Variance

I don't see that how that can be since MPG for every car sold here is tested for and established by the EPA. What does that have to do with this, anyway?

Not according to the National Institute of Standard and Technology, it isn't. T. Tolerances T.1. To Underregistration and to Overregistration. The tolerances hereinafter prescribed shall be applied to errors of underregistration and errors of overregistration. 5.53. Odometers T.2. Tolerance Values. - Except for unloaded trucks, maintenance and acceptance tolerances on odometers shall be 4 percent of the interval under test. (Amended 1977and 1987) T.2.1. Tolerances for Unloaded Trucks. - Maintenance and acceptance tolerances on truck odometers shall be 5 percent for underregistration and 3 percent for overregistration of the interval under test. http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:w7B_L...lient=firefox-a Then I guess every automaker in the world is "cheating" people since none of them are perfectly accurate.

Mine does that sometimes...no idea why. I also have no idea why it likes to randomly restart itself at times, either. Macs are looking better all the time. I want to give Vista a shot first, though.

4% over is an acceptable tolerance. And accuracy aside, if you see the odometer read 36,000 and your lease agreement charges for every mile over that, it's still your fault/problem regardless. It's not like Honda is adding on miles to odometers after the fact.

Saw a new LS460 today -- very stately. Much better than the atrocious new S-Class I also caught sight of today. I also saw a new Acura MDX and I must say, in dark colors in real life, it doesn't look that bad. Lastly, a new Elantra.

Chrysler Dropping SWB Minivans The Chrysler group is betting that new crossover models will woo minivan buyers now that the automaker is dropping short-wheelbase minivans. Industry sources say the automaker will offer two mid-sized crossovers, developed on its new front-drive Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger platform. The sources say the Dodge crossover is due in December and will be assembled in Chrysler's Toluca, Mexico plant, where the PT Cruiser is made. The Chrysler crossover will debut either in late 2008 or 2009. Frank Klegon, executive vice president of product development for the Chrysler group, said "in the future you will see some other things from us" that offer minivan-like utility. He declined to provide details. AutoWeek

Just thinking about it irritates my eyes.

Spy photos and videos via Edmunds: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Gener...rticleId=119193

Just to establish where we stand now: just looking up current values, the Yen has been on the rise and the US Dollar has been on the decline since early December '06. Yen to the Dollar (Dec '06 to now): 114.98 to 120.36 Dollars to the Yen: .00867077 to .00830841

That's going to be a sticking point with some buyers, I'm sure.

Apparently they are indeed: http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/15/detroit...-toyotas-tundra

It's a problem that I can think be remedied by making vehicles that more of the public would want to own which in turn would make Saabs a more attractive proposition for those interested in owning a franchise to invest in. Remember when GM killed off Oldsmobile and a great deal of their consumer base went to other brands from its competitors? That will happen again if they kill Saab. Plus, I'm willing to wager a much lesser percentage of former Saab customers will transition to other GM brands than former Olds customers did since (despite the recent attempt GM interior homogenization) Saabs are for the most part unique product. Plus, even though I know it's economically irrelevant, I still don't see the sense of throwing away the time and money already put into Saab. I don't think it's a lost cause yet.

Leadership After Lutz Bob Lutz has already retired at least once from an executive position at a car-maker when he left DaimlerChrysler following the merger. When he joined General Motors a few years back to oversee its product development, he was already well past the standard retirement age and by next year he will be 75 years old. According to Just-Auto.com, GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster has been informed by Chairman Rick Wagoner that he will be taking over Lutz's seat on the board of directors as well as his role leading product development in 2008. Autoblog

I'll take a G35, please.

-Variance January 15, 2007 As we all know, General Motors is in the middle of a spectacular product turnaround. At the moment, the most excitement seems to be circling around Chevy as the anticipated release of the new Camaro looms ever nearer and the “Blue Devil” Corvette will show up sometime in the future in an attempt to obtain top dog status over sports cars. On a bit of a tamer note, the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado have been reworked inside and out and so far have been garnering high praise even in the face of stiff new competition. The Silverado has been named Motor Trend’s 2007 Truck of the Year as well as the North American Truck of the Year. When talking about trucks, you can’t forget about Hummer. The boutique SUV brand gained the most sales out of all General Motors brands in 2006 over 2005. And with a more powerful H3 (with a new H3X trim) as well as a much anticipated H4 concept, the brand’s future has the potential to be even brighter. Saturn isn’t doing too shabby either as their product line is nearing complete overhaul to give it a more Euro flavor. The dowdy Ion is making way for the Opel-derived Astra and the new Vue is Opel’s Antara in American guise. Let’s also not forget the hot Saturn Sky with the even hotter Red Line version and the new Aura sedan which was recently honored with the title of 2007 North American Car of the Year. Last but not least, we have the brand-new and highly competitive Outlook sitting on GM’s new Lambda platform (along with the equally impressive GMC Acadia). Speaking of Lambda, Buick’s Enclave is set to be the most luxurious use of the platform and has the potential to be a real threat to the Lexus RX. It is also rumored that GM’s Aussie subsidiary, Holden, may produce a model for them. This brings me to the next item... Pontiac will once again gain some down under thunder in the form of the G8, the scheduled replacement for the current Grand Prix. The G8 is expected to be a reskinned Holden Commodore, a rear-drive sedan that follows the philosophy of the Dodge Charger...only with a better interior. At the higher end of things, Caddy recently unveiled the new CTS sedan which has been made more competitive with new features and more importantly a new interior that’s so good, I dare say it even shames the $100K XLR-V. Considering that the CTS is Caddy’s entry-level product, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to assume that the more upscale vehicles will be just as good, if not better. Now in that (admittedly quite lengthy) introduction, what GM brand did you notice was missing? If you’re having trouble remembering (can’t say I blame you), the brand in question is Saab. Born From Jets, Dying From Neglect Now I’m going to be perfectly honest with you: I’m not much in the way of a Saab enthusiast. In fact, I prefer the cars from its other Swedish rival, Volvo. However, I do have a soft spot for Saabs and don’t really care for what going on with the brand at the moment – which is virtually nothing. Let’s start by taking a look at the current Saab lineup: •9-3: If I had to pick my favorite current Saab, this would probably be it. I’ve always liked the clean body of the 9-3 (though I wish they took the time to freshen it up a little) as well as the unmistakably Saab interior...at least until it was “GMized” with the corporate radio head unit and the removal of the SID unit that resided on top of the dash. There’s also a choice of a wagon version that I’m guessing almost nobody buys and a convertible version that is a bit on the pricey side (the Aero Convertible has the highest base price of all currently sold Saabs). A bright spot is the 2.8T V6 in the Aero trim that looks to be gem of an engine. Why isn’t it in the 9-5?! •9-5: Why isn’t the 2.8L turbo V6 in this car?! I could care less that the sole 4-cylinder turbo available in the 9-5 makes more power. It strikes me as just a bit silly that the entry level product has more and larger engine options than the more “upscale” offering. Maybe it’s part of the Saab “quirk”. It’s also more than bit of a concern when the best features they can find to highlight on the 95 on the Saab website include “halogen headlamps”, “front fog lamps” and “side mounted direction indicator lamps”. Yipee. It probably doesn’t help that the car hasn’t seen a significant overhaul since the 1997 model year in which it was introduced. With positive attributes like this, who can show shock that this is a terrible-selling car? Well, it is and I’m not. The SportCombi version is so insignificant, it’s not even worth writing about (uh, aside from this sentence, I guess). •9-7X: There’s got to be some degree of irony in the least Saab-like “Saab” seeing the biggest gains last year over of all Saabs compared to 2005 sales. There’s got to be an even greater magnitude of irony in it doing so in a time where Americans were (and probably still are) up in arms over gas prices – it being a midsize truck-based SUV with a V8 option and all. It does have a bit going for it, I have to say. It’s the best-looking version of the GMT360 breed and it also has the best interior. Pity it’s being killed after this model year. So there we have it: an entry level vehicle that’s mediocre at best; a sedan that if you called it an “also-ran”, it would be an exaggeration; and an SUV that sells well for what it is but is going to be killed in less than a year. Almost makes laughing at Lincoln seem a bit ridiculous. (Almost.) For the life of me, I can’t understand why GM has allowed Saab to get into the state it’s in. One could argue that Saab is kind of a boutique brand and isn’t as important to the GM bottom line as say, Chevy or Pontiac. They can argue that but I won’t buy it. Hummer has an even narrower focus and appeal than Saab does in my opinion and GM seems to care plenty about them. Honestly, why take the time (and more importantly, money) to purchase entire car brand if you aren’t going to try your damnedest to get a return on your investment? Reskinning Subarus and Chevrolets is not what I call trying. I’m seeing a bunch of concepts, rumors and sketches but how about some new production product? Jumpstart the Jets You know, maybe I’m being just a bit impatient. The 2008 9-3 is supposedly receiving a reskin to make it resemble the Saab Aero-X (not a bad thing at all). The next 9-5 will sit on the Epsilon II platform and I’m guessing it will gain AWD capability with it. The role of Saab’s SUV currently held by the dying 9-7X will be taken on by the promising-looking 9-4X (so far only shown as a blurry sketch in this thread. Probably the most exciting bit of news if you’re a Saab enthusinista (I’m not sure if I made that word up or not), is that the legendary Sonett sports car is being revived with about a year and a half. Now here’s the part where I start daydreaming. There are two key things I think Saab should do to become more of a contender beyond what future plans they already have. First, create a competitor to go head-to-head with Volvo’s S80. Build it on Sigma II; give it full-time AWD and lots of Saab charm. Of course I realize Saab has never made any sedan that large or upscale (not as far as I know, anyway) but it could potentially legitimize Saab in the Swedish luxury arena again. If Volvo can change the S80 from a bland box to a somewhat sexy Swedish saloon, there’s gotta be some hope for a Saab 9-9. Why should Volvo have all the fun? Second (and probably more realistic) would be to revive the “Viggen”. The old 9-3 Viggen had more fans than I think Saab or GM realizes. Maybe pop a higher-tuned version of the Solstice GXP/Sky Red Line mill into the next 9-3 with AWD. And why stop there? Why not have Viggen versions of every Saab? Make it Saab’s M/S/AMG/F if you will. Well...it can’t hurt to dream. But at any rate, here’s hoping for a revitalized Saab: Born From Jets, Reborn From Lutz (soon, I hope).

I heard Rosie once did a racist imitation of Chinese people. Anybody got any details on that?

Just noticed that it looks identical to the Magnum Concept now.

I can't be the only one that gets disgusted every time I see that word.

Reviews: 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan In the end, the Si sedan is so good that it makes the Si coupe seem faintly pointless. Sure, there will always be a market for the Civic coupe's space-pod, two-door profile. But almost everyone else will appreciate the combination of practical packaging with foot-to-the-floor performance. To find out which Civic Si is better for you, take this quiz. You use rear seats for: A) transporting Volcom hoodies and collecting empty Rockstar cans; B) you don't know what that means but still enjoy running the tachometer up to 8,000 rpm. If you answered "B," then the 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan is your ride of choice. The 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan will make you believe that you can own a four-door car that you can use for your daily commute and yet still have fun on your favorite back roads over the weekend. The Si sedan has a raw, honest character that sets it apart from most modern cars. Yeah, it's a little rough, but it likes it rough. Edmunds

2008 BMW M5 Touring BMW’s hottest property at the Geneva motor show in March will likely be an M5 Touring (wagon) version of its screaming M5 sedan. The high-performance load hauler is set to compete against the likes of the Audi S6 Avant and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG wagon, with power coming from the same highly strung 5.0-liter V10 engine used in the two-year-old M5 sedan. As with the M5 sedan, the new car comes with BMW’s seven-speed M-sequential gearbox standard, along with an array of electronic driving aids, including an electronic controlled M-differential and a unique software program that allows the driver to choose between a detuned state for the engine, in which it develops 400 hp, or a peak setting that liberates its full 500 hp. AutoWeek

Chrysler out to increase vehicles' common parts The Chrysler Group wants to use even more common parts for its different families of vehicles to save money. Eric Ridenour, Chrysler chief operating officer, made the comments during a presentation Thursday to the Automotive Analysts of New York Auto Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dearborn. The Auburn Hills-based unit of DaimlerChrysler AG is putting together a restructuring plan to correct recent losses, which reached $1.5 billion in the third quarter last year. Chrysler Chief Executive Tom LaSorda has said he plans to announce the plan near the end of February. On Thursday, Ridenour told analysts that Chrysler hopes to increase the percentage of shared parts among its family of vehicles to 50%. Detroit Free Press

No, they've been using the "brushstroke" theme in their advertising for a while now.

GM accepts Dodge Viper challenge The new 600-horsepower 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 won't keep its king-of-the-hill position for long if General Motors Corp. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has anything to do with it. Asked on Thursday during a meeting with analysts whether Chevrolet plans to produce the Corvette Blue Devil, GM's next generation super sports car, to usurp the Viper's newly won pole position in the race for the title of most powerful U.S. sports car, Lutz scoffed. "As you all know, it is not our policy to discuss future product programs. However ... ," he said to laughter from the audience, "it is very important for Corvette to be the most powerful, most capable, best handling sports car in the United States." Detroit Free Press

nth time's a charm. :AH-HA_wink:

Spied: 2008 MINI Traveller BMW testers have stripped away most of the camouflage from their prototypes of the MINI Traveller. This latest look not only gives us our best glimpse of the newest model from MINI, it also puts to rest once-and-for-all some questions about its packaging and configuration. The Car Connection