Drink some coffee, buy a Buick

[Ferrer]

Well, apparently I was wrong. Audi aren't the Starbucks of the car world. Because Buick is (or rather wants to be).

Buick Confirms New Models, Targets "Customers that Shop at Ikea and Drink Coffee at Starbucks" - Carscoop (http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2010/05/buick-confirms-new-models-targets-that.html)

Maybe they target this sort of costumers because with some much caffeine in their veins they won't fall asleep when they drive their Buicks or something.

Also, in a related note it's funny to see Americans (well, if I'm honest Autoblog mainly) so excited with what basically is an Opel with an automatic and a four cylinder engine.

[pimento]

You're still going on about costumers... :p

I guess this isn't a car for me then.. I drink coffee that tastes good and buy my kit form furniture from a hardware store.. or the side of the road/areas allocated for rubbish.

[cmcpokey]

you aren't excited because you get affordable GM cars that aren't crap. i am excited about the insignia coming over, and it does come with a stick btw.

[Ferrer]

You're still going on about costumers... :p

I guess this isn't a car for me then.. I drink coffee that tastes good and buy my kit form furniture from a hardware store.. or the side of the road/areas allocated for rubbish.
So your car must be a Tata something V6 24v Bi-Turbo... :D

you aren't excited because you get affordable GM cars that aren't crap. i am excited about the insignia coming over, and it does come with a stick btw.
Only the turbo model and later on in the year.

And it's not the affordable GM cars, just that GM cars aren't that interesting. Whe you've got Mondeos, Lagunas with four wheel steering or light weight Mazda 6s, you don't care about the Insignia. Move to the land of good cars, Brendon.... ;)

[pimento]

So your car must be a Tata something V6 24v Bi-Turbo... :D

It's only a 21 valve, I'm still on the lookout for the other three... If I lived in Europe I'd have an Alfa.. there must be enough bits of them on the side of the road to build one from scratch!


you aren't excited because you get affordable GM cars that aren't crap. i am excited about the insignia coming over, and it does come with a stick btw.

Most affordable GM cars here are Daewoos.. errgh.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Chevrolets here were rebadged Daewoos until a few months ago. Some of them must still be around.

[Ferrer]

And apparently Daewoos are being phased out completely, since recently GM introduced the Chevrolet brand in Korea.

[LeonOfTheDead]

And apparently Daewoos are being phased out completely, since recently GM introduced the Chevrolet brand in Korea.

iirc GM Daewoo will be dismissed as a brand in 2012 or 2013.

[NSXType-R]

Chevrolets here were rebadged Daewoos until a few months ago. Some of them must still be around.


And apparently Daewoos are being phased out completely, since recently GM introduced the Chevrolet brand in Korea.


iirc GM Daewoo will be dismissed as a brand in 2012 or 2013.

Wow, that's new news to me. Daewoos were sold here once, they pulled out in the mid 90's. In fact, my neighbor had one.

Were they any good? It seemed like an alternative to Hyundai.

I heard this from somewhere, but eventually, the car companies will just all become one large conglomerate company and consolidate. There will be no such thing as a new carmaker.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Chevrolet appeared in Europe I think in 2003 or 2004, rebranding the Daewoo line-up. Probably Daewoo was a bit less than Hyundai at that time. Having a basically low-end portfolio, Corvette was made a stand alone brand for Europe. It was already sold trough selected Opel/Saab dealers.
Daewoo probably declared bankruptcy that year, being renamed GM Daewoo for Asiatic markets.
Since a couple of years, the older Daewoo models are disappearing, but half of the Chevy portfolio is still old stuff, like the Matiz, Aveo (ex Kalos), Lacetti, Nubira and Tacuma. New products are the uber ugly Spark, the Cruze, Captiva and maybe the Epica.

[Ferrer]

Technically though, most of the cars are still Daewoos. The Cruze could still be considered one.

And I find the Epica moderately interesting, with its small straight sixes.

[LeonOfTheDead]

The Cruze was developed by various GM arms. Being based on the Astra's platform, I'd rather call it an Opel.

[Ferrer]

But it's got completely different engines, both petrols and diesels.

[Tati25]

customers who shop at Whole Foods and Ikea and drink coffee at Starbucks." In other words, buyers who want luxury without paying that much.

I wouldn't say Ikea and Starbucks are luxury... maybe as luxurious as Buicks :P

[cargirl1990]

Well, they are certainly better than the Buicks of yester-year.

[Ferrer]

GNX, GSX, Invicta, Riviera, Skylark...?

[Kitdy]

GNX, GSX, Invicta, Riviera, Skylark...?

Well, other than the GNX, what did Buick do that was any good in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s?

[Ferrer]

I'm not Buick expert, but are there many remarkable US cars from those decades?

[LeonOfTheDead]

Viper, and I don't care if or how good it was. Certain things need just to exist.

[Ferrer]

And there are a couple of Corvettes which aren't bad either, but normal cars?

[Kitdy]

I'm not Buick expert, but are there many remarkable US cars from those decades?

Fair enough. Mind you, Buick has just picked up the ball very recently, and I think it could be argued that Buicks were significantly behind the curve even when regarding other American cars in the malaise and post-malaise era.

[Ferrer]

I don't disagree with that, still Buick should be regarded for all the cars they did, not just the recent ones.

And it seems that despite getting rid of many brands, there's still a fair amount of overlapping in GM's portfolio. I guess that now, however, Buick will take Saturn's Opel-importing role.

[LeonOfTheDead]

And there are a couple of Corvettes which aren't bad either, but normal cars?

GMC Typhoon?
Don't know, normal cars from the States always failed to impress me, either too little knowledge or too different taste.

[Kitdy]

I don't disagree with that, still Buick should be regarded for all the cars they did, not just the recent ones.

I think cg was referring to Buick's of the era I mentioned... A good 30 years of crap.

[Ferrer]

Technically though, the other Buicks are also from yester-year.

And in any case, compared to a similar vintage Taurus, Impala or Sebring a Buick is almost interesting.

[cargirl1990]

What I meant was in quality. Buick was probably behind the rest of the pack in it's class and lets not forget Chrysler as well were behind as well. Interior design wasn't the greatest when it came to looks. But, I know someone that has a Buick with heated seats from 2003 I thought I had 'roids.

[wwgkd]

Viper, and I don't care if or how good it was. Certain things need just to exist.

Haha. This.

There were some good American cars. Many were underrated just because they were American. But with the number 1 seller world wide during all those decades being the Ford F150, and over half of american vehicle sales during much of that time being trucks and SUVs, there just wasn't that much focus on cars.

[pimento]

Does the original Taurus SHO count as any good? Can't think of anything else..

[Ferrer]

Does the original Taurus SHO count as any good? Can't think of anything else..
Only the original though, AFAIK and as it often happens, successive version got fatter and softer.