SAmadei

My dog goes from one backyard, which half is completely fenced for his use at about 225000 sq ft to 750 sq ft at the other house. I'd feel worse if he was still young, as the smaller yard is really to small for him to even get a full run going. But he's 12 now, and don't feel much like running it seems. Prefers a fast walk. You know there are guys who will show up for poo patrol, too. ;-)

Wow... real groundhogs, huh? Supposedly they are in south Jersey, but I have never seen groundhogs here. Maybe they aren't thrilled by the sandy soil. I've seen black bear here, but not groundhogs.

I think it tends to be big dog = big territory marking, as it all comes back to territory with many animals. The Golden tends to do all his business in the far corners of his yard, where its fine. There is so much yard you actually have to HUNT to find it. OTOH, when he visits the other house, he fills that backyard up in 3 days. Ugh.

Yeah, that's the way Golden Retrievers are. Lousy guard dog, loves everyone. But he is 95 pounds of big dog, has a big dog bark and scares the absolute stuffing out of some stupid people. I like the Malamutes and the Huskies, but since I've had German Shepherds before, I should stick to them, as they are hands down a better guard dogs. I was also considering some Rottweilers. I know GSDs can be diggers. I had enough digging with the Golden when he was younger. I swear he it half-bulldozer. I've watched him tear a 3 foot hole in gravel that was packed like concrete in a matter of seconds. When he digs in sand or duff, its like a cartoon... he can disappear in seconds, jettisoning material 30 feet. I'd consider pit bulls, but it seems like many of them at the shelters are mutts (nothing wrong with mutts) and kinda undersized. I like a big dog... in a dark color.

I never forget than my dogs or cats are predators. Even the most friendly dog or cat will not pause to sneak a snack. I suspected my Golden Retriever was poaching the wildlife, and it took me nearly ten years to prove it. And cats... LOL, I always laugh to see a little 7 pound female dragging a much larger rabbit around. Hey, Camino, what breed is Arkus? Are your dogs diggers? I'm trying to figure out a good guard dog that isn't going to dig its way out of the yard.

I understand there is a big difference. But I know that SOME Mexican-only car/trucks can be sold to people in the US... such as the aforementioned '99-'01 Ramcharger. My next leap of logic here is that someone has successfully brought a Spark here secondhand. As for my comment about "falling apart" Mexican cars... for my "Great Mexican Vacation" I walked to Cuidad Jaurez and (quickly) back to El Paso. The condition of 75% the Mexican-plated cars waiting to come into this country was abysmal. One Cavalier convertible had a convertible top made out of tarp and aluminum poles. It had no outer front fenders. Most cars had massive damage, smashed suspension, no exhaust. And the line barely moved... it was 100+, the cars were over packed with passengers with A/C... and the peddlers on the bridge were selling Cinnamon sticks, velvet Elvis's and Viagra. It was like hell on earth.

As has been noted, I watch the license plate numbers, so I have a good idea of whats being newly plated in my neck of the woods. Now that C4C is a fading memory, I'm noticing a lot more "second tier" or "third tier" used cars being plated. Stuff that looks like it was languishing under a tree for a minor fault that has been pressed back into service. I'm seeing a lot of GM FWD A-bodies returning to service and more Ford Tempo/Topazes... stuff that tended to hold together better from the '82-'94 timeframe... sorry not a lot of Chrysler, or J-bodies. I'm also finding that a lot of '96-'01 stuff being sold have nasty mechanical problems... high mileage... and since I'm trying to find a tranny close to my home for my '99 Bonne, it seems like the parts pool for these cars is drying up somewhat earlier than expected. Prices for '96-'01 parts are higher than newer components. I can get a '07 4T65E for 1/3 the price of a '98 4T65E. Unfortunately, the '07 isn't compatible. Has anyone else been noticing these trends? I'm wondering if this is a ripple from C4C, high steel prices, the recession, high gas prices, or a combo of these reasons bringing together a perfect storm for these older cars to return to service. Makes me wonder how bad the situation will become.

Ah, OK. Being in NJ, I've NEVER seen a Mexican plate and I've seen pretty much every other... Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, NWT, etc. We definitely have our share of Mexican people. Of course, after seeing those Mexican registered cars at the border, I imagine a lot of them couldn't venture very far into the US without being plastered with equipment violations... or would just fall apart. I had thought there was some sort of restriction on ownership of Mexican origin cars... so that certain Mexican-only vehicles (like the '99-'01 Ramcharger) were problematic bringing into this country, except in areas fairly close to the border. Some of the AMC guys wanted to bring in Mexican-specific VAM automobiles in, and were thwarted. But I forget the exact reason.

Hmmm...prototype w/ plates from somewhere else? Is the Spark onsale yet in Canada? Or maybe it was a Mexican Spark, I think they are onsale there now... I thought Mexican origin vehicles were not allowed more than 50 miles into the US.

I know of two serious accidents (One I was passenger in), in which both cars had thousands of dollar in damages (In one case, the other car was sitting on its side)... and the cops did not bother to show up to 911. Some of the towns in South Jersey are no longer dispatching police to "minor" incidents. You have to fill out the report online. Calling the police might work in my town, which is fairly small and well funded... but the road rage and idiots aren't (for the most part) here. They are in the towns that have better things to do. Well, the problem with using the non-emergency number is that I'd need a rolodex in my car for every town I cross into. As for accidents, I only want to see one distinction... an accident with a police report (and preferably a summons to go with it) so I can get restitution. 1) Get the F outta town. Its a brand new car. Had it a few months... Jeez, if he drove it off the lot, you'd say it wasn't brand new since he'd had it for a few seconds now. 2) What do you think the roadway has on it? Do you think he carefully swept all the debris off the road before lighting them up? Some roadway is so weak that a burnout tears the road apart. Whats the road made out of? Sand, asphalt and rocks. 3) He didn't know that until later. 4) So now our pinhead decides he's not getting enough smoke, so he sprays lighting fluid/gasoline/whatever in a big puddle and does a second burnout with rubber bits, lit and unlit fuel spraying on your car? Your cars on fire now as he drive off anonymously. Perhaps you should. Where I live, the birds don't $h! on your car... they drop clams on your car... and the street, and your roof. Solution: garage. Bugs? Well, I never hit a bug big enough to actually cause permanent damage... even driving through Florida. Though I wouldn't mind some wholesale eradication of birds for other reasons. No... you don't follow the asphalt truck so closely. Duh. But in Ocnblu's case, following distance wasn't

I'm still wondering what your Milquetoast reaction is when someone sprays rubber gunk, sand and rocks on your brand new car... then drives off. You call 911? Wait 2 hours for the cops to show up (if they do) and write a report. Now what? Feel better the next weekend while you buff off another mill of paint off your car? Granted, this is partly why I feel like anyone who drives a nice car in public is borderline nuts... most any vandalism or collisions are forever anonymous unless you witness it. The only people who don't get bent over this damage are people who consider their car a throwaway appliance. Typical CompuServe user. When you were 8 years old, the Internet was the Internet and CompuServe was an overgrown BBS that might have had email connectivity to the Internet.

Wait, are you saying that the motorcyclist spraying burnout on his hood would be considered a traffic accident? Or him kicking the door? I'd be happy to hold my temper if I can call 911 with his license plate number and actually have the police take it seriously. I doubt that would happen.

You see more Vegas because it is considered by many to be a more attractive automobile. It appears to be a 5/8 scale Camaro with styling cues that are in common with the '60s and muscle cars. The Monza ends up being a styling oddball that was too modern for the '70s but too old for the '80s. Attractive in ways, but everyone of the 2nd gen H-bodies had something stylistically disruptive about them. Plus the Vega sold in greater numbers, the Chevette stole a lot of sales from the H-bodies after 1976. Personally, I think its a shame... there are a lot of styling packages for the 2nd gen H-bodies, FWD X-bodies, early J-bodies that should be preserved for history, but will likely be lost, as year to year differences where plentiful. Granted, they are mostly all appearance packages.

You did better than I. I probably would be shoving his mangled body into the trunk after he kicked the door. I wish police would accept video evidence of BS like this... I'd have a high resolution video cameras running 360 degrees. Otherwise, I think I want one of those freight train horns. Or a PA system. I haven't been able to find out the legality of PA systems on cars, though. During the typical 4th of July holiday traffic, Rt. 30 into AC was nastily backed up. Some Ford SUV decides he wants to change lanes into me... blinks the turn signal a split second and starts running me into the median, as I was mostly alongside of the SUV. I stand my ground and get past him, so now he's behind me, expressing his dissatisfaction by tailgating. Stop and go traffic, a couple of stops and he gets REAL close to rear ending me... I was REAL close to putting the car in park and having a little roadside discussion. I can see his GF/Wife/Mother giving him a bunch of grief in the front seat... I had to laugh... and he decides to get in the other lane (a bad move) and he quickly fades into the background. Just one small story in the unending debacle of driving around the shore during the holiday.

And hence my prediction that the great multispeed tranny race will end up at a Spinal Tap-like 11... a detrimental number that shows that the car companies like to push a good thing to a bad degree.

You could probably fit in the 500C with the top down, the driver's seat removed and sitting in the backseat... LOL, probably. Don't make me get my tools out. Seriously, the 500 has a leg up simply because its not a shrunken sedan. Coupe makes a big difference in comfort, and I think the seats go back a extra notch or two.

No, no... please explain. I must emphasize that I respect your opinion on this subject. Part of the reason many of us are completely annoyed with GM is because of a complete lack of transparency. I can't imagine how ANYONE can invest in an IPO for a company who can't document where its money goes to when it develops and brings to market a car. GM likes to quote crazy stuff... "It would cost $11 billion to put/remove those hood scoops/dual exhaust"... and later we learned GM wasn't capable of basic accounting, let alone forecasting. GM hid behind the whole "legacy costs keep us from making a profit" thing for years... the legacy costs are gone... GM should be one of the most profitable car companies in the world right now. Without understanding the why, we are left with innuendo and rumor. Is it the UAW that is squashing this project? Is Obama playing with GM like they were a bunch of Hot Wheels? I've taken my fair share of Marketing, Business, Operations and Management courses. I want to digest your answer, like Dwight's engineering... something that chews on your brain hours after you read it. Its not given the chance to change minds if it stays locked up in your head.

My opinion of the 500 is reserved until I sit in one. If Clarkson can fit, I think I may be able to stomach it.

Maybe it will get more grassroots support for Ford and GM to import some real cars. NASCAR might be more popular than ever, but a lot of people lost heart in the cars when the cars become unrecognizably non-stock in the late '80s. Note: I know that early '80s NASCAR cars shared little with their stock counterparts... but at least the basics were there... door configuration, drivetrain configuration, engine type, different body appearances.

Surprisingly, the Corolla is one of the lesser compact evils, as it does still have head room... barely... and hence I can actually just barely drive my GF's Corolla. But I usually try to drive my car, if I can. My review of her older Corolla would be almost dead on to your review. Its an OK everyday car... with nothing special about it... and to get the most out of it in aggressive traffic, you have to drive like you hate it. It makes a decent city car... but now she has parking, so that factor is not as important. She bought it over, say, the Mini due to its rear seat. Unfortunately, nobody ever uses the tiny rear seat, as even the tiny garbage can gets crushed behind us when we put the front seats back. But you last statement is something that baffles me... why with better engineering, technology and experience do larger cars have smaller interiors than their predecessors? It doesn't make sense. I've never driven a Prizm... but I drove the Corolla-based Nova. They were way better than the current Corollas for internal space. Unfortunately, the current Corolla kinda takes most of the other catagories over the ~'88 Novas. Speaking of compacts... IMHO, the best one wasn't mentioned... Mini Cooper. Still the best after almost 10 years.

With the exception of the Forte coupe, I actually like GEM's LSV offerings better than most of these. One calls the Forte outdated... maybe, I prefer to call it non-Future-Shock.

Not too far off my beaten path. Too pricy, though, especially for a little dealer like that... probably all show and questionable go. Funny, since seeing the CC, I've seen about 20 '91-'96 wagons. The holiday is really causing them to come out of the woodwork this week. Even the white Roadmaster doing pizza duty turned back up. Maybe in PA. In NJ (before we did away with mechanical inspection), we really only had to worry about exterior rust holes. And covering them with duct tape was sufficient to get through inspection. Its a good idea to have unhole-y inner front fenders, anyway... but at least they are easier to replace than other holey parts.

LOL, charged with being a stowaway. I'd love to see the legalese on the statute.

The cars will eventually find their way into civilian hands, so GM legal must already be prepared for that. Please describe in horrid detail this "retail-related channels". Sure, new brochures need to be printed up... but in the Caprice's case, since it lives in many lands under different names, already probably has brochures and owner's manuals printed in 20 languages. The Caprice has 90% in common with the G8, so GM dealers already know how to fix it. Other than that, it would be sold at existing Chevy dealers. What other work is included in this "retail-related channels"? Its not like GM advertises many of their cars worth a $h!. Does GM feel they need to set up buyer committees to figure out ways to waste money on ways to try to sell the car to people who would never want it in the first place? GM should just let it happen, grassroots-style... like the steam the G8 was building. For crying out loud, the damn thing has people trying to bend the rules to buy it. NO OTHER NORTH AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE COMPANY has people so hell bent to get either a Commodore, Statesman or Ute. NOBODY! Some things, if done right, have a magical mystique... like the IPod/IPhone/IPad dynasty. The Aussie Zetas really are that magical. GET A EFFING CLUE GM.

Anyone remember "The Final Countdown"? That would make for an interesting remake.