siegen

Are you basing this on 4 images of this vehicle? The Fit sells for more than just its styling. Surprised that anyone would assume a Kia product is a quality product with great driving feel and engineering. Based on their track record I would assume the opposite, until I drove it. I also wouldn't assume that it's a long-lasting product until it has been around for many years and shows that it doesn't need that long warranty.

The program isn't designed to work indefinitely. It is supposed to give a temporary boost to auto sales during this slump, and it will have the effect of improving average vehicle mileage, which will continue long after the program has ended. Do you think they just crush them and throw them in a landfill somewhere? They seize up the engines so people don't try to resell them, and the metal is recycled. The idea is that a large vehicle such as an Explorer will be replaced by a Focus, and there will be a net gain in raw materials.

First Ford now GM? Increasing production, saving jobs? This program is just horrible! Our economy is doomed!

I drove a 5-speed one. It felt like a typical economy car and I wasn't impressed by any means. Shifter not as good as Honda's, nor is the engine; no surprises there. It delivers on the fuel mileage though.

Rental '05 Pontiac Grand Am.

It has a Hyundai-esque vibe. I feel like it should look better than it does. Weird. I think the designers got a tad bit carried away. Or maybe the design may be too modern for us to fully appreciate right now. I certainly do not like the grille. It's like Nissan is trying to make their Infiniti grill distinctive, so they just made it huge. It looks like it belongs on the QX. On another note, it looks like Inifiniti was the first of the Japanese 3 luxo makes to make their website global. Going to http://www.infiniti.com now takes you to a global site and you have to select your country. Way to go 'progress'! I hate splash pages, but at least it's an attractive splash page.

If you're encumbered you need to get some weight reduction bags and maybe think about lighter armor. Oh sorry, thought we were talking about Everquest. EQ was the first thing that popped in my mind upon reading the thread title, don't know why (haven't played it in something like 7 years). I am a big fan of things as well. But it also feels really good to get rid of some extra baggage. I just sold a bunch of stuff on Amazon and eBay (excess college books, various car items laying around, an RC car, etc etc), and it felt great to turn that stuff that I never use into some liquid cash.

What a load of bull. Nissan too? You don't see the FCX Clarity with an "EPA MPG rating" (but I guess maybe they should jump on the bandwagon too; what do you think, "EPA rated infinity MPG"?). This is an electric car. I don't mind people calculating its "miles per gallon equivalent" for FYI purposes, but actually putting that number as an EPA estimate on the window sticker so buyers compare it directly to gasoline cars is at best completely misleading and idiotic. Edit: The only non-misleading way I could see them putting an EPA MPG sticker on the Volt is if it is the MPG of the vehicle being used with the gasoline engine. Then have a text stating it is capable of running 40 miles on electric-only. 230 mpg is going to create a lot of misinformed and potentially angry buyers when they only get 50-60mpg on their weekend trip to the lake. I highly doubt it, unless they can pull a rabbit out of their hat and get the Volt under 3000 lbs.

Sitting next to a new A4, the A3 looks a bit outdated. It's no surprise as it's been around since 2003 (in Europe). The styling is more straight-cut and boxy while the new A4 has some curves and is super sexy (I want one). I wonder when the A3 FMC is due, should be soon. The A3 has a transversely mounted engine as opposed to an A4's longitudinal engine. The longitudinal engines have quattro with a 40/60 (f/r) biased AWD. Just a little fun fact. Not sure what the bias is on the A3 but it's probably more front biased than rear. I wonder if they will switch the A3 over or if they'll keep it transverse. Damn I need to make more money so I can buy a new loaded 2.0 6-speed A4, and spend less time screwing off on the Internet!

Even though half of the new car purchases were domestic, the vast majority of the trade-ins were domestic. What does this mean? While we tend to look at the market share of new car sales, consider buyer loyalty (buyers tend to purchase the same make as their used car). This program takes a lot of domestic used car drivers and puts them in imported brands, meaning in 3-5-10 years or so when these new cars are being traded in, the buyers will likely stick with their brand. The net result is lost market share for domestic brands, even though the current figure seems to suggest an even division between domestic and import sales. On the flip side, you could figure that these domestic used-car driving people would have eventually traded into imports anyway, this program just expedited the process. Either way, who's fault is it? Well the domestic brands for building considerably fuel-inefficient vehicles over the last 25 years. Who can blame them? Gas used to be cheap. They've wised up over the last 10 years or so, but the effects will continue to be felt for many years. Should they all have been American companies? Buyers can purchase what they want, and it's the automakers job to attract buyers.

Who would want that giant iron booger on wheels? Could probably scrap it and make two Civics and a CBR600R from the metal.

"Strong July last year"? How is down 26.7% strong?

Ford easily stood the most to benefit from the CARS program. Think of all the vehicles over the last 25 years from Ford that get poor MPG. Factor in owner loyalty and the fact that Ford is in the best position of the three US domestic makers, and this is no surprise. Now think of how many vehicles Honda has that get poor enough MPG to qualify for the program. First of all, I don't think there is a single car that qualifies. As for larger vehicles, the only ones that are old enough to where their trade-in value would be less than the credit are perhaps the Passport and SLX, of which there are very few out there. This is one of the main reasons you see a lot of domestic trade-ins. Imports generally have far fewer low-mpg vehicles out there on the roads. Even Toyota spamming trucks is still insignificant compared to the vast number of domestic trucks, suvs, and large cars that get 18mpg or less. Nonetheless, great job to Ford for managing a sales increase and taking advantage of their position and surviving the economy.

Excellent car, excellent photos.

The idea of the program is a great one. My gripe is that the requirements and minimums are too soft, mainly for trucks and other large vehicles. There needs to be more incentive for people who own older trucks and large vehicles to downgrade to passenger cars. As it is, someone who owns a 14mpg truck can trade it in for a 15mpg truck and get $3,500 cash. What a waste of resources. The fact that the cash is drying up too quick shows that the government was too lenient with the program. As for customers trading in their domestic vehicle for a foreign one, whose fault is that? The domestic automakers for not doing their job and attracting customers.

Sensationalism at its best.

I have Windows 7 64-bit loaded on one of my hard drives. I messed around with it a bit one evening. I like the interface for the most part, and I imagine if I use it enough I will eventually be able to move around and use it as proficiently as XP. But for some reason I just can't leave XP, it feels like home. That's a neat idea. It looks like it needs a LOT of refinement though, as the interface looks pretty ugly and rough, and their website doesn't do them any favors either. Windows 7 is much less resource intensive than Vista. People are reporting using it on Pentium 3 systems.

I feel sorry for the millions of North Korean people who are oppressed or manipulated by their government. They have no representation or say in matters related to their own country, and they have almost no access to the outside world. Their government pursues an arms race and spreads propaganda as the population starves and deals with widespread electricity outages. It's easy for us to say "Nuke 'em all! Haha lol", but the reality is that the truly evil people are few, while many good-meaning people are either being oppressed or manipulated.

Of course not, two out of three went bankrupt. lol

My friend replaced a head gasket on an old Pontiac Grand Am in a Toys R Us parking lot in the snow. And the car worked when he was done!

So dumb.

Must have a sudden acceleration onset issue.

Damn right. Now if only it was that easy to get rid of them terrorists and radical leaders.

Must be something to do with my server and not recognizing the .mb file. Here is a zip version.