Flybrian

Remember when car designs were inspired by cool things like jets and rocketships instead of shoes?

Expect... *Great mileage *A quality highway ride *Safety and chassis stiffness *Lots of looks - SLE/SSEi/GXP Bonnies are eye-catchers, especially with chromes. Congratulations on the car! May you have many happy miles with her and post more pics!

They have, but there are still some things that shouldn't be there, like... *Unoptioned switch blanks (lower left). *Chintzy pea yellow lighting. *Atrocious center stack integration/design, especially the radio head unit with its bad cutlines. *Random hazard lamp switch placement *Mystery button/blank flanking hazard lamp. I personally think ergonomics could also be improved across the board. Things are still too Korean.

Pricing and fuel economy are the main (only?) two reasons to buy a compact car in the States. The Aveo can easily be class-leading if not for the piss-poor for the segment mileage.

Its just good to see that no matter what happens to Pontiac, at least the Grand Prix's flanks from the rear quarter window aft will live on... Lexus: Actively preserving the history of automotive design by amalgamating them into our own cars.

Contrast that with the numerous mentions in the auto press about the two Cobalts being recalled for headlamp glass issues.

9-5s are fine cars, but competition and especially the price killed them. Nearly $40,000 for a 2005 9-5 Aero before options was pretty ridiculous. Optioned out, it almost cleared $50,000 ($48,624), which is beyond laughable.

Reserve sounds so high-handed and pompous that I'd expect Land Rover to use it. Limited Ultra T-Type Are all undoubtedly better.

Nice package in a shitty wrapper.

Um, those aren't panels; they're buttons and they're spaced apart for a reason, though I agree that design is probably the most unappealing of them all. Also, I'd rather look at the sweet HUD setup, something you couldn't get on that junky Passat.

Ever seen a Camry from behind for more than a second? They need to bolt the exhaust pipe back to the chassis. 'Attractive' is very, very debatable. I won't debate this anymore because I really don't care about the Camry, but I do thank you for not saying "design" because the design of the interior is Godawful. And regardless of the materials used, they still feel cheap. Subjective. The 4 cylinders are really not that smooth and pretty buzzy and gutless, at least in the Corolla I lived with for a few weeks. Toyota 4s are nothing compared to Honda 4s and to an extent the Ecotec. Yes, its a little bit 'dirty', but you get nice power delivery from most Ecotec cars. You get a raincheck for torque from a Toyota. Take out 'smooth' and replace with 'slightly wallowy' and add 'floaty ride,' 'overboosted steering,' and 'lack of feedback' and you're right. Its doesn't shake or wiggle, but it doesn't do much else either. ----------- I realize the Camry is a competant car, but to say the current iteration is still the universal family car benchmark its precedecessors were is stretching the imagination. Its far more accurate to say that since '02 at least, this car has been riding solely on its reputation. Take any other midsize offering today with the exception of the Sebring/Stratus and Optima and it would be in most facets superior to a Camry. Whether or not the '07 will merely continue the "Buy-It-Because-its-a-Camry" mantra or actually improves vastly on itself to be a desireable car in its own right is yet to be seen.

My girlfriend's 17" Dell flat-panel LCD monitor went out yesterday. Well, not 'out' but darkened almost completely. I think its the inverter or CCFL lamps and I've seen a couple of sites showing how to replace them with a soldering iron. My question is - is this something doable ourselves or what?

Aerodynamics.

I should specify this sign was found in a flat, uncurved parking lot.

Check out the 2004 "Bonneville" GXP in the photo album. :rolleyes:

Yeah. I'll be sure to keep an eye out, Mr. Sign.

Silver car is likely a Caprice/Statesman/Commodore/Lionel Richie whatever.

Not only that, but you say there's alot of B.S. on the forum, then say if it were up to liberals we'd all be drilling holes in babies' heads. :rolleyes: Again,

They need to get their interiors in gear. Look at the much-lauded Sonata as an example of still what not to do.

Um...my point was there are a disproportionately high number of Tauruses going to fleets, especially those sold now, which are predominately for fleets...

Thought this wasn't about the Civic, Sixty8?

Let it go.

Fleets. Ford = fleet for at least half its lineup. Imagine a world without Ford sedans - what would people use to read electric meters or drive to the airport with?

Please elaborate on how minimum wage laws are directly racist...

Well, despite what the media loves to claim hybrids aren't revolutionary in any meaningful way. 'Hybrid' Diesel-electric locomotives have been around for a good 70 years and 'hybrid' Diesel-electric submarines for longer. The concept of dual-power isn't even that high-tech - look at a $5 Casio for another example of 'hybrid' technology in pairing a solar cell with a battery to conserve the more expensive 'fuel.' Stuff like this that changes the very fundamentals of automotive engineering are where the real revolutions lie.