regfootball

please please try forddirect.com and type in her zipcode and try to find an edge if the santa fe is what she wants. the first edges shipping are the under 30k price points, possibly one with AWD just under 30. i would stick a fork in myself if anyone bought a santa fe and at least did not drive the edge first. they are in stores now, you just need to find one. i really think she may find the freestyle appealing in some ways also and those will sell low to mid to high 20's. I KNOW, its a FORD, but man, its not a HYUNDAI then. would she like an XL7? that's one way to go GM and it might be a good size for her. It would be like getting a good nox. And its in her price range. I can understand the apprehension on the endeavor, but its a solid vehicle for the price, for what they sell them for, used anyways. Is the CX7 too hip for her? The CX7 is cool at first but when you find out its almost just a puffy mazda6 wagon, the appeal wanes. Hey, maybe she's SPortcombi material.......... I bet she would be thrilled with the SRX by the way. that would be a good choice too.

AB

as long as its not a VW you should be ok. VW's can't even seem to maintain combustion.

WOW. That was my first impression on setting my eyes on a new 2007 Outlook. Trucky, sporty, muscular, athletic. Aggressive. All in one shape. It has tight gaps and seams too. I will say this, if looks have anything to do with sales success, then this thing will succeed. It looks great. On the outside. What about the inside? Well, mostly the same types of impressions. I can confirm this, the black interior I saw through the window maybe looked like the plastics quality could stand to be a LITTLE bit nicer. The design of the dash and sweep of the doors looked really nice though. It looked as if the center stack and console were quite nice, despite the parts bin controls on the radio etc. It looks like a great place to be spending time behind the steering wheel. Very cocoon like. Packaging wise, I would say for a crossover, its perfect. Well, a few caveats.....as perfect as it can be for a CROSSOVER SUV. The center row does indeed look far too low (a compromise for the too high floor and sliding seat). I can't see adults being happy sitting on those low chairs with what also appears to be a shortage of leg room. The third row did not look adult sized either but at least the cushion seemed a bit higher. It seems as though there is usable space behind the third row. I wonder how exactly plywood will fit in this thing with the hatch closed, but they say it does so who am I to know? I think if we compare this thing to a Pilot in terms of packaging, it probably has the Pilot beat. What I am more curious about is comparing this to the Freestyle. You could assume this thing hammers the Freestyle on usability, but now after seeing one I would guess that this is the case.....the second and third row are probably pretty close in overall head room and leg room, with the outlook being wider. I would guess the FS's lower floor helps it come close to the overall comfort for passengers that the Outlook will have....and have a higher second row seat. Cargo wise, the Outlook appears to have a higher load floor, but a higher roof as well and is wider so it will have more usuable space. But we know the Outlook is much heavier. So it ought to have more room. So I am left thinking they really could have benefitted from dropping the floor to increase the seat height in the rear two rows. And there's the rub. Its now all too obvious why this platform is not seeing a minivan. There are many who have suggested this is an adequate minivan stand in. Its not. Not in any way. It still does not have the packaging a desired van has. The floor is too high, the load floor is too high. The seating is not stow and go flexible. Simply trying to add a sliding door would be a joke. The cargo area while large is still not van voluminous. And that's all ok, because for a CROSSOVER SUV, its the perfect package. its just that this package may be too heavy and have too high a floor for a van. This is a stunning looking vehicle. It looks compact for its actual size and what it can contain. Its a winner on style. If you want an SUV with a nice console and 3 rows of seats but don't want anything to do with a van, this is it. If you think you are sold on the need for the ultimate versatility of a van, don't kid yourself into thinking this is a seamless replacement. There is a compromise to be had for the pretty crossover package. What is most pleasing about the Outlook is that its way better looking outside than the dumpy ass MDX (or was that an XL7?) and it has an interior that is very passable and pretty well done all things considered. It gets much better real world mpg than the fuel sucking MDX (which got 13 mpg C/D Feb 07) and is much cheaper. An MDX would in no way be worth 10 grand more. Unless you're a dumbass. I really like this outlook. I would like the Acadia version, can't wait to drive it. Just hope I never have to sit in the second row on the low ass chairs. This is probably about as close to a home run GM ever gets on product presentation. I hope all the Honda Pilot bangers go cry in the corner and sip their latte's and piss and moan about how their lovely girl pansy truck has been usurped by the General.

just like i mentioned awhile ago, it is very Jetta esque. A very TL/Jetta/TSX vibe. You know, this car should do well as long as they don't only sell it with pushrods. It actually might be the sexiest looking midsize out there, exterior wise. it should appeal to east coasters and west coasters and import fans assuming those types' heads aren't so far up their ass's that they won't even give this car a fair shake because the looks ARE there. hope the interior quality is ok. it's looking like an Aura in drag, but the design pictures look good. Once the new Accord comes out the butchers in the press will be all over it. At least they could get rid of the cheap ass 3 spoke with an upgraded design.

this is a much nicer looking 'FJ Cruiser'

they decided to make the ugly ass Charger instead.

i still vacillate on this car. If you are alone on a Chrysler lot, looking a bunch of new 300's, this car is very attractive. Classy. But seeing them in traffic for two years, many fo them dubbed out, and some of them beatne up, they look tired old and faddish. The fat chunky thing is clearly old news new. The Lucerne has a much crisper silhouette. Car design is becoming so faddish so quickly. Even a car like the Fusion which was considered crisp and fresh for a brief time is now considered dumpy and old.

while the cobalt interior still has some upgrading to do in terms of plastics quality, overall, the car is palatable for the price class it sells in. Now, if they could convince the cost cutters to simply upgrade the sheen and texture of some of those plastics it would help a lot. But honestly, as much as we have continual problems within GM and Ford for rampant cost cutting, the fact is this sort of mentality is rampant in American business. Trust me, I work for a developer contractor after years of doing 'for public bid' work on schools and let me tell you, once the motivation of the company selling the product becomes profit for the good of the company, the financiers take over. In America we have glorified those in business who only focus on numbers. Most often the easiest way for the company to exist as a company and continue to gurantee fat salaries for the decision makers and movers and shakers is to simply cost cut the project, but market the hell out of it. It seems that over time then, the Japanese approach of trying to actually improve the product has caught on to some degree with the buying public so that they are now quite sensitive to the perceived quality on the surface. Yet, our decision makers in Detroit cannot commit themselves to fully respond to that yet because they are all still very conditioned to think cost cutting first. And in truth, a big part of that is their challenges with health care costs and union labor that Korean makers do not have for example. Now, that does not mean its an excuse for GM to cost cut, but it is a motivation. Clearly it works part of the time and a lot more recently seems to be failing them. So the term that is used every hour on the hour in my buisiness of slapping cheesy box buildings up is 'value engineering'. Do you think in an atmosphere such as that, do you think the customer is honored as the ultimate person to be pleased? DO you think the designers and engineers are given the ability to fully protect the quality of the end product? No, because in America, the bean counters and MBa's with no concern for anything other than their own paycheck and corporate standing could give a flying f@#k about whether the low-mid income American family can actually afford an Uplander with nice plastic. They figure they need the van no matter what, and if they market the snot out of it, they will sell it no matter what. It's easier to slap a cash incentive on it than it is to add the overhead in the manufacturing end. That's a business decision. I am one of the few people on this board that has ever owned a Toyota. I owned a 99 Chevy Prism which we all know was a Corolla. It was the first new car I ever bought. My choices at the time were Cavalier and Prism. That's all the budget I had. The Prism was defintely the more refined piece when it was new. But after 3 years with it it felt like every bit the $h!box it was. Nothing broke down, but at the same time it felt flimsy and cheap and really some of the superficial things we all bitch about on here like plastics quality, it did not wow me after 3 years like it maybe did when it was new. I was left thinking the car was more flimsy than refined. So different virtues about a car surface when it is new versus old. In terms of quality feeling over time, some imports still feel and look ok and some don't. I've seen plenty of older Hondas that look like $h! over time and feel like beaten up wet noodles. Yet, my father in law's Old's 88 has a body that is still stout and rigid at 165.000 miles....even if his plastic is cheaper and he's had to fix the tranny. As far as the Cobalt I am not sure it is worth any more development. In reality, the Cobalt needs to be upsized to be on par with the new Sentra and Elantra. Compacts now are supposed to feel more spacious. Even the Mazda 3 feels spacious. So the delta is already out of date. GM should $h! can this platform soon and get a real global new compact platform on line that is larger than the current one and has actual leg room in the back. The Jetta right now is about the perfect compact car in size. The Aveo could then grow in size a bit to be like a Yaris. More on plastics. I scoped out an Outlook tonight for the first time. through the window glass, it still looks like the general is not 100% matching the best in plastics quality but it appeared to be much more acceptable than before. So its obvious that the beancounters still have the highest regard. They are all just trying to find the right amount they have to stick into it so it won't get ripped and not spend so much and so that no one comments on it. Even Toyota's new Camry has been getting ripped for interior cheapness so its easy to say that now that they conduct business here they are not immune from the poisoned ideals of American business culture. If you want real change in how American companies design and build things so that the end focus is what the customer wants in terms of quality, the business model has to change a bit to allow the designers and engineers and customers to be the end winners. But we glorify the pricks in business so much and they have figured out how to make a living stripping others of what they should get so such is life.

The cobalt's interior is not that horrible. It's not top drawer, but its not as bad as a cavalier.

like britney...lol

seriously, she ought to scope out the freestyle and the edge. i bet she would like the edge, if she could get a mildly equipped one for around 26-30k. the edge is nicer than the vue or equinox. the freestyle has discounts and 3 rows and is very carlike. would she like a Murano? What about waiting for an Outlook? No laughs, would she like an Endeavor or a 2007 Outlander? Save $$$$. A new 06 AWD Bendover at around 23k after discounts with the added room would be a good buy for her. And its a pretty well built vehicle, if a little futsy looking. I had one for a loaner and it was very carlike and solid. Maybe she's X3 material.

as in, what if that civic crashed into a cement truck? Hehe, i witnessed the aftermath of a cement mixer that steamrolled a small car before. Pretty ugly. I am sure a semi truck or school bus can be easily survived by that Fit driver.

but that's the whole point. someone competing to an achievement that is somewhat based on ethics should not be doing this in public. Private, I'm all up for that.

let's not drag the priests into this topic..........

i think those girls are BI lingual. I am very impressed with Miss Nevada's tongue. Gene Simmons looks like a schoolboy in comparison. She looks quite well practiced with that thing too. The rest of her is quite smoking. WOW. That's a darn nice rack. Nice tight little tummy, too. She's an obvious wh0rebag though. I'm not against this sort of exhibitionism at all, just don't try to be Miss beauty pageant. If the pageants allow winners like this then just either do away with pageants or just make them what they really are, TOP SLUT PAGEANTS. Make them all girls gone wild with wet tshirts and mud wrestling and such. Encourage girl girl affection. Might as well be honest about it. If the whole point of girls entering these things is to be 'I'm the bigger slut' then let's make that the central theme, and milk the hell out of it. They all want attention and affirmation this badly, might as well get some mileage out of the event, since they are willing to do it.

if given time, i must say CVT's would be right for most folks. I still love sticks, but not in traffic. DSG's sound great, but maybe they will never become mainstream.

"you're fired!"

What full lives Reagan and Ford and Nixon all had. Ford was likely a good president, all things considered at the time. RIP.

google Katie Rees. and she thinks she deserves a second chance? LmAo!!!!!!!!

empowah has an odyssey he wants to sell you. recently serviced. ready to go.

you should really tighten up that list a bit.

do the clowns get to box today too? LMao

i thought this was a thread about matt millen's motor city kitties.

because that's the agenda of the magazine writers. force a new brand on the public to make things interesting and new.