Robert Hall

Autocrossing a Suburban would be fun, I bet..

I figure I'll continue buying American w/ the occasional German (maybe Japanese) car here and there. I'd consider buying a new car now if the economy was looking up, but it's nice having no car payment, a short commute, and a reasonably high bill rate...building up the cash reserves now in case the job market completely crashes next year (I'm still getting 1/2 dozen or so calls and emails every week from headhunters, so tech isn't completely dead right now).

And 2 extra doors. Though the CTS coupe if it ever gets in production is shorter than the sedan, I think. The G37 is a nice size...a friend bought one recently, seems like a nice competitor to the 3-series coupe.

Yeah, that's why the constant use of the term 'bailout' is misleading... they aren't grants, but loan guarantees...

True..the Accord's natural habitat is a busy freeway in a metro area, doing the daily commute, like the C470 around the Denver area or the 101 in the Phoenix area..

Ya...speaking of sports cars for daily drivers, a friend of mine this summer had a Z3 as his commuter car, it got t-boned at an intersection...he replaced it with a new Boxster. He and his wife took a 3500 mile road trip in it in August... says it's a great daily driver. He's put on snow tires for the winter.

I used to work w/ a guy that had an '05 Accord that already had 50k miles in early '07...never washed it... asked why he never cleaned it, said 'it's just a Honda..will replace it in a couple years with another one"...

I've driven an E30..they are fun... a few performance cars I want to own eventually are an E46 M3--the last of the 6 cyl ones, a 993 (mid '90s) Porsche 911 (last of the aircooled ones), and an Acura NSX. I've driven a friend's NSX a few times, it's a sweet car.

I like the 1 series..I wonder how the sales are, though...I rarely ever see one, compared to the 3 series. I've owned 7 cars in a little over 20 years, one a BMW (loved my '96 M3) and one a Mopar ('00 Jeep).

+1 I'm sure things have only gotten worse in the last 30 years since my folks retired from that world--my Mom was an elementary school teacher for 25 years, my Dad started off as a Jr. High Math teacher, then became a principal then was a superintendent for 20 years.

Wow...$865 for the whole year... I was seeing about $400/month this summer for A/C here in Phoenix. I think in Denver IIRC my heating bill for my condo is usually around $100/month more or less in the winter.

I'm pretty sure the Cobalt is Ohio-built, just like the Accord.

Another reason to hate the South. Effing red states.

Probably cause of the long lead times in old media... Oct magazine articles are probably written in August.

Yeah, that was my favorite thing to do in Co, as well as Oh and Mi...can't do that here, dealers are open Sundays.

Mmmm....Cracker Barrel country ham w/ biscuits and gravy, with sausages on the side. Love that place. I think the nearest one here is way out in the East Valley burbs (Mesa I think)...will have to go some Saturday morning..early. The ones in Colorado often had a 45 min wait if you showed up after 8 am on a Sat/Sun.

That's cool..the way I want to do is to preserve the '59's wrap around rear glass. Thought about a '61 also, using a Lindberg '61 Impala kit as the base. It's alot cheaper and easier to build custom cars in 1:25th scale styrene than in 1:1 metal..

Let's see...my favorite Elkies are probably the '68-69, followed by the '70. The GMC Sprint is neat also, saw a goregous silver '71 Sprint SP 454 at a car show a few years ago. I always thought the taillights in the rear bumper were weird on the '73-77 and '78-87 models...though details I really like on the '78-87s are the rear quarter windows and the back window treatment. About that '61, I plan to build a phantom '62 in 1:25th plastic scale using an AMT '62 Bel Air ht and an AMT '59 El Camino and some kitbashing..

One of the things I miss about Colorado is that the car dealers were closed on Sundays. Nice way to waste a couple hours on a Sunday morning. I'd occasionally find used cars unlocked on the lot, and sit in them. I remember seeing a row of 6 identical year old pearl white DTSes at one dealer last year.

Ya... this summer in Phoenix was considered 'mild' by the locals--only hit 115 once--no 118 or 122 as has happened in the past...still, almost 5 months of 100+ daily highs. It's nice now, perfect convertible/sunroof open weather. Looking forward to fireplace weather in December. The desert is a very strange place.

You can definitely get 50mpg in a compact w/ a diesel... it doesn't have to be an Aveo-sized sh*tbox. The automakers just have to have the courage to sell them here.

Apparently, the city has a $250 million budget shortfall going into '09, so it will be interesting to see if they start cutting projects and cutting employees and contractors. My contract was recently renewed thru March 31st '09, but I may run screaming sooner if I have to...

I keep hearing the Rush song 'Red Barchetta' with it's ominous sounding 'Motor Law'... R-Cube

Hmmm....a fleetwide average of 50 would require a fleet of diesel Aveo sized cars and trucks...

Nice..highs still in the low '80s the last few weeks here in Phoenix, with a couple days in the '70s. Highs in the '70s should be the norm soon though.. No cloudy days. R