Robert Hall

Hmmm..does the 'Best Buy' rating factor in price or value?

Saw another Lincoln Blackwood. Saw a current Mitsubishi Triton pickup (strange looking). And a black '11 Regal (only the 2nd I've seen on the road).

How many plow jobs would it take to cover the cost of a used Avalanche 2500, though?

Been doing the classical music thing for the holiday weekend...have the TV on a cable channel playing classical...nice and mellow. Time for more egg nog.

Was over 70 here today.. Cold tonight, though...down in the 40s...

Saw a really clean old Dodge pickup at the grocery yesterday, a white fleetside longbed '72-73 w/ steelies and dog dish hubcaps..looked original.

lunatic

I love greens...I like Rally Green, the Corvette's Goodwood Green, Pontiac's Verdoro Green..Ford's Black Jade and Lime Gold/Lime Frost (Mercury equivalent). One of my favorite GM greens is this color---similar to Ford's Lime Gold/Lime Frost.

That's a repeat of a challenge they did on the UK show w/ a Rover SD1 a few seasons ago.. There's nothing new really about this show, just repeating the format of the UK show...a few times a season, they have an episode where the boys buy 3 cheap older cars/trucks/etc and then participate in a series of 'challenges' (often 'torture tests') and sometimes hilarity ensues, sometimes it's just plain dumb. The cars are usually high mileage w/ varying degrees of broken-down wornoutness (shiny from 20 feet away)...they often break down a lot during an episode..

Yes...

So, 20k for a reasonably equipped Fiesta, the next Focus will probably be around 25k reasonably equipped, the Fusion close to 30k, the Taurus 35k....that's the new normal, it seems..

That would have rocked as a GTO. 4dr and wagon G8, ST ute..what a line up that could have been. Too bad the Grand Am name image was ruined by the FWD model, the G8 sedan and wagon would have been quite nice as Grand Ams in the 1973 sense of the name...

That's the best concept out of Chrysler in years. Now that is a truck I'd consider owning..(as long as it had heated and cooled cupholders and 10 way power heated/cooled seats available) (j/k)

I know... manuals are a very tiny niche in the US today..sad, but that's just the way it is. And 90% of US-born drivers under 40 probably have no clue how to drive a manual. As far as automatics and semi automatics, I've driven a couple cars w/ automatics that had a regular shifter plus flappy paddles..but 99% of the time, I'd probably just put them in drive and be on my way..I don't see the utility of having both in a regular car. I would like to drive a clutchless manual that has only flappy paddles though, see how the experience is..

Not on until 11pm here tonight..will watch it tomorrow evening..

Milestones for 2010: August 3rd made 10 years I'd owned my Jeep. And last Friday, the odometer read 123456.

I think for their mainstream cars, they are sticking to the Toyota playbook...all 4dr, all vanilla all the time..follow the leader.

The disconnect between what the masses want and what drivers want could be resolved by offering real manual transmissions in more models.

It wouldn't surprise me if GM doesn't go the same way Ford has w/ compact trucks and just whack the Coloranyon.

I thought the Alpha was going to be a compact RWD platform, for the ATS--a 3 series sized model around 3500lbs. There has been talk on here and elsewhere of an evolved lighter Zeta II for the larger cars...assuming GM plans to keep building RWD models for OZ, NA and elsewhere (assuming they don't give up and make only FWD appliances for the mid-size and full size models).

Agreed...I like the size of Zeta for any bodystyle..my concern is Alpha will be too small and light and V6 only.

High Hopes-Pink Floyd

I'm not sure why people keep going on about Lotus. Lotus uses Toyota engines in their cars.

Would be nice...I'll believe it when I see it, though.

Yesterday afternoon, saw a donked black '87-90 Caprice rollin on what looked like 30s yesterday evening. Also, one of the new high roof Nissan NV vans. And the 3rd Cruze I've seen out and about, a silver one w/ a temporary tag. One odd thing I've seen this past week...3 new Hyundai Accents w/ temporary tags...