speaking of, 'new thread(s)'..., true color photo, Russia, 102 years ago...

[craniotes]

What was that AMC 4wheel drive station wagon back in the seventies? That's what this one reminds me of.

You're thinking of the Eagle (they had a sedan version as well that was even uglier). My dad almost bought one for our country house, but in the end even he couldn't stomach the looks of it. Still, that sucker was waaaaaay ahead of its time.

Regards,
Adam

[JDS (Ohio)]

The last time I drove a Subaru for any length of time myself was around late 2000, early 2001, both were rental Outbacks. They drove fine, but back then they had some quirky features: the cup holder folded up and recessed back into the upper dashboard, and the door locks and window switches were backwards from what you would expect - I kept unlocking the cars when I meant to lock them. I understand all that has been changed now.

I did test drive Forester a year or two later, and didn't like the seat fabrics, but the car itself was fine, and had a lot less body lean than other small SUVs then.

One last thing: Jordan, the friend whose schoobus yellow WRX I posted above, had 4 friends and family members who managed to total their Subarus (a lot of his friends are, like him, "spirited" drivers); all walked away from those accidents uninjured. Like I said, he flogs his pretty hard, and has close to 200K miles on it; it seems pretty reliable. Safe and reliable can be hard to come by in a car sometimes.

[JNYLTNG]

I say buy American....but maybe that's just me.

[SG]

buy a THIRD Escape I found FORD had replaced two of the disc brakes with older fashioned kind to save money, I suppose, and in doing so had increased the stopping distance by about 10-15 ft.

And those things matter.

The companies I bought the previous two Land Rovers from were locally owned Long Island firms stocked entirely by folks who are allowed to vote here and who pay local taxes.

I always, where possible, 'Buy American'.
I suspect we just have a different definition of what that actually means in today's world.

[JNYLTNG]

Yeah...kind of like "Swiss Made" on our watches.

[JNYLTNG]

p.s. When is that new Seiko due to arrive? I'm anxious to get your
impression(s)

[SG]

I try and temper my impulsive buying with 'regular' shipping.

One must maintain a balance in one's Life...


SO GET OFF MY BACK!!!

sorry..., sorry..., sorry...

yeah...,

ok...,

I'm really not good at that balance thing...

[JDS (Ohio)]

Just because it's got a Detroit big 3 badge on it, don't assume it's US made, even if it is assembled in the US. Heck, when it says "Made in North America", that includes Mexico and Canada.


There's a couple of Toyota plants in Kentucky, and at least one Honda plant in Ohio. They all use components from US companies. In contrast,a lot of the components in the Ford/GM/Chrysler cars and trucks are from Mexico or offshore entirely. Remember Delphi? Heck, don't forget that NAFTA was engineered by Ford. Getting kind of murky, isn't it. So how DO we define, "American Made" nowadays?

[Jaimie]

We have an 2005 Outback that we bought used 3 years ago. We call it the subi-tank as it has handled snow better than my 4x4 truck. I put premium snow tires on in the winter and with them the only thing that would slow it down would be depth of snow. On roads even during crazy snow storms no issues at all.

We we had some work done we got a 09 Outback and it was really nice.

The new ones have won some awards and while I'm sure they are nice I do not like the styling as much.

[SG]

the RAV4 and the Hyudais and KIAs as well.

That's what happens when you stop paying attention for a while.

Too many new toys to pick from.

Appreciate all the info.

FIRST thing is I've got to try them all on for 'size'. Long legs and all that.