Intrepidation

I really, really long hard fart. I'm dead serious.

Very nice.

No thanks, I'll have more peanuts.

Who the hell gives a $h! about Sweden enough to attack them anyway?

You can rent them?

I'll post this again. Advantages and disadvantages to this. There's the advantages you stated, but there' the loss of freedom you get from this. You go from being a person to being nothing more than an object that can be scanned at will...like food at the store. You have no sense of privacy. It's dehumanizing.

touche' Where the hell can I rent a stripper?! Thanks oncblu

Never anything positive to say do you? Pllus, I doubt you'd find an R/T at a rental agency.

2 Ram MegaCabs (all of a sudden I've been seeing a bunch lately!) one red, one black. 2 Lucernes, one dark red, one gold. a dark blue Porsche Boxter

Yup, 3.5L, 6-speed. It is a blast with that powertrain. I drove one just like the one in the photo.

When I saw the sketches the first thing I thought was Camry front end! Anyway, It looks kinda good in the sketches (like all Hyundais), but odds are it will be taller, narrower, and uglier *(like all Hyundais).

I actually just got back from the dealer. Here's how it went: I went to the dealer around 4pm today. After talking with the service technician, he recommended that I leave it be for now because it would got 90 bucks an hour and it's a 2 hour or so job for a couple of bulbs. He was pretty honest with me. He told me they'd fix it if I wanted but it's pretty expensive for a couple of bulbs. As long as it's readable it's fine. He also gave me a discount card for oil changes. Basically it's a dollar off the first oil change, and a dollar is added until the 5th one...which is free. Anyway, I walk into the showroom and see the salesman (whose name is Eric). We greet and talk for a moment. Then he goes over to where they keep the keys. He asks for my license so he can make a copy of it. Afterwards we go out to the car. He says "I'm guessing you know the area" and I'm like "yeah". So we get in and he pulls the car to the entrance. We chat for a bit about the car. I guess without his classes he can't read the smaller buttons well. Hell, I don't even know what some of them are. Apparently he hasn't read all of the info about the car yet (like the heated/cooled cupholders and the chill-zone) so, hilariously, I explain it to him. He tells me to bring it back in one piece and keep it under a hundred, hands me the keys and lets me go (I get to drive it by myself!). I've got 10-15 minutes to drive it before he asked me to bring it back. I pull out, and waist half my time getting to some upen road. Water Street/Riverside Drive is a good place to go fast because it's useally not too busy once you pass the houses, and it's twisty so you can test the handling abit. Of course this guy in an older Accord is going like 25 up the road (it inclines here). So I slow the car down, wait to get some distance and then floor it. Man this thing has power! I was up to 50 and on his ass before I knew it. For fun, I took it up my street and parked it in front of the house. It goes up the hill much quicker than anything I've driven. The combination of power and 6 gears really makes a difference. When I got up the hill there's a bit of a straight before my house, so I gave it gas and then tested the brakes. They were very impressive at hauling the car to a stop..although the car felt like it wanted to jerk to the right. I wonder if it was the car or just me not being used to ABS (I've never driven a car with ABS before). My neighbor came and looked at it. He was really impressed with it... he said it looked sharp. I had my mom come out...she was surprised because I hadn't said what I was doing today. She sat down and said she liked the seats a lot. It wasn't for long, because I wanted a little extra time to drive before I returned it. So I go back down to Riverside Drive and floor it again. Basically, in the time it takes the Prizm to get to 40-45mph I was doing 70mph! I love the power of this thing, and it sounds good when doing it...yet there's no torque steer. It's so responsive too. The road bends and becomes a downhill slope, so it made for a good opportunity to work the brakes and feel how the suspension handled. Quite admirably. In addition to absorbing bumps well, it felt sharp and crisp with good steering feedback and well controlled body roll. Once I got back into the city area, I slowed down and played with the AutoStick the rest of the way back to the dealer. AutoStick is neat..although strange compared to a full manual. It shifts as soon as you do though...there's no delay. As I was driving back I noticed some people on the sidewalks staring at the car as I drove by...it's quit an attention getter...especially in black with the 18-inch wheels. I got back to the dealership and put the car back where it was and talked to Eric. He asked me what I thought and I said "I love it! It's very powerful and fun to drive." We chatted for a bit about where I go to school , where I work, and some good places to get pizza. I recommended someday they order from where I work. He said bring something if you ever get anything extra I talked about how I'm in the graphic design field, hoping to get a career in it. He told me that it's good that I've got options in my field. He also said that when he started working at the dealership (like 20 years ago) he hadn't planned it to be his career...but he's still here. I also found out that I'd met him before. He remembered me from when my mom and I came a couple years ago to look at a Dakota for a project I was doing for school (he had short hair then). I also learned that in order to sell Sprinters, the dealerships need a separate wing and special technician training. They didn't have the space to expand so they passed on selling the Sprinter. But I digress. We even talked about the Shadow for a bit. Closing Thoughts The Dealer: This is a great dealership. Everyone there is honest and friendly. The service technician didn't try to screw me out of money and was pleasant to talk to. We discussed synthetic oil and engine flushes and the pros and cons to them. Likewise, the salesman, Eric, even knowing that I wasn't going to buy the Avenger or any other car on the lot was pleasant and friendly. He talked to me like I was his friend, as opposed to trying to get me out of the dealership because he couldn't get a sale off me. He was nice enough to let me drive the car, by myself no less, and we talked casually before and after. Honestly, when I eventually buy a new car, I most likely will buy from them, since I've had such good experiences with them. The car: I have only a few regrets about my drive: I didn't bring my drink with me to test the cupholders I didn't bring a CD to listen to. I didn't get to drive it longer (makes me the most sad).As for the car, the only fault I could find today was that the center stack trim plate (the metallic stuff) had flex to it when pressed...not nearly as bad as that Nitro that Northstar sat in but not as solid as the Intrepid's. Still...it's not like you touch that on a regular basis...you touch the knobs, buttons, and stereo controls.At the end of the day I can tell you that I want one, and if I had the money I would buy one in a heartbeat. Some of you guys seem to think it's a horrible cheap-ass car with no competitiveness. Drive one, at least an R/T. It's not going to set the standard in this segment, but I think it should do well for Dodge. It's not perfect, and it has a few faults, but at the same time it's worth more than the sum of its parts. I want to drive an Aura XR as soon as possible to compare the two more directly...I wonder how that will go?

Would everyone who makes these stupid comments just shut the f@#k up. Who gives a flying f@#k what people's sexual orientation is? Unless you're either A.) being hit on or B.) Romantically involved with that person it's none of your godsdamn business and none of your concern.

I sat in the Aura too...the interior doesn't impress me with it's shoddy build quality, cheap door panels and (the design, which is just not for me). It's still a better car overall, but IMO not by leaps and bounds. The Fusion's got a better interior than almost all of the midsize players...especially the Aura. I wouldn't take the LaCrosse...it's on an old platform with timid handling and a $h!ty powertrain (at least you can get a 6-speed and sport suspension in the Avenger). The LaCrosse looked dated when it debuted. To each his own of course.

I usually take 3 Tylenol or 2 Advil/Ibeprophen. When I had the flu and had 105 temp, they gave me 4 advil...which is a huge does. I find that (form me) Advil works better than Tylenol...but3 tylenol and some coffee helps a lot.

That was hilarious!

It's about time the UAW did something useful. Welcome to America Toyota!

Man, $115 seems like a lot a week...how much to workers make on average a week?

It would take GM, Ford or Chrysler going under and all of their plants closing for Toyota to come anywhere near the number of American employees. Also, if you want to get into what car is more American (I'm not gonna dig out the exact numbers but hjere's a rough estimate), average Domestic car is built with about 70% American parts, while the AVerage Foreign car (evenw hen built in America) is less than 40%. People don't buy Camries because they're American, they by them because for so long, they were better than the Domestic offerings (for the most part). That has changed however, but people still percieve the Camry as superior in quality...it has little to do with being American or not. Yes they are global companies, but that doesn't change where they originate from and where teh money goes. Speaking of which, while Toyota builds a plant here in there to "invest" in America, the Big 3 continually invest millions to upgrade their plants.

Or a Datsun/Nissan/Infiniti

At least it's not like the Prizm...the highbeam light doesn't work...or the low fuel light...or any of the HVAC lights...it's rather dark in that car at night. Can you buy the bulbs at a local parts store or is it something that must be special ordered by a dealer or what?

So since December the light for the engine temp gauge in the Intrepid has been out...I think. It's dimmer than teh other lights but there's enough glow that it's still readable at night. A month ago or so part of the tach (the right side) went dim. I've never pulled a gauge cluster part before...is it individual light bulbs or what? I'd like to think they're just blow bulbs...but the strange thing is that sometimes the temp gauge will light up normally...so I dunno. I wanna take it to the dealer tomorrow and have it looked at...I hope it's not that expensive. It's not a major issue since I can read all the gauges fine at night...it's just an annoyance. The trunk light has never worked for me...I thought it might have been a blown bulb but when I tried replacing it after I bought the car it was to no avail. That must be an electrical issue...another minor annoyance...but I doubt I'll have that looked at tomorrow...it's not a big deal after all...just an inconvenience. So does anyone know how gauges are lit? And do you think (at least the tach) is just a blown bulb or something...and any idea what it might cost to have it fixed? Thanks!

That sucks, hope you get it fixed soon. I'm hoping to take the Intrepid tomorrow to the dealer, I want to have the gauge lights looked at. I'm hoping it's just a couple burnt out bulbs but who knows. It's not a big deal but it's an annoyance...ya know?

I don't mind driving under the speed limit of they are going a constant speed and if I'm on my way home from school. On my way to school their going slow can cost me precious minutes. The problem is that most people are too stupid to drive a constant speed, so I can never enjoy cruise control...if I can use the cruise control then I don't mind if they go slow...as long as it's not like 20 mph and a 45 zone.

Thanks...it's a real shame that cars are destroyed due to the stupidity of their owners.