trinacriabob

If overseas, economical car with automatic and not ICE. I will have too much on my plate ... the (stress of the) to do list is insane, including doing driving school. Italy will not swap U.S. driver licenses. (The school is always done with a manual, so I'll have to get back on that bicycle.) Portugal will exchange them. I talked to one lady in Italy who was really nice but also a douchebag in how she made it sound like I was preparing for a flight to the moon. I went to driver's ed in 10th grade, cracked jokes with my friends, did the work, got an A, got 2 wrong on the written test, and got a 100 on the drive test. My parents moved us to Italy before I ever started school and we came back before the 3rd grade. I did not speak English and K through 2 was in Italian. In the 5th grade, my teacher, a nun, said she wanted to talk to me. I was wondering what I had done wrong. She just wanted to pull me aside to tell me my standardized test scores, which surprised the hell out of me! Point is that Italians have one glaring fault - they are quite obtuse in getting it that smart people can figure things out. I think they have this narrow view because they did not colonize. Somalia doesn't count. OTOH, the Spaniards, French, and Portuguese did, so they are less likely to insult people for minor speech "irregularities" since people in other lands far away have slightly differently accented versions of their languages and some of their customs. End of rant. Small car. Automatic. Reputable brand. Gasoline engine.

Today marks the 1 year anniversary that I don't have a car registered to me. Letting go of the LaCrosse was initially difficult, but I've gotten used to it. I rent when I need to. (That's what people like Manhattanites do!) From 16 on, I had regular access to a car, even if our family ones weren't registered to me. I have to figure out what to buy and when. If across the pond, it will NOT be a new car. A weird state of limbo to be in, to be sure, but I don't really have a choice and I'll get it sorted out.

Neat! How are you situated with GM in the '70s and '80s?

Yeah, true. But it was put into motion for different reasons and it was a bug that my foreign born doctor out West put in my ear about 10 years ago. I filed it away. It then involved contacting the consulate to get the citizenship recognized and then be issued that passport. It's not bad if you're first-gen, but it's still a lot of work. You have these third-gen on one side who have to have it, and they have to come through with a big paper trail. Still, I never thought it would come to this. The EU in general is also very concerned with the outcome.

Two weeks to go ... and this "casual Catholic" is praying a lot.

Good morning ... ... happy birthday, Kamala Harris

Deniers always continue to dispute issues even when they are presented with hard data by scientists, economists, statisticians, etc. They're kind of dense and/or bring personal baggage into the equation. It's almost sad that they get the same vote (instead of relative weighting ... what a concept) as some of the people with more critical thinking skills. Then, it's definitely sad that our country's simpletons could determine policy and anything of import for those who live in large swaths with way more complex and enlightened areas.

What people name their kids can be very interesting. I was once checking into a hotel in a suburb of Toronto, and the name of the guy helping me was Supreme. I asked him if his parents were Oldsmobile fans ... nope, they were Motown fans. The year before, I was going to the breakfast room at a hotel in Portugal and one of the employees running the breakfast service was a guy named Majeek. Now, Supreme was laid back and likable, but Majeek was very cool. I forgot where in the Portuguese diaspora his family came from ... possibly the Cape Verde Islands. The more you travel, or just look around you and observe, the more trippy things you will see and unique people you will come across.

The world is a village. It doesn't matter where you go, you will always see people buying lottery cards, schedules, tickets, or scratchers. Most of these people have no business buying them. Said another way, most of these people wouldn't understand the most basic concepts of a statistics course if they bit them in the ass. "Probability" is your friend.

I saw this weird one changing planes at AMS. I usually sit by a window. Obviously an old 747 that's been put out to pasture, so to speak, that they've done weird things to ... so, then, is it a restaurant in the making? You can see KLM colors in the vicinity.

I get a headache just thinking of all the cars he has, is having worked on, flips, etc. I hope he keeps spreadsheets, or similar, to track the ins and outs. This system intuitively sounds bad, and it need not even be a northerly latitude. Moisture and anything trunk related spell trouble. Leaky landaus brought on by rust admitted water to the trunks of colonnades, for one. The car isn't as bad looking from the rear, and that includes the general greenhouse. However, the front is ghastly. It's yet another example of where Pontiac steered too haphazardly with their random overstyling, and I think the '04 to '08 GP were similarly less than they could have been based on their front clips.

Good morning ... ... my morning pretty much IRL and, no, not SF, but about halfway around the world from there.

I just looked at this again, having had a few more as rentals by now. The Mitsubishi Mirage works too hard to deliver what should be better fuel mileage. It appears to be going away. The Kia Soul does not appear to have slots to allow for a rear cover when the back seat is up. The Hyundai Venue has a cartoonish Kia Amanti look by its grille up front. The Jetta, which I disliked when boxy for a fair number of years, has morphed into an attractive vehicle. Vehicles that can turn in 200,000 miles with simple maintenance are definitely needed at these price points when other expenses are chewing up more and more of Americans' consumer spending power.

Insane. Milton made landfall at Siesta Key in Sarasota County as a 3. It was forecast to come in between Tampa Bay and Port Charlotte. I forgot the strength of the previous ones that recently hit the southwest coast of FL. So much preparation was needed. I saw a clip on evacuating the animals from the Tampa Zoo. I'm sad for those who didn't make it out. They mentioned that a plane carrying evacuees crashed. It's working its way northeasterly across the peninsular state.

If it had to be Texas, I much prefer that area. Somewhere I have a photo I took of some new houses going up near Clear Lake, east of NASA Houston Space Center and on water, but not quite at Galveston Bay. They were propping them up like this, and were using metal studs, joists, etc. Lightweight metal. That method comes and goes, it seems. It's damn moist down there, so that has to be addressed in how the metal is prepped ... and even cut. I sort of like this look. It says Sunbelt AND vacation.

This is a weird guy with a strange voice. I didn't look up his info. Where is he from? Some people make a living off of astrology because people either read those columns or consult with them, like they would a fortune teller or palm reader. I'm only on board with the part of mine that says we are travelers and likely to have a broad assortment of friends, and that it would include foreign ones! I don't know if I find them or they find me. I once worked with someone I shared a birthday with. We got along socially, like going to lunch and to b.s. Then, they put us on a project together and it was a "Felix and Oscar" nightmare and we no longer gelled. Three guesses as to which one I was and the first two don't count.

It's a combination of a lot of things, really. The southern part builds with concrete masonry units. The northern part frames in wood. The southern part has homes on slabs. The beachfront areas up north - expensive ones on the Panhandle, for example - raise the homes up on piers or pylons, but it's still wood framing above. It should all be designed with that 100 year event in mind if close enough to the coast. Still, with the storm surge, people need to leave.

Not so great colonnade years: 1973 and 1974 Not so great next-gen years: 1978, 1979, and 1980. Consumers had a right to be pissed. It actually cost more to go from too much (the '77 MC) to too little (the '78 MC), and that's just one example.

I was joking. I think he hates the colonnades and the malaise era. More '76 or even '75 GP for me. I had trouble with the '77 lights up front (the center lamp in between) and the taillight medallion with the swoopy wedding invitation calligraphy inside it. I was also sweet on '76 and '75 GLMs for their borrowing from or sharing with the GP (still drool over their fully instrumented dash), but being more manageable in terms of size.

I think a Pontiac colonnade of sorts would work wonders if balthy's holiday stocking were to be stuffed with one.

MECHANICAL PHOTOS This shows the engine bay with its turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, turbo ducting and such, service points, and an easy to service battery This indicates that it's a 2.0 liter engine and that one thing remains constant - standardized OBD II diagnostics are now well past 2 decades of use Of the different brands I've driven, Android Auto connections behave differently, with Nissan products disengaging most often and GM vehicles staying fairly consistently connected. Here, the map feature disengaged. The screen can also show either only the map or only the music.

INTERIOR PHOTOS This is the view of the front of the cabin upon getting in from the driver's side This is the view of the front of the cabin upon getting in from the passenger's side This shows the expanse and sensible layout of the dashboard Here the additional storage space under the deck of the console can be seen The main instrument pod provides some "relief" - conventional and easy to get used to layout, a temperature gauge is included, and it can be set to a digital speed readout. Having been given the car at over 59,500 miles, I took this photo of the odometer turning over 60,000 by pulling off somewhere. I have been getting rental cars with many more miles on them than in the past. Because some controls are elsewhere, I really appreciated the simplicity of the steering wheel controls This shows a very typical GM infotainment screen layout, nicely placed air conditioning vents, and the push button start at the left of this photo; the base of this screen groups information such as exterior temperature, the clock, etc. This shows the climate control panel below the infotainment screen, which is pleasantly symmetrical and very easy to operate This shows the transmission selector pod in what I felt was a very convenient location, as well as the cubby space beneath it handling different types of USB connections and a 12 V charger slot. The R and D gears have a "pull tab" sort of operation. The seat shape worked very well for me, even though they appear to be leather, when I prefer fabric upholstery for better comfort across different exterior temperatures This shows the roominess and finish of the second row seats Here, many of the similar functions available to the front passengers are available in a consolidated area in the second row This is the third row seat, which I kept in this position most of the time This shows the rearmost pillar. While thick, it seems to have improved a little over time and visibility is helped by the verticality of the glass. This is the rear storage area with the third row seat down This is the rear storage area with the third row seat up

EXTERIOR PHOTOS Side view Angled front view Angled rear view

I went in to get a rental car and, as usual, the sedan I had rented was not available. I was going to get upgraded into a SUV and asked what was available. I was told about a Toyota Highlander and then a GMC Acadia was added to the short list. For whatever reason, the Toyota Highlander has never gelled with me and the Acadia had more things going for it that I like – a GM product, a vehicle I’ve always wanted to test drive, and it’s even a place I like! Having sat in various renditions of GMC’s Acadia in showrooms, I’m not too surprised that I mostly liked spending time in this vehicle. The positives outweigh any negatives, and this is a pleasant vehicle for both everyday driving in many driving contexts and has the extra bonus of hauling space if you were to need that. The closest thing I’ve driven was a Chevrolet Traverse, which I’ve reviewed here, but that was at least a handful of years ago and had a very different powertrain. Like that Traverse, once on the road, the Acadia exudes that it’s quiet and stable. (If only more people were that way.) Both vehicles once shared the 3.6 DOHC V6, and those add weight up front, so I’d say this Acadia feels a little more agile and lighter on its feet owing to its 4-cylinder engine up front. It’s a 2.0 liter 4-cylinder and it is turbocharged. It makes 228 horses. And with being nimbler, the handling feels fairly predictable. However, since it sits up higher, I don’t know how being overly aggressive with the Acadia in the twisties would turn out. I drove it around highway cloverleafs at the posted speeds. The automatic transmission is a geared unit. It has 9 speeds, which is a strange number. How about 6, 8, or 10 speeds, for those of us who like even numbers? The geared unit’s shifts are very smooth, with only 1 and 2 being felt and going by fluidly under normal throttle. The Acadia is attractive upon immediately getting into it. This becomes evident upon seeing a front cabin compartment that imparts spaciousness, given both the substantial and nicely crafted bucket seats and the breadth to accommodate quite a bit in the expanse of its dashboard. In that breadth is the main instrument pod that is clean and symmetrical, with a very logical arrangement of speedometer, tachometer, and fuel and temperature gauges. (This makes you ask yourself why other manufacturers can be so illogical with such a set up.) The same logic applies to the infotainment touch screen, engaged under the cowl of the dash, and also in how the center stack is vertically arranged. The switches are those used across the GM stable and are both easy to operate and clean looking. While automatic transmissions have recently used dials, shorter levers, and push buttons up to the right of the instrument cluster, this one places a pod toward the base of the center stack, yet above the phone cubby. It has a good “plug and play” look about it that hopefully translates into being just that if needing servicing. The console deck height is sensible. And they were able to maintain that sensible placement while still putting an additional storage slot underneath that deck, in part owing to placement of the transmission selector “pod” within the center stack. While it’s an exterior “control,” the Acadia follows the same formatting as other GM vehicles in that it has a capless fuel filler and a fuel door that doesn’t feature an interior remote release. Many cheaper imports and some of the domestics are keeping the remote door release. Several other functions such as auto stop-start, traction control, and emergency flashers are located on the console deck, both ahead of and behind the cup holders, rather than being placed here and there. The roominess extends to the rear parts of the cabin, and this Acadia included a third row seat. Clearly, those are never as roomy as the second row, in which the legroom is comfortable and in which the craftsmanship carries through from the front of the cabin. A slightly bigger SUV like this Acadia requires a thick enough frame at the corners of its cabin and, even though the pillars at the rear are somewhat hefty, visibility seems to have improved a little with subtle restyling and reshaping. It’s not the best, but one can work with it. Parking assists and other driving assists help navigate these situations. The Acadia is up to the task on most occasions … and without a doubt for everyday driving. This is when the powertrain is at its best – a muted hum from the engine and nice, clean upward shifts. It also merges onto highways well. I did not attempt a difficult pass with it. In pulling a little quickly away from a light, the engine hums more loudly but, mostly, the transmission shifts were more identifiable and the time in each successive gear felt very “short,” which feels very different for people having cut their teeth on 3 and 4 speed automatics and, in more recent years, 6 speed automatics. Again, qualities such as quiet and smooth are expected to go together but, they can also diverge. The Acadia feels quieter than it does smooth, although it is mostly smooth. Imperfections in the road and expressways with some washboard paving can send a jiggle or two into the cabin, but it’s not offensive. The Acadia’s size, and AWD in the unit rented, push it over 4,000 lbs. This doesn’t make for the best fuel mileage. It was acceptable, but, for its small displacement, not that commendable. I did not calculate fuel consumption (but was able to see the EPA ratings) and it seems like the last Impala fleet sedan with a brisker 300 hp N.A. 3.6 DOHC V6 got either the same or slightly better fuel mileage. Lastly, this vehicle doesn’t slot into parking spots and through narrow spaces requiring nary a thought while doing so. It requires more calculation than that on behalf of the driver because it’s a somewhat larger vehicle. I liked the feel of being at the helm of an Acadia. It didn’t have the isolation and slightly more refined feel of the 3.6 Chevrolet Traverse I drove, but it came close enough. For most U.S. and Canadian situations, other than a city where you’d hunt for on-street parking every night, the Acadia could be easy to live with and provide versatile motoring for many situations its owner might encounter. - - - - - PHOTOS FORTHCOMING