hyperv6

Those were the days! No seat belts, back up lights and at times no out side rear view mirrors and you could drive across AZ with no fear of a ticket at over 100 MPH. I still think it is funny how in all the places I have driven the one state with the most dense population is where you can drive farther faster than any where else. I have had more triple digit time in CA than anywhere and generally I am just keeping with traffic.

steering wheel on the Impala to me is just fine. It's no reason to lose a comparo. What the hell is a Cadenza? Can I put file folders in it? Plus, it's ugly, has no history, and is a Kia. Screw M/T. My old boss who GM's the Chevy store now posted the other day about how awesome the new Impy is to drive. I do think a diesel Malibu or Impala would do well also. A nice good sized 4 cyl turbo diesel in the Impala should run mid forties on highway mpg. Current Taurus is really popular here. I do think a reskin instead of a full redo would do the trick, but it sounds like they will make the next Taurus on the Fusion platform. The Police Interceptor is all over around here too. Most of those and the Explorer ones are AWD. Even the cops have AWD now. I agree but as I said the difference was mostly subjective and often it ends up that way between 1st and 2nd. In the past the Impala was 5th and it generally was more than subjective. As for the wheel it is ugly and there is no subjective about it. But that is easy to fix.

A Diesel Chrysler 300? I doubt they would sell it here. Maybe GM and Chrysler should sell all their diesel cars in Europe (once the car market actually recovers) and seed them a little more here. The problem with diesel around here (SW FL) is that diesel often costs as much as premium and only one of every five gas stations NOT on the interstate have diesel pumps. It's already being talked about at Chrysler apparently. They already build it as a Lancia in Europe and uses the same engine the Diesel Grand Cherokee is getting so it's not like it needs any design work to be completed. It just needs to be certified for the US. Who cares if the cost per gallon of diesel is the same as premium? I can go 50% further per gallon and still have Hemi like torque. Also, who cares about how often you find stations that sell diesel? I could drive from Pittsburgh to Philly and back on a single tank (about 600 miles). If you're in your own area, you quickly learn all the stations that have diesel. If you're in an unfamiliar area, never let the tank go below 1/2 before you fill it and download a NAV app that locates diesel stations for you. Those are just excuses for refusing change. In the real world most people are not like you. Most have no idea who the Vice President is let alone what stations have what. Also so many people drive on E and never fill up that never letting it below is not an option since so many never go over full. Yes, the American general public is painfully stupid., Intelligent people buy diesels, the car makers should target them rather than the ignorant masses.. On issue we need more sales than smart can provide. Profits are made on the stupid. LOL!

A Diesel Chrysler 300? I doubt they would sell it here. Maybe GM and Chrysler should sell all their diesel cars in Europe (once the car market actually recovers) and seed them a little more here. The problem with diesel around here (SW FL) is that diesel often costs as much as premium and only one of every five gas stations NOT on the interstate have diesel pumps. It's already being talked about at Chrysler apparently. They already build it as a Lancia in Europe and uses the same engine the Diesel Grand Cherokee is getting so it's not like it needs any design work to be completed. It just needs to be certified for the US. Who cares if the cost per gallon of diesel is the same as premium? I can go 50% further per gallon and still have Hemi like torque. Also, who cares about how often you find stations that sell diesel? I could drive from Pittsburgh to Philly and back on a single tank (about 600 miles). If you're in your own area, you quickly learn all the stations that have diesel. If you're in an unfamiliar area, never let the tank go below 1/2 before you fill it and download a NAV app that locates diesel stations for you. Those are just excuses for refusing change. In the real world most people are not like you. Most have no idea who the Vice President is let alone what stations have what. Also so many people drive on E and never fill up that never letting it below is not an option since so many never go over full. For diesels to make it in a big way here you will have to convince people they want then and that they have to have them. The American public for the most do not care and are perfectly happy with their gas engines. GM and the others really need to build a case for these engines and sell it to the public like they did FWD in the early 80's. Make it so they think, know and feel better off to have such an engine. Till then it will just fill a niche with those who really understand or even care.

For what it is worth Motor Trend did a face off with the Impala $39,505 300E $40,625 Taurus $33,490 Cadenza $41,900 Avalon. $42,719 The Impala just got tweaked by the new media darling the Cadenza. The Impala did better in all performance and ride areas. They lost out on subjective material like the silly steering wheel [i agree] and the hard back seat { do not agree]. The 300e and Taurus were 4th and 5th overall. The 300 they said felt as heavy as it was poor interior room and low MPG [V6] and the Taurus need redone as it loses like I have said before in the interior as the dash and console make you feel cramped in. They said if you want to save money go mid size. I think with a few small changes the Impala will do very well. It is the best looing of the group right with the 300. As for price it is right in the ball park with others. I am not sure why they chose such a base Ford to go with the others top line cars. But to be fair it did not finish 5th because of the price. GM really could have done better with the steering wheel.

Sorry it still does not wash. GM would never make anything that would get as dark as you want to make it. Hell back when Neon lights under cars were popular my company sold a ton of them. plastered a large disclaimer that they are not legal in all areas for street use and to check local laws. Yet we still got people who called in to complain that they got a ticket and it was our fault. I can see GM now getting complaints on this. Also add in that most police departments would not be happy with this as when they walk up on a car who ever inside can darken the tint and have what ever aimed at them. I will give you it is a cool idea but not one that will ever become reality for practical reasons. As for your radar defense it is utter and total BS. To say that this is not a unit to break the law is absolute BS. This is like saying you are not running a illegal bar but you are really renting bar stools and giving free bear away. The fact is the deterrent is of the unknown. I used to use my Escorts etc back in the day but now knowing how laser works they pretty much are going to get you unless you are in a crowd or on a busy road. Many Laser has much fewer stray rays to send you a response. The Valentine is the best there is and it is far from fool proof with the new technology. Anymore traffic is pretty fast and I let some fool run blocker for me and tag back behind him. Even today that does not work as well with the abundance of air planes running time checks from the air. My father in law just got nailed for 86 MPH and he was only one of 5 they had pulled over at one time. They do have the death penalty here in Ohio for speeding LOL! The red light and schools zones are revenue makers plain and simple. But then again I have little mercy for anyone running a red light or speeding in a school zone. I may drive fast but I do have limits and these are two areas I will not offend nor should anyone. The fact is GM will not sit there and pound out how safe their cars are and add all these safety features that do everything from buzzing the seat if you are over the line to showing how save their trucks are taking your kid to day care only to provide a device knowingly that will enable and appeal to people that they can speed and break the law. There is no disclaimer for this one like a performance car where you can say for off road use only. Also factor in that insurance companies will speak out loudly on this. They already would love to put the makers of these devices out of business imagine if a automaker joined ranks with them. They could easily up the insurance rates for said vehicle like they do for way too many performance models already. This is a product best left to the companies already in the field that have great systems that can be installed remotely already. It also give the driver his choice if he wants one and which one he chooses. The bottom line is no matter the thinking going over a posted speed limit is breaking the law. If you choose to do so you do it at your discretion and not endorsed by GM. GM makes the car and how you operate it is up to you and they will not condone any actions of anyone breaking any law speeding, running lights or even smuggling drugs. Just imagine if they sold cars with secret compartments to smuggle items. The fact is GM needs to present an image of a good corporate citizen and a responsible company. They are too large and in a too widely held public area to do anything marginal in this manor. If this was such a good Idea cars like the Enzo, Veyron and even a 911 would have come with these years ago. I have seen some tuner cars that did include them years ago but even they no longer do so. I am sad to say in this PC world and until we see real legal reform things like this just will not happen with large corporations. Besides if GM really thought this a good idea they would have had this long ago. They already have and will again offer night vision and other driving aids but none are able to be brought into question on their intent. I am not trying to pick on you but like I said before you have to factor all sides to your ideas and think how GM, GM engineers , GMs Marketing , GM's board and GM's legal department thinks. For Gods sake these are the same company that avoided use of the name Banshee on a production car several time as not to offend anyone. I am not debating the right or wrong here but I am presenting how GM would look at this and these ideas and shoot them down in flames. They have killed much better ideas before. You have to look at the big picture in these deals this is not high school where you say this is a cool idea and they are idiots for not doing it. I even see it at work with my line. We deal with performance parts and we have to be careful on how we present things and how things are stated as we can be and have been attacked for everything from killing dogs to killing teenagers. We just sell the parts and what they do often gets kicked back to use if they do something stupid. Yes we killed a dog one time as the guy did not adjust his carburetor as he should have and it bleed over and burned his garage down. He tried to take us to court to build him a new garage and buy him a new dog. Trust me there are more stories I could tell and they get more silly as you go. Sorry things are just not as simple as they once were.

If you note that all the ads with High HP cars are stated to be on closed courses and they state to always obey the local laws and speed limits to cover their buts. And yes they are illegal in Canada and other countries too. What would they do with a detector? State it is for finding a cop if you need one/ Bath you are smarter than that. While it is not illegal for GM to put them in a car or even the tint the corporate responsibility is to not encourage people to break the law. As for the tint I wonder what law enforcement would say about it. Even in a parking lot how would they feel walking up to a car with tint enough in south LA to prevent them from at least seeing that there is anyone in the car. Generally if the windshield is clear they can account that there is someone in the car and they can take action to protect themselves. That is why we have limits on tint in most areas now. You can control it but the problems are still there for law enforcement. I like both of these ideas but the realities are that there are things that would prevent them in the real world.

Think of it as Hyundai's stimulus plan for the country. That's the truth!

I would like to see you address #1 and #3 in due respects to GM and DOT policy and law. If you want to present a realistic idea please address all the factors not just the ones that are convenient. What would you do to make the glass legal for DOT and all 50 states? The government has standards and many local areas have max darkness regulations. Second how would you get the detector past the GM legal department? Do you think there is anyway they would let GM endorse a option with the full intention of breaking the law. There are no look holes on this device as it has one job and one job only. What if someone is using it crashes speeding and the lawyer representing the family stated that GM provided the device to let him speed. Far fetched it is not as automakers have been hit with worse and had to settle as it was cheaper than fighting. I remember a guy who bought a 328 Ferrari a few years back that killed himself speeding the first night. His family sued because they said he was not informed of the performance nature of the car. They settled and Ferrari lost money. This is the stupidity you must defend yourself from when coming up with ideas. A Ford engineer told me once they do not fool proof cars they idiot proof them.

Seat from in general has a limited life no matter what kind it is. The material breaks down with time and heat in the car. When it breaks down they like to call it dead foam. A guy from GM that did interior work said that the foam is the first thing to go and like car speakers it goes slow enough people never notice how bad it is. Speaker break down with age too and lose sound quality as a slow rate. Not when doing an interior they always recommend replacing the foam no matter how good it looks. Many people fail to do this and end up with poor seat covering jobs. I have done several interiors and have replace the foam or in cases where I could not get foam supplemented the flat seat areas in the butt and back with new layers of foam. This helps add life back. It is not as good as a whole replacement part but if you can not get the right part you have to get creative. It is a old trick a old upholstery guy taught me. I have never had a complaint on any seats I have redone yet. I had to do this on the Fiero when I added leather. There are no new seat foam available for it and they have held up fine since I did them 7 years ago.

Glass I would like some advancement in glass like more acoustic dampening for Cadillac. As for the tint they would have to limit it at all times to legal tint or they need to lighten it up when in drive. DOT would never let them sell it if they could do a dark tint well beyond legal or smart on the road. I am also not sure how many would pay $3000K for glass unless it was a whole roof sun roof and even then it would be limited. Upholstery I am good with that. To be honest the new XTS drivers seat is amazing already and if you want to call the leather some trademarked name that is fine but make it something real not something Ricardo Montalbon sounded good saying. NAPA leather is that the kind that is blue and yellow and Michael Waltrip uses in his stock car? Tempurpedic? Why don't you just get a drive numbers seat and you can dial your number up? To be honest I would love to see them offer a wider choice of interior options that you can tailor fit the new LTS line and make it to order. In this line it would add cost to a very expensive car and give an option similar to what Rolls and Ferrari offer to their customer. People in this class are used to waiting for their cars. Of course this would only be on the Ultra model LTS only not the regular line. Lazer/radar detector? Oh you really have no clue how the legal department would laugh anyone out on this one at GM. There is no way GM would add anything like this to a car that would one endorse speeding and two is not legal in Canada and several states like Virginia etc. Also the Insurance companies would rebel and add to the cost of the insurance. GM already does a dance with the 600 HP Corvette that they can claim is for street use but the power should only be used off road in closed course condition. Part of one is fine with qualifications, the second one is fine and number three is just not going to happen. LOL!

I like the concept of this car but there are issues. The car has the Hyundai issue of you get what you pay for even with the price creeping up on this one The idea of a sporty trendy hatch is great and GM should have had one of these a while ago in the Opel The issues with this car is the odd 3 doors. The low HP for this class vs. others. The added required maintenance that is not needed like timing belts and such. It is a good vehicle but not great and there are much better to choose from. Also who ever put the flat clear option on this car needs their head examined.. It is bad enough on a BMW or the new CTSV but they can afford to deal with it. These cars are often owned by people who live in apartments or condo's and do not always have inside parking let along anywhere to care for it. I imagine most of them will need paint work in the near future.

If someone is really wanting a Diesel I do not see where they will bulk at the standard leather seats. You would be surprised as how little it would lower the sticker if they removed them. Chevy in all Cruze models has offered extra items at a slight increase in cost to make the cars more of a value and appealing and so far the sales have been positive. There were those in GM that even with good sales were pressing top discontent the cars in the old GM way. Lutz points this out in his book. If you skip the car because of the leather you really did not want it that bad anyways. Sales on this car is only going to be a small percentage of sales and the lack of a manual and the addition of leather will account for the loss of less than 1 percent of all Cruze sales if even that many. Now if they were pushing numbers like in Europe then that would be another story. The next topic on this car now that it is on the market will be how to get Americans to change their mind on Diesel cars. This segment is just like Electric cars and has to be grown as the call for diesels is about as great as it is for manual tannys outside of sports cars.

First more people want leather than Diesel so I really see this as a hollow complaint. The fact is most Americans are just no in love with Diesels at this time and GM has a big job to sell them on why they need them. This is not a lets build them and they will come deal. As for the price we all knew going in they would not be cheaper Lutz warned of that years ago. The V8 and V6 are fine for now but GM has to do some major changes to the 1/2 ton line in the next 10 years. This is why I suspect the new Colorado and Ford Ranger may play a part of the NA market. They are not close to full size just by chance is my feeling. Could they be the first down size of the 1/2 ton truck testing the waters for how people react to them? I think if things go well for Chevy the Ranger may just arrive too in short order. The MFG are very afraid of what will be come of the 1/2 ton high profit segment. The heavy trucks are less affected and I suspect we may see the full size truck gain a light 3/4 ton? The Ford Taurus he spec'd out was the near equal to a LTZ. These are not the meat of the segment. GM has already stated the LT 1-2 will make up most of the sales and they will be nicely optioned and much cheaper in the mid $30K range. This is going to be like the 60's and early 70's where not everyone bought the Caprice and most bought the Impala. The LTZ is just a modern Caprice. Maybe they should have named it such for anyone who remembers or cares.

You can not compare 1980's to today anymore than you would compare a X body to the new Impala. The GM turbo 4 cylinders have been out since 2008 and have been no more an issue than any other engine. Things like better bearings in the turbo and water cooling have solved most of the turbo issues. As for the engine the 3.8 and 2.0 of the 80's are paper weights compared to how they are built today. With only a change in rods and pistons you can build a reliable daily driver with the present 2.0 Turbo up to 500 Hp. You really need to read up and catch up on what all todays turbo engines have and use that keep them alive. Hell my daily driver will do 23 PSI of boost with no issue and retains it's 100,000 mile warranty. I have seen many of these engines already well over 100,000 trouble free miles.

True GM should offer a Diesel but they alone will not save them. At this point most MFG other than Honda will resort to all sorts of things to solved this dilemma. Now you know why many Auto leaders get so little sleep of late.

Cadillac, Opel and now Buick are using Haldex sustems. I am sure they will continue to improve this or replace it with a better one. Haldex is world class is used by many of the best cars in including Audi.

Err.... Right. Problem is Chevy is not German or VW. Besides 30% is far too few. Where is the other MPG going to come from? Is GM and the other going to higher Penn and Teller?

GM has a pretty good handle on the torque steer. Also since GM closed down the GM Performance division they have put these good people to work on the new platforms from the start vs. just tuning a single performance version. This is one of the greatest moves GM has done. That is why the regular non performance cars are so well tuned and when the performance version like the CTS V and ATS V it will only get better. Hell my HHR SS was tuned by them and I can drive circles around most cars on some of the bumpiest roads. No more of this GM performance tuning where it has to be a dead smooth surface to get great performance. GM can tune a car with any of the best in the world now. That includes this car. It also shows in the Impala too.

Not remarkable just that will be the average by then. Some how the market has to change to love those by then. Today GM only expect 10% of the Cruze to be Diesel. They better find a lot of love in the next 10 years LOL!

The fact is Ford too GM's lunch money with their small work van. I don't even think Ford expected the large response they got. GM was more than 48 months from having anything ready and could not wait. Point two is importing a van would have been a major issue. Ford has been importing theirs from Turkey. Yes Turkey. To avoid the tariff Ford imports them with a rear seat and window hence it is a passenger vehicle. Once here they remove the seat and the windows in needed and turn it into a work vehicle. Yes it is cheaper to trash or recycle the seat and glass than pay the tariff. I am sure GM is working on this vehicle but they could not wait any longer nor could they pull people from other projects as important that still need done. I hate to see GM do something like this as to me it is a sign of weakness in the public eye but on the other hand they can not afford to have a stake in this segment that is exploding. Not only was a tariff an issue but was the Opel good for the US regulations or how much investment would it had required and would that money and time spent be better spent on the new platform tailored for this segment. Orlando was too small and too light to match the Ford. It would have been at a great disadvantage. The bottom line the Transit was turning into the next Econoline van that dominated for way too long.

This is nothing new as GM stated a while back they intended to lower Cadillac volume while increasing the price and profit. Porsche did the same thing. Back in the 80's Porsche relied on high volume 924-924 and cheaper 911 models and tried to go the high volume route. They learned it hurt their image and made it where just about anyone could afford a Porsche. They cut back and increased the price and added quality models to the 911. They then did offer a lower priced Boxster but while lower priced than the more expensive 911 it is still not a car just anyone could buy. The time is now to enhance Cadillac's image to the point where if you own one it is because you have the money. The days of just anyone owning a Cadillac will go by the way side. Now with Cadillac moving up it will give future Buicks to better address the lower end BMW and Audi models. Cadillac does not have to have a model for every niche like they do and GM can leverage the Buick up to better address these lines. This will also give Chevy more room to move in the $30K -40K range.

Of the models you state if ordered with a V8 you do not get much car. Like I said in the next 10 years there will be changes we have not seen in the auto industry for year. GM has told their people to shut up on the new CAFE but there are many who still feel as Lutz and others who still speak out on it. Right now F has no plan that will meet the standard. They are still looking for ways to meet it with out having to buy credits. I have seen enough quotes from GM people before they were told to stand down to know where their concerns are. The other issue is how to meet these levels and still offer cars that people will want, can afford and will not be a pile of junk when the hybrid system fails. No matter if you agree or not the future will hold a lot of change and it will be interesting to see how they MFG deal with it. 52 MPG is something that will be difficult to meet unless the have some technology they have not shown us yet.

I totally agree on the repeal but it is not going to happen. The alternative is higher gas tax but there is no one willing to support it in elected office. Nor have any admin in the last 20 years even approached a real energy program. V8 is still relevant in some models but today we do have viable alturnatives now we never had in the past. As time goes on the weight will drop in cars but two issues will happen. The cars will get smaller as this is the cheapest way to make them lighter. We will see larger cars drop weight but it will add much more cost to cars that are already over priced. Like I said the next 10 years will change cars more than we have seen in 50 years, As for the Impala and price. I have been in it and know what the LTZ is like. To be honest none of these cars are worth $40K but of all in this group the Impala is one of the nicest. It has a lot of room and has the materials in side you have never seen in a Chevy before. It has returned to the formula of years ago of the Caprice with Cadillac like feel but for $15K less. Chevy understands that the LTZ is only a small part of this line up and will offer the LT1-2 for a much lower price in the $30K range and it will do well with the majority being this model. Years ago the Impala was the less common model and the Impala was the more common one and this is what they have returned too. The real key now is to move the Lacrosse up as it is now not the better of the two cars outside some options not available on the Chevy. The Chevy got all the things learned on the XTS that they could incorporate that the aging Buick lacks. I expect the Lacrosse will be replaced in a couple years.

GM didn't build the X-cars because of CAFE, they built the X-cars because people started buying Civics, Corollas, and Datsun 210s. GM's panic was in response to people (The Market) moving towards these small foreign imports on their own. Fuel Economy was foremost on everyone's mind at the time... CAFE was a symptom, not a cause. Chrysler got into their bad spot because THE MARKET stopped buying their huge gas guzzling cars, they Chrysler didn't downsize their vehicles quick enough to meet the demands of the market... CAFE had nothing to do with it. Blaming CAFE for what cars are today is a distraction. Yes the government rules are cumbersome, but the market is a far stronger force on the automotive landscape. If you're a mid-30-something with $30k to spend on a car, chances are you're buying a 4-cylinder FWD sedan rather than a Camaro SS. It's not some conspiracy... it's just where the market is. I was around at the time of the X body intro and at that time GM was looking for MPG. You are correct to part of it being due to the Honda and Toyota invasion. But the fact was GM could not meet the standards set by the government. The fact is GM was looking to eliminate the V8 in the late 70's and early 80's as they did not think they could meet the CAFE with the engine they had. This lead to cars like the Camaro and TA getting a 305 Chevy V8 and even the Vette people testing a two engine V6 Citation as they were told they had to look for ways to live with out the V8. Now you know as well as I do the V8 was still very popular and cooler heads at GM recognized this and finally looked for ways to improve the MPG in the V8 as much as they could to meet the CAFE. While areas like on the coast and other areas may have fallen in love with the 4 cylinder smaller cars the middle of the country continued to buy V8 trucks and SUV's because they did not want the smaller cars and smaller engines. Yes you are correct the market shifted but they bought trucks and SUVs in more cases vs. the 4 cylinder cars. Today most people buy 4 cylinders for two main reasons. One it is mostly all that is offered if they like it or not but also in many cases it is all they can afford to buy under $30K. You should run for office as you are much like many in office now that claim a little truth for credibility and go off without fully disclosing the facts. Just to ask a question. What 30 something that can afford a $30K car has much choice other than a 4 cylinder and a rare V6? It is not what the market demands as much as what little choice the menu offers here.