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Yeesh. Someone left a baby Mazda with a jar of paste. -RBB

I honestly don't like Chevy's dual port grille thingy. That said it at least looks better-integrated and not quite as ugly here than it does awkwardly grafted on the front of a Cruze or an Equinox. I'm hoping it'll show better in person. The slightly disappointing nose aside, this seems like a promising step forward. The rest of the car looks quite good. I do hope Chevy's given more attention to making it at least somewhat fun to drive than they did the current model, but that's not a requirement to be a popular model in this segment. For that matter, neither is an attractive front-end... -RBB

It doesn't look awful and it doesn't have a tacked-on gaping grill that Toyota's been so fond of lately. That's progress. It's... fine. It's not beautiful. It looks like a Toyota. Which makes me wonder why it's a Scion. Or why there's a Scion at all at this point. It's not young or funky or ripe for customization with blingy wheels and a massive stereo or a fart can. Were this a new Toyota Matrix it'd be more appropriate. Making this a Scion is the automotive equivalent of a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap backwards to try to look young. -RBB

Geoff redux! -RBB

EDIT: Dup, sorry

More design is not better design you guys. I fully expect at some point to see a Lexus front end that is 100% spindle grill up to the hood, with headlights and fog lights poking through the mesh. Lexus' design ethos rings less 'L-finesse' and more 'the hell is this?'. Humbly stated, of course. -RBB

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Unknown is better than damaged. In a way, the lack of presence over the last two decades is a good thing. Damage: -RBB

Saw this beauty a couple of days ago: -RBB

Yeah, as usual GM photography sucks. It looks much better in real life photos from the unveiling, and the people taking those photos are saying even they don't do the car justice. It's a tad too conservative, but overall I like it. -RBB

Do we not have a December car spotting thread? Anyway, I saw my first Honda Crosstour yesterday. On the side of the road with the hazards blinking. And no, they do not look better in person. They've got more front overhang than Artie Lang... -RBB

Now that's not environmentally friendly at all... -RBB

I'm an arteest: ..................................................................... ............................................................................................ ..................................................................... ............................................................................................ -RBB

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with this: It's oddly mesmerizing, but is there a back story? -RBB

Mosler? Aptera? -RBB

Are they truly talking about quickly bringing Zeta-based RWD vehicles to NA, or is this more a long-term (think Alpha) RWD strategy? I'd welcome both. -RBB

Baseball: Chicago Cubs Hockey: Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks Football: New England Patriots -RBB

The only way to go is to track down one of these bad boys: What about a B-class Sprinter convo? -RBB

To replace the rear bank of spark plugs on my '03 Mazda, you have to pull the intake manifold. Some pics (not mine): Stupid Fords. Gotta make everything difficult. Made a 20-min tuneup into a multi-hour affair... -RBB

They tried that once already: -RBB

Very possible. It's subtle. -RBB

I *hate* people in the right lane of the highway who decide to merge left even though they're doing 5-10 MPH under the limit and there's no one in front of them, yet, they see the need to be in my lane - usually within roughly 2 seconds or so of the time I'd have overtaken them. And I'll add 'the majority of people behind the wheel of a Toyota' to the list of sucky classes of drivers... -RBB

Random thoughts on Greece: My impression* of traffic. Traffic laws are not law, per se - they're more like suggestions. Lanes are not followed until you get near intersections where you are required to stop. Stop signs need not be obeyed unless you need to stop for someone else already in the intersection. The same applies for red lights. Turn signals are not a request to change lanes - they are a pronouncement that you *are* in fact, coming over so get the heck out of my way. If there's no one in the way, no turn signal is necessary. Turn signals are not to be used when turning a corner. That's why you have a horn. If you drive a motorcycle or scooter, you are totally immune from any and all traffic laws. When you approach a red light where traffic is already stopped, you may squeeze between lanes (or even enter oncoming lanes) to get to the front of the line. No room on the road? The sidewalk is an option, as are stairs and pedestrian throughways - even if they're filled side-to-side with outdoor restaurant seating. There are tons of scooters and motorcycles in Greece to take advantage of this. I witnessed a full-on e-brake u-turn in downtown Athens in full view of a city policeman. He didn't even look up. That's just Athens. The islands are worse. * There actually are traffic laws in Greece. If you visit and drive over there, you break them at your own risk - the cops do like to target rental cars/tourists... Taxis in Athens are yellow. On the islands, they're all grey. something to note if you visit. I have discovered the joy of tsipouro. De. Lish. Shus. Seriously, some of the best alchohol I've ever tried. I am not, however, a fan of ouzo - too licorice-y... In non-alcoholic Greek consumables, I had some of the best lamb chops ever eaten by man. Greeks put french fries in their gyros, and it is a good thing. Other than that, the Greek greek food is pretty close to the American greek food which is OK by me... Oh yeah, except for the Octopus. Also yum... OK, I'm done hijacking the phoram now. -RBB

We didn't have much time in Crete - our hydrofoil from Santorini didn't make it to Heraklion until 9:30 pm on day one - two and a half hours behind schedule - and we flew out at 10:00 am on day three. That left really only one day to explore. Lato was probably the nicest hotel we stayed in - small, but very chic. Here's the view from our room of the port: We first visited the palace of Knossos. Built by King Minos around 2000 BC, and rebuilt a few hundred years later, it was destroyed for good by fire in 1400 BC. An archeologist partially rebuilt certain sections of the palace to give an idea of what it could have looked like: The reliefs are copies - the originals are in museums currently: The High Priests' chambers: This is thought to have been the Queen's quarters: We spent the rest of the day looking for a nice beach. We decided to try Malia beach, which was the only beach reachable without a climb - good because my wife had hurt her knee climbing around at Delphi and was pretty much done with hills. A bus dropped us off at the town of Malia an hour later, and pointed us left to the beach. What we weren't told was that the beach was over a mile away. One lovely mile-long walk (and one sorer knee) later we arrived at the beach to find a young boy being swept out to sea. Beachgoers had to flag down the lifeguard, who wasn't really paying attention to rescue him. Within 20 minutes he had to rescue three girls who also had been swept out. Needless to say we didn't venture far away from the beach. Even in knee-deep water, currents were strong and there were large rocks underwater. Not my favorite beach. Still, the scenery was nice and it'll make for a nice story for the kids... One last note - this was plastered over every pack and carton of cigarettes in the duty-free shop in the Heraklion airport: -RBB