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I remember when I first came to LA in hte 80's, I drove down Sunset from Beverly Hills to the ocean, and in front of a big place in Bel-Air was parked one of these, in a dark blue. It was gorgeous

I read an article in the LA Times about it. Detroit really pulled out the stops. Good for them: it's time the rest of the country realises that there are cities in the midwest besides Chicago that have something going on...

I don't know you well, but reading your posts, I think that Serge Lutens Daim Blond would fit you. It's a combination of fig and suede. Very sexy.

Could you add another level to the poll, as in "can't live without it"? I love finding new authors, and I have books that I revisit every few years like old friends. I have art and architecture (and car) books that I reference every few weeks just for the joy of it. I read cook books like novels. I've taken to putting books on CD on my iPod, since I have a commute to work that otherwise would be taken up by the natterings of people into their cell phones. Currently I am listening to David Rackoff's "Fraud".

Maybe some of you guys don't wear any, but I do. I don't wear enough that you can smell me coming a mile away (you have to get pretty close), but I've gotten many compliments: all from female co-workers. When I was young, my favorite was Christian Dior's Eau Sauvage. I usually like light, citrus scents like Annick Goutal's Eau de Hadrien or Eau du Sud, which are primarily lemon and grapefruit. I switch in cooler weather to Index's Cucumber Baie and Pomegranite Anise. Lately, I've been wearing Serge Lutens' Borneo 1834, which is patchouli and cocoa, and his Chene, which is cedar, oak and thyme. If you like wearing cologne, I suggest you seek out the Index line by Fresh. They aren't too expensive, are available pretty much everywhere and last very well. (No, I don't work for them) The other ones I like are great, but are more expensive and harder to find. And for you boys who think cologne is too gay, I've had girls in elevators practially attach thenselves to me like limpets asking me about my Eau de Sud.... What do you guys like?

I think that's a Boston thing. I grew up in western Mass and we called "Soda" We also didn't have nearly as pronounced an accent. However, people here in SoCal tell me that sometimes I sound just like Katharine Hepburn

I'm asking because I just saw a Nissan commercial for the Murano touting it as the "first smooth SUV" with a CVT tranny. So did the CVT never make it into the VUE? Or is the VUE considered a "rough" SUV?

I disagree- I think it's nothing but awkward character lines and wierd plastic gills. And I've driven an SL500 and an XLR on the same day, and although the SL has more interior room, the electric brakes are just wierd feeling, and the steering seemed half a tick off at speed and over-boosted at low speed: the polar opposite of the 450SL I used to drive that felt a bit ponderous at low speed, but perfectly flickable at any speed over 35.

Mercedes won't let you put the top down on it's cars without this in place as well.

well, except for the Honda I am driving now, I've never only owned anything but a convertible and this wouldn't bother me that much. I never leave the car with the top down parked unless I am standing next to (like filling the gas tank) it. I hardly ever buy enough groceries to have to stick them in the trunk, and it seems that even if I could get to the trunk with the top stowed, I'd be able to get a loaf of Wonder Bread in there, tops. I'm not saying this might be a big issue for some people who would be using this as their only car, but it wouldn't be one for me- certainly not at that price point, and with the advantages of the combo of retractable hardtop, a decent sized backseat, and that price-point.

Hollywoods agenda is to make money. Period.

The Golden Globes aren't "Hollywood", that's the Oscars. This is the Hollywood <b>Foreign</b> Press It's managed to keep in the top 10 at the box office after 6 weeks out and in only 683 theaters, with a take of over 7 million this past weekend for a total a little over 32 million. For a movie whose 14 million dollar production budget was completely covered by it's foreign distribution rights. Just for comparison, King Kong's domestic grosses so far haven't covered it's production budget. much less it's marketing. So you can't really call it a "bomb"

After years of wanting one, I finally got one on eBay. I happily plugged it in as my bedside phone. Then the LA Times called me at 8am on a Saturday to see if I wanted to subscribe. After peeling my fingernails off the cieling, I retired the phone. The ringer could wake the dead.

Nope. Working. :(

Info on the Pantry It's Fig at 9th. I would park at the auto show (It's 7 bucks and the surface lots cost a lot more) and walk up there. I'd join you, but I am at work. I went Sunday. I have decided that I need to buy a Saturn Sky. It's gorgeous, and the perfect solution to the midlife crisis I will manufacture to justify it.

If you are looking for someplace to eat, there's the Pantry on Figueroa just at Olympic.

It's cold and pi$$ing rain here in LA and I live near about four sobriety checkpoints, and clubs here that I normally wouldn't want to go near seem to think that because it's new years they can charge $50 to get in the door. So I have a bottle of Veuve Clicquot that I got for X-mas and I will stay in and have a glass and watch "Body Double" on DVD. Nope, I'm not bitter :)

The 230 SL is gorgeous- and a perfect example of Balthazzar's point Look at some the equipment that was either standard or available on a '65 Cadillac: Power Steering and brakes Hydra-Matic Cruise control Comfort Control HVAC (updated to modern coolant) Power Seats, door locks, windows and vents Auto levelling Twilight Sentinel Tilt & telescoping wheel Inside remote mirrors about thirty-seven cigarette lighter that most people would want to use as power ports about 8oo lbs of chrome-plated trim, and thirty different colors of different cloths and leather upholstery. None of this was even available on a 230 SL

I think they are trying to get away from that image and demographics. Although, they might want to get something newer than the '70's

People here in LA are starting to buy them because the state decided that you can use the carpool lane in them while driving alone. Which, of course, defies all logic, since the damned thing gets better mileage in stop-and-go driving than it does at a steady 55. That's pretty much the way it is in LA. There's no other way to put this, but I the only white person on my bus on the way home (there's a couple on the way in in the AM)and practically the only person on it west of Fairfax. Most people seem to look at public transportation here as somthing that other people should take (other meaning poor), so that they will be able to navigate Wilshire alone in their SUV. As a matter of fact, they may actually make the subway finally go to the beach, so those pesky busses won't be bugging people trying to get to Brentwood from the Miracle Mile.

I always liked the Citroen single spoke wheel myself....

Not to be pi$$y, but Biscayne is not Cali- it's Florida all the way. And I think it's a great name for Chevy to bring back.....

There's sooooo much I could do with that, but it the interest of keeping gorges down, I won't. Croc, I don't know how well Peugeot went down in LA, I grew up in Massachusetts. I did notice that my parents were one of the few who drove American cars, much agrainst the grain in our college town. I also noticed that our friends foreign cars took a lot more servicing than our cars, but, as I remember, our dealerships were more ripoff artists. As a matter of fact, my mom affixed a sign "serviced by Labbee Chevrolet" after a bad muffler service and drove all around town until it was corrected. I have to say that the 504 was great to drive. I learned how to handle a car in that 504 in the same way I learned to handle gobs of tourque and sloppy steering in my mom's 98. The 504 seemed like a revelation at the time, like going from boots to running shoes. But having said that, one year coming back from the shore, my friend followed me back home in our new 77 Olds. Apperently, there was a transmission switch (from an earlier, less robust unit) to a new one and the speedometer wasn't recalibrated. I thought I was doing 60 (I was 18 at the time) but I was told later by my friend I was doing about 80.

Oddly enough, I saw one in action just this evening on the Hollywood freeway. Not only are the brake lights tiny and not very bright, but they are totally eclipsed by the giganto turn signals that are bright enough to see from space. It's nice to know that you're planning a lane change, but I think it's slightly more important to know that you're stopping. My mom's '70 Ninety-Eight had a feature that could be construed as a design flaw until you were used to it- the horn. It wasn't on the center of the wheel, it was a pressure strip on the inside rim of the wheel. I think the idea was A} that you don't take your hands off the wheel to use the horn, and B} that it's more natural to grip the wheel tighter in an emergency than to go for the hub. But every time my mom took it in for any service, the mechanics would forget about the horn and set it off by using the inside rim to turn the wheel (ahh, the days of massively over-boosted power steering!). But it was better than her friend's Peugeot 504. The horn was on the turn signal stalk on the right hand side. Yes, the right hand side. If I remember correctly, you pushed it away from you. How contrary, how French.

Filthy minds think alike.....