CARBIZ

You're not alone. Plenty of people don't like manual shift. We only succumb to the Madison Avenue paradise of driving with wind in our hair, enjoying the mountain twisties with a babe at our sides...the reality of stop and go traffic with a manual shift is a different experience that Madison Avenue doesn't want to show on their commercials.! I have 'heard' that since the 'new' engine will be available on more vehicles (HHR, etc.) that an automatic will be available.

Well, Avro, I drove a 1980 Mustang when they were new (I was a car jockey at a major hotel in Toronto in 1981) and I just came back from California a couple weeks ago where I rented a new Mustang convertible, and all I can say is you should be working for Consumers Reports. Your writing is about as factual and unbiased. I would concede that the interior materials are this vehicle's weak point. The cloth interior won't wear well, IMO. The handling was fine. I blasted along Mulholland Dr., and flew along hwy 15 to Vegas at 85 mph and found the cabin to be quiet and wind-noise free. If you want to use 1980's analogies, a 1985 Rabbit convertible I had some experience with 20 years ago had so much cowl shake that the front wheels would actually lift off the ground during severe cornering. Frankly, if I was in the market for a convertible I would consider this vehicle. The power was good. Handling was exemplary for a convertible. For $30k, Ford has done a good job with this vehicle. I'd rather pay that for this then a Mazda or Solstice. I hated giving this vehicle up after 4 days and 1,000 miles.

That article made me laugh, thanks for that, Rich. Only whites are racists? That's truly funny. The most racist people I have ever met are Asians, frankly. In fact, there was a big dust up a few months ago here in Ontario when a Asian student working for the Ontario government sent an email about a black job applicant to a fellow co-worker that referred to the applicant as a 'ghetto dude.' Naturally, the liberal media went crazy and went so far as demanding the government apologize. Why? The Asian female who made the remarks in her email was only a summer student, not even a full time employee. My partner plays volleyball at the local YMCA and the games usually end up with the Asians on one side and the South Americans on the other. As a true testimony to the success of multi-culturalism, both sides hurl racial slurs at each other. I had to explain to my partner (as his English was not that great until recently) that certain words were not 'allowed.' Look, by nature, we are all racists. That's a fact. As arguably the most successful 'race' in history, the 'white' Europeans have a lot to be proud of - and ashamed. Our culture seems to be that of tearing down #1, and since 'Europeans' are #1, that includes us. We in the West are at a turning point in history. Fifty years from now, what will historians look back and say about the early 21st Century? The West is under assault like at no point in the past several hundred years. Whereas it was competetion between Western nations that made the West the leader that it became, it is the moral ambiguity coming from within that shall be our undoing. We need to stop apologizing for the last 200 years and start paying attention to the next 200.

Well, to the established way of thinking (SUVs are bad/hybrids are good), melding the two creates a logic loop. They really, really want to like it, but it is a given that SUVs are bad...and, of course, if it doesn't come from Toyota is must be suspect anyway.

In most elections these days, less than half the eligible voters turn out. Nobody is asking themselves WHY. That is THE question. Voters are so disgusted and fed up with the outright lies and bull$h! during elections that most of them have simply given up. For those of you out there who have bothered to vote, how many times have you voted for the person you figure will slowest destroy your city/county/state/country? It has been a very long time since I have voted FOR someone, but rather AGAINST someone I totally disliked. The politician's agendas are hijacked right out of the gate by the media and by the interest groups. One Toronto election not too long ago was overtaken by discussions on a bridge to an island. Nobody but the downtown people living near a proposed expanded airport gave a damn, but that became all that was discussed during that election. Along with our 'victim' society and lack of accountability, I believe stupid, unenforceable laws are also contributing to this mess. Take speed laws: if 76% of the people are speeding on a particular stretch of road or highway, then in my eyes the speed limit is wrong. However, the city/county is making too much money in revenue on artificially low speed limits and refuse to raise the speed limit. Tail wagging the dog. The longer term result, IMO, is that law abiding citizens ignore laws they feel are stupid, but it is death by a thousand cuts. At what point are average people flagrantly ignoring laws they don't believe in or support? IMO, a good start would be taking a random group of citizens, pulled out of a hat, putting them in a room and having them re-write ALL the laws, starting with the Constitution, right down to local ordinances. Nothing would be sacrosanct. But then, laws are written by lawyers for lawyers, and only they can understand them. I would venture to say that there is no grey area on any issue: everything is either right or wrong, but boy, oh boy, do the waters ever get muddied once the lawyers are involved!

In most elections these days, less than half the eligible voters turn out. Nobody is asking themselves WHY. That is THE question. Voters are so disgusted and fed up with the outright lies and bull$h! during elections that most of them have simply given up. For those of you out there who have bothered to vote, how many times have you voted for the person you figure will slowest destroy your city/county/state/country? It has been a very long time since I have voted FOR someone, but rather AGAINST someone I totally disliked. The politician's agendas are hijacked right out of the gate by the media and by the interest groups. One Toronto election not too long ago was overtaken by discussions on a bridge to an island. Nobody but the downtown people living near a proposed expanded airport gave a damn, but that became all that was discussed during that election. Along with our 'victim' society and lack of accountability, I believe stupid, unenforceable laws are also contributing to this mess. Take speed laws: if 76% of the people are speeding on a particular stretch of road or highway, then in my eyes the speed limit is wrong. However, the city/county is making too much money in revenue on artificially low speed limits and refuse to raise the speed limit. Tail wagging the dog. The longer term result, IMO, is that law abiding citizens ignore laws they feel are stupid, but it is death by a thousand cuts. At what point are average people flagrantly ignoring laws they don't believe in or support? IMO, a good start would be taking a random group of citizens, pulled out of a hat, putting them in a room and having them re-write ALL the laws, starting with the Constitution, right down to local ordinances. Nothing would be sacrosanct. But then, laws are written by lawyers for lawyers, and only they can understand them. I would venture to say that there is no grey area on any issue: everything is either right or wrong, but boy, oh boy, do the waters ever get muddied once the lawyers are involved!

There is not a $6k gap in price. I don't where you get your numbers from. Comparing MSRPs is useless. All the manufacturers are manipulating the prices on this side of the border with 'incentives.' Incentives from GM can lower the actual selling price of the Impala by $4k or more. Again, get beyond the hype. Only the people with actual CASH to spend and on high end vehicles are getting any real advantages here. Nearly half the vehicles in this country are leased. I've seen figures that upwards of 90% of the vehicles aer either leased or financed - neither of which can be done in another country. Anybody that pays CASH for an Impala is a fool. Plain and simple. Lock your $30k up for 5 years and use GMAC's 0% and make $5,700 at 3.5%.

Canada has 3 major parties (with one 'regional' party that only speaks for Quebec) and this succeeded in keeping the Liberals (arguably the centralist party) in power for decades. Even now, the Conservatives are only in power as a Minority government (votes have to be propped up by support of one of the other 3 parties) and only once they adopted a more 'centralist' way of thinking. So be careful what you wish for. Many countries with 3,4 or more parties have paralyzing coalition governments - look to Israel or Japan. But in Canada, I perceive that it is the media that sets the agenda - and since the media is the product of 40 years of 'liberal' views (see my above post), only those topics deemed worthy by the media are allowed exposure in the media. For example, the recent Ontario election was hijacked by one issue: the Conservative leader goofed and actually said what he thought about the funding of religious schools. Suddenly, the entire election (and far more important issues, IMO) became a moot point as the media focused on this one subject. In all of the Toronto city elections, it is the plight of the 'homeless' and the 'poor' that becomes the focus of every election, while the fact that the city is bankrupt (from providing subsidized housing and welfare!) and the infrastructure is literally collapsing gets totally ignored. So, until free thinking is allowed on university campuses and in the media, without cries of 'racism,' 'homophobia,' 'mysogyny,' or whatever, things will continue to spiral out of control and we will continue to see our standard of living decline until eventually the 'stable' countries like the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and others collapse under the weight of their own inertia.

Wow, the Caravan is not even in the Top 20. It's, like, a different world south of the border! Ford and Toyota neck and neck!

5 mpg?

The National Post printed an excellent article on this subject yesterday in their auto section. Surprisingly, they sided with the automakers on this one. Most notably, they mentioned the fact that leases (which comprise nearly 60% of the market in this country - and a far greater chunk in the GTA!) will take a huge hit. Someone who leased their $47k Mercedes a year ago (when the dollar was still around .90) and is anticipating a buy back of $22k after 3 years will be horrified when the vehicle turns out to be only 'worth' $15k. If they have an 'open' lease, then they will have to pony up the difference; if the lease is 'closed,' then the leasing company will take the hit. You can bet they will recoup their losses somewhere. Everyone is so obsessed with the CASH customer, but they represent such a tiny portion of the market and only high end vehicles are effected. Financial institutions simply will not loan money for a car loan purchased in the U.S. And as the National Post points out, nobody was bitching when 5 years ago the Canadian consumer was paying far less than their American cousins and vehicles were flooding over the border south. Nobody expects the dollar to stay at $1.04. Manufacturers simply cannot adjust their prices for every point swing of the dollars - the administration of that would be ludicrous. From where I sit, this is nothing more than a bunch of fat cats whining about being deprived of their 'right' to this or their 'right' to that. As with everything wrong with our society, everyone is aware of their 'rights', but not their 'responsibilities.' The 'rich' always off-shore their money while the rest of us have to pay the bills.

No, sir, it's the cost of doing business in Canada, for GM, Sanyo and everybody. This is a big country, transportation costs, marketing costs, health care (which ain't 'free' at all) and - my personal favorite: you'd be surprised at what the difference of 5 degrees celsius makes in energy costs for a company doing business in Canada, versus the U.S. But, yeah, it's a free country. Take your money elsewhere. Just don't go bitching on some board somewhere when YOUR job is gone because everyone went somewhere else. Or maybe you're lucky enough to have a job that isn't effected by the political whims of our economy. Lucky you.

For once, I am agreeing with GM on this one: do nothing. It is clear that the Tundra is only for Posers.. Period. Let the cycle of import humpers flock to the Tundra, see how inadequate it really is, then the tide will ebb back. We know GM and Ford 'own' the truck market. Japan Inc. has been trying for 12 years to break the iron grip and failed. GM (and Ford) now need to focus their energies on the car market, which they allowed Japan Inc. to dominate.

If that were true, Life would not exist. The Sun exists because it 'burns' hydrogen into helium. Of course, unless someone invents 'cold fusion' pretty soon, its unlikely that the temperatures required to burn hydrogen in an automobile will be practical anytime soon.

The pendulum has swung too far the 'other' way, I am afraid. After centuries of repression, the floodgates began to open in the '30s (Germany) and then spread to the rest of the West. Lots of good came from all of this: the Women's Right to Vote, Black Civil Rights, Gay Civil Rights....but after 40 some-odd years of 'liberal' education, there are 4 pilars of education that cannot be assailed: Relativism: All 'truths; are fluid and relative, except of course, Relativisim which is Absolute. Feminism: Men are evil creatures and must be kept down. Post-Colonialism: the West is responsible for ALL the world's problems. Period. Multi-culturalism: culture always trumps over civilization. Try disputing any of these four pillars on any university campus today and see what happens.

Frivolous. Non-citizens have no status. It's like complaining that a Canadian shouldn't be refused entry into the U.S. for having a criminal record. HELLO - it's a different country down there. What I don't understand with all of these accusations of 'price fixing' and anti-competitive conspiracies is that it strikes me that a bunch of slap happy lawyers are just jumping on the bandwagon here. Where is it written (perhaps the 11th Commandment?) that it is a consumer's God-given right to buy a certain product? If you're not happy with the prices of, say, a Nike runner and suspect they are 'price fixing,' then buy an Adidas. Sheesh. Seriously, where does all this end? Hey, maybe I should sue because no one will sell me a penthouse over-looking Central Park at a price I want to pay!

I'm glad I voted before I had a chance to read the accompanying articles below the vote. I had to reach for my smelling salts. GASP! First, CR admits they have been giving a free pass and now another major media outlet admits that analysts may have been o'r hasty in declaring Toyota #1 in sales. Of course, NOW Toyota has no comment. What is the world coming to? Toyota is going to have to increase the amounts it pays these people.

A little harsh perhaps, but nonetheless fairly accurate. Frankly, all forms of business are pyramid schemes of one sort or the other. Since there are literally millions of sq miles of uninhabited land (except maybe on Manhattan!) in the U.S. and Canada, most real estate appreciation is artificial. Like gerbils, we climb on that little plastic wheel and run like crazy, hoping to get ahead at some point in our lives. We are brainwashed from near birth that growth is good and consumerism is a God-given right. Malthus was perhaps off by a few decades, but rampant growth cannot remain unchecked forever. How big does the base of the pyramid have to get before it covers the Earth? As to whatever happened to saving up to buying something - that went out of fashion with hand-wringer washers and single bathroom homes. Just look at what our grandparents had available to them to spend their money on and look at what we have available to us - and like pushers, TV and the media tell us we all gotta have it!

GOOD POINTS. The fact that Toyota is ramping up their mighty PR machine AGAINST the Volt tells me all I need to know.

AGAIN, nobody was complaining when Tahoes and Suburbans were $5-10k cheaper in Canada, which only 5 years ago they were. We used to have to check a GM website with a list of known exporters if someone wanted to pay cash for those high demand vehicles because GM was offsetting the true costs when the $C was .65. The lawyers are being very disingenuous here: by the time (if) the case goes to Court, the market will have normalized prices. Dealers cannot be held responsible because they are only following their franchise Agreements. The case is frivolous and will be bounced. Here's why: If, for example, police raid a 'cat house' and arrest 10 'patrons' as 'found-ins' and then arrest the 'workers' as 'keepers,' no Judge can hold trials for any of the 'found-ins' until it has been proven in Court that the 'keepers' were keeping a bawdy house. Sometimes the law makes sense. Only the lawyers benefit in these cases and, of course, the media sells more papers (or advertising space on websites that pop up) while they whip up this new Cause-of-the-Month.

Except for the persistent rumors that Mitsu may be pulling out of North America and Mitsu's perennial occupation of the lower rungs of the quality rankings, yeah, that's a great idea - buy the Lancer! I do agree, however, that the Cobalt needs a major facelift. We were just contemplating the Chevy line up last night (a slow night) and realized that other than the Malibu, there is nothing cheering coming any time soon. The Optra line up has been summarily dumped from '08. That's great, considering I just bought one 3 months ago and even researched the '08s to make sure there were no major changes coming. I'm not impressed about that. As usual, all the good news is over at Saturn these days. Chevrolet is getting slaughtered in Toronto. Good thing I may be making a switch to Saturn very soon! :AH-HA_wink:

Well, it had to end at some point. This 'consumer-driven' growth spurt of the past few years has been built on people's cashing in equity on their homes and spending. Since so many of our jobs have been off-shored, it has only been the money managers and paper pushers who have been making money these past few years. As I have time and time again pointed out, Wallstreet generates nothing other than paper wealth. Pundits laugh at the plight of the 'fly-over'' States, but it is those hobbled states that built the U.S. Now that they are a shambles, who is left to generate the jobs for the next cycle? I know of several people who are leveraged to death, literally. They bought second and third homes to rent out, fooled by all the 'cheap' money. Since both Canada and the U.S. have gone from nations of net 'savers' to net 'borrowers,' where do you think all this 'cheap' money has been coming from this past several years?

Also glossed over in the rush to earn Toyota's paycheck is the fact that the upcoming GMT900s have the potential to actually DO something on the market. Let's face it, the brocolli-eating-tree-huggers that buy the Prius would normally be driving a Camry anyway, rarely travel over the speed limit, and only use their vehicles to go to Sierra Club meetings and Save the Whale conventions - so what are the true benefits to the environment from those consumers? However, those who actually use their gas guzzling SUVs for work have the potential to save a lot of fuel and exhaust emissions. For example, a pick up truck that travels 50,000 miles per year and will save 10 mpg will save more fuel in one year than two or three Priuses. As we've beaten to death on C&G, the cost to benefit ratio of a 4 cyl Camry versus Prius (let alone a 4 cyl Malibu to Prius!) makes the expense hardly worth it. I venture to say that contractors and farmers stand to benefit a lot more by the switch to hybrid SUVs and pickups from GM - if they migrate enmasse to hybrid trucks from GM the benefit to the environment will be astronomical. But this is all hypothetical at this point. I anxiously await the New York Times' and others new spin once GM's hybrids take off. How will they attack Detroit then?

GM has 10 years and tens of millions tied up in OnStar. Next year, it will be standard on everything. So will XM radio, which GM also owns a chunk of. In the lower priced vehicles (like the base Civic and Mazda 3) DVD Nav systems are not even offered; whereas, OnStar can be had in the Cobalt, if the owner so chooses. iPod has made MP3 players popular because iPod is very portable and simple to use - even old farts like me can figure it out. I am not adverse to technology - I foolishly forked over $300 4 years ago to buy an MPIO player and it was a nightmare to download to and use, especially with a lousy 256mb internal memory. (The salesman misled me by telling me it would be a mb a song; rather it turned out to be a mb a minute!) If anything, the market's convergence of technologies is getting silly: for example, who needs XM, an iPod input, and an MP3 capable 6-pk in-dash Cd changer, as in the Equinox? People will gravitate to one or the other. Since I got my portable XM 2 years ago (and now have 2 XM units - in my house and car), I don't use Cds at all, and although I was using my iPod at the gym, I barely bother with that anymore either. I have 3 digital cameras, if you include the one in my phone, yet I forgot to take a picture at the accident scene when a dumb chick turned into my new car 6 weeks ago! GM offers DVD nav systems in their high end vehicles because the posers demand it. The dirty secret out there is that most people don't use their nav systems after the first year. After all, you don't need them for the morning commute and unless you have the DVD for the city you're travelling to, they aren't much use their either. A $2k upgrade in a $30k car is easier to justify than a $2k upgrade in a $15k car, wouldn't you agree? Besides, if you are upside down in a ditch, OnStar can call the paramedics, talk to you to keep you out of a coma AND tell the paramedics how many impacts your car sustained (due to multiple sensors in the vehicle.) None of that is available in anybody else's vehicle. PERIOD. Let's stop criticizing GM for the stuff that doesn't matter (like this topic) and save it for the areas that do matter - like why does the Silverado still have a 4 spd auto?

It's a good thing they didn't actually get him to say anything or try to ACT!