A Horse With No Name

Good for mine also, glad to see someone making progress. Chris

$ for $ it is an excellent used car buy. Again, great write up. Chris

This is what is giving me hope for a GM car in my future. If we do this as a small Buick and get the details right... I'm in lust at the thought. Chris

That happened quite a bit around here. a really nice Mercury Grand Marquis, a nice Barn door Suburban 4WD (nice dark blue) and a Grand Cherokee wound up out of the clunker line and into the wholesale line at a local Hyundai dealer. I know of a couple of El Camino's that were saved in this way also. Chris

That is amazingly sad, and two of the local ones (the White one at the Lexus dealer and the maroon one at the Toyota dealer out by Brice Road) were in really, really great shape. Silver one that Toyota West clunked was decent as well. Chris

...and how do cars like the Fiero and Xr4Ti even qualify...fuel economy on thsoe cars must be way higher.... Chris

I would agree. That makes me sad. Chris

This list just strikes me as a little bogus. First of all, by some accounts a 2008 Scion xD was traded in under the program. A car has to get less than 18 MPG to qualify, this car obviously doesn't qualify. Other than the Chryco double cash deal, there is another trick around here used to clunk cars. Say you own a Mustang GT convertible, a Wrangler, a Z71 Extended cab, or whatever. Say it's worth 6500 wholesale and 8500 retail. Dealers would call salvage yards, agree to sell them the car with the clunked motor for say $1500 or so. They would then give the buyer $1500 on the bottom line in addition to the $4500, and eat $500 to make a sale. All of a sudden a $6500 car gets clunked. I would bet that's what happened to a lot of the more desireable stuff. High mileage or Katrina car or whatever, a lot of these vehicles bring real money as parts, esp. cars like Mustangs, Wranglers, 4 WD trucks, etc. Also...a lot of cars that got clunked needed to be clunked. I know some of the sales staff at the Mazda dealer where we hold our Miata club meetings, and got to talking to the guys before one of our meetings while CFC was going on. A LOT of what looked good was really pretty rough. For instance...the nice Mustang GT ragtop they took in previously belonged to a Columbus Police officer. It was badly damaged in an accident and never drove or rode right after the repair. Car was unsafe, and rather than sue the bodyshop and trying to refix an bodged car it was easier to just clunk it and get a new one. One of the nice fullsize Z71 trucks they clunked was a former flood victim, a seemingly nice Jeep they took in had major main bearing problems and high miles, etc. That's not saying I'm glad to see cars die...the Mazda dealer also had a fullsize Bronco (like Oj's) with a 5" lift, new 35" BF Goodrich All terrains, a new paint job, lots of extra chrome, a perfect interior, etc. Guy trading it just wanted a family car so he clunked it for a Mazda 3. And I'm sure an equally nice Blazer died somewhere. That being said, several RX-7's died locally...but most were pretty gone. One of them would ahve been a parts car even if it had been a 68 SS 396 Camaro ragtop, car was that far gone. And no, I'm not happy that 373 or so RX-7's died, but a lot of them that I saw were pretty trashed. Just my two cents. And I still doubt a real GNX died. Chris

Excellent write up. The autotrajic kills this car, as do the all season tires. With a 5 speed and real tires the car is transformed. The son of one of the guys in our VW TDI club lives in Cinci and got one of these. With real tires and a manual...this is a real car. For real. Chris

Buick keeps this up they will earn some of my $ in the future. Car is drop dead beautiful...esp. in the color above As a side note it is cool how safe modern cars are becoming. I just picked up my daughter from school and we passed a nasty accident on the way home. A Honda Odysea was pretty trashed in an interstate chain reaction wreck, but it looked like the driver was getting minor medical help. Chris

This reminds me of the people who believe in god because they see the face of the virgin mary in a piece of french toast or hear the voice of allah in the wind or see Jesus in the couds or something. Cool pic! Maybe that chip needs some fiery salsa? Chris

Actually if anything the American Motors product is better proportioned than the Acura Product. I'm not anti Honda, they have some good engeneering. However, the current styling needs to leave like yesterday.

I think the 68 California Special Mustang may or may not have had them as well. It's late and I can't remember. Chris

I fail to see what confusing sports cars and crossovers is doing for automotive design. It's about as bad as using a Triumph TR-6 as the basis for a minivan, IMHO. Senseless. Nothing either sporty or practical, just different for the sake of being different. Chris

What idiot drifts a front wheel drive car??? That pig is worth about $144 a ton at ACE Iron and Metal down south of Parsons. Ace would be generous to give them that much... Wow, what a POS... Chris

I am perhaps over reacting...but the small cars that I like I really like and the ones I dislike I really dislike. Don't like Kia, Suzuki, Hyundai, et al...although Hyundai build quality has been getting much better. Chris

The RDX is as ugly as home made sin also. Acura's current product lineup makes me want to sink a cargo ship full of new cars, all wearing the Acura badge. What godawful product. Chris

I have an idea of what really happened, but this isn't the R rated thread so I won't discuss it. Chris

I can think of one person who posts here regularly, actually. Not naming any names...but Chris

I would take the Tibron, actually. Someone needs to shoot the guy that designed this thing for Acura. Even if the guy is dead they ought to dig him up and shoot him so that we can make a point... Chris

...and remember, gas is going to go back up. We won't be seeing these gas prices three years from now...or maybe even two years from now... Chris

The Accent is better than the Reo and the Aveo, IMHO. Still terrible, IMHO. Chris

Actually reg, I think for my $ GTI...or TDI Golf. So we can agree to disagree on the SX4 then...good...because I hate it with a passion. Fiesta should be good, Honda will still sell plenty of Fits. Honda is selling every Fit it can build still, IIRC. Chris

Reg, I love you like a brother but... To me the SX4 is perhaps the biggest steaming pile outside of what a cow just let go out of its back end on a Wyoming prarie. Suzuki IMHO builds the most absolute awful godawful cars concieveable. Actually, I think Suzuki is proof of alien life forms...because I doubt any of the 6 billion humans we have on this rock could actually concieve of a car as bad as the SX4 without some kind of other worldly help. Just my two cents, YMMV. And again I love you like a brother...but the SX4 is terrible IMHO. Chris

Agree on the quality of the Fit. Reg, the Focus SVT is a little edgy, something I like in a car you you don't, perhaps. To each his own. I am really proud of both Honda and Ford for bringing us these vehicles. Now if we could just get MINI to get rid of the cold start issues in the S, We'd be in bidness. And DF, don't forget the GTI and the upcoming TDI as premium small cars from vee-dub. The TDI supposedly will come well equiped. Chris