Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

houdini1

fintail said:

Public sector types generally receive such benefits in excess of the overall population. Force them into the system, which will create a lot of wrangling when the praetorians moan and congresscritters have to actually live like people, and it might force a change.

If you will recall, Obamacare rules called for all senators, representatives, etc to be enrolled in Obamacare. This was when it was being sold to the public. After it was passed, Obama quietly issued an exception for politicians !!

sda

I had no idea that Isuzu was in the na market in the mid 60s. It looks like it was a pretty nice car and based on the description, well built.

houdini1

I always wanted one of those Suzuki Samurais. Rented one in Hawaii once and it was a blast. Too bad CR killed it.

qbrozen

imidazol97 said:

The one I bought, for lots more money, was an Autel 619 several years ago. It's supposed to diagnose ABS as well as the usual functions. It's hard to figure out how to use even with the instruction book. It's like lots of Asian instruction manuals from many years ago in how it is written. They said it had free updates for 1 year, but it didn't. At least I could never figure out. My 619 has the identical cover and operation description to some sold at Harbor Freight under different name at that time.

 Even the best units will not do everything. Every manufacturer has their own proprietary systems and software that repair shops have to buy for a great deal of money. It is the only way to read all the subsystems. 

houdini1

The only fix for healthcare is for politicians and medical industry, including big pharma, to take a big dose of very bitter medicine. I don't think that is going to happen, so the fix will probably be on backs of taxpayers.

suydam

houdini1 said:

fintail said:

Public sector types generally receive such benefits in excess of the overall population. Force them into the system, which will create a lot of wrangling when the praetorians moan and congresscritters have to actually live like people, and it might force a change.

If you will recall, Obamacare rules called for all senators, representatives, etc to be enrolled in Obamacare. This was when it was being sold to the public. After it was passed, Obama quietly issued an exception for politicians !!

Actually that's not quite correct. Congress gets their health insurance through their employer, as do most Americans. The ACA was designed for people without employer provided insurance.
That said, they should be subject to the same constraints as the rest of us.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

oldfarmer50 said:

fintail said:

The asking price of a clean low-miles Daewoo

And of course it is in Whatcom County, the location of the dealer I mentioned earlier.

About the same as a 99 Taurus goes for around here.



https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/1999-ford-taurus/6220391825.html

Assuming it is mechanically sound and not too rusted not a bad car. Interior looks surprisingly clean.

Yeah, wish I had an excuse to buy it.

imidazol97

suydam said:

Actually that's not quite correct. Congress gets their health insurance through their employer, as do most Americans. The ACA was designed for people without employer provided insurance.
That said, they should be subject to the same constraints as the rest of us.

Lawmakers and staff were supposed to be in ordinary ACA exchanges. But a couple of tricks and illegalities allowed them to fake being in an exchange, but the exchange type is for businesses with under 50 employees: congress is far above that limit.

A special exchange in DC for small groups U\NDER 50 members was set up by admin and given subsidies so that lawmaker continued to pay the 10% or so of insurance costs just like they paid under their previous coverage setup before Obamacare.

I cannot find all citations but the use of small business exchanges for groups over 50 is not proper. And the legality of the subsidies is addressed in the second citation here.

"Lawmakers and staffers, except for a handful of cases, have purchased health insurance through the District’s “SHOP” exchange since 2014. They do this with an employer-based subsidy from the federal government, which some Republicans have denounced as an “exemption” for Congress under the law."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/members-of-congress-and-their-aides-wont-be-exempted-in-the-gop-health-care-plan-but-theyre-unlikely-to-feel-the-impact-much-anyway/2017/05/04/d9ebe492-30fe-11e7-9dec-764dc781686f_story.html?utm_term=.5fee0afd6add

http://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/commentary/congress-receiving-unconstitutional-obamacare-subsidies

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

The brain itch that I'm trying to scratch is to use a device that could detect skulduggery by a seller erasing CEL codes to conceal expensive repairs.

I bought a scanner that does the things you listed, however, once codes are erased, they're gone. When they talk about historical codes, those are codes where something corrected itself or the code was erroneous. The indicator light turned off, but the presence of the code is still in the computer. However, erasing clears the whole history with my scanner.

If you're looking for a scanner, I'd watch the sales on ones at Harbor Freight. There's no updating from the company, but they're cheap enough. And the email add they sent me has a 25% off coupon good today only. Other emails have 20% off coupons for one item.

My suggestion is to get one with its own battery. Ones powered by the car when connected can't be used to review anything they captured without being connected to the ALDC.

https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=asc&order=EAScore,f,EAFeatured+Weight,f,Sale+Rank,f&q=automobile+scanner

Thanks, excellent advice on all fronts. If no scan tool can recapture old codes once erased they might not serve my purpose.

fintail

I think a few of those made it down here, too.

A couple years ago on local CL, there was an Isuzu Bellel, like this:



It was a barn find, although it looked solid and complete. I thought about at least taking a look at it, and kind of wish I had, something like that has to be the only one around. It was a diesel like this, too.

Those early Corollas could rust a little here, but it seemed to take about 25-30 years, They were not uncommon sights well into the 90s in WA and OR. Of course, the interior would biodegrade faster if it wasn't garaged.

ab348 said:

Those early Toyota Coronas were very similar in design to the mid-60s Isuzu Bellett, which was assembled here in Nova Scotia for a time. They had a very good reputation here.

houdini1

imidazol97 said:

Lawmakers and staff were supposed to be in ordinary ACA exchanges. However, a special exchange in DC for small groups U\NDER 50 members was set up by admin and given subsidies so that lawmaker continued to pay the 10% or so of insurance costs that they paid under their previous coverage setup before Obamacare.

I cannot find all citations but the use of small business exchanges for groups over 50 is not proper. And the legality of the subsidies is addressed in the second citation here.

The only group in the country still receiving such high subsidizes must be the college folks.

"Lawmakers and staffers, except for a handful of cases, have purchased health insurance through the District’s “SHOP” exchange since 2014. They do this with an employer-based subsidy from the federal government, which some Republicans have denounced as an “exemption” for Congress under the law."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/members-of-congress-and-their-aides-wont-be-exempted-in-the-gop-health-care-plan-but-theyre-unlikely-to-feel-the-impact-much-anyway/2017/05/04/d9ebe492-30fe-11e7-9dec-764dc781686f_story.html?utm_term=.5fee0afd6add

http://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/commentary/congress-receiving-unconstitutional-obamacare-subsidies

Thanks for all the details imid. You got it right, but no matter how you say it, we got snookered !

fintail

I think Fiat has a similar rep as here - cheap, not the highest quality, but maybe more fun than some other economical cars. It's a tradeoff - pay more and get a Toyota which will be more reliable, but it will be dull.

The happy medium there seems to be VW, which is why the brand leads in so much of Europe. Also, Skoda is only becoming more successful.

graphicguy said:

Had a conversation with my son last night. I was asking him about his GTI. It's been stellar for him.

That started me thinking about cars like Fiats. Given their well known lack of reliability here, what do people think of them where they sell a ton of them, like Europe? Do Europeans have a different set of expectations than we do? Do they bemoan the lack of reliability? Are their cars more reliable than ours?

fintail

I've seen a bit of debate about what happened But was that an exec order, or something both sides of the swamp sneakily pushed through? I don't see 45 bravely calling / tweeting it back

houdini1 said:

If you will recall, Obamacare rules called for all senators, representatives, etc to be enrolled in Obamacare. This was when it was being sold to the public. After it was passed, Obama quietly issued an exception for politicians !!

Mr_Shiftright

OK, now that that's solved, let's get back to cars.....

abacomike

imidazol97 said:

Well, the latest tracking of Irma puts it right over us by this weekend.  By Wednesday or Thursday, if the tracking continues to put that hurricane in a line with south Florida, I am going to drive up to Ponte Vedra (just south of Jacksonville) and ride out the storm(s) up there at my brother's place.

I really should not be alone with a category 4 or 5 hurricane headed right at me.

I have the staples from the surgery being removed on Wednesday and some follow up blood tests on Thursday morning - then I'll leave for northern Florida.

Never a dull moment!

Nope!  My life has become a roller-coaster!  As soon as I get through one harsh bump or harsh turn, another creeps up on me.  This must be some form of punishment for past sins - no other possible explanation.  It sure can't be just fate or chance - I've been through too many of these since my Dad passed 2 years ago.

Well, at least I'm becoming a pro in dealing with one adversity after another.  

graphicguy

I don't remember much about Isuzus....and nothing at all about the Bellell or Bellett. I do remember the ads about Joe Isuzu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJMq_7alQpU

isellhondas

When those came out someone said the front end looks like a catfish and they do!

Seriously as used cars they can be a very good buy for not a lot of money!

Mr_Shiftright

I remember they had a little diesel pickup called a "Pup".

Michaell

Mr_Shiftright said:

I remember they had a little diesel pickup called a "Pup".

There was a gas version, too. My first wife bought one when we started dating. It was an '86, regular cab, 5-speed

fintail

The Joe Isuzu ads were great. You don't see much humor like that in advertising these days. For car ads, it is either pandering schmoopy stuff (I'm talking to you, Subaru) or faux-aggressive faux-exciting ploys.

I remember this one pretty clearly:

https://youtu.be/R_56s80s3Ds

iluvmysephia1

Checking in from Kansas City.


2017 Chevy Spark

Camp Chevrolet in Spokane is sellin' this bad boy for $11,300 which includes a manufacturer's allowance of $2,548. Gotta clear 'em out for the 2018's. Chevy calls this color Mosaic Black. Since we're purchasing a home I won't be able to mess with our credit so I would have to wait a while before getting one of these. I like the idea because of the amount of traveling both for my job and the Mrs. and I. We'll be visiting sisters in Okanagon, Renton and Bothell.

Dick's Deluxe, fries and a med Coke, please. I also like the fact that these have a backup camera and Android Auto. Coolio topped off with an Iglasius!

iluvmysephia1

2017 Chevy Spark in white rear view

They have two. This white one and the black one. Chevy isn't selling very many of these - I'll bet both of these are available in 2 months from now. Chevy calls this white Summit White.

ab348

Those are barely bigger than a Smart car.

ab348

Michaell said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I remember they had a little diesel pickup called a "Pup".

There was a gas version, too. My first wife bought one when we started dating. It was an '86, regular cab, 5-speed

IIRC the Chevy LUV pickup in the '70s was also an Isuzu.

qbrozen

The Spark is garbage. You can do better.

jwm40517

Saw an article today about an outfit called Driveshare where you can rent vintage and sports cars. At first glance I thought it would never work because of insurance, then I saw the founding partner was Hagerty Insurance that insures the bulk of this type of cars. You can get a Boxster for $99 to $3300 for a Lamborghini Aventador. Not available in New York due to their insurance rules. Median price is $275 per day.

isellhondas

I assume they are total strippers? Do they have A/C?

isellhondas

qbrozen said:

The Spark is garbage. You can do better.

Who makes them? I don't think I've ever seen one on the road!

oldfarmer50

fintail said:

The Joe Isuzu ads were great. You don't see much humor like that in advertising these days. For car ads, it is either pandering schmoopy stuff (I'm talking to you, Subaru) or faux-aggressive faux-exciting ploys.

I remember this one pretty clearly:

https://youtu.be/R_56s80s3Ds

One of my favorite recent commercials is the one where the King Kong Balloon breaks loose and follows the VW around town to the background of an old ELO song.

stickguy

made it back safely from Driver100 land (3 days in Toronto). great city. had a lot of fun. Super friendly people. and man, talk about building boom. Condo and office towers going up everywhere.

did see a few oddities we don't get. a little MB hatch (not sure if A or B class). Adds for the Nissan Qashi (our Rouge sport I think). But mostly all stuff that we have too. a few Ferraris, a few more M3s, and a gaggle of Porsches. There is definitely some money floating around that city.

Ate too much really good food, but heck, was on vacation.

stickguy

GG, as to Fiats and the such, I am sure it was not the entire reason, but I think a big problem with some of the little furrin cars is that they were not designed for our conditions (high speed hiqhways and the like), desires (Automatic trannies), or rules (emissions crap). So a little city runabout got poorly engineered add ons that caused plenty of trouble and people ran them harder than they could handle (and with some of the more exotic stuff, probably way under maintained).

driver100

iluvmysephia1 said:

2017 Chevy Spark in white rear view

They have two. This white one and the black one. Chevy isn't selling very many of these - I'll bet both of these are available in 2 months from now. Chevy calls this white Summit White.

What happened to the Forte? For the extra amount it was a lot more car for the money. I have been behind a few of those Chevy things on the highway lately....and people seem to think they can take them in the left lane. They are under-powered and should be illegal on the highway. Not to mention the skinny tires that look like bicycle tires.

The Forte has more substance and a presence on the road....doesn't look like a flea that got lost on the highway of life.

fintail

There's a reason for that lack of sales. I suspect 90% of them go to rental fleets for the lowest priced rental. Shop a class higher - both when buying and renting. The cost is often minor, and you get more for your money.

iluvmysephia1 said:

Chevy isn't selling very many of these - I'll bet both of these are available in 2 months from now. Chevy calls this white Summit White.

fintail

VW has good spots now and then, better than most.

This was a particularly memorable ad campaign:

https://youtu.be/qzIVJlOPwxQ

oldfarmer50 said:

One of my favorite recent commercials is the one where the King Kong Balloon breaks loose and follows the VW around town to the background of an old ELO song.

fintail

That would be a B-Class. Loonieland started getting them about 10 years ago, and they seem to sell in moderate volume. They are actually sold in the US, in EV form, but I suspect few are actually sold.

Toronto and Vancouver are some of the most inflated speculative real estate markets on the planet, magnets for black money laundering.

stickguy said:

made it back safely from Driver100 land (3 days in Toronto). great city. had a lot of fun. Super friendly people. and man, talk about building boom. Condo and office towers going up everywhere.

did see a few oddities we don't get. a little MB hatch (not sure if A or B class). Adds for the Nissan Qashi (our Rouge sport I think). But mostly all stuff that we have too. a few Ferraris, a few more M3s, and a gaggle of Porsches. There is definitely some money floating around that city.

Ate too much really good food, but heck, was on vacation.

fintail

I bet that Lambo has like a 50 mile/day limit, too.

jwm40517 said:

Saw an article today about an outfit called Driveshare where you can rent vintage and sports cars. At first glance I thought it would never work because of insurance, then I saw the founding partner was Hagerty Insurance that insures the bulk of this type of cars. You can get a Boxster for $99 to $3300 for a Lamborghini Aventador. Not available in New York due to their insurance rules. Median price is $275 per day.

driver100

Stick, glad you had a good time and T.O. worked out well.
I say, Toronto is a great place to live....if you got lots of bucks. It has got it all, but, you need a lot of money to live there to take advantage of all the things you can do.
I prefer to go and do what we do there.....then get out and back home....usually go by train these days, traffic is a mess, parking is hard to find and expensive, and there are guys that will wash your windshield on every corner!
Not for me...but, a fun place to visit.

Naming rights for the Air Canada Center, where the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team plays, and the Raptors basketball team, was just sold to The Bank of Nova Scotia for $800 million, for 20 years! Yikes! Highest price of any stadium, for naming rights!

suydam

Iluv I think the Forte would be a much better choice especially for a commute. Those little Sparks are really underpowered. And I have an Encore, so you know I'm not that into power the way some of these folks are. My daughter had to drive a rental Spark over the Penn Turnpike once. In a snowstorm. It was terrifying.

roadburner

qbrozen said:

The Spark is garbage. You can do better.

I believe you owe an apology to garbage everywhere- that insult is beyond the pale...

driver100

The MB hatch - a B Class sells fairly well here. It is a good value for around $36k as it is solid, roomy, offers the safety features of an MB and according to reviews nice handling. But, I really don't like the looks of it, I would feel like I was a bus driver driving one of those (sorry oldfarmer),

sb55

abacomike said:

Well, the latest tracking of Irma puts it right over us by this weekend.  By Wednesday or Thursday, if the tracking continues to put that hurricane in a line with south Florida, I am going to drive up to Ponte Vedra (just south of Jacksonville) and ride out the storm(s) up there at my brother's place.

I really should not be alone with a category 4 or 5 hurricane headed right at me.

I have the staples from the surgery being removed on Wednesday and some follow up blood tests on Thursday morning - then I'll leave for northern Florida.

My 85 year old father lives in Vero Beach 3 blocks from the ocean. He is hoping to head to a friends place in Naples. Who know where this one will end up? Will Naples even be safe?

driver100

There are certain cars that really don't belong on highways. Like the Spark, the Fly and I had to wait for one of these to try and pass someone before he would move over.

Nissan Micra!
Wouldn't want to get hit by a garbage truck with one of those! (although it might fly the air and bounce safely on someone's lawn! )

sda

fintail said:

VW has good spots now and then, better than most.

This was a particularly memorable ad campaign:

https://youtu.be/qzIVJlOPwxQ

oldfarmer50 said:

One of my favorite recent commercials is the one where the King Kong Balloon breaks loose and follows the VW around town to the background of an old ELO song.

I remember those commercials and laughed at them then. A friend of mine parents had a '76 and '77 Granada that they bought new. The '76 was fancy, the '77 a bit plain. Both had the 250 six, both slugs, though the '77 seemed a bit perkier. They were quiet, smooth, great a/c and didn't handle worth a dang.

houdini1

suydam said:

Iluv I think the Forte would be a much better choice especially for a commute. Those little Sparks are really underpowered. And I have an Encore, so you know I'm not that into power the way some of these folks are. My daughter had to drive a rental Spark over the Penn Turnpike once. In a snowstorm. It was terrifying.

Ditto on the Forte. Nice little car. Spark, not so much.

driver100

sda said:

fintail said:

VW has good spots now and then, better than most.

This was a particularly memorable ad campaign:

https://youtu.be/qzIVJlOPwxQ

oldfarmer50 said:

One of my favorite recent commercials is the one where the King Kong Balloon breaks loose and follows the VW around town to the background of an old ELO song.

I remember those commercials and laughed at them then. A friend of mine parents had a '76 and '77 Granada that they bought new. The '76 was fancy, the '77 a bit plain. Both had the 250 six, both slugs, though the '77 seemed a bit perkier. They were quiet, smooth, great a/c and didn't handle worth a dang.

I remember those ads too. My father bought a new Mercury or Ford about every 2 years. He bought a Granada, nice looking black with a burgundy interior. he hated it immediately...just not up to standard. Went back to a full size Mercury after that.

The best form of flattery is to copy........that is what I think of when I see Ford trying to copy Mercedes.

imidazol97

Looks like Palm Beach County has a high probably of getting very wet and windy, although it's too many days out for a degree of certainty. Many of the tracks from various predictors run right up the SE FL coast. Then they hit Jacksonville after the storm is back over water to re energize.

fintail

At least it looks like Houston won't get hit again this time around. Those people need a break.

I am still kind of amazed those Granada ads were approved. Even in a time without internet-based snark, people must have been smirking. I remember a few years ago, Hyundai tried something similar but a lot more subtle for an early Genesis campaign, and it didn't last long. And the recent Chevy "real people" ads are probably the most ridiculed car ads on Youtube.

Mr_Shiftright

We seem to be veering into the political Dark Side, so once again please take the hint and pay attention to your Lane Departure warning.

nyccarguy

Mr_Shiftright said:

We seem to be veering into the political Dark Side, so once again please take the hint and pay attention to your Lane Departure warning.

Hate leads to fear.  Fear leads to anger.  Anger leads to suffering.

iluvmysephia1

2017 Chevy Spark 5-speed in Summit White

Nice. You guys are all just jealous. Come on, admit it! It's loaded with everything you need and nothin' you don't need. Perfect car for a minimalist like myself.