Considering I rarely ever drive the Maxx, I am going to say 16" stock rims IIRC.
You are right about soccer moms. GM supposedly spent serious money to design the Maxx for the young crossover crowd, then after released, I suppose GM finally realized teenagers and young adults are probably not too interested in a Mallibu "wagon" - or whatever GM is calling the Maxx these days.
The Maxx has key positives that were poorly marketed, if marketed much at all. It has a huge interior. Four large adults are no problem. Slide the back seats backwards, and even tall people in the back are practicably as comfortable as riding up front. The other big pluses are performance and gas mileage. Even the LX9 at ~200HP is more than enough to move the Maxx, and its OHV design gets the torque band down to a realistic level, all the while still offering ~26-32+MPG.
Step up to the Maxx SS with its 3.9L, and you have something capable of shocking a good number of passengers.
I might have a deal cooked up to trade the Maxx anyway.
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Does the LX9 use GM's new 3.5 or the older 3.8? I rented an Impala reciently for a trip to vegas that was equipped with the 3.5 and I was pretty dissappointed. It struggled a lot more that the last vehicle I rented (to Vegas also) which was a Grand Prix with the 3.8.
It wasn't so much that the 3.5 was underpowered, but that the 4 speed that GM in all its wisdom chose to mate to the 3.5 was just not a good match. The engine was begging for an added ratio (or two). It would pull adequately enough when in it's power band but every shift was accompanied by a huge RPM drop causing it to fall well out of its powerband and struggle to get back up there again.
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The LX9 was only used for three years AFAIK. It is a 3.5L OHV V6 based upon the older GM 3400, but with throttle by wire and other upgrades. It is not the newer GM 3.5L currently being used in the 2006+ Malibu line and many other GM models, which (again AFAIK) moved peak torque further up the RPM range.
The Maxx has a lower gear ratio than the Malibu, and the LX9 delivers good torque at a realistically usable range. My Maxx LX9 has enough power off the line to roast the tires (TC turned off) and keep a good portion of the ricer crowd in check.
Moving up a year, the Maxx SS 3.9L has enough power to pick on some of the tuners and even a few popular sports cars.
Is it possible to get that kind of sound with off the shelf parts with a production engine? Or is that sound only achieved because the engine is extremely built? The engine in the Rally version is the same engine used in the USA production car, but with lots of upgrades, so I would think it may be possible.
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It may be the same engine, but it sure as hell isn't near stock. I don't know much about that motor, but it's got some nice internal parts to keep the rpms high for that long. Rally cars are always built up internally, not only for power, but to handle that power for a long time.
However, I'm sure you could get a similar sound out of it, given enough money thrown at it.
Likely a straight pipe with no catalytic convertor. If desired, maybe add a glasspack "muffler" to cut down the high-end drone. The problem for the street version is the WRC version uses forced induction via a turbocharger. Trying to get the same sound from a stock n/a street engine is probably not going to happen.
I noticed the Ford numbers earlier today, but don't we also have to account for the recent sale of Aston Martin in the current accounting? Not sure, as I do not closely follow Ford stock. I do know Ford is reportedly looking to sell Jaguar and Land Rover.
Yeah, most of the profit presumably came from the Aston Martin sale...even if the AM sale brought in more than the $750 million profit they showed, it's still much better than what they were doing...
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