Drew Dowdell

All of my preparations for Europe have left me ill-prepared to make a sudden purchase such as this.

Zipcar has been buying Volvo S40s as their "premium" offering in their car sharing service. I've been meaning to try out the one we just got here in Pittsburgh. I wonder if Zipcar counts towards fleet totals.... I'd imagine they do.

The 3.4 DOHC Cutlass has something like this also. The Alternator is only accessible by removing the front right wheel and they had some venting solution in place to cool it.

E-bodys, any division, 79-85

And if the styling direction at Acura continues to mirror Studebaker.....

The TL looks basically like the old one but with a big chrome shield on the front. The styling exercises that Acura is doing now are dubious at best and fatal at worst. The new vehicles look too much like the old ones with lots of bling tacked on. My '54/'55 Studebaker update comparison stands. The CTS is already selling very well even in a severely slumping economy.

Those are car based trucks with a cap.

X

This will have a much harder time standing up to the new CTS than the old one could to the old CTS. The new CTS has improved dramatically and has upped the style quotient. The TL "update" is the modern interpretation of this update of yore: 1954 1955

I have no idea what that was about... someone found a left over stamping from the 50s maybe? That was just like my first car. Only difference was I had the "classic" grill on the front and no sunroof. Mine had the same stainless steel "pin stripe" and the addition of a fake b-pillar <held on with a clip at the top and single screw at the bottom.

Just to be clear: Digital displays/heads up on a Honda or BMW = way cool Digital displays/heads up on a GM = lame. just because.

This is what I want right here.... color is right, options are right. Exactly perfect. 1985 Toronado Caliente

Thanks Balthy. My Buick 455 over Rocket 455 was a completely made up scenario just to give an example of the situation I was looking for.

Since the company I work for was bought out by a Canadian company, Tim Hortons is all we hear aboot now.

The badge does..... how else would Lexus sell?

good! let it go quick and profitably!

Targeting someone because they fall into a specific demographic is worse than just randomly beating up some bystander on the street. The former requires malice and forethought, the latter is just stupidity. If hate crimes aren't worse than regular crimes, why do we make such a big deal about Auschwitz? That was just a hate crime on an industrial scale.

Vehicles don't have to share body panels to look similar. Take the harping around here about the SRX looking like the VUE.

Target market!

What's under the hatch in the rear of the boot floor?

Another Cutlass Salon today!

Between Century and Regal, which name is tarnished and could likely never be used again? In a side profile, I often mistake a Maxima for an Altima and vice versa. Now the newest barf job Maxima that Nissan has yacked up onto the pavement will never be mixed up with the Altima. The roof lines aren't even different until you get to the back tire where it just looks like that backed the Altima into a wall a few times and called it a day.

That was my point. The failures of the previous generation on a nameplate do not predict the success of the subsequent generation. SMK was implying that because the current LaX is a dud, the next one will be also.

and engine differences, and option differences, and color differences Century was 3.1 or 3.4, Regal was 3800 or 3800s/c. Regal could be had with leather, Century couldn't. Regal was console shift, Century was column shift. The Maxima rides on the same, albeit stretched, platform as the Altima and just takes the top engine from the lower car, slap on minor front facia differences and a bigger sticker prices and voila! The transition to Maxima is complete. Same trick on the Avalon. Same trick on the LeSabre/Park Ave Same trick on the 88/98 Same trick on the Sable/Continental <Lincoln Mercury is one division I understand>

Kinda hard to accomplish anything with an anchor stamped "UAW" tied to your neck, Rodger Smith at the helm, and a bunch of accountants from General Mills running the engine room.