SAmadei

After staring at this long enough, I think the XTS looks like someone took the EpII platform, added an ATS rear and front and a '91 Caprice roofline. The ever-shortening trunk and hood just does not make this look prestigious. Art & Science has outlasted its stay... and GM squandered the time it had to exploit it.

I'm not feeling it. Window shapes look as random as someone cutting airholes in a cardboard box with a sawzall. Rear window treatment looks like it came from a different trucklet. Under front bumper taking cues from the Genesis coupe. Rear panel top to bottom... Bling taillights then a big expanse of boring and bling under bumper treatment. Throw in a bunch of random GM's old hat style cliches, like the quasi-clamsheel hood and the lower door panel indent. Aside from the exhaust outlets mirroring the underbumper sorner grills, there is no stylistic unity.

I'd be careful about booking via ACY so close to the end of the year. AirTrans is leaving Atlantic City International around that time, and has been a real PITA about were flights can be booked, as I have a family member who had return trip ticket issues with them for late Dec/early Jan.

Every radio is different, but I believe the instructions in this thread are what that dude is doing. This mod, supposedly does not require a tape or CD in the unit. http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=240045&page=2 I prefer a rear mounted jack and a patch cable, but I have no idea how the eBay guy gets that to work, as far as shutting out the FM signal when the unit is plugged into a device.

For the record, there are quite a few adapters out there that will make your steering wheel controls work with aftermarket stereos. They aren't exactly cheap... roughly $100 for a little box that converts the different resistances that the steering wheel buttons use to signals the aftermarket radios use.

That still leaves the X11 in for the win as it's NOT a sticker car the '80 was though. 135hp versus 115hp? Still underpowered. Yeah, its still a sticker and spoiler sports car, at least in my book. As egregious as others, well, no... but it was no Z28... of course, the Z28 in '82 was no Z28, either. ;-)

Considering that Nissan has the NV400 Euro-looking van available elsewhere, I think Nissan is betting that van people and contractors in the US are not going to settle for Ford and Chevy's Eurovan plans.

Oh, I thought you were just fond of it. In my case, its my favorite, except perhaps the 928. The 928 was always kind of a un-Porsche. No problem, I can stick with the unlovable A, X and J bodies sticker and spoiler "sports cars".

I never liked Porsches until the Panamera came out. There are many cars I like that are in the minority, but none are hated by _EVERYONE_ here. For example, I like the '77-on B-bod coupes, negating DF79 pick... Eagles, Javelins and other AMCs... negating Cubitar... and the '71-'73 Rivs... but that was negated by Cub before me, Camino. I think the _only_ car I like that NO ONE here likes is the Panamera. The only thing that would make the Panamera better would be a coupe version. Who shall come forward and negate that? ;-) Otherwise, I'd have to pick some of the rare sports packages available to the FWD A, X and J bodies. But I like those for historical significance, not for actually driving.

LOL, reminds me of a car I recommended for a friend about 14 years ago... a 6 cyl Mustang with Oldsmobile hubcaps... the Olds badges had little squirts of silver paint to hide them... so the car was very distinctive. The car ran great, and back then a cheap, good running Mustang was hard to find. Unfortunately, after about 8 months, the computer control system crapped out, and at the time, I was unable to properly diagnose it. It was taken to the nearest thieving mechanic and they convinced the owner that the engine was shot and the car was worthless and offered $100 for it. I cried foul and recommended a second opinion, but they took the $100 and bought a new car that would be repossessed in its first year due to it simply not being affordable. Two weeks later, the car was running beautifully and started parking in the same lot I parked in for work. The car would be seen constantly in Atlantic City for a decade. One of the last times I had seen it parked by me, I peeked at the odo and it had something like 150K more than the last time my friend had it... but it had the same Olds hubcaps.

Nothing spectacular for me. A few months ago I was driving pretty quickly cutting through a huge parking lot, cutting a huge arc around the backside of our local dying mall as I've done a thousand times. Suddenly, I saw a car headed head on, and I slammed on the brakes in a panic to avoid a nasty accident... to find... nothing. The combination of high seating and gigantic, low placed rear view mirror in the Grand Prix caused the car behind me to appear as if it was coming straight on at 1 o'clock. I can only imagine what the guy behind me thought. Seriously, I hate the ergonomics of everything modern... I hate driving with a huge blind spot at 1-2 o'clock, having to duck under the rear view from time to time to ensure I'm not about to mow over a gaggle of school children.

I completely forget what vintage the Tahoe is, except that its sometime in the '90s... so if its towards the end of the '90s, I'd say new head bolts are a good idea, as GM started using those Torque-to-Yield ones... but I completely forget when that started.

Jalopnik has a Lincoln alternative... http://jalopnik.com/5852112/lincoln-monster-truck+amino+limo-wants-to-haul-your-assets

EpIII is the replacement for Alpha. ;-)

Very AMC Eagle-like... but modern.

Atlantic City has a Cafe 2825... I'm curious if it will still be here in 814 years. I'm curious if Atlantic City will be here in 814 years. Ah yes, CAFE, the solution to all. The government might as well start a CAFE for Humans, as government mandated thin people are needed for the tiny CAFE cars the government wants us to settle for.

I second this! I third it.

Its going to come here as the CAFE-inspired C7 Corvette.

I love it. Just the other day, I thought it would be interesting to make a phantom monster pickup from an older medium duty.

I'm sure GM bean counters have some EpII-based Utes on the drawing board.

Since when is the US in Europe? You stated... "In many ways, the European standards are stricter than our own" but only are only providing one example. The US has a book of regulations they use to keep cars off the market. Now, I'm sure that among Europe's various governments, there are more, but they are minor compared to our reg overload. For crying out loud the NHTSA budget is probably 10x all the other government regulatory budgets put together. All that money wasted to dictate what we can drive. GM has given us a bunch of stories about why the Zeta is not being sold to the general publish. One rumor is that it is not federalized. Another is CAFE. *Ding* *Ding* There is the government meddling... or GM hiding behind it... even though we all know better that it is a smoke screen of bull$h!.

Yeah, too bad its not domestic or GM. The folks here are bitching about a GM RWD coupe, small, medium or large, at something less than 30K that is more practical than the Camaro. Only good thing is that since GM now blindly follows Toyota's lead, this move might force them to develop light RWD coupe. I doubt it, though. Whats wrong with the flat four now? Lower center of gravity. Porsche guys love boxers. I can't believe after all the fast and furious Subarus to come out, that the flat four is suddenly a liability.

Its not being donated any more than your current taxes are being donated. Still better than the time donation jury duty is. $5 a day... are you F'ing kidding me?!?

Hess trucks after 1975-ish are not worth much at all. In fact, as much as I like them, they were rated one of the worst 9 collectables, value-wise, in a recent article. http://www.thestreet.com/story/10863800/5/5-completely-worthless-collectibles.html

Its my understanding that only certain tanks have to be replaced every ten years. As for more expensive per comparable energy rate, I have to disagree. Its being sold near me for 2.35 GGE, gasoline gallon equivalent. Even if I do lose 10% on top of that, I'm still ahead compared to 3.50 for a gallon of gas. Plus the reduced maintenance costs. In Utah, its 0.85 GGE, due to massive subsidies.