Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Trying to imagine Eva Gabor driving a PT Cruiser. Not working.

When I showed my wife that Eva Gabor picture she was flattered. Especially since her mother's name was Eva.

oldfarmer50

tbirdmarco said:

 I have to wait for my job to lay me off though before I do that, then at least can get unemployment and then maybe get the school paid for through the state. That’s my best bet want to go for something in the computer field, I know there’s many avenues to go down with that. The Thunderbird is finally on the road. Now the problem is finding reliable driver to go with me to the remaining shows of the season. 

I'd almost volunteer to drive you just for the opportunity of driving an old T-bird. Are you located in NYC?

Tempting.

QV: 27 years as a school bus driver currently employed as a PROFESSIONAL driver for Enterprise Holdings Inc.

oldfarmer50

Kind of a day with mixed emotions today at work. A guy who was very nice to me when I started with the rental car driver job retired today. He is an 82 yo ex Marine who realized that age was catching up with him. Sorry to see him go.

On the up side we spent the entire afternoon shuttling a fleet of 2019 BMW X3s from the dealer to our lot. We handed the dealer a check for over $1.8 million.

I must say the 2019 is much better than the previous X3s I`ve driven. In contrast the seats are much more comfortable. The 2L turbo is really fast. Ride is firm but comfortable. A real treat. $47k+ sticker didn't seem that bad.

I drove so many of them today that I even figured how to use the unnecessarily complicated gear shift.

oldfarmer50

In need of opinions.

Friend is looking for an Audi A5. I know nothing about these cars so I'm seeking advice on how he should go about looking for one. Based on his income I'm assuming he could afford an older one (say 2008 and above) . What should he be wary of when looking at one? Any years he should avoid? Any defects specifc to the model?

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

Sandy, you should create a spreadsheet for whoever is going to handle things. List your accounts, contacts, PWs, etc. For your credit cards, pension, 301k, life insurance, everything. When the time comes, makes it vastly easier on them.

usually when married the spouse just takes it all on though. everything we have is joint so no need to have one of the kids on anything. My dad though, after my mom passed away, he made everything joint with me (and various stuff in trust) so if something happens I can get to everything.

Stick...yes, if one goes the other spouse can take over.....more difficult if you both go at the same time. My wife always says, "What is the chance of that happening". And, I say, do you remember when the big garbage truck hit us....that could have been the day we both could have gone together!

I was wondering who this @Drivingfool was and it turned out he is really @sandman. If this was posted in the screw-ups that Edmunds created, I missed it. Maybe it wasn't conveyed on this board.

In any case, why didn't he go with @sandman2 or something like that so we'd recognize him or did Edmunds make him do this because they found out he is in Federal Witness Protection Program?

Sure is getting tough to recognize the regulars in. I have even noticed that several mug shots have changed. Seamless huh?

jmonroe

Sandy posted his change in CCBA. It`s funny that while i can't log in from my own device, when i use my son`s tablet they remember me and i come on unchanged from the old days.

So, tell us how you like this new change.

jmonroe

I don't. Unless I keep stealing my son's tablet I can't post here unless I spend hundreds of $$$$$$$.

Ask nicely and maybe someone will get you the name of the person you can send a thank you email to.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

oldfarmer50 said:

In need of opinions. Friend is looking for an Audi A5. I know nothing about these cars so I'm seeking advice on how he should go about looking for one. Based on his income I'm assuming he could afford an older one (say 2008 and above) . What should he be wary of when looking at one? Any years he should avoid? Any defects specifc to the model?

Is this really a friend or is it, you know, a “friend” WINK, WINK, NUDGE, NUDGE?  I’ve been following Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous for way too long!

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

In need of opinions.

Friend is looking for an Audi A5. I know nothing about these cars so I'm seeking advice on how he should go about looking for one. Based on his income I'm assuming he could afford an older one (say 2008 and above) . What should he be wary of when looking at one? Any years he should avoid? Any defects specifc to the model?

Is this really a friend or is it, you know, a “friend” WINK, WINK, NUDGE, NUDGE?  I’ve been following Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous for way too long!

LOL, I don't know what that means. Just a young guy at work who lusts after my Mustang and wants to buy that special car of his own.

stickguy

for a guy that probably lives on a shoestring budget, I would say stay far away from a 10 YO audi. The A5 is basically just a 2 door A4 so nothing mechanically notable about it.

why not look for a similar vintage Mustang? Should be cheaper to buy, and way cheaper to run.

dino001

oldfarmer50 said:

In need of opinions.

Friend is looking for an Audi A5. I know nothing about these cars so I'm seeking advice on how he should go about looking for one. Based on his income I'm assuming he could afford an older one (say 2008 and above) . What should he be wary of when looking at one? Any years he should avoid? Any defects specifc to the model?

Buying 10 year old German car without money to buy a second one is a bad idea.

fintail

With the amount of sketchy virtually unvetted offshore money playing in west coast (and Florida) real estate, one could believe there were no foreign investment restrictions at all. Of course, these are more parts of buying residency than actual investment - heck, son of a conman son in law of a conman Jared was even hawking it not long ago.

EU auto tariffs are hard to take seriously, it's not like the average punter in Cannes or Cottbus wants a Malibu anyway.

dino001 said:

For every bad tariff in EU we have our Chicken Tax, agricultural subsidy, or some other prohibition for foreign capital to start or purchase certain type of business in the US. It would be nice to make it all go away and let real advantages to play out, but it's not realistic to do it right away. We shouldn't believe (or at least be skeptical about) political/corporate talking points, or worse, completely uninformed spews from the Ignoramous. The truth is usually much more complicated by several orders of magnitude than 140 characters can ever express, even if they are dished out in series of twenties over the weekend. We should at least acknowledge that simple truth. The alternative is everybody screaming bloody hell on the others unfairness and wars of XVIII, XIX and XX centuries, inspired by merkantilists, to resume. Not just "trade wars". Hot wars with real people dying somewhere on a ship, hole in the ground, or under a rubble of a bombed house, cause that's how has ended then.

qbrozen

Really haven't been updating on my work situation. I'm now freelancing for 2 agencies and it has been crazy. Not sure how long I want to keep it up. Have all my teaching certs but no nibbbles to all my applications on that front. The one agency in PA is all digital materials and NONE of it is original content, so it is definitely on the boring side. In the "pros" list, they are talking about hiring me full-time. Would still be 99% from home, so that is a HUGE selling point, of course.

stickguy

full time WFH is really easy to get hooked on. Especially if you aren't someone that has to always be interacting with people.

driver100

stickguy said:

for a guy that probably lives on a shoestring budget, I would say stay far away from a 10 YO audi. The A5 is basically just a 2 door A4 so nothing mechanically notable about it.

why not look for a similar vintage Mustang? Should be cheaper to buy, and way cheaper to run.

When we wanted a 2013 A4 we test drove an A5 because the 5 had a manual transmission. Loved the way it handled and very nice looking. It is the same as an A4 and I still like an A4 better....but, if you have to have a 2 door car it is a fun car to drive. I would chance it if it had low mileage, and he has enough income to keep it on the road.

28firefighter

stickguy said:

full time WFH is really easy to get hooked on. Especially if you aren't someone that has to always be interacting with people.

Truth. I don’t know how I’d take going back to an office. 

My only social contact during the week is the gym and picking up Sam. It’s so nice!

Michaell

28firefighter said:

stickguy said:

full time WFH is really easy to get hooked on. Especially if you aren't someone that has to always be interacting with people.

Truth. I don’t know how I’d take going back to an office. 

My only social contact during the week is the gym and picking up Sam. It’s so nice!

I've been working from home for 10 years now. When I was with IBM, I never had a face to face with my manager. Now that my office is 15-20 minutes from the new house, I try to get in from time to time.

stickguy

I talk to the wife. and the dog. The dog likes me. my shadow.

actually, for the last couple weeks, the wife has been FT WFH too (company needed more space for year end work, so she got booted temporarily from her desk). So now there is always someone around. Though in a few weeks she starts a new job (hopefully!) so will probably rarely be home during workdays.

28firefighter

My wife only gets one WFH day a week. 

Most days the dog lounges on the sofa in the living room where she can still see me. Occasionally she sleeps under my desk. 

abacomike

28firefighter said:

My wife only gets one WFH day a week. 

Most days the dog lounges on the sofa in the living room where she can still see me. Occasionally she sleeps under my desk. 

The wife or the dog?  

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

While I realize that my obsolete IPad using Safari might benefit from a browser change I can't do that since the unit was originally set up by my autistic son and his equally disabled friend and nither one can remember the passwords needed to access the operating system. The thing is so outdated and corrupted by various adware gremlins that it's not much use for anything.

I'll replace it a some point but in the meantime I'll make do.

You'd probably be a lot better off starting fresh. There are some inexpensive Android tablets that will likely be a decent upgrade for not a whole lot of money.

abacomike

Never was lucky enough to have a job where I could WFH.  Remember, computers and networks did not become commonplace until the mid to late 1990’s.  FaceTime communication is still relatively new - 10 years at the most.

My job was in supervision and administration of workers, parents (when I taught or principaled), clients when I sold cars and managed a dealership.

Today, many colleges and universities offer online courses which may require only a day or two a month for classes on campus.  Sales can be done from home as well with the networks currently available.  Less stress with commuting as well as face-to-face interactions except for FaceTime.

abacomike

It’s 7:50 AM right now and we are in a severe thunderstorm warning with torrential rains.  Unfortunately I have a dermatologist appointment at 9:00 AM about 7 miles from the house.  Not looking forward to the drive.

graphicguy

Michaell said:

@abacomike - sorry, I disagree about Ford. There is no "divine right of corporations". Look at the companies that had a stranglehold on their market, only to lose their way:

Montgomery Ward
Polaroid
Kodak
Digital Equipment Corp

Even IBM, my former employer, has had a brush with death in the early 1990's. And, they are struggling now with this whole "cloud" approach and AI. Watson started out as a gimmick, then IBM has spent years trying to figure out how to monetize the research. Not going well, and IBM is laying off thousands of people in the process, even from companies that they recently purchased and were considered part of their new "core" businesses.

If Ford can't adapt to a changing market, or if they bet too big on strategies that don't pan out, I could see someone swooping in and buying the valuable assets (F-150) and discarding the rest.

You and I follow the tech field because it’s what we know the most about. You can throw WANG, and my old employer, Xerox into that mix, too.

Xerox is still around, but they too couldn’t figure out where they fit in a post copier world. Of course, they gave away the tech that became Apple and their Ethernet IP to stick to copiers and typewriters. After shedding a lot of their “old products”, they spend every year trying to find ways just to stay afloat.

I made some good money on Ford several years ago when they were trading at $2. With the steel tarifs, they now have pricing pressures, too (as do GM and FC). That’s exasperating the issue and causing their prices to rise, making them even less competitive.

No one is too big to fail. I see them getting out of the sedan business entirely. BUt, that also means big layoffs and a different, much smaller Ford than what we see today.

graphicguy

tifighter said:

graphicguy said:

I have a Thorens turntable, still. It’s not the one I originally had, but one I picked up used. I’ve rebuilt it and use it.

A vinyl setup isn’t for casual listening. Each album is 15-20 minutes per side. So, unless you are sitting in your chair, planning on flipping or digging through your vinyl collection for a longer term listening event, vinyl isn’t the format you want.

That said, there’s a certain satisfaction in digging through an album collection, finding long lost gems, cleaning the record, putting it on the turntable, lowering the tone arm/stylus and listening for several minutes. Did it all the time in college.

I probably should do that more often. But, I usually don’t and have to be in a “mood” to do it.

@graphicguy That describes it to a T. It's a relaxing thing and I enjoy the whole process around vinyl. But you do really have to be in the mood. And a glass of wine never hurts. I replaced my Thorens table with a Rega RP6 a few years ago to round out a whole Rega lineup. Well, if you don't count that ugly Sonos thing that I wish was available in black-

I like that. Perfect 2-channel rig...not ostentatious but sounds great. Love me some Pat Metheny, too! Good job!

pensfan83

I WFH 2 days/week, let my managers do the same, and individual contributors get 3 days/week working from home. It's amazing how important that is to people (mainly millenials), I've been hearing about the need for more flexibility for the last year and have resisted up until now. The reason for resisting is because it's never enough, someone will ask for another day soon enough. Enough griping though...

I enjoy the flexibility of having 2 days at home, which are Monday and Friday so before and after the weekend is nice, but I don't think I could work remotely 100% of the time. We've done it for a week for business continuity exercises and while the extra sleep was nice, it didn't have me clamoring to do it all the time.

coldinohio

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

for a guy that probably lives on a shoestring budget, I would say stay far away from a 10 YO audi. The A5 is basically just a 2 door A4 so nothing mechanically notable about it.

why not look for a similar vintage Mustang? Should be cheaper to buy, and way cheaper to run.

When we wanted a 2013 A4 we test drove an A5 because the 5 had a manual transmission. Loved the way it handled and very nice looking. It is the same as an A4 and I still like an A4 better....but, if you have to have a 2 door car it is a fun car to drive. I would chance it if it had low mileage, and he has enough income to keep it on the road.

audi will stop importing manual A4/5 in 2019 -- reported in one of car mags;; doing a very limited production of some A4 6 sp and then no more...

Mr_Shiftright

bwia said:

With respect to Ford and President Trump's asinine approach to international trade and tariffs on aluminum and steel ... this is but a death sentence for Ford.

The "new NAFTA deal" (if it even happens) could hurt Ford as well.

tbirdmarco

 Good morning everybody, happy Friday enjoy the nice long weekend all. Going upstate to visit my older brother later on today. 

berri

Sometimes I have to wonder if Washington really knows what they are doing lately? They all kind of seem over their heads and out of touch with reality.

fintail

Lately?

ab348

WFH probably is fine if you are set up that way fully. When I was managing a staff I would often get requests to let someone work from home on one day now and then, usually because they had something else going on at home. I was pretty easy about it but found the quality or quantity of work was always reduced due to lack of access to resources found in the office such as the paper files or certain pieces of equipment. At the time I retired the tech that was in place to replicate your office desktop on a home PC was not good and made your computer somewhat compromised. I'm sure it is better now, and WFH for certain kinds of work is fine, no doubt.

snakeweasel

dino001 said:

I just looked at basic financials of Ford: 1. Assets: $258B, Liabilities: $226B. It's positive, but if you consider that book value of an asset is not the same as a market value of one that has to be sold in distress (if that comes), this can be quickly flipped. 2. They have $115B in current assets (easy to liquidate at par value), vs. $152B in current debt, including long term debt that comes due, plus $22B accounts payable. This is not that pretty. Of course, they have huge cashflows, to cover a lot of those current payments, but they'll have to roll over a lot of debt soon. 3. They almost doubled their dividend this year - not very responsible move in light of peak auto, huge debt expenses. BTW, I was wrong about the source of that 6%+ dividend. It came not only from stock going down, it did come from the management raising it. Income and cash flow statements do not look that great either: 1. Dividend is $1B+ per quarter ($4/year going out) 2. Quarterly cash flow dropped $1B y/y (15%), so did net income, also by $1B (but this is 50%). They made half of the profit with revenue lower by $1B than last year. BTW, they paid 40% less income tax in the same period. So: similar (but lower) revenue, lower taxes, half the net profit. Ouch. 3. They spend $17.5B last 12 months on capital expenditures, which is about 2.5 times their typical annual rate in last five years. 4. So, funny, that billion lost in revenue vs. last year is exactly billion lost in profit. So what happens if they lose another billion in revenue? Then the profit is zero. Another billion? You get the picture. This goes on. No wonder credit agencies are not impressed. Again - this doesn't mean Ford is going under. It just means, it has much less room for an error and much more sensitivity to external issues and credit rating agencies had to weigh it all. It means Ford will pay more for its new debt and those who want out of its current bonds will have to take less. Does it mean the stock is a sell? Not necessarily, but beware for sure. Even if one believes it will be fine (and it may just be), one would be well advised not to put too much of their wealth into it right now.

One thing you have to realize that net profits don't tell the whole story. Financial statements can be influenced by write offs, one time payouts and a multitude of other things that you would have to look through the note to those financial statements. 

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

So Ford has just had their debt rating reduced to one step above junk by Moody's and their stock has dropped to under $10. There are forecasts it will hit junk bond status within a year or so. Some attribute the mess to old and stale vehicles, as well as cost cutting QC effects on product. But Ford remains strong in trucks. The family super majority through their special stock shares allows the company to move easier than a normal corporation. If things don't change in the next few years, have to wonder about a merger possibility. The UAW will likely keep Honda out of it, but HyunKia has union in Korea and is weak in trucks. OTOH as long as Ford has cash, the family control makes Ford not nearly at the mercy of Wall Street as most publicly listed corporations. Any thoughts where this all may be headed?

I think if they can't make money with sedans they should form an association with someone who can. They did it with Mazda, Chrysler did it with Mitsubishi and GM did it with Suzuki et al. Right now they are using Ford Australia to bring back the Ranger pick up, why not someone else to produce sedans?

I don't think it's an issue of not being able to turn a profit with sedans as much as they are looking at concentrating on the part of their business that is far more profitable. 

Sedan sales are in a decline and truck, SUV and crossover sales are a large segment in US vehicle sales.

It does make some sense to transfer assets from low profit activities to high profit ones. However I do think Ford should have a small economical compact in their stable.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

I talk to the wife. and the dog. The dog likes me. my shadow. 

What about your wife does she like you too?

snakeweasel

berri said:

Sometimes I have to wonder if Washington really knows what they are doing lately? They all kind of seem over their heads and out of touch with reality.

And that's different how?

stickguy

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

I talk to the wife. and the dog. The dog likes me. my shadow. 

What about your wife does she like you too?

Sometimes.

berri

I suppose you're right, but it just seems more narrowly focused than ever with little consideration of multiple potential ramifications from single actions. Autos is a prime example.

ab348

Dropping sedans seems like short-term thinking to me. About 10 years ago truck and large SUV sales went in the tank. 10 years isn't all that long ago but some people seem to think that will never happen again. I am dubious of such thinking.

henryn

stickguy said:

I talk to the wife. and the dog. The dog likes me. my shadow.

No surprise, as your avatar shows a yellow lab. When I had a yellow lab, she was indeed my shadow anytime I was around the house. I'm thinking about getting another one, but I haven't decided about starting with a puppy or adopting a grown dog.

My remaining dog likes me, but doesn't follow me around. She spends a great deal of her time in the back yard, her choice as there is a dog door. My yellow lab also spent a fair bit of time outside, but only when I wasn't around.

On the work from home, I have found that it matters a great deal what kind of work you're doing. Before I retired the first time, I did a fair bit of work from home. But I was a programmer then, and needed very little interaction with others. Later on, I was the tech lead for some fairly large projects and had to be around to keep others on track. I really didn't like that, I preferred working alone, doing my own thing.

This time around, after coming back to work, I am doing software support. Installing, maintaining, providing first level support for petrotechnical applications, mostly on Linux, a few on Windows. There are two people in my group who work from outside the USA. They are knowledgeable, good workers, and try hard. But they cannot provide the same kind of support as someone who is on site. A lot of my help requests come when people come to my office, or stop me in the hallway, or talk to me in the break room.

I have been in this particular support position for almost 8 years now, and I find that the continuity is a big help. People know me, they know that I know my business, that they can depend on me to do my best to help, and that I will be straight with them.

stickguy

I do project/implementation management now. with people that are scattered all over. So being in my local office is kinda pointless, when I am working on a client going up in a different office, and the people working on it are not there. I basically would sit at a desk typing and having conference calls, not seeing anyone in person, so no different than when I am home. Other than having to take a shower and put on pants.

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

Dropping sedans seems like short-term thinking to me. About 10 years ago truck and large SUV sales went in the tank. 10 years isn't all that long ago but some people seem to think that will never happen again. I am dubious of such thinking.

Correct me if i'm wrong, isn't Ford just dropping sedans in the North American market? Won't they still be producing them for other markets? If so how hard would it be to transplant them here if need be.

But I still think that Ford should still maintain some sedans. 

driver100

coldinohio said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

for a guy that probably lives on a shoestring budget, I would say stay far away from a 10 YO audi. The A5 is basically just a 2 door A4 so nothing mechanically notable about it.

why not look for a similar vintage Mustang? Should be cheaper to buy, and way cheaper to run.

When we wanted a 2013 A4 we test drove an A5 because the 5 had a manual transmission. Loved the way it handled and very nice looking. It is the same as an A4 and I still like an A4 better....but, if you have to have a 2 door car it is a fun car to drive. I would chance it if it had low mileage, and he has enough income to keep it on the road.

audi will stop importing manual A4/5 in 2019 -- reported in one of car mags;; doing a very limited production of some A4 6 sp and then no more...

That is too bad......the Audi manual really adds to the driving experience. Manuals only make up 4 or 5% of of the market, and that is quickly fading.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

I talk to the wife. and the dog. The dog likes me. my shadow. 

What about your wife does she like you too?

But dogs like anyone....who feeds them.

driver100

stickguy said:

I do project/implementation management now. with people that are scattered all over. So being in my local office is kinda pointless, when I am working on a client going up in a different office, and the people working on it are not there. I basically would sit at a desk typing and having conference calls, not seeing anyone in person, so no different than when I am home. Other than having to take a shower and put on pants.

Whenever I worked from home I always got dressed...just in jeans and a horizontal striped T-shirt. I would never call customers while naked or in my underwear.

carnaught

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

roadburner

The Mustang is the only Ford vehicle I'd ever consider owning, so Ford's strategy is fine with me.

dino001

snakeweasel said:

One thing you have to realize that net profits don't tell the whole story. Financial statements can be influenced by write offs, one time payouts and a multitude of other things that you would have to look through the note to those financial statements. 

Of course, but footnotes are usually used to make the table to look better, not worse. If the main numbers are showing Ford spending billions, losing revenue, having high current debt positions (need to refinance soon), I can only imagine what footnotes would reveal. My point is Ford is visibly stressed and the stress seems to be raising due to the peak auto. At the same time Ford is spending large sums of money, presumably to improve its product and process, but this only increases overall risk, as cashlows seem to deteriorate due to makroeconomic concerns (peak auto). Therefore, the credit agency's downgrade with negative outlook does not seem to be unreasonable, even if it all turns to be "nothing" after all (which it may).

driver100

carnaught said:

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

No, it would be TMI if I didn't wear clothing while on the telephone.

Michaell

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

No, it would be TMI if I didn't wear clothing while on the telephone.

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

No, it would be TMI if I didn't wear clothing while on the telephone.

Well, how do we know what you're wearing (or not wearing), when you type on your computer?

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

No, it would be TMI if I didn't wear clothing while on the telephone.

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

No, it would be TMI if I didn't wear clothing while on the telephone.

Well, how do we know what you're wearing (or not wearing), when you type on your computer?

Good point @Michaell. I think all of us in here can attest that over the years he had to be distracted with something, given the content of some of his posts.

jmonroe

Mr_Shiftright

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

No, it would be TMI if I didn't wear clothing while on the telephone.

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, that is bordering on TMI.... .

No, it would be TMI if I didn't wear clothing while on the telephone.

Well, how do we know what you're wearing (or not wearing), when you type on your computer?

Oh, didn't you know. Edmunds utilizes vido surveillance.