Robert Hall

The Fiesta ST is supposed to drive quite nicely from what I've read.. this trim looks decent..though regular Fiestas seem to be the usual subcompact gray plastic despair hell inside. I really don't like small cars, but this looks like it could be fun..manual, zippy.

The problem in the US is subcompacts tend to be cheap, nasty and vile inside--gray plastic, and noisy, slow and unpleasant to drive. A larger used car at the same price is always a better buy, IMO. The only ones I can think of on the market that have nice interiors and might be pleasant to drive are the Mini and Fiat 500, but they have a lot of other quality/reliability issues.

They are quite sweet and loving with their humans, but wary of strangers. Yorkies have Napoleon syndrome, I think. As far as take your pet to work, I've never done that...though at a couple small consulting firms I was at people did that...I just wouldn't feel comfortable bringing my 6 to 10 pound dogs in an office w/ big dogs. Wouldn't want to have them sit in a crate all day. Though w/ Yorkies I'd probably be getting attention from the ladies all day probably...

The most recent US-market Yaris was a rebadged Mazda 2, probably drove better than previous Yarii.

Yeah, like the big Mercedes..when she drove the Zs in the 80s, she loved Mercedes S-classes, so bought one years later when it was cheap...but it was a money pit. A great car to drive when running, but a money pit. There are quite a few '70s-90s cars I'd love to own, but I can appreciate them from a distance...

Got a little rust around the rear quarters..the decklid and driver's front fender don't fit that well..it got hit sometime in the past, the rear bumper is lumpy. Per the carfax, the car spent time in Akron and Miami in the past. It was funny, once I got the CD player working, the 6 disc CD changer was full of Akron-area hip hop band CDs, and there was a bag of weed under the driver's seat.

I’ve always liked the styling of that generation STS and the 2nd gen CTS. Crisp and clean. It’s still a smooth, quiet comfortable car when running. She’s had an interesting history with cars—first car was a new ‘76 Pinto my Dad got her for HS graduation, followed by 4 Datsun/Nissan Z cars (from a ‘77 280 to a ‘90 300ZX Twin Turbo (all manuals), a Corsica, a Saab 900 Turbo, Acura Legend coupe, Explorer, Liberty, a couple old Mercedes, a DTS, and now the Trax and STS...

3.6. She's had it almost 2 years. 139k miles. It was a $4000 hooptie for when she had a job on the other side of the state and was driving over and back each week (she doesn't like driving her Trax on the turnpike). Current issue happened right after I drove a couple months ago. The transmission gear position sensor that communicates w/ the ignition failed, so it thinks it's not in park when it's in park, so the ignition button stays in the accessory position and runs down the battery overnight. It also has a small coolant leak and the airbag light is on. It's got new tires, new brakes, new struts/shocks, new fuel pumps, the usual underhood maintenance (belt, hoses, etc). I fixed the 6 disc CD changer, loose inner fender trim, loose underhood trim (got a bunch of those push plugs and a tool to remove them) and a broken glovebox latch. It does drive nicely when everything is fixed. But like every old high mileage luxury car my sister has bought over the last 20 years, something always breaks...she never learns.

It's those funky taillights that are similar..

2011 DTS sounds interesting...my sister's '00 DTS was nice, but lots of electrical gremlins as it aged. The '06 STS has been nice, but another money pit (now sitting dead in my driveway). That shifter is slick, but looks like recall material to me..

I took Henry to the groomers on Wednesday (he's 14) and Ginny (she's 12) to the groomers today. Both now have nice short summer 'dos..lots of gray in their faces..

The ‘67 Ford 2dr roofline reminds me a lot of the ‘65-66 B-body roofline. ‘67 was the 3rd and final year of stacked headlights on the full size Fords

Nash

^ 1967 was a good looking year for the big Fords.

It's too bad they aren't still popular here, I like 'em.. the Volvo V90 is a car I'd seriously consider owning.

In Europe, the Arteon is getting a sleek wagon and an R version also.. https://www.evo.co.uk/volkswagen/202471/new-volkswagen-arteon-r-and-shooting-brake-revealed?_mout=1&utm_campaign=evo_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

Ya...they also have a neat museum built out of a former Hudson dealer also..visited it once. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypsilanti_Automotive_Heritage_Museum Now that I live within 3 hrs of Detroit again, I want to go visit various car museums and such in Michigan if things ever return to 'normal'...saw a number of them in the 90s when I lived there.

Same wheelbase, 5 inches longer, only 3 inches shorter than the A6. It's a sharp car..saw it at the auto show this year, haven't seen any in the wild.

Heh-heh... small world. I used to shop at the Meijer on Carpenter Road in Ypsilanti. And my '86 Mustang LX got totaled on Carpenter Road about 2 weeks after I moved to Ann Arbor in June 1994 (that was not a good start, maybe a bad omen for the following 3 years of grad school).

My sister has done a few gigs in Houston, esp. in the energy corridor to the west..she hates driving there.

Reality is complex. There are many things.

And Nickelback.

But they have been divesting for 40+ years, moving a lot of work to Mexico, SK, etc.

Yeah, I spent 3 years at the U of M Computer Engineering department in PhD life...studying and teaching. Then bailed for corporate cubicle life in Colorado. I enjoyed Ann Arbor.

No surprise... Honda has been investing in manufacturing here in Ohio for 30+ years, while GM, Ford, and Chrysler have been closing plants here.