My car makes me feel stupid!

[DTJB]

However, I thought only large vehicles beeped when you backed up, so do you drive a bus or a dump truck or something similar?

Naw, just a Geo. I put beeping while backing up in just for the hell of it.

Basically, I still think idiot proof features are annoying. I can see where they can help, but I don't really need them now that I finally learned my lesson. Now that the snow has started to fall, I BETTER have.

As far as safety features go, I can go with either type of seat belt (waist only or shoulder and waist, they're both doing the same job), anti-lock breaks are just something nice to have, and air bags are unnecessary.

[narcted]

Crumple zones indirectly protect the other guy from your car by giving. I personally could care less if my car ended up holding its shape, plowing through the other car and killing the family inside. As long as I comeout okay, but the federal government has decided that it wants everybody to survive. A car that is built for crumpling is lighter and more fuel efficient than the cars that have rigid construction. Molding plastic parts is certainly cheaper than pressing and machining metal so it cuts down on cost.

[Toecutter]

Part of the reason the GM F-body (Camaro/Firebird) was discontinued at the end of 2002, was because of new federal safety regulations, which the A-pillar couldn't pass. If these cars were just built with chassis construction, or a 6-point rollcage was thrown in as stock equipment (a 6 point rollcage helps make up for the unibody construction, reducing body flex, protecting the driver, and helps in weight transfer for accelerating/braking/cornering), the old F-body could pass no problem. Then, of course, we'd still have the problem of the St. Therese plant in Canada being the only assembly line producing the classic American pony car. Damn you Canadians all to hell!

I hope GM gets it's act together, and finally produces a Fifth Generation Camaro on the new Sigma platform. They better throw in an option for T-tops, or it won't be a Camaro. The F-body has followed in the T-top tradition for three generations (starting with the ' 70-'81, or Second Generation). Perhaps a higher-compression version of the LS6, with aluminum Fast Burn heads, using 64cc combustion chambers, and OEM-style headers as optional equipment would boost sales. If they do like the new Volkswagen Beetle, and require 92 octane gasoline (a really stupid maneuver, seeing as quite a few states in the SouthEast only offer 91 octane at the pump), and use 4140 aluminum forgings, they could pull 400 horsepower while still meeting fuel efficiency and EPA standards.

Finally, they need to scrap the old 80's plan of throwing in weak in-line four and V6 engines in such a car. A pony car is meant to be a nice platform with a decent, mild performance V8, of at least 289 cid. The classic 302 or 327 is more like it, which gives a better bore-stroke ratio, while the 350 lacks the less street-friendly performance of the 5.0L or 5.3L's, but gives more options for owners to bore and stroke the engine as they see fit.