hyperv6

I never had an issue with the old one and the Relay looked great but I hated the grille. The new face of GMC really works well here and looks even better than the Terrain. It has a more modern look without looking odd. It is like they took the best of the Arcadia and Relay and put them together with the improved face. We will be looking at a Nox and Terrain soon. I really wish the Terrain face was more like the Arcadia. I expect will show up on it at a later date but we would like to buy a new car now. I already have a buyer for the GTP. It is nice to keep a car in good condition as I often have people wanting them before I even get the new car. We still could bail on a Regal but the wife wants something that hauls larger items. It is her car so we will get what she wants. I have warmed to the Terrain. My wife also agrees the 19 inch wheels look better so it will be an easy sell to her for me. LOL! We are looking at a fully loaded one less only the Video screens and AWD. We really have no need for the AWD as the wife has good skills in the snow and we would rather have the extra MPG.

After sseing this in person it was better than I ever expected. The new nose works great and the back looks even better then the already great model. This was the shocker of the auto show for me as I really did not hate this one but never expected the new one to look this much better. I wish they would pit this nose on the Terrain as it has a little more shape to it.

If you have not seen this vehicle yet wait till you do to pass judgment. This was one great looking upgrade in looks. I loved the old one and they did imporve this one even it is some Saturn parts. The new nose works much better than the old Arcadia and even the Terrain. To me this was the shocker of the GM line up.

Just got back from the auto show today. All I can say is the show was centered on smaller cars and smaller engine. The product on display was getting smaller and smaller in every MFG display. The large SUV's were in the back and the Small were out front. Even the luxury MFG were featuring the smaller cars. From Benz to Cadillac were featuring the smaller cars on the turn tables. Even Cadillac did not show much on the SUV's The MFG's are just setting the stage to where they want the sheep to go.

Finally saw the XTS today. Lets make this clear no one will confuse it with the Lacrosse. It was a nice looking car and it had a great number of people checking it out. I can see this car doing it's job for Cadillac. While it is not the home run car it offers a little old and a little new to bridge owners of the old cars to the futrure ones. While I would still go for the ATS I saw and the XTS is not my kind of car it was much better in person than in photos.

I finally got to drive a Volt today. It is even better than I expected. It rode very well and for the most was quiet even in the snow slop on the road. It was comfortable in the fron. The wife said the rear seat was ok but she was not thrilled in the back. Brakes have a little different feel but you can adapt to them fast. I hear many EV's have odd brakes and the Volt is the best. I only can wonder how bad some of them are. The Volt handles well but while it is not a FE5 Suspension it does well enough around town to not make driving a chore. If they only could get the price down to under $30K this would be a very good option for many. Also lose the I Pod white trim.

I was in the Malibu ECO today. While I know it is built on a good platform that also is shared with the Regal I just was not drawn to it. Compared to the present car it has a few features I like better but as an overall package I felt let down a little. I also saw the new Fusion. GM is in a world of hurt if the Fusion is not much more expensive. It is a really appealing car inside and out. If the quality is on par with the Taurus it should prove to be a good car. I also spent some time in some of the Hyundai's and Kia. They have mastered the ability to make a cheap car look much better than it really is. I know they are not the best car on the market but they are looking like the best value and that is what hard economic times require. For the money I would just pass the Bu up and buy the Regal I just hope there is a RS or SS package at a resonable price and some styling changes. The Malibu is not bad looking it just is not as good as some of the new cars out there like the Fusion. I hate to say that as I am not a Ford fan in anyway.

Well I saw a Gas Spark today. It really make the Sonic look like a great car. The Spark has two styling elements to it that really hurt it from what I saw. It looks narrow and tall. Compare this to the Scion IQ it looks less solid. As for the second issue. The area where the fender, door and A pillar comes together just has little flow to it. I can only hope it makes a really good cheap electric car.

The technology will stay no matter what. It may be time to move to the 2nd or third gen to remove some price or advance the performance. If that is done then = change the style or model and rename the next car. They did show the small mini van like Volt in China. Use it. Also GM still needs to get this car out in the hands of a lot of people yet, as here in Ohio they are still a very rare sight. I have only seen a few here on the roads and I have only seen a couple at the dealers. You have had to look for them to find them. If they are a rare sight here in the midwest they have to be rare in many other places too. I would like to see GM be more proactive to put people behind the wheel of these for a wheel like Chrysler Turbines. Loan them out to the people in different ways. Even loaners for dealer repairs. I think the more people drive these the better opinion they will have of the cars. While many still will not rush out and buy one they will be better informed and have first hand knowledge of what these cars are about. Unlike many on the web that bash them or talk down on them with never have been behind the wheel. I would offer the loans to Prius owners, Smart owners and Honda owners as a priority. They are the ones who would have the most interest here. Work with enviro groups to help promote these cars. GM should have learned even cleared of the Fire issue it did a lot of damage. Even the Fiero's Issue really was not a great issue in pure numbers but even today I still get people asking telling me these things catch fire don't they? Then when you give them the numbers built and the number of fires they are shocked to find they all did not combust.

The issue is that Toyota has not been a whipping boy in an election year. GM needs to get stock prices up and get the goverment to sell off the stock they hold to regain their freedom. The Volt itself is a also a political football getting kicked around. The media and people already using the Volt for Political fodder will be fast to point out that Gee I Guess they don't catch fire but look at all the money GM wasted on this car to sell it at a loss. Trust me the Conservitives are going to kick this one till the election and if they don't win it will continue. I know as I lean to the righ center but I don't agree with them on this. Toyota could get away with selling the Prius at a loss while on fires and put a dead body in the back of each model and get away with it. Even if selling it at a loss may be the right thing GM will not get a break on it. Bad press on the Volt already has not helped on stock prices as other issues at GM. Selling a car from a program that has billions invested will not help values with high media coverage. While you and I understand the full picture few people in the unwashed pubic understand much of the auto industry let alone the Economy and the conflict in the Middle East. This is where Washington gets away with what they want as they know most people today are either do uninformed or stupid they can tell them anything. Both the left and right are guilty here, The right is beating on the Bail outs and The Left is using the pipe line as a toold for votes in the election. Just watch the line will be built after the election as the pipe llne company is already starting. The sooner GM can break free the better as if the right takes over and will befriend GM and then the left will take their shots at GM then. GM can't win no matter who is in office. Either way this car is a car and system that needs to be built if there is to be any future for this option. It is a shame we are a very able country that keeps letting those in office kick us in the nuts for their own self serving interests. To get to Washington they all have to sell their souls.

Now may be the time to take the hit as they are going to lose money if these cars go unsold anyways. Rebates on these cars are not like trucks that have a larger profit margin. GM did the right thing to stop production now and clean up what they have. Price and media both have not helped. I know some one who just got one of these as a company car. He likes the car for the most part. The only beefs he has are the brakes are not bad but just felt different. It rides well like a heavy car but still feels like a heavy car. Finally he hates to plug it in if he is in a hurry. On the other hand he said it it s nice car and the few complains are not anything that makes him no like the car. The cost per month on the electric bill is $30 when he keeps it fully charged. He said for th most if the price was right he would condifer buying one but not at the price they are now. GM needs to move to cut cost with these cars ASAP in what ever way they can. The real negitive to selling them at a loss is it will not do stock prices any good. This is a catch 22 as if they sell them at a loss it hurts and if they bail on this it will hurt. There are some tough things they need to decide.

A lot of the can't went with the cuts with space program. A funded NASA made greater gains vs private industry alone can afford. The space program created problems that needed solved and the private contractors to NASA solved them and were able to sell the technology for their new products that have touched every part of our lives. Now that money is going to stimulus Union contract construction jobs that are often over budget and short term. As for what the goverment saying what you can or can't do has been in place since the TR and Wilson terms. Some of this regulation was good but much of it is over regulation by a under regulated govement. The Patriot act since 2011 is a whole different argument.

This is not so much about product as much as it is about Jobs in OZ and exports. The Holdens will be designed and built it is just a matter of where. If GM can do it at a resonable profit in OZ it will be there if not they will be built else where and imported. The way GM is now they can build cars anywhere for any market and take advantage of the economy anywhere to increase the bottom line. A long as there is a market for RWD cars they will be built for the OZ market. The guys doing the work designing them are spread all over the world now so that part will not change. This is more an issue for Aussies vs the car fans. We lost our Camaro to Canada but we still love it. I suspect The Aussies will also adapt. They have made a Mazda 3 the best selling car and are now buying other imports in greater and greater numbers. It is not unlike what we went through in the 70's and 80's here.

I would rather see GM take this car and put more power to it. I know that the Eco Turbo can fo up to 500 HP in reliable power for a street car since they have already shown us this in several show cars. Imagine a 350-400 Version of the 2nd gen 2.0? Of all the complaints on the Regal the FWD has not been one of them. There have nit picks on other items but the torque steer and FWD has not been a complaint. The other key is untill they redo the Regal they need to keep the price down as while it is a great car it is not a car many will pay more than $40K for.. AWD would be nice but GM needs to find a way to keep the price down if they plan to use it in this car. As for the name.it mattlers little to me as long as it is a great car. The pocket of people it matters too is small and if anything a great car built on this name would only bring to light the past cars many forgot about or never knew. Buick could use the G as like how BMW uses the M. They could a do s G_X and change the middle letter for each. A Regal GRX would be nice. As for what gets tossed at MFG I can tell you stories. Everything from production based Plastic Fiero GT wheels to historic Blimp parts to Mercury/Gemini Space Suits and Space Shuttle tires some with brakes and landing gear parts. . I have see it all.

I don't care if you read them. Others do and I'm only pointing out counterpoints to your overly optimistic propaganda. All I have to add is I did not do the negitive you recieved on your post. I guess you are correct and others are still reading.

How about a shock collar? We can dial it up to 10. I would also add those elected officals that love to pass rules but hate the automobile and the auto industry but they love to take UAW money.

I thnk this is a good example where the money guys are not all bad. Like it or not there is a need for good finance people in a company the problem is not all of them are that good. I think GM right now has a good mix and they are working together well.

I work with SLP on different things at work. I knew they were doing something with the Regal. Based on their latest work I only expect some body changes and the 300 HP as it is not hard to do, All you have to do is add a pair of 3 bar maps and and a flash of the computer. It is an easy mod. They could make some real money with this as long as GM does not offer the upgrade package like on the HHR, Cobalt and Kappas. I in no way see them doing AWD as the it would add so much to the price no one would buy it. SLP just did the ZL1 Camaro of their own at a big price and now Chevy has a better one at a lesser price. I expect theirs to fade away soon or make a bigger jump in power. I don't see many of theirs being sold. Ed has struggled to find his niche since they lost the deal to supply dealer cars with the 4th gens. They even resorted to Ford Rangers for a short while.

Z made the best points I just agreed for the most part. The Leverage part with the Germans is one I never considered till he pointed it out. I will give him a plus one for that one!

Li Ion batteries are the only game in town until we find a lighter, more reactive element than lithium... that gets involved in an easily reversable chemical reaction that produces electric. Please consult your periodic table, and you will see few alternatives. We've spent over a century testing compounds... but the bottom line is that we didn't get to Li Ion by guessing. We looked at the elements and found one that has the specifications that lead to a battery that gives a decent specific energy. Its very possible that this fantastic breakthrough will not come. The compounds we can make from a finite bunch of elements do not guarantee we can make a super battery. Oh really?... seems Apple has filed patents to switch off batteries and move to hydrogen fuel cells, so you'll be refueling your iPhone and iPad and it will emit water vapor. The paradigm of fueling and emissions sounds more like the advertisement about a world where everything was gasoline powered, than the sleek battery powered future the EV optimists are forecasting. The bottom line: the very smart people at Apple have seen the forecasted future of the battery (and the ultracapacitor) and don't see the power they need... for a smartphone or tablet! Do I believe it will come to this?... no... I think we will just suffer with crappy batteries... just like we have for a century. And yet the break through discovery of the century has not been realised. Amazing. Just spend more money. Common sense and existing technologies are not the answer, but undiscovered science will save us! So you are of the belief that the more R&D money we throw at cold fusion, the faster we get functioning cold fusion, since its only a matter of testing every compound we can invent? Then we could be skipping this battery mucky-muck with its caustic chemistry and just invent Mr. Fusion. Edison tested filaments for less than 2 years and came back to a carbonized filament based on bamboo (first used in 1854) for his historic 1880 bulb patent. General Electric didn't use the tungsten filament until it was already done in Europe in 1906. Edison was better at stealing ideas and being a businessman than an inventor. Of course, this was also done in an era of science when we weren't able to predict ahead of time the characteristics of the missing elements on the period table or of molecules that had not been made in a laboratory. We can do that today... and so when we need a material for a particular task, we can immediately eliminate hundreds of thousands of compounds. This is why we aren't attempting to build a better battery in 2012 with bamboo filaments. Oh, and that post about the 54.5 mpg EPA thing... I really don't think that Americans will allow it, once people see what cuts they have to make. Bla... Bla... Bla.... Read the story and learn what is really going on by people that are a little more involved than you or I. By the way you can stop the Quote machine as I stopped reading them. .

I have to agree on the leverage on the Germans. This could be a good bargining chip. As for sharing platforms . Peugeot will get help with better and new platforms and GM will leverage it out over a greater number of models. This should help lower the cost per unit they build and increase profits. Better product for Peugeot and lower unit cost for GM. I see no down side with only 7% investment. I am sure GM has this also set that they can pull out easily. Right now GM is all about incresed profits and this will help in Europe where profits were very hard to come by. With the loss of Saab and the Fiat/Alfa shared platforms GM was not sharing as much as they used to in Europe.

I would like to recomend that we all read the story on page 24 of Autoweeks March 5th issue. They have a story that looks at the 54.5 CAFE for 2025. This story shows what is going on and different points of views of many insiders as to what to expect. Some things are good, some are bad and some views are eye opening. Things are poined out as these. Downsizing. Everything will get smaller trucks cars and even luxury. We are already seeing this in the Benz A body and even the Buick Verano. Lightweighting Everything will ve judged for cutting weight from leather seats to entertainment system. Some have suggested with the smart phones and pads that your radio and nav system may be based on you smart product you plug in. Decontenting Many see removing the spare as only the first of many steps. Brake systems, Steering systems, Entertainment systems will all be looked at. Drive by wire systems may be used in brake and steering to remove large amounts of weight. Again msmart phone or cloud systems used for onboard entertainment or diagnostics. Changing Materials. New materials and more expensive materials will be used. Plastics and composites will be used in everything. New plastic body panels are now being promoted by Bayer in Germany again. Saturn fans rejoice. Losing Family Members. They say to expect some automakers to abandon some markets and toss some models overboard vs trying to make them get better MPG. One GM engineer stated "I envision full size SUV's just going away. Something new will come along to fill the niche...although I don't know what that might be". These are just a few of the thoughts in this story. By the comments by many it sounds as if they expect some major changes but at this time they are not even sure what. A lot depends on the MFG's getting the average buyers to increase buying EV cars and hybrids. If the public starts to buy more of these and they gain in market share the remaning vehicles will have to face a little less dramatic changes. Change they will but no where near what they would have to change. OIther issues to be faces are the fact the United States does not have the capacity right now to handel the needs for more aluminum casting. Not just the car will change but the way they are build, designed and even the plants will have to changed everything accept the 4 walls. Credits are in play. If a MFG like Honda is well over the average others like GM could buy these credits. 1/2 ton trucks are under the gun but the 3/4 and one tons will not have as harsh standards. The issue will be to keep 1/2 tons the one vehicle that has the greatest impact on our auto market something people still want to buy. We will not see aluminum frames but more V6 engines and weight reduction in other areas. This is the one tough segment that will have to be address and can not be abandoned. There is a lot more but this can give you an idea of how they tried to breakdown the well over 800 pages of the new EPA standards for Fuel. This does not even touch emissions. If you can get a copy take a read and while it is not anything carved in stone it give you a real indication how drastic things could become. This is not a sky is falling story just facts that will have to be looked at depending on some factors still in flux. Once you read this you really understand that the EV sales will be very imporatant to the future of the cars we love. Also you will understand that most cars will have some hybrid system on it.

Done within economic reason... its still too expensive to pack high range into an EV. Nobody is paying six figures for a PML electric Mini that can barely outrange a gasoline one. And done in a format that isn't only suitable to move small payloads... The Electrovair II's Silver Zinc batteries are actually fairly lightweight as batteries go and modern Silver Zinc batteries provide 40 percent more run time than Li Ion batteries, according to Wiki. Overall, Silver Zinc energy density tops out at 500Wh/L, as opposed to Li Ion at 625Wh/L... which demonstrates that Li Ion is not light years ahead of other battery technologies. Again, you guys act like Li Ion batteries have suddenly become awesome in the last couple years. They haven't. They've been around for 30 years and commercially available for 20. Will they continue to get better, sure... but at a slow rate... and due to lithium being the lightest solid, we've run out of potential light elements to use as a base. 'High tech powertrain'... LOL. There again you miss the mark again. I really don't think anyone is expecting Li Ion batteries are the only thing that will come in the next 10 years [unless you are the only one]. There are new technologies and materials being tested and used that may break through the present barriers we have now. This is a lot more than just cars as Cell phones Computers, Pads and even heart implants need better power. The fact is the need for better batteries are now greater than any other time in human history and with the addition of the auto market the demand has just taken an even greater jump. With the greater increase in investment in these power storage systems more ground will be gain in shorter times. It is no seceret that the person who solves the power storage issue will reap not only fame but would be in line for billions and billions dollars. THis is a prize greater than the X prize as this one would effect all parts of our lives. There are new materials being created every day and like Edison who tested so many filiments for his bulbs some one will find the break through in time.

The Electrovair II from its specs is within a magnitude of the Leaf, except it seats 5 people comfortably. And GM developed it FOUR decades before the Leaf. Stand by your post... you said little has been invested on electrics since the Detroit and Baker Electrics. GM didn't build these cars on a shoestring. Plenty has been invested... decade after decade, because just as electrics had a place in 1910, they also could have carved out a foothold in 1945, 1960, 1973, 1979 and 1991... _IF_ they could be made compelling. Nobody said it was. But it is very slow... and its severely constrained by certain limits imposed by physics. Hasn't anyone stayed awake during an advanced physics class? Its also 6 years old. I love the PML powertrains... they seem to have a nice solution... by moving the motors into the wheels, you can free up more space for batteries... but that only solves so much... and these PML units are REAL pricy... and the OEMs so far have offered up a collective 'Yawn'. I speak in production terms not prototype terms on vehicles that were not anymore production than the Chrysler Turbine was. When I speak investment I speak in terms of a real production cars of today. I will give you the EV-1 had some things that have contributed to the Volt but the EV1 was not really even clost to a true production car. GM knew they had a lot of work ahead of them hence the lease only deals to a limited market. From the Baker and Detroit Electric to the Leaf and Volt there has been little attempt to make a real prduction car that the average buyer would even consider. These are the first real mainstream cars that address the needs of real daily dirvers and to make an electric car that drives, rides and has the feel of a gas only car. The Volt is the first to come damn close and right now the price is the only area that really is holding up higher sales. I would have never considered an electric car till they came out with the Electric Gas combo. It solves a lot due to the lack of better batteries and would be a good foot hold to grow this segment of the market vs the token fleet sale Rangers and Golf cart models mof the past. Your perspective is not focused on todays maket and the fact that for the first time in decades they are attempting to makie a regular production Electric cars that would be a real option to some buyers. So in other words drop the science experiment notes and and get with the program by looking at this from a production stand point.

You are going to argue a point on Horses here and try to make a point with the Electrovair II LOL! You have got to better than that. I stand by my post..