Author Topic: 2006: The year GM loses top spot. (Read 2680 times)

lazs2 · « **Reply #135 on:** February 25, 2006, 10:28:58 AM »

phoo... are you aware that the zr1 motor in the vette was hand assembled by mercury outboard at a huge expense... the hp came at a cost of 5 times that of a pushrod engine... repairs on the engine are allmost your-0-peeen expensive and the motor is shoehorned in you can't work on it...

everything it does.. a pushrod motor does as well for a lot cheaper and fits better.... it would not even fit in the newer more aerodynamic vettes.

you said it yourself.... they did it on the very limited production vette and the very expensive and large caddy.... It can be done by American companies... that is a given... but at this point.... why? you didn't answer that.

Would you buy a buick with a 300 hp northstar ohc motor in it if it cost 5k more than a buick with a 350 hp pushrod smallblock with the same warranty and cheaper maintenance cost? why would you?

sandy... abs is about standard on every car made now isn't it? I don't care about it but it is probly a good feature.

course... most of the cars you guys are talking about aren't even cars to me...

and... the exotics from the your-0-peeans all cost 2-5 times more than the vette say and don't perform as well and cost 10 times as much to keep up.

If you want to talk people moving pods that are luxurious and troublefree and cheap built by non UAW slobs... I am out of the discussion because I will freely admit the japs do it better. Anhything to do with hives they do better.

lazs

indy007 · « **Reply #136 on:** February 25, 2006, 10:49:02 AM »

The econobox period may not be coming back if this is any indication...

2007 Tundra, available with a new 5.7 V8.

lazs2 · « **Reply #137 on:** February 25, 2006, 10:53:18 AM »

pickups are ideal platforms for the cumbersome ohc V8... lots of room.

My Lincoln is another example of a good place to put one.... even so... it fills the engine compartment from side to side while displacing only about 280 cubic inches.

lazs

J_A_B · « **Reply #138 on:** February 25, 2006, 02:41:00 PM »

"Would you buy a buick with a 300 hp northstar ohc motor in it if it cost 5k more than a buick with a 350 hp pushrod smallblock with the same warranty and cheaper maintenance cost? why would you?"

Not only that, Lazs, but the oh-so-modern Northstar Buick has WORSE performance than the old model with the 350 smallblock engine.

"My Lincoln is another example of a good place to put one.... even so... it fills the engine compartment from side to side while displacing only about 280 cubic inches."

My wife's Grand Marquis has that same engine, and not only is it huge for its displacement, it's lack of low-end torque is almost comical. I consider that car extremely underpowered; I can't imagine how sluggish the heavier Lincoln must be.

J_A_B

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #139 on:** February 25, 2006, 05:43:32 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by lazs2

sandy... abs is about standard on every car made now isn't it? I don't care about it but it is probly a good feature.

I am pretty sure ABS is standard on almost evey Us car as well, I pretty sure the whole jeep line with the exception of the Rubicons (maybe other wranglers) have ABS.

The Rubicons do not have it because it is dangerous off road(not even an option for it).

Rafe35 · « **Reply #140 on:** February 25, 2006, 11:43:24 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sandman
I don't know about the cars, but the Toyota trucks last forever. Quite common to see them with 250,000 miles or more on em.

I don't believe that, Sandman.

Quote

The econobox period may not be coming back if this is any indication...

2007 Tundra, available with a new 5.7 V8.

A 5.7L with 330 HP and 375 Ib/ft of torque? Ugly and Useless....

Sandman · « **Reply #141 on:** February 26, 2006, 12:49:49 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Rafe35
I don't believe that, Sandman.

Google is your friend. I know three guys at work... each has older model Toyota SR5 IIRC. Every one of them is 200,000 +

So... I'll back my earlier statement down a bit.

lazs2 · « **Reply #142 on:** February 26, 2006, 10:20:45 AM »

The Lincoln is actually a few hundred pounds lighter than the grand marquis... don't ask me why. I did a "few things" to the Lincoln and it does seem to move out a little better now... some of the feeling of slowness is attributed to how quite and balanced the damn thing is. Still.... I would prefer a more powerful engine with some low end grunt.

I would not care if GM lost top spot if it meant that they could dump the union and start producing the things that I see comeing out of their research and development areas.... No car company could touch them for performance. Ford and the pentstar could follow... give useless jag and saab back to the your-0-peeans... never liked em anyway.

lazs