hyperv6

It is a shame that with all of the other major car issues out there that the media has to focus on this one. This is one of the biggest non issues I have ever seen. What they media will do for a headline. At least GM hit this head on.

Asian- and SA-market crew cab trucks usually seem to look that way.....they have a short bed to avoid having to lengthen the frame...either avoiding the cost of an extra chassis variation or for practical reasons (i.e. shorter=more manuverable in crowded cities)...some of the older models even had the rear wheelhouse right up against the back of the cab w/ no bed bodywork ahead of the wheel.. I know why they do it as it is easy to understand. I'm just not thrilled with the look and the bed size. But like I said the people who buy them don't buy for the look but the cab utility.

A lot of long time GM people who have not driven really don't understand how far this car has improved over the Cobalt. I know the car deal as we did two in 3 weeks a little while ago. The Salesman put me on his Chistmas card list LOL!

The one thing for sure is this is a massive improvment over the present truck just in pictures. If the quality of the materials are as I would expect based on other new Chevys this truck should do well. I do not see them taking anything out of this truck, if anything I expect they will add to it. I do have concern on price. People generally want all the options in these kind of trucks on they want them base, there is little middle ground anymore in this class. The Chevy nose id ok on this as it should not be a Mini Silverado. Let this truck be unto its own. I do like the fact it looks like it is a real off road able truck. I was worried it would be like many of the SUV's today that claim 4WD but are no more off road than a Malibu sedan. In some photo's this truck looks good and some it look ehh! I think the color and the tires have a major impact and as many of the other GM cars they look better in person vs in photo's. I hope this holds true here and I will be excited to see it for the first time inperson to decide what I really think. The Climate control panel is interesting in the LTZ. The Trailblazer is the one I figure that will dominate once it arrives. It has solid looks and should see many improvments the old one really needed. The real key in this country will be the loss of the Ranger as there is few options this class to choose from. The base truck will be popular with buisness that Ford has dominated for years. I would hate to see how much money Ford made from Orkin over the years. LOL! My only real issue based on the photo's I have seen are the 4 door cab. The bed to cab just looks down right odd. More so than even the present truck. But they are only a small part of the sales and those who want it want the untility and not the looks.

The rear looks like an angry Transformer. If anything the rear in the drawing reeks of the new Regal which is not a bad thing but we already have one. I tend to believe the rear of the Cruze will if anything go more the shape of the Volt to some degree. They have learned a few things to drop CD numbers with the Volt that expect to show up in other vehicles. Note how the quarters of the Volt are flat and come to a sharp edge on a somewhat flat tail. GM picked up 7 miles with them on the Volt in electric mode. I would expect there would be gains with gas MPG too. Toyota already has done something similar with the new Camry. I just hope they keep up with the Cruze and keep it fresh every 2-3 years till it is due for a make over. I really was not impressed with the first preproduction I saw but I must admit it has really grown on me in styling. If anything the present rear is better than my Malibu. The present Bu is like they started at the front and ran out of money on the tail.

Chick cars are what are helping many brands. Women buy a lot of cars anymore something in the range of a little over 50%. They also influence most family car buys so what they see and say effects what many families buy, Note ever guy in a Caravan and most other small Minivan/cuv had little say in these purchases. I am lucky as my wife like many of the cars I like too. She has been looking at the Buick cars and I would be ok if that is what she wants to drive. Thank God she learned about Superchargers on our SSEI as she wanted a GP with a supercharger too. As popular as the Vue was with a cheap crappy interior. I suspect this vehicle will attract much the same kind of buyer but will capture more sales as it will have a much better quality about it. The other key demo here is the import buyer. Look around at all the small CUV's that the Asians are selling and many are very odd with ok interiors but nothing special. Buick is entering this segment with something that could change the segment if people respond to it. Small and upscale seem to be what Buick is doing and so far many people are taking interest. In this day and age many people would like a comfortable car with good MPG but they do not want to have to pay $40K or more to get it. After years of riding in crappy some what generic Honda's they are now wanting more for about the same price. Others are also down sizing as their investment porfolio is not bring in the disposable income it once was and they are now stuck with a mega house payment on a house they can't sell. While some want to claim the economy is getting better it still has a long ways to go and people will seek value in their purchases in the future. Buick is offering a lot for the money anymore and it appeals.

I'm not disagreeing with either of you, but I still say that a show-version or pre-production truck will be shown in Chicago or New York to let the cat out of the bag. Then after that I can see the entire lineup debuting at the Texas State Fair. Sounds good. So a 90% show truck for Chi town and then release the production model at Texas in time for the Deep Fry contest.

i think this will be wider and longer than some expect The short nose and small rear over hang make it look smaller in a photo. But by no mean is this a large vehicle just a little larger than the Sonic. Compare the tires and door handles to get an idea of scale. The Countryman or Juke would be a good idea of size. Larger than a Sonic but smaller than a Vue.

Yes this is more like a Juke or other small cross over car/suv like vehicle. So far many people think this is larger or smaller than it really is. The Gamma cam be made a larger than the Sonic like the Granite but too many think this also Terrain size which it is not. This is a new segment many MFG are launching new product in but none have shown to be the dominate one yet. This will be the first with s sporting like model but with a very upgraded interior and the new Buick trademark quiet. This could prove to be a valuable vehicle when gas prices are up and suv sales are down. Also many are getting tired of the $45,000+ prices on many new SUV's.

That would also required a much bigger investment...this is just an Opel w/ different fascias and other small trim differences. I know this was an Opel first but my point was they were better to do this than a 7/8ths Enclave. Buick and Opel both need diversity in their models. The last thing they needed was a mini Enclave. With so few models they need a good mix of different product right now. Buick needs to keep drawing in new customers as they have had too few for too many years now. It has been years since I would have ever considered a Buick and today I am. We will replace the GTP soon and the wife told me she wants to visit Buick to see what the new cars are like. I took her to the auto show this year and they had the cars she seem to like the best. To me that is something Buick could not do in the past is to attract women 25-40 years old. This is a strong segment with money. Aslo I think you will find this will be like the other Buicks and it will be a little more upscale than most Opels. But I soon expect Opels to get move up soon as they will share more with the Buicks soon. That is if Europe does not implode on the Euro.

I have a feeling TX state fair too. That is the largest truck market and it where most of the new trucks tend to show up. I want to know what the new truck will weigh in at. GM needs to lose weight starting with this truck and continue with the next next several generations. Ford is reported to be looking at Aluminum body panels.

To do a down scale of a larger vehicle is just a excuse for poor design. Each vehicle should have a brand image but they should each be their own design. Putting the extra effort into a new model to make it different from others in the same brand line up adds to the product portfoilo. If you make em all look alike you end up with souless design like Toyota. GM has workd much on this with many of their new cars. While the new Cruze and Malibu share somethings they do look different just as I expect the Impala. The CTS, ATS and XTS all look like Cadillacs but each have their own take. To do an Enclave as a small vehicle would have been a disaster just as theTrailblazers were when they gave them a LWB.

I wish they had one at the California park. That is the one I get to normally since I get to California often. But then after Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point it would be hard to impress unless GM hands out keys to a ZR-1 in an open parking lot. LOL! They did give me the keys to a Z06 on a taxiway at Cleveland Hopkins airport set up as a autocross track. Then they told me to drive it as deep as I like on my runs. That also left an deep impression. Anyone see the new Ferrari world coaster in Dubi? That one really is amazing.

From what I have seen they only are looking for the 20-30 cars. I would expect that they cars are not in customers hands and are either in a storage area, in trasport or just unloaded at the dealers. GM had to put the word out just to cover their butts if one some how did get to the public. While this is not good new it is better to put this call out vs a customer reporting it first. Odds are the rear suspension may be done as a unit out side the plant and they just bolt the unit in. So many of these parts are assembled by outside vendors anymore. I would just think they would have caught it on the rollers at the end of the line. They do check braking on the little dyno run they have. There should have been some drop off in stopping.

I noticed they did the anouncment on Friday PM before a Holiday. I hope this helps. Would really think that they will catch most of thes before they leave the plant or when they get to a dealer. You would have to notice at least loading or unloading it from the truck.

Cheap coated metals. Also GM cars from the late 90's had a lot of issues with rear fuel lines and brake line. The cars would not be too rusty but the brake fuel lines fail. The OE stainless exhaust would be fine but the brake or fuel line would rust right in half. My Moms Buick looked good but all the fuel and brake lines were getting pretty crusty. I had to replace the rear brake line before we sold it. It blew out one day. My Buddies W body olds has a leak in it's gas filler and my 04 GTP is not leaking but it has rust scale starting. My GTP is clean other wise. His Olds looks good but the rockers are rusting out.

This is only one of several GM cars with rusting fuel fillers. The W bodies are well known for it too. There is even a company that is making a replacment tube that will not rust. I suspect ti may end up on the investigation list too at some point. We have a local auto salvage company here that works with many of the automakers to make many of their past sins go away. They had row after row of Windstars Ford bought back. My buddy works for them and sends me pictures of a salvaged car with many of the MFG sins in the background. One that I found interesting was a great number of new Toyota pickups stacked two high as far as you could see. Ther looked to be 50 to 100 in the photo. They even had the window stickers still on them. They were all to be crushed with no salvage.

I agree 100% here that it is not C&G material. If it was it would mis the meat of the segment. Like I have stated we no longer are the majority of what the market is anymore. The markets have shifted and people have different ideas of what they want in a car than they used to. I would love to see the Chevy as a Borrego like vehicle but I expect it will be closer to the Groove as it would have a wider appeal. It does it is on ours. I think it was the first to do so. It was something Lutz likes and promoted. They feel it gives the lights a more expensive detailed look vs just plain molded plastic.

Time to deal with the facts. Bucik was dead and would be gone if it had not been for China. The reality is people for a long time have really cared little for Buick and have little love for the past Buicks for a long time. In other words Buick was dead to most under 60 years old accept for a slim few GN fans and rare lingering fan. The reason they are going Opel is simple Opel had less baggage and more global appeal than Buick. The Enclave. Regal and Lacrosse have shown that they Buick can build cars people under 65 want and like. They like them of their own merits of just being a better car and not vent ports or long gone past history. The Verano is just entering the market and I suspect when the 2.5 and 2.0 Turbo hits it will do very well. The critic have all said all this car needs is an updated engine and they were shocked at how good it is. I hate to predict what the Encore will do as it is a new segment with a lot of varied new products in it. Also I have not seen this in person yet and would like to do the right thing and have an informed opinion. Based on the quality of the Opels, Gamma and the latest Buicks I think if this is priced right they could do well with it. This is not a segment I have any interest in but I do feel GM needs some players in this market, it is proving to be a good segment. Also when gas prices spike large SUV sales die and the small CUV sales clime. A good mix can save a company no matter what is effecting the market.

Over All this is a nice vehicle in over all dynamics and quality. As for the looks..... For me they are as bad as the Aztek was. I really see little in the styling that is attractive. But this has been a Nissan trademark of late as they take a left turn to ugly land now and then. The last wrong turn was the Cube. But I guess if you own one you are inside and do not have to see it. I feel if the styling had wider appeal this car would stlll 4 times what they are now.

I really like "Sonoma", I think it fits in better with Yukon, Savana, Sierra, Terrain and Acadia. Much better than "Canyon" does. It would be an upscale name for a truck that is hopefully more upscale than the current model. I agree with you on Cheyenne for the new truck. It fits in well with Silverado, Tahoe, and Suburban, and it is heritage-based in the Chevy Truck history line (even though it was a trim name and not a model name). I thought the loss of the Sonoma name was a big mistake. To name sister trucks you are trying to convince peopre they are different and then you give them both name that start with a C. These are the kind of white collar people GM could eliminate. I always thought GMC should do a 1ton with a Chuck Norris edition. "You should own a GMC because Chuck Norris said you should."

You are correct. This is a segment that all companies are trying to break and for once many are using different ways to try to get into it. The one who hits the right combo could have another Caravan on their hands and own the segment. While I do not think the Buck will own this segment it will bring people to a Buick dealers that never would have come in before. Lets face it this is an all new game for Buick here with a model like they never had before. It will be interesting to see how Chey treats the Gamma CUV. With the Buick and GMC so different I hope to see Chevy take it in a new directions than the others. I almost would like to see Chevy do a new version of the Tracker that They would build themselves, Not Rust, Not Tip Over and at a good value price. I see so many trackers and Samuri on the roads yet running but with little to no body left. People loved these things and they were affordable. WIth the Jeep moving up more and more in price they could make a dent in the segment.

I would not fear that. It should be a quality product based on all the new Buicks we have gotten recently.. As for styling do no understimate the public. There is a large group of people who feel the Juke, Cube, Soul and Scion has a lot of Chic and cool. The public for some reason have embraced quirky and it is selling cars. But then agian watch the new Toyota end of year sales commercial. They have all their models traveling down the road in silver. To be honest with you it is hard to tell them appart as they all look alike. I think this is why quirky is selling. Too many have owned Honda's and Toyota's that just all look the same and people are wanting to break out of it even if the car is not good looking. People want different just because it is different. God know they learned it with the HHR. You either hated it or loved it but it still sold many years over 100,000 units. While the Buick so far from what we have seen is not knock down dead good looking yet it has shown enough to be far better than what is out there. at this point I see no reason to panic. Lets just let the market decide. I think they will suprise you.

I think the strategy of bringing models from upper brands first and then trickling to mainstream brand will be better. It will help alleviate the badge engineering stigma. It is an old trick GM used to employ but forgot about. They used to do it on options and styling features. I just read an old interveiw with GM designer Irv Rybicki and he spoke how they had used Opera window in the Eldo and then was instructed to use it in the Monte to give it a much up level feel and look. I agree the trickle down has a strong effect with models but I see GM doing things a little more different this time. GMC is getting a Gamma but it will be the Granite that is closer to a larger Soul than this Buick. Chevy is said to be getting a small CUV but I expect it to be more intune with the new Escape. This is more platform engineering vs badge engineering. Yes they share with Opel but how many Markets do Buick and Opel share? No matter what this segment is just really being formed now and GM is getting in at the start of the trend vs the end of it for once,

Buicks far from done yet. These small CUX are becoming a larger segment of the market robbing buyers away from the Larger SUV's and Minivans. People are getting tired of paying more for gas and are down sizing in price of vehicle and upgrading in MPG. Some of the players in this segment are doing well and many have some very odd styling [Juke or Puke as I like to call it]. The Buick is not something I would rush out an buy but it should easily find buyers as it is one of the better looking vehicles in the segment and I think even better than the Opel. If it is tuned and detailed at the Verano with a very good and quiet interior it could be even best in class as few in this segment are what I would call up scale in anyway. This car while not what I would call a Cheers and Gear kind of car should do two things for Buick. It should attract more women to the brand and it should continue to lower the average owners age. Two things key to Buicks future. Women are the most important segment today. THey buy over 50% of the cars and influence around 70% of all sales. This is why we see so many men given up on their manhood and driving Caravans. She has his balls in her purse and GM know it. Good to see GM diverse themselves into segments they have done poorly in the past. GM in the past had a few kinds of cars and 4 versions of the same thing. Today there is more space between Chevy, Buick and Cadillac and the gaps are starting to grow wider. That is good to see too.