gwilson

Why has this thread died?

If you're still interested in cars (exotics, customs, etc) check out a friend of mine's new site, www.egarage.com . They've already been sourced more than once on Autoblog and Jalopnik and have some exclusive content on ultra exotics like the new SSC Tuatara. The site is amazing, the content is amazing, the guys that run it are pretty epic too.

Hey, don't be dissing analog clocks! I have one in my vehicle.

Infiniti M, I presume.

I love the analog clock in my QX. Too bad it is too low to be of any real use. I've had several cars that had analog clocks in them in the past 10 years.

Subdude...looks like you're more on point that I thought...

Marchionne admits Fiat might sell of Ferrari ahead of merger

It still doesn't make sense to me. The idea of Ferrari and Lamborghini being head to head competitors within the same company just seems nutty.

That said, no matter which car one chooses to buy, VW wins, so who knows.

I do know that buying Ferrari would barely dent VW's cash position though.

Boy, I wouldn't be too sure. VW has proven a lot more interested in expanding its portfolio than worrying about competition with itself. They also have Bugatti competing in the high-end market, and Skoda and, to a lesser degree Seat compete with VW.

Yes, but they don't have apples to apples competitors within their brand.

Seat and VW aren't direct competitors.

VW > Audi > Bentley

Porsche > Lamborghini > Bugatti

Skoda and Seat have automobiles in similar segments, but they aren't direct competition.

Them buying Ferrari would give them two ultra-competitive brands in the same market.

What they might do is simply buy an equity stake to piggy back on Fiat's most profitable brand.

Fact is, we won't know until the silly Europeans do something silly. I think it would be tragic though. Part of what has kept both companies innovating is their competition with each other (Lamborghini and Ferrari).

Autoblog has a rumor that VW is interested in buying Ferrari from Fiat.

This isn't likely to happen considering that VW owns Lamborghini.

If they do... I wonder what kind of effect this will have the designs of both VW and Ferrari.

In the unlikely event that it were to happen, it would be combining of engineering rather than design.

lol, I have an 08 QX56 and love it. I looked at every other SUV on the market and it was the most comfortable with the best toys at the time and I liked how it looked. Mine is quite a big a way from stock right now though.

That said, the exterior styling on the new one is, different to say the least. I went and saw it in person this past week (went and looked at a few other ridiculous cars as well like the Aston Martin Rapide, Panamera Turbo and the new Jag XJ...all of which I like), and it looks much better in person. The interior, however, is possibly one of the best I've ever seen.

I like the CL, but that wood steering wheel looks so cheap (their wood wheels look odd in general) and there is (I never thought I'd say this because I love wood trim) waaaaay too much wood in that thing.

hmmm

Congrats

I remember back when they expanded it to 16 screens. It was THE hotness until Studio 30 got put up.

While car shopping recently, I stopped by there and looked at a few models. Compared to the absolute trash surrounding it, it is a bright point.

The thread starter is nuts. =P

LOL. The part between 59 and the City of Bellaire is the WORST area in Southwest Houston. That's where my friends lived. (Near Long Middle School). That's where half the illegal aliens in Houston live.

That isn't Sharpstown really anymore. You are getting in to Gulfton at that point. That side of 59 is trash in general IMO as well.

I have two good friends that just moved away from Sharpstown after having lived there since the 70's that would disagree with you. If it's so safe why are burglar bars popping up everywhere? Go by the golf course and ask about the increased vandalism and golf cart thefts. Why the increase in security at HBU? You can have your statistics. Sharpstown is no longer a desirable place to live or shop. At least not for white people.

I live in Sharpstown, and have lived here for a long time. I disagree with them. There are always people who get spooked. Burglar bars are a product of paranoia and are certainly not exclusive to Sharpstown. You can drive through plenty of neighborhoods, even those considered to be upscale, and find numerous of them. The golf course has ALWAYS had this problem. The increased security at HBU is a pipe dream. It is no different, they just put lights on top of the trucks now. There is a minimally larger presence at night to make people feel safe because of the trash down Fondren at Bissonett (King's Gate). Sharpstown has plenty of upside for people who aren't LOOKING for the bad and aren't paranoid.

All your stats most likely point to the single family residential dwelling component of Sharpstown. Sharpstown is more than just the actual deed restricted neighborhoods. It also includes all those apartment complexes & strip center store-fronts.

They do include, but are not exclusive to SFHs in the area. There is more crime IN the apartments, but even then, it isn't as much as the area is made out to be. The high crime areas are down Fondren in the W. Belfort and Fondren SW areas, Alief, Forum Park and others. These areas border Sharpstown and are primarily responsible for the image of crime in Sharpstown.

As I've said on numerous posts about Sharpstown. I refuse to visit my folks after dark. The area is simply too unsafe for me to be driving around. And I don't say this lightly. I will walk or drive around Chicago, NYC, Miami, DC, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney at any time of the day or night and I never feel unsafe. And I will drive around Houston at all hours of the day EXCEPT Sharpstown. Fondren Southwest is safer than Sharpstown. I get gas at W. Airport and Fondren at all hours of the day, never feel unsafe. I shop at Fiesta and Walgreens on Fondren. Never feel unsafe. But I do not feel safe at CVS at Gessner/Beechnut except in full daylight.

This part still gets me. Sharpstown is simply NOT unsafe. Thinking it is is nothing more than buying in to the rhetoric. The crime stats prove any claims of Sharpstown being unsafe patently false. Between the stats and anecdotal evidence, you simply cannot call Sharpstown unsafe from a logical point of view.

Who was it that got involved and kept the owner of Carnival from building on the old Gillman lot? Perhaps they could get involved.

My uncle was spearheading this campaign along with a few other residents. He also got the PID and the TIRZ that are paying for the Bellaire esplanade work established and is responsible for the police storefront in the mall as well as a few others like Gulfton. The Sharpstown storefront was originally intended to be a community center as well as a place for the City Counsel rep to work out of, but MJ Khan abaondoned that idea to get buddy buddy with his Harwin ilk.

My sons girlfriend attends HBU. It's not the school it once was. They warn the students early about the area and how it's not safe.

Have you ever been in the Memorial Herman Southwest ER? Be prepared to wait a long time before getting treated. Illegal aliens use it like a clinic.

I still golf at the Sharpstown course. Best course in town for the money. Now they have to get your drivers license as a deposit until you bring back the keys to the golf cart. They are constantly being stolen.

Sharpstown still has some nice little pockets but the only way the area will ever come back is if they mow down every single apartment complex on the southwest side of Houston.

HBU is still a great school and the area is plenty safe. HBU is very near the beginings of the Fondren SW/West Belfort Area (down Fondren toward Bissonett) and it does get bad down there some times.

SW ERs is just fine. The wait there is no different than any other and patients are treated them same as well. If you have a true emergency, you'll get in immediately. If you're there for the sniffles, you'll be waiting. Just like every other hospital in town.

Sharpstown GC could use some work, but it is still a great course. My uncle and I had some ideas of having it privatized or at least semi-private so there could be some investment in it to improve the grounds and facilities.

The "pockets" actually make up the majority of the land area. The neighborhoods is where you see the true beauty of Sharpstown. That isn't to say there are some who let their houses fall in to disrepair, but my neighborhood, and the neighborhood surrounding the Golf Course are very nice.

so pretending that many around there don't act like animals will solve the issue....maybe if we all close our eyes and click our heals we can pretend we are not about to get mugged at Sharpstown Mall....especially when we just closed our eyes for a second!

some may have come a long way.....but many more have gone a long ways backwards......no matter what one thinks about separate facilities for races only a fool would argue that Shaprstown was not a hell of a lot safer back then than it is today.....if 70% of black kids born in single parent homes and 50% of black kids graduating high school along with a half black president raised by white grand parents and sent to all the best private schools....much less the condition of Sharpstown and Greenspoint (even with multirace bathrooms) is progress then I would hate to see what lack of progress is

I guess progress to some is having access to and the ability to destroy and dump on and ignore what others have

also nowhere did I mention race until this post responding to yours.......don't try and push your feelings and "insight" about the animals that trash that mall and many others off on me......you were the one that took a word "people" and injected race into it not me.......which tells me you may deep down know where the issue is, but try and ignore it and pawn it off on others as their thoughts and statements.....when the reality is you see what anyone without blinders on sees....but you don't have the guts to allow yourself to realize what you are seeing

Holy crap! Great post.

You will no doubt be labeled a racist, but great post regardless.

Memorial City was never close to being in an area as bad as Sharpstown Mall....and sticking your head in the sand has never done much as well

How do you define bad? If you mean crime, Sharpstown isn't bad. The crime rate in the area is exponentially lower than most think it is. The trashy apartments and the trash that live there are the problem. I wouldn't go out and immediately call them all criminals, but I would, at the least, say they have no respect for those around them nor pride in their surroundings.

First off, the shooting was at an apartment complex on Bellerive.

Second, if you tear down the Sharpstown mall, you're just going to get all that traffic to go to a different mall more often than they do now (think First Colony, Memorial City, or the Galleria) and drag it down.

Third, there is nothing you can do to any of the commercial space in Sharpstown until you address the low-rent apartment living surrounding it.

Fourth, even if you did do something about all those low rent apartment, i.e. evict the tenants and demolish them, they will just find a new neighborhood to destroy.

Its Sharpstown's destiny to accept the poor, the criminal, and the illegal. If it doesn't harbor them, then that means yet another marginal, on the edge neighborhood, will have to suffer.

I'm more than happy to let them move to another neighborhood. I'm no socialist. They have no right to bring down my quality of life. So if they move on to Alief, fine with me, so long as they aren't in my area.

The single biggest problem Sharpstown has is the low income apartments along Gessner, Bellaire, Fondren and behind Sharpstown Mall. If those went away, Sharpstown could enjoy its hay-day once again.

I get a lot of grief from people, generally who have no clue about the area, its history, or the real crime states either, for defending Sharpstown. I live in Sharpstown and will more than likely always live here until I can afford to spend 3mil on a lot and move to Rivercrest.

Right now I'm looking at a lot on the NW side of the Golf Course and even looking at a couple condos on the Golf Course, but since I have to worry about the old folks I live with, that might not happen.

Most of Sharpstown's poor image comes from the media who lumps SW Houston and Sharpstown together. When someone is murdered or robbed in Braeswood, Westbury, Alief, Meyerland, Forum Park, Fondren SW, etc, (where most of the crime actually is) people identify that with Sharpstown unless it is said otherwise. You can sift through the crime stats and see that there are virtually no violent crimes in Sharpstown. The ones that were happening consistently were in the parking lot of the Carnival night club, which is now shut down thanks to the efforts of the Sharpstown community (Now we just have to get Pappagayo's shut down!).

Sharpstown is a very safe place but I do acknowledge the grime along the main thoroughfares.

Let me ask this question though, if you had the ability to condem all of the apartments and duplexes down Gessner, the crappy apartments down Ranchester, the crappy apartments behind Sharpstown mall, what would you do with the area to make it financially viable? If you can answer that question, then we'd be n the right track to save the landmark that is Sharpstown Mall and the historical area that is Sharpstown.

Looks cool, bummer it backs to Sage.

The price has been all over the place. It was up for sale for 6 months last year starting at $825,000 and slowly dropping to $675,000 before going back up to $684900.

The strangest part is that it went on the market again 2 months ago at $595,000 dropping $5000 every week for 4 weeks until they raised the price to the current $815,000.

How can they ever expect to get anywhere NEAR 800 when any realtor can see that it was listed at 300k less than that just weeks before?

She's a sweetheart. I met with her on several occasions and sent a few prospects her way. I was looking at one of the smaller units but never pulled the trigger because I didn't think they'd sell enough to get started. The most beautiful units in the place had availabilities and that was a bad sign.

If they sell off the sales center it would be a great place for someone to buy, open a restaurant or cafe downstairs and live upstairs in the model. lol

I just spoke to the Director of Sales yesterday, who is a good friend of mine, and she said they cancelled the project.

I also have it on very good authority that several Buyers are already looking to move over to another high rise that is already well under construction (delivery 2009) and in the same price range (read between the lines).

I'm suffering a bit of auto-envy! You're probably right about the 1-series. It's probably overpriced.

What was last experience with BMW? What think you of the new 7-series?

I had an issue where my last BMW was in the shop for 180 days of a two year lease and they wouldn't replace it, I couldn't get them to do much of anything really. I did get a lot of Z4s as loaners though, which I THRASHED. When you're as big as I am though, it is funny being seen in one. Even funnier seeing me get in/out of one with the top up. I likened me exiting the Z4 with the top up to the scene from Ace Venture 2 where he exited the Rhino. That was pretty much it.

Anyway, four clutches, two transmissions, two drive shafts, some electrical problems and a gas padel that broke as the vehicle was entering a feeder road later, I finally got Marvin Zindler involved and he managed to get me a 5k discount off my next BMW. I didn't end up using that discount because I went through a 3rd party auto broker for these two most recent BMWs.

As far as the new 7-series, honestly, I'm not sure. I *LOVE* the new S-Class and next year I will be getting a slightly used S65 (I'm waiting for them to take the massive depreciation hit that AMG models do -- from $198k to $100k in 10 months with 10k miles makes it acceptable for me to actually buy used). That said, I'll be looking at the new 7 with an open mind. The current 7 isn't big enough for me. I'm too tall, too fat, my shoulders are too broad and my legs are too long. Even in the back seats, my head hits the roof. If they make the new 7 more American athelete friendly, I could be tempted. I've gone through 11 cars in the past few years with five currently (two of which are in my business partner's garage), so it isn't unlikely that I wouldn't pick one up if BMW actually made it fit me.

My next purchase, hopefully, is a 1964-65 Lincoln Continental Convertible sedan (black with white top preferably, everything working and in great shape). That is my current dream car.

Told ya Lexus would get the new Supra !!!

There is still a "Supra" project being developed by Lexus. The LF-A is position to compete with the Mercedes CL, BMW M6, Jaguar XK-R, Maserati GT (which I almost bought rather than my 650, but after the problems I had with my QP, I opted to get away from Italian for a bit), and other ultra-luxo GT cars. The 125k price bracket is what they are after. The LF-A is far from a replacement for the hideous and pointless SC430.

Gladly, it seems Infiniti is reviving the Q series and taking aim at the 7-series BMW (soon to launch the new generation), S-Class (just recently launched), A8 (up for a refresh in a couple of years) rather than the mid-market it was targeting before. I suppose it had to since the Lexus LS went from a 45k luxury Toyota to 140k fully loaded. I looked at the LS before I picked up the A8L, and while it is very nice, it had no soul, no passion, didn't even feel "floaty". There was just no feeling at all. The gadgets weren't cool enough either.

When it comes to cool gadgets, Infiniti has everyone beat. The nav/entertainment system in my QX56 is tops and is a major reason I chose it over the Escalade.

So has anyone looked at the 1-series convertible?

Well equiped they end up almost as much as a 3.

I just bought two new BMWs. A 650i for myself and an M3 Coupe for my business partner. We looked at the 1-series for him (his wife will be driving the smaller car most of the time) and didn't like it. It felt extremely cheap.

I hate BMW after my last experience with them, but I love the 650, so I was willing to suck it up for this one.

Looks like I'll be driving it more over the next week or so since I have to take my QX56 in to the shop tomorrow to get it checked out after using it to chase down the guy who t-boned my neighbor about three hours ago. Yeah, it's an SUV, but curbs, trees, shrubs and drainage ditches do still do damage. At least my friend is ok, though his Accord is totalled. With luck, the truck will be ok too.

I still think I should buy Transco and rename it "GWilson's Big Building with a Light on Top".

But that is just me.

...as well as inadequate sex education: the whole concept of abstinence, limiting access to protection (that can save your life), "no sex before marriage" (which sends the message to gay/lesbian youth - they cannot get married, therefore they should not have sex, etc.)

On a lighter note, the biggest issue I have is the "no sex until marriage." Would you buy a used car, and not test drive it? I don't think so (unless you're me! - but I knew what I was getting into.)

Abstinence should be taught in sex education as A method, not THE method. Abstinence only teachings don't work. Kids are curious.

I believe responsibility should be taught, regardless of whether it is sex related or finance relation or even personal decision related.

Maybe there would be less need for abortions if we had the following;

1) More sex education

2) Free Birth Control

3) More active fathers

#3 is key to me. Until men as a whole step up and own THEIR responsibility in creating a life, then we as a gender need to step out of the debate.

There are far too many women struggling to raise kids alone while their former husbands/boyfriends/lovers/one night stands move on to their next conquest. That is the reality.

I both agree and disagree with you on point three and your subsequent statement.

Being the product of a biological father who was worthless and then being raised by a man who had no real responsibility for me, I can say that this isn't JUST a MALE problem. There are plenty men, the majority actually, who are responsible when it comes to their parental duties. There are more kids WITH fathers than without, thank God. That said, the female partner has a role to play there as well. She is choosing her sexual partners. If she makes a poor choice, it is her responsibility as well. I'm not saying it is her fault by any means, but she was involved and she wasn't a victim.

This is the most disheartening thing about this discussion to me.

No one, save for VERY VERY few people WANT abortions. Not even those on the side of choice. Yet both sides go after each other so viciously. It is sickening to me.

I do not believe in abortion as a means of "oops" prevention. I also do not believe that an abortion in the first trimester is murder. I do believe that later term abortions should be banned. I also believe that save for the case of late term abortions, it isn't my choice what someone chooses to do to their bodies. I am a Constitutionalist and a firm believer that save for the cases where someones choices adversely affect others, they are none of my business.

I just wish the two polarized sides could quit the self righteous pissing match and focus on helping people stay out of trouble rather than what to do when the mistake has already been made.

The concept that we should ban abortion but we shouldn't teach sex education (how it is taught now isn't working) or promote safe sex is a pretty ridiculous paradox of the right.

No one gender "owns" a child. Men don't give birth. Women do. It is a woman's reproductive rights issue. As a man, you should not be able to force a woman to bear your child, if she doesn't want it. Likewise, you should have no say in whether she wants to keep it, either.

I disagree with this. The concept that the man should have no say is absurd. If he doesn't want it and she chooses to keep it, he is still held responsible financially for that child. Conversely, if he wants it and she doesn't, he has no right on the matter. This is the definition of unfairness.

The Big Giant Head? Is he going to get me a deal on a crane?

"Denny Crane"