[svelte]

The way this week is turning out, it could be a good TV Guide description for a sitcom episode:

The Republican family embarks on a week-long campaign to convince everyone they should lead the nation, only to have their plans foiled with news dominated that week by a hurricane that hits a city where their leadership failed in the past.

[svelte]

Paramount, don’t disagree that BMWs are fine cars.

But “better built” depends on how one measures.

As far as performance, I love great handling but to me the bottom line is acceleration. Handling curves is great until you reach the break-loose point which can literally make you need to change your shorts.

Me, I love acceleration. To be pushed back in my seat is really a rush. If it comes with great handling that is fantastic. But I won’t sacrifice that 0-60 time…

[svelte]

[quote=AN][quote=mcfmauigirl]can some one tell what happens when your front door faces your back yard? if it’s good luck or bad and if bad what the reason and what can i do to fix it? I’m in a rental. and thank so much for answering.[/quote]
It supposed to mean money goes in and goes straight out. One way to fix it is either to move one of the door or add a wall in between. But if you’re talking about your rental with this “problem”, then there’s not much you can do, but move.[/quote]

Since it’s a rental and she can’t move the door, the next best thing is to put a 6 ft tall by 4 ft wide safe where the back door is, facing the stairs.

That way, the money that tries to escape will be caught in the safe as savings.

[svelte]

I think part of the problem is that, in pandering to their base, they say something often enough that they actually start believing it’s the truth.

The human mind is an odd thing.

[svelte]

BMWs are nothing special in So Cal. A dime a dozen – look around next time you’re out and you’ll see so many you’d think they are a Corolla or something.

I really think drivers react much more to how you specifically are driving than the type of car you drive.

You could drive a (Ferrari/Audi/BMW/Vette/Viper/Rolls) aggressively and you’ll get anger from the drivers around you. Drive it slow and carefully and people aren’t gonna give you a second thought.

[svelte]

Now – can you name civil rights legislation that they initiated after 1960 (52 years ago)?

Not just supported, but initiated?

[svelte]

This same thing happened to me 20 yrs or so ago. I left my wallet on the roof. I backtracked my drive and actually witnessed someone picking it up out of the street. I pulled over, they saw me and ran.

When I caught up with them, it turned out to be 2 teens who I don’t think had made up their mind what to do with the wallet when they saw me, so they panicked and ran. They jumped in a bush and threw the wallet out to me.

The lesson I learned from all this was never EVER set anything on the roof – and I haven’t since that day. If I must set something down (very very rarely), I set it on the hood directly in front of the steering wheel so that when I start the car, I will see what I’ve forgotten.

[svelte]

We put in an attic fan a couple of years ago. Sits above guest room which is the only place you can hear it – a faint hum if you are perfectly still and listen. We are 10 miles from the coast and on the hottest days it runs from about noon to 8 pm. It is set to come on when the attic reaches 100 degrees. I swear the a/c comes on less often now in the house.

Great investment, glad we bought it. I have heard they may only last 5 to 10 years, so I actually bought a spare…that way I can bolt it right in with no alterations when the first one goes.

[svelte]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Talk about a biased article! Let’s take a look at how a few facts were packaged together to make wrong assumptions:

For the first 7 months of 2012, their market share was 18.0%, down from 20.0% for the same period in 2011.

Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Nowhere do they mention that GM market share was artificially high in 2011 due to the Japanese earthquake! That’s right, Japanese car sales were way off (Toyota down 22%, Honda down 28%) due to lack of supply. That would inflate the market share of the other brands, wouldn’t it? For shame, Forbes. Present things in a fair manner please.

Because the D-Segment is the highest volume single vehicle class in the U.S., and the U.S. is GM’s home market, it is difficult to imagine how GM could survive long term unless it can profitably develop, manufacture, and market a vehicle that can hold its own in the D-Segment.

Uh, wait. You mean a car company can’t survive unless it competes in every category? Someone needs to explain that to Porsche.

This article breezes on by the fact that every car company has strengths and weaknesses. GM is known for trucks mostly and that’s where it generates it’s sales. It is about to introduce new full size trucks, actually, so let’s watch their market share AFTER that happens.

Right now, the government’s GM stock is worth about 39% less than it was on November 17, 2010, when the company went public at $33.00/share. However, during the intervening time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by almost 20%, so GM shares have lost 49% of their value relative to the Dow.

It would be more fair to compare it to it’s competitors since Nov 2010,, wouldn’t it? Let’s take a look.
Honda 11/2010: $38/share
Honda today: $33/share

Ford 11/2010: $16/share
Ford today: $9/share

Toyota 11/2010: $77/share
Toyota today: $82/share

Not quite the same picture the Forbes article painted now, is it?

Finally, this article focuses on nothing but the Malibu – it bases almost all conclusions on that! It’s a poor article based on limited information taken out of context, with limited discussion on a single model!

Yeah, the Malibu is gonna have a lot of competition. What else is new?

[svelte]

[quote=flu]
Are we talking about the same NYC? Where people think if you don’t make close 1/2 million by the time you’re 30 and are single and have to live in the burbs, you’re not cutting it? NYC, where the entire economy pretty much revolves around wall street and Manhattan?
[/quote]

Or the same NYC where your neighbors get to vote on whether you can buy an apartment in their building? That’s what kills us – talk about snobbery.

[quote=spdrun]
I live in NYC.
[/quote]

Ahhhh, the ‘tude makes much more sense now.

[svelte]

Ah, screw it. Don’t buy for luxury. Buy for sheer beauty.

Screw that too. Beautiful cars are like beautiful women. Lust after them, spend exorbitant amounts of money on them, then at the strangest times they explode with no warning or reason and leave you heartbroken.

http://jalopnik.com/5934404/fisker-assures-us-they-have-no-idea-why-their-cars-keep-catching-on-fire

[svelte]

[quote=squat250]
this car is already getting me too relaxed. need more fear…[/quote]

Here you go.

http://pcwise.net/images1/Amazing/crashes/crash13.jpg

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Man-critically-injured-in-Northwest-Side-crash-1430958.php

http://www.katu.com/news/15492666.html

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/crash-238736-chp-people.html

http://www.car-accidents.com/2007-auto-crash-story/5-1-07-honda-2.html

[svelte]

🙂 Love it!

Let me stamp the NSFW label on it, though, just FYI…

[svelte]

Personally, I would ignore the 30 day delinquencies. They can be skewed for a variety of reasons and in some months can be quite high. A good example is when HOA fees go up – it can take several months for homeowners to adjust and therefore they will show up on the delinquent list for the delta between the old and new fee rate.

I would watch the 90 days or more category, and from my experience having 5% or less in this category is typical. 10% would start raising my eyebrows, and if you get much higher than that I would start asking questions.

[svelte]

[quote=bearishgurl]

svelte, would you agree that your son couldn’t have found a better-running car for $4K?

Has he taken it out on the open road, yet?[/quote]

Someone pulled out in front of him and totaled it.

[Author]

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