CARBIZ

GM has started charging the dealers for them, so expect them to be locked in the company vault. The freebies are the tri-fold paper ones we print off Infonet. The $5 ones are the full color brochures..........

None of these cars are going to win a beauty contest, but the redesigned Aveo sedan actually looks pretty good, inside especially. The upgrade to the interior materials was pretty decent. Having driven many Aveos, my only real complaint is the automatic slushbox - which isn't GM's and you can tell by the way it shifts. Gas mileage is a bit disappointing, but then I drive hard and that isn't the way these things are intended to be driven. None of these vehicles are rockets, but then anybody used to a V-6 is going to hate this segment anyway. The market is just becoming way too fragmented. Nothing stands out. And speaking of late to the party: where is Ford or Chrysler in this pageant? Considering GM never took this segment seriously, the Aveo was a pretty decent first try. (Unless you count the Metro, and I don't - although I have come across a few Metro owners who love their bullet-proof beasts.) Japan Inc has had a 30 year jump on this segment - they are the ones who should be ashamed. Their entries should be better: sheltered currency, sheltered home market, $2 a litre petrol for the past 30 years as a home incentive, and THIS IS THE BEST THEY CAN COME UP WITH?

Clubs/bars are truly for the young. I went to my first club in 1978 when I was 17. I still go occasionally, but even though I look much younger than I am (especially in age friendly lighting!), I don't want to end up one of those sad old farts dancing alone in the corner. As we get older, we get more 'set in our ways' and meeting new people becomes harder. Additionally, under the category of 'been there, done that,' it becomes increasingly difficult to get new kicks. When I was briefly single ( 6 years ago) and realized I was attactive to the 22-25 set , I realized I grew tired of their naivete and I envied their exuberance. As a place to dance, I still enjoy the clubs, but I am not much of a drinker so I tend to steer clear of the bars. I, too, find it difficult to meet/make friends. I am 'out' at work, but let's face it, for the most part we have vastly different outlooks on life. For example, when at the Detroit Auto Show with a few of them 2 years ago, I actually wanted to look at the cars, while all they wanted to do was look at the babes. I have been blessed with the ability to make long term partners very easily; it's just that when I was younger, previous partners scared off my crop of friends and it has become harder to make new ones. I think when you are in your twenties, meeting new people is easier: everyone is less jaded and more 'starry-eyed.' Later in life, straight people become absorbed in their kids and disappointments (often the same thing) and gay people become, well, more self-absorbed. Ever wonder why so many older gay men become involved in S&M or 'kink?' BOREDOM. I've watched many of my gay friends succumb to the leather scene, military kink or whatever. Personally, I think it is just an excuse to get fat and let oneself go. Twenty years ago, fat and hairy was called fat and hairy - now they are called 'bears.' Still, life is what you make of it. If you are determined to stand around in a club and be bored, then you will be. I have a friend who is a perpetual bachelor and, frankly, nothing to look at, but he is never alone. He loves the bars and clubs, has a wide circle of acquaintences and is aggressive to the point of scary when it comes to landing new partners for the night. There is no way he will ever find a life partner now, because he has grown to used to being alone, but for the time being he is happy, so kudos to him.

The trouble with most cars of the late '70s/'80s variety is that the explosion of plastics at a time when plastic was only meant to reduce costs/weight and not actually improve the vehicle. We ended up with cheap dashboards that warped, cracked and made noises within a couple years of new. It will be hard to collect disposable cars like that. I picked up on Joseph White's remarks about people buying what they remember when they grew up, and then he remarked that he should have kept his '82 Toyota Starlet. I hate to gloat when I am right, BUT I AM RIGHT. We are victims of what we grew up with, and here is another graduate of liberal-arts education, who grew up with a Toyota at a time when only freaks and hippies bought Toyotas, so where do you think his biases are? I hope this guy doesn't write on other auto-related topics. I wonder if he works for Consumers Union?

I go away for the weekend and the wheels fell off the cart again! First (disclaimer) I am biased, of course. Secondly, has GM learned nothing about all this name changing and brand swapping? Japan Inc. has no panache with their names. ZERO. Names like the Impala, GTO, El Camino do have panache. GM needs to stop out-Japanesing the Japanese and keeping legacy names would be one way to do that. I am not sure too many people out there would remember who sold the El Camino 25 years ago, but they would remember the name, I suspect. Thirdly, the SSR did not sell - why would it be thought the El Camino would? Sure the SSR was over-priced and horrid on gas, but it is a niche market at best - and it only sold 50-60k units per year in a time BEFORE SUVs and in a time when coupes still sold well. If anything, GM should put the El-Camino on the Impala platform and keep it cheap. If it has any hope of selling in North America (and pray gasoline never hits $5 a gallon before of when this thing hits the market) it will have to be a cheap alternative that 25 year olds can afford to buy because insurance will be expensive. I would have bought this thing 25 years ago (see the Dodge Rampage that I did own) if I could have afforded it. I look to the Chevy Montana in Brazil as inspiration, frankly. It sells there because it is cheap to buy and cheap to drive. Lots of people came to LOOK at the SSR, they just laughed at the price ($70k in Canada) and left. And, fourth, whatever GM does: don't give the damned thing to 3 brands and sit back to watch the fireworks. Dealers cutting each other's throats to give the vehicle away is not going to benefit anyone. If Chevrolet is to be the global name, I don't see how certain brands (and I'll stay off that debate just now) are going to survive if (when?) GM's share hits 20% in North America. I think we are just belaboring the agony by entertaining Saturn and Pontiac.

I miss my '91 Caprice wagon, too: American Racing wheels, I had the windows darkened, I could sleep in the back, tow my boat, take my canoe anywhere. But it got 23 mpg on a good day, and although kids would love to sit in the 3rd row and 'see where we've been,' it really wasn't the safest place for them. Except for the towing bit, a '91 Grand Caravan would have been fine - and better on gas. However, on looks alone, I will grant that my Caprice looked better. (I"ll post pics later to prove that.)

Personally, I am entirely sick of the entire 'truck' thing. Madison Avenue has run its course in convincing us that big, gas guzzling SUVs are what we need and killed off the image of the minivan, but the truth is that a family of 5 or 6 needs something other than a Malibu or Accord when it comes to long trips. Safety factors have killed off the large sedan as the preferred family hauler. We would routinely pile 4 or 5 kids in the back seat of my parents big Chryslers and Pontiacs - but that was 35 years ago, before seatbelt legislation, etc. Three rows are mandatory for a large family today. A cross-over if you must; a minivan is better.

It's on my list. I think I will watch that and An Inconvenient Truth as a double bill, then gouge my eyes out and hurl myself in front of a bus.

A lot of one's viewpoint as to whether to 'come out' or not depends a lot on whether it is thought that the only difference between a 'gay' person and a 'straight' person is which sex they are attracted to. I do not believe that is true. Due to the realization (often at an early age) that a gay self is 'different,' that person develops certain senses and sensibilities that 'straight' youth do not. I used to believe that being gay is no different than being straight, but I no longer believe that. I noticed that when I was in my early 20s, my attitudes, outlook and goals were the same as my straight friends, but as I grew older, they diverged. They got married, they had mortgages, they had kids. I did not. In some respects, gay people do not need to grow up. And therein lies the problem with parents: a 25 year old gay son can get away with a clandestine life of carousing and partying, but try that at 40. Parents may not think their child is gay, but will begin wondering why that person hasn't 'settled down.' To many parents, that is the ultimate failure: no marriage, no grandkids. There is more to me than just being a gay person; however, my viewpoints were greatly enhanced (IMO) by looking at the world from without, not from within. That is why many of the greatest artists, writers, etc. of all time are or were gay. They can see society from the outside. While my fellow students were worrying about the Prom, I was paying rent and living with another man. I personally do not believe it is possible to have an honest and loving relationship with close family members, if one is hiding one of the largest facets of one's life. I am not passing judgement on any other individual's decision to live closeted or not, but I have always held the belief of : "F$#k 'em if they can't take a joke." It certainly is not easy to come out to one's family, but family is held the most dear in our culture and it should be unconditional. I worked on a peer counselling line for youth many years ago, and I always found it to be very difficult to empathise with young people (often in their mid-twenties) who were wrestling with their sexuality, because for me there never was any doubt who I was - not even as a 15 year old, standing up to my bigoted father and my confused mother. Perhaps it was one part pride and one part defiance, but my inner voice has, for the most part, held me together through some pretty tough times. Honesty is the best policy. Always. Nobody can ever, ever fault a person for being honest.

Family relationships are extremely complex. There were three things that made my mother come around, about 3 years after my parents found out I was gay: 1) Her boss at an electrical contracting firm thought it was no big deal that she had a gay son. (This was circa 1980) 2) She met my boyfriend and actually liked him. 3) When I turned 18, she realized that she had given birth to me at 18, and she figured that since she thought she knew what she was doing at 18, then so must I. A remark that she made to me a couple years after she 'accepted' my being gay still resounds with me today. She said: "Most of my friends and associates cannot handle their own sexuality, so how would you expect my generation to accept yours?" I should point out that my mother just turned 65 this year, so she really isn't that old. She would have been about 38 or 39 when she made the remark. Her 'generation' grew up with Elvis and the Pill, so perhaps she is somewhat more liberated that most parents of people my age.

So why don't you go to Hawaii to get your vehicle serviced? Some loyalty!

You're in New Jersey: not exacty the land of sun and heat. You would be better to hold off until March, if you can. Catch the Spring market. Anyone in your neck of the woods buying a convertible this time of year will be looking for a deal. Put it up on blocks, put it in a garage and reduce the insurance, if feasible.

This is what I call camping.

I hope all of this can be resolved in a timely and professional manner, but I am not optimistic. The Chinese treat each other badly and 'foreigners' worse. Gone are the days of the 'polite Chinaman.' Whether it was Communism, decades of intractible poverty, or just a general inferiority complex, the New Asia has fangs. The amount of bootlegged Cds, movies, books and other products in any city's Chinatown is shocking. In general, they have little or no respect for the rule of law - especially if it is someone else's law. Ever try to drive in China? Road signs are mere SUGGESTIONS. In business, they are always looking for ways to cut corners and screw each other. A friend of mine sold his video store operation to a Chinese family for quite a sum of money. Part of the deal was that he would stick around for a month to 'advise' them. After the deal concluded (and he was damned lucky he held out for cash), the proud new owners wanted to see the 'real' books. My friend was confused at first, and insisted that they had seen the 'real' books. The new owners were angry and wanted out of the deal. They had paid a half million dollars for the business, expecting that there was an abundance of unreported sales. One of the first things they wanted to do was rip out the point of sale computer system so there would be no paper trail. I, too, was in the video business at the time, and witnessed my friend trying to explain to these people that it is extremely important to have a computer to track the customers and where they are with your movies! Ever walk into these 'grey market' electronics shops? Toronto's Yonge St is polluted with them. Same idea. Good luck with any kind of warranty or return policy. We in the West are being hoodwinked. Part of the problem is that these countries we are dealing with are closed to foreigners, so we cannot truly understand them. We are getting our information second and third hand, either from transplanted nationals or by Westerners who live over there for a few years and think they understand the culture. I am afraid, deeply afraid we are in for a rude awakening. The latest Sino-Russian military maneuvers on Russian soil are only just the beginning.

That is a good motto to live by in any line of work. Praise a business when they do good work and advise them nicely when they screw up. Life was so much better when customers were about relationship building and not just another number. The customer also has to remember that when there is an issue, do not immediately get all huffy and demanding. I've had a lot of concerns with my cable/internet provider recently (like the $300 a month bill!) and found one phone rep who spent a lot of time with me and together we whittled about $50 a month off my bill. I also had a scare with an unpaid speeding ticket and responded to it immediately, getting heaps of help from the Justice of the Peace and Crown Attorney just by being pleasant and honest. Getting all snotty and demanding only makes the person you are dealing with get snotty and intransigent back.

More and more, I am beginning to realize that 65 is the new 50 and 50 is the new 40, and so on. We can all think back to our grandparents and how OLD they seemed, yet I know many people in their 60s who still ski, hike and keep active. So why not bump their rubber parts together, too? Makes me want to find out where Viagra and Cialis are listed so I can add them to my stock portfolio.............

So, what kind of camping do you do, Ocn? There are two gay campgrounds south of Toronto: Cedars, about an hour's drive from downtown (traffic Gods willing) and Turkey Point on Lake Erie - a lot further drive. I used to go to Cedars a lot. My ex and I were fixtures there. It is a bit rustic: no power in the trailers, sites, etc. and the lesbians run the swimming pool, but the dances at the renovated barn are legendary. People from all over come just for the Saturday night dances on the long weekends. Turkey Point is mostly men, has a clothing optional beach and a lot raunchier, so I've been told. I've never been. I've kind of grown out of sleeping on the ground. Personally, I mostly go to those type of campgrounds to party, party, party. I was spoiled by the years I had my power boat and I used to cruise the 30,000 Islands on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay - lot of isolated, lonely islands to moor to and be alone with a couple friends: that was real camping with nobody around for miles.

It is a tightrope, to be sure. A Fixed Operations manager is always trying to find a balance. To cut costs (keep the General Manager happy), they can trim employees, reduce pay plans, cut the frills, but then the service level drops. Initially, they may see the loss of senior staff as a good thing (to the bottom line), but eventually that comes to haunt them as customers complaints/dissatisfaction escalates. 'Loaners,' 'free' car washes, shuttle service, free coffee - all of these things cost money, guys. A good service advisor is worth their weight in gold, but then I've seen a good advisor burn out while trying to pick up the slack of the other, less experienced ones. But above all else, I believe it is lack of communication that is the key. Either the person behind the counter is too busy, too tired or just pissed off (heaven knows what crap just went on at the last meeting!) to take the time to explain what is going on. I have worked in retail most of my adult life in one form or the other and I can categorically state that honesty and integrity, for both the customer and representative, is going down hill. Not to mention that in all professions today the pressures just to keep abreast of new developments are enormous. Just as one example, managers can get 200 emails a day from all levels at GM - and the must be dealt with in some fashion. Every department at GM has their own goals and agendas, so between listening to customer's life stories, being berated by the manager, baby sitting the lot attendants and re-reading the 5th revision to a 'home office letter,' your service advisor just may be at the end of his/her rope. I got out of management because I was tired of having customers' lies and fabrications going over my head, and my decisions being overturned. It was just not worth the money or my time. A good manager at a dealership is one who can hold irate customer's hands, appease competitive or incompetent technicians/sales people AND manage the tantrums coming from the dealer principle - all without giving into drug addiction, depression or suicide.

I can only suppose that it must get 'harder' to come out to your parents (or not to, as the case may be) as one gets older. I am fortunate that I was mistakenly outed when I was 15 (coincidentally over a camping trip I had taken with a friend, also 15, that I had a terrible crush on) so the pain and aggravation was over at an early age. Your parents may surprise you. My dad was the inspiration for Archie Bunker. He hated Jews (his girlfriend was Jewish ), he hated blacks (his favorite sister-in-law was black), in fact he 'hated' everyone equally. Most of all, he had nothing good to say about 'fags.' It took him a couple years, but he came around. My folks separated when I was 6, but they pretty much found out at the same time. At the time (remember, I was 15 and this was 1976), my parents were determined to change me. My mother thought it was just a phase. She came around sooner than he did. I would bet your parents have an inkling. Is there no close sibling, cousin or someone you can 'come out' too to help you break the ice, or suggest a course of action? For my mother, the breakthrough was meeting my boyfriend socially. We had been living together for nearly a year (he was 19; I was 17 - I was into older men then) and she wanted to see 'our' place. Although uncomfortable as hell, the first meeting went okay. My mother confided in her boss that she did not know what to do, and he set her 'straight,' saying that it was no big deal who I slept with. Eventually, my mother grew very fond of Bob and was quite devastated when we broke up after 5 years. Bob helped her to realize that gay people are not perverts. In fact, we used the same tactics on his parents: they met me socially as his friend, and then he told them I was his BF. In the end, your parents will be shocked, but wouldn't it suck if they were more upset that you had lied to them all these years, rather than tell them? That was the reaction I had at my current job where, after about 2 years, I came out to my co-workers. Many of them were pissed that I had misled them all those years.

And once again we see that GM 'gets it' in other markets, but keeps foisting mediocre crap on the rest of us. If they are building it there, then why do they not import it here? Like, yesterday!

Country roads? The main highway connecting Jaoa Passoa (a city of about a half million people on the north coast) with Recife ( a city of about 3 million), to the south, is one of the worst highways I've ever been on! Two lanes. The truck traffic was awful. Potholes. An unpaved shoulder. And they don't have to deal with frost! But then Recife is the only Brazilian city I have been in so far (and I've been to several) that I would call a disappointment. It's downtown was dirty, run down and kinda scary at sunset. (Not unlike Buffalo ) In the Sao Paulo area, the roads are amazing. The way they stack their highways, tunnel them and have two or three subway lines criss-cross each other is astounding. Makes me just laugh when Toronto calls itself 'World Class."

The one at The Source was a KitchenAid, but it did not have a stamp anywhere that I could see as to where it was manufactured. I know KitchenAid is an American company, but so many American and Canadian companies have outsourced their manufacturing base. An air conditioner I saw at Future Shop a few months ago was from some American company and said New York, New York, but when I looked closer, it said: Manufactured in POC. Very damned clever: POC (People's Republic of China.) I am not taking any chances after my Betty Crocker blender died after 3 years. My mother's blender before that was an Oster and she got it in '71 or '72 before giving it to me in '80 or '81. The only reason that one died is because of an idiot ex-roommate of mine putting the blades in the dishwasher and frying the bearings.

I truly hope that the mandarins in the RenCen are pouring over this article and doing their own comparisons. The upcoming launch of the Malibu had better be flawless. I want to see C&D to a comparison six months from now and have the Malibu WIN. GM needs that kind of a break to stop the unerring assault of Japan Inc.

I took their headline error ('truted' instead of 'trusted') to be another slam at CU - perhaps the spellchecker TopSpeed uses was a 'best buy' of Consumer's Reports?

I still have not been able to find a blender that is NOT made in China. Everything at Wal-Mart is made in China. I was at Radio Shack (well, it used to be called Radio Shack - now it is The Source ) and found a KitchenAid blender. It looked solid. It was $80 (about $25 higher than the Black & Decker crap at Wal-Mart), but I could not find where it was made anywhere on it or the box. Of course, no clerks in sight. My BF got bored and wandered off. We'll go back again. I don't care if I have to pay DOUBLE, I will keep looking until I find a blender made anywhere else - since my Made in China POS stopped working after 3 years. What kind of a deal is that? And we were looking at shoes in 3 shoe stores yesterday, too. All of them were made in China. Would somebody please explain to me how the hell that benefits me? All of those damned jobs used to be here. Thousands upon thousands of them. Bata Shoes is a Canadian company. Where the hell are they now? Their headquarters (at Don Mills and Eglinton) is soon to be a mosque. NOW THERE IS A SIGN OF THE TIMES.