Satty

The parts of Michigan that aren't Flint or Detroit are fine.

Very nice, I've always had a soft spot for S-cars, first manual I ever drove was our '92 SL2. I'd love to have that car back (ok, maybe not, it was that blue-green color that every other Saturn of that vintage had). I wouldn'6t mind having an SC (first gen) as a third car, for quick trips around town that dont require either of our sedans. An SW would also look good in my driveway.

So GM is, once again, going to show a car thats extremely close to the production version a year or two before its available. That works so well, cause everyone is still super-pumped about the Camaro, nobody, not a single enthusiast anywhere, is bitching about anything about it. The Volt was hot as a concept, and it will probably be an awesome production car, but lets face it, by the time its actually on sale, it will be somewhat stale, Joe Dumbass will be thinking about buying a new car in 2011 or 2012 (be real, it takes GM forever to roll out new product, the first year or two will be very limited) and will look into the Volt and think, "Wow, it hasn't changed a bit since I first saw it 4 years ago" and move on to a more recently introduced Honda or Toyota or whatever. People are stupid, only stupid people deny that people are stupid. The production Volt should be kept secret until it is ready to go on sale. Show other E-Flex based concepts in the mean time, maybe a minivan/crossover or a coupe or whatever. Thats it for my rant on that, the Volt will be cool, I have no doubt that it will do what its supposed to do, and do it well. But who knows what other automakers will come up with by then to trump what GM has already announced it projects to be able to do in 3 years.

Handy when buying a car, I assume. I think I'd rather have no state income tax, like Alaska, Florida, and a handful of other states.

I recently found my copy of All Corvettes are Red. I read it in high school, its been sitting in random places around the house since. Maybe I'll crack it open again.

I was talking with a guy at work the other day, and it turned into a conversation on places we wouldn't mind living. Some of the highlights: (me) I wouldn't mind living in Delaware, its the state nobody ever thinks about, very incognito (him) Too many gay people for me (Seriously, he said that, he's a good guy otherwise, so I didn't rip him a new one for being homophobic like I normally do) (him) Kentucky wouldn't be that bad (me) Have you ever been to Kentucky? (him) No (me) Its like West Virginia, without the class (him) Ouch, West Virginia is known for being pretty poor (me) I almost moved back to Chicago a few years ago (him) I liked Chicago, but I dont think I could ever live there (me) But there is so much to do (him) Its expensive and crowded (me) Yeah, but there is so much to do (me) We've already decided to move to Savannah (him) Really? I dont see you in the south (me) I'll be pissed at myself within a month (him) So why would you bother? (me) Because I love roaches and humidity

I think I just had an innuendo overload. So many dirty replies.

While waiting at the airport, I took a cruise through the rental car return lot, all the biggies were represented. Avis, Alamo, Budget, Thrifty, Enterprise, some other I dont remember. What I noticed: A metric f@#k-ton of Chargers, mostly white, there was one red one. All the companies had at least one out there. Nissan is apparently the new rental darling, there were plenty of Altimas, and a Maxima that was left in its spot with the windows down. *Edit: one company aslo had a couple Muranos out there, those things are pretty ugly The Yaris apparently out-fleets the Cobalt, there were easily as many Yaris as there were Chargers, not surprising, with gas what it is, the Yaris makes sense as a rental. GM wasn't represented that heavily, an Acadia, an Outlook, a small handful of Impalas and Cobalts, one DTS and a Lucerne. Only one currently available Ford, an Escape, the rest of the Fords there were Tauruses (not the current one, the pre-500 Taurus) and a Freestyle (I guess that is technically still available). 1 Avenger, a couple of Sebring convertibles, 1 Liberty 1 Prius, a ton of Yaris, no other Toyotas The only Honda in the lot was an illegally parked MDX, unless Enterprise recently started putting W42 stickers on their vehicles.

Still 1 unsold in front of the dealership here, maybe its because it white, I dont know, but they just want sticker.

I just emailed my Congressional representatives (1 Democrat, 2 Republicans) and state legislators (2 Republicans, one of whom lives nearby) about my views on expanding rail travel within Missouri and the United States. We'll see if I get a response. Oh yeah, my state rep is a member of the Appropriations-Transportation and Economic Development Committee. One of my senators is on a couple of transportation related subcommittees, including the appropriations transportation subcommittee, and recently secured funding for a light rail project in Kansas City.

shoes

DOHC engines do tend to take up quite a bit of space compared to their OHV counterparts. I once saw a Ford 5.0 and 4.6(SOHC) on engine stands next to each other. The 4.6 looked absolutely huge in comparison, pretty sad considering they made the same power.

For maintenance, yes, for noise, no.

So what you're saying, Newbiewar, is that C&G want to know what the subject of the first "C&G Wants to Know" is?

I'd love it if rail were a practical form of transportation around here, but the nearest Amtrak station is 3 hours away. A 3 hour drive would get me anyplace in state that I would otherwise take the train to, and if I'm going further, it just adds to the length of the trip. The drive to St. Louis would take 3-4 hours, depending on traffic going through the city, the train ride takes nearly 6 hours, for a total travel time of 9-10 hours. I can make the drive in less than 8 if I leave late at night and get lucky. If there were passenger rail service through Springfield, I'd use it for Chicago, St. Louis, hell even Branson, which is like 30 miles.

high

Yeah, my argument of, "Isn't that why I paid for leather?" didn't work, since I got a reply of, "No, we paid for leather because the only black one available within 300 miles had leather." At that point, I realized that I was indeed Sisyphus. Anyways, Gas is $3.69 everywhere now, at this rate (a nickel a day increase) gas will be $4.04/gallon on June 1st.

$53(@3.59) to fill up the Fusion on Friday, and another $59(@3.64) to fill it back up today. That trip to St. Louis was quite the gas killer. Here is the kicker, we couldn't take the Prius because my son and I, "will make a huge mess in my new car, you guys cant get into a car without spilling something."

About a million Prius, including several first-gens. Also just about any 60's model Chevy, Ford or Dodge you can imagine at any of the dozens of classic car dealers along I-44. Most looked to be in terrible shape.

Its the official start of summer, well for me at least, I dont work Fridays, so its time to hit the beaches, lakes, rivers, whatever else you want to hit. We're going to St. Louis tomorrow to see the dinosaur exhibit at the zoo. Then Sunday is apparently river enjoyment day, its going to involve canoes and kayaks and possibly other floating craft. No plan for Monday. Anyone else have anything planned?

I have the solution for global warming, but nobody wants to pay me for it, so here goes: Everyone on earth with a car starts it up, turns the ac on full blast and opens the doors. Gloabal temps drop, everyone wins. You're welcome.

Once again, almost the entire car from the firewall back would be different between a hardtop and a convertible, so that argument really isn't valid. Would a hardtop be cool? Sure. Do 99.9% of car buyers care? Nope.

Several months ago, I told a friend of mine that the first thing I buy after law school is going to be a BMW M6 in alpine white. Thats no longer true. I want!

Had the exact same thing happen with the Sebring. Its fairly common, from what I remember when I looked into it, basically all I discovered was that it happened to a lot of people, most of whom agreed that the 2.7 is a massive piece of worthless flaming $h!. Some people's cars ran fine, but died at a complete stop, others ran fine, but died at a complete stop and then wouldn't re-start. Ever.

nuts