Blake Noble

No photo shoot for today. We're having pretty ugly weather out here; overcast with spotty rain showers and abnormally cold tempratures (the Astra's DIC read 59 degrees). However, I do have one photograph I snapped for the Flops article I can share. The car's appearance has changed since I snapped this a couple months ago. I had the dealer take the pinstriping off. I can't stand that crap. And once again, thanks for the warm wishes DF, mudmonster, Camino, dave, dfelt, and reg. I really appreciate it. And I owe you an exceptionally belated thank you for the encouragement Camino. I think they're (more or less) using the same LUW 1.8 in the Sonic now too. What really suprises about this particular member of the Ecotec family is that basic matienance is so relatively simple. The drain plug and oil filter cap are in logical areas that don't require the car to be on a lift to gain access to them. The spark plugs are all accessable from the top of the engine. From what I gather, the only special tools you really need to work on the 1.8 are a complete Torx bit set. The only real flaw concerning the 1.8's serviceability is that a new coil pack will cost around $600 if you buy it from a parts house like Advance or O'Reilly's. It actually costs half of that price to have one shipped over from Europe. That does make me wonder if the coil pack for the Sonic and Cruze are the same and if they are any cheaper. Mods are in order for the Astra. I've already been researching it, and K&N will sell the correct CAI kit for the 1.8 Opel Astra here in the States. I'm also looking into what options I have concerning headers, exhaust and throttle bodies. I'd like to tune the car to make at least another 15 to 20 bhp. The Astra doesn't have much trouble getting out of its own way or anything, but an additional few horsepower would make the car much more lively to drive. The stock headunit and rims are also on the chopping block if I get into seriously modding this car. There's touchscreen sat-nav and iPod/iPhone compatible headunit out there that retains all stock DIC and steering wheel control functionality for about $400 that I really want. Someday, I'd also like to install an OPC bodykit. Before you say that would be very costly and difficult to have the parts imported, it's actually already been done before with minimal fuss. Many European companies that support the Astra in the Old World are happy to support Astra owners here in the States and all of the parts can be shipped here VAT exempt.

I'm wishing you the best of luck through this, Blu. I'll throw this thought out there; have you ever thought of opening up your own body shop? Maybe if the crew you worked at your old job with were willing to get on board with you and share the expenses of renting a place and paying for the equipment, you guys wouldn't have to worry about this in the future. From what I've seen in my area, many well-known body shops who do good quality work turn down plenty customers who want body work done on a classic car they're restoring or a daily driver they want repainted simply because it isn't insurance work. I know that's the reason why I had to let a cheap know-nothing paint my old '72 Cutlass. Maybe if you started a shop that did everything from assisting in classic car restorations to insurance work, you'd have a firm and assured grip on your local market.

I should mention I have a few thank yous that are in order. First, I'd like to thank my parents for helping me out with getting something decent to drive and helping me out with getting back into class. I will be scratching their backs big time for their help when this is all said and done. A big thank you to Oldsmoboi is in order. Without him tolerating and allowing me to publish here the driveling rubbish I've written, I probably wouldn't have went back to college for a journalism degree. I didn't realize how much I actually liked writing articles and op-ed pieces before I began writing them here. And a thank you goes out to everyone here for reading what I wrote so far and for playing along. Thanks, Z. While the Beetle vert would've been a great choice for rocking out to Miley Cyrus, it's nothing like driving a pink Nissan Micra with Rebecca Black cranked up to 11. Yep. My local university offers a four-year journalism course. And thanks Moltar. The Astra's uncommonality is one reason why I like the car so much. That, and it isn't a hunk of junk like a Cobalt. It's much more satisfying to drive and look at. They will be here tomorrow. I found a great spot for photographs when I was snapping shots early last month for the Forester review I'm so unsure about posting. I also think you'll approve of the color. Working hard is my number one priority, and it's never really been a struggle to do so in college. When I enrolled to take graphic design courses for a semester in the fall of 2010, I had achieved a 3.6 GPA before I left in Spring 2011. And, of course, thanks, Blu.

Tell it like it is. I do understand the difficulty in writing a less than favorable review, however. It's one reason why I've been hesitant in posting the draft for my Forester review.

Well, I’ve had a busy last few weeks and you’ve probably noticed I haven’t been posting new news or regular commentary around here. Let’s get to the big news first. As of May 22nd, 2012 I am officially a Journalism major with an undetermined minor concentration. That means, in due time, all of the Moorish creases in my writing will be ironed out and the burrs filed down. It also means I’ll be an intern at some newspaper or magazine, possibly even a television station within two years time — that’s a requirement to graduate. It’s been unnecessarily difficult getting to this point and it’s required a lot of sacrifice, so hopefully it’ll be worth it. Also, a few days prior to officially enrolling in classes for fall 2012, I bought a new car. This probably isn’t news to many members here since I hinted at it in a thread late last week, but it is still worth mentioning because it’s a car that isn’t exactly … well, typical of me considering the cars I’ve owned in the past. It’s a ‘08 Saturn Astra 3-door with under 36,000 miles. In fact, I tested the car a few months ago for an upcoming installment of Fabulous Flops, although I didn’t intend on purchasing it when I first drove it. Yes, pics are on the way since I just washed and waxed the car. Other than that, I’ve been trying to work on new op-ed pieces and settle back in from all of the running around I’ve been up to before and after my college orientation and official enrollment. I thought I would be back to my regular grind before the end of this week, but I had some unexpected business to attend to. For those of you who don’t care, well that’s okay. I can’t say I care either. We'll just discuss how a man in Florida had his face gnawed off in this thread instead.

Really? Me too!

Yeah. Let's go there. http://www.youtube.com/embed/adyC404_gEk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

The front sheetmetal reminds me of something I sketched out years ago. It's not that I expect the SS to look like my SS. Not at all. But the hood does appear to be slightly domed above the front quarter panels.

My sympathy for Metallica has pretty much run dry. Surely no one here thinks that the slow collapse of the record industry has caught Metallica by surprise. They were given a very early glimpse of what the present day had in store for them over a decade ago, with the whole Napster freak show. Hammett, Ulrich, and the rest of Metallica had the chance to be proactive thirteen years ago. Instead, they chose to be reactive because they knew and feared what Napster and other file sharing networks meant for their future. I understand that the lawsuit was born out of the band being unhappy that some (then) unfinished work had appeared on Napster, but even still. The band didn't just sue to have that one song taken down; they sued to have the whole service taken down. They were given a prime opportunity to adopt a new way of connecting with their fans, the people who supported them and allowed them to become one of the biggest names in the record industry. But what did they do? They pissed that away, determined to hold on to the old way of doing business because they were afraid that they would have to abandon their decadent, money-laden pop star lifestyles. Did Metallica's lawsuit Napster change anything? Of course not. When Napster went down, those users just shifted to Kaazaa and then to Limewire, still downloading free music and not giving a flying fu#k about the band's bitching and whining. So, do I care about Metallica's money problems? Nope. There's no sympathy here. That band hasn't been a relevant act since 1987 anyway. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that the entire band died in that bus wreck with Cliff Burton. Yes, I mean that literally and not metaphorically. The Metallica we've known since 1987 is comprised of three look-a-likes and a revolving door of lame bass players.

This song is the complete summation of my hatred of U2. Even Casey Kasum agrees with me when I say that those guys are from England, and no one gives a sh!t. http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z6gPSSYxex0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> It's also available in a version with unauthorized sampling! http://www.youtube.com/embed/xqse3vYcnaU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Still, nope. Although I entertained the thought of a Beemer, the insurance premiums and price of one in good nick threw it off of my radar. I didn't think someone would guess correctly this soon, but that's got it. The title of the thread is a Jeremy Clarkson quote, for those who were wondering. When reviewing the Astra OPC/VXR he said that "in a hot hatch beauty contest, [the Astra] would certainly go home with the tiara." I know this will undoubtedly raise financial questions. To simply answer them, I raised half of the money to buy the car and my parents matched that to help me out with college, since the Dakota was rather inappropriate as a daily driver for a poor college student. You think the 5 pages long article you're working on might have given me a clue? Now that you mention it, I think there may be an addendum in store for that article.

Still, nope. Although I entertained the thought of a Beemer, the insurance premiums and price of one in good nick threw it off of my radar. I didn't think someone would guess correctly this soon, but that's got it. The title of the thread is a Jeremy Clarkson quote, for those who were wondering. When reviewing the Astra OPC/VXR he said that "in a hot hatch beauty contest, [the Astra] would certainly go home with the tiara." I know this will undoubtedly raise financial questions. To simply answer them, I raised half of the money to buy the car and my parents matched that to help me out with college, since the Dakota was rather inappropriate as a daily driver for a poor college student.

Yep. Nope. Not even close. am I close? Nope, but you did choose a European car from the correct country.

Nope. You're thinking along the right path, though. It is, in fact, a car and it's European.

I'm 6'1" and what I have is indeed small, no pun intended. Seriously. I don't wear sweaters, though.

" show you everything. [Let] you see what you will, will not see ..." Follow the clues.

Nope.

Heh. This was more cryptic than I thought.

Blue planet.

You also can't forget about the state of the European automotive market. What Opel is facing in Europe now isn't terribly different from what GM faced in North America, honestly. Agreed on Opel's R&D team. Its like I said in the article. Volkswagen simply charges more than a comparable Vauxhall/Opel, justifying the price difference with brand recognition. If this link will work, you'll see that a base Golf costs about £1,700 GBP more than a base Astra in the UK. That's the equivalent of $2,700 USD, and VW will charge you an additional £445 pounds ($715 USD) if you want a CD player. The Vauxhall has a CD player as standard. Also consider the fact that VW has other brands which earn it bigger profits.

I'm sorry, the days of Buick building scale highway-legal replicas of the RMS Titanic for Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Phil in Sunny Town, Florida needs to be left to rot in the past. Buick is the oldest American marque in production and I'd like to see it continue on for another 100 years. That won't happen if the brand goes back to building land barges. The way I see it, the Buick we have now is more Buicky than it's been in a long time because its building premium cars again. That was always sort of the premise of the brand. Not big and fat cushy coffins for old people. Ha, I could never be Charlie Sheen because I'd never do cocaine and I haven't shot Tom Berenger. But anyway ... What I meant was that it's well built. What could four fat people need to haul into the interior of a Regal besides their four fat asses? If they've got some luggage, there's a decent-sized trunk for that. Again, styling is subjective. Uhhhhh ... what?

I have a very good reason why GM North America should let the Europeans handle the engineering work on some models whole hog. Instead of explaining why, though, I'll just show you. That small entourage of complete hopelessness is why GMNA shouldn't bother with developing modern small to medium sized cars anymore. The Europeans have a better grasp on the idea than we do. When we set out to build a Civic or Accord competitor, we always botch it up by making the interior out of carboard and Mountian Dew bottles, styling the exterior to look like an old muddy boot, and powering the whole mess with an engine taken from Farmer John's old Holland tractor. We simply don't get it and never have. Which is why GMNA is sticking with developing (some) large cars and full-sized trucks these days. I mean, look at a 1988 Opel Vectra versus the 1988 Chevy Corsica or Buick Century above. The Vectra makes those two look like burlap sacks full of Indian food, especially the Century. That slew of images also proves something else. For a span close to 30 years, we built absolute junk. While I torrentially drool over cars from the '60s and early '70s especially, I'd like to keep the late '70s, '80s, '90s, and early 2000s mostly behind me. Sure, each time period had a few bright spots, but then again so did the Dark Ages. Yes, Europe and Japan built their share of bad cars during that time too, but they always somehow built the lesser of evils. For example, Japanese cars were always bland, but bland is better than looking like someone smacked you in the head with a spiked bat. You did bring up an interesting point about automotive identity above and below. What nationality a car can be identified as can be very subjective. That said, if you're judging a new American car's identitiy based on standards old American cars set back in the '60s and early '70s, you'll find none of them are very "American" at all. Even the new Camaro was designed by a Korean and raised by Australians. Also, 90 to 95 percent of the cars GM has built in, well, the last thirty years never stood out in traffic. Styling is a subjective thing too, and it wasn't why the car failed. Even though I'll agree that the five-door was a little bit "Mr. Rogers", the three-door was great and a much better looking car than a Cobalt coupe ... which, essentially, tried to be a fat three-door Astra with a trunk.

I'm not going to down vote you, but what is your beef with Opel specifically? The only late model Opel vehicle sold here that was 99 percent an actual Opel, and not just Opel-based, was the Saturn Astra and that failed because of badly timed launch, not because it was a bad car. Before you mention it, the Buick Regal is an Opel Insignia edited for daytime television. We don't get the billion mile long option list over here that Europe does. We don't get the wagon here, or the OPC models. If the Regal GS is a real Insignia OPC, then I guess that makes me Charlie Sheen. With all of that said, the Regal is still a good car and its made in North America now. It doesn't break down, seats four fat adults, is reasonably priced, and looks nice for a sedan. It's certainly much less dreadful than a Camry. What's to hate? If anything, Buick's perverted — or should I say "perverting"? — Opel. The Encore (Opel Mokka) and Verano (Opel Astra sedan) were designed to be Buicks from the start of development. The next Regal and LaCrosse will probably also have similar ties. So who made who?

Perhaps, but now GM is in too deep to let go. Opel is a vital part of GM's product development operations. If they were to sell it off, then they run the risk of an outside company using their intellectual property. GM's committed to Opel, one way or the other I'm afraid. Like I said, though, there is a reasonable chance for Opel to pull through. They just have to downsize a bit. Similar to America, the biggest hurdle it will face will be the unions.