Best Of

Was coming home from Dayton yesterday after looking at a pair of used Magnepan LRS+ speakers for sale (a story in an of itself if any of the audio people here are interested).

Was following a a Maserati Ghilbi on I75S when a torrential downpour starts. Traffic slows way down, as it should, because visibility was dismal, at best. But, not for the Mazzy. He needed to weave in and out, using the shoulder, to get around slowed traffic. He passed me on the right dangerously close to my passenger door.

Didn't see what happened, but no more than 300 yards later, I see him on the right, off the road...not even on the berm, but in the grass, dug in the mud, facing the opposite direction. He was standing, in the downpour, looking at the damage. I assume it was substantial as the undercarriage was full of grass and mud.

Since I was already in the right lane, going about 10 MPH, I pulled over and asked if he needed help. He said he called his wife to come get him. I offered to wait with him and let sit in my car in the dry until help came. He said he'd "sit in his own damn car".

Awwwrighty. Clearly he was upset. I just drove away.

Back in 2006 my wife and I were taking the Club Sport on an overnight trip. A Jaguar XJS convertible cut in front of me as I was taking an entrance ramp on to I-64. The driver was a textbook example of Mid-Life Crisis Man: comb-over hair, gold chains, and wrap-around sun glasses. His companion was a flashy blonde trophy wife/girlfriend/bimbo/escort. The guy simply could not stand for me to pass him, so the faster I went, the faster he went. I settled in to a cruising speed of 85, trusting in my V1 and the fact that the XJS was serving as a "rabbit" in front of me.

After several miles I noticed the Jag was starting to smoke a bit. I decided to speed up just to see what would happen, and -of course- so did the XJS. More smoke. Then I caught a whiff of antifreeze. That was just too good, so I turned up the wick a bit more; I couldn't believe that comb-over hadn't noticed any problem. I ended up pushing him up to about 95 and at that point, the poor XJS had had enough; clouds of steam suddenly billowed out from under the car and from around the hood. The last I saw of him he had pulled over to the emergency strip. My Club Sport now had a film of coolant covering the windshield, but it was worth it.

And no, I didn't stop.

Was coming home from Dayton yesterday after looking at a pair of used Magnepan LRS+ speakers for sale (a story in an of itself if any of the audio people here are interested).

Was following a a Maserati Ghilbi on I75S when a torrential downpour starts. Traffic slows way down, as it should, because visibility was dismal, at best. But, not for the Mazzy. He needed to weave in and out, using the shoulder, to get around slowed traffic. He passed me on the right dangerously close to my passenger door.

Didn't see what happened, but no more than 300 yards later, I see him on the right, off the road...not even on the berm, but in the grass, dug in the mud, facing the opposite direction. He was standing, in the downpour, looking at the damage. I assume it was substantial as the undercarriage was full of grass and mud.

Since I was already in the right lane, going about 10 MPH, I pulled over and asked if he needed help. He said he called his wife to come get him. I offered to wait with him and let sit in my car in the dry until help came. He said he'd "sit in his own damn car".

Awwwrighty. Clearly he was upset. I just drove away.

Was coming home from Dayton yesterday after looking at a pair of used Magnepan LRS+ speakers for sale (a story in an of itself if any of the audio people here are interested).

Was following a a Maserati Ghilbi on I75S when a torrential downpour starts. Traffic slows way down, as it should, because visibility was dismal, at best. But, not for the Mazzy. He needed to weave in and out, using the shoulder, to get around slowed traffic. He passed me on the right dangerously close to my passenger door.

Didn't see what happened, but no more than 300 yards later, I see him on the right, off the road...not even on the berm, but in the grass, dug in the mud, facing the opposite direction. He was standing, in the downpour, looking at the damage. I assume it was substantial as the undercarriage was full of grass and mud.

Since I was already in the right lane, going about 10 MPH, I pulled over and asked if he needed help. He said he called his wife to come get him. I offered to wait with him and let sit in my car in the dry until help came. He said he'd "sit in his own damn car".

Awwwrighty. Clearly he was upset. I just drove away.

So he behaved just like he drove….stupidly?

Was coming home from Dayton yesterday after looking at a pair of used Magnepan LRS+ speakers for sale (a story in an of itself if any of the audio people here are interested).

Was following a a Maserati Ghilbi on I75S when a torrential downpour starts. Traffic slows way down, as it should, because visibility was dismal, at best. But, not for the Mazzy. He needed to weave in and out, using the shoulder, to get around slowed traffic. He passed me on the right dangerously close to my passenger door.

Didn't see what happened, but no more than 300 yards later, I see him on the right, off the road...not even on the berm, but in the grass, dug in the mud, facing the opposite direction. He was standing, in the downpour, looking at the damage. I assume it was substantial as the undercarriage was full of grass and mud.

Since I was already in the right lane, going about 10 MPH, I pulled over and asked if he needed help. He said he called his wife to come get him. I offered to wait with him and let sit in my car in the dry until help came. He said he'd "sit in his own damn car".

Awwwrighty. Clearly he was upset. I just drove away.

You should have flipped him the bird before you drove away.

I’ve mentioned before that my best friend is also a Chronic Car Buyer. His purchases can be impulsive at times. Other times he zeros in on a very specific vehicle he wants and gets it at the price he wants. He started looking for a new delivery vehicle for his business to replace his aging 2012 Smart Car. Besides the Smart, his current delivery fleet consists of a 2019ish Prius L Eco, an 2 Corolla LE FWD Hybrids ('20 & '21 I think). Besides tires & oil changes, one of the Corollas had an issue with the active grill shutter that had to be replaced. All 3 vehicles have well over 100K miles. So it should come as no shock that his latest acquisition is a (drumroll please) is a Black 2025 Toyota Corolla LE Hybrid AWD.

Ok. Here's why this Corolla was so specific and not that easy to come across. I even texted Jim from LH and he basically told me that the car he's looking for only exists on Toyota's website. He wanted a Corolla Hybrid because it is the perfect car for his needs. He wanted Black because it really makes his restaurant's logo pop. He wanted AWD this time around because when it snows, he has the delivery driver go around an pickup his workers who can't get out for whatever reason (their vehicle isn't good in the snow or they got plowed in...). He also wanted an LE without any accessories (or as few as possible) and without the LE Plus (or Convenience) package. In other words, he wanted the cheapest Corolla LE Hybrid AWD.

He found the car that turned out to be in transit from the dealership he's bought 4 other cars from. Both Corollas, The Prius, & His son's 4cyl '22 SR Access Cab Tacoma that used to be a delivery truck. The salesman that he bought all 4 cars from was still there and is now a team manager. He bought the car for a discount off of MSRP plus a $999 (I know) Conveyance fee, plus tax, title, & registration.

Now here's the reason people despise the car buying process. Despite this being the 5th car he bought from this dealership and him having an 800+ credit score, they still tried to jack up the financing rate on him. They still tried to sneak in $599 for VIN Etching which wasn't even done. The came time for the extended warranty. He politely declined citing his current fleet of Toyota Hybrids and 2 former Priuses that were totaled that have only needed repairs after 120K miles. Their answer was, "Well, you know they don't make these Toyotas like they used to? Engine and Transmission yes, but all the other parts have high failure rates since COVID."

Overall he's impressed with the standard features. He said this '25 has a few things that his other 2 Corollas don't, notably the LED Lights. He said the dash is different too. It rides smooth and comfortably. It isn't overly powerful, but doesn't feel sluggish. has no problem keeping up with traffic. He actually said that instead of making this another delivery vehicle he should sell his JK Rubicon Hard Rock 6MTsince he could probably get good money for it and take this as his car up here. He lives in FL and flies up every other week. I doubt he's going to part with his JK though.

Ha ha even the Honda dealer I dealt with only tried to jack me for $200 for Vin etching. Were they using a gold tipped engraving pen?🤣

Got up early and drove to the lake this morning with a Jeep load of plants, soil, new rugs etc, etc. Sometimes makes me wish I would have opted for the Maverick.

Now I catch myself eyeing a Ridgeline as a replacement in a couple of years. No complaints about the Jeep though. It’s a nice, comfortable ride that really will swallow a lot of stuff. Averaging right around 20 combined mpg. It’s just under 12k miles so I’m on track to be over if I’m not careful.

The Audi is at around 10k 18 months into the lease. It has been pretty flawless as well although the Audi MMI can be finicky at times. That doesn’t sit well with my wife as once when it happened she was on a road trip and she lost her navigation. I’ve completely disconnected all phones and did a hard reboot once but it still happens. It’s due for an oil change so maybe I’ll see if there is a s/w update.

I drove a Ridgeline yesterday and I was impressed how car like it drove.

We also drove some horrible POSs yesterday. Another driver and I were each assigned rusted out completely beat up Ford dually diesel dump trucks. They were awful. My coworker took his back to the yard because of a front flat tire so it was just me. As I left the yard the dash said ‘9 miles to reduced speed, add DEF’. Then we went on a search for DEF at 6 in the morning.

Luckily we found a source and started adding the fluid. Strangely it took less than a gallon before splashing out on our shoes. I got back in and started on my 100 mile trip. I immediately noticed that adding fluid didn’t help and the distance to shut down kept counting down. It hit zero and a warning came up: ‘DEF system fault, reduced speed on next start up’. So all our efforts had been a waste of time. I got it to the auction and got the heck out of there.

But the best is yet to come.

It turns out that they pumped up the tire on the second truck and gave it to another crew. As that crew was driving on the Thruway, that very same wheel decided to follow its own path and left the truck for a trip into the woods. Fortunately, the driver got it pulled over and they sent a wrecker to pick it up. Now I know why we had to hand check every lug nut on the school buses daily.

It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.😫

@mjfloyd1 said:

@jipster said:

Forgot to pack a lunch, weren't really looking to buy today. " alt="" height="20" /> But, I was starving, the dealership had the upper hand, so we left a refundable deposit.

The car had been traded in today. Has not been inspected or serviced. The salesman was wanting to finalize the deal. We said we'd wait for the inspection...and I really hadn't researched much. He pouted a bit, but was o.k. with reassurance.

We test drove several Honda CR-V's. But, I and Mrs. Jip liked the bigger Passport. Didn't really care to spend $45k to buy new. The salesman is suppose to call in 3-4 days when the car is ready.

The miles were a bit concerning, but has had timely oil changes and has the big V6 engine which is rated well.

Assuming it is a V6, you will need timing belt and water pump at around 105k miles

Didn't know that. Assumed it had a timing chain. Alexa says that will cost around $650.

I haven’t heard of getting a timing belt replaced for under $1000 in a long time but maybe Hondas have a simpler system so what do I know.

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That’s what we’ve been wondering since you got here.

jmonroe

I seldom let not knowing what I’m talking about prevent me from offering an opinion.😎