ShadowDog

Materials will not be the silver lining to the cloudy questionable interior layout. Visually, everything inside has the resemblance of a car ad one would find while flipping through a double-decades-old National Geographic. It's all plumb-and-square, straight from the 80's. I'm also not too fond of the dual-color instrumentation. With the rather pointless flip vents, after a few years, I get the feeling they will end up working like flip-lights do when it seems like the car wanted to wink at people. It's just another thing to break and annoy the driver. The exterior design and overall performance is rather appealing.

You know, that saying has been around almost as long as people have been complaining about GM's lacklustre quality and plastic interiors as well. IMHO, it's attitudes and old-school thinking from, both, consumers and the media that has held GM back as they claw their way out of the pit they dug for themselves. The only problem is with each milestone of progress they reach, a previous negative one keeps jumping out to bite them in the ass; and not by having a vehicle out that continues to have the same sub-par standards, but by constantly bringing up the memory of them. It's been said that GM could build the best car ever seen for the cheapest price possible and they still would have some dorks from the media say, "Who'd have thunk the car maker responsible for the [insert $h!-car here] could make this!" If we look at the many examples today of what would seem to be the best output from the Big3 (disregarding the questionably designed exteriors for some) in... well, ever, then what the heck are people smoking? ...and no, not everything has to be the best performing, most exciting, eye-popping designed and engineered vehicle each and every time; however, the masses are far too critical these days. It's unfortunate that the Big3 were finally in the groove to changing these preconceived notions. Either that, or these lousy consumers and auto journalists have been kicking the bucket. Maybe enough of them haven't died for the domestic-front to see their way out of this mess.

We'd better put your phone number on all the product brochures so customers can call you directly since you know more about GM than GM.

If he keeps it up, that map of the U.S. they show on elections is going to change from RED to BLUE.

Well, it's definitely a concept, without a doubt I'm grateful for that. By that, I mean, rarely do concepts find their way to production form in every way. This is simply a showcase of design without any sense of practical thought. I'll probably appreciate it from the front and rear after it's been put in a wind-tunnel and through its paces to convert into something more people would like to own. ...I do like the profile. IMHO, the top view is rather pointless unless there's some sort of highly influential group that grades how a car looks from an overpass. Maybe due to all the L.A. high-speed car chases we see on FOX? I dunno.

English-style double-bell ring: Ring-ring... "Giggity, giggity, gig-i-ty" ...ring-ring... "Awlriiight".

It has its perks, as well as its drawbacks. We rented our house for a year before we bought it from the owners. That was the best advantage because anything that ever needed repairs was covered while we were renting; so by the time we bought it, we knew exactly what was good and bad about the place. The biggest problem with owning is all the potential extra costs, if you can't manage to do any of the repairs yourself with just the cost of materials to worry about. The biggest advantage is utilizing the value of the home for equity.

My first apartment had a $300 security deposit. We had pictures nailed up and some black bedding pigment rubbed onto the bedroom wall; however, after we replaced a light cover that was cracked (wasn't our doing and was missed on pre-inspection) we washed all the walls, closets, cupboards, windows, fireplace, deck, storage room and cleaned the carpets to have $250 returned. $50 covers mandatory carpet cleaning when moving out. We offered to fill all the nail holes but the building manager said he preferred to do it himself because they had poor experiences with tenants in the past botching the repairs. To be honest, we cleaned areas that had never seen a cloth. The tops of the kitchen cupboards had layers of dust and grease that had been there for years. The manager admitted that he rarely ever returns any deposits; however, we were so good to the place and did such a great job cleaning that he was just glad that hole filling and spot painting was the ONLY thing he had to do for the next tenant. For many landlords, a security deposit will cover simple repairs; however, many tenants also get charged for additional repairs if they were responsible for the damages. My mother has a rental place and I hardly ever feel any compassion for tenants when it comes to the amount of damage they cause to the living space. Being a landlord is tough.

Well, if I needed a new car, I would consider the G6. This is not because of any restyle/refresh, but because it's about the only car that really peaks my interest when it comes to what practical needs I would have to cover.

So, in review: Saturn costs GM far too much money to continue operating. Sell it to a foreign company and literally help them develop a network of dealerships to immediately start as a direct competitor. Not only give this new company some of your clientele, but even offer to build their cars for them in your own factories with employees already shaking their low-slung heads at the decision-making in upper management. As if employee morale wasn't bankrupt already, have these proudly (North) American employees build a car for a, likely, Chinese company. GM, as if your nuts didn't hurt enough already?

LOL, and any other thread is full of your innocent angels. Now, how would that be any fun? Ugh, another haitus is granted to you all then. You're welcome.

Threaten the CAW by yanking all their jobs, then say, "Oh, alright, we'll stay, but you have to take a serious cut." All this for heavy-handed bargaining perhaps?

It's not likely just fart-pipes. Around here there are local mud racers tuning their straight-pipe-sans-muffler vehicles. It's fine when they're on their own property and revving while performing maintenance. Sure, it's loud, but nobody really cares enough to report them to the police; however some of their ignorant buddies show up to rip around in their back yard and forget that they shouldn't be riding on the public rural side-roads without insurance in the wee-hours of the morning (4-5-6 am) right past your house. I'm all for enjoying a hobby, but I don't think anyone should have to suffer through caring for their frightened infant children because some arse-hole thinks it's fun to blast through a whole neighborhood with the pedal to the floor, literally rattling windows as they pass. That's just sheer ignorance. No, I also don't condone vigilante vandalism; I mean, his heart is in the right place even if his head is up his arse.

Reading can be fun! Understanding is another thing... 1) The point wasn't that one would have to eat the whole thing, but that one decent slice is like eating half a box of Twinkies. I didn't think perspective was so difficult. b) "That ugly thing ranks right up there on the gross scale next to cannibalism." <-- Which is to say, cannibalism is gross, and IMHO, so is that log-o-lard iii) I recall Captainbooya exclaiming, "God Bless America!", as well as a reference to West Virginia at the sight of the two relatively heavy men. Face it, you're a 'growing' nation with many proud to be free to eat their way to the grave. Yeah, it's a problem in many places, but it's not any better in the home of the Whopper.

"... The entire meat log contains something like 5,000 calories and 500 grams of fat." You don't get to be the nation of lard-asses without too much pride in making anything edible, plus a whole lot of ignorance for your health. That ugly thing ranks right up there on the gross scale next to cannibalism.

My dad is on one pack a day and has been like that for years. He's 68 now and sounds like his lungs want to escape for air when he starts coughing with a really disgusting sound. The family is pretty sure he has emphysema as he is very short of breath from any amount of physical exertion. This is all key because watching him age with smoking is what kept me away from cigs all my life. In fact, my mom, two sisters and my brother all avoided the habit for this very reason. We're all actually amazed he's made it this long. My wife, on the other hand, smoked since she was 12. She's 31 now, but quit smoking after she met me when we were 23. The biggest reason? She loves me. I never did anything to suggest that I hated her for smoking; rather, I reminded her that if she were ever to want to quit, I would support her in any way she desired. What did it was, in her words, the fact that I smiled at her every time she lit up. This made her think that I had endless faith in her that she would one day be free of cigarettes. Little-by-little, she was down to barely one a day before she quit altogether.

Perspective on age: When I was a teenager, I was regularly helped by a gorgeous 30-something bank teller whom could give a guy wet dreams every night. When we moved back here after being gone for 5 years, I didn't realize how much the local kids had grown up because her daughter now works at the same bank and is even HOTTER than her mom.

Apparently, size doesn't even matter when it should! As an example, when my friend and his wife were shopping for a new car (mostly for her because he already had a Grand Cherokee), she just 'had to have' the new PT Cruiser (introductory year), as it was the flavour of the month/year for consumers. She wasn't taking in what made it work, the ergonomics, or even if the seats were comfortable enough to support her bad back and hips (previously broken pelvis leads her to near-constant pains). Anyway, anything that a car buyer should look at, she could change every negative into a positive to go along with just how much she loved the strongest reason she wanted one, how it looked on the outside. She put everything in her life to form-fit the car, which is odd for those needing a car to fit the majority of their needs when it comes to car seats, pets, groceries, traveling, etc. Nope, it had to be the PT or nothing else. Now they have two kids and the main mode of transportation for the family is their Montana SV6. Who drives the PT? He does, to commute to work, and he is trying to sell it. So no, sadly, not everyone looks at what would seem to be important for the best car buying decision. For vehicles like this Nissan, it's general transportation with style. The fact that it might have some extra cargo space or additional passenger room would really only be looked at by those stuck on what they can afford and need all the space they can get for the money. Even then, IMHO, for a vehicle like this, styling would be a determining factor.

Hmm, it's just not square enough for my taste. Sorry, it needs to have corners so sharp you can impale yourself. Kinda like the shape of a car made from Legos. Yeah, that's my style. Cupholder on the left? I don't think the majority of drivers out there will be able to figure out such a dramatic shift in their ability to do anything when the cup is in another hand.

Every single-toothed, gun-totin' mullet-head hillbilly is buildin' themselves a stockpile of revolutionary arms in their bunker as I type this. Oh yeah, and I don't think we should have an eagle on it. It's bad enough that tourist towns where bird watching for eagles can't even survive, much less the numbers of the bird itself. We should be looking at some kind of creature that we can proudly display as a symbol of our everlasting survival in this world... a metropolis sewer rat. That would be WAY more fitting.

Many people I speak with regarding the Volt have this major misconception about the engine. This car is not a hybrid, so its engine does not power the car but the generator for minor electric charging until it can be plugged in again for a full re-charge. Sources that indicate the 1.4L 4-cylinder that "powers" the Volt are creating this misconception. Some people even go so far as to tell me that GM is misleading the public by saying the car runs entirely on electricity without ever having to use a drop of gasoline. It can if you don't discharge the battery too far, but they don't understand this. Quite frankly, I'm surprised the engine even needs to be this big; however, I'm sure all efforts for efficiency and bean-counting are being considered. I'd have thought that a simpler 4-cycle engine supplied by another facility would have done the trick.

Interesting how easy it is to see that when conduct like this occurs, nothing gets accomplished and everyone suffers... but it would be GREAT for the UFC PAY PER VIEW FANS!!!

My bad, sorry. Apparently things became civil in this thread a little over half-way through. I was just about to do a major edit on my post a minute ago but it was too late. There's my apology anyway. So my reply is better said, "I think this will work."

Traditional Americans don't have the slightest clue what lengths the Administration goes to in order for this happy feeling-guise of "freedom" to continue. Your idea of "freedom" goes too far into the imagination; that you should be free to choose for yourself whether the environment, natural resources, economic tie-ins and old-industry is at risk or not just so you can, what... enjoy yourself? This whole notion of 'Today it's this, tomorrow we'll be overrun with constant terrorism' style argument has been said for generations, well before Communism, even Colonial times. If we didn't allow for change, would black people still be sitting in the back of the bus? There is no denying how much opposition there was to allowing black population the power to vote. How did we fair with that decision? Is the world not still turning? I use this as an example because it was an extremely volatile social problem that was laced with ethical consequences if the wrong decision was made. How funny that bigots and morally-inept racists thought their way was right, too. The world is dynamic, having to make for change that can accommodate as much as possible for the greater good for not only a nation, but a global environment. The Administration under Bush, as well as your argument for "freedom", is largely antiquated. Developing global relations starts with moves such as what Obama proposes. To continue with policy that closes doors and ignores simple ethics and basic human rights places a nation in danger of MORE conflict, not less. *clicked the wrong damn button* Anyway, when it comes to empowering the States with these policies, the steps appear flawed for any sort of reasonable expectation for the automotive industry to accommodate. Even if a policy is derived from, oh let's just imagine, a combined agreement developed from all States as an AVERAGE, it's likely the national goals will still fall short from their target... that is, unless the whole idea is to place the entire policy in the hands of the States to develop so that they can come to a conclusion as to their own 'appropriate' GREEN expectations. This sort of move, placing the decision-making in State hands creates a great deal of political power, right down to the citizens (IMHO, where it should be). It makes for a great way to let the voice of the people speak.

There's something not quite right about men getting in line to be impregnated by a car. Otherwise, despite there being hardly anything done to make this a special car, it is quite the pretty beast.