DetroitNut90

Something about the greenhouse strikes me as...off. Otherwise, I agree, that's one fine-looking idea there.

discrimination

septicemic The deadliest form of plague; infects the blood and kills within hours.

Maryland!

Thanks everyone! I had a pretty good day, spent it with a friend and his parents cooked a fantastic dinner, though they didn't know it was my birthday so it wasn't like they went out of their way.

Ich

The old Vue wasn't too bad, my friend had a 2004 Redline AWD. The steering was kinda numb and even with the upgrades brought with the Redline edition, it didn't handle exceedingly well. It made up for that by offering what I thought to be rather good space efficiency and a decent interior. The 3.5L V6 is smooth as silk and quite robust, and the transmission is pretty good, even though it hunts a bit and isn't keen on downshifting sometimes.

Virginia

I'm ISTJ, and I think it describes me to a T - realistic, loyal, and calm. Funny thing about this is, I had to take this test for a class this past semester. A friend I met in that class scored almost exactly the same as I; we got the same letters and we scored within 2-3 points of each other in 3 of the 4 categories.

I guess I should've been more clear, we want the whole assembly taken off (glass + housing). And that's what we were thinking, going to the 'local' (closest one is like 20 miles away) junkyard and scouring for a '92-'99 H-body.

A friend of mine has a mishap in his '98 LeSabre yesterday. He hit one of those rectangular yellow reflectors you see along the side of the road with the right-hand mirror, which only scraped the paint a little bit, but the glass cracked and a strip of it fell off in the middle. The glass is also not supported at the top anymore, so it's like it's stuck pointing down. I wouldn't call myself a mechanic, but I can even tell that he needs a new mirror. So, the question is, does anyone know how to remove the mirror off of a '90s H-body? It's not power-adjustable and I don't believe it's heated, which makes me think it would just pop out if you stuck a thin tool between it and the rubber sealing.

Ah, well thanks for the advice, everyone! I took the Intrigue to the Outer Banks and back 2 weeks ago, no problems to report. I think it's kinda late to call up and complain about the quality of service I received, but I'll just be sure to take my business elsewhere next time.

Meh, say what you will, but I'd rather have an STS than an M, though the pictured STS is wearing some ugly rims. And I agree with balthazar, I preferred the tauter '03-'05 M45 to the softer '06+ models.

An Impreza with an army camouflage paint job, and then a blue Escort wagon with a bumper sticker that said "Stop Inbreeding: Ban Country Music."

Cliffnotes version: What happens if you go from using synthetic blend motor oil to conventional? Full-fat: I took my car to the dealership yesterday to get some work done (mistake 1). Back when I had the recall work for the engine fire concern on the 3.8L V6, I took my Intrigue up to the local Chevrolet-Buick-Pontiac-GMC-Isuzu dealer to have it taken care of. Everything went fine, I got my car back and was happy as a clam that I wouldn't find it and/or myself engulfed in flames one day. To further make me happier, I received in the mail around the beginning of July/end of June a letter from the dealer thanking me for choosing them to work on my car. Included in this letter were a series of coupons, notably, one good for a free oil change and another good for a free diagnostic service on a vehicle system. Since I was due for an oil change and my climate control system has been acting wonky for a little while, I took off work yesterday to have said work done. When I sat down with a guy to take down my information, I began to explain to him the problems I was having with my climate control. Before I could give him a good description of what was happening, he waived his hand to silence me, saying I didn't need to continue. After asking me something else, I guess I was too long winded for him because he waived his hand in the same manner again. We repeated this unpleasant exchange for a little while longer, until he told me he had everything he needed from me, and showed me to the lounge. Before I left, I made sure to ask whether or not the coupon for the oil change coupon covered synthetic blend oil. He told me he wasn't sure, didn't think it would, but would check with a mechanic to be sure. He then asked me if I still wanted the oil change done, even if I had to pay for synthetic blend. I told him yes, I did, that I would pay for it if I had to (mistake 2). He said ok. For the next four hours, I waited in the lounge of the service department. A different man showed up this time, and after introducing himself, took me back into the service bay. He explained to me what was wrong with my climate control, that the left and right actuators and the mode vacuum motor are bad. He gave me an estimate of 6 hours and $1,167.05 plus an environmental fee to fix the problems. I told him that I would have to talk it over with my parents, and declined the service. Reluctantly (I knew he wanted me to authorize the work), he told me he'd have everything put back together and ready to go in 15 minutes, and walked me back into the lounge. On the way there, he told me that the oil change was done at no cost to me, but that he would have to charge me $93.88 for the air conditioning diagnostic, which was free only until a point. I paid the bill and left (mistake 3). When I got home, I read over the work order and realized, not only did they put the wrong weight of oil in the car (the engine itself says it takes 10W-30, they gave me 5W-30), but they put conventional instead of synthetic blend. I've been raised hearing "once you start putting synthetic oil in your car, you can't switch back to conventional oil," so this made me concerned. A friend of mine who is knowledgeable in automotive mechanics told me that I shouldn't have to worry about the oil unless it's over 90* outside and I'm not moving very fast. My dad also said that he didn't think it would cause a problem, though he didn't know for sure. So, my question is the same: What happens if you go from using synthetic blend motor oil to using conventional? Should I get the stuff out of the engine now, or is this something I don't need to worry about? Insights are appreciated!

Hah, I know exactly where this happened. And the guy does have a point, people do drive on 50 like it's the autobahn. From the DC/Maryland line east to Queenstown (or about 45 miles), 50 is a full expressway. From the Beltway east to Annapolis, it's also designated as an interstate (I-595), but not signed as such; that explains why a state trooper got him instead of a Prince George's County cop. It sounds like the guy was heading east towards Annapolis, and had just passed the Beltway. This stretch of 50 is technically four lanes each way, but the left-most lane is HOV-2 and separated by the three other through lanes by two white lines. Since it's the main road from the DC area to the Eastern Shore, 50 is already one of the most heavily-patrolled highways in the state, either by the state troopers on the interstate section or the respective county's cops for the rest of the route. But for some reason, the state police have been swarming 50 and surrounding interstates this week. I must've passed 6 or 7 of them just this morning on the same stretch of 50 that this happened on.

That's just our "multipurpose" plate, the ass-ugly standard-issue for SUVs and minivans. The position of the 'M' jumps around once that series is through (123M456 just ran out, so now we're on 12345M6). Passenger cars (sedans/2-doors) are the ones that get our 6-digit plates with the state symbol, only we switched to a new format around 2004 since the old ABC 123 ran out. Then pickups/trucks up to a certain GVWR get their own format. I don't think any other state subdivides their plates' serial numbers as much as we do.

A Silverado HD with a license plate frame that read: "This Chevy eats Fords and sh!ts Mopars."

While driving in DC today going from one job to another, I saw an orange Camaro LT from Massachusetts on Massachusetts Ave NW, and then a classic Mini in dark gray with white stripes in one of the better areas of Northeast. I also had to drive by the Canadian Embassy, which was decked-out in maple leaf flags; leftovers I'm sure from yesterday's Canada Day celebrations.

You're driving on the highway, an interstate or something comparable, and coming closer to the car in front of you. So you get into the left lane, or a 'left-er' lane if the road has more than 2 lanes in one direction. You're now neck-and-neck with the person and even beginning to nose ahead when they suddenly speed up, either gradually or rocketing forward. In fact, they speed up so much that they get a few good car lengths ahead of you and change lanes to the left, so they're back in front of you, and they proceed ahead faster than you. You then sheepishly change lanes back to the right. I don't care much for that. Another scenario: your friend has a new game for their PC. You hear him talk about it all the time, and whenever you see him on his computer, he's usually playing this game or reading a forum dedicated to it. After a while, you get to play this game for yourself, and take a liking to it. In fact, you like it so much that you download a program that lets you (legally, mind you) purchase and download the game for yourself. The game installs fine and boots up properly, lets you choose a server to play on and even lets you pick the color of your team. You reach the point where you respawn when you're killed, and the then game freezes on you. A quick talk with some of your computer-savvy friends reveals that not only is your graphics card unable to handle the demands of the game, but it is also very expensive and very difficult, borderline dangerous even, to try and replace the motherboard and graphics card on your laptop. Yeah, I really don't care much for that.

Driver's ed vanished from schools in Maryland by the time I was born. After I got my permit, I did most of my driving in my mom's Venture and I took the road test (conducted on a fenced-in, glorified parking lot at the nearby MVA) in my dad's Sonoma. But I did the driver's ed part in a bare-bones 2005 Cobalt sedan, you know, vinyl steering wheel, crank windows, manual locks/windows/seats and the like, but it did have an automatic and aircon. I know your pain, BV.

Ah, the things I learned in my Elements of Nutrition class. Olean is the trade name for olestra, a noncaloric artificial fat. It's indigestable and excessive amounts (e.g. 1 can of Pringles/day) cause a laxative effect. Poor guy.

Nothing you are posting, aside from the two Grand Prixes, Monte Carlo, and possibly Bonneville and Aurora have been sold in significant quantities. We know that when GM puts its mind to it, it can come up with excellent products (CTS-V, GTO, Camaro, final Oldsmobiles), but their excellent products usually are not the everyday stuff, like a small car that doesn't compromise or a midsize sedan that is so good none of the rags can find a complaint. And that is GM's problem. They have not been consistently putting their minds into all of their cars up until very recently.

The Chevy-BPG-Mitsubishi-Isuzu in Laurel seems fine, I was in there last week in search of a part for my Intrigue. But who knows, since GM hasn't put out a list. Laurel Dodge, OTOH, wasn't so fortunate.

That's my point, the government I'm sure doesn't want to see GM go under. They benefit much more from a strong, prosperous GM than a dead or functionally-incapacitated GM. When in doubt of the government's motives here, ask yourself, why does the government need to kill GM when GM itself has shown it is plenty capable of doing that by itself?