prinzSD

Paolino, Thank you for putting it in words I was unable too. You have added much clarification to the matter. Anyhow, back to the subject at hand. I think it will sell way better then the echo and dare I say, I kind of like it. It does not have as many weird proportions that the echo did.

I know most Italians don't even consider Sicilians as part of Italy, I have seen the arrogant attitudes of some Italians towards Sicilians. Hell I sometimes see it in my parents. My dad was born in Palermo, Sicily and my mother was from Calabria, Italy and occasionally the rivalries come out between the too cultures.

I hang around a lot of northern Italians and have taken 3 years of italian in college and never have anyone used the term belta. The term always used in our conversations was and is alway bella or bellissima, never belta. It is one thing to look it up in some dictionary and another when the term is used in normal everyday conversation. Most of my parent's friends have come over from Italy and not one have EVER used the term belta, so lets not just differ to a dictionary.

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but Belta does ot mean beautiful in Italian. The correct word is "Bella" and please inform me otherwise as I have spoken Italian(well) Siscilian for the last 42 years and have used the term Bella.

Give me a break. The Pontiac split grill has been used since the 60s and is a Pontiac theme that identifies it as a Pontiac. How many cars can you look at and immediatly know what brand it is? Mercedes, BMW are a couple that come to mind.If Pontiac did something different with the grill then every one would say, it doesn't look like a Pontiac front end. If it aint broke don't fix. There are plenty of companies trying to figure out what their siganture should be in a market that is saturated with products that have no character. Look at all ther variations of front ends Chevy has used, the car and trucks line don't even look like it was designed by the same company. I see nothing wrong in keeping the Pontiac DNA, signature or whatever the hell people want to call it. You now have Mitsubishis that look like Pontiac front ends. BMW has been using their kidney grill design for a long time but nobody complains about that, oh wait, it is because it is a BMW? And Motor Trend's view of the interior of the Miata is not an opinon as well!

The reason the Solstice is a better choice is because it looks better, has a nicer looking interior, and that GM brought a car to market when everyone said GM won't build it, or if it is built it won't look like the concept, or it will not be affordable, or GM can not develope it fast enoungg, and on and on. This is a significant achievement for GM and finally gives the MX5 some competition. I have never said the Solstice should have won, but that there were other cars that were better then the Civic, both domestic and import.

I noticed the same thing. a lot of new names and a lot of GM bashers.All of a sudden they are multiplying. The other GM bashers must be sending them here! I just do not understand what motivates someone who hates GM to come here anyway, maybe it is just to start crap. It is not like I go the import forums and waste my energy there so I just do not get it. Is it they feel superior to GM entusiasts and have to let us know constantly? :unsure:

O.C. ca you tell me who thes three manufactures were? just curious. I was just implying that there is some kissing ass going on in the marketing idustry and MT is part of that. They have to keep their readers happy and if statistics show they are predominatly import drivers, then they ahve to cater the magazine to their needs or they loose marketshare. I subscribe to two Pontiac magazines and who do they cater the magazine to, me the Pontiac enthsiast. If these Pontiac mags concentrated on mostly modern front drive Pontiacs they would lose their core audience who is not into front wheel drive cars. I beleive in a certain way Motor trend is no different. You give the people what they want to hear. It is part of the subliminal message.

Well DeLorenzo knoes more about the industry then most of us here. If what he says is true about how part of the criteria for choosing COTY, media whore or not, it makes COTY irrelevent except to it's readership.

Amen! Let them have it Scott. I am anxoiusly waiting unill the press unviels whatever it is that will be displayed to the rest of us who were not lucky enough to get an invite.

Well, I am one of those guys that bought my 93 TA new when it came out in 93 because of the futuristic styling despite some of the major packaging problem the 4th gens brought to the table.

I have stated it before, if the Camaro comes out too retro, I will be one of those who will not buy it. I like forward, futuristic thinking in design, not out of any ideas styling.

Motor Trend Car of the year is a joke. I read somewhere last year that one of the criteria that motor Trend uses to pick a winner is how the car is incorporated into an ad with Motor Trend's Car of the year award. So if the car companies don't put together something to kiss the ass of Motor Trend, then they will not pick it. It has less to do with picking a competent car then sucking up to Motor Trend. I think the article I read was at the AutoExtremist, but since I am not a member, I do not have the ability to access the archived articles. Doeas anyone else remember thsi article?

Thought I think it is TOO retro, I do have to agree with your comments.

I am tired of retro, so I chose don't bother. It does look good, but I like modern designs without having to go backwards in design, just shows that designers may be out of ideas. EDIT: spelling.

The removable sides look like the 1989 Pontaic Stinger Concept car. Real original, but hey it's on a Toyota so it's cutting edge :unsure: here is the link for the Stinger for those who do not remember it. http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/i...9/1970_25mg.jpg

On a similar note , that was somewhat true of the F-body twins starting from 1982 ewhen the Firebird was basically a sleeker Camaro since there were no longer Pontiac motors in the Firebird/Trans Am. I don't consider myself a snob but I was always into the more in your face styling of the Trans Am over the Z-28 (That is why I have the 85 and 93). I admit most of the sheetmetal was different and the dashboards looked different, but underneath the Firebird/Trans Am was a Chevy. My first car was a Camaro for those interested. Now ask me if I would buy a Camaro if it was available, then the answer would be in the absence of a Trans Am or a GTO that did not have in your face styling, then the answer is yes I would get the Camaro. I wonder if the GMC clientelle would do the same thing? Just my thoughts!

Great to hear the sprayed Trans Am beat both the Stang and Z06. Maybe it's time to add nitrous to my TA! Still I love the Z06 but it just proves there is always someone faster out there.

Thats very true but people will still equate it with a minivan. The first Honda min-van did not have sliding doors either but it was still a mini-van in my book. If I were to spend that kind of money, I would choose some other MB.

Could not tell you, I have not been to San Francisco for about a year (last year's North American International Show). I will be heading to San Fran in a couple of weeks for this years show. I will keep my eyes out for you?

Well, I am somewhat dissappointed now that I got it. They picked the Miata over the Solstice and the lame Charger over the GTO. The article on the Viper vs Vette + Ford GT was pretty cool. Now if they can only take that same enthusiasm and put it into cars then we would not have to worry about Japan and Germany.

LOL... :lol:

Is this Roseville as in Roseville near Sacramento? Nah, must be on the ast coast if you guys are talking salt conditions. Snow , what is that?

So for about $38,000 ($20,000 plus $18,000) you get a 400 hp Solstice. Sounds good to me. At 2860lbs vs the standard Vette's 3179lbs, it would make an interesting comparison. I guess tire grip might be a factor and thus the Corvette might still be faster but at 2860lbs for the Sotstice, I don't know. What do you think? Edit: On the way home I realized I made an error; 2860lbs is with the Ecotec motor. Add the LS2 motor and the weight goes up. Does anyone know how much an LS2 motors weights? My guess is somewhere in the 450 lbs range. suddenly my comparo does not sound so interesting.

What did you expect? :) We generally do not like min-vans but a MB mini-van is even more ludicrous. Maybe they should get some rapper to endorse it and make it hip that way.