Drew Dowdell

She's good, but I liked Paul Potts better.... there wasn't as much of a fuss made about him.

Toyota Loses More Than GM BusinessInsider.com American automakers can take heart in knowing that even mighty Toyota ™, with its Lean Production System, more advanced cars and lower per-unit production costs is doing horribly in this environment. In its latest report, the company just doubled its lost estimate for the coming year to $5.5 billion. And in its fourth quarter ending March 31, the company lost a stunning $7 billion, which -- if you you can believe this -- is a billion more than what GM says it lost last year. Let that sink in. Not only that, it slashed its dividend and S&P downgraded the stock to AA. The decline is all the more remarkable in light of a) optimism that the world is turning and b) its being America competitors are total basket cases.

You can have a CRV in any engine size as long as it's a 2.4 litre 4-cylinder. The engine in the '07 is the same one as in my BF's '04, however the '07 got a 5-speed auto to compensate for gaining over 200 lbs. Must be a real treat to drive.

Well he understands that he has bought his last import. If we stay, the CRV will get traded in for the new SRX. edit: If I can convince him that if I get the Avalanche he doesn't need an SUV and the CTS coupe can be had with AWD, he's getting that instead.

It's good for those sudden get aways where you can't ship your $h! in time....

Why would I kill you for it? I love that color too. It's one of the only other colors other than black that I would go for. (the other being that sunburst orange)

Going from an '04 CTS and '03 Avalanche to an '04 CRV is a huge change.... The CRV 4-speed is fairly smooth, it just really hurts only being a 4-speed with no torque. Even mild hills a highway speeds can cause 4-3-2 downshifts.

If I end up staying in the US, I'll probably get a used '07 or newer Avalanche. If/When we go to europe, I think we'll get a used CTS with a manual or one of the big german land yachts used. Those things depreciate like Towncars over there.... and if you're going to tour the continent by car, is there a better way to do it than S-Class, A8L, or 7-Series?

This lovely 2004 model comes with a 4-speed! Oh the horror!

It's an '04. There aren't any problems with it at all other than a chronically out of balance right front tire. It's just numb in every way and you have to flog the hell out of the engine to get anything out of it.

Maybe he'll pick up Mitsubishi or Mercury.

X6 = AMC Spirit GT + iDrive and Valvetronic

I don't find any Lexus model to be compelling... but that's just me. Even if GM, Ford, and Chrysler were all liquidated, I'd still buy a Jaguar, Benz, or BMW before I'd buy a Lexus.

Spock Judge Doom (from Roger Rabbit) Yoda The Enterprise D any Clint Eastwood character

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.