LosAngeles

Yeah, it's a goddamn shame, but what can we really do? We're not GM execs or dealers. Be happy though, even Europe doesn't get those (though it's likely they don't even care).

This is my first time ever seeing you post here, and you sound like a fanboy.Objectively speaking, the Pontiacs are all far better executed, and each translate to the size of car that they are quite well. The Avenger comes off about as overwrought as the Kia Amanti, with cues that really only work on something a lot bigger....reminds me of the old Takara Penny Racers toys, or Ed Roth's Rat Fink drawings.

Maybe if someone did a "chop" where it looked more like the widebodies of the early 90s (hopefully someone has a real idea of what I'm talking about). Bring the rear character line into the flaring of the fender, making one big fender box (sorry, I'm not that great at describing styling in words)Or better yet, keep the flares, but kill the droop of the character line in favor of a standard beltline, similar to the IS350 (or, hmmm....GRAND PRIX?). Then it works. As is, I like the rear end, but the whole car is too butch in the wrong way. I'd much rather have seen DCX try to translate the 300 into the Sebring than the already controversial Charger into the Avenger. Oh well now, it's here and they're stuck with it for four years. I'd fire the meth addict who designed it and somehow got it OKed.

It's nice t get American intererst up when they're stuck on stupid with Camcord, Lexus, and BMW. It may not be on the caliber o the latter two, but it's a nice option for those who want to bet their car-buying dollar on the home team.

That spells trouble in the pocket in a rear-ender of any kind, let alone here in SUV Central.One hopes the new one is nothing like that.

Just haven't really gotten up for message boards in recent times. Partly because there wasn't much going on IMO.

Man, y'all need to start locking these threads when they get that long.

So no one else gets a BMW vibe from this car? Give it the typical Pontiac grille, and you'd see it too....

210 pages? I think I'll pass....

That's an environmentalist's car....

These were slept on pretty hard. Y'all are some thread resurrecting mother-F's around here BTW....

What I've seen since I last posted. -Carrera GT -orange Murielago -black Diablo -Flying Spur -Lancer rally car on a trailer -numerous late model Ferraris (that I don't know the name of)

Seen a little bit this month (forgotten more than I can remember)...including: -pearl white Flying Spur -sky blue Gremlin with white stripes -Ford Crown Vic with hydraulics, doing all the hopping and three wheel motion stuff (might be hope for this car in the hood yet) -another Mazda5 today

If taken out of the dragstrip way of thinking, it's actually pretty ahead of its time.

Yeah, I do hate the obsession with the greatness of the iPod. But I can't front, if the money was there, I could use one (will never stop me from collecting vinyl, however).

We agree 200% here, mein freund....

Thanks for making another part of my point.Furthermore, the way to legitimize a word is for it to be in the dictionary.

This one smells like one I should stay out of....I really don't want to put my ideas on religion out on this forum.

We're seeing this through different eyes here.You're speaking on the world at large, and you're correct about that, but that wasn't what I was trying to say...we agree there. I'm speaking on what I'm seeing on here (as well as many other clowns outside of this site who I've heard go there), and I feel I'm correct in speaking out about it. I never did like the term. While it may have come from good intentions, I thought it was one of the dumbest ideas on the planet, and a dangerous one to put out there...and hence, you see what's going on now. You know the saying about more rope to hang yourself with. But you know what, let's agree to disagree here.

Were you being sarcastic?If anything is "ebonic," IMO, it's vocal tone. Even then anyone can sound like that. I remember once I was in a 7-Eleven. This white guy, about 40ish, was at the counter asking for whatever and paying for it, and his accent sounded strange to me, so I asked him "Where are YOU from?" He said "I'm from L.A." "Interesting. Sounded like you were from elsewhere or something." [with a smile] "Well, I grew up off of Western and Manchester"...predominantly Black area on the south side, for those who don't know. Anyway, back to the point, to say you don't like a certain word, dialect, accent, or grammar form is one thing. To basically attribute anythign bad about the English language to Black people by calling it "Ebonics" does all people a disservice...and it's definitely racist. And to BV, curses simply aren't classy words to use. The saying "Do you kiss your mom/grandmother/kids with that mouth?" exists for a reason. If it was OK to use such in polite company, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Plain and simple, my friend, it's been established that these words are vulgar...and as such, shows one's lack of class when abusing them.If one likes using curses, they need to just say they like to curse, instead of making excuses for these words.

Only people who hate their car do stuff like that. There are plenty of Hondas that suck, and the del Sol is not one of them...

Was it big? Since you question it, it was probably a 505. I don't think 405 wagons were imported here.

I interrupt this "white guys who hate everything" circle jerk to debunk something: There's no such thing as "Ebonics" And even if there was, it's not the all-inclusive term for every word, spelling, dialect, accent, and abuse of grammar you simply don't like. I don't care if a Black person from Oakland coined the term. It's racist, and overall makes you sound uninformed. Knock it off. Now, back to the point of the post. I can't stand: -The use of "soooo" (even though I broke the rule in another post). I grew up hearing it in the context of a complete sentence. Like "Your mother's SO fat that the heels of her brand new shoes are thinner than toilet paper." It used to be followed by something that gives you an idea or paints a picture. Now people just go "he's SO gay" or "you are SOOO not going with me." Oh well, it's here to stay now, there's nothing I can do about it. -Affected dialects, accents, and slang. When you're trying too hard, you're trying too hard. Be yourself. -Along that vein, the whole trend towards deep Southern slurring that everyone got from rappers of the same region. All that "thurr" and "scurred" (while I'll admit that "Don't get scurred" is kinda funny in the right context) gets on my nerves on record, but definitely makes me wanna rabbit punch you if you're not from down there. -When people act like they just have to curse or else they can't speak. Whether in music or in real life, it's not cute. In my house, you watch your mouth, and if you keep breaking the rule, I just kick you out. A curse is okay in moderation, but a lot of you really need to pace yourselves. -In the past 15 years, turning EVERYTHING into sexual innuendo. From "act right" to "brain," I've heard so much that I fear for what's okay to say in 20 years. Again, while some are pretty funny, or even useful, it's a frat boy mentality that's really gotten out of hand. -"Pacific" instead of "specific" used to annoy me too. If I heard someone say something like "there's no pacific way to do it," I'd retun that volley with "Is there an Atlantic way?" Corny, but it illustrated my point to them. -Calling Hip-Hop related stuff "gangsta" (more on this term later); calling things that are simply street "Hip-Hop", calling popular Black music "urban music"; calling what's clearly R&B "Hip-Hop". Now the breakdown: --Not everything in Hip-Hop culture has to do with gangs or crime. Most Hip-Hop fans are too old or nerdy to gang-bang, and we don't all think we're hard. Hip-Hop is mostly made by regular people who might happen to be street, or might not be. Nothing "gangsta" about that. --The term "gangsta," when spelled and pronounced that way by people who obviously don't talk like that on the reg, comes off as a way to condescend or illegitimize something that people really go through. There's nothing silly or illegitimate about street gangs and the gangstERS in them. You never hear the mafia referred to as "gangsta" (or for that matter, what they really are...terrorists. But that's another thread). Gangsters are criminals, really dangerous people, and most who make or like rap are none of those things. --Things that come that from the street that you don't like aren't necessarily products of Hip-Hop, or incorporated into Hip-Hop. Screw an example, that should simply be understood. --"Urban" means "of the city." Many forms of popular Black music didn't even develop in the city period, let alone the inner city. --A person that's CLEARLY an R&B singer can sing over a beat that happens to be more suited to a rapper...DOESN'T MEAN they are Hip-Hop. Real B-boys I know see nothing Hip-Hop in records like those. Neither should MTV, the RIAA, or you.[/that rant] -The term "in this bitch." I find it annoying too. Just more unnecessary vulgarity that doesn't even sound correct. -What the hell are "dreadlocks?" "Dread" means hate. The people who have locks or roots don't hate their hair. Though sometimes, in order to not be anal, one'll let another call it that or use it a reference point to keep things moving. But the term isn't correct. And no, they're not Jamaican or Rasta in most cases. -The term "good hair." Kind of a Black thing, but it has a lot to do with self-hate. -When white people call something "ghetto" (like a valley girl saying something is "so ghetto"), there's something not kosher about that. -Use of non-words (e.g irregardless, devilishment). It's not "conversate," it's "converse." -I hate when people put "mama" and "daddy" together (and still use those two when they're grown adults). Last time I checked, Mama's mate is called Papa, and Daddy's mate is called Mommy. But again, once you're older than 13, just say Mom and Dad. -And finally, on the speaking side, I hate when people use the wrong race or nationality to refer to someone. I've heard Blacks who think this sort of thing is cute be the biggest offenders when it comes to this, but everyone is guilty. Mexicans aren't the only Latins. Chinese aren't the only Asians. Not all darker-skinned Asian people with straight hair (who may or may not be Muslim) are Arabs. Muslim is not a race. Jewish is not a race. Alright, now to the writing side (most of this crap is what happens on the damn Internet): -People, figure out your "haves" and "ofs." --Kind OF --Sort OF --Might HAVE --Could HAVE --Should HAVE --Would HAVE -Stop putting U between your ORs (as in colour or favourite) when you're AMERICAN. -Don't Capitalize Every Word In A Sentence. -Stop not punctuating in a frickin' paragraph. That's called a run-on sentence, and it's really annoying (made even worse when some A-hole puts a period at the very end of the post after ignoring punctuation all along). -When in doubt (which a lot of you need to be), it's called picking up a dictionary or going to the AOL keyword of the same name. Being on the internet and yelling "this ain't English class" is not an excuse to write like an idiot. -Spelling with Z's where S should be, or using "Da" instead of "The" is corny to death. Plain and simple. Besides, "azz" pronounces clumsily. By and large, none of that sort of thing (or any of the other earlier offenders) makes you hip. Basically with me, use language correctly and don't overdo anything.

I got a Southwest "wanna get away" moment to kick things off... I'm over by the bank, in the car, analyzing this 79 Cutlass Supreme and a 70s El Camino parked head-to-head. Cutty was quite clean, but for the slightly smashed-in-from-the-bottom grille, and the ElCo was pretty oxidized, but looked straight. OK, here's the rundown. El Co backs out to leave, while right next to the Cutty, this idiot comes in some bulls--t Yukon XL Denali at a painfully obvious bad angle (never mind that the poor older lady is putting her groceries in the trunk, and that he had five spaces to choose from, but chooses to pull right next to her). Whole lot looking right at this guy, including her, and all he had to do was back out (or I could have gotten out and said something and the day was saved)...I just knew the guy was smarter than the following. I see the Cutty wiggle. He scrapes that big white elephant RIGHT AGAINST the previously PERFECT front fender. I just yelled "IDIOT!!!" It was so awful, I had to get out, walk over, and tell him how much of an idiot he was, while adding on to the old lady that I thought her car was beautiful, and he had to ruin it for us classic fans. I left, but dwelled on it to myself for ten minutes afterwards, saying "She should SOOO make him fix not only the fender, but throw in the front end as well for the trouble." He gets what he deserves for that one. What was this guy thinking? That his big white tank would phase through her car like Shadowcat? That it would smush up like marshmallows real quick, what? The guy had a FIVE-SPACE WINDOW, and he chooses to ruin his own day and hers to attempt pulling up right next to her. Did he just buy this thing and not have a real idea of spatial reasoning? Further proof that your average city dweller don't need to drive SUVs, especially one that big.[/rant]