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| 2005 Pontiac Bonneville GXP (photo: General Motors) |
Pontiac Bonneville Go ahead. Try and form an image of a recent Bonny. Hmmm... I get foggy images of overzealous styling and interiors festooned with electronic gadgets cluttering my mind. You too? Not that I've ever seen one in real life, but apparently Pontiac has sliced some of the exterior cladding off of recent Bonnevilles. Other than that, the car hasn't had a major makeover since 2000. Apparently, there's a new GXP edition with GM's 4.6-litre Northstar vee-eight, replacing the previous supercharged 3.8-litre vee-six--you're forgiven if you didn't know that fact either. One of the planned vehicles that was part of The General's future large rear-drive Zeta platform was to be a Pontiac sedan. But they killed that to focus on launching some new SUVs (yes, yes, I know!), so the question is: Now what?
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| 2005 Volvo S80 T6 (photo: Volvo) |
Volvo S80 With car's like the XC90, S40 and V50, and the ever-popular Cross Country, Volvo's on a bit of a winning streak right now. Volvos have always been safe, but now, some are being considered cool. Um, the big S80, not so much, eh? In fact, do you even remember this most voluminous of Volvos? With less exposure than the Lochness monster, it seems the only press the S80 is getting these days is by the fact that its platform underlies Ford's new Five Hundred and Freestyle. Originally designed to compete with the Mercedes-Benz S Class and BMW 7 Series, the S80 has certainly disappeared from the shopping lists of anyone considering those heavy hitters. When its biggest gun is a 268 horsepower, 2.8-litre inline-six, I wonder why Volvo bothers.
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| 2005 Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS (photo: Mitsubishi) |
Pretty much any Mitsubishi Jeez, you mean I can still buy a Montero? Or a Galant? Or a Diamante? If you're as amazed that ol' Mitsu is still in business in North America, you're not alone. With executives jumping ship on what seems like a daily basis, and back-to-back-to-back years of 30 % sales declines, the Japanese firm is wearing a big "L" on its forehead these days. With the company's salvation riding on a re-badged Dodge Dakota and a retro-styled (sic) Eclipse sporty coupe (see Hyundai Tiburon above), it's easy to see why in many consumers' minds Mitsubishi has gone the way of Isuzu--stiff as a floorboard.
