ccap41

Holy buckets, man! I couldn't deal with that! I'd go nuts...

f@#kin a, man. f@#kin a. Seriously though, I don't know why it's so damn hard to get Americans to buy American cars now. It's been around a decade since they've been selling cars of similar quality to the Japanese automakers, but in our infinite wisdom and anti-bias, we will spend insane amounts of money propping up foreign car companies. You wont find that ANYWHERE else in the world, except maybe China but I don't know that for sure. A Toyota built in the US with domestic parts content STILL benefits Japan at least as much as it does our country. Completely agree.. But it's hard to get past a reputation, especially when it's an investment like an automobile. My first year of college back in the fall of 07(holy $h!...) I was in an intro to engineering class and the instructor was an engineer and in the auto field some way or another and he said right then that American autos are as good if not better than a lot of Japanese and Euro cars but people won't give them credit for a long time. It takes Cobalts and Focuses with 300k miles and still purring to get that reputation up and the whole ignition and air bag thing aren't helping the two. Ignorant people still buy on reputation alone.

My bad, I have corrected it. i3's are BUTT UGLY! bmwi3-inline2.jpg i3BMWBellevue.jpg i3BMWBellevueSolidColor.jpg Solid Color one has 16K miles on it and reduced to $32K, is fully loaded but still over priced for what you get. They seem kind of neat/quirky in pictures but I have to believe they are a mess in person. $h!, 32k for one of those used? How large/small are they? What would they be compared to? Fiesta? Focus? Spark?

Yeah I got stuck in some of tat as well. That is the kind of situation that Start-Stop would really be worth it. I'm pretty sure my current tank average dropped 1.1mpg in the half hour-45 minutes I was in that traffic. Granted, I had a 3/4 tank so it fluctuates a lot with less miles on the Trip.

Speaking of freak weather... I woke up to thunderstorms this morning and a downpour like I haven't driven in in a long time. I couldn't drive quicker than about 40mph from lack of visibility and just that much water on the road I didn't want to catch a puddle and hydroplane like a jackass. Oh, and it's about 50 degrees this morning. It's NEVER been this warm this late around here. Okay, "Never" is a lie..I looked it up and record high for today was 74 degrees one year. But this is usually the time of year where we're getting frosts every night, highs in the 30's, snow threats(don't always get it but there's always the threat), and cold and windy. Not this year. It's freakin' weird.

I ALWAYS say that!!! Each and EVERY time the 1st day of winter rolls around, I see the silver lining in that frozen cloud and rejoice that finally, the days are getting longer again! AMEN! Amen to what both of you said. I HAAAATE the days of waking up and it's dark..leave the house and it's dark, get home from work and it's already dark as well. I'm not working 12 hour days or anything either Just sun up was around 7:30 and sun down was around 5:00.

What kind of information do you have on this car to say it is or is not "well-engineered"?

I think they've had something like this for decade. I believe they call them "hub caps" or "wheel covers". But in all seriousness, I think th insert thing is an awesome idea. I'm not 100% on that above rim but it is still a good looking wheel. Honestly, I think if it is something this cheap and easily replaceable I would mess around with 1 or 2 inserts and make it look asymmetrical at times. Paint them different colors.. I also think as long as they are balanced correctly the one or two plastic inserts wouldn't mess with wheel/tire balance enough to negatively effect the ride. All in all, I think it's an awesome idea.

Curious what that base 2WD truck weighs and if it's as freakin' slow as the loaded up one that was tested recently.

I know they aren't conventionally "beautiful" but I love the era of muscle cars.

At the rate we're going, I'm not going to get to do any skiing here on the east coast Careful what you say.. last year the north east got BLASTED! I'd like a little more snow than we got here in the STL area. While the rest of the US got hit hard at times we only really had 1 snow. and I didn't get to ski any of it because of my crazy travel schedule ...ouch...

Wow, I was reading that and I just had no clue what you were talking about. I thought you said 13 not i3. With the capitalized "I" it looked like a "1". I'm yet to see one in person but they don't look too great in pictures.

At the rate we're going, I'm not going to get to do any skiing here on the east coast Careful what you say.. last year the north east got BLASTED! I'd like a little more snow than we got here in the STL area. While the rest of the US got hit hard at times we only really had 1 snow.

About the Beckam Jr stuff? If you weren't watching the game you won't have the real "feel" for what was going on. It was a mess and embarrassing. I kid you not, he was involved in stuff nearly every play he was on the field in the 3rd quarter. Honestly kind of surprised his coaches and teammates allowed him to stay on the field. The commentators were surprised he wasn't ejected. Agreed. I watched the game from start to finish and in thirty plus years of watching football, I have never seen any player commit so many personal fouls, on top of a deliberate helmet targeting hit and NOT get ejected. Piss poor officiating by not sitting that punk down for the rest of the game. That helmet to helmet hit could have ended a career. I didn't even realize how poor of a call(or lack thereof a call) that was until replays and there is really only one angle that shows how deliberate and heinous it was. Also, seeing highlights does'nt do it justice to how bad and out of control he was. Like you and I watching it all the way through we understand how out of control he was and coaches, teammates, and refs all just let it happen over and over and over. Chippiness is one thing, it gets annoying to watch but it just is inevitable when you have 22 alpha males all in one place with the same/opposing goals, I at least understand that crap even though I hate it. This was on a whole 'nother level. Good news though, he's likely to be suspended at least one game for his antics. He deserves the final two regular season games but I doubt that will happen. I think it also sealed Coughlin's fate with the Giants. He is done. He was not even aware that Beckham had three personal foul penalties. Utterly clueless and it showed by him not sitting Beckham's ass down for a series or two. It's been a long time since I have been disgusted with a game in which my team still won. Just horrible on so many fronts. Well, he's been suspended for 1 game... I think it could have and probably should have been both regular season games. That intended blow to the head needs to be made an example of.

You do realize styling is the last thing many buyers care about with a utility van, right? But, if all else is equal everybody would lean towards the better looking vehicle. Might as well at least attempt to not make it look like hell.

About the Beckam Jr stuff? If you weren't watching the game you won't have the real "feel" for what was going on. It was a mess and embarrassing. I kid you not, he was involved in stuff nearly every play he was on the field in the 3rd quarter. Honestly kind of surprised his coaches and teammates allowed him to stay on the field. The commentators were surprised he wasn't ejected. Agreed. I watched the game from start to finish and in thirty plus years of watching football, I have never seen any player commit so many personal fouls, on top of a deliberate helmet targeting hit and NOT get ejected. Piss poor officiating by not sitting that punk down for the rest of the game. That helmet to helmet hit could have ended a career. I didn't even realize how poor of a call(or lack thereof a call) that was until replays and there is really only one angle that shows how deliberate and heinous it was. Also, seeing highlights does'nt do it justice to how bad and out of control he was. Like you and I watching it all the way through we understand how out of control he was and coaches, teammates, and refs all just let it happen over and over and over. Chippiness is one thing, it gets annoying to watch but it just is inevitable when you have 22 alpha males all in one place with the same/opposing goals, I at least understand that crap even though I hate it. This was on a whole 'nother level. Good news though, he's likely to be suspended at least one game for his antics. He deserves the final two regular season games but I doubt that will happen.

I was just on Chevy's site building a new Malibu just for the heck of it and they have the 1.5T listed as 163hp and 250lb ft(when I click on the engine option as I'm building it). This makes me wonder if Ford is still offering the 5.2L, 9-Cylinder in the new GT350R.

I think I saw a 16 Malibu the other day on the highway. I'm not for sure if they are on dealer lots yet that's why I'm not 100% sure it was a '16 but I'm pretty confident. It was a dark burgundy-like color. I think on Chevy's website it is "Butte Red Metallic".

I think you're confusing stiff, controlled, sporty, comfortable all confused because just because something absorbs road imperfections doesn't make it a poor design and lacking in technology. In fact it probably takes an equal amount of technology to get a suspension set up to absorb road imperfections and deliver a comfortable ride. You can do to the far end of the spectrum and do you think Rolls' "mail in" their suspensions? But they aren't sporty in any way.

About the Beckam Jr stuff? If you weren't watching the game you won't have the real "feel" for what was going on. It was a mess and embarrassing. I kid you not, he was involved in stuff nearly every play he was on the field in the 3rd quarter. Honestly kind of surprised his coaches and teammates allowed him to stay on the field. The commentators were surprised he wasn't ejected.

Absolutely. He wasn't playing football at that point, at all. He should be ashamed of how he acted today. About as unprofessional as it gets.

Stole the words from my mouth. That is NOT a 50k interior. 6k plus any options you'd find realistically on a dealers' lot is more like 16k so it's realistically a ~66k interior.

Why use 12 cylinders of complexity? Chevy does it with a lowly Corvette. . Oh and the CTS..and probably a Camaro. BMW needs to up their game if they're going to use 12 cylinders.Shiiiiit, even Dodge and Ford will produce north of 600hp with 8 and 6 cylinders. Dodge has done it for a few years in their Hellcats and Ford had it a few years ago in a Shelby and GT. BMW is just late to the party.

Escalade starts at 73k and the GL450 starts at 67k. GL550 starts at like 92k. That must be what you're thinking of.

Ugh... Not a fan of the shiny wood. It just looks so much cheaper than aluminum or a matte finish to me.