The Camaro means nothing. Its a hype machine right now but that will die off in a couple years tops. If I'd have to pick GM's most important car right now, it would probably be the Malibu, a car for the masses that actually stacks up against the competition, unlike GM cars a couple years ago. The Equinoxes have been getting good reviews as well.
Technically, Cadillacs have been pretty much good cars for the past few years. Problem is, they don't really help GM's image of over consumption and stuff at all. I think GM is coming on, maybe a few months after Ford, but I do see their cars going for the better. To me, Chrysler is the one that'll fail. They haven't understood yet.
I'd say a lot of GM cars have been unfairly judged for things they were not, in the past few years. Yes, they were crap, but a lot of them were not beasts of fuel, and ecological aberrations, which is something that GM has been 'known for'. Call it generalization.
A lot of GM's new TV ads push on the fact that most of their cars are the classes most fuel efficient (at least I assume it's fact as they put it in their ads). Besides they're not ugly cars. To me, the big problem with GM cars of the past 15 years (or more, that's just what I can recall) was quality. They were crappy, cheap cars, intended to be loaned for 3 or 4 years, then sent to the junkyard. Sure, they'd more or less work for this timespan, but they would do their job as you'd expect something that'll break after 4 years to.
That link you posted is an old statement from ford BEFORE they pulled out of making it. The only way you could make a normal Ford Cougar upto a Mondeo ST200 standard was to fit the ST200 Throttle Body, Air Intake Manifold and Cam & Valves (The Mondeo ST200 is basically a Contour SVT. Just a slightly different rear end.).
Notice how the car came with just a 2.0L Zetec, and a 2.5 V6 putting out just 170hp, not 200hp like the ST200.
So yeah, to sum up, your bullshitting. Your relative in the UK may own a Cougar, but he doesn't own a Cougar ST200. Feel free to post up some pictures though...Oh wait, you won't have any.
What amazes me is that Ford have built some AMAZING cars released in the UK, basically all the Rally offsprings, yet NONE of these seem to have made it to the US... madness. Subaru and Mitsubishi made some great sales with their WRC based cars and I can't believe Ford never got in on the act.
Sorry, the car I was talking about was a Cougar with a ST200 engine in it. My dad's fault for not giving enough detail about the car he wanted to buy. I am still pretty sure that this guy isn't a liar - http://www.aboutmycar.com/stor ... -car-ford-cougar-1092.htm
I know your only a child, but do you not understand what i am saying? The ST200 Cougar was NEVER, EVER put into production. The guy in the link you posted above has probably been misinformed about his car, just like you was about your dads.
Anyway, I am done with this discussion now. It's meant to be about GM and there other factors, not Fords. I have taken it off topic enough.
I never really understood that either, I guess the Ford guys know something we don't? The Focus RS looked like a pretty cool car. I see plenty of VW GTI's rolling around here, I'd think the AWD of the Focus would be even more attractive with all the snow we get up here in the north.