Flybrian

Most Civic owners move up to fullsize pickups. Congratulations. What an excellent choice...can't wait to see pictures!

Here's Florida's high-speed rail locomotive, the first state-wide advanced transportation network in the country. Yup. Doesn't exist. Thanks, Jeb.

I will also add that coupes are pretty much dead to me right now. There are none on the market that I either a) desire or b) can afford. If it were necessary to buy a coupe, I would choose a G6, but its not something I would actively pursue. I guess I bought into the ideal of the personal luxury coupe way too late in its lifetime. To me, its the ultimate expression of American excess and contempt - take an already large car, remove two doors to make it less useful, but keep it the same size, and load it up with things that normally only two people will enjoy. Don't make it sporty, don't make it handle particularly well, just make it look damn good. Unfortunately, this segement all but died a few months ago. And mock it if ye will, but the Monte Carlo was really the last car to capture that spirit. Its intangible on face value and probably absurd to some, but to drive even a late-model Monte Carlo was a noticably different ride than driving an Impala. You feel a little more special to look at the reflection and realize that entire car was just for you. You don't have rear doors because you don't need them; passengers do. Is it awkward to get two or three people in the back? Sure is. f@#k passengers. This car is yours and its made for you and one passenger, the lucky guy but mainly girl that gets to ride with you in your car. The rear seat is really just for your stuff anyway. I can see why the concept was so popular for so long. Its a very individualistic design scheme - or selfish, if you choose to say that. And it was so compelling that even Citroen and Toyota bought into it with SM and SC respectively. You think you really bought an SC400 in the early 90s because it 'handled nicely'? No. You bought it for the same reason some guy bought an Eldorado or Riviera. You wanted a huge car just for you. Coupes today are all about purpose. Sport coupe. Muscle car coupe. Compact coupe. Utility coupes, you know, with a hatch in the back...wait...hatchback? Ewwww! Personal luxury coupes had no purpose except to placate ego. And that's what made them so damn cool, even today.

Like a three year-old Avalon?

Maybe its just me, but all this talk of higher gas prices is funny when people spend thousands on HD home entertainment systems and don't even get high-def programming.

Sedans are simply where its at for my type of car. I would actually make the argument with a work/second truck, why spend 'new car' money on that? Buy a few year-old used one (or even just last year's) at a big price advantage and beat the hell out of it.

Latest News: GM, UAW close in on healthcare agreement.

No, I'd take a '97.5 Regal's dash over this. Its overdone and gaudy in a Chrysler Fifth Avenue/ExoticWoods gift certificate sort of way.

I heard Ven has been riding the S.L.U.T. for quite some time, hence his absence. He told me its not the best ride he's gotten, but that its big and slow and likes to take its time. Also, he rides the S.L.U.T. with others.

This guys is so full of $h!, a mouthpiece for whoever pays him the most. He'll believe in anything written on the memo section of the check. You all realize this is the same Jim Press who coined the phrase 'Detroit Three' and encouraged all in the media to use it instead of 'Big Three?'

God, they have the same Elantra switchplates Hyundai's been recycling since 1998.

Attractive? Substantial? Looks great?! Seriously. Am I looking at the same car everyone else is looking at? No offense to the soon-to-be-mentioned, but it looks like a bad MarioBro88 sketch.

Forget economists; just speak to pre-boomers who lived during the last 60 years and saw prices on good from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and The Phillippines rise respectively.

Yes. And quite honestly, I cannot disagree with about 3/4 of that, especially the management aspect in general. The sad truth is, this forum of pizza-faces could run any American car company arguably better than the current leadership is. We'd sure screw up the investor angle, but we'd produce some real good vehicles that people would actually purchase. What disappoints me the most at General Motors is realizing that the company produced its best and most memorable vehicles when the enthusiasts faced off with the beancounters, the lifers as you put. Earl, Arkus-Duntov, Delorean, and even Lutz all rocked the boat to the chagrin of many. Heads butted and in a few memorable instances, the car guys won - and that victory trickled down to the rest of the lineup once the executives realized the successes. Pontiac itself was for all intents and purposes saved in the mid-50s because of 'radical' thinking. Design was brought to the forefront. Pet projects became legends. A grandmother's division became true excitement and outside-of-the-box symbolism. Every other marque has a similar story to tell. Unfortunately, it seems today the beancounters win more often than not and by a wide margin. Lutz certainly shook things up, but it seems to be taking an awful long time to see the results. To rationalize my optimism, however, I will say not everyone emerged from the Great Depression at equal rates. There are success stories to be told within GM today as mentioned by Z and others, but much of the company is still stuck in this B-school brand management malaise that stifles the senses as to why it still exists. The fact is that many parts of the company 'get it'; the conjecture is whether a quiet revolution will ensure the whole organization gets it, too. I remain optimistic that something as great in history, resources, passion, and spirit as General Motors will not succumb to failure, that there are still too many car people occupying some ranking place at GM to let it happen. I hope I am right.

Its possible.Anyway, this really does have redneck written all over it.

For a group of "zit-faced tweens," someone sure finds us appealing enough to hang around and post here. My challenge to you, Enzl: What's your solution for the imminent Volt 'failure'? I look forward to hearing your response.

*****Link is now active!***** Sorry guys. Put that up in a rush before class.

No problemo for both of you. How does Monday sound? let me know.

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For the record, I've recieved word from the Astra Brand Manager that the media pictures released were inaccurate and that the '08 Astra will - as suspected - not have navigation.

Who exactly does Bloomberg think he is? Anyone, the NYPD denied it. Is that not the final word?

Definitely not the gear-shift interlock deal. Chrysler didn't start doing that in many of their vehicles until literally a few years ago.

More updates for the 20th: GM, UAW set aside VEBA discussion for now. GM contact being extended on an 'hour-by-hour' basis for duration of discussion; Ford, Chrysler extended indefintely. UAW may set formal deadline soon. More up top on the first post.

Don't put words in my mouth. I said he never set a target date within the year of 2010. You just went ahead and proved me right; late-'10 is not a specific target date - March, June, October - that's a target date. Late 2010 is a timeframe., not a specific date. And even if you consider a vague three month window a 'target date,' then Lutz still never changed from his original target - late 2010. You're the one parsing words, taking an informal e-mail exchange and extrapolating all these fictitious 'delays' and meanings from it. Right now, all you're doing is the exact same thing everyone accuses 'fanboys' of doing but from the opposite tack - lots of speculation and conjecture with little or no direct evidence to back it up. When GM pushes the Volt production unit intro to 2011, then you'll be right. Until then, no. People love to rag on 'fanboys' for blindly believing everything GM says (and its clear we don't), but at least we have some hopes here. Some have gone beyond cautious optimism to malicious pessimism for what gain exactly? What if you're right, GM fails, the Volt is vaporware, and the Prius sweeps across America like the herpes infection it is? What's the benefit of all this negative banter? I swear its like arguing out a third-story window at some kid move out of the street else he'll get hit, watching him get plowed over by a bus, then feeling validated because you were right.

That is ghastly and embarassing, just like the Yaris.