Satty

I know he did not just say the Studebaker Hawk is ugly.

I remember at one time FOG had a Toyota, he still might, I'm not sure. So what does that make him? I am, first and foremost, an automotive enthusiast. I ended up on a GM enthusiast website because my family was 100% GM as of '95 when we got rid of our old Sentra and got a Century. I had an appreciation for Saturn since early 1992 when we replaced another Nissan ('twas a wagon, not sure which model) with an SL2. GM is far and away the most interesting company to observe, it seems everyday they take two steps forward, then two steps back. I wouldn't say I hate Saturn, I hated my particular Saturn, too many problems. The previous L200 we had ran great other than a minor electrical glitch that caused the dash lights to not turn off. It seemed a lot quieter too, could've been the aftermarket sunroof in the second one, or maybe because it was a stick (that really wouldn't make sense, with the stick the engine spun several hundred rpm lower at cruise than the auto). It was just time for something different. The VUE would have been a good fit for me if I could get one equiipped how I would like at a decent price, even harder since the new face yhasn't grown on me and they're a rare find used around here. The ION and I had a tryst or two, but at the end of the day the quirkiness and quad coupe were the only redeeming values, not enough to justify buying the car. The wackiest thought to cross my mind was to put a deposit down on a SKY and wait it out, but where the hell do I put my bike, the stuff I take biking and the other general junk that sits in my car? Yeah. not going to happen. Test driving the Toyota was just something that kind of happened, more out of boredom than anything else, and guess what, I liked it. I liked it enough to buy it.

I want a car with a pushbutton transmission. Not for any logical reason like that they dont take up space on the floor, or that they'd be easier to engage, no I want one so I can see if its true that you can push the reverse button in a little ways while driving on the highway and have the reverse lights turn on. And I've always had a really weird attraction to DeSotos.

Because the $430 quote I got from Saturn to replace the rotors/pads on the L200 was soooo reasonable. Oh, and people who hate Japanese cars usually dont buy Datsuns and people who want sporty cars, like Camaros, usually get manual transmissions. I figure that whatever extra I have to spend on maintenance I'll make up for by not having to have the car in at the dealership for a recall every couple of weeks and by not getting tickets and wasting my time in court because I hadn't gone in for the recall work yet and I got pulled over because the taillight (reason for the recall) went out. And, I assume, a car whose seats actually stay on the frames will sell better, since you could lift up the edge of the leather and pull up the whole seat, the passenger seat was a little worse, you could see the seat frame at all times. So yeah, all things considered Solara>L200. I didn't want to drive around in a rapidly deteriorating POS, so keeping the Saturn too much longer wasn't an option. I also didn't want to tie myself up in payments on a more expensive car (hence there not being a Mini Cooper in my garage) so I went with something reasonable and easy to live with that would allow me to pay my tuition and other bills I am absorbing. Given the circumstances I was working with and my lack of a desire to own a Camaro (yes, there are people who really dont want to drive them on a daily basis) I got the best car for me.

My gut reaction was the edsel, which makes sense, all the others are Chryslers and Chrysler did indeed make pushbutton trannys. Looking a little deeper (google) shows that the Edsel Citation doesn't not have a bushbutton auto. I'll go with the '65 Imperial.

I'm sleeping with my supervisor and nobody who knows (or who has figured it out) has told our boss, so yeah I like my co-workers. If I didn't they probably wouldn't be covering for me and I'd be out a job.

Appearence wise, the Accord was only a little non-bland when it came out, its gotten more boring with age, especially with the new taillights. The new Impy was boring the second it was released. But, you know, give the people what they want.....

The M3 offered an auto for a year or two around they same time they offered it in sedan form. I doubt many people bought either.

I doubt a Chevy Kappa will be another roadster. Seriously, how big can the roadster market be, especially with a roadster that is extrememly unpractical for use as a person's main vehicle? Give Chevy the Solstice coupe, no overlap and it fits more with Chevy's mainstream image because it would likely have more than 1.4 cu.ft. of trunk space. In that scenario, I could actually see it stealing sales more from the Cobalt than the Camaro, especially if they kept the price down.

Hell Jeep uses IFS.

Fine choice, but out of curiosity, has your wife signed off on this yet? I couldnt think of anything suckier than getting a SKY and losing it in divorce court. I actually kind of like Bluestone on the Solstice, I dont think the color would translate well to the SKY.

The SKY site has a thing where you can see it in all of the colors, the yellow looks different from the yellow one we've seen pics of. I've seen it in red in person, and it is awesome. Standard AC and power everything gives it something over the base Solstice.

Well, I've had it for one month today, and let me tell you, this thing is a piece of shit! The little rubber cover on the brake pedal came off! I'm going to write Edmunds, Consumer Reports and Toyota about this. They had better replace the car and pay me for the emotional damage done by watching a part fall off of a Toyota. But seriously, other than the gas mileage (22 mpg compared to the 28 the Saturn got in the same driving) this car is awesome. The blind spots are pretty big, but thats not a huge concern, especially when all of the plastics are so soft to the touch. And before anyone says "Who ever touches their dashboard?" I just want to say that the stuff on the door panels (which I do touch and rest my arm on) are the same as the dash. And they're soft. Maintenance is going to be expensive, replacing the timing belt and water pump (which as far as I can tell should have been done by the 90,000 mile mark and haven't been) is going to run like $500, but nothings perfect and its only money.

Chicago is the only one I remember having them too, but if they do I'm sure GM (and all the other mfrs.) will go to great lengths to make sure they dont give sneak peaks like we had last year. I still have some of those pics, too.

w00t!

That looks a lot like the pic someone got out of a brochure or something, probably a prototype for the concept.

I can point you in the direction of the only gay bar in the area, only a block from the site of a lynching that took place about 90 years ago. And...um....there is a lot to see....like...um....Bass Pro if you want to see more fishing gear than most normal peopel would ever want to see....and...um....Branson is a short drive from here....you can see Boxcar Willie (oops, he's dead) and other random people no normal person would want to see. Well, its better than Detroit, people rarely get shot around here, maybe once a year, we just have a lot of meth labs and drunken rednecks. And some decent weather, not today, but overall the winter has been pretty nice to us.

It was sunny and 65 here in SW MO yesterday, its cloudy and 45 today, going to be sunny and 60 tomorrow.

Hmmm....forgot about how the Japanese companies decided that trucks dont need names. Although "Hardbody" was awesome, I dont know why Nissan named the truck the Frontier.

After last year's Lucerne debacle, does anyone thing there will be live webcams at any of the auto shows? I'd laugh my ass off if they make the same mistake twice. Webcams+running videos of new releases=stupid, doing it twice=really stupid.

I want someone like Ford to introduce a new car and sell it under the name "Sporty Car." Re-name the Mustang "Sporty Car" rename the Fusion "Family Car" rename the 500 "Large Car" rename the Crown Victoria "Geriatric Car" rename the F-series "Large Truck" and so on.

Yeah, they've got me over by the park, totally the wrong side of town, althouth I think I've delivered to the house that my little marker is on. And that map is at least 3 years old, a lot of roads on there, in my area at least, have been re-named or re-routed and quite a few have been built connecting other roads.

How many average people do you think realize the HHR has many Chevy cues? Most people are going to think Chevy is trying to jump on the PT Cruiser bandwagon. The PT's interior looks better (the HHR is really bland) but the PT is lacking in the quality "feel" some people seem to think doesn't exist. I haven't dealt with removing the seats on either, so I dont know which is easier to use. Chevy basically built a Cobalt wagon that doesn't look like a Cobalt wagon. in the process they also built a better PT Cruiser.

My favorite of all time (that I've heard in person) would have to be the Ferrari 575...so, so nice. Hennessey modified Vipers also sound amazing. The only V8 Ferrari I've heard is the 360 and it was great, now that I think about it I dont know I've heard a nicer sound come from a V8.

Some of you are looking at this all wrong. It doesn't matter how old the buyer is, just that there are buyers. People are going out and buying Elements and xBs and the cars, in spite of their goofy looks, are getting positive press.This article pretty much says that the Element was supposedly designed for younger people but people of all ages are buying them for several reasons. And the Element, with its hose-out floors, room to lay down and giant openings created by the suicide doors, would be a perfect designated-driver car.