Drew Dowdell

Red-Line, Green-line, White-line..... uhm.... Brougham? The grill just says Vue to me. As does the interior.

I'm getting a Saturn Vue vibe. Why do we think this is an Equinox and not a Vue varient?

All that said.... GM should locate a design studio in the heart of LA. Like it or not, LA is a major source of fashion trends and GM should be in the heart of it. Headquarters? no.

I didn't say you had generalized about the mid-west. I said you didn't complain when it happened. I like Pittsburgh. I'm moving to Germany simply for the experience of living in Europe. However, the climate difference between Pittsburgh and Köln is marginal at best. I'm a skier, so I don't mind cold or snow. The Michigan foreclosures are not due to rampant speculation or "Jefferson's Syndrome". In Michigan the economy has caused the foreclosures. In California... and Nevada... it's the consumerist, gotta one up the Jones's with my new McMansion, but get a negative amortization, interest only loan to pay for it attitude that is causing the pain there. California is, by far, the hardest hit in sheer dollar volume of foreclosures. And I work in real estate and study the mortgage market...... so I kinda know what I'm talking about here. I know that California is much much more than the stuff I spouted off earlier. This all started because I said I've been embarrassed by this country lately. Unfortunately, Hollywood is in California and that's where 50% of my embarrassment comes from. The rest comes from Crawford Texas... however that issue will be addressed shortly. :AH-HA_wink:

You have no idea how excited my BF is to have the Roadmaster complete. I still have the air matress that fit the bed of the Avalanche.... it fits in the back of the Roadmaster as well. He's already been pricing out the cost of tinting the rear windows. that reminds me... I have to call about getting the rear air shocks replaced..... brb

A CPO Phaeton was very high on the list to replace the CTS about a year ago. My direction has changed a bit since then.

She may have been born and raised there, but the Britney we know today was manufactured by California. And of course I know that my statements are grossly generalized....but these are the first things that come to mind when you mention California. First things that come to mind when someone mentions Pittsburgh? Steelmills, pollution, Steelers. We no longer have Steelmills and the city is quite clean. It was recently voted Most Livable. California does still have Hollywood and all the puss that comes with it. California is being hit hardest by the mortgage crises as so many are getting their 4,000 sq foot McMansion foreclosed on... because they just had to have that 4,000 sq feet at $350/sq.ft. for two people. The country's top plastic surgeons are in California. There is even a drama series centered around plastic surgery. I don't see you complaining about the overgeneralized statements about the mid-west or north east.

After the Roadmaster is done.....

I thought it was going to be updated to the 900

but you get my point..... once people knew it was a VW, their respect for the car diminished greatly.

Kinda.... but it does look substantially different enough and has enough additional hardware to justify the price. The problem with the RL is, cover up the badges and people might think it's a Honda. You can cover up the badge on the Escalade, but no one is going to mistake it for a Chevy. Pheaton had the opposite problem. Cover over the badge and people would think it's some high end German luxury brand. Take the cover off the badge and people were immediately disappointed with visions of Beetle bugs dancing in their heads.

Because UPS <based in Atlanta>, Walmart <based in Bentonville Arkansas>, Proctor and Gamble <based in Cincinnati>, General Electric <based in Fairfield Connecticut> aren't global companies? Not everything needs to be based in Detroit. GM can have design centers around the globe. That's where you want the real talent.

I actually agree with you, however it isn't my car. He also doesn't want to pay to have the entire car painted. We're only having the front clip and hood painted. Removing the paneling would require the whole car getting done.

fine Show me the ROI.

2008 BMW M3 Coupe being marked up to $100,000 Link to AutoBlog We've been getting reports from all over that the 2008 BMW M3 Coupe has begun to arrive in U.S. dealerships. Dealers, however, have also begun taking advantage of the high interest in these Bavarian über coupes by marking up the price. Since we couldn't just take everyone's word for the extreme mark ups, we had to wait until someone surfaced with proof, which came today. Dragtimes.com is hosting an image of a brand spanking new M3 sitting in an unidentified California dealer with a window sticker displaying the car's $70,720 MSRP plus a $30,000 mark up. The extra monies demanded by the dealer is labeled as a "Dealer Market Adjustment" on the window sticker, which makes it seem like a special options package with heated seats and an extra cup holder. Rather, it's the reality that this dealer and many others know that someone out there will pay that much for a new 2008 BMW M3 Coupe. But as good a sports car as it the new M3 undoubtedly is, would you pay over $100,000 for it? Thanks for the tip, FikseGTS! ------------------------------------------ That's $30,000 worth of BMW Koolaid.... or a G8 GT.

I suppose that depends on the city you're in. I can see both sides. I would like to live in a downtown location as long as I can get away to the country when I need to. That's one of the nice things about Pittsburgh, decent downtown, nice suburbs, and in 30 minutes you're in Amish country.

California is what has produced products <and they are shrink wrapped, packaged products> like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, all of the vapid, brain melting sitcoms, a disdain for anything "last week" much less 60 years ago, a race to the bottom with tackiness, trashiness, greed, and conspicuous consumption. Of all the states in the union, California as a whole has the least "class" and self respect. It's willing to pimp itself out for 15 minutes on a TV show eating pig penis. While I'm sure there are areas and people in California that do not fit the above description, the people that do fit that description vastly outnumber the former. I've grown more and more embarrassed of this country partly because of the Hollywood "culture" and partly because of GWB.

I'd have to agree with that final assessment there.

Nein.

Well, at the moment the Dollar is second class. I'm keeping money in Euros just because it's safer. Opec is getting ready to switch trading to Euros as well..... it isn't talked about in the news media, but this has the potential to completely cripple our economy.

Show me the ROI.

Oh yeah, I forgot. She also now has a proper, distinctive, four note Buick horn. Wagons come with only two notes.

But they're still "just Hondas" the same way the Pheaton was "just a Volkswagen". I'm not saying the Acuras are bad cars, however they aren't separate enough from Honda to warrant paying the price premium. The RL is a great car on it's own... but when you survey the rest of the automotive landscape it ends up feeling more like a Honda Accord Brougham Ultra Regency Super Executive - Platinum Edition.

fixed.

well the woodgrain is staying, however, we're not putting the woodgrain on the front fenders. Dominic's opinion is that original woodies were just wooden bodies, so it's ok to leave the wood off the front fenders. I am going to drive it for a bit as is because I need the wheels. I plan to go to Germany in late May so I might have it painted while I'm over there. I expect she'll be whole by tonight and a trip to the shop for inspection will happen tomorrow.