Flybrian

The Avalon was intended as a LeSabre-fighter. I would consider GM's competition against the Avalon to be Impala, LaCrosse, and Lucerne in various trims. I would also consider both the Malibu and Impala to go against the Camry, again, in various trims. I don't think its always the best to say "X vs. Y and only as such" because there are so many overlapping markets these days

A hybrid without penalty except cost. Wow.

On Grand Prix, the curved bottom of the greenhouse is done for a coupe-like design. On LaCrosse, its done to better incorporate that little rear wheelwell 'hump' familiar to many late-model Buicks. And because of the Buick's six-window design, the doorsill and beltline are actually not shared at all. Granted, it appears similar, but its not. The treatment is executed very differently. Anyhow, look towards none other than the '06 Impala for an example of appropriate differentiation.

So, yeah...negatory on that front clip. It also completely lacks any flow with the rest of the car. I don't know why everyone is so in love with the hood ornament. The big-ass winged-whatever on Chinese Buicks look so funny on their rounded bodies.

The I5 hurts them in the spec sheet battle, especially when most people look at the engine and think "buy 4 get one cylinder free." A full Atlas I6 with 250hp+ would do wonders, IMO. The lack of advertising surely does hurt, though. I remember almost as many ads for S-10 Xtremes or whatever as I do for Canyons period, more for Colorados of course. Speaking of which, somewhere, someone is this vast land of ours is asking a Chevy salesman where can he find him some S-10s.

Oh, Dodge Caliber the other day. Red. At a BP station.

In terms of what? Individual design? Sure. Distinction between platform-mates? Aside from those mentioned, not one GM car looks like another that rides the same chassies.

For many vehicles, you don't really need that big dollar NAV option. In the ones whose market would be receptive to NAV, they exist - pretty much all the SUVs, all Cadillacs, Buick Lucerne, Rendezvous. The CSVs could use it, but that's more or less it. I really wonder exactly how many Mazda3s, Accords, and Camries are ordered with NAV.

Yeah, my bad about the 360s. See? I fell into that trap, too. So its just down the CSVs...no biggie. GMCs I'd argue on the whole are rebadges today. Granted, six months from now I will not be saying so. I believe besides the 355s, only the Express/Savana will be rebadges at that point but...who cares? So much for the 'king of rebadges' argument.

How does the Impala not compete with the Camry?

What argument? I was very obviously joking.

Enter Grand Marquis/Crown Victoria. The only real 'rebadges' in the GM lineup today are the CSVs and TB/Envoy/Rainier. Chevy/GMC in general gets a pass for reasons discussed many times in multiple threads.

*GPS discs need to be updated themselves and I'm sure they aren't cheap. *Usability issues with regular NAV systems. To date, no one has really figured out how to best combine NAV with radio functions in a successful manner. *Radio nav can be easily integrated into lowerline cars. *You don't have to put down the $1700-2500 for the NAV unit. If you don't like it, cancel it. You don't get a refund on your NAV option if you grow tired of it after 6 months. *Assuming a cost of $299 annually and you'd still get about 5-8 years worth of OnStar Turn-by-Turn service for the price of a NAV unit in addition to the other unique OnStar content. * OnStar is considering selling the service on a use-basis as stated in the article, say, 10 'routes' for $30. For the infrequent user who may do 90% of their driving in a familiar location but become confused during travel, this is a blessing.

Rio5? Civic? Prius? ION? I think you guys are misreading the thread title. It's not 'Best $h!ty Car'...

The problem is when you live in a more limited market where the next dealer carrying that brand is thirty, fifty, eighty miles away. A bad experience at one will force you to sour that brand because getting decent service may mean more of a hassle than its worth. Another reason why service before, during, and after the sale is so very vital.

A 2006 Mercedes S500 out of warranty coverage. If you can fix that thing by yourself on a shoestring budget, you should win a scholarship to MIT.

What exactly dissuades you from the W-body besides the fact that you know its been around for awhile? All W-cars have good interior room, good trunk space, and up-to-date safety features. So what's the problem? Sometimes I wish GM would disguise their platforms' age as well as Toyota does.

Plus, CarDomian domain doesn't require Edmunds' bloated signup procedures nor do you have to endure 8 gigs of flash and javascript from a massive RIDGELINE banner to access it.

Lincoln's switch to alphnumerics is perhaps the valley of the whole movement. Its so contrived and without focus Lincoln themselves don't even get what its all about. Zephyr...no, MKX...no, M(ar)KX...no, wait... At least Cadillac's had some rhyme and reason.

Still hillarious.

I really have to wonder about the overall decrease in passenger and cargo volume in addition to little annoyances like an auto-resetting fuel consumption computer. Things like these are as much regressions as some claim other domestic cars suffer from. But I believe its a fair review. He could've easily given the standard "we expect these glitches on an early tester" bull$h! line, but he didn't with So I would say its a very fair review. Definitely not like the new Bimmer 3-Series taking first place in a comparo after repeated brake failures.

Probably means you bought yet another import.

I don't understand why foreign cars tend to marr the otherwise clean look of their 'luxury' wheel choices with exposed lugs. So chintzy. And besides, those wheels in general remind me of recent DeVille chromes, which looked alot better on the DeVilles.

Yeah, why is Edmunds cribbing CarDomain and acting like they invented the genre? If its anything like their abstract Town Hall and other content, count me out.