Blake Noble

That's not entirely correct. I think the Liberty (which may or may not be return to using the Cherokee name) will just skip model year 2013 but not the full calendar year of 2013. The 2014 Liberty/Cherokee will debut at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show with full production to begin the following spring. They should hit dealers either in either the summer (more than likely) or fall. The current Liberty stopped production back in August.

AHEM. Now settle down, children. Well, I would like to set about changing that fact soon and I don't see a better way of doing that without buying some sort of beater or light project car. Like I said, I don't feel comfortable working on the Astra aside from doing an oil or maybe a spark plug change simply because it's a little too complex for my liking at this point and parts are far from plentiful and cheap. As for my personal schedule, I'm in class three days a week and I typically only work three or four days a week for anywhere between 4 to 8 hours. Indeed, I stay busy and, sure, I don't feel like doing much when I'm running my entire action-packed day on three hours of sleep, but I know I could still somehow manage to work out setting aside some time to devote to a new hobby or project or learning a new skill.

Unfortunately, a video recording would be much more damning in this case than an audio recording. The guy is most certainly justified in what he did and more than justified in his demands, but legally ... I think he's going to run into more pitfalls than what he bargained for simply because he has an audio file as proof. Just a hunch.

I had another dealership evaluate it last week. The intake camshaft sensor was weak; the exhaust camshaft and crankshaft sensors are still good. The first place that inspected it was trying to sucker me out of some money. It wasn't as expensive as I first thought, but it still nesseciatated the sale of my Gibson SG.

Toyopet, huh? Are you Sixty-8 in disguise or something? Seriously though, I know you're entitled to your opinion, but the FR-S/GT-86/BR-Z has proven itself to be a good sports car and the issue you mentioned can be easily sorted out with a quick ECU reflash. It isn't like the engine is developing sludge issues at 5,000 miles or anything stupid like that.

Hey, this is a random thought but since the Trabant is cotton, if you wash it during a hot summer day, does it shrink? (i'm not being serious)

I think it still has merit. Yeah, they may have done their own hack job on wiring the headunit in. I noticed the missing filler panels on the dash fascia when I looked through the ad earlier. If they bypassed the wiring harness, yeah it could get messy, but it's nothing that can't be sorted out. I've wired up enough aftermarket stereos in my previous cars to know what to fix if there's an issue. Plus, a hack installation could only warrant an ignition issue, which could be easily reversed. A slop job there won't stop anything else in the interior from functioning because there's nothing there to begin with. Hell, it doesn't even have cruise control. And that's the appeal with that truck. Remember how I mentioned in another thread the desire for something without power door locks, windows, or cruise control with a hose out floorboard? That fits the bill perfectly. While I'd rather have those traits in a Jeep, I like the GMT-400 K5 Blazer/Tahoe Sport just as well. Something that basic is a rarity these days. In this case, I'm not going to be exceptionally picky. The jury's out on whether or not that's rust behind in the rear quarter panel. It looked like a little dirt to me. It's hard to tell from a low-res photo like that. So, it needs a new fuel pump, "water hose" (whatever that's supposed to mean; maybe a new hose from the radiator), and possibly has a redneck-rigged stereo. That's far from project car hell to me. I need to get my hands dirty with replacing an in-tank fuel pump anyway since modern cars don't have them conveniently placed on the front of the block and held in with two bolts like the Cutlass's Rocket 350. I'm going to keep an eye on it for now. Of course, I don't have the full asking price, so it's not like I'm going to go out tomorrow and buy it (besides, it isn't worth $1,500 anyway). If I did buy it, it's not like I have to depend on it. I did just fix the Astra, after all.

I think this is very interesting. http://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/3325010041.html

They called the five-door hatchback Aveo a "wagon." That immediately discredits the article.

Hmmm ... I think the camo-bra on the front of that truck could be throwing you off just a bit. The elements and details of the sketch's headlights seem to be correct however, regardless.

To be honest, I get a '70s Chevy truck vibe from the styling.

Well, let's make a long story short: my piece of American-branded Euro Trash is fixed now, it cost me my SG, and I'd rather not talk about it.

A member of GMInsideNews ("rumblebuffin") whipped up this rendering of the upcoming Silverado. My gut tells me he pretty much nailed it. I hear the Ram and Dakota are waiting by the phone at the moment to make a call about that tailgate design ...

I had a stepside Sonoma once upon a time and it was wide enough to accept an ATV. The sidewalls of the ATV's tires rubbed a bit going in, but then again they also did on my fleetside S10. It worked. It was functional. Ford was the last manufacturer to offer a stepside bed on their eleventh generation F-150 pickups. I thought it was really neat that it was available as an option on crew cab models. And you know something? Just by eyeballing it, I don't think Ford lost much bed width at all with their last stepside bed.

From a marketing standpoint, yes. Technically Ram trucks are still Dodge trucks. All Ram trucks are vinned as Dodges. To quote Ram Division President Fred Diaz: "Ram trucks will always and forever be Dodges. Ram will always have the Dodge emblem inside and outside and they will be vinned as a Dodge." While its true that the Ram logo dropped the Dodge name around 2010 to 2011 and it was removed from the cubby tray on the top of the center instrument stack in 2013, they are in fact still vinned as a Dodge product. This allows Ram truck sales to be lumped into sales figures for the Dodge brand at Chrysler's whim. /debate

Reddit — if you actually stay awake and pay attention to what's what around the world wide web — is typically a festering rathole, good for hosting line after spewing line of junk data. As a website that idenitfies itself as the leading middle-man for quote-unquote "social news" it brings the concept of citizen journalism to an all-time record low, and any content of actual relevance and solidity seems to give Gawker and its network of bastard children CSPAN-like levels of credibility in outright comparison. It's a forum for the huddled and uninformed, unwashed masses of the world with a hi-speed internet connection to make a poor and weak-hearted attempt to be informed and educated. Indeed, if the internet does in fact have a back door, I'd like to imagine it as the world's $h!tiest set of French doors — with Reddit comprising one side and 4Chan the other — that would spit you out into Ed Gein's kitchen. Grandiose ranting aside, I do especially dislike Reddit, as well as Gawker Media, and yet I still somehow manage to do my part in feeding both beasts, skimming through their content on an infrequent-yet-frequent basis. I don't know why. Perhaps I'm a closet masochist and I secretly like the pain of wasting any of my spare time between my college classes in the morning behind a cigarette, wading through a river of digital crap that just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Perhaps I'm actually looking for real content, because I'm so pessimistic concerning humanity that I fully expect seeing a useful, relevent, or wholly entertaining post on Reddit as an indicator that we really are living in the End Times and I should shave my head and wait for Jesus to beam my brain aboard his flying saucer. However, much to my chagrin, I litterally found a blue rose growing out of a trash heap today. As it turns out, Reddit has an entire section dedicated to mechanics and the outrageous crap they have to put up with on a daily basis. It's absolutely hilarious, eye-opening, and terrifying. It will make you completely understand why most used cars are piles of rolling junk and why you've had issues with your brand-new pre-owned daily driver since the day you stupidly signed the papers for it. I won't speak another word about it, though. Instead, I'll let the following image and caption just do the rest of the talking for me. Just Rolled Into The Shop is the name of Reddit's interesting and relevant subsection and you can go there by clicking the link. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go shave my head and wait to be beamed home now.

I find additionally hilarity in the fact that CarTown Kia in Nicholasville still uses a similar voiceover and music in their ads. Fast forward to 13 seconds in in the following video and you'll see what I mean.

Only at this Maryland dealer* can you participate in challenge pissing ... which sounds fun and would be totally worth a zero down payment. Think I'll swing by and trade in and trade up. *Don't go looking for it. It isn't real.

It's gonna cost me my first born. Or something like it.

This is just depressing for me. I had not one, but two chances to buy one at prices well bellow book value and didn't pull the trigger. If I could go back to either time, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Anyway, nice Goat FOG and enjoy.

Well, I tried trading the Astra in for a Wrangler today ... no dice. The Astra should be worth what I paid for it; the dealer wouldn't budge from $8,000. It also seems that there is some confusion about what I said in my previous post. Guys, I understand that there's no escaping the various computerized engine controls that a reliable, modern car packs around these days. I get that. However, considering the complexity of the Astra and what it would cost to repair it, I'm starting to see the benefit of a car or truck that trades in unessential luxuries such as a board computer and a six-disc CD changer in for simplier, less costly things such as crank windows and so forth. That's all I'm saying. On another note, disregard the dealer advising me to replace the plugs and wires. They were obviously trying to take a few extra dollars out of my wallet. Just for the record, the Astra doesn't have plug wires. I started to revise my earlier post to point that out but didn't finish. That also makes me doubt what they said about replacing the coil pack. That's not the point. The point is that is just as costly to repair this particular economy car as it would be to repair an Audi or some other more aspirational car. You wouldn't buy a Chevrolet Cobalt if you knew it cost just as much as an Audi A3 to run and maintain, regardless if the Cobalt was cheaper initially. The Cobalt is an entry-level, economy car that should be easy and cheap to mend and the story should be the same for the Astra, regardless if it was built in Europe. It was billed as an economy car when it was new and it should be as cheap to maintain as one. The Astra only has 42,600 miles. Yep, yep, and yup. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have affected the prices on the parts I currently need. Not only that, but not every part on the 1.8 in the Cruze and Sonic will interchange with the 1.8 in the Astra. From what I gather, for every part that's the same, there's one part that's totally different. Right, but most electrical systems as recent as a decade ago are nowhere near as involved as current electrical systems. Granted, they're still complex, but there's a little less going on. Let's just be honest here: I'm of a very limited skill set when it comes to doing my own mechanic work. I'm a shadetree mechanic's shadetree mechanic. I have a basic understanding of how things work and what does what, but I'm not the best at breaking something down and not breaking something or getting it to function correctly when I put it back together unless it's a guitar or a firearm. If it were the other way around, perhaps I wouldn't have owned so many cars so far. My ability to work on my own vehicle needs to change and grow, but I don't really see that happening when I own a vehicle that a.) honestly, intimidates me to work on and b.) is too much of a hassle to buy and locate parts for. Basic maintenance such as oil and spark plug changes aren't a terrible hassle on this car, but some of the stuff we're talking about in this thread is a different story. Who said anything about me having a car payment if I got rid of the Astra? It's a non-issue. If I bought a beater, it would mainly serve as something to drive while I throw the Astra up on Craigslist and wait patiently for a buyer. It's difficult to sell something priced at $800 these days, let alone something priced at $10 to $11,000. It would also stick around after I replace the Astra to serve as a safety net for future situations like this. I'd also like something to tinker around with and really learn how to fix without worrying about screwing it up too much.

Here's the thinking behind that piece of criteria. Perhaps this whole situation has sparked a bout of paranoia, but I think I finally see the huge drawback to this car. For what is essentially a Cobalt hatchback with refined styling and a better interior, it's crazy that you can easily find yourself paying almost the same for maintenance as you would if you had bought a used Audi; it's an economy car with premium car maintenance costs. I'll have to pay out of pocket for a few of my classes next semester since there won't be any chance of me getting any grants until my junior or senior year of college, and while I can spend some money on another car or repairing half of the Astra's issues, I'd rather come out that much more ahead come January, and the best way to do that may just be getting rid of the Astra altogether. The Astra is pretty much a rolling heap of electronics. Of course, there are various computer management systems that control engine and other functions, but things like the stereo and its controls are linked to their own computer. It's all very expensive to replace on this car. The radio display also houses the board computer and that's also another costly repair bill. With a vehicle devoid of unnecessary luxuries, I can avoid the unnecessary out of pocket costs that go along with them. This is all something I should have considered a few months ago, but I was in such a hurry to finally have a vehicle that I didn't have to worry about and that I could keep that I made a large error in judgment and I rushed into things without considering the whole picture. The Astra's issues are mostly electronic in some sort of capacity. If you're curious, here's the rundown according to the dealer without detailing specific costs. Camshaft sensors need to be replaced. This is a big reason why the car has random intervals of stalling. Fuel filter and sending unit are weak and need to be replaced "in the near future." This explains why the board computer and fuel gauge never read accurately. Spark plugs and wires need to be replaced. Replacing the coil pack is "advisable but not necessary at the moment." I don't really get that last bit, but whatever.

Captiva Sport? Captiva Sport.