tama z71

Looks like a pile of garbage. No offense intended towards piles of garbage, naturally.

That depends on whether or not you found it to be enjoyable or more criticism and complaining.

Lighten Up Guys November 8, 2007 Let’s say you’re an upstart car company. You’ve got all the financial, production and distribution portions of your business taken care of. You decide to make a splash in a market that seems to sell a thousand variations of what is essentially the same product. How do you stand out? You stand for fun. You put on a successful and overwhelming media blitz that says, “Hey, drive our cars, because you’ll enjoy it.” And how do you deliver on the promise of fun? Give your car a three speed automatic transmission, source a Briggs & Stratton for your powerplant, and, citing safety and structural concerns, have your project tip the scales at a healthy seventeen thousand pounds. Sound like fun? A car like that would fail to give me a reason to drive it again, as it could seemingly never give me a reason to want to drive it again. Given the example of my fictional car company, its very much like an auto magazine that draws one in with the promise of pretty photos and expensive graphics, and delivers a derisive report on why the car in question is complete garbage. More and more, those in the automotive press fail to give me a reason to want to read what they are writing. Maybe it’s a product of the self-hating culture of cynicism and criticism that’s pervading many aspects of the collective American mentality. Maybe we in America just like to bitch. But, think about the last time you read an automotive article and skimmed the writing for negative points about the car, rather than for points of congratulations. It might just be me, but I don’t look forward to reading auto reviews like I used to. Sure, there will always be those sterile articles whose place is to inform, not entertain. We need those articles, if only for clarity’s sake. But the subjectivity of many auto publications today has taken the form of searing criticism and hyperbolic accusations of incompetence. Continuing with that theme, much of the writing these days just isn’t where it should be. Comparisons are no longer a test of eptitude and engineering supremacy, so much as they are a tiptoe race to see who screwed up in ways least offensive to the panel. So much is exemplified in the ever-growing tendency to decry a car’s minor faults than to celebrate its major successes. Too often, the writing becomes another intolerable product of the fad of the day. Without taking the time to cite a proper example, I’ll grab the HUMMER H2 out of the air to help prove my point. In today’s green culture, plus-sized vehicles are the targets of choice for those writers who wish to grab their armchair fame on the caboose of the enviro-train. THOMAS FRIEDMAN. While they fabulously decry the H2 and vehicles like it for our energy and environmental problems, the reality remains that such specific vehicles have a negligible impact on the overall problem. For those of you thinking, “Hey, this kid’s talking about the negative car articles, and talking about them in piss and moan fashion. I’m not enjoying his article, either,” enjoy this. Error: problem loading img “girl pressing boobs on soapy car window”.html For those still reading, my point is further exemplified through some newly established publications finding their readership through the internet. A standout example is Peter DeLorenzo and AutoExtremist.com. Don't get me wrong, Mr. DeLorenzo speaks a loud voice of proud protest to an industry and its media that quite often border on complete absurdity. That alone lends him a great deal of credibility that many in the industry simply don't have. But, that voice is almost always grandiose, ever-chastising, and immovable in its assertions. It becomes tough to read through the exercises in extended punctuation, even if you agree with what is ultimately being said (as I often do). A more local example? Forums, like Cheers & Gears, or GMinsidenews.com. Look around. These forums have a habit of becoming inundated with angrier and more derisive posts. We celebrate problem threads on Toyota forums and chastise those people when they penetrate our websites. Hell, we don't even read whole articles when they are presented to us anymore. Moderators conveniently boldface the points of the article we are most likely to want to read. A helpful practice, but one that contradicts the point of writing the article in the first place. The best example of written negativity comes from the website TheTruthAboutCars.com. Its a wesbite that seems to put forth a great deal of effort to be as scrutinizing as any publication out there. Many of the articles make a point of driving a cars shortcomings into the readers eyes with dense hyperbole, and acknowledging a cars successes with almost reticent spite. They've long run a column infamously entitled "GM Death Watch," a column that now reaches to all of Detroit. Check their website at the time of this post, and they've got four topics relating to their "Top Ten Worst Cars List," a subjective, unquantifiable piece of $h! that dances on the edges of the unreadable. All of which brings me back to my original point. I want to read about cars, and I want to enjoy doing so. But, in today's happily proliferating culture of negativity and cynicism, it feels like the whole purpose in writing and reading about cars is sorely being missed. That's how I feel. Shame that I had to bitch and moan just to say so.

As great as the possibility exists that this is only paper accounting and has no major effects in GM's wallet, the perception of 39 BILLION DOLLAR LOSS is just too juicy for the media not to spin and too attention grabbing for people to look into fully.

To quote Toyota's design team: "Aw, f@#k it!"

I expected better from Honda. A total mishmash of cliched styling cues slapped together, and the sedan looks like a new Sebring from the A-pillar back. Not very impressive

The proportions are too unconventional, the character line was taken straight off an Elantra, and the interior doesnt stand out in any way that separates it from other new interiors. Its just, goofy. I dont like it.

God, I have to post again. There is not one redeeming quality that I can gather from these photos. Toyota must not like being number 1 very much, they look like theyre trying to climb back down with this piece of $h!.

Thats bad, I dont like that. Its especially bad when it looks older than the outgoing model. Sheesh

GM fandom be damned, that is one hell of an attractive car. Pontiac needs to step up.

How long will this thread be open? I've got plenty to say about GM advertising.

probably the new 355 trucks. those things need the update. hopefully a new el cam too! hahahaaa!!!

porn hustler. someone get this clown outta here.

oh yay a political thread. thanks f@#kers. your opinions on politics =

haha thats the big stigma with the sport. ive been skatin, snowboarding mountainboarding and wakeboarding since i was 11, and the mountainboard is by far the easiest of the four. also, the one that has hurt me the least of the four.