The O.C.

Actually I was just over there.....and things have cooled A BIT quicker than CA.....median home/condo prices are about even with Los Angeles county and a bit lower even than Orange County. It's still expensive though......needless to say..... You would think that living in southern California.....why would WE want to go to Hawaii? (as opposed to someone living in a cold climate such as MI, for example) Well, I'm a big fan of Hawaii. Probably the cultural differences over there are what I like the most. In one sense it (Honolulu) is alot like L.A, then in an entirely other sense, you have this cultural smorgasboard that you don't even get in CA. (polynesian, native hawaiian, japanese, etc.) And....it IS beautiful.......even traffic-choked, high-rise intensive Oahu (Honolulu.)

ocnblu, that was beautiful, JUST beautiful. I've never heard such a great, short, and too the point explanation of HOW IT WORKS! Thanks bud......

I'm sure you've already gotten plenty of feedback on this.....but for me, I can appreciate a beautiful woman.....but even the most beautiful woman bearing the most incredible breasts will never get me aroused or sexually excited. On the other hand, just touching a guy's bare chest with my hands will send my body into sensory overlead..... It really is wired into the brain. But you know what....it's not JUST sexual either. I know that I could never FALL in love with a woman....or want to spend the rest of my life with a woman....or share life's special moments with a woman.... It's emotional too. I had a hard time even kissing my girlfriend in high school good night.....I found it so icky. BUT the first time I kissed a guy? Oh WOW.....the sparks flew like they never had before. One time, a bunch of my straight friends and I were partying and all drunk and $h! and my friend flashed her boobs at me....and my other (straight guy) friends dared me to lick her tits/nipples. I took the dare....but man it was like I was totally grossed out.....! You can't fake those kinds of feelings.....

The only lower heat/higher humidity that I can stand is Hawaii. It's usually around a high of 85 during the day, and it only cools to about 75 at night. Yes, it IS humid there.....but the ocean breezes and occasional afternoon showers REALLY make it quite pleasant.

I think that looks MUCH better with the ebony/beige contrast. Makes the interior look more expensive. Buick does the same thing with the LaCrosse. On CX and CXL models, the dash and door panel tops are the darker taupe....whereas if you get beige in the CXS, the dash and door panel tops are ebony.

Uh.....as I said in the other post in The Lounge, you fail to directly address MY criticisms of your 20 points. All you do is reiterate the arguments you've ALREADY made in your points. Why don't you copy and paste MY rebuttals to each of your points....then make your OWN rebuttal to MY criticisms..... mmmmmkay?

Read it.... And all you basically did is reiterate your supportive arguments that are already IN your 20 points. What I was welcoming from you was a pointed debate or discussion relative to MY criticisms of your points. In other words, do to me what I did to you. Take my criticisms, point-by-point, and provide your direct rebuttal to MY points. Don't just reiterate what you've already said. I don't expect you'll ever do that.....but at least I thought that sort of head-on debate would make the discussion more interesting.

Beautifully said, Petra......! I have no personal stake in bringing down BM or instigating any sort of mean-spirited "attack." BM means nothing to me in my life or career. If I may be so bold....I simply provided my commentary on the industry (specifically the Michigan market) that comes from an extensive background in the auto industry spanning many different markets around the country and many different business sectors of the auto industry in general. That coupled with my Buick experience and my time spent in Flint provides a unique outlook to BM's 20 points. I'm sorry he cannot accept the legitimate criticisms for what they are.....and he has shown his overall immaturity in addressing this issue. And lest we not forget, when BM first developed the 20 Points, he DID present them as "THE" savior to bringing GM's "Return to Greatness." It seems that only AFTER so many inside the industry have dismissed him and his 20 points, did he begin to suggest that they were not "THE" solution, but only a beginning "salvo." Well BM.....where's the rest of your ammunition?

I LOVED it....! I thought they did a great job casting all the roles. And it was scary how much Brandon sounded like Chris Reeve when saying some of his lines as Superman. Couple of touching moments.....when Lois' kid goes up to a bed-ridden Superman and kisses him on the cheek......and at the end of the movie right after the main credits....when they dedicated the movie to the "loving memory" of Christopher and Dana Reeve. Yeah.....I teared up a bit.....I admit it.....especially when they would play the original John Williams Superman theme song throughout the movie..... Speaking of Brandon Routh, I think I'm totally ready to have his love child......

CARBIZ, I know we don't always find a meeting of the minds when it comes to GM (understatement there, eh?) but I found this post to be memorable. I'm sorry you had such a tough time early in your life, but you really sound like a wonderfully grounded guy...! :wink:

I like that.....Daddy Satty.....!

I think the 300 Touring is a great value. You can get the 3.5L V6, leather, and a decent options load for less than $30K. Then there's the Limited or the 300C but those are more expensive and over $30K. I can't vote for LaCrosse or Impala....just too substandard. Altima and Accord are nice-driving cars (I'm sure the new Altima will be good) but if you are more concerned with comfort, quietness, and so forth, they will probably not be your best bet. It's hard for me to vote for AURA because from what I've seen (so far) the car seems so flawed to me in so many areas (other than the XR powertrain which is bang up to date.) I think the Chrysler would be a very satisfying drive for a few years.....but with that car, it really comes down to whether you like the styling or not..... I have a friend in CA that is a dealer and this guy owns a 360 Modena, so money for a car is not an issue. He bought a Dodge Magnum RT. I asked him why.....and he replied because it's big, comfortable, quiet, and has plenty of room in it. And for a car to just commute to work and around town, he said it's "perfect" and not a big drain on the wallet.

Funny thing happened at the dealer...... I put in the order today and wrote the deposit check..... When the dealer took my order, he looked at me like I was a freak for ordering a 6-speed MANUAL CTS..... He said that he's NEVER seen a manual CTS (except the V-series) before and couldn't believe I wanted one. He was actually cool about it....just shocked. I told him that he wouldn't be selling the CTS if it DIDN'T offer the manual. Otherwise I'd be getting a BMW. I think Caddy dealers are missing a (albeit small) opportunity by not at least stocking one, maybe two CTS manuals with the 18-inch package. Advertise the hell out of it as a sporting, domestic alternative to the German sport sedans. Even if people come in and actually buy an automatic, at least maybe you'd drive some more traffic on CTS. Especially because it seems the V-series is in pretty strong demand and don't sit on the lots long when the dealer actually gets one. With gas prices going up, you could advertise the CTS Sport as basically a V-series with a more economical, yet still strong, V6.

Thanks for the info! Interestingly enough, the 6-speed has the same EPA estimates as the auto.....I would have thought that the numbers would be slightly better....like maybe one or two more mpg's on the highway.... Oh well.....I should do pretty good on mileage. My commute to my office is 28.5 miles but it's up and over the 241 tollroad in O.C. which is good because I won't have to deal with rush-hour, stop-and-go traffic. The tollroad is like "set-the-cruise-at-80-and-go." I hope the heated seats ARE hot when turned on. My Corvette's seats are the first GM car I've been in with HOT heated seats like what many imports do. I like that. I hate to have a heated seat option only to have the temp come in at lukewarm. The Mazda6 was like this and I HATED it. There's only two things I'm not excited about with the car......the foot-operated parking brake.....and the wood trim on the center stack. The real wood on the steering wheel, shifter, and door handles looks GREAT...but the fake wood on the center stack looks fake and doesn't match the graining of the real wood. I'm excited!

The few times there have been some SMARTs at the Crystal Cove (Newport Bch, CA.) car show, people have flocked around it like Paris Hilton lying naked on a sandy beach..... Funny when you consider all the exotics and hot rods at this show every Saturday.... One time, there was even a SMART CrossBlade....! I'm assuming it's DCX guys bringing the SMARTs to the show....as they usually have CA Mfg plates on them.

Actually you will be able to tell more when you sit in it. Supposedly, the "dot-matrix" dash and door panel trim has been replaced with soft-touch stuff that resembles the grain and texture of what you see in the current 3 and 5-series (re....much better.) So....dash pretty much stays the same.....but materials take a dramatic uptick in quality.

Look at even the LaCrosse. I my opinion, the CXS has an almost perfect balance of soft, quiet (re...Lexus-like) ride with a solid feel and decent body control. The base CX and CXL are still Buick-floaty and feel more unrefined over surface undulations and so forth.... Why isn't the CXS suspension tuning standard on ALL LaCrosses? The middling amount of extra road noise and tire thump of the bigger, higher-performance 17-inch tires could be reduced for the base models by using a lower-performance, more all-season tire....yet keeping the general suspension and body-control tuning the same as CXS. Is there ANYONE out there that doubts that strategy would make a WAY more appealing CX or CXL LaCrosse?

You know....the 3.6L is a great engine. However, I believe Nissan has spec'd the new Altima at 260hp (matching the old body-style SE-R) and the new G35 is spec'd at damn-near 300hp I believe..... And, I believe (I could be wrong) that both engines will perform fine on 87-octane...but I believe even Caddy RECOMMENDS 91-octane....doesn't it..?

My experience is that Suzuki made EXCELLENT products (the japanese ones that is) but suffered from a major lack of sales, marketing, and advertising expertise due to Japanese decision makers in the U.S. that, #1, only have been here a short time, #2, don't understand the U.S. market as a result, and #3, would not listen to the american staff managers, executives, and other employees. As far as CR is concerned, they "settled" after I had left. However, I don't think Suzuki ever recovered. Suzuki (off-road) enthusiasts I don't think ever cared two bits about the CR debacle, but the negative press kept Suzuki out of the pocketbooks of a good many of the non-enthusiast consumers out there. I know more about the CR debacle with Buick......when CR "bought" a base Regal LS with wheelcovers and cloth seats....and compared it with higher-end competitive "sport" midsize sedans. Of course, CR ripped it for the "unattractive cloth interior", the "floppy and floaty suspension", and the "underperforming base engine." We (Buick) offered to buy back their LS and provide them with a GS that would have been way more competitive.....and a model that was more in demand and more of a seller than the "beer can" LS they bought. They refused. But....I digress....

Oh, pardon-muah...... <OC to Satty...>

Ahhh....but who won the sales race?

I predict a sort of "MINI" style success here. People will flock to this thing for the sheer novelty of it. You can guarantee that DCX will keep supply at a minimum enough level to make the deal pencil....and to keep demand strong. They may not even make money on SMART......but the press they will get, both from the media, and the public, is priceLESS.

I LOVE the way the X3 drives...... The suspension IS firm, but man the first time you take it around a corner, you won't mind as much..... I really like this new redesign.....and I LOVE the new 3.0L magnesium L6. What's the interior like I wonder?

Buickman? Oh Buickman? Where arthou Buickman? I threw the gauntlet down for you AGAIN in this thread a few posts above....and once AGAIN invited your debate.... And once again, you have avoided any rebuttal that you KNOW you can't win....

More of the problem lies in the execution of the MAINSTREAM models. Malibu is a GREAT example. Non-SS Malibus should, in theory, have a 3.9L 240hp engine as an option if they are to effectively compete with the Hondas, Nissans, and Toyotas of the world. That leaves room for an SS model that is lightly-equipped, but with an enhanced suspension, wheel/tire package, and powertrain that goes BEYOND what GM gives us for the existing Malibu SS. But that's typical GM M/O. In order to have a Malibu that has the driving dynamics and performance to come close to the MAINSTREAM Accord, Mazda6, Fusion, and Altima models, you HAVE to step up to the SS. Anything less than a Malibu SS seems underpowered, unrefined, floppy, and an overall less-than-pleasurable drive (once again...compared to it's competitive contemporaries.) Give us a BASE Malibu that drives and feels like today's SS.....THEN you can give us something that really deserves the moniker.