akirby

Where do you think a full sized pickup or commercial van would be on Jaguar's priority list?

Of course it means they're working on it now and nobody outside of Ford knows what it will look like. But the current Explorer and 2015 Edge concept would be a good approximation. No matter how good it is they may never dominate the segment. Suburban and Tahoe buyers are loyal. Although I just saw a new Suburban this weekend and man is it ugly compared to the old ones.

I can only think of a handful of very specialized degrees that you can't find at an in-state college or university. And if you are dead set on pursuing that then yes, you may have to go out of state and you'll have to pay more. But that's your CHOICE. Is college expensive? YES! Should public colleges be cheaper? PROBABLY. Would it be nice if anybody could major in anything they like and get a 6 figure job doing it right out of college? Yes. Is that realistic (or fair)? No. There is nothing wrong with taking moderate student loans as long as you have a good prospect of paying them back. If you choose to major in Music the only sure job you can really count on is Music teacher. You may have aspirations of making it in the music business but that's a crap shoot at best. I have a good friend who sent his daughter to a private college for about $20K/year. She majored in Music and is now a Music teacher and perfectly happy. She could have gotten the same degree and had the same job with a $5K/year degree. $80K vs. $20K for the same job. There are obviously many other differences between colleges that make one more desirable, but that doesn't enter into the equation if you're just looking at how to get a degree in a particular field. While you sit here whining about how hard it is to get a degree and how it's not fair, there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of minorities out there busting their butts and getting college degrees the old fashioned way - they're working for it just like I did. There is nothing in the system to prevent a minority or anyone else from getting a college degree. In fact it's easier for minorities to get admission in some states. I'm sorry that you can't get a degree for free in some curriculum that interests you but does not provide any prospect of a high wage job. Every job has an inherent worth and you have to choose whether you do what you love at lower wages or do what you have to do to survive.

The failure here is a process that allows one person to make such a decision and get away with it. You can't prevent individuals from making bad decisions. You must have process steps in place to catch it.

I have to say the Cherokee is far more successful than I thought it would be. And it doesn't look as bad in person, although I still don't like the front end. Grand Cherokee is at the top of the class, too. But I bet a lot of the growth came from the 4 door wranglers.

Those years didn't have a problem with spark plugs. We had a 99 that was bulletproof. I think we had one coil pack replaced under warranty. Any good quality tire will be fine.

I didn't say you could easily go to any college you wanted and major in anything you wanted to. But the fact is in-state tuition is available to almost everyone for most degrees. Credits earned at a much cheaper small college or community college will usually transfer to larger universities. Why are people racking up debt? Because they want to. They think they can easily pay it off. They think a college degree is a guarantee of a well paying job regardless of what they decide to major in. My daughter doesn't get hope scholarship - that tuition figure is the full cost plus books. If she had Hope she would pay nothing. The point is there are colleges like that almost everywhere. My son graduated with a 4 year business degree 3 years ago. He moved to Seattle and has been living on his own as a Starbucks shift supervisor while applying for a job with the corporate office. Right now he's paying his own way through graduate school and will have 2 masters degrees in October. We haven't sent him a dime the last 3 years. Stop the victim mentality. Whether you think you can or think you can't - you're right.

There have been several discussions on the Expedition here over the last year or two. Ford had to wait for the new F150 platform to determine if and how they were going to go forward with the new Expy and Navigator. Given the new lower sales volumes of full-sized suvs they have to share as much of the F150 platform as possible. The refresh was done a couple of years ago but they weren't sure about the F150 platform back then. Waiting is not as bad as pouring lots of money into a vehicle with no future. The new Expedition will use aluminum just like the F150 and that will give Ford a big advantage down the road.

He wasn't talking to you specifically. He was making a general comment.

I understand and sympathize, but why didn't his parents get a birth certificate when they came back to the U.S.? That would have solved the problem decades ago. His parents failed him and he failed himself by not getting one in 40+ years. And then he tries to sneak back into the country illegally? None of that sounds legitimate. Maybe he really is a nephew or other relative and that's why he never got a birth certificate.

Doesn't have anything to do with what buyers think, it has to do with which company is in the best financial position to weather a downturn. New GM is only in a slightly better position than old GM while Ford is leaps and bounds ahead of where it used to be. They still have high overhead and fixed costs and their per unit profit margins are much slimmer. They still have too many models and brands and they're investing in niche products while ignoring their core products. That's not a good sign for future viability.

X plan pins are good for one year from the issue date.

Why are you totally ignoring the fact that he and his parents had 18+ years to get him a valid birth certificate showing he was a U.S. citizen, yet nobody did that. Just because you got away with it for so long doesn't mean it wasn't illegal. If you don't have proof of citizenship then you're not a citizen. How should the government know whether he was really born to american citizens without any paperwork? He could have been their mexican nephew or somebody they just met. How about a little personal responsibility for someone who screwed up? I'm sympathetic but he only has himself and his parents to blame.

Bullshit. My daughter is enrolled in a local 4 year college in North Georgia. Her tuition is $1250/semester or $2500/year not counting summer. That's only $10K for four years. Work and you can pay for at least half that yourself. And in Georgia we have hope scholarship which will pay all or most of your tuition for 4 years if you simply maintain a B average. Just because some students choose to live on campus and rack up enormous student debt or think they have to go out of state without a scholarship doesn't mean that there aren't less expensive affordable alternatives. It took me 6 years and working full time but I went 2 years to a community college locally, worked for a year, then moved to Athens, GA and spent 3 years at UGA, 2 full time and 1 part time. I worked at a close to minimum wage job. I also paid for my own vehicle and shared an apartment with my fiancee. I left with only about $5K in student debt and got a job immediately in the IT department of a large corporation. So I don't want to hear how you need money because I didn't have a penny of help from anyone and I know plenty others who did the same thing. All it takes is determination.

Having driven a Ferrari 458 Italia on a racetrack in full auto mode I can tell you that a manual is not needed. Neither is paddle shifters. That thing downshifts automatically very fast always keeping you in the right gear. Now it probably costs more than a Focus ST just for the transmission but man that thing is sweet!! Yes, Fordmantpw - I had to!

How many fatalities occur when the obviously unbelted occupants are thrown out of the vehicle while the ones who were belted are ok? It irritates me when the news reports that a SUV left the road and 2 people were killed and say that "speed was a factor" when what really happened is an inattentive driver ran off the road while texting or doing something else and were ejected because they were not wearing seat belts. We shouldn't spend big money trying to protect people who cause their own demise.

I don't think most of us would have allowed ourselves to be put in that position to begin with.

Blame his parents for not getting a birth certificate once back in the U.S. Or him for not getting one once he turned 18. How would customs know that he was born to U.S. citizens without some type of paperwork?

It is difficult for me to understand why you keep asking the same question over and over. Nobody is saying it can't be done for profit. The question is how much and how much investment is required. These "other companies" like Jaguar - do they have a single vehicle selling 600K /year? Do they have profitable commercial trucks and vans to support? Do they have lower cost higher volume mainstream vehicles to support? It's all about priorities. What is a priority for one mfr may not be for another. Do you think Jaguar should make a new full sized van a priority? I'm sure they could manage 50K in worldwide sales. So why aren't they doing it?

But not forcing them to pay for it directly. It was about forcing insurance carriers to cover it even when the company paying the premiums had a religious objection to it (like a Catholic church). Frankly I think companies should decide for themselves what they do or don't cover in their insurance and the employee is free to take it, supplement it or get their own insurance.

Do I really have to point out the huge purple OXY MORON picture you posted (and Nick quoted)? Stick to the facts.

The myth that a college education isn't affordable today is ridiculous. There are plenty of smaller colleges that anyone can afford. I paid my own way through college working full time in minimum wage jobs with only a modest amount of student debt (< $5K). And I was living on my own for the last half. All you need is the will to do it. It may be easier or harder for certain individuals but it's certainly available if you want it. It's far easier to just sit back and play the victim and say "it's too hard". But you don't even need a college education to earn a good living. Be a fireman or a policeman. Learn to be a welder or electrician or a plumber. Work your way up the chain and be a manager of a fast food restaurant.

Not likely. Senior execs may have had something in their contracts but firing people is admitting that GM did something wrong and in this case that will not remove any legal liability from GM. Barra strikes me as a manager who is genuinely outraged and focused on preventing this from happening again and firing the ones directly responsible is the only real way to do that. Old GM would have reprimanded them and played down the issue and not made any real changes or sent any clear messages about expected behavior. Part of the reason I believe this is the extreme focus she obviously put on any other existing issues that may be lurking and getting everything cleaned up. Is GM doing a lot of this to limit further liability and fines? Sure, but that's what any good CEO would do. Still not sure if she knows how to manage products but I have to give her kudos on this one so far (with the obvious exception of the statements claiming no knowledge of safety impacts).

You can be the inaugural member of the Flex mafia. If only they had updated it and advertised it then it would have sold a bjillion units.....

As opposed to expensive feeling non rubberized plastic? That's just going out of your way to find a negative that isn't really a negative.