It was confirmed exclusively to the Detroit News by Toms Stephens, General Motors vice chairman of global design, that the Regal GS concept has been green lighted for production. It will most likely come with a 2.0 liter turbo charged 4 cylinder putting out 255 hp and 295 lb-ft to all four wheels through the torque vectoring all wheel drive system by Haldex. Thankfully we will probably get to manage that power with a proper six speed manual. Sadly there is the possibility that the concept’s awesome Recaro seats will not make it to production. Timing and volume were not given, though I would be bet we will see the GS sometime mid to late next year.
“Buick kind of lost its way. We built big, floaty, quiet cars — what our customers wanted at the time. The GS would be the next step, more performance-based,” Buick spokeswoman Dayna Hart said.
You know what they say about Craigslist: you can find almost anything. What is a car guy to do when he needs to grill up some steak or maybe a few burgers? Well, walk over and fire up his trusty Chevy 350, of course! I am not sure if what you are looking at is a one of a kind but I have certainly never seen one before. Listed locally in a suburb of Minneapolis on Craigslist, this grill is for the car guy in all of us. Now who wants to give me $700?
So this lonely police Dodge Charger is having an identity crisis. This is obviously equipped with the Hemi V8 based on the dual exhaust. Though the Honda V6 badge and the Ford flex fuel badges are a bit misleading. That and the Hybrid badge makes no sense seeing as there is no such thing as a hybrid Dodge Charger. The best part? This vehicle lives in the great state of California, also known as the home of the Toyota Prius.
Toyota paid the hefty fine of $16.4 million today for the delayed recall of the 2.3 million vehicles affected by the gas pedal fiasco. Interesting to note is that this is the largest safety fine in history. While Toyota did pay the fine they denied wrong doing (of course they did). The payment was paid in full via an electronic transfer to the U.S. Treasury. The payment will not go to NHTSA rather it will be going to the general fun that will be used to pay off debt. One has to wonder if this saga is over or if it is just the closing of the chapter.
Episode 26 starts with introducing this weeks guests Mirko Reinhardt and Nick Fay. Moving into the garage we talk about both the EVOMS Porsche 997.2 TT and 2010 Dodge Charger SRT8 I was in for the past weeks along with the Porsche Boxster Nick drove. Last but not least we discuss the Tesla Roadster Sport I drove. We then move along to the major news of the week segment. This week included-
Next came our main topic which we have a discussion about the differences between American driving and European driving and the overall differences in car culture.
Once again it is Monday and that means the one and only semi famous Michelle Naranjo, aka Miss Motor Mouth, as she hosts her new show “Open Line.” Everyone from automotive celebrities such as Jack Baruth to the “wishing they were famous but only really in their heads” Craig Cole made appearances last week at some point. These are just some of the personalities that crawl out and join the chat but I assure you many more call in.
“Open Line” is our new free-for-all chat show where anyone can call in and be part of the show. What’s the agenda? It’s up to the audience. They can call in to our open phone line, jump in the chat or just listen to the webcast. We don’t record the show, so you have to be there Live to be part of the fun.
Some topics that may come up tonight-
Fleet sales: How much can the OEMs continue to lose?
Buying/selling on the internet: What happens to dealers? Will they ever go away or do we really want them to disappear?
Best/worst car campaigns ever made
CAFE: does ANYONE have anything positive to say about it?
Hyundai pick up truck: Like a Rice Rocket?
GM profits. Profits?
SAAB 92 vs MINI
Daimler off the the stock exchange: “Ve vill not play by yur rulez!”
UAW Bob King Autoworkers must be rewarded- Ford strike this year is possible?
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Hold on to your hats folks. When I was at the GM Product and Technology event put on last August I saw things. Some things were awesome such as the future Buick Regal, upcoming Chevrolet Camaro convertible and the list goes on. Some were not so awesome, such as the Buick that was quickly dubbed Vuick. See it was essentially a re-badged (and I mean literally a new grille inserted) Saturn Vue.
The Vuick thing caught on quick and GM supposedly decided to kill it a mere few weeks later. In fact they were so proudly announcing how fast they acted based on the negative feedback they were receiving (shocking). Anyways, next to that Vuick on the floor was a upcoming small crossover for Buick. This could possibly be dubbed the Encore. It essentially looked literally like a shrunken down Enclave. This my friends looked good. It was most likely based on the new Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain platform.
Yesterday Chris Baccus was driving in Detroit and spotted this test vehicle. He noted it looked like a Buick grille behind the cladding. This my friends is one of two things. The Vuick being resurrected (dear god no) or the baby Enclave (Encore?) that has been severely changed since I saw it and not for the better. Either way you are looking at something that is not production ready. I am sincerely hoping this is not the Vuick coming back from the dead rather just a test mule. I hope they keep the baby Enclaves styling that I saw last fall.
UPDATE-
Some have mentioned this looks an awful lot like the Chevrolet Captiva not sold in America. I have also just received word from GMInsidenewsthat GM plans to still sell and produce the Vuick but only for China. It will be a youth oriented crossover.
I will be really up front and honest with you. When I received the email telling me a 2010 GMC Acadia was coming my way, my first thought was “I will not like this vehicle.” The main reasoning behind this is because I actually like the current Chevrolet Tahoe (the GMC Yukon is fine but I like the Tahoe styling better) and I could not imagine why I would personally buy this mammoth crossover instead of a Tahoe. Yes, I’m aware the Acadia starts roughly around $5,540 cheaper than the Tahoe, but pricing never entered my thoughts when making this judgment. The more interesting thing was, I had just hopped out of a fully loaded Buick Enclave, which rides on the same platform and shares so many parts with the Acadia. I really enjoyed my time with the Enclave, but it still didn’t sway my opinions about the Acadia. So what happened?
The Acadia’s exterior is striking. The headlights are unique and truly good looking. They really set the front end apart from other crossovers. The hood has nice sculpting in the center with lines running from the front clip into the hood on either side. The side profile is less sculpted, but has a bulge towards the bottom of the doors near the rocker panels. The fenders are somewhat over exaggerated but not overly done. The rear taillights are stylized with two round turret-looking shapes in each housing. The Acadia’s exterior is overall, very sharp especially sitting on the optional twenty inch chrome clad wheels.
The Acadia’s interior does have a few design cues shared with the Chevrolet Traverse, though it is worth noting the Acadia came to market before the Traverse. The center stack and instrument panel are all easy to operate and organized well. At night the gauges and switchgear all light up GMC red and white. I personally find this easy on the eyes late at night. The standard fold-flat third row is easy to operate but as a usable seat, the space back there is really meant for a child. With the third row in seating position, there is still room in the back for bags. The seats while large and flat were most definitely road trip worthy.
Powertrain options in the Acadia are limited to the 3.6 liter V6 featuring direct injection. Power output is 288 hp and 270 lb-ft to either the front or all four wheels. The power is handled by a six speed automatic with manual shift capabilities. I am undecided on this transmissions programming. It could be the particular Acadia I was in, but the transmission seemed lazy to me. Shifts were not quick and crisp. They were delayed and took longer than expected when not pushed hard. In all-wheel-drive mode, as the tester was equipped, the EPA rated the Acadia at 16/23 miles-per-gallon. I saw an average of 16.8 mpg in the city and 19.9 mpg cruising at 75 miles-per-hour on the highway. It is worth noting I averaged 22.8 mpg when cruising at 65 mph.
Rear End With Third Row Seat Up
The Acadia was optioned as a SLT-2 model with a sticker price of $42,185. The test model also included the following options: technology package, touch screen navigation with rear view camera, rear seat entertainment, power sunroof with second row skylight, heated and cooled front seats with perforated leather surfaces, and red jewel tintcoat. The total price swelled to $49,740 after destination and the plethora of options! That’s a lot of money for a non-premium CUV.
A few things that stood out to me while I was in the Acadia: first, was the heads up display. I like how GMC decided to include this feature with the technology package. Second, the cooled seats in this Acadia were some of the best I have encountered to date. They seats cooled very quickly and prompted me to pay attention as the seats made my backside chilly. Finally, the iPod/iPhone interface on the optional touch-screen radio worked terrific.
So after driving the Acadia for the week, was it good enough to change my original opinions? I was sure I wasn’t going to like it. My final opinion on the CUV is I kind of like it and I kind of don’t. I definitely was impressed at the end of my test. I liked the Acadia as a vehicle; more than I ever thought I would like it. With that said, I cannot admit the Acadia would be my top pick for $49,740. GMC is deep into luxury territory at that price and in reality, the Buick Enclave has a nicer interior. Looking past GM’s products other vehicles in the same price category as the Acadia include: the Acura MDX, Audi Q7 and many others luxury brand CUVs. For the same price as the Acadia, the Audi Q7 TDI or the Acura MDX might be a better buy in my opinion. The main problem is not the Acadia, but rather GM’s pricing of the Acadia. This vehicle fits in much better at with a $44,000 price ceiling to be truly competitive. The bottom line is, if someone was ready to buy an Acadia and asked me if they should, I would say this: if you like it, it is a good vehicle but if selecting a fully loaded one I might be cautious on purchasing.
Full Disclosure- The review vehicle was provided by General Motors
It was confirmed exclusively to the Detroit News by Toms Stephens, General Motors vice chairman of global design, that the Regal GS concept has been green lighted for production. It will most likely come with a 2.0 liter turbo charged 4 cylinder putting out 255 hp and 295 lb-ft to all four wheels through the torque vectoring all wheel drive system by Haldex. Thankfully we will probably get to manage that power with a proper six speed manual. Sadly there is the possibility that the concept’s awesome Recaro seats will not make it to production. Timing and volume were not given, though I would be bet we will see the GS sometime mid to late next year.
