balthazar

Has there been an in-depth road test review of the karma yet?

I really hate it when brands feel it's 'necessary' to go with the 'same first letter' thing.

This car does not compete with those listed above- those aren't hybrid models. And claiming 50 miles on electric when the car actually gets 32 is, yes; a fail.

^ Interesting, and to each his own, of course. IMO, Pontiacs 'are' stacked headlights- that's when they cemented their legacy.

Understandable; as Olds had the most awkward styling in this mini-era. After the clean '50s (thru '57), Olds didn't get stylistically hip again until '62. But all the '61-63 GMs had a degree of awkwardness about them; that, or mild blandness. Except Pontiac.

audi are also pretty bad in this regard- the grille just became a huge frame for the plate, highlighting it. Friend of mine drove a vintage car with one plate for years & years (in a 2-plate state). Said he never got busted for it.

Sure; that's why redesigning the Aveo into the Sonic was so unnecessary. Shoulda saved the money and str-e-e-e-tched it out ala the Impala.

I'D drive the up! (dumb name aside) way before I'd drive a Spark. Of course, that's a concept that would be watered down/ VW-ized for a production model. Yes, the other 2 are stylistic turds. fiat 500 competes here size-wise, no? It's OK, nothing great but a number of steps above the Spark. Spark is hideous...

The 19-yr old Whirlpool fridge is on the outs. Average lifespan for a fridge these days is 12-14 yrs., guess I shouldn't complain. Luckily, I have a 53-yr old backup GE fridge in the basement that still kicks ass. Hasn't run in 11 years, but it was deathly cold inside of 30 mins.

How does that weigh 6000 lbs?? Yea.... Excruciatingly unfortunate that the lettering isn't decals (it's paint, under the clearcoat), because the whole car will have to be taken back down to bare metal to remove that rampant foolishness...

This is still (conceptually) viable IMO:

Saw a gorgeous '69 Plymouth Sport Fury 2-dr hardtop, copper with creme vinyl top, duals, motoring along.

I thought we long ago established that 'it doesn't cost any more to design a good looking car'? I'm not calling the Fiesta 'art', but it's certainly cohesive and inoffensive. The other one is not attractive on so many levels.

I like my odds for finding work in this line this side of the Delaware...

2 sites said these are die cast, which means pot- or white metal. In the possibility there is half-decent chrome under the paint, and in that this isn't a 100-point resto piece, you can get excellent results using 000 steel wool on chromed pot metal. If the paint strongly resists removal this way, I would try a weaker chemical stripper. Blasting (sand or soda) very well may break loose the plating and make the smooth surfaces noticeably textured. This all said, I have a sand blaster with very fine sand in it; I would be willing to blast it (gently) if you decide you want to go that way. A few times you've been up my way, if you're coming up again (New Brunswick area), let me know.

Well, that's what BMW wants you to believe, anyway. Another rehash of the same ol'-same ol'; good old boring, stoic, anachronistic BMW (with a side of over-wraught). One day they might consider finally dropping the tired, beat-to-death nostrils.... but no. Interior already needs major refinement.

Part of me wonders if some here accept anything and everything pushed into market that cries out 'NEW!!' with Pavlovian delight, in lieu of a formulation of personal aesthetics.

* hap'n

I have a 6-volt coil (Ford flathead) but it's not going to work on your Dodge.

prius came out 13 years ago, a bunch have joined the fray, and we're still only at 3%. IMO, projecting a tripling or quintupling of that market share in 10 years is very unrealistic. I'm with SAmadei- we might see a doubling in 10 years at best...

I see what you did there; slickly-worded. Pop culture (even auto-related) trivia is a distant second to straight-up automotive trivia for me... but I'll guess James Garner: Grand Prix, Rockford Files, Murphy's Romance.

For transport, I'd drive anything, but nothing conspicuous. B-59 doesn't drive. So many drivers pull stupid moves on the road/ get careless and get nabbed.

C'mon ocn- the electric/hybrid market is projected to go from 3% to 4% sometime in our lifetimes; stop downplaying the tidal shift.

I can't look at it.