oldshurst442

Im not too crazy about watches in cars. If its there its there. The Escalde Bulgari is OK, I guess. The later Chrysler 300 clock is better looking than the Escalade clock. It was round in the earlier generations. Obviously the ones in Rolls Royces clocks and Bentlys are chic, expensive etc...but I dont view them as I do plain ole wrist watches. OK...I CAN AND DO appriciate them. I prefer to see clocks in the older cars. I guess from the 1900s-1950s'. Not in the modern ones.

There was dialogue about the Malibu rental and then some dialogue about a Malibu in general and then some whining about car prices. The same type of whining that I responded to in this thread. So I had to react to both... In this thread @trinacriabob has blessed us with yet story with another car rental from his famous trips. This is what he said. In bold. I laughed at that. Why? Because it reminded of Greece. His story resides in Portugal but he has ALSO seen this in Italy. Because in these places, especially in little villages or towns, they buy a car, a cheap car, well, cars are hella expensive to begin with, but they usually buy a no frills model and drive the hell out of it. These cars have all kinds of dents on them. Dusty... parked on the side of mountainous cliff sides carrying all knds of stuff in them. The windows are ALWAYS dusty. The tires. the interiors. Its a thing you have to experience. BTW...in the bigger cities, you will continue to see that as well.. Way different than what our North American rednecks do. Almost the same. But different. Point being: We Canadians and Americans have become spoiled brats. We whine and whine and cry and stomp our feet especially when we cant have nice things anymore without making ANY compromises. Its like we are OWED something... Yet...as we know...NOBODY owes us NOTHIN'!!! But we do NOTHIN' to change our ways. We CONTINUE to buy on credit...yada yada yada... Like I said...in other parts of the world...THEY MAKE DO with what they got.

Self-winding, $160 000 US Bentley Bentayga Breitling optional clock

Ill just regurgitate the usual since the announcement of Oldsmobile being phased out back in 2000. Why Oldsmobile and NOT phoquing Buick? Yes. I know the reason. I still hold THAT sentiment. With that being said. When Buick gets its (EV) models in order and available for sale (here in the Canada and in the US), maybe Buick wont be so pathetic like it has been for ohhh....I dunno, since the 1990s. They had an upswing there in 2010 or so (maybe later as in 2015 there)abouts when the they had some models for sale and they were actually selling. Both sedans and CUVs. But then their sedan sales went down the loo and their CUVs were not enticing and we are back here again when Oldsmobile died and Buick had NOTHING to sell. *SIGH* Im almost upset of myself for clicking on this thread. Kinda hopefull with the title being true and kinda sad that it aint so. But kinda relieved that its just a kinda click baity title. I wont be happy if Buick ever goes away. But I will BE kinda happy if they do if they continue being as sad as they are. I want Buick to be Buick again. This, what we have, in North America is NOT Buick. I want THE Buick that China has. Obviously not the Chinese styling. But the quality and image. Hopefully Buicks EVs in North America will recapture the essence of what Buick was in the 1960s...

Well...I wrote this in another thread and nobody saw it, but it has come up again in this one. $25 000 dollar cars EXIST. Its just that WE Canadians and Americans want NOTHING to do with these types of cars. We should blame OURSELVES for this... https://www.vw.com.mx/es.html https://www.nissan.com.mx/ https://www.chevrolet.com.mx/ https://www.honda.mx/ https://www.dodge.com/mx/

Horsepower and torque is the cure to many things in life. I approve. But it was a good thing he pressed on forward and continued on that way (pedal to the metal) because had he lost momentum by easing up on the throttle, I have a feeling those 700 horses would just dig a deeper hole and go nowhere. However. This little stunt did screw up at least one of several Burning Man princples. Leaving No Trace Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them. But also solidified the last one Mother Nature is a beast that mankind will NEVER be able to tame. She will ALWAYS overpower us. No idea can substitute from this experience... that contact with a natural world EXCEEDS human powers. Well...unless one owns and drives a TRX from Dodge. One could try and possibly succeed in overcoming what Mother Nature may throw at us. Immediacy Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

I have been in an Italo-American crooner kinda mood for several days myself. The crooner style kinda being being jazz itself is what Im trying to say. And in particular this one always popping up. I was wanting to pair this one up with a car. But I couldnt feels the car that would go with this song. Not yet at least. Im still trying to figure it out though. RIP Mr. Bennett I did this one with a Detomaso but in the song's original format. Love this version more than the original though! Actually, Ive had this style in my head for almost all summer long. Its started out with this song with all the weird and sad stuff going on around me. And then the death of Tony Bennett really cemented my choices all sumer long. RIP Mr. Bennett

I forgot Fisker existed. Partly because Fisker will not be offered in Quebec. I just learned than right now when googling andn hence why up here, I dont get a lot of info on them. The Ocean ius set to start at 43 000 CDN in Canada. Vancouver and Toronto. Im guessing its 30 000 US dollars. I googled again and in the US, its MSRP is supposedly 37 000 US dollars. Deliveries start in September for both countires. But the prices spike up very high after the base model. Like very high. The base model has a 250 mile range. The next one up is 340 miles but at 50 000 US dollars. Yowza! That is not how market share will be taken away from Tesla. Sure the Ocean looks great, but Tesla has its market down pat. Last time Fisker and Tesla competed on on one, Tesla won! And Fisker doesnt even want to sell in Quebec, in which Quebecois are more easily convinced in buying EVs moreso than in Ontario. Sure Toronto is Canada's biggest city, but Toronto does not have an EV friendly mayor. Montreal not only has an EV friendly mayor, the Minister, Monsieur Legault is also a friendly EV type of guy. And THAT is also because Quebec has ALL the things going for it fior the adoption of EVs... Its a stupid miscalculation of Fisker to ignore Quebec... Costly mistake perhaps?

Does Toyota EVER create something in their OWN image when entering a new luxury segment? Or do they ALWAYS have to copy somebody else's style? This one looks like a Rolls Royce Cullinan Although I must say, the Toyota looks to be more refined as a design. But that aint sayin' much. This is yet another reason as to why I hate Toyota. They are afraid to use their own design languaga and would rather play it safe with someone else's hit and copy that. Toyota has been its best styling wise, when they have been PROUD of their OWN history and presented their OWN style behind the cars they design and sell.

Definetly its just eye candy and status (with the high price) of these kinds of watches. High end watches in history were always jewlery. Functioning jewelery like @Drew Dowdell said and prefers his watches. I must admit, I prefer my watches as functioning pieces as well. I am not a 1%er. Duh... Cars like a Cadillac NEVER fit my personality. Forget about Rolls Royce as that is old money and my family history is as poor as one gets. So extremely high end watches never fit my personality either. HOWEVER, sometimes I like obnoxiuos things to flash around. Exotic cars were really not my thing either. Muscle cars? Yes!!! Blue collar speed and performance. And this is where watches intersects with the automobile passions that I have. I like crazy styled Lamborghinis as much as I like the really high end crazy stuff like a Bugatti Parmesiani Fleurier or a Richard Mille. But it aint my personality. I oike looking at them behind a glass or on another man's RICH as phoque wrist. No jealousy. But admiration. And then there is the normally styled or slightly differently styled extremely expensive watches And those would look GREAT on my wrist. But that kind of thing goes against my life principles as well. I am not a commie, but I do NOT feel comfy in my skin knowing that we have such a huuuuge divide between the haves and have nots in the world. And if I was that filthy rich to be able to afford several things of that nature, maybe I wouldnt give a phoque, but as I am now. Yeah... Not my style. All to say, that Im willing to pass on function since time is kept and viewed anywhere and everywhere today, I still prefer a watch to perform its MAIN duty, and that is to tell time, but it does have to look good doing it, but not crazy priced either as a Casio or Timex do it perfectly and for peanuts. I like the history of Bulova. They have made, as an AMERICAN watch as well, they have made SEVERAL important horological breakthroughs in time keeping. And I like keeping that information close to my heart as many people do not realize how Bulova shaped the watch industy in the 1950s and 1960s. I respect them for that. And the fact that those breakthroughs do not break the bank.

Except today we have a MAJOR advantage over that time period. We not only have seen the car of tomorrow several times in our history through literature or movies that we could use that imagination to foretell the future of the automobile accurately, we literally have the future of the car...TODAY. PLUS, all the other technologies we use daily. Wifi and bluetooth and internet and all the crazy shyte we pull off with that when we combine them with the other gadgets and toys and appliances and cars we like to consume. And I think we could glimpse where the majority of the car hating illuminati want to push towards to: Driverless, autonomous pods. And we have seen that future too, in movies. But as concepts as well. But also in the airplane world. We see it NOW especially with the Ukraine war: DRONES. But we've also seen that too waaaaay before the Ukraine war. MOVIES. The Terminator comes to mind here. And we could take an educated guess where this battery technology will lead us to other than cars and war. In our commercial and residential buildings. And we have seen that too. Elon Musk has taekn the time to demostrate to us how the Powerwall system works. And we have that today. But I do agree with you, the future of an electric car seems exciting. I wonder though, those lament the loss of engine noises. Do they still feel like someone punched them to the gut? Like Jay Leno said on his last Audrain Museum podcast: Automakers could record sweet sweet engine noises on cassette and play it back in the cabin for those that still want to live by that experience.

Australia. Guten Tag, mate! I ALWAYS wanted to visit Vienna! Im in Montreal! Welcome back!!!

I dont mind the branding. The watch itsef is from the Detroit Watch Company. Shinolla. it is a Detroit company so it makes sense. Id rather Cadillac be associated with Bulova. But Bulova is from NYC. Aaaaand...Citizen group bought Bulova sometime in the 2000s. Citizen is Japanese.... Cadillac on a Bulova Precisionist mouvent. Yeah...that be awesome!!! My only gripe is that Cadillac is not associted with Bulova. Those Bugatti watches are too much in EVERY sense of the phrase too much. The price tags of those watches are astronomical. Like the Ferrari watches I posted. Money for nothing. But they are nice to look at.

I also think he was more pissed at the fact that his privacy was violated and got robbed more than anything else. Aint he a driver for Ferrari? Yeah...those are the little gifts Ferrari showers him with. I also find them meh. Im sure the mechanicals on thse are just as exotic as any other high end watch. I wouldnt wear one UNLESS Ferrari courted me as a driver for them and that is how they showed their appreciation towards me. With huge paychech as well of course. Yeah...too busy Id agree! The ONLY thing I like about them is that the mechanicals are shown. I sometimes like watches like that.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/carlos-sainz-chases-down-thieves-083403469.html Carlos Sainz chased down thieves and retrieved his watch worth £500,000 in a scary robbery incident in Milan just hours after Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Ferrari star Sainz, still in his team kit, was targeted near the Armani hotel in central Milan at around 8:30pm on Sunday evening, reports in Italy detail. Sainz, alongside members of his entourage and the public, then chased the thieves and successfully recovered his Richard Mille watch worth in the region of £500,000.

Ive had that kind of thought from one of the very first times I saw Shark Week (on Discovery channel) way back when. How adorable I thought. As long as your fingers stay intact I presume, would be the correct answer in longevity of said career choice. But I quickly learned the one thing about myself that I knew I couldnt be one of the lucky ones to have such a job. And it aint the fear of those teeth either. I saw the Tyson/Holyfield fight live... I have teeth of my own. I could always bite back. Imma not so much a religious guy, but an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth comes in handy in this line of work. Its this:

Yup... Reh-jy-nah! I had heard about this in the news, the whole tourist commercial Vagina/Regina thing and with Jimmy Fallon but I never thought anything of it. I guess in Quebec it wasnt such a big deal... I didnt know that the word is Italian. Awesome to know. Although now that I know...I could sees it and more to it than that, I could hears it too.

I had rented a Malibu a few years back when we went to Toronto and Niagara Falls as a family trip. I do not remember the mileage the Malibu had, but it was a pretty new vehicle so I seem to remember it didnt have that many miles on it. In and around 10 000 km (6000 miles). It was a pleasant and comfortable ride. A longish trip that the whole family didnt complain about. It did have the 1.5 turbo. I remember it performed well. I remember it being as good as my Fusion's 1.6 ecoboost. As far as the CVT transmission goes, I honestly didnt notice anything about it that the Malibu had a CVT transmission. I was driving safe and smooth because I had my family in the car so no 'jack rabbit' starts off the line and no racing the shytty kid with a hopped up ricer so the CVT did a fantabulous job...in my honest opinion. I did have to accelerate briskly plenty of times so I did mash the pedal to the floor and both the 1.5 liter and its transmission partner handled everything as asked and tasked with all I demanded from them. No hesitations to accelerate and the car accelerated with enough oomph so I could pass with ease whatever and whenever I needed to pass. I wasnt in a panic as to why the car was not moving because the car WAS moving fast enough for me to accomplish a passing manouever or to accelerate on a ramp to get to highway speeds. And that was with a loaded car with a traveling vacationing family and all their garbage. I have to say, it did so with the same confidence I have with my Fusion and its ecoboost 1.6 and 6 speed auto transmission. About cars getting more expensive and if GM will regret not offering a cheaper sedan in their line-up. Part of THAT problem lies with the North American consumer. I have to stop saying North American because that includes Mexico and a couple of other countries as well when I REALLY mean Canada and the US. In Mexico... VW sells its Polo and Nissan the Versa. Both start at about 20 000 US dollars. The Versa is sold in Canada and in the US, but NOT the Polo. How many of us Canadian and American spoiled brats buy the Versa and how many of us bought the Aveo so VW could actually offer the Polo here? Chevrolet offers cars like the Aveo, Nuevo Aveo (NEW Aveo...LOL), Onix and Cavalier RS. MSRPs are as follows: 14 000, 17 000, 18 000, 24 000 US dollars... Dodge has something called the Attitude. 16 000 US dollars. 2023 2019 Does THAT look like an interior that an American or Canadian would want to BE in???!! And yes, the Attitude is a small car. Bigger than the Aveo and on the same size as the Chevy Onix. Or the Polo for that matter. Just in case some of you were wonderin' the Polo is smaller than today's Golf but in reality, the Polo is as big as the 1980s Rabbit/Golf. Honda has something called the City. 21 000 US dollars. WE do NOT want to HUMBLE ourselves with these kinds of cars, yet the REST of the world actually GETS BY with THESE things!!!! Like honestly!!! Lets take a step back from ALL the bullshyte. From ALL the marketing and the lies and deception that our corporations shovel our way. Our politicians etc... At the END of the day...WE make our daily decisions to do what we do. What we buy. And we do NOT buy entry level A or B class cars with the bare minimum interiors. GONE are the days when we were content with those types of cars. We bitch and whine that GM does not offer anything like that yet...GM actually DOES. And everybody else in the REST of the world. WE just do NOT buy it here... WE...do NOT want that as a society... I guess we have prospered long enough that we think we dont need to compromize anymore. Maybe that is true but unless we hold accountable all the corruption...but more to it than that... UNLESS WE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY OF OVER CONSUMING AND DEBTING OUR FUTURE SELVES SEVERAL LIFETIMES OVER WITH CREDIT CARD DEBT AND THE LIKE... maybe WE SHOULD start driving shyeboxes again... Note: I am not directing that at you @daves87rs. Just general speak.

General Motors is not even in SMK's top 5. Vinfast is @ #3. Sold just 7000 units... Mercedes did generate 150 billion Euros. GM generated a tad more though. Not forgetting that GM generated 156 billion in American dough. American dough is worth more than the Euro... If anything...Vinfast may go away. Rivian. Lucid. Even Mercedes. Tesla. Probably not as they have the one thing that saves them. The supercharger superhighway. They got loads of them suckers and I have been saying this for a long time that Tesla might NOT be around making cars, but they got 3 things going for them that makes them survive. 1. Motors. Their motors are still the best in the business. 2. Electronic hardware and the software that goes with it. So much so that NHSTA just demanded Elon to fork over data that may suggest folk could override autopilot that forces drivers to keep hands on the wheel enabling drivers to have their hands free... 3. them superchargers. They got loads of those. They work and they got a monopoly on the connectors now. Plus with the amounts they have all over the world, Tesla has become THE defacto supercharger chain. Like Esso, Gulf, Exxon/Mobil, Shell etc... But make no mistake about it. Tesla needs to invest billions to get the folk 2nd generations of their 4 models. And none of that guarantees future success and/or survival in producing automobiles... Its funny though, Tesla generates just slightly more than half of GM's revenue, yet is more valuable? Sure, to Wallstreet snake oil salesmen, sure. Same with Vinfast. But that does not last long in this game. Kinda like the mafia restaurant owner. They squeeze all they can from the restaurant's credit and collateral and when they cant no more, up in smoke the restaurant goes. Unlike the insurance fraud cases though, white collar crime from Wallstreet is not as closely checked upon... Im done talking about this subject. back to the Escalade IQ... https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gm-releases-2022-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-results-and-2023-guidance-301734091.html#:~:text=GM's full-year 2022 revenue,revised EBIT-adjusted guidance range. DETROIT, Jan. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today reported fourth-quarter 2022 revenue of $43.1 billion, net income attributable to stockholders of $2.0 billion and EBIT-adjusted of $3.8 billion. GM's full-year 2022 revenue was $156.7 billion, net income attributable to stockholders was $9.9 billion and EBIT-adjusted was a record $14.5 billion. Results were at the high-end of the company's revised EBIT-adjusted guidance range. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/01/tesla-made-an-annual-profit-of-12-6-billion-in-2022/ That means Tesla had an excellent 2022, despite missing its sales forecast. Automotive revenues grew by 51 percent compared to 2021, bringing in $71.5 billion. Total revenues were up by the same percentage year over year at $81.4 billion.