Robert Hall

Missed it...I'll have to check if Comcast has it as an on-demand item.

I went to the Denver show this evening... wandered around for a couple hours. Random impressions: Saw a Bugatti Veyron for the first time in person. Wild. Loved the burgundy Quattroporte w/ creamy leather. The Aston Vantage looks incredible in person. The Challenger concept looked great, though the A-pillars are awfully thick. The Imperial is huge and strange looking... Sitting in the Impala SS, I realized the 'Like A Rock' slogan describes the lower dash plastics perfectly.. I wouldn't want to be a passenger in one in an accident--two ruined knees from hitting the concrete dash. (same thought applies to many cars). No Camaro.. But I saw the Nomad concept for the first time....neat..would have been a nice niche car for Chevy, I think. The G6 GTP coupe two-tone interior is really cool. The G6 convertible looks good in person... The Sky looks great in black....the Solstice GTP looked great in red. The Aura looked different than the original concept pics--it has large hood vents now.. neat detailing on the lighting. I didn't realize you could get an Aveo (LT) with leather and wood trim..the interior looks pretty nice. The new Escalade looks great...sat in one. They also had the old style ESV and EXT beside it. Loved the Tahoe and Suburban.. lots of E85 signs. Saabs are born from jets. The signs say so. Odd, the 9-7x looks like it's born from a TrailBlazer.. I didn't realize you could get a Prius with leather. The new Camry nose is odd looking...the Yaris is even stranger. The FJ Cruiser is very, very strange. The Lexus Paul McCartney edition RX400h has a very strange interior trim. I really liked the interior of the Merc CLS, Acura RL, and Infiniti M45 (very unique shapes and wood trimming). Some one is importing and selling Smart FourTwos (regular and cabrio)...for $26k!!! Yikes! The Ford Expedition King Ranch is $53k. Ouch. Interesting leather, though. The Explorer has some strange interior door releases. The Expedition EL looks good. Huge grille. The Chrysler Aspen looks good in person..much nicer than the homely Durango, IMHO. The Commander 3rd row of seats look absurdly cramped, not to mention no rear visibility with the headrests up...dumb, dumb, dumb. I went around all evening squeezing dash plastics, tapping on door panels and consoles, etc.. Random amusing comments overheard: Kid: 'Mommy, what's a Saturn?' Mom: 'Some American car, I think.' Guy standing next to GTO--'That's got a Hemi 454!' Woman standing next to Dodge Mega Ram: 'What a huge beast. Republicans drive those'. A saleslady claimed the Malibu Maxx will be "..available with a belt-driven hybrid next year like the Saturn Vue.." Really?

On some boards, I used to use <sarcasm> tags... sarcasm is hard to convey in typed text.

Happens all the time in corporate America...though, in my experience, it's more common for companies to do their layoffs on Fridays. When I worked at MCI/Worldcom, the would always do it on the Friday a week or so before Christmas. People that were staying went to a meeting while an 'Angel of Death' (manager from a different department) wandered around informing the soon-to-be laid off...

I like that color...now if they had a dark blue interior to go with it... I'd like to see a Vette or GTO in it... or the Camaro concept.

Whatever... the Caliber and Vibe are close to traditional 5dr hatchbacks but a bit taller.....they aren't SUVs.... The HHR is a tall wagon.

Interesting...seems like something from the 'X-files'. I once listened to Art Bell on the radio late at night while driving across I-80 in Nevada in a rental Impala...kept me awake (along with the Red Bull).

My Escort had both 'diesel' and '5-speed' badging. Does anyone recall a car ever having 'FWD' badging trumpeting that it was FWD?

I saw a silver VW Pointer hatchback yesterday.

I'm wondering what happened to the trucks...are they saving the Silverado and Sierra for fall?

They were fun cars... I recall as a 10 yr old visiting my sister and brother-in-law #1 in Phoenix in '80 and riding in the '77 280...we went for some rides out in the desert, blasting around the winding mountain roads..fun car. I drove her '86 and the '91--that Twin Turbo was a fun car..fast, great handling..I visited her in Boston in '92-93 a couple of times and drove it out to Cape Cod and up the Maine coastline...lots of fun with the T-tops of..

I've heard both also...the 2nd one would be more consistent with something named X6, i.e. SUV/crossover.. I saw a completely different interpretation in a British car mag that looked like a sleeker X5. For the CLS competitor, I'm not sure a good name would be, as there isn't any room between the 5- and 6- series..

I remember seeing that 280ZX ad as a kid...Datsun-We Are Driven. My sister was into Z's before she got into Benzes....she had a used '77 280Z after her first car (a '76 Pinto my dad bought her), then an '82 280ZX, an '86 300ZX 2+2, then a '91 300ZX Twin-Turbo...(that was a sweet car)...she had it in Boston, unfortunately it got totalled..replaced it with a '93 Saab 900 Turbo.

It's a small niche (at least in NA), but some people still buy them...hence, the Caliber. If I were buying a compact car, I'd rather have a hatchback like the Caliber, Golf, Focus or Mazda3 than a small 4dr sedan.. more useful.

Soccer moms and office workers are probably the majority of drivers of the Envoy and Yukon, likely to be the same for this one..... looking more refined is part of 'professional grade'...

Nah, the HHR is a retro wagon. I mean a proper 5dr hatch version for the Cobalt, like the Astra....

The V5 is a wagon, BMW's answer to the R-class... and the X6 is supposed to be a 4dr 'coupe'...BMW's answer to the CLS, it looks like...BMW is just keeping up with the Joneses so to speak...pursuing the same market niches that M-B has expanded into..

Nah, driving a rental for a few days is a much better way to get familiar with a car than driving for a few minutes with a sales person...

Yeah, people find something to complain about with anything....my Jeep doesn't have a keyed lock for the hatch, simply unlock the doors with the remote and pull on the handle to open it....even easier with a trunk; the remote pops it open (I've noticed this on several rental cars, incl. GMs). I think I've only used the key to open the driver's door twice in almost 6 years, both were times when the battery in the remote died. Using a key to open the trunk or doors seems so old-fashioned...

Yeah, about the only thing GM has in the US that is really comparable is the Vibe..too bad the Cobalt isn't offered in a hatch. The Caliber will be a good competitor for the Focus and Mazda3... too bad Honda has wimped out and offers only trunked Civics in the US now.

And yet it's acceptable in the Impala to have one? The Camry probably has a footbrake since the Avalon has a bench seat option (and they share platforms, so the part is probably shared).

BMW's answer to the R-class, it looks like..

And what about all the GM cars that have used footbrakes???? Haven't GM sedans usually had a footbrake parkingbrake for at least the last 50 years or so???? Pot calling the kettle black...you guys bitch about Toyota doing things the same way GM does...

So the Azera is Hyundai's answer to the Avalon...yet another bland FWD sedan..just what the world needs...yawn.

Yes, you can't judge a BMW by simply performance numbers..it's all about the total driving experience...infinitely more enjoyable than a pedestrian FWD model, IMHO...