went by the local chevy dealer today and i saw the restyled monte. it doesn't look like much was done, in fact i wonder why they even bothered. no price on the sticker either.



oh and it was being sent back due to a SS badge on wrong.

 

Wondering why much wasn't done? I think the name of this website is the reason!

 

they will be frontwheel drive v8's like the impla ss

 

if that were true they should have left it alone and put the $ in the camaro.

 

Believe me, if you subtract out the cost of the common parts used on the restyled 06 Impala, VERY little money was spent on the MC.

 

I don't understand why everyone thinks the Monte is so lackluster, especially compared to the Impy. It isn't a mind blow car by any stretch, but at least now the damn thing has a v8. It could definetly use a restyle, but by the sound of things it may not be lucky enough to be around to get it in a few years.

Would be better though if it was rwd.

 

It's obvious that GM wasn't looking to spend much money on the Monte Carlo refresh. Too bad. The GXP pieces are already engineered, paid for and on the shelf for Monte Carlo to differentiate itself from it's family car sibling, Impala.

 

It's disappointing to see this half-*** attitude toward vehicle engineering from GM. The same thing happened with the minivans; rather than re-do the vehicle and do it right (like their competition does when they have something not best in class), they barely warm over the existing platform and proclaim it as all new.

No doubt the decision went something like this: "we can spend $300 million to warm over the minivans and expect to sell 150,000 per year. Or we can spend $1 billion to do it right, have the best vehicle out there, and sell maybe 250,000 per year." So the accountants win out and GM gets a second-rate vehicle because it just doesn't make economic sense to pony up the big dollars. Okay, fine. But then stop complaining when your market share continues to decline, because you are engineering the decline yourself.

Somehow, I don't think this is the approach to vehicle design that GM took 40 years ago.

 

I think the MC is due for a major platform change correct?

 

IIRC, the larger 2 door vehicle (not Camaro obviously) was due for a new platform and the name was even in doubt as to what to use. And that would be why they put very little money into it. Sort of like how they did with barely changing the minivans and re-badging them all, just because Lambda is on its way.
Not excusable, but I see where the business case came in.

 

Thats a very nice thing for a crafty mechanically inclined individual to know, hehe . Theres bound to soon be a rolled or rear ended GXP , and after parting it out , you could most likely bag all the suspension pieces for free after selling off the rest of the car .

 

But its prolly the fastest Monte ever..... hell, prolly the best handling Monte ever. Stupid engineers, lol.

 

That is the ugliest car in Chevy's car line up. I'm convinced only Nascar fans are buying them.

 

Well lemme tell you something about those 2 specific segments of the market.
Coupe market.... shrinking.
Minivan market... shrinking.

Why dump a bunch of R&D money into shrinking markets?
Could the vehicles have been re-done better? Yes.
Was it justified how they executed these? Most definitely.

I think in GM's current status, they did the right thing with these specific examples. No need to waste unncecessary dollars where they won't be recouped.

 

Well there's only like Millions of nascar fans so don't think that'll hurt them. Most people that look down on Nascar probably wouldn't buy a domestic anyways...