Robert Hall

I've seen one in this color...kind of a pale sea green, similar to an early '90s Mercedes color. It looked odd on the GTO, IMHO.

I always thought the Malibu coupes of that era bore more than a passing resembalance to the '64-65 Malibu coupes. By the way, weren't they still 'A' bodies then? I didn't think the G-body designation came about until '82 when the FWD A-bodies came out..

Nice place...I like the greenery and pond. Only a 2 car garage, though.

It's one of those things that remind you of your own mortality, I guess...a coworker and friend of mine who was only slightly older than I (37) died today at work... they believe it was a heart attack. Found him slumped over in his chair in his cube.

Here's something I saw on another board... I don't know what the original source is. DETROIT -- General Motors has told Pontiac dealers that it will discontinue the GTO coupe at the end of this model year. GM will make the last deliveries of the vehicle to dealers by the end of September, sources close to Pontiac say. GM will produce 10,000 to 12,000 more GTOs before dropping the nameplate, one source close to the situation says. Last year, Pontiac sold 11,590 GTOs compared to 2004 when it sold 13,569. That's a 14.6 percent drop. When Pontiac launched the GTO in 2003, it projected 18,000 annual sales. The vehicle was criticized for bland styling, and some fans of the original GTO complained that it lacked nostalgic styling cues. "For the remaining life of the car, it simply wasn't worth the engineering expense or effort to re-certify it as an '07 for a very limited run, when we could continue selling them as '06s," says a source close to GM who is familiar with the program. The GTO is built on a rear-wheel drive architecture from GM's Holden division in Australia. The present model is going out of production as GM constructs the new Zeta RWD architecture, says the source. There is no replacement coupe planned at this time and because of the strong Australian and weak U.S. dollar, the GTO had to be priced thousands over where GM originally wanted it -- in the mid-twenties, the source says. "It never did as much volume as we had hoped," the source says. The GTO suggested retail price starts at $31,990, including shipping. One GM source says, "the 2005 and 2006 were pretty well sold out, and sales were especially strong in areas of GM weakness, like Southern California. It's a shame it has to go -- for now." Another source says that GM has indicated that it would like to have another vehicle in that "space" in the future.

Pontiac

The Torrent, like many, many GM products, would make a decent rental from Avis for a few days. It's not something I would buy, though.

I have a few consultant friends that did it... I semi-seriously thought about doing it myself a few years ago (buying a Suburban as a commuter car when I had my own 1-person consulting firm).

I'm sure Lutz and plenty others in GM consider the Impala SS V8, Monte Carlo SS V8 and Grand Prix GXP V8 as 'performance cars'. I'm surprised they haven't done a V8 LaCrosse yet...

Maybe... How about a supercharged Northstar Lucerne?

AUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH When will it end? NO MORE MULTI SHADES of GRAY PLASTIC INTERIORS!!!!!!!

poopie

I saw a grubby white Lucerne this morning (winter gunk all over it). It was -9 and sunny out at 7:30 when we went out for breakfast. Unusually cold for Denver. I saw an equally grubby yellow Solstice (only the 2nd one I've seen on the streets). I saw a sharp gray M45 3 times today--same car, in 3 different areas at different times.

My mom even mentioned this review to me on the phone today.. I read it in the paper this morning... fair at some levels, nitpicky at others, downright hilarious in places (the description of the turn signal stalk and the HVAC controls). It's not a bad looking wagon, but.. I had to laugh about the driveway snow/etc... an SUV w/ FWD...

Makes sense...most 1:18th diecasts are made in China. ERTL, Auto Art, etc all have plants there.

"spice" scary

The problem is that GM is perpetuating that image with their Wal-Mart style 'Low Prices Everyday' advertising. They are doing it to themselves, so the media picks up on it.

I like auto-on lights...I also like the auto-off feature also. Regardless of whether they are in auto mode or not, the lights on my Jeep go off after a configurable # of seconds... never had a dead battery. That's an even better feature than auto-on, I think.

I like the front end...it's a better execution of the Dodge grille theme and nose shape than the bloated Ram or Durango.. The front end details look pretty close to that of a production vehicle...I wonder if they have any plans for it...I wonder what the platform is..it's hard to tell the size from the photos.

You missed the smiley..I was being sarcastic and only semi-serious. The US does consume way more of everything than any other country, though...and as far as the large vehicles, no other country has mainstream use of vehicles as large as we do (think about all the huge crew cab duallie pickups, Suburbans, etc ). And sumo wrestling is in Japan, not China.

large country, large (heavy) people, large food (super size, big portions, etc), large houses, large stores, large BMs, large trucks, large cars. I think this is part of why so many people elsewhere hate the US..we supersize everything.. :)

I would think it last as long as the current Cobalt does..

By the way, that bike path is about 15 feet below the street along a creek.. it's a busy four-lane street I drive every day, and it was a bit icy this morning..

Ahh..I knew it was some little Chevy...saw the bowtie.

From today's paper... looks like a Cobalt on a bike path upside down.