Drew Dowdell

Who are you again?

I was refering to the shape of the Pathfinder. Pathfinder front end with Lexus Grill/Headlights

Chevy should think like VW and completely ignore Buick and Cadillac. Seriously, if you want this kind of stuff, aim for a Buick*, Cadillac or Saab. Lets get some perspective here: The Malibu in this test stickered at $27,245. According to CarsDirect, I can pick up a Saab 9-3 with leather and nav for $27,962. Bluetooth, sadly for some, is still not available. The Camry in the test stickered at $31,619. The CTS bases at $32,990. $22.50 a month is worth it to not have to deal with a Toyota dealer and you still get a clearly superior car. The Altima is an astonishing $32,545! Anyone willing to pay that price for a "sporty" sedan from Nissan needs to have their head examined. At that amount of money you're into CTS, 3-series, very well equipped 9-3, A4, and G35 territory if you want "sport" and ES, loaded LaCross Super, Lucerne V8, 300C AWD, and Lincoln MKZ AWD if you want luxury. At least one from each of those catagories is superior to the Altima. So keep in mind what the Malibu would really be competing with if it were to start pushing 32k at it's top end. It's your $32,545, demand better. *where Buick should be... not where it is.

So you're comparing some of the least technologically advanced pushrod V6es to one of the most famously smooth DOHC V8s... and you don't see a problem with this comparison? Correlation is not causation buddy. Consider of the sheer faultiness of your logic before you proceed any further with this argument.

So, I'm pretty good at engine work... and though I've never done it, I have a good understanding about transmissions. All the other general maintenance items around the car I'm pretty good with too. Except wheels and tires. I'm completely retarded about them. I don't understand what all the numbers for tire sizes are. I have only a vague idea of offsets on wheels. And can any 5 bolt wheel fit on any 5 bolt hub?! If some of you would be so kind as to edumacate me. I'd be grateful. P.S. Where this is eventually going is when I do buy an '85 Toronado I'd like to try and find a set of tasteful alloys that could fit the look of the car. I don't mind the standard wire spokes that come with it except they are strangely noisy. I'm not going to donk it, but I might want to go up to 16s or 17s.

What does it's frame construction have to do with it's looks? Lexus in the headlights and grill Nissan in the beltline and roofline. Basically a Pathfinder front end glued to a Murano back end Hyundai mini-van tailgate

Part Lexus, part Nissan, part Hyundai no, not derivative at all

Zeta is better than Sigma because it has all the ride and handling characteristics while being much more flexible. I drive and love my Sigma, so it pains me to say it, but that doesn't make it less true. Interesting then that people who spend $300,000 on a Phantom, Bentley Continental, or Maybach are spending all that money on something based on a "mere" 7-series, Pheaton, or S-class. You'd think they'd want some sort of exclusivity.... Interesting that people buying an LX, QX56, Q8 or Escalades are buying vehicles based on such plebian vehicles as Toyotas, Nissans, VWs or Chevys. Don't act like the exclusive brands don't platform share... even Porsche, Rolls, and Bentley do it.

3800 is in one of the quietest vehicles on the road today horsepower per liter is a complete red herring and has already been hashed out on this forum multiple times. "can't rev as high" isn't important when all your torque is way down low. Want a weedwacker? Buy a Honda. I drive both a GM pushrod and a GM DOHC and each have their sweetspot. The DOHC is smoother at all speeds north of 75mph. The pushrod is smoother at all speeds south of that. and my pushrod isn't even one of the "good" ones. I curse you to drive a Quad-4 the rest of your natural life.

you could have just said you were initially wrong about the M3 weight instead of making me go through all the trouble of looking up all those statistics just to come up with some sort of reasonably hypothetical number....

just because people pay more for velvet leapord print stretch pants that say prada on them doesn't mean they are better or more stylish.

from what I can see, not a bad evolution

fixed. Jeremy Clarkson said it best when he was comparing the Vauxhall VXR to the 5-series. He pointed to the BMW badge on the trunk and said "That right there is worth at least 30,000£"

have you run over any Honda drivers lately? They tend to make that sort of noise....

Didn't you know you're not allowed to compare cars that may be the same size, have the same performance, have the same features, and have equal quality and options.... but are priced thousands apart? If the car is ~30k and RWD, the only car you're allowed to compare it to is the 3-series. kthnxbye.

Cadillac will never win those buyers because their desire is based on perceived image rather than actual merit.

You really put the ASS in assumption. And of course your numbers are comparing apples to a cheeseburgers again..... The current M3 is 3400s. However, the current M3 is still based on the previous 3-series platform. The old 330ci weighed 3285lbs., but gained 300lbs when it moved to the new 335i platform.... So now the new M3 is looking at a 300lb. weight gain even before you consider that it's moving from an I6 to a V8. The 530i gains 400lbs when it gains the V8 to become a 550i. Now I'm sure that BMW will do some weight saving aluminum bits and pieces here and there, but they can't do 700lbs worth. My assumption is that the M3 will end up right around 4,000 lbs. Considering that the M3 will be anywhere from 80hp to 120hp short of the CTS-V's speculated horsepower, that 200lb weight difference doesn't seem all that big anymore. Now, that is my assumption.... but at least I put some thought and research into it instead of randomly spewing irrelevant or inconsistent numbers around the forum.

I really can't complain about this review... though I do think it's silly to get your panties in a twist over something like keyless ignition in a midsized family sedan without sporting ambitions.

It should almost be expected. Smaller engines with less torque have to work harder accelerating the car. City MPG will suffer. However, on the highway, a smaller displacement engine will generally get better mileage simply by being a smaller engine. And though a $h!ty way to measure performance, the 1.8 has more horsepower per litre than the 2.2 yet about the same ft/lbs of torque per litre.

Not different enough from it's predecessor.

For which one? Even Outlook?

Removing Chevy's fleet sales, but including Japanese fleet sales, the HHR still outsells any japanese model by a significant margin.