Robert Hall

Reminds me of an incident 20+ years ago, was coming out of a Benihana in Denver and a guy came up to me and started asking questions in German. My answer was ‘no spreken ze Deutsch’.

I assume Costco has charging stations..people in my Nextdoor 'hood are freaking out because the local Costco is closing their gas station for 6-8 weeks for an expansion, adding 8 more pumps (they have crazy long lines there on weekends).

Interesting.. we have Circle K and Get Go here in the Cleveland suburbs, and they tend to be small locations. The bigger stations around are Sheetz.

Ah, I misread.

Hmm....I was talking about Lauren Sanchez... they just got married last year. Had been Bezo's girlfriend since 2018. He divorced his first wife in 2019.

She looks like a fake plastic surgery disaster bimbo...no substance there. Just a wannabe Kardashian...

$45k for an appliance FWD CUV w/ a 4cyl in white w/ a gray interior is pretty depressing to imagine. My Jeep was in that price range 12 years ago, much nicer design inside and out and well equipped w/ a V6 and AWD...and with inflation, the equivalent spec to that on a 2025 is about $53k..same engine and transmission, AWD, same color scheme, trim level and options. My sister's '23 Chevy Equinox LT was $34k out the door new at the end of 2022. She got $15k in trade on her 2015 Trax and paid cash for the difference.

Yeah, given Stellantis' quality/reliability issues, a 5000lb SUV w/ a 2.0 turbo 4 just seems like asking for trouble. I just find the current market pretty boring and uninspired. The only vehicles I have any interest in are $75k to over $100k. Which I can afford but really can't justify the spend.. Better to invest in upgrades to my house and maybe purchase a winter home as I approach retirement in the next decade (which I'm having a hard time admitting to myself), keep my current vehicles going indefinitely...

For the smaller crossovers, I've found the Chevy Equinox quite pleasant to drive. Comfortable seats, smooth ride, even w/ the 1.5 turbo 4, decent power for freeway driving. I've driven my sister's '23 LT quite a bit around town and on short road trips the last few years. Good ergonomics and layout, Car Play and Android Auto work fine. More back seat room than my Grand Cherokee. Easy to get in and out of. I haven't looked at the new generation model that came out of '25, though. My sister looked at the 25 when had her 23 in for service, thought the new one was ugly. As for myself, if I were shopping for a new car, don't know what I would get. My Jeep and Cadillac are both in excellent condition and paid for..and working from home, no real need for a new vehicle. I don't think I'd get another Grand Cherokee given Stellantis' quality problems in recent years and that the '26 GC comes with a 4 cyl standard.

There is also Genesis with their 3 sedans (G70, G80, G90) and Lexus still has the IS, ES, and LS.

30 years ago at the U of Michigan my PhD advisor had a dark green '93 Bonneville w/ the tan leather interior.. I don't recall the trim level or engine, but it was a nice car..rode in it a couple times to dinner/etc. He also had a white '92-ish GMC Jimmy 4dr (the square S15-based one). He's now the president of Carnegie Mellon U.

Interesting about Pep Boys..I had no idea. There aren't any in my area, looks like they have a few locations down in Youngstown and in Central Ohio around Columbus. Auto Zone, Advance and O'Reilly are my locals. I tend to prefer O'Reilly, if only because I worked on their inventory system for a while on a project when the consulting firm I was at in Arizona had them as a client.

Always liked those old Dodges...I learned to drive in the mid 80s in a '79 Dodge Power Wagon 4x4 short wide box pickup my Dad had. Very numb steering--no on center feel at all, bouncy suspension, would stall on left turns. Was very clean w/ like 25k miles..silver green inside and out.

Always liked the 00s Impalas..had many as rentals when I lived in Colorado then Arizona and would travel back to Ohio and elsewhere in the Midwest and East...along w/ Intrepids and 300Ms, Grand Marquis, Town Cars and the occasional DeVille/DTS (and drove my sister's 00 DTS a lot). Don't recall having had a Buick as a rental, but always liked the looks of the 90s-00s Park Avenues..

335hp and a 10spd auto. It's only turning like 2000-2500 rpm at 70 cruising on flat terrain. And has AFM, so sometimes running on 4 cyl only. I have to watch myself passing...pull out to around a truck, stomp on the gas and I'm doing 85-90 pretty quickly. I try and use the cruise control a lot.

The Jeep is very easy to park... shorter wheelbase (114.8 in) and overall length than the Caddy (16 inches shorter)...and it's shorter than a typical late model Accord or Camry. The big mirrors and back up camera help overcome the thick pillars and small windows. My old GC was even easier, it was 8 inches shorter w/ larger side windows.. The Caddy averages about 27-30 mpg on flat roads w/ cruise control set around 70...though lower on I-77 through WV and VA with lot of mountains and passing of slow moving trucks.. loads of power for passing in the mountains.

Heh heh..I'm 55.. can't believe 60 is so close. After 25+ years of mostly driving Grand Cherokees, I do enjoy driving my Cadillac sedan. But it is a handful in tight parking lots due to the overall length, long wheelbase and AWD. Had to make a few 25 point turns in tight parking lots in Beaufort, SC and Savannah GA on my vacation....as I was driving around those cities with their colonial-era narrow streets I was wondering what it was like in the 60s-80s with the huge and downsized but still huge B-bodies, C-bodies that were common then... a lot more scratched bumpers and door dings then, I suppose. I have no idea how people park full size double cab/crew cab pickups in cities, but I see a lot of it.

On the off topic subject of tires, got a set of Firestone Firehawk all season tires last month to replace the Bridgestone Potenzas that were getting close to the wear bars on the Cadillac. I drove more last week (2051 miles) than I drove it last year (1750 miles over 2025). It's at 63k now. Will drive it more this year. The Jeep will probably need a new set of tires before next winter, at 52000 miles and 8+ years on the current Michelin Defender XT all seasons. Probably will get a new set of the same. Drove the Jeep about 3000 miles in 2025. It's at 83k now. Still have a few years left on the 15 yr/150k extended warranty. Working from home and using a lot of home delivery really cuts down on the miles.

Another neat Buick collonade variation was the '76 Century Indy Pace Car replica...t-tops, rear spoiler, covered quarter windows.

That canted grille was also used on the base midsize Buick in '76-77, badged as Century Special with the fastback roofline and big quarter windows..those were neat, haven't seen one in forever..

I'm a window guy also. I like having the wall to lean against and doze.

I never check bags if I can avoid it, so not an issue for me. I get their plus something something so I'm usually at the front of the line (haven't flown them since they dropped the cattle call, though). Unless it's over 1000 miles, though, I prefer to travel by Cadillac..I really enjoy road trips and really dislike air travel anymore...

I don't know how it is now, but I regularly flew Frontier when I lived in Denver and they were based there. Frontier was fine then..don't know about now. I've flown Southwest a lot over the last 25+ years. My most recent flights (last year to Denver) were on SW. American I use for work trips to Plano. As far as the major US carriers, I like Delta.

I had some good breakfasts...avoided the Southern staple of grits. Lots of biscuits. Had some good BBQ brisket on Hilton Head Islands, but also found a really good Asian fusion place in Savannah for a lemongrass bowl with kimchi. Ate a lot of berry and fruit salads for lunch (trying to keep to my low carb/low sugar diet).

Drove great on vacation.... really a great road trip car, soaks up the miles..I had mostly short days--25-300 miles, but one day (Asheville, NC to home outside Cleveland, Oh) was 550 miles... fast, smooth and comfortable. Getting decent gas mileage also. I ran into a retired couple from Michigan in Macon, GA in the hotel parking lot one morning--they have an identical 2019 CT6 with 148k miles! Mine is at 63k now. Hours of rolling along, mostly streaming a 1990s grunge soundtrack (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, Alice In Chains, etc) and some later Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and Audioslave...reliving the music of my 20s-30s.