mustang84

http://wardsauto.com/home/Toyota_negative_headlines_091214/

I think future Buicks need to be shaped more like the Regal, and less like the hefty LaCrosse. The LaCrosse has nice details, but the body is fat and ungainly.

I don't know if this has been posted before, but it's funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg173VXc2Kk

We had 11 inches here and the winds started whipping up around 9 AM, with gusts up to 50 mph. Crews have been trying to keep streets clear but they just blow over with more snow after a few minutes. I'm looking out my window onto what is usually a busy street and there is maybe a car going by every 2 minutes, so most seem to be staying home. Here's one I took earlier today

They're not that great, IMO. I have Continental Touring Contact all season tires and they do poorly on slick surfaces such as rain or ice. Light snow doesn't seem to be bad, but I could see them giving me problems in heavy wet snow.

Reg has a good point. We have a local news site with a comments section that allows posters to award or take away reputation points from other posters. It's a great concept in theory, but it gets widely abused. It has come to the point where a handful of people who frequent the site will rate anything negatively they disagree with, or they will rate up anything their website buddies post. Some of the most valid and rational viewpoints get torn down because of the rating system, and the person decides to no longer bother. I do agree that our member base is generally fair however, so I don't see widespread abuse of this rating system.

The LS did surprisingly well tonight in some pretty heavy snow with no snow tires yet. The only spot I had trouble was at a railroad crossing incline...I was the first in line to stop and when the train had passed I couldn't make it up the hill, so I had to make a three point turn and take a different route.

Out here where the states are greater than 70 miles wide we have to refer to them in terms of north-central, or southwestern, or west-central, etc. Force of habit, I guess.

There are quite a few of them here, especially around my neighborhood. Last winter I saw a guy in an older 3-series trying to get up the hill by where I live...spent probably 10 minutes of spinning tires before giving up and parking on the street at the bottom. The Lumina went right up with no trouble. I've been to south central NJ before (Vineland area) and it reminded me a lot of Kansas oddly enough, except populated and more trees.

I'm just doing the rears. I ordered a couple Goodyear Winterforce tires. I have heard that Blizzaks are recommended for all four though.

Well, our first big storm of the winter will be hitting tomorrow and I am still waiting for my snow tires to ship to the tire store. I had my first taste of snow and ice in the LS a few days ago and quickly learned how not to drive. I had two fishtails while turning a corner onto a downhill street but recovered easily from both, but not without making my heart race a little. I used to drive an E-350 for work and had to take it out in the snow a few times (many years ago), but it is a big difference driving a cargo van with 2500 lbs of meat loaded up in the back. This weekend I went to Menard's and bought two 70 lb sand bags in addition to the 35 lb one that came with my car when I bought it. 170 lbs total in back. Does that seem like too much, too little, or about right for a 3800 lb car? I drove home with it and only lost about 1.5 mpg on the highway, so FE-wise, it's not bad. And since I've never needed snow tires before, how well do they do on ice? Does the softer rubber give any better grip, or is it mostly just geared toward snow. Do I bother with studs?

Hmm...Honda is apparently going by a daily selling rate as well. But yet, things aren't all meshing because doing a pure DSR across the board would also inflate losses. I've never been the greatest at math, but this makes no sense at all even if you think in terms of DSR. 39,000 Honda cars 11/2008 vs. 45,000 Honda cars 11/2009 is only a -4.4% decline, yet 31,000 Honda trucks 11/2008 vs. 34,000 Honda trucks 11/2009 is somehow a 20% increase?

Ford never does. Neither does GM. Both have always based their percentages on the actual units sold, not a daily selling rate. I just checked Chrysler and Nissan and both also appear to be based on actual units, not DSR.

Toyota cheated again. They quote daily selling rate percentages as opposed to the actual percentage from having only 23 selling days this year. 92 extra Corollas sold in November is not a 9.2% increase.

The name I entered was Electric Mist. I thought it had a nice ring to it and it played off both the EV and environmental aspect of the vehicle. Oh well.

http://media.ford.com/images/10031/Novemebr09sales.pdf

Here's a Josh gem from the past

Yeah, bad thing about the data plan is that you are basically locked into a 2 year contract. You have to have the data plan to have the phone, and if you cancel it's a $375 penalty I believe. The data plan is only $30/month though, so it's not too terribly expensive.

The audio quality is excellent with headphones. Without them, it's clear but since it's a phone speaker it's very 2D sounding. I like the fact that I can plug in regular headphones, unlike my old LG chocolate where you had to buy special headphones from Verizon that sounded like crap. And 16 gigs included with the phone FTW....plenty of room for music and movies.

Yesterday I went to Verizon since it was time to upgrade my phone again. I'm literate in many things, but not the latest and greatest in cell phones...so I went in relying on my sister of all things. I went in with no idea what I wanted and ended up getting a Motorola Droid. It's basically a less expensive iPhone with open source applications and Google functionality. I downloaded a bar code scanner, a metal detector, a guitar tuner, a USA Today widget, Pandora...you can even download a Tourette's Guy sound board. All Google functions like Google Maps, Google Finance, Picasa, YouTube, etc. work flawlessly and fast. I can even read up on the latest news from Cheers & Gears. The only thing I don't like is that there is no volume control button directly on the phone...you have to go into settings menu every time. I put a shortcut on the main page but it's still a pain in the ass when you need to turn off sound right away if the phone is locked. Also, the keys on the touch screen are kinda small so it's easy to hit the wrong keys, but I am getting better at it. But overall, it's like having a little computer that fits in your pocket and can access the internet just about anywhere. The gold rectangle on the keypad is a thumbprint scanner allowing you to lock the phone to others.

What about a subforum for long dead domestic brands, i.e. LaSalle, AMC, Packard, Hudson, etc? It could just be a single subforum for all, maybe stuffed under domestic independents? Every once in a while someone posts an interesting article or comments that end up in the lounge because there is no where else to put it.

I don't see Mercury dying anytime soon. Rumor has it there will be a new Mercury shown at one of the autoshows this year, mostly likely Chicago. Mercury is moving toward small premium cars, so Taurus and Edge rebadges have not been in the plan under Mulally. I'm going to go with Mitsu and Scion, and then maybe Chrysler and Dodge if the Fiat thing fails to pan out (which I would really hate to happen because I want to see Chrysler move upmarket). Toyota is hurting right now and Scion has had poor sales since before the recession. It would be the easiest brand to fold since the dealer base is all wrapped up with Toyota. Other than that, I don't think there is much else on the horizon after the massive shedding of brands in 2009.

A snapshot of GM in 1930 The Chevrolet The Pontiac The Oakland The Oldsmobile The Viking The Marquette The Buick The LaSalle The Cadillac I have to say, if I were alive in 1930, the LaSalle brand would have been my choice. Near-Cadillac luxury combined with agility and sportiness.

I never knew GM had so many brands between approx. 1929 and 1931. I have known about LaSalle and Oakland for a while, but I had never heard of Marquette or Viking and the reasons they came into existence. So as I understand it: Chevrolet (basic four cylinders, I6, some V8s) Pontiac-Oakland (Oakland the parent company, Pontiac introduced as the entry level brand for the division to fill the spread between Chevrolet and Oakland. Pontiac had a "light six" and shorter wheelbase, while Oakland had a six cylinder?, V8, and longer wheelbase) Oldsmobile-Viking (Viking slightly upmarket from Olds, both equipped with V8s...Viking was the shortest lived of all the brands) Marquette-Buick (Marquette slightly below Buick in price, equipped with six cylinders) LaSalle-Cadillac (LaSalle bridges gap between Buick and Cadillac, smaller than the Cadillac but equipped with the same V8 so they were sporty and agile. LaSalle far outlives the other companion brands (minus Pontiac), lasting until 1940) I guess I don't understand why Marquette came with six cylinders, while Olds, Viking, LaSalle, Cadillac, and even Chevy had V8s? It's interesting that these brands were introduced and killed off so quickly...probably due to the Depression. Also, interestingly enough, Pontiac outlived its parent brand. How different were these companion brands from the typical Olds/Buick/Caddy, etc? It seems that they shared engines and platforms with the parent, but perhaps body and interior were slightly different to warrant the price stratification? Did the parent brands get the newer technology first, and then it later filtered down to the companion brands, thus keeping the price point lower (or in Viking's case, it got the new tech first?). This is some fascinating stuff.

I would eventually like to see Mercury become entry level luxury (where Lincoln is now) if Lincoln can someday move back upmarket, but the reality is that probably won't happen for a long time.