Croc

WOW...I haven't heard that name in a long time! Too bad, though he did live to a pretty decent age.

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

The TB/Envoy/Rainier are not straight rebadges. They do not share any sheetmetal except for roof panels. Lutz said that he didn't believe that it was worth GM's while to spend such a large amount of money on product differentiation for those kind of programs when they all ended up looking essentially the same anyways. EDIT: Northie beat me to it. You are right about the GM/CV, though that is a pretty recent development. They used to have differentiated exterior styling until the last major redesign (1998?)

That's all you got? Sweet. Easiest argument I've ever won. w00t! It actually isn't a problem like that. I don't have the technical knowledge of the hybrid powertrain, but I don't believe there's a risk of that ever happening.

Mercury vehicles are not straight rebadges. The changes are pretty minimal, but there are changes in sheetmetal/styling...To me it's only a rebadge if the two cars' only points of difference are 100% interchangeable parts (same headlight/taillight shape with different detailing, body colored vs black rub strips, etc) and badging.

Both systems have their places. I think this is a good step, though I have the sinking feeling GM will use this as an excuse to avoid adding nav systems as options in its vehicles.

I'd never call the middle two "$h!ty." Ugly, maybe, but they are very well-made and do their job well.

Civic is more isolated? That's pretty difficult to achieve...that Prius is the quietest vehicle I've ever been in.

I pick the Prius due to the little traffic problem LA has. LA is the epitome of the worst of city driving, and I think the Prius beats the Civic by getting great mpg and not being an eyesore. Perdón, el "Civic" no me gusta.

Sorry, reg, I am an equal-opportunity bitcher. I think it's horrible when Acura does it, Pontiac, etc. The only time I give it a pass is with Mercury because I like Mercury's styling vocabulary much more than I like Ford's, though admittedly Ford's has been pretty good lately. Also, the pricing with Ford and Mercury is nearly identical.

Umm, Croc rips GM products himself sometimes. Yea, Polish_Kris...why don't you check out that Lucerne thread? Moron.

You could prolly do it in NYC...but def not in LA, Houston, prolly not in Chicago, St. Louis......it would be doable in SF, Portland, etc.

Disagree. The Prius is the best city car. One of my bros has one, and as much as I want to hate it...I can see the appeal. It is crypt-quiet. Very space-efficient.

Further proof that Canadian auto reviews are worthless on account of the whole "politeness" thing that prevents them from writing criticisms on paper...instead making one have to read between the lines. Too ambiguous IMO... OK so here's a fact: not every car is good. Some actually suck. A lot. To Canadian writers: a car is an inanimate object that does not have feelings. You can rip it if you want. I promise it won't go all Christine on you.

I dunno if this is really appropriate...I'm leaning no.

Sixty8: crazy cat lady extraordinaire

Hey, Sly...I found your picture on Google: Here's another:

I dare you to try that.

Why is everyone acting so surprised? C'mon people...

I have a 3.3 right now, and that's after one bad semester (accounting...ugh). Even though I am in a fraternity now, I am still on track for a 4.0 or near-4.0 for this semester.

The two are not mutually exclusive. If you choose to be active within the fraternity, you can glean a lot of skills from the experience. Fraternities are businesses, plain and simple. Being on the finance committee will give you a lot of real-world experience with accounting, credit and a sense of how much it costs to make things happen. Social committees teach you about throwing good parties. They also help you get a good feel for area restaurants and clubs, both of which are important bits of knowledge for taking that special someone out for a nice evening, schmoozing a potential client/boss or getting to know an unfamiliar city. Being on the PR committee will teach you a lot about image management. I think the usefulness of that is pretty apparent.Honestly, though? Fraternities provide some crazy-awesome fun. I am having the time of my life. IMO, that's reason enough to give it a shot.

There's no real "policy" on "serial victims of rush cuts." I just kind of made that term up...A person can rush with any house any number of times, though some people (usually those who are socially awkward) just tend to get cut from every one. There really are two sides to this, though...yes, it sucks to be rejected and cut a lot. At the same time, though, better that than being in a house for a few years with guys who don't really like you. Fraternities all have visions for where they want to be, and they sometimes look for very specific qualities in new members. Right now there is one kid rushing Theta Chi who is extremely creepy for lack of a better term. Sure, he's nice, and he seems genuinely interested in us, but we just don't like him cuz he creeps many of us out. It happens, and there's nothing you can really do about it.

Every girl I know loves them. Some guys just have no neck and can't pull the look off I guess...

I call BS on this. Even those prices are still a couple grand cheaper than the Lexus ES. And the car looks no worse than an ES. All GM would have to do is give it a new name, have a big ad campaign involving an "all-new" "mystery car" (no badging, nothing giving it away...just a few stealth shots) that will be revealed at a specific date...that will generate buzz. Re-introduce "When Better Cars Are Built, Buick Will Build Them." Don't offer it as a replacement for anything (hence the name change). I think if done carefully it could be made to work. Again, Americans seem to have no problems spending more on Lexus ESs. Griffon, when the American manufacturers have tried to price vehicles close to Honda and Toyota, they are $8k too expensive because the cars aren't worth that much. The SRX is right in line with other vehicles in its class but my God that interior is atrocious-looking. The MCE better be good...

I don't get it either. Neither do 80% of fraternity brothers. It just takes a few of that remaining 20% (a mix of pro-hazing and apathetic) to give it all a bad name.