GM Inside News Forum - Chevrolet Car Discussion

Ordering from Dealer that's losing franchise?

rengleh — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:52:52 GMT

HI,
I ordered a new Equinox LTZ last week and then found out from another dealer that my dealer is losing the franchise. I called my dealer and he said he still has the franchise but has received the letter from GM that his franchise is one of many that probably will be closed by 10/2010.
I am torn between sticking with him or canceling my order and going with a bigger dealer. How long do I have to cancel the order? Is there a chance my dealer will have a hard time getting my car?

This is my first post but I would appreciate any insight.

Thanks, Randy

Dewar And The Maxx: The Future Of The Malibu

Aprime — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:42:44 GMT

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

The Malibu Maxx was basically the predecessor to the current Venza/Crosstour market. While not quite a hatchback nor a wagon, it had the elements of the regular midsized Malibu with the cargo capacity of either mentionned bodystyles and a different ride (my opinion). According to Dewar - although exploring various body style ideas for the future lineup, Chevrolet has no plans to bring back the Maxx (perhaps under a new name) as a competitor to neo-station-wagon segment that is presently occupied by both Toyota and Honda alone.

This news may come as disappointing for Maxx fans and people hoping for a quick response from GM to this new and growing market.

(I know, looks-wise you could argue that vehicles like the R(etard)-Class and the Pacifica were true predecessors, but that's just me).

C5Z Dyno Tune Results

FordWho? — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:05:31 GMT

After the LG Streets (long tube headers and X-pipe) were installed, the car produced 385.5 hp and 374 ft/lbs of torque at the rear wheels on the dyno tune. Besides full exhaust, the car has a CAI and an BPP air bridge:

Car sounds awesome by the way!

Just ordered '10 Equinox LTZ

hj3! — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:45:24 GMT

Hey everyone. Just ordered a new Equinox LTZ for my wife last week. We are really excited about getting a new vehicle. :hyper: Our last one has been very problematic over the last few years. We have a 2004 VW Touareg v8, loaded with air suspension, nav, all that good stuff. I think it is one of the nicest vehicles we've ever owned and it is a pleasure to drive when it wants to work. But damn... when it doesn't, it is a real PIA and now that its out of warranty, talk about expensive to fix. Never thought we would be buying a GM, or even American made, but this car looks like it will be good for us. It will save us on our monthly loan payments, gas money, and cost less to fix when needed but still have most of the options we had in our Touareg and that she has gotten used to. I'm sure that the interior quality wont be the same but the new Equinox is actually really nice compared to some of the suvs out there in the same price range. Anyway, she is very excited and cant wait for it to get here. Hopefully it doesnt take 4 to 6 months like some others have posted they have ended up waiting. Fingers crossed.

Mazda or Chevy???

eddiegraves — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:42:32 GMT

Hello all. I am new to this site. I was looking for a good second car. I was going to buy a new Mazda 3. When I went to the dealership to check it out I was VERY impressed with the standard features of the new model. It has alot of available options and is very FUN to drive. Then I saw they had a used 2009 cobalt coupe out back. 17000 miles for 8 large! 2.2 and 5 speed. I looked it over and the interior is rental grade and the standard features and options list pales in comparison. Test drove both. Steering feel in the Cobalt was lousy and the turning circle is WIDE for a small car,but 8 G's for a practicly new car is very tempting. I need a daily driver. That I will enjoy living with. Any of you guys who OWN Cobalts are you happy with it? Is it satisfiying to live with? Would you buy it again? Or do you wish you had something else? Thanks guys!

Video: Chevy Volt Impact test...

91 s-10baja — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:37:40 GMT

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

next gen Malibu?

avro206 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:57:20 GMT

when is that slated for? SWB EPSILON 2 right? (same as Regal?)

Fastest 2010 Chevy Camaros in America

RamJet502 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:33:49 GMT

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...ros/index.html

#1 Fastlane single turbo Camaro - 10.87 sec 1/4 mile

#2 Hennessey supercharged Camaro - 10.95 sec 1/4 mile

#3 Livernois Motorsports supercharged Camaro - 11.02 sec 1/4 mile

Dyno Test: Hennessey HPE700 LS9-Powered Chevy Camaro

GMusa — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:56:43 GMT

It's the Most Powerful Car We've Ever Tested

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...vy-camaro.html

Until The Chevy Camaro Z28 Arrives.....

Gm786 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:13:46 GMT

Until GM brings the Camaro Z28 to the market this will have to do:

http://www.insideline.com/chevrolet/...and-video.html

Freaking sweet! Love the color, the carbon fiber exterior and interior treatment, and most of all that 726 HP beast (LS9 Supercharged engine Corvette ZR1 engine). :cool: We can only imagine what GM is cooking up with the actual Z28 Camaro. This Henessey Camaro tears the Shelby Ford Mustang into pieces!

2010 Equinox Bluetooth Music Streaming

nuclear1986 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:30:26 GMT

I think I happened upon another "undocumented feature" of this car. I found that I can stream music from my BlackBerry through the Infotainment system through what's called GMusicConnect. You'll need the Interface Package with the USB port, so here's how to do it:

With an iPod connected, press the MENU/SEL button and select Bluetooth Setup. It will then ask you if you want to connect a device that's capable of Bluetooth streaming. Say yes, and follow the prompts. When set-up, set your phone to play music and it will be heard through the Infotainment system. I would think this would work with any Bluetooth-enable phone.

Features are somewhat limited, however. Song data does not appear in the display, but you can pause or advance to the next song.

Try it and let me know how it works for you.

My 2010 'Nox testdrive

Sgt Beavis — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:16:04 GMT

Hiya guys,

It's that time again. The better side of my marriage wants a new car and I'm in agreement with her. So Friday we went out to look at several very different vehicles. We looked at the Equinox, Traverse, Ford Edge, Honda Odyssey, Toyota Venza, Mazda 5, Mazda CX9 and CX7. That was a very wide range of sizes due to us making up our minds what we're going to get. My wife really did like the Mazda 5 due to the content, reasonable size, and price but the driver legrooms was not adequate for my 6'2" frame. It finally came down to the Ford Edge and the Equinox. The Edge had the size advantage but the Equinox definitely had a price and content advantage. I know the Edge has $3000 in rebates available but as an EDS employee I have one GMS number left before GM shuts down that benefit for us. (we were bought by Hewlett Packard)...

So after test drive the Edge, we went and test drove the 'Nox. We started with the 4 cyl. engine and decided that we would look at the V6 if we didn't like the 4. The turned out to not really be an issue. With the eco mode turned off I found the I4 to have plenty of power for daily driving. Sure it isn't going to win any drag races but I'm not looking for that. I found that the transmission didn't search for gears that much and the engine noise was acceptable with the engine turned off. I only wish Texas wasn't so flat. I had no chance to see how the 'Nox would perform on hills.

We drove around the streets of Richardson, TX near the Reliable Chevy dealer. The roads are a mix of smoothly repaved roads to something resembling the surface of the moon. It makes for a nice test drive. Our current Chevy HHR would have let us feel and hear every bump and pot hole. The 'Nox absorbed those bumps and holes in a much smoother fashion. I also noted that the cabin was VASTLY quieter than our HHR. Tire noise was the most prevalent thing coming into the cabin and it was very manageable.

Speaking of the interior. WOW, what a GARGANTUAN improvement. Really slick. The fit and finish were outstanding. In the past, GM has designed some decent interiors but the actual execution was flawed due to those materials. Not this time. GM got it right. The dashboard is stunning. The seats are fantastic with much higher quality perforated leather than I usually see in Ford vehicles. The ergonomics were spot on (something the HHR has issues with). My biggest gripe in the HHR is shoulder room. Of course that isn't an issue in the 'Nox. It also has plenty of leg, hip, and head room (even with the sun roof). I set the drivers seat back to my driving position and got into the rear. I wouldn't want to drive cross country like that but it was perfectly fine for cross town driving. There is plenty of room in the back seat if my wife is driving (she's 5' 4"). The rear seats also recline a bit, which is good for a nap...

So let's talk features. There were a few that really caught my wife's attention. The fact that the Edge didn't have them were deal breakers.

Electronic Child Locks - This is one of those features that makes you do a facepalm and wonder "why didn't I think of that?". We are in the process of adopting so it ended up being a HUGE plus with my wife. The button is right there on the center of the dashboard. Nicely done GM

Sliding rear seat - Not a new thing but I don't know of any crossover or SUV that has this. My wife loves it. Her thought is that with the seat pulled all the way up, it will be easy for her to reach back to the child seat when I'm doing the driving. Of course we also liked how much bigger the cargo area gets when that seat is pulled up. We have FOUR dogs (two Labs, a Beagle, and a Westie). I think all four would be fine in the back for short trips.

Memory seats - a must have when one person is 6' 2" and the other is 5' 4". I know this isn't unique to the 'Nox but the lack of this feature was the 2nd biggest annoyance to owning a Chevy HHR. (the first was the stupid placement of the window switches)

But not everything is perfect. The Equinox has outstanding styling on the inside and out but there is one BIG flaw in the exterior design. Those C-column windows are just stupidly small. The rear quarter window of the 'Nox mimics the design of the original Mercedes M-class. From a styling standpoint, it looks great but from a practical standpoint, it is full of FAIL. GM has created a HUGE blind spot by putting the most pathetically small window in that area. If you buy a 'Nox and it doesn't have fish eye mirrors, go get them.

The other shortcoming is in how the 'Nox handles cargo. The rear seats simply do not fold flat. The HHR's rear seats fold almost perfectly flat but you'll have to get over a 6" hump with the 'Nox rear seats. Another plus for our old HHR is that the front passenger seat folds completely flat. When folded flat, I found that I could easily carry 8' long pieces of lumber when carried diagonally in the car. If I want something that long in the 'Nox, I'll have to run them up between the seats and risk damaging the car. In other words, I won't be carrying 8' lumber in this car. From a cargo handling standpoint, the smaller HHR is superior. It seems to me that GM engineers (and bean counters) did this to cut the cost. Frankly I would rather spend a couple hundred dollars more to get that extra "utility" from my Crossover Utility Vehicle.

Another thing that annoys me isn't specific to the Equinox but to it and several other vehicles in this category. There was a time when every wagon like vehicle had rear windows that could be flipped up for very long objects. More and more this is being abandoned. I'm guessing that the manufacturers are trying to avoid broken rear windows but dagnabit I want that longer space. Is it really too much to ask?

Even with those things put into consideration, the Equinox is superior to just about anything else on the market that it competes with. IMO, GM really hit a homerun here. It was a very easy buying decision. There is only one reason a 'Nox isn't in my garage. My wife wants the Steel Mocha with the brown brick seats. She isn't settling for anything else. So we're going back on Monday to place an order.

Oh, one other thing. My wife is Native Japanese but she only car she's ever HATED was the Toyota Matrix that we had a few years back. I'm a bit of a Ford guy (I love Mustangs) but after owning the HHR, my wife is definitely a GM girl...

iPod Does not work right

Dawgdaes — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:45:28 GMT

I have owned a 2LT for two months. My 2LT has navigation and a USB port. When I plug in any iPod and attempt to play music the car takes all of the songs and lists them in alphabetical order. It does not matter if I'm sorting by albumor artist the songs do not play in any order then alphabetical (unless you select shuffle).

This makes me nuts because albums are meant to be played by track number.

Two weeks ago I took the car to the Chevy dealership and showed the service writer how the iPod was not function properly. He said he would get back to me.

Today he told me that his boss contacted GM engineering and they were aware of the problem. I hope a software fix is coming.

On a side note I love the Tivo like functionality that the radio has. I love pressing pause running into the bank for ten minutes and resuming where I left off. Even though the car was off the entire time.

Camaro on Ugly Betty tonight

Buick61 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:50:48 GMT

Just spreading the word.

Chevy 3.5 or 3.9

bhoppes — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:48:53 GMT

My friend is currently looking at used Impalas and she can't decide between the 3.5 or 3.9; which is the better engine? She already knows that the 3.5 gets better mileage, but what does everyone here suggest? She is currently looking at a 2007 Impala with a 3.5 or a 2006 Impala with a 3.9. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks