trinacriabob

That's effin' great. So when he does forget to bold a post will be indicative of senility setting in, right?

Damn right. It's excellent. I've looked at it carefully a few times. The detail is commendable and it really captures the attention.

I want to hear better stories than mine. New Year's Eve - worked the whole day while others split early. Went on a mission to clean up my whole place and put everything in order for the new year and got a damn good start - paperwork, backing up computer, etc. Went out and chatted with neighbors at around that time. New Year's Day - was an idiot... went to Tahoe. Thought I'd have the place to myself... 65,000 people had partied there the night before and were still hanging around. 20 minutes in line at Starbucks, etc. I got over the pass over there without chains. Started raining at about 5 pm and, at 6,000 to 7,000 feet, it was snowing but with negligible accumulation. I followed the swath other cars/trucks had made - fortunately, there wasn't chain control. I'll go up another weekend when it's quieter and there's no iffy weather in the forecast. New Year's day off (Jan 2) almost complete with my clean up mission. Let's hear it.

Wait...where'd you go?

And that's what I've been saying for months. A sportier tapered front fascia/grille, like the last gen Regal LS and GS (and NOT like the last Century for God's sake) ought to be modified a bit, updated and grafted onto the LaCrosse/Allure.

To Pantho: Yeah, I can tell from the spelling errors To Ocn: It can be bad but it doesn't have to be. Work on enjoying quiet time on your own ... it can be very relaxing ... I sometimes don't want to be around my friends for extended periods of time. Also, my parents used to say "Meglio solo che mal accompagnato" - translation "Better to be on your own than with company that is not appropriate for you" but, not knowing the specifics, I can't comment on your situation and this is probably what you don't want to hear. Happy New Year to both of you. WTF, I may go dunk myself in some hot springs.

I think that this competent car (easy to live with, day in and day out...as Bobo quoted) looks good from the side profile and sports a nice looking rear tail lamp / rear deck lid combination, whether straight on or from a quarter view. I think that the front is a MISS...just look at the Lucerne. LaCrosse's looks part Taurus and part Jag entry-level model. It needs to be something that can't be equated with something else. I gave it an "EH."

A lot of GM's products do seem to trail a little bit in following an example across either "pond." However, looking at Toyota, it too has some stalwarts in its line up that are successful and where changes occur slowly. They also make ground breaking moves. Nothing wrong with keeping some reliable products around and freshening them as long as this is accompanied by breakthroughs that garner some attention...and sales. (Just noticed you are in LA...didn't realize there was this much West Coast representation on the boards) Some good points, to be sure.

Thanks, and to all others with similar kind words. BTW, great shot of Philly (poor Ben is either hiding or I'm not looking hard enough).

Agreed - a couple of minor misses. Telescopic wheel should be standard. So should the heated washer fluid. They mention it in the commercials (which are very tasteful) and then you look at the sticker to see it costs $ 140 or so. Yes...Pwaulie...gotta keep that 3800 around for "blue hairs" like me....thanks for the thought. <_< Styling wise, this is a hit for Buick. I will have to say that it does look a little (a lot) VW Phaeton-like from the rear. Driving down the 101 one fine day, I caught up with this car I had never seen before, thinking it might have been a Lucerne...and it was a Phaeton. Sorry, no pix to post to make the point. But a car that ought to help further drop the average Buick buyers age.

Zoomtm. I'm going to come to Alabama to beat you up! :P Just kidding, buddy. Actually, in reading Cananopie's post above, he makes a lot of good points - about engines and their relation to price point, marketing niches, etc. Smart thinking!

That's gross. Not your plans...the movie.

Before I comment on the above, let's keep this on track and avoid the pot-shots. Yes, the above is true. I have a friend from college who has 2 small Japanese car daily drivers with over 200,000 miles on each ... and an old Porsche in the garage as a toy. Do I like the cars themselves? No. I remember one night last year when I was visiting him, he decided to drive from Whittier CA to Tijuana Mexico (Nick's favorite place - LOL). There is nothing quiet or comfortable about these cars, especially when they age. Now, doing the jaunt in an Olds or a Buick would have been different...and I could have gotten some snooze time at 3 am on the way back up. It's just that the 3800 provides the reliability TOGETHER with the packaging of a decent sized smooth riding GM vehicle some of us are accustomed to. Twenty years ago, the frame of reference would have been the Olds Rocket 350 V8. Part of my aversion to the HF engines is that I don't understand them. If I can't take a quick mental visual picture of what it is doing, then I lose interest. (It's harder to "picture" calculus than trigonometry, so I lost interest, to some extent). Another thing is that the numbers are not well established. We don't know how long a 3.6 VVT V6 typically lasts without a tear-down. We don't know the typical service life of the new 3900 V6. (BTW, I drove a 3900 in a rented Impala LS recently and it was gruff under throttle). If you get a company car or you trade in often, then this is less of an issue. I like to keep a car for as long as it runs well and looks good, so I look for a track record I can rely on. So, folks, do we like the LaCrosse or not?

Normal - 80 % Conservative - 15 % Aggressive - 5 % * * there has to be a lot of slack (wide open roads with nobody on them, etc.) for me to take this approach.

Nick's dancing milk carton was mentioned. But what about Silkey? I miss Silkey. Too bad he HAD TO GO.

Not a damn thing planned. Some of my co-workers will probably do something but that will invariably involve alcohol, so I will pass. After Thanksgiving week (including the 2 adjacent weekends) out of the country and Christmas in PDX/SEA, that suits me just fine.

There are. There are. ALL of the LaCrosses I could have picked at Alamo/National location in Portland over Christmas were CXSs (twin tailpipes) so I opted for a GP because I would not be buying the 3.6 VVT V6.

Sounds like a neat thing to do. I have never been fond of crowds, so I would skip it. For those of you who can handle crowds and noise, enjoy. I have been very ambivalent about going to NY since 9/11. An uncle on my Mom's side lives right over the GW Bridge in Northern NJ. (In fact, we lived in that same community for a year when I was young). Without fail when I would go visit him as an adult, I would always take my rental car out to the Promenade on Blvd East at night, right south of the GW Bridge, and watch the lights of the WTC twinkle. No more. I think that knowing I can't replicate that experience keeps me out of the NY area for the time being. By the way, it's TimeS Square. I don't know how it got its name, but there you have it.

See if you can pick up a good early Intrigue for a good price....with a 3800, though. The twin cam 3.5 was too new at that point. I, too, hate to see an Olds bite the dust. Good luck to you in taking the next step. I take it you will see some insurance proceeds.

It is past its prime. However, having just turned over 220,000 hassle free miles in my 3800 powered 92 Regal coupe, I like the thought of not having to deal with auto woes. As for the back seat issues, I can only think of 10 times or so that anyone ever sat in my back seat (no smart ass comments, gents). I'll get more adventurous with the purchase subsequent to the upcoming one.

I just had my first ortho consultation. I decided that, with the flex spending plan at work, I would pop for braces this year. My uppers are right on. My lowers are crowded. I got this consult because only some dentists can do the Invisalign. He said it would take 12 months + up to 2 or 3 more months. The cost is $ 5600 for conventional ones (which he recommends for me) and $ 6300 for the Invisalign which will take 18 months. YIKES. I definitely need the remaining 2 consults. Two girls who work in my office went to the same, but different, ortho for quite a bit less money. Any of you gotten braces PAST your teenage years? Costly? Was it painful? I'm going to go through with it. I am doing it mostly so I can floss and keep my teeth in good health in later years since both of my parents had problems in their later years with their teeth. It's just a matter of picking the right ortho at this point.

Z28 - you are CLAIRVOYANT (sp)!!! Good to be back. I missed the C&G gang.

Some interesting observations. My take on them: 1) Disagree - sometimes one does better in a more competitive setting. Being at a tougher school (or university) and around focused people brought out the best in me and my grades showed it 2) So true - in general, once a GPA acquires a "critical mass," it is hard to change it, to a great extent 3) Yes - my screwing around was different. I finished the sheepskins on time but used them to go do something different. I definitely made no use of my UW degree since I continued to work in the field I was in before that. 4) Right again - I was in the 3.3 to 3.4 range when I started college because I was clueless as to what I was doing there and what I would do with it. As soon as I got proactive and "took the bull by the horns," it seemed to get better. Good luck to all of you considering or starting out in college. One thing I cannot even comprehend is how screwing around and having fun can take the "front burner" over getting the job done. Like your time to goof off is SOOOH valuable. No excuse. You can't undo what you did in college (item 2 above). It is only 4 years. You can have lots of fun afterwards and have the money to do it (look at me, I still haven't grown up) and there are summers and the month between fall/spring semester to have even more fun . Cheers!

On an annualized level, how many units of LaX are they currently selling? I think that, to do what Century and Regal did together, they had best be looking at about 250,000 units. I like the LaCrosse well enough. I just was expecting more. The comment that it would be a very easy car to live with day in and day out / year after year is an accurate assessment.

Sci: I grew up 6 miles north of the airport. The reason why the air is clean is because the coastal basin does not have mountains/foothills that hem in the smog. That's why the real estate on the West Side is so pricey...clean air and no real need for A/C. It is "the valleys" (San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, etc) that harbor the smog and are about 10 to 15 degrees warmer. Crime rate depends on the neighborhood. It is the "bad neighborhoods" of LA that have the high crime rates. Most of the decent neighborhoods in LA are very liveable with crime rates that, I would guesstimate, are low. Most of Orange Country is very suburban, professional and Republican that you hardly need to worry about crime. How was Sydney Australia by the way? Been thinking about it and NZ in 2007.