Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

stickguy

Snazzy looking.

bwia

Nice outdoor/indoor living. 

abacomike

Living here in FL with only 6% sales tax (food and drugs are not taxed) and no state income tax has it’s advantages.  My electric bill this month is $51.00 and will probably hit $60.00 next month, even with the high heat and humidity.  Florida Power and Light has one of the lowest costs for a kwh in the US.

You don’t have to buy seasonal clothing - I wear shorts every day with a 7-10 day exception during December and January.  I live on a fixed income as do most retired folks down here.  I am just lucky to have inherited a fully paid for condo.  It sure makes life easier.

abacomike

pensfan83 said:

I posted back in May about how we were doing an extensive project to renovate our back deck. The project wrapped up about 5 weeks ago and since then we have been busy staining and finishing off around the deck. The lower deck has some of our old deck furniture that I would like to scrap but my wife wants to keep it around for now. We spend quite a bit of time out there now that it's covered and had a TV. Sorry for the quality I snapped these last night in overcast skies.

Beautiful pensfan - great addition to the house.  I love what you did with wood.

roadburner

imidazol97 said:

To add a little humor, note that the Village Administrator Roberts threw in a comment about "we have drug enforcement initiatives."

That may be a secret leaked--that the cameras can detect drugs and identify their passing.
Next we need a camera to detect incompetent politicans running Ohio cities...

Whenever a bureaucrat claims that a red light/speed camera is being installed to "improve safety", you can be 100% certain that the real purpose is to improve revenue.

roadburner

pensfan83 said:

I posted back in May about how we were doing an extensive project to renovate our back deck. The project wrapped up about 5 weeks ago and since then we have been busy staining and finishing off around the deck. The lower deck has some of our old deck furniture that I would like to scrap but my wife wants to keep it around for now. We spend quite a bit of time out there now that it's covered and had a TV. Sorry for the quality I snapped these last night in overcast skies.

Nice!

28firefighter

Beautiful @pensfan83!

pensfan83

Thanks everyone...we are very happy with how it came out.

@abacomike the wood was actually something I had to be swayed on. From a maintenance standpoint vinyl would have been much easier to keep clean and also no worries about resealing every few years but now that it's complete I have to say it looks much nicer than plain old vinyl.

Mr_Shiftright

@28firefighter --so how bad is the MPG on your Viggen?

snakeweasel

pensfan83 said:

I posted back in May about how we were doing an extensive project to renovate our back deck. The project wrapped up about 5 weeks ago and since then we have been busy staining and finishing off around the deck. The lower deck has some of our old deck furniture that I would like to scrap but my wife wants to keep it around for now. We spend quite a bit of time out there now that it's covered and had a TV. Sorry for the quality I snapped these last night in overcast skies.

Nice, our backyard is a patio with paver blocks, easier upkeep but little green things keep growing between the blocks. We do have wooden steps going into the house but those have seen better days. Plans are to rip them out next spring and build paver block steps. 

28firefighter

Mr_Shiftright said:

@28firefighter --so how bad is the MPG on your Viggen?

Highway driving, no traffic, cruising around? Maybe 28-35 mpg.

Around town and curvy road driving in a sedate manner? Maybe 20-22 mpg.

"Spirited" driving and really wringing it out? 15-18 mpg.

My average last tank was 15 mpg. If that is any indicator of how I drive it.

28firefighter

I would also add, I'm expecting the fuel pump to give up the ghost any day now - so that could be impacting fuel economy.

snakeweasel

abacomike said:

Living here in FL with only 6% sales tax (food and drugs are not taxed) and no state income tax has it’s advantages.  My electric bill this month is $51.00 and will probably hit $60.00 next month, even with the high heat and humidity.  Florida Power and Light has one of the lowest costs for a kwh in the US.

You don’t have to buy seasonal clothing - I wear shorts every day with a 7-10 day exception during December and January.  I live on a fixed income as do most retired folks down here.  I am just lucky to have inherited a fully paid for condo.  It sure makes life easier.

You don't have to buy seasonal clothing? We were down that way two winters ago and saw people in heavy winter coats. Of course we were wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts. zwe toured a retirement community and our guide said he could tell we were from the north because of our lack of costs, he was wearing a sweater.

BTW one of the things we are going to do is some serious home shopping. our plan is to get a house lease it out until we retire, our current house should be paid off by then and we can just transfer ourselves into the Florida house. Hopefully the lease payments can pay down the house with minimal input from us.

Mr_Shiftright

28firefighter said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

@28firefighter --so how bad is the MPG on your Viggen?

Highway driving, no traffic, cruising around? Maybe 28-35 mpg.

Around town and curvy road driving in a sedate manner? Maybe 20-22 mpg.

"Spirited" driving and really wringing it out? 15-18 mpg.

My average last tank was 15 mpg. If that is any indicator of how I drive it.

OK, so if I get one I should count on 15 mpg

suydam

pensfan83 said:

Thanks everyone...we are very happy with how it came out.

@abacomike the wood was actually something I had to be swayed on. From a maintenance standpoint vinyl would have been much easier to keep clean and also no worries about resealing every few years but now that it's complete I have to say it looks much nicer than plain old vinyl.

Talk to me in 10 years. We had a wrap-around deck on our house in Ohio. It was beautiful, but the upkeep was very time consuming. Every year.

jmonroe

snakeweasel said:

abacomike said:

If you own stock in Bed, Bath and Beyond, you should see a slight rise in the price per share - just a few pennies.  Yesterday I splurged and bought new bathroom mats, a dozen bath towels, 6 hand towels, 4 washcloths, 2 comforter sets with matching sheets and pillowcases, 6 new pillows, a new coffeemaker, and 2 beach towels.  Having a lot of company this summer.

What dates did you say you were coming down, jmonroe?  I just wanted to be prepared for you and Mrs. jmonroe.  Also, have my son and grandson flying in for a few days next month.

Those 20% off coupons I had been saving sure came in handy.  I saved $85+ over regular retail prices.  Anyone else coming down? 

Leaving tomorrow morning, spending a couple of days in my old stomping grounds of Nashville then onto Orlando to spend time with the grandkids. How far are you from mouseville, er I mean Orlando. 

Hey, I'm first. :@

jmonroe

driver100

graphicguy said:

Not looking good for us car lovers/buyers.....

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/18/heres-how-much-your-next-car-could-cost-if-trump-auto-tariffs-go-thro.html

Guess the government needs more money.......if you can add tariffs that earn the government $1400 to $7000 a car....the debt should get reduced real quick.

driver100

Mr_Shiftright said:

suydam said:

Florida is a big state.
California too. People sometimes ask me, how far are you from San Francisco? Umm, around 300+ miles.

Yes, I run into this all the time. People call me up from say Ohio and ask if I can go look at a classic car they want to buy. My ads clearly say where I am and they seem to think I can drive to San Diego and back in a day.

I can't. I am often tempted to ask them if they realize that is the distance from Paris to Warsaw but of course I don't. I give them a California geography lesson. California is athletic. We're tall and lean.

Sounds like some of the people who cross the U.S./Canada border from Buffalo N.Y. into Fort Erie Canada in July....with their skis and they ask where the snow is?

xwesx

snakeweasel said:

Not sure where you live but I am in one of the largest metropolitan areas on the US. Here the only real variance occurs around holidays and there is a slightly noticeable difference between the summer months and the rest of the year. Other than that every road is going to have the same gridlock every rush hour.

Even when it's not "rush hour," your metro area borders gridlock almost all the time! It is difficult to do, but I tend to reroute up to a couple hundred miles out of the way just avoid going through that mess.

xwesx

snakeweasel said:

The one I really liked is when they put red light cameras at some intersections in my town there was a group staring that at one intersection accidents increased by 300% in the 6 months after installation as opposed to the 6 months prior. The problems with their stats was that the number of accidents went from 1 to 3 and that the 1 happened in the summer months and the 3 happened in the snowy winter months. When you compared the year prior to the year after there were less accidents. 

DOT here is going to put in some fancy, obnoxious roundabout in an area where it is not needed because they claim this intersection is something like four times "more dangerous" than similar such locations in Alaska. The problem with that stat is that, over the last decade, there have been something like three (THREE) injury crashes, and no fatalities, at this location, with the rest of any collisions being minor at best. Compared to the flow of traffic through here, that stat basically says that you have ZERO chance of suffering an injury here unless you actually try to cause such a collision.

And, yet, this is enough for Federal funding, so why not make a fancy "improvement" that will inconvenience only those who have to use the location every day?

This is why people are so leery of government waste.... because it is justified! /sigh

xwesx

As far as the tariffs go, I find it a little amusing that we have knee-jerk articles like this that are intended to get people's alarm bells ringing. Yes, this type of thing is intended to raise consumer costs. Why? Because it influences consumer behavior and, therefore, tends to push manufacturers toward local production. Why don't people already get that?

So, if everyone is building stuff outside the US because it costs 20% less, then a tariff of 25% means they don't cost less anymore for consumers. No matter what, consumers lose on tariffs. However, the goal isn't to benefit consumers at all (and never was). The goal is to benefit national security because domestic manufacturing, regardless of what it is, means the nation can respond more quickly to any substantial threat should it arise. Case in point: WWII.

snakeweasel

jmonroe said:

abacomike said:

If you own stock in Bed, Bath and Beyond, you should see a slight rise in the price per share - just a few pennies.  Yesterday I splurged and bought new bathroom mats, a dozen bath towels, 6 hand towels, 4 washcloths, 2 comforter sets with matching sheets and pillowcases, 6 new pillows, a new coffeemaker, and 2 beach towels.  Having a lot of company this summer.

What dates did you say you were coming down, jmonroe?  I just wanted to be prepared for you and Mrs. jmonroe.  Also, have my son and grandson flying in for a few days next month.

Those 20% off coupons I had been saving sure came in handy.  I saved $85+ over regular retail prices.  Anyone else coming down? 

Leaving tomorrow morning, spending a couple of days in my old stomping grounds of Nashville then onto Orlando to spend time with the grandkids. How far are you from mouseville, er I mean Orlando. 

Hey, I'm first. :@ jmonroe

You want to spend time with my grandkids?

snakeweasel

xwesx said:

The one I really liked is when they put red light cameras at some intersections in my town there was a group staring that at one intersection accidents increased by 300% in the 6 months after installation as opposed to the 6 months prior. The problems with their stats was that the number of accidents went from 1 to 3 and that the 1 happened in the summer months and the 3 happened in the snowy winter months. When you compared the year prior to the year after there were less accidents. 

DOT here is going to put in some fancy, obnoxious roundabout in an area where it is not needed because they claim this intersection is something like four times "more dangerous" than similar such locations in Alaska. The problem with that stat is that, over the last decade, there have been something like three (THREE) injury crashes, and no fatalities, at this location, with the rest of any collisions being minor at best. Compared to the flow of traffic through here, that stat basically says that you have ZERO chance of suffering an injury here unless you actually try to cause such a collision. And, yet, this is enough for Federal funding, so why not make a fancy "improvement" that will inconvenience only those who have to use the location every day? This is why people are so leery of government waste.... because it is justified! /sigh

A few years ago I was cruising down a back country road when I ran into a recently finished roundabout. The trouble was that this was smack dab in the middle of corn fields, very light traffic and no cross street. It took them almost three years to build the crossroad and no one uses that road. That new road goes nowhere and comes from nowhere. 

fintail

Using a war from three quarters of a century ago that won't be fought again in terms of being dependent on machinery as a defense of distracting tariffs is specious at best, IMO. Especially when the mouth booring on about tariffs uses imports for the junk bearing his name, and when his son of a conman son in law is hawking pay for play residency to people who often skim money from offshore production.

To be related to this forum, nobody with real world credentials can link (or has linked) auto imports to national security, nor can defend the burgeoning trade war as anything positive. I suspect the irritation of (maybe former) allies created by the haphazard imposition of tariffs could be be much more damaging to security than a ship full of BMWs and Jaguars. It's all a distraction from other malfeasance.

An interesting take

xwesx said:

So, if everyone is building stuff outside the US because it costs 20% less, then a tariff of 25% means they don't cost less anymore for consumers. No matter what, consumers lose on tariffs. However, the goal isn't to benefit consumers at all (and never was). The goal is to benefit national security because domestic manufacturing, regardless of what it is, means the nation can respond more quickly to any substantial threat should it arise. Case in point: WWII.

fintail

The biggest issue I see is that American drivers aren't taught how to use a roundabout - there's a huge learning curve, probably getting worse as distracted driving is such a growing epidemic.

I'd love to see some roundabouts on my route, but there's not enough free land, and knowing my area, they'd put stop lights on them anyway.

xwesx said:

snakeweasel said:

And, yet, this is enough for Federal funding, so why not make a fancy "improvement" that will inconvenience only those who have to use the location every day?

This is why people are so leery of government waste.... because it is justified! /sigh

jmonroe

pensfan83 said:

Thanks everyone...we are very happy with how it came out.

@abacomike the wood was actually something I had to be swayed on. From a maintenance standpoint vinyl would have been much easier to keep clean and also no worries about resealing every few years but now that it's complete I have to say it looks much nicer than plain old vinyl.

Very nice looking and it looks like you sprung for the better quality deck boards like I did which you won't find at the big boxes. I don't think I have a knot larger than a quarter and you have to look long and hard to find maybe the 20 that I do have. When I did mine I spent LOT of time making the deck look like a deck on a ship. Did tongue and groove on all the ends with a chamfer and since my deck is 40 feet long you can see why I said it took a LOT of time but in the end it was worth it. I am never in a hurry when I do something just like when working on my cars. I don't have to rush because I don't have another job that has to be done to pay the bills.

Yes, your deck will take some work but what you did looks better than plastic. Just be sure to stain it sooner than later. I do mine every other year and feel guilty when it slips to 3 years like it has a few times (my deck is about 18 years old).

Enjoy it, it looks very nice.

jmonroe

thebean

The real problem with tariffs is they enable the domestic suppliers to raise their prices to be just below the foreign supplier price with the tariff attached. That is already happening in the steel industry. Domestic autos will be that way also. Lessening competition has never helped consumers.

jmonroe

snakeweasel said:

xwesx said:

snakeweasel said:

The one I really liked is when they put red light cameras at some intersections in my town there was a group staring that at one intersection accidents increased by 300% in the 6 months after installation as opposed to the 6 months prior. The problems with their stats was that the number of accidents went from 1 to 3 and that the 1 happened in the summer months and the 3 happened in the snowy winter months. When you compared the year prior to the year after there were less accidents. 

DOT here is going to put in some fancy, obnoxious roundabout in an area where it is not needed because they claim this intersection is something like four times "more dangerous" than similar such locations in Alaska. The problem with that stat is that, over the last decade, there have been something like three (THREE) injury crashes, and no fatalities, at this location, with the rest of any collisions being minor at best. Compared to the flow of traffic through here, that stat basically says that you have ZERO chance of suffering an injury here unless you actually try to cause such a collision.

And, yet, this is enough for Federal funding, so why not make a fancy "improvement" that will inconvenience only those who have to use the location every day?

This is why people are so leery of government waste.... because it is justified! /sigh

A few years ago I was cruising down a back country road when I ran into a recently finished roundabout. The trouble was that this was smack dab in the middle of corn fields, very light traffic and no cross street. It took them almost three years to build the crossroad and no one uses that road. That new road goes nowhere and comes from nowhere. 

But it makes the roundabout look complete.

jmonroe

stickguy

roundabout makes me think of driving in Ireland. They are at every intersection there. the navi lady pretty much started talking about the next one as soon as I exited the last one! "take the 2nd exit from the roundabout".

But, this is the US. NJ. They are traffic circles! I actually like them. Better than sitting endlessly at a traffic light when there is little or no other traffic.

28firefighter

Mr_Shiftright said:

28firefighter said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

@28firefighter --so how bad is the MPG on your Viggen?

Highway driving, no traffic, cruising around? Maybe 28-35 mpg.

Around town and curvy road driving in a sedate manner? Maybe 20-22 mpg.

"Spirited" driving and really wringing it out? 15-18 mpg.

My average last tank was 15 mpg. If that is any indicator of how I drive it.

OK, so if I get one I should count on 15 mpg

If you're lucky.

ab348

Our municipal and to a lesser extent provincial govts are in love with roundabouts, to the extent that I think the municipal govt is seeking some sort of award from Big Roundabout Inc. for putting so many in. Most drivers seem to hate them here.

cdnpinhead

graphicguy said:

. . ., the sense that the mood and vibe has changed is strong, and not for the better.

As well as the smell.

houdini1

fintail said:

Using a war from three quarters of a century ago that won't be fought again in terms of being dependent on machinery as a defense of distracting tariffs is specious at best, IMO. Especially when the mouth booring on about tariffs uses imports for the junk bearing his name, and when his son of a conman son in law is hawking pay for play residency to people who often skim money from offshore production.

To be related to this forum, nobody with real world credentials can link (or has linked) auto imports to national security, nor can defend the burgeoning trade war as anything positive. I suspect the irritation of (maybe former) allies created by the haphazard imposition of tariffs could be be much more damaging to security than a ship full of BMWs and Jaguars. It's all a distraction from other malfeasance.

An interesting take

xwesx said:

So, if everyone is building stuff outside the US because it costs 20% less, then a tariff of 25% means they don't cost less anymore for consumers. No matter what, consumers lose on tariffs. However, the goal isn't to benefit consumers at all (and never was). The goal is to benefit national security because domestic manufacturing, regardless of what it is, means the nation can respond more quickly to any substantial threat should it arise. Case in point: WWII.

Yes, the U.S., China, GB, Canada, Germany, France, and Russia should take President Trump's advice and eliminate all tariffs.

graphicguy

thebean said:

The real problem with tariffs is they enable the domestic suppliers to raise their prices to be just below the foreign supplier price with the tariff attached. That is already happening in the steel industry. Domestic autos will be that way also. Lessening competition has never helped consumers.

And always......ALWAYS.....raises prices for the consumer while offering protectionism’s to the local manufacturers without them having to be competitive.

It’s bad....just BAD all the way around.

graphicguy

@penfan83.....that is a very, very nice outdoor area. Love it!

driver100

houdini1 said:

fintail said:

Using a war from three quarters of a century ago that won't be fought again in terms of being dependent on machinery as a defense of distracting tariffs is specious at best, IMO. Especially when the mouth booring on about tariffs uses imports for the junk bearing his name, and when his son of a conman son in law is hawking pay for play residency to people who often skim money from offshore production.

To be related to this forum, nobody with real world credentials can link (or has linked) auto imports to national security, nor can defend the burgeoning trade war as anything positive. I suspect the irritation of (maybe former) allies created by the haphazard imposition of tariffs could be be much more damaging to security than a ship full of BMWs and Jaguars. It's all a distraction from other malfeasance.

An interesting take

xwesx said:

So, if everyone is building stuff outside the US because it costs 20% less, then a tariff of 25% means they don't cost less anymore for consumers. No matter what, consumers lose on tariffs. However, the goal isn't to benefit consumers at all (and never was). The goal is to benefit national security because domestic manufacturing, regardless of what it is, means the nation can respond more quickly to any substantial threat should it arise. Case in point: WWII.

Yes, the U.S., China, GB, Canada, Germany, France, and Russia should take President Trump's advice and eliminate all tariffs.

It seems he says it out of one side of his mouth, and then puts tariffs on out of the other side of his mouth.
Kinda like getting the words "would" and "wouldn't " mixed up.

ab348

The trade world seems very fractious right now. I have been called in to consult on a WTO complaint that Australia filed against little old Canada over wine trade. I mean, really...

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CRQv3tpQz30

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9KNTeXlX6T4

snakeweasel

Anyone else having this issue, I have had a few times when I come here and there is a draft saved and it is a post that I have already posted and it's not the most recent post of mine. is Edmund's having a fit?

sb55

abacomike said:

If you own stock in Bed, Bath and Beyond, you should see a slight rise in the price per share - just a few pennies.  Yesterday I splurged and bought new bathroom mats, a dozen bath towels, 6 hand towels, 4 washcloths, 2 comforter sets with matching sheets and pillowcases, 6 new pillows, a new coffeemaker, and 2 beach towels.  Having a lot of company this summer.

What dates did you say you were coming down, jmonroe?  I just wanted to be prepared for you and Mrs. jmonroe.  Also, have my son and grandson flying in for a few days next month.

Those 20% off coupons I had been saving sure came in handy.  I saved $85+ over regular retail prices.  Anyone else coming down? 

Can I come.
My father lives in Vero. I can visit him for a day or 2. The problem is his wife also lives there

tbirdmarco

 Very nice on the deck pants from 83 in trouble posting yesterday on these forums in this morning back to normal today 

tbirdmarco

 Enjoyed reading everything else in here from the last time I posted something 

tbirdmarco

 So as you all know started going to one of the local who’s nights pretty much every Wednesday getting to know people and happy being around that for a couple of hours even though I can’t see much ha ha Ha so one anyway on our way home almost going to weigh nice accident with a buddy I was with in his old truck he told me afterwards some woman jumped across the hall road from a parking lot so we swerved from one side of the road to the other I first I thought maybe something happened with his truck didn’t say anything ha ha Ha the main thing is that we are OK 

Mr_Shiftright

28firefighter said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

@28firefighter --so how bad is the MPG on your Viggen?

Highway driving, no traffic, cruising around? Maybe 28-35 mpg.

Around town and curvy road driving in a sedate manner? Maybe 20-22 mpg.

"Spirited" driving and really wringing it out? 15-18 mpg.

My average last tank was 15 mpg. If that is any indicator of how I drive it.

OK, so if I get one I should count on 15 mpg

thebean said:

The real problem with tariffs is they enable the domestic suppliers to raise their prices to be just below the foreign supplier price with the tariff attached. That is already happening in the steel industry. Domestic autos will be that way also. Lessening competition has never helped consumers.

Tariffs are based on the very false premise that the country with the largest surplus wins.

fintail

I am sure the US, the land of corporate welfare will lead the charge, right? If we can show we aren't dumping goods under the cost of production (which the US has quite a history - chicken tax, recent milk battles), sure.

In the end, it is all a distraction from other crimes, and the consumer will pay for it.

houdini1 said:

Yes, the U.S., China, GB, Canada, Germany, France, and Russia should take President Trump's advice and eliminate all tariffs.

nyccarguy

@pensfan83 - beautiful!  Looks fantastic!  What wood did you end up using?

I just signed a contract with a contractor to knock my deck down, currently 5’ off the ground, 8’ off the house, & 12’ wide (15’ if you include the stairs).  My new deck is going to be the same 5’ off the ground, 18’ off the house, & 22’ wide.  We are going to have it built out of pressure treated wood and Azec (plastic) railings, & spindles.  Very exciting!

nyccarguy

Mr_Shiftright said:

Florida is a big state. California too. People sometimes ask me, how far are you from San Francisco? Umm, around 300+ miles.

Yes, I run into this all the time. People call me up from say Ohio and ask if I can go look at a classic car they want to buy. My ads clearly say where I am and they seem to think I can drive to San Diego and back in a day. I can't. I am often tempted to ask them if they realize that is the distance from Paris to Warsaw but of course I don't. I give them a California geography lesson. California is athletic. We're tall and lean.

NY is the same way, but people not from around here don’t understand how long it takes to get short distances.  I often speak to the truckers after they have made a delivery to my business.  I’ll ask where their next stop is and if they need directions.  One guy said to me once “Brooklyn.”

Me:  “Where in Brooklyn?  It is kind of a big place.”

Driver:  “Bay Ridge.  GPS says it is only 25 miles from here.”

Me:  “You do realize it is going to take you AT LEAST 2 hours to get there.”  

Driver (scratching his head):  “Really?  You gotta be kiddin me.”

nyccarguy

I took my family to Coney Island, Brooklyn yesterday.  50 miles from my house.  2 hours there & 2 hours home.  

tjc78

Reminds me of my commute from South Jersey to King of Prussia (suburb of Philly). It was about 30 miles, 90 mins was common with two hours on a Friday night or sporting event in town.