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jm1fd

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Posts posted by jm1fd

  1. Speaking of the new GT-R, how much do you want to bet that Toyota will revive the Supra to compete with it?

    I've never thought of Toyota to be the type of company to do things just for the sake of bragging rights.

  2. Is that the Chevy Cruze? Just reading that name makes my eyeballs bleed.

    Yeah...I think that may be the name of it. It is the Cavalier/Cobalt replacement.

    Have there been significant changes in safety and emissions standards over the past two decades? I thought the major safety requirements were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s, as were catalytic converters. I really do think that the reason cars today get worse mileage is that they are a lot bigger and more powerful.

    I don't know when exactly the standards were legislated into being....sometimes they'll pass a law but compliance won't be required for a decade or more. Numerous safety and emissions improvements were implemented during the mid 90s. Dual airbags were required for 1994. Side impact standards had to be complied with starting around that time, and they got tougher as the years progressed. OBDII was required to be in place by the 1996 model year.

  3. I'm hoping to see the return of the turbocharger, too.

    You shall. Ford is working on a whole line of engines using turbocharging and direct injection under the marketing name "Eco Boost". GM is planning on putting a little ~1.4L turbo D.I. 4-cyl in their Cavalier/Cobalt replacement.

    Cars sold in America 20 years ago had higher mileage than anything available today.

    Indeed....of course you fail to mention that they had to meet a much lower set of safety and emissions standards than the cars of today.

  4. I used to frequent that area before I was shipped out of Houston for my job....so the old Mobil is gone at the corner of 34th?

    Yeah....at that corner we've now got a shady looking car repair place, a shady looking used tire store/car wash, a shady looking used car lot, and a rather un-shady bright orange Cuban/Mexican food place (el Rey) which is actually quite tasty.

  5. Anybody know what's up with foodland on ella @ judiway? Looks like it was boarded up and the sign was taken down as of sunday. Maybe a facelift or closed for good?

    The store is closed but I've heard differing stories as to why. One story has it that they were losing money, the other story goes that they sold the land for 6 MEEEELION dollars. I find the losing money story more plausible....6 MEEELION sounds high.

  6. Anybody know what is going in at the southwest corner of 34th and Shepherd? A foundation has been poured, but there are no signs. There was an old gas station before, but it doesn't look like it is going to be. I am sure it will be a bank branch of some sort.

    Rumor on the Garden Oaks mailing list is that it will be a bank branch....Washington Mutual I think they said...I can't remember for sure...all those big banks just run together in my head.

  7. I just drove past that thing a couple of days ago. Shreveport--now there's a sorry downtown. With the exception of a newish bank building and a couple of cheesy casino hotels, timed stopped there in 1976. I guess the shiny new Shreveport, if there is one, is not near the 1-20.

    LOL I think the shiny new shreveport would be the riverboats....

  8. Some of these telecom bunkerscrapers were obselete before they even finished construction back in the 60s. They designed and built these, at least the first wave of them, to handle massive expansions of 1950s telephone switching technology which consumed enormous amounts of space to get the job done, plus they were factoring in 5 nines of reliability.

    Speaking of murals on telecom bunkerscrapers....the one in Shreveport has a HUGE mural on it.

  9. That's at least a size bigger.

    What would be the advantage of AWD on a car like the C30? For that matter, I'm not sure of the advantage of AWD in Houston. Snow and ice are few and far between. Is it for the road-handling as you sit in traffic on the Katy Freeway?

    Better traction/control in messy conditions, and better handling in dry conditions.

  10. My neighbor just got the Volvo C30. Looks fun.

    2008.volvo.c30.20123405-E.jpg

    I was disappointed they didn't offer an AWD option on this car. Maybe they'll do a C30 R version with a high output engine and AWD later in the production run....

  11. are you talking about aftermarket or stock. the new mazdaspeed3 is the fastest FWD stock car to come out recently...

    I think he's talking about the real thing. RACE CAR. You know...F1, Indy, NASCAR, etc.

  12. Saying "FWD sucks" seems to overstate matters imo. It really depends on the type of car you need. Sure the fwd handling isn't as good, but on the other hand fwd cars are more efficient, allow a smaller package, and are less prone to slipping in snow & ice (not that the latter is a major consideration in Houston). Me, I just like driving smaller vehicles.

    More efficient than RWD? How so?

    Smaller package? How so?

    AWD is even less prone to slippage in snow and ice than FWD.

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