<![CDATA[Comments from Tanshanomi]]> <![CDATA[Comments from Tanshanomi]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on J.D. Power: Car Dealership Customer Satisfaction Improves, Jaguar Comes Out On Top Again]]> "Why Hello, again, Mr. Burke. Power windows on the blink this time, you say? Tisk, tisk. Now that is a pity. Yes, we'll get right on that. Your favorite recliner is available in the waiting ro--, er, VIP lounge. Yes, the brown leather; it's just been buffed. Single malt? If I'm not mistaken, you're an on-the-rocks man? Very good. I will send Brent out to service your XJ immedjetly, and send Dominique in to service you in the mean time."

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Jackie Chan Shows Us The Joy Of Minivan Hoonage: Volkswagen Caddy]]> @Elhigh: Yea, as if Chuck Norris cares one little bit about the environment. Or those who beg.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Five Ugliest Concept Trucks]]> @yellofury * * * * *: I don't recall anybody calling the Mudmaster ugly. Tippy yes, ugly no.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on NICE Ze-O: Production Electric Car For $28,000, Ugly For Free]]> "...bucket of ugly..."

No more than a lot of today's cars, from China or otherwise.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on New Photos Reveal The 2009 Ferrari California In Glorious Detail]]> I actually like the looks of it with the top up, or down, but retractible hardtop = FAIL.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Five Ugliest Concept Trucks]]> Actually, I have no problem with the XIX (except the name). It reminds me of all those funky utility vehicles that are inevitably marketed only in South Africa. Or Brazil.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Can You Come Up With A Better Auto Product Placement Plot?]]> "Holy Alliance" Baby-boomer and ex-hippy bikers go cross-country attempting to recruit others into their cult religion that proclaims "Harley is God."

It's a documentary.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Can You Come Up With A Better Auto Product Placement Plot?]]> "HiLux Hijinks," A wacky but edgy black comedy about how a down-and-out ex-warlord, with the help of his remaining three doltish minions and his last Toyota Hilux with an M-60 pintle-mountd on the roll bar, drives around his sub-Saharan African homeland, dreaming up crazy plots to regain his lost political influence. The Hilux is featured as the only functional, efficient, reliable member of the group.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Can You Come Up With A Better Auto Product Placement Plot?]]> "Forrester, PI": A detective is hired by a reclusive billionaire to find a mysterious female, who's only known characteristic is an uncontrollable sexual fetish for Subarus. In a trademark scene at least once an episode, Forrester runs up to a parked WRX, to find only an open passenger door and a spaced-out fanboy, muttering to himself with a big grin on his face.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Miata Owner Gets Bored, Swaps In Jaguar V12]]> @mxrz: Followed the link and got tingly sensations.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Miata Owner Gets Bored, Swaps In Jaguar V12]]> I know that people love to slam Jag V12 motors. They are heavy, they are cumbersome, they are overly-complex, they are unreliable. Shutup whatever!

I came to the conclusion that they were about the sexiest mechanical thing ever made when I was a pre-teen, and nothing since has caused me to change my mind since.

BTW, Marvin Baumann needs to swap one into a Ford 8-N.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Commenter Of The Day: Sex Sells Edition]]> @cargogh: 63, 64...whatever it takes.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Bob Lutz Talks Future GM Vehicles, Powertrains]]> "The Chevy Beat cannot be made compatible with US crash regulations without significant investment in time and money, and as such will not appear on these shores."

Don't blame me, I voted Groove.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What's The Worst Car Color Combination?]]> @mehugtree: Oh, that's not true. This may not be a car, but ain't Mr T. either, and it looks yummy good to me!

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What's The Worst Car Color Combination?]]>

...okay, think I've made my point.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What's The Worst Car Color Combination?]]> @Tanshanomi: Follow-ups, thanks to Google image search...

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What's The Worst Car Color Combination?]]> @combat chuck: @P161911: Let's face it, Woodgrain looks horrible with anything but black. A girlfriend in high school had a fire-engine red Pinto wagon with woodgrain. Blech.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What's The Worst Car Color Combination?]]>

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What's The Worst Car Color Combination?]]>

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What's The Worst Car Color Combination?]]> Any Honda Element.

Well, except the SC, which they managed to paint all one color.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on When You Need A Big, Fast Fiat: 1972 130 Coupe]]> THAT'S a FIAT? Day-um...

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Hummer H2 Assembly Line To Produce Just-As-Boxy Standard Taxis]]> Why did the headline for this post change? Did someone in Gawker's legal department object to calling the Hummer and the Standard Taxi as "ugly?"

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on A Jalopnik Study: Does Car Logo Badge Size Correspond With Buyer Bulge Size?]]> Here's my question - what's with the oval thing in Asia? Look at the Lexus oval, the Infiniti oval, the Hyundai oval, and of course the Toyota "T" oval (with ovals making up the T, even!). They are so similar as to be nearly interchangeable. The Mazda "M"/wing oval is also remarkably close, just ever so squared off. If you want to add in India, Mahindra, Tata and IMCL are also ovals.

Nearly interchangeable logos on nearly undistinguishable cars. Coincidence, or a secret plot for the coming One World OEM? Hmmm...

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Are Cars Getting Uglier?]]> The median ugly quotient is is definitely going the wrong way - there are definitely a rising percentage of ugly cars over pretty cars in manufacturers' lineups.

The mean ugly quotient is getting worse, but only slightly. The typical car encountered on the street is only slightly uglier (blandness is a form of ugly). This is helped by fewer of the ugliest cars being being sold.

The ugly quotient range is pretty stable. The prettiness of the prettiest cars and the ugliness of the ugliest cars is largely equivalent from one motoring era to the next.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on What Happens When A Mopar Makes Sweet Love To A Ford?]]> That seems like a lot of work for what is, ultimately, not all that remarkable a change...

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on HHRamino Makes Chevy HHR Seem Palatable]]> Outstanding! And a whole lot better looking than the SSR.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Polling Confirms Americans Will Not Drive 55, Also They Don't Understand Energy Policy]]> I propose your speed limit be 3x your EPA MPG estimate.
Escalade: 57 MPH
S2000: 75 MPH
Fit: 102 MPH
E320 Bluetec: 111 MPH
Pure Electrics: Unlimited

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Project Car Hell: Goggomobil Or Grand Nationalmino?]]> Nothing against the GN, but anytime I get to vote for a Goggomobil, I gotta go for it.

Besides, 350 Banshee quad motors are all over Craigslist, for cheap...

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on 1984 Toyota Cressida]]> @slantsick- Original Miles Survivor, Ran When Parked, Best O...:
Actually, I always found the lines of the 1Gen coupes rather graceful from any angle but the front, in a late-malaise sort of way. Always thought it was a pity NA never got them.

But, looking at it now, I can kinda see a bit of Mustang II in it, even from the rear side view. Ewww...thanks for ruining it for me.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on A Look Back At Digital Gauges]]> @texan01: AWD Pontiac 6000 STE: one of the rare occasions that GM let the techie types actually design a vehicle the way they wanted to, without letting the marketing men and bean counters water down the process. A bit of a silk purse, considering that the starting point was the Chevy Celebrity, but an under-appreciated car.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on A Look Back At Digital Gauges]]> Actually, the perfect dash for a neo-retro steampunk rat rod would be a digital dash display...using nixie tubes

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on A Look Back At Digital Gauges]]> @abgwin: Actually, the pseudo-analog "fluoroscan" style gauges make a great deal of sense, which is why they are used in military helicopters. At a quick glance, you can gauge not only the rate of change (something analogs do which digitals do not), but the variation in the illuminated area makes it easier to assess the measurement as a percentage of the gauge's range.

Actually, I now recall that some '80s car (Monte Carlo SS?) actually had analog "disc" gauges that mimicked this arrangement.

In aircraft, the whole display changes color - usually from green to red - when the measurement indicates an out-of-operating-range condition, which makes even more sense.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Sudden Stop Helps Prevent Rear-End Accidents]]> @abgwin: Yes, they got a two-year temporary exemption:
[edocket.access.gpo.gov]

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Diesel BMW 335 Spied, To Hit US Shores By Fall]]> @Ash78: And soot.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on A Look Back At Digital Gauges]]> @mattmacklind: Actually, the Reatta was the perfect choice for depressed, lonely men of any political ilk after their midlife crisis had passed. Once the young blonde left them, they admitted to themselves that they should have stayed with their kids' mother, realized that they really didn't like that trendy apartment, and faced up to the fact that they were going to die anyway, selling the 'Vette and buying a Buick was inevitable. Since they'd alienated nearly everybody from their past that would ever want to go anywhere with them, the 2-seat Reatta was the only logical choice.

Man, thinking about the Reatta always leaves me very depressed.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Diesel BMW 335 Spied, To Hit US Shores By Fall]]> @Tanshanomi:

"Diesel" is to the new millennium what "turbo" was to the '80s.

No, I'm wrong. "Hybrid" is to the new millennium what "turbo" was to the '80s. "Diesel" is in second place - perhaps what "overhead cam" was to the '80s.

I can't wait for a diesel hybrid. What a massive 2Kgasm everyone'll have over that.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Diesel BMW 335 Spied, To Hit US Shores By Fall]]> Wait, I missed a big culture shift. When did diesel engines in passenger cars go from being a punchline to being coveted by enthusiasts? Sure, there been a couple impressive turbodiesels over the years, but now it seems that everybody's slobbering over diesel for the sake of having a diesel, regardless of whether or not the engine is actually better than the gas option.

"Diesel" is to the new millennium what "turbo" was to the '80s.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on A Look Back At Digital Gauges]]> So, do all the '88 & '89 Riveras and Reattas still out there now have CRT burn in, like those old video games you see in Dairy Queens and dive bars with "GAME OVER - INSERT COIN" permanently on their screens?

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on Sudden Stop Helps Prevent Rear-End Accidents]]> And also not legal. NHTSA regs ban flashing brake lights.

]]> <![CDATA[Tanshanomi commented on 1984 Toyota Cressida]]> Lack of the first gen's severely vertical grille = FAIL.

]]>