mustang84

(1) - 1st place (2) - 2nd place

But you have to note that they also mentioned the majority of their fleet sales increases were to commercial and government buyers, which is a totally different animal from daily rentals. Government & especially commercial have higher profit margins and less effect on resale values. Also note that the press release mentioned Ford's average resale values were up $1300 in 2009 and had the largest gain of all manufacturers that year.

Why was the Cadillac car lineup down so much vs. January '09? Has the SRX cannibalized sales of the CTS and DTS (and STS, but STS is getting long in the tooth anyway)? The Equinox is still selling like hotcakes.

Has anyone ever heard of this before? Around the country and especially around the upper Midwest, dozens of bright college-age males have been found drowned in rivers, lakes, and ponds after a night of drinking. The "smiley face killer" theory was proposed by a couple retired NYPD cops because a dozen or so of the crime scenes had smiley faces carved into objects nearby. They are found after they have left a bar or party alone. I believe one person survived and told the police someone had pushed them over the edge into a river. The retired cops have pieced together clues and believe it may even be a ring of serial killers around the country. The reason I bring this up is because a second student has gone missing at Iowa State. It was a couple weeks ago and he left a party drunk at 9:30 to walk back to his dorm (same building I used to live in) and nobody had seen him for a week. After days unable to contact his son, the student's dad called the police and there has been a widespread manhunt both in and around campus. The only clues they have so far are that all access card & debit card activity stopped after 11 PM or so. He was a graphic design student, very bright, and it sounds like a really nice guy that everybody got along with. Back in 2006, another Iowa State student disappeared after a night of drinking and was last seen by a jogger at 5:30 AM. His body was discovered submerged in a small pond on campus, back in a remote corner from the main sidewalk. The area where he was found was only 3 feet deep or so. One of his bank cards was discovered on the sidewalk blocks away toward the direction where he lived, yet where he was found was completely out of the way from where witnesses had last seen him. The police ruled it an accidental drowning, but there are just too many oddities and things that didn't seem right for an accidental drowning case. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100201/NEWS/2010317/-1/GETPUBLISHED03robots.txt/Dozens-search-for-missing-ISU-student

Cable "news" shows have no reason to exist any longer in the age of digital information. Both sides have a clear agenda, and no matter how many "fair & balanced" splash screens you display between broadcasts, there is nothing fair, balanced, or honest about either. There is a wealth of information online that makes it much easier to fact check and get the real story. Fox and MSNBC are competing for a dying market, and in response have gone to such extremes to maintain ratings that their broadcasts have become a parody of actual news. Cable news is theatre for the TV, and its anchors are overpaid celebrities putting on a show. MSNBC can be ok sometimes, and generally they are more "in the right" and factual than Fox, but at the end of the day they are two sides of the same coin.

I said no, there's more to come. Consumer complaints and vehicles affected but not covered under the recall still points to an electronic issue such drive-by-wire or a software malfunction, not CTS pedal assemblies sticking. The Lexus ES350 is equipped with a Denso pedal, yet we all know what happened in San Diego. Prius's are not covered, yet I remember a story a year or so back where a man parking his Prius accelerated into a garage wall. The Prius is manufactured in Japan and uses Denso pedals, not CTS. Toyota has done a poor job with damage control and I expect there to be more lawsuits if there are additional injuries in vehicles that escaped this round of recalls.

Hands down, biggest PR blunder / debacle since the Audi 5000.

That's a 2006+ Cadillac DTS

It was a beast of a car...too bad it was locked! Every time I walked by it people were trying to open the doors.

Me next to the '11 Mustang 5.0 at the 2010 Midlands International Auto Show

Five of the nine Supreme Court justices voted to overturn a 1937 ruling that limited corporate funding of political campaigns. This makes me very nervous. We have upended 60 years of campaign finance rules and have done a 180 back to the robber baron era of politics. Not only will this affect the national level, it could affect state and local level as well. Imagine the local Wal-Mart funding the election of a small town mayor if he promises to provide incentives and upgraded roads for a new store, or a major employer backing a candidate for governor if he promises to relax regulation. And not only that, but the more money you have, the more negative media you can put out to can drown out the little guy who maybe has a better idea but doesn't have the funding or resources to make his voice heard. Thoughts?

It was Garden City, NY on Long Island. As for the fence, I could see it being possible depending on how spaced apart the poles were and how much of a gap there was between the ground and the bottom of the chaink link. The chain link in those fences are very flexible. Maybe there was a gap in the fence as well that's not visible in the video.

Just wow...

Jesus...poor thing.

I don't understand the part where they say "for a moment, it appears that the driver has disappeared." You can clearly see he did a u-turn on a curve where there was a T-intersection and just made a sharp left onto the T. The taillights are visible the entire time. While the idea of a ghost car is intriguing, I think the real explanation is the sped up, grainy video shot at night tries to play tricks on the mind. Dubbing some spooky music and sound effects adds to the effect. He seems to be a decent driver that knew the area well and was able to get away by slipping underneath a fence.

It'll also be interesting to see how they handle tech...the Ford Work Solutions computer has been a pretty big hit with contractors.

I gotta say, the seats in my old Lumina were some of the most comfortable car seats I have ever sat in. No leg or ass fatigue after hours of driving, unlike 95% of the cars on the road.

I have really noticed how flash heavy websites have been getting the last few years. Especially when loaded up with complex flash ads, like the recent AT&T ones with the spinning globe...those just kill my browser, even though I have a quad core w/ a 9800GT video card, 4 gigs of memory, and 8 Mbs internet. Browser speed should be improving over time, not getting worse.

So what do you guys think of the xB's new look? I think it got fatter, uglier, and lost the street cred of the original. The 1,756 units moved last month speaks for itself. Just sayin'.

I think they really hit the mark on the styling for the XTS. I just wish it was RWD.

More: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/12/detroit-2010-lincoln-mkx-gets-facelift-mylincoln-touch/

Autoblog: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/11/detroit-2010-honda-cr-z-promises-to-bring-driving-joy-to-the-hy/ Jalopnik: http://jalopnik.com/5445212/honda-cr+z-122-hp-33-mpg-worst-of-all-worlds?skyline=true&s=x

City car: Fusion Hybrid (no sense buying a hybrid if you do a lot of highway driving) Country car: Any Big Three 1/2 ton truck Out in the wild: Ford Raptor

Winger - "Pull Me Under" from the new album Karma And an awesome clip of Blind Revolution Mad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ZZ8S0Eapk

I went to a Big 12 school, so I was cheering for Texas but wasn't really upset when they lost. Alabama played a great game, especially in the last couple minutes.