pow

Hugely unlikely... but a coachbuilder for GM or any other automaker could be sweet. Imagine Fisker, Magna Steyr, or Karmann... building Cadillac Sixteens with LS7 crate engines.

I'd have to agree. Edge has just as much hard plastic, but for some reason, it doesn't seem as cheap. Apart from cheap leather and cloth, the 'Nox also has way too much silver painted plastic for my liking.

For OTC I like Mother's the best, then Meg's. Both sell a clay bar kit that comes with clay, lube, and cleaner wax... maybe even a microfiber towel.

Transactions that "have been taken place to date will be honored" - but unless the program is refunded, looks like the $1B has already been gobbled up... http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-0...suspended_N.htm

I really like Zaino for protection; I haven't "done" anything to my paint for months, and the water still beads like new when I wash it. A spray of gloss enhancer revitalizes the slickness and shine. It does take some work to prep the paint; Zaino doesn't do anything for blemishes, so the paint should be perfect if you want perfect results. Claying removes contaminates, and polishing removes scratches, swirls, water spots, and other imperfections. If you just want a quick and easy shine, an all-in-one cleaner-wax would probably do the trick, followed by a wax-as-you-dry-type spray wax after each wash.

Full throttle only on acceleration. But since I'd be in a high gear, the acceleration wouldn't be very brisk..

Ended up getting a Peugeot 308 SW. Nice car! Interior was roomy and comfy for four people and four large suitcases, driving position and visibility were excellent, and it came loaded with cool features like auto HID lights, panoramic roof, and climate control. On both the highway and the city, engine performance was fine, so I was really surprised to learn it had the 1.6 liter 120 PS engine, a BMW-PSA joint venture motor found in the base MINI Cooper. 0-62 mph takes 12 seconds according to Peugeot, and our car probably weighed in at 3700 lbs with people and cargo. Not a good power-to-weight ratio by any standard, but in real life, it was fine. Easily cruised at 75-85 mph all day, and while the revs were high (~4,000), the engine was smooth and I didn't have to downshift much to overtake cars. Averaged 6.6L/100km (36 MPG, US). It was interesting recalibrating my driving for Spain and a manual transmission car. They have excellent lane discipline there, and the left lane really is only for passing, so the 308's auto three-click turn signals came in handy. Unlike with an automatic car, where full throttle results in a downshift and lots of noise, I frequently drove around with pedal flat to the floor, with gear selection instead dictating the pace of acceleration. Apparently that's also more efficient, because full throttle results in less pumping loss. The five-speed manual helped hide the fact the car was slow. You really are much more engaged and alert when driving, when you need to plan for passing maneuvers and look ahead at traffic. With other things going on, power simply doesn't mean everything. The 308's gearbox is smooth, though the clutch engagement point is too high; the engine is eager to rev and refined. Handling was more comfortable than sporty, though it always felt composed, never floaty. Steering feel could be better, as can high-speed stability. Great space efficiency. The interior space and versatility is better than a full-size Accord that's a foot longer, yet parking is a cinch. The rear seats are three individual buckets, with electronic seat belt monitors, and a folding table from behind the front seats. Lots of storage cubbies in the doors and dash. Interior quality was good, nothing stood out as being cheap, though I wouldn't describe it as luxurious. Better than, say, an Accord. Overall, I thought it was an interesting alternative to the conventional family sedans we have here. More involving to drive, easier to park, and more fuel efficient, but slower and more expensive.

OK, I didn't know this, but here's a tip - if you're renting a car, decline CDW (collision damage waver) insurance. Instead, look at your credit card's terms and conditions. It's very likely that rental insurance is included in that. For an eight-day one-way rental in Spain, my price went from €460 to €280. I assumed my normal auto insurance wouldn't cover me outside the US, but thankfully I happened to glance at the benefits pamphlet of my newly issued card, which normally I would have thrown away. Now it's $50/day; you can't even get that price in the US (as an 18-20 year old). Reserved a CWMR (C-segment, wagon, manual, air conditioning) diesel from Sixt, and presumably there will be a choice of... Megane Sport Tourer 308 SW C4 Picasso Focus Estate Golf Estate If you had a choice, which one would you pick?

There wasn't any new product in the pipeline. Terrain replaced Torrent, and Solstice and G6 had no replacements coming. This left the G8, and a host of rebadged Daewoolets and a Toyota. In theory, an Alpha midsizer would have been nice... in reality, however, GM had no new cars planned for Pontiac. G6 replacement never broke ground.

If ABS is kicking in... then in theory, the brakes are powerful enough to lock the wheels, and increasing stopping power wouldn't do anything. I'd at least bleed the brakes, if the fluid hasn't been changed before.

Can you engage ABS? If so, the brakes are powerful enough... it's brake feel and tire grip you're lacking. When I had aftermarket low-dust pads and generic rotors on the Passat, brake feel was lousy - very little initial bite and poor sensitivity. While I could engage ABS, I had to mash through a few inches of travel before they would really bite. That's like 50 feet of lost reaction time. I upgraded to more aggressive pads in the front and OEM-spec Brembo rotors all around. No more pulsing through the pedal (the cheapo rotors were warped), and a much sharper pedal feel overall. I bled the brakes; brake fluid is hygroscopic so its boiling point gets lower through the years. That could be your cause of fade, not the pads themselves. According to Tirerack, Brembo doesn't make OEM rotor replacements for the Aztek, so you might want to consider slotted aftermarket rotors, which I'm generally weary of, for the hope they might be higher quality than the factory stuff. Same with pads. As far as wet braking, that has much to do with the tires. Stopping distances in general have to do with tires. Check your tire pressures at the very least.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-neil...,7695116.column Hyundai Genesis coupe is more primitive than prim The sports car certainly has some asphalt chops and a solid rear-wheel drive. That said, there's room for improvement. Let's start with its unattractive look, shall we? Dan Neil July 3, 2009 In the beginning, there was Hyundai, and it was without form, and darkness was upon the face of the brand. And it's still pretty dark. Yes, we're all very impressed with Hyundai's robust sales numbers, the company's monster 10-year warranty and the new Hyundai Genesis sedan, which was voted 2009 North American Car of the Year by a group of powerful and influential automotive journalists who were found sleeping under a bridge. But what does the brand mean? If anything, the cursive H stands only for a kind of predatory cheapness that undercuts Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus. As cars like the Azera and Sonata demonstrate, in a coldly calculated dollar-for-value comparison, you just can't beat a Hyundai. So what. No one ever wrote a misty-eyed heavy metal ballad to the glory of the bargain equation. No one ever serenaded with a mariachi band beneath the window of extended warranties. Hyundai is a brand utterly devoid of romance, poetry or inspiration. The very word affects me like a jeroboam of ether. That's why, above and beyond the particulars of cornering grip and acceleration, the new Hyundai Genesis coupe is a good idea. This company can spread all the high-tech marmalade it likes over its cars, but until it starts fashioning an emotional back story, a cool image, a creation myth of its own, the brand will never embody anything more than likable appliances. The formula for generating passion in a car brand is eternally performance, and preferably motor sports -- big, smoky, loud and stupid motor sports. Enter famed performance driver Rhys Millen, who will race a Genesis Coupe this year in various "drifting" competitions. Drifting is kind of like figure skating with cars, with the drivers pitching the cars sideways and spinning the tires so that they slide around the course trailing clouds of choking tire smoke (much to the dismay of local birds). As a thinking man's sport, drifting has an I.Q. of about 40; but it does handily illustrate the salient feature of the Genesis coupe: its rear-wheel drive, which is something of a rarity in this price category. The Genesis coupe finds itself in the rowdy, budget-minded ranks of the Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, Nissan 370Z and Dodge Challenger. It remains to be seen how the young males/early hominids in the drifting demographic will respond to the Genesis coupe, but the car certainly has some asphalt chops. The car comes with four trim levels (base, Premium, Grand Touring and Track) and two engine options: a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder (210 hp) and a highly evolved 3.8-liter V-6 putting out a sweet 306 hp. Transmission options include a five-speed automatic and six-speed manual for the four-cylinder and a six-speed automatic with the six-cylinder car. Our test car was a 3.8-liter Track package car, as red as a baboon's butt, impressively equipped with 19-inch performance wheels and tires, monobloc Brembo brakes, cinched-down sport suspension, trunk spoiler and a limited-slip differential. For a car costing $30,250, that's a lot of kit. I know where the cost-savings came from: the interior, which is rendered in varying textures of "ick" and "oh-my-God," a smorgasbord of paint-coated plastic and injection-molded tackiness that represents a huge backward step for the usually tactilely obsessed Hyundai. This is the placeholder interior, right? Guys? The other letdown is that the top-o'-line car isn't available with navigation. On the positive side, this is a big car, with large, comfortable seats, excellent outward visibility and reasonably usable rear seats that fold down to create an enormous cargo hold. If usability ranks high with you, the Genesis coupe will easily outpoint the Camaro and 370Z in your cross shopping. Push the start button and you'll hear -- well, a distinctly flatulent engine note, the sound of a zillion Asian import V-6s distilled into a liquor of lameness. But listen closer and you can hear the distant notes of menace. Squeeze the throttle and the V-6 wakes up with a nice, hardened anger. That's a pleasant surprise. Out on the road, the car's ride feels a bit trembly and over-stirred -- that's the Track package suspension for you -- but it's certainly comfortable to drive. And it's got a big, whopping kick to it. Romp the throttle and the engine valves align just so, as does the variable-geometry intake, and suddenly all 266 pound-feet come online. Zero to 60 mph is about 6 seconds, which is not blindingly fast in this segment, but respectable. The coupe feels ornery and aggressive and impatient when its humming along in the revs. That's good. Steering feel is good and response to inputs quite precise; however, even the Track package car has a bit more body roll in a corner than I might have expected. On the summer tires the coupe has loads of lateral grip and excellent overall balance, yielding only to nose-plowing understeer right at the end of the tether. The Brembo brakes are tremendous. As for its looks, well, it's a bit of a Halloween fright. With the headlights pulled back weirdly over the fenders and the grille aperture pulled at the corners like a mouth that can't close, the Genesis coupe appears to have suffered the world's worst face-lift. Meanwhile, there are these strange diagonal force lines across the fuselage, as well as the oddly contoured rear glass. This car has obviously passed through the entrails of corporate group think a few times and it shows every sign of being fussed over. Of course, styling is a matter of taste. If you have any, you won't care for this. Is it a match for my favorite car in this segment, the Ford Mustang GT? Oh no. No, no, no. Heavens no. But the Genesis coupe is low-slung, fast, a bit cantankerous and a wee bit racy, and so it's exactly the car Hyundai needs. Let there be light.

Black Camaro RS in the In-N-Out parking lot... black is its best color. Ride height was too high, though.

I think I threw up in my mouth a bit...

This isn't keeping with tradition, but IMO Buick can reinvent itself as a distinct brand within the GM family by offering: dynamic design, engaging performance, more exclusivity and higher quality than the common Chevrolet or Toyota. I'm not really into sweepspears, ventiports, or chrome, but personally I find Buick having the most potential for appeal, since I'm not a fan of the new Daewoolets and Saturn and Pontiac are gone. Here's are some Buicks I would be interested in... Buick Invicta 1.4T - $19K, fully loaded Buick Invicta 2.0T - $22K, fully loaded Buick Insignia 2.0T - $27K, fully-loaded Pretty much the Acura model - no base models to cheapen their image, but not extravagant like Caddy.

Buick ain't luxury. Cadillac is luxury. There's no room for two luxury brands within GM. Buick should be more premium, more developed versions of Chevy, or in other words, Opel. Buick's product plans seem clear from spy photos, and it's Astra, Insignia, and Antara. Personally, I'm a fan of naming the Astra "Invicta", to go with "Insignia." The Antara (i.e., VUE Hybrid) can be "Electra", to go with "Enclave." All four models would come loaded with few options, like Acura does with their cars. The LaCrosse will remain the old geezer's Buick to replace the Lucerne.

I find myself thinking this often - for that price, I'd much rather get a Taurus. A year ago, who would have thought that possible... One's a nice, sophisticated Volvo-based executive sedan, while the other is a well-optioned cute ute, from a sector once made up of Corolla and Civic wagons on stilts. 2010 Taurus SEL 201A w/ leather = $30,090 2010 Equinox LTZ FWD V6 = $30,290

This LaCrosse replaces the Lucerne as the old farts' car; it'll have a difficult time attracting anyone under 40, IMO. The new Astra, Insignia, the Buickized VUE Hybrid... those cars may have a better time.

It's sexy for sure... but I think everyone is going to go for the SRX, which starts at $6,000 less.

At $28K US with wheelcovers and cloth wheels, I think it's going to be a hard sell. For that price you could get a roomier, better looking, and more efficient Taurus SEL. With the four-cylinder CX model coming, this is looking more like a slightly more premium alternative to the Malibu than a luxury-oriented alternative to the CTS.

Okay, I hope we get the Insignia. OPC, especially.

It looks so porky and contrived next to that sleek silver CTS.

Audi Q5s are popping up everywhere. They look surprisingly sharp in person, especially with the S-line package. I imagined it would be just another flimsy-looking cute ute.

Zaino... it lasts forever.

The DB9 was pretty striking when it first came out, but I'm getting slightly bored of Aston, particularly with the recent onslaught of "boutique" luxury sedans and concepts that all share the same design formula: a greenhouse like a piece of sashimi, sandwiched between Coke bottle front and rear fenders, resting on multispoke turbine wheels. There's the Fisker Karma, the Tesla Model S, the upcoming XJ, the A7 Sportback, the BMW CS...