vonVeezelsnider

Would it be wrong to say that that parade reminded me of the ones the Soviets had with missiles?

Congrats to your mom... of course in all honesty I would feel pretty emasculated even riding in one of those. Did not know that Nissan stood behind their CVTs like that though, much better than I would have expected!

Ironic indeed, this post should be "What GM name is most likely not to be dropped"!

Ukrainian-Catholic and the church holds a big dinner a week after Easter... so I'll go to that. Other than that my "holy week" has been a holy PITA. A couple big papers due in the coming weeks.

There's no way that either of those are true... first of all D-Ham starts Volt production this summer and they don't have a Flex line so they can't build DTS and Volt on the same line. Second of all the W-Body platform can't physically accommodate a 6-Spd Auto (neither can the G-Body) or we would have seen it rolled out on the 2007 DTS.

Final-gen B-Bodies/D-Bodies, namely the Roadmaster Estate and Fleetwood.

IMHO neither of them hold a candle to a good W-Body... With Epsilon II coming that may change but as it stands the Malibu is so much narrower that there is much less hip and shoulder room... it feels kinda tight in comparison to say an Impala or Allure.

In an ideal world, GMC and/or Chevy should be making a more compact SUV as well, more or less the size of the Escape, that has that kind of trait as well... but I would venture to guess that they've looked at the business case for it and assumed that they couldn't effectively compete with the Jeeps.

Each have their merits, the Ford has a bigger trunk and a nicer shape. The Sport model is very nice to drive and has a manumatic mode that you shift with the gearshift (which is nice). All in all the Malibu has a much more stylish interior.

I'm planning on a pretty extensive overhaul and detailing of my Impala I just don't have time for it probably until after Easter just as the byproduct of finals and whatnot coming up fast. I do have to do quite a few things to it though; Cosmetic: 1. Touch up scratches on wheels left by Goodyear tire people while installing my new ComforTred tires. 2. Touch up some rock chips on the hood 3. Get rid of the hairline scratches and swirlmarks in the paint 4. Clay + Wax 5. Full interior detailing including steering wheel restorative work 6. Clean stains on headliner Mechanical: 1. Transmission Drop/Drain/Filter (Done) 2. Fuel Air Induction and EGR (Done) 3. Coolant Flush (Done) 4. Brake Fluid Flush (Done) 5. Power Steering Fluid 6. Climate Control System 7. Air Filter (Done) 8. Cabin Air Filter

This.

More or less trying to illustrate the "impotent rage" that is QP.

Canada

They do look better than the Bolt-on 16s (what does't?) but you still can't beat the metallic sheen of a nicely detailed painted wheel (I wax the wheels too)

The "clads" don't hold up at all. Our 06 Maxx has them and they stick out further beyond what a normal bolt-on wheelcover does, making it real easy to get scraped up against curbs and whatnot. They also fade a bit.

Unfortunately they also discontinued the 16 inch alloys like on mine, which means you can't get alloys on the LS anymore. I don't care how they look, a bland ass alloy is better than some plastic cover anyday. You can count me in the group that will refuse to purchase another vehicle that has the Fascia Spoke wheel. The Wheels in Question Out: In:

I'm going to have to disagree with you on the Crosstour... I think the Sedan is better but the Coupe is most cohesive.

I agree with Ventiports as part of Buick DNA and I also believe that the vehicle should have had a revised sweep-spear beltline like the LaCrosse.

Not true actually. Vancouver has had the highest housing costs in Canada for over a decade now, so it's sustained itself quite nicely. Additionally we never had the kind of housing crash and banking sector crash that the US did mainly because we had a properly regulated financial system. Our banks remained profitable throughout the Economic Downturn and we didn't have the default problems like the US did. Also there is no income bump, in fact the Median Average Household income of Metro Vancouver is 55231$, while the Median Average Household Income for the Calgary is 68579$, Toronto is 64128$ and Montreal is 47979$. Below is the latest data for single family residences in Canada's four largest metro areas (not cost of houses+condos etc as I could not find that statistic)

The disparity on base prices is simply gouging, unfortunately- the Canadian dollar is near parity and has been there for some time. Last I checked the Canadian dollar is worth .98 USD. Automakers never adjusted the prices of vehicles here since our dollar soared up from ~0.72 to parity (not fair). In reality 299000$CDN is 293000$USD. As for Vancouver, the prices are out of this world. The average home price is 640k.

I'm happy to report that the snow has already melted in the Great White North. It was 60*F and sunny today.

Man oh man real estate in the US is cheap lately. This is about the maximum that 300k buys you in Calgary: http://crel.com/view_listing.php?listing=mls&id=C3404891 I love older houses, especially in the smaller towns surrounding the city. Much better lifestyle and not so cookie-cutter.

I could care less about having to log in twice, the feature would be cool though.

Only BC and Southern Ontario have emissions but in places like Nova Scotia they have a semi-annual safety inspection. We don't even have that unless you are registering the car for the first time in the province.