hyperv6

I sit in a Cubical every day every day at work. The last thing I would want to do is drive it home. I think sales have told the story on this one and the one thing that hurt it was the styling. Even people tired of the element and the Scion is not selling like it used to. Lets just hope they do not move to triangles. That would mean three wheelers and we have already had enough Robin Reliant jokes already. On the copntrary, a British Morgan three weheeler would be awesome....Funky can be cool lioke the Morgan, or just plain bad like the Cube...shag carpet on the dash...really...? A Morgan is a cool unto its own. I just saw a new one the other day in the RAF trim. I wish they were not so cheap. Besides with the two wheels in the front they are not a tippy. As for the shag rug pizza on the dash....just look at it in the Cube. Or is it where the pizza delivery boy puts the pizza on the way to your house? I assume it is some kind of speaker?

The styling just leaves me cold.

I did not take it that you said the HHR was bad. I just was pointing out that the HHR came near the line but did not cross it for many buyers where the Cube did. I sit in a Cubical every day every day at work. The last thing I would want to do is drive it home. I think sales have told the story on this one and the one thing that hurt it was the styling. Even people tired of the element and the Scion is not selling like it used to. Lets just hope they do not move to triangles. That would mean three wheelers and we have already had enough Robin Reliant jokes already.

I would never consider trading my obsolete HHR for this. This is an example of the kind of quirky design that is so popular in Japan. While it filled a odd niche here it just lacked some of the styling that Kia Soul gives. While the Kia is also a box it tries to be a little more normal. You would be amazed at how popular Astro vans are in Japan. We deal with customers over there who are buying parts for them and the last gen of the Caprice wagon. I for the life of me would like to know what the hell they were thinking when they put that shag rug pizza on the dash. I have been in and around this thing and if you want usability it is fine but if you have any sense of conventional style you would hide behind tinted glass if you owned this. There are two types of polarizing design out there. On one side are vehicles like the Cube and IQ and on the other is the HHR, Soul and PT. There is a line that gets crossed to where the neat or cool factor of being different gets crossed and the Cube has crossed over.

Most people in the areas with the worst snow are not all hell bent on 4 wheel drive unless we have a mile long driveway. We are used to crummy ice and snow caked roads 4 days a week. It is just something we grew up with. Now if we did any off roading or plowing the 4 wheel drive is a must. The fear of snow varies and often the more you have the less you fear it. The FWD models do what most want them to do. No one really buys these for off road and only the fearful buy them with 4 wheel drive. These are targeted at women buyers who make up 50%+ of the market, They like to sit high up and the ease of loading in the rear hatch. These take the SUV and wagon and combine it into on package that women with families like. We have a Terrain because that is what the wife wanted. I have come to enjoy it as it rides and drives nice, I prefer something that I can take the curving of ramps in at speed just to keep it interesting but that is just me and I am not the majority of the market. I expect this thing to sell 70% to females or to families where the wife will do most of the driving. Also some older retired people may like it because it is more affordable and easier to drive. This is just not a vehicle for a young or middle aged male.

I had a stepside Sonoma once upon a time and it was wide enough to accept an ATV. The sidewalls of the ATV's tires rubbed a bit going in, but then again they also did on my fleetside S10. It worked. It was functional. Ford was the last manufacturer to offer a stepside bed on their eleventh generation F-150 pickups. I thought it was really neat that it was available as an option on crew cab models. And you know something? Just by eyeballing it, I don't think Ford lost much bed width at all with their last stepside bed. I had a Sonoma fleet side and I would want nothing less. The step side would take a ATV but not much else. I haul a Soap Box Derby car in a full size short bed now and it just fits at 6 foot. I wish all trucks were about 6.5 foot. Ford comprimised it as much as you could and still get someone to buy it. You don't see many and I might have to agree a aftermarket retro fit would be a good option. Now this is what I was talking about earlier. Even a storage box behind the rear tire and infront of the rear bumper under the floor would be nice like Toyota has. Just take the bed from the 4 wheel steer GM trucks and use it. That gave bed room and some flair. You would have to size it to a rear in production so you would not have the expense of tooling a new housing.

Womwn will love it because of what it has to offer inside and it is a Small SUV. This is not a vehicle targeted for a man. I too think it needs not so much a different engine but more power. But till I have driven one I can not make full commnet there. The small engine may do well with this as it is not what you would call a performance vehicle nor is it that large. But on paper it need more power to me. I also expect it will be a pleasant drive based on the platform. I know this should have been a Chevy and would love to know why they made it a Buick? Were they reluctant with the new smaller Nox coming? Was it because Buick has so little product? I don't know?

I have thought about the dead space and I also considered moving the rear wheels out ala Duelly too. I figure there is some middle ground here to work with. But without the extra space you would only sell it to the people who want it for styling give it utility again and you will gain back the sales needed to make it a standing option.

But the stepside is dead. Too many people would rather have the utility of the fleetside vs the styling of the step side. If you can style a Step Side in a way that it does not cut bed volume you might be able to bring it back. It is bad enough our short bed ext cab has a short bed but to make it less wide that just hurts. My Sonoma bet was that large.

That was part of the mocking as it looked cheap and who would want their buddies to see them use the hand grip. LOL! There are a few steps out there that are electric and manual that fold out..Some are nice some are crap as we sell most through work. None are big sellers as step bars but there is enough sold I think a factory option might be nice.

Has anyone ever really seen anyone use the Ford Man Step? I saw one deployed at the autoshow but otherwise I have just heard people make fun of it and the owners manhood. LOL! Not joking here. Maybe I run in some tough circles but most mock it. I think a side step would be better accepted vs a tail gate step.

You left one important part out. You have to find some to buy it.

Sorry if reality hurts. I like this wagon too but you have to base reality on the real market and the average buyer. The reality is if Toyota is not moving a lot of small wagons no one will. Like it or not the appliance buyers control the market. I for the life of me wonder what they see in a Camry but they keep right on buying them... sedans that is. I blame Clark Griswold and his Wagon Queen Family Truckster for the decline of the wagon. It was just never the same since that movie. Hmm what if they offered a Family Fun pack standard in the Cruze? Remember "If you hate now just wait till you drive it" What a slogan LOL!

I would keep the small trucks but I think to offer this on a short bed standard cab would do well. Offer it in V6 and V8 models too as the ZQ8 has many 4 cylinders on the smaller trucks. What many buyers do is buy the base truck and then build them up from there. Having the lowered suspension handling package factory adds it into the car payment and leaves the other money left for the other add ons. Also it does not void the warranty. This is the key to the SPO program for dealer installed options already. There SS 454 dd well and so did the sports package that was similar with the smaller engine. They did use a different suspension on them as many guys upgrading the brakes found out.

The better interiors are not the same thing as they offer them in nearly everthing built not just a model here or there. With the volume of the trucks it also make it easier to do vs a car that may only sell 70,000 units. Set packages are platform sharing and will remain with us for the foreseeable future. I do agree Ford has always offered many body combo;s and trim levels on their trucks but they still pretty much stick to packages on option packages. The sheer volume along helps again but the option packages still remain. The King Ranch for example pretty much gives a few body configs but they also have mostly set option packages and you get what they offer. This truck is a profit center model and it does well even at the higher prices. This is why Chevy will also offer a high content model next year.

Just might be all the MFG's have all the real data and facts that prove what is the best choice for profits. Todays market no matter what the product is volume. The days of the custome taylored products are pretty much over accept for the high end product few can afford.

No appearance package. How about a real sport truck package. I would love a ZQ8 package on a full size truck with the right bits to make it handle. Then let you choose the engines as they do already. The S10/ Colorado and Sonoma/Canyon Have been popular option. Just no more fake performance sticker cars and trucks.

Bud welcome to the Walmart markting kind of world. Like they say in the commercials on TV everyone bundles. Puppy? The bottom line is if they are not seeing maximum profits they would not be doing it. Now before you say I am sticking up for GM I state this for the entire industry and ever MFG less the ultra high end companys like Ferrari that will fit you to the seat of you Enzo.

Auto makers are always looking for a way to be more profitable and the direction you seek is just not one that shows enough return. Making less models and standardizing option packages is a very profitable thing when you dig down to the bottom of it. If it were more profitable to taylor cars to each buyer am sure they all would be leading to that direction. I do think if there was a place to order cars and to expidite them the Cadillac line would be the first place to look. Cadillac has an advantage of being the only real American luxury car. It also has all their plants here in North America. WIth the lower volumes they seek to sell and hight asking price they wish to ask for it would be neat to see if they could offer a special service on ordering a custom built car in a short period of time. I think some would even pay a little extra for it if they could get some special options. But to do this on a high volume truck or a lower priced car like a Cruze would not impact profits as much and could even hurt them as they would have to stock more different preassembled parts like dashes and suspension etc. More combinations only adds to the cost of anything. It goes back to the example Scott gave on the 4th gen F body getting standard power windows as it was cheaper to make them standard vs offer both power and manual.

I understand the reluctance. Accord wagon Passat wagon Nissan wagons etc Non are daily sights on the road. Wagons in this class just do not sell. If they felt there was a market for it they would do it but today the small SUV's are hard to keep on the lot. Again this is a case where a car that a small group of enthusiast like to see will not make it as the general American public has little love of it. I would love to see it here too as it is a sweet looking car! I have one co worker that has a Passat with a W8 engine in it. He got it for a steal as they dealer could not unload it. Also it is a very rare cars as I forget the number but there were few imported with the W8. Neat little car. The new Nox is coming built on the Delta II platform and I suspect GM feels it will fill the need for any small SUV or wagon market and I have to say they are going to be right.

Here is some of Chris's photos on the web. http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2014-chevrolet-silverado-spy-shots-0/#photo-5329943/ The body change is about as revolutionary as the 911 is. But in these photo's you can see how they are working a lot on the front bumper and valance to clean it up aero wise. I was hoping for more of a body change but I do not expect this model to be around a long time. With the coming needed changes and the competitive market this may be one of the shortest term truck GM has had in decades.

Add to the body color bumper I would like more ability to add a body color grill over the chrome. I like the ones I see now but they are limited to some packages.

It is not pandering it is survival. In buisness you do not give the people what they need you give them what they want. Idiots yes, foolish sure are, willing to pay a lot of money for cars you hate in great number spot on. Auto companies are catering to the profit centers of the average buyer. If they can thow the entusiast a bone now and then and still make a profit they will. As I have told you for years the boring appliance cars are where the money is at. I don't like it anymore than you but that is the way the market has shifted and they have to play to the market as it is. Companies like Hyundai and Kia did not grow fast by forcing people to guy FWD 4 cylinder the customers came to them. Price, MPG and utility are king not HP, wagons, two doors or RWD. Yes they can offer these in limite models but till the market demands them to offer them in great numbers is suicide. Look in any parking lot the rising king of the market is the small SUV right now. GM is bringing more and more of them out as that is what people want today. They may even push cars like the Camry and Accord down the list at the rate it is going. I make it a point to learn what the general public wants as it is going to lead the maket in the direction. I like you don't always like what I see but it is what it is. I just hope there remains enough of us [enthusiast] to keep offering the cars we love even if the selection is more limited than in the past. I feel your pain as what I see and what I want are not always the same. It is not that you don't count it is a matter we all don't count for as much as we used too. Getting mad is not going to change a thing. Now you know how the die hard Flat Head guys felt back in the 50's as they went throught a similar thing them.

I like cars from all era's as there was good and bad in all of them. I am not old enough for Ike but I was into cars at a very young age and know cars well from the 60's on. I also got to work on many cars from the 20's on. The one thing I note is not only was there good and bad in each era but I notice cars are like old memories of ex girlfriendsm vacations Christmas's and other big events in our lives. They all seem a little better down the line than they really were. Not saying they were bad but we always retain the good and often block out the bad. Shirley Muldowny in the latest Hemmings Muscle Cars says this about racing too. I loved my old cars I have owned and still like to play with these cars on the weekend. But I would not to have to drive many of them as a daily driver anymore. My 08 and 12 cars suit todays driving very well to the point I take the long and winding road home. Their is good in all of this but we all still need to take a step back and remember it all and not cherry pick just what we want to think it was. Go to any cruise in today and the cars are better today than they were new. The music is live vs a juke box and the events are organized vs parked in some empty plaza parking lot. But on the other hand back then you could run someone on a empty street and not have to fear getting hauled in and cars were much easier and cheaper to own and buy. I am glad I lived throught this era as I don't see it lasting into the future, Much of the youth today have little love for cars or they just can't afford them. I already see it in my son and his friends. Just go to the Hot wheels displays in Walmart and the average buyer is 40 years old.

Yes but you are like the rest of us here that do not represent the average auto buyer anymore. That is also why they don't build cars you like anymore as the market has passed most of us by and we are no longer the center of the market. On the other web sites they bitch and scream if their car is not there on the day and week promised. These are not what we would call normal car people they are the general public who is no longer in love with the car. Today most consumers are crazy with I have to have it now sydrome. Just look at the latest Apple I phone release with idiots camping out for days to be first in line. I see it daily in our sales department where someone decides that they have to have a Paxton Supercharger at 2 PM and are upset they will not ship it today over night so they can have it on Tuesday. Back when I started it was 4 weeks min you would see it. Even the Herb Adams sway bars I ordered took 5 months but thats what it took. Today most people are used to order on line and have it the next day. It is a instant gratification society anymore. Any rational person would say 4-8 weeks is nothing for a car you will own 5-10 years but people are no longer rational. I recomend that any here that have not spent time on web sites for non enthusiast cars go over and spend some time and see what the real consumer is like. Too many here think they are like us and that is no longer true. Nor would you want them to be confused with you. I think too many on the entusiast sites lose track of where the average consumer is going and thinking. Trust me I do not like what I see anymore than anyone here but I better understand it once I see the wants needs and complaints. We may be difficult for MFG to deal with because we are informed, but to be honest we are nothing compared to the unwashed uninformed buyer. I would kill some of these people at the service desk if I had to deal with some of them. The younger the buyer the worst this stuff gets. I think the internet has trained many of these people in the I want it yesteday way of thinking and I do not see it getting better till the economy crashes.