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A few months ago and old guy in a newer lesabre pulled next to me at a stoplight. The light turned green and he absolutely killed me off the line. He was almost a car length ahead of me by the time we got through the intersection. I have the 3.5L w/ 3.29 rearend.
Last night a kid in a ford explorer V8 did the same thing to me when the light turned green. I was going 45mph before i caught up to him.
Having said that i much prefer the dohc to the pushrod motor. Especially on the highway and two lane roads.
Impala is currently number one.
http://www.top10sa.com/Top10List.asp?ListID=17
Look under view nominations and you will find the intrigue. Vote.
...send in the clowns, err lawyers.
It would be really nice to see a non-yacht
wagon along the lines of those mentioned
in the previous post, come from GM.
It would also be nice if they could keep it
in the price range of the Intrigue/Regal/Impala
sedans.
$35 - 40K for a decent, fun to drive wagon is
just insane, and not everyone wants an SUV.
GM....anybody listening??
Yes, I know about the Saturn wagon;
don't dig it.
It seems the Impala turns heads...some like it, some hate it...such is life!
To each his own! ;-)
I finally signed up in the yahoo chat room and somebody has my log in name. I am b4z28 in there.
At least i got it in www.camaroz28.com and www.fbody.org.
Impala is one ugly car!!!!!
The Firebird 3.8 is a value pkg---no supercharger; the std engine does not have the good parts.
420 Mercedes is not a 50k car unless it is a few years old...
http://www.edmunds.com/used/1999/mercedesbenz/sclass/s420.html
I don't do much highway driving but I do have a couple of 'tricky' merges each day where the low end torque is definitely appreciated.
I also keep my cars for a long time (at least 10 years) so I like the 'bulletproof' history of the 3800. I also liked the flawless transmission shifting.
As to 'refinement', what do I care about that? The 3800 isn't exactly a steam engine. It has the performance I need and it has no annoying vibration and is not particularly noisy, that's all that matters to me and most drivers.
As to engine sounds, well the Japanese, and before them the Europeans, are masters of tuning the exhaust 'notes' of their cars to match some primal mental impression of how true performance should sound. I refuse to be manipulated that way.
About 1980 or a little thereafter, it seemed that men stopped wearing the pants in the automotive world. Since then men have become less and less a factor in the purchase decision of new vehicles. Vehicles like the first minivan only helped that trend along. Then, the SUV's. These large markets were made lucrative by female demand.
So no wonder chicks won't know what an Intrigue is. It doesn't have the "designer appeal" a Passat has. Again, the Passat is a good car, but the chicks all buy VW's because there is a certain cute tidiness about them. Not because of their performance. The car is a fashion accessory, or just an inoffensive appliance. Until Olds (and the rest of GM)gives the Intrigue this "runway fashion" and aura of cuteness and innofensiveness and strips it of its male qualities it will have no looks from women.
Truth: cars will fail in the market if you can't get soccer moms to buy it. Just like for the last 12 years we can't seem to elect a president that isn't big with the soccer mom crowd.
Etharmon-Amen to the getting rid of political correctness. I'm tired of it too. I don't care if someone dislikes my viewpoint. As long as you aren't personalizing anyone...you rock on man.
As long as our views aren't an uncalled for disrespect to someone or our country, let's speak our mind. And if someone tell's me I'm full of it...hey right back at ya. What's important to me is how I feel. If you feel different too bad. Prove to me why I'm wrong. If you can do that I'm big enough to admit I can change my mind. But otherwise guys follow your own drum!!!
BTW, I very much prefer the 3.5 to the 3.8.
The best car is the car that fit best the personal tastes, driving patterns, family needs, and the checking account. And obviously, given the diversity of American population, no one model can fit all.
I like very much the wide range of the W-body GM cars. It let us select, within the same basic design, whatever is better for us, or what we like more.
Intrigue is a very good car, powerful and nice-looking. But let imagine everybody around, instead of Impala, Monte-Carlo, Regal, Grand Prix, and Century, would drive Intrigues with 3.5l engines. Would you enjoy this?
For me, it would be very boring. Not unlike the Soviet Union.
BTW, the diversity of models is the old good GM philosophy, famous from the 1920-ths, when GM won the competition with the one-size-fit-all Ford approach.
Your last post will most certainly be deleted. You are bringing it on yourself with the language you are using, it is unnecessary.
I got deleted too, several days ago for the first time. Big deal.
Etharmon, are you getting enough sleep?
Censorship would be someone coming into YOUR web site that YOU owned and telling you that you couldn't post something. You joined SOMEONE ELSE's website. You agreed to the rules before they let you join. If you are going to use their time and money to post (this is costing someone SOMETHING), you have to follow their rules. You can create a website called ETHARMON'S-INTRIGUE-DISCUSSION.COM and put all your political there if it makes you feel better.
In any case, please don't insult the rest of us with the foul language.
Surprised etharmon's post is still there this morning. Censors have the day off?
As to concerning the safety inclination, powerful engine substantially improves safety of car. As well as performance tires, and better handling generally. While the SUVs you attributed to women drivers are hardly safe.
I removed the posting. Wrote deep in night, sorry.
With one-two kids, sedans are as much convenient as minivans, probably even more. Coupes are for single or childless pairs. SUVs are mostly just a fad: do not see how can they be useful on asphalt.
BTW, there is much less minivans on the roads, than families with kids. I take my son from school sometimes, or drive him to sport, etc. Only about 20-25% of cars on the school parking lot for parents are minivans or SUVs.
Sedans still are dominating in quantity in our places. But every minivan or SUV on the roads hinder visibility more, than five or ten cars.
Also, the Intrigue is considered to be one of the best in its class by them, with typically the VW Passat mentioned as a better car.
The Passat was a first choice for me, but my wife hated its looks. You want import type handling and refinement, its an Intrigue, Passat, among other choices for import buyers. Want a more domestic feel, go with the other w-bodies. If I need to explain what I mean by an an "import feel" vs typical domestic feel, then you'll never understand.
The funny thing is... when I remove left-wing posts, I'm accused of being right-wing. The opposite is also true. The fact of the matter is, I just remove all political posts and many of you would probably be surprised to learn of my political preferences.
etharmon has chosen not to address the topic management off-line as I invited him to do and to ignore my requests instead choosing to derail this topic with spiteful insults and name-calling. This will not be tolerated.
Again, if you'd like to discuss the handling of this issue, you are more than welcome to email me off-line.
Have a good weekend,
L8_Apex
Sedans Host
The vans are great for large families and really serve a purpose---utility value/status zippo. Hope to avoid any ownership of either vehicle due to some of the reasons outlined plus they don't handle too safely and offer very poor visibility laterally and back.
They are great for loading up which I could use for the Fla run since the Caddy is loaded to the ceiling and load-leveling features are appreciated.
As for as the censure is concerned; I really don't get bent out shape too much due to the age variance of the forum and the ever-present reminder of correctness..My background doesn't blend with the goody-goody aspect of most of the preached correctness..Raised two very successful kids that are a pleasure to my wife and I; which many of you will learn is no small feat..
I have been informed----time to pack....
Got to go pack some more!!!
The Series II engine does work well up to about 70 in that it pulls fine and has great low end grunt. Never had a problem with that engine although the oil filter placement sure makes a mess out of lower right side of the suspension. I guess that's what you get when you convert what was a rear wheel drive engine to front wheel drive. The 3800 did make some noise under hard acceleration, but I think that is the nature of the beast. Nothing untoward, just a little bit of noise.
The 3.5 makes it strength felt best when you press on the gas hard enough to let the revs build, but not so hard that you force a downshift. You can feel strong power at about 3500 RPM and up. On ramps are great when you get the hang of how to apply power. I have run the 3.5 up to 5000 RPM and the engine just pulls so clean and strong that it makes me wish for a stick. BTW, I ride many different motorcycles for a couple of magazines and get the opportunity to go from pushrod OHV engines to 5-valve twin-cam motors and every engine makes power in different ways and you really need to find the kind of engine that most appeals to the way you plan to ride/drive.
The 3.5 makes very sophisticated noises (especially when you start it) that appeals to how the Intrigue feels when you run at speed. I went to Palm Springs this week and 85-105 is GREAT with this motor. Had a little Allman Bros on the CD and that added to the road 'music'.
I love it....so TRUE!!!!!
Guys keep this in mind at all times or you get shut out if you know what I mean.
I'm talking about getting to pick out a car!!!! Not THAT!
post in each forum. The 300m people are engineering types and know how to do any change that anybody could want from stereos to exhaust modifications. The impala people are very friendly and talk a lot about their personal lives and seem to be very enthusiastic about everything.
The intriguers appear to be split between those who feel that the car is the best thing since sliced bread and those who feel that is possessed by the devil. It is a very schizophrenic car that doesn't seem to have an identity and its owners are upset that it is not getting its due from oldsmobile.
Any comments would be appreciated. Anyone.... Anyone.... Bueller.....Bueller.....
Intrigues, new Suburbans and new Hondas all have this same problem. Save your hard earned taxable income until PIAA gets the 'fix' in.
bz4: When the Intrigue works right, it's fantastic. When it doesn't, it's incredibly frustrating - primarily because it holds so much promise. It looks great, has one of the best drivetrains of any car - foreign or domestic - and offers a nice interior. Unfortunately, designing this nice car must have exhausted GM, because the corporation sure hasn't expended much effort to ensure consistent quality control or mount a clever, effective advertising campaign.