2QuickZ's

I think Toyota sheeple are more forgiving than most. They are bigger apologists for the brand than perhaps even us GM people are for GM! I predicted a 1-2% market share loss. I also voted Hyundai/Kia but I think Honda is probably cross shopped more with Toyota. I agree that the three that will benefit the most are Hyundai/Kia, Honda and Ford but I'm sure everybody's market share will be bumped a little by this.

Big upgrade in the interior with this model. I suspect it will not only be at NAIAS but that there will be at least one you can view the interior of at a minimum if not actually get inside it.

I almost hate to admit it but I actually like it. I checked one out last year at NAIAS. It seemed a lot bigger than it really is. The mileage is impressive but I would have liked to have seen 150 hp (or at the very least more torque) out of the little turbo 1.4L. I'm sure they could have easily done it but then it would have hurt fuel economy plus meant 91 octane. Maybe there will be a GMPP ECU upgrade like there is for the LNF motor. I'd sacrifice a couple of MPG for a 10% bump in performance.

The link to the original story is HERE I saw the other thread talking about the media bias in FAVOR of Toyota. I'm wondering if folks think this story is more neutral or perhaps even biased toward Detroit? Personally, I didn't think the other story was that biased, though there were some pretty stupid comments in it. I read this article this morning and thought it was pretty fair and closer to how the Big 3 would be treated if they had similar issues (though still not as bad). What do you think?

My last 4 new car purchases/leases consisted of 2 Saabs and 2 Saturns, I wonder what they will offer me? Not to mention when I saw the writing on the wall for Saturn back in the spring I sold the Aura and bought a used Pontiac. :lol: The problems with keeping me in the fold with GM in the short term are the following: - Everything I was passionate about has been killed (G8, HHR SS, Cobalt SS sedan, and others) or is out of my price range (CTS) meaning I'm more likely to buy a used car - Everything I a currently interested in and could afford hasn't hit the market yet (Regal, Cruze, Buick version of Astra) - I'm dissatisfied with the quality of a couple of my recent purchases which is ironic with GM's supposedly much improved quality. Lesson learned: don't buy a first year GM vehicle, let alone do it twice in a row. They don't launch them as well as other companies manage to. - I'm very dissatisfied with the way I was quickly and easily dismissed by GM over an obvious and known GM defect on a vehicle out of warranty (most damning to me of all) I'm not going to say I won't buy another GM vehicle because I'm sure I will some day. I won't even say my next new vehicle will not be GM because their is a small possibility it will be. It's going to take a lot of convincing, though, and that is coming from a GM fan, child of a GM retiree, 38 year old purchaser of 8 new vehicles since 1995, 7 of which were GM products, Camaro enthusiast (until the 5th gen) and owner of probably 15+ used GM vehicles since I was 15 including 3 Camaros and a couple of classic GM iron. My worry is that if GM can't keep me, they are certainly going to have a hard time keeping the average buyer. I could be wrong, though.

Link to original story can be found HERE I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since the model years in question fall within the range that they were having problems with Tacoma's but you sure as hell hope they've learned their lesson about how to properly treat steel for corrosion resistance by now! I also love how the PR spin machine makes sure to mention how a SUPPLIER provided these frames. I'm sure the supplier was allowed to build them to their own engineering specs!

There are a few good deals on there. I wonder how much shipping is? You can't check without signing up for an account.

Sarah Webster Detroit Free Press Link to original story is HERE . See original story for links to other stories referenced (i'm too lazy to link them)

[source: Detroit Free Press] Again, not a surprise but now the Detroit Free Press is reporting NUMMI will be shut down. Any bets that GM comes out looking like the bad guy in the NUMMI closure and Toyota comes out smelling like roses? This despite the fact that only a small percentage of vehicles NUMMI produced were for GM?

[source: Detroit News] No big surprise in our current market.

I agree. I'm done buying GM products for a while and it has nothing to do with their bankruptcy. It has everything to do with their piss poor customer service and their apparent inability to stand behind their product. I'm not abandoning them and I hope the new company succeeds. I'm just taking a hiatus until I have reason to believe they really have changed. Maybe the fact the some of their new board members have probably never even driven a new GM product will help. My guess is Fritz is out of touch with the reality of the company and its customer service and product flaws. I'd guess he also doesn't quite comprehend how many people they have pissed off and completely alienated over the last 30 years, either.

[venting]When can we vote all these hypocritical bums out of office? It can't happen soon enough for me! All these stupid assholes couldn't wait to run GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy but once they are there, they want them to ignore all the bankruptcy rules or change them on the fly? So they had an "Ah ha! Oh $h!!" moment and realized the Big 3 really do affect their states and their constituents. Now we have to change the rules to minimize the impact or at least make our constituents think we are doing something for them. Our Congress and Senate are worthless. The whole lot of them. I guess in the next election I will have to continue what I started in the last election... vote against every single incumbent.[/venting] Okay, now that I am done venting: I think GM is handling it the best they possibly can. Chrysler, on the other hand, pretty much totally screwed the dealerships they shut down. I think what they did to those dealers was inexcusable giving them only 26 days. Still, they had the right to do it under the bankruptcy code and I don't believe in changing the rules in the middle of the game.

It has to be due to the huge drop in fleet sales. I personally like the Cobalt but it is definitely a fleet queen.

I drove from Windsor, Ont. to Niagara Falls, Ont. and noticed there are a TON of Pontiac's in Canada. And they weren't all rental cars, either, as I looked for bar codes in the windows. I guess I never realized GM sold so many Pontiac's in Canada. There were Pontiac's everywhere and hardly any Chevrolet's. I probably saw 10x as many G5's as I saw Cobalt's and there were quite a few G3's (if that is what they are called in Canada) and only a couple of Aveo's. Is GM planning on Chevrolet picking up this volume? Are they converting Canadian Pontiac dealers to Chevrolet or are they all already combined and they are just killing off the Pontiac side?

I have the same issue. You can price them out on edmunds, though.

I've seen a couple of '10 Equinox on the road within the last couple of weeks. It doesn't stand out as much on the road as I thought it would in the pictures, though I do think it looks nice. I also saw a new SRX on the road. It looked better in person than it does in the pictures. One of the auto suppliers near where I work must be testing out their stuff on the new Theta's.

What the hell is wrong with Subaru? It seems like their goal is to make each model more bizarre looking and ugly with each refresh. I don't get it. I really like the '05 - '07 Legacy and Outback even though they are conservatively styled. Then they made some minor styling changes in '08 uglied it up a bit and now this abomination. And is it just me or are the rims that are on the red car almost identical to those on my Aura XR?

I, too, immediately thought Civic when first seeing the pictures. Only this thing is much nicer looking than the Civic. I'm surprised to say it, but I actually like it! I still wouldn't buy one, though.

I love the new CTS wagon! I would gladly pimp one. I'm sure I'll have to wait and buy a 2 or 3 year old one, though. I'm not sure I like the new SRX styling, though. So far I like the Saab version of the Thetas best with the Equinox a close second. The Terrain definitely is the last place finisher. Hopefully I will like this Caddy more when I see it in the flesh.

I'm glad they finally released some images. Now maybe they can start driving them around without camo. They need all the buzz they can get. Personally, I like it a lot. I think the interior is quite nice. The fit and finish should be much improved and the materials are vastly improved. Styling is a subjective thing. I like the styling. I do agree the greenhouse is similar to the Journey but big deal. I promise you the vehicle itself is nothing like the Journey. Let's face it, the Big 3 are not going to be able to get by with a fleet of specialty, low volume vehicles. They need additional volume. I think the changes they've made may soften the image a little but should attract more new customers than it alienates existing customers and I'm sure that is the goal.

I'm curious what cars you are comparing the Malibu to when you say this. I'm assuming the G6, Aura and Malibu all have similar size doors since they are all on the same length Epsilon platform. The front doors of our Aura are fine and the rear doors are actually quite long. They are much longer than on my sister's Fusion. I'm not the biggest guy in the world (5'9" and 170 lbs) so maybe my needs are just different and that's why I don't notice a problem with the door openings. The car is definitely narrow but it has quite a bit of length to it. Edit: $h!. I'm an idiot. You are comparing the doors to that on a coupe.

Nope, not that bad of a recession after all. Hell, here in Michigan unemployment is only at around 13%. No big deal! And that is before the further downsizing actions the Feds make GM and Chrysler take not to mention all the supplier bankruptcies that will start happening within the next week or two. When my wife and I are both unemployed (both work for auto suppliers), I'll have to come back into this thread and read your post so I can remind myself that it really isn't that bad and it is all political smoke and mirrors created by election year politics. I'm not sure why the G20 even bothered getting together.

Good video. I have to admit, I am a closet Honda fan. You may never hear me admit that again. I think most of their current vehicles are unattractive but I did like the last TL, RL, Accord Coupe... The wife almost bought an '05 TL and we also looked at the '05 Accord coupe. Wound up with an '05 Saab 9-3 though.

Obviously his resignation was required to secure further funding. That doesn't really bother me that much. What does bother me is that the government is going to pick his successor. That has failure written all over it. The government (regardless if led by Republican or Democrat) has proven time and time again that they are completely out of touch with reality when it comes to the auto industry. At the end of this, plan on GM shrinking considerably in size and specializing in "green" cars. This is going to be a major cluster f@#k.

I wasn't meaning to imply that what GM is doing is better, only more expensive. Why wouldn't you use a cheaper plastic that customers perceive to be better quality? It makes no sense. It's just another sign that GM "doesn't get it" yet. My guess is that whoever their suppliers are, they haven't figured out how to do mold in color polypro. One big drawback to polypro is that it is expensive to paint because it requires a lot of prep to get the paint to adhere.