Drew Dowdell

what if we subtracted all of your posts that are "+1"? what would that do to your post count?

I'm trying to figure out where the Renault tie in comes from? Has Penske announced any negotiations with Renault? Personally, I'd rather see him tie the knot with Citroen. They are the closest you could get to a French Oldsmobile.

NO to the extended warranty. AAA is fine because it doesn't cover the vehicle specifically and it's only about $100 a month to cover both you and your wife. The B-Bodies are amazingly easy to work on as far as modernish cars go, any shop can do work on it. Parts are everywhere. Ebay is a diamond mine. If it makes you feel better, take it to a trusted mechanic to go over with a fine tooth comb. have every belt, hose, and fluid changed, and then just follow a normal maintenance cycle. These are very robust vehicles. Take care of them, they'll take care of you.

You make Fox News reports actually look fair and balanced.

Oh would you just please shut up about that. ALL of the luxury makes are down!

GM August Sales Total 246,479; Highest Total and Retail Sales in 2009; "Cash for Clunkers" Vehicles Up 42 Percent Retail Compared with Last Year • August month-over-month retail sales increase led by core brands: Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac, which were up 21 percent collectively • Chevrolet, led by the Camaro – the hottest car in America ¬– Cobalt, Aveo and the all-new Equinox, had a 35 percent month-over-month total sales improvement • Sales of the all-new Chevrolet Equinox up 189 percent compared with August 2008 • CARS (Cash for Clunkers) program drives showroom traffic to GM's strong portfolio of fuel-efficient new vehicles: Chevrolet Aveo total sales up 159 percent; crossovers Equinox and HHR up 189 and 26 percent respectively; Cobalt up 14 percent. GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado mid-pickup total sales climb 18 percent over last year • Inventory at an all-time low – about 379,000 vehicles in stock • GM responds to dealers by extending California eBay sales program through the end of September DETROIT – General Motors continued to rebuild sales momentum in August as dealers in the United States delivered 246,479 vehicles, far and away the company's highest total and retail sales performance of 2009. The August total, when compared with a very strong sales performance in August 2008 and lower fleet sales this year, was down 20 percent. Retail sales were down 17 percent while fleet sales declined 29 percent. However, when comparing GM's strong August total sales with July, volume was up more than 57,000 vehicles, or 30 percent month-over-month. The hugely successful Federal "Cash for Clunkers" program contributed to the increase, and GM has announced it will ramp up production to restock already tight dealer inventories. "The Cash for Clunkers program was certainly a success, but our momentum continues to build on the strength of our new cars and crossovers such as the Chevrolet Malibu, Equinox and Camaro. Now we have the Buick Lacrosse, Cadillac SRX and GMC Terrain hitting the market," said Mark LaNeve, vice president, U.S. sales. "We believe the program was a strong shot in the arm for the economy and that our four core brands – Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac – are well positioned with new products to take advantage of the ongoing recovery in the market. Our new vehicles are contributing to our stable share performance for the past five months – running in the 20 percent range." Compared with a strong performance in August 2008, driven by the "Employee Discount for Everyone" promotion that resulted in the highest monthly sales total last year, GM's overall sales declined 62,338 vehicles, or 20 percent. Retail sales of 187,410 vehicles were down 17 percent, while fleet sales of 59,069 vehicles were off 29 percent. GM total car sales of 118,744 were down 5 percent compared with a year ago and truck sales of 127,735 were down 31 percent. When compared with July's retail performance, there were several product highlights in August for GM's core brands: • Core brand (Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac) total sales increased 29 percent with retail sales increasing 21 percent. • Chevrolet retail sales increased 28 percent. Chevrolet Aveo, Cobalt, Impala, Malibu and Camaro contributed to a Chevrolet car retail increase of 53 percent. Aveo had its best sales month ever. Chevrolet truck sales increased 13 percent, led by increases by Silverado, Colorado, HHR, and the all new Equinox and Traverse. • GMC retail sales increased 3 percent. The Canyon mid-pickup saw a total sales increase of 51 percent. The Sierra pickup and Acadia crossover also reported retail increases compared with the prior month. GM/eBay Program Extended in California "We're very pleased with the sales performance in our Western region (basically the western third of the country), where sales were up more than 41 percent compared with July, led by Chevrolet, GMC and Buick," LaNeve said. "We've put a lot of advertising into the California eBay project, and it appears customers are responding. Nearly 4,000 shoppers negotiated a new vehicle price with our California dealers in the first three weeks of the program. "Our California dealers support the program and with more than one million visitors and 1.4 million completed searches so far, dealers feel the eBay project is generating significant awareness and consideration of Chevy, Buick, GMC and Pontiac products. So, we're extending the eBay program through the end of the month. Once the California program winds up, we'll take a look at the results and determine if we should roll it out nationally later this year," he added. A total of 1,708 GM hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month. So far, in 2009, GM has delivered 11,544 hybrid vehicles. Noncore brand total sales were mixed, largely due to the Cash for Clunkers program. When compared with July, Pontiac increased 36 percent; Saturn was up 42 percent, however HUMMER dropped 3 percent and Saab declined 16 percent. GM inventories dropped compared with a year ago, and remained significantly below the half-million mark at historically low levels. At the end of August, about 379,000 vehicles were in stock, down about 357,000 vehicles (or 49 percent) compared with last year, and down approximately 19 percent compared with July. There were about 150,000 cars and 229,000 trucks (including crossovers) in inventory at the end of August. GM Certified Sales GM Certified Used Vehicles, Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, combined sold 30,084 vehicles, up slightly from last month. GM Certified Used Vehicles showed a small gain in August sales of 26,321 vehicles from last month; however, sales were down 25 percent from August 2008. Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 875 vehicles, down 13 percent. Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 2,285 vehicles, down 43 percent. Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 432 vehicles, down 45 percent. HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 171 vehicles, down 32 percent. "We and our GM Certified Used dealers remain optimistic and are seeing success in certain markets," said LaNeve. "While the CARs program did not directly benefit our certified dealers, it has renewed consumer confidence and is driving traffic into our dealerships. Our Certified Used dealers remain diligent in providing consumers the largest selection of vehicles in the industry, along with our industry-leading 100,000 mile/five-year (whichever comes first) limited powertrain warranty, and the 12-month/12,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty." GM North America reports August 2009 production; Q3 2009 production forecast remains unchanged at 535,000 vehicles; Initial Q4 2009 production forecast at 655,000 vehicles, a significant improvement from previous 2009 levels. In August, GM North America produced 196,000 vehicles (78,000 cars and 118,000 trucks). This is down 145,000 vehicles or 43 percent compared with August 2008 when the region produced 341,000 vehicles (158,000 cars and 183,000 trucks). (Production totals include joint venture production of 15,000 vehicles in August 2009 and 18,000 vehicles in August 2008.) The region's 2009 fourth-quarter production forecast is initially set at 655,000 vehicles (262,000 cars and 393,000 trucks), which is down about 20 percent compared with a year ago. GM North America built 815,000 vehicles (365,000 cars and 450,000 trucks) in the fourth-quarter of 2008. However, Q4 2009 production volumes represent over a 20 percent increase vs. Q3 2009, the third consecutive quarterly increase this year. About General Motors: General Motors Company, one of the world's largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 219,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors Company acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors Company can be found at www.gm.com # # # Contact: John McDonald General Motors Company 313-667-3714 (office) 313-418-2139 (mobile) [email protected] GM August 2009 Sales

The Buick finished 17 points ahead of the Lexus. They said that the points for performance were statistically the same. So I'd say that yes, even with the content section of the test weighted less, the Buick still would have one.

I was comparing naturally aspirated to naturally aspirated, but if you want to go down the forced induction route the S/C 3800 and Turbo 3800 had a bit of kick around town and geared right could return good fuel economy. Investments into refinement could have made them very competitive engines.... but the car magazines demanded OHC or higher horsepower per litre. The point I was making was that a pushrod V6 can be every bit as efficient as a 4-cylinder DOHC in a comparable vehicle. You don't have to put the spurs into the V6 Equinox to get around town like you need to with the CRV. The CRV revs high even in normal driving. If you keep the CRV revs below 3,000 like you can in an Equinox, you'll manage to piss off Mable Blue-Hair behind you in her LeSabre. If hearing the engine rev to 6,500 rpm smoothly is an important aspect in your car purchasing decision, perhaps a 160hp 4-cylinder AWD CUV isn't what you are looking for.

You mean something like this? GM hasn't invested any money in pushrod V6es in a long time. That doesn't mean it can't be done.

Why? A half second faster to 60 is that important to you? I got over the 0-60 times thing when I had my '04 CTS. Doesn't help me at all when I'm creeping through rush hour traffic at 45mph.

Couldn't? or wouldn't? On the mpg side of things, the previous gen Malibu V6 could get better highway mileage than a Camry 4-Cylinder. I also wonder if the imports weren't playing to the test. Sure the 4-cylinders get good EPA scores for mpg, but who drives like that? Even the new EPA system is relatively conservative. You have to spin the hell out of the torqueless wonders that Honda produces even in just around town driving. We're lucky if we get 21mpg average (very typically 250 miles on a 12 gallon fill up) in our CRV. I can't imagine a 3.4 litre Chevy Equinox would be any worse.

Actually, by 1985 the 5.0 was back up to 200hp and was at 225hp in 1988. Doesn't really change your point, I just have to always correct the record after you post.

I'll give you that the 3800 was kept alive because it was cheap but part of that cheapness was the lack of development dollars. The LS series doesnt appear to be hurting for development dollars and has been kept at the top of it's game.

I've maintained for a while that testing of cars should be geared to the cars purpose. I take a lot of issue when the auto rags use the same series of tests on the econo boxes as they would on the luxury sport sedans. Do we really care that the Versa can pull .02g more than the Aveo on the skidpad? Probably not, yet the rags still do it and put a rather heavy weighting on it. Likewise, testing a Mitsubishi EVO for how many golfbags the trunk can hold. Simply pointless. Cheers and Gears is in the process of developing a rating system for performing our own car reviews. One of the aspects of our system is going to be market segment based reviewing. So, yes in our reviews we will have a set of standards for which plush luxury is judged and a set of standards for which sport luxury is judged. Likewise for economy cars, family sedans, trucks, suvs, CUVs, etc. If you want to have a voice in the development of this system, please post your ideas in that thread.

Do you really think that skidpad and slalom numbers should be weighted higher than comfort and interior quality in these kind of cars? You're more off your rocker than everyone already thinks..... People in this class don't care about being the fastest. In fact, they probably care about fuel economy more than speed. How is a 375hp Genesis going to help them there?

That would be quite the accomplishment since the Taurus SHO is barely managing 22mpg highway as it is, I don't think fuel mileage would improve by putting it in an F-150.

I see where you're going. I think the death of the pushrod V6 was brought on more by the advances in 4-cylinder technology. I think we'll see more ecoboost type 4cylinders in the very near future and we're unlikely to see many, if any, more small displacement V6es of any kind. I'll take a stab and say that 3.5litres will likely be the new floor for new V6 engines. Any V6 coming out, not in development today, will be 3.5 liters or larger. I think the same effect will happen on V8s a bit further down the road. Ford is already proving that with the ecoboost V6es. The problem here is that 4.0 liters is likely the largest Ford can go on an ecoboost V6. This is where the pushrod comes back into play. There is no reason GM couldn't turbo or supercharge a medium displacement pushrod V8. The 5.3 puts out 315hp today as a naturally aspirated engine. GM could throw a supercharger on that very easily and have a 400+ hp engine that will fit in the space a N/A DOHC engine could fit. Turbos and DOHCs take up a lot of space remember.

You don't seem to understand, in SMKland, if it doesn't have DOHC, it doesn't matter if it beats the competition in every single test, it still loses.

You're full of it basing your estimates of what can and cannot be done from an engine that, while many here appreciate, is admittedly very old tech. The pushrod 3.5 also did 200hp with no great leaps in engineering. I'd be curious as to how big the exterior dimensions of the 3.5 liter ecoboost are compared to the exterior dimensions of the 5.3. I'd guess they are roughly the same. Which means that the 6 liter could also fit in the same physical space, making your ecoboost point rather moot.

I hope we don't get the shortsighted goverment restrictions on engine displacement. That's what the Euros have done. The previous generation Malibu V6 would get better highway mileage than the Camry 4-cylinder because it had better torque at a low RPM. Displacement doesn't always mean poor mileage.

The newest LS engines are basically all new. They don't have anything in common with the older ones other than they are cam in block. The Corvette still gets some of the best mpg for the amount of horsepower it makes. I don't think a DOHC engine that makes the same horsepower would get much better mileage. There is still D-o-D, DI, VVT, 3 valves per cylinder out there.

I don't think anyone is claiming that DOHC is a poor design, heck it's been around longer than the pushrod! We just don't see the end of the pushrod just yet. GM hasn't yet added 3 valves per cylinder, VVT, or DI to the LS engine. There is still some life left to it.

IF, through some government mandate, there is a shortsighted restriction on engine displacement, then yes, I could see the Corvette being forced to move to a smaller displacement DOHC setup. But until such a restriction exists, there is no reason for the engine to change configuration. BTW, DOHC has been around in production cars since 1928. The Cam-In-Block pushrod configuration that we know today was released in 1949. So which car is using the older technology again? Porsche or Corvette?

Hey GM! Remember when you put the Camry and Accord next to the Aura and Malibu in showrooms? Time to bring that idea back.