The O.C.

Oh...I don't know... I think Chevy SHOULD have a Lambda. It's one of GM's finest product intros recently....a true quality product....and gives consumers a solid choice between an excellent CUV with space in the 3rd row, etc., or a GMT-900 Tahoe that is BOF and has the towing capacity some people might need. I think a Chevy Theta 3-row would not be competitive enough in terms of interior space, cargo capacity, and 3rd-row seating comfort. IMHO, (considering the consolidation of all three divisions on one dealer lot) GMC should not have gotten the Acadia. The Enclave gives those dealers a highly-competitive entry to fight Lexus, etc....so why do you need an almost-identical version sitting right next to Enclave on the same dealer lot?

Yeah....would be interesting. I think after having my car with the manual, I can see what C&D says about the car being better suited to the excellent auto. That being said, I'd probably still buy the new one with the manual....cause I'm such a stick-shift junkie and love driving one...... I will say this....in my car in 2nd or 3rd gear, if you really push it up through the revs, the power is quite damned impressive. This is certainly not a weak engine. It's just that it seems to take forever to rev up to the redline. But if you stay in it, it really rocks. With the BMW example, my 330 convertible was heavy, and only had 225hp (2004 model) but it felt way sportier to drive than the CTS.....almost like it would rev so quickly to redline you'd be bumping into the rev limiter it was that quick and smooth to rev. With the CTS, I almost never make it to redline because it just doesn't like to rev in the same way. But I still love my car 1.5 years into it. Hey....Oldsmoboi....u ever have any rattle problems in your car? My car has 30,000 miles on it...and actually the chassis is as tight as day one. However, I have 2-3 really annoying rattles that have crept up somewhere in the body.....one in front (A-pillar area?) and one in the back (parcel shelf area?) and the dealer has a tough time finding out what's causing them....and the sunroof creaks annoyingly if you for example at slow speeds pull into a parking lot at an angle and you flex the body like going over a minor speed bump at an angle, etc.

Guys, Check out this link to Edmunds.com......you may have to "copy" and "paste" because the link wouldn't let me just "click" on it.... http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Featu...photopanel..1.* I've spoken about this before.....but any of you SoCal guys really NEED to make it down one Saturday for this show. Even you guys outside of CA...if you ever make it out here, this is a must-see on a Saturday morning. It's an awesome sight for ANY car guy/gal....! Cheers, Chris

Hey....hope you enjoy the car...! I have an '07 CTS Sport.....the one with the 18-inch wheels, Bridgestone Potenza tires, "performance" brakes, suspension, and steering gear......and compared to an '08 FE3 I drove, I'd compare the suspension compliance/feel very close to MY '07 Sport and a tad more resiliant than a v-series. (The "Sport" I have has the stiffest suspension settings of the '07s short of a v-series. There are the base suspension, the upgraded suspension with the 17-inch tires "sport" package, then there's mine which is stiffer still.) Even with this suspension setup, my car still has a pretty creamy ride on the freeway....but almost a total lack of float or wallow...and very little body roll. A nice compromise. I haven't driven the new manual, but my car also has the Aisin 6-speed manual and it's super-smooth to shift from gear-to-gear. V-series with the Tremec are much bulkier to shift....reminding me of my Corvette i used to have. My Sport feels almost Honda or BMW-smooth to shift. I don't think they ever used a Getrag. Maybe with the original 3.2L V6? The only complaint that I have is the fact that my car with the "old" 3.6L doesn't like to rev through the gears like a modern DOHC/24-valve V6 should. I'm hoping the new DI engine will be better here. In fact, many times, my car seems to rev more like an old GM pushrod V6.....doesn't scream for the redline like the BMWs I've had, or other import V6 engines. GM probably tried to take this engine and tune it more for low-end and mid-range torque delivery......which it DOES do well. It just takes away some of the fun of having this car in a stick-shift. I tend to short-shift alot and drive on the torque. Good luck!

Yeah...but like we've discussed before, I don't drive like a felon and have never gotten better than 17-19mpg in my manual 6-speed CTS...even with more highway cruising worked into the mix....the flip side being it still doesn't drop below 17mpg even in 100% city driving, flogging it from stoplight to stoplight. You'd think that my manual CTS should be quite a bit better than your auto CTS. But that's not the case. I'm convinced the 3.6L HF V6 is very fuel mileage sensative depending upon vehicle application, transmission, and gearing.

Well, I have noticed that Camrys that are compared in "SE" spec tend to garner way more favorable reviews. The suspension tuning and overall handling seem to be much crisper than the LE and XLE models. Also, the woodgrain-less interior looks better in my opinion. I had the same feeling over driving an SE 4cyl of the previous generation.....a nicely turned-out car actually compared to the boring-beyond-boring LEs and stuff in common rental fleets.

Thanks BV..... All the excuse-making that goes on in C&G for GM's lapse in product-planning just cracks me up.....

A dedicated "cancel" button keeps you from having to tap the brakes....which lights up the brakes lights..... GM is doing many things right these days.....but they still hang onto lame-brained culturally-stagnent ideals in product-planning.....continuing to convince themselves they are doing it right and everyone else is doing it wrong.....

.....with about 130 MORE horsepower......(125-130 hp 3.1L compared to 260hp Accord?)

Who cares if they are or not.... I'm with BV....I really like this car....and it has real presence going down the road.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU....! The only thing WORSE than having to step on a pedal to activate my emergency brake in my MANUAL SHIFT CTS is the loud and annoying "CA-CLUNK" as I pull the release lever before driving away again.....not a premium feel or sound I tell you..... Plus, no one seems to think of this....engaging the foot brake forces me to shift to neutral, disengage the clutch, THEN move my left foot over to the pedal brake so that I can activate it....

Geezus....the Aztek was a poster-child for the old-GM school of bargain-basement materials and shoddy fit-and-finish. A truly horrible car..... I may not be a big Element fan, but it's head-and-shoulders a much better execution than GM's old Aztek/Rendezvous twins.

However, for a short time, with the previous-gen 5-series, they did offer a 530i with a small-displacement 3.0L V8 engine. I'm not sure how many they actually sold....but I do remember it. I think that was during the time that the L6 versions were 528is.....

Yup....alot of CTS with barcodes. But that being the case, here in a part of the country where almost ANY new GM car has a barcode, it's so refreshing to come across Enclaves (and other Lambdas) and new CTSs with dealer plate frames....! Hopefully we'll see more retail Malibus as well as time goes by......

Yeah....I'm pleasantly surprised about the number of CTSs I'm seeing around here! Unfortunately, most of them have rental bar-codes in the windows <GROAN>.....but it's interesting that alot of the rental CTSs I'm seeing are DI-equipped models (easy to tell 'cause of the trunk-lid badge.)

Same here....Accords EVERYWHERE....

December 22 now....and STILL not a single one seen on the roads around SoCal...... .....which is really surprising me.....

Turn-By-Turn sucks...... And most Nav systems these days are GPS-based....not DVD-based.

I disagree. There are numerous consumers out there in the marketplace, like me, that don't like the junky appearance and clutter of an aftermarket navigation system sitting in our car.

Well, I'll see this car tomorrow.....so final judgements must wait. I think taken in isolation, this looks pretty good. However, it's very apparent in the front-overhang that this car is FWD-based.....and from reading the specs, it looks like FWD will be standard with AWD optional......I just can't get my arms around any Lincoln being FWD. I also can't get my arms around the vertical taillights. That's a Cadillac trait in my mind....hasn't Lincoln typically used horizontal taillights? Funny how much this car looks like a copy of the new Jaguar XF......LOL...... Interior is nice overall......but after the CTS' artistic display of the HVAC and radio/nav controls, this Lincoln center stack looks WAY boring. Perhaps if they would have cascaded the wood trim down the center stack, instead of black plastic, it would have looked nicer. It's a nice car...and I hope it does well for Lincoln. I'm sure, price-wise, it will cause some serious cross-shopping with CTS....and may even take a few sales.....but I don't see this MKS EVER doing for Lincoln what the first-generation CTS did for Cadillac. ....and that's sad....because that is just what Lincoln needs right now. Not a reskinned and rebadged Taurus!

Yeah....right...keep dreaming. Fact of the matter is.....your last sentence says it all. Most comparably equipped 5-series' are about $10K more.....and, my friend, $10K puts that car in an entirely different price-class. Oh, and btw.....sunroofs are standard on EVERY 5-series (and every 3-series btw.) And how can you claim a 3-series is "Civic-sized?" Your argument is weak...

Prolly close....although it depends on how they equip them. If they test 4-cyl models, Malibu could slide further....because of the 4-speed, and if they test an LS or LT (without the two-tone interior upgrade.) If they test top V6 models, LTZ will probably do quite well.....but u are right...probably Accord #1, Altima #2, and them LTZ #3. Passat might not be included because of it's higher price. Camry might do better than we expect....IF they use an SE V6 with the sportier suspension tuning.

I would agree with this test with the exception of the G35. I've never gotten this car. I haven't driven the new one....but was in the previous generation quite a bit (even had one as a rental) and I didn't see what all the buzz was about. The new one is fairly androgenous in design, and I find the interior cheap-looking for the class....even if materials and fit-and-finish appear to be of high quality....it just doesn't have the sparkle I expect for a luxury car. To me....the G35 has always been the "cheap" alternative for those that couldn't afford the 3-series or CTS, etc. The CTS I drove yesterday was a 3.6DI with the middle-level FE2 suspension. To me, it felt similar in chassis feel to my '07 Sport (stiffest option outside of a V-series.) That makes me excited about an FE3 CTS because I've always wanted just a tad more firmness than what my CTS Sport offers. The new engine was a GEM......and feels a whole class higher than the 3.6L in my '07. This is the first time I've driven a GM HF V6 that truly performs and revs with enthusiasm like a good import V6. And it's just as smooth! The only thing I didn't like was the LOUD engine noise when you get on the gas hard. The note was actually a nice-sounding growly note....but simply too loud. Why can't GM build an engine that will perform and rev without sounding like you are killing it..? GM.....spend some time in a Honda V6 or a BMW inline-6..... Interior was beautiful.....but the seats seemed smaller/shorter than the seats in my '07....with not as much support. I'm still not crazy about the exterior styling....and actually still like the '07 better. And I don't see a single wheel design that I like (including the FE3 18-inch wheels.) The ONLY thing I could really complain about is the heavy weight of the new CTS. Even with 304 horsepower, the car simply doesn't feel as quick as it should. It's nice...and has a nice push in the back...but actually feels about on par with a 230-hp 328i....or my friend's A4 3.2V6. Makes sense. C&D got a CTS/6-speed 3.6DI from 0-60 in 5.9secs....and tested a 328i/6-speed at just 6.1secs. Overall, this car should do great and I'm excited to see it here. The salesman said that the most action they were getting was from Lexus owners coming from across the street and picking up a CTS over an IS.... :-)

Will you friggin' let this go...????????????????? People are NOT going to compare CTS to the more expensive 5-series and E-Class. It's generally natural for people to compare by price-range.....you know that. And if you think they will compare it to the 5-er, read Road & Track's sidebar on the $61K 535i versus the CTS (and G35 Sport)......they said, and I agree, that the BMW felt worth the money over the two other cars....felt more premium, more expensive, and even outperformed the other two. I test-drove a CTS yesterday.....and was very genuinely impressed. However, even I see it as direct competition to the 3-series, G35, C-class, et al. Would I choose the new CTS over a 335i, well I can't say that.....it would be a close choice.....but the Bimmer IS the only competitor that I would potentially choose over the Caddy.....(maybe the new A4, but I haven't obviously been in that car yet.)

Hmmm....okay. So let's follow Ford's lead..... ....instead of leading the pack..... You can get Navigation on a Civic for gawd's sake..... :angry2: That being said, I'll take time in this post to say that I'm REALLY happy with all the enthusiastic press on this car! I still think the interior reeks of cheapness galore (mostly due to the lame door panels and the cheap center stack....the rest actually works quite nicely)....but there's no way I'd take a Camry over this new Malibu...... I can't wait to see the buff mags' midsize sedan comparos!