nc211

I thought I would post up two charts that give a visual aid to the chatter-clatter I've been spewing on here. These came to me today in a larger economy report, a very good report. I think this will also explain why we might start seeing drops in profits for the big oil companies "Exxon, Mobile, BP". Notice the margin between the price of gas v. price for crude oil. It's pretty tight these days. In my opinion, this too will serve to push down the price of oil, as the big oil companies can't charge anymore at the pumps without triggering an all-out economic meltdown "which would hurt them far longer than anything else". So they really have no choice but to put downward pressure on the barrels of oil. Also note the historical chart relating to oil impact over the last 3 decades. Notice what follows the dips, and the timing of when these dips occured in relation to the political environment of that time.... If history does repeat itself, then upward ticks for several years should reoccur for us again "lower gas prices". I also find it interesting that at the times of the dips, conflict involving the US was ongoing or wrapping up. 73' = Vietnam, 80'=Iranian mishap from Carter, 91'=Gulf War 1, and of course now... Doc6.pdf

Actually, the GX/4runner thump is exactly the same, with the same procedure to address it. I use the same M1 red grease, but am always cautious of over-doing the slider yolk zerk, for the reasons you mentioned earlier. I wish I could get a clear, definitive answer to how much you should actually put in there? Jim, have you found any info on this?

Many experts (geology / economics) are saying based off the basics of supply & demand say $200/barrel in less than 5yrs ... conservatively. With inflation, that means we'll still be paying less than the EU or asia ... a measly $6.50 ish a gallon. http://www.cftc.gov/stellent/groups/public...rudeoil0708.pdf People get too excited over a little drop in price. (It came about simply because the U.S. finally started serious conservation ... but it only takes a couple months before the rest of the worlds demands picks up that slack) I wouldn't run out and buy back that Suburban. After a bit of downward price drops, we'll go up & up & up & up ... then down a bit ... then up & up & up & up, then down a bit ... and so on. Don't get me wrong, I like paying only $29 to fill the smaller hybrid, instead of $32. Yeah, but if it does hit $200 a barrel, which I personally doubt, then the balance of the economy should be able to support it. The US hasn't just finally started conservation out of choice, it has done it out of requirement by the economy. People are starting to adjust to the post-subprime environment and are realizing that they better start watching the wallets a bit more in general. It's part of the nervous economic environment in general, that, again, always seems to lurk around election times when the sitting president either must be replaced (8 years), or clearly will likely be replaced (Bush Sr. to Clinton, which funny enough was also at the time of one of our worst recessions in modern history). You and I go back and forth on this stuff, and I hope you know I do enjoy it. I get the feeling you have more of a scientific background, and I have a financial one. I'm not saying oil couldn't go to $200 a barrel some day, but I think the only way it would be able to do so is with the support of the economy in general, and at a normal rate of pace (cost of living index). I also think, that when/if it does hit that level, it probably won't be such a dramatic player in the world's economy. I think technology advances will have made oil usage for transportation reasons much much less "hybrids, alt-fuels, better engines". I don't think anyone would really mind if gas were $6 a gallon, so long as that fill-up would last them like a 1,200 miles, instead of 300-450. In terms of the supply and demand base argument for today's reasons for this rapid advancement in oil prices, I offer you the following example of why I think it's all b/s. 8 weeks ago, Iran says it can shut down the gulf's shipping lanes..oil goes up. A terrorist tries to blow up one pipeline in Nigeria and fails...it goes up. Some analyst at JP Morgan "huge position in oil futures by the way" says "he thinks" oil will hit $xx amount by xx date, it goes up. Just 8 weeks ago..... Now...Isreal is clearly preparing to hit Iran...oil falls... A pipeline is hit in Nigeria...it still falls... And just this week, Russia invades Georgia, attacking buildings and trying for the pipeline that produces 1,000,000 barrels a day....and yet the price still falls... If the basis used just a few weeks ago were truly supply and demand worries, wouldn't you have thought these real events would of been used for increased prices? I'm still sticking to my theory from months ago that this is just a "profits grab" before the election. PS: A snowball effect of current: DON'T fill your car up to full if you don't need it all right now! You're just wasting your money, as that price at the pump is based upon oil prices of weeks ago...it's going to continue to slide down. Just take what you need and wait to refill later when again the price is lower. A side effect of this is the perception of a continued decline in demand. Before, when they were going up, everyone was filling up to full to save money, as it would probably cost more tomorrow. That, created the artificial demand. Now, it's our turn to reverse this smoking-mirrors theory to the analysts who write that weekly inventory report!

Thanks guys for the replies! Greatly appreciated information! Well, after some additional research, and of course the onslought of "follow up" phone calls from the two dealerships that have the ES330's "just checking in to see what I can do to get you into one of these fine automobiles? I call back later...", we've decided that we're just not ready to go down that road again. But, the main issue is the fact that the rear seats don't fold down "thanks for your reply Steve in my other post!". Now a days, with an infant and all the stuff that goes along with it, folding rear seats are pretty much a requirement, even though we have the 4runner. My wife just won't bite on a car that doesn't have that option, or at least not at the moment. I'm going to wait for the reality that the only other options are the Camry and Accord, if we truly need folding rear seats. We live in the suburbs which is full of minivans, camry's and accord's. She's not quite ready to buy into the main stream, yet. I must admit, I like the 05' better, but like the headlights of the 04' better for some reason. I like the interior tweaks of the 05', and the wheels actually, but I like the big diamond looking headlights more then the narrow bug eye hids, although hids are better at night...strange, I know...

I have no idea about this, but considering how many things that can trigger the check engine light, I'm suprised a failed water pump wouldn't? I mean, if a brake light bulb burns out, it trips a light. I'm suprised a part so crucial to the car's operation such as the water pump wouldn't be wired into that same warning system somehow. Maybe it's not? I'm not sure, I don't think I've ever seen an error code posted on here pointing to it. I can't recall, did you say the timing belt was replaced at a lexus dealership, or an indi? If it was done at a lexus dealership, maintenance records should show it within their computer system. All you need is the VIN number of the car, a kind approach, and most service technicians at the dealership will kindly run the vin through their system and give you the printed out history of all services done on the car via the lexus network... Edit: It's late, I've been on diaper duty all day, sorry, I now see a couple posts up that you said it was changed by the "dealer". Was that a Lexus dealer though? I quickly learned with mine that when I had the 90k service done "which is the timing belt and water pump", I had to specifically specify that both be replaced. Otherwise, I think they were just going to do the fluids, belt, and inspect the pump.

:lol: omg....how could i be on here for years and missed HOLLY?!¡!?¡! HUBBA HUBBA HUBBA Mathew is the man!

My past, and present, experiences with torque steer have normally been either tire related (condition and/or alignment issues), or a damaged part in the suspension setup, usually ball joint or outer steering rod connector. Now, given how well the ball joints and outer steering rods are engineered on Toyota cars in general, and at your mileage, I'd probably not think they would be done by now. And, if they were "if damaged by pot hole", then I'd have to think it would be obvious beyond conversational reasons. Tires: In my personal experience with my former 01' Maxima "notorious torque steer", as the OEM Bridgestone tires wore, the torque steer seemed to get better...until they wore to a point where they would just spin. I replaced them with a set of cheapo Khumos, which were more grippy, and the torque steer was danagerous. But, only under heavy acceleration from a stop. My current 07' Mazda 3 GT, also exhibits torque steer, but not nearly as bad "skinner tires". Granted, it's not nearly as powerful as the maxima, it does beg for more aggresive driving, which I happily give in to. But, I don't think your problem is tire-brand related. The other issue is the alignment, as already mentioned here numerous times. I won't fuel the debate, but rather offer a possible avenue to a solution. All Lexus dealerships have the Hunter balancing and alignment system. As do Toyota dealerships, and several others. It's considered to be the best in the business, and I'd personally agree. However, I'm not sure all have the "StraightTrack LFM" equipment too. I can vouch that it is a wonderful trick, and works GREAT to eliminate pull due to road surface angle and so forth. Website to find one in your area is below... www.gsp9700.com I have found, in all honesty, that an indi tire shop that has this equipment, does a better job than the dealerships. I guess it's because they focus on tires (and a few other repairs) instead of the entire car. When I had my LS400, I had both Lexus dealerships in my area balance and align it numerous times, with about a 40% sucess rate. After spending the premium for the dealership to do it, I decided to try an indi. I found one close to my office "Chapel Hill Tire" that has the entire system. They nailed the alignment and balancing the first time, and the car never drove straighter and smoother, and it HELD for MONTHS! Only when I screwed it up "curb rub, massive pot hole, etc", did it have to go back. Furthermore, I could take my hands off the wheel on any road and the car would track perfectly straight, or at worst, would track within the grooves of the road "like the dips in old roads by heavy vehicles". Additionally, I now have a 05' 4runner that steers like a drunk elephant on roller blades. It has big ole' baloon tires, sloppy steering, lots of suspension travel, etc... you get the point. It ain't no sports car. Took it to a Toyota dealership a few months ago to have an alignment and balancing "among other minor things". I got it back, and it pulled horribly. I felt like I was always correcting the track by a few degrees with the steering wheel. I took it back, got a bunch of flack, and ended my relationship with the dealership. I went to my trusty Chapel Hill tire, with the same Hunter system and StraightTrak, and again they NAILED it perfectly straight. Only on the most severely sloped roads do I need to correct the track with the wheel. My 07' Mazda 3 GT, with it's low profile sticky 17 inch tires, and needle-like steering response, will let me know right away when it's out of alignment and/or balance. Again...StraightTrak nails it everytime. I have to have it realigned and balanced about every other tire-rotation, as that soft rubber wears differently depending on what wheel it's been on. So, I highly suggest finding an indi shop with the Hunter system and StraighTrak and give them a shot. Tell them you want the StraighTrak done "if they don't anyway". Don't mess with the dealership anymore. I've found that they usually put the village idiot at that station anyway. Toyota's, especially Lexus, are so damn difficult to properly align and balance. It's because they're soooo damn smooth by design, that the slightest little thing out of spec comes through to the driver. It's the catch-22. Additionally, if this is your first Toyota product, welcome to what most car magazines complain about with Toyota in general....a disconnected and somewhat sloppy steering feel. It's just part of the brand. Especially if you're coming from a German car, like a BMW. www.gsp9700.com hit "find a hunter", type in your zip code...and select one that you like in the list. Hope this helps! PS: I've met several "experts" of alignments and so forth that say the Hunter system isn't worth all the hype, that it's in the skill of the techician. I've had these experts swear to me that they could align my LS perfectly every time with just their dial indicator. I wasted a lot of money with that stuff, and nothing ever aligned that LS400 better then the Hunter with StraightTrak, not even close. It costs me $85 to have it aligned and balanced at my indi shop.

We looked a several 04' and 05' ES330's last night, but were unable to tell if the rear seats fold down or not? We weren't able to get inside of the cars to check. So, do they fold down in that model series? Thanks all, NC'

Thanks amigo for the info! I'm stunned at the mpg figures! They're right up there with the Mazda's 2.3 4banger! We've got about 24k miles on the Mazda, so I'm not too worried about trading for a little older, little more miles, Toyota product, seeing as how they're so good to begin with. The question though remains in the financing options available today. Prices seem right for the model years I've cited, but I'm not sure if the lending dynamics will still work in the way I like. If it costs more, then we won't do it. But if they're the same or better, it'll be tough to ignore the possiblity of getting out of the Mazda early and into a nicer, obviously more reliable, and bigger car. I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now. I've looked at Honda Accords V6, new-style Camry, and a couple Infiniti g35 sedans. All used of course. Don't care for the macho characteristics of the g35 'or the harshness of the ride. The Camry is enjoying the same market appetite the Mazda 3 is, so there really isn't a lot of good deals to be had. Same for the Honda, plus I'm not a fan of Honda's ride characteristics either, nor the noise. The ES however seems to be the sleeper value. Granted, a few extra bucks, but not many. I'll have to do some research with the bank. I'm not worried about trade values and sales prices, as dealerships are starving at the moment for business.

Since my wife's car (07' Mazda 3 GT) is now basically my car: And my car (05' 4runner V8), is her car: since she's now a stay-at-home mom, I'm starting to think about a little bit bigger car. I love the Mazda, but finding hard to ignore the market demand for smaller cars like that. Plus, I'm not 100% convinced it'll go the long-haul w/o some significant problems. It is, afterall, a Ford engine, transmission, etc.. And, it is a sports car, drives like one, and especially rides like one. Which is fun most of the time, but not all of the time. So, I've been really thinking about a 04 to 05 ES330 with around 40-50k miles. But, I don't know a lot about them. I've read most of the sticky about the throttle lag, and have heard from other owners over the years that they either hate it, or simply don't give a flip. How about you guys? Do you all find the throttle lag to be a big enough issue to avoid the car in general? I've driven a few as loaners when I had my LS, and noticed it, but didn't find it all that too intrusive. Any other significant flaws, issues, warnings you guys could advise me on regarding those two model years? As some of you know, i'm pretty handy these days with maintainace items, so tranny fluids, oils, etc... would be a problem for me to service. Also....are these on a timing belt too, or timing chain? If belt, when do you change them? Water pump too? Thanks guys!

Finally, someone who sees this the same way I've been seeing it, and flappin' my gums about on here for the past several months..... This comes from UK's Telegraph newspaper. I think he's off a bit on government causing the credit crunch, but over there, it could be a different ballgame than here. Over here, it's from b/s investment strategies that mimic the Junk Bond era of the 80's. Here's the link, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jh...8/08/do0801.xml But here is the cut n' paste text too. His timing of when prices will dump, is right around when I predicted they would tank too.... Now, it's just a waiting game to see if we're right! But nonetheless, more chatter along these lines can only serve the good of the economy! Shall I dare say, a light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to shine? Iraq turning the corner to peace, troop withdrawl on the table, etc... My my my, we just might be at the very door step of enjoying some of the benefits of the struggles of the past several years! Let's hope so! "The great oil bubble has burst By Martin Vander Weyer Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/08/2008 Have your say Read comments Bad news from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline - an installation that may not normally draw much of your attention, but which is a throbbing artery of global energy supply, carrying vital oil supplies from Central Asia towards a tanker terminal on the Turkish coast. On some remote, sun-baked plain of Anatolia, an explosion sparked a fire earlier this week, temporarily cutting the flow through the pipeline. News: Supply gap could mean oil hits $200 a barrel Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Government caused the credit crisis But guess what? Here's the good news: the oil price did not zoom upwards in response, not a blip, barely a flicker. Actually the price of a barrel of crude has been falling: from a peak of $145 in early July, it came down to $117 and was trading yesterday at $120. That's almost a 20 per cent drop in little more than three weeks. A return to relatively normal oil prices would take the sting out of inflation If the trend continues into September at anything like the same rate of descent, most of the inflationary spike of the past 12 months will miraculously have been sliced away. This is a dramatic reversal, and it is worth trying to work out why it is happening and what it means. Just possibly, it means that what investors refer to in shorthand as the great "oil up" story has finally revealed itself not as the fundamental reflection of scarce supply that its adherents liked to claim, but as a simple, speculative bubble that was always going to burst. The market's conviction that oil prices were set on an unstoppable upswing was underpinned by a set of mantras to be chanted daily before breakfast by anyone hoping to make money by following the crowd: insatiable demand from China; indolent Opec sheikhs unwilling to open the supply taps; that nasty Vladimir Putin playing political hardball with Russia's oil and gas resources; those mad Iranian mullahs hell-bent on nuclear conflict; and beyond all these, the looming threat of "peak oil", the inevitable moment when Mother Earth's carbon-fuel gauge starts pointing towards empty. One way or another, said the fundamentalists, the only destination for oil prices in the medium term was somewhere north of $200 a barrel. And hooray to that, chorused the green lobby, because it may be the only thing that will ever make us wake up to the need to stop cooking the planet with carbon emissions. advertisement Layered on top of these long-term factors were the short-term headlines. As a matter of market psychology for the past several years, any news item suggesting temporary disruption of supply - rebel activity around Nigerian refineries, strikes in Venezuela, hurricane warnings in the Gulf of Mexico, Anatolian shepherds lighting their cooking fires beside a leaking pipeline - has motivated oil traders to push prices upwards: sometimes just long enough to turn a quick buck before settling back for the next jump, but always trending higher. Now the psychological tide seems to be turning. On the supply side, Saudi Arabia, the dominant member of Opec, is now signalling greater willingness to open the oil taps. When the princes of the desert made a rather smaller gesture of willingness in that direction in June, the market took no notice and prices marched on. But in the new mood, any hint of an increase in Saudi supply is a reason to mark down prices. As for the Russians and the Iranians, the pundits have remembered that even the most externally truculent or internally turbulent of energy-exporting nations can feed its people at home only by selling its natural resources abroad, so must ultimately stay on good terms with its customers. And meanwhile, five years of rising oil prices have provoked a wave of investment in new drilling and refinery capacity - including the opening up of inaccessible oil sources that no one wanted to tackle when prices were low. Whether it is deep under the Arctic ice-cap or soaked into the tar-sands of northern Alberta, there turns out to be quite a lot more oil waiting to be exploited before we really approach the peak-oil apocalypse. More than that, high oil prices have encouraged rapid development of such alternative energy sources as wind and solar power, and more efficient engine and heating technologies. On the demand side, a shuddering deceleration in economic activity across the industrialised world is starting to take pressure away. Many economists think the downturn will be deep and painful, and Opec (whose predictions are naturally at the low end of the range) thinks demand for its output could be lower in the early part of the next decade than it was in 2006. In the motor industry, the talk is of plunging sales of gas-guzzlers, as drivers on both sides of the Atlantic switch to smaller, fuel-efficient cars - or simply cut out non-essential mileage. Even in China, for all the Olympic razzamatazz, a fall-off in Western demand for cheap manufactured exports must soon lead to at least a tempering of growth in energy demand. Reading these tea leaves, if you are a hedge-fund manager who has spent the past year smugly amassing "oil up" positions in sophisticated financial instruments, you will certainly be trying to get out of them now: hence the sheer speed of the recent falls. There is a long-running argument as to just what proportion of any commodity price movement can be traced to speculative activity by hedge funds and others, and what proportion to physical demand. But when the oil price swings up or down by $5 or more in a single day, you may be sure that the fluctuation is not being caused by a sheikh on one end of the line arguing with the manager of your local petrol station on the other: it is the financial parasites in between who are moving the market. Less sophisticated, perhaps, are the more traditional oil players, who have simply been holding tankers full of the sticky stuff offshore while the barrel price was rising. They will now be instructing their captains to steam into port sharp-ish and unload at the best cash price they can get. And where will that price be by mid-autumn, after a couple more months of gloom-laden statistics from the industrialised economies? Perhaps, with all the speculative fizz taken out of it, down by as much as a half from its June peak. That's not to say it won't go up again when the signals change and all those long-term factors loom large once more. But for the time being, a return to a relatively "normal" oil price in the $60 to $80 range would take the sting out of the current inflationary surge, and that in turn would allow the Bank of England to contemplate cutting interest rates to stave off recession and help the housing market. Keep your fingers crossed, and keep your eye on how oil traders react to titbits of bad news. Martin Vander Weyer is editor of Spectator Business Jeff Randall is away"

I haven't heard much of the LX or sister version Land Cruiser having this problem "I have an 05 4runner V8". But, what you describe, sounds EXACTLY like what we 4runners/tacomas/GX470's have been dealing with for years. The 4runner and GX are 99% identical mechanically. If you look under the truck, at the back differential, follow the driveshaft up towards the transfer case. You should see where the inner portion and outer portion of the driveshaft overlap. The cause of the thump is that outer sleeve sticking in a forward position "off of the differential". It binds a little, then when you creep forward, it frees itself and slaps the base at the differential. It is annoying, that's all. It doesn't hurt the truck, just ticks off the driver. We 4runner guys buy $10 grease guns and Mobile 1 sythetic grease tubes and inject the shaft about every 10k miles with fresh grease, which eliminates it "but doesn't fix it". If you see little nipple-like points on the driveshaft "called zerks", then you too can lube it. Or, my suggestion, is since you just bought it from a Lexus dealership, it's certified, I'd just take it back and have them fix it. They'll probably just lube it though. However, if you push hard enough, "i'm not sure about this part though", maybe that rear shaft is the same as in the GX series, and they'll replace it with one of the new ones! Eitherway, if you think it's going to drive you insane, I'd take it back to them to at least get the file started that you have the problem. Me? I don't care for it, but I live with it. My 4runner, thanks to that wonderful V8, is so smooth and quiet, that the positives outweigh that negative. One thing that helps is taking it easy when coming to a stop, or popping it into neutral and coast to the stop. I do that sometimes too, plus, it save gas. Which, now that you've got a Toyota V8, you'll quickly realize how dang thirsty they can get with a heavy foot! But the power....oh sweet jesus....you've got to LOVE that power!

Did you buy it from a dealership, or individual? 1st thing I'd do is contact the seller asap and tell them what it's doing. Get some conversations going, document them for possible later use if legal avenues are to be taken. We need more infomration on your car though. How many miles, where are you located, did you run a carfax on it, any wrecks? That sort of stuff. I say this for many reasons. If it's a clean car, well taken care of, decent miles, then you could have a few basic and simple problems, like a stuck thermostat and cross-threaded oil drain plug. Very easy fixes and cheap too. But, if it's been wrecked, not well taken of, tons of miles, etc... then who knows? And you'll want a mechanic to look at it. It could be a leaking rear main seal, it could be a blown coolant valve internally in the engine, it could be lots of things. But first, tell us some more information about the car and your location.... PS: Additional information on the car's maintenance history can probably be had from a Lexus dealership and the car's vin number. They keep records via the vin number for whenever it was serviced at a lexus dealership, from day 1. PPS: I assume you've got a check engine light on? Since it's overheating, i'd figure the light would be tripped. If it is, or isn't, swing by an autozone and see if they'll scan the computer for error codes. Write them down, and post them up here and we can decode them.

What happened India, you get early parole? Last I heard, you were on the news doing some electo-slide dance in the isles of Target, and got busted! Hahaha.... Good to see you again amigo! PS: I'm no longer a Lexus owner, but my key still seems to work, so I sneak in a bit to send some new guy on a wild goose chase about a "vibration", make sure Steve hasn't banned half of the East St. Louis members, get an update on SK's turbine propelled LS400...you know, the usual stuff. Oh, but I am a dad now, which probably explains why it's raining frogs in Ontario. Hey, let me reproduce? Are you kidding me? And they say God doesn't have a sense of humor! Ha!

With guys like us in your corner Steve, you could take it to the Stevie Wonder Automotive Repair Shop, and still get things fixed the right way! Or, and now that I think about it, I don't think I recall ever hearing a "dirt under the finger nails" weekend project from you? Man, the economy must really be in the 'r, ya'll! Or the Lexus dealership finally wised up and realized Steve was stocking his office's cookie platter with their free cookies! Lexus Service Tech: Morning Mr. Steve, back for an oil change already? Steve: Yep, you know it Captain Cup Cakes. Lexus Service Tech: My, that's an awfully large coffee mug you got there. What is that, 3 liters? Steve: Yep, times' 'er tough in the real estate market, takes a few extra ponies to stay ahead. Lexus Service Tech: Well it can't be too tough, judging by that piece of luggage you got there, wheels and all. Steve: What? This ole' thing? It's just my brief case. Lexus Service Tech: You need a loaner today, Mr. Steve? Steve: Nope, I'll just be waiting in the cafe, got some emails to return on my trusty Blackberry, go over some files, have a sip of this coffee, you know, the usual, like last week. Lexus Service Tech: Ok, Mr. Steve. But I'm sorry to report that we're all out of oatmeal raisan cookies today. For some reason, we've been back-ordered since last week, about the time you were here last. Steve: On second though, I'll need that loaner after all. Just let me go get a napkin for my coffee cup. It tends to leak sometimes, and coke...i mean...coffee...is tough to get out of the carpets..... 10 Minutes later in loaner car..... Steve: Whew, that was close! Hey, wait, is that the new G35 out front of the Infiniti dealership?!! Sweet mokey poxs of Britney love salad! Cookie express here I come!!!! BUSTED!!!! :D PS: Got a shop here, called Phil's Toy Store, nothing but former Lexus tech's, nothing but Lexus repairs, for 1/2 the price. I used them a couple times, they were great too. I don't think it's a lose situation. But, doubtful they'll wash you car for ya'!

FYI: Oil has now slipped below the "new base" of $120 a barrel floor! Just another $55 more to go over the next 8 months! The stage is set, keep the off-shore drilling issue on the front pages and on people's minds! I think it'll stay between $110 - $120 for the next several weeks, then after the election we'll see it dump pretty quickly. Especially when most Americans are angry over the quarterly profits of big oil these days, creating a very negative stigma against all oil investors. Furthermore, just because things cost more, doesn't mean tax breaks. Granted, several institutions will have huge negative write-downs to defer tax liability, they also know the american consumer drives the flow of capital. In a nut shell, all other investments will fail too if Joe American can't afford to go anywhere, buy anything, do anything, but sit and wait. No money flows, no profits to be made. So, they'll sell their positions for losses, back off from ramping up chatter of oil costs, and let thing settle back down. Because if everything they have is in the red, they still have to pay taxes on assets. Remember, historical charts show the markets usually dwindle down around the ramp-up towards tax season. People sell to raise money to pay the tax man. The theory of oil speculators driving the prices will soon be proven if it's correct or not, when quarterly earnings are posted for the financial houses. With slides like these in oil, and more predicted by analysts, I have a feeling deep losses could be reported by investors. That will be the tell-all on how heavy big-house investors were/are tied into oil futures. Funny, anyone heard any chatter lately about oil being $200 a barrel soon? Anyone hearing predictions of $150 barrels, or even ANY price predictions in general? Hmmm...I wonder why.... ;) I think the worm has turned, at least in perception anyway. People aren't talking about oil prices, but instead about how to fight them. Fight or flight has taken hold, and as America does time and time again, it fights!

chances are that the spring in the ebrake lever is starting to fail, causing the peddle itself to sag. this is very common on older cars. mine did this too, every morning. try this....with your toe behind the ebrake peddle, pull the lever up. see if that turns off the light. obviously hold the ebrake release while doing this.... not bad for my first posting on my wife's new wii! 1 thing to try to remember on these cars, is that they're so dang good that the easiest fix almost doesn't seem right, and easily overlooked. a lesson i had a very hard time learning myself, until i hit the $3,000 mark in repairs...which just sucked!!!!! the pad light looks like the following, or close to it.... "(Δ)"

After 24k and 14 months of owning our 07' 3 GT, I'm still quite happy with it. But, in all honesty, I might have a problem with a Mazda family sedan though. Zoom Zoom little toys, they're great at! But bigger family sedans, I'm not so sure I'd be happy with the overall build quality. They seem to use quite a bit of cheap plastic in the engine area for air intakes, mounts, clips, etc.. I had to replace the idler and belt recently because the wheel is plastic and started to wear out. In our 3, when hitting bumps, I can certainly feel and hear some of that stuff bangin' around. I'll have to go through with some rubber sticky mounts soon to quiet it down. Additionally, under mild acceleration, the engine is a bit buzzy. This is fine on a smaller, sports car like the 3 GT, but I've rented numerous 6's over the past few years and they too seemed quite buzzy. They also ride pretty hard, which is part of their zoom zoom characteristic. They're also a bit light on the road noise insulation materials, espeicially in the wheel wells. The sheet metal is pretty tinnie too. This is fine in a toy-like car, but not so sure I'd want that in a family sedan. Styling wise, I'm not so hot on those front fender flares. I'm sure the interior is nice though, with a nice european feel to them. The 3 is built on a Volvo frame, which makes it quite nice at highway speeds "absent the road noise on concrete". I'm not sure if the 6 is built on a Volvo frame though. I think it's probably a Ford 500/Taurus frame. I'm sure the engine is Ford, as most Mazda's are. Our 2.3 has Ford MoCo stamped all over the engine.

Personally, even though I think being locked out of a navigation unit is frustrating, I think it's a good idea. If people can't seem to drive safely with a phone to their ear, how in the world can they possibly be more responsible with trying to type in an address on a tiny computer screen while going 70 mph? I have a garmin nuvi' 200, and I too am guilty of allowing it to distract me with messing with it while driving, simply because I don't want to pull over to do it. But I have gotten much better about it, and rarely mess with it anymore while driving. However, it is attached to the windshield, not down below in the console stack, so I can see through my tweaking of the screen, unlike the console stack versions. Even though it's frustrating, it's there for a reason, a GOOD reason....keep you alive! I'd rather be lost and alive, then dead "or responsible for someone else's death" and on-time, any day of the week. A $65k car can kill just as easily as a $15k car, there is no distinction between the two under that situation. Dead, is, dead.

Wow, that's quite nice! I heard one of those guys actually purchased one of those new Air Bus 777 jetliners for their own personal use! It's a freakin' double-decker super plane, the largest commercial aircraft in the world. They're the only private citizen to have one. Heard it's going to be outfitted to the tune of like $300m. But that's ok, let them spend all that money. As someone who's very much tuned into the real estate markets and capital flows around the world, I can tell you many of these guys are really taking a gamble in our real estate and banking markets right now. Hope they've read their history books of when Japan tried to do the exact same thing back in the 80's and 90's, and lost their BUTTS! To sum it up, who here would buy a McMansion in Southern California right now for the asking price that was set in March of 2007 (the peak)? And then, who here would finance that purchase on a 18 month note? Nobody? Going once, going twice....repo'd to the market guy in the back! Because Mr. McMansion owner, who also influenced the lender with a $7.8b stock purchase (citibank), can't find anyone willing to buy it from him that would even come close to covering the debt on the property, or at least recover his down payment. In the mean time, the lender under new congressional lending laws, can't ignore or manipulate the appraisal anymore, therefore can't refinance the loan beyond maturity for the current debt, and wouldn't you know it, OUR problem, just became THEIR problem! Take this example and multiply it by 2.8 billion times across all sorts of business sectors, and you now know what's potentially about to come to a lot of the foriegn capital flowing in.... Just like the Japan "geniuses"...didn't fully understand the game, bought high, thought it would sell higher, ran out of time to wait, got forced to dump and run due to poor financing (terms), and never came back. Hope first up: those damn idiots who took my Budweiser from me!

This isn't all that suprising though. I had mentioned in another thread last spring that this summer would be one of the best times of all time to buy an SUV, especially a GM or Ford. I'm suprised Nissan would cut so much though. Guys on the 4runner site are posting up quoted trade-in numbers for their 04's in the 70k mileage mark of just $8,000. I think if you want an SUV or truck, and know you'll keep it for a while, NOW is THE time to do it! I don't think it'll last either. I won't go into my theories about what is going to happen to gas prices (currently happening now too, but I don't think it's the big dip coming). But I do think a time will come when SUV's will be in favor again. Especially when the world begins to settle down with a new president for the next 4 years and jitters are calmed on which direction the country will take. And families get tired of dragging the tailpipe on their Civics due to being CRAMMED in there with two kids and all the gear, and realize that with all that weight, they're only saving about 5 to 6 miles a gallon over an SUV anyway, with none of the useful space and comfort. Right now, nobody seems to know if we're going down Barrack Avenue, or McCain Lane, and that my friends causes confusion & nervousness...aka...market volitility...aka...hide your money in commodities, which results in increased prices.

Damn, that guy sure does cut it close to the road and ground towards the end! WOW, that's insane! I'd drop my organs in my shorts if I had to do that!

The metals inside of catalytic converts are worth so much these days, they're having a problem here with Durham hood-rats coming to UNC's campus at night and actually cutting them off of SUV's in parking lots and selling them.

Yeah....just like God required a pastor and his wife to buy a new Mercedes SL600 and Bentely several years ago....that my former employer "idiots" three months later got to enjoy driving to lunch from the repo lot next to his office. Guess God forgot to make the payments and not commit intentional fruad to a federal institution via doctored income receipts and false tax returns....Ooops... Last time I checked, God works in mysterious ways with some lessons learned the hard way. Sounds like you've already learned that lesson and was smart enough to not need it taught to you again. Good move.

Many years ago I had this little black box, with a red button on it, that would set off people's radar detectors within a couple hundred feet of it. It's purpose was to get those 18 wheelers off your tail when they tailgated you. You'd push that button and all of the sudden they'd fall back, way back. I had sooo much fun with that thing, until I left it in a rental in Newport News, VA. I've never seen another. My uncle, who is a 747 pilot for UPS, picked it up in Tiawan one year and gave it to me at Christmas. I'd see guys come flying up the road at nearly 20mph+ over the limit, flashing their lights for people to move, just to be driving fast. Then they'd come by me to where I could see the lights of their detector on the dash, hit that button, watch those light go red, and laugh my butt off as they freaked out and stomped on the brakes. We'd go a few more miles, they'd start to speed up again, and WHAMO', I'd do it again! Just loved that thing!