Robert Hall

Interesting...actually, the fleet (taxi, police, etc) Mercs I've seen in Europe tend to be C- and E- class diesels. S-classes are probably primarily executive lease vehicles.

South Park video You guys are wierd. This direction this thread has taken reminds me of the South Park rerun I watched last night, had Butter's video 'What What in the Butt'.

Wow...wonder what will happen to Vauxhall and Holden.

Something looks odd, can't place it exactly..will have to study more pics.. My favorite semi-recent Merc convertible was the last E-class convertible from the '90s. There is one around the corner from me, a white one w/ blue top.

Whatever floats your boat, different strokes for different folks...I like large, comfortable luxury cars that are enjoyable to drive.. not trucks. Merc has serious RWD big luxury sedans and luxury SUVs (ML, GL)... It would be great if Cadillac had both top-of-the line luxury SUVs and a big luxury sedan..since historically, big luxury sedans ( American cushy, flashy style rather than German firm and sober) have been Cadillacs forte. But the Escalade would definitely be great if you wanted to tow a boat, horse trailer, travel trailer, etc.

Ok, flagship Luxury truck/wagon, Not a luxury car, though. I certainly wouldn't take one over an S-class or an A8.

Blech. It's just a truck-based SUV, a tarted up Tahoe/Yukon. Nothing remotely 'flagship luxury sedan' about that turd, IMHO. A flagship luxury sedan to me is something like a Merc S class, BMW 7 series, A8, LS460, etc.

You talking about used 9-3s? The 9-3s I've seen are all over 30k, some over 40k...

Yes, I prefer RWD only in a car. Living in AZ, I don't need AWD. I have a 4WD SUV for when I spend winters in Colorado...if were to relocate full time to someplace w/ more severe winters, then I might want an AWD car, but the 4WD SUV w/ RWD cars approach has worked for me for the last 15 years...

Yes, that seems the most rational approach. The biggest problem I've seen with the STS is it's way too close to the CTS in size. Use the existing platforms, they aren't ancient. GM has two excellent, modern RWD platforms in Sigma and Zeta...and they are way under-utilized. Alas, the market wants bland FWDers, which has been GM's focus for the last 25+ years.

I really like the Matrix analogy... as I sit here in my cubicle and count my billable hours...

Well put... Toyota/Honda/Nissan really are the Big 3 of the Modern World... One wierd observation I've noticed over the last decade are the people I've worked with that seem pretty conservative (social and fiscal) often have giant Dodge Ram pickups and Camrys...but American sedans? Not common in my anecdotal observations in Colorado Springs and Denver suburbia. Of course, there are all sorts out there..I have three friends who are Libertarians (huge Ron Paul fans) and all drive Priuses, and a liberal friend from Boulder, Colorado has a Prius (commuter car), Subaru Outback (wife's car), and a new Challenger SRT8 (turning 40 fun car).

I think for many Americans today, GM's situation is little more than a big bowl of 'meh'. They are happy with their Toyotas and Hondas, so why care about GM? They don't see the big picture. There are a LOT of people out there, not just those under 40, who only encounter domestics as rentals, taxis, or cop cars. I was talking w/ a coworker yesterday about the state of the auto industry, and he was talking about how the Prius doesn't make sense for the price/fuel economy, and that for the money, he'd rather buy 2 Corollas and was bragging about how good his '00 Corolla was, and how GM used to make 'good' cars like the Chevy Sprint and Geo Metro but that they got away from it. I gave up at that point. And this guy is apparently an ultraconservative cheapskate, you would think he's be all 'Buy American' from a patriotic angle, but nooo.

Interesting you don't see things like that in the US currently...workers marching in the streets in Detroit, looting and burning buildings, etc.

Unfortunately, GM is broke, bankrupt, on life support, etc. For them to truly make Cadillac a big league competitor on par with BMW and M-B beyond 1 model would require a tremendous investment. For now, it's all about survival, and that means FWD generics, which GM knows very well.

That's a disgusting thought.

At least it would be step up from the DTS--maybe even have a 6 speed automatic instead of the ancient 4 speed? But what name--DT7 is lame. But, a large FWD/AWD Cadillac could be competitive with Lincoln, since the MKS is FWD/AWD.

Not today, but I learned long ago that some people are incapable of detecting sarcasm in normal conversation...of course, the fact that I never change my expression or tone of voice when I'm being sarcastic probably contributes to that.

I just heard back from my recruiter...the client wants me, 1 yr contract, great rate. The only negative is the 50 mile round trip commute (most all freeway though). Decisions, decisions...jump on it or start a full-scale job search..

I can't imagine the market for carbys would be nearly as big as it was 25 years ago, bad economy or not.

I guess it depends on the type of position you are interviewing for..for me, I usually always wear a suit w/ a dress shirt, tie, dress shoes. Usually a dark blue or dark gray suit w/ subtle pin stripes. Now if it's a start up company instead of a big corporate environment, I might do khakis and a button down dress shirt w/o a tie..

Never heard of those...I know Volvo has had 5 cylinder engines.

I actually saw one of those today in traffic..hadn't seen one in years...a LTD II 2dr, blue, vinyl top, lowrider.

Hadn't heard about that..I'm sure there are conspiracy theories as to why it 'failed'..

Yes, it's truly one of the more inexact sciences. There are phenomenons that are definitely pointing to some sort of climate change like the melting of polar ice caps, rising seas, flooding of coastal areas, stronger hurricanes, etc.