bobo

No Solara? The Accord Coupe would be the "safe" choice. If it would be for myself, I'd choose either that or the BMW.

code

Refurbished would be more accurate. The robots were supposed to improve build quality.

I drove a Beretta at work in the mid-90's. It was mechanically reliable, more so than the '95 Olds Achieva with the Quad 4 I drove. But were these nice cars? No.

For the record, the '88 Accord made 110 to 120 hp, and the '88 Pontiac Grand Prix with the V6 made 130 hp. I was cross-shopping that generation of Accord when I bought my first Integra. At that time, GM was a mess with excessive downsizing and lackluster quality. The GM car I was considering was the Beretta, which with the Corsica was touted for supposedly a new level of quality at a brand new factory. We know how that turned out. There wasn't a whole lot that was desirable at GM at that time, which was in the middle of the Roger Smith era.

Ford Tempo. I had the misfortune of driving that hunk of junk for a while as a work vehicle.

Arizona

An Audi A5. I hadn't seen one on the road yet, and I find it strikingly handsome.

Very cool. Nice job.

navy

6 8 7

Hall of Shame

A black Aston Martin DB9. It was behind me in the dark, and I could not identify it until it passed me. It has very distinctive front lighting.

PCS will be sorely missed. He brought an incredible amount of insight into the changing times. He did know how to tweak people, which I found entertaining, but usually he was just the messenger, and people didn't like the message. So long, PCS.

CTS = C-Series Touring Sedan SRX = S-Series Reconfigurable Crossover

changer

I generally see it spin clockwise, but I can make it go the other way if I try, and sometimes it looks like it's going back and forth.

nationality

The LT tested was a 4-cylinder, and the LTZ had the V6.

I don't really care about either of the teams, but at least the game wasn't a snoozer like the last few years. I guess it's nice when the underdogs win. The ads were generally lame.

monologues

Saw my second '08 Malibu on the road today, and it had an Enterprise sticker on it. I saw my first ever Saab 9-7X on the road.

I'm very interested in this type of vehicle to replace my Silverado. Other than the grille, there's not much in the styling that says GMC. The styling appears to have a sprinkling of Tundra in it, but that doesn't bother me too much.

accent

Back in the early '80s when the gas crisis was going on, Isuzu was one of the few automakers offering small cars with diesel engines. It's never fun to see nameplates go away. Isuzu memories will include the snazzy first generation Isuzu Impulse with the Lotus-tuned suspension, Geo Storm and Spectrum. The Trooper provided great value for the money when SUVs were still utilitarian. And of course, Joe Isuzu will always be an advertising icon.