What does GM have to go toe to toe with this??

Wanna know why GM is hurting? Because they have no styling. GM doesnt even have anything to go toe to toe with this car in styling or performance. C'mon GM lets get rolling. A Nissan Altima...yes a Nissan Altima and GM cant even beat this in style or performance. 270 HP out of a 3.5 L compared to GMs 3.9 struggling to put out 250hp.

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Reply to
Johnny Cakes
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Styling is in the eye of the beholder. I don't care much for that Nissan at all. Exterior is boring, and the interior isn't all that great either. When I get in my '96 (yes, a 1996) Bonnie, it feels like I am in the cockpit of a fighter jet. It will also go like a bat out of hell.

You like performance? Take a look at the GTO, the Grand Prix or the (no longer made) Bonnie's. Damned fine looking cars, and they will move with the best of them. But, like I said, styling is personal preference. Some people can look at a Ferrari and vomit, while others will look at a Yugo and think it's as good as gold.

Reply to
80 Knight

Perhaps you might want to compare the torque rating for both. The Japanese have a tendency to spin their engine rather wildly to obtain HP fro advertising purposes. In doing so the torque drops off. I is torque that gets you going a keeps you going on grades. That is why most Japanese cars are the first cars to die on hills. The Camrys one sees on the road are slugs. The reason is, eight our of ten sold in the US have only 4 cy engine..

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

"Mike Hunter" proves yet again that he has never actually driven a Camry... I'd far rather have a 4 cyl Camry (with available 5-speed no less!) than the sluggish, automatic-only 3.4 V-6 Impala.... yes I have been in both and the Camry is a better car in every respect.

nate

Mike Hunter wrote:

Reply to
N8N

No offence Nate, but I have a couple of relatives who own Impala's, and they love them. One has the 3.4 (a 2003, if memory serves), and one the 3.8 (a

2000 with high KM's, if memory serves). Neither has complained about any mechanical problems, and the one who owns the 3.4 version is a GM mechanic at a dealership. We also use the Impala's with the 3.8 down here as Police cars, not to mention building them at our local GM (Oshawa) plant. Maybe you just happened to get a lemon? As for the cars themselves, I have driven the 3.4 Impala, and it seemed to move quite well. Not as well as the 3.8, but that is to be expected.
Reply to
80 Knight

Obviously you are entitled to you own opinion but apparently you do not live in a mountainous part of the county if you really believe that ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Copying the japanese car styling is a big mistake because most of them are hideous. This altima rates a 7 on a scale of 10, but is one of the rare exceptions.

The current toyota camry is just as ugly as the Aztec, a one on a scale of

  1. The honda ridgeline is uglier than the aztec, a zero. (Please don't park that thing where I can see it). The honda civic is a 3 and I don't see many of them on the streets. The hot selling toyota corolla is only a 4 to me. The japanese are revising their jelly bean styling by adding lumps. The headlights on their minivans and many cars are frog like.

Most GM cars have only managed to get up to the 5 mark The cobalt / pursuit is a 6. The G6 is a 4 as are the expensive buicks. The cadillacs are 3's. By comparison, my boring jelly-bean 97 cavalier is a 4. The new mustang is an 8, the only one I can think of that is outrageously expensive. The chrysler sebring was a 7 but they revised it to a 5 by making it look like a saturn. All of chryslers other cars are starting to look like trucks and SUV's. The SUV is dead dead dead. They have never done anything at all for me and they are churning them out, all looking alike.

Car makers have to stop using the color gray. No more grey interiors. A grey car looks like they didn't bother to paint it. GM has very few nice colors, all of them are greys, silvers, sands, dark muddy colors. I guess the color really doesn't matter if the car is a 3 or a 4 anyway.

Just a few of my unsolicited opinions.

Reply to
Denis Roy

Strange, the ad campaign for the solstice seems to showcase the different colors, all bright and primary that they paint it. Of course a troll sees in black and white so they don't notice the colors.

Reply to
john graesser

Now that you mention it, the solstice and saturn sky are beautiful cars.

8's and 9's all the way. Too bad it's only a two seater, impractical. Go out and have fun with it, but go home to switch to another car when it's time to get groceries.

Transfer similar styling to the grand prix or the G6 and they wouldn't be able to make em fast enough to keep up with the sales. People would actually get excited about them.

Reply to
Denis Roy

well my G6 convertible looks almost the same as the Nissan. How much does their altima convertible cost? but I do agree GM needs to do something like build a car that doesn't look japanese or is it the japs build cars that look like american?

Reply to
Les Benn

You call that styling? It kills me the way people cry about GM styling and compare it to Japanese styling as if those bland lines on the imports are something special. Man - there is nothing appealing about the styling of that Nissan.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Spinning a lighter engine at higher RPM to make it's power only when needed is an engineering decision. Lighter engine means the whole vehicle can be lighter giving better performance and handling. Losing some torque and having to adjust driving style to increase efficiency isn't unreasonable. I'd prefer a Huyabusa to a Harley anytime. Sorry, not that into auto engines anymore. Torque has real world advantages but HP is still HP. Might just be the mindset of someone who'd buy a Camry. How many sportbikes do you pass going up a hill. They have really small engines.

Reply to
Captain Midnight

Albeit running at 10 RPMs or more ;)

Running a too small 4 cy at 3,500 RPM, a point past is top torque rating, to maintain 65 MPH is not efficient. Running a larger engine at 2,000, well below its top torque rating, to maintain 65 MPH in top gear is much more efficient. More importantly, having 2,000 RPM of torque left, if one needs to get out of the way of something, is much better position to find one self..

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Maybe I am spoiled (by what? my 20 year old German cars?) but my '05 with a 3.4 is a loud, coarse, unrefined slug. I sound like I'm racing just driving around, it has to drop two gears to get anything resembling acceleration.

Compare and contrast with a 4-cylinder Camry and the Camry wins, hands down, plus it is so much less frustrating to have a manual transmission than a badly programmed automatic (OK, well, maybe not BADLY programmed, but programmed with fuel economy numbers as its ONLY priority)

nate

80 Knight wrote:
Reply to
Nate Nagel

Geez, you just like proving yourself a complete moron, don't you. Why don't you take your drivel to alt.self-important.blowhards.bullshit.bullshit.bullshit - I can't even bother to argue with your post below because it doesn't even make enough sense that I can figure out what the f*ck you were trying to say.

In any case, I can tell you that high RPMs and high efficiencies are not mutually exclusive - I've logged many miles at >3000 RPMs in some of my old VWs and still got consistent 30 MPG tankfuls.

nate

Mike Hunter wrote:

Reply to
N8N

Don't get me wrong I am not crazy about the Altima styling though they are on the right track compared to previous models...yet it still looks better than anything that GM is offering currently in that class. The sad truth is that GM styling sucks. If GM had stayed with the original prototype G6 styling they would have one heck of a nice looking car but they strayed from the original style and ended up with mediocrity.

Reply to
Johnny Cakes

performance.

Reply to
Johnny Cakes

I drove a 2002 or 3 grandam GT with the 3.4 and the car kicked ass when yiu stepped into it. I actually enjoyed flooring it when I was alone on an empty stretch of road. So I definatly would not call it a slug.

Reply to
Johnny Cakes

Hyabusas are fine if you want to race, but if you want to cruise and have the torque to easily pull away from most cars I prefer Harleys. Not only that you pull much cuter woman on a Harley...its a proven fact women love men who ride Harleys.

Reply to
Johnny Cakes

OK lets go back further...a 67 GTO is 9, a 69 Chevelle is a 9, a 69 Mustang Mach 1 is a 10! A 69 Dodge Charger is a 10. Today styling is all but dead. If its got 4 wheels and a funny name tag it will sell.

Reply to
Johnny Cakes

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