balthazar

>>"orange peel can easily be buffed out"<< Who wants to have their $70K vehicle's (LX470) entire factory paint job buffed out??? >>"doesn't explain why a blue-collar Silverado owner pulled over to look at them, Must have heard the Tundra is built here in Texas."<< Aren't you making a huge assumption his inspection was a favorable one? Ohhhh, that's right: it's japanese-- everyone knows it's automatically superior and madly aspirational. No doubt someone saw me looking over a co-worker's titan last year, doesn't mean I was looking to trade my 12-yr old F-150 for one for even a split second, OR that I was impressed with what I observed.

Disappointing: no details on the incentive package offered to toyota....

>>"...superb paint job..."<< toyota must've really upped the QC on their paint department, because 50% of the lexus trucks I've looked at up close had terrible factory orange peel. But with toyota's recent record on quality, somehow I doubt that.

I had relatively minor surgery in the summer of '05- I was out 6 weeks and got paid nothing because I am self-employeed. Procedure cost about $15K; insurance paid all but about $1K, IIRC. The billing part went fine. Post-surgery was not fun, recovery in bed for a week was not fun- tho I caught up on sleep for the first time that I can remember. At this point it's done & over with (it was a 'repair' job, not a health issue), but it doesn't compare to life-long issues at all. Take it easy you guys.

Mothballs, cedar, onions & sawdust remind me of my grandparent's house. Rust, oil, hot steel and the summer-baked interiors of junkyard refugees remind me of countless trips to the boneyard. Fresh-split oak & apple and dried leaves remind me of woodstove fires in winter, and the gathering of fuel for it. JB Blaster, gear oil & rotten vinyl upholstery remind me of my '40 Ford. Dry mold, dust, powdery bone and old terror remind me of the houses of my nightmares.

Sounds like an interesting survey; anyone have a link to this piece of research?

In reference to the past thread where testimonials of modern TVs lasting much longer than older sets; my '04 RCA 36" CRT is now picture-dead - I've had to put my '92 Zenith 27" CRT back in service; tho the bright colors still bleed to one side at times- at least the picture isn't vertically compressed to half-screen and the image heavily distorted right thru the middle. ANyone who wants the 36" to fiddle with: come and get it. Going to pick up a free 36" Sony Trinitron CRT this week from a friend who upgraded to a 60" Sony. The longer I can put off paying $1800 for an idiot box, the better.

I largely agree with reg: the above rear shot shows the details well: audi used to mean slippery rounded shapes- their rounded off deck, compact corner lights were unique. Other aspects were also signature: slab sides and straighter lines. Now they have the same treatments everyone else does: sublte ducktail spoiler, oversized horizontal lights, side 'sculpting', the same lower bumper 'wrap-over' that's on everything from a hyundai to a bentley. It's not ugly, but it's in no way unique anymore. The a6 from a few years back has future potential as a minor '90s classic- this one; no. When you have a signature look and you abandon it for a homogenization of your competitors treatments, that's not a move forward. Bottom line: 'Nice, what is it?'.

sciguy_0504 :>>"The article points out GM and Ford correctly determined the buying public wanted large trucks and SUVs but fails to discuss how large of a blunder that was. Detroit threw all of its eggs in one basket and has paid for it. It was a bad business decision on many levels."<< Uhh, GM and Ford saw the potential for trucks to reach 54% of the new vehicle market, and now they own 90% of that market- the highest profit margin segment going. Sure was a bad decision to sell a million of just pickups per year. >>"The same could be said about the Prius. Toyota correctly timed the market and gave the public what it wanted."<< The public wanted free money- and the tax incentive has been reported to have been a major factor in the 'success' of the prius. Combine the fickle nature of fads in this country and the impending elimination of federal incentives, and the prius sales chart will be very interesting indeed. >>" Unfortunately, Toyota does not feel the need to invest precious capital into one vehicle market and ignore the others, designing a singular vehicle as distinct from the workaday sedans it churns out just to break even on its nonexistant labor contracts."<< toyota chose to ignore the lucrative truck market for 15 years to focus on a shrinking sedan market. Now they play catch up in product, image and sales.... just as the truck market begins to contract. Well done.

Which is why interior volume is an utterly useless method to catagorize cars.... unless you deliver inflated party balloons for a job, of course.

I have not read a claim here from anyone stating they think the declining domestic marketshare is 'all due to the media' (not even from FOG), tho I have read more than one claim that 'there is no media bias'. Article makes a lot of good points that are undoubtedly hard to swallow for those who subscribe to popular opinion over fact.

Looked at a Vue today- nice lil SUV: I'm not nuts on the front fascia, but the interior was very nice. I intend to return and take one out this weekend. Dealer confirmed red tag ends the 28th... not sure I can turn a deal that quickly. Any ideas what 'March Madness' will entail? Is it confirmed : all '07 Vue V-6s are still honda units? Even the dealer mentioned early "bugs" in the first year of the honda motor, but "they should be all worked out by now". Peachy.

Not dissin' yer steed, ocn, but 5.3L is not pushing that much air N/A. It's good, it's very good; but it doesn't need 3". I am still curious: you have a single pipe from the Y-pipe to a single cat, right- what is it: 2.5" there? That's the 'bulkhead' in the flow- jumping to 3" after the cat doesn't address that. Will you please indulge & describe the factory system.

Doesn't look Frankenstienish- nicely integrated. Wonder why they mated a '57 front end to a '59 rear end....

I for one have no argument over who won first. :wink:

Man emerges from Porta-John, majorly confused and slightly annoyed there was no toilet paper and he had to use his hands, the smudges from which made up most of his next written submission to his editor.

>>"GM has the highest market share, increasing over 2 percentage points from a year ago, so it apparently can't be accused of not making cars people want to buy either."<< Sure it can; just compare 2006's marketshare to the totally relevent year of 1962 and it all makes perfect sense. >>"Perhaps someday the American media will give GM and Ford the credit they deserve."<< {not... holding... breath....} Oh no! There's no media bias or agenda; many members here have proven that handily. And even if there IS, it's all in the name of "entertainment". Sometimes I wish I was an immigrant so I could go back home and escape all the BS.

Interior doesn't wow me (no real continuity or fluidity), but audi interiors have never lived up to the hype IMO. Steering wheel is clunky & something about that wide, flat, hooded IP says 1980s to me. Meh. Exterior no longer says 'audi'; now badge reading is the most telling element. Grille is HUGE (tho I personally like large grilles). Very similar front fascia elements on the G6 GXP and the A5.... :wink: Overall, it's not bad, but it's not notable either- like a tremendous amount of automotive design in modern times. BV- that near-identical wheel design has been used before... can't remember by who tho...

Variance :>>"Comparing apples to apples, (1/2 tons) come spring the only things the Titan will be lacking are a regular cab and V6 (and the V6 is rumored to be coming later)."<< Don't forget a LB, there is NO 8-foot bed available. Ford also offers 5 trim levels on the F-150, how many does nissan offer? Apples to apples is not going to cut it here; picking a single configuration and declaring the model line superior to another, vastly more variable line is micro-analyzing, IMO. The name of the game in trucks is versatility and that is how they should be judged. >>"Interior...again, improved on in the 2008 model and I trust the earlier build bugs have been ironed out by now."<< Not talking about build quality, but cost-cutting via design & materials- if it hasn't received an interior refresh or redesign, I would assume those deficiencies are still there; I would not assume they're all magically gone merely because time has passed, even if it's japanese. :wink:

Titan cannot touch the F-series for configuration choices. That alone should figure directly into any evaluation/comparison scoring, tho of course, it doesn't. I've seen a few titans up close- the interiors are comparitively low-rent and the reported quality issues are nothing to gloss over.

Jeg's lists a DynoMax aluminized, mandrel-bent cat-back system with Super Turbo or UltraFlo mufflers for a RC/SB Silvie 4.8 or 5.3 for $247. Doesn't list diameter. Now, this listing is for a 1999-2004MY, but should be indicative of a '07 system's price. And I like the engineering behind a dedicated exhaust company vs. that of the corner mandrel jockey. When I bought my F-150, I thought "When the exhaust rots thru, I can put a big DynoMax muffler on". 145,000 miles and 12.5 years later and I'm still waiting for the first hole in the factory aluminized system. A few of the hangers got thin enough to warrant me replacing them, but the pipes themselves are still solid. If you're wanting stainless for looks, fine, but if it's for longevity, you likely needn't bother. My brother ran Flowmasters on more than one truck and blew the packing out (behind a 350) in frustratingly short timespans- to the point he won't buy Flowmaster anymore. They get really loud over time. I can tell you that the big block Buick crowd prefers Dynomax mufflers about..... oh; 8:1 over Flowmasters, based on sound, performance & longevity. They have a number of excellent products- check 'em out.

If I actually took stock in these 'rankings', I would be aghast to see the F-150 place below the crapbox nissan. It's only negative is it's relatively low on power, but it's still a damned nice truck with way more options than the nissan.

toyoda brought (I believe) 6 units to America in '57. They were put right back on the boat and toyoda was shamed from reappearing for 2 more years. Therefore, celebrating "50 years of business in America" will have to wait until 2009. Not that toyota has made a policy of bothering with the Whole Truth...

Don't care for it's sucker-mouth grille, rest is nice but uninspired... and where's the interior befitting the price class; the above could be from a hyundai...

I think I know why this thread finally caught my eye tonight; I was reading up on Ed Gein yesterday...