Alero and GTO

[silverbullet2]

Hello Im new..HI!

Ok onto my question.. is it just me or does the new GTO and the 2003 Alero have alot in common with regards to exterior styling?

Thanks.

Nicole

[Johnnyangel]

The GTO is really from GM's Australian performance brand, Holden. They've been making them for a few years now under a different name. Oldsmobile isn't really dying, GM is just augmenting its other nameplates with Olds products. The Grand Am is the equivalent to the Alero, the "new" Grand Prix is just an Aurora V6 (not even the V8!) with different taillights, the Buick Rainier is a V8 Bravada... the only Olds that's really dying is the Intrigue, but the market segment isn't really there anymore anyway.

[Naich]

Originally posted by Johnnyangel@Dec 20 2003, 09:50 AM
The GTO is really from GM's Australian performance brand, Holden. They've been making them for a few years now under a different name. Oldsmobile isn't really dying, GM is just augmenting its other nameplates with Olds products. The Grand Am is the equivalent to the Alero, the "new" Grand Prix is just an Aurora V6 (not even the V8!) with different taillights, the Buick Rainier is a V8 Bravada... the only Olds that's really dying is the Intrigue, but the market segment isn't really there anymore anyway.
Um, no offense, but you are mostly wrong.

The GA was made first, and the Alero and Malibu were designed off that platform. It wasn't an oldsmbobile-developed platform. The Aurora is nothing like the Grand Prix... they are 2 different platforms. In fact, the GP and Intrigue share a platform... and the GP is much older than the Intrigue is. The "new" GP is just styled different and tuned for a little more HP, but is almost the same mechanically as its former versions.

The one point you have is the Bravada turning into the Buick Rainier, but Buick was the only major GM brand that didn't have an SUV. The Bravada was made off the same platform as the Blazer and Jimmy, so it wasn't an olds design either.

[Johnnyangel]

I see what you mean, but I never said the GA came first, and the new GP shares most of its styling cues with the Aurora, as well as engine and transmission setup. The newer Bravadas are from the Trailblazer/Envoy line, both of which bear less resemblance to the Rainier than the Bravada does. Nothing is really an 'olds' design, everything on the drawing board at GM is based on the same basic platforms except the few extremes, like the corvette- although it will share the XLR chassis in its 2005 rendition. My point was simply that these *new* vehicles are emerging as the *old* ones go- it's more a nameplate switch than a redesign, and I personally think it's a lazy and almost shady way to produce *new* vehicles.

[Final-Reality]

hah... I wish the grand prix looked like an aurora. The new GP is fugly. The aurora was a gorgeous car... Also the grand prix uses both a chassis and engine that were designed in the 80's... they're next to go, rumor has it the GP replacement will be RWD.

The alero is gone, no cars look like it, the closest thing is obviously the grand am, and really its just the door skins that are identical, and the grand am is being discontinued next year anyways and replaced with an all-new G6.

The Intrigue wasnt a very good looking car anyways and it shares its platform with the impala, monte carlo and grand prix... none of which have changed since the intrigue was discontinued so you can't say that they simply brought the intrigue to another division.

The new Buick Ranier is very similiar to the Bravada in that it's GMs "Near-Luxury" midsize SUV... and apparently on the outside just the grille/headlights and tail lights were changed to look like a buick. Inside I think it was updated a little bit but not much either.. and they're giving the standard-length Ranier the option of the V8. The V8 is only optional in the Envoy EXT and the Trailblazer EXT, not the regualar versions of those two.

[Johnnyangel]

So many cars today are going back to RWD... everyone went nuts over FWD, then AWD, then high performance RWD, and now they want everything RWD again- it's just like this fitness crap, everyone claimed to have the purest water, then everyone started adding stuff to it with the 'fitness water' schtick, and now it's all about friggin' Powerade again... the whole damned world is getting too trendy for me, man!

[Final-Reality]

For handling, RWD provides the best balance when cornering.

For all-weather/every-day driving, AWD would be the best choice, albiet with a high RWD bias..

[Johnnyangel]

I drove an RX-8 last week, and they handle pretty well for a RWD vehicle- they're pretty close to a 50/50 weight distribution with the way the rotary engine sits back under the hood, and it still has plenty of juice. Still wouldn't help so much in the rain or snow, though.

[Final-Reality]

Originally posted by Johnnyangel@Dec 20 2003, 10:55 PM
they handle pretty well for a RWD vehicle
:huh?: Did'nt you read what I Just said? RWD is inheriently better at cornering than a FWD or AWD vehicle is... (as long as it's set up properly)

[misslindseysue]

The rumors I've heard are actually more like GP, well, GTP, will be AWD.

[overdrive75]

Originally posted by Final-Reality@Dec 20 2003, 06:30 PM
Also the grand prix uses both a chassis and engine that were designed in the 80's...
If you really want to get into it on the engine design, the 3.8 first debuted in the Buick Skylark in the 60's as the standard engine. Not much about the design of the motor has changed since then heads down, with the exception of the head and block materials. When the motor first came it out is a 100,000 mile motor when you didn't need one that ran that long.