Making a smaller RWD car? What a concept!

Smaller, lighter RWD 2+2 coupe/sedan with the 2.0 L turbocharged Ecotec I4 and attendant 5-speed. Give it a real trunk and keep the weight down to under 3,000 lbs. At 260+ horse, that’s a far better power-to-weight than an RX-8.

NICE!!

this i’d LOVE to see!

The “magenta” Torana concept pictured with the story featured a 4litre V6 twin-turbo which isn’t exactly in the same leage as the 3-series but it would sound more appealing if they followed through.

GM could claim that they’ve built a car that beats a Ferrari and there will always be those who would still rather buy the prancing horse.

GM doesn’t have the cachet or the reputation to play with the big boys. People would rather go for the real thing than a pretender.

Bring them on over!!! Us Domestic car fans need something to choose from over here! BMWs & MBs are nice but quite a bit pricey, besides if they produce similar power and handle well it would be nice to start gaining the respect back that they deserve.

They can make something that is in the same class, but they will never be able to have the same class as a BMW or MB. I may go in a straight line as quick but there is no way that it will compete with the handling of a BMW. BMW may be pricey but you get what you pay for and I’m rather pay the extra premium to get the top of the line. The one thing GM has thats kick-a$$ is the ZO6, wihich is the best car they make and renowned the world over for its performance and price, and their trucks. But kudos to GM for trying.

Right, because everyone makes enough to buy a Porsche or a Ferrari. There’s something called Reality.

doublearon21 – i’m afraid to ask what you think of the CTS-V. Honestly, if I were in the market for that type of car, I would buy a CTS-V vs the M3. It wouldn’t be due to one having better quality over the other, I like the styling of the CTS-V. I have not driven a base CTS, so I don’t really know how it stacks up against a 325. Caddilac has grown leaps and bounds, deserves some credit.

Make it a tough, straight to the point performance car, undercut BMW and Merc by $10-15K Give it crisp handling and a very Nice interior and don’t badge engineer it accross the GM line up…
Then call it a Chevelle, Nova or brand it Pontiac.

Put a V8 in it, then the other companies will have something to worry about. Don’t charge too much and earn your customers back.

Give me a new SRX to replace my old jalopy and you’ll earn my business back as well.

Eh, who am I kidding, my dealership tells me to pound sand before they fix anything. They wait until it shows up at the door on a flatbed before anything constructive happens.

Yes GM, this is what you should do. Like the others said, keep the price low and you’ll have lots of customers.

my comment to Lutz… “Duh”.

Who’d of thought to make a car to compete with the 3 series? Isn’t the 3 series practically the benchmark car to beat in the whole industry? You think they would have noticed this 10 years ago.

GM could definately do it and they definately should… BUT they have to make sure they can make a sedan AND A COUPE!! The three series is successful because you can buy it in a variety of different ways (coupe, sedan, wagon), and not to mention it’s RWD with BMW’s tuning abilities.

Novicius, you hit the nail on the head. Eco-tec turbo COUPE, RWD weighing in around 2700-2800, with available manual transmission. This will give the world a quick coupe with RWD, that gets good gas mileage.

GM should take some of the research they used on the vette suspension and integrate it into this car, that way it can beat the 3 series in the straights AND in the turns.

They should let the Holden crew design this car because they obviously know what’s up. They pay attention to detail, and their cars look very nice. Have Holden design the car, then debut it in the States and in Australia at the same time…

Has GM ever thought of just bringing Holden to the US?

Most likely the car made by GM would be faster, better handling, and probably better looking. However, the GM car wont beat the retards that would buy the slower, worse looking, worse handling BMW 3 series. I hate the current one and would hope tht GM releases one as i stated above.

You forgot far heavier 3 series as well, Endurancevm, but otherwise I agree with you.

A front-mid 260+ horse turbo Ecotec + 5 speed, 2+2 sedan/coupe/wagon @ 3,000 lbs. should have no problem besting any performance metric the 3500+ lbs. non-M3 cars put up (including the 4.8 sec. 0-60 the 335i did). Too bad only I and like seven other people in the U.S. would buy it.

I don’t shop on price 1c3d0g, make it better and I will buy it, make it cheaper and I’ll buy the BMW

GM can’t even match the last generation 3-series let alone the current one no matter what brand makes it. Why would anyone want a GM rear drive over a Honda accord is beyond me.

seriously, i think honda has a better chance at making a RWD sedan to best the 3 series. GM? …

If Honda decides to get serious and use NSX technology on a very cheap version of an ultimate performance machine yea they can do it alright but why bother when there’s no profit in that segment? Let BMW takes care of that and focus on the bread and butter that makes the $. Anyone with real business sense would do just that and ignore the whining enthusiasts.

Regarding GM, if they price it way below the 3 series people will buy. Just make sure the quality is at least on par with the BMW. Otherwise it’s like a Subaru.

*Sophisticated

Veda,

Because I don’t want to have to pay BMW prices and maintenance for a car I’m buying for the drivetrain, not the prestige. Let GM do it and if Honda ever decides drivers are important again, let them build one also.

If you price it under a 3 series then it would collide with cadillac so whats the point????

“Just make sure the quality is at least on par with the BMW. Otherwise it’s like a Subaru” Veda, If it reaches that level it will cost like a BMW. If its typical GM it won’t even touch a Subaru.

Big Boy Combo: that’s good that you don’t need to worry about the price of something you want. But for other less-fortunate people, pricing is a make or break deal.

Remember when GM advertised the Cimarron as a better alternative to the 320i? Eeek!!

All kidding aside, the 3 series continues to be the standard for one reason: its driving dynamics are far and above the competition’s. Don’t get me wrong, Audis drive beautifully, as do IS350s and G35s but in the end, the combination of the whole package is what makes the 3 series the class standard. I believe GM could build a car that could perform (on paper) every bit as well as a 3 series but I doubt it will have the driving dynamics, material quality and workmanship of the 3. It will cost considerably less though so it’s got that going for it.

A Cadillac on this platform will be a stout competitor for the 3, if that’s the direction they decide to go with it. I’m sure GM doesn’t mind you underestimating them.

Since GM is going retro, this is the perfect opportunity for GM to revive either the Vega/Monza platform or the Chevette/T1000 platform. Just ask Bob Lutz, they are 3 series competitors.

Ideal car starting at a $20,000 price point:
compact four door, rear-wheel-drive, four-cylinder with turbo version optional, 6-speed manual and automatic, under 3000lbs, fully independent double wishbone suspension. Oh yes and seats, a radio and A/C.

Someone tell me why I cannot buy a simply appointed car like this for $20,000 new? For $20,000 I do not expect a 3-series. I only expect a CAR. The Cobalt and Ion are not cars. They’re overpriced Tonka toys.

Thats an insult to Tonka toys!

If you are going to develop a new chassis, make the GM 4.2 liter straight six fit.

The car will be legendary.

(knows it will never happen)

Renton: agreed 100%.

/me secretly hopes GM’s management reads this site…

All of the sudden GM’s new rival is BMW? The same brand that probably makes the best cars around? Hahaha!

Jameson, I hadn’t thought of that. You’re absolutely right

Hyperion, you can’t win on every segment. Sure, sure we can dream a performance model like a R8 with Honda reliability and priced at 30K…

> General Motors is considering a new rear-wheel-drive platform that could be used to create a compact sedan to rival the BMW 3-Series or Lexus IS250

And how would this be different than the CTS?

The CTS is pretty large, me thinks.

Veda, all I really want to see is a more common use of RWD in compact cars. I think asking for an Audi R8 that is as reliable as a Honda (and I beg to differ on “performance” Hondas) priced at 30k is a pipe dream, sure. I’m not asking for that. I’m asking for the equivalent of the Japanese Nissan Silvia in a coupe, four door, hatchback– whatever. The car existed as a production car at one time and well below $30k.

Perhaps some of us would never consider an Audi S4 simply because it’s too gaudy? Again, if I wanted a luxury car…

Honda is peformance.

F1
MotoGP
IndyCar
ChampCar
Superbike
SuperCross
Motocross

Honda Jet — jet planes (they are coming)

and more.

Nissan, as great as they are , most likely take a back seat to Honda when it comes to performance. Even Nissan knows it is no Honda.

I dunno about that…

I’d say Honda are stronger performers in the motorsports world, but I think that Nissan might have the edge in the real world.

Honda’s got the NSX, S2000, and Integra (RSX), which are all pretty good in their respective categories. But how well do they stack up against the Silvia, Pulsar GTi-R, Z, and of course, Skyline. Also, we could count the Infiniti FX45, which goes toe-to-toe with the Cayenne S.

I think the street advantage Nissan would have comes from their varied approach to building vehicles in general, experimenting with rear- (Silvia, Z, some Skylines), front- (SE-R vehicles), and all-wheel (GTi-R, and the rest of the Skylines) drive. Although, I will admit that in recent years this has perhaps taken a bit of a hit.

Honda, on the other hand, are pretty adamant about building front-wheel drive cars because of the success that formula has given them. However, if Honda were to field a rear-wheel drive performance sedan, say the TSX with rwd, I think they could actually give BMW a run for their money. Unlike GM, I’d say that the reliability, and to a large degree quality, are already on par with BMW. Even performance-wise, Honda engines stack up remarkably well. I’d even be willing to consider the possibility that they’re better engines.

All that being said, sticking to their front-wheel drive formula for almost all of their daily driver cars (the exception being the RL, and I’m not counting trucks or SUVs), gives Honda under the guise of Acura an almost complete monopoly over the front-wheel drive luxury/performance car market. I mean, the only other choices (in North America, anyway) are the Lexus ES330, Cadillac DTS, Lincoln Zephyr, and none of those are really geared to compete directly with Acura. So, that’s not necessarily a bad move. That being said, I don’t think it would kill Honda to have a go a rwd sedan/coupe. In fact, if the new civic was offered in a rear-wheel configuration, it would probably be in my driveway.

/no

Honda has missed the steet car boat with its FWD and lack of V8 street power, but it is only because they choose to do so.

Should Honda decide it is a market they wish to enter, they will dominate . I wish they would, but other thatn the S2000, which I have one of, they do not make another performance vehicle I would own.

Racing is the ultimate test and Honda has one of the greatest pedigreees. I wish Honda would build some serious street stuff.

But they do know performance.

This so called switch to RWD should have been done years ago. RWD has many advantages of FWD or AWD. They include better handling, better durability, ability to do burnouts (with the right engine/transmission), and easier maintenance. A long time ago, the Michigan State police did a test of their FWD vs RWD cars and found that the RWD vehicles were 50 percent cheaper to maintain.

The only disadvantage of RWD is potentially weight and gas mileage. I would take a 1mpg hit to have a RWD vehicle. Cars of all kinds are overweight behemoths that need to be put in the dryer.I don’t think that saving weight has been a priority for car makers these days, as the R&D money is going towards so-called alternative fueled vehciles and hybrid powerplants.

Personally, I’ve lost interest in the current Honda. I think the NSX and S2000 are really great cars. A friend let me drive his 2004 S2k and it was a pleasing experience. I’ve never driven an NSX. I do own a Prelude and while a great handling car, it doesn’t compare to the other two.

I’m interested in RWD cars with more than two seats, so I’m looking elsewhere. I’m glad GM is at least trying.

one of the big mistakes GM made several years back was building a bunch of factories that were only capable of producing front-wheel drive vehicles. this is a mistake that i’m hoping they won’t just repeat in reverse, by building new factories or retooling existing ones that only build rear-wheel drive vehicles. they need to be able to build a more diverse product line-up. i mean, let’s face it, the last 15 or so years have been a furious exercise in badge engineering at GM. I have no doubt that there was probably a certain amount of desire to build a wider variety of vehicles at GM, but they just didn’t have the ability. That’s not a very comforting thought considering they are the world’s largest automaker.

/no

Renton, your S2000 is “serious street stuff”.

People that underestimate that car don’t know the lap times it can produce. If all people are worried about is streetlight-to-streetlight or highway roll-on racing, buy a Honda RC51 motorcycle. A garage with a Civic Si sedan, an S2000 and an RC51 will pretty much cover any contingency.

Nah, for that you’d only need a Suzuki GSX 1300. Half the price and barely sips fuel. Win-win.

If this is true, I’d be all for it. The CTS is going to move into the same size catergory as the 5-series when it’s redesigned next year.