Robert Hall

Yesterday I saw two car haulers on the freeway with two sets of new-for-2010 cars, cars from different worlds and philosophies. One had a 1/2 dozen '10 Camaros in a rainbow of fruit colors, and the other 8 '10 Kia Souls, similarly colorful. Fascinating.

I guess someone got tired of waiting on a BMW M1 revival..

This has been one of the driest monsoon seasons here in recent years, I think...much dryer than last summer...only 2 storms so far this summer, both fairly mild w/ some lightning and rain...no extended power outages for me.

Yeah, but I bet it's very balanced and handles well. For reasons I still don't know, one of my housemates in grad school fixed up a rusty early '80s RWD Corolla coupe (the really square ones) and put BMW roundels and 318i badges on it before he sold it...

Don't recall that.. I've never looked closely at the Avenger, but had a Sebring convertible rental last year. Pleasant enough to drive, but oh, the interior and the lack of trunk space (with a giant trunk lid)...just seemed very cheaply put together....

This might be the first positive press I've seen about these cars.

Rental agencies seem to make up their own categories... I remember the Grand Am and Ciera were called midsize by Avis, and the '00-07 Taurus was called full size by Hertz. It's all bogus.

The 2nd gen Vue doesn't have the plastic body panels does it? I thought that Saturn detail died with the Ion and 1st gen Vue..

It will be interesting to see how the Corvette evolves from here..the C6 is awfully good all around in all it's variations..

Like port holes on a Buick, except speed holes make you go faster... (It's a Simpsons reference).

Hmmm...maybe both. It needs some yellow trim...yellow=fast. And some speed holes.

I wonder if it had one yellow wiper...that was a part of the F&F MO a few years ago. I've never seen a Prius anything that was but bone stock...so the kiddies getting a hold of them now and personalizing them, sounds like. Can't wait to see one with a 'Type R' badge and giant rear wing..

One has to wonder, wouldn't it be better to hold these kind of meetings at a remote, secluded resort that could be secured without inconveniencing a whole city?

The interior looks very nice, like quality materials and cleanly styled...doesn't scream 'cheap' like so many small cars do.

Was anyone on here in Seattle for its messy G20 meeting? I have couple of friends that lived in Seattle then but were intentionally out of town when it went down.

Thinking about the Euro Polo and the plan for an enlarged one for the US reminds me of Top Gear with The Stig and his American cousin, Big Stig... The Polo looks like a pretty sweet hatch, but I think I'll like the Fiesta design more.

I've replaced pads and rotors (all 4 wheels) on the '00 Grand Cherokee about every 25k miles..it's due another set later this year, probably. For some reason, early ('99-00) WJ Grand Cherokees are notorious for wearing out the brakes fast..the '99s are even worse than the '00s.

December 2006, Portland, Or on the beltline, Pontiac Grand Prix from Avis. Worst. ice. experience. of. my. life.

+1. Poor, dumb and stupid is no way to go through life.

I think I rode the brakes the entire 7 hrs...put the car in low gear and crept along..

I've driven on sheets of ice in a FWD car..the weight over the front wheels gave more traction than a loose tailed RWD would have, I suspect. Didn't go over 10 mph for 7 hours in heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic on ice. Generally, though, I prefer the balance of 4WD (in 4 wheel low if really bad out) on snow, slush, or ice.

Hmm..FWD tends to result in nose heavy vehicles with a propensity to oversteer. Which braking can exacerbate in some contexts. If you know how to drive, though, it shouldn't be a problem.. ABS is great...you just slam on the brakes and let ABS do it's job...remember in old cars having to pump the brakes in a hard stop?

Where's 68? He'd be good for a 5000 word rant on the subject... But back on topic, with the demise of Pontiac, it looks like the only performance sedans from GM in the foreseeable future will be from Cadillac.

And if that gridlock is on snow/slush/ice, FWD (or AWD) is advantageous, I've found.

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