hyperv6

The price will drop and the range will improve just because of the investment and volume. Investment into these technologies for Electric cars is much like say a TV set. When the first flat screens came out they were $8K now you can buy a better one now at $800. They keep coming up with improved parts and pieces as they now have a market to sell them in. In the past most electric cars were limited and few would invest the money. Today there has been more money spent in the last 5 years on batteries than ever. The key is for companies like GM and Nissan to sell cars in volume to justify the investment in cheaper and better technologies. Investment needs volume and Volume needs a market so that is why todays Volt is so important. it is creating that market that will create the investment needed to improve things and lower cost. Once we get lower cost electric cars they can be traced back to the risk Nissan and GM did by going high volume on these types of cars. They created a market to make the investment worth while.

This car does what it needs to do. It keeps a look of the modern Chevy while adding the elements of some past cars. The side is no longer slab sided and has a quarter panel that recalls the 68 and 69 Impala with a hint of present Camaro. The tail smacks of todays Camaro. This car is interesting enough to attract new buyers but not overstyled to the point to turn off the traditional family sedan buyer. We have to remember that most buyers in this class don't want a car that stands out too much. I think they struck a solid balance. Also the width added to this car will give it more of a solid look. The last car looked ok but there is something about with in a car that makes it look larger than it is. This is not a car for most people here on this forum, if they can make most of us happy I imagine they will make a lot of the general public happy. The keys to selling this car is Price, Getting the engine power and gearing for proper driving [note we should not expect a M series competitor here. Finally MPG. If gas remains high this car needs to get the MPG's to a proper level. The key to this car is if it had no emblems at all it would never be mistaken for a Asian brand car. It has the look of a Chevy in the styling and that is a mark of a proper styling. I expect this car to also be like a Regal 2.0. This car will be improved over the present Regal in some ways. GM has had the time to address things they could not in the Buick. It will be kind of like the G6 vs the present Malibu. The Bu got the improvments that came after the G6 was introduced.

The space behind the nav screen was there before but that is where the 6 disc changes used to be in the older radio's. Now that there are no more multi disc players there is open space there.

WTF was that? Wierd, incoherent dude.. See what happens when they stop making Star Wars movies. These guy branch out between conventions into other media. Either way it was funny. Could this be Buickman today?

The nose is pretty much what we saw in the Whittaker spot a year ago. This car will do fine. I can remember the post in with the Patten drawings and how many got in a panic attack. Now that it is in sheet metal more have come around to understand the cars is a lot better than they thought. I expect more will be won once they see the car in person.

Mike, please don't take it personel. It is just too often we see many post on the web that have news from 2nd, 3rd and 4th removed sources. It just reminded me of them. Too early to get too excited on this. It could just be a simple human error on one car or a supplier error. As long as humans build cars there will be recalls. The goal is to keep them to a minimum. Like I said wheels just don't fall off even if you want them too. Heck even the Camaro has more recalls and more issues at this point in production than the Cruze. As for those who are whinning about the delay get over it. The car we have for the most was done a while ago and the lack of money put it behind. I think you find they will update this car much sooner and may even replace it sooner. I just don't see living as long on as long as the Cavalier or even the Cobalt without major changes or replacment. This segment is just as important as the Malibu's.

No disrespect - but you don't "know"; you have the word a "someone" you brother 'used to work with's say-so. But when my sisters other brothers wifes boyfriend who knows a guy in Jersey that has a cousin in Youngstown who knows a guy at the plant who heard from the union rep that there was an issue it has to be true. It is a little soon to cry the sky is falling.

From what I remember after reading the articles a few days back, an incorrect steering wheel was originally installed on the vehicle and then caught later down the line. It was replaced with the correct one, but the correct one wasn't properly attached. To fix the issue, GM is making it so the machine that holds/installs the steering wheels won't accept an incorrect steering wheel, and they are recalling all the Cruzes from that production run to make sure. The thing that confuses me is, why do they need to recall all the Cruzes from that production run? Was an incorrect steering wheel installed onto all of them, and then later switched with the correct one? I think that may be the case. I expect it is something along these line. I have to agree with the goofy guy in the video that wheels just don't fall off. I have pulled enought wheels to know they even if the nut is missing they are usally difficult to remove. That is why they make steering wheel pullers. A wrong wheel say from a Nox looks like a Cruze wheel and could have a different offset that did not let the wheel tighten down as it should. For a wrong wheel it had to be a supplier error as all the cars on the Lordstown plant all use the same type wheel.

This was funny! I hope he is not here among us at C & G http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYgKR3BJiw

It was only one car and as far as I I heard it jsut came losse and I have seen the came off video. Either way no one was hurt and the car was not damaged per what GM stated. It was just the odd ball failure If this had been Kia or Honda I bet we may have never heard of it. I think they are checking the other cars to just make sure it was not a line wrench failure that may have effected the other cars. If it was one car it may have just been human error. As it has been going the launch on the Cruze has been pretty smooth. I am thrilled that so far there is only 1 major issue with one Cruze. Can't say that for many other GM cars over the last few years. I think in a year the quality numbers will be pretty good on this car. No car is perfect but I bet this one will have the highest quality numbers for about any GM car.

I have three real full size 22 x 9 foot billboards, two of them are 78 and 95 Corvettes and one a 1984 Fiero. I plan to install one in my new Garage I building this spring. I wish GM made these posted here available in full size to the public. If they did there are a couple here I would love to chose from.

We can all spit hairs over the size but volume is never an issues with this car. The real issue is just getting the crap to fit through the opening to get it in there. One get tired of opening boxes in parking lots just to get the item in the opening. More width would make no difference and more depth would help only a little. Get tme more room from the lift ovver to the top edge just below the window and you can fit more items. The trunk will take suit cased fine but large and square forget it. Note the rear doors on the 04 GTP were made to open wider to accept larger items. The reason GM never gave was that they would not fit in the back opening. As for door panels and interior the Malibu's materials are as good or better than most in class. I was just in a new Fusion and while nice I found it no better or worse. I also agree the Honda leaves a lot of room for improvment. The thing with the Maliu is the lack of features or the need to buy a higher level to get things like Climate Control. The LTZ is not really a good value but a 2LT is even loaded up. From what I can see the new car will over more features but it will be intersting to see if you will be able to get some of the other items on the 2 LT with out the need to spend $4K more just to get Climate control with other unneeded items like a rear shade and rear converter plug in for the back seat. A few more ala cart items would be nice. As for the MPG I should point out on the road it does well but around town it is a little low for a car this size. Not bad but it will need to get better hence the 4 cylinder only deal. I don't like the lack of a V6 but understand and know a properly tuned Turbo 4 can do the job.

Going to disagree here also. Trunk volume is quite good- certainly appropriate for family use. It's 90% of the larger W-body's trunk in volume (guesstimate) and the height is absolutely fine. More trunk height automatically means a higher decklid- and decreased rearward visibility. More height is an invalid call. Trunk opening is not, but it's no deal breaker, either. Malibu is no lower than the W-body. Cars are getting way too tall as it is- you want height buy an Equinox. Car should NOT try and replicate a 'CUV Lite' formula- that's why we call them cars and not CUVs. Some people like cars to remain lower, just like some demand AWD in everything on the road. Comfort is very good, but personally I like more flexibility in movement- IE; more space. This is not a byproduct of 'space efficiency', but one of exterior size. Interior is also, in no way "cheap". Reg- it's been made abundantly clear you dislike this car, or at the very least have a ready laundry list of items to criticize. You might consider your point made, and drop the harping. You are correct on the trunk size as I own the last gen GTP and 08 Bu and 90% is a fair estimate. It only lacks a little in width. The length is neat the same as the GTP. The tunk lid is shorter on the Bu by a hair but even the GTP is too short to let large square items enter the trunk space that is large enough to hold them. All the Bu needs is a longer trunk lid to give better acsess to the space provided. Nothing more or less is needed as the new car will give the width neat the same as the W gives. As for anything cheap on a Malibu. Well I think this impression is give by the may LS models out there that have solid colors and the lower standard interiros. The LT2 and LTZ have very nice interiors and were very nice when intro's. The problem is like the Cruze that other new models came out right after the GM cars did and raised the bar. FOr the money the Malibu is a very nice car. I was able to get a new LT2 dirt Cheap and could not have been happier. The car was bought intended for my mom who drives it the most. She loves it. I for the most really did not care one way or the other about this car when we bought it. I figured it would suit her needs and it would make her happy. Well as it turns out the more I drove it the more I loves it. For the most I would take this car over my Comp G. I loved the GTP but after spending time in the LT2 it has shown me the many short comings of the GTP. To be fair the Maliu is a 4 year newer car but it was still on a old platform. I think the Lutz factor was in play here. I know it is not a sports sedan or even claims to be but the V6 with the six speed and the up level suspension make for a pleasing drive with a good quiet ride. The GTP will bop you around and no where near as quiet. The platform is much stiffer also as you can feel it in the steering and in the seat of the pants.

Actually, I think the culprit is the multi-axis joint used to couple the trunk lid to the trunk. It gives it an upmarket feel (ala the 2001 Passat) but it also makes the trunk opening about 6 inches narrower and about 2 inches shorter than a run of the mill J-joint would have afforded. The trunk hing is really one the best as it does not take up any room on the inside and has little effect on getting items in. The problem is the distance of the lift over to the top edge that is very short and prevent boxes of large volume shapes from fitting in the hole. This is a common problem for any small car with a short trunk lid. The Cobalt has the same issues. If the trunk lift over was a little lower or the trunk lid was a longer the issues would be resolved no matter the hing. Even my GTP has the same issues as the trunk is not deep and the trunk lid is short. It just comes down to simple geometry that would solve this problem. IF anything the articulated hinges cost more but save a hell of a lot of space inside the trunk.

If we're going to address specifics with a goal of improvement, we need to get the details right. • The trunk is NOT disproportionately small nor shallow. The trunk cavity is sized very appropriately for the size of the car. What IS an issue for some owners is the trunk opening, which due to the tapered roofline, is relatively small. This only affects large, rigid items, tho I note that my son's 2x12 combo amp (22"x27"x11") slides right in (along with 2 hard-cased guitars and other gear). If you are trying to put something larger in, perhaps you need a larger car. But trunk volume is quite respectable. • Headroom is fine for me & we're the same height. • wife is 5'3"- she has no complaints about the beltline whatsoever. "Catastrophically" is without question an overstatement... unless perhaps you were talking about people 5'0" and shorter. The trunk opening is a valid complaint (again- depends on what you're normally packing), and another is the rearward / 3/4-rear visibility. Sailing C-pillars are the culprit there- price paid for style. I personally would like the car to be AT LEAST 3" wider, but that's also not a 'catastrophic' situation. I have to second all these statments as a owner of a 08 Bu. The trunk size is fine the opening is too small to get any large box sized items into it. Improve the opening and the trunk would be fine. The head room is not an issue and I am almost 6 foot. Even with a hat on I have yet to have any head room issues. The window is fine for my wife at 5'3". Visability is not an issue as I drive with the mirrors. I have two other cars with much worse blind spots and the Bu is no issues. I do agree the added with of the new car is not a must but it will be welcomed all the same. A little more room is never a bad thing. To really know a Malibu one needs to own one and live with it. While it is not a perfect car it is a pretty good car just in need of an update and features GM could not afford when it was last redone.

Again this is another lets see what the whole thing looks photo before we really can itelligently praise or condem it.

FYI anyone see the new teaser photo of the interior They have the screen on the dash lit up and it look pretty good. I do wonder how the surround on the screen will look in person. Cheap or good?

The visiability in the 04 is fine as long as you are 5.35-6 feet tall. My son has seen little of the world till he got taller in the booster seat. The main issues are seat padding is like a thin padded seat in a cannoe and the leg room is not generous. The seats in this car do take up alot of room and the 08 Malibu show how well the seats can make room for the back seat. The interior materials are also better than the 04 but much worse than the 08 Bu. They improved some areas but the cheap leather and some of the plastic on the dash is horrid. If we had not got such a good deal on a new 04 GTP Comp G I would have never bought it. But they came off sticker by near $10,000 it was hard to pass up. This was not even at the end of the year either. At $22K it made a very good buy. Besides I did not have to sit in the back. The real beaf I have with the earlier car is in these parts the rocker panels are gone on most of the cars. The GT the plastic cover them but on the SE there is little left on most of them. Guys at work have bought them for winter beaters and have found low milage cars with rocker gone at a good price. On the othet hand my 04 has one of the best brake system I have ever had on a GM car. Even with the wife driving hard in town we still get 60K+ miles out of the pads. The Bosch electronic porportioning system on it does a good job of regulating the presure. But over all the 08 Malibu with the V6, 6 speed with the top suspension shows how this car had aged. The Bu is as fast and handles nearly as well with a much more quiet and softer ride if optioned right. It just lacks the sportiness in the styling.

Yes the 04 and up were the bad ones.

Worse than the J- and F-bodies?!?! By far! Leg room is ok but the seat is as hard as a wood plank. The back rest is even worse. GM upgraded the seat once in 04 and I have the later one. It is still not something I would want to spend time in. The only rear seat I have been in that is worse is a 911.

I agree the present Bu has really good leg room and I expect it will be as good or better in the new one. The extra width will also be put to good use. My 04 W body is not the best use of interior space. The rear seat in the GP is the worst I have ever seen in a GM car.

The fuel level sending units were know to have issues in all late 1990's GM cars. We had a 97 Lesabre, SSEI, and Sonoma and all had issues with the sending units issues. It was a common complaint on several years of GM cars.

If it is the 3800 check the intake manifold. If it not cracked yet it will. We sell a crap load of intakes by Dorman to replace the bad ones from GM. Look for leaks or loss of antifreeze. Note the Dorman intakes have been fixed not to break like the GM one. My buddy just bought a Old W body that was clean but had a bad intake for $1200. He already has it running Also really check the rocker panels. Often they are gone under the Pontiac Plastic. Some are worse than other depending on the care. We also lost the intake gasket on the 3800 SC on our 04. It took the converter and both O2 sensors with it. I fixed everything pretty easy and quick. Thank God for my work discount on all the parts I needed. I would have hated to have paid retail. Sway bar links have been issues on some. Also random electrical issues have hurt some too. For the most part these cars will hold up for many many miles with only a few random issues. Often most issues are not too expensive to fix unlike some imports.

Chevy has a lot more things to worry about. They have many other products to move forward on before they worry about a cheap roadster. Cars like an Impala need to come out as well as updating the Cruze already as it is a very improved car but is already falling behind. A small cheap 2 seater is a neat kind of car. But owning one myself I know the limitations these cars present in many areas. I also know that they would not make or break Chevy if they build it or not. Lets face it The Kappa's never saved Pontiac or Saturn. Once Chevy has supassed Ford and Toyota then I would work on a car like this. Till then they would be better off with a small 2+2 coupe that is affordable to someone under 40 years old. Add the features to it that appeal to this age group. There are many in this age group that just don't care for the Camaro or want to pay the price for the MPG and Insurance. They need a small 2+2 that compliments the Camaro not compete with it. Chevy really needs a coupe that is a world class affordable small car that seats more than 2 people. Target the younger group in price and features they want. The closest Chevy has ever come to offering a car like this was the Cobalt SS. It had the driveline but the fact it was in a old outdated platform killed it. The Cobalt could out run a Mustang around VIR raceway but it just did not have the body and interior to carry the rest of the burden. Then just evolve the Vette to be cometitive into the future. It will have to become a little different car as it moves to the future. More advance technology will have to play a strong part to keep it at the front of the pack.

The Corvette does not competes with the Camaro. But the Camaro compliments the Corvette. The Camaro is the car that gives the driver that taste of the Corvette like performance in a car that is a little more practical. A Corvette is a second or thrid car at best for the average person while the Camaro is a car someone could deal with as a daily driver only car. The Vette has always been for the most one of the most expensive Chevys and out of reach of many but with in reach of some. This gives the owner the image he has arrives when he owns Americas sports car. The racing adds to the excitment but until the last two gens the Vette never had a all that great racing record. They did wins some big races here and there but compared to Porsche and others it was a drop in the bucket. The neat thing is even cars with limited sucess like the Grand Sport still became ledgends. The fact for so many years the Vette carried the tag of Americas only sports car has made a point of civic pride even for non Chevy fans. The Vette image needs protected and it should never be cheapened to the point you can see a new on in front of ever double wide. If you want affordible performance that appeals to the younger buyers do a seperate model of the Alpha Camaro that has a good Turbo package and options they like and want. Make it compliment the SS but not compete with it. The Mustang is moving in on the BMW like performance market and The Camaro needs to do the same to keep up. Today people want top performance but they want it well sorted and refined. The days of just dumping a big engine in a econo chassis are long gone. As for the gold chain people there is nothing you can do about them. Besides GM needs them as they are a major part of the buyers when the sales drop like last year. With out them you may not have a Vette. Besides all high end sports cars have their Gold Chain buyers. Even Paris Hilton and those like her own some of the greatest performance car in the world and there is nothing that Bugatti, Aston, Porsche and Bentley can do about it. There are just too few Jay Leno's out there with money.