Loving the new Mustang. Haven't sat in one, haven't driven one, and don't know anybody who has but I like the looks. Give me one that weighs and is sized at about 7/8th scale to the new one (or even a little smaller yet) and we're talking.

Still lusting after a '66 2+2 though...

The '81 represented so may possibilities.... Engine was hobbled by mediorce carb and exhaust. A header and a trio of Dellortos would have made things better. The car had a sweet spot at about 60 mph. Any more and the mpg took a nose dive. Any slower and everybody else on the highway would run over me. Had a/c and power options. A/C used a good portion of the car's power on the highway b/c the compressor was so big. Big Techumseh piston compressor. Made cold air though and never needed a charge.

Travelled with it many times after I entered the Navy. Nice enough but after I bought a Rabbit 'vert I realized how mediocre the Mustang was. The Rabbit had 1.8L, same 90HP, and got nearly twice the mileage and would run circles around the Mustang. Much better on the highway with slightly wider tires, a five speed, and better intake/exhaust than the Mustang.

The Mustang was the last American car I have ever owned (except a brief love affair with a '49 Chevy truck). Really defined the import vs domestic debate for me at the time. Mediocre in so many ways and there were so many BETTER four cylinder imports to be had for the same money. My Dad's '82 Celica was a much better car as well though not much faster.

Saw the car one more time when I got out the Navy. Still looked the same, well cared for and surely had a ton of mileage on it by then At nearly 15 years old.

I'd like to see the German girl that drove the Transit van on TopGear make the same lap in the same 'Vette.

Now can we see the Challenger, Charger, Viper, Mustang, and Prius (!) make the same lap? Of course with the Prius lap I want to see if they can get it down to 15 mpg for the fun of it...

All new car specs ought to include a "best 'ring" video for the customer where somebody laps a car like the one they just bought...

I WANT an EV. Not one fo those goofy GEM NEVs. I drove one of those a couple weeks ago. Neat but not practical except tiny villages and golf course communities but then again a bicycle would work well in those situations. I live in a small college town and the GEM which is limited to 25 mph would not be useful out on the city streets b/c the limits are 35 and 45 mph where 25 would be a liability. Give me a 45 mph CAR (not a near car like the GEM) and we'd talk. Still 25 mph for 40 miles is not something to laugh at. The build quality of the GEM is.

What I want is a modern equivalent to the RAV-4EV. 100+ miles range. Real creature comforts like a/c, heat, power windows. A real chassis and a real interior. 100 miles would last me ALL week and into the next week depending on weekend use. 100 miles would get me all over the county and would even last me into the next county and back in one straight shot (wife's commute is 25 miels each way).

Time to bring this cars to market and sell them to us. None of the GM EV-1 soap opera. None of the Chevron patent encumberence BS. None of the arguments that a person can't do the stuff he does with his ICE with an EV like towing, long vacation trips or recharging in 5 mins. There are many different vehicles out there and some won't do everything either but nobody knocks them down as quickly as some folks try to knock down the idea of an EV. Can't tow with a Corvette. Can't really travel too far with a Harley unless you only have one passenger and very little luggage. We sell those though don't we?

Time to diversify our energy sources and how we drive around. Time to stop making excuses. Time to slow down our fuel consumption.

If GM/Ford/Chrysler aren't careful they will find themselves once again selling the wrong product. They ought to working an EV out right now b/c I suspect in the next five years we'll start seeing Asian electric cars on the roads of our towns and cities.

I really don't want to see any gov't rules restricting us to 55 mph. I grew up riding at 55 mph and it was really just a gov't tax in a different form (speeding tickets). Let aas keep creeping up and people's overheated wallets will control how fast folks drive. At $7 a gallon I'd consider a personal max speed of 40 mph whenever safe. Currently I drive a very small VW product at the in-town speed limits.

Would exceed all my needs in a 2nd car and meet all of our needs in the 1st car except going to see grandma.

Okay so 1st and 2nd cars are EVs and 3rd car is big and thirsty and in the garage for trips. That car would last decades only getting used occasionally. Make it it a BMW/AUDI/MERC wagon please or a Eurovan VR-6 with the camper package (Weekender not a Winnie).

If you want some reading:

[www.evnut.com]

[en.wikipedia.org]

Damn big oil!!! Ready to remove them from my life as completely as possible!

I don't want to move anytime soon. On a bright note we have more stuff going out of our lives than coming in lately. Getting rid of alot of debris that we have carried around with us for a decade. Next move will be easier.

FWIW I sunk a Kawsaki Concours - almost. Was out riding in the country and crossed a creek. Well, a dirt road that crossed a creek. Normally 2-3 inches deep, this time the depth looked the same but the bottom had washed out - maybe 4 ft deep now.

Bike floated on the luggage and gas tank. Right height to keep the instruments out of the water. Rescued it and went home and changed all the oils and kept on riding it. I'd guess the Miata could do the same after all the dash electrics were changes, all the oils were changed, and the interior dried out. At least it was pool water and not dirty river water.

Our house which costs x-amount also has a mortgage whose interest is about the same amount as the purchase price. What is the sense of that from the consumer side? Each generation making the bankers ever richer.

What we DON'T want to do is be like some folks close to us and be nearly 70 years old, working because they have to, and still paying off a mortgage. Those folks have repeatedly taken money out of their equity to buy stuff over the years and now are "paying the price" for it.

Help these Habitat for Humanity folks build houses they can be proud of and thus build neighborhoods where kids an be raised to be intelligent and productive people. Now if we can just conquer the divorce rates and single parent households that can lead to neighborhood decay and higher crime rates by kids who haven't gotten a proper raising...

That their styling, apply Honda quality and I'll buy.

The M80 is a great name. I think the M-series trucks were the military trucks they built in the 40-60s.

Whatever the case they need a small truck that works well as a four cylinder or a V-6 similar in size and weight to the original Chevy S-10 or Ranger. It better get 25+ mpg in four cylinder trim too. 30 would be better. This would be an excellent application for a small turbo diesel (as in a GOOD one and not like the great clanking beasts found in the big pickups i.e. not a locomotive engine. More like the VW turbo diesels found in their cars).

That said I had a rental Galant a year or so ago for a few days and it was a comfortable and capable sedan. VERY quiet. Interior was similar to my 1st gen CR-V which is to say "easy to clean" which is also to say cheap but durable (a decade and 161K miles later).

Still I'd worry about something really major breaking on that Galant before 100K miles. Resale isn't as much an issue b/c I keep new cars until 200K miles. Okay, I kept the only new car I ever bought (or ever will buy). My next dozen or so cars will be 30K mile used cars.

So is that your current setup? Curious what all the components do.

I'm going to stick with my Nokia N810. Or my previous PalmTX. Only prob with the N810 is that there is not a word processor for it yet. All the other bases are covered... The TX has Documents-to-Go. However when I go home I'm off the clock until 8AM the next morn.

Those RAV4-EVs are still rolling around on full electric drivetrains. Original batteries too with over 100K on some of them with no range losses.

Look I want a sporty car for the weekends but the economics of daily life dictate careful spending. If I can get big oil out of my wallet I'd be a very happy fellow.

Also FWIW my '97 VW Cabrio has been just fine. At 150K miles it has not been as good as my 160K '99 CR-V but the VW has been fine. Starting to get some old car repairs though. A/c compressor bearing is ringing when the a/c is off which it is all the time b/c I have a freon leak somewhere. Bearing is $50, hose will be about the same. Charge it for another $50. I have a pump, gauges and lines. Also power steering pump is starting moan. Another $60 or so. Otherwise good to go. Only driving 10 miles to work and 10 miles home so I don't require much of a car.

Would it be a sin to put a modern Honda four cylinder in it though? Something than make more power than the original engine??? VBG!

Prob a real bargain van - good quality and nobody loves it so the resale is cheap.

Just kidding. Glad they are thinking outside of the box at IBM.

I think what makes doing business in North America difficult is the fickle customer. Detroit can sell us large vehicles all day long - until gas gets expensive. Then folks run away to the imports only to return as soon as gas prices drop again.

I haven't enjoyed paying nearly $4 a gallon but I do like the side effects - fewer trucks and SUVs.

I fear the average consumer from any country is not very imaginative. They just want easy and cheap. This translates into boring cars and the sheeple effect - gotta do whateveryone else is doing while simultaneously declaring my individuality.

Me? I'm a big white guy with a beard driving a white VW Cabrio...

Amazing vehicles those trucks...

Hoping that TopGearUSA is better than this!!!!

What I fear is that TopGearAmerica will become another one of the car shows like those on the Discover Channel or the History Channel where we get a really watered down show aimed at the non-car folks.

Would rather have a Gen1 CR-V set up like a Rav4-EV - or an Astra/Golf/Mazda3 setup like a Rav4-EV.

Maybe Detroit will go broke (maybe that is the plan), dumb the UAW, and rise from the ashes healthier and more interesting. Maybe the stockholders will ditch the upper level management. Maybe this will usher in the Euro-cars or motivate Detroit to bring over more. I'll take an Astra in a couple years thanks...

Maybe this period will cause more Americans to get their heads out of their ***es and start thinking about their debt and how they spend their money. Maybe this period will motivate us to kick the liars out of Washington and make some lasting changes.

FWIW I like the old ads. They seem to really be talking to the viewer and not trying to blow smoke up - - well you know what I mean....

We'll see if I keep the new one or if I go back to the old menu. That said the top 8 programs I use I have keystrokes for so I can get busy really quickly and easily. Mouse or keyboard - I'll use either but I don't like to switch back and forth to get something done.

Ctrl-Shift-O = Opera
Ctrl-Shift-T = Thunderbird
Ctrl-Sheft-t = Amarok

And so on...

On the other hand I worry about having alot of money in the stock market when there are so many people living on credit these days. Almost seems like our economy is made of glass and all it would take would be a hard tumble to destroy the markets causing people like me to lose years or decades of investment progress.

I have been considering looking for an investment to put part of my money into where it will be insured.

Whatever the case I won't rely wholly on the markets or wholly on social insecurity. Don't want to be 75 and working as a waiter in some diner...

Our goals are to pay off the mortgage (30 year mortgage but we think we can pay it off in 8 once my wife's employment situation is better). Then hopefully when our children are married and looking for their first house we can help them avoid a long mortgage thereby enabling them to do the same for their children. I think we need to get out of this "American Dream" cycle where each generation has a 30 year period they are paying off their debt. We need to start adult life debt free and stay that way even if it means starting with a 700 sq ft house and moving up as we can afford it.

That does not take into account tires (4 sets over 200K miles) at $450 for a total of $1800. A new convertible top say two times during that period. For me it was $318 to buy and install b/c I can do it myself. For you it is $1100 each time for a total of $2200. 40 oil changes for $800. Timing belt three times roughly at $250 each for a total of $750. Water pump along the way, a starter, an alternator, brakes a few times, muffler, an ignition switch, an a/c charge twice, and it adds up to say another $1500 over the life of the car. Of course I learned to do these things by studying GOOD repair manuals, working with friends, reading alot of the web, magazines, etc over the past 25 years in my spare time so my cost to fix this stuff is much less than the average mechanic-dependent person.

That means to drive the VW Cabrio it would cost $20,800+$1500+$1800+$800+$750+$1500=$27,150 just to operate the vehicle.

This does not take into account the purchase price of the car ($20K+), insurance ($500+ per year), or registration ($50+ per year). Using 13 years (15K per year), that's $6500 insurance, $650 in registration fees, and say $17K in depreciation. That totals up to $24,150.

That means it costs you $27,150+$24,150= $51300 roughly to haul yourself around per 200K miles.

That means that assuming you went without a car I could easily afford the nice big house near the university where I work if we actually sold the car and made sure it stayed sold (wasn't replaced) and if I rode my bike or walked everyday.

That also means over the long haul if you car pool and don't buy the 2nd car you don't really need it will pay for itself.

I guess the key actually saving the money that you save.

On the other hand that works out to $4000K a year so if you can better your income annually by that much you won't be spending any more to buy a second car. I would prefer to make the extra money AND forgo the second car... VBG!

I have no desire to drive something everyday any real distance that gets 17 mpg!

As for the medical savings accounts - I got into one through my employer that was a use it or lose it arrangement. If you save less than you know you'll spend then it might be okay but we go to the doctor's office once a year (?). The account did us very little good. We also participated in the child care plan that paid for daycare per taxes and it worked better b/c it was a fixed cost. However - I think I recall it may have impacted our tax refund (?) - I mean lowering it. We have traditionally used that refund as a catch up fund. Each February we use that money to get tires for one of the cars or to fix something at our house or to replace an ailing appliance if I can't fix it anymore.