A Horse With No Name

I would agree. Chris

...Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep just have about 19 more models to kill and they should be all set... Chris

It won't solve it, but it can buy us time while we develop other options. A slow transition while we have time to think about things and make smart choices is in the best interest of everyone. Chris

We have strategic reserves enough for that. However, you are right, $100 a barrel oil IS doing us a favor. Chris

Actually for its era, the Cherokee (the older style you are refering to) was a damned good vehicle. These things are simple, seem to run forever, are easily modified, parts are cheap, great resale, people seemed happy with them, often got decent fuel economy... Which is why the current Patriot/Compass is so disappointing. Chris

...and an iceberg? Chris

Don't you mean BMW and Driver? I agree with a lot of the stuff that they write, but they are rather Euro Biased. Chris

What Cadillacs of the 77-2000 era are desireable and which are worthless? I see Cadillacs of this era in good condition scraped, seemingly senslessly, and then I see others bring big bucks. Which cars of this era are the ones to own and which are the ones to aviod, and why? Chris

Have you driven the new Patriot? The seats are just right...for the ass of my 78 pound, 12 year old daughter. Very narrow. Car handles like a bad 1950's wagon on bias ply tires. Fuel economy sucks on them also. I've talked to onwers getting 11-14 m.p.g. out of these, which is much worse than Escape, CRV, Vue, RAV-4, ETC. To me, these vehicles are a horrible, horrible compromise. They aren't as good on the street as the rest of the mini-ute crop (or something much more practical, say a nice Subaru wagon) nor are they easily modified into a trail rig like a 4WD S-10, older Wrangler, or first gen Bronco. So they aren't really a useful street vehicle and aren't really a useful trail vehicle nor are they a good driving or efficient vehicle. I'm trying really hard to see any appeal in them, but methinks a wide awake eighth grade class would be able to see the shortcomings of these vehicles. Why Chrysler builds them is beyond me. Just my modest, unbiased opinion of course. Chris

...or a baseball bat. Chris

Agreed, but that goes for the Chevy truck and the Ram also. Civic is up, Prius is way up, Accord is up, Camry is up...this could be a very, very good time for the Aura and Malibu. Not to mention the Astra, as we discussed in another thread. Chris

Don't feel too bad, newer product is helping. Focus is doing well, Fusion is doing well, Edge is doing well...it will be some tough sledding for Ford, but I wouldn't put them down for the count yet. Chris

Agree on the Astra. Hopefully the weak dollar won't kill it. But 30,000 won't glut the market, just the reverse. MINI only sells 30,000/40,000 cars here annually and those things hold value forever, it seems like. It would be a huge win for Saturn if they could have a desireable small car with great fuel efficiency and huge resale value. This could be very profitable for both GM and its customers. Chris

Nothing would be better long term for the economy than $5.00 per gallon gas. We need to start conserving NOW. The problem for the dollar would not exist if we hadn't been sending so many overseas. Chris

Oddly enough the 80's-90's Cadillacs seem to have about zero resale around here. We've been doing a lot of remodel work lately, and I am a commercial electrician. We've been scraping a lot of copper wire, and ACE iron and metal where we take our wire scraps a lot of cars here in Columbus. I've seen a lot of very clean Caddy's crushed whole because no one wants them. Recently a very clean 95 came in on a trailer with a tranny slip, car was pristine otherwise. Guy took $400 for the car, handed over the title and they crushed it whole while I was standing there. We work for a customer who also buys and sells Cutlass/Monte Carlo (the real kind, with V8 and RWD) on the side as a business. He can't keep the cars around, and even ratty cars are bringing $1500/$2000 if they run. That customer just crushed 3 caddy's (1991, 1994, 1996) that he had taken in trade/bought off the street because he couldn't sell them/no one wanted them. Also, I thought of Sixty-eight the last time I was at ACE. They were crushing everything in the yard as fast as possible because they are getting new scales next week. Someone dropped off what looked like a very restorable early 1940's Lincoln. God knows why they dropped it off or if it is still there, but I thought of Sixty Eight when I saw that. Sadly enough I also watched what looked like a clean 3rd gen Firebird with very little damage go into the crusher when I was there also. Sorry for the rant, just sad to see these cars go. Chris

Pontiac and Buick still look to be down a good bit for the year. Aveo sales are way up, and Cobalt is holding its own in a weak economy. IMHO GM can't bring better/refreshed new small cars fast enough. Overall not bad for a weak economy. Chris

As a Scion owner I find this Ironic. They sold 130,000 Scions after claiming that they were going to "Scale back" and only sell 150,000 a year. Too bad Toyota won't admit the new xB and the new xD are duds. Also too bad that many people are passing up the Malibu and Fusion for a Camry. Chris

Given everything else they do, nothing much suprises me from Chrysler... Chris

I agree 100 percent with the change in thinking thing. Also agree that living in a 40 story condo would suck ass in a major sort of way. However, a world where everyone commutes long distance in an SUV in un-sustainable. Methinks the answer is somewhere in the middle. But again we've got to start changing our behavior NOW so things don't come crshing down on our heads in the near future. How many people have leased fuel inefficient vehicles that will be really screwed in a major sort of way if gas goes to $4.75 per gallon? Chris

I haven't given up hope as Camino suggests, but I do believe the future of transport will be very, very different than what we think. RWD vehicles with big V8's will go the way of the dinosaur in the next ten-20 years. Bank on it. $200 per barrel plus for oil will be here. When it gets here the trade in Value of your Tahoe will be effectively Zero. We will have other sources of energy, but what we really need/will get are mass transit, a national rail system with decent national passenger service, small cars like the Honda Fit, the Smart Car, etc. This is coming no matter how hard the old school nay-sayers try to deny it. It's nuts that CAFE is not higher RIGHT NOW. We should have made it higher back when Carter was president. Chris

That CR-Z...I want one...now... Chris

Or perhaps even longer. With higher energy prices, good paying jobs going overseas, our national debt, a war in Iraq that won't go away, and our inability to elect anyone other than the worst to the presidency (yeah, that's you W) things may be bad for a long, long time. Chris

I see a permanant sales slide. Chris

Another late 70's Cadillac would do you nicely. Too bad you sold the yellow one... Chris

Can I have my Volt now, Mr. Lutz? Chris