ACROSS THE POND - Proton Satria Neo 1.6 GSX

Skoda, Lexus diesels, Renault - they've all been noticed by GoodCarBadCar's Across The Pond. Now it's Proton's turn, as the Malaysian automaker turns to the Satria Neo for a little more international attention.



North Americans won't be seeing the Satria in showrooms anytime soon. To set eyes on a Proton would require some serious intercontinental travel. Proton had humble beginnings; its origin dating back to 1983 under a Malaysian Prime Minister's direction. By times, their cars have been badge engineered examples of leftover Mitsubishi's, and success was often assured in the home market because of high import fees and surcharges on better vehicles produced elsewhere.

Proton is the majority owner in British sportscar maker Lotus and was once a major stakeholder in motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta. That Lotus connection brings us to the Satria Neo, the second generation of Proton's small hatchback. Check the badging on a Satria Neo 1.6 GSX and you'll see a quaint nod to the late Colin Chapman's firm: "Handling by LOTUS".
And, as evo reported, the Satria is a bit of a diamond in the rough when it comes to on-road dynamics, despite some other not-so-endearing traits.

"The 1.6 sounds slightly thrashy and feels a little down on the quoted outputs - the result, one suspects, if tge hefty kerb weight of 1170kg. The claimed 0-62mph time of 11.5 seconds feels about right. The gearshift is pretty ordinary, and the brakes don't have the bite you'd really like.

Thankfully, the dynamics lift the experience. Initially it feels like handling has been sacrificed for ride quality; the Satria soaks up a bad road, delivering a smooth, quiet, controlled ride. Tack into a decent turn and, although there's roll, the steering proves remarkably direct and accurate.... Keeping the Satria flowing is key. Grip is OK, but get too enthusiastic on turn-in and fine balance falls into scrubby understeer.... But the tail reacts nicely to a bit of lift-off weight transfer, aiding agility, and can be coaxed into a modest slip."

The 1.6L engine produces 111bhp and is only two down on that figure in the torque department. Brits will pay £9595 for the privilege of owning a Malaysian hatch fine-tuned by a former F1 competitor, but evo does suggest that rivals like the Fiat Panda 100HP and Ford SportKa would serve you better.

Malaysia is risin', ain't no use denyin'.

THE DID-NOT-DRIVES FROM MILFORD

Two vehicles not seen on course at my recent trip to General Motors' Milford Proving Grounds were upcoming Chevrolet vehicles. You'll see the next-gen Malibu before long in your neighbour's driveway (or perhaps your own), the Volt is still a long way off. We can only hope that it'll retain bold styling and become a production reality while GM/Chevrolet is still riding a Volt-size wave of hype.

Whether or not Chevrolet's Malibu is a roaring sales success; we can't know for sure. Here's The Good Car guy's expert analysis: Chevrolet will sell plenty of Malibu's in the next year or two, but unless people feel as though the Malibu is a worthy alternative to Accord & Camry, its sales success will be tempered by high incentives and low resale values. If the Malibu is perceived as an even better vehicle than the Accord and Camry, not only will it sell, but it'll sell at its MSRP. Apart from that, year's two or three thru the end of its life cycle will see a good effort put to waste, aided only by the high-value quotient it will provide.

The Volt is a plug-in hybrid. GM would prefer you to title it more accurately, and so we should, as an electric car with a range extender. That extender is an internal combustion engine which can power-up the battery pack when needed. The Volt may be well be future of automotive technology. The Volt and Malibu are both pictured here inside our lunch room. Odd though the Volt may be, it can't be powered by chicken caesar salad, though the photo may indicate that to be the case.

TopSpeed.com has extensive Volt info here.

Chevrolet's HHR (designed by PT Cruiser stylist Bryan Nesbitt) was shown alongside the proving ground's 'Black Lake' in SS form. Should be a pretty quick people-mover. And, another vehicle we weren't asked to drive is the Chevrolet Express you see in the background. Such disappointment. We were, however, driven in Express/Savana's extensively, to and from the Inn at St. John's as well as at MPG. Pick-up was provided at the airport in a Chevrolet Tahoe (plastered in E85 Ethanol decals) and I was delivered back to the airport Wednesday morning in a similarly liveried Avalanche.

2018 MAZDA 3 SPY SHOTS

Actually, GoodCarBadCar doesn't have any spyshots of the '18 Mazda3, and my guess is that the car won't be called the 3 by that time anyway, nor will it run a 2.3L 4-cylinder engine with a 4 or 5-speed automatic.

It won't be that different, don't worry. The current 3 is one of the most pleasing small cars to drive and the hope is that Mazda won't lose their zoom-zoom.
It's more than a marketing campaign; Mazda really put a lot of effort into making their cars drivercentric.

So what's all this about 2018? Mazda is asking Facebook members to write 150 words describing the 3 of 2018. In fact, a sketch is simply optional. Ten of these cars will become semifinalists, and then Facebookers will narrow it down to five in a round of voting. (I'll be participating.) Fortunately for these five members, they'll work with Mazda designers to perfect their 3 of the future, after which another round of voting takes place.

The winning design will become a full-scale model for debut at the L.A auto show, with the winner getting $1,000 to spend in Los Angeles and a current 3 to drive in SoCal traffic during their time at the auto show.

Search Mazda at Facebook.com and you should see the design challenge, with 530 members and 27 wall posts as I write.

SKID MONSTERS IN A CHEVY TAHOE

One of four exercises in the Advanced Driving Techniques course General Motors offered to us at the Milford Proving Grounds was Skid Monsters. For those of you who drive in snowy climes and participate in snowstorm-parking-lot-endeavours, this skid exercise would not have taken you totally off guard. For others, spins were a common sight.

Spins are fun, though. No harm was done. Warnings were given regarding loose objects in the car - including cameras - because when that spin starts; it continues. And endures. As you can see in the photos, the rear wheels of this old-style Chevrolet Tahoe have been replaced by casters more akin to that on shopping carts.

Speeds were relatively slow, perhaps the pace you'd be traveling on lightly trafficked city streets. As we drove straight at a row of cones, the instructor would eventually call "right" or "left". We were to drive to that side of the row of cones, but not outside the furthermost pylon. Before this turn happened, the instructor had pressed a button on his own controls to 'loosen' the rear 'wheels'. They just spun around and around and around. The goal was to steer the car toward the end target, the centremost route between the two pylons at the end of the track. Looking through the cones as far as your eye can see and constantly aiming for what you see there (a yellow tree or a grey pole or whatever) regardless of which direction your nose is pointed. If your steering reactions were smooth and you kept your eyes on the target, success ensued.

LIVE IN JAPAN? GET YE TO THE NISSAN STORE

Proceed. You may begin placing your Skyline orders now. If you live in Japan and have about 8.35 million yen. Japan's car enthusiasts have Skyline GT-R emotions equivalent to an American's feelings about the Corvette. For the upcoming Nissan supercar, the name is shortened.

Read about the GT-R anticipation here.

GT-R. Three letters and a hyphen that will soon convey 'serious performance'. Japanese brochures have been seen on the internet revealing that the Japanese consumer can choose between three trim levels and six colours.

He or she will have to let Nissan choose the engine; there are no optional upgrades. That'll be rough with a 3.8L twin-turbo producing somewhere around 550 horsepower. There'll be no transmission 'choices' until a regular manual tranny is offered some time after the first production wave. The sequential manual with paddle shifters will have to suffice.

Nissan tops Porsche at The 'Ring.

You can see the ever-aggressive previous-gen Skyline GT-R in the photo above, with a fellow icon from America, the Corvette Z06, generations of the iconic and European Porsche 911 Turbo also pictured.

SATURN SKY VIDEO REVIEW

The voice of The Good Car Guy is revealed (so is his hair) in the embedded YouTube clip found below. A more thorough Driven article on the turbocharged Sky is upcoming, but spending a minute of your personal time will give you a hint of what to expect when the review comes along.

Saturn's Sky is seen parked on the Milford Proving Ground's Black Lake this past Tuesday afternoon during a bloggers event hosted by General Motors at the massive facility outside Detroit. A vast network of roads surrounds this vehicle dynamics centre. Read about other proving grounds here, or check out the other Milford posts in the label below. Feel free to ignore me and replay the part of the clip when the Corvette fires up. Hallelujah.

HYBRID LEXUS SUV & RECALLS & AUDI SUCCESS

Are American consumers falling out of love with Lexus RX400h? Are they singing, "We don't love you like we used to do"? Quite clearly; the RX hybrid doesn't have the same appeal in 2007 that it did in 2006. Measuring sales from January through August reveals that RX400h sales are down 31% from the same period in 2006. While we're degrading automobiles, here's a list of 2007's recall-rich. This here is an area where you wish you weren't seeing so many zeros.

• Volkswagen recalled over 1 million vehicles (New Beetle) because of a malfunctioning brake light switch. Man, that sucks.
• Some ball joints may experience an incidental deterioration of the internal lubrication on some Toyota trucks and minivans. Vehicles such as the Sequioa. Perhaps 533,124 vehicles in total. Yikes.
• 140,582 Nissan Altima's may have ignitable air filters if they were to come in contact with a very hot object. Touch not.
  
• 149,605 Jeep's; 128,300 Hyundai cute-utes; 75,697 Suzuki small cars; 58,800 Volkswagen Passat's; 17,676 Chevrolet Aveo's; 16,309 Nissan Versa's; 10,061 Ford SUV's & 13,032 GM crossovers. Whoa.
• 50,665 Chrysler products have ABS systems which may cause the rear brakes to lock. Yes, on the antilock braking system control module. Eek.

Seeking better news from somewhere, somebody, anybody? Look at Audi. The R8 supercar is sold out for the rest of this year. And next. Audi's American sales are up 11% thanks mainly to the Q7 SUV. The housing market tanks and fuel prices rise, but Audi's midsize sedan, large sedan, and small hatchback all see lowering sales. The Q7 becomes their second best-seller in the States, following only the A4. Whatever. The R8 is wicked-sweet but there's not enough to go around. That led to one R8 (MSRP of approximately $110,000) selling on eBay for $244,000. Applicable use for the word desirability.

YOUTUBE AUTOMOTIVE

Google says that YouTube videos were viewed 9 billion times in July. 382,000,000 of those 9,000,000,000 were automobile related. D'as right - people love to watch cars. So do you, because you are people. And so here's an opportunity: follow this link to a German-language video on YouTube of one very strong man holding back a Lamborghini Murcielago.

Typically, GoodCarBadCar likes to embed the videos so you don't escape from the GCBC Nation, but today you're allowed to leave if you promise to return. The video isn't short, but as per typical YouTube clips; it ain't long either.

This man isn't pulling a Lamborghini, oh no. That's easy. I mean, anybody can do that. Dude is actually restraining the Murcielago, which, with constant high revs from its high-horsepower engine, eventually roasted the clutch.

Murcielago's never possess anything less than 572 horsepower. Once the clutch on the Murci' dies, its predecessor enters the ring. The Diablo forces the man to let go of his hold. But only after much smoking of tires and revolutions of engine.

MERCEDES' IMPROVED QUALITY

Mercedes attack on the niche markets has often been ridiculed, sometimes mocked, sometimes applauded. Sometimes all three at once, even here at GoodCarBadCar. As we near the end of 2007, however, Mercedes-Benz is on a roll. Listen to these quick points; all music to Dr. Z's ears:

• Germany's J.D. Power survey ranked Mercedes quality second only to Honda in problems per 100 vehicles
• Warranty costs are down 45% since 2002.
• Attempts to lower operating costs, beginning in 2004, have saved M-B $8.5 billion.
• Because of better manufacturing techniques, quicker development, better quality, and lower supplier costs, the new C-class has a cost base somewhere between 20 to 30% less than the older version of Mercedes' smallest sedan.

In the wake of their divorce, Mercedes is overcoming a brief lull during which their reputation descended rapidly. Chrysler has not yet begun its ascent back to credibility.

BUICK ENCLAVE - Driven

Search... I mean, search, for another automotive blog where a young import-loving guy posts twice in one afternoon; consecutively; where the titles both feature the name Buick. Email goodcarbadcar@gmail.com if, not when; you find one.



And we ain't joking around. Nor does the joke start at the next sentence. The Enclave is good. I apologize to and for those who can't submit to this fact. Don't believe for one minute that The Good Car Guy would ever buy a Buick Enclave. I started writing about cars when the smart fortwo hit Canada. Polar opposites; the smart and Enclave? Not quite, but pretty close.

I wouldn't be skipping the Enclave, however. I'd be skipping the whole class of vehicles. Large, upscale crossovers aren't my thing and the absence of children in our life doesn't seem to bode well for Buick salespeople who want an Enclave parked outside my door. I don't need it, I don't want it.

But I know the Enclave is good. A fellow blogger at GM's Milford Proving Grounds just two days ago told me that he enjoyed driving the Saab 9-7X Aero a whole lot more, but the 9-7X Aero seemed pointless. And although he'd never have previously considered a Buick, this Wired Magazine correspondent's father just bought an Enclave. Hmm? How's that end up happening later in life?

The Enclave will never handle like that Swedish-American muscle SUV (did I already say pointless?) but it shouldn't and won't. The Enclave should possess true Buick characteristics and have a strong sense of desirability and some urban chicness. Nope, I'm not in the market for an upscale utility crossover, but I do know what a Buick needs to be and represent if I am ever to be tempted by any sort of Buick.

When I broke two wrists at once, the doctor asked me which news I wanted first; good or bad. Well, I asked for bad first. (There was no good.) Call me Dr. GoodCar and let me offer suggestions on treatment for Buick's maladies. 1) Build more Enclave-like vehicles. Not crossover/utility/SUV type cars, but beautiful cars. The Lucerne and Allure/Lacrosse are not beautiful, and that actually hurts the Enclave. 2) Learn to make the vehicles as quiet as the Enclave while also putting them on a diet. Don't lose the quiet, but lose some weight. You're too fat, Buick. 3) Ignore loyal buyers. Sorry to sound harsh and uncouth, but the loyal Buick buyer has a life expectancy which ends..... next year. Don't cater to him. A good car is a good car is a good car. If you make it good, old guys and gals'll like'em, and so will I.

To the Enclave, more specifically we go. Prior to my Enclave drive, I was in a Pontiac Torrent GXP for about five miles. It's worth reading about. Talk about two SUV's with different priorities. Actually, don't talk about it right now. Keep reading - I'm trying to hold your attention. The GXP is a performance edition of a somewhat boring vehicle. Enclave's are an exciting new addition to a traditionally boring brand. Buick's were once an aspirational purchase. When Cadillac's were cool and became the obvious choice for a rich dude in Elvis Presley's era, a Buick wasn't just a respectable choice. These were respectable Cadillac alternatives. Give me an early 60's Electra or a first generation Skylark, please.

Now Cadillac is fighting to be taken seriously as a worthy hi-lux player, and Buick is disregarded by a huge percentage of anybody born after 1950. Yikes. (Read about Enclave's success here.)

Now the Enclave is an aspirational purchase. You would feel good owning this vehicle. You'd enjoy living with it and be, at least, comfortable driving it day-to-day. Enclave has all the luxury you'll ever need (luxury = need?) plus the space your family requires. A luxed-up all-wheel drive Enclave does weigh a hair under 5000 pounds, though, and that's a real down side after driving a Torrent GXP.

Granted, these two GM vehicles aren't competing. (Read the Enclave's 3 To Beat here.) The Enclave has to fight off Saturn's Outlook and the GMC Acadia instead. The Torrent proved the performance SUV case, at least as far as driving dynamics go. Buick's Enclave, on the other hand, is no fun to drive. 275 bhp sounds like a lot, but we're talking about 5-0-0-0 pounds here, folks. No biggie, though. I don't seek more power every day at home - I try to conserve. So, I'm not looking to worsen the 3.6L V6's fuel economy ratings of 16/24 US mpg. Power will suffice.

Nonetheless, the power-to-weight deficit, when combined with a bit of pillowiness over yumps and the disconnected feel of the steering... well, then I begin to mind the dynamics of the vehicle. Then again (again), we're intentionally driving aggressively and a Buick crossover isn't going to - and shouldn't - behave like a Saturn Sky. No, I want some pillow-like qualities. Ya know what; I don't want to submit to a writhing steering wheel fighting to maintain the straight-ahead. I want my Enclave to wrap me in a warm cocoon at the end of a 9am-5pm day, serenade me with satellite radio, preserve me and protect me when necessary, and provide me with the space I need for my peoples and their things. Quickly. While looking goooood.

To meet those demands the Enclave gives you: tri-zone automatic climate control, power seats and a tilt and telescopic wheel; six speakers with speed-compensated volume and XM sat-radio; ABS, StabiliTrak, traction control, Xenons, side curtains for all three rows, cruise control, a 50,000mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and tire-pressure monitoring; seven seats; a capable V6 with a 6-speed automatic; 18 or 19-inch wheels and a really wicked front wheelarch. For proof of that just look at it this pic, edited to really show the wheel, arch, and curves. Taken at Milford by The Good Car Guy just two days ago.

BUICK LUCERNE PROVING ABS

Milford Proving Grounds, a General Motors facility, is equipped to do just that.

Prove.

This video shows a Skid Monster-equipped Impala in the distance, but what you want to see is the Buick Lucerne. Charging hard at a narrow lane - cones on either side - the driver was told to maintain the prescribed speed (35, 40, 45, and then 50mph), then brake hard and get out of the way of those cones which started coming at you really stinking fast all of a sudden. But you didn't start the braking-into-turning until the instructor said, calmly, "Now." If you did it too soon, as if trying to predict his call, you failed to trust him as well as the capability of the car.

This test proved a couple of things. Despite the fact that I don't want you to buy a Buick Lucerne, it's not because the car is lacking in ability or quality. It's simply due to more exciting competition. However, the Lucerne proved the merits of ABS (few would doubt those merits these days, hopefully) as well as the directional stability of the car. Plus, dare I say it, the Lucerne's ability to change direction under hard braking. The back end wouldn't truly slide. Just a slight skid-hop-skip. Always under control.





An Impala SS was used at similar speeds and then also at 55mph in a test where the task was similar until it came time to turn. Rather than brake hard at the call, we would have to turn right or left sans braking and then regain enough control to brake in front of a row of cones at turn back. And repeat. The Lucerne's test was left-turn only and more proof of braking than grip.

PONTIAC TORRENT GXP - Driven

There's plans to inform The Good Car Nation of all Milford Proving Ground activities, but don't we all love to read a good test drive? Isn't that what automotive media really centres on? 'Where the tire hits the road' ought to be especially applicable to people who care about the tire and the road, no?

This story from early August reveals my true feelings towards the purpose and necessity of a vehicle like the Pontiac Torrent GXP. I see numerous points anybody could put forth to show that the Pontiac Torrent GXP (a high-powered small utility attempting to be an inexpensive BMW X3) doesn't need to exist. Nobody needs this kind of performance in a vehicle that fails to live up to the standards we set for 'feel' and refinement. I'd love to see an interior that beckoned me with quality and materials, for instance. Plus, I think it would be great to see a Pontiac crossover that wasn't available at the Chevrolet dealership.

However, there is praise to be showered upon the Torrent GXP. When I first set foot outside the luncheon area at General Motors Milford Proving Ground and walked around the vehicles to see which I needed to drive; wanted to drive; and felt responsible to drive, the Pontiac's Torrent GXP stuck out as a vehicle I should drive based on the responsibility I have to the Good Car Nation. Well, Nation - awaken. The Torrent GXP is ready for takeoff.



For somewhere between $26-28,000 USD, you can have a GM-built SUV with 264 horsepower. And this ain't 264 horsepower from a piece of unfortunate mess of thrashing metal. Old-tech is not found under this hood. Along with the gains under the hood (79 bhp up from the base Torrent), you can also count on an extra gear in the automatic tranny. Steering switches from electric to hydraulic assist. (Take that as a positive sign for GM's future performance vehicles.) Equip with bigger wheels and a true sports suspension and you've got yourself a GXP.

While maintaining a civil ride, the GXP is tied to the tarmac in a way that BMW consumers would enjoy. I'm serious. Reasons to avoid the purchase of a Torrent GXP can't include 'poor driving dynamics'. Direct and weighty steering - admittedly feelless - is just the start. Body roll is not nearly as prevalent in the GXP as it was in, say, the new Saturn Vue. (Build an SUV with the Vue V6 AWD's look and overall feel & refinement & interior with the Torrent GXP's dynamics and you've got yourself a great vehicle.) Problems only arose when cornering quickly on rippled roads. Seriously bumpy, screwed-up, rippled roads. Out of ten vehicles driven on this 5-mile trek, maybe two were calm through that section.

Possessing such levels of horsepower in a vehicle of this type and weight would commonly be useless and unadvisable in my mind. The GXP copes with the power admirably, mostly because it does more than simply power out of corners. It copes with the twists, too. I had the benefit on this first trip around our section of Milford to have a GM engineer alongside directing me. Like the rest of my 46.5 hour Milford trip, he was free of charge.

Even so, the parenthetical sentence two paragraphs above regarding the Vue/Torrent combo all too often replicates the typical GM story. We'll see if the other nine vehicles you'll read about here can sing a different song.

CORVETTE ACCELERATION RUN

Assuming my camera was not capable of full-on video applicable for GoodCarBadCar during the Milford Proving Grounds event where General Motors hosted a group of bloggers, I was actually just taking shots for personal use. Perhaps this clip I took of Philippe from TopSpeed.com is worth a look.




After beginning on Milford's Black Lake, we drove a couple of miles on a handling circuit before arriving back on the Black Lake for two brief spurts of acceleration. The Corvette does alright with acceleration runs, in case you hadn't heard. The clip won't impress with its cinematic style, but it will awaken you to the ferocity with which a "basic" Chevrolet Corvette can rip-snort-churn to highly illegal speeds. I got my turn after Philippe; savouring the opportunity to exercise the Corvette's 430 horsepower on a closed course. We had plenty of time in each vehicle. I drove ten cars in the afternoon, and you'll see a review of each here on GoodCarBadCar really soon, so keep checking back.

GCBC REVERSE TAKE - Day at Milford

After 11 drives in 10 different vehicles as well as the use of four vehicles during an Advanced Driving Techniques course at General Motors' Milford Proving Grounds in Michigan, in addition to a dinner with Chevrolet's man-in-charge, here's The Good Car Guy's take on yesterday starting from the final activity.

General Motors flew in a group of us social media types (yes, even those of us... me, who were at one time in print) to sample a large variety of GM vehicles, take a driving course, and have dinner with Ed Peper and GM Communications representatives. The pic you see is not of Mr. Peper at that dinner, although he did open with remarks covering a wide array of topics.

Conversation at dinner flowed easily around the banquet table; with Ed Peper being forced to answer questions based on topics as varied as GM's environmental impact during manufacturing to future plans for diesels. On that count, Mr. Peper and Chevrolet/GM North America as a whole let us down a bit. We weren't hoping to hear of concrete plans for Malibu diesels by the end of the year or anything. Personally, I wanted to know - to hear straight from the horse's mouth - that General Motors understood consumer craving for high-mileage, high-torque vehicles seriously. It's one of many things they're looking at, he said, but he clearly felt he must tell the whole fuel mileage 'story'. E85, hydrogen Equinox's, hybrid SUV's - that sorta thing.

Dinner was superb; knowing GM paid was even better. The best part was the realization GM has come to: the internet matters, bloggers matter, and they're representative of the marketplace. We were listened to and taken seriously. We were asked questions, too. Answers were forthcoming on Mr. Peper's part, and though they weren't always what we wanted to hear (verily not), they did reflect his passion for the automobile. Especially those with a bow-tie badge.

AUDI Q5 STILL A NUMBER OF MONTHS AWAY

For those of you in Europe, expect to see the smaller-than-Q7 Audi Q5 next summer. Those of us in North America will wait an extra six months, likely not seeing the Q5 at dealers until 2009...

Apparently Alan Mulally didn't unite with GM to bring The Good Car Guy to Detroit today. He took off for China, where a second Ford plant (to build Ford's and Mazda's) just opened in Nanjing. I.... am.... hurt....

Mercedes-Benz new C-class has a base price in the United States of just a hair under $32,000. A C350 Sport removes $37,275 from your savings account. Thanks, have a nice day, hope you've got enough left for fuel....

Two GM representatives met me at the airport, one inside and one outside. Friendly guys; one driving a Tahoe splayed with "E85" and "Ethanol" graphics. So far so good, this first substantial experience I had in GM's latest and greatest spelled out some small but interesting tidbits. The sun was in my eyes, so I pulled down the visor. Hmm, nice headliner material. Firm visor hinges. Hey, that's a fairly handsome IP. Roomy, too. Then again, this is a massive transportation device and there are just two of us....

GENERAL MOTORS UAW STRIKE'S #1 FACT

Depending on your perspective, there is one fact in two parts that intrigues me more than anything else when it comes to today's announcement that 73,000 United Auto Workers from some 80 facilities would strike.

You ready? Every hour during which this strike survives means 760 General Motors' vehicles are not built. 12,200 per day. Whether you have a backlog of cars and trucks and SUV's or not; that's just gotta suck.

Oddly enough, for the first time in almost thirteen years I'm in Detroit, ready to test drive a whole bunch of GM cars tomorrow. Unlike lightning, irony can strike in the same place more than once.

GOOD CAR GUY AT MILFORD

Information from GoodCarBadCar will taper off from late Monday through Wednesday. Fear not, The Good Car Guy is on a mission to procure more information, more test drives, and more first-hand accounts.

Hopefully by Wednesday afternoon, you should see the firstfruits of a trip from the homeland to General Motors Proving Grounds at Milford in Michigan. GM invited and paid for The Good Car Guy to fly to Detroit, eat good food, and spend some time in a nearby hotel all for the purpose of driving a variety of General Motors' latest and greatest.

You'll still want to check back soon: 5 of the best upcoming vehicles - from Saturn to Subaru; Hyundai and Lexus, too - will be displayed on Tuesday, even with The Good Car Guy so far from home.

TWO SAAB COMMERCIALS - GOOD AND BAD?

Saab needs revitilization. Not simply with its image, or the way people perceive its Swedishness, but also with product. Saab's desperately need to stand out from the pack. No, not because they've always been quirky. But because every automaker, especially those competing in the luxury/sports sector, must make their cars stand out from the pack. The pack is huge, people.

H-U-G-E. Saab's 9-3 must outdo Volvo's S40 and S60 (V50 and V70, too), BMW 3-series, Audi A4, Mercedes C-Class, Acura TL, Lexus IS and ES, Infiniti G35, and Alfa Romeo's 159. I acknowledge that advertising alone will not reverse the downward spiral. It most definitely can not be left up to marketing executives alone. The product is in need of improvement, and General Motors would undoubtedly love it if the press/media/blogosphere could get off the Malibu/9-3/G6-shared platform refrain.





Nevertheless, advertising must be taken seriously. People spending a few dozen grand on a car educate themselves regarding their purchase, for the most part. Continually attempting to convince us that the 9-3 is a Swedish military jet fighter is, in my opinion, devaluing the brand. It's become such a joke that the 9-3 isn't actually perceived to be as good a car as it truly is. Play me a commercial of a 9-5 SportCombi directed by what could almost be a Volvo or Lexus marketing maven, and you would begin to have an effect. And that's with the aged veteran, truly outclassed in its midsize luxury sector. Check out the two 9-3 Jet Fighter clip above, the inspiring 9-5 is below.

CHINA'S REQUEST GOES UNHEEDED

Attempts on Saturday to de-smog, just for a day, by 100 of China's largest metropolitan areas was a complete and utter failure. In advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a campaign started to make September 22nd car-free.

Take the bus. Walk, or better yet, ride your old bicycle. The thing is; the act of and the persons participating in cycling, China's main mode of transportation not many years past, have been struck by the status-conscious. People who can afford automobiles and thence drive their new Buick's everywhere make life difficult for people who have stuck with their bicycles. Some roads are even restricted: cars only.



With 1,000 new auto registrations every day in Beijing alone, car-free day was not an easy campaign to win. And win it did not. Traffic was reported as normal (heavy) and most streets were running at typical levels. But how does this relate to Beijing'08?

IOC prez Jacques Rogge declared in August, just a year in advance of the opening ceremonies, that scheduling could be a problem. Some events may be postponed on days when air quality is too poor.

PORSCHE SLOWER THAN NISSAN - allegedly

GT-R carries with it strong connotations for the Nissan/Sony/Gran Turismo crowd. In all my living days, I've only seen a handful of Nissan's Skyline GT-R. They've all been right-hand drive, just like every GT-R in existence.

Sony PlayStation lifted the GT-R beyond the status of Japan's Corvette. PlayStation and Gran Turismo designer Kazunori Yamauchi gave Nissan worldwide attention and made the GT-R highly desirable; even iconic. Over the last few years, Nissan has been taunting and teasing the world (especially parts of the world who drive on the right side of the road) with concept debuts and Nurburgring testing.

To understand more about the weight and credibility of 'Ring testing, read GoodCarBadCar's listing of automotive proving grounds. Some critics will be disappointed in Nissan's obsession with 'Ring testing, figuring that the eventual production version will be intolerant and highly focused machine. Intolerant of driver mistakes and rough roads and too highly focused.

Let's hope not. There are reports, however, that Nissan's fighting machine has lapped the Nurburgring quicker than Porsche's 911 Turbo. Nissan configures the GT-R similar to Porsche's arrangement for the Turbo. Two turbos, six cylinders, and drive to all four wheels. The Nissan differs in engine placement, of course. Porsche's flat-six hangs behind the rear axle. Nissan's GT-R likely outpaces the Turbo (unofficially of course) purely because of horsepower. Expect to see the GT-R reach production with around 500 horses.

WOMEN AND THEIR LUXURIES

J.D. Power just revealed the luxury vehicles women like to buy the most. By surveying hundreds of dealerships across the United States, JDP could calculate which vehicles women lean towards. This isn't about which vehicle women buy or lease the most of, but which vehicles women buy a higher percentage of. Put another way, if ten Chevrolet's are sold and five are bought by women; that's equivalent (in this survey) to 1000 Pontiac's sold to 500 women.

Which luxury car came out with the highest percentage of female ownership so far this year? Volvo's small sedan, the S40. Also ranked in the top 10 were the S40's wagon-mate, the V50, as well as the S60 sedan.

We often hear data showing the percentage of vehicle purchases over which women hold sway, but the numbers in this study seem smaller. 42.5% of Volvo's were sold to women; that's 6.7 percentage points above the typical luxury car ratio. Over half the S40's sold were bought or leased by women - 53% to be exact - that being the highest proportion of female ownership for any luxury car. The highest percentage of male ownership amongst luxury cars is seen under the Audi banner, with the exclusive and high-powered RS4.

Other female car-buying tendencies: 58.3% of Volkswagen New Beetle sales are to women; Suzuki's were bought by women at a rate higher than any brand; and Lexus is ranked second behind Volvo for luxury-car female ownership.

Don't be scared off, oh ye male readers, by the vehicles that women tend to buy more commonly. As can be judged by the Volvo propensities, women make safe purchases. Not just in terms of occupant health, but relative to their investment.

BECOME A CHEVROLET KNOW-IT-ALL

This morning, GoodCarBadCar introduced you to the world of automotive facts. Contrasts, comparisons, enlightenments, and pointless exercises to challenge the automotive quadrant of your brain. Now comes a more specific challenge. If you want to impress your friends with auto acumen, you can't simply stick to the Toyota, BMW, and Honda material. Go, look for America. Chevrolet is America; at least their advertising tempts you to believe it to be true. So, listen up - during the next conversation you have with your Impala-driving neighbour, you'll one-up him with Chevy truth.


#10 - Chevrolet's fastest car is the Corvette Z06. We're talking 505 horsepower here and a top speed nudging 200mph. Rumour has it that an even more powerful 'Vette will debut; perhaps named SS or ZR-1 or Z07. Think 600 horsepower.

#9 - In the USofA, Chevrolet's least powerful car is the Aveo - 103 horsepower.


#8 - Chevrolet's Avalance - a sort of sport-utility truck - is Chevrolet's only truck line that can't be seen at GMC, where the Silverado and Colorado can be seen as Sierra's and Canyon's. The Avalanche is heavily tarted up when it becomes a Cadillac Escalade EXT, though.

#7 - The Camaro lost so much sway with buyers that many people failed to notice that the last Chevrolet ponycar left the factory in 2002. Camaro's will trot with more swagger when they're reintroduced before the end of the decade.

#6 - While Buick has the Enclave, Saturn the Outlook, and GMC the Acadia, Chevrolet does not as of yet display a version of GM's Lambda architecture. A crossover/wagon/SUV to replace or supplement the TrailBlazer will come, however, and it will likely be a Lambda vehicle.

#5 - The 2008 Malibu belongs in this millenium. The outgoing Malibu made a great alternative to older used cars.

#4 - Build a Suburban on Chevrolet's Canadian website. Load to the gunnels. Look at the pricetag. $74,355. In case you hadn't heard, the Canadian dollar reached parity with the US dollar in the last couple of days. I attempted to do the same thing on Chevrolet's American website and my pricetag was $18,590 less.

#3 - Chevrolet's retro HHR was designed by the same man who penned its most famous competitor, Chrysler's PT Cruiser. His name is Bryan Nesbitt, and he now heads up design for General Motors in Europe. Opel's and Vauxhall's are surely not retro these days.

#2 - GMcanada.com really, actually, truly uses these words in describing the Corvette's automatic transmission: "Select 'S' mode and the steering wheel-mounted, F1-style paddle shifters are activated, allowing you to choose the right gear for every situation." It is a great transmission. I was just surprised that Chevrolet would bother with a link to Formula 1.

#1 - Of the six vehicles showcased on chevrolet.co.uk, the Captiva is certainly the most attractive. Few, if any, would look familiar to American consumers.

BECOME AN AUTOMOTIVE KNOW-IT-ALL

Do you mean to suggest that you refrain from staying up to speed on new model year changes? Five horsepower additions to Chevy trucks don't change your life? Standard power mirrors on compact sedans don't alter your behaviour?

Pause while I attend to my chest pain. Don't worry, I think it's just a broken heart; as I realize that we're not all created with oil in our veins. Here's an attempt to start you on a new path. Charter a new course in a brand new direction. You need ten facts to impress your co-workers, ten facts that will at least make them think you can advise them on their next automotive purchase. Begin memorizing.... now.


#10 - Land Rover still builds the Defender, but it isn't sold in North America. The Defender 90's 2.4L four-cylinder diesel produces 265 lb-ft of torque, achieves 28.3mpg on the Euro cycle, and propels the Defender to 60mph in 14.7 seconds.

#9 - BMW's latest M3, which has a V8 producing exactly the same amount of horsepower as the V8 in Audi's R8 (414bhp), sends 54 fewer grams of C02 into the atmosphere for every kilometre driven, as compared with the Audi. (295g/km by the BMW; same numbers as its torque figure.)

#8 - 25,000 Italians ordered the new Fiat 500 before anybody knew the prices. #7 - In 2003, Hyundai-Kia sold 2,557,000 automobiles. Year 2006 - 3,920,000.

#6 - The Maserati Mexico, circa late '60's, had a V8 under its hood. 4.7litres and 300 horsepower and an estimated 0-60mph time of 8 seconds. Maserati's current GranTurismo has a V8 under its hood. 4.2litres and 400 horsepower, with an estimated 0-60 jaunt of 5.2 seconds.

#5- Horsepower and torque graphs for the same engine, if placed one-on-top of the other, will always intersect at 5252rpm.

#4- If your Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG wants to morph into a Fisker Tramonto, you'll quite likely need to spend $140,000. Above the price of the original Benz.

#3- Those of us in North America see a Saturn Vue, while the Brits see a Vauxhall Antara. It's four-cylinder diesel will achieve a 37.2mpg average on their economy cycle. So you're looking at a 30mpg Antara and a Vue that won`t do better than 26mpg on the highway.

#2- Honda's latest Accord, all decked out in luxurious trim and V6 equipped, weighs about 3,600 pounds. In 1997, a well-equipped Accord weighed 3,285 pounds. The V6 is now 49 cubic inches larger and 98 horsepower stronger. Fuel economy was 19/25 city and highway. These days, the more powerfula and heavier Accord is rated at 19/29. Interesting.

#1- If you could buy one, you'd find that a TVR Sagaris weighs about 100 pounds less than Mazda's MX-5 Miata. But the TVR has 380 frieking horsepower, man.

CRASH TESTS - The Good & The Bad

Crash test results have long been used in advertisements as a mode of hitting the buyer where it counts... family. Commercials for minivans with the kids in the backseat; undertones of soft music; a few puffy headlines from automotive sections in minor daily newspapers; and plenty of info about star ratings, well... that strikes Mum and Dad right in the midsection.

And so it should. For years, manufacturers have been praising themselves as a result of terrific performances in crash tests, both here and in Europe. In some advertisments, it seems as though automakers have challenged us to take safety seriously. When Volkswagen's Safe Happens ads pop up during 'the game', you feel oh-so-embarrassed if your right leg does that little twitch when the lady and her friend get HAMMERED side-on.

(Links you need to see? Euro NCAP & SaferCar & Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.)

What's new? This here internet is a powerful thing, eh. It seems like crash tests will now be used against vehicle manufacturers when they really screw up during the design phase. Building them cheap, huh? Well, apparently they will pay, considering the prevalence of crash tests available to YouTubers. One such clip, which you can watch below, is for a Chinese carmaker. Brilliance by name; lacking brilliance in practice. The BS6 is not a BMW by any definition of the abbreviation, but Brilliance Auto is BMW's partner in China. (By necessity, foreign manufacturs all have a partner in China - General Motors/SAIC, Ford/Changan etc.)

First watch as the new Volvo S80 behaves in a frontal crash.



Perhaps Brilliance should have purchased an S80, taken everything apart, and rebuilt it from the ground up. But, they didn't do that. Instead they built the BS6. And here's the result.

IT'S TIME FOR CRAFTS, KIDS - Scion's 'Craft My Ride'

Craft shows can be really cool. It's true. I'm not kidding around. The sections with home-made toys and fine winter gloves are especially my kinda'thing.

Scion is clearly attempting to tap into that market, at least somewhat. Perhaps the lower age demographic from those shows. Yeah... maybe the lowest age demographic at those shows. Scion is the ultimate accessorizing brand. The car they'll sell you wants to be modified; inside or out; under the hood or under the dash. Scion's crave accessories. "... Create a unique car accessory for the Scion vehicle" says the website, "with the winner receiving a 2008 Scion xD."

The xD just happens to be a Scion that didn't lose too much of its cool factor during its transformation/redesign because the xA wasn't the coolest to begin with. The xB gained a ton of weight and required a lot more power to propel itself to a reasonable clip. So, Scion will give you an xD if you create a car accessory, upload images of your new car accessory, upload a description, and pass the judges critique.

What's a car accessory? Says Scion: "Any item used as an embellishment or as a functional enhancement to the vehicle. This can include classic items such as a key chain, car cover, seat cover, floor mat, steering wheel cover, drink holder, or any other idea that pops into your head."

As you'd expect, the contest is open only to people who reside in the lower 48 states and D.C. Here's the link you'll want if you live in those 49 areas, a link you really should follow if you have a few bones of creativity. Channel your inner Martha Stewart, guys. C'mon. Then check out the Scion's main website and lobby Toyota to change the winner's vehicle to a tC.