The O.C.

The autobahns I travelled in Germany WERE first-class. The secondary roads were not in any way superior to ours......roads in GB were the same....."freeways" were nice, secondary roads not really any better (or worse.....) We have such a divergence here.....for example, drive on the 15 freeway from the desert of Califrornia into Nevada towards the greater Las Vegas area, and when you cross the state line, you come into Nevada on a now six-lane freeway that looks like it was built to be an autobahn.....and many of Las Vegas' freeways have been upgraded to a similar level of quality. Well, the simple answer why is that with all the HUGE growth in the region, the local government KNEW that they had to spend major $$ in upgrading the freeway systems in southern Nevada and the Las Vegas area (and they're not done yet.) The 15 freeway along the Strip and into downtown Las Vegas used to be a 4-lane freeway (2 on each side) and now, last time I was there, it has morphed into a 10-12 lane freeway....even in the center of town. (And even with that, the city is now clogged with traffic almost as bad as Los Angeles') On the contrary, go to say Detroit, and you have to cringe at the abysmal quality of the freeways there. (AND Detroit has improved them in recent years even....)

Thanks....but I mean.....seriously..... When I was at our little Inland Empire Auto Show a couple weeks' ago, I made sure to again compare and contrast Impala and Malibu directly......and the Malibu's rear seat (lack of armrest notwithstanding) was SO MUCH more accomodating than the Impalas, it's not even funny! Plus, packaging aside, another interesting observation was......believe it or not.....the IMPALA has a MUCH higher level of fit inside....especially regarding the dash and door panels. While I like the STYLE of the Malibu dash and instrument cluster, the Impala's setup lacks all the ungainly cutlines that the Malibu's center stack suffers from. Also, the door panels/door armrests in the Impala are way more substantial. Overall, the Impala, while not nearly as "stylish" looks much better assembled.

Most likely not really. I think on a 'Ring like that, with such high average speeds, a manual probably loses some of it's inherent speed advantages. Plus, I'm assuming GM has REALLY dialed in the 6-speed auto for this application....... This is AWESOME......and I'll be selling them at the Caddy store in Las Vegas that I'm moving to!!!!! I just wish I could anticipate making enough money to get one when the CTS lease is up....but I don't know if I'll be doing THAT good.....<ugh>

I almost wish they'd stop talking about the Volt..... It's like Camaro all over again.....Talk about something so much before it's introduced.....by the time it gets here, people are all like "whatEVER." (Okay some sarcasm in that.....but I HATE how GM over-PR's everything......)

'09 CTS...... In the fuel economy section, it mentions the mileage for all the variants...including the 6-speed manual and non-DI 3.6L.......but NO mention of the 6-speed manual now with DI engines..... I HOPE they did not cancel the 6-speed manual option on the top-level DI 3.6L engine offering!!!!!!! If they did, then.....unfortunately.....the CTS won't be on my shopping list when my '07 CTS lease is up in 2 years.......(maybe they'll keep it an option in the Coupe.....then I might stay in the family....)

I think the RenCen might have been attractive.....back in the 70's when it was built.......but there's nothing about it today that makes it stand out....I stay there every year when I go to the Auto Show.....(plus I was there numerous times during my 7 years in Detroit).....and it's simply the most illogical layout of any office building/hotel complex that I've EVER been into.....it's simply laughable....plus, they are just a bland, charcoal-colored grouping of cylinders with no style at all...... Detroit has WAY too much history.....to be saddled with such an ugly city skyline......to me, I'd rather look at all the old historic highrises (many of them art deco) that make up the decaying core of downtown....than I would to have the RenCen hog the cityscape so overwhelmingly......

That's HILARIOUS......! And where's the adjoining strip mall with the obligatory Starbucks?

LOL....I also thought the Seattle proposal looked like the primary hull from Voyager......

Only a 1/4 of the people?

It's a Marriott now.... ....and that is the worst-designed cluster of buildings I've EVER been in. There's no logic to the layout at all.....you can't ever find your way around......and the buildings are not exactly pretty to look at either..... I think it's an ugly scar on the face of Detroit......sad that it's the most prominent part of the skyline.....<ugh>

Funny.....apparently at the Caddy store I'm going to work for, they can sell an XLR-V-Series WAY easier than they can a "normal" XLR, even considering the added cost. Apparently the basic XLR is a dead-duck......but the V-Series is desired simply because of it's blistering performance and more "rare" status.......

I think in regards to highway maintenance, it's REALLY hard to generalize due to the fact that it really really depends on where you are in the states. Our states have widely divergent levels of highway/freeway pavement quality.

Well it's all relative. Our gas prices have always been way lower than Europe's......but I do agree with the fact that it seems the average full-size truck/SUV seems to usually have your single housewife in the driver seat with nuthin' else in the blasted thing.

ROTFLMAO..... That is the funniest damn thing I've read in a LONG time......

Calling the W-bodies "cramped" (in the back seat) really has to do with things that aren't necessarily spelled out in the dimensions chart. Such as....foot room.....you can't slide your feet underneath the rear of the front seats in a W-body like you can in most other cars.....this forces you to place your feet squarly on the floorboard of the rear seat...as opposed to being able to slide them slightly forward for a more natural position. Also, it's about the support of the lower cushion of the rear seat and whether it forces you into a "knees up" sitting position. Finally, I've noticed that in the W-body, there is scant room between the cutout of the lower portion of the rear door and the footwells....making pulling your feet up out of the footwell to exit the rear of the car more difficult than it could be. Simply poor packaging....not necessarily a factor of sizes on a dimension chart.

I think in many ways, however, if parents had done a better job raising their kids, the pop culture "influence" wouldn't mean nearly as much. Every generation has had it's own "negative" influences growing up, whether it's today's pop culture, or the "hippie" influences of the '60's, or anything in between. And Croc, it is true that today's "necessities" have changed since when I, and many of us, grew up. But, today we have 12-year old kids text-messaging friends in class from their cell phones.....obviously they are not deemed necessarily simply for "emergency use" these days. Why does a 12-year old even have text-messaging enabled on his cell phone?

But it is fair from the standpoint that......the car manufacturers have decided what powertrain combos to offer in their C-Segment cars over here. Some have decided on greater displacement at the possible detriment of some fuel economy......(say the VW 2.5L).....while others have decided to go with smaller engines with perhaps less performance, but the hope of greater fuel economy (Nissan, Honda with their smaller 2.0L.) The manufacturers have hedged their bets on powertrain configuration. NOW, it is up to the consumer to contrast and compare....and make their purchase decision based on what's more important to them. For some of them, the performance differential will not be that big of a factor. For others, like my friend that traded an X5 for a Rabbit 2.5L, will appreciate the added performance of the larger engine....while still getting what they feel is competitive fuel economy that suits their needs.

I happen to believe it IS sufficient for the U.S. market, taken in isolation. But it suffers in performance and (relative) fuel economy in comparison to it's (larger-engined) U.S. competition.

Agreed about the diesels. However, my understanding of the European market is that as you migrate down towards the B-Segment cars and then minicars/city cars, diesels become less important due to the inherent fuel economy versus performance advantages of small 1.0L-1.4L petrol engines over there. But agreed I think diesel Astras, Focus', Rabbits, Mazda3s, and Cobalts would be very appealing. (It has been for VW.....my aunt/uncle own a VW store in Oklahoma City....and the few diesel Jettas they were getting were going for gold......people were fighting over each other to snap up the limited inventory. Should be a GREAT sign for when VW brings the TDi back....)

And what does that have to do with the Astra's competitiveness in the U.S. market? The choices we have......are....what they are.....we can't change that, and the consumers can't change that. And it's very unlikely we'll EVER have the number of choices you guys do....even if our powertrain options expand somewhat due to our rising gas prices. So what is relevant over there will remain irrelevant over here.

Culture really has nothing to do with this particular discussion. If we are going to discuss the Astra's powertrain, for the U.S. market, then we need to discuss it RELATIVE to the U.S. market. Your points about European C-Segment powertrain options mean NOTHING to this discussion. ....because we aren't remotely discussing the Astra in Europe, or the European market in general.

But my friend.....IN OUR MARKET.....that's all we have to compare. So we compare what we have to compare. That and that alone makes it meaningful. For the purposes of this discussion, I could care less about Europe. I'm interested 100% in what our market has to offer (regardless of the availability of choice in engine size.)

Mistubishi (maybe) Isuzu (definitely) Mercury (unfortunately) Toyota? Get real.....la-la land with that thought. Hummer will remain a niche brand.

'Bloke....here...take a look at Saturn's U.S. website for Astra.....if you don't believe me, see GM's take on the issue...... http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/astr...yside/index.jsp Hmmm.....gee, even General Motors themselves are comparing the Astra to a Rabbit with a 2.5L and a Mazda3 with a 2.3L. Why? Price, size, market segment. Those are two of the cars that Saturn sees as DIRECT competitors. End.....of......STORY.