"Homecoming" - full circle - 2008 LaCrosse

[trinacriabob]

I'll explain what I mean by "homecoming."  Never did I think I'd drive my car across the international border between the stare of New York and province of Ontario, with a destination of Toronto.  I was a little on edge, given that Toronto has grown so much since I last drove in it.  I knew my way around Vancouver fairly well, even with the growth.  I wonder if border agents have heard the explanation that, in addition to visiting Toronto, someone wanted to take their car to "see" its "birthplace."

Well, being in Toronto means being a little more than 30 minutes from Oshawa, the lauded GM plant at which my car was built.  In addition to seeing Toronto, I thought I'd drive it to the GM Oshawa plant and photograph it in front of where final assembly took place.  The Oshawa plant isn't as aesthetically appealing as I thought it would be.  It was sort of dowdy.  There was a Costco nearby, a Greek restaurant I wanted to try but was closed on that day of the week, and housing digs that, based on the throw away magazines, are far from cheap that far out from the big T-O.

The car performed very well on the trip.  It still had and has not reached 100,000 miles.  I believe I nudged 30 mpg on some highway jaunts.

Here you go:

This appears to be the original office building for the plant

Self explanatory

A little more drama from this angle

There is a tech and research center across the street from the older plant

Gotta love the Canadian flag - "less is more"

So it's obvious what has recently been built here.  I wonder what the mix is between what is 2.5 L4 equipped and what is 3.6 V6 equipped.

Glad I put aside part of an afternoon to do this.  It's not something I'm likely to repeat.  Cheers, eh?

Edited October 10, 2019 by trinacriabob

[Drew Dowdell]

Fun trip.  I've been to Oshawa before when they were building the Camaro. 

[trinacriabob]

21 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Fun trip.  I've been to Oshawa before when they were building the Camaro. 

Yes.  I'm scratching my head as to what my next car will be, though.

[Drew Dowdell]

33 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Yes.  I'm scratching my head as to what my next car will be, though.

Lots of good CPO options out there.  CPO XTS?

[trinacriabob]

On 10/12/2019 at 11:30 AM, Drew Dowdell said:

Lots of good CPO options out there.  CPO XTS?

I had to scratch my head on this one as well.  That is one of their better looking cars, especially in its grille a few years back.  I don't believe you can use the GM card earnings on these ... but maybe you can.  The market is changing so rapidly and I'm not comfortable with making a "next car" decision at this point.