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Yeah I dunno, the next Focus already looks and sounds like it will be kicking the Cruze's @ss quite handily. I think Chevy would do well to keep the Cruze as a 4 door sedan and introduce a separate small, cheap, two door FWD sport coupe with some of the muscle car design language seen on the Camaro and Pontiac Solstice for example. Just drop the never ending "Cavalier LS Sport/Cobalt coupe" epic crapshoot from years past and run a 4 door Cruze SS model at the upper end sans generic looking spoilers and ground effects. Just use the Cruze's underpinnings to produce a separately marketed FWD sport coupe below the Camaro...just make it look like a baby Camaro or baby Corvette and keep it around 160-220HP with good fuel economy; people would love it. Ford's already rumored to be working on something like that based off of the Fiesta platform and the Reflex concept, supposedly it would revive the Puma namesake.
Last edited by TelecasterBlues; 04-10-2010 at 05:14 PM..
Yeah I dunno, the next Focus already looks and sounds like it will be kicking the Cruze's @ss quite handily. I think Chevy would do well to keep the Cruze as a 4 door sedan and introduce a separate small, cheap, two door FWD sport coupe with some of the muscle car design language seen on the Camaro and Pontiac Solstice for example. Just drop the never ending "Cavalier LS Sport/Cobalt coupe" epic crapshoot from years past and run a 4 door Cruze SS model at the upper end sans generic looking spoilers and ground effects. Just use the Cruze platform to introduce a completely separate FWD sport coupe below the Camaro.
What do you think of the idea of using the GM 2.4L Ecotech engine currently used on the Malibu as the optional engine for the Cruze with the option of a manual transmission for that model and engine and just drop the proposed 1.8L standard base engine leaving the 1.4 turbo as the base engine?
Yeah I dunno, the next Focus already looks and sounds like it will be kicking the Cruze's @ss quite handily. I think Chevy would do well to keep the Cruze as a 4 door sedan and introduce a separate small, cheap, two door FWD sport coupe with some of the muscle car design language seen on the Camaro and Pontiac Solstice for example. Just drop the never ending "Cavalier LS Sport/Cobalt coupe" epic crapshoot from years past and run a 4 door Cruze SS model at the upper end sans generic looking spoilers and ground effects. Just use the Cruze's underpinnings to produce a separately marketed FWD sport coupe below the Camaro...just make it look like a baby Camaro or baby Corvette and keep it around 160-220HP with good fuel economy; people would love it. Ford's already rumored to be working on something like that based off of the Fiesta platform and the Reflex concept, supposedly it would revive the Puma namesake.
they should just Re-make a 2 or 4-seat solstice coupe to slot between the camaro as an entry level sports car RWD handles better tha FWD
Thats right. I've don't really have much experience with Domestics from the 60's 70's 80's and 90's. I have owned them in this decade so I guess I can give my opinion. Seeing that we are talking about a car for 2011. I guess I could be like you and say that all domestics suck because they made bad cars in 1981 .
What do you think of the idea of using the GM 2.4L Ecotech engine currently used on the Malibu as the optional engine for the Cruze with the option of a manual transmission for that model and engine and just drop the proposed 1.8L standard base engine leaving the 1.4 turbo as the base engine?
I actually think that would make a good deal of sense...turbo 4s are going to become more common and it'd probably be a good advertising/selling point. Something like that would probably put Chevy inline with Hyundai's engine options...never in a million years did I ever think that Hyundai would emerge as an industry leader in engine technology, but they're about to do big things with the next gen Elantra/Accent considering where they are with the Sonata. Ford is still a bit of a mystery, but the Fiesta gives a good sign of things to come.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTOlover
they should just Re-make a 2 or 4-seat solstice coupe to slot between the camaro as an entry level sports car RWD handles better tha FWD
I wish they would....but they'll never do that since it would canibalize Camaro sales, as would reintroducing the original roadster Solstice to go along with the new Camaro drop-top. I just don't think they'd be able to use the Kappa platform to make a vehicle cheap enough, that's why I figured that an small 160-200ish turbo 4cyl FWD sports car that had the looks of a modern GM muscle car but using the basic framework of the Cruze would make the most sense. They could use it to fight FWD pocket rockets like the Mini Cooper S, Mazda Speed3, upcoming Hyundai "Veloster", Volkswagen's Scirocco and Ford's Focus RS which need to come stateside, etc and bring a variation of the American muscle car into a different class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover
They tried and they just couldn't do it cost-effectively.
Makes me wonder why Mazda can do it with the Miata but GM just couldn't make a go of the Kappa cars.
The Miata isn't my cup of tea, per say. But that thing definately is a work of art and one of the best performance cars out there...period. I'm interested in seeing what Mazda does for the next gen Miata, but I REALLY hope that they can avoid sticking the current corporate "demonic smiley face of doom" look that all of their recent cars seems to have...hello awkwardly happy Speed3:
The Miata isn't my cup of tea, per say. But that thing definately is a work of art and one of the best performance cars out there...period. I'm interested in seeing what Mazda does for the next gen Miata, but I REALLY hope that they can avoid sticking the current corporate "demonic smiley face of doom" look that all of their recent cars seems to have...hello awkwardly happy Speed3:
This pisses me off. I cannot for the life of me understand what the hell they were thinking when they put that big stupid goofy grin on that car. They finally make some needed dynamic changes to the Speed3, and then they do this to it... This is worse than Acura putting a Transformers logo on the front of its cars.
I bet someone could make a little bit of extra money designing and selling replacement front fascias for this car.
I have and do own domestics, and I have driven a bunch of small domestics in the last 35 + years, that is why I do not buy small domestics. I own one asian truck. I do not have much brand loyalty except an affinity for VWs and International Harvesters.
My point was that for years GM has fallen short in the small car arena and that is likely why many folks do not trust them to finally get it right. As I stated in a previous post, I hope the Cruze in a success.
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, but they're about to do big things with the next gen Elantra/Accent considering where they are with the Sonata. Ford is still a bit of a mystery, but the Fiesta gives a good sign of things to come. 
