Robert Hall

Work has been picking up here lately at the startup...have a major release to a major bank in Europe in about 6 weeks, so there will be some OT coming up...but it's more mental exhaustion than physical... hours in front of a 24 inch computer screen in a comfy chair, fueled by caffiene... Haven't been sleeping well either this week... jet lagged from the weekend in Florida, and worn out from it..(I can't party at 38 the way I did at 20 or so)..

Maybe Chevy got concerned that the Insignia looked too good relative the Malibu and told Saturn to tone it down..

Yes..I couldn't imagine how awful life would be, esp. the teenage years without the real world experiences, both good and bad, of high school... I knew a number of people in Colorado that did home schooling, their kids seemed to have developed into Christian Stepford child zombies... Growing up in an expensive, resort oceanside community, I could have gone to a private school, but went to public school, with it's heady mix of the very rich, a few poor, a narrow middle class, jocks, nerds, geeks, overachievers, joiners, cliques, surfers, stoners, preppies, proto-yuppies, and all the sex, drugs, alcohol, & rock and roll of the '80s....I came out relatively unscathed. It was a memorable, heady experience full of highs and lows. The stuff that went on in school back in the day couldn't happen today without a lot of arrests and suspensions. It seems like high schools today have the ambience of prisons.

For me, it's the grille, really...the updated RL doesn't look better than the previous, likewise for the new TSX and the new TL compared to previous versions. The previous models were much cleaner, the new ones seem to attempt to be 'bolder' looking with the tacky shield grilles...

Ah, nice... I haven't taken the time to explore the Chevy site yet. I like both the blues and the gray.

Has the color palette been revealed yet? Besides the bright Starburst fruit chew colors, I'd love to see some more subtle color schemes... I'd like to see a dark metallic blue, a titanium gray, Enclave bronze, the CTS dark red, and that sharp, bright metallic lime-ish green that was on the Avalanche a few years ago (I don't recall the name, but it was a great color..reminded me of an old Hot Wheels Spectraflame color..I think there was a darker version also)

Speaking of psycho Toyota drivers, I was headed over to Dave & Busters last night after work to a company event, driving my sister's 500SEL. I was rolling along at about 60 on the 101 when a blue Toyota Matrix blew past me at least 85 then cut in front of me onto an on-ramp (no signals). Thought the car looked familiar, turned out to be my manager. 4 of the people on my team drive Toyotas--a Tundra, 2 Priuses, a Camry, and the manager who has a Matrix and a Prius.

That was back when Merc engineered the heck out of everything...even with high mileage, those cars can still be very solid. My sister's '84 500SEL (almost 200k) and '91 300CE (110k) are still solid, smooth driving, quiet inside. I love the old Benzes because they didn't compromise on the engineering. One interesting factoid--I read that M-B made the steering wheels huge back then so that if the power steering were to fail, the car could still be steered...

Yeah, his dad was the local major trafficer.... they had a Scarab boat and were in the import business (which was a growth industry in S. Florida in the '80s). He and his dad eventually went to federal prison. He was at my reunion last weekend, was released a couple years ago after 15 years (his dad is still in).

Meh...old, flexible platform w/ live rear axle, nasty interior, wierd exterior, etc.

Black out windows on white AMG Merc hts....I saw alot of those back in the day in S. Florida. Ugh.

Interesting..that's a gray market car, with the small Euro bumpers... a buddy in high school had a dark red AMG one back in the day...didn't care for the monochromatic AMG look then, but like the regular ones...esp. the dark blue 560SECs..

Well, if the production V8 is 4000, I figure a hardtop would be about the same as a convertible (4200?). Or maybe I'm a couple hundred pounds high for each...

True...we would have a 4200lb Camaro then...

Those old Buicks are neat...I always liked the straight-across dash style, gave it an old-school touch.

Aerodynamics no doubt play a part also...the Camaro is rather blocky and upright compared to the sleeker Corvette and CTS-v...

Surprising the Cobalt SS turned in such a good time....I usually don't think of FWD and handling in the same sentence...

Yeah, well GM's 'divisions' are little more than marketing organizations selling a brand image for a corporate-developed product.

Yes, an era long, long ago...when car ads were still often in b&w.

I like the profile and rear, but the front end reminds me too much of the Camry..

I have no problem with the safety features in today's cars... crumple zones, airbags, seat belts, ABS, etc....the better, IMHO. And I like loaded w/ options models rather than stripped down ones....the downside is the weight goes up..

Ah, hentai... over the weekend, I was talking w/ some buddies about comic books (one of my friends from HS is an aspiring comic book artist), graphic novels, movie adaptations, anime, manga, etc and one guy was talking about seeing it out in the open on newstands in Osaka and Tokyo...bizzare stuff with coprophilia, etc...

Yeah, lots of regional variations... when I'm in So Cal, I'm usually in LA County beach towns (Santa Monica, etc), OC beach towns, San Diego downtown and beaches, or some inland areas like Hollywood, Irvine, etc. I see a ton of imports--esp. BMWs, Hondas, and Toyotas....when I see current Impalas, etc they appear to be rentals..

53k Civics in May...Probably very few fit that description.

How many buyers REALLY want stripped down cars today, though? Not many, I think..