SnowTrojan
Full Member
Yesterday I had an awesome time at the 2003 Launch Tour, featuring the Chevy Malibu and Colorado. It was held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Some highlights...
--Colorado Test Track (Colorado Crew Cab I-5, Dakota QuadCab, Ranger Ext. Cab, and Tacoma Crew Cab) - Drove a Colorado with the standard Z85 suspension, and boy did it outperform the competition. Little body roll, outstanding braking power, and excellent ride over speed bumps. The Tacoma was fun b/c it had a lot of body roll, thus produced more tire screeches
. The Ranger was actually quite nimble, but not as great at the Colorado. And the Dakota was a POS.
Number of cones killed: 1, but it was already dead in the middle of the track.
--Malibu Test Track (Malibu LT, Camry, Sonota, and Stratus) - Man, I can now tell my customers that if they need to make an evasive manuveur, the Malibu can do it. I took the course at full speed, and not once did I feel I was out of control. It cornered superbly, and had awesome acceleration. Unfortunately they closed down the track early because we were driving "too fast"... hey, aren't we supposed to drive them under extreme conditions?
Number of cones killed: 0 personally, 8 by another driver.
--Aveo - As odd as it sounds, I this this is one of my all time favorite new cars, because it looks so little, but it's vast on the inside, with awesome appointments inside (carbon fiber accents, available sunroof, standard power everything, MP3 player). It's a really nice replacement to the Metro/Prizm lineup.
--Equinox - This was my absolute favorite new vehicle. It was a pre-production car, so fit and finish wasn't so great, but from what I can tell, this is just a notch down from TrailBlazer in terms of interior space, but it's being marketed at the lower-$20s compact SUV market. Inside, it's appointed just like the Malibu. Seats 5 comrfortably and had plenty of cargo room.
--SSR - They had 2 there (black and yellow). Engine sounds great, interior is very retro... but what's with the stock radio in the dash (in dash 6 CD)
Can YOU find the trailer hitch
At the end of the day, all the dealerships took home their allocated Malibus... 160 in all, all in Silver, all LTs, all with XM and OnStar. Seeing a sea of silver Malibus was pretty cool. We all paraded out of the Rose Bowl in formation.
--Colorado Test Track (Colorado Crew Cab I-5, Dakota QuadCab, Ranger Ext. Cab, and Tacoma Crew Cab) - Drove a Colorado with the standard Z85 suspension, and boy did it outperform the competition. Little body roll, outstanding braking power, and excellent ride over speed bumps. The Tacoma was fun b/c it had a lot of body roll, thus produced more tire screeches
. The Ranger was actually quite nimble, but not as great at the Colorado. And the Dakota was a POS. Number of cones killed: 1, but it was already dead in the middle of the track.
--Malibu Test Track (Malibu LT, Camry, Sonota, and Stratus) - Man, I can now tell my customers that if they need to make an evasive manuveur, the Malibu can do it. I took the course at full speed, and not once did I feel I was out of control. It cornered superbly, and had awesome acceleration. Unfortunately they closed down the track early because we were driving "too fast"... hey, aren't we supposed to drive them under extreme conditions?
Number of cones killed: 0 personally, 8 by another driver.
--Aveo - As odd as it sounds, I this this is one of my all time favorite new cars, because it looks so little, but it's vast on the inside, with awesome appointments inside (carbon fiber accents, available sunroof, standard power everything, MP3 player). It's a really nice replacement to the Metro/Prizm lineup.
--Equinox - This was my absolute favorite new vehicle. It was a pre-production car, so fit and finish wasn't so great, but from what I can tell, this is just a notch down from TrailBlazer in terms of interior space, but it's being marketed at the lower-$20s compact SUV market. Inside, it's appointed just like the Malibu. Seats 5 comrfortably and had plenty of cargo room.
--SSR - They had 2 there (black and yellow). Engine sounds great, interior is very retro... but what's with the stock radio in the dash (in dash 6 CD)
Can YOU find the trailer hitchAt the end of the day, all the dealerships took home their allocated Malibus... 160 in all, all in Silver, all LTs, all with XM and OnStar. Seeing a sea of silver Malibus was pretty cool. We all paraded out of the Rose Bowl in formation.