PurdueGuy

yeah, the main frustration is missing out on the whole official event this weekend, and might miss the next one on the first weekend of june. Car should be a fair bit more "spirited" when it's up & running again tho.

Went to an autox test & tune day yesterday. I made 2 runs, Em (my wife) made 2 runs, and I made one more run. LOVE the new tires! (Khumo Ecsta XS) Of course, when comparing to the all-seasons I was on last year, it doesn't take much to be impressed. Anyway, on this run, the new tires let me keep my speed up very well. So well, that I ran right past redline in 2nd gear. An odd sound was followed by some power loss, and I thought I could hear the engine "chugging" as I finished the run. Parked it & let it cool down quite a bit, started it up & couldn't hear anything odd. Made one more run, and it definitely had power loss, and I could hear the chugging by the end of the run. So, we called it a day, got a refund for saturday, knowing we wouldn't be able to make it back tomorrow, and headed home. Stopped partway home for some dinner, I figured it might help whatever part was crapping out to cool down. Got back on the road after dinner, and it didn't take long for a good rod knock to become obvious. Got pretty bad by the time I got home, so the engine is done, though rebuildable sometime down the road. But, I won't be rebuilding it to put back in the car, instead I'll just move up the timeline to swap the engine out of the SL2, which has SCAT rods, hyper pistons, a ported head, and a ACT 6-puck. I'll treat it like a stock engine for a while, but "someday" I intend to do a mild turbo build on it. We'll see what happens. I can always drive the suburban til all this is done... good thing gas is still fairly cheap.

A heads up, Carfax has been suing forums that allow (and thus assist) the misuse of Carfax accounts like this. Asking someone to do a carfax on a forum endangers that forum and it's owner(s). Not saying I don't totally understand wanting to ask for one, just saying it could cause some trouble...

I have 3 vehicles with dexcool, all over 100k miles, 2 over 150k miles. No problems. Maintain the cooling system and it'll be fine.

Yeah, it would be interesting to know how many got made. These are gonna hold high $, I'm thinkin'.

I fail to see a good business case here... fact is, even if they can make a good hybrid Hummer, they aren't selling, the brand has been drug through the mud, and if GM is going to keep a brand it's currently considering ditching, there are plenty of better candidates for that than Hummer. I also like Hummers just fine, but I look at things like this from a business standpoint, not "I like it, so they'd be stupid to get rid of it."

There are S-Series diecasts. Ion Vue L-Series Sky But, I doubt there is much money in Saturn collectibles, so the point stands.

Put it in the Chevy SUVs, go ahead & sell Hummer.

Awe, I was hoping to see some frame bendage too.

Car looks really good, aside from the black things on the grill. Looks like a dainty mustache or something. lol

Haven't. My wife has a solid job, and my biz has been growing.

good to hear, odd that you're having issues so early. I'm not getting anything like that from my hawks from about a year ago.

There are SO many aspects to consider in something like this. -Where is it assembled? -Where do the parts come from? -Where was it engineered? (that one gets overlooked a lot) -Where are the big management bucks going? -Where is the company owned?

Did you do a proper break-in of the brakes? Almost no one does, but it makes a difference.

they had to stop laughing first.

I find it silly that they bother to list the Ram and F150 separately, but don't list the silverado/Sierra. But, there are some good cars listed.

I'd skip on any aftermarket chrome wheels, they almost always look gaudy to me. I'd also keep in mind how easy to clean the wheels will be. For that reason (and personal preferences on looks), I would skip anything with those fake rivets around the lip. I do like the idea of a clean 5-spoke design, though.

Fact A: the new Camry is an ugly, bloated looking whale of a car. Fact B: they are building Camrys in the Subaru plant in Lafayette, IN, the same plant where they build the Legacy/Outback (and Tribeca) I present to you evidence that ugly is contagious among cars built in the same plant. Subaru legacy, previous & current gen side by side.

would you take my left nut? I might give my left nut for a ZR1... lol

Sure, but you can't keep paying designers and engineers to half-create vehicles and drivetrains, then kill them, over and over again. There's a difference between dynamic and schizophrenic. Of course, when the gov't likes to step in and change your plans, it can easily drive one to madness...

There are plenty of bureaucrats that love their Corvettes. Not so much rental cars with arrowheads on them.

GM has product plans.... they just change them every week. lol

Begins production in April '10 as an '11 model, but '11 models are often released as early as the year before their model year. Typical ramp-up is a couple months of building initial inventory for initial shipment, so we're looking at summer '10 most likely when the Cruze hits dealers.

officially claiming it comes with more responsibilities. lol

Cruze production is scheduled to begin (for the US) in April '10. That's basically 1 year from now. I think I'm being reasonable in my doubts that Chrysler can do everything they need to begin production of a Chrysler Bravo by then, though if they really get on it, they could be less than a year behind. We're talking about completing a major partnership agreement, which is being stonewalled by the unions, followed by a financially hurting company designing a reskin for a car (though perhaps it could be more of a badge/nose job than a real reskin), make it meet US specs, test it for US specs, tool, and produce. Not likely to happen in a year or less, IMO.