Well, it is a GM car, so you'd think there would be some similarity! It's just a remnant of a whole other era, and for me that's fascinating. I find it a bit suspicious that they don't have a features list for it. Also, no EPA mileage figures...I guess they weren't doing that back then.
The safety features probably weren't that extensive either. I don't think there's room for an airbag in that steering wheel...I don't even know if they were mandatory yet back then!
Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
"In distress", my ass.
In the US airbags were required for any car manufactured after April 1989.
All your safe space are belong to Trump
Face Time
^Ooh.
Yeah, maybe you should pass.
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel
"In distress", my ass.
On the other hand, it's not like that's some flimsy econobox that gets dented by the slightest wayward leaf being blown around by the wind. 
From the pictures it looks like it's in pretty good condition, for a 2+ decade old car. I don't think not mentioning the mileage is a problem, nor do I think not going into the features is necessarily a Game-Breaker.
As for why someone might want it, perhaps a family without the money for a new bigger car? *shrug* I've seen sillier reasons.
(Though, the sales contract had better include "don't put dubs on it, or we'll hunt you down and shoot you". At least here in SC a lot of "gangsta" wannabees pick up 80s GM cars to put 20+ inch wheels on them, and it looks absolutely retarded.)
All your safe space are belong to TrumpThose are all good points. I don't think people do modifications like that very much here in Connecticut, but yeah, when I was in Charleston last spring I encountered a 90's Caprice with wheels like that. It was the dumbest automotive thing I'd ever seen.
Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
Face Time
Oh yeah, that reminds me:
That's just silly/stupid.
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel
"In distress", my ass.
^ Oh God... *barf*
I'll pass on getting into ricers* , though. I'll be here all day otherwise.
edited 2nd Oct '11 5:05:46 PM by Nohbody
All your safe space are belong to Trump
Nemesis
Where I work is at the upper end of what was South Central LA before the city decided that name had too many bad associations and redrew & renamed districts to get rid of it, so there are a lot of such cars around here. The most ridiculous I saw was some 80s GM boxy thing with 28" wheels on it. It looked like a monster truck. In general, the cheap-ass solution to "I want bigger wheels than my wheel arches will take" is simply to jack up the suspension, but it looks ridiculous.
Oh, and then there was the similar car that had the LA Dodgers letters (interlocking L and A) cut into the roof.
A brighter future for a darker age.
Face Time
Cut into the roof how?
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific MackerelI have taken a liking to the current-generation Mazda3. I want one now. Not gonna happen of course, but I'll consider it in a few years when-
Oh wait. Also not AWD. Crud.
Ok, screw it, at this point I'm seriously thinking I'm going for a used second or third generation Subaru Outback when the time comes for me to get a car. It is what I call the official car of New England after all...
Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
OMG NO NOSECONES
I'm digging that full-sized. They don't make them like that anymore. If it's got the 305 small-block in it, you'll be hard-pressed to find an engine that can produce such nice torque and reliability, and last for as long as those did. Shoot, you can even throw mods at it and run 12's on that thing. With a month's-worth of groceries in the back.
I'd step up for the newer ones, though, the '91-'96 ones have better aerodynamics and fuel economy, and can be had with an LT1 350.
My beater TTA is driving better now, I guess it's liking the daily driver use. I think my fuel economy has improved a bit, too.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Face Time
Reminds me of the article in the newest issue of Car And Driver where they took an old Citroen CX from America to Saint-Pierre (or whatever it's called) and while the pneumatic suspension wasn't quite working right at first, it improved as they drove more.
edited 4th Oct '11 7:00:19 PM by RocketDude
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Darn it, when I came home for Rosh Hashanah, all there was waiting for me was a trio of AutoWeeks, none of which were all that recent either. I haven't read C&D or Road & Track in a while now.
I believe it does have the 305. Don't get me wrong, I like that Chevy, I just can't form much of an opinion beyond "It's old." without having ever really been in a car like that.
Anyway, today in my used-car browsing I focused a bit more on Nissan, which I rarely think about, in the sense that I discovered that the Xterra was meant to have some off-road capability compared to other smaller SUVs and is still one of the strongest in class in that regard. And that they standardized some of their SUV interiors after a point, such that the second-gen Xterra and the contemporaneous Pathfinder have the exact same interior. (And nearly the same exterior too, for that matter.)
Has anyone else noticed that Nissan's signature display and gauge color is orange? Just trying to make sure I'm not crazy here...
I also pondered a 2002 Suburban 1500 LT and considered the fact that a certain 2005 Mercedes C240 wagon might be the one that my grandma's friend Bob recently traded in, a.k.a. the Bobmobile. But I don't think it is.
Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
Zzzzzzzzzz
For what it's worth, I like my Suburban. It's several years older than 2002, but it hasn't let me down yet. The only thing I don't like about it is the cost of tires. Well, and the gas mileage.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
486-powered rotating frosted cherry Pop-Tart
pvtnum: Years ago (1990-1995), we had a 1984 Pontiac Parisienne wagon (pretty much their version of the Caprice) that had the 305 in, with the GM C3 computer and a feedback carb. Unfortunately, mice got into it and ruined the emissions system, and we didn't know how to fix it back then, so we kept it going as best we could until we got the Caravan.
online since 1993 | huge retrocomputing and TV nerd | lee4hmz.info (under construction) | heapershangout.com
OMG NO NOSECONES
Eighties emissions crap really strangled cars of that period.
Seventies were worse, though, with computer-controlled engines being in their infancy. Emissions pretty much killed off the msuclecar as we knew it. At least the eighties saw an upward trend in engine throughput as the engineers were learning how to make more with less.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Face Time
Hey, frog, I just remembered something:
I believe the Nissan Rogue and Juke have All-Wheel Drive. The newest Juke apparently even has three different driving modes (Normal, Sport, Eco).
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific MackerelThe Juke is an interesting little vehicle, very odd looking but in a kind of cool way. My mom finds it cute, actually. She probably wouldn't mind if I got one. And it's got boost or something, right? It's a nice continuation of Nissan's tendency to be pretty good at doing quirky stuff right these days.
The Rogue doesn't interest me much. I see a ton of them around, it was a brilliant commercial move, just the right size to sell really well. But it just doesn't excite me.
Right now I'm back to thinking about the good old Jaguar X-Type. I'd consider buying one of those used...the way I see it, it wasn't a bad car in an objective sense, it just wasn't competitive in its class, and it was a disgrace to the Jaguar name and tradition. But it's still a nice car with AWD and leather and auto climate and sunroof and heated seats and so on. Not so sure about reliability though.
Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
Face Time
The Juke has a turbo-four available for it, yes.
If you want a crossover that's also boosted and has AWD, there's the Mini Countryman S All4, but that's more...divisive.
If you're lucky, you might find a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, which is also boosted and has AWD.
And yeah, the Jag may not be a safe bet in terms of reliability, but still...
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel
Street Writing Man
That, and Detroit forgetting how to design a stylish body. Not that a few 80s cars didn't look cool (Corvettes, anyone?) but by and large the boxy look just failed IMO. Not that the 90s "polished turd" period was any better...
If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~
Face Time
Eugh, don't get me started on the US Ford cars.
Mind you, the 90's still kept pop-up headlamps for some reason.
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific MackerelThe fall of wagons is sure an interesting thing. To think that in the 90's we didn't just have companies known for wagons like Subaru and Volvo doing there thing, but also the Taurus wagon, the Escort and later Focus wagons, both Camry and Accord wagons, and wagons from all the European brands, including the luxury ones. (Well, that made it beyond the 90's, for sure. But I don't see them much anymore.) And then our obsession with SUVs and then things that looked like SUVs ruined it all.
Also, how to tell if a car is very generic, IMO: If it doesn't look cutting-edge when it debuts, but also doesn't look dated when it's retired. I thought this up after thinking about the Kia Spectra a bit.
edited 11th Oct '11 8:43:19 AM by frog753
Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
I see the Awesomeness.
I think there was some kind of law exploit that made SUV's cheaper to produce or something.
Fight smart, not fair.
Face Time
^^Well, wagons kinda are making a comeback what with the Retro craze and the whole Crossover craze.
Hell, even before '09, we had the Dodge Magnum SRT-8, a wagon with a big Hemi V-8. Great car, wish they would bring it back.
Then again, these days, we have the Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon.
edited 11th Oct '11 2:31:59 PM by RocketDude
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel
Looks decent, at least, but it reminds me a bit too much of a Cadillac.
"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel