Flybrian

Toyota recognizes Scion is their compact market. They're designed to have value. The Yaris is designed to simply be cheap.

Welcome to Sketch Competition #4! There's no questioning the great excitement surrounding the upcoming 2009 Impala and exactly what form it will take. Comments by GM's Chief Designer Ed Wellburn have lead many to speculate that rather than evolutionary, it will definitely be influenced by historic Impala models, specifically the 1967 model year. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to sketch what your ideal 2009 Impala will look like. Your sketch should include at minimum 2 (two) of the following: -3/4 Front View -3/4 Rear View -Interior View Remember, people will be voting based on the overall presentation of your entry, so the more views, the better, including ones not specifically listed above. The only rules aside from 800x600 size guidelines are that it must have some element of historic styling. Exactly what and how much is entirely at your discretion. Also, keep in mind its highly likely this car will be rear-wheel drive. The winner will recieve a Chevy Impala-related prize! Deadline is Monday, May 1st @ 11:59PM your local time. Good luck!

Welcome to Choppin' Competition #17! There's no questioning the great excitement surrounding the upcoming 2009 Impala and exactly what form it will take. Comments by GM's Chief Designer Ed Wellburn have lead many to speculate that rather than evolutionary, it will definitely be influenced by historic Impala models, specifically the 1967 model year. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to 'Chop any photo you wish into what your ideal 2009 Impala will look like. Select any image you desire for your 'chop. The only rules aside from 800x600 size guidelines are that it must have some element of historic styling. Exactly what and how much is entirely at your discretion. Also, keep in mind its highly likely this car will be rear-wheel drive. The winner will recieve a Chevy Impala-related prize! Deadline is Wednesday, April 19th @ 11:59PM your local time. Good luck!

Chat with us in chat if you feel like chatting...

Vote if you haven't 'cause it ends tonight!

High-res pics of front, rear, and interior are coming in a matter of days. Stay tuned! We'll have it for you when the embargo is lifted!

Welcome to the Neighborhood! And thank you. Its a very good-looking car.

Again, Croc, this is neither the time nor the place to continue this line of discussion. Frankly, if you're so inclinded, have it with Josh over AIM. Its not needed here anymore. From anyone. Back to the AURA's engine, it will have a very respectable engine selection.

Some guy up the street from me bought a 2006 sandstone DTS.

Well, read also where they remark how unfun it was because of the squirrly handling and excessive bodyroll. I doubt I'd have that tippy feeling in a Solstice.

Yes, that was me who did that. I 'built' your group off of the existing membership group, so I don't understand why there was a hangup. I'm sorry about that, man! BTW: For people wondering, this was done during the time when BV had...'limited' access to the comp and was receiving lots of PMs, so I gave him a larger PM inbox to accomodate. Is this even needed anymore for you, Cory?

O.C., I understand your obvious passion for the subject, but remember that not everyone is attuned tothe nuances of terminology and the like. Regardless of the choice of words, his intentions were supportive and good-hearted. Again, I understand and personally agree, but please don't let that be overshadowed to someone casually reading this.

Here is a brief synopsis of Buickman, though really he should tell his own story. Again, this is of what I remember. Buickman first came to C&G before the Big Crash promoting his site, his cause, and The Plan, which was his multi-part ultimatum that he believed would help save General Motors from dire financial straits. At first, The Plan was not made public and people were asked to e-mail him and he would respond with a copy of The Plan. The reason given for this was because the ideas contained within his first 20 Steps was so critical that if others in the industry (i.e. competitors) were to find out, they'd be able to successfully leverage parts of The Plan to help them and hurt GM further. The main focus of the original 20 Points was very dealer-centric, discussing things like lowering incentives, offering salesmen specialized training, something with Internet sales, and other details of which I don't remember exactly. Many people disagreed with his points, citing that the fact that they were so focused on the dealership side of the equation that they ignored the real problem - you can't sell crap no matter how hard you try; i.e. build a good product, and it'll sell itself. I believe it was around this time that Buickman started focusing alot of the blame on Rick Wagoner, who he clearly feels is responsible for GM's latest failings. Again, many disagreed citing that he is but a drop in a sea of problems GM has experienced and caused for itself over decades. At some point, the debates became more contentious, mainly because of Buickman's refusal to publically post The Plan and also his insistance on not discussing or replying to arguments about it publically, instead asking people to contact him directly. At this point, the Administration of C&G began to see Buickman more as freeloading off our forums while not contributing anything (redirecting commentary to him directly on his site or off our board). Eventually, he did post his 20 Points publically for discussion, but shortly after his banning at another GM-realted forum, he left here voluntarily and frankly, not that nicely. Around the same time, however, there were plans in the works for Josh to schedule and interview with Dollinger to discuss his Plan in depth and such. This was when he was rather 'hot' in the automotive media. For some reason or another, the interview never happened and sometime in late November of last year, Josh told us he didn't want to conduct the interview anymore and didn't wish to have him be a part of the site. Seeing that much of the membership felt the same (he was also banned from another forum or two), we kindly asked Dollinger that if he wasn't going to go ahead and discuss things here with the membership calmly and rationally without always insisting he was correct and others just 'couldn't get it' that he focus on his own website rather than ours. My problem with Dollinger is from an administrative perspective. Everyone is certainly to say and express themselves in whatever fashion they choose. However, when the majority of the site expresses discontent at his presence AND he has made personal attacks towards the membership (granted, barbs have been traded evenly), AND he chooses to conduct himself in a manner that seems more atuned to self-promotion rather than genuine discussion, I have to question the need for him to be here. To be completely honest, if he would tone down the rhetoric a lot and answer some questions with real answers besides scapegoating Rick Wagoner, I wouldn't have a problem with him being here. That may be alot to say and sorry if you actually read it all, but I've always believed in being candid when its appropriate. That's my story on it. The timing may be off a bit, but the gist is there.

This is really not the proper format for that discussion, guys. However, I will say this info sounded fishy given all we knew about the HF 3.6 - along with the 6-speed - being the centerpiece of the AURA. This is why the story wasn't featured on C&G until proper confirmation was made.

Josh's voluntary resignation isn't really realted to this it all, though I'm sure it can be discussed in some other format. Regarding this, again, this is not censorship. The post remains open for all to read/see and comment on in an existing thread that deals with the Wagoner discussion. To be honest, much of what has been posted by Buickman is more on the side of self-promotion rather than information. That, by the way, was the reason why he originally left the site voluntarily, citing he didn't have time for us 'idiots' or some such verbage.

Ellives, I assume you're referring to this thread started by Buickman. In the course of less than one hour, five of the six responses to the original post showed general disdain for the topic. Besides being an unclear and repretative rehash of other threads - something that could've simply been added to one of the many existing discussions on Rick Wagoner - four different members made their feelings clear. My experience tells that if such a discussion is off to such a start so quickly, it can only degenerate into what most of the other Buickman threads have become. So, no, not censorship; merely nipping something in the bud.

In celebration of it being paid off next month (thank you, 0%/60mo!), here's on of the first pics I took of the girl back in 2000.

Go with that feeling.

I must add one thing... (.) (.) Thank you.

I'd suggest a cheap set of aftermarket color-matched mats.

HINT: Its not NOS.

Does this mean you will finally at long last stop whining about Japanese 'Yuppiemobiles' since you'll own TWO of them?

If I read this after popping acid and listening to Purple Haze, will it make sense? Buickman, please confine these duplicate posts to existing topics in the future. This rehash doesn't merit a thread of its own.

Wow. Some (well, actually just one) of you are really, really, really sad.

So...all the Japanese brands combined finally outproduced General Motors? Ohkay?