SAmadei

This is not a failing of Pontiac, because its hands are tied by GM politics. This is a failure of Chevrolet, which should NOT be impinging on the other brands. By giving so many performance cars to Chevy, you have given up the chance to earn a premium by selling a Pontiac. By loading the Impala up with luxury items, you steal more profitable sales from Buick. Some could argue that Chevy needs these products to compete globally, but for that, just rebadge the Pontiacs and Buicks as Chevys in other markets. Granted, historically, there have been loaded, luxury Chevrolets... but these are a relative rarity... IMHO, the only Chevy that should not fit the basic and affordable mantra is the Corvette, which GM clearly did not know where to insert into their division structure and is today grandfathered as a Chevy. IMHO, for instance, the new Malibu should have been a Buick. The Chevy version of the Malibu should have been more like a "Chevelle"... i.e., relatively barebones. Not crappily built, but fairly plain. It should have attempted to beat the Camry and Accord by selling for $5-7K less. With the current economy and race to the bottom becoming the norm, Americans are going to need cheaper transportation because we aren't going to fit our rotund bodies into Aveos. Seems to me, GM was once very good at building large affordable cars.

The new Challenger and Mustang, and to a lesser degree the HHR, PT Cruiser and last Thunderbird are demonstrations that they COULD make modern versions of their classics. I would never expect a perfect copy of the classics, since modern regulations preempt chrome backed rearview mirrors, unpadded dashboards and lap-only belts. Chromed bumpers would be difficult to create due to environmental regs. The bodys would be based on a stretchable unibody, and would be designed from the ground up to include modern safety features like crumble zones. I'm sure nobody would complain about a neoclassic with a L76 or LS3 drivetrain and 6 speed tranny. The trick to here would be to create a platform that could be completely rebodied every 2 years to emulate, as closely a particular classic. Thinking of classic dashboards of the past, I chuckle at the idea of a quasi-steampunk 50's chrome dash with a Check Engine light. I'm not advocating retro styling across the board, but just for a limited line of niche cars.

Sometimes I feel like GM should create a new "Historic" division... and sell modern versions of it's classics.

Has anyone ever broken down an engine and NOT found considerable sludge? I'm talking firsthand or secondhand experience, not your lying brother in-law's pot smoking friend who knew somebody on the intertubes that had a coffee-fueled aluminum block 404 cube inline seven with 5 carbs and 560K miles taken apart to discover that it had no wear and no sludge. ;-)

I want one of these teamed up with an overbuilt transaxle and stuffed into the rear of a Smart. ;-)

I'd opt for a SS/RS with a stick in the dark blue, no sunroof. I wouldn't mind the stripes, but I think I'd prefer to have the '60s style bumblebee stripe around the nose. Then I need some retro performance part stickers for the rear windows... like Hi-Jackers and stuff. My father had a '67 dark blue manual SS/RS that, IIRC, originally had the nose stripe. Now that he's gone, I'd kill to get his car back in an effort to try to reconnect a bit. Perhaps the new Camaro might be as close as I can get.

Those SX's were weird. I had a years ago a repeat customer had one, and I used to help load it. It was weirder on the inside. Like driving a space ship. Sometimes, I thing they were trying to out-weird the Matador coupe. Current automotive style is so bland that the early imports are starting to look good to me, with that mini-musclecar styling. And quite a few of them are RWD. Course, I'll never fit in one, so I'll never have one.

GM claimed it was 100K coolant. I figure big deal, as I used standard coolant up to 70K or so. A lot of people claim that in a improperly burped system with air in it, the coolant goes bad due to a reaction with the air that GM didn't consider. It is a shame GM can't just come out and tell us exactly what went wrong without the lawyers going nuts.

Yes and no on it being purely an intake manifold gasket problem. The LT1 does pretty good with Dexcool... OTOH, the L36 needs periodic LIM/UIM changes... but both engines have design elements that predate Dexcool by quite a margin and worked fine with standard coolant. Quad 4... Dexcool is supposedly good, but I have _8_ rotted water outlets since 2004 that disagree. Also, when I recently flushed the Dex out of the LT1, out came a mountain of sludge from god knows what, so I'm not certain that Dexcool is safe in any engine. I don't want my LT1 rotting out at 250K any more than a 3.4 at 50K. After reading quite a bit about the differences between the coolants, I have sworn off Dexcool, and I'm using the "Mixes with everything" Prestone in ALL the cars. It's not even that expensive... well, its more expensive than "Sam's Best"... but generally cheaper than Dexcool. It's been about 6 months since the change and things look cleaner.

The Hooters (the band, not the restaurant) said that, too.

So, a Hummer is wider, too. So is a Mack truck. The slogan is "Wider is Better", not "Wider than everything else". Pontiac wasn't aiming that marketing at Chevy owners, but at narrow import buyers.

Hitting close to home, there Oldsmoboi. I have one of each of those... but the Bonne is a '81, not a '78. The Safari has 12 second timeslips and was a great sleeper when I wasn't hauling engines and plywood with it. The '81 was considerably more exciting during the times when the brakes weren't working. They all can't be winners. In all seriousness, you guys are forgetting the 6000 STE, AWD 6000, early '90s Supercharged Bonnevilles and McLaren Grand Prixs. All more exciting than than the comparable crap from the GM divisions. Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick? A 1982 Skyhawk?!? A 1984 Skylark with premature lockup? How about Standard of the World That certainly sums up the Cimarron... or the 8-6-4 and HT-4100 engines. How about those early oil leaking Northstars? Or the expensive but crappy Allante? A friend owned one of each of these disasters, new, and two of the Allante. Never will buy GM again because of it. His subsequent Jaguar was in the shop every other month and that was relatively reliable. Rag on about Pontiac and their slogan... but that was the limit of excitement in the '80s... where a corporate built smog clogged 185 HP engine was the TOP option! Excitement back then was perception based on stickers and blacked out trim... and it looks to be that what excitement in the next decade is going to be about... a big spoiler on your Prius.

When the CTS is truly considered a fullsize sedan, I'm going to start buying limousines as my daily driver.

I don't have a Costco nearby. So it's "Sam's Best" oil at Walmart. 400K on three cars (with 600K on them presently) with a change every 50K or so. Motor oil is motor oil. ;-) I don't see how PepBoys stays in business. The two in my area are swamped by Advanced Auto and Autozone, who have better prices, counterpeople and three times the locations. PepBoys must make all their money in the service bay... the most hardcore technical items available in the store seem to be bright blue headlights.

Well, to a degree, this was a side effect of the Cradle-to-Grave Sloan plan. Worked well with two chassis lengths and when cars lasted 4 years. Of course, I think this dealer perk goes out the window when Buick expects to match every one of Chevrolet's roughly 12-20 nameplates. No part of dealer price gouging the general public on every hot new product hasn't helped GM one bit.

I really wish we had a ballpark figure on price. If in the 45K or less range, it would immediately preempt a G8 GXP purchase... 50K or less and I'd have a tough decision... but I think the HP, coupe and color choice would sway me. Not sure I'd go higher than 50K, as the CTS-V coupe would start looking better. I realize it doesn't have the green light yet, but IMHO, if its another ZR1, why bother. The ZR1 is IMHO, overpriced by 20K, then the dealers are ruining it with a 40K markup.

This is what I suggested previously in another forum... but everyone is like, "It can't be done"... well, its going to be done in bankruptcy when other companies are making away with the divisions for pennies on the dollar. Just as the heavy handed federal tactics are causing problems for some individual states, having GM govern every last bit that the divisions do has made it so they can't compete with each other... which has had the disastrous effect of making the divisions uncompetitive with ANYONE.

I doubt he appreciates the wussy crap GM has turned out lately. GM has blown a decade of new car sales to me. All they have to do is produce a modern version of the '80s G-bodies. It's OK, though. I've purchased about a grand of dealer parts for my second-hand GM cars, so the shareholders will have to be satisfied with that.

TripleTreds rock. Granted, they don't handle like GT-As, but they handle pretty good for all season tires... and seem to stick to wet or frozen pavement like glue. Plus I've gotten 90-110K out of a couple tires, so ensure you have a good wheel alignment... you don't want to screw them up, as you could have them for a LONG time. I have friends that swear by Coopers, but I have my doubts with the Pep Boy's Futuras. the ones I used to buy years ago didn't like to stick to the road too well, and I barely got 30K out of them. Of course, Pep Boy's service bay seems to be eternally clogged... if you want same-day service, you have to be there at the crack of dawn. Good Year always got me in and out of the door fast... but they were not very good at getting the tires to seal to my rims, so I buy my TripleTreds elsewhere now.

Actually, you need two sockets. There is a small Gator Grip and a large one. I bought them to attempt to remove some locking wheel lugs... didn't work... in fact the Gater Grips, IMHO are useless for most 6 point fasteners. OTOH, its great for ratcheting a wing nut or some of those funky plastic fasteners.

I can't wait for the OS upgrade from FWD to RWD. I would like the coupe upgrade, as well... but that would likely just permanently lock the rear doors.

Prostitution? ;-) Actually, I imagine the unemployment office is hiring.

I don't buy the FWD is better in the snow argument, and feel the American public has been duped into this myth. Sure, the added weight over the drive wheels helps you get going, but FWD cars suffer from a worse problem in the snow... the tendency to lose control in a slick turn. This is caused by getting off the accelerator too much, causing the drive wheels to engine brake... and physics dictates that the rear wheels, with less resistance, want to become the front wheels. I'd rather stay stuck by the side of the road than to have the car end up upside down in a ditch at the first turn. I've driven plenty of non traction control RWD cars with worn out suspension and tires in the snow without a problem... aside from having to dodge all the stuck SUVs and FWD appliances. The manufactures' sold the public on this because FWD allowed some ease in building the car in a modular fashion, saving costs and the elimination of a small amount of driveshaft/rear end weight. Of course, this compact packaging makes it harder to repair FWD cars... costing you more in the end. Nowadays, most RWD cars have good weight balance and traction control, so the idea that a FWD car is needed in the snow is BS.

Can't wait to see which Chinese brand Harbor Freight teams up with.

I liked the GEO Storm being pulled out of a snowbank, when riiiiiiiipppppp!