regfootball

oh, you know my plans in that regard

still driving it for now. word is from a relative who owns a tranny shop a few hours away, that is shouldn't go fast and its fairly typical for GM / my car with that tranny. he also said maybe try lubegard or something and see if it frees up anything inside it. so i am holding off fixing it for a bit.

one of the large MPLS auction places is like 2 miles from my house. I should see if they open to the public. If not, maybe i can get a job there...LOL

i'm convinced that employment for the masses is just a plot for parking ramp owners to make money.......

a buddy borrowed me his P90x dvd's. they have been sitting on my shelf for a couple months. i've been wondering if i should try it out. i wouldn't mind getting ripped. its just so much work......

people don't get it. the srx WAS a great vehicle dynamically. however, women didn't like it (men didn't either) and it got its ass handed to it on the sales charts. this vehicle was not intended to be the SRX when it started but then Caddy pulled the plug on the wagon SRX and kept the moniker on this. the vehicle now has a feature set that will allow it more sales volume and be able to take sales away from competition. Prev SRX could do neither. Most SRX you see previously of recent vintage is low mile one year olds for cut prices which implies to me that they couldnt move them on the sales floor and they prob became rentals or corporate vehicles. Caddy could fix the issue with this thing with a SS type suspension job and a twin turbo 3.6. My vote would have been to develop a rakish new look like this new one, on sigma, and keep the third row, but oh well. caddy needs to sell to to women and this is the cadillac for women. no one was buying the old SRX.

who knows. 09 mini cooper s 11 grand. porsche cayman 17 grand. some ridiculous pricing if its legit.

http://stars-automart.com repos you can buy

fine by me

would an AWD patriot have any power? you looking for a loaded one? i.e. leather etc? you mentioned kayak. the 010 outback brochure i was looking at i think they have subie accessory racka esp for kayaks. the outback now gets a 22/29 mpg rating and starts in the low 20's. although that is prob several grand over a CFC heavily incentivized Patriot so i see why you might find the Patriot appealing with that kind of money on the table.

time for updates? tier 1A Legacy (assuming it drives ok) value for the money, wide variety of configurations, could end up being the best of the Japanese brand midsizers, mpg w/ awd, nice interior Milan / Fusion - hybrid plus the rest of a complete and capable lineup with new exterior and great value Mazda6 - less tacky than the accord and camry tier 1B Accord - fails based on ugliness, cheap interior, and not as much refinement Altima - cheesy interior and tired aesthetic Passat 2.0 - expensive, smaller, and often in the shop. interior is not the best in some configs. Malibu - needs a better interior, better model packaging, and more configurations, i.e. manual trans and a sport model Aura - left for dead Sonata - good value and warranty, improved interior, making progress tier 2 Galant / Ralliart - a good capable car needing styling and interior updates optima - better value than camry for an equally dull car. Camry - too much competition exposes the ordinary nature of this car tier 3 Impala - better than a camry for some folks. G6 - neglected. Avenger - no words to say Sebring - even the avenger thinks the sebring is ugly *LaCrosse excluded *Kazashi not here yet there are so many strong cars here i just don't think you can rank them.

those are indeed some excellent photos.

couldn't FLO help you with your issues?

but they do have ugly 3 ton x6's, posuer x1 and x3's.....a 7 series that does not sell well, and soon to be remaking their ugly line of sedans into hatchbacks, to go with their 40k+ subcompact 1 series, and 3 cylinder cars on the horizon. of there is any manufacturer that has alarm bells ringing about needing to focus on a core lineup, its BMW. A MINI SUV, is there any more loss of focus?

SX4 is a cool car. the rest of the lineup could go away. neighbor has an SX4 and loves it. Suzuki should really just set up dealships in strip malls.

the whole point is gm would rather sell more 4 cyl malibu ltz's to the public. the 4 cyl is the base lacrosse and mali engine. they want to condition us to max our car payments on that. easier and cheaper to build yet still tap our checkbooks. then CAFE is happy and gm didnt have to make a lot of expensive zetas. the epsilon base is 4 cyl so that it what you have to compare to the base engine in the zeta. not the uplevel malibu 6 to the base zeta 6. a base altima / fusion / camry / LEGACY is like 600 pounds lighter than a Zeta. zeta is a larger car but the govt wants us in the smaller ones now

http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2009/02/car-...a-economic.html

a true 3 series size car would help a lot.

but the zeta is near 50/50 weight balance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! edit OMG it looks HOT IN WHITE! problem, i sat in an 010 mustang this weekend. sure it was a shelby, but it is true, the mustang interior is LEAPS and BOUNDS better......dare i say ASPIRATIONAL? the camaro has the exterior. the mustang dazzles with the lower weight and interior. why can't i have one of each?

come on, where is the borger discount....... i might be the only person in america left who wants to buy an astra......

i'd like to get one new if posible to use my GM card and get the sales tax exemption, but saturns business model really sucked ass for the car that had import / exchange problems. i put about 25 miles on that XR 5 door yesterday. it just feels right. the seat fits perfect. the steering wheel falls to hand beautifully. the shifter is a nice thick arm to grab onto. the steering is perfect and the ride and body control is too. i whizzed up cloverleafs in the perfect third gear and you'd swear it doesn't matter that the engine is only 130 some odd hp. its so much more of a solid and mature and composed and rewarding car than the FIT. The engine fits right in the torque band at whatever speed / gear you are in for what you need to do and the road feel is super and the clutch is butter. then i just cruised at about 65 and listened to the hum on the motor. not intrusize at cruising speed. the instant mpg readouts were amazing, the thing sips fuel. I love the dash and door panels. You would not guess there is much difference between it and the cobalt SS at normal driving speeds other than less acceleration. the astra is so much nicer all around, even if the SS is more roadworthy. the astra is light and frisky where the jetta for example feels heavy and lard on the front end and the jettas suspension is a bit hoppy too. by now there are likely no completely loaded astra XR's left and if there is the dealer is still trying for an insane price. VW dealer was advertising 0/66 on the GTI's. think anyone will bite on that? The 5 door astra XR is about right in terms of sporty for me. The 3 door with the 18 inch rims and summer tires rides a bit harder and the steering has a little more road impact coming through as well and i even think the 3 door must have a quicker rack too. Is that the case? The 5 door with 17's and good all seasons is fine for me. The cobalt SS in contrast, you do not quite get the steering feel at lower speeds, but then when you do amp it up a bit you get how the steering is sport tuned and it obviously is bred for higher speeds and such. I kind of did not like the Cobalt SS clutch, a bit stiff and kind of late and grabby for what i would use as a daily driver. but that is being nit picky though. i don't know if i should ever autocross. i think i would break the car. LOL.

which is why now i would consider one. prior to now, it was of no use to me as it was too small. they put the frames back on the windows, and gave the car enough room for family duty. curb weight is still in check though. the outback with all wheel drive weighs less than an epsilon 2 malibu. the legacy or outback comes with a 6 speed manual option now. if you opt for an automatic, the CVT gets some pretty incrdible mileage too. based upon the weight and EPA ratings i would expect to get close to 30 highway with one. my taurux x does pretty well for its weight at 20, but i would like a vehicle to touch 30 i could use for trips too. of course i gotta test drive it. the forester was a sucks ass vehicle to drive. can't recall any worse test drive i had (oh yeah, suzuki XL7)........so i hope the legacy / outback is the real goods. to be honest i think the size increase will alienate some of their traditonal buyer base, but it will be more than offset by mainstream consumers and toyota defectors.

so lots of new rides. where is this segment at? that new legacy looks damned impressive to me. and the fusion is better than the accord now.

one plu vs VW is that buicks are not in the shop all the time......

the subie dealer and vw dealer i was at yesterday had major traffic. of course, i test drove the used astra at the vw dealer. man i want one. anyways, GM dealers still do not seem to be getting love, nor chrysler dealers. i think hyundai is stealing the toyota lemmings / cr faithful right now. kia is doing well also. i think mazda is doing alright. hard to know if nissan is suffering. the industry is picking up. those like me whose life has been put on hold due to the economy cant really partake in the great deals right now, but the new model year, cash for clunkers, bankruptcy in the rear view, and stabilization of the dow i think have made it obvious to some folks that they cannot drive the rigs they have forever.......