About what time frame can we expect to see a B-body type sedan coming from Chevrolet or GM again? Chrysler's 300 has clearly shown that a big RWD v6 and v8 powered car will sell. It simply makes all the other mid-size and big FWD powered sedans look laughable. And when you compare it with the only other domestic RWD v8 sedan, Ford's Panther cars, its simply head and shoulders above it. Now that its a PROVEN business case, when can we expect an answer to this market from Chevy or even GM??

 

its way out of the price range, but the new STS?

 

2008 at the earliest.

But keep in mind, the Chrysler 300 is about the exact same size as the Chevy Impala!

It's amazing what a extremely high beltline, oversized wheel lip creases and putting on very large tires towards the ends of the car will do to distort the actual size of a car.

 

whenever Zeta goes on line, but cars as big as the B bodies, your not gunna see.

 

True, I wasnt trying to comment on that big of a car again, sorry if I came across wrong with that, I was just curious when we could see an affordable RWD sedan coming out again from Chevy or GM as a whole.

I also forgot to mention along with Ford's Panther cars, the CTS and Lincoln LS also would qualify. The CTS is the only RWD sedan I could see choosing over a 300 at this point, and thats even a close fight.

Wow thats a long way off.

 

That seems to be GM's theme when it comes to performance-oriented offerings.

 

Why not make a car that big again? Ford still does, mercury still does, lincoln still does...why not gm...i think b-bodies are great cars, offer luxury, roominess, style. Plus its rwd v8 setup. I love the look of the 94-96 impala SS. I will be picking up a 93 caprice in a few months and cloneing that into one of the best looking impala's Gm ever made. Why not make a car like that again? The new impala is a joke, just a play on the name. Yes the current impala is faster, its trunk is a little bigger but it still looks like a corvette wanna be, with the wrong drive train

 

I agree, I bought my 96 ImpalaSS new and wouldnt trade it for anything. The new Impala is a great car with the wrong name. Yes, Impalas have always been good, affordable family trasportation and the new one does that well. But with 46 years of v8 rwd heritage, fwd has no place with the Impala name.

 

the panther cars are mostly fleet cars now. Id say about half, or more, of all panther car sales are to livery or police.
2008 is a far time off, but I say again, look at dodge. Its been oh 30 years since dodge has had a RWD V8 car? Its been... not even 10 years for GM, and we are already yelling and screaming? GM is the one that is lagging? Since the last time we have seen a V8 sedan or coupe from dodge, the Camaro and Bird have gone through 3 generations and have died, the GTO died and returned, and they have merged with MB....

 

Well, dodge kinda lost its identity with the constant change overs in management, and the moveing of the hq to germany. Back 30 years ago dodge was dodge, an american based company. Finnaly after about the last run of the charger they are starting to cater to what america wants instead of just throw away cars like the stratus and crappy build quality. Which is sad to say ford has better build quality over dodge. The only way i would get a dodge is if a) it looked damn good b) good price c) it has a 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty like nissan.
GM has always been good for 100k miles or so ford usually craps out a little before that, but i have seen dodges crap out at 60k!! How many dodge rams from the 80's do you still see on the road? I havent seen one in 6 months!!! But i do see a ton of chevy silverado 1500's and to a lesser extent f-150's.

Dodge lost its way, but is now trying to make a come back. Plus they never were a real competator in the police market.
When ever i go to the mall i see a ton of crown vics and grand marqi's...what they need to do is restyle them and make it somewhat sporty for it to sell. They were on there way with the merc. marauder but fell short. It looked too much like a crown vic and no kid wants to own a police car.

The b-body should return, gm needs a full sized car. Not a fwd car that looks like a boxy geo with a vette rear. Maybe i am just not thinking as the main stream here but i do believe that gm needs a full sized car and for it to be called impala. The demand is there, how many people do you see drooling over lt-1 impala SS's? Or in how many rap video's do you see caprices rollin on dubs? These cars are still very popular today and its sad that a 8 year old car could out do the merc with todays modern technology. Every cop will tell you that the caprice was way better then the crown vic, in handleing and acceleration. Full size cars are in but gm needs to catch this trend before it dissapears.

 

the B-body will never die!

Just do like I did. When your car starts to get old, go out and buy one from an old lady that has half the miles on it

 

Ford crapping out before 100,000 miles?! WRONG!!!

My 1985 Ford Mustang 5.0 went 225,000 on the same engine with just a water pump and smog pump change. The Carb was from Holley, so I won't count that. The front & rear seals were replaced at 150,000 miles. Other than that and the addition of shorty headers, the engine was all original and never a problem.

My 1st 1989 Thunderbird SC was sold at 140,000 miles. I replaced the head gaskets at 125,000, but I never changed the clutch & never did anything to the drivetrain. BTW, the rear brakes finally got replaced at 130,000 miles!

I owned 4 other 5.0 Mustangs, an 89 GT, a '92 coupe, and 2 other 92 coupes. All were sold with over 120,000 miles on the clock.

My current 1989 Thunderbird SC 5 speed I just finish referbishing has 205,000 miles on it, had it's engine replaced at 170,000 after the previous owner didn't change the oil and fried the thing.

On the flip side, my 93 Camaro needed a SECOND water pump at 140,000.

My dad's 2003 Silverado lost it's alternator last year at under 40,000 miles.

Call for a show of hands of people who had to replace their optispark in their LT1s.

My current 97 Z28 Camaro has hit me for an $800 to replace in tank fuel pump (42,000 miles), an alternator (45,000 miles), a water pump (70,000), a $400 manifold leak (115,000), a clutch (65,000 miles), warped brakes (80,000 miles....in all fairness, in the Mustang front brake rotor replacement was a bi-annual event), and a front hub assembly (110,000 miles). My Camaro has the dubious distinction of being the only car that left me stranded on average once every year and a half, and to date, the most frequent and costly car to maintain. If it wasn't for my Z28's performance (and T-tops), this car would have been long gone, and I'd probally have gone back to Mustangs awhile ago.

So, don't tell me how great GM is over Ford regarding engines and components. Say whatever you want about Fords in general, or how Ford seriously dropped the ball on the V8 SHO and the 3.8 V6 in the late 90s.

If anything, Ford tends to overbuild their engines and components, and I can tell you 1st hand, I have NEVER had a problem with a Ford engine, drivetrain, or component till well over 120,000 miles save the forementioned tendancy of Fox Mustangs to warp brake rotors.



I see Ford trucks at least as often as I see Chevys. If mean you see more GM trucks than Fords, then that's understandable. GMC and Chevy combined outsells Ford, so of course you'll see more of them over time.



I agree with you, GM does need to get back in the Full sized car business, but I don't think making a Crown Vic sized vehicle is the way to go. Ford's only selling roughly 8,000 per month (half the sales of Mustangs and less than 1/3 the sales of the Taurus ), and as much as 2/3s of this go to law enforcement and fleet sales.

This leaves the Crown Victoria being outsold by Corvettes as far as sales to the general public is concerned. Not exactly a selling point at product planning meetings.

 

Well, i had an 87 Monte SS with a busted L83 vette motor, it got 200k miles out of it and it was still ticking...could lay a ripper fine. I have never had a problem with 80's era gm cars, but thats the 80's when electronics were simple and full frame cars built of steel. U must compare apples with apples, i hear that the 302 is a good motor i dont doubt it, it was prob the best motor ford made for the mustang in terms of reliablility and performance.

Now, my dealings with ford have been terrible, my friend has a 96 4.6 gt stang, it stalls out constantly has numerous leaks, ignition problems and the like.

Now, at work we have 2 fleet vehicles we use for patrol. the first is a 2000 ford ranger 4x4, it is at 68k miles and the tranny went at 58, the motor at 60. We have a 2001 4dr explorer 4x4 it has 80k miles on it, it has a new tranny at 64k and new motor at 78k. And these vehicles are not beat on, they are serviced regularly.
Granted GM outsells ford, but it is a well known thing that ford has build quality and reliability issues in most of there products. I like ford but they just require more TLC then most brands except chrystler.

I see a ton of b-bodies on the road i saw 3 today in a 15 min drive to a friends house a 94-96 Impala SS, A caprice classic, a caddy fleetwood. How many crown vics from 93-96 do you see? NONE. I have yet to come across one that wasnt rotted out or on its way. these b-bodies were in excellent shape.

As far as, your lt-1 yes they were pos's...nice power when it worked but build quality was low, and that what i think contributed to the death of the maro. On the same not the stang was not without problems either.

Granted most of the crown vic sales are to law enforcement, but thats because its a crown vic, no one wants to own a police car..unless it has ***** atleast which they dont. They are not sporty. But thats because they havent been redesigned in a long time. I mean, who would have thought that the escilade would become popular with the younger generations. Gm needs to play on that. People do like big cars, and since gm doesnt build big cars anymore then are turing to SUV's. Thats why we have such a HUGE Suv craze now. Everyone needs something to haul the kids around in that isnt small and has alot of trunk space. IE Suburban, trail blazer, blazer, tahoe etc.

Pimpin caprices on 20's i see every where, caprice/impala clones are everywhere. I am going to pick one up in the winter as a dialy and turn it into a caprice SS for winter and keep the maro for the summer, they are great cars.

 

the magnum is another example of big cars makeing a comeback. And it appears to be doing fairly well