I find all the home repair places around our area, way up north, to be about uniformly same in quality so, given my predilection for supporting Canadian business, I prefer to go to Rona (or Totem) over Home Despot or Lowe’s. YMMV.
The new Ford Mustang rates five stars in the most recent edition of Lemon-Aid. Oh, and mine kicks ass. Just sayin’.
In other news, I read unofficial reports that the construction company I work for has landed a $156 million office tower in Montréal. In my eight years with the company, I think this is the first big job we’ve picked up in Québec. Cool!
Will you be coming here for work? Our steakhouses can’t compare, but we know our way around poutine
I do not want a Ford, Mustang or otherwise. I couldn’t tolerate the mocking from everyone I know (sure, sure, they are better than they were, whatever, I’d still be a laughingstock!)
I have no idea what I want to buy, which is the problem. I haven’t gone test driving, but I’m looking mostly at the Accent, the Veloster, and the Matrix. I like the Elantra GT, too, but we already have an Elantra and I don’t want to be one of THOSE couples
Then again, if I can find a magician to just set my car like new…and maybe add air conditioning…I’d be happy. I’ll be disappointed in anything I buy, I think, because it would just be A car, not MY car. I know, I know, I need help!
Bah, buy a Subaru. It is just as fast and can be driven year round. A rear wheel drive car in Canada: Ridiculous. I used to own a Mustang Cobra. Not good in winter at all. A danger to yourself and others.
I wasn’t completely sold on the Mustang, but it wasn’t going to be MY car. I’m pretty much completely sold now - I’ve never cared much about driving a hot-looking car, but damn if it doesn’t feel good to tool around town in one.
I’d be surprised if they asked me to venture out there for that project – it’s being handled by our Ottawa district, so I imagine all their personnel will come from that area. On the other hand, it’s not unheard of for them to bounce some people around for specific projects. On the other other hand, it has been about 25 years since my last high school french class, so my conversational skills these days amount to me being able to say “Bonjour,” “Je m’appelle Jim,” and “Donnez-moi un hot dog.” :o
Hyundai makes a damn reliable car these days, but I’m finding their product to be chronically underpowered for my taste. YMMV, literally!
My 'Stang handled last winter like a baller. The traction control, mated to some mid-range winter tires, had it handling every bit as well as my old Tercel, only much, much faster. Also, the Subarus, were a helluva lot more expensive than my baby. These days, a WRX with comparable horsepower to my car is $16K more than what I paid and the new BRZ, with only 2/3 of the horsepower, is $5 grand more than what I paid.
Section 14, restrictions on jurisdiction and Section 15, restrictions on review, would seem to specifically prohibit the Ontario Labour Relations Board from investigating whether this Act is constitutionally valid or is in conflict with the Human Rights Code (clause 14), and prohibits any court from questioning or reviewing anything in this Act (clause 15).
Never mind one’s take on the legislation itself - how can it be proper for a government try to shield its legislation from proper scrutiny?
Section 14 - the Labour Relations Board is a creature of statute, so the legislature can limit its jurisdiction in any way it wants. The legislation is not shielded from judicial scrutiny (that it cannot do).
Section 15 - this is a variety of what is known as a “privative clause”:
Typically, the effect of such a clause is not absolute, no matter how it is worded–I haven’t done administrative law, but I understand that typically a court can review a decision for “jurisdictional error” in spite of such a clause. The usual effect of a privitive clause is to prevent a court from reviewing a decision merely on its merits (that is, the court deciding whether the decision was correct or not). If a decision was, for example, unconstitutional, the court would review it despite the existence of a privative clause.
That may be true but the Subie will depreciate much slower, the AWD system is fantastic, especially coupled with a decent set of winter tires and it sounds like mnemosyne isn’t looking for a WRX/STI ($48k). A very nicely equipped Impreza will run you less than $30k, looks good and did I mention bulletproof AWD?
I’ve driven my 07 Legacy wagon through all kinds of nasty N.Alberia harshness and it’s never let me down once. Too bad you won’t consider the Fords, though.
The new Focus or Fusions are sweeeeet. I’d also second a turbo Veloster or or maybe even one of the new Scions.
As far as recommendations for mnemosyne, I agree with you – if I could afford a Subaru, I would have had them on my list. And certainly even if you’re not looking for something bad-ass, they have lots of excellent options that are very reliable.
But I was mainly responding to Uzi’s comments about how crapulent rear-wheel drives in general, and Mustangs in particular, perform in Canadian driving conditions. My experiences on Calgary’s notoriously poorly-maintained winter roads did not agree with his.
You’re absolutely right about rwd cars being better than they were, but Uzi referred to a Cobra and high horsepower rwd cars are going to be a handful even with the electronic gimrackery. Keep in mind, too that a BRZ masses roughly 1200kg and a v6 Mustang (it’s closest competitor) comes in at about 1600.
More power is faster on the striaghts; lighter is faster everywhere.
As I said earlier, I might have given the BRZ a real close look had it been on the market a year ago – I am a fan of Subaru’s cars – but it wasn’t AND with its thousands-higher base price it might have been an early casualty in my search. Did I mention my Mustang has a hundred ponies more than the BRZ? Mmmmm… horsepower.
I don’t like Mustangs, and Imprezas are (IMHO) douchemobiles (sorry to anyone who might have one - it’s just one of those cars that gets souped up and all kinds of add-ons that douches like). There was one version of the Impreza that I kind of liked, but I think the current one is ugly.
I am REALLY, REALLY picky.
I just test drove an Accent. I liked it, and it’s a perfectly reasonable car for a good price with a nice set of goodies in the top model. Then I walked past the Elantra GT in a very pretty colour that the Accent doesn’t have, and I thought “well, it’s not like the GT is THAT big”, despite my feeling like even the Accent is gigantic compared to my Tercel. I just really liked that colour. I didn’t test drive the GT because I was starving, it was pouring, and I wasn’t comfortable driving a new unfamiliar car in the rain on the highway in the dark. And starving, did I mention starving? It’s cruel to make us shop instead of eat supper. Car dealerships aren’t open on the weekends in Québec (despite massive customer demand for it) and they do their best to trap you there and talk to you for hours so you can only go to one place a day.
I didn’t make it to the Toyota dealership and I don’t really know what else I want to bother looking at.
This is a really hard decision, guys! I don’t want A car, I want MY car!
There is nothing like the sound of an angry V8. That 4.6L in my Cobra liked to rev. Glorious.
Not so glorious was the back end swinging around at the littlest blip of gas.
My WRX that replaced it didn’t sound as nice (although the boxer engine does sound nice), but it was almost as fast in dry weather. In wet and snow (8 months of the year in Canada), it left everything else in its wake.
[QUOTE=mnemosyne]
There was one version of the Impreza that I kind of liked, but I think the current one is ugly.
[/QUOTE]
There are other models than Imprezas. Try a Forrester. We bought an XT Limited as a replacement for a Toyota Tacoma (transmission went. They wanted $5K to replace it!). More practical than the WRX and a sleeper if there ever was one. Almost as fast as the WRX.
The base model of Forrester is peppy, no rice racer douchery, and the boxer engines in these cars last forever. An added benefit, is that while everyone else is stuck on flat ground spinning their wheels on the ice, or hoping that their traction control will get them moving, you can just drive around them and continue on your merry way.
Ahh, I sympathize there. I still miss my first car, an 87 Honda CRX. Over time I came to really like all the vehicles I’ve owned You have had your vehicle for a long time and gotten used to its quirks and familiarity and maybe that’s the key. Ultimately, only you can decide what’s right for you. Although there might be a million reasons why you should pick one car over another, as long as it suits your needs, if it comes down to a color you really like go for it. Most vehicle mfrs have thier act together and if you’re buying new, you probably aren’t going to be disappointed.
My wife bought a Ford Edge not too long ago and I can honestly say that it has been the best long distance tourer I have ever driven. I drove 12 hrs straight and could have gone longer on our va-kay to Radium Hot Springs. This is the first vehicle that has ever made me feel that way.
I’ve owned four vehicles in my life thus far, and each filled a specific niche at the time. My CRX gave way to the Jeep Cherokee when I started a family, that gave way to the Focus when I started dating after my marriage blew up and had to drive 3 hrs to see my now wife. When we started living together that turned into my Legacy. Since my boys are almost out of the house, that will give way to a WRX sans spoiler, a Golf R, or a Focus ST. Is that your car, probably not, but it makes me happy to think about ripping around in a hot hatchback that still affords me some practicality.
It sounds to me like you know what you want already, mnemosyne. Here is a little reading that might help.
While RWD may seem not-so-great for winter driving, I certainly take issue with the notion that it’s completely useless.
Get snow tires.
Put a moderate amount of weight (sandbags are a great option; maybe 2 equaling 40-50kg total) in the trunk.
Drive carefully.
It really IS that simple.
I do, however, agree that FWD is superior to RWD. The “AWD” in my vehicle ('05 MDX) is a bit of a misnomer, what with all the “computer decides how to distribute power to the wheels” crap. It is really a FWD that can utilize AWD tech IF you happen to get stuck.
We spent many long hours driving in the Corolla - a surprisingly comfortable car for the size. Actually, I think our only mild complaint with the Corolla is that it is slightly underpowered for highway passing (on our many trips to Radium Hot Springs ).
I know the Corolla would be a good reliable car but it’s also rather boring and expensive for what you get IMHO. I want a lot of the gadgets and connectivity features that you have to pay a lot for in a Toyota but come with other makes of cars at entry or just above entry level models.
I test drove the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic yesterday, more on a whim than anything else. I was very pleasantly surprised and I’m actually kind of considering it!
