trinacriabob

I rarely wander over to the members' rides showcase. This definitely gets my thumbs up. Most of all, I loved this car's dashboard - far and away more interesting and fun to pilot it than that of its W-body siblings, including my own car. The price point difference going up a brand is in attention to trim and materials but, underneath it all, the W-bodies with the same powertrains should continue to provide similar longevity ... very good longevity. I continue to see so many of these on the road. Is this an '07? I believe they carried the last model over for a partial year but may be wrong. The MC also went out in '07. I'm trying to reconcile 93 years of age and cigarette smell. Was someone else younger smoking? Euell Gibbons, the proponent of eating hickory nuts in the Grape Nuts commercial, lived to be 64. All my relatives who smoke - all across the pond - surpassed Euell by a wide margin. The last GP will always be a neat car that people want to own.

@boboWe can count on both stellar wordsmithing and incisive observations with your annual Cheers and Jeers write-up. It's all there. Thank you! It's also proof that one's schooling can be in practical subjects, and that the general education core can be enough to produce critical thinkers and good writers. Happy New Year!

"What are you listening to?" says the thread title. It didn't say it had to be a song. Here's a comedy skit a friend of mine from Calif. made me listen to. It's 100% clean. It's a Mexican-American girl doing a skit where she talks about her Mexican family in the first half and takes us along on an excursion to an obviously Vietnamese run nail salon in the second half. My friend knew I like different accents and would enjoy this video. Her small stature and unassuming nature make her comic delivery all that more convincing. If you've lived out West and wanted to get a good, inexpensive haircut, these shops for men and women would often be owned and operated by Vietnamese folks. So, at $8 plus a tip, you're on your way in 20 minutes for about $10 or $11. As for her stories of growing up Mexican, the accents and inflections she does are spot on with those of a lot of my SoCal Catholic school friends' Mexican parents. As for the Vietnamese part, the accents are spot on with what I've experienced getting my hair cut, minus any of the upselling and theatrics in the skit. When I need a random laugh, I'll put this on and forward it to 4:25, and it puts me in a better mood. However, the whole skit is damn good. Happy New Year.

Interior photos An overall view of the front of the passenger cabin with its layout and pleasing enough shapes, functions, and volumes This is the angled infotainment center before going linear again in front of the passenger seat The gauges are straightforward. It might take a little while to stop hitting the wrong steering wheel controls for what you want to accomplish. For the most part, it's logical and Germanic. Pardon the dust. The bezels make sense. The info box is ideal. It neatly shows mph, time, outside temp., gear, odometer, and trip info. That button in the center is to reset the trip odometer. I think it was only good for the current trip. The climate controls are very simple to operate and calibrate. There is a cigarette lighter to charge phones. There are small USB ports; not the kind I was looking for. Pardon the sand. I used Eco mode and maybe that's why I got good fuel economy. I like having the parking brake control here. Kudos for being able to shut off the auto stop-start, which typically annoys me. Logical layout of controls for windows, mirrors, and door locks as well as a cup holder. The placement of the trunk release here is also convenient. (I forgot what the situation was with the fuel filler door ... I prefer a remote release for those as well.) The grade of the materials - vinyls and brushed metal appliques - is not exactly uptown. For the size of the Jetta, the trunk is roomy and easy to configure with different types of luggage and other items you may have. The rear seat is roomy enough. Note the coarse upholstery on the seats. Again, you can see the caliber of the materials used. I don't see conveniences for rear seat passengers at the back of the console. Visibility across the rear window is somewhat okay. I could do without those tall rear headrests. It would be nice if they were removable and I couldn't tell if they were or weren't. Many Jetta drivers may only drive with 1 or 2 passengers in the car. - - - - - End of interior photos

Exterior and mechanical photos A side view of the VW Jetta down by the Gulf, with homes and palm trees typical of this area. A front 3/4 view of the VW Jetta in front of the Pleasure Pier on the Gulf. It's not the boxy car it once was. A rear 3/4 view of the VW Jetta on the other side of the Pleasure Pier. Those are indeed alloy wheels. A rear view of the Jetta, whose tail lamps look an awful lot like those of the Passat of the same year. The VW logo in the generic grille and the prop rod up. It's fairly neatly organized and labeled, and the turbocharger plumbing is fairly obvious. Four cylinders and spark plugs, oil dipstick, battery, coolant overflow reservoir, brake master cylinder, washer fluid reservoir (blue - bottom RH), air intake/air cleaner, O2 sensor, fuse box, and more, all easy to access. Also, there is actually some leftover space at the rear of the engine bay where you can see the pavement beneath. - - - - - End of exterior and mechanical photos

I remember these and I liked them ... in purist form. I would go look at them at the Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealership near Totem Lake in Kirkland WA, if it's still there and has the same name. They could be had with a 3800 V6, an automatic 4 spd. transmission, and really toned down appendages and no graphics. They'd probably last a long time with that set up and if taken care of. The one thing you always got on any F-bird from those years is the pop-up headlamps and, after a few years, you'd see some one-eyed bandits plying the roads. Happy New Year! Here's to many great car sightings in 2021.

I haven’t gotten much in the way of rental upgrades lately. I’ve gotten exactly what I’ve rented on line. I had a scheduled airport rental for a “standard” car, barely below a full-size car. When I showed up at the counter, the woman working there was trying to find available cars and wanted to put me in a SUV. I asked her for a regular car with a trunk. I pointed out a Malibu on the lot and she said, “No, that’s a full-size.” Wow! That’s splitting hairs. She spotted a VW Jetta, which is exactly what the icon on the rental reservation showed. She was very nice throughout the rental process and took me out to the car. I took to the VW Jetta with curiosity and even some positivity. I felt that it could be similar to driving a VW Passat, which I’ve had as a rental car a long time ago and mostly liked. These days, whether on the open road or at the auto show, telling a Passat and a Jetta apart has gotten more difficult. Lately, the Jetta resembles a Passat more and has gotten bigger, it seems. The way to tell them apart is that, in the Jetta, the third side window, or faux opera window, has exterior moldings that come to a point and the beltline is very even all the way across. In the Passat, the rearmost point of the side greenhouse is more rounded and the beltline jogs slightly upward. The grilles and rear fascias of the Passat and Jetta have become more similar, and that doesn’t help matters. As I settled into the Jetta, I immediately liked the shape of the dashboard. It is similar to that of the smaller Golf. Its center stack with the infotainment system and the climate control angle away from the driver before straightening out again in front of the passenger. Everything on the dash is tucked under the cowl and looks clean. Most of the controls are fairly straightforward and Germanic, or at least European. The main instrument panel bezels have the standard things one needs, such as the speedo, the tach, the fuel gage, and the temperature gauge. There is some red, but most of the graphics are white. Unless I didn’t find it, the trip odometer only operates for that one trip. There is no A and B that I could find. Also, the information settings from the stalk are more fussy than not. Once this is all squared away, everything else is fairly intuitive, especially the climate control system. One has to keep in mind that an entry-level Jetta prices out at under $20,000. It might go slightly above that with an automatic transmission, which most people would want, and freight. Discounts and incentives might bring it back under $20,000. The Jetta is generous in some areas and stingy in others. I was impressed by the safety features on the car. They are touchy, meaning they pick up cars in adjacent lanes and the cruise control adjusts itself quickly for prevailing conditions. That there is a braking assist is a great thing. However, one wants to know it’s there and not have to sample it doing its job! Perhaps adaptive cruise control provides a sample of this. The Jetta’s powerplant is a 1.4 liter inline 4 cylinder mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. The engine is turbocharged and provides a little less than 150 horsepower … 147 to be exact. Given that this is a fairly compact car, the engine allows the car to do what it’s supposed to do. To me, the Jetta seemed better at the mid-range pass than darting off from a standing stop. I would not push matters in trying to pass on trafficked two-lane roads. The transmission’s shifts were slightly perceptible but smooth. It’s not an upline sedan, so you might still want to feel them. In shifting through higher gears, though, the shifts go unnoticed. In terms of roadability, it’s a mixed bag, though mostly positive and easy to live with. The Jetta is agile and communicative enough. You always know what the tires are doing. It does well in urban traffic and is fairly easy to park. However, in terms of a quiet and supple ride on the highway, I felt it fell a little short. This is possibly because I was comparing it to my one experience driving the larger Passat, which impressed me with how flatly it handled. But this is to be expected. A Sentra doesn’t drive as quietly as an Altima and a Corolla doesn’t drive as quietly as a Camry. On fresh asphalt, the Jetta behaved very well. On washboard pavement or over pavement gaps, the suspension sent through some hints of what was going on. Noise suppression was fairly good, but I wouldn’t say the Jetta excelled in this department. The seats were sensibly shaped and reasonably comfortable. The fabric material was coarse but appeared very durable. For that matter, many of the finishes were coarse and seemed cheaper, though they seemed to be assembled fairly well. The lack of refinement in the materials can be seen in how the door panels, the console, and the rear of the cabin are finished. I did not see vents or charging outlets at the back of the console. I read one review after having made up my own mind and it used the term “plasticky” to describe the interior materials. The Jetta is roomy. It uses space well, in both the front and the rear of the passenger cabin. Similarly, the trunk was also surprisingly roomy and fairly tall. All of this is contained within a rakish silhouette. Rear visibility is adequate and, in my opinion, could be better. The rear seat headrests are very tall and almost oddly shaped. In summary, the latest Jetta is enigmatic. It is a known quantity. I got a mixed read from what professional reviewers say about its reliability, even though we see many older ones on the road. Cars tend to have certain systems that have quirks. It could be the suspension, the brakes, the electrical system, or something else. On the Jetta, and over the long haul, I don’t know which systems reviewers were referring to. For the price point, the Jetta appears to be a good value. A person’s criteria and brand preferences might dictate whether they buy a Sentra, a Corolla, a Jetta, or something else. If a person wants a geared automatic transmission, the Jetta offers that while other manufacturers are moving toward CVTs. Lastly, the Jetta’s fuel efficiency was commendable. Though driven mostly on interstates, and at varying speeds, along with being driven on city streets and some two-lane roads, it only required refueling at the end of the 6 days. I averaged 36.6 mpg. That was definitely respectable, and only slightly less than what econoboxes with CVTs achieve. As such, the Jetta is bound to appeal to consumers who need to check off certain boxes in what they want in a fairly priced compact/mid-size sedan. - - - - - Photos forthcoming

You spotted my mistake! Yes, after looking at the vid again, the Salon coupe has a 455 V8. It said it in writing and it has the rumbling dual exhaust. Now I don't know what the first Supreme has. It shows dual exhaust. Olds 350 V8s (stock) had single exhaust. The one thing I am not crazy about is how all these owners have traded in the stock exhaust note of the Olds V8 that is pleasing to the ear for a rumbling one. A 455 means that you can't pass up gas stations too easily. Not for me.

This is the year the Cutlass Supreme really began to take off. (The "rocket" took off even faster and higher in 1976.) The cleaning up of the grille and the insertion of the Olds logo in the rear lamps, among other things, really made it stand out with consumers. This color was unmistakably 1975. I forgot what it was called. The Schwinn bicycle metallic blue that year was called Spectre Blue Metallic. This is one good looking vehicle. But then, people who order cars don't always know what they're doing. Here are a couple of misses: the body side moldings are too wide, the white letter tires are obnoxious (a thin whitewall would have worked better), and, most of all, it has a black interior when a darker blue was available that year in the swivel bucket seats with reversible (vinyl/cloth) cushions. Kudos for the fully metallic rally wheels, as opposed to body colored ones. I can't tell if it's a 350 or a 260 based on the size of the air cleaner. It is not air conditioned, based on the always open vanes in the circular vents. This would make it a backyard mechanic's dream. Compared to the '73 and '74, this '75 is more of a beauty when it is seen driving off in the end This is a Cutlass Salon of the same year. This was the top of the line in 1975. The Brougham came the following year, bringing Ninety Eight and Toronado level interior seating to what was then the mid-size in Olds' lineup. The misses here are the obvious lack of the hood ornament and the windsplit moulding, white letter tires that don't go with any Cutlass except a 4-4-2, the choice of vinyl seats over cloth seats in a Salon, the metallic steering wheel over the Salon's thicker padded steering wheel, and the cheapness of getting black seat belts when popping for the top of the line. The pluses here are the color combo - this was Persimmon Metallic and, with the white landau and the tan seats, it's exactly how I would have ordered one. This one is a 350 V8, per the legible air cleaner decal. It is also air conditioned. Make America great again? Perhaps if and when we could return to having cars like this. If you ever have, you'll never forget them.

Heard this is an indie coffeehouse tonight, which unlike the chain ones, was open for eat-in. I prefer this instrumental version; there's also one with vocals. Vince Guaraldi and his group may not have put a voice to the Charlie Brown series, but it would be hard to imagine the Charlie Brown series, and the Christmas holidays, without his unique music.

I was wondering how worthless they could be. Maybe the list, and article, was referring to being "hit with the ugly stick," of which the Pontiac Aztek might be a more recent example. I'm sure Pacers had a basic 232 c.i. (or thereabouts) I-6 and a 3 speed automatic. All boring but durable gear. I don't know if any systems such as electrical or suspension on them were lemon-y in reliability. If not, they should have held up just fine.

I just saw one of those Internet lists of the most "worthless" cars ever made and the AMC Pacer is on that list. As for their ability to make you LAUGH, they are far from worthless. This one is dressed up a little bit. Look at that ... a hood ornament and body colored wheel covers. It's sort of like "trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." However, anyone who went to the car dealership and bought one of these had to have been a fairly colorful nonconformist.

Merry Christmas, everyone ... whether under a blanket of freshly fallen snow or in balmy weather surrounded by palm trees. Here's a trifecta of three of the better rock songs for Christmas that you repeatedly hear in restaurants and supermarkets: ^ From Hawthorne, CA ... ^ I knew a Portuguese girl at about the time this song was released who thought she looked like Mariah Carey. There is reality ... and there are delusions. ^ Great song ... and difficult in parts ... when you consider the lyrics or see videos with footage, originally performed by the consortium Band Aid - consisting of popular British rock artists - who got together to raise money to get food to Africa. Newer renditions from in-studio performances are better for piping this in at restaurants and commercial establishments. Stay safe and healthy.

Many of us remember the exact time and place we heard some songs. That's the deal with me and this one. I was in a nice rental car, running the A/C, and driving along the curves near San Timoteo Canyon along the 60, instead of using flatter I-10, going from L.A. out to the Coachella Valley (basically Palm Springs and the many desert towns that surround it). The song matched the fairly empty roadway at the time. There were some decent songs that are very '90s in character.

I think that, this Christmas, we should shower ocnblu with a veritable avalanche of "down" and "confused" votes, possibly in exponential form, as a gift for the many he has so liberally bestowed upon other members of our on-line community throughout this year. LOL. Sound like a plan?

I read your posts in chronological order (before reality sunk in) and thought that the likelihood of you getting a Tacoma(r) is about as likely as me buying a Subaru wagon.

It's a type of umbrella, I believe. It's some type of event in Seattle. I would pronounce it "bumper chute" or "bumper shoot," because that's what I thought people were saying, and was corrected. One more reason for them to dislike transplanted Californians, I suppose.

Happy birthday, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He turns 80 today. He got his Covid-19 vaccine injection a day or two ago and has a slightly sore arm. He has been the country's infectious disease guru since 1984 and has advised every U.S. President since Reagan (Ray-gun to some). Undergrad at College of the Holy Cross in Mass. and medical school at Cornell. Came from a family who owned and ran a pharmacy in Brooklyn. When you've got a background like that, there's not a lot for people to criticize. * cough * Anthony Fauci - Wikipedia

Probably Rod Stewart's best work ... my favorite, at any rate. Also, there is great footage of NYC and its subways in the video. Enjoy.

@A Horse With No Name Where is the "Memphis Belle?" Who is on the motorcycle?

This. New is the operative word for Hyundai or Kia. I see 10 year old Accents and Elantras (very different and less attractive than their current equivalents) and their owners have done okay with them. To used, I would add the Malibu and the Camry, respectively, if they want to go up a little in price point and category. The verdict is not yet out on how these newer Chevys hold up, but the Toyotas seem to last, at least in terms of their basic powertrain. My objection to the Malibu is a 1.5 L (~ 90 c.i., come on) engine and my objection to Toyota is how boring they are, not to mention how ungainly they look from some vantage points. But these answers are for those buyers who don't scrutinize cars the way C&G members do.

Weird boxer engine, new CVTs, and their marketing equals no go for me. I, too, have read that their reliability is now spotty. It's their marketing for the wagons that gets to me. Their sedans look somewhat okay. The current Impreza has a nice dashboard and cabin. - - - - - My random thought: My phone understands "Southern." I spoke to Google maps that I wanted directions to "May-retta." That's what the older Southern folks in and around Atlanta would call Marietta, Georgia a few decades ago. My damn phone understood me! I laughed.

@balthazar I liked this Bonneville, for the most part. The trim level really affects its overall appearance. People I know who have had owned this generation of Bonne have had good luck with them. It's the next-gen after this one that I didn't like. Too bulbous. Then, in 2000, they righted the ship, so to speak, with a nice, new Bonneville until the model got phased out, along with the brand. Sad event ... some unforgettable cars.

Heard this in the car, for the first time in the holiday season a mere 5 days before Christmas. Brings back taking Spanish in school. And SoCal, in general.

I love this one: dry, but damn funny.