CSC Chat (2 Viewers)

[TexAZ]

a buddy posted a link to a video on facebook today. Not sure about the product. looks interesting enough, but their commercial was all done with 100 and 200 series cruisers. Super fun to watch on a boring work day...

Bush Winches and Anchors | Vehicle recovery system

 

[blatant]

UPDATED: Toyota dumps Scion

UPDATED: Toyota dumps Scion
February 3, 2016

Get 'em while they last! Scion has been discontinued.

Toyota's youth-oriented sub-brand is put out of its misery
This August Toyota is killing Scion, its 13-year-old attempt at luring young people to then-staid Toyota. It sold more than a million cars in its life with offbeat models, youth-aimed marketing and a fresh retail environment. Scion’s cars and dealers are folding into Toyota’s, the automaker announced Wednesday.

Scion’s first four years went well, but then its lineup withered, thanks largely to Toyota’s unintended-acceleration crisis and the global recession the following years. The company says another factor was young buyers’ attitudes towards Toyota -- it also shifted, making it a more aspirational brand than Scion. As Automotive News points out, shuttering Scion might cast it as a failure, but Toyota is in part vindicated in its efforts to strengthen its own image among young shoppers.

Toyota’s plan is for a seamless, quick transition. Automotive News says the iA, iM and FR-S models will wear Toyota badges for the 2017 model year when they arrive in dealerships this August. The CH-R crossover concept from the 2015 LA auto show is going to hit the market in 2017 as a Toyota -- that was the intent for the rest of the world, anyway. We’ll see the production version at the Geneva motor show in a month. Toyota had already planned to whack Scion’s tC coupe after the 2016 model year.

Bob Carter, senior vice president of operations for Toyota Motor Sales told Automotive News there’s no change to the customer. “We’re simply changing the brand and the logos,” he said.

Toyota also said the move won’t mean any of its products are getting cut and that it won’t change its relationship with partners Mazda and Subaru; those continue as-is.

Carter told Automotive News a fundamental shift in young buyers’ attitudes towards Toyota drove the move. He said while Gen Xers wouldn’t touch the same brand their parents and grandparents liked, Millennials see Toyota more favorably than they did Scion.

“Today, youth buyers are in a completely different position than they were 13 years ago,” Carter told the paper. “That’s really what’s driving this decision.” He also conceded some younger buyers thought Scion was a lesser brand than Toyota, understandable considering Scions mostly sell for less than $22,000.

Carter says Toyota saw that as an opportunity. “Without a doubt, volume creates awareness,” he said, “and there’s a much higher awareness of Toyota than there is of Scion today and with that level of awareness, Toyota being an aspirational brand, now is the right time to make this move.”

The first Scions, the boxy xB hatchback and compact xA, launched in New York and California in 2003 and the brand went national in '04. The tC was added in 2006, the year sales peaked at 173,034.

Investment in and attention to Scion’s lineup suffered during and after Toyota’s unintended-acceleration crisis and the recession. By 2010 sales bottomed at 45,678, or about a month and a half worth of Camrys. Adding the FR-S coupe co-developed with Subaru and the little iQ gave Scion some life two years later and in 2015 the Mazda-built iA sedan and the iM hatchback arrived. Still, sales only hit 56,167. Killing Scion now might take some of the spotlight off lagging sales and negative attention every time sales numbers are announced.

Toyota is notifying dealers today (Feb. 3), Carter said. Toyota says it already told the Scion and Toyota dealer councils, and they both supported the decision.

“They understand what’s happening on their showroom floors,” Carter told the paper. “This just validated it.”

Toyota is continuing to handle all warranty, financing and service work. The 1,004 dealers are all within existing Toyota stores.

By Autoweek editors


Read more: UPDATED: Toyota dumps Scion

 

[splitshot]

Mark your calendars folks, and book your tickets early. The Monkeys are still alive.

Tickets | The Monkees | Fox Tucson Theatre

 

[murf]

Are you #@&*% me? Must be hard times....

 

[Living in the Past]

Mark your calendars folks, and book your tickets early. The Monkeys are still alive.

Tickets | The Monkees | Fox Tucson Theatre

Are you #@&*% me? Must be hard times....

Wonder how old that picture on the site is. When my kids were little they were making a come minus Mike Nesmith. My kids were surprised I has some LP from my pre teen days. Been a few years since Davy Jones died. He was still part of the group with the other two. Mike Nesmith went behind the sceens for the longest time. I remember reading these were one of the first put together boy bands. This was around the Vietnam era and for one reason or another they were all not going to be drafted.

 

[Saddletramp]

1966-68 Peter Tork was the funny one. Loved their car

 

[brices123]

Jerry Seinfeld is selling off 16 of his Porsches. Check out this one.

Jerry Seinfeld is selling 16 Porsches

 

[Saddletramp]

My wife shared a few poems fronm the New Yorker, they seemed appropriate for some of us

Valentine's Day poems for Married People

Winter.
It’s been dark for, like, five hours,
And yet the children are still awake,
And I am only a little drunk.
What you call yelling I call making a point.
*********
Our love is like the padlocks on the Pont des Arts, in Paris—
Thousands of locks, symbols of unbreakable love.
Isn’t that beautiful?
Apparently, though, all those locks are too heavy for the bridge.
Did you hear this?
I read it somewhere.
The locks are weighing the bridge down.
So you know what they’re going to do?
They’re taking them off with bolt cutters and throwing them out.
Isn’t that beautiful, too?
So now the people aren’t locked together anymore.
They’re free to maybe see other people.
I thought that was interesting.
*********
When we have children,
They will watch no television.
No screens.
We will be different from those other parents,
And we will take pride in our being better.
Fast-forward seven years,
And it’s Sunday morning,
6 A.M.
Do you know who our friend is?
SpongeBob SquarePants, that’s who.
And, yes, you can have Mentos for breakfast.
*********
I was almost feeling fondness for you
As you gave me a shoulder massage at the sink—
What a small, lovely surprise.
And then you grabbed my boobs and made a “wha-wha” noise.
In an instant, I felt disgust and sadness and regret.
*********
The kids are finally down
And you are looking at me in that way,
But not really looking at me.
Tease.
Or are you just spacing out?
Yup, you’re spacing out.
You have unzipped your skirt,
And your baggy underpants ride way, way up on your hips.
How old are those, anyway?
You pull on some sweatpants and a T-shirt and a sweater and a fleece and I am not able to make out any contour of your body at all.
I think you are sending me a signal in the way that married couples send each other signals.
And, just so we’re clear, you’re signalling, “I’m going to call my sister and order sushi. You should do something, too.”
*********
Of course the wheels on the bus go round and round.
And the wipers go swish, swish, swish.
But here’s something:
The daddy on the bus says, “This is not what I signed up for.”
And maybe the driver on the bus doesn’t go beep, beep, beep.
Maybe he just hits the guy in the crosswalk because he feels like it.
Sing that verse, why don’t you?



* * *





I’m dreaming.
But it’s so real.
A man—is it you?
Nope.
It’s Rob, Casey’s husband,
The one with the Italian accent.
We’re on the beach and he’s chasing me and I’m laughing.
He’s so tanned and fit.
And then . . .
A terrible smell,
Like death.
I’m blinking and awake and your nasty-ass breath is hot on my face.
You son of a bitch.
You God-damned son of a bitch.
Rob, come back.



* * *





We are in the bedroom in our underpants.
Let’s turn the lights down.
No, further.
“Off,” I guess, is the technical term.
Maybe try a towel under the door, where that sliver of light is coming in?
What if we just cuddle, and by cuddle I mean not actually touching—
Each of us at the far edge of our own side of the bed—
Then close our eyes for the next seven hours or so?
I like you.



* * *





I have heard that some couples watch the whole movie in a single sitting.
Food for thought.



* * *





In France, cinq à sept was once sacrosanct,
A euphemism for rendezvous,
For the thing that men and women do.
But we are not in France.
We are here, in Montclair.
And it is well past seven.
And I promised to be home at six.
And, yes, that’s booze on my breath.
The guys and I had one . . . fine, three drinks after work.
I have forgotten the milk.
And the bread and the pasta and the pull-ups.
And the allergy medicine at CVS.
Why are you dressed up?
Wait. Today is Valentine’s Day?

 

[splitshot]

Might be my favorite races ever, Toyota team domination when it counted....

Hamlin inches past Truex Jr. to win Daytona 500

 

[05Tacorunner]

Wasn't sure if there was a spotted thread or not or really where to post this, but I spotted @Dimples yesterday at grand and Bethany home. First time I have seen anyone that I recognize from here. Land cruiser looks good sir.

 

[Dimples]

Thank you. Was it in the morning or evening?

 

[05Tacorunner]

Thank you. Was it in the morning or evening?

Was evening. About 5ish. I made a right off Bethany onto Grand and you were at the light on Grand.

 

[Living in the Past]

I seen Jack A. on 59th ave and the 101 Sunday afternoon. Not many 45LVs in the valley with his patina.

 

[JackA]

I seen Jack A. on 59th ave and the 101 Sunday afternoon. Not many 45LVs in the valley with his patina.

We will have to meet up one of these days. Pretty sure we don't live too far away from each other.

 

[msahr]

Speaking of seeing club members out in the wild, I'm walking in to the Goodwill on Scottsdale Rd near the 202 and Brandon (you know, of the crazy spotting and really nice 60 series, BMAN...) in line at the cashier. Talked for a while, he's currently between jobs but is doing well. Murf, he's got the manual and instructions and stuff for the club grill...

 

[splitshot]

Just got back from Atlanta. The boss flew me over tho check out a piece of AG equipment, I left the house at 5am this morning, long day...TSA herds you around like a bunch of cattle there. Highlight was the $70 sandwich and beers on the company dime.

 

[murf]

Speaking of seeing club members out in the wild, I'm walking in to the Goodwill on Scottsdale Rd near the 202 and Brandon (you know, of the crazy spotting and really nice 60 series, BMAN...) in line at the cashier. Talked for a while, he's currently between jobs but is doing well. Murf, he's got the manual and instructions and stuff for the club grill...

Cool. Speaking of club grill. If anyone wants to be the keeper of this or take it on a club run, let me know, it packs down to a portable size btw

 

[murf]

Most reliable vehicles From the new 2016 Consumer Reports annual auto issue. Toyota Motor Sales (incl Lexus) came in with 10 of the top 14 . pretty strong!

 

[blatant]

THE MILLION-MILE 2007 TOYOTA TUNDRA
Posted in Features on February 25, 2016Comment (190)
SHARE THIS



Tim Esterdahl
Photographers: Courtesy of Toyota

Every truck maker talks about long-term reliability, but what does that really mean? How long is “long-term”? For Victor Sheppard, it is more than a million miles in his 2007 Toyota Tundra.

Sheppard is a hotshot driver delivering supplies for oil operations. This niche job means he is driving across the country from oil fields in Louisiana to North Dakota and docks anywhere in California to Virginia delivering freight to the fields and businesses that work with oil companies. It also means a lot of time behind the wheel of his Toyota Tundra.


With that many miles on a truck bought brand new on May 29, 2007, from Greg LeBlanc Toyota in Houma, Louisiana, one has to wonder what kinds of repairs it has needed.

“Basically all I’ve done is oil changes,” Sheppard says. “The only mechanical issue I’ve had with my truck was at 776,000 when the reverse went out. I continued to use it, and thought if I ever got in a bind, I could just push it back.”



He eventually got the reverse fixed and is currently on the road to New Orleans from Norfolk, Virginia. Since the odometer stopped working at 999,999 miles, he is now tracking his mileage with the trip odometer. As of this writing, he has 3,300 miles on the trip odometer and counting.

How’s the truck running now?

“Truck’s running fine,” Sheppard said. “I’ll tell you this in a heartbeat, my truck is so comfortable. I also have no fears of it breaking down.”

On the inside, Sheppard says the interior still looks great.

“The seats have no rips or anything, and the interior is in great shape,” Sheppard said. “The only minor issue is on the driver side felt lining on the top of the cabin has a little tear in it.”


Besides that, Sheppard says the intermediate mode on the windshield wiper stalk doesn’t always work and he needs to have the wipers fully on or fully off when it is rainy.

This truck’s reliability reinforces how Sheppard has felt about the brand since he started driving Toyota products in 1988 after graduating college. He even worked for Bohn Bros Toyota in Harvey, Louisiana, for a while. It seems safe to say that whenever the 2007 Tundra gives out, Sheppard will be looking for another Toyota to put another million-plus miles on.

 

[Dimples]

I love the Land Rover ads through the article.