G. David Felt

Great Read, nice write up on the auto line. I have to say I think the interior is very bland and weird and the exterior front end scream Predator ugly. Their car line is just pathetic.I do not see what is so appealing about the Lexus lineup. Considering that most people I know who drive Lexus is very religous and conservative, is it that mind set that keeps this line going even when it is so blah? I just do not get it, why is Toyota building such a blah product?

Auto Jokes: Near the end of their racing careers, a Ford and a Chevrolet made a pact. The first one to reach racing heaven would let the other know if heaven even had car racing. As luck would have it, the Chevrolet was demolished in a fiery wreck. A few days later, it revealed itself to the Ford in a vision. "I have some good news and some bad news," the Chevy told the Ford. "The good news is that heaven is crazy about auto racing. They have everything here--NASCAR, Indy cars, Formula 1, you name it." "So what's the bad news?" the Ford asked the deceased Chevrolet. "The bad news is that you've won the pole position for next Saturday's race." -------------------------------------- A motorist runs a red light and is photographed by an automated police camera. In the mail a short time later, he receives a photo of his car committing the infraction and a citation for $60. Instead of paying the fine, the motorist mails the police department a photograph of three 20-dollar bills. Several days later, he gets a letter back from the police department. Inside is a photograph of a pair of handcuffs. --------------------------------------- A not-too-bright but beautiful blonde was driving home one night when she was caught in a terrible storm. The hailstones were as big as golf balls, and her car was dented badly. Next day at the auto shop, a repairman decided to have a little fun at her expense. "To fix the dents in the body," he said, "drive home, park the car, and when the tailpipe is cool, get down on your knees and blow really hard into the tailpipe, and the dents will pop out. Later, a girlfriend of the blonde is driving by and sees her friend on her knees, blowing hard into the tailpipe. She asks what's going on and is told the story. The girlfriend laughs. "Well, duhhh! You need to roll up the windows first, silly!" ------------------------------- A couple of young tourists are pulled over by a highway patrolman. The officer walks up, asks for the driver's license and registration, and when he doesn't get it quickly enough, whacks the driver in the head. "That's for not having your driver's license ready," he snaps. "I ain't got all day." After he issues the driver a ticket, the patrolman walks around to the other side of the car and whacks the passenger in the head. "Owwww!" hollers the passenger. "What'd you do that for?" "That's to make your dream come true," replied the cop. "I know that when you'd gotten a half-mile down the road, you were gonna say to your friend here, 'Wish he'd tried that with me!'" ------------------------------- A banker is proudly driving his brand-new Jaguar sedan around New York City. On reaching his destination, he parks the car at the curb and gets out on the traffic side. Just as he opens the door, a taxicab slams into it, ripping the door right off its hinges. The cabby drives off as if nothing extraordinary has occurred. A policeman who witnesses the whole thing walks up to the banker, who is now wailing loudly, "Ohhh myyy gaaawdd! Look what that idiot did to my new Jaaaaggguuuaar! The cop looks at the banker, shakes his head, and says, "You bankers are so damn materialistic! Here you are whining about your expensive car, and you don't even realize the cab tore off your arm!" The banker looks down at where his arm used to be and begins to wail loudly, "Ohhhh myyy gaawd, my Rolllllleeeexxx is gone!" -------------------------------------- A Texas rancher was visiting a farmer in Israel. The proud Israeli showed him around. "Here is where I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. Over there I built a play set for my kids, next to the doghouse," the farmer said. The land was tiny, and the Texan was surprised by its small size. "Is this all your land?" he asked. "Yes," the Israeli said proudly. "This is all mine!" "You mean this is it? This is all of it?" the Texan said incredulously. "Yes, yes, this is really all mine!" "Well, son," said the Texan, "back home I'd get in my car before the sun'd come up and I'd drive and drive and drive, and when the sun set, why, I'd only be halfway across my land!" "Oh, yes," replied the Israeli farmer wistfully, "I used to have a car like that." ------------------------------------- A guy driving through the countryside comes upon a weird sign advertising a red '68 Corvette that runs on Vaseline. The farmer who owns it tells him to take it for a test drive, "but don't go too far 'cause it's low on Vaseline." Off the guy goes, and it roars up to 100 mph and runs perfectly. But a short time later, it sputters and fails. Meanwhile, at a nearby farmhouse, a family is just finishing dinner. The wife is proud of the meal she's prepared and suggests that she should not have to do the dishes. The older of two daughters says she has a date and cannot do the dishes. The younger daughter says she can't do them because she has homework. The father says he is the man of the house and should not have to do dishes. He suggests a solution. "Let's all go into the living room and sit down, and the first person who says a word has to do the dishes." Meanwhile, the driver makes his way to the farmhouse, knocks, and gets no reply. He sees the family sitting stone-faced in the living room and knocks again. No response. So he walks in and says, "I knocked, but no one answered. What's the deal?" Not a word from the family. The man notices leftovers on the table and asks if he might eat them. Not a word, so the man eats his fill. "May I have a beer?" he asks, and again gets no response, so he helps himself to a half-dozen of them. Maybe it's his imagination, but he notices the older daughter giving him the eye. "I'd like to make love to your daughter," he says to the farmer. Taking the lack of response as a yes, they go off together. On his return, he has a few more beers. "How about the other daughter?" he asks, and off they go. Soon he's proposing the same for the farmer's wife, and getting no response, he has his way again. It's getting dark, and the man realizes he must get going. He returns once more to the living room and asks the family if they have any Vaseline. "All right, all right," says the farmer, "I'll do the damn dishes." --------------------------------- Someone at the auto repair shop locked the owner's keys inside his car. While the locksmith was working on the driver's-side door lock, the anxious owner walked up and tried the passenger's-side door. It opened. The locksmith looked up. "Yeah, I already got that one." --------------------------------- Question: What's the difference between a cactus and a Porsche? Answer: On the cactus, the prick is on the outside.

Seems the Fiat has become the cheap new car for the 16 year old to drive to school if they do not get a spark. My sister was telling me that at Juanita High school she is seeing more and more new Fiats and Cruzes and a few sparks have shown up lately. Course what else does the High Tech dual income families do around here but spoil their kids with cars. Bellevue on the other hand sells more entry level BMW's and MB to the High School crowd. Crazy what parents buy for their kids to drive around here.

Very Cool, One forgets just how noisy the old plans were back then compared to modern plans today.

WOW, I listened to the You Tube and it is amazing. http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/camaro-owner-records-mechanics-abusing-car-scheming-damages-152707580.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE4Dh_82kMM&feature=player_detailpage This is why I am very much a stickler for documenting everything and taking in my auto and knowing how much it is driven and how it is treated.

Over all, I think Buick is perfectly set for selling allot of these Encores to the baby boom crowd and the 40-50's age crowd that wants a Small American built CUV with AWD. I see lots of these being sold as I do not see any other provider in this segment.

Very Cool and I can respect where you are coming from. The suspect rust is based for me on where the auto is located since that area uses rock salt on the roads and autos from the east coast always seem to have rust issues. You are right that the repairs are small if you are only looking for a backup beater. For me, I like my auto's to be show room new like so this is a project car to get it back to that state. So what all did you end up fixing on the Astra so it is reliable again?

You would think if they were real journalist, they would know a hatchback from a feakin wagon. Course the problem today is most journalist are pushing an agenda rather than reporting neutral news. You would think if they were a real journalist, they would have a grasp on the English language and reading comprehension..... WOW, Pulling out the big boy gloves now. I love it as it is so true.

JEERS This is a collectors item only, not a worthy drive or even an investment. A toy for the rich and a lousy one at that. I would rather have a Pinto.

Sweet Ride, interesting history I did not know any other auto was called pathfinder.

Dogs are truly Mans best friend. They Rock!!!

Eventually electric will catch on once they can make it a true road car, but for now it is not even a competitor due to the extreme limits. We need a logical step and CNG would do that. Like Oldsmoboi states, if we take a hybrid approach with a V2 or V4 generator tuned to run at the optimal RPM on CNG you have a long range option that allows electric a normal progression of working on the technology for batteries without having expensive junk like the leaf. Pure rechargeable electric auto's are 100yrs off still based on the rate of tech growth for storage.

So an what would the Flagship model be called? I agree they need an XLR 2 also.

Interesting concept by tesla and it does bring up customer service questions about if it will succeed or fail. While this scares the auto association due to the rules and what they have in place is all about keeping things static. Yet even the auto industry needs to evolve. I think Tesla will find they need a hybrid of retail store to service center, I do wonder how the states will take this on. It also could be the start of a whole new JIT for buying auto's. You have a selection of demo models at a retail location people can come in and test drive and then order up what they want and have it delivered X weeks later so that every auto becomes a true custom order of only what you want. Draw back to this way is you loose the ability to have instant gratification by driving off in your new auto that day or night. Is the population ready to change buying habits? Are they willing to only accept a small defined version of an auto? Do they want true custom order of only the features one wants or dictated set lemming packages like Apple? Eventually we will see what wins out, I am placing my bet on Tesla having to change to a model closer to the current dealer networks but in a hybrid that give more choice by being a bit more service / retail driven. Dealerships need to wake up as I see a fundamental shift coming in the way auto's are sold and marketed.

GM has a chance to roll out their R130 concept and gain market share and fans, but this is a limited time window to build for the future customers by delivering the right ride now.

Yes can we take a page from the China play book and get some decent dealerships installed in the EU!

The Fiat dealer in Kirkland Washington shipped out to their sister store in California over half of their 250 car inventory. Clearly not a car that is selling here in the Washington state market. I can see down south this little cheap run about should do well as an initial starter car.

That would be an excellent use! Just think if you had a Chevy Volt with a CNG Generator rather than gas. Better yet, take the GMC Terrain / Chevy Equinox and put that body on a volt power train using CNG. That is an auto that can sell in large numbers. Use a Fuelmaker FMQ 2-36 which time fills at 1 gallon per hr and you can fill up the tank over night and drive it for the week and then fill it up at the end of the week, have fun driving around for the weekend, fuel Sunday night and commute for the week in a very clean auto.

I love those 2 door SUV's, but would pass on this one, you can see the rust on the lower body panels, the missing plastic on the dash makes me think they did their own hack job on electronics. It is a serious project auto. Think there are better ones for just a little bit more.

You would think if they were real journalist, they would know a hatchback from a feakin wagon. Course the problem today is most journalist are pushing an agenda rather than reporting neutral news.

At 5'10" 170lbs, I am the statistical median American male. I don't at all feel the Encore or Escape are sardine cans. I really enjoyed my time in the Escape (as you will read in my review). Looking forward to it.

Love it, make sure you buy the extended warranty!

I wonder how long before people say enough is enough I am tired of being shoved into a sardine can. I do not see compact/sub compact taking over the world from the mid size. I do sadly see the full size reducing to a niche market.

True, Nissan I read somewhere did not expect the 100+ temps to have the affect on their batteries that they did. Did they not test them in Death Valley? I would have thought they would want to make sure they could handle extremes and yet the battery packs seem to not be able to handle even mid range temps very well. Seems the Engineers I would think fudged their test numbers by a factor or 2 or maybe more.

Interesting, not a car person per say, but I do see potential for Cadillac finally having a successful International brand deployement with the ability to deliver on the "Standard of the World" Slogan. Looks like interesting times ahead for GM, just hope they do not forget that we also need to change to alternative fuel options as petrol and Ethanol is not a long term viable option. Time to take the next step. CNG baby. Wonder if Frack baby Frack will be a positive or negative term in the press?