Robert Hall

A commenter on Autoblog had this to say about the Toyota pace car: LoL... my commute is 8 miles on 35 and 40 mph streets. Inevitably I seem to get stuck behind a Prius in the middle of 3 lanes going 35 in the 40 zone...

I like wood and metal trim... black plastic just looks cheap to me (I don't like the dash of a car to look like my home theater equipment).. for carbon fiber--I like to see the real stuff on race cars, but on a street car the sight of it gives me dry heaves.

You feel Chevy is following Hyundai? I don't. Hyundai's car lineup has some product variation. Outside of the Camaro and Corvette (which has not fit the Chevy portfolio for 40 years, and is more of a "GM product"), Chevy is microscopic appliance, small appliance, medium appliance, largish appliance. That's Toyota's modus operandi. Hyundai's appliances are just more 'boldly' styled than Toyota, still just a bunch of forgettable FWD generics..the Genesis and Equus are the wildcards and shouldn't be badged as Hyundais, really belong to a premium brand above Hyundai, IMO. But otherwise, they have Accent, Elantra, Sonata, and Alzera. Chevy will soon have 5 sizes of appliance soon in NA....Spark, Sonic, Cruze, Malibu, and Impala. Ford will be one short (maybe bring the Ka eventually?). Dodge is definitely going a different path..

I'm sure the sheeple will buy it in droves. It's been America's favorite transportation appliance for a long time.

That is an issue Cadillac, M-B, and BMW (to a lesser degree) all have to some degree w/ the performance models--they should offer their most luxurious interiors w/ rather that the dour, dark, depressing 'sporty' interiors they often put in the performance models... I'd like a CTS-v with the regular CTS light tan w/ wood and aluminum trim interior, not a gloomy black or despair gray interior. At least the trim is piano black and not disgusting faux carbon fiber, though I'd rather have wood & aluminum. I have to TOTALLY disagree with you. In performance, I want what the CTS-V has. Piano black. The M3 is this way as my boss has a new black one. The sales mgr here has a Mercades AMG and again no wood in that also. Performance models all have the black, composite, racing interior type look and those for the most part want this type of interior. I think you need to just buy the CTS you like and the V engine in Crate form and build it yourself. My point is the buyer should have the choice. That is true luxury. The luxury of choice. I don't mind black interiors when used a two-tone. I generally despise gray. Nothing looks cheaper and more unappealing to me than all black or all gray inside..

Mint for android is a steaming pile... it's not synched w/ the website, has no way to delete notifications, etc. I've been frustrated enough w/ Mint (both on the phone and the website) that I'm still sticking w/ MS Money for my serious stuff...(though I've thought about switching to Quicken). Mint has been releasing a series of updates for their Android app and it has improved dramatically in the last month or two. It's definitely become better..most of the issues I had with it have been resolved..most recent update made the fonts larger I noticed. The really wierd issues I had (duplicate accounts showing, etc) have been resolved. Mint still doesn't support JP Morgan (have a 401k there), and a lot of people have groused about that on Mint's forums...oh well.

Cool..haven't seen any of those..need to hit some of local Targets and WMs I guess. I did see that HW now has a '67 442 in their Garage line and a '59 Chevy Sedan Delivery in the Delivery series...scored those on ebay the other night. Haven't got any new HW or MBX in a while, mostly Greelight, M2 and JLs in the last month or so.

I saw the white GXP in Scottsdale again today..sweet car.

I figure another 5-6 weeks and the triple digit sh*t will be gone for the year.

Pep Boys, or a JC Whitney catalog if you like it old school..

I'd definitely like to have one for a long weekend in Colorado or N. California...seek out the twisties. Or in E. Ohio..

Had a wagon in high school, so I did my time as driver of the "drunk bus" as well. But, that capacity never became an automotive parameter for me. I had that experience for a while w/ my Jeep back around '05 when I spent a lot of winter evenings w/ drunken Canadians. I was often a passenger in the Jeep (the teatotaler Canadian would drive). I can't drink the way I did at 35 anymore, though.

The next M6 will probably have the same specs as the M5 in a year or two...but those cars are at a much higher price point than the CTS-v..as far as Mercs go, the E-class coupe isn't available in AMG spec in the US, is it? You can an appearance package with AMG wheels and thats about it. I think Mercedes-Benz has said there will not be an AMG version of the E-Class coupe Too bad..it's a great looking car IMO. The C-class coupe isn't very good looking...looks like an Accord coupe roof on a C-class body.

Yeah, that was something I did a lot in college...a group of buddies on Thursday-Friday nights heading to Cleveland to the Flats..or going out in Ann Arbor when I was in grad school in my mid 20s. For me it kind of dwindled out by my mid 30s or so...my local and work friends were too spread out around the Denver area to carpool much (except for downtown after work happy hours, UGs, etc events where we were leaving from and returning to the same office)....and by their late 30s they were getting married for the 2nd time and having their first kids and getting minivans or SUVs and moving to the burbs...(it's amazing how many people I know that didn't have kids until they were almost 40 or over 40, on marriage #2, and the wives were always 2-5 years older, but that's another story). I have a few single 40 something friends that have coupes (Infiniti G37, Solara, BMW 3-series) but sedans and SUVs are the norm, for single or married/other.. I do want another 2dr. My goal for when I'm 45 (which is all too soon), I'll have a RWD V6 or V8 luxury sedan for a commuter car, my Jeep for winter, and a RWD V8 sports coupe or convertible. No FWD or 4cyls.

The next M6 will probably have the same specs as the M5 in a year or two...but those cars are at a much higher price point than the CTS-v..as far as Mercs go, the E-class coupe isn't available in AMG spec in the US, is it?

Random interior thoughts...good cupholder size, though have to reach over the shifter to access them...good that the center stack controls are up high. The instrument pod has a late '80s-early '90s Honda/Acura feel..

I'd replace the backseat w/ a flat carpeted area w/ a bar to attach dog seat belts/harnesses to... I'd find that far more useful. I don't even like having rear seat passengers particularly, and their comfort would not be part of any purchase decision I'd ever make. You aren't really a fan of other people in general, are you? That's why you live as far out as you do, that's why you like having so much space between you and your neighbors, and why you wouldn't ever consider rear seat accommodations--because you don't really do much with groups of people...right? A lot of people, myself included, often drive with nearly full cars because my friends and I socialize a lot. Plus, let's be honest--if a group of people are going to carpool to something fun, wouldn't you WANT to take the coolest-looking car? I want a car that can do it all and be the best at everything--if my passengers complain, I'm not happy. I'd also never buy a car with a rear seat I wouldn't want to spend any time in. Interesting...over the years, when I go out w/ groups of friends 95% of the time it's in separate cars...meet up at a house, restaurant, ball game, movie, whatever.. Rarely carpooling..if we did that, then it's whoever has the biggest SUV that does the hauling..(or that rare bodystyle, a wagon--some of my closest friends have wagons--one couple has a Volvo XC70 and a BMW 5-series wagon).

I'd replace the backseat w/ a flat carpeted area w/ a bar to attach dog seat belts/harnesses to...

Subtle.

Southern Colorado (near NM border outside Trinidad) had a 5.3 quake last night also.

The greenhouse hasn't really changed much from the design 2 generations back that came out around 2000...

Definitely evolutionary. Interesting they are retaining their V6 option while other midsizers are dropping theirs...

Hmmm...so if they do an AWD version eventually, will it be the BAZ?

Wow..that Dakota is a real WTF? ..saw a very clean 4dr sedan '72 Chevelle today, a bright green w/ dog dish hubcaps..4dr '68-72s are a rare sight, and 4dr ht ones even more so (can't recall when I've seen any 4dr ht '68-72 A-body).

Agreed...these are performance luxury cars, they need luxury interiors available in warm colors w/ wood. I find carbon fiber disgusting, prefer aluminum and wood. I'm sick of gray interiors in everything...never want one again. Luxury cars should be about choice--offering buyers a range of colors and color combinations, trim materials, etc in an interior, regardless of the performance trim level. GM can cheap-ass all they want w/ Chevrolet, but they should try harder w/ Cadillac.