bobo

Just saw him on the west coast repeat, and considering what he's been through, he didn't look half bad. This is kind of his last hurrah as Ryan Seacrest becomes the main ABC guy.

You would think that there would be a boost gauge as well.

Yes, the LSD is for going around corners, and any performance car should have it. And at only $195, it's cheap.

Agreed about the missing HID headlights. They should have been put on the CXS model, as any $40K vehicle should at least have them available as an option. I haven't driven a Lucerne yet. I hope to next year, and I also hope that it's a little firmer than a DTS.

Yellow is not the Solstice's color. Everthing else is impressive. I'm surprised they are offering an automatic with the turbo, but that should help expand the pool of buyers.

I used the cruise control on the Silverado for the first time yesterday, and the placement of the controls on the stalk is fine. I do understand tanner's complaint of not having a cancel feature. I do most of my long distance driving in my Honda, and it does not have a cancel feature. I normally end up turning the cruise off rather than using the brakes to cancel. I also do the decel and accel thing with the buttons. It's not a huge deal, but it would be nice to have a cancel feature like my Lexus has.

Here’s the fourth annual list of the best and worst of GM and C&G during the past year. If the year could be summed up in one word, it’s “disaster.” There were plenty of natural disasters, most notable being Katrina, and GM had its own disasters to wade through. Prominent passings included Johnny Carson, Rosa Parks, and the only Pope that many people knew. News regarding GM came at a steady drip—of bad news, including the Fiat fiasco, pension and health care woes, the Delphi mess, falling market share, junk bond status, and record low stock prices. C&G experienced its own woes with glitches the first seven months of the year, and then the site went offline altogether for three weeks after getting kicked off the server. But it came back with updated forum software and a shuffling of moderators, and the general merriment returned. And there are glimmers of hope that things may turn around at GM as well. And now, the highlights and lowlights of the past year: Cheers to GM for finally introducing “Gotta Have” vehicles. The Solstice and HHR are certified hits. Now if only the same treatment can be given to all automotive segments, in particular the family sedans, instead of just niche vehicles. It’s all about product. The new GMT900’s are a step in the right direction, and what is known of “Zegma” shows promise. Cheers and Jeers to GM Marketing for “GM Employee Discount for Everyone”. This promotion cut through the clutter and gave everyone haggle-free pricing. The public bought into it, even if the deals were no better than could have been had with aggressive sales negotiations. Real employees lost out because the pricing was not as good as GMS pricing before the promotion. The 2005 stock was cleared out, and there were conquest sales, but the hangover is here with diminished sales for the 2006 models. And GM continues to count on image-damaging incentives, which brings us to… Jeers to GM for the hopelessly weak “Total Value Promise”. GM had a chance to wean consumers off the absurd mega incentives, but instead there was a timid program of more standard features and slightly reduced prices. This was this year’s “Lock ‘n’ Roll.” Cheers to b2b for Best Post, in his succinct design analysis of the Honda Civic. link Cheers to Satty for Best Use of Irony. Just weeks after getting his Solara, he disses the Sostice as being “girly. everything about the appearence says, ‘Look at me, I'm a sorority girl.’” link Jeers to the constant bitching, moaning, and petty arguments on the board. Is it really necessary to argue over every little thing? A Cheer to wildmanjoe for illustrating it best in his recent “light bulb” thread. link Cheers to regfootball for Best Haiku. Well, it was the only haiku posted. It was reg’s response to buickman in the debate of what ills Buick, and not everyone will agree with his sentiments. The site could use more poetry. thir-ty eight hundred. i-RON block. nine-ty degrees. la-zy boy front seats. link Cheers to Hogans_Heroes for Best Commentary on GM’s woes in the “Body Blows” thread. link Cheers again to Hogans_Heroes for Best Thread, regarding GMX386, the next Malibu. link Honorable mention goes to Northstar for the thread he started on speculation on the next Camaro. link Jeers to the American Family Association for trying to impose their bigoted values on an American corporation, the Ford Motor Company. While this item does not directly relate to GM, the AFA in the past hounded GM for the content on DirecTV, which GM previously owned, and GM also advertises some brands, including Cadillac, in the LGBT media and could be a future target. A small Cheer for Ford for reversing direction, but this happened only after a backlash and probably an assessment of the potential loss of an affluent demographic. link Cheers to PlumCrazy for Best Concept. He took a sabbatical and came back with a vengeance. The standout was a new interpretation of the third-generation Camaro. link Honorable mention goes to American_Revolution_2005 for the heritage GTO: link Cheers to aaaantoine for Best Signature. And this also shows that GM is capable of occasionally making good stock footage. And just for fun, here’s aaaantoine’s classic 2003 toaster sig, which belongs in the Signature Hall of Fame: Jeers to C&G for not having a delete post function. In the past, there was the problem of disgruntled members going back and deleting posts wholesale, but with the common occurrences of double posts, this function is needed, at least for a short while after a post is made. (As for a previous quirk, remember when right click was disabled on the old Snitz board?) Cheers to CSpec for being the Moderator of Merit. He’s low key, no nonsense, and gets the job done. Jeers to the Worst Poster/Troll of the Year. There was a fair share of lackluster members in the past year. The worst poster was a GM fan, but that didn’t necessarily translate to a high level of intelligence or virtue. What a waste of humanity. This member shall remain nameless. Cheers to blackviper8891 for being Special. With BV baring his soul and exposing all that teenage angst—girl problems, car problems, parent problems, school problems, money woes, depression, sexual orientation issues, and being stuck in a small town hellhole—he warrants some kind of recognition. Who can’t relate somewhat to what BV is going through? And he makes us older folk feel glad that we are way past our adolescence and have not looked back. But we all support BV and hope he spends more time staying in school so that he will be able to use his talents for something worthwhile. Your troubles shall come to pass. So BV, this Buick Special is for you: And finally, Cheers to all the insiders and industry folk who continue to feed their insights and revelations to keep the board going. Special mention goes to CD/BP for his spyshots and jovial banter. And for Flybrian for trying to keep the seams from unraveling. And to Josh and Walt and the other staff and members of C&G who continue to make this forum our favorite virtual hang-out. Happy New Year everybody.

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Silkey? I don't remember Silkey.

I've mellowed with age. Back in college when I had the Integras, I was very aggressive, and revving the engines was so much fun. I hated people passing me on the freeway. Now I drive like an old man, trying to get the best mileage out of the Silverado and driving the Lexus gently so that it will last a long, long time.

The models Fiat was best known for in the U.S. were the 124, Spider, Brava, X 1/9 and Strada. The Brava was a small, somewhat sporty sedan (with a single spoke steering wheel at the 6 o'clock position), and the Strada was an econobox in the mold of a VW Rabbit. I think a diesel engine was offered as an option in the U.S. Lucy on the "Dallas" television show drove an X 1/9 for a while.

Yes, Fiat sold them for years here. After Fiat pulled out, they were sold as Bertones.

Fiat (Bertone) X1/9.

(Admin note: I was able to find the 2002 in my local copy of the old C&G database. It is appended on this post - Avant1963) Since CSpec asked for them, here's a redux of the prior years' editions of Cheers and Jeers, the customary end of year summaries of all that is good and well and bad and ugly with GM and C&G. I've deleted all the links to the threads since they're dead anyway. The premier 2002 edition of Cheers and Jeers is lost in cyberspace forever with the old forum boards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers and Jeers for 2004 Time for the third annual list of the best and worst of GM and C&G during the past year. Outside our little automotive world here, it has been a rough year, with the passing of Superman, continued mayhem in Iraq, an election between two lackluster and competence-challenged candidates, and finally a cataclysmic natural disaster of almost Biblical proportions. There’s nothing like massive death and destruction to help put things into perspective. It was also a year of Passion, the passing of the Great Communicator, and wild weather on the East Coast. On this board, the great forum changeover occurred as Snitz was ditched for Invision. Ted finally got a new (old) computer. saturnfan became the hip Satty. The slate of insiders continued to feed interesting tidbits, often cryptically. The big automotive event was GM bringing out the long-awaited C6 Corvette, but it was Chrysler that had the “it” vehicle, the 300C. And now, the highlights and lowlights of the past year: Cheers to Saturn for the Best Automotive Metaphor, the crashing of the Saturn blimp. At least it didn’t burn. The blimp has been fixed and is flying again. In July, the Saturn blimp even achieved an endurance record for a blimp in its class by staying in the air for over 24 hours. While the blimp is not engineered or manufactured by GM, can its restoration and revival portend of great things to come for the distressed automotive division? Saturn seems to have finally found a raison d’etre by becoming the American Opel. But can GM pull it off, or will Saturn ultimately be relegated to completely irrelevant brand and eventually fall by the wayside? Cheers to thegriffon for Best Scoop, the return of the Invicta nameplate as the Buick flagship on the Zeta platform. Of course, things in this business are fluid, and recent posts suggest this may not happen after all, but we can hope for the best. Jeers to GM for the Incentive Insanity by letting the rebate business get completely out of hand and coming up with weak marketing campaigns such as “Lock ‘n’ Roll”. And there are other special incentives such as customer coupons, GM Card Bonus Cash, and other hidden rebates, all while increasing prices at regular intervals. Market share is in decline, the portfolio still has too many mediocre vehicles—is there light at the end of the tunnel? GM does have a handful of shining stars—Cadillac, Corvette…um, what else? Where are those gotta have vehicles that will pay the bills? The other halo vehicles, the SSR and GTO, are sales disasters, no help by greedy dealers. The upcoming Solstice will bring in some showroom traffic, but where are the class-leading family sedans, SUVs, and pickups that will sell themselves? Can Lutz pull some trick rabbits out of the hat? Will GMT-900 make the coffers flush again? Or will the mortgage business become the most valuable part of the GM empire as the rest crumbles? More questions than answers now. Cheers to cmattson for being the Fiercest GM Fan. He purchased a Suburban two years ago and then a Malibu last year, and he continues to defend GM against unfair charges in a rational, collected manner, and without going overboard. Cheers to Nick for the Best Avatar, the dancing milk carton. Jeers to GM for Self-Inflicted Damaging Media Exposure by having the highest number of recalled automobiles of any manufacturer in a year ever. It’s easy to scream media bias, but the messenger is not at fault. The fact is that the vehicles are not as problem-free as they need to be. The sheen has to be restored on the Mark of Excellence. Cheers to PlumCrazy for Best Concept. But which to choose? All works of art, being so much more than just blue ink on paper drawings. The Gen5 Firebird gave a glimpse at what’s not to be, but it’s the recent “rough sketch” Buick Regalia that shows what should be. Cheers to CobaltCrazy for Best Signature. They may not be as over-the-top as some of the gems of the past, such as SuperSport’s Babershah: Revolutions or aaaantoine’s clever Scion/Toaster sigs, but they have exhibited unmatched graphic design. Jeers to GM for Worst Send-Off by finally pulling the plug on Oldsmobile, the oldest American automotive nameplate. Lutz arrived too late to save it. Cheers to the Moderator of Merit, Ninety_Eight_Regency. Landis brings a dignity to the board that counters some of the more youthful antics. He has been the site’s tireless chief news poster, and he had previously unselfishly shared with other members priceless GM media history from his video collection. Jeers to GM for the Most Pointless Thing in the World: media embargoes. It’s no longer the 20th Century. Cheers to FlyBrian for Most Significant Personal Development by finding a girlfriend. Yeah, it’s that irresistible “What ‘cha talking ‘bout” charm that finally brought him love. Cheers to quionM for Best Non-Automotive Post: Michael Moore's films are intended to take a critical look at parts of American society that he finds wrong. Whether you agree or not is up to you, but please - again - one needs to not judge a nation of 300 million people based on a few wierdos. Would you agree that Germans are a bunch of psychotic freaks because a man agreed to eat another man's sauteed penis or that a German couple did not know what sexual intercourse was? Wouldn't be a fair assessment, would it? Cheers to Bizz for coining the Best Non-Automotive Term: ball-funk. Jeers to the Worst Poster/Troll of the Year. Though he gets on people’s nerves, the refugee from the other board really isn’t a troll, and the board has been mostly mercifully free of trolls. Those that slip in are quickly dealt with. Nobody worth mentioning. And finally, Cheers to the members and staff of C&G who make it a community, where intelligent discourse can occur in a friendly, tolerant environment. Special mentions go to ocnblu and ehaase, whose sparkling personalities and/or concise, insightful posts greatly contribute to the forums. And also a salute to the Buick fans of the site, who have a passion and dedication that is unmatched. But there are countless others who contribute to make this the forum of choice for so many. Happy New Year everybody. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers and Jeers for 2003 The long-awaited best and worst list of 2003 for all things GM and C&G is finally here: Cheers to AH-HA for the Best Scoop: Future Camaro/Sigma Mass in “Anyone like anniversary parties?” Runner Up: Saturn Relay Unfortunately, the actual Relay does not have polymer panels nor is rodent-powered. Honorable Mentions: bostonspider's “Interesting Pic” thread on the STS chris’ “What is this?!” Cobalt thread Cheers to GM for their Best Move, remaking problem child Saturn into an American Opel. The move isn’t official yet, but it appears Saturn may finally get some much-needed direction. Runner Up: Taking care of the pension problem. Cheers to GM for their Most Promising Vehicles on the Kappa platform. Small RWD cars—who would have imagined GM would produce multiple vehicles on the only type of platform that can provide pure, unvarnished driving enjoyment. It’s about time the focus was back on cars. Cheers to Ted for the Most Memorable Concept: There’ve been scores of concepts posted, but the one that sticks out is Ted’s provocatively named Twink, though it’s probably not the concept in which most of us would want to be found behind the wheel. Cheers to SuperSport for the Best Sig, an artful fusion of design, technology, and social commentary on the human condition. Runner Up: NOSFerrari2006 Cheers to FlyBrian for being the Mod of Merit: Choosing a “Best Mod” would be like picking your favorite child. You just can’t do it, they’re all special in one way or another. Well, maybe you can, but it doesn’t seem right. At any rate, this honor of dubious value goes to Flybrian, despite the numerous extended absences, for his even keel, quick wit, patience, storytelling skills, and only occasional fits of violence. Jeers to GM for their Worst Move—Actually, GM didn’t do anything glaringly bad this past year. They almost got rid of GMAC Commercial. We’re still waiting for DOD and hybrids. Five speed automatics are still scarce, and we’re also waiting for the six-speed automatic. More ugly steering wheel designs. The tired Sunfire will be around for a few more years. Oldsmobile is continuing to wind down. There’s no DOHC V6 in the upcoming G6. These are mostly minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things. Jeers to the personal attacks within C&G and the inter-forum feuds. Also it’s too bad so many lively debates (such as on unions or politics) degenerate into snide remarks and name-calling. Let’s hope this coming year we can all reflect positively on the GM community. And perhaps some things are better said offline. (A small Cheer to TaHoE for trying to strike a conciliatory tone in the thread that could be considered the biggest threadjack ever, from initially offering an olive branch to discussions of Xbox, SimCity, Olive Garden Restaurant, to finally Scarlet Letter. Jeers to the Worst Poster/Troll of the Year: So many to choose from, but one stands out from all the rest. There’s no reason to give him any more attention, so he shall remain nameless. Jeers to you-know-who for the Worst Thread: “My new Corvette C6 line-up idea”. This is the universally detested thread with the proposed four-cylinder Corvette. Dishonorable mention: Outlander’s theft of Ascariss’ Lexus Hatchback. A couple bonus citations: Member Most Deserving of a New Computer: Ted, who’s created numerous excellent concepts and members’ signatures on his old Pentium Pro. Member Most Deserving of a New Car: IchbinJohnk. Not that he’s done anything particularly noteworthy (though he does seem to be a fine chap), but it’s hard not to feel for a guy who’s stuck with a Tempo. Happy New Year everybody. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers and Jeers for 2002 Here are what I consider the highlights and lowlights of all things GM and G&G for 2002. Cheers to GM for putting the focus on product and being serious about performance again and giving us the GTO and the V-Series Cadillacs. This is surely just the beginning of great things to come. Cheers to GM for gaining market share after decades of declines. Now if they could only wean themselves from $3000 rebates. Cheers to makfu for the best post in discussing the 1979 Cadillac Seville Opera Coupe. While unable to grasp the stunning beauty of this piece de resistance, makfu can still wax eloquently: quote: That "car" should be set on fire, the smoldering remains of which should be cut into 6x6 inch pieces, piled into garbage bags then placed in a car crusher. The cube should be buried in a landfill in Staten Island where its intrinsic evil can be safely stored for all eternity. -Mak Cheers to Flybrian for the best thread, on unions, which evolved into a spirited discussion (or virtual fisticuffs?) between Shantanu and Simmsmail. Cheers to evok, AH-HA, and thegriffon for providing all the insider information that makes us craving for more. It also goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, cheers to Walt and the moderators for their great job in maintaining the high level of intelligent discourse in the forums. Jeers to GM for entering the unholy alliance with Ford to engineer 6-speed automatic transmissions. While this move may make sense to the bottom line, there is still something disturbing about it, and it seems about as natural as infanticide or coprophagy. Jeers to Chevy for taking the ugly stick and whacking the Cavalier and Silverado. At least, perhaps, the new styling is consistant with the rear end of the Impala and the overall odiousness of the Monte Carlo. Here's hoping Lutz will do his thing here. And what's with only 200 hp out of the 3.5 liter V-6 in the Malibu? Jeers to GM for practically giving away the bread and butter mid-size sedan market, with nothing in sight that indicates a turnaround. Also, there's no sense in beating to death the topic of cheap interiors. Or the less than dignified way Oldsmobile is leaving us. Jeers to Saturn to giving the world the ION and more reasons to ridicule GM. Jeers to the worst poster on C&G, but I don't want to say who it was. Happy New Year everybody.

Saw some oddities today: smart fortwo--tiny car "Cadillac" extended cab pickup--not a bad conversion job Mitsubishi Endeavor--I don't know the last time I saw one Hyundai Elantra with green neon lights on the wheels--pimpin'

The Blazer's passenger compartment shows a lot of deformation, but the Blazer doesn't have the worst crash test ratings. A pic from IIHS:

The semi-boattail rear reminds me of the late '70's LeBaron:

One of my favorites, evoking the 240Z: This guy needed a butt-tuck:

That's what I do New Year's Eve. At 9 p.m. west coast, the ball comes down in the east coast, that's good enough for me. :AH-HA_wink: I know I have the last two years, not sure about 2002. I'll repost what I can tomorrow.

Yep, a couple more nights and it'll be posted. To build some suspense, I'll note that at least one of the guys posting in this thread will be mentioned. As for my New Year's Eve, I make an effort to be in bed before the big hour. I traditionally mark the New Year by going to a party the afternoon of New Year's Day.

"Biohazard" is not good. Bodily fluids or more inside.

Ouch. Sorry to hear. The IS300 is an expensive car to fix, and with the damaged suspension, and I'm suspecting tweaked frame, this will be a costly repair, but I'm not sure that it would be totaled. ocnblu could give a better assessment. The IS300 does not get the respect that it deserves. It's a truly competent vehicle, and I certainly love mine. GGP is a beautiful color. It would probably be better that your car does get totaled because of the loss of value after it's repaired.

Sorry about the Achieva. I don't see many of these on the road anymore. Occasionally I see a white four-door S model that looks similar to the one that I drive at work.

I got braces as a kid and then about three years ago because the bite wasn't quite right. Invisalign would not work for my type of adjustment, but if it does for yours, I would go that route, though I don't know anybody who actually had those. I spent about $5000. Insurance took care of only about $1000. As for pain, it's just the soreness after they do the periodical tightening. Flossing is a pain. I had them for 18 months, and overall it wasn't too bad.

:lol: That's the oddest Cadillac I've seen.