Nick

Audi's exhaust notes are very tame. I was at a meet one night and some of the guys wanted to hear my car. One of the guys had his new RS4 there, and he was surprised to know my exhaust was pretty much stock. He even noted that he was jealous because it put out a much nicer sound than his car. I remember hearing his car take off when he was leaving and you really couldn't hear much.

Happy B-day dudes!

Sea Doo RXT.

They have a 5er wagon...I'm sure the 3er wagon is in the works. Audi also has wagons (the RS/S variant Avants are sick too).

That's just plain stupid. Why the hell would they need something smaller than the CTS? Unless the CTS is now positioned against midsized cars like the 5er and E-class and A6, which as far as I know, it isn't. The STS needs work. Hell, lets not beat around the bush, it needs a redesign. The new refresh is ok, but the interior is still nothing special. Bring over the SLS interior and call it a day. Then the STS is great. Until then, it needs work. Focus on that. The DTS is a good car, but it isn't much in terms of competing against the other full-size luxury makes. Work on a great RWD/AWD platformed full-size luxury sedan that puts all the competition in their places. Focus on that. The Escalade is fine for now. The SRX is good, but the exterior could use some updating with the more current themes. Evolve the XLR. Make it better. Make it better than an SL. Focus on doing that. Make an entry-level coupe to better compete with the 3 and G. Focus on that. Focus on your core products and make them the best they can be. Raise your image with what you already have. Producing a sub-entry level car instead of directing all that attention towards a greater cause is just stupid. Cadillac is not yet in a place where it can decide to make a car like that (competing against what? A 1-series?). Not now. Put the attention where it is needed most. A good start with the CTS. Now focus on refining the STS. Then Develop a competent RWD full-size vehicle that puts the S-class to shame. Once you got all that going, work on variants, get those V's rolling. That can be worked on parallel to developing a good small (Z4/SLK/3er-sized(at the largest)) coupe/convertible, and then a hardtop convertible to compete against the likes of the SL. The trucks are new enough to be able to withstand some refreshes here and there without full R&D. Don't worry about them so much right now. Same goes for the small cars. A super-luxury vehicle certainly would draw attention to the brand and raise more awareness, but it would be a very expensive project to undertake and it will come in time. If anything, that should come before the small cars. Cadillac has a good start, but get the core products established as class leading vehicles. Don't just put a little attention here and there and then go towards throwing in other models which will just take away attention from mainstay products and possibly lower brand image in the process. Cadillac needs to become standard of the world once again. They need exclusivity and superiority before they can even begin to consider backwards thinking of "How can I make the wreath and crest affordable to the masses?" There will be a time and place for that. Until then, you want to become Standard of the World? Take a psychology lesson...a little cognitive therapy could go a long way.

Oh yeah, I think I remember hearing about some rumor that Porsche was thinking about buying VW...or at least they could if they wanted. But I seriously doubt that would ever happen.

Much cooler.Man I'd love to get an 02 and fix it up.

Wow, that's actually a really awesome setlist. I'm jealous.

Happy B-day dude! How's the M3 been?

50 bucks.

In Europe, where small cars are sometimes a necessity, the 1 series I'm sure opens up a number of buyers who need or want a car smaller than the 3. The 3er has been growing anyway. It isn't the small car it used to be from back in the late 70's and 80's...Hell, even the e46 was noticeably smaller than the e90/92. I'd even venture to say the 1-series is similar in size to an e36 3 series...that might be pushing it though.

I believe there should be a port underneath you steering column, or on/under the kick panel to the right of your right foot, or somewhere in that general vicinity.I'm looking at this, btw...seems to be a lot of confusion on the matter.... http://forums.mazdaworld.org/index.php?sho...rt=#entry383365

I'm reading up on it on these Mazda forums...I guess 95's for some reason incorporated a lot of OBDII features, but it isn't 100% compliant with OBDII. Supposedly you do have OBDII ports though...very odd. From there on out they were OBDII.

Mount it on the back?

Damn...I bet it hauls ass. With what the tuners have come up for the N54 already I'm really interested to see where this car is taken. Smaller than a 3er with the N54 that has just gobs of potential. I wouldn't be surprised to see tuners make this into an M3 eater.

Well, there ya go then... My heads are massive, so it involves a little digging...

Yeah, I don't know how his engine is designed...I'm just going off of what I know with my car, which obviously is completely different. Oh wait, that's right...I don't need to take off my valve covers completely to get to the spark plugs...they are set deep in the valve cover general area, but I forgot the valve cover comes out around the spark plugs...though, to get the valve covers off, the spark plugs and ignition coils do need to come off, and that's when you can see if your valve cover gaskets are leaking or not. Yeah....sorry about that BV, I don't know what I was thinking when I said that, I got mixed up in my thinking because I'm usually ripping apart my VCG's when I'm dealing with the spark plugs and ignition coils...But yeah, I don't know how your engine is designed, but look down into your spark plug wells for oil.

Yeah, I believe Mellenias are OBDII. I think Mazda went OBDII on their vehicles before the deadline (1996), and BV's is a 95.

^^^What they said.^^^ I've never heard of MAFs causing a car to miss...maybe bog the car down and decrease performance...hesitate a bit...Try getting some carb or brake cleaner and cleaning the inside of the MAF. Just spray it on and let it dry. Sometimes they get dirty and in turn they don't get the correct readings. Like WMJ said, check your O2 sensors, also, bang on your cats with a hammer or mallet or something. If you hear them rattle, then they are broken and they could be causing backup in the exhaust which could be another cause of your car missing. Another thing, take off your valve covers and check your spark plugs/that general area...if it has oil on it or around it your valve cover gaskets could be leaking which can also cause a misfire...

Nobody owns VW but VW. VAG consists of VW, Bugatti, Bentley, Audi, Lamborghini, Skoda, and SEAT. If you're talking about Porsche, then that isn't the case. Porsche and VW just co-developed the Touareg/Cayenne platform.

The iphone is cool and all...hell, I was wanting one real bad as well. I wouldn't consider one though till at least the first update of it comes out. I'm sure it will have many issues from the start, and whatever update it will have will improve it immensely I'm sure. Hell, they might even make it 3G compatible. What I'm really interested in seeing is the Google phone. There isn't much info on it yet, and who knows what it will look like, but that should definitely steal some of Apple's thunder.

Try the demo...your browser may need to install an addon, but it's all good. Pretty awesome technology. http://labs.live.com/photosynth/

I hold back.

Kind of off topic but, I could never understand why more manufacturers don't do this. Even some supercars (like the McLaren F1) have a central seating position. It just seems like a better seating solution and use of space, and it would make manufacturing for different countries a lot easier. Seems like it would be safer for the driver in side impact accidents as well. Granted, there is always the issue of entry and exit, as well as where to put the hvac/radio controls, and I also suppose it would prevent the use of a manual tranny.

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