aaaantoine

Mazda 3 meets Prius. Wow, that thing is ugly. Inside and out. And Belta? Prinz knows better than I do, but I took Italian in middle school and "Bella" was always the word. Belta sounds like someone releasing some gas after having a few beers. "I'm gonna belt a Toyota." *BUUUUUURRP!*

If this is a hoax, I wish to rescind my previous post. I hate the damn tabloids. :angry:

I wouldn't be happy. And my car's not worthless. In fact, I'd be damn pissed. But instead of yelling and screaming and throwing crap around and stabbing people, I'd just say, "...You do realize you're going to have to fix that, right?"

Not that I'm a big fan of the front end, but I really dislike the rear.

One thing I like about the interior design is the sloped components of the center stack. This has good ergonomic potential. With all the competition's offerings, GM's 4- and 6-cyl powertrains are really looking bad. :(

Ideally, I look forward to your suggestions coming to pass. In reality, however, greed goes a long way to screw up the quality of life of those who are not in power. Lobbyists will pay off the governments to keep healthcare private. The government just got more money, and keeps healthcare private, which makes the industry more money. The Government wins. The Healthcare Industry wins. Guess who loses.

Is that the only shot you have of the car?

What are these savings in comparison to?

Oh! I almost forgot... Back when I used to go hang out with the CFO of the local Cadillac dealership, he gave me a 1:18 DeVille. And I wasn't even ready to buy a car... If anyone here's on the Island and looking into buying a Cadillac, check out Lynbrook Cadillac on Merrick Road. Just my gratuity plug. :)

I just bought a new car (details to come soon ;)), and recived/ was offered the following: Inspection Registration Full Tank of Gas And I was just offered this kicker today: Transport of the car from the dealership (up in my wife's home town of Oswego) down here to Long Island, and the transport of our current vehicle (97 Venture) back up to Oswego to give to my in-laws. Not sure if that would be free, but considering the salesperson is a friend of the family, and the dealership's owner is a member of the small church that my wife has been going to all her life...

I would also like to add that "harlequin" refers to "a clown or buffoon". I'll let this board's members draw their own conclusions. :)

Actually I was tempted to send it directly to him if I could. ..."That's Hot" is copyrighted? What the hell's she gonna do, release a line of Paris Hilton T-Shirts? Crap, I hope not. People would buy them...

Oh... Then SHE was on her way to DUB City...

I would be perfectly calm. Because THAT crap will come out of THEIR pockets. (Kinda like when I was a kid, when I gave my brother 200 bucks to buy me something, and his wallet was stolen out of his friend's open-top Wrangler.)

I still have no idea how you're supposed to open a door with "shaved" handles.

I hadn't seen it, but he was obviously on his way to the Mallet Conversion Shop. B)

What's your theory? I mentioned them in this thread because I think they may be linked to dreams some how. Almost like a psychic premonition that we aren't even aware we have.

Vipes, I don't think I could ever understand what you're going through. If you are certain about your sexuality, the only thing I can do is pray that everyone you confront will learn to accept it, and that regardless of orientation, you find a good, steady relationship. That said... Man, it would be cool to work on a Fiero in shop class. B)

Let's all mourn the loss of the once-beautiful 1961 Cadillac. ... Now, let's move on and pretend this never happened, shall we?

I already bought my new car. What the car is and a picture will be posted next week. As for my other choices... Ford (incl. Mazda): Mustang DCX (incl. MB): Dodge Charger ...I guess. My answer will change when the Caliber comes out. Europe: VW Jetta Asia: Mitsubishi Eclipse

Throughout my late teens I kept having dreams where I was always really tired, regardless of any other events taking place. Another anomaly: Have you ever experienced Deja Vu? It's a very awkward feeling. I'll be sitting at a table in a restaurant, talking to a group of people, and then they say something, and suddenly I'm convinced that I've been at this very same table, talking to this same group of people and saying the same things before. But it's a restauant I've never been to before, a group of people I've never met, and a conversation that's never crossed my mind.

I've lost all respect for Wagoner. Do you have any idea what sort of impact this will have on purchases? All the people that will now refuse to buy GM on principle!? What about the union? They're going to be pretty damn pissed. First Delphi cuts the wages of its workers substantially. Then they give bonuses to their execs. Union backlash was sure to come, but GM - and you, Mr. Wagoner - stepped in to smooth things over. GM itself lays off 30,000 people; men and women with mouths to feed. And then YOU secure yourself a $4.6M/year pension!? How does this look to the 30,000 people who lost their jobs? How does it look to the Delphi workers who are taking pay cuts and are already pissed at the execs, hoping that maybe, just maybe you would be able to intervene without making an ass of yourself. I hope this is some kind of sick joke, because now the UAW won't want to concede as far as you were hoping. Now you will STILL have those legacy costs that have been hammering at GM for the past 20+ years. Now there's an even GREATER threat of a crippling strike! Oh, but wait... This doesn't affect you, does it? Once you're retired, you don't give a DAMN what happens to GM? As long as they can afford your pension...

Just to play devil's advocate, I can understand the reasoning behind putting these automated devices in place. Speeding, like it or not, is illegal, and it's made illegal for a reason. Car crashes at higher speeds are more likely to kill people. Cars can become more difficult to handle at higher speeds. It's the police department's job to enforce speeding laws. But they can't control all speeding violations. That's where the devices come into play. The particular system in question is dangerous because there are situations where speeding may save your life (as mentioned by Croc), but its intentions are good. Automated cameras also serve the purpose of catching EVERYONE who excessively speeds down a given road, but it doesn't take better judgement into account. If it's well advertised that a speeding camera is put in place, then maybe the drivers will pay more attention to it and drive safely. Hell, what police should do is bluff the driver into believing there's a trap, and that alone could save lives. The ones that piss me off, though, are the hidden cameras that you know nothing about until a few weeks after driving through the town... "The village of Sangwachizta charges you with a speeding violation..." At which point you ask yourself, what the hell is the village of Sangwachizta? One thing I won't be surprised to see in the future would be a production version of Toyota's amazing Pod, the innovative vehicle that adapts to your emotions and automatically slows down to a stop when it detects that you are "too angry to drive". [/rambling]

Now, as long as a system such as this is never mandated, here are a few perceivable effects of its presence: 1. Reduced insurance payments 2. Rental agencies can keep their fleet at legal speeds. 3. Police can use it as a bargaining chip when people without the system are caught speeding. "If you get this installed on your vehicle, the points that we are about to put on your license will be removed" 4. On unofficial "high speed" roads (read:the entire NY metropolitan area), vehicles with this system installed won't be able to keep up with traffic. A bad thing, indeed, but maybe it will encourage others to slow down. But we all know that by the end of this century the cars will be driving us, anyway.

This is true. Speeding tickets are also the #1 source of revenue for many police precincts. With speeding, drivers get where they want to go faster, and cops make more money catching the idiots who speed. Everybody wins. :P