Robert Hall

Yeah, the market timing was all wrong on the G8...if it had been out in '05-06, who knows, it might have been fairly successful.

GM still plays to the mindset that Americans will only buy subcompact or compact cars if they are really cheap...really cheap translates into low content w/ nasty cheap interiors.

Remember the generic food movement? Cheapo groceries selling unbranded food in white cans/boxes with black letter labels like 'CEREAL', 'CHICKEN SOUP', 'BEER'? Maybe some retailer will market Chinese cars as generic brand cars...white with with black 'SEDAN' or 'SUV' logos.

That's a lot of empty cubicles and offices. Sounds like a lot of Not Good as far as GM's future.

Just anecdotal, based on the reality I've seen in suburbia, but also based on what I've read in the magazines. There are hell of a lot of people commuting to work in 'em.. Not talking about people out in the country that have horse trailers, travel trailers, etc to tow. Of course, your mileage may vary, things may be different in your reality.

My impression is the Central Valley has more in common w/ the agricultural Midwest than the rest of California.. I've been to Sacramento, the surrounding area strangely felt like western Ohio. Haven't been down to Fresno or Bakersfield...worked with a guy from Bakersfield, he described it pretty negatively ("hellhole", IIRC).

Speaking of plates, the latest state law here is it's now illegal to have the state name covered by a license plate frame, was a primary offense w/ a $135 fine at first. Last week, was reduced to non-primary w/ a $30 fine. So many lazy people leave the cheesy dealer plate frame on.

Yeah, I just can't get excited about a nose heavy V8 FWD car... great engine, wrong platform.

Yeah, lots of snow up in Flagstaff lately. But an 4WD SUV makes more sense up in the mountains. I've kept my Jeep registered in Colorado, though registration is about the same here (% value based) (and only 1 plate). Ohio is still the cheapest I know of (a flat $25/year, IIRC).

Nice to see a Camaro pace car, but the paint scheme is hideous, IMHO...I'd rather see white w/ orange stripes like the '69 IPC.

Or 3, a snowbird from Ohio or other frozen winter state. But it did have an AZ plate.

Umm...I haven't been to a BW3s in ages...they have some out here in the Phoenix area, but all out in the burbs. When I lived in Kent, Ohio from '88-94 I used to frequent the one there, was one of the original stores, when it was still Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck. There is a decent local wing chain called Long Wong's that I go to when I have a wing craving, also the Wing Stop chain has a few stores here. Some chains I miss from the Denver area are Noodles & C and Smashburger (though I hear they are expanding here)..

Actually saw a dark red Grand Prix GXP in traffic yesterday. What's the point of having a FWD V8 car in Phoenix??

Heh-heh... The Costco Kirkland sedan and Wal-Mart Sam's Pride coupe are inevitable... I predicted this a long time ago.

Maybe, but it was RWD. That fact alone made it infinitely better than the dozens of look-alike FWD medicore generics GM built from '80 onward.

Or change your line to end with 'for over 300 years.' or 'since before any of us were born', both of which are factual, yet not year-specific.

Interesting...didn't know that factoid about 1791...though I'm sure I read in history class in school decades ago.

Thing is, these magazines are aimed at the public consumers, not the commercial buyers... people in the burbs that buy loaded crew cab pickups that may go to Home Depot a few times a year want them as car like inside as possible. That's a large percentage of the truck buying market, at least in recent years. So the car mags are aiming their reviews at their demographic (like these 3 loaded trucks, definitely for suburbia instead of a construction site). I'm sure there are commercial trade mags that test trucks for truckish features.

I'm not a truck fan, but the '09 Silverado I rode in recently with the Tahoe style dash seemed quite nice.

Speaking of Bugattis, I saw an article over the weekend on Autoblog about a 'barn find' Atlante from the '30s...pretty dramatic design.

The kid playing the 20-something JTK in the new movie looks a bit like a young Shatner... IIRC, I remember reading somewhere that in the '60s when ST was on, the Shat man drove a GTO and a Corvette convertible, Nimoy drove a Riviera.

I like the Morgan Aeromax and the KTM XBow. The coolest unobtainium car (available in the UK, not the US that I know of) is the Ariel Atom, IMHO...a go-cart for the road..would love to drive one on the Ohio backroads. The various midengined supercars not available here don't interest me, most look like a bunch of ugly fiberglass and carbon fibre glued together. The cars not available in the US that I find interesting are more down to earth, such as various diesel Mercs and BMWs, and various Euro models of Peugeots, Renaults, Citroens, Alfas, Fiats, Opels, Fords, etc..

The reality, though, for many years, is that most trucks have been bought by normal car buyers to be used as cars... so most people expect car like interiors in trucks (an industrial grade gray plastic interior doesn't cut it in a $40k truck), that's part of why most trucks today are extended and crew cabs. Which is why it makes sense that GM offers both commerical-grade and civilian grade interior lines in their trucks with the current generation.

I saw an '09 Dodge today in a med. metallic red...very handsome truck, IMHO. Regarding the visual width of the Silverado--it's the stacked headlights...the grille is wider than the competition with lights vertical out on the edges...

That's something older generations said, I think...my Dad was a Lincoln man but he said that occasionally. Never heard anyone my generation say it...my friends and colleagues that are my age range (mid to late 30s) that have premium brand cars have Acuras (TLs, MDX), Audis (A4s), BMWs (3-series, 5-series), Infinitis (G35,G37), a couple w/ Mercedes (C-class, ML) and a couple w/ Lexuses (ES,RX,IS), and Volvos (XC70, XC90). I'm the only one that likes Cadillacs and Lincolns..