkpoint in front of me. Cops smelled booze on me and I admitted to drinking so they pulled me out of the car. I passed the walk the line test and the folow the finger test and and the officer was about to let me go since I had been honest and didn't appear at all impared since I was gunned doing exactly the speed limit coming into the checkpoint and was driving totally normal. The sargent on the scene decided he wanted to be extra sure though and i got breathalized and about 15 seconds after that I was in cuffs. It's a first offense, actualy its my first driving related offense ever, so I'll have to take an defensive driving test and be on probation for two years and thats it. It's even expunged from my record in a year so I won't even have been arrested in the official sence. Okay, maybe not so short but I'm ashamed of what I did and I wanted to at least make it clear that i by no means make a habit of driving around under the influence. The real way this has affected my life besides the couple month license suspension is that I can not afford insurance on a newer car like my malibu much less the G8, at least not while I'm in school and don't have a job that I make the same every month. I've already sold my malibu and have been using mass trans to get to school and work. To an extent i've come to enjoy being able to read on the train and stuff but I would like to be on the road again come may when my suspension lifts. I can't afford a new car so I've been thinking of doing something that I always thought about but never really had the motivation. I want to get an 87 Cutlass supreme coupe thats got a solid rust free body and put in a mild to moderatley built 350 rocket. I don't car what color it is or if the paints all messed up because I want to get a fresh glossy coat of black paint, some suspension and brake upgrades and basically have a nice sleek looking blake RWD Olds coupe that will have low insurance and real v8 power. I'm sure I can find the car I need pretty cheap but what I need is a place, preferably a profeshional place, that will sell a built 350 rocket that won't cost me an arm and a leg. I'd plan on doing the actual swap myself with a friend so I'd also need to find a good cutlass forum I could ask questions to. I can't seem to find one though. Hopefully by this July I'll be riding in a sleek looking 87 Cutty dropped an inch or two, with new wheels (classic mag look just bigger wheels) some fat disk breaks behind them and a 300-350 hp rocket. I want to keep this project at about 5k. I figure I can get the car for about a grand especially if it has a beat to hell drivetrain since I'll be gutting that. what I really need is pointers on where to get a not overly expensive engine and tech forums for help and questions.

my favorite is the Enterprise A. The refit constituition class just looks fast standing still with the swept back pylons supporting the warp nacelles. Plus kirk is my favorite captain and I like the bridge on the Enterprise A is Star trek 6 above all others. I'd liken it to a classic muscle car, probably to a 442 since it had a ton os speed but also handled well. I like the B next. Always had a soft spot for the excelsior class. So sleek and powerful looking. If it was a car it would be a 5 series or an STS. just great proportions overall. Than i like the E third. it is a bit overdone but I see it with is complicate sporty lines as an exotic car like a ferrari. I rand the D 4th. it is the bullkiest design and least manuverable looking but it still has a certain grace for it. I'd liken it to a Caddy land yatch. The C just doesn't have great lines and looks like an older less gracefull version of the D. In that vein of logic I would consider it a late 80's GM full size car.

What if the refresh has the generation V v8 with DOHC? We had that report that GM's 5th gen small block was going to come in both traditional OHV form and come with a 6.2 liter DOHC option. How cool would a 6.2 DOHC be?

^^^ The general publics perception of the auto industry is always about 4-5 years behind where it actually is. give the camary another few years of crap reliability with more competitive cars in its class and it will start to nosedive. The way you talk about the domestics compared to the imports it seams that you are more in line with the general publics perception of things, though maybe you're a bit behind them as they seem to be taking a great intrest in GM's new products and you can only bash them. Also the 2001+ Aurora started at 31k, cheaper than the 33k CTS

my biggest car related regret was trading in my 01 alero gls on my 06 malibu SS. The alero was so much more fun I really don't know why I did it to be perfectly honest. It handled way better, stopped better, looked better, was better on gas. The only things the malibu had on it was acceleration and space. Plus i had put a couple grand into improving my alero (KYB struts, prokit springs, brembo OEM replacments with performance pads and Perelli P-Zero Nero tires and CAI.) The car was genuinley fun to hussle around curves. was resonably quick and gave awsome highway milage. Such a better city car to. Plus it was the first car I got with my own money. I miss it very much and wish I had saed the money I spent on the malibu and just kept the far more fun to drive alero. Plus i feel like I got shafted because I didnt realize the way better 3.6 6 speed combo came to the epsilons after I got my 3.9 4 speed combo inthe malibu. Id have held out for the 3.6 for sure.

My family has been feeling it too but then I take a step back and look at the situation Im going to be in and dont feel so bad. I'll have 23k in debt for two degrees (I'm double majored in English and journalsim) and I'm taking the 5 year plan (I took a semester off and I dropped a few classes along the way) from a small liberalarts college that is going on 27k a year without living expenses. Admittedly I could have almost no debt if I hadnt made some bad spending choices but I kept it down pretty well for the most part. What I'm worrying bout is what is college going to cost when my kids get there in nother 25 or years? A college degree doesn't get you what it used to in the job market. It's more like having a highschool diploma 30 years ago. I'm much more valuable because I have 3+ years of experience in heavy litigation paralegal work for a respected NY lawfirm. What I'm not looking forward to is that I will be incurring some serious debt if I go to lawschool which I plan to do. I figure I'll take about two years off afte college, pay off all my debt and get a new car while saving up livingmoey so I only have to take ot loans for law school tuition. That will probably leave me in 70k or so debt still but at least I'll hve a decent job to pay that down. My folks and my brother's family along with myself were getting really worried about our financial situation so we totalled up all our debt recently. (My folks and my brother his wife and kids all live togther in a McMansion that actually makes efficent use of the rooms inside of it rather than having ike 4 bedrooms in a 5000 sqft house. We live kind of like a comune.) Mortgage = 475k House is worth 1.4 mil so there is plenty of equity in it at least. Car loan = 30k outstanding for 06 mstang and vue and a 315 a month lease payment on the aura xr CC debt = 7k My debt = 23k 22k school loans and 1k CC For the most part we've managed to keep the debts from going up but cost of living is keeping us from saving any real money. My dad has a decent retirment IRA set up that even now would let him get about 60k a year in annuity but my brother has nothing except a penson plan. Its so hard to get ahead, especially in heavy urban and suburban areas near the coasts with realestate and such being what it is. Getting a downpayment for a house is getting to be impossible. I am so not looking forward to the real world financially. My brother nd my dad would not even remotley be able to live like they do if they didn't combine resources.

awful. I hope he was at least insured.

It's the genesis wave! They're on a build up to detonation! Wrath of Khan was my favortie Trek movie. Did you see the teaser trailer for the new Trek film Oldsmoboi? I'm really looking forward to it!

my folks gad a 2000 intrigue with the 3.5 and it was a gem for us. Pulls hard all the way to the 6500 rpm redline and is still going strong. We sold ours to a friend after 90k and my friend, neglecting the 100k tune up is still driving it with only regular oil changes at 130k miles. i yelled at him to give that baby some TLC ASAP.

It stinks how decent affordable project cars are hard to come by these days

I'm 20 minutes away by train and will be there. Lots of things I'm looking forward to seeing. I wonder besides the GMC zeta and G8 ST what other GM debuts might show up there.