Archive for the ‘GMC’ Category

Over at our sister site GreenCarReports.com, we've been following the launch of the 2010 Ford Transit Connect van with keen interest. It's a vehicle that has very few direct competitors in the US, though in Europe, there are more than a dozen small urban delivery vans like it.

Rated by the EPA at 22 miles per gallon city / 25 mpg highway, the Transit Connect is far more fuel-efficient than full-size vans. And with a payload capacity of 1,600 pounds, it carries as much as some models of half-ton pickup truck.

So we were pleased to get an early report that early 2010 Transit Connects are flying off dealer lots, spending as little as eight...

This year, even if you ignore the demise of Pontiac and the uncertain future of Saturn, and Hummer, there's already going to be a very noticeable difference at Chevrolet and GMC dealerships: the 2009 Chevrolet Trailblazer and 2009 GMC Envoy are gone, and they're not coming back for 2010.

That's right; those once top-selling mid-size SUVs have seen a big decline in interest along with a slow and quiet death over the past couple of years. GM discontinued the three-row Trailblazer EXT and Envoy XL models after 2006 and all but confirmed the demise of their shorter counterparts models around that time—though they soldiered on for nearly three...

It's that time of the year again when church groups, summer camps, seasonal jobs, and corporate outings bring people not necessarily accustomed to full-size vans into them.

While minivans are closely related mechanically to sedans and lower crossover vehicles and typically have top-notch safety ratings, full-size vans like the Ford Econoline or Club Wagon, the Chevrolet Express, the GMC Savana or Rally/Vandura, or the now-discontinued Dodge Ram Van are in construction and mechanical layout more like older SUVs, with a body-on-frame configuration that brings a higher center of gravity that makes them more susceptible to rollover.

Typically...