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I'm a big Idris Elba fan and I think he would fit the mold perfectly.

I have always felt that 007 was the designation and not the person, much like The Doctor. When a 007 gets killed off or retired, a new 007 is recruited/hired to replace him. Same for M, same for Q. I mean, Judi Dench was an amazing M and Ralph Fiennes, the current M, is amazing at anything he does. So why can't the same be said for 007? I think we've transcended the age when Bond has to be a white male. If anything, the next movie could and should be one where part of the story is how a 007 gets recruited.

There are two 3500s with some years of overlap. The earlier one called the LX9, you are correct, is built on the 3400 block and was offered from 2004 - 2007. This one traces it history to the 3.1 from 1994, and even earlier to the 2.8 from 1980. This one made about 200 hp and between 215 - 220 lb-ft of torque depending on application. The later one started production in 2006 and ran through 2010 as the LZ4 and is entirely unrelated to the earlier one aside from name. It was all new. It is a 3900 with a sightly shorter stroke. This one came with Variable Valve Timing. The blocks of the 3500 VVT and 3900 are basically identical. Horsepower rating changed almost yearly, starting at 211, jumping to 224, then back down to 219 or 217. There is a variant of this (LZE) for flex fuel rated at 211 horsepower and only available in the Impala and Monte Carlo. To make things simple</s>, GM named ALL of these engines the 3500 High-Value engine, though the LZ4 and LZE are also sometimes referred to as 3.5 liter with VVT. The 3900 has all of that plus roller rocker arms (smoother) and a variable length intake manifold. While horsepower maxed out at 240, it has a nearly turbocharged-like torque curve with at least 90% of max torque (240 lb-ft) available from 1500 - 5500 rpm. It had active fuel management and could run on 3 cylinders in certain years, only in the Impala

Back from DTW 2025 and my week of PTO to recover where I soaked and enjoyed hiking around Banf National Park @ Lake Louis and stayed in Fairmont Mineral Hot springs Canada. Fairmont Hot Springs Resort - Top Hotel Fairmont, BC Banf Lake Louis Last day of soaking in the 104 degree Mineral hotsprings

Based on earlier responses, I updated the Generative AI Usage Policy and added the Integra pictures above as examples. Check it out. I can't think of a British actress who would fill that role well. Emily Blunt maybe, but I'm iffy on that.

1000% I think we should have a woman 007 also, these days, she can still get all the Bond-Girls. You straight guys can't argue against that!

Yeah, like in the last Craig film Bond was retired, there was a new 007 agent--a black female. '007' is a code name for the job. 'James Bond' may be a code name also, since all the 007s were named James Bond up until the last film. The Craig films were uneven, some better than others. I liked Pierce Brosnan better in the role, and would have liked to have seen Clive Owen in the role 15-20 years ago.

I think this is one of Ford's best efforts in terms of a specialty vehicle. Better even than the Shelby Mustangs and the SVT Fiesta and Focus. OR the Focus RS for that matter. It really reminds me of the SVT Mustangs of the 1980's, in essence and details as well. Be interested in what colors this comes in, as an SVT ish marron would be killer. And For has always had fantastic blues. Wonder if it could be special ordered in Cactus Grey? The wheels are the bomb on this thing. As a current Ranger owner brought back to Ford by the excellent Ranger (at 112,000 miles mine has been excellent) I think I may be paying my Ford dealer a visit.

I had a white 2005 Monte Carlo rental almost 20 years ago...I rented one in Denver and drove to Telluride for a week for my 35th birthday, sight seeing all over SW Colorado.. Durango, Silverton, Pagosa Springs...fun trip. Had a sunroof, was smooth and comfortable IIRC. Over the years, I rented many Impalas of that era, they were good cars.

The 3500 and 3900 were significantly smoother than their respective predecessors. I've told the story here before, but I was in a rental Lucerne driving across Ohio and I didn't realize I was driving in 3rd gear at highway speeds for a good many miles before I noticed.

As far as Bond girls go, sure, one has the name that raises the most eyebrows - Pussy Galore - but the one that is probably the most well-known and most parodied had to have been Tiffany Case as played by Jill St. John. And there was Plenty O'Toole in the same movie. And Bambi and Thumper. And the high-rise Las Vegas Hilton doubled as The Whyte House. "DAF" really went out on a limb after a much more true to form 007 flick like "OHMSS" but, man, was it ever funny. Great lines like: "Just shove in a couple of gallons of 'HI-TEST' " and "Hi, I'm Plenty ... Plenty O'Toole" - - - "named after your father, perhaps" and "I didn't know there was a pool down there." The whole Vegas atmosphere sure moved things in a different direction from OHMSS having taken place in the Swiss Alps. Thanks to Wikipedia, we can learn that Jill St. John had an IQ of 162 and was admitted to UCLA 2 years earlier than a normal high school senior. She didn't go to or complete college. Lana Wood who played Plenty O'Toole is the late Natalie Wood's sister and, after she hit the wall and wasn't acting anymore, was living in a motel outside of L.A. with 1 or 2 of her kids for a while. But she appears to be back on her feet. To be fair, one of her kids had extensive medical issues that were costing them a lot of money.

He’s definitely on the list of actors I’d want for Bond. Great actor. Aiden Turner would be good also (Irish actor from Poldark revival and other things). I think Owen was on the list back in 04-05 when Craig got the role. Not sure how many Fleming books or short stories haven’t been adapted. Some of the post-Fleming titles by other authors could make good screenplays I think. I like how in the 80s books Bond drove a Q-modified Saab 900 Turbo.

I haven't had much good opportunity to populate around here lately, so much to do, so little time. We added another vehicle to the fleet the other day. What started as looking for new or slightly used ventured off into 'let's just get a bridge car' for awhile. Something that may be useful for not just my college kid, but also a budding HS kid who will be learning to drive soon. And, something that I may also be able to use to drive the 70 mile round trip to work each day and spell the miles from the van and TourX. Now we have to decide if we are going to get rid of the Grand Prix, which, it's probably time. Since the motivation here was more that I saw this on the dealer lot while I was taking new Mazda test drives. It was a good price and even with some strange body dings, it looked real good with its red color and new tires and all. And it had a sunroof, that was the ultimate hook. Surprisingly, to me it drove really nice... seemed like everything was tight on it and low miles, for cheap. This vintage of Malibu was never really top rated in its class at the time, but it had a lot of positives I overlooked at the time which I can appreciate more nowadays. But it was in a competitive market segment and so to improve even more, Chevy did a full redesign again of the Malibu for 2016. I actually did lease a 2016 Malibu LT and after all this time, its interesting to see the contrasts between the two designs in the rearview mirror of time. A couple photos here shortly.

you're 100% spot on here, they tried to walk that line with both offerings... the Impala ended up pricey for a lot of people who wanted the size and also at that time, the LaCrosse had the all wheel drive option whereas the Impala did not, which limited things greatly for the success of the Impala. Especially since the Ford 500 and 08+ Taurus had all wheel drive options, as did the Charger and Chrysler 300. Since this version of Malibu then was considered undersized for passenger space in its competitive room, is one reason it never lit up the sales charts. They did fix that with the 2016+ / current version (its been fun comparing this one vs my 2016). Even though the 2016 had the right amount of space, they pushed the seat height down a bit. I really wish they would have kept the seat hip point up at the same height as on this 2014. You can definitely feel the much shorter wheelbase of this one, but the car feels more zippy because of it. Perfect for what we want it for right now. So then rather comparing this one to its contemporaries at the time, since this is a used purchase i look at it more just as its own lens. I actually was able to purchase something used similarly priced to the smaller Cruze for about the same money, and not as large as the Impala. More solid and safer than the Cruze. That sort of tweener size works well for what we need in this case. We had the family or four in the car for a drive last weekend and it was tight. Yet the seating was comfortable. The width of the cabin is good; its primarily the leg room aspect that is difficult for the back seat passengers. The smaller wheelbase makes it zippier around town driving and parking, and the 2.5 is perfect for what is needed. The 6 speed shifts well, and with the huge gas tank with 30+ mpg you really can expect near 500 miles on a tank. At the time in the market, the smaller size was a disadvantage but now that its just a used car on the market its the right size and power and fuel economy for what is needed 95% of the time. The trunk is very big also and the rear seats fold..... nearly as much utility as if it were a hatchback. actually, it was indeed a car that was passed down from a retired person to their relative for a short period. Strangely, there is a lot of weird body scratches and things that are kind of random and don't show up in pictures but they also buffed them out and paint finished them as best they could. Not deep scratches, just very puzzling....how the hell did they get there? Car had the valve cover gasket and rocker arm control valve fixed, replaced transmission lines, and had new tires. Seemed oddly tight and good shape for steering and brakes for a used car, but i'm like 'i'll take that'! I'm not expecting it to have perfect reliability and it something costly happens, so be it. I didn't buy an extended warranty because the affordable warranties for this old of a car don't cover very much. To get a more comprehensive warranty is cost prohibitive, IMO

Oh, I get it, I think you misunderstood me. I'm saying make a Maverick Raptor with that engine. For a Lobo version, they'd need something like Lobo Max.

I mean, that's what's listed on their website. Do you always add destination charges to your pricing? I doubt it, unless it fits your argument. The $28,145 is not employee pricing. Hahaha exactly... so why compare the two???

WOW, must have been a retire persons auto as that is in great shape. Congratulations on your new ride.

Anything at the Raptor level is specialty and people don't expect fuel economy for those trucks.

And as a further note it is available in blue. Local dealer has one in Blue at 35K with Ford's current pricing plans. Hmmm.... Wonder what a 5 year old Ranger brings in trade in?

I think that is with Employee pricing and not including the $1695 destination charge. $29,840 + $1695 destination is the new price without the employee pricing.

I read that and it's really too bad. Some of them have great goofy personalities that shine through. The only cat we had when I was a kid was a black female and she had a great personality.

The Ranger Raptor has a timing belt that is problematic, that is a no go for me. The motor in my Ranger has a timing chain. I really want 400 plus miles of Range, would like more in my Ranger to be honest.

Do people really go to answer the door naked if they see that it's the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons at the door?

Raptors don't care about fuel efficiency.

This whole truck is fantastic. 37 grand is just slightly north of what I would like to spend, but since both of my vehicles are paid off and next month I am going to go from extra principal payments on my house to saving for my next vehicle, this might just be in range. Tariffs are going to kill so much, I don't want to get political, but its going to be really ugly. Would be an interesting combination!

I do also, and they often remain un homed because folks have a bias against them. See, this kills my excuse for all of my irrational posts here. "Obviously I was hacked!" Goodbye Cavalier! An excellent video on the downfall of Southwest Airlines. Everything on this channel is well researched and enjoyable IMHO.

Every now and then, I look at parts of 007 movies on YouTube to LMAO. They hit their peak a while back. I have not seen any of the Daniel Craig ones. I must have burned out in terms of fandom. Even though I haven't seen any of Craig ones, I thought he was an off pick to play 007. It's almost confirmed, if not already confirmed, that the role will go to Henry Cavill. I think they should have kept looking. I'm sure there are a lot of qualified actors to play James Bond and they should have always been at work zeroing in on Ian Fleming's description of the main character. I'm getting sick of the unbridled PC-ness whereby one of the actors on the short list was a Black actor. If he is nothing like the James Bond alluded to in Ian Fleming's novels, he should not have been considered just because we are in the 2020s.

I have to say that this is the most attractive front end treatment of all the trims. Each Maverick trim gets unique styling and this is by far the best. I suppose, theoretically, the 2.3 Ecoboost should fit

Well, some nuance. 1. Use your own charging brick, or buy a USB data blocker (USB A Data Blocker) - (USB C Data Blocker) * we get a small commission if you purchase through these links at no cost to you. 2. Use the free airport wifi, but don't do anything financial on it OR subscribe to a credible VPN service for your phone. No hacker is going to care if they get your C&G password. These rules apply just about anywhere, not just when flying. Hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, your car dealership service center waiting room, etc. The taco bell near me has been remodeled to have USB ports, workstations, and free wifi, and those are every bit as insecure as an airport, just lower traffic.

I can't watch the video yet, but I think getting all the knowledge and know-how out of the legacy automakers and then casting them aside was the long-game for the Chinese the whole time. Doesn't matter if it is Benz or GM or Ford or Stellantis. Apple has put themselves into the same position.

These rode nicely, but after its much larger predecessor, they were a bit of a letdown because they felt tight inside and smaller than the CamCordTima. I'm sure Chevy did that to push more people to their new Impala but instead it pushed them away. I assume this is the 2.5 or the 2.4 eAssist since you would have mentioned the engine if it was the 2.0T. The eAssist gets a bad rap because people expected Pruis-like fuel economy out of it and it just wasn't that kind of hybrid, but it did alter the torque curve enough at low speeds to give it more oomfph than the basic 4-cylinder and you could still tickle 35mpg highway in something as big and heavy as the Lacrosse.

Do you feel I need to disclose per photo or will just an addition and explanation of this type of modifications in our existing AI policy be sufficient? I might even put those photos above as the example in the policy. My goal here is to be completely above board about AI on the site. I’m not against AI, but I am against AI for this type of creative opinion and editorializing. I don’t feel that touching up a photo in this manner violates that since the subject is an actual photo, but I want to get the group’s opinion on it.

I have no issues with that use-case. The adjustments absolutely were an improvement.

It's not even that companies can't make money building sedans (except you Nissan), it's that the profit margins are so much higher building what is essentially a tall hatchback economy car and marking it up by $5K. Because the margins are so much better on something like Trax which sells for the same as a Malibu but is lower tech/quality/content, it forces management to look at sedan margin and ask "Why are we even doing this when we could just make a Trax 2-inches longer and sell it for more as a new model?". Manufacturers who want to stay in the game, Honda mainly and to a degree Toyota (though I see them faltering), they have to push their sedan prices higher to justify continuing to build them. A Civic costs every bit as much to engineer and build as an HR-V and CR-V, but it starts at $24k while the HR-V starts at $26k and the CR-V at $30k. You can't really blame manufacturers with numbers like that.

All, I'm looking for your feedback on the Generative AI policy and where I might make a modification. Do you/Would You have an issue with my using AI to retouch photos that I took? I would never modify the vehicle in a review (aside from adjusting exposure, contrast, and color intensity as I always have), but I might us AI to remove a trash can or pole in the background that make the photo ugly. Basically I want to pretty up the picture without altering the vehicle in the picture. These two are the same picture, after and before. Using AI in my photo editor, I removed the handicapped parking markings and a telephone pole in the background, lightened the car, and I enhanced the fogginess for effect.

Nice to see one in red w/ a sunroof. I drove several of these as rentals back in the day, liked the styling of these more than the successor. They drove quite pleasantly IIRC.