If I asked you to name the quickest-accelerating vehicle you could buy in 1991, which car would you pick? A Ferrari 348 or Testarossa? A Porsche 911 Turbo or 928? A GMC Sonoma pickup?

If you guessed either of the Ferraris or the Porsches, you’d be wrong. In fact, the quickest vehicle you could buy twenty years ago was a GMC Syclone, a (heavily) modified GMC Sonoma pickup that featured a turbocharged 4.3-liter V-6, good for a (rated) 280 horsepower and 350 lb.-ft. of torque. The Syclone was good for a 0 – 60 time of around 4.5 seconds, and could turn a quarter mile in the low thirteens.

As you’d guess, the Syclone didn’t handle like a sports car and wasn’t much of a truck. With a payload capacity of just 500 pounds, even a trip to the local home mega-mart could tax the truck’s capabilities. Still, it was great fun to point the nose at the horizon and mash the fun pedal, and if you’ve never had a chance to drive a Syclone (or it’s SUV cousin, the GMC Typhoon), do what you have to to find one.

Jay Leno’s owned his slightly-illegal pre-production Syclone since it was new, and he’ll fill in the details in the Jay Leno’s Garage video below.

2012 Chevrolet Silverado LTZ Crew Cab Pickup. Image: © GM Corp.

Costco is a great place to shop for stuff like food and wine, and the warehouse club occasionally has good deals on stuff of interest to gear heads. You can’t beat their prices for bulk shop towels and microfiber cloths, and they generally have decent pricing on Mobil 1 motor oil. I bought a “disposable” hydraulic jack there about 20 years ago, and it’s still going strong (even if it does weigh more than the center of the earth).

In fact, it’s not uncommon to wheel your cart-o’-crap to your car, then wonder how, exactly, you’re going to cram 100 cubic feet of purchases into 75 cubic feet of interior space. Now your worries are over, since you can just head back inside and order up a Chevy or GMC pickup or SUV.

While Costco won’t be stocking the General Motors trucks it sells, Autoweek says the warehouse club will offer members “preferred pricing” on certain models, generally equivalent to what manufacturers extend to supplier employees (but not the really good discounts they offer their own employees). Delivery will take place though designated new car dealers, but here’s the catch: the program will only run through January 3, 2012.

Just in case you need more incentive, Costco will throw in a $500 Costco Cash Card to anyone who buys a truck through the program. You can also use any available GM incentives and rebates, so if you’re in the market for a truck, Costco may be worth shopping.

The 2011 Corvette Z06, now with free insurance in WA and OR. Image: © GM Corp.

If you’re buying a GM vehicle in the next two months and you live in Washington or Oregon, here’s some (potentially) good news:. GM will pick up the tab on a year’s worth of MetLife auto insurance, above the minimum coverage levels specified by the states. I say “potentially good news”, because the deal comes with certain caveats, like applying only to personal (non-commercial and non-fleet) vehicles, being non-transferrable if you sell the car and being non-refundable if you opt to get your own coverage.

On the other hand, if your driving record is a train wreck, the deal may save you serious money. There’s no exclusion for a bad driving record (as long as you have a valid driver’s license and live in either Washington or Oregon), and there doesn’t appear to be any age limit restrictions, so go ahead and buy that ZR1 Corvette. Your 17 year old son is covered by the plan, as long as you give him permission to drive the car. It even gives you replacement value for a new car should your 17 year old son have an up-close-and-personal encounter with an oak tree or concrete wall.

Here’s the downside: at the end of the policy term, MetLife may or may not offer to renew your insurance. Rack up a few speeding tickets or accidents, and you can very easily find yourself without insurance coverage. Drive like a nun, and chances are good that MetLife will want to keep you as a customer.

For those of us with car insurance linked to homeowner’s policies, or with multi-car discounts, the plan may not be that attractive. Ironically, that includes most of the drivers with clean records that MetLife would want as customers. It seems to me that the plan will be very appealing to those who otherwise couldn’t get insurance, or couldn’t afford both a car payment and an insurance payment. If you’re a single male with a few tickets and accidents who happens to live in Oregon, there’s never been a better time to buy a Camaro SS or a new Corvette. The deal only lasts through September 6, so hit your local dealer up soon.

Source: General Motors

I received a phone call this weekend from a buddy who is in the market for a new car. He’s got three small kids and was wondering what would be the best choice for his next new vehicle. His current ride (believe it or not) is a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria and while it’s the size of a house, it just doesn’t offer the versatility that he and his family need. Now, while he admits to needing more space, he doesn’t want to go down the minivan road just yet as he simply feels that at 36 years old, he’s still to young. Over the course of our 45 minute call we went over the particulars of what he needed from a financial, utility and usability standpoint until we narrowed down his choices to either a new cross over, a full-sized SUV or the dreaded (not really) minivan.

Thankfully his budget is around $40,000, which means just about everything is on the table. First he wanted to know about cross over vehicles like the 2011 Nissan Murano, 2011 GMC Acadia and Ford Edge. What people need to know about crossovers is that they are not, I repeat NOT, SUV’s. Their unibody construction means that while they may be equipped with an all-wheel-drive system, they’re still not really suited for off-road use. They’re also, with the exception of the 2011 GMC Acadia, simply not that roomy on the inside due to the fact that they generally share a platform with an already existing automobile. The 2012 Nissan Murano for example shares much of its underpinnings with the 2012 Nissan Altima, a car that’s already a bit short on size. This means that if you try to cram in a car seat, a few small children and some luggage, that you may in fact find that a few problems arise.

Next up were the SUV’s. Most SUV’s today, while still more suited to on-pavement running, have more off-road prowess then their smaller, crossover siblings. For 2011 there is also a whole host of new units on the market like the 2011 Ford Explorer and 2011 Dodge Durango, as well as old favorites like the Toyota 4Runner and Nissan Pathfinder. These guys are usually larger, have third-row seating capabilities, more power and provide you with larger storage capacity. The con’s are that they are pricey and generally have poor fuel economy.

Lastly we come to the minivan, a vehicle that, truth be told, I love. To me the minivan is probably the most useful vehicle on the planet as it provides the best of all worlds. Most models today come with all-wheel-drive capabilities, seating for up to seven, loads of storage, full entertainment systems and plenty of power. The downside though… they’re simply not cool. I have a feeling my buddy is going to go with an SUV as it’s more his style, but I know that deep down in his heart, he knows the minivan would be the better choice. Oh well… I tried.

PRO’s: Great comfort, wonderful usability, all-weather capable, good power.

CON’s: Sub-par interior materials, sluggish handling.

FINAL THOUGHT: The 2011 GMC Acadia Denali is a good looking, 100% usable vehicle that brings big room and comfort to the table. In short, this is what a crossover should be.

In the past every crossover I’ve driven has suffered from an identity crises. They’re not trucks, so off-roading is out of the question, and with a general lack of space for both passenger and cargo, using them as a full-on family truckster generally isn’t in the cards either. So what then are they actually good for? Well, up until now I hadn’t found one that was good for anything, until that is, I met this guy – the 2011 GMC Acadia Denali. The first thing you notice about this baby is that it’s a big vehicle. In fact it dwarfs just about everything else in the crossover segment. Its rugged good looks, stance and all-weather capabilities make it feel more like a truck, thus making it more attractive to male buyers who don’t want to drive a minivan or standard crossover. It also has power, storage space and all-wheel drive which makes it not only practical, but enjoyable to pilot.

As mentioned this is the Acadia Denali, which means that just about everything, both inside and out has been upgraded. Outside the Denali has been given the full court press. White Diamond tricoat paint, chrome honeycomb grill, special 20-inch two-tone chrome wheels and exhaust tips, unique front and rear fascias, power rear lift-gate, and of course HID headlamps help round out a very presentable package. In fact I was actually quite surprised as to the amount of looks that it got, especially as I was driving through the streets of NYC. As mentioned this Acadia has a presence to it, which from a buyer standpoint is a very attractive thing.

Inside the luxury continues with just about everything one could ask for in an SUV/crossover. Front seats are heated and cooled with power adjustments. Out back twin leather wrapped captains chairs and a full third-row bench seat are in position to greet up to 5-additional passengers. Dash and door panels (front and rear) were two-tone, but in all honesty felt cheap due to the plastics that were used. For a vehicle with the Denali name attached I definitely expected better. The Acadia was released back in 2007 which may explain this, however with a price tag of over 50K, a little leather or fabric strategically placed would do wonders. *See 2011 Chevrolet Cruze.

The Acadia had no shortage of electronics either. Touch screen navigation with integrated back-up camera, satellite radio, remote start, bluetooth, dual-zone climate controls and rear audio controls with a drop down DVD entertainment system helped to round out a very nice package. Oh and let us not forget GM’s amazing heads-up display, a feature that I would love to have on every car I drive.

Climb into the Acadia Denali and you’ll immediately notice that this is one comfortable vehicle. So comfortable in fact that I wouldn’t hesitate to drive it cross country. Front seat support is about average, which is fine for a non-sporty vehicle and there is plenty of leg and shoulder room, something that I usually find in short supply. For comparison, the Acadia provided more driver and passenger comfort then the Cadillac Escalade ESV I recently tested.

Access to the third row seat was also a snap due to the quick fold-forward captains chairs. As mentioned this is the first cross over that I feel is truly useful, and the amount of cargo space in the Acadia just helps to illustrate that. Keep the second and third row seats up and you’ve got 24.1 cu-ft of usable space. Fold them down however and that jumps to a whopping 116.9 cu-ft. Not to shabby if you ask me.

Get the Acadia on the road and you’ll be treated to a nice compliant ride that offers up little in the way of drama. Keep in mind though that this is a heavy vehicle (4,936 lbs) so quick side to side transitions are not your friend. In everyday driving the Acadia handles just fine, but when pushed, its high curb weight becomes evident, something I found out first hand when hit an exit ramp a little too spiritedly.

We’ve been getting clobbered up here in the Northeast with snow, which was fine by me as it gave me a chance to try out the Acadia’s all-wheel drive capabilities. Traction, even while driving through the deepest snow was never a problem and with the Acadia’s wide track, driving confidence was never an issue. The traction control/AWD system was also not as intrusive as it was on some other GM vehicles that I’ve driven.

*Sorry… not much to see here.

Power in the Acadia comes from a 3.6-liter V6 that pumps out 288 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque. For a vehicle of this size that may not seem like a lot of grunt, but believe me when I tell you that this thing actually gets up and moves. It was a nice surprise and one that I didn’t expect. It also delivered some decent fuel economy for such a large vehicle. In mixed driving I saw a return of around 17 mpg which was better then expected. The Acadia’s Hydra-Matic 6-speed automatic transmission was also a nice compliment to the power of the V6 by providing nice smooth shifts, regardless of where it shifted in the rev range.

After driving the 2011 GMC Acadia Denali around for a full week I came away with a pretty good impression of it. For one, it’s 100% usable in every day life, especially for those with children. It’s got loads of room, offers all-day driving comfort, has every bell and whistle you could hope for and is also a very attractive vehicle. Granted you’ll have to get past the plastic interior, but if you can do that you may just be rewarded with the perfect all-season family vehicle.

When Ford released their Raptor off-road truck last year it pretty much made every other factory off-roader completely obsolete. You see that thing has the ability to tackle just about anything the desert can throw at it, while at the same time coddling you in air-conditioned, cruise controlled comfort. It’s big, hairy chested and aside from its optional great pumpkin’ orange paint job, is pretty damn cool. Because of this manufacturers like GM and Chrysler have been put on scramble alert to try and bring something to market that can compete with Ford’s off-road hammer.

Enter now the GMC Sierra All Terrain HD Concept, a truck that if produced, may give the Raptor a run for its money. You see GMC has already upped the ante with the Sierra All Terrain by packing it with their 6-speed Allison transmission and Duramax 6.6-liter turbo-diesel V8 that makes 397 hp and 765 lb-ft of torque. Suspension wise the off-roader utilizes Fox shocks with remote reservoirs, various skid-plates and a nice 3-inch lift that helps it obtain over 21-inches of ground clearance. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that we’ll most likely see this thing in production in the not-to-distant future. The real question though is, will Ford now decide to shoehorn a diesel between the Raptors frame-rails or just be content with their 411 horsepower 6.2-liter V8? 2011 should be a very interesting year.

Source: Jalopnik

GM has been using crash test dummies for more than 35 years and with each new variation of dummy created, our cars become safer and safer. The newest of GM’s dummies are being utilized at GM’s Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) lab in Detroit, MI and when you hear about the amount of technology in these guys I have no doubt that you’ll be properly amazed. You see each new dummy is equipped with 70-80 sensors each, which in turn transmits crash data at the rate of 10,000 times per second back to GM’s safety systems. The data collected tells GM engineers exactly what kind of punishment that the dummies endured during the collision tests, which in turn helps them design and build safer automobiles.

Jack Jensen, GM safety engineer and Technical Fellow states, “We design these test dummies so that they mimic real life,” he says. “Data from the dummies helps us predict the risk of injury in a real crash. The more realistic the dummy, the more accurate the test results.”

The dummies shown in the above video were used during the development of the new 2011 Buick Regal, a car that we recently tested. What the general public simply does not realize is how passionate these engineers are about automotive safety. So when videos like this become available it’s great to watch them as they give us all a little reminder about how much technology actually goes into building a modern day automobile.

Source: GM.com

Lila Sawvel and Leighton Kohn, in GM's Flint plant. Photo: © GM Corp.

Here’s something you haven’t heard in quite a long time: General Motors is looking to hire approximately 1,000 engineers and researchers in Michigan, in an effort expand their electric and hybrid vehicle development. GM’s CEO, Dan Akerson, wants to make the company the industry leader in electric vehicle technologies, including extended range EVs like the Volt and parallel hybrids like the upcoming Buick LaCrosse with eAssist. To date, GM has spent some $700 million investing in eight Michigan facilities that support Volt (and future EV) production.

Their advanced battery systems lab (which I had a chance to tour on the Volt drive) is the industry’s largest and most advanced, and it’s staffed by engineers who are fanatical about their work. Even better, battery development draws in third party suppliers like LG Chem, who in turn increase local hiring. GM’s even spent some $162 million upgrading powertrain facilities in Flint and Bay City, MI and in Defiance, OH. I wouldn’t say this is a return to the glory days of U.S. automobile production, but it’s a big step in the right direction towards reviving Michigan’s economy.

Left Lane News recently reported that GM has added an additional 1,300 jobs (including 300 new hires) to its Oshawa, Ontario plant to increase production of Camaro, Impala, Equinox and Terrain models, and will add another 700 workers to ramp up production of Camaro Convertibles and Buick Regals. That doesn’t sit well with those who feel that U.S. plants should see more growth (and hiring) than those north of the border, but the bottom line is this: GM is selling cars, and they need all the production capacity they can get right now. That’s a very good problem to have.

Car companies are great at making fun of themselves. For years they’ve had a tongue and cheek attitude towards their cars and are generally great at throwing a little humor into the mix. GM has now released a new ad campaign for their new HD Silverado pick-up trucks that includes the comic talents of Patrick Warburton (Max), and Craig Robinson (Al). Two large personalities that fit perfectly with GM’s new ideas for their heavy duty trucks equipped with the new Duramax diesel V8 engine and Allison transmission.

Pick-up trucks are vehicles that are wholeheartedly American. I mean lets face it, you could go out and buy a Toyota or Nissan truck for the everyday jobs, but you know that in the back of your head, you’d much rather be driving something that was built in the U.S.A. with the power and torque to pull your neighbors house down. It’s a fact, plain and simple.

With 765 pound-feet of torque and 397 hp from its 6.6-liter Duramax turbo-diesel V8, these new GM trucks are no joke. In fact both Kurt and Myself have reviewed these suckers and we love em’. Hell, it makes me want to go out and buy a trailer just so I could buy one of these trucks to tow it with. GM is also wasting no time at poking fun at their competitors, something that I am sure will result in a great ad campaign feud. So at the end of the day will these ads help GM sell more trucks? No one can tell as of yet, what I can say though is that with advertising like this you can rest assured that everyone that owns an F-Series pick-up is now waiting for Ford to fire the next shot.

There are very few vehicles out there that make you feel like you can take on the world. The new 2011 GMC Sierra Denali 2500 however is the exception to the rule. First off this sucker is made of pure testosterone with a side of viagra thrown in for good measure. It’s big, uber powerful, comfortable and at the end of the day will pull the flippin’ moon out of orbit if you can find a big enough tow chain. In short, this thing is just flat out cool. Here in beautiful Queens, NY a rig like this is as useless as tits on a bull, but if you happen to live in a place with some wide open spaces well then you could have some serious fun with this real life Tonka toy.

Just walking up to the GMC Sierra makes you wish you lived on a ranch somewhere in Texas or Montana. It’s aggressively styled and has a very powerful presence when parked amongst other vehicles. Step inside and you’re greeted to a very well appointed interior that makes you forget your actually about to take the helm of a vehicle that puts out an astounding 765 pound-feet of torque from its 6.6-liter Duramax turbo-diesel.

Climb behind the wheel, crank the starter and the big diesel rumbles to life. The exhaust note is surprisingly subdued and the engine so refined that you’d swear it wasn’t a diesel, that is until you hit the go pedal. Did I mention it had 765 pound-feet of torque? The big pick-up handles as you’d expect, meaning that you’re not going to be railing this thing through corners or trying to catch Corvette’s in the twisties. The ride however is very comfortable, the handling is great (for what this is) and there are no surprises to speak of. In short this 7200 pound monster is actually a pleasure to drive.

Payload wise, when equipped with the Duramax diesel and Allison transmission, the 2011 GMC Sierra Denali is capable of towing 13,000 pounds with a standard ball hitch and a whopping 16,700 pounds if you use a gooseneck. Pretty impressive stuff if you ask me. The other thing about this truck is that it makes you feel like you could potentially climb over anything. I took it off-road and was trying to find some nasty terrain but alas, aside from a few fire roads there was really not much in my area.

Now we get to the bad part – the price. Keep in mind that this baby was completely optioned out with everything that GM could throw at it, however, that doesn’t change the fact that the $61,189.00 price tag almost made me gag. Yes I know it’s powerful and yes it’s more than capable of doing any job that you could throw at it, but truth be told at this price point, it’s more of a show piece than a real pick-up truck. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved this thing but at over 60k I’m thinking that GMC may just be getting a little carried away.