The Lounge

Quickly- have to switch to a new carrier and get new phones despite having decent plan and phones i am ok with. Looking at Verizon, AT&T. Or Net10 or Tracfone prepaid. due to cost. My current service is Qwest which is actually Sprint. In town here its good. But where we frequently travel, we sometimes roam and never get data that often. SO's family is mostly on Verizon. Verizon store is a mile from my house. Coverage maps indicate Verizon has superior service in the home, and where we travel a lot. In our general metro area, Verizon and At&T are both fine. I have not checked T Mobile. Plans- Verizon seems to nickel and dime more than AT&T. AT…

-- This thread will not tolerate flaming of any kind, it is intended to be a "civilized argument" encouraging critical thinking that lends itself to further evolving and refining our world. It focuses mainly on American Culture (the fastest growing culture in history) however foreign cultural views are more than welcome, as everything lends insight. To kick it off... Modern American Culture has evolved so rapidly that America is losing its cohesiveness, and is slowly destroying the traditional place of the family. What is your opinion on this relatively new trend (post WW2)? Is this good or bad? what are its consequences? what does it provide to our soc…

If we assume that I don't get to have my G8 ST after all of the dust settles, and the automotive world fills with transportation appliances, what should be the last hurrah? I mean should I buy a top dawg Camaro in some loud color and stripes? Or flip GM the bird and get a Challenger? Other ideas? The object here is something nasty, anti-social, fast, and in your face. Something that says to the appliance-driving world "bite me". If things go really badly, this will be my final new car purchase, so it needs to be something that will wade through the Toyotas and re-badged Opels like Katrina through New Orleans. Something that says "FU" loud and clear. Get creativ…

Just this sunday, I was at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) when I noticed a couple guys taking pictures (with some pretty high end equipment) outside the Delta Airlines check-in counter. So... my curiosity made me stop and take a look at what they could possibly be shooting. What do I see? A big African American (trying to be PC instead of just saying "black") dude, two women in their 30's-40's, and a younger girl with platinum blonde hair and a big hat. Turns out the girl is Ashlee Simpson with a bodygaurd etc. The only reason I recognized Ashlee is because I had seen her on the Larry King show the night before, and noticed the really blo…

A Turbo TransAm

I bought my Duramax Silverado late in 04 (2005 model) and diesel was 1.99/ gal. This morning I paid 4.16/gal. This is criminal. Diesel costs less to produce than gasoline and now top it dramatically in price. Someone is getting fat, and ripping us off bigtime.

I'm on the way to work today and one sees headlines on the paper, the MSN home page and all kinds of crap. And then you can't help but think: Aren't both Presidential tickets lacking? At the time we need good leadership the most, we have (1) a reasonably likable but 72 y.o. Arizona Republican who picks a woman who just had a baby within the last 6 months and whose (national and) international political savvy is thoroughly questionable, and (2) a well-educated but almost completely inexperienced Illinois Democrat who delivers all this unsubstantiated rhetoric and sounds like a Bible church preacher if you're listening to him from the other room. Out of 302 million p…

Coming home from the beach today, it was raining a bit. I had the intermittent wipers on. As it started to rain harder, I turned them up faster, notch by notch, until I got to the fastest intermittent speed. At the same time, I was getting out of town and speeding up on the highway. Then I thought I had a problem, until I figgered it out. As I reached 55 mph, my wipers started working continuously. If I let the car go slower than 55, they reverted back to intermittent. Cool! And an intuitively useful feature. Have you ever discovered, by accident, any cool features on your car?

The ice at the north pole has now melted so much that free passage via water is now available around the northern part of North America. Link The yellow line indicates the route of travel. The cyan line would be a route around the northern part of Europe and Asia. The dotted part indicates where the ice hasn't melted enough yet. Please consider making some life changes to be more resource efficient. You'd be amazed at how much some small, simple changes can really help. The small changes now make the bigger changes down the road easier. In this thread, I will be posting links and advice on the small changes that you can make to your daily life that can really have …

Name a car and an item that don't go together..... but *NOT* something that is routinely part of the car or a particular car design <glares at 68>. For example. An Aveo with a radar detector. A corvette with a box of magnum XLs

Alright, so the big All-GM Nationals show at the Carlisle Fairgrounds in Carlisle, PA is coming up on June 20-22. In The O.C.'s post, I mentioned that Camino and I previously talked about getting a C&G Gathering together there in 2008. I have yet to speak with him about it further at this point, but this post is to gauge interest among those of you who'd like to travel to Central Pennsylvannia to attend this awesome show and be part of a much larger C&G gathering than what's occured anywhere else to date. As I mentioned already, if we have 25 GM cars/trucks register as a "car club", we'd receive reduced admissions costs, get to park inside of the show/on the s…

I came home for lunch today, and checked in here for a few minutes before heading back. On the way back to work I was involved in a traffic accident. My beautiful new truck is wrecked. An access road coming through the back way out of our local ballpark has a gentle arc leading to another, wide-open parking lot. At the very end of that road, about the last 20 feet or so, it turns sharply to the right to meet that lot. There are no stop signs, no lane markings and no speed limit, as it is private property belonging to the ballpark. Quite a few folks use it as a shortcut. Anyway, a guy in a black Cobalt sedan was driving through that rear lot, out of my line of sig…

Since I've seen plenty of computer related issues as of late, I thought it might be fun to list what type of computer you've got and the specs! You can be as specific as you want! My computer: Custom Built AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 Processor Foxconn C51XEM2AA- 8EKRS2H Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard SILVERSTONE SST-ST60F ATX 600W Power Supply CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Foxconn FV-N795M4D2-OD GeForce 7950GX2 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive SAMSUNG 1…

http://www.thegmsource.com/index.php?categ..._articleid=1265 Josh never ran the website did he? His duties as a moderator back in the day were shared with other mods from what I understood. It seems like he's taking all the credit for building up C&G, when in reality it was many people that helped grow this website.

6 Overrated Cars By Thomas Bey Automotive Correspondent - Every other Friday We couldn't leave “not good enough” alone. We have dared to question the validity of the rank of several cars among their peers. The reputations of the vehicles, we felt, are greater than the actual products. Our views offended a few sensibilities, but we felt the story needed to be told. Think Friends on four wheels. Rides making our overrated list are based on any number of reasons, which means it can be performance or design related, or both. Either way, we'll tell you why. All vehicles listed are 2006 models... Link to article. 1 - BMW 3-Series Our beef: Price and misapplied prestige…

Let's say you enter a contest where the prize was a brand new 2008 GM vehicle of your choice (no MSRP restrictions). You win and have to make a decision on which brand new 2008 GM vehicle you will claim as your prize. What would it be and why? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mine is easy... the all-new GMC Sierra Denali in Summit White. To me, the Sierra Denali is the modern day version of the mid-'50s GMC Suburban Carrier (aka Cameo) pickup. It can be used for work/play, but also for a night out on the town. It's the most luxurious pickup in GMC's s…

Is it any wonder we as Americans are lard asses? Not more than half an hour ago, I was able to order a Papa John's pizza online... medium pepperoni & black olive, baked well done, without getting off my ass. The little nerdy white kid brought it to my door and now I am stuffing my face with a delicious, hot, fattening concoction. And it's only going to get worse. Hey Papa John: good luck finding your old Z/28. I did my small part.

Spin off from another thread. I'll update material swings in price. Something that will probably make the news today: The spot price for oil just fell over $4.80 a barrel to be under $120. Currently sitting at $118.58. RBOB Gasoline is down 11 cents a gallon to $2.97.

September 27th - October 1st Cars at Carlisle Who's going?

Tell me what that one political issue is that is near and dear to your heart. The one that would get you involved enough to support a candidate on that issue alone. Remember just pick your main one. For me it's Illegal Immigration. Shut down the Southern border of the USA, and I don't care if you have to put a Berlin style wall up manned with soldiers, with orders to Shoot to Kill. Come in the legal way, no problem! Sneak across the border, well then you take your chances with the wall and the guns.

No commentary... Cost? $1640 total. Car? 1995 Mazda Millenia. Miles? 160k. Anything wrong with it? Nope. How does it run? Perfectly. Was it a good idea? Well... Was it a good deal? Absolutely... and that's what's matter in the end. Is it what I expected to get? No... but always expect the unexpected.

As the title says, this is mostly hypothetical... as in, if by some rare streak of luck I am able to afford to purchase a decent vehicle. Basically, I'm looking for suggestions/ideas/opinions. I want something that's reliable, economical, easy to live with, and fun. To start, I want suggestions that hold true. Anyone can make a case in favor of a, say... Sunfire or Blazer... Doesn't mean they're worthy of purchasing. Reputations beyond what a few GM enthusiasts think should be taken into consideration. The same goes for any manufacturer. I don't want any 'blinded by bias' suggestions. Personal experience is another thing. It's probably the most telling and most diverse…

Yes yes, I know it's hard to get up off the sidewalk with your snowsuit on, BUT hey, get your mom to put your arms down so you can post some stone cold car spots right up in here!

Alrighty. Two-three years ago, it was about Chrysler's huge success with the 300 and the entire buzz of 'polarizing design'. It became all about, 'if you want to have a hit in the car market, you can't just have vanilla designs. Good designs will often offend many people, but if your design is polarizing it means you can achieve a greater passion level for your products....'gotta have it' factor (copyrite, C/D). Now, as we look back and see the disaster that is called Chrysler, its safe to say they bet the farm on polarizing design too much, and it may be their demise. Most folks won't consider an LX car, it's a 'pimpmobile' or 'gangsta car'. At best, its for a gr…

...things don't get better?

OK, so yeah i'm bored , but anyway do you like where you currently live? If not, where would you perfer to move too? Me personally I love living in Fort Worth, however with the way its expanding rapidily I think a place out in the country, but close to the city would be nice for the future.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/env....html?id=525590 You may have heard earlier this month that global warming is now likely to take a break for a decade or more. There will be no more warming until 2015, perhaps later. Climate scientist Noel Keenlyside, leading a team from Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Science and the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology, for the first time entered verifiable data on ocean circulation cycles into one of the U. N.'s climate supercomputers, and the machine spit out a projection that there will be no more warming for the foreseeable future. Of course, Mr. Keenlyside-- long a defender of the man-made global warming theor…

What do you have set as your ringtone? I've got "Go Home, Get Stoned" set for most callers, my family groups ringtone is Basket Case by Green Day (Do you have the time to listen to me whine...) which fits perfectly. I also have Brown-Eyed Girl, Lets Get it On and Cotton Eyed Joe as ringtones for various groups.

So I've taken a few months off to just relax after graduating in December, but it's time to start looking for a real job (I work at a campus bar right now). With that, comes the exciting prospect of shopping for a car. The '95 Olds LSS has served me well, but it's in bad shape after spending the last 8 years on campus (sister and then me) and it's not something I'd want to trust to get me to and from work all of the time. The average salary for my major from the school I went to last year was $61k, but I'm guessing most of that was in Chicago. The two jobs I am going to send my resume to are both in my hometown and $61k in Chicago translates to $50k here, so I think tha…

Lincoln Mark VIII: Looks pretty sharp, I suppose. O.K. interior, 4.6L V8 (Mustang?) engine.

Now I am aware that not all GM enthusiasts of the X or Y generation are heavy metal fans, however it seems like a huge majority of them are. I've always found that interesting. Any thoughts or comments pertaining to this?

Post your noteworthy spots right here. Let us gobble them up and be thankful.

© 2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

...vehicle(s)? Just curious.... Statistics for my current family: 1972 Monte Carlo = almost 5 years (bought March 2002) ... driven over 7K miles since purchased 1976 Monte Carlo Landau = 8 years (bought December 1998) ... driven over 16K miles since purchased 1979 Monte Carlo Landau = just over 14 years (bought October 1992) ... driven over 35K miles since purchased 1981 Monte Carlo SC = 7 years (bought from parents December 1999) ... driven over 7K miles since purchased 1987 Monte Carlo LS = about 3.5 years (bought July 2003) ... driven over 40K miles since purchased Statistics for my former family members: 1988 Monte Carlo LS ... almost 4 years (purchased Decem…

A hardware forum I belong to has one. Have some RAGE to post that you don't want to open a new thread for? Put it here...

So I have been spending some time looking at CNG Fueling stations. I was going to bring this up on the thread I remeber on this site about anouncing that GM was starting to sell CNG trucks/suv's or something to that line. So currently here in Washington, NG is at $2 per Thousand Cubic feet. So what would the ROI be on changing over? Your looking at about 500-1000 for a cng conversion kit for your auto and about $5000 for a home fueling kit. The current thought is this make the best sense for America to kick the Oil Habit, we need a stepping stone to the eventual holy grail of Pure Electric. Since the US has the 2nd largest reserves of NG in the world and most people ha…

The talk in the 2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class thread got me thinking about SUVs for me. I want something big and comfortable with lots of torque. Prefer CPO to have a warranty and not deal with severe depreciation. Should have a 6,000lb minimum tow rating (Not that I tow, but that rating requires a tongue weight rating of 600lbs which is needed for a Mototote) I like cushy rides. Thoughts are: Jeep Grand Cherokee with air suspension Escalade/Yukon/Tahoe SWB XC90 doesn't have a high enough rating, but I do like it. What else am I forgetting?

So I have gotten over negative feelings I have for both Chrysler and GM but for some reason seem to have a somewhat irrational case of real dislike for Ford motor company at the moment. I really like the current F150, the Lincoln crossover products, the Mustang, the ST twins, the Fusion Sport...and several other products. But for whatever reason I seem to have a real dislike for Ford that is not rational. Any advice you have for helping me think more rationally about them would be appreciated. Thanks!

On CNN Europe they just reported that the cost at the pump will rise 30 cents a gallon in the USA, in the next 30 days. What are you paying at the pump there now, for regular and premium?

Our beloved Bob Lutz looks to be replaced upon his retirement ("assisted", or otherwise) by Carl-Peter Forster, head of GM Europe. What does Mr. Forster know about the GMNA market? Will he attempt to turn GMNA into Opel? Will Pontiac and Buick survive? What has Saturn been able to do with all the money GM has invested in them?

Yeah, you know, the infamous GM control signal/wiper/headlamp/cruise stalk. It comes in other forms, but that's the most remembered form. Am I the only one who actually likes having a whole bunch of functions on the stalk? Like, I can't stand having cruise control on the steering wheel and when I drive a car with those buttons, I can't stand it. Is something wrong with me?

Why going green won't make you better or save you money Washington Post Like most Whole Foods shoppers, David Bain thinks he is a decent citizen of Earth. His family buys mostly organic food. They recycle. He recently fortified his green credentials by removing a leaking oil tank in his yard. But here's a head scratcher: Though the Bains live in Arlington within walking distance of Whole Foods [CSpec plug: this is where I live!], they often drive there in an SUV that gets just 19 miles per gallon. He has noticed that his SUV is not alone in the lot. Does that make Bain a hypocrite? He paused before responding: "I could see how people would come to that conclusion, but…

After some gentle cattle prodding, I've come to realize that we need a September Car Spotters thread up in herr! So, let's wind down our summer with a nice munt of cool evening spots of new, old, or just plain unusual vehicle spottings!

Clicky. Here he is doing what he does best... posting while drunk.

Have a few days off, took a drive...beautiful sunny 75 degree day. Drove down to Tuscarawas County where I'm from and drove some backroads I haven't driven in 30 years or more.. Outside the village of Tuscarawas on a back road, I spotted what appeared to be a 1941 1940 LaSalle moldering in a yard...

I think we have an extra day in February this year to post some cool and unusual vehicle spottings, but don't wait 'til the 29th, why not start now? Put down that Whitman's Sampler, and post away right here!

Well, it's the 1st of August. Seen anything you care to share, describe, and/or have photographed? Have at it. Today, I was driving down a major street with two traffic lanes in each direction that had residential homes on each side of it. I was in the right hand lane. Following me along in traffic in the left hand lane was a silver 2002-2003ish Olds Alero coupe. It sounded pretty good as it accelerated in the stop and go traffic. At a certain point, the traffic was stopped in front of a house with a silver 2002-2003ish Olds Alero sedan. At this point, these two silver Olds Aleros were perpendicular to each other. It was funny to me because just last night…

When I was out to pick Albert up from work this evening, I saw a first generation Neon drive by... and thought to myself..."Wow! It's been a while since I've seen one of those!" Not that I like the Neon at all, but they were once incredibly common and I hardly ever see that version. I see similar vintage Cavaliers, Sunfires, and Escorts all the time.... What cars have you noticed aren't around much anymore?

So as you may or may not know, I haven't owned a car in over a year. I've been sharing my boyfriend's CRV. I've never been a big fan, but it saves money and we almost never have a conflict on when we need wheels. Over the past year I've kinda just gotten used to it. It's inoffensive in every way. Today the BF needed the CRV to go one place and I needed to go do construction work so I rented a Toyota Tacoma for 6 hours from Zipcar. Let me tell you... when a very base, 4-cylinder, rental Tacoma feels positively CTS-like, your daily driver sucks. The Tacoma is slow, has more body roll than a '76 LeSabre with bad shocks, and feels like a Camry inside, but it's RWD and h…

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123299459 WTF?!!!! i'm sure that was happening before.... 100 years ago, and will happen 500 years from now... it's not our fault. *trying to keep this apolitical*

Well, I don't know what's in me tonight.....maybe it's the glass of wine going to my head.....but I've been going through somewhat of a tough time lately, and while soaking in the hot tub in my complex and drinking my wine, I was thinking about some of the positive things in my life and wierdly so, my mind wandered to C&G. Everyone knows...I'm quite the opinionated critic on here when it comes to cars, but I don't usually post too much personal stuff on here....so here goes..... Now, I'm older (37) than alot of you (most of you?) and I didn't grow up in the internet age. Truth be told, C&G is the ONLY website of this sort that I go on and post comments/blogs t…

Free Parking Comes at a Price NY Times IN our society, cars receive considerable attention and study — whether the subject is buying and selling them, the traffic congestion they cause or the dangerous things we do in them, like texting and talking on cellphones while driving. But we haven’t devoted nearly enough thought to how cars are usually deployed — namely, by sitting in parking spaces. Is this a serious economic issue? In fact, it’s a classic tale of how subsidies, use restrictions, and price controls can steer an economy in wrong directions. Car owners may not want to hear this, but we have way too much free parking. Higher charges for parking spaces would l…

The dog days... perfect for lifting your leg to mediocrity. Let us lap up some good Spots this month. Don't make me beg!