Flybrian

Um...no. NHTSA Star ratings - 2006 vans As you can see, the CSVs earn double five-star for frontal impact and 4/5 for front and rear side impact, respectively. Yes, quadruple five stars would be an improvement, but as it stands, they're on-par with Chrysler and Ford vans, all of which have 5/5/4/5 stars. They should have the extra star, yes, but 'decidedly-lacking'? No. I believe the 4/5/4/5 ranking for the CSVs you're referring to was for the first NHTSA testers in 2005 as later 2005-06 vans have 5/5/4/5. This is a sign that GM saw a deficiency and improved on it. Aveo is bad in its segment, pure and simple. The 3.9l also seems to need improvement in some applications. But take a random midsize car such as the Grand Prix and look at the EPA ratings: 3.8l - 20/30 3.8l s/c - 19/28 5.3l - 18/27 Very good for its size and output. This is true, especially among Chevrolet and certain Pontiac-GMC dealerships. Mind you, this doesn't mean offering foot massages and ditzy crap like that, rather, a pleasing environment with a knowledgable, low-pressure sales staff, appropriate amenities, and most importantly, an outstanding service department.

The Japanese penchent for innovation and improvement goes both ways. I would also recall the Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty' medium bomber that had a habit of exploding, often without even having the need for a round hitting it. It was dubbed the Flying Cigarette Lighter by its own crewmen for that reason. Even the indomitable Zero lacked self-sealing fuel tanks, something the Japanese overlooked in many of their designs, so a couple of nice hits by an older F4F Wildcat or P-40 would sent the 'superior' Zero down in flames. Most of the postwar technological developments by Japan don't impress me as much because its expected. For one, the war gave Japan the ability to start all over again with new factories, new infrastructure, (thanks to our guilt) the latest in Western technology, and very favorable economic policies. The prowess for development shown by the Japanese during and before the war are very outstanding given their isolationist nature and their large ignorance of advanced developments in other parts of the world. Yes, they sent advisors aborad between the wars, but that obviously didn't occur during.

Maybe people should stop tailgating and watch out for vehicular traffic. That'll prevent more injuries and fatalities than a car made of nerf.

Remember when Ralph Nader pointed out how fins were dangerous to pedestrians and other motorists and cited an example where a motorcylist was impaled on a set of DeSoto fins or something? What a maroon. Anyway, the DeVille never really lost its fins.

TOO MANY LIGHTS!!! TOO MANY CANDELLA!!!!

The 3800 gets excellent fuel economy. Don't take that away from it.

Actually, notsomuch. I'll mock Japanese cars 'till the sun goes down because its fun and mostly accurate, but there was some serious innovation in these shared designs. First, the Nakajima Kikka was certainly not a "262 Swallow in green." Its common to think this because the overall shape of the airframe is similar, but the same basic straight-wing, twin podded jet, high-empennage configuation is shared by the Gloster Meteor and Sukhoi Su-9, both of which were also not intentionally designed off the Me 262 Schwalbe. Second, the Kikka was about 4/5 the size of the German jet and was lighter. And although the Japanese did have access to photographs and cutaways of the BMW 003 turbojet engine, they built and designed an equivalent from scratch with no prior experience aside from a crappy ducted fan design. Third, keep in mind this jet was contracted, designed, manufactured, and flown in a period from 1944 to the end of the war, a little less than two years. Pretty remarkable, almost as much as the 80-some days it took for us to build the P-80. As far as the atom bomb, the Germans came close...frighteningly close. But the lack of heavy water, a real long-range bomber, and all the political drama of Hitler thankfully prevented it from becoming reality. Their plan, by the way, was also to use long-range bombers like we did. Anyway, in general, the reverse-engineering point is moot. Yes, the Japanese did it and did it in spades - the Douglas DC-5 was tested and designs used in their medium bombers; some say the design of the A6M Zero is derived from the Hughes H-1 Racer; the Soviets reengineered our crashed B-29s into their Tu-2s; we used captured German V-1s and redesignated them as Loon surface-to-surface missile and we used the pressure hull design of German Type XXI U-boats for our postwar subs. Everyone did it, not just Japan.

Am I the only one that sees a shower clock/radio? No, I'm being serious.

Oh my GOD! A review of two cars actually concedes that interior style is not cut-and-dried objective but even invites the reader to make their own decision?! Seriously, that photo makes the Miata look oh-el-dee.

Nice hi-beams.

Oh, who needs more Camaro, Corvette, and muscle car diecasts? Where is the 1/18th LeSabre Limited Celebration or Chevy Malibu or the 1/24th Contour-with-sagging-rear-shocks-because-it-can't-really-tow-that-U-Haul-trailer two-piece set?

I think this accounts for the more well-equipped models appearing on rental lots. Compare the '04 Grand Am SE I had for a rental a few years ago with the hot red '06 G6 GT with ChromeTek wheels and a sunroof I could've chosen a few months ago.

Congratulations on the fine vehicle, Antoine! Hope you and her (and your wife) have many, many happy miles!

Holy crap at the paint fade on the bumper! Wax anyone?

This is posted in 'General Motors News' why? Attempts at satire go in the Lounge as always...

You can send 'em to me (PM me) or use www.imageshack.us, you underAchieva.

Its Century Buick in Tampa, Florida around the block from my office. I'll throw this one in for free...

Only if its a Sedanette. If not, then it must be a Club Coupe. Some monikers are so woefully outdated and irrelevent they need to return. Along with 4cyl Diesels with 128hp.

I'm in favor of a 4-cyl hybrid/Diesel GTO Club Coupe.

I don't care. This car is still fun to look at inside. C'mon, this is the anti-bland; something John Delorean would have penned himself had he stayed with GM, been alive today, and totally coked out of his mind.

By that definition, events like the invasion of Panama, Desert Storm, and the entire Vietnam War are 'acts of terrorism.' Terrorism as used now is a contemporary buzzword concocted to avoid using devisive labels like 'war,' 'combatant,' and 'battle.' Really, every battle in every war ever fought is terrorism because it someone inflicted terror upon somebody. One could argue operations like the Blitz of London and the Doolittle Raids were akin to terrorism because they served little to no military purpose and only were intended to inflict psychological fear and 'terror' into the civilian population of a warring nation. Even, then today's usage of 'terrorism' has been so perverted by the government and media that its not really accurate to use it in revision to describe past events. So, its more appropo to describe the aforementioned events as punitive/psychological bombing and propaganda bombing respectively. Wouldn't be so quick to use the term 'cowards.' Yes, it was a dastardly attack, but from a purely objective and scholarly view, it was a brilliant operation that exposed the gross inteptitude of our military on an equipment and leadership level. The Signal Corps commanders really had no idea what the hell to do with the radar unit at Opana Point and when word first came of an en masse formation of aircraft, commanders ignored it as a flight of B-17s coming in from the wrong direction and didn't even bother confirming if this was the case. Over an hour and a half before the attack, the destroyer Ward sunk a Japanese midget sub outside of the harbor's entrance. Numerous American were shot down as the Japanese formations approached. Keep in mind the Japanese were viewed as a quaint society at the time, so the thought that they could launch a fleet of warships with aircraft carrying advanced, modified torpedoes and inflict heavy casualties on the powerful (yet obsolete) American fleet was undreamt of. In fact, many of the more rational members of the Japanese government and even the military wanted a surrender. It should be remembered that Adm Yamamoto - who planned the Pearl attack - never wanted war in the first place knowing the inevitable consequences and futility involved. The relationship between the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy and their combined and seperate relationship with the Imperial government makes a very interesting - albeit confusing - study. Needless to say, while factions fought each other, time for a surrender whittled away and so came the atom bombs. There is validity to the thought that the atomic bombs were meant as much - or even moreso - to scare the Soviets than the Japanese. Indeed, fire raids with incindiary bombs did far more damage in casualties and war capacity than both atom bombs. But the message of them was clear. I'm not going to debate the correctness of using them - I personally believe it was a right decision, but I also know I would dread being the one put in that position and therefore won't begin to judge the man who did. Moreso than a mere distraction agianst the US was the possibility for Japan to help tighten the stranglehold against Great Britain by cutting off their empire in India and Southeast Asia. The Japanese potentially could've greatly aided Germany in a two-front attack on the Middle East, securing unlimited petroleum resources for a would-be linked fighting machine. Plus, they exchanged technology which is clearly evident by Japanese version of late-war German advanced aircraft.

That's probably due to the hillarious powertrain matchups, with the weakest engine in the heaviest (AWD) model.

Again, this is necessary for certain markets and I doubt it will represent a large portion of Impala sales.

Its rumored that is coming here at some point, so don't count that out yet... I wouldn't be surprised since Mercedes is all about dillution of its brand nowadays.

:rolleyes: