Drew Dowdell

So as you may or may not know, I haven't owned a car in over a year. I've been sharing my boyfriend's CRV. I've never been a big fan, but it saves money and we almost never have a conflict on when we need wheels. Over the past year I've kinda just gotten used to it. It's inoffensive in every way. Today the BF needed the CRV to go one place and I needed to go do construction work so I rented a Toyota Tacoma for 6 hours from Zipcar. Let me tell you... when a very base, 4-cylinder, rental Tacoma feels positively CTS-like, your daily driver sucks. The Tacoma is slow, has more body roll than a '76 LeSabre with bad shocks, and feels like a Camry inside, but it's RWD and has one thing the CRV doesn't; TORQUE So, now I think the real reason non-automotive people buy Hondas is because the cars give that pleasant numb feeling you get while taking a warm bath and overdosing on oxycontin. To an auto enthusiast it's like laying in that warm bath while the blood slowly drains from the slits in your wrists..... When I get the mustang rental in Florida next week, my head might just explode.

Give it up Balthy. I get shouted down all the time because I maintain that the CTS and 5-series are the same class of car. Somehow even though their dimensions are within 10ths of an inch of each other, power train outputs similar, feature list similar, they aren't the same car because the CTS doesn't offer a V8 because an LS6 isn't a real V8 somehow.... *head spins*

Going from the V6 to the Ecotec would drop how many lbs?

This stock issue is to pay off debt. It will ease the liabilities side of the balance sheet.

If that were the actual scenario at play, no. But that isn't what's happening.

This is one of those rare cases where the market cap is more a reflection of market sentiment than market value.

As far as passenger area, the Pruis doesn't feel any larger than a Cobalt. It's the hatchback area that pushes it into midsized category. The Prius is only a mid-size if you're filling it with sand. As for people buying a smaller Buick. The Skylark was in the $15k - $17k range in the mid-90s and it sold fairly well.

It will wipe out existing shareholders, not new shareholders. And no, they won't issue it at 1.65 cents... that doesn't make any sense to do. They're trying to raise 60 billion in cash. They'll probably price it at $1.00 a share.

uhm Reverse Stock Splits A reverse stock split reduces the number of shares and increases the share price proportionately. For example, if you own 10,000 shares of a company and it declares a one for ten reverse split, you will own a total of 1,000 shares after the split. A reverse stock split has no affect on the value of what shareholders own. Companies often split their stock when they believe the price of their stock is too low to attract investors to buy their stock. Some reverse stock splits cause small shareholders to be "cashed out" so that they no longer own the company’s shares.

Try to find an Altima Hybrid... but I see what you're saying. People weren't trading in their paid midsize cars for Pruises... they were climbing down out of Explorers, Trailblazers, Durangos, and the like. The idea that the Pruis is a midsize car is laughable at best. I could see people climbing down out of an RDX, MDX, or SRX(old) to buy a premium compact.

Your way makes more sense to a rational person....but that's also precisely the way the argument fails. People will react in even more irrational ways during the next price spike.

Keep in mind that gas prices are going to shoot back up again. There will be a market for small, fuel efficient, premium vehicles.

Steering wheel controls FTW.

Exactly how far into the passenger's lap does one have to reach in order to use the nav in the Toyota?

I wouldn't do the hatchbacks as Buicks, but the 4-door, Wagon, and the Twin-top could be good.

295 ft/lbs of torque will give a Passat a lil bit of scoot.

Who here said that Chevy could not put the Turbo-Ecotec in the car? Remember they have a version of the Ecotec that puts out 300hp and they have the BAS-II Turbo Ecotec that has an amazing torque curve. Chevy isn't done yet.

The Camaro V6 gets better milage than the Genesis Coupe V6.

Stick to the recommended interval. Dexcool is generally considered to be good for 100k miles.

leave it alone. the Dexcool issue was with older cars in the 90s that weren't originally designed for it.

the shamwow guy?

go for the lightest weight body that suits your needs.

Raid 10

Why is a Zeta v. Taurus an invalid comparison? Just because the Zeta is RWD? Think a NG Taurus and NG Charger/300c aren't going to get cross shopped?

That article fails to look at other aspects in the economy that are looming. What that article is doing is equating "stock market" with "economy". Yes, the stock market will improve slightly over the next 9 months, but the economy will not. The sub-prime mortgages are mostly done imploding. Commercial real estate is just getting warmed up and Prime/Alt-A mortgages are back in the green room getting changed. Even if all new housing starts stopped today we have 3 years of housing inventory that we know of. There is an estimated 30% of bank owned housing isn't even on the market today. Housing prices are going to continue to fall well into next spring at least.