Drew Dowdell

I just want to point out to the ethanol detractors in this thread. Using ethanol as a fuel doesn't cause a mileage or power loss. Using ethanol in an engine designed and tuned to run gasoline as a primary fuel DOES. Ethanol by it's very nature is over 100 octane. What good is running 100 octane in say.. the Impala with the 3.5 that only has a 9.5:1 compression ratio. In Brazil, GM's 4 cylinders that are designed to run on alcohol have compression ratios of 12:1. Let's put that in perspective. The only other car I can find with a 12:1 compression ratio in the US that isn't an exotic is the BMW M5 V10. It's not the fuel... it's the engine. If I tried to run diesel through my LT-1, I'd get pretty crappy mileage too.....

Hm.... I can't think of any turbocharged engines that produce 260bhp that might need testing in a larger car right about now..... Saabs turbo 2.8HF currently produces 255hp..... I can't imagine that 5 more horsepower would require a dedicated mule to test with.....

current generation with previous generation Acura grills?

Plug in e-flex vehicles that run on biodiesel and the condo parks run a 220 line out to the curb with assigned spacing.....while the utilities install demand based metering..... I mean really, it took less than a second to come up with that.

knowing what I know of your tastes... I'm gonna say no.

.... they aren't ceramic?

and the blades sharpened on the '07?

man... your poor car. 46,600 miles on my CTS at lease term and the ceramic pads were a 10 out of 11......

Melatonin saved my life years ago..... truth.

Pauli, pay off whatever charges the highest interest rate. Interest charges are a tick sucking the life blood out of your financial health.

Bush thinks the American public will be going on a spending spree with the extra $600. I'm betting not. For me, it's going into the "Say goodbye to the U.S." fund...... a bit ironic isn't it? So, where is yours going?

I totally read this the wrong way.

Well the buyers are coming from somewhere else in the CUV market most likely. I doubt there is a rash of Cobalts being traded in on loyalty programs for the Enclave. The RX has been the best selling in the Lux CUV market for a while now... it has the most to lose.

It's a nice thought but one that isn't done cooking. Lexus is well above Acura in prestige, however Lexus has two faces. Should Lexus tackle the ES or the IS? What about the GS and LX? If Buick tackles the IS, where does that leave Cadillac? Lexus is having trouble gaining performance cred to compete with BMW. Nissan....*cough*... Infiniti has better performance cred because they dropped all the floaty models. Sure the IS has all the makings of a BMW buster, but Lexus is still fielding vehicles like the ES, RX, and LS. Lexus doesn't have a firm definition because it's vehicles are all over the map. There is no problem having both Cadillac and Buick in the same price tier. Cadillac goes more euro-sport and Buick goes more traditional luxury. It makes the brands much more focused than the muddle that is going on over at Lexus. GM is in a unique position by having all of these brands.... if they succeed at tightening each brand's definition there is no reason at all that Saab, Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Saab, and Hummer couldn't all occupy the same showroom. By doing so, they'll make Toyota/Scion/Lexus even more "just a Toyota". The definitions are there... we can all see them... we just have to squint a little...

Only if they went the Lexus route and partnered it with a FWD model ala ES/IS If you think about the demographic of your typical ES consumer, the car almost has to be FWD. I know that no one here likes to hear it, but the ES segment is the segment I'd most likely to expect to insist on FWD. They are the 1985 Riviera drivers of yore... middle aged, upper middle class women with cushy jobs. I hate to keep using my mother as an example, but she is a good one for it. Once she gave up on the station wagons, she moved to an SSEi Bonneville in '94 then to an Aurora in '01. She looked at the '03 CTS but wouldn't buy it because it was RWD even though she loves the styling. Instead of the Aurora, she very likely would have ended up in an ES or S60 if I had allowed it. She has an aversion to RWD even though she lives in Miami. At this point there is nothing in GM's stable for her. Lucerne is too "old" and I can't in good conscious recommend a Lacrosse. I'm half considering a Saab 9-5 because it's premium enough for her but has a 4-cylinder and gets decent gas mileage. The Invicta is hot looking, but if it only comes with the 3.6 I'll steer her to the 9-5 out of fuel economy concerns. She is a very frugal person and justifies buying premium cars by keeping them till 160,000 miles or so. Back on point. This car would be excellent with a turbo-4 cylinder. If Chevy can make the Malibu 4-banger rival Honda in NHV than imagine what Buick could do by throwing Quiet Tuning in there.

If it's equal to or better... then yes. See Enclave v. RX350.

That was, in fact, his only beef that I recall. Once he got the motor mount and alignment thing that was causing all the noise fixed, it sounded like he was happy with it.

The Camry will have a louder ride than the Lucy... that's for sure.

and besides.... Pontiac is the red headed stepchild at GM. And he doesn't need a hybrid exactly. The Malibu 4-cylinder/6-speed combo has only 1 less mpg highway than the Camry Hybrid. I think I've seen him post before that he does mostly highway driving.... so in terms of long term costs, the Malibu is a far better financial decision than the Camry.

Make sure you write out an extra large check to the school districts around Hammtrack, the Department of Transportation of Michigan, and the IRS. That's what you have to do when you trade down from a Buick to a Toyota.... apparently you haven't been paying attention because Buick has the Enclave and the new Lacross is on it's way... and the Lucerne is getting a whole host of upgrades for '09 including bluetooth and a new V6 engine.

It looks like the 2.2VVT got pulled forward.

You mean that smoke stacks don't really create hurricanes?!! NO WAI! The movie was a presentation created in Keynote on an apple laptop in his spare time......the whole thing is an illustration. This isn't news. I am an environmentalist and I found the movie boring. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know and I didn't think it would be that shocking to the general public either.

the first to go would be all the banks. They make their money on interest and transaction charges and they're already in it up to their neck.

uhm, wasn't the 9-3 the first Epsilon 1?

Let me at 'em Grover Cleveland style!