The Coalition of the Swilling

And that effin Avalanche ... ugh!

Ford all the way, baby!

You know, the last time I though they had a winner was the Cadillac Allante convertible with the Pina Ferrina styling. Until I looked inside and saw that ugly f*ckin' GM dash. Backed away in disgust. UUGGHHHH!!!!!

The newer Avalanche is one of the few GMs, other than the GTO, that I care for. Mother MOPAR for me if I suffered a serious head wound and bought a US car. Otherwise I'll stick with my paid-for Mitsu, Honda and BMW.

I have owned two GM vehicles in my life.

One: A Pontiac Montana mini-van. Because they offered me an unbelievable deal. And it was too good to be true because they screwed me when it was all said and done. Live and learn (got rid of it quickly though).

Two: A 1978 Olds Cutless with the 305. Great car. But everybody was making good cars before 1980.

That's the last time I fall for any GM shennanigans. The next time I step away from Ford it'll be for a Toyota.

One Ford was enough for me. Have had a bunch of Mopars and Pontiacs, with the worst still being leagues ahead of the Ford. But for bang for the buck, can't compete with our Hondas. They run forever as long as you remember to change the oil every decade or so. But other than a Mustang or older Torino/Cyclone, you'll see Satan in a parka before I buy another Ford product. As for your Pontiac, the problem wasn't that it was GM, just that it was a minivan, the scourge of the earth........

THS, please don't pick the Aztec as the average GM styled vehicle. Everyone knows it's terrible.

Actually I am a GM fan. I don't know of any company today (or for the past 25 years) that has made consistently good looking vehicles (cars).

The great looking eras of autos has been on the backburner for years and who knows when anyone will make seriously good looking sedans.

Again, I'd take a GM over anything else.

Is one of those photos of Mr. Bingley after a makeover? If so, which one?

Oh, well, I won't pick on you just before a holiday, GALA, lol!! But I did pick the Aztec for a reason ~ in my mind it represents the arrogance of the GM upper echelon; the picture perfect example of corporate disdain. To me that Aztec says "we can put any old crap out there that we want because they'll still buy it."

(JeffS ~ The orange one is the "before" pic.)

And in the interest of full disclosure, we're TOYOTA (Loyal 'yota lovers to the death!), Nissan, BMW and Audi types in the Major Dad household.

Actually, the Aztec was a Simpson-esque design, based on focus groups. It is what the soccer moms told them they wanted, just built from off the shelf parts. They needed a way to get rid of a crap-load of 3.1 V-6s, too.

I think the Aztec looks like a Chevette on steroids. Right now I have a Chevy Impala, my first American vehicle, which is pretty reliable except that it goes through brake pads like nobody's business, leaks oil from a mysterious spot on top of the engine, the seat is stuck all the way back, and the drive-through window won't go down anymore, and hasn't since it was 2 years old.

I really miss my old Nissans, Toyotas and Hondas.

We have nothing but old Toyotas, Nissans and Mazdas here (Okay, the Audi's an '87, but it just lies there, so doesn't count), so I empathize comPLETEly.

I've owned one of almost everything. Nothing's perfect but my current ride ('99 Toyota) hasn't given me a moment's trouble in 18 months. Got me from Jersey to Florida and back last winter and should do so again soon. Oddly, the Chevy was also a solid car ('90 Blazer) that passed 170,000 miles (albeit with lousy MPG). Got lucky on that one.

My GMs, mostly Chevys, have been good to me. The last Chevy truck I traded in on my current one was running fine with 375,000 miles on it but I simply wanted a new one and a deal came up. As for the Impalas and brake pads: If you drive a front wheel drive car, particularly larger models, in the city a lot, they'll eat front brake pads. All of the weight is in the front on those cars.