Big News From Buick

In reply to Mitchell:

No, that price is too high!!!

The 4 door puts that firmly on my radar for a work car replacement, if I can afford it.

Two doors would make it another Mustang for me, so much awesome, but next to useless for my work.

I'd be ecstatic with 3200lbs and $30k price tag to be honest for the base car.

Notwithstanding Buick's 'plans' (the article seems more like Edmunds' speculation to me), it will be interesting to see just what kind of shape GM is in come 2014. They've been quite literally going out of business for the last 35 years. Deemed too big to fail, we all got to buy a piece of them via the $70 billion bailout. And yet they continue to struggle just as they did before. Largely because the problem that has existed all along continues to exist. People like other cars better. GM still can't build a small car that folks want, much less a competitive mid-size sedan. With 54.5 mpg CAFE targets looming the truck/SUV segment looks weaker than ever. And Opel/Europe is a total disaster. Get ready for another Obama-bailout.

Whether or not to build a relatively low-volume car like the "GNX" should be the least of their worries. Which means - they're probably putting everything they have into it.

As the world turns....

I do not know what part of the world you are in Michael.. but I see a LOT of new GMs on the road daily. Having pared down their lineup, they have done a good job of making themselves more efficent and I see them only going up from here

MichaelYount wrote: Notwithstanding Buick's 'plans' (the article seems more like Edmunds' speculation to me), it will be interesting to see just what kind of shape GM is in come 2014. They've been quite literally going out of business for the last 35 years. Deemed too big to fail, we all got to buy a piece of them via the $70 billion bailout. And yet they continue to struggle just as they did before. Largely because the problem that has existed all along continues to exist. People like other cars better. GM still can't build a small car that folks want, much less a competitive mid-size sedan. With 54.5 mpg CAFE targets looming the truck/SUV segment looks weaker than ever. And Opel/Europe is a total disaster. Get ready for another Obama-bailout. Whether or not to build a relatively low-volume car like the "GNX" should be the least of their worries. Which means - they're probably putting everything they have into it. As the world turns....

Ex-squeeze me? Baking Powder?

People here have given the Cruze many accolades, especially when its got a boosted mill and a 6 speed manual gear selector. I did a relatively in depth armchair quarterback comparison between the Sonic and a few small imports of the same class...buck per buck, the sonic was almost always the best value (depending on your measure of utility I suppose). Europe is bad for all car makers, so that point is invalid. As far as a competitive midsize sedan - Cadillac ATS/Regal GS/ Malibu Eco come to mind - all are VERY well liked by the press and the public, at prices that are very competitive with other cars in their segment. And I will stop you before you even remember to mention how youre supposed to hate the Volt...many sources, including the magazine who pays for this forum, have lauded the Volt as a VERY practical car, which is misunderstood in the hybrid landscape painted by the Prius, and bashed with flat out false information spread by conservative media...its not the same platform as youre typical electric-assisted hybrid, and isnt meant to be used as such - its VERY economical if youre actually in its market (city driving, short commute etc), so lets not start the Volt Bashing.

Lastly, Id like to thank you, on behalf of most of the posters here, for taking the opportunity to bring politics into a non-political thread...Floundering is the ultimate form of flattery...

I loved my Cobalt, it is half the car my Cruze is. Both cars were bought as "Need" vehicles as in "I Need a car for $X.00, what do you have?" I would have bought a Mustang or Hyundai or a Hudson Terraplain if it was priced correctly.

I work at a GM dealership, I see all the "Old guard" GM time wasters, Yukons, Escalades, Sierras and that horrid SUV they spat out of Lansing... but every day joy in life is renewed as I slip behind the wheel of the Verano, Regal, Lacrosse, ATS, CTS... I even like the XTS but SHHH don't tell any one... I am happy to see that they are actually building viable products, I just wish they would start to see the value in product research and platform flexibility better. Look at Chevrolets current sub and compact lineup to see what I mean. Spark, Sonic, Cruze, Volt and Malibu... really?

Buick looks intersting.
But I have been more interested in the new, smaller rwd concept car that GM is showing: the Chevy Code 130R.
Same 1.4 motor as the Cruze with more go-parts.

I also like the regular Cruze and we are considering buying one to replace our '08 Accord at some point.

Code 130R

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

The Sonic looks good on paper. Doesn't drive that great unfortunately. The Cruze on the other hand certainly is impressive. Honestly if I was buying a compact or bigger car it would be from one of the domestics. IMHO the only category that I have found that the domestic car makers kinda fall down is in the subcompact class. The Sonic, Spark and Fiesta (although less so with that one and especially with the ST coming out) just aren't as good as some of the imports at least in my opinion and I have test drove a lot of them.

In reply to 93EXCivic:

Fair enough, I was certain that actual driving comparos would differ from what I was able to pull off the different companies websites...but my point is that GM is not farting around anymore, resting on their reputation and "buy 'merkun" UAW bumper stickers...Theyre actively changing their product lineup and producing vehicles with attributes the public could find appealing. GMs updated wares are at least comparable to imports (and often superior to, subcompacts apparently not withstanding ), which was not something you could say for most of the 80s and 90s...

I am all for a Poor Man's CTS-V. Although $30K is not exactly for the poor. How about that Cruise SS?

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

Troof especially at Caddy and Buick. I think GM's number 1 problem is the Malibu and Impala just don't really stack up and I feel like both don't stack up against Ford or the imports and considering family sedans are fairly big sellers that hurts them a lot. Maybe the new Impala will help. The lack of decent subcompacts probably doesn't hurt them that much cause subcompacts aren't exactly huge sellers.

Have you driven a Malibu lately?

Zomby Woof wrote: Have you driven a Malibu lately?

To be honest, no but the reviews haven't been favorable that I have read. Are they good? I know the Impala kinda sucks.

They need to build that Code 130R to compete with the Toyobaru. But they need to build it the way it's meant to be built!

My biggest problem with GM is that they always have amazingly awesome ideas and concept cars, and then by the time they make it through all the bean counter BS and to market, it's a shell of what it started as. Then, when they don't sell, they pull back from the performance market and say that no one wants cars like that.

Perfect example: in the late 90's/early 2000's, Pontiac had a concept car called the Grand Am SC/T.

They took a Grand Am GT, bolted a supercharger onto the 3.4 V6, swapped in a MANUAL transmission (wowzers!) and gave it an aggressive body kit that looked good to my 18 year old eyes back then. It was featured in Motor Trend, and they loved it. I wanted one BAD.

http://www.motortrend.com/future/concept_cars/112_0002_pontiac_grand_am_sct/viewall.html

So, after all that, what made it to production? The HOOD. That's it.

I think this is GM's (well, Chevy) biggest problem right now. I absolutely hate this thing. It looks cheap to me, and on most of their vehicles is way too big. Older bowties were fine, but this one will actually stop me from buying a Chevy, although while I didn't buy a Chevy truck because of it, I did buy a GMC. I do think their vehicles are improving, but so are most everyone elses. But you don't recover from a poor quality reputation overnight. It takes time.

Love the big gold bowtie on my Colorado.

93EXCivic wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: Have you driven a Malibu lately?

To be honest, no but the reviews haven't been favorable that I have read. Are they good? I know the Impala kinda sucks.

I guess you didn't read the GRM review?

the 130r looks good. I hope it makes it to production.

Javelin wrote: GNX's do not have V8's. Idiots!

LOL. When I had my 89 Turbo TA people would ask if it was a V8. When I told them V6 they would shrug, little did they know.

They still make Buicks?

I even like the XTS but SHHH don't tell any one..

Dont be shy, thats a damn good cadillac! I recently checked out the ATS, CTS, and XTS...

And the two new cars make the current cts seem OLD, behind the times.

But i REALLY dont like the buttonless haptic center console crap. Worst part of both cars.. my .02