the_yellow_dart

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So... I went yesterday. I went with my parents, grandpa and a friend of mine. We all walked around together to all the exhibits - if somebody wanted to see it, we would spend a little time. The only companies that we didn't go to? Toyota and Kia. Kia just didnt have anything new we wanted to see, and there were a few comments about not having enough coffee for the Toyota exhibit. GM's exhibit was really impressive. They had a stage where they drove the vehicles up as they introduced them. Lexus had a really impressive 'owners lounge' at the back of their exhibit. Show your Lexus key, get in to the lounge and get free coffee, food etc. Ford actually had a decent exhibit this year - it's always been one of the most boring, but this year they had a Fusion with sheets of water pouring down around it with projecters showing videos on the water. It was a neat effect. You could see the video on the water, but you could also see through the water to the car. I won a Wayne Gretzky / Ford hat at the exhibit for entering my name in one of the draws. How hard is it to remove embriodery from a hat? I don't want to walk around and offend people with four-letter F words on my hat. One of the last ones we went to see was Nissan. I walked up to the Titan and went to look at the little compartment they have at the back of the bed, underneath where it wont get wet. There is a little door in the side, with a plastic handle I pulled on. It was locked, and the plastic handle snapped off in my hand. I didn't pull hard at all, and was completely shocked that it broke like that. I looked at the one beside it, and somebody else had already broken the one off that truck! Good quality there Nissan....

I got 80. Didn't know: middle name, college.

This is the third time this has been posted now.

Says I'm 31 but I'm 22....

Cobalt/Ion is better than anemic Echo/Yaris? Surprising.

...and GM should sue Sun for making another Sunfire with too much plastic cladding... http://www.s2.com.br/s2arquivos/370/Imagens/586Image.jpg

I always thought the Division Bell cover was cool.

It all depends on breed. We often had 5 Westies together with no real problems. The mother and her 4 boys would play fight, but not really do any damage. It was kind of funny to see, but the mother was the referee. Whenever two of the boys would play fight, she would follow them. If anyone got too angry, she would step in and stop it. They respected her as ref, and things never got out of hand.

I cannot believe you people like this... This is the worst design I've seen in years. Worse even than the xB, which I would currently classify as the ugliest thing being sold. NASTY!!!

I think I've had a girlfriend on Valentine's day.... um.... once? So ya, being alone today is pretty typical for me.

Was the Blazer really that big back in the day that the RAV4 was something revolutionary? Supra screamed pony car to me. It seemed like Toyota was just copying Firebird/Mustang's idea, even if I do *gasp* like the styling. So... that leaves the Prius, Land Cruiser and MR2 for me to agree with. I'll give them those.

The guy who owns it is moving out of the city, so it would be tough to keep the store. I'll have to ask for a list of die casts.

Actually he'll be closing up the end of this month.

I think it's all about how you manage your money. I'm 22, and I am buying a new car. I will (hopefully) have enough of a tax return (~$5k) for a down payment on a house.

A friend of mine owns a NASCAR store in Brantford, Ontario which is closing and trying to sell all their merch. It's called Checkered Flag Racing. They have tons of jackets, die casts (including non-NASCAR), unique metal work of drivers, hats, etc... One thing I thought people here might be interested in was a GTO keychain. It's shaped like a piston, with the GTO logo stamped on the end of the piston. Anyways, here it is if any Ontarians want to drop by, or you can ask me if they have something via PM and I'll pass the question on. map

I realize this is kind of like asking which Yugo was highest quality, but seriously... there's got to be some. What, in your opinion, was Toyota's most influential or revolutionary product? When did they NOT follow the crowd?

The Echo gets some points in the "damn, Toyota is cheap" category for putting the gauges in the circular hole in the center, so that the gauges could be moved for RHD/LHD without a different dash piece. Suzuki did somewhat the same thing with the Aerio, but without it being as cheap and damaging to the design. The dash is very small due to it being digital. There is a matching piece on the other side that you could take out and put a mirror image of the dash into. There is also a cutout for the "passenger" airbag in front of the driver, which is a blank panel of course. So very few panels would have to be changed to change the side the wheel is on, yet it's a very functional interior. The owner of the one I was in had never even noticed it until I pointed it out. Cheers Suzuki.

birchhehe deal with that...

Remember my post re the number of people whose most active forum was the lounge? There just aren't enough happenings from GM or the industry in general on a day to day basis for some of the chatty cathies around here (guilty as charged).

How is 26% market share embarassing? In most industries, nobody has that much....