Swimming In The Pond Of The Japanese Garden

In some ways my initial move across the Pacific was a lot easier than my return. I was at the end of my personal rope when I went to Japan in 1999 and, even though I was stepping into a dead end job, there was nowhere to go but up. Coming home was quite the reverse. Of course I had a job offer, but I had learned the hard way about birds in the hand versus the two in the bush and, truth is, I was scared. I had carved out a nice little life for myself in Japan. I had friends, a decent place to live and, for a change, money in my pocket. I had even purchased a car and a motorcycle, but now it was time to sell out and move on.

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  • Wjtinfwb Malibu will be the Ford Panther of this decade. We won't miss it until its gone. GM will tell you there's no market for sedans anymore. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, VW, Audi and others will challenge you on that. GM gave up on Malibu as soon as it was introduced in 2017, no development, only de-contenting and relegation to "Fleet" status. I've had a lot of Malibu rentals, they were fine. Not as nice as an Accord or Camry, but preferable to an Altima, Sentra, Sonata or Jetta in my mind. A little development in the powertrain, refinement of the suspension and clean up on the styling would have done wonders. But that's not the GM way. Replace it with something else equally mediocre or worse but charge more because it sits higher. It's a shame GM has been relegated to such a back of the class manufacturer when spectacular cars like the C8 Corvette show what they can do when someone really gives a damn.
  • SCE to AUX This has been a topic for at least four decades.In a world filled with carcinogens, you'd need an enormous study to isolate the effects of seat foam compared to every other exposure we have.Besides, do people really drive around without any fresh air purging the cabin?
  • Rna65689660 This is NOT new information. They’ve known this for decades.
  • Wjtinfwb Had an E38, loved it dearly. I thought nothing could make me love the subsequent "Bangle" 7 series, but this latest version did. Apparently the psychotic drug epidemic plaguing North America has made its way to Munich and filtered into the design studios. This car is just grotesque.
  • Wjtinfwb Any Focus with a manual is a great car. The automatics... beware. I've had two, both manuals, a Gen 1 SVT and a Gen 2 ST, bulletproof, super low maintenance costs, reasonably entertaining to drive and very comfortable for long drives. Unfortunately, manuals are very scarce, this one, if decently maintained and not thrashed, would be a helluva deal at 4k and under 100k miles.