Any chance you live in the Houston area? Because I see a lot of that, especially from the full-size trucks and Japanese econoboxes.

Vince Gilligan said pretty much the same thing about the Aztek in the early days of the show. The Aztec was a perfect vehicle for who Walt was throughout the first two seasons, the idea being that the forward-thinking elements of the car (people often forget that the Aztek, ugly and unsuccessful though it may have…

A few have popped up "for sale" on eBay (I only found one currently listed: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus-Other-LF-A-2012-Lexus-LFA-Supercar-/271021503101?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f1a23f27d), though none of the examples I've seen are actually used, not counting dealer miles. Every one I've seen has been…

Yeah, I don't think anyone else could do that unless they had a similar relationship to Toyota. As far as I know, the mandatory lease period is only a requirement in the US. I think UK and European buyers can purchase them outright.

You can only lease them in the states, but then you have to purchase the car when the lease period ends. In the UK and Europe, I believe you can buy them outright.

1) I highly doubt you work for Fox Valley, or any other high-end dealership for that matter.

It's not me saying this, it's GM circa the mid-'90s. According to you, the 9C1 Caprice and Impala SS are identical cars which, as I illustrated, they aren't. So "lol" indeed. And I think you meant to say the 9C1 could be had with everything the Impala had (except the wheels), because the Impala had the LT1 and…

The only car GM's had serious delays with in recent years was the Volt, but that's to be expected when you're dealing with brand-new technology and most of the engineering has to be done from scratch. Considering the lack of new engineering required for this car, the end of next year sounds perfectly reasonable. The…

The Impala SS and 9C1-equipped Caprice were actually pretty different. Mechanically speaking, the Impala had a limited-slip differential and LT1 as standard equipment, neither of which was included in the 9C1 package (the 4.3 liter L99 engine was standard with the 9C1). Both were available as options on the Caprice,…

People keep referring to the SS badge as a trim level. It may have become that in recent history, but when it was first introduced and for many years after, it was a option package. In 1961, the concept of "trim levels" didn't really exist. Rather than make one car with multiple trim levels, Chevrolet used completely…

Good point. Most BMWs are classified as luxury sports cars, and that's who Cadillac is going after these days.

Right, because your original post had so much to do with cars. I bet you're the kind of guy that watches Gunsmoke and gets all pissed off that a 50 year-old TV show cast white actors as Native Americans.

I feel like fitting it with a V6 would be a betrayal to the SS name, unless it's supercharged or something. I can totally see them doing it, though.

The CTS-V is classified as a "luxury sports sedan," whereas the G8 was classified as a "performance sedan." But I don't really know what the difference between "sports" and "performance" is. The technology, maybe? The current CTS-V is pretty high tech, between the supercharged engine and magnetorheo-whatever…

I think he meant "revived" more in the sense that for most of the last 20 years, Chevy has plastered the SS badge on cars that didn't really deserve it and watered down the significance of the badge. Like the Impalas, Monte Carlos and Malibus of the last decade, for example. None of these have performance worthy of…

Technically, the SS badge started life as an option package, not a trim level. And it has been used as a nameplate before, just not as a stand-alone name ('94-'96 Impala SS- there was no non-SS Impala made at that time). Still, I have to agree that it's a silly-ass name for a car.

Good point. Now lets all hop in our Wayback Machines and go back to 1961, when WWII veterans were happily buying cars with SS badges on them and tell them how culturally insensitive they're being.

Maybe they just really dug the shapes, man.

Age has nothing to do with it. It's not like you actually had to be there to learn the historical significance of what different badges mean. Hell, I'm only 30. I wasn't born until well after the end of the muscle car era, but I still care enough about cars to want to learn their history.

If you remember your Chevy history, the RS and SS packages used to be two separate options you could order on the same car. They technically still are on the fifth-gen Camaro, although the SS is now a trim level instead of an options package. But you can still order one with the RS appearance upgrade. That said,…