CARBIZ

I have to admit I was a little nervous about Vista when I got it, but so far even most of my older programs have been forward compatible. The new HP printer I got with my system ($29 - the ink is worth more than that!) came with a notice about Vista. After a 25 minute download from HP via highspeed internet, my new printer was working flawlessly, too. I wasted $80 by buying Nero to manage files, copy DVDs, etc, and I now realize Vista probably would have done that fine without spending the extra money. Having had computers since '87, I can definitely see a trend in that each generation is making it harder and harder to remain "underground." I"ve never had time or patience for illegal softwared, but with Vista it looks like MS has advanced to the point where only the hackers can get away with it.

Both technologies are expensive in up front and maintenance costs, with respect to conventional gasoline engines; however, diesels are proven and do offer long term benefits for HIGH MILEAGE consumers. Hybrids are tempermental and (so far) are only competitive when propped up with extensive government rebates.

Are those window shades power, or are they manual?

Perhaps GM is just being smart (and proactive for a change) in hedging their bets with emerging technologies. A vehicle like the Volt, for example, which will carry a premium of $10k+, would be perfect in "rich" markets like North America and Europe; whereas diesel technologies are better for "emerging" markets, like Brazil, India, etc. that don't have as stringent emissions standards. I think we may be on the edge of a fuel efficiency race that will eclipse the late '70s. It will be interesting to see which technology wins out.

I bought a new HP Pavilion notebook a month ago, pre-loaded with Vista. I bought everything from the same company and MS, including MS' new 1Care system (firewall, anti-viral, etc.) Future Shop loaded everything. No illegal copies on my computer. The transfer from my old XP computer went flawlessly. So far, Vista just seems prettier than XP. Whereas XP was designed to cope with digital pictures (which were emerging at the time XP was released), Vista is designed to handle DVD burning and movie making, which is now emerging as the next big thing. That's it. I don't find anything that much better or easier. Having a newer version of Word, Excel and Powerpoint is neat, but not earthshattering. So far, so good. My notebook has 2 gig of RAM and AMD duo core processors and it rocks.

Any leader who actually speaks his/her mind will get run out of town, to put it simply. It's govern by opinion poll. That isn't leadership, that is following. And the lobbyists hijack the agenda every election. It is never about issues that really matter, but about who can drum up enough support for their whack-job policy.

Take any full-sized American car from the '60s and they had HUGE overhangs, but in most cases the effect worked very well. Of course, in many cases the front over hang was just air - open the hood on any big Buick, Olds, Chrysler, Mercury of the era and there is quite a bit of space from the fan shroud/radiator to the actual bumper! BTW, Citreon has some very nice models. When I was in southern Brazil (where the money is) I saw a lot of Citreons, Renaults and Peugeots that were quite nice. I'd take that over the sea of boring Lexi and BMWs that I see here.

www.notgonnahappen.com Gas prices are holding steady at $4 an American gallon here. NO way they will drop the prices during the summer driving season. We've not budged off the $4-4.25 since January when it had dipped to about $3.75. Thank God the Canadian $ is at .95 U.S., or we would be paying about $6 a gallon, compared to our dollar 4 years ago, since oil to the barrel is pegged in U.S. dollars.

They are going to have to put the cart before the horse. As the P-B-GMC brands are merged, the dealers that remain should be more successful and will be able to afford the renovations and upgrades to compete. I have seen a lot of older GM dealers in old buildings that were in a great location; whereas a lot of import stores are in great buildings but are confined to the fringe areas and not as nice locations. A bit of a trade off there, I think. This is the challenge for GM and it is going to be a painful process. This is not unlike the battle between the "mom and pop" video stores that built the video rental business in the late '70s and early '80s with the giants that later started wiping them out. I witnessed that evolution, too.

Tell me: what would YOU be driving if gas was 2.36 a litre? That's about $9.44 an American gallon. Nont an Intrepid, I would imagine. I've been to Brazil twice in the past 4 years. First time for a month, second time for 2 1/2 weeks. I travelled to about a dozen different cities. The Fiats, Chevies and small Fords are everywhere. Like 90% of the vehicles are stick shift. Most cars have a/c, but no power steering. I saw newspaper ads for Celtas at $R19,000 new. How about a 2 year old USED Omega (Catera) for $R59,000. Our rich friends down their have an Astra: the one guy is a doctor and his boyfriend is a dentist. Even the buses are manual shift! There are actually a lot of cute, fun to drive vehicles in Brazil. The Chevy Montana ( a small pick up ) is one of them, but like most "emerging markets" the bus/subway system is simply amazing and most people don't have a car. Ethanol is everywhere. Brazil is on the right track, IMO. They now are self-sufficient in oil. They are one of the fastest growing auto markets in the world right now. And they've done all of that without CAFE.

I think anyone who wants to run for office should automatically be disqualified. All offices should be filled by lottery. Every citizen, over 18 years of age with no criminal record (okay, let me rephrase that - with no reasonable criminal record) who can pass a basic aptitude test would have their name put in the lottery. I honestly cannot see how that method could produce any worse governments than we have now. The politicking, the prostitution of everything that is good and honest, the sheer amount of total bull$h!..........ARGH! I NEED A DRINK!

Politicians don't run the show: the self-interest groups and lobbyists do. They hijack the agenda and the real issues never get discussed. Every municipal election for Toronto, the "poverty industry" rallyes for more homes for the "homeless" , increases to the minimum wage and more money for welfare, while Toronto spirals into a cesspool of crime, traffic gridlock and bankruptcy. Municipal politics are the worst, but do you notice how it seems to be the same issues that get beaten to death during elections, but the "meaty" stuff gets ignored?

[sigh] Another case of the deal is more important than the vehicle.

Be very careful, sirs. I used to be very careful with the use of my middle finger and horn, until about a year ago when a nutjob in a Hyundai chased me, lept from his car and caved the side of my car in with his foot. There are a lot of nut cases out there today, and many of them a stressed to hell with out over-crowded roads and highways. You never know when that idiot who cut you off has a tire iron under his seat - or a gun!

Try living in downtown Toronto where Council has never met a 50 storey condo it didn't like. I am surrounded by construction sites. The side street where I have to exit and enter my garage is choked with cement mixers and dump trucks. They do acrobats in the middle of the street and sit idling at 6:30 in the morning - 6 days a week! Did I mention the dust? My father used to be a trucker, but that was in a kinder, gentler time.

1. I did not see Rosie O'Donnell on TV today. 2. I got 4 out of 5 green lights between my house and the expressway this morning. 3. The Pan-American games start on Friday in Rio (well, my partner is excited, anyway!) 4. CR actually had some good things to say about a couple GM vehicles. 5. Cute neighbor said hi to me in the elevator today (okay, I'm "married", so that is actually bad news) 6. I did not go golfing with the guys from work today (if you've seen me golf, you would know that is VERY GOOD news.) 7. The General Manager actually said hi to me today. 8. Anorexic Receptionist only took 14 smoke breaks before noon (and I only had to relieve her 5 of those times.) 9. I did not want to beat the computer at work today. 10.Only one telemarketer rang me up on my land line. See, life is good...............

....or could they be hampered by union contracts and commitments to keep the engine plant where the 3.8 is made open? Just wondering. I am sure a lot of GM's plans are tainted by the prospect of antagonizing contract commitments. I was surprised to see the 3.8 in the Buick and not the Impala, but how many fires can Lutz & Co. put out at once?

I think the State Department should move the Passport office to China. There are several benefits, really. 1) Cheaper, of course. 2) No pesky labor unions, health and safety standards, etc. to deal with 3) Wal-Mart can distribute them. 4) Any manager failing production quotas can simply be executed. The backlog would be caught up in a couple weeks, not September.

It's not just restricted to the print media. I despair at watching TV these days. Instead of having 12 channels of decent programming (like in the '70s), I now have 200 channels of CRAP. Thank God for the remote. If I had to get up to change the channel in the futile search for something decent to watch, I would like like a triathalon athlete! News stories are becoming sillier, and more pathetic. Ditto for business news. A slow copy day? Go to the boss with another bad news story to write about GM. Guaranteed to get approved, easy to research and I can go back to touching up my resume or doing my nails.

........and we all know how well that short-lived technology stood up to the elements outside California and Florida!

...........well, why the hell not, my other half won't mind, and my family does have a divorce lawyer on retainer.

Another victory for Japan Inc.

I was banned from the Excited States for a few years back in the late '80s. I had the misfortune of getting caught with 3 joints in my jacket pocket in my BF's cigarette pack - and my jacket was casually thrown over the back of my seat in my pick up, while we passed from Saskatchewan into North Dakota back in '84. The Sherrif "misinformed" me that possession was only a misdemeanor in that State, like a parking ticket. He even said if I was pulled over for a speeding ticket in Florida it wouldn't show on their computer. I was given the choice of a $300 fine and plead guilty, or post a $300 bond and then fly back a few weeks later to appear in court. Some choice. Ah, but "importation" is a Federal offense, and U.S. Customs slapped me with an "undesireable alien" order and booted me back across the border. I tried unsuccessfully to cross the border over the next 2 or 3 years, but then one day in Buffalo, they checked me over and let me go. Wierd. I've never had a problem crossing since 1990 or so. A lawyer I talked to when I got back said if I'd crossed at Buffalo or Detroit, they would've just flushed the joints in the toilet and sent me on my way. I probably made front page news in that small town in North Dakota! They weren't even my joints!!!!

And GM is #1 in Brazil, too, which is considered by many economists to be one of the 3 best places to be for a car manufacturer over the coming years. What makes me get crazy in these "GM-versus-the-World" pieces is that Japanese apologists either discount or ignore the sheer overwhelming push that Toyota, Honda and others have made in the North American market of late. They are not trying the same push in either Europe, South America - or their own backyard. We can debate whether GM builds crap or not until the cows come home, but I challenge someone to explain to me why is it that only in NORTH AMERICA is General Motors in free-fall? Of course, part of the explanation is that with 50% market share a couple decades ago, GM had nowhere else to go but down, but I think the 'blame' (if we should call it that) seeme so lay squarely at our own atittudes that dictate ANYTHING imported is better than ANYTHING we can do or build. I am not going to blindly bash anyone on this board, Enzl and I have had our differences :AH-HA_wink: , but I do enjoy the discourse. If everyone agreed with me, I might feel smug, but I would be bored and lonely here!!!!

Nissan's build quality has always been "spotty." The power of Japan Inc's spin machine is such that even Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi bask in the glow that is Japanese "quality" when in reality, only Honda and Toyota have built reliable vehicles over the years. Fires are never fun. This could potentially be a major catastrophe for Nissan, and as much as I feel for those hapless people who bought or leased those vehicles, it is unfortunate that it will take a few more incidents like this and the Tundra's snapping camshafts to wake up the general public that imported cars are not infallible.