Robert Hall

Ah, forgot about her..thought she was Persian. Agreed, quite hot.. Speaking of CBS actresses, I'm fond of Sofia Milos that has been occasionally in CSI Miami (and memorably on one episode of the Sopranos a few years ago)...Greek-Italian.

Yeah, the Chevettes were dreadful. My Dad made the mistake of buying one over the then new Escort in '81 as a tow car for the motorhome (like a dinghy to tow behind to use when we were on vacation) . After a couple years, he traded it on an Escort 5dr diesel, much nicer little car.

Yeah, they have a new law here about license plate frames that cover the state name. I left off my U. of Michigan plate frame that I used in Colorado, since 'Arizona' at the top of the plate gets covered with 'M GO BLUE'...

Speaking of number plates, I've seen several cars lately with strange plastic plate covers that are very difficult to read the # through, they distort the view of the plate, esp. when seen from an angle. I would think those would be illegal, makes it harder for speed cameras to catch the #.

Yes. But curvier.

Sounds like the Phoenix metro area, climate wise. Without irrigation and air conditioning, there wouldn't be 4.5 million people in the Sonoran desert. Phoenix and Las Vegas are places that logically make no sense to be as big as they are...

Cars I've been in: '81 Chevette Scooter. Cardboard (covered in vinyl) door panels.No glovebox door. Bare painted metal everywhere. Other memorable ones.. '94 Hyundai Scoupe. '02 Cavalier rental. Cheap. Gray. Despair.

No, it's fair. And gas taxes are fair as well--if one choose to drive something less efficient, one pays more. I drive a Jeep that averages 18 mpg, so I'm consuming more than someone in a Jetta getting 50 mpg, so logically, I pay more taxes for the privilege. That's only reasonable.

It's great as a headline newsfeed...I follow all sorts of news tweets--local, national, international, automotive, motorsport, tech... it's easier to scan a bunch of tweets in a desktop app like TweetDeck than to comb through my RSS feeds in a reader like GoogleReader (though I use it also to keep up w/ a number of blogs). As far as my own tweets, they tend to be boring and about real world stuff--the weather, what new restaurant I ate at, etc. When I'm home, I always have TweetDeck open, with 1/2 dozen categories of tweets (automotive, friends, tech, news and politics, f1, etc) plus localized keyword tags searches on tweets tagged for areas of interest (#phx, #den, #pgh, for example), plus I pull in my Facebook updates.. Good stuff..

Not sure about the category of the Q7..I tend to think of the Touareg, Q7, and Cayenne as SUVs...they are more rugged and capable than most CUVs. Of the luxury premium SUVs, I like the Range Rover Sport, 2nd gen Merc ML, and 1st and 2nd gen BMW X5. They are more than I'd want to pay new, but make interesting CPO options I'd consider.

Do they have a budget deficit for this year? Is that why they raised the sales tax? AZ has a $2.93 billion deficit this year, supposedly 24.2% of operating budget. And it's impossible to raise taxes here.

Same here..I drive about 300 miles a week, of which 250 is work (50/day). I don't know what the gas tax in AZ is, but it's probably one of the lowest in the country since it's a red state.

I'd take a Grand Cherokee over any CUV... though of them, the only ones I kind of like are the Acacia and Enclave.

The cost of outfitting cars w/ GPS alone and cost of managing that seems like it would outweigh any benefit. A better usage tax is a consumption tax--i.e. a gas tax. The more you use, the more you pay..that seems more fair. I think some countries, specifically the UK, are looking at a use tax like Florida's idea.

Following Herr Borger now..

Different audiences, different purpose, I feel. There is some overlap in people I follow on Twitter and people I friend on Facebook. But the distinction is the group and the nature of the content--Facebook for me is people I know in the real world--people I know from high school, college, grad school, work, family, etc, and Twitter are some of the same (coworkers) plus people in my professional field (software) that I follow for their links, plus news feeds from CNN, BBC, local tv stations, motorsport news from various F1 websites, politicians, updates from Ford, GM and Chrysler, news and headlines from car magazines, Autoblog, tech journalists, tech news headlines, etc. For me, Facebook is for interacting with people I know (posting pictures, etc), while Twitter is a real time headline news/topic of interest feed. I use Twitter similiarly to how I use Google Reader with RSS feeds.

tweet

Nice cool fall weather today, though. Only 97 high. Supposed to get down to a chilly 69 degrees tonight. Wish I were in Colorado today--44 in Denver, with a chance of snow in Boulder and the foothills tonight!

Speaking of buses and tying it back to GM, Matchbox now has a diecast 'short bus' w/ a current style GMC Savana cab.

Some of the first automotive things I bought after moving to AZ was a fitted carpeted dash cover, steering wheel cover, and sheepskin seat covers and a better windshield sun shade. So far my dash hasn't cracked. I need to find/make an armrest cover, though, since it gets really hot on the 115 degree July days. Though I hope I'm done with those.

I recall round headlights and maybe a split windshield also. I've seen this style or similar in the LA area when I've been out there on vacations over the last decade..I noticed them because they seemed to be in use and looked so old timey.

Duct tape or electrical tape always adds a classy touch. On the cracked drivers door arm rest on my GC, I've used black electrical tape for the time being until I replace the door panel.

Not the divert the thread, but I've seen buses like that in parts of So Cal in recent years..I wonder--are they a late model bus w/ retro styling or are they as old as they look--the styling looks like it's from the '40s or 50s.

I missed the local Oktoberfests last year...will have to go to one this year. Went to the Denver Oktoberfest 6 years in a row, I esp. enjoyed the currywurst from a local German restaurant..

From my experience, yes....between '01-03 they decontented the various trim levels quite a bit. The '01 got a new and more reliable (I think) transmission, though.. I'd stick w/ the 4.0L 6 over the V8 for the slightly better mileage.