[conemark]

Take a look and see what's on the horizon:

http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plu...idg=1&idi=1

http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plu...idg=1&idi=2

http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plu...idg=1&idi=3

http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plu...idg=1&idi=4

http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plu...idg=1&idi=5

http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plu...idg=1&idi=6

[Todd]

unfortunately they let the US designers have control of the interior design. cheap and crude. its okay in my $1000 3rd gen, but not in a $30K car. guess thats why I bought a snaab, my money still sorta goes to GM. pretty much had to resort to saab to get a 4dr GM sedan with a manual too...but thats another rant.

I think the CTS's interior was designed by an American and it looks better than anything it competes with IMO. The Malibu, Aura, Solstice, Sky, and trucks all look great too. I think GM will ultimately put a nice interior in it, I'm not too hung up on a preproduction car.

I do like the CTS interior ...much of the components were taken directly from saab. Couldn't get over the exterior styling though. I did look at the Aura, what a change from what GM/Saturn normally offer. But look at the Pontiac G6 (same chassis) and the interior is cheap and nasty. The seats are comfy for long drives but they look like they belong in a Wrangler.

As for the 5th gen, I think the interior "look" is decided, maybe just not finalized. As usual GM is behind the 8-ball on getting to the car to market... ie the G8 (summer 07 availability), HHR SS (fall 07 availability), SSR (two years after projected date), and now the Camaro. As much as a die-hard GM guy I am, I can't overlook the consistent hesitation of GM to put a car into production quickly to capture the enthusiasm of the market.

my saab is the first non-real-GM car I've bought in 15 years. I wanted to wait until the 9-3 XWD came out...but I may trade up later. Any guesses on when the other cars on that chassis (Aura, G6, Malibu) will get AWD, a manual trans, or a turbo motor???

[BigEnos]

unfortunately they let the US designers have control of the interior design. cheap and crude. its okay in my $1000 3rd gen, but not in a $30K car. guess thats why I bought a snaab, my money still sorta goes to GM. pretty much had to resort to saab to get a 4dr GM sedan with a manual too...but thats another rant.

I think the CTS's interior was designed by an American and it looks better than anything it competes with IMO. The Malibu, Aura, Solstice, Sky, and trucks all look great too. I think GM will ultimately put a nice interior in it, I'm not too hung up on a preproduction car.

I do like the CTS interior ...much of the components were taken directly from saab. Couldn't get over the exterior styling though. I did look at the Aura, what a change from what GM/Saturn normally offer. But look at the Pontiac G6 (same chassis) and the interior is cheap and nasty. The seats are comfy for long drives but they look like they belong in a Wrangler.

As for the 5th gen, I think the interior "look" is decided, maybe just not finalized. As usual GM is behind the 8-ball on getting to the car to market... ie the G8 (summer 07 availability), HHR SS (fall 07 availability), SSR (two years after projected date), and now the Camaro. As much as a die-hard GM guy I am, I can't overlook the consistent hesitation of GM to put a car into production quickly to capture the enthusiasm of the market.

my saab is the first non-real-GM car I've bought in 15 years. I wanted to wait until the 9-3 XWD came out...but I may trade up later. Any guesses on when the other cars on that chassis (Aura, G6, Malibu) will get AWD, a manual trans, or a turbo motor???

The G6 and the new Malibu do not have the same chassis. That's the older car you are thinking of. The '08 Malibu is on the same platform as the Aura.

I also do not think the '08 CTS shares anything at all with any Saab.

I agree that the Camaro development seems to be at a glacial pace. Maybe it's just because I want one, kinda like Christmas when you're a kid. The new 9-3 (new for '08 I think) which also shares the Aura/'08 Malibu chassis has a turbo V6. I don't think any of the other cars on that line will get a turbo, though. I haven't heard anything about AWD.

This post has been edited by BigEnos: Jan 7 2008, 04:51 PM

[pknowles]

I agree that the Camaro development seems to be at a glacial pace. Maybe it's just because I want one, kinda like Christmas when you're a kid. The new 9-3 (new for '08 I think) which also shares the Aura/'08 Malibu chassis has a turbo V6. I don't think any of the other cars on that line will get a turbo, though. I haven't heard anything about AWD.

It just takes a long time to design something as complex as a car. I'm assuming that GM took notice of the 05 Mustang success and from that point on decided to design the 5th gen. So even if they started in the beginning of 05, if we see the car this summer that is only 3.5 years from brainstorm to product. That is fast!