Blake Noble

My insurance runs $107 dollars per month. That is about $77 dollars too much in my opinion.

My friend and I devised a similar scheme where we would get a loan, buy a small fleet of beater Tacomas affected by the recall and would require the extremes Toyota had put into place, then sell all of the trucks back to Toyota, gaining enough money to pay off the loan and making a nice profit in the process. It is tempting.

Just because the car is registered to Holden does not mean it is an actual Holden vehicle.

Fixed. I also hope that GM will infuse the NG GM compact pickup with some real quality. Quality that has been absent from the S-Series pickups and the GMT-355 trucks. My truck might be good on gas and tough as a bucket of nails, but it lacks when it comes to quality. It feels painfully cheap in places.

I know that pain personally. I had to deal with it when I totaled my S-10. It might pay for any property damage that you are at fault for, which in your case there wasn't any, but when it comes to your own personal vehicle, you are SOL. But what can you do when money is tight? Full-coverage is quite expensive. f@#king insurance companies. What a pack of thieves.

I have now seen the face of Satan.

"I-E-A-I-A-I-O" - System of a Down

Perhaps I will dig up that issue of Car I have and take a refresher course regarding that regulation.

I think that, given the cloud of uncertainly cast upon Zeta, some of us are perhaps overtaxing our expectations of the Alpha platform. I am not exempt from that as I would like to see GM offer myself, and other buyers, a rear-drive car to my liking, which is why I am making my expectations of Alpha perhaps greater than they should be. I think it is time I scale back my expectations. But it is always fun to consider the "What ifs?" But, you know, I also will not disregard a rear-drive car smaller than a Zeta G8 anymore until I have tried it first hand. I would rather not be so closed-minded anymore (minds only function when open, am I correct?). I have come to the realization a while back that a vehicle similar in thought and concept to the old T-Body Vauxhall Chevette HS would be quite fun as a daily runabout, as a companion car in my driveway to my other larger purchases. But after experiencing a G8 myself recently, I have to say I have grown fonder of that car's interior space and the concepts Zeta presents. Not more than a few yards away from the G8 I looked at, there was a BMW 5-Series for sale and I found myself asking "Why?" The G8 is really that good. But I suppose that I will not be totally turned-off by Alpha with its slightly smaller dimensions but similar concepts either, given what I have heard about it. And the Camaro going to that platform is just icing on the cake.

Watching and reading that makes me very contemplative about my own plans for the future. And I am the type of person who always strives to make his future the most he can make it to be. It is my opinion that all people should make some positive contribution within their lifetime, no matter how big or how small. The size of any positive contribution within one's lifetime does not matter, as even the very smallest one can make a big impact.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say. I find that there are some pleasantly designed trucks and SUVs out there. Did you though, by the way, perhaps try to look at an SUV or pickup sold in the United States besides the Toyota Tundra? j/k I have an issue of Car magazine which had an article within it concerning the new legislation. I found it to be an interesting piece of journalism and my interest is piqued in watching how designers, and the engineers alongside them, will work around this government regulation like the old five-mph bumpers that were a mandatory requirement here in the United States decades ago. It all boils down to how more tightly conformed/compacted Europe is when compared to the United States. Because European countries are not of a vast expanse like the United States is, some people opt to walk to work or to shopping and live within a short distance to do so.

"Eulogy" - Tool

Well, let me ask another question then: For how many people will that five-thousand dollar price difference keep them away from considering the larger, better-quality alternative, especially if they can afford such a difference? The GMT-355s are not a class-leading product and there are better options available from the likes of Nissan and Dodge/Mitsubishi. I know that I would not trade in my 1998 Sonoma for a 2008 Canyon. Mark my words, GM will be left holding the bag with the GMT-355 trucks if they are not replaced soon. There is very little incentive to buy one of those trucks over the competition's offerings (save for maybe the Ford Ranger).

You know, I had honestly forgotten about Zeta supporting vehicles like a GMC Denali XT or an SUV/Crossover variant of that design (and such a vehicle has indeed been rumored in the past) for a moment there. And, indeed, Zeta does seem to be the ideal platform for such vehicles.

GM should produce a high-quality, very well designed compact pickup that is a return to the formula followed by both generations of the S-Series pickup: tough as nails and dependable no matter if you have a two-wheel drive example or a four-wheel drive example, easily personalized, good handling for a small truck, and good fuel economy. Manual transmissions are a must, and a good four-cylinder engine should be prioritized this time around, one with very good low end grunt and torque that is readily available. Granted, no generation of S-Series truck had an interior that you could write home about and were rough in places (squeaks and rattles were aplenty, about three notches above a British Leyland product). There is no excuse for the GMT-355 trucks. They were maybe class-leading for a little under a year before other new pickups were introduced after them, and then they were easily surpassed in design and quality, and looked like a big joke. For the price of a well-equipped Canyon Z71, you could also buy a larger Sierra with a V8 that was almost just as well-equipped. If GM has a MCE planned for GMT-355, all work for it should be brought to a halt, and the remaining money invested into bringing the NG GM compact pickup to market much sooner. When the market shifts to small trucks again, GM will find itself holding the bag if it continues to offer the GMT-355 trucks.

The electric future sounds like such a wonderful thing, but it fails to really excite me.

You know that I would honestly hate to see Zeta go. With some weight-saving measures, the platform still could be a viable architecture for another round of rear-drive GM sedans and coupes. But if Alpha could be flexible enough to build a car with almost Zeta-like interior space, but with a smaller "footprint," well ... The G8 is also proof that such a car can be made -- a car that is big on interior space but down on footprint. And the EP II cars come in two different wheelbases, so why couldn't Alpha (one size for G6-sized vehicles, one size for something closer in size to the G8)? And given what we know about Alpha, the Camaro going to that platform is a move I can back with unwaivering support. It also means I can buy another GM product after the F5 Camaro.

The closest E85 station to me, the last time I checked, would be located in Lexington and it is for the sole use of The University of Kentucky only.

I am sorry to hear about this stroke of misfortune, Dodgefan. I hope that things will work out and get better for you.

No apologies, FOG. I know personally how one can get caught up in one's self concerning something they are enthusiastic about.

This is very good news!

Hard to keep clean? Try white then. :AH-HA_wink:

macaroni

BV, check your PMs and see what you think of my suggestions. :AH-HA_wink:

I had heard about this horror returning home this evening from a family visit, over the radio on CNN news. That is utterly and appallingly disgusting. I hope that the monster that has done this to his once innocent daughter receives the ultimate punishment for his crimes. Since he has denied another individual life, it is justice that his own life be denied by the authorities.