Robert Hall

Remember when Rick Rolling was a big internet phenom last year?

Yes, since Ford doesn't have Jaguar anymore (and Panther is going away), they aren't in the RWD luxury market anymore. The mainstream and near-lux market is pretty much all FWD/AWD these days anyway, unfortunately. Chrysler and now Hyundai are the last bastions of hope for mainstream RWD sedans in a world of mainstream FWD, since GM is giving up on Zeta. (better quit before I start sounding like SixtyEight Lite).

IMHO, there are too many stations owned by Crap Channel (Clear Channel) playing the same thing over and over again. One format I'd like to hear more of, which was apparently common in the '70s, are AOR stations that play entire albums and/or obscure tracks from albums, not just the singles that have been played to death. I'd also like to hear more moderate and liberal/progressive talk radio--way too many conservatives on the air... I miss the Air America stations (haven't found one here).

Well, it would certainly be more modern than the current DTS. And it would give Cadillac something competitive with the MKS.

Ya, the headlights on that look like those from '90s Saturns or an Olds Calais...makes me think what a small Oldsmobile crossover might have looked like, circa 1992. The styling over all went well with the Ion and the last of the S-series, definitely looked 'Saturn'.

Yes...I'm looking forward to seeing it in person.. I think the new Taurus will be a hit....speaking of new Fords, a saw another black MKS tonight..they are pretty sharp looking.

One thing that is odd, for a hardtop, I have yet to see any pics with the windows down. I wonder what our resident hardtop lunatic will think..

Too much black plastic..albeit,.this is a grainy pic, but the dash design and detail looks like something from a $20k Mitsubishi generic...nothing special. Compare this to a 3-series or A5 dash.

The fixed window reminds of the kind of stuff some car makers did in the 40s-50s on 2dr sedans...I think the '49 Ford had something like that, as did some Dodges and Plymouths..just looks cheap. M-B didn't do sh*t like this in the past, look at their '80s-90s hardtops, they had serious, thick C-pillars and quarter windows that went all the way down...even with the recent CLs and their thin C-pillars, they didn't do this kind of nonsense.

Maybe they kept Chrysler's interior people for themselves when they sold off Chrysler... Interesting way they did the quarter window...makes for a very long glass area for a 2dr.. the little window at the back is better than black plastic, I suppose, but they could have just made the c-pillar thicker. I suppose they needed it for the window to retract all the way into the body, had the quarter window been the full length of the opening it probably wouldn't clear the wheel arch when lowered. I assume that tiny window is fixed? Interesting that they decided to jettison the CLK name and go back to E-class, as it was prior to the CLK (W126 300CE, E320 coupe, etc).

Meh. Saturn's models are redundant with several other brands. Not sure what the point of it is these days.

Gothenburg is on my to-do list...a good friend from grad school is a professor at Chalmers U. in Gothenburg, we've stayed in touch over the years, want to go visit sometime.

Let's see, outside the US, I've spent time in London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Turin, as well as smaller cities and towns like Venice, Sorrento, Pisa, Positano, Stresa, Florence in Italy, Locarno (Switzerland) and Oxford, Cambridge, Dover, Bath in England. In Canada, I've only been to Toronto...want to see Vancouver and Montreal eventually. Hard to pick a favourite, though I've always enjoyed London (so much to see and do) and Paris. Lots more places to see---I want to travel throughout Europe, and eventually, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand.

Isn't that something GM has done for a long time---bigger on the outside, smaller on the inside than the competition?

Problem is they are too close in size. And the Malibu is much more modern. Ford has done a better job differentiating the Fusion and Taurus in size, style and price point, and both are modern.

Knowing GM, the new Astra will probably be here by 2013 or so..with only the smallest engines.

Having lived in Phoenix almost a year now, I do love the winter weather..don't care for the summer heat..the restaurant selection here an in the burbs (esp. Scottsdale and Tempe) is excellent. I just can't get excited by the desert...just too ugly, beige, dry and dusty...and all the boring cookie-cutter stucco houses w/ red tile roofs in the newer areas. There is some interesting Mid Century Modern architecture in the older parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale, though. Great airport. Too many golfers. Too many seniors. Having lived in Denver for 6 years and Colorado 11+, it's on my list of my favorite American cities...modern, close to the mountains, great airport, nice restaurant selection, very lively downtown (much nicer than Phoenix's, IMHO). Plenty of high tech companies and jobs. My favorite big city is probably Chicago---love the iconic architecture, the grit, the scenery on the lake and the river, the distinctive neighborhoods, downtown, etc. Not as mammoth as NYC, but just as brutal and the winters. I love the LA metro area, I'd never get bored there... so vast, so much to do, so many choices. At some point in my life, I want to live in So Cal for a while, and in the SF Bay Area. (I've worked briefly in San Jose, but never lived there). Boston and San Francisco are favorites also, very iconic, very historic, yet very modern and dynamic. Great places to travel for a long weekend or a week, like Chicago. Great food. I like Pittsburgh a lot, spent a fair bit of time there as a kid, it's definitely changed (mostly for the better, IMHO) in the last 30 years. Very photogenic with the rivers and bridges, not pretentious at all, IMHO. It's the place I'd live if I wanted to be closer to my Mom and brother. I like the Miami area...have so many old friends there, haven't spent much time there since the late '80s, but it's so diverse, so international... and the ocean setting very appealing. I still have a strong connection to the nearby Keys from my past there. Nothing in Texas or the South deeply appeals to me.. One city I haven't spent much time in that I want to go back to soon and explore is Seattle and the surrounding area. Hmmm..mountains, ocean, forests, near Canada, modern w/ a lot of high tech. Hmmm.

Yeah, that's what it looks like...maybe had a folding canvas roof section or something... I'm sure there isn't much left useable if it sat that way for decades..

Just because it doesn't fit your narrow view of what a GT is, doesn't mean it isn't. Please, stop with the pointless ranting.

I get the Hemmings email newsletter, thought this was interesting.. Packard

Yeah, you have to wonder..the Flex is quite close to a wagon, if it were lower in height it would definitely be one...the Freestyle/Taurus X are wagons, IMHO. The Venza is more wagonlike than ©(S) UV like...

Yeah, to me, those states (Texas, Oklahoma, Ark) are part of the South. Southwest to me is Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, southern Utah, the desert parts of southern California..

I put a set of Futuras on my Bronco II back in '99, the previous Goodyears were worn out and I was planning on selling it within a year, so I wanted something cheap. As far as tires go, I've been very happy with Goodyears--the factory Wranglers on my GC lasted 48k miles..I replaced them with a set of Dunlop Radial Rovers, they only lasted 35k miles. I have a set of Goodyear Fortera GTriple Treds on there now, $750 for a set of 4 installed, but they are extremely good in the kind of rain/snow/slop we get in the Denver area and in the mountains....of course, this winter in Phoenix, they didn't get much of a work out. I've taken a liking to Michelins also...my sister's 2 Mercedes that I've been driving a lot lately have Pilots, very quiet, good in rain.

I really have never spent any time in that part of the far Midwest, Oklahoma seems more like a extension of Texas to me. Though I've lived in Colorado for 11+ years, I've never been thru Kansas or Missouri, only flown back to Ohio (drove out in '97, but through Iowa and Nebraska). The Midwest I know and am most familiar with is Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. Though eastern Ohio where I'm from has more in common w/ W. Pa than with the rest of Ohio---rolling hills, lots of brick buildings, forests, coal mining, steel..

Yeah, that's a weak point of the current model..it seems the Germans just don't take cupholder design seriously enough.