ocnblu

Gorgeous for her age. Very sporty. The world's first sport sedan before there was a "sedan", I guess that's a touring car.

The CNN video of the newsguy walking around a park in the midst of the quake was like science fiction. The park was built by filling in a part of Tokyo Bay, and, as the cracks widened, swayed and ground together, water emerged from the man-made earth... Nature will have her way.

So... buy a Solstice instead of an Orlando if you want cargo space? Whoa, Nellie!

Good thread. Community.

"Sports Gear" for THOSE guys would be a grill, beer, meat, and beer, for the tailgate party in the parking lot at the schtadium. You couldn't put a hibachi, a pack of hot dogs and a single can of Pabst Blue Ribbon back there.

Agreed. We should also go back to drilling in the Gulf ASAP. Yes, the spill was a disaster, but it was one incident in how many operating offshore oil rigs over how many years?

SAmadei, that is exactly my point with these tiny, 3-row crossovers and vans, like the Mazda 5 and Tony Orlando. With all seats warmed by butts, there's no place to put traveling gear, or sports gear, or much of anything except a ballpoint pen.

So they held on to a little over half so far. This was Pontiac owners who traded their Pontiacs in on a new car in 2010. Lots of factors here, including diminished confidence in GM's staying power in general, differing vehicle needs this time around, etc. I wonder if the question was asked whether these folks WOULD HAVE bought another Pontiac if they still existed new. Any customer lost is a blow. Keeping 53.3% is meh, not too bad I guess. The last, really cool Pontiacs, like Solstice GXP, G8, and G6 3.6L (GTP, not Bugs Bunny) cars prolly aren't ready to be traded yet... let's see how this goes going forward.

Rode through the Scion lot this morning to check for different ex Ds before heading further north on the same road to the Ford dealer. Saw nothing different, so I didn't stop. Had an excellent experience at the Ford dealer regarding the Fiesta. On my way back, I stopped in and asked my saleskid status on getting a manual ex D. (First he said within 3 days for ANY combo, then it was by the end of the week... today is Saturday...) No manual ex D yet... and the sales manager says he refuses to get one in unless there is a deposit given by me, because it won't sell as fast as an automatic. So the different stories are getting tiring, for another example, they told me any color is available, then they said ONE green one was available, now today there are suddenly FOUR green ones out there, sheesh! PLUS, and this made me angry... they pulled that old-school trick of holding my truck keys while they went behind closed doors to hash out my trade value and approximate payments. Ford guy gave me my keys immediately after his test ride. I let him talk me into driving an automatic. Besides a bit of driveline lash because of the automatic (feels like a u-joint getting ready to fail) at low speed on and off throttle, it drove well. Peppy feeling engine. Quiet, with good ride and a very solid feeling. Excellent Pioneer stereo v. my truck's old style GM unit. Not a tick from the interior plastics at any point in the mixed test drive loop, tight as a drum. Nice high seating position, good visibility except for a wide rear pillar. Lower rear headrests than the Fiesta. I'd take out the rear headrests in the Ford immediately so I can see something out the back. Load area level with the bumper, Ford is deeper and bigger overall with seats up. Scion has a level load area with seats down though, I like that. Dropping the hood closed on the Ford, you are rewarded with a solid "thunk". On the Scion, it sounded very tinny when dropped, with an extra "twang" noise. I do like the clearcoated underhood structure in the Scion, not just single stage, dull paint on the shock towers. Bottom line: saleskid is still working to get me a manual to test (they have one coming for general inventory) by Monday at some point. But they only offered me $20,000 for my trade, and with the no-haggle pricing of the Scion, the payment would be around $230 with the same down payment and 72 month note. Their behaviour was very different, and more predatory by a good measure, from the Ford dealer, which, incidentally, is in business 90 years run by the same family. Honestly, the ex D has good points: high driving position, great stereo, good pep, first two maintenance services free through Scion and brick solid structure (doors/hatch closing, lack of body quiver and rattles), but the sales behaviour leaves too much to be desired.

That's the most interesting thing wearing three diamonds since a mid-90's Eclipse, back before it needed Jenny Craig. Reminds me of that one car... oh, what was it... Dymaxion or something? I think I am close but no cigar. Anyway the Mitsu from Futurama above is excellently weird and prolly brilliant.

Interesting choice, usonia. Stow-N-Go FTW... flat load floor in no time for sleeping. High seating position and plenty of glass for easy visibility.

wallaby

I like the echos of the Cadillac crest shape in the dash, nice attitude.

One thing that interests me lately about Japanese cars, and culture in general, is their propensity for miniaturization. Our small cars, it seems, are scaled-down big cars, while Japanese cars are engineered in miniature... yet everything seems to work in harmony. Like a Tokyo apartment.

I never knew this until a couple of months ago, but my mom's yellow '69 Corvette she traded her '69 Charger on wasn't really hers. It had been stolen from a soldier somewhere down south and sold to her through a used car dealer in 1969. There is a picture of my kindergarten self standing in front of it. After that was discovered and she lost the car and her investment into it, there was a parade of older used cars for a while... '61 Valiant (white or beige, it's fuzzy)... '64 Bonneville coupe in aqua, and a '66 Mercury Monterrey 4-door hardtop in maroon, which was traded on her '72 Malibu, a brown coupe with black vinyl buckets, a basket handle automatic, psychedelic rubber mushroom decals on the decklid (you had to be there, early 70's) and a 307. She eventually hit a deer with the Malibu, and the bondo fell out (horrible bodywork done by a "reputable" local bodyshop), all the way down the right side of the car there were rusty tumahs about 6 inches across. That car was traded on a '77 Charger SE, dark blue/light blue landau top and white vinyl 60/40 interior with blue carpet. That was in turn traded for her white LeCar in 1981, to a silver V6 Camaro in '86, a light blue Beretta GT in '88, a dark blue Saturn SC2 in '92, which she kept for 3 days and returned it for a white SL2, loaded. Then it was a '98 gold SL2, and I think she kept that until she got the gold Corolla, which she could not afford from the high-pressure Toyota dealer... they traded her into a used Echo, which she loved, but using the clutch hurt her leg... so she got herself a Cobalt, which she never cared for... now it's green Cube, and she's content once again. Maybe it is my mother I get my schizophrenic automotive tastes from...

To one of the lyric kings of Facebook, I hope you're having a good one, sir.

Interesting idea on GM's part. These will eventually hit the used car lots, prolly less than a year after they go into service initially.

Right now the best looking Epsilon II car is the SAAB 9-5, so Cadillac has a ways to go to improve on that car's road presence. I hope this car has some more width built in than the LaCrosse. It's not bad looking so far, but I hope the front overhang is not as pronounced and droopy as the SRX in an effort to make up for the tiny front door-to-wheel gap. And a giant trunk would be appreciated. Interior looks very promising from here.

Yeah, where'd 98 go?

Nature rules. We are but parasites and she can destroy us. We have no control over her. We may think we do. Horrible images. I saw one news video showing the wave coming ashore while vehicles were racing down a road parallel to the coast, trying to escape. The Japanese news crew cut the footage off just as the wall of water was about to obliterate the fleeing vehicles... unimaginably horrible.

Wow, look at that load area with the third seat up. Totally non-existent. No good for a vacation vehicle, or a soccer mom (mom with kids who play sports and need to ferry equipment to games) if you have a need for all those seats, unless you get a roof rack and one of those fiberglass boxes for up there. Same with a Mazda 5 or any number of compact, 3-row vehicles. The concept escapes meh.

Excellently cool, but I wonder what the back window would have looked like if it were curved downward at the bottom instead of upward. Would have given better visibility, seemingly.

I actually like that wagon render... it's something Not Seen Before. The real car is shaping up nicely so far. It appears to have a decklid, for one thing, and the RWD proportions just look so right. Also like the narrow-set dual exhaust pipes.

After I test drive some hatchbacks, I may decide to keep what I have and simply install a sail to the roof. Or I might fall in love and abandon truck ownership. It's not like there is no precedent for that in my history... '86 Camaro 5.0, '92 Golf, 2 '98 Bugs, and an '00 GTI, all hatches.

Well, maybe it was the type of driving I do day-to-day. Very stop-n-go for most of the route, mixed with a hill to climb early in the route when the engine is cold and in richer fuel mix mode. I imagine you have more rural, 45 mph roads with fewer stops to get from home into town. Of course, I could be wrong. Yes, highway trips always jumped my average considerably, but I don't do enough of that to make a lasting effect.