Graduate in May, thank the good Lord. Counting the days....... You still coming through KS on your summer retirement tour?

Tim, I used to feel that way. I gave them a shot, obviously it was a mistake. Back to the Japanese I go.

Damn it seems like yesterday you started! Already have a job lined up?

Yesterday?!!!! Seems like an eternity to me.:D I've been an intern at one of the aircraft companies here in town, they made me an offer in Sept that I accepted. I've been doing work that's several steps up the payscale for a while now, it will be nice to be paid semi-comensurate with the work I'm doing.

You bet...where are you going to work?

Hawker-Beechcraft.

Excellent...they are lucky to get you. I flew a 53E into Wichita in the mid-90's and dusted a whole bunch of BC Starships on the ramp. They were not pleased. Glad you didn't need a reference:cool:

Matt, what kind of stuff are you working on? General aviation stuff? I have a friend whose brother works for Cessna and he gets to do Oshkosh every year "on the company" (Neil Wilford...worked on the new composite Cessna and the new light sport).

Go with the Mercedes M class - diesel if possible. We're still have about a quarter tank of diesel fuel from the same tankful from three weeks ago.

The gas mileage of the diesel is already paying dividends for the ML's initial cost.

What bugged the S*it of me is that many recommend a vehicle and then when you finally buy it, you find out that all this crap happens and they take it as usual and customary for owning that vehicle. Like some people don't know what its like to own a truly reliable car. I've owned a boatload of SUV's and finally bought a 2002 Sequoia to drive and not have to worry about how the radio doesn't work or some other stupid item that won't keep you from driving it. They just add up until you want to dump the car.

As a teen in the early 80's dad bought a VW rabbit diesel, followed by a bunch of Honda Accords (my parents still each drive Honda Accords 20+ years later). Dad would buy a new one for mom and he would drive the old one for a couple hundred thousand miles, then the cycle would repeat. I other than regular maintenance, these cars just did not break. I guess I have a different perspective on new car reliability/quality than folks who grew up driving big three cars from the 80's ;)

What you need is a Land Rover Discovery...:D

+1 on the Nissan Armada

I have a 2004 SE Off Road model. Since Nissan got the front brakes sorted (this was the first year and they were undersized) the car's been great. 305 HP. Damn thing flat out moves. Climbs the Grapevine and grades up Donner Summit to Tahoe as fast as you wanna go without flogging it. Hot Rod SUV. (scary concept)

Some of you guys weren't even born when Cadillac was the best car on the road--the status symbol of success in America. Up to the 1960s, GM was still building the best cars.
I remember riding down a cobblestone street in a new '54 Buick Super convertible at 50 mph--you couldn't feel the road, the ride was so smooth! The speedometer had a red line which moved horizontally instead of a vertical pointer.

What happened? Well, GM and the other American companies ran into the oil embargo in the 70s, and weren't ready for it. The Japanese companies were. And the Japanese also listened to Hemmings when he preached quality to them. The American companies ignored him.

I was actually quite demure in high school. I didn't become the sex-raving pervert that I am until I got to college.

-Still...there were a few times when things presaged the future. One of them is my dad's Pink '77 Cadillac Deville.

Yes...pink.

And it got an interesting reception at the school. "Who the hell brought the pimp-mobile to school" I heard. Not from a teenage girl...but from my physics teacher! When I pointed out that it was me that brought it, she got pretty quiet all of a sudden!

Technically, this car was "Bimini Beige", which means that in low light it looked PINK. In bright light it just looked beige. Which means that it was a stupid color for a stupid car.


Stupid car? A 7000 cc V8 engine that makes 180 horsepower? Hell-oh? Good grief, what where they thinking about?

For what it is worth, 7000 cc is about 427 cubic inches.

-Volkswagen currently sells a turbocharged 2000 cc motor that makes 200 hp.

A friend of mine when we were in highschool drove his parents '79 Olds station wagen on occasion. This car had an Olds 403, the "other" engine used in the Pontiac Trans Ams, and it was quite a bit stronger than the Cadillac my mom used to own.

The very height of incredulity: I was driving my mothers' 427 powered '77 DeVille, and one of my friends raced me from a stop light in an '84 Olds Cutlass Supreme with a 3.8 liter V6. He managed to pull in front of me at about 60 mph! That V6 made all of 112 horsepower!~

Listen: They can play all the old rock sounds that they wish: Cadillacs are for old guys and they are just cheap gm cars.

N!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1203738477.jpg

I think you mean "Demming." W. Edwards Demming.

Yes, the Japanese embraced quality manufacturing and set the global standard. I remember reading "The Machine that changed the world" and "The Goal" in bschool. In fact, pointing spears at our beloved German manufacturers, I remember a quote about a Mercedes factory that said something to the effect that they had hundreds of white coated "Quality Inspectors" at the end of the line and the guide said, "This demonstrates our commitment to quality - the hundreds of quality inspectors that fix every problem before our car is shipped to customer."; in contrast to the Japanese factory where the assembly line worker was encouraged to "stop the line" to resolve a quality problem before the car went further.

Do you remember Brian Bosworth bragging about working in Detroit and putting a bottle caps between the sheet metal panels to make rattles...

but I digress...back to your regularly schedule program:

I have a '98 Toyota 4Runner with 98k on it now. It hasn't needed ANYTHING, except tires, period! The brakes are still good. Toyota says I'm over due for a timing chain for $300. Still haven't done it. My wife's '01 CHEVY Blazer makes all kinds of funny sounds and has needed a bunch of work, also the CEL is on most of the time. I can't stand it when I'm in it but it's NORMAL for her because she's used to it. It's funny because sometimes when she gets in my Toyota she comments how nice it is compared to her car and mine is older. She's been, sort of, brain washed that GM is great because her Dad and Uncle retired from GM so it must be good. She said her next car/suv will be a Toyota, Lexus, Infinity, Porsche, BMW, etc. It's funny because NONE of her list has been GM.

Things could be worse:
http://img.timeinc.net/time/2007/50_...c_cimarron.jpg
as in the Cadillac Cimarron...

http://www.cadillacforums.com/cadill...s/allante2.jpg

I'll see your Cimmaron, and raise you an Allante'.:D

Cadilac has come a LONG ways, and in all honesty, were my SRX a 2005 I'd probably be a lot happier. Our car suffers from a lot of the teething pains associated with an all new model, too bad the dealer network sucks and won't fix anything. I'm sure an X5 at 54k would give me issues as well, BMWs aren't exactly known for being low maintenance. Note, however, that I'm not considering a BMW either.

Tim, I wish. I'm planning on Oshkosh this year, but it will be on my dime. Sadly, I've never been able to go due to school or other responsibilities, but this is the year. My grandfather usually flies his Bonanza up there each year, I'll be able to go with him.

I'm working engineering field support for the Beech Premier as a project engineer. Our role is to investigate repair issues as they come up, and if it's a design flaw, fix it. It's pretty interesting, lots of coordination between different areas of the company, lots of investigation to build a case. I'm more or less running my own projects, which I really enjoy. It should be hugely beneficial for the future, as I aspire towards management.

the allante has a bit of a following. don't know about the quality tho.