trinacriabob

From a marketing course I took in undergrad, the chewing into each other's market share was termed cannabalization. If you grab market share from outside GM, that would be a good thing. If you grab from across brand lines, not so much. However, I think it was common. Many people's tastes took them to Chevrolet or Pontiac, and the price points that went with that. My dad seemed to focus on Buick and Oldsmobile, with the perception that Buick was a notch better. I found that debatable. Our Olds cars were always better looking than our Buick cars. With the exception of the early odd-firing V6 we had, the Buicks lasted a little longer. So, these cannabalizers are a stable captive audience that will be deciding on a vehicle within GM's stable. GM knows that there's a large batch of these loyal customers. What it will always need to do is pull people in from the ranks of other brands. After recently spending some time behind the wheel of a Toyota RAV 4, there is no doubt in my mind I'd be back at GM looking at an Acadia or similar, even with the base engine and just FWD. The Toyota was a slight disappointment.

Also, on June 3rd, I spotted a few "mistakes:" Symmetrical ones, at that!

The sketch I've seen looks something like this, which is easier on the eyes than the current Camaro (and I'm not necessarily saying the current Camaro is bad) I guess that, if it were to be branded as a Buick, the Pontiac crest would give way to a round Buick medallion placed right above the ridge, and flat, from where it is currently shown. I've liked every generation of Firebird a little more than every generation of Camaro.

Spotted June 3rd - Here's a new(er) and small(er) Infiniti SUV sporting 2 liters of turbocharged power. What's with this salmon color? It reminds me of Nissan 280 ZXs and the GM intermediates and full sizes of the early '80s. They say trends come full circle. This was in the parking lot at Publix in Dania, FL I don't like all the sheetmetal curves on this vehicle. That funky orange structure (across Dania Beach Blvd.) is the Dania Casino. It used to be a jai alai place years ago. You might still see blue hairs. What you won't see are paper cups full of nickels.

And I've even seen them do some photoshops and design exercises with a new Firebird (probably same chassis as the Camaro) come back as a Buick. Bring it on! With their cars gone, it might be the only Buick I might like.

June 1st sighting ... in the evening ... boo: The owner of a LIME Ram truck would have to be marginally more "interesting" than that of a black, white, red, blue, or silver one. Or maybe not. Just a thought.

Montreal's Metro and Toronto's TTC feel fairly safe, to me. At odd hours, the crowd gets odder. The thing at Athens is that it's younger gangs of pickpockets (gypsy, Roma, and Albanian are among the ethnic groups mentioned) who have it worked down to a science. The train routes they work the most are Monastiraki in the center to Athens Airport and the route that goes out to Piraeus, the port for the cruise ships. If you're fairly big and have your stuff embedded way down in your belongings, you'll be more of a challenge. The wallets in the back pockets or phone in a pant pocket are the easiest things for them to pick off. When I ride a subway in an area I'm not familiar with or have heard unfavorable things about, I stay in the first car behind the conductor and usually scan who's around me. They also take advantage of when people are moving from the station platform into the car and vice-versa and might be confused. The articles say that the police in Athens have not been proactive enough, such as by patrolling the stations and riding on the subway cars. The police there could easily figure out who these gangs are. There was once a sting and they arrested about 50 people. Like I said, I really liked the Athens Metro, but I was there the year before it was extended into the new airport. Madrid's Metro - which goes into both of its airport terminals - is great and tourists seem very relaxed taking it to and from the airport. But, when it's crowded around the center of the city, it has had its theft incidents, too. You always have to be on the defensive when riding on public transit.

Each ISTJ write-up gives similar lists of occupations, which are worlds away from each other ... https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/best-careers-for-istj-personalities @oldshurst442 There have been a lot of (more recent) travel articles written about how dicey the Athens Metro is to ride from the airport into the city center, and vice-versa, in terms of property theft. Before the Metro was extended into the ATH airport, which is when I rode on it, it was clean and "peaceful." My station was Akropoli.

I checked the date and this one slides into May as well - also on the 31st. The Rivieras of the world are usually renowned for being sun drenched ... ... but sadly this last-gen Riviera is as well.

The way he (the 75 y.o.) landed was especially bothersome. On a concrete sidewalk. That's in addition to everything else that was wrong with the situation. As for the Minneapolis situation that ended George Floyd's life, I was in transit, of sorts, when it happened and got up to speed on it a little later. A college student in a small peaceful protest actually "scolded" me for not knowing enough about the situation upon inquiring. (Blame it on uninterrupted Bluetooth music in a rental car to stay focused and alert.) You start wondering what was going through their heads: anger issues, stress, power trips, more stress from training for and working in a COVID-19 environment, pack mentality, etc.? It's like the Rodney King situation of 1992 all over again. But it's also a really tough job, especially in a SWAT type situation. They never know what they'll be facing. Be glad you didn't become a law enforcement agent. You'd probably be a very different person than the one you are today. The people I went to high school with who went into these fields were not likable ... and were still not likable decades later. I don't know anyone from college who went into law enforcement. A fair number of these folks became holy roller types and most of them became even more uptight. Very true about how certain jobs heap on points on military folks returning to the work force. I think that psychological testing is probably now in (wider) use in employing first responders. It should be. As for as aptitude tests that people take for themselves, it's weird what results the 2 Myers-Briggs indicators ending in ?STJ produce - they say you are suited to be a systems analyst, an engineer, a dentist, an accountant ... or a police officer. It's probably built around the Joe Friday "just the facts, mam" M.O. of most ?STJ types. That's one broad brush.

Last call for May spotting - on the last day of May, the 31st: Near JAX, and just off the Beltway, it looks like birds of a feather flock together. I'll take the one on the right ... less thirsty. Trifecta of Dodge-Ram products, still in the same place - the charcoal enamel color seen on FCA of products as of late is nice but, on that Charger, I think it would look way better with basic aluminum (shinier) alloys to keep it from looking that drab. My 2 cents. Further down I-95 on the Treasure Coast, north of Palm Beach County. Wow ... this is one car that has gotten better and better. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the next rendition.) I can't tell if it's the red or the orange they've been offering on the Charger lately, but it's definitely flattering on this vehicle. For random sighting photos, FL's lack of front license plates works wonders.

For those who still have time and can find stores that are participating, today is National Donut Day!

Spotted May 29 - parked next to each other This is a 2006 or 2007 Monte Carlo SS, meaning it's among the rare few with a V8. How does it have basic wheels? These had some meaty tires and alloys. I couldn't even tell you what year this Rolls is or what it might cost. These remind me of the poster saying "Poverty Sucks." Not my cup of tea, but an interesting sighting.

Everyone has a different interpretation of beauty. There's no doubt the Desert SW has its own beauty. I don't think it has much to do with being a real man to deal with the Desert SW heat and living conditions. For some, it's not an aesthetic they like. I was recently in Florida and, thanks to those reliable downpours in the afternoons, the place is all green and turquoise ... abundant, lush vegetation and turquoise waters. I find their 92 degree humid heat easier to take than 108 degree dry heat. Others don't agree. It's not all that packaged. You can live in the NW and love the trees but strongly dislike the tree huggers and the granolas. Dfelt ain't no tree hugger ... he lives on the East Side and drives domestic vehicles. Kudos to dfelt on both counts. (Much like you can be a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat - it's not so cut and dried.) For the tree huggers and granolas, it's not just about conservation or preserving the natural beauty. It's about making an annoying and all encompassing statement. I didn't really get along with them too well. Then, the SW has its types of granolas and counterculture types, like middle aged and retired ladies with short gray hair, studious glasses, sizable collections of turquoise and carnelian Indian jewelry, and Subaru wagons who love Sedona, Flagstaff (~ 7,000 ft. elev.), and Santa Fe (NM). Those areas' prices have gone way up because of the liberal moneyed intellectuals (or wannabe intellectuals) who have moved into certain cities in AZ, NM and CO ... and you can have those places because I wouldn't enjoy having them as neighbors. I like the Desert SW for about a week. I was last there for about 4 or 5 days. The inside of my nose and my head seemed to dry up daily, producing regular nosebleeds and headaches. Then, when I get somewhere moister, this doesn't happen.

This random, weird thought went through my head: I had lunch at Costco ... but I didn't have a Costco lunch.

I have been to Greece, but not to Santorini. I know that it's built around a volcano that "sank" into the Mediterranean and that the sand on the beach is a blackish color. The Amalfi Coast (this ^) and the coastline further up at the Cinque Terre are more verdant, so more like the Greek Ionian islands (i.e. Corfu) and Sporades islands (i.e. Skiathos) where the hillsides are fairly green, even during the summer. In the Cyclades, which is what most people associate with Greek islands, the look is very parched ... a lot like Southern California's interior during the hot summer. Santorini (Cyclades) Paros (Cyclades) The Greek islands are overrun by tourists. Their populations of actual inhabitants is low. Half the population of Greece lives in and around Athens.

Better late than never. Here are some sightings from 4 days in Eastern Sicily in early February ... when things were still "normal" there. By order of comic relief: 1. a Subaru doubling as a police car (they have different types of law enforcement and carabinieri is one of the different departments). A Subaru?!? 2. They have gone nuts with these weird pastel enamel colors on small cars over there, like this pale blue-green on Fiats, Renaults, Citroens, etc. This one is in front of a funeral home. You can also see that people have been spending more money on their cars over there. 3. This made for the best laugh. It must have belonged to the guy who worked inside the gas station and ran the credit card. I can't believe they sell these in Sicily. I don't see a big V8 under the hood and I wouldn't assume an automatic transmission is a given. It's fun to spot cars that are out of the ordinary from what you'd expect in a far-away place.

I just saw one of those blurbs on the most popular breed of dog, ranked from 1 to 99, based on registrations or something like that, and it goes like this: 1. Labrador 2. German Shepherd 3. Golden Retriever It's not surprising when you think of what dogs you see around. My three favorite breeds come in at 13, 25, and 29 on the list, respectively: Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, and Miniature Australian Shepherd. For these three breeds, you need a good dose of time and energy to keep up with them.

Hertz filed for bankruptcy. Under their umbrella are Thrifty, Dollar, and more. An institution since my childhood. Now, a casualty of COVID-19. Sad. Hey, who can forget this guy ... and this particular commercial was in 1993 ... think of the timing ... the police chase of the Ford Bronco on the 405 wasn't too long after 1993 ...

@oldshurst442 Monsieur du Quebec, j'ai trouve' un YouTube situe' dans ton ville, sur une des rues principales First, can you understand what those French people talking smack in the background are saying? I had seen this about a month ago and thought you'd enjoy it. This is one sweet Cutlass Supreme. It's obviously been kept shielded from the elements. A few things: - it needs its hood ornament back ... it would look better - it would look better with the alloy wheels instead of the wire wheel covers ... and the optional all aluminum alloys were even nicer than the much used body colored rally wheels - I'm not crazy about the two-tone paint - they could have thrown on a white landau vinyl top instead ... I remembered this video since we were recently discussing the Seafoam fuel system product ... this might be considered a metallic sea foam green, but Olds called it metallic Jadestone - check out at about 2:25 into the video - this car has NO air conditioning and it's the top of the line Brougham! - I like everything else about it ... I wonder which engine it had ... there would have only been 2 gasoline options that year: the 3.8 V6 or the small Olds V8 Tres belle ... beautiful!

@balthazar and others Take note, though, that, for some reason, Sunoco has fallen off the Top Tier list, possibly due to sourcing during the pandemic. They're supposed to be the fuel endorsed by NASCAR* or some other major automotive event. * oh yeah, baby, I'm all about NASCAR ... surely I jest ... my 200 hp can get me in trouble if I wanted it to ...

I've done well with Chevron's Techron. I didn't know about Lucas until they had a stadium named after them! I know that I have an aversion to the name Seafoam, based on visualizing sea foam (great at the beach, but for my engine?) and some guys at the parts stores counters seem to love Seafoam. I will most definitely not be making a habit out of this. If I plan to continue with this regimen, I'll do it once every 2,500 or 3,000 miles. The "problem" is that I have a car that hasn't yet been tuned that still idles quietly and runs smoothly. My perception is that it running slightly better. If it's $ 1 a gallon more and the tank holds 17 gallons, that's $ 17 I am paying every 3 months for this cheap thrill. I'm barely into this new full tank with Shell 93 octane. Let me ride out this tank to see if it keeps feeling different.

Fiat 500 L The Fiat 500 L would be my rental in the next location I needed a car and it, too, seemed to satisfy the economy car with automatic category for the rental agency. The difference is that this turned out to be a fairly different driving experience. This is exactly what I meant by saying "it depends" on which 500 we are talking about. I don't know if this L version is a wagon, a cross-over, or what. The driving experience in the 500 L was quite a bit better ... almost amazingly so. The car was roomier, its front seats were comfortable, its rear seats were usable, and, to allay my issues with open backs in small wagons, there was a sliding tonneau cover that hid what you had in the "luggage" compartment. So, both the driving and day in and day out usage experiences were better. The 500 L sits higher, giving the driver a more in-command feel of the situation. And, despite that, it's well planted. While it looks and is small, it feels bigger once inside. The 500 L held the road well, was more hushed than the coupe, and handled almost deftly even though you would never want to push this car in tight hairpins. The engine wasn't completely hushed but was more up to the task. For some reason, its automatic gearbox shifted more seamlessly. I remember that the fuel economy was good, though net exactly stellar. The dashboard had more meat on its bones than the base coupe. It was still minimalist in nature, but had more information and more features, made the car easier to live in, and included more storage. The finishes on the dash weren't what they could have been, even though the steering wheel featured stitched leather, but what the dashboard lacked in fit, finish, and content was negated by the 3 main bezel instrument cluster and more. Lastly, even with the thick rear pillars at its rear corners, visibility was excellent. These were the salient things I took away from renting this smaller vehicle. I grew to like this vehicle to some degree. I certainly liked it more than the 500 coupe I had less than a week before. I'm glad that I had this Fiat 500 L in more challenging urban and mountainous areas. I don't know if I'd buy one, but I found the 500 L easy to live with for those three days. 1. If this place looks familiar to you, that's no surprise. I'm on the Italian side of it rather than the Swiss side. I've never been to Swizerland, which is only about 5 to 10 miles from where I was standing. 2. This is what the vehicle looks like from the rear. Even with those pillars and black-outs, visibility was to my liking 3. The alloy wheels on this little sled are nice. 4. This is the expanse of the dashboard which isn't as boring as that in the base coupe but still has the sheetmetal accents I didn't like 5. The dashboard is nicer than in their little 500 coupe - look at the nicer steering wheel, its inclusion of more remote toggles, 3 bezels in the main instrument cluster, nicer A/C vents, and more 6. There are 3 ( ! ) separate places to put your things - a main glove box below, a small upper glove box, and an intermediate shelf 7. It may not look like an automatic transmission, but it functioned as one. You could probably shift manually but I thought I'd pass on that. 8. The rear seat is actually usable and functional. You can also see that the seats had nicer than usual stitching accents on them. 9. This is the rear cargo area and it has split folding rear seats 10. There are even some receptacles built into the sides of the rear cargo area 11. Connectivity is important End of Fiat 500 L section

This is 2 reviews in one. Like the title of the review says, with a Fiat 500, it depends. Here, I'm not talking about their reliability. That's a big question mark across the board. I'm talking about the driving experience in the 500 and how it varies by the model you have. In this case, a while back, I had 2 back to back Fiats in different places, given to me by the rental car to fulfill the economy car with automatic criteria. Fiat 500 coupe This is the reboot of the old school Fiat 500 coupe of yesteryear that people laughed at, stereotyped as the prototypical Italian car, was once truly ubiquitous, and could be picked up and moved by 2 or 3 strong people. The difference is that the more recent one is bigger, has cleaner sheetmetal, is tech savvy (from digital odometers to check engine systems to connectivity). While it may be cute, the basic Fiat 500 couperis basic transportation. And, even though it has a back seat, it's only meant for 2 people (and 2 small people, such as children) at the very most. This is because of the tight rear leg room and quickly raked roof line of the coupe. The trunk isn't that roomy, either. The driving experience is underwhelming. Power is suitable for most things except tricky passing. The automatic transmission shifts decently enough though it doesn't approximate the more seamless shifts of smaller VW or Citroen automatic econoboxes. You will definitely feel what your tires are doing. Perhaps too much so, as what is transmitted through the steering wheel almost gives you TMI. The ride is a little busy, but it's certainly better than that of older entry-level Fiats. The dashboard is simplistic. Basically, it's one big center oval with all the information arranged in or near it. With the Fiat 500 being simplistic all the way around, infotainment and climate controls are equally so. When it comes to the center stack, that's not such a bad thing. And, if it's a rental, you want to be able to quickly decipher the infotainment and climate control systems and be safely on your way. The one thing I did not like is that the dashboard has metal that was the same color as the car's exterior. In this case, the car was white. Hence, large expanses of the dashboard were of white sheetmetal with black inserts for the functional areas. I didn't mind parting with this car after having it for 3 days. Fortunately, those 3 days were in an area that was not at all demanding in terms of driving requirements. This Fiat 500 coupe reboot is aimed at the same type of buyer that would buy the VW "Bug" reboot ... and who might even put the flower in the vase on the dashboard (was that a hippie thing?). While this Fiat is larger than a Smart (for two), in terms of what it can do, it doesn't seem to be able to do much more. This is the kind of car you buy because you specifically want to ... or want to make some kind of statement by having it as you set of wheels. There are some smaller Euro and Asian automatic vehicles I have actually come to like. The basic Fiat 500 coupe is not one of them. 1. The location was inspiring. The car was less so. 2. Its lines are nicer than the original car from the '60s and '70s that it mimics 3. I forgot - it had a nifty glass roof that was fortunately tinted but required that the A/C be turned on at all times 4. With the sun setting behind me and not knowing Photoshop - yet, I couldn't get my shadow out of the passenger door 5. It's pretty much all here in that one pod. Thank goodness for a decent looking leather stitched wheel and steering wheel remote audio controls. 6. I will have to hand it to them for including a temperature gauge, which has always been important to me. Also, at 3,747 km, this is a young car - that's about 2,400 miles in U.S. terms 7. Kudos for a simple infotainment center and easy to use climate control. A big thumbs down for the white sheetmetal on the dashboard. End of Fiat 500 coupe section.

You learn something new every day, so they say. In reading tidbits about auto care - here, on other forums, and in magazines, I read that it's a good idea to run a tank of the high octane Top Tier fuel (93 octane) every 3,000 miles or so (along with a bottle of fuel system cleaner, though probably not at the exact same time) if your car runs on regular unleaded. For the first time ever, I put the 93 octane in my car, which runs on regular 87 octane. Am I supposed to feel a difference? You tell me. It seems to run, start, and idle great. The premium fuel doesn't come by cheap, so I only plan to do this intermittently.