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Best and Worst GM Cars

Oh yes, because we just love receiving angry letters from devoted Pontiac Grand Am enthusiasts, we have decided to go there. Based on a heated group Slack conversation, the topic came up about the best and worst GM cars. First of all time, and then those currently on sale, and then just mostly a rambling discussion of Oldsmobiles our parents and grandparents owned (or engineered). Eventually, three of us made the video above. Like it? Maybe we can make more. Many awesome GM cars are definitely going unmentioned here, so please let us know your bests and worsts in the comments below. Mostly, it's important to note that this post largely exists as a vehicle for delivering the above video that dives far deeper into GM's greatest hits and biggest flops, specifically those from the 1980s and 1990s. What you'll find below is a collection of our editors identifying a best current and best-of-all-time choice, plus a worst current and worst-of-all-time choice. Comprehensive it is not, but again, comments. -Senior Editor James Riswick Best Current GM Vehicle Chevrolet Corvette We were flying by the seats of our pants a bit in this first outing and my notes were similarly extemporaneous. When it came time to tie it all together on camera, I failed spectacularly. Thank the maker for text, because this gives me the opportunity to perhaps slightly better explain my convoluted reasoning. I chose the C8 Corvette because it's simply overwhelmingly good, and it's merely the baseline from which this generation of Corvette will be expanded.  While the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing (more on that in a minute) is an amazing snapshot of GM's current performance standing and its little sibling so enraptured me that I went out and bought one, their existence is fleeting. Corvette will live on; forced-induction Cadillac sport sedans, not so much. So while all three are amazing machines when viewed in a vacuum, the Corvette stands above them as both a reflection of GM's current performance credentials and a signpost of what is to come. So, given the choice between the C8 and the 5V-Blackwing right now, I'd choose the C8. In 10 years, when the Blackwing is no longer in production and Corvette is in its 9th generation? Well, that might be a different story. Now, just pretend I said something even remotely that coherent when we get to the part of the video where I try to make an argument for the 5-V Blackwing as best GM car I've ever driven. Or just laugh at me while I ramble incoherently.

Third 1987 Buick Regal GNX will be auctioned in January

A member of the 1987 Buick press fleet is hitting the auction block next year and it's a rarified gem: a low-mileage Regal Grand National GNX, serial No. 003 and one of just 547 models built for that year, and the last of the traditional body-on-frame, rear-wheel-drive Grand Nationals. It'll be auctioned at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction in January. The GNX No. 003 was loaned out to publications including Autoweek, Motor Trend and Road & Track, where it racked up around 8,200 miles. "Through it all, a constant sad undertone was the understanding that 1987 was to be the final appearance of the traditional body-on-frame, rear-wheel-drive G-body (which also underpinned the best-selling Chevy Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix and Olds Cutlass)," reads a the description published on Barrett-Jackson's website. "A totally redesigned W-body Somerset Regal, with front-wheel drive and unitized body construction, was slated to replace the popular midsize Buick in 1988." So Buick opted to make "a Grand National to end all Grand Nationals" with the '87 GNX, partnering with ASC/McLaren to equip them with wheel lip flares, fender vents, 16-by-8-inch BBS rims and more aggressive tires. It left untouched the Grand National's standard Sequential Electronic Fuel Injection 3.8-liter V6 but added a larger Garrett T-3 turbocharger with a ceramic impeller, a larger intercooler, more aggressive fuel, spark and waste gate tables, and a dual exhaust system that boosted output from 235 horsepower and 330 foot-pounds of torque to 276 hp and 360 lb-ft. That was enough, Barrett-Jackson reports, to make the performance coupe quicker and faster in quarter-mile tests than the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 930 Turbo. After making the test-drive rounds in the automotive media, the car sold in 1988 as a brass hat/company official car to Fischer Buick in Troy, Mich. with approximately 8,200 miles on it. From there, it quickly sold to a local resident who drove it very little, and sold it in the spring of 1989. Since 1992, it has reportedly been kept in climate-controlled storage, totally original, unmodified and undamaged, with just 10,790 miles on the odometer today. It recently underwent a complete mechanical service and cosmetic reconditioning. You can check out the listing on Barrett-Jackson here. The first '87 GNX ever produced resides in the General Motors Heritage Collection and No. 002 is at the Sloan Museum in Flint, Mich. Interestingly, another '87 GNX, No.

GM may have teased a whole group of electric vehicles

During GM's big CES press conference, the automaker highlighted a number of its upcoming electric car-related projects from delivery vans to the upcoming flagship Cadillac Celestiq. In the middle of it all, a collection of mystery cars sat in the background behind speakers. They were in the dark, lit only with their running lights, and while it's possible they're just generic filler cars or concepts, we think they could be future products. Our best shot of the cars together is shown above, and we can pretty easily identify three of the vehicles. In the center is obviously the GMC Hummer EV. On either side of it are Cadillacs. To the left seems to be the Lyriq crossover, and to the right is the Celestiq sedan. Two of these cars have production dates, and the third has been confirmed for eventual production, just without timing. This is why we think the rest of the cars are upcoming models. The next most easily identified car is on the near right behind the Cadillac Celestiq. It very clearly has a Chevy bowtie illuminated in the running lights. And looking closely, it appears to be a pickup truck. It's difficult to make out anything more than that. The nose does look a bit more rounded and swept back than the brick-like designs of the Silverado truck line. That also squares with what seemed to be the upcoming truck that appeared in the background of yet another GM presentation. GM previously said this electric Chevy truck will be a full-size model with up to 400 miles of range. That leaves us with three more mysterious models. Over to the left behind the Cadillac Lyriq are what appear to be a pair of crossovers. The one on the far left looks low, curvy, and possibly with a fastback roof. The one on the right is taller, boxier, and probably more of a full-size people hauler. It's hard to say much more beyond that. They could be new electric Buicks, which would fit in nicely with that brand's crossover portfolio, and would likely be highly successful in China, where Buicks, crossovers and electric cars are all rather hot commodities. As for the mystery car on the far right, it's quite a puzzle. We can at least rule out Buick and Cadillac, and GMC since it's definitely a car, and a rather small one compared with the other cars on display. That leaves Chevy, and possibly the autonomous division Cruise. We're leaning toward it being a Chevy, since the first Cruise vehicle is going to be a boxy pod of sorts.