Robert Hall

That's kind of a PNW thing, AFAIK... in Colorado, Outbacks and Foresters are mainstream family wagons for outdoorsy folks that don't want the bulk of an SUV. Back 30+ years ago, I've that the NE and Colorado is where Subaru first caught on. Rob

Subaru drivers into the outdoorsy stuff seemed to be into LL Bean in the past. Though the outdoorsy Subaru (and SUV) fans in Colorado seem to be heavily into The North Face and Columbia clothes and gear, both those brands are quite popular there... I've had a couple Columbia jackets.. Rob

Medium for steaks, medium well to well for burgers.

Ok...I remember it looking gray in some pics a while back. I think Jeep had that same color in '99-01 or so. My Jeep's Patriot Blue (dark blue) looks great when it's waxed on a sunny day, but up close, I have many chips and scratches.. Rob

Never had much LL Bean product (though my folks always got the catalogs)...I was more of an Eddie Bauer fan in the big 80s as far as bags, etc went.

Yeah, it looks great from the pics...wish my Jeep's finish was that good after 100k. Is that your original paint? For some reason, I thought your car was gray or that goldish-gray (I think what Chrysler called Taupe) but maybe I'm confusing it with my buddy Steve's wife's '99 Intrepid (hers is that gold-gray). Rob

Sharp...what are those wheels? Don't recognize them..aftermarket?

I'd rock it with some huge glue-on sideburns, aviator sunglasses, plaid suits with ultrawide lapels, and some fine Banlon slacks. And some 8 tracks w/ mid '70s music, incl. the theme from Shaft. Rob

I've never done tent camping...a few years ago, buddies of mine used to invite me to come camp w/ them up in the Rockies..should have gone for the experience. As a kid growing up, my folks and I went camping all the time--in motorhomes. We'd drive up to lakes in northern Michigan, Ontario, drive out to Arizona or down to Florida, park the motorhome in a campground, disconnect the tow car, and drive into town for dinner. Rob

I need to take a vacation...other than a 4 day weekend in San Diego for July 4th and a trip back to Ohio at the end of May, I really haven't done anything this year. Got to do something fun for 4-5 days at Labor Day. Haven't taken a real vacation since a week in Hawaii in April '07. Rob

Here's a sweet '79 Mark V in Mississippi w/ only 30k miles, white w/ white & red interior also.. ebay 79 Lincoln Totally impractical and huge, but I've always liked these since childhood...rode in a few when my folks were test driving Lincolns (my Dad was a serial Continental/Town Car buyer for his last 20 years).

The Lincoln definitely has it's charms...the interior looks great, needs a few trim items on the outside. It would make a neat weekend or once in a while driver, probably gets 10-12 mpg. I've always liked the more angular Mark V over the Mark VI (pretty much the same inside, though).

Or you could CFC trade the Buick on a new Yaris or Corolla--those would go nicely w/ your Prius.

Probably not...but maybe Cadillac could do well with a 3000lb 5 seat SUV, smaller than the hefty SRX, esp if BMW is going to do an X1 and Lexus is going to do the small hatchback. Rob

They will probably be like how they differentiate the Traverse and Enclave in the full size CUVs, and the Equinox and Vue in the compact/midsize... Chevy gets the mainstream models, Buick the more upscale one, differentiated substantially inside and out. Instead of having to do up to 4 variations of each line for 4-5 brands, now they just have to do 3 (Cadillac will probably get a variation to fit below the SRX). Rob

The Patriot seems decent, at least it's not a Compass. I'm waiting on the '11 Grand Cherokee before I consider another Jeep, though the prices on '09 GCs and Commanders now make them tempting... oddly, the Commander has grown on me. Rob

My brother had a Mustang II Mach 1 30+ years ago. My '84 Ford Escort diesel was a great little car, super efficient, handled pretty well, great steering, great in snow. The downside was it was so darn basic--am radio, vinyl interior, manual everything. But as a teenager in high school and college it was fine. My '86 Mustang LX 2.3 and later my '88 Bronco II were probably the worst cars I owned just because as they aged, more went wrong. And the Bronco rusted like crazy. The Bronco II was a car my folks had bought new for themselves and passed down to me after the Mustang LX was totaled in '94. My '87 Mustang GT which I've had since new had a number of issues at around 55k miles, but other than that, it's been good (though I've only put about 6k on it in the last 10 years). Rob Rob

May I never hear 'That's what she said' again... I like 'all your [items] are belong to us'. I've been known to use 'asshat', 'strewth', 'plorchers', and 'shenanigans' in conversation. I always laugh when I see a red stapler or see a PC Load Letter error. Rob

Well, when the interior features are in motion (operating the tilt/telescoping wheel, moving the power seat, then it's dynamic.. Rob

Engaging could be used as far as interiors as far as the ease-of-use, ergonomics, feel of materials the driver/passengers contact, i.e. the 'surprise and delight' features. Rob

The outage didn't affect me..I was off Twitter most of yesterday...was back tweeting w/ no problems last night.

Entry-lux is one crowded segment, certainly... there are sporty FWD models, softer FWD models, RWD sports sedans, AWD models...a little bit of everything. But it's a very important segment--if a maker can successfully hook a buyer in this segment, they can potentially keep them for life as they either stay in the segment w/ serial purchases or move to more upscale offerings by the same brand... Rob

Called around to several local salvage yards on Mon-Tues...they either had passenger side seats only, drivers side cloth ones, or the wrong color or trim level. Maybe I should have called car dealers, there have to be plenty of WJs in the CFC rows. Ended up buying one advertised as in good condition, working, complete w/ track and motors etc on ebay from a salvage yard in Columbus, Ohio. Right color and trim. Fed Ex ground shipping, supposed to arrive here on the 11th. I keep driving around in the 500SEL until then. 'Cooler' weather forecast (under 110), so hopefully by middle of next week I'll have a working driver's seat installed and be back on the road. Rob

Or how about a 1.8 or 2.0L turbo. Audi and VW have turbo 4s in mid size cars (A4, Passat).

Or in the parking lot at a nude beach. I don't think I've closed a finger in a door that I remember, but one of the more painful incidents was when I opened the door of my Jeep into my face--the pointy, outward-angling rear top edge of the door upper knocked off my glasses and bruised my face right beside my eye.. Rob