trinacriabob

Haha. Am I reading the words ingress and egress? Good one! I was at the dealership today for a LOF. I went into showroom and saw the wagon version. I like the fact that the rear view camera screen is "contained" under the cowl of the dash. I wish more new cars would integrate it into the dash that way (the correct way, for me). I did notice the console sits high. Does that feel okay or make it seem more like a sports/sporty car for you? I told the salesman it would be nice as a sedan, with a defined backlite and identifiable rear trunk lid. He said he will miss sedans and once had a Park Avenue Ultra. And that this model, as most of us know, will be the only Buick passenger car next year. The times are a changin.'

@regfootball I wasn't around when you posted this. Congrats. This is one American car that definitely looks European, especially when I see one coming at me from my rear view mirror. Interesting color (is it a shade of silver or bronze? Can't tell). That character line toward the rear wheel well works well. Mostly, I wanted to say that it's great you were able to use your GM Card earnings on a low mileage demo. I figured you could, but wasn't sure. For my purposes, I wish they'd have also rolled out this model as a regular sedan, keeping those styling cues I mentioned. I once drove an Opel Insignia in Europe as a rental and loved it, especially the "Americanness" of the automatic transmission.

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

Whichever way someone wants to look at this, that's still a good entry level price for a Cadillac in 2020 ... that isn't a Cimarron.

This morning, I saw a Pontiac Sunfire coupe. It was in the light bronze color. If it was sharing colors with the GP back in the day, I'm going to guess this was an '02 or '03. Maybe older. Except for some small dings on the lower part of the fenders, this thing was in great shape, as was the interior. It had a sunroof. And, since the shifter showed D-3-2-1, it appears to have been a 4 speed automatic. I still see a lot of Aleros, but rarely do I see these strange birds. I'm thinking power was supplied by either a 2.4 or a 2.2.

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?

I just saw this. Beautiful. I was behind a dark(er) burgundy metallic one yesterday and love how it looks as the turn signals flicker and it pulls away or corners. This will last you a long time, I'm sure. I don't feel I'd be tall enough for the current LaCrosse. I couldn't believe you once bought a Genesis. I didn't want to say anything. Who's that neighbor with the Subaru? They need a talking to. Wow, Long Island sure looks different from the boroughs of the city. Congrats. Smart man.

1. Keep it since it's paid for, drive less, and make more use of walking, a bicycle, and/or public transit or MAYBE 2. Get one of the last basic Hyundai Accents with a 6-speed automatic transmission if there are any left on the lots However, price spikes like that (in the U.S., anyway) are typically transient in nature. At least I hope so.

That is the Southern European mentality as well. However, with their stop and go traffic in big cities, they are now starting to like cars that shift automatically.

Hence, the dual clutches. I was surprised at how nicely they shifted. I only had an issue with the VW once, where it gave me a strange message. I'll have to review these cars and post the photos. Are DSGs fairly reliable? Hopefully, they're better than CVTs. The American Ford Focus apparently used technology like the DSG and its transmission was not something I would want, given a few rentals. Incidentally, I just noticed that Hyundai has also gone the CVT route. Their Accent, for one, has shelved the 6 speed automatic for their CVT which they call IVT (Intelliseam Variable Transmission).

As rentals, I had both a small Volkswagen and a small Citroen, and both had the letters DSG etched onto the console mounted transmission lever. The shift quality was very good. When I first rented an automatic car (a Smart for two to save money) in the early 2000s, the shift quality was horrible. Still, in Europe, I'd gladly take a crappy automatic to a stick shift, given the way they drive in places such as Italy.

I was reading an auto forum article on CVT swap outs by dealers when they fail. The prices were all over the map! The most reasonable one I heard was when talking to a service advisor at a Nissan dealership when driving along I-5 in Washington state and pawing cars. He said that, on a Sentra, for example, the R&R for that CVT was about $3,200. Other quotes people offered in this forum article were much higher and the people posting were justifiably furious. Also, I thought CVTs were simple, based on the simplistic diagram you see. The transmission case is fairly lengthy and the cut-away shows a lot more parts than I previously thought. When you go from a CVT back to a step gear automatic transmission, it makes you appreciate the geared automatic that much more. In Europe, they are called DSGs (something to do with the dual clutch that's inside them) and, after a decade, they shift smoothly ... at last. In small cars, they tend to have 6 and sometimes 7 speeds/gears.

The only thing on which I'll opine is the more noticeable (and probably functional) front bumper. I like that. Hyundai products sure have gone in the other direction. I'm talking about their cavernous plastic grilles being more prone to damage in small mishaps. I'm hoping other auto makers will follow suit and put a real bumper of sorts at the front (and rear) of their cars.

With 2019 drawing to a close, 2020 will soon be here. And that means the big auto show in the spring. I'm wondering if we will finally get to see the new 2021 Dodge Charger at that time. I hope so.

No! I wasn't on U.S. soil when this transpired. That is really sad. His landmark hit IMO was "Take Me Home Tonight." It's a tune that is timeless. - - - - - So, I'm away across the pond and, thanks to the increased popularity of rentable econoboxes with automatic transmissions, trips over there go more smoothly. Actually, it wasn't a tiny econobox but a Volkswagen Polo 4 door. The first day I take it out for a spin, I hear the following on the radio ... perfect! So damn Teutonic!

If you get a dog with a great personality and high intelligence, consider yourself blessed. They make a great addition to most households and, for some people, such as the elderly and the disabled, they are God's gift to them. I'm not on board with calling them "children" even though, for some people, they function as children and they are free to call them whatever they want. For me, it was always "my dog."

In 1963, they didn't think that far ahead, either, and the 520 bridge across the lake was built with 2 lanes in each direction. I have not yet driven on the new 520 bridge. I am looking forward to that. As soon as I saw a video with 2 lanes inside the tunnel, I knew that it was a stupid decision. Was there not enough width to go for 3 lanes? That's just a rhetorical question. There are so many things to consider: ROW, soils, thickness of the tunnel walls, etc., etc.

I did just that. I was surprised to see that both the Spark and the Sonic continue. I thought only one would continue because the sizes and price points are so close together. IIRC, these are not built in the U.S. I did a little bit of build and price. If you get the base LS model on both of these cars, you get MANUAL windows. Huzzah! These cars share parts. The IP instrument cluster is virtually identical in both. The Spark comes with a CVT automatic while the Sonic gets a geared automatic transmission. You can't knock manual windows!

That is a '74. Those are easy to tell apart compared to '75 to '77. They had the much improved canted back front end yet lacked the wraparound rear back lite. Yesterday morning: A 1979 to 1983 vintage Cadillac Eldorado - white - white padded landau - burgundy leather interior, on a major bridge, but going about 45 mph when everyone else was doing 60 mph. I could not see the engine badge but, whatever it had under the hood, it should have been able to do 60 mph. It was in good condition. Yesterday afternoon: Those rare but unremarkable jelly bean Ford Thunderbird coupes from around '86 to '88. Again, it was white and may also have had a burgundy interior. A friend of mine in Atlanta had one of these and, while his parents were driving it across Texas, it overheated and warped the head gasket (Ford 3.8 V6 with cast iron block and aluminum heads). It was cruising along nicely at 65 mph. It was in fair condition.

Thank you! This is very interesting! Is the job complete? If not, when will it be completed? This is analogous to what both Boston and San Francisco did at their CBD waterfronts. From the video, it looks like the tunnel has 2 lanes in each direction. I was hoping it would have 3. I believe the viaduct had 3 lanes. Hey, driving on its top deck was o.k. ... haha. The first time I was in Seattle was in the mid-'80s. It wasn't as touted as it was a decade later. You could buy a brick ranch (rambler) in West Seattle for $ 85,000. Go figure. - - - - - Speaking of Seattle also makes it natural to talk about commercial aircraft. The Boeing 747-8, although lackluster in sales, still keeps going, mostly through orders for the freighter. The jumbo first flew on Feb. 9, 1969. However, I believe the double decked A380's days are over. Emirates has already retired several and Air France is planning to retire ALL of their A380s by 2022. This is mind blowing and I found this in this 2 day old article. Come on, Air France, order up some B747-8s, given that you already have a lot of B777s in the fleet. https://leehamnews.com/2019/09/30/a380-service-life-struggles/

I am getting older. Am I asleep? (Some Rip Van Winkle factor in the equation.) I remembered that, by September and October, American manufacturers released their next MY lineup ... all of the vehicles. Out of curiosity, I looked to see the 2020 Chevrolet (pared down) lineup in official form and couldn't find it. When will this information be made available and displayed to the general public? This would also apply to other manufacturers.

@daves87rs When dogs annoy me, which is rare, it's usually large, clumsy dogs or small pampered yappy dogs, especially the kind that get taken to the groomer. I much prefer the medium sized breeds of herding/working dogs. If trained correctly, they really listen to their owners.

What kind/breed are they? I find that always has something to do with it.

Thanks. I very much agree on Southwest. So it sounds like Frontier is o.k. and Spirit is the iffy one. Spirit's website even looks a little "off." But it's hard not to notice their taxi cab yellow aircraft. Those are a LOT of horror experiences. Even with Southwest? Interesting. Of the majors, I have done well with United. (And I think Star Alliance is the best among the worldwide airline alliances.) Of the big domestics, I find American to be the most so-so. Not a big fan. I doubt I will fly across the Pacific anytime soon since I never have up to now. It would be interesting to know if JAL is any good. They were a big name at LAX when I was a kid and I loved seeing their jumbo there. I will say that I've been hit and miss with Lufthansa. They CAN be rude. However, I applaud them and use them because they were the launch customer for the Boeing 747-8i (they operate 19 of them). I'd love to fly with KLM someday. They are operators of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a plane I only recently got to experience and think has an incredible cabin experience in terms of creature comforts (humidification, lighting, bin space, etc.) Wow. Thanks.

I'm all about Southwest Airlines and then Delta or United Airlines (about a tie). I don't fly them much anymore, but Alaska is an excellent airline - probably even better than Delta or United. I have never flown on Spirit or Frontier. They sometimes have that remote nonstop and/or the best fare before add-ons. I have read some horror stories. But then, it's always those who are livid that are sounding off. I'm sure that, most of the time, their flights get off and arrive close to schedule and the bags make it onto the plane and then onto the luggage carousel. Any experiences with and advice about Spirit or Frontier Airlines? Thank you!