the_yellow_dart

I know I joined somewhere before October 2002, because I posted about the crashing of my Sunfire that happened in that month.

I've stated what I think about mine many times now, but I will reiterate. Bought my 2005 LS coupe new in August 2005. I have 210,000 km now. Fuel efficiency readout tends to average about 7.5L/100km (=31 mpg) with daily Toronto traffic jams. Typical highway trips outside rush hour are more like 6.0L/100km (=39 mpg). These numbers have not changed noticeably over the life of the car, which I'm very impressed with. I've been reasonably happy with it, but have had some issues: 1. My shocks needed replacing rather early (at about 100,000 km) - however, very rough road surfaces were everywhere that winter. Sometimes on the highway I would hit bumps so hard that the CD player would skip. 2. The closure mechanism on the storage bin on the left side of the steering wheel broke. Some store bought velcro strips fixed it, looks perfect from the outside. 3. My right turn signal doesn't always cancel anymore, I've gotten used to turning it off manually. 4. The "chrome" on my manual shifter knob is peeling off. Every once in a while I have to pull off another sharp piece. 5. My remotes both died, each one having a life of about 100,000km. Not a dead battery, but the whole remote.

That is apparently the lifespan of brake pads on a manual Cobalt when driven by me. Screech pads weren't hit yet either, they were just found to be thin upon inspection. This car has treated me quite well for the 200,000 so far... ps. Who has the highest mileage car on this board? I know I'm not up there yet, but I'm just curious.

I use it when I think that someone is making a very good point, or being an idiot. I don't care whether or not I agree with the person, my personal ratings have more to do with whether the person is making C+G a better or worse place with that particular post.

*sigh* Reg, I hope so. If my car breaks right now, I'd probably go used. None of the new stuff out there appeals to me at the price it's currently at.

Wait a minute... S? SE? They have different trims in the US? Wierd... they call the Jetta/Golf trims "Comfortline", "Sportline" etc. here. ...and cruise can only be had on the one $4k more than the base model. Again, that pisses me off. I'm trying to picture where you would live that you wouldn't use cruise... a city without any highways maybe?? I'd say about half of my Cobalt's 200,000 km have been spent in cruise. Driving long distances without it would be a pain.

(All prices from the Canadian website) My outrage is that the base price is $15k. Eco starts at $19.5k and doesn't offer cruise. If Eco offers cruise, then I have no real issue.

ABS, I totally agree with you. Should be standard. I could definately do without stability control. That's not even something I consider. I'd be willing to do without PW PL PM / Keyless, depending on how much the option was. Cruise should be standard. As should small rims. I hate hubcaps, and many trim levels on many cars come with nothing but hubcaps.

Same crap gets done all over though... Try getting a 2011 Jetta with the same options. You will find yourself $5k over the starting price.

If that's the case, then either their websites are inconsistent with one another, or they offer different options to Canadians. Eco doesn't show cruise as an option on the Canadian website. Also, interestingly, Eco doesn't show up as an trim level at all when you do 'build + price'.

I went to build a model today. Found out you can't get cruise control on an LS or Eco model... can this be right? Chevy, what are you smoking? If this is correct it is a dealbreaker for me.

Voted last Monday. (We're talking about the vote for Mayor of Toronto, right?) Speaking of which, the fat angry dumbass won. Seriously, the new mayor reminds me of Peter Griffin. Here's a rundown of his exploits: Since being elected as councillor in 2000, Rob Ford has been no stranger to controversy: • March 6, 2002: Mr. Ford calls fellow Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti a “Gino boy.” • July 19, 2005: Mr. Ford and fellow Etobicoke councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby get into a name-calling spat. Ms. Luby calls Mr. Ford a jerk; he calls her a “waste of skin.” • April 15, 2006: Mr. Ford shouts at out-of-town fans during a Maple Leafs game, calling them “communists.” “It’s hard to be thrown out of [a] hockey game when you weren’t even there,” he tells a National Post reporter. But later he admits: “I had one too many beers and I sincerely apologize. I’m only human, and I made a mistake.” • June 28, 2006: Mr. Ford declares during a debate on health grants: “If you not doing needles and you’re not gay, you wouldn’t get AIDS probably.” • March 5, 2008: Mr. Ford suggests “Oriental” people are “taking over” because of their work ethic. “Go to Hong Kong, okay? I’ve been there. You want to see workaholics? Those Oriental people work like dogs.” (He later apologizes for using “Oriental,” but insists Asians are hard-working.) • March 26, 2008: Mr. Ford is charged with assaulting his wife and uttering a death threat. Mr. Ford told police his wife’s behaviour was “out of control.” On May 21, the charges were dropped. • March 25, 2010: Mr. Ford announces run for mayor. • June 4, 2010: A man asks Mr. Ford about buying the painkiller Oxycontin. “I’ll try buddy. I’ll try,” Mr. Ford says in a 52-minute taped conversation. Mr. Ford later says he did not intend to buy the drugs, but only wanted to get the man off the phone. • Aug 19, 2010: Mr. Ford admits that on Feb. 15, 1999, he was arrested in Miami, Fla., for possession of marijuana and failure to produce a breath sample, after a date with his then-fiancée. The pot charges were dismissed; Ford was convicted of driving under the influence. He paid a $664 fine and served 50 hours of community service coaching football.—Kevin Gallagher and Mary Vallis, National Post I'm scared about what he's going to say now that he's mayor and representing our city....

WOW, those fuel economy numbers just killed my interest... why is it that companies find it so hard to beat the Cobalt that was released in 2005?

I'm digging the design. Not sure why all the Jalopnik commenters were hating on it, I get an A4 vibe...

Exactly - just give the guy a bill for whatever it cost for the truck to go out there, the water, the firefighters time, etc. I'm sure he'd be willing to pay it to save his house.

NYC streetsigns are hard to see while driving, Toronto's are better.... Google street view

I'm trying to share a picture but the uploader is broken.

article How long until America weighs in on this? Canada decriminalized pot too, until America complained...

will post one when i get home

Me. (last night) Went very well. Let the jokes commence.

Bon takes quite a leap at 4:15 The whole video is quite silly and funny

What's wrong with the wheels? I like them... WIth prices like this and the Fiesta, I'm starting to think that my next car will either be Korean or used...

Children as young as two are now dropping f-bombs, with researchers reporting that more kids are using profanity — and at earlier ages — than has been recorded in at least three decades. So finds data presented at this month's Sociolinguistics Symposium in the U.K., at which swearing scholar Timothy Jay revealed that the rise in vulgarity within adult culture dovetails with similar spikes in the number of youths using offensive language. "By the time kids go to school now, they're saying all the words that we try to protect them from on television," says Jay, a psychology professor at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. "We find their swearing really takes off between (ages) three and four." But if you want to understand why children are cussing more, he says you have to ask why their parents are, too. Jay, a profanity researcher for more than 30 years, finds two-thirds of adults with rules against swearing will themselves swear at home — a kind of lexical tick that's knit deeper into our neurons every day. Certainly, when Kanye West closed the recent MTV Video Music Awards with a song toasting "douchebags" and "assholes," viewers could be forgiven for finding it redundant. After all, not only had the previous two hours feted such crass characters as Chelsea Handler, the cast of Jersey Shore and West himself, you could argue the entire last decade has been in greater need of a bar of soap than any other before it. It was only last month, of course, that flight attendant Steven Slater's profanity-laced tantrum, and subsequent getaway down an aircraft emergency chute, saw the malcontent rendered a working-class hero. Ironically, Slater blamed his actions on a passenger's "lack of civility." As with so many things, experts say politicians may be to blame. "There's a real coarseness right now in U.S. political culture. It's not a conversation; it's a rant," says Scott Schieman, a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. "Broadly speaking, that sets up an overall tone where you have this constant aggressiveness." Indeed, the U.S. president himself — normally a paragon of decorum — declared in a June TV interview that he wanted to know "whose ass to kick" over the Gulf oil spill. In a more extreme example, tennis player Serena Williams made headlines at last year's U.S. Open not for her skill, but rather her salty language, having used the f-word liberally when threatening a line judge that she would, "take this (expletive) ball and shove it down your (expletive) throat." Two months later, Williams was named Female Athlete of the Year in a landslide vote by members of The Associated Press. Then there's Kanye. Though he had his hand slapped for interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at last year's VMA's, the incident ultimately fed into his legend. The rapper, in fact, seemed more beloved than ever after last week's performance of the d-bag song — a raised middle finger disguised as winking self-deprecation. "He just told everyone at the Video Music Awards to eat a dick, and they chant his name," Canadian DJ David Stone tweeted in amazement after West's performance. "I love this business." Mel Gibson may prove a rare exception, with his verbal volleys to ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva having made the actor one of the most hated men in America. But if Charlie Sheen's continued popularity has shown us anything, it's that the public has a high tolerance for high-profile boorishness. "The behaviour today is so outrageous, it almost entertains the public," says sociologist Benet Davetian, a leading civility expert and associate professor at the University of Prince Edward Island. "It also has to do with the fact we live in the mothering decade; a therapeutic society where what's important is the rehabilitation of somebody." Profanity researcher Jay observes that children are "little vacuums," sucking this all up. And while they aren't using worse cuss-words than in the past — the c-bomb, for instance, rarely reveals itself — they're adopting the old standbys with more frequency. "As soon as kids can speak, they're using swear words," says Jay. "That doesn't mean they know what adults know, but they do repeat the words they hear."

Debit/Credit just delays transactions - I feel like an a-hole if I hold up the line by doing that. Besides, a lot of places either don't accept cards or charge fees to use them. I deal in cash 90% of the time. Probably about 50% of my credit card transactions every month are for gas, since it's easier to pay at the pump rather than walk inside. I'm not strongly for or against using cash, I just do whatever makes the most sense.

Canadian paper money has braille punched in it.