trinacriabob

And, on another June day, it was the late, great Olds Aurora, which you still see around, but you see fewer and fewer of them. A car that probably benefitted from a sunroof. This one had the gold trim package and the then newer 3.5 OHC V6, per its badging.

On this June day, it was definitely a '90s Buick sort of afternoon - seen about 1 hour apart ... This was the smallest Buick offered in the early '90s ... it could be had as a coupe or a sedan. It was not at all cookie cutter in coupe form. I remember liking it, but maybe not in this color. It could be had with 4 cylinders and the 3300 V6, which would give someone the same reliability as the 3800. The dashboard was also unique. For a short while, I was looking to buy a used one in good condition. This Regal (Custom) sedan is in great condition for being about 25 years old. The lines weren't too bad, either. It had to have alloys. Skip the wheel covers and wire wheels. I guess it's weird to do this. I look around before I do this. This tells me it's either a '95 or '96. This set up is still cool, especially with a console. However, the Regal really nailed it and a lot of owners really liked the ravine dash that went up to '94. There was a lot going on stylistically in the earliest W-bodies. That's not an opinion as to whether it was good or bad.

Photo gallery - - - - - Here is a side view of the Skoda wagon in the Sicilian countryside This is the angled 3/4 view of the car and you can see the rear light treatment They layout and many things (IP, dash trim, shifter, and console) point to its belonging to the Volkswagen family of companies If I recall, this IP cluster looks a lot like that of the Jetta sold here. This simple cluster is a lot better than other more complicated ones The infotainment center pod is not a turn off like it is in some cars and it was fairly easy to use. I'm hoping to get under someone's skin with my choice of music, which was sort of deliberate for this photo! I couldn't use these USB ports, or didn't have the right attachments for them, so I used a charger with two USB ports that went into the lighter The box between the tach and speedometer will tell you which gear you are in. I counted 7. The build quality, as you can see, is good. (That's some beach sand and not dust.) Note the button where you can turn off the auto-start. You would expect the engine bay of a product under the VW umbrella to be neatly organized. I should mention that, to power up this engine, a turbocharger is involved. You can see that the engine block length is a little shy of that of a 4 cylinder. And you can see three chambers coming down into a manifold, so it's 3 cylinders at work. And this unit propels this vehicle well. This is the trunk of the wagon. The rear seat folds into the cabin in 60-40 mode, so you can enlarge your cargo space as needed The rear visibility was excellent. It inspired confidence. There's that final "opera window" in the back! Rear seat legroom is acceptable and you can see big climate control vents at the back of the console aimed at the rear of the cabin - - - - - End of photos

I seem to score better cars when renting overseas. I tend to reserve the smallest car they have with an automatic transmission. If I was in a rural area with just towns instead of cities, I could probably be satisfied with a manual transmission ... and save some money. So, once again, I rented a small car with an automatic. Once I got up to the counter, I asked what I'd be assigned. I was told that it would be a Skoda. I had heard of the brand but didn't know what its products looked like. It sounded Slavic. The car was in the lot and it seems the Italians have a host of other small(er) rental agencies in addition to the names we know in the U.S. and Canada. As I approached this Skoda Scala, it was apparent that the upgrade was substantial. It was a small station wagon and it was pleasing enough to look at ... and far from an econobox. The first thing you want to do in Europe is document and photograph anything that's askew with a rental car. I did that and then got inside. This car was nicely finished and, based on some features and finishes in the dash, it reminded me of some Volkswagen products. I eventually looked up Skoda and saw that it was part of the Volkswagen family, as is SEAT of Spain, but based in either the Czech Republic or Slovakia. The most telltale clue of a VW bloodline was the layout of the dash, including the metallic trim. The other major clue was a 7 speed DSG, a typical automatic transmission set-up seen in European cars with automatics, and VW products have ones with 7 gears. As I got into this Skoda and drove off, I could tell I was going to like it. You can tell right away when a car feels nicely weighted yet filters out road imperfections and noise. This one did that well and communicated it through the steering. I drove away from the airport and onto the autostrada, seeing that it accelerated well enough, that the engine has an acceptable sound and exhaust note, and that the automatic gearbox shifted peacefully. As for the engine, I eventually looked and saw that it was powered by a 3 cylinder engine. This is becoming more common over there, and it's not just for cracker box type cars. I once had a Citroen C3 CUV (or similar) with a 3 cylinder engine that was really up to the task. With 3 cylinders under one bank, it's easier the divide the 360 degrees equally and balance the firing to cancel out NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness). This was an issue with older V6s, which had these sorts of issues, but have been remedied a long time ago by offsetting journals and such in the crankshaft. As such, this 3 cylinder was a smooth engine. Automatic transmissions have also come a long way in European cars. The lag or pause in between gears in older Smart cars and Opel Corsas was maddening and took away from the driving experience. Now, automatic shifts are very smooth from 1-2 and 2-3 and then almost imperceptible past that, unless one is getting into the throttle. Everything inside that car is nicely put together. The dashboard is sensible and more appealing than in an econobox. It would comparable to that of a midsize or full size American car. The seats were comfortable, and leg room was sufficient in both the front and the back. The controls were mostly intuitive. The trunk space in the back was enough and it had a retractable cover to hide things from view. The rear seat could also be pushed forward to increase carrying capacity, which is the norm for today's wagons. The Skoda was nimble enough to go through narrow country roads and small towns with the driver always knowing what it was doing, while keeping its smooth ride. But the car really shone on the highway - the autostrada - when I realized I was going 115 km (70 mph), which was about the legal limit, and feeling the supple and controlled ride, the on center steering feel, and negligible wind noise. I remember thinking that this is how a larger car rides. The fuel economy in mixed driving was in the mid 30 mpg range, when converted. It used the lowest grade of what they call "verde" (green) unleaded. The best things about this car were its controlled ride and communicative steering without putting through road imperfections, a comfortable cabin, and the sense that the build quality was good. Finally, when many cars have reduced visibility toward the rear, it's alive and well in this car, thanks to pillar designs that make sense. The visibility is among the best of newer cars I've been in overseas. The styling has some of the boxier and wedge shaped lines seen in VW products here at a time when some European cars are getting a little larger and more rounded, like the Citroen C3. This gives the Skoda Scala a more austere look, but VW seems to think that "less is more," whereas Citroen, Renault, and some other makers are injecting more curves and gimmicks into their cars, giving them quite a bit more personality than they have had in the past. It's hard to fault the Skoda Scala. There are now more vehicles in the same niche in Europe and other foreign countries. You might have to comparison shop it against a few other similar vehicles to decide which one you like and suits you, your needs, and even your personality. - - - - - Photos forthcoming

My REAL random thought for this beautiful summer day: Why is it that so many receptionists and medical assistants at general practitioner type (internal and family medicine) medical offices are b!+chy? WTF is that all about? They fling open the glass sliding window ... if there is one. They're rude if you just want to check in and sit down for a routine visit. I know that many of the patients might be sick, achy, and a little crotchety. They've relayed lab orders and scrips incorrectly, and you have to call them back to have something changed or added, to which they seem really disgruntled. And, if you rarely go in and want a certain bloodwork lab test included, you might get, "Is it time for that one?!?!?" (It is, or I wouldn't be asking for it.) They're even rude at medical practices in nice neighborhoods. And some of the medical assistants could qualify to be on Jerry Springer and look like the type who would be huddled outside the front of some office building with kindred souls on break, with all of them looking world weary, smoking their cigarettes. WTF, right?

Today is the summer equinox. I hope everyone can take advantage of the longest day of the year! And, of course, that the weather is good wherever you may be.

Happy Father's Day on its eve to our members who are fathers. Happy Sunday and enjoy your day.

I saw an Imperial sedan in excellent condition (probably a hobby car driven during the summer) tonight. I couldn't photograph it since it was going the other way. What a sight and blast from the past!

"Photo collection" Everybody likes recent Toyota front grilles (not!), but kudos for an identifiable front bumper "strip" lurking behind it The styling is generic and jellybean like, but safe, with this base model having wheel covers This car has had better rear taillamp treatments in the past than the current model; I don't know why so many rental cars have FL plates, wherever you may be! The main instrument pod is intuitive and user friendly I like the speedometer AND digital MPH display, as well as the always on "distance to empty" readout; the 93 degrees F was without the "real feel," which pushed it up over 100 degrees F! I don't like this big infotainment screen jutting upward, except for the bar graph with the mpg Kudos for excellent trunk space for this size of car This is the front of the cabin viewed from the driver's door; the seats were fairly comfortable and the two-tone gray interior was more interesting than a standard black one; the more "modern" parking brake feature is in the console, but the storage box itself is a little narrow This is the front of the cabin viewed from the passenger's door; the fit and finish for the the seating, the console, the dashboard, and the switches was about average for this type of car The rear of the cabin is decently sized for this type of car, but taller passengers may find it confining - - - - - End of photos

Lately, I've been getting the category of car that I selected during the on-line rental process. That means I haven't been upgraded in a while. For a rental while away in May, and for a very good price in these crazy times, I was given a new Toyota Corolla base model. Pros: - the legendary reliability - the engine was a 2.0 L 4 cylinder, but there is a base 1.8 L 4 cylinder; also, Toyota has really cleaned up its engine bays and everything is easy to identify and reach - the fuel economy, with the CVT (also in cons) delivering better fuel mileage, per the EPA ratings, than the 6 speed manual option - it's a car that a driver becomes familiar with very quickly, for the most part - the instrument cluster is very logically laid out; you get to keep your speedometer and set the square display at the right of it to display the speed digitally, which I prefer and use - the climate control is simple to use and the infotainment center (also in cons) has some interesting features, such a graph of how it is faring in fuel usage - some stretches of highway when easing up on the pedal might go to 60 mpg, or higher, while in-town stop and go might not even get to 20 mpg. Overall, I was getting about 35 mpg in mixed driving - the car is very nimble - decent legroom up front for adults - a good sized trunk - ergonomically comfortable seats, with the rental car having interesting two-tone gray cloth seating - a grouped interior pull tab trunk AND fuel door release cluster, and easily reached by the driver, which is a big plus, with some cars costing over $35,000 not having one or having deleted that feature Cons: - it's not the quietest car and tire drone intrudes into the cabin - the CVT feels like what driving a golf cart might be like, even though I don't golf; and there is supposed to be a "launch gear"* (the sensation of a 1 : 2 automatic shift), but I didn't feel it and I was looking for it! - the "laptop left open" look of the infotainment center is not appealing and it also looks oversized for the size and type of car - some of the settings via the stalks or steering wheel controls take a little bit of time to set up, even though the basic dashboard is very user friendly once on the road - rear set legroom is better suited to children and smaller adults; for more rear legroom, one would probably have to opt for the Camry - the front grille is unbecoming and the wimpy sideways teardrop rear taillamps don't look as good as some rear light assemblies from recent past models - the silhouette is more jellybean like than angular, but that's a matter of personal taste * term used by a Toyota salesperson at a major dealership I went to and at which there was a paltry new car inventory - - - - - Overall, I'd give this current Toyota base model a solid "B," even though it would fetch an "A-" for reliability and economy. - - - - - Photos forthcoming

Their not tapping into the reserves that are available - to a reasonable degree - is part of the complex web to explain the gouging.

Happy Friday, folks. This is how our family moved back to the U.S. the last time we did so. My parents were holding my hand and keeping a close eye on me. My parents said that the food was very good, but that, on the smaller ships (with one funnel) in the fleet, it was outstanding. I would have liked to have explored it. I would have probably gotten lost. I remember that the cinema had a balcony!

It was obvious that the Dow was coming down from being at around 36,000. It might have gotten up there too fast. I thought that it might head down toward and stay at about 33,000 to 33,500 for a while. Well, I was wrong. Given that they put a man on the moon over 50 years ago, anything is possible.

A non sequitur random thought in my world ... I tend to get a lot of stories and videos about bears, mountain lions, sharks, and alligators on my homepage. I guess the cookies tell them to send those my way. This one is mind blowing. They confirmed the existence of a rumored alligator in Lake Conway, Arkansas. So I looked at the map. It is NORTH of Little Rock. One draws some latitude lines in their mind above which the conditions should not be good for alligators and this is fairly far north, so I learned you can't count on these "lines in the sand." Incidentally, many parts of Arkansas are surprisingly scenic. I learned that last fall. There was also one spotted last week on the waterside trails of an apartment complex outside Huntsville, Alabama. And it made the local news. Not Mobile, AL, down on the Gulf, but more northerly Huntsville, near the Tennessee border.

I looked up Wiki and saw more 6 speeds, even though they weren't listed as paired to engines. That 2.4 EcoTec with a 6 speed automatic, by today's standards, is a keeper. I have been seeing more mid-engine Corvettes lately. I'm starting to like them more and more, but it's not anything I would ever own! The last one I saw was an interesting orange color. They look good from all angles and, from the side, it's a nicely proportioned sports car. Also, that intake scoop behind the front door looks "daring," in a way ... and accomplishes brining in the air from outside.

Accurately and economically stated! (I need to work on being less verbose.)

As for the last part, it had to have been about economies of scale, so they had to stay in FoMoCo. These 2 vehicles shared so many components, notably their powertrains. As for the cars themselves, there is no doubt that if I was looking at these 2 vehicles, I would have opted for the Milan. The difference of ~$500 to $1,000 (at the time they were on the market) probably wouldn't matter to people who keep their cars for a long time. That's also a cheap price tag to avoid an ongoing cognitive dissonance problem! Hearing what Elon Musk thinks of everything is annoying and it was the same way when Bill Gates was the VIP in the spotlight. (On the other hand, Warren Buffett seems to make insightful and reasonable observations, for the most part.) I tuned out to Elon and to Tesla a long time ago. I don't even bother to study or analyze Tesla cars all that much since they're more ugly than not.

The random things that went through my head in the last few days: Pushing the cart down the aisles at the supermarket tells me that, from last year, it looks like the price of grocery items has gone up 20% to 25%. The current gas prices are really, really bad for the discretionary travel industry and have caused me to cancel plans. I am disgusted to read or listen to the news to learn that a certain type of criminal event seems to occur just about daily now and the "innocence lost" factor is becoming a much bigger problem in this country. It's amazing to see that, in looking at the Ford stable, there are so many Fusions and Milans (4s and 6s) on the road, in excellent physical and mechanical condition, and their owners do not want to part with them. There was a Milan in my rear view mirror tonight and it remains a handsome and timeless vehicle. This is a 2010.

@surreal1272 The actual rainfall in Seattle (and Portland) on an annualized basis is less than that of most cities in the East, including Atlanta, for example. I've lived in both and, in Seattle, it's an ongoing thing, but it rarely comes pouring down. Eastern cities are more apt to get thunderstorms where it comes down in buckets, so that probably explains why they get more when annualized. I would sometimes watch heavy rain in Atlanta send so much damn red clay down the sides of residential streets. I did okay with the rain. It gave me an excuse to get coffee and/or read. It didn't put me in a bad mood. I will say that that corner of the country is reputed to have some very uptight people and I would concur with that. Many California and East Coast transplants commiserated about this ... and befriended each other. The Univ. of Wash. psych. and soc. departments have faculty and researchers who study these social phenomena and write about them. @Robert Hall Good call on your "what if" scenario, except that it is so expensive in the PacNW right now. It's interesting how, when Boeing was not doing well in the late '60s and early '70s, some people funded a billboard on I-5 southbound saying 'Will the last person leaving Seattle turn off the lights?' or something like that. People would also call the Univ. of Wash. "the U," which was sort of small townish. Nobody has called it that for at least 2 decades! I will say that any place where the predominant tree cover is evergreen makes for a more pleasant environment than one that is deciduous. That's why, to me, at least, Maine looks nicer than Southern New England and Duluth and the UP of MI look nicer than the Twin Cities, so it makes for a nicer place to be day in and day out. The Atlanta area also looked nice because of the ubiquitous stands of Southern pine. My parents came to visit me there once and took the Delta "red eye" from SoCal, never having been in that corner of the U.S., and were mostly impressed.

There are a lot of "messed up" people because they like both New York and California and, because they get into these moods, they tend to move back and forth. This would be people who have that sort of money. And some of these people have residences in both places. Say it all with a New York accent: When in New York: "the weather is awful" When in California: "there is no culture here," "you can't get good food at 1 a.m." They love to whine. - - - - - The second photo looks more like La Jolla (San Diego) even though I was thinking it could be near Palos Verdes or Laguna Beach, but I'm not sure.

Live (as opposed to recorded studio) performers and performances deserve a lot of credit. They have to get it right. I've been to Syracuse twice, I believe. It's right on the New York Throughway. I couldn't believe how hilly parts of it are, including most of the Syracuse Univ. campus itself. Interesting observations about the Equinox. It is now powered by a 1.5 T 4 cyl. However, it keeps a 6 speed automatic. That's good fuel usage. The dash is pretty much the same dash as that of the Malibu. I was talking to a neighbor I don't know that well. He has a '17 Equinox. He said his has a 2.4 L 4 cyl. and a 4 speed automatic transmission. I told him he's lucky to have such a combination that should be very dependable. I didn't know 2.4s were used by Chevy. That's what is in the Verano.

Another one of those songs that you remember exactly where you were when you heard it from the car's cassette player. Not really a fan of Kenny Loggins, but this songs broods more than his more poppy stuff. Some friends and I were coming back from a ski trip to the Lake Tahoe area, had descended from the Sierra Nevada, and were driving down I-5 back to SoCal through a Central Valley covered in clouds and this "darker" song fit the situation. Who'd have thought that, per Wikipedia, Kenny Loggins was native to Everett, WA?

This one, your first one shown, is probably the best one. That character line across the lower part of the doors makes a strong statement and helps break up the relative length of the Regal.

I did the donut thing TWICE on Friday. Just to be a goofball. I figured something like this national day calendar existed. I will have to download it and circle the events that interest me. I look at this in a different way. It's all about whether you "like" your salesperson or not. If you don't "like" them - and you usually know that fairly quickly - then it's hard for them to sell you anything you don't want, including some car you were investigating in a noncommittal, information gathering sort of way. It's easy to say NO. The few times I've bought - new (and keep them for a long time), they gave me a real good price right away, or I got a good price along with some rebate or card earnings applied, and I signed on the dotted line. I've got some great NO stories and, of course, most of them would have an adversarial quality. But I've got a NO story that stands out to me as funny. When I was looking at LaCrosse-Grand Prix-Monte Carlo, I went into a Pontiac dealership and was looking at some Grand Prixs. The salesman was really laid back and friendly. It turned out he was related to this family business and wasn't that motivated. He said something like along these lines, 'Open it up, check it out, I'll get the keys, and we'll take her for a spin. Just for the heck of it.' He was going, 'Yeah, drive on this freeway, step on the gas, check out this long ramp, drive down this road next to the river, blah, blah.' It's like he wanted to joyride and talk. I told him I had been in South Florida a month or so before, to which he responded, "Yeah, I was down in Lauderdale once ... had a great time chasing skirt." We drove back to the dealership, I thanked him, got his card, and drove off in my car laughing. In this case, I didn't want to give him the business because he was such a flake, in addition to deciding that I would not be buying that car of the three I was considering.

This sled (^) looks sort of Communist! As done this one, near the big Orthodox cathedral in the center of Sofia, Bulgaria.