The Princess Prisoner of Port Hueneme

[Steve Ekstrand]

In the picture she's waiting for the Waggoneer's truck to come pick her up earlier today. The truck came. She is at the dealership now being checked over and detailed.

A prisoner no more, but not quite home....

[Kurt Rahn]

Niiiiiiiiiiice. I'm envious!

[Steve Ekstrand]

Freshly tuned up and soon for sale...
The monster Neon.

[Kurt Rahn]

Looks good, but I'm allergic to American cars. They work pretty well until you get out of warranty, then they seem to fall apart piece by piece around you.

[Chuck Fowler]

Freshly tuned up and soon for sale...
The monster Neon.

mmmmm
wonder how much trouble a rear wheel drive conversion would be...

Looks good, but I'm allergic to American cars. They work pretty well until you get out of warranty, then they seem to fall apart piece by piece around you.

like toyota's and honda's ?

[Kurt Rahn]

like toyota's and honda's ?

I despise Toyotas, but I can tell you firsthand (having owned three Hondas well into their old age) that Hondas are as close to bulletproof as I've ever seen, especially given the low displacement/high revving of their engines.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Engine assembled in Mexico from Japanese, German, Canadian, and USA parts.
German clutch and engine management/fuel system
Large number of Canadian and US parts assembled in Illinois.

[Kurt Rahn]

I'm talkin' less about where the actual car was assembled or manufactured, and more about the schmoes in charge of overseeing and coordinating the assembly and manufacturing. My 92 Honda Civic si was built in East Liberty, OH, but I guarantee you it outlasted 95% of what the Big Three put out the same year (probably built in Canada, BTW). I'm still kicking myself for selling it four years ago.

Until recently, the Big Three seemed hellbent on creating disposable cars with an effective shelf life of 100K miles and/or 5-8 years. Their problems are deeply institutionalized, though it seems Ford and Chrysler (until the whole Cerberus/bye bye Lutz thing, anyway) were closer to starting to pull themselves out of it. Don't believe me? Check out a) the percentage of 5+ year-old Japanese cars still on the road compared to older American cars and b) the resale value of said cars.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Check out a) the percentage of 5+ year-old Japanese cars still on the road compared to older American cars and b) the resale value of said cars.

Building cars that only sell in big numbers to rental fleets kills resale value. The "all-new" 2007 Chrysler Sebring went to fleets at an astounding 72% clip during the first six months of last year. The car is the worst in its segment with a combination of goofy styling, dodgy build quality and crappy power trains, so perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising.

[Steve Ekstrand]

My friends at Chrysler would sadly agree with any slams and criticisms you could muster. They are plenty furious about cars like the Sebring. The indecision and lack of strategic thinking at the top is just stunning. Then toss in the union hurdle to everything and the legacy costs. Then add a financing disaster, run away fuel costs, run away steel and commodity costs, run away trasnportation costs, and tanking demand. They need a Houdini at this point. Same could be said at all three.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

My friends at Chrysler would sadly agree with any slams and criticisms you could muster. They are plenty furious about cars like the Sebring. The indecision and lack of strategic thinking at the top is just stunning. Then toss in the union hurdle to everything and the legacy costs. Then add a financing disaster, run away fuel costs, run away steel and commodity costs, run away trasnportation costs, and tanking demand. They need a Houdini at this point. Same could be said at all three.

Ford shares have traded as low as $1.80 today; GM at $5.25, above the 52-week low of $4.00, but way off the high of $39.45.
Nardelli's just pink-slipped 5,000 white collar workers at Chrysler.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Ouch.... I may not have friends at Chrysler.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Waggoneer's says they delivered our car at the dealership 4:44pm on Thursday....

5:30pm on Friday.... My dealer still can't find it.

The Princess Prisoner of Port Hueneme has gone missing... We await word of a ransom demand.

[Kurt Rahn]

Waggoneer's says they delivered our car at the dealership 4:44pm on Thursday....

5:30pm on Friday.... My dealer still can't find it.

The Princess Prisoner of Port Hueneme has gone missing... We await word of a ransom demand.

Assael/BMWoMonrovia?

[Steve Ekstrand]

No... I got in a fight with the owner of Assael years and years ago at a charity golf tournament in Palm Springs. A colossal assh*le. I don't know if he still owns it. But I didn't want to take chances.

I've referred many friends to my dealer and they've all come out with great transactions so I don't want to trash them. They are doing a favor to my dad. They don't make a commission off of my transaction. I don't get a briefing or anything. They do have to prep the car, wash it, and hand over the keys. And they have to do a promotional finance with no profit there either, but the same amount of work. Everything but the "Client Advisor" hand holding. Of course, that means the Sales Manager and Finance manager have to do 100% of the work. So, its rough for me to complain too much.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Free... Free at last!!!

[Kurt Rahn]

WOW!! Them's some red seats!!

[Steve Ekstrand]

The flash did wash them out and make them look orangey.

They look really good. I'm thrilled with the combination. We'd originally planned on Montego Blue (medium blue metallic) with light grey interior (looks like off white). But Stacey decided we'd had enough blue cars (it would have been our sixth blue car).

[David Barrish]

I think that would be lip-stick red. Oh my.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Looks like the real color is reflected in the chrome trim on the steering wheel and shifter. Very nice!

[Max Hayter]

Very nice - I always liked those BMW red seats.

[Steve Ekstrand]

I was watching that Speed Test drive with Kendall, Andretti, Rahal, and Said driving 2008 M3 coupes. The cars are all white with Coral Red/Black interiors.

I like the aluminum trim, but it scratches and dents easily and we have Robert. The Gray Poplar looks fantastic with the combo. My dad was worried about it when I was ordering. So, he leaves his office and starts walking around the VPC with his cell phone. He couldn't find a red interior with gray poplar even with a 1000 cars out there. But he found a black car with it and said, oh yeah, its darker than the first samples I saw, that'll work. We still were a little apprehensive. But I'm just in love with it. We got it as a second choice to the aluminum, but I think I like it better.

[Curt Luther]

Damn. I loves me the white chicks...

[Steve Ekstrand]

And this white chick really has the whole suck, bang, blow thing down. }:)

[Curt Luther]

And this white chick really has the whole suck, bang, blow thing down. }:)

Yeah, but what about the car?...