Threeer, what let you down on the Saturn front? I owned my Saturn Astra XR 5 dr now for a year and have put 23K on it already. Its a terrific little bastard that consistantly makes 31 mpg, town and highway. The 1.8L four isn’t going to beat many cars to 60 mph, but its not really designed for it either (GM took the exceptionally good 2.0L turbo for the sub-par Cobalt). Its interior quality for a sub-compact is far superior to a Korean cracker box as is its styling and reliability. Its very German and loves to be driven like you stole it. If you can still find one, you really should test drive one of the three door XRs. Its too bad GM let another one rot on the vine.

One of my favourite examples is the Buick Riviera. It started life as a remarkably clean, crisp and trim coupe in the early 60s, but just ten years later had become that massive flabby machine with the glass boat tail … and not even half the backseat.

Chuck: thank you, but a quick search seemed to reveal that lots of contemporary Diesels are chain cam. Like, the Mondeo’s, or many Focus TDCi’s as well. Am I wrong? If you wish, I can look into this and compile a more comprehensive list.

On my four-star rating: the Insignia is a genuinely good drive. A quality car. The best GM I’ve ever driven. Nobody would have to be ashamed to be seen in it. One can only marvel at automotive progress. Its only real faults lie in its packaging. So I felt it merited four stars. Maybe I was too kind to it; in fact, I would never contemplate buying one. So perhaps three stars would have been more just? Let’s say 3.6, rounded up to 4.

Chuck, isn’t that part of the diesel mystique, to make the neighbors think the UPS van is coming?

Just shoot me.

Seriously? This is a ‘bonus’ feature?

Mirko Reinhardt:
It’s not. The best selling gasser Golf is the 80hp naturally aspirated 1.4.

I believe Paul said it’s a huge seller, not the best seller. There is a difference…

It’s not. The best selling gasser Golf is the 80hp naturally aspirated 1.4.

German buyers seem to answer the “Insignia vs. Mondeo” question with a resounding “Passat”.
In April, 8615 Passats were sold in the Fatherland, compared to 4433 Insignias and 2441 Mondeos.

it has insufficient headroom and foot room in the back

So they eliminated the one thing that the Vectra had going for it?

I think psarhjinian is dead on about GM’s love of coupe profiles and tumblehome. It goes back at least to ‘59, with the big B-body hardtop coupes with the tiny little greenhouses on a massive body. It can look really slick, but it’s none too practical. That was one of the failings of the Oldsmobile — it looked pretty good, but it was absurdly cramped for a two-ton car.

Yes, Katie…diesels DO run quieter with premium diesel fuel, a few splashes of bioD even better.
If such a thing existed in NA, they could be here.

Chuck…Ill take a well-Mobil1-lubed chain to a rubber-band anytime. All diesels make a little/lot of noise at idle. The beauty is that nice hum at 2-5Krpm.

You’re right that Ford’s marketing was terrible, but I don’t know how many times I heard people say, “That looks like an old man’s car.”

Ford had the 2010 Taurus at the Carlisle All-Ford Nationals this past weekend, and the interest it received was quite amazing. The comments were interesting, too…many along the lines of, “What an improvement,” and “Wow, I can’t believe this is a Taurus”.

+1

Way to shoot for the fences, GM.

Too bad about that 80% handling though.

–chuck