Robert Hall

Tonite on the way home from work I was passed by and followed for a while by a black w/ black interior Lexus ES330 convertible w/ the top down. What, you say Lexus didn't make an ES convertible? Well, it looked like some crafty individual took a current style Solara convertible and replaced the front and rear badging....

I've had experiences like that before in rental GMs and CVs... I once had a black CV rental in Chicago that looked pretty much like a detectives' car. Was fun on the freeway.. In the late '90s, I worked w/ a guy that drove a 1990 or so Caprice 9C1 ex police car...white, w/ spotlights and push bars...pretty cool.

I'd go for the Cobalt...much more modern car than an 11 yr old Jetta...and as CR shows, old Jettas have a lot of problem areas...people I know that have owned them had many problems. Buy the newer, more reliable car and save your money to eventually get something better. An old, high mileage car has a high potential to be a money pit and distraction. It would be an easy choice for me; relatively new (current generation as well), relatively low mileage, always trumps old and high mileage for me.

Yeah, it's kind of the modern A-body...a great RWD platform with lots of potential..

Invalid response. Is GM such a big inflexible monolith full of waste-of-space lifers that they can't change direction easily? GM can keep mediocre W-bodies around for decades, but can't keep a new, modern platform around for more than a few years?

Hmmm...would love to find some bacon flavoured beer...

Cool.....Aussie RWD goodness trumps Japanese FWD generic.

I'd never read the novel, was lured in by the trailer. Saw it opening weekend. It's really long, visually interesting, and at times completely incomprehensible. But, I liked it overall, better than the 3rd Matrix movie.

Yeah... and since I've been driving SUVs for my main vehicle for the last 15 years, I'm used to sitting up high in traffic..when I drive a car on the freeway, it feels very odd to be so close to the ground and not able to see over cars anymore...and my '87 Mustang GT and the '96 M3 I used to have aren't exactly low and sleek, but compared to my Jeep, they are. It's funny, for a while over the last 6 months I would park in a parking garage, and parked next to typical modern cars, my sister's old Mercedes S-class that I often drive looked low and sleek...and it's a pretty blocky and upright '80s car. But today's Civics, Camrys, Accords, Malibus, etc are all considerably taller...part of that is probably the difference in wheel size between today and 25 years ago, but the bodies are so much taller on average today.

I priced out one the way I'd want it-- 2SS w/ RS package, sunroof, manual, polished 20 inch wheels, Cyber Grey w/ beige interior. $36,750. Not bad... Interesting that white isn't available (next year?). This is a car I think would look great in white, and white is a very popular color here, it supposedly reflects heat.

I wonder what is in the place of the gauges if not ordered.. I just noticed also those are an oil temp and trans temp gauges..cool. I assume the usual engine temp gauge is in the main cluster? Will have to check out the new site.

Yeah, it's a bit chunky, slab-sided and the rear is tall..but, so are many cars today..that's the trend of the era, and Chrysler had certainly been a proponent of that trend (300, Charger, etc). What amazes me is how tall many cars are today, from the bottom of the rear bumper to the top of the decklid...seemingly twice as thick vertically as a typical early '70s car...

I don't see '72 mentioned...was there a T-37 or GT-37 then? Or was the midsize Pontiac line then just LeMans and it's levels and the GTO (which was a trim level also by then, not a separate model, I think?).

I like the Hemmings mags...I currently subscribe to Hemmings Classic Cars and Muscle Machines..these along with Muscle Car Review and Collectible Automobile are the old car mags I subscribe to currently (also get 3 new car mags--Automobile, Car & Driver, Road & Track).

Speaking of minivans, a couple years ago a friend bought a new Sienna---$44k!! That's a lot for a minivan, albeit a loaded one. People I know that have Odesseys love them.

How does the Consumer Reports reviews compare for A and B? How 'average' is the mileage for B? Carfaxes? I wouldn't touch it if it were over 100k... my experience has been that buying used cars with over 100k more often that not are money pits that will nickel and dime you to death (or 500/1000 at a time), that will strand you somewhere far from home when the weather is bad, and generally make you want to eventually torch them or shove them off a cliff..

Sighting this morning on the commute--I was going down the freeway with a red 4th gen Camaro Z-28 convertible directly in front of me, and a white 4th gen Trans Am convertible directly behind me, both with tops down. Cool.

In the theater, I've seen "The International"(solid international thriller w/ Clive Owen) and "Watchmen" (which didn't live up to the hype, IMHO). Haven't seen "Primal Fear" since it came out, but I remember Gere and Ed Norton as excellent...always liked Ed Norton. I've seen "Shawshank" a couple of times, excellent movie. At home over the last 3 weeks, via Netflix, I've watched "Body of Lies" (good spy drama w/ Leo DeCaprio and Russell Crowe) ,"Appaloosa", "Pride and Glory" (Ed Norton again), "Changeling", "Leatherheads", and "Flash of Genius"--all worth seeing, IMHO...... and caught a few old Clint Eastwood westerns on TNT--"Pale Rider", "Outlaw Josey Wales", and "Joe Kidd"..hadn't seen those in years..also got dragged into watching "Nights in Rodanthe", definitely a chick flick, but Gere and the always appealing Diane Lane have great chemistry. Loved Gere's Jag XK8 in it.

Which is fundamentally stupid--doesn't Pontiac outsell Buick? More likely because if Buick's getting one, Cadillac has to have one, and vice versa to keep their dealers happy.

Sad that the convert is not going to built. I love the 'bigness' of the Challenger and it's proportions...it's proudly large and RWD in a sea of boring, conformist FWD generics...they really stand out in traffic or in a parking lot amongst the generics.

You could just rotate your head 90 degrees when viewing that monitor.. In all seriousness, it should be something you can adjust thru Control Panel->Display settings or the controls on the monitor itself. I've had to go in and tweak the Control Panel resolution, etc settings when I've used a dual-monitor setup before.

Nice..speaking of Vettes of that era, there was a white '78-79 beside me at a light when I went out to lunch...with the t-tops off, sharp condition. Speaking of Mary Kay Cadillacs, the most recent one I saw was in a small town in SW Colorado in June '05 when I was on vacation there, a DTS. My sister said she saw a Mary Kay color Escalade last year in Ohio.

I just hope the Camaro interior is offered in colors besides gray...I despise cheap plastic gray interiors..

When I was kid, a neighbor had a green w/ green top '71-72 Luxury Le Mans 4dr ht with the fender skirts, whitewall tires, Pontiac Rally II mags..interesting looking car.

Ahhhh..didn't realize that... Mary Kay? I thought it was silver or white from the pic.