bobo

Robert, nice to see you stop by. I'm very surprised you let go the Regal.

Brady Bunch

town

rider

Paul McCartney

Great review. Reg, if it were your money, would you get the turbo or not?

I normally post “Cheers and Jeers,” my end-of-year wrap-up post late on New Year’s Eve or early New Year’s Day. This year, I found myself in the hospital for most of the past week as my first child was born at the end of the year in circumstances that were later and more difficult than expected, and hence this post had to wait a week until mom and baby daughter were resting well at home, and they are doing fine now. So on with the festivities, and I hope everybody has been having a Happy New Year so far. Twenty ten was a year that continued to be filled with doom and gloom, with occasional peeks of sunshine to be smothered with dark gray clouds again as the jobless recovery to the Great Recession persisted. BP fouled the Gulf of Mexico. The Iraq war ended on paper, and the war in Afghanistan became the longest war in U.S. history with rapidly losing public support. The November elections brought out loony Tea Party activists, and President Obama added “shellacking” into the political lexicon. The feel good story of the year was the 33 Chilean miners rescued after being trapped for 69 days. The iPad was the gadget to have. Notable loses included Gary Coleman, Leslie Nielsen, George Steinbrenner, Lena Horn, and Elizabeth Edwards. In the automotive world, the news during the beginning of the year was all about the mass of Toyota recalls that started the previous year with allegedly sticking gas pedals. Ford was on a roll with booming sales and acclaim, while Chrysler held on and showed signs of life with new parent Fiat. GM found itself in a much stronger position the year after it filed for bankruptcy. Toyota shut down the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, and sold it to Tesla, of which Toyota bought a share. Pontiac was officially placed in the history books. Hyundai became the darling of the industry, with the Sonata becoming the new family sedan benchmark. Overall, automobile sales enjoyed a healthy bump over the previous year’s dismal record. Here on the forums, having a high school diploma meant something, and $19 Walmart DVD players permeated the economic discussions. Forum members continued to experience automotive bumps and bruises in the affliction known as the “C&G Curse.” Cheers and Gears wouldn’t be Cheers and Gears without a few forum glitches and blackouts, and thankfully those have been cured. And now, time for the Ninth Annual Edition of Cheers and Jeers: Cheers to GM for finally bringing the Most Significant Automobile Introduction with the cutting-edge Volt to market without too many hitches. GM put its brawn and staked its reputation on it, and so far, so good. Honorable Mention to Nissan for introducing the all-electric Leaf, which is the perfect commuter car for many multiple-vehicle households. Cheers to Chrysler under Fiat for being Most Improved with an unexpected and significant reworking of its lineup, an incredible turn of events given its neglect under Daimler, and it being on the brink of being shut down. The interiors have been vastly improved. The new Charger and Grand Cherokee are very desirable, and even the Compass is being salvaged. Now if only the current Sebring/200 would go away for good, though the upgrades have helped somewhat. Jeers to GM for the Worst Marketing Move, banishing “Chevy” from advertising briefly in June to provide a consistent international branding until better sensibilities kicked in. For years the trend in branding was to shorten and simplify, especially in this age of texting, with Federal Express becoming FedEx, Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC, and Coca-Cola better known as Coke, and yet the marketing gurus inexplicably preferred the stiff “Chevrolet” in the advertising over the beloved “Chevy.” Then in October, “Chevy Runs Deep” was unveiled to mixed reviews. Cheers to dwightlooi for Best Technical Post on the rotary engine. He makes the dimbulb layman understand the basics and intricacies in mechanical systems. This is just one of many great posts. Cheers to Dodgefan for Best Concept for an uncharacteristically good-looking minivan, a Dodge Caravan. Honorable Mention to Gnitro for an Aveo (Sonic) Crossover called the Edgewood: Cheers to caddycruiser for being the Best Automotive Consumer and the car fan we can live through vicariously. Who wouldn’t want a brand new vehicle every few months, from various GM family sedans to the awesome Pontiac G8 to burly Avalanche to practical and zoomy CX-9? Let’s keep those factories and dealers busy! Honorable Mention to black-knight for making us appreciative that most of us don’t have a run of clunkers like he has had after his friend wrecked his Firebird. Cheers once again to the always cheerful Oracle of Delphi as the Best Industry Poster. He doesn’t post as much as he used to, but each post usually contains tantalizing bits and pieces to surprise and delight. Or to set one in place. Cheers to Dodgefan for the Best Post on his take on the commercial showing the Acura TSX wagon drifting: Cheers to the Best Ugly Vehicle: the Nissan Juke. A small, cheap, and fun-to-drive crossover with a face only a mother could love. Nissan deserves some credit for taking chances. Jeers to the Worst Ugly Vehicle: the Acura ZDX. It has a nice interior, but the exterior is an assault to the eyes, and it’s expensive, thirsty, and with limited utility. Jeers to the Worst Post by a supposed fan of the Premium American Motorcar division: Cheers to Avant1963 for the Best Political Post: Cheers to Dodgefan for Best Automotive Graphic: Cheers to GMTruckGuy74 for being the Biggest GM Fan for earning the title "GMC Fan of the Week." Cheers once again to the Moderator of Merit, Ninety Eight Regency, for his continued faithful posting of the news on the site and keeping it all tidy. Cheers to GM’s Toughest Critics on Cheers and Gears who want GM to succeed by going beyond the ordinary and everyday and having us to be blown away. Honorable Mentions include that evergreen smartass, Satty, long-suffering Delta Force79, who keeps yearning to be mentioned in "Cheers and Jeers," and regfootball, for his reviews of practically every family vehicle available. And kudos to Charger4U’s Word Association, which still has not crashed the board despite reaching nearly 25,000 posts. I hope everybody has a healthy, fulfilling Happy New Year!

More choices are good, though the obvious issues would be availability of fuel and range. I like the idea of CNG because we're not dependent on foreign countries for it. CNG vehicles have been around for a while and haven't taken off. They're mostly for fleets and taxis. In California CNG vehicles can get an HOV lane sticker for solo drivers. I think targeting the performance market would be a little challenging.

roadkill

Mel Gibson

outhouse

My third vehicle, the '94 Prelude with 133K miles, has relinquished its daily driver status over to the Lexus. I had to replace the head gasket on the Prelude, and the car has other problems including HVAC controls and radio not working (the ABS stopped working long ago). I bought the Silverado with the plan of making it the daily driver, but a full-size crew cab pickup does not make for a fun drive.

Two milestones in October. My 2005 Silverado hit 10,000 miles almost six years to the date of my getting it. The other milestone is that I hit 50,000 miles on my 2001 Lexus IS300.

Congrats on the new ride. It's a very nice big crossover indeed. Hope you enjoy it immensely until you trade it in next year.

bolts

Happy late birthday, and great looking little ones.

party

sheep

Nice review. Is the Mazda3 not competitive?

I really enjoyed this nomination thread. I hope there are more. A couple of vehicles that weren't mentioned were the Buick LeSabre and Park Avenue. The Lucerne never really caught on as the replacement, and the current LaCrosse is too small to be the big Buick.

point

go

simon

disorder

handsome