Petra

If the Camaro is for the 2010 model year, that means it would be out sometime in 2009... so, 3 to 3 and a half years, or 36 to 45 months. That seems to me like a pretty typical amount of time to spend developing a new model, don't you think? Especially one you're building pretty much totally from scratch. Sure, the Solstice got here faster... but, in order to do so, GM had to borrow a lot of parts from existing models: Transmission from the Canyon/Colorado, rear suspension from the CTS, etc., etc. Rome wasn't built in a day, and Camaro won't be, either. Take the example of the PT Cruiser: Chrysler first showed the Plymouth Pronto back in, what, 1997? The PT didn't debut until the spring of 2000. That's a little over 3 years, is it not? 2009-'10 really isn't all that far away, either. It seems like it was just yesterday that it was 2003... and yet, that was 3 years ago already. My advice is to just sit back and relax... The Camaro will be here before you know it.

Same as the Caliber, it's got style, but no substance.

Learn from GM, DCX: Stay far, far away from FIAT.

I checked the Azera out in Detroit. Unless you are dead-set on having a more powerful engine, I really see no reason to choose the Azera over a loaded Sonata. Not only for the reasons Fly mentioned, but, for a "full-sized car", the Azera isn't really much roomier than the Sonata. In fact, compared to the Toyota Avalon, the Azera felt rather claustrophobic, IMO. Sitting inside the Avalon is like sitting inside your own private Yacht: vast expanses of empty space surround you, shiny, silver do-dads are at your fingertips, and you're at the helm. The Azera is more like sitting inside, well, a slightly bigger Elantra, like Fly said. You may have payed thousands of dollars less than the Avalon would've cost, true... but compare the two, and you'll see where those thousands of dollars go. I will give the Azera credit: It is light years ahead of the old XG. The trouble is, the XG was a terrible car, and the competition has moved ahead. The lesson? Don't benchmark, plan ahead so that your model stays competitive throughout its lifespan (that goes for you, too, Detroit!).

Does it have "throttle-by-wire"? Seems that a lot of cars with that technology have that problem; there's no middle step between creeping speed and wide-open throttle. The new Golf seems nice enough, but VW is kidding themselves if they think this car will save them. They need something new, something that will set the market afire. And they need it yesterday. I was hopeful when Bernhard took over that VW might finnally get some must-have product, but, so far, the only thing we've seen is the new convertible they have coming. Sure, it will be a hit, but it won't sell in the volumes that VW needs. They need a new Beetle, and I mean a real one, not like the one that debuted back in '98.

Hey, sometimes the truth hurts. I'm sure you, in particular, would agree that people should never sacrifice telling the truth in order to keep other people feeling warm & fuzzy.

My Mom is my alarm clock. She never fails.

Can you conclusively prove either one of those statements to be true? I think that is what O.C was getting at.

Does it still have that lame, transversely-mounted inline six? Because, if not, it looks like GM might have a pretty decent car on their hands!

I think GM's brands could all do a lot better if they were given more freedom, like they used to be back in the '60's, and how Saturn used to be at the start. In my theory, each brand would be given a few basic, common parts (e.g: chassis, engine block) and some simple objectives (e.g: Pontiac would be instructed to focus on horsepower, Buick would be told to devote time to the interior), then leave the rest up for the brands to figure out on their own. This would inspire creativity and and competition, resulting in a better product for the consumer. Also, no brand could be accused of badge engineering another. Unfortunately, the prospects of this happening are slim to none.

I like the Aerio, too... massive depreciation makes it pretty darn affordable: http://www.trader.ca/powerpage/details.asp...88&adid=4628119 Plus, digital gauges are waaaaaaaaaaay cool.

In real life, it actually looks pretty good. Sure, it's tacky... But so were the originals!

Looks sort of like a miniature Mercedes CLS to me: I also noted that the interior, while having a beautiful, intriguing layout, is saddled with the same Rubbermaid steering wheel that the Caliber uses. A pity.

THAT'S exactly what I was thinking! Aside from the 6-Speed transmission, I'm not that impressed. Maybe my expectations were too high. It seemed like everybody was hyping this new Tundra as a earth-shattering, quantum leap over all it's competitors, past present & future. To me, it looks more like a thoroughly competitive truck in every way. The Tundra is, at last, a real truck. But it ain't no Domestic killer. Then again, as Evok says, there is more than meets the eye. My guess? Toyota will launch with an extremely agressive pricing strategy, and is preparing heavy-duty models to debut in a couple years. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Good idea, IMO. Some people just want more practicality than a coupe offers. This way, Honda has all their bases covered. One question, though: In what sense is this car a "Concept"? After all, Honda has pretty much admitted that they will put it into production sometime in the near future. It's no more a "Concept car" than a factory-sponsored tuner Civic from SEMA is.

I've seen that same colour scheme before, but where? Oh, yeah! Nissan already did it 20 years ago with the 300ZX (and if you think this is bad, you should see the Leather version... I wasn't able to find pics of it, though):

This vehicle has an absolutely astonishing ability to disguise its ugliness in photographs. You see it in pictures, and it looks pretty decent. Then you see one in real life, and you think, "Man, what an ugly, bloated whale of a car!"

For under $26,000, you, too, can have an ass like this:

Neat stuff, but it leads me to question: Is GM learning from these chops how to build cars as good as the competiton, or are they learning to build cars better than the competiton?

Hyundai's have always had slightly worse fuel economy than their competitors. I'm not sure why they are this way, either; I think it may have something to do with their transmissions. In any event, this is nothing new. For example: Hyundai Elantra: 24 City/32 Highway Toyota Corolla: 30 City/38 Highway Mazda3: 26 City/34 Highway Chevy Cobalt: 24 City/32 Highway Ford Focus: 26 City/32 Highway Interestingly enough, the Cobalt and Focus are the worst in the lot, along with the Elantra.

Cool, you're left-handed... My brother is, too, and he also plays the bass... a Squier P-Bass Special, specifically:

I, for one, welcome our new, German overlords...

My musical gear is as follows: Guitar - Ibanez Jet King 1 (or JTK1): Pretty basic guitar with a some retro styling cues and interesting features thrown in. For example: Those little rocker switches up by the neck pickup are used to switch the pickups from humbuckers to single-coils and back. The pickups themselves are nothing special, but I like the way it sounds with the neck on single-coil and the bridge on humbucker. The neck is typical Ibanez: 25.5 inch scale, thin and flat. The bridge is also a typical, Gibson-style fixed bridge, though the big metal tailpiece is pretty cool; I often rest my palm against it when picking, then simply slide my hand up the strings if I need to do a palm mute. Lastly, though you can't see it very well here, the headstock resembles the PRS headstock, and the tuning machines are snot green, like some Gibsons. All-in-all, it's been about the perfect guitar for me to learn on, but I'll definetely be looking for something more advanced when/if I get better. Maybe an Ibanez S or SA Series, or a Fender Showmaster. Amplifier - Behringer GMX212: I bought this off eBay for $300 CDN... a pittance compared to how much you'd spend for similar performance in most any other brand-new amp. It has two 12-inch speakers, so, yeah, it'll get really loud; apparently, at vol & level 5, you can hear it from outside my house. It also has 99 digital effects built in, though many of them are simply variations on a theme (for example, there are over a dozen different types of delay), and, to be honest, many of them just don't sound as good as a real stompbox. Nevertheless, it has enough sheer power to keep it useful for a good long while yet, and, even if I got a better amp somewhere down the road, I could always use this one as an extension cabinet. All I need to do for now is find some pedals to plug into it... specifically, a Digitech DigiVerb and a Boss MT-2. But, first, I better find some money...

Agreed. I was very impressed when I saw it at Detroit, especially given how pitiful Nissan's interiors have been in recent years. IMO, it has one of the coolest steering wheel designs around.

2005 was just a bad year for GM. It started out with bad news, and things snowballed from there. Perhaps, if they can keep the bad news from pilling up, 2006 will be brighter.