mustang84

Man, I hope the coupe market is coming back. This, the Fusion, the Focus, and others are getting coupes...the G6 has a coupe, Cobalt has a coupe, etc. I remember a few years ago when it seemed like the coupe market was on the verge of dying. Now they just need to bring back the full-sized coupes...although I doubt that's going to happen.

God, this vehicle is awful...how did the guys at DCX ever approve this?? What the hell is up with the window latch...? And except for the silvery finish on the center stack, this interior could be straight out of the 80s.

Toyota had extremely reliable products in the past, but those days are passing. The thing that is holding them both sales-wise and image-wise is their excellent PR department; without that, things wouldn't be nearly as rosey. I mean...they had a criminal investigation in Japan for hiding defects and had to make a public apology to the Japanese people. Camry hesitation, paint that scratches and peels easily, interior pieces that rattle, radio buttons that break, ball joints that break, engines that are notorious to sludging...go over to any Toyota board and just browse the posts for five minutes to see the problems that so many are voicing. Toyota still has a good name with some, but others are turning to different brands...many even GM and Ford. Toyota is nowhere near poor quality product, but they do seem to be slipping. Sales aren't reflecting that yet, but if the problems persist and expand, don't expect this little bubble of growth to last forever.

The one I use for my desktop (it's messy with all my school stuff): The one I use for myspace:

Holy crap, I didn't realize the Oldsmobile site was back from the dead. Last time I checked it about 9 months ago, they still had the Silhouette, Alero, and Bravada on sale.

Has anyone seen this before? It's the Shanghai Maple Automotive Marindo 506. *Cough* CTS/STS *Cough* Check out the bitchin' wheelbase

I thought they were funny. They take the whole 50s concept of "good, clean fun" and make a joke out of it.

Your electric engineer wouldn't happen to be from Carroll, would he? They have a big Catholic high school in that town called Kuemper that we always used to play in football.The topo is flat in the center of the state around I-35, but it's actually pretty hilly in both Western and Eastern Iowa. We have the Loess Hills which rise up out of the Missouri River plain almost like the Grand Tetons, except on a much smaller scale. They have a special soil that is only found in Western Iowa and parts of China that was deposited during the ice age and then windswept into these unique hill formations. But the topo is fairly flat throughout a good chunk of the state.

Happiness is crusing along a stretch of state highway on a mild spring afternoon, light breeze, fluffy cumulus clouds, and loads of sunshine. Blasting John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" out of your factory speakers, listening to the subdued rumble of a 3100, hearing every creak and rattle and not caring. Stopping at a small town gas station, seeing the hard-working farmer fuel up his truck, and getting some money chipped in from the cashier when you realize you're about 15 cents short. Driving down the main street with brick storefronts lined up in a neat row, seeing a ribbon of a freight train snaking around the bend in the distance, and watching the sun glimmer off a small pond on the side of the road. There's something so honest and carefree about this state that I've never understood it when people moan and groan about Iowa. As much as I love cities and will probably end up living in one, there's something about small midwestern towns, the work ethic, the friendliness, and the countryside that is just refreshing. It makes you feel alive.

This old codger needs to just retire to Key West or Palm Springs and be done with it. He pulled the same stunts with Chrysler and failed, now he's gearing up for round two, this time with GM. Five bucks says he loses this one as well. This guy has more wrinkles than Kansas has tractor pulls.

There may not be much of a difference in the way they look, but I guarantee that one of the two will end up looking something like this in an accident. It's actually kind of interesting, because my Chinese architecture history professor (who is from China originally) always tells us that the reason Chinese civilization declined was because they considered themselves the center of the universe and therefore never opened themselves up to outside ideas. Japan, on the other hand, was stuck on a rocky island with few natural resources, so they had innovate in order to survive and flourish. But he also said that the Japanese are known for taking existing ideas and perfecting them. Example; they took the idea of the Chinese garden and perfected it into this harmonius, all-encompassing space of meditation, whereas the Chinese gardens were more focused on wowing people with color and decoration not unlike what Disneyland does here in the US.

Gives new meaning to the moniker "Hot Rod Lincoln"

The '06 Impala...I hated it at first because of the bland styling, but seeing it in person (and especially SS models) changed my opinion.

I know someone that claims to drive a Ford Mercury ('85 Crown Vic).

This one?

I don't know, I'd say this one kicks some serious ass. Who doesn't love Oklahoma? I really like a lot of the older plates better from states like California, Nebraska, New York, etc. I like the California one they had in the 80s with the sun and the California script over it. I also like the New York one with the Statue of Liberty...the new one isn't distinctive enough, IMO. But for new plates, the West has a lot of good ones. Idaho, Utah, Montana, Arizona, and Wyoming, and Kansas all have some pretty neat ones. Iowa's isn't too bad...I like how the silhouette of a city skyline is in the background. Much better than this beast we had for 10 years

Use www.imageshack.us. It's free and you can upload as many images as you want.

Yeah, the girls weren't the corn-fed American types...they were all pretty slender. After coming back and getting off the plane in Chicago, it was like stepping into another world.

@ Bob: The Notre-Dame was kind of strange. I wasn't expecting much when I saw it on the outside, but it was amazing inside. It's kind of deceiving...the interior is mostly wood, so you're not expecting it when you walk through the doors. The leaves were starting to fall when I was there, but there were still some trees that had green in them so hopefully you'll get there in time. @Ven: No, we never went to the Village...not really my kind of neighborhood. Most of the nights we went out we were on St-Laurient or Rue Peel. St-Laurient seems kinda seedy during the day, but it really lights up at night. @Croc: I didn't really get any in my pics, but trust me, they were there! :AH-HA_wink:

A couple bonus shots from the plane Dubuque, IA and the Mississippi River Chicago O'Hare...it felt good to be back in the Windy City, even if it was just a layover Chicago Lake Michigan

More Graffitti art...people are paid to make these to keep "bad" graffitti off the streets Remaining part of an old defense wall that used to run the perimeter of the city before being torn down The Travelodge we stayed at is the brown building in the left photo that says "hotel"

Here are some pics from my trip to Montreal last week. Auto design studios at Universitie de Montreal

I love one of the comments on YouTube: "So the morale of this video is that people who don't drive SUVs all act like assholes?"

That's pretty sweet...I love the greenhouse shape.

Mark Rechtin | | Automotive News / October 9, 2006 - 1:00 am LOS ANGELES -- Toyota's first-generation Sequoia was dinged for being smaller than other large SUVs. Now some Toyota executives fear that a much bigger Sequoia, which arrives next fall, swung too far the other way. Sales of big SUVs are shrinking, and for more reasons than expensive gasoline. The bigger-is-better fad has passed, executives say. And the bigger Sequoia may arrive just as the party lets out. "I worry about the Sequoia being too big and not having enough fuel economy, more than I do with the (redesigned) Tundra," said Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. (story continues at link) http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...t=EDITORSPICKS ---------------------------------- Honestly, what were they thinking was going to happen? Have they been watching sales of the Explorer, Expedition, and Tahoe lately? For the company that seemed to be hitting all the marks at the right time a couple years ago, it's amazing that they are making the same mistakes that Detroit was continually blasted for over the last five years.