Flybrian

I'd...pay off my car first.

Actually, the P-body was used a multitude of times for the Fiero, rebadged Isuzus (Spectrum/Storm), the EV1, and Malibu/Cutlass (P90). And, dude, you bash Buick so much, just as bad or worse than people bash Pontiac. So, yes, you get what you give.

Screw the van, I want the Cessna.

Most larger trucks have dual fuel tanks. It makes sense for the H1 as its still more military than civilian.

I said it then and I'll say it now... Looks like what the next Alero would've been.

+1

Seriously, the SLR looks like shit.

Anyone else listen to this, perhaps out in Cali?

Dude, if Pearl was terrorism, then so was the Battle of Taranto, the Doolittle Raid, and high-altitude carpet bombing in Vietnam. Just because there was no impending warning of the actual battle doesn't make it terrorism. There was a formal declaration of war and not only that but years and years of growing antagonism between us and the Japanese.

2001 Olds O4. Here's the sad story of it from The Encyclopedia of Oldsmobile.

With the radio head unit, they could've either spaced the interfaces out more or trimmed some of the dead 'fat' around it so you see less plastic and more silver/wood. Agreed that the wood cancels out the dull effect. As far as the S40, blech. Looks like someone melted a DirecTV remote into the console.

So, that's why there are so many lil' Blus running around... Manwhore.

Not really. Perhaps its that Mazda spent so much time on the 'details' (that I still can't recognize) that it ended up looking like a refresh instead of a redesign, making the Miata as a whole look dated. "Can't see the forest but for the trees" comes to mind. This says nothing about driving dynamics, etc, but based soley on looks, Mazda took the prom queen while Pontiac brought the even-hotter chick.

The downright best Buick television ad I recollect (and probably my all-time favorite of any I've seen) was the 90-second debut ad for its 'Isn't It Time For a Real Car?' campaign. For those who do not remember, it began in an urban cityscape with light, jazzy music. It showed a Jeep driving around with the voiceover, "Is that a car? That ain't no car." then a minivan "Is that a car? Not a real car." followed by beautiful shots of the Riviera, Park Avenue, et al driving through the city with the voiceover "Now that's a car...an easy-ridin', smooth-glidin', THAT kind of car." Some may have thought it was lame or nonsensical, but I thought it showed what Buick was always about - cool, sedate sophistication. No aires of pretentiousness like choice Lexus ads, no hard sells screaming discounts and 0% financing like GM ads now, no mention of 5-star safety ratings or how so-and-so is better than so-and-so according to some magazine, no stupid tree and creek like Infiniti's debut spot. Just the cars. Plain and simple. And you can say what you want about the Buicks of the mid-90s to a few years ago. You can deride the fake wood, the then-gauche chrome grilles, and bench seats, but you can't dispute those cars were all unmistakably Buick. Even in those years of Zarella and brand fragmentation, there was no mistaking that 4-sedan-1-coupe lineup as Buick. Contrast that to the inane and cartoonish Tiger Woods ads and the existing Buick line of one sedan and three whatevers. Buick doesn't need to follow Lexus or be Lexus or even care about Lexus; Buick has volumes more history than Lexus will ever have. It just needs to realize it. And, God, as a Buick fan, I hope it realizes it soon.

Saw three EV1s. Even sat in one and 'drove' it when I was 15.* (*Okay, it was on a trip to Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center and I was chosen to sit in and rev the car up to demonstrate the lack of traditional shifting)

An example P.C. gone made is when a bunch of disabled people publically chided Jerry Lewis for using the term 'crippled.' A man who dedicated his life to the treatment of muscular dystrophy gets bitched at for using an accurate term. Get over yourselves, people. I think people get more bent out of shape than necessary over words not realizing that words themselves can't hurt, but the meaning behind them does. They use political correctness to shield them from the truth of their circumstances - 'differently abled' instead of crippled or disabled; 'mentally challenged' instead of retarded. These are words that are perfectly acceptable in everyday speech but somehow their use to describe someone's condition is unacceptable? Its doesn't change who they are or how certain people will view them and adds a masking aire of disingenuousness to the situation. I must take this moment for a personal rant against hyphen-Americans. I do feel the terms are incorrect and inaccurate. I give you this example: Who is more 'African-American' of the following? 1) A black man born, raised, and living in the USA. 2) An Egyptian man born in Egypt, but raised in the USA. 3) A white man born, raised, and lived most of his life in South Africa but is now residing in the USA. The problem I have with the term African-American is that if the qualifier for its usage is still 'being black', then why use the term at all? I would also argue it ignores the fact that the culture of an American black man and that of an African black man are quite different. No offense meant, of course; just my POV.

The Viper is a track beast made street-legal and given the ability to reasonably drive itself to and from the track. Corvette is the true American lifestyle sports car - you can take it to the track, but also the office, a night out, and even grocery shopping.

The Miata's headlamps (along with most of the car) look the same as they did 2, 5, and 10 years ago...

The entire Northstar line of engines - including the 4.0l Aurora and 3.5l ShortStar - are all aluminum... They're very powerful, very smooth, have a decade of reliability to lean on, and gets great real-world fuel economy and now does it with 87 octane. GM knows what they're doing with aluminum-block V8s.

Altima's not really a 'premium' midsize car if you ask me. Maxima, yes, but not a car you can order with a 4-cyl and cloth seats.

Agreed. The fact that its a 6 year-old design selling like mad crazy against competitors that have all been redeigned (and even refreshed) during its life is proof of something, perhaps that its just a damn good truck with an adequate interior. Note that interior of all GM trucks/SUVs are prefectly fine for trucks and SUVs. However, today's market dictates that trucks and utilities supplant actual cars, so the interior really ranges from merely adequate (Chevy) to trailing (Escalade) for their segements respectively.

Blatent post whoring anywhere will result in the freezing of post counts from your membership, perhaps even a reset to '0'. Additional blatent post whoring beyond that will result in other disciplinary action. Seriously, the above shouldn't even need to be pointed out on this forum. You guys are way beyond that level.

Exactly, Z. I for one would gladly pay more to get more. Unfortunately, everyone wants to just get on the Flying Greyhound and jet away to Chicago, er, I mean Midway International. Southwest certainly succeeded and you always hear about their story and that of JetBlue. However, ignored are the severe decline in quality of service offered by the major US carriers as well as well as the half dozen budget fare airlines operating out of PIE (St.Pete/Clwtr Intl.) that went bankrupt, eliminated service, or simply up and left in the past year and a half, including ATA, Southeast, and JetsGo. Add the last two to the growing list of low-cost failures like People Express, Air Florida, ValuJet, and Kiwi, all of which shuttered due to financial problems or forced to close down by the FAA due to maintenance issues. I still think most plane riders (loathe to call them 'travellers' anymore) expect too much for what they pay. I've been aboard numerous flights on budget carries and business class on the old guards and have almost laughed in the faces of people bitching about a 15 min delay or lack of fresh food even though they're paying perhaps $120 for a 1,500-mile flight. Like ordering a $.99 hamburger and being surprised it tastes like crap

It irritates you, fine. You've made your point. No. You're the only one that cares about the ranking system as such. I remember you complaining about this and other mostly irrelevant things on the old board, too. And if you're going to take offense to what I just said, then let me borrow a page from your old book and say, "Its my opinion and if you don't like it, deal with it." You're not the only member on this forum. I really don't feel like messing around with code I'm not familiar with. I have better things to do like not accidently screwing up the forum. Therefore, I'll leave that for Josh to decide and the rest of us as well. You can continue to bitch if you want; that's your perogative. Just realize that if you call people 'stupid' as you did a few posts ago, its a simple lack of respect.

I thought you came here to talk to others about things in the Lounge, not compare ranks and complain about them. Note that you're the only one getting worked up about it. Doesn't that indicate something?