Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

fintail

I've only seen a few QX30 on the road, ever. I've read they are showing up at Hertz more now, maybe clearing out the glut.

stickguy

there is one in my neighborhood. Looks tiny next to the CX5 also in the driveway.

Michaell

cdnpinhead said:

dino001 said:

cdnpinhead said:

Honeywell is an excellent example. GE showed them the way.

Can you elaborate?

Over the past 15 years, at an accelerating rate, the portion of Honeywell I knew best (38 years continuous, 50+ from first hire) has made decisions that fly in the face of the employee and customer satisfaction culture that had existed for decades, all in the pursuit of "shareholder value." It became particularly acute a little over three years ago, at which time changes were made that caused dozens of very experienced people to retire, and a number of others were laid off or quit outright. The work-from-home policy was eliminated, and the 401K company match went from contributions at every pay period to being paid annually for people employed in mid-December -- if you left prior to that time, no match for you. Offshoring has become a way of life, and all of this was done in the name of keeping the stock price up, but many of us feel that the house of cards is on shaky ground. Check the progress of GE stock over the past 10-15 years, where many of the same policies have been instituted. The beancounters are in charge.

Gee, you could be describing IBM over the last 15 years. Sam Palmisano, the former CEO, created two "5 year plans" for EPS; the first in 2005, the second in 2010. He retired not long after the second plan started, but the new CEO (Ginny Rometty) kept it in place until about 2014, at which point she realized they weren't going to hit the target.

But, same changes to the 401(k) plan, same elimination of the WFH program. Lots of voluntary separations, but they started having massive layoffs as well. I was in the first wave of those at the beginning of 2016. There are a couple of lawsuits accusing IBM of age discrimination; we will see how those turn out.

stickguy

thankfully the area of IBM my son works for seems to be doing well. But ya never know.

dino001

I think IBM is a different problem. Their markets changed (cloud vs. on-premise) very rapidly, but they clinged onto their old ways for too long, not being able to shift, resulting with years of declining revenue. They might have not have a choice with the layoffs, at least in areas of the declines. In fact, one could argue the layoffs weren’t fast enough to keep up with the market declines. This is a brutal industry, you go from the king to pauper in just a few years, just look at Research in Motion/Blackberry, Xerox, or Kodak. Oracle seems to be another one under attack. Still big and powerful, yet underneath seems very vulnerable.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

berri said:

So far I’ve had very good luck with both the Encore and the Volt, my first two GM cars ever.

GM does seem to be doing well with electric. Isn't the Encore a Korean vehicle? So it may not be a good indicator of GM USA.

My only vehicle with over 100k miles is a GM product and it’s performed pretty well so far. The few defects have been cheap fixes. Not bad for an old beater.

Maybe GM should do an ad with you as it's main star. Yep, no one makes a better hooptie than GM, I got over 100000 miles out of one of them, works out to about $100 bucks a year to run my old Caddie.

Back in my Mopar days the joke was: “a Chrysler will run poorly longer than most other cars will run at all”.

Maybe that’s the next commercial.

oldfarmer50

fintail said:

I've only seen a few QX30 on the road, ever. I've read they are showing up at Hertz more now, maybe clearing out the glut.

Enterprise has a few. Nobody is much impressed. Now The Q50 3.0L turbo....that’s popular.

ab348

Tesla announced it is cutting about 7% of its workforce or about 3150 jobs:

https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/tesla-cut-work-force-7-musk-expects-tiny-q4-profit

Interestingly, the stock price is down about the same percentage in early trading.

stickguy

probably because that price was always pure speculation, buying into the "camelot" future. A cold dose of reality can put the damper on that.

qbrozen

So furiously trying to increase production to meet pent-up demand means layoffs in Musk’s world? That’s ....interesting.

tjc78

Speaking of Tesla. At our kid's school, one of the parents traded her Expedition EL for the Tesla SUV (can't remember the name) it's the bigger one. I couldn't believe the fitment of the trim around the driver's door. It was really bad, like over 1/8" out of alignment. It looked like something you would see on a mid-70s domestic.

When I pointed it out even my wife could clearly see it.

cdnpinhead

dino001 said:

Honeywell is my largest holding, it was really good to me in last 7 years, so I definitely want to know if something is rotting. Which part of business are you working for? They recently spun off residential and car suppply business and I sold those right away, but their aviation business looks good so far. . . . and give the main company a new lease for extra couple of years.

I worked (retired in August -- surprise, surprise) for Honeywell Aerospace, previously known as AiResearch Mfg. Co. (when I hired on), Garrett Aux. Power Division, Allied-Signal, and finally Honeywell Engines, after having absorbed Lycoming turbine engines and Honeywell -- Allied-Signal absorbed Honeywell, but kept the more well-known name. Anyway, the company makes the vast majority of the world's APUs and a nice mix of smaller (5K hp shaft & 9K lb thrust fans max) propulsion engines, plus the Abrams tank engine. The supply chain is a mess, causing late deliveries and other issues. The people running the place know little or nothing about the products, which Bossidy (of GE fame) thought was fine, but many of us weren't so sure. Anyway, I went to great pains to keep my company stock holdings at 3% or less and will probably completely divest this year. The jiggery-pokery that they've been engaged in has definitely kept the stock price up (for now), but "back in the day" ('80s & early '90s, as I recall) we had three stock splits -- there's been nothing like that since. The stock has been very good to me in the long run, but there were too many "sell your stock" moments over the last 10-15 years, so I just let the gains flow into my other holdings when I rebalanced. Holding too much of your own company's stock can be a very bad plan -- see Enron.

YMMV

graphicguy

ab348 said:

Looks like the Infiniti QX30 is going, going, gone real soon now.

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2019/01/qx-gone-infiniti-brass-suggests-qx30-headed-to-the-bin/

Not surprised by this. I haven’t seen ANY on the road. Saw one at an autoshow I attended (in a city I travelled to, but can’t recall). Pretty lame attempt to disguise the interior as an Infiniti vs the Mercedes it really was. Kind of a “Frankienstien” vehicle that never did define what it was.

graphicguy

Chevy pulling their reliability ads......metrics can be manipulated to say whatever you want them to say. For GM in general, the devil’s in the details.

GM seems to be able to knock out the big stuff fairly well (engines, transmissions). It’s the other stuff that causes them to trip over their own feet.

graphicguy

Tech companies.....I’ve worked for some of the big behemoths, and I’ve worked for startups.

Generally speaking, the big behemoths are steeped in decades of processes and procedures that stymie worker productivity. Plus, their “bigness” seems to blind them to anything other than controlling the hugeness of their existence.

Startups might not pay as much, but you have a lot more freedom to do the job as you see fit, as there is no big behemoth rules to tell you that you can’t. At least in my case, I also got a piece of the couple of companies who were startups. One, we went public and I cashed in. The other, we flamed and burned. I think the one thing I got from the startup who flamed out was a really nice Aeron Chair, which I still have.

Probably going to work for my current company for another 10 years or so, and call it a career. There are two BIG chip companies out there. There’s the big one everyone knows about. Then there’s the 2nd one, while still large, is the 2nd chip maker you may, or may not have heard of....kind of like Avis in the car rental field.

dino001

cdnpinhead said:

The stock has been very good to me in the long run, but there were too many "sell your stock" moments over the last 10-15 years, so I just let the gains flow into my other holdings when I rebalanced. Holding too much of your own company's stock can be a very bad plan -- see Enron.

You get no argument from me on this one. Never invest all-in into anything, even less into company you're working for, regardless how much you may love it. Things can go wrong down the road, in a hurry too. Things you may not know about, even if you are an insider. It's fine to invest into your company some money, just not so much that if it goes broke you lost both your job and your wealth.

BTW, I just looked into Honeywell balance sheet and and it shook me. While their current position is strong (good cash on the balance sheet), the overall stockholder equity is less than their intangibles. Means, company's obligations exceed anything tangible (property, equipment, cash), they can put forward. They usually call it "efficient capital structure", I call it dancing on a a ledge. The problem is almost all industrial companies have similar balance sheets. It's usually nothing to worry about as long as real cash flows are solid and cover all expenses and more, but in periods of reduced confidence they can really cripple a company. Honeywell does not look like it's in immediate trouble now, but if, as you say, the underlying "human" fundamentals are less than solid and they end up with an inferior product one day, it can all end in tears. I'm seriously thinking to reduce my exposure. But where else to put it, if everybody else is running their businesses same way?

dino001

graphicguy said:

Chevy pulling their reliability ads......metrics can be manipulated to say whatever you want them to say. For GM in general, the devil’s in the details.

GM seems to be able to knock out the big stuff fairly well (engines, transmissions). It’s the other stuff that causes them to trip over their own feet.

Another thing may be contentious relationship with their dealer network and inconsistent performance of their dealers. Some are great, we heard a few good stories here, too. Some are just well below what is acceptable. Part of the issue is they probably have too many dealers and really squandered the opportunity to reduce the network further during the bankruptcy. It turned into a political circus, rather than merit-based transparent process. They were (perhaps still are) especially overoptimistic on their Cadillac brand - German and Japanese brands sell more vehicles than Cadillac and have half of the dealers and even those sometimes struggle. I think a typical small town Cadillac dealer is poor as a church mouse, or makes money on other brands and treats Caddy franchise only as a foot traffic generator (local "village people" can look at Escalade before they buy their used Silverado beater) and perhaps small prestige booster. Not exactly solid economic plan.

dino001

I don't think these guys are biased.

http://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/01/truth-stretching-chevrolet-reliability-ad-will-no-longer-air/

dino001

Hey, Imid, your hated CR ranked Buick Regal No. 4 in "Compact Luxury Segment", tralinig only 3-Series, Tesla 3 and A4, tied to Q50, ahead of TLX, C-Class, IS, Jaguar and others. They gave them extremely high 87 score on the road test (second trailing only Audi by one point, losing some points on fuel economy, but all other metrics were above average, predicted reliability average, landing them total score 73. The winner A4 had 80, so 73 is very respectable. They have it "recommended". Is that bias or what?

suydam

They’ve been recommending Buicks and some Chevys for some time now.

cdnpinhead

dino001 said:

I'm seriously thinking to reduce my exposure. But where else to put it, if everybody else is running their businesses same way?

I'm a conservative investor and have neither the desire nor the ability to mess around with individual stocks, HON notwithstanding. Vanguard value and S&P 500-type funds work fine for me. Granted, the results are lower than for people who are either skilled or lucky enough to pick the right individual stocks at the right time. That said, I have a Vanguard health care sector fund that's been pretty successful since I bought into it over ten years ago.

Mr_Shiftright

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

berri said:

So far I’ve had very good luck with both the Encore and the Volt, my first two GM cars ever.

GM does seem to be doing well with electric. Isn't the Encore a Korean vehicle? So it may not be a good indicator of GM USA.

My only vehicle with over 100k miles is a GM product and it’s performed pretty well so far. The few defects have been cheap fixes. Not bad for an old beater.

Maybe GM should do an ad with you as it's main star. Yep, no one makes a better hooptie than GM, I got over 100000 miles out of one of them, works out to about $100 bucks a year to run my old Caddie.

Back in my Mopar days the joke was: “a Chrysler will run poorly longer than most other cars will run at all”.

Maybe that’s the next commercial.

Sort of like "The Good Enough Car Company"?

berri

I think Buick puts out several nice cars, but one thing that may hold back their sales is pricing near Lexus, Audi, etc. However, if GM can get those prices without huge discount incentives, lower volume at high sales price may be the right pricing strategy for them. As a buyer, I'd be a little concerned with depreciation rates vs. the near lux competition though. Not an issue if you hold onto cars for awhile though.

berri

cdn, a nice aspect of index funds as you retire is that they don't spin off near the annual fund distributions that can impact your taxes, medicare rate, etc.

bwia

GG, cdnpinhead, dino, michaell, et al, I enjoyed your posts on profit maximization theory and business strategy. Profit maximization theory postulates that managements’ sole objective is to maximize the value of the firm, i.e. share price.

That was the norm in American business for decades. While this model was widely accepted a competing Social Justice model emerged. It posits that profit maximization should NOT be a company's sole focus but rather, a company has a compelling responsibility not only to its shareholders but also to the environment and people. This is popularly known as the triple bottom line or the three P's (People, Profit and Planet.) Based upon this model it appears that management has conflicting objectives. The result of implementing the triple P model is mixed at best; disappointing or disastrous sales and profits in the near term that lead to uncertainty in the future. Instead of managing growth and profitability management's focus is shifted to a survival mode: layoffs, sell divisions or non-core technology and the preservation of their jobs and bonuses. In the end, it is probably Creative Destruction at work---the introduction of new technologies making existing workers and processes redundant.

GG, you mentioned Data General as one of the companies where you worked. For those not familiar with Data General, read Tracy Kidder's book, The Soul of a Machine,. It's a nice read. If you like Tracy Kidder you may also enjoy Mountains Beyond Mountains, another great book.

driver100

dino001 said:

I don't think these guys are biased.

http://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/01/truth-stretching-chevrolet-reliability-ad-will-no-longer-air/

Excellent article....tells it the way it is.

While I was reading that article this ad came up;

New Buick Dealer in Bradenton - New Buicks Lifetime
Warranty

driver100

dino001 said:

Hey, Imid, your hated CR ranked Buick Regal No. 4 in "Compact Luxury Segment", tralinig only 3-Series, Tesla 3 and A4, tied to Q50, ahead of TLX, C-Class, IS, Jaguar and others. They gave them extremely high 87 score on the road test (second trailing only Audi by one point, losing some points on fuel economy, but all other metrics were above average, predicted reliability average, landing them total score 73. The winner A4 had 80, so 73 is very respectable. They have it "recommended". Is that bias or what?

Imid wants Regal to be #1!

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

berri said:

So far I’ve had very good luck with both the Encore and the Volt, my first two GM cars ever.

GM does seem to be doing well with electric. Isn't the Encore a Korean vehicle? So it may not be a good indicator of GM USA.

My only vehicle with over 100k miles is a GM product and it’s performed pretty well so far. The few defects have been cheap fixes. Not bad for an old beater.

Maybe GM should do an ad with you as it's main star. Yep, no one makes a better hooptie than GM, I got over 100000 miles out of one of them, works out to about $100 bucks a year to run my old Caddie.

Back in my Mopar days the joke was: “a Chrysler will run poorly longer than most other cars will run at all”.

Maybe that’s the next commercial.

That's a good point!

Maybe the Chrysler ads should say, "Since most of the parts on your car will be replaced many times with brand new parts....our cars last longer"

dino001

It seems like companies whose managements are focused on profits only sooner or later end up in a calamity. Usually not because it's the focus on profits, but because it was maximize profits now, today, this minute. If the focus were maximize profits over next 10, 20 years, the managements would most likely have made different choices, but here and now are easy metrics to follow and the pay incentives are also structured for here and now. That's the ugly side of fully liquid markets - if you can sell at any time, it means others can do, too, so you'll be demanding 120% performance as every moment, or "else". This has to result in a disaster down the road, but today we don't care, we get our profits. As Louis XIV (I think) said "After us, even a deluge".

Mr_Shiftright

ab348 said:

Tesla announced it is cutting about 7% of its workforce or about 3150 jobs:

https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/tesla-cut-work-force-7-musk-expects-tiny-q4-profit

Interestingly, the stock price is down about the same percentage in early trading.

I think many people saw this coming, what with a shrinking sedan market, increased competition in the EV segment, persistent consumer worries about range anxiety and charging availability (real or imagined), Tesla's somewhat reckless over-extensions and possibly most important, Tesla's inability to make their cars affordable to more people. Right now, if they offered their original price point of $35K, they'd go broke.

In reality, nobody's really making much money (if any) in the EV market vis a vis the amounts invested.

On top of that, sales of cars in China are decreasing all across the board.

sda

Has Edmunds changed the home page recently? I had a heck of a time finding the auto forums. I ended up going to the site map and finding it there. Auto forums used to be listed on the bottom of the page. I do have it marked as a favorite, so it shouldn't be a problem going forward. I wonder if this is a way to discourage newcomers?

xwesx

abacomike said:

Dropped off the S450 early this morning.  They gave me a 2018 E300 to drive.  It is fairly well equipped but that 4 cylinder engine is so underpowered.  Besides, the driver’s seat is so uncomfortable my back started to bother me today.  There is no way I could get an E Class, even with a V6.  I loved my E Class cars before they restyled and re-engineered it a couple of years ago.  But I do have to admit I have been spoiled these past 14-1/2 months with the S450.

My service rep called me late this afternoon with the bad news.  They could not fix the sunroof so they ordered parts from Orlando.  Parts should be in tomorrow morning and they are going to try to get the car back to me late tomorrow afternoon.  If not, I have to wait until Monday afternoon.  It seems the track was damaged and one of the cables snapped on the right side.  They told me they have never seen a problem like this on an S450 or S560 - especially on a car with 10,040 miles on it.

So, I have my fingers crossed. 

I'm tellin' ya, it's Mike'd up.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

So furiously trying to increase production to meet pent-up demand means layoffs in Musk’s world? That’s ....interesting.

Interesting story about the M3 production. Musk's original vision was a fully automated assembly line, which turned out to be an absolute nightmare. Finally, after failure after failure, he backed off on that and they were able to ramp up production in a more "traditional" way; even if it is far more automated than most lines, there was still a lot of human work involved.

Perhaps part of the workforce reduction is a result of additional automation.... perhaps it is more a result of considering the new reality of being ineligible for tax credits in 2019. They have to realize that this is going to have a massive impact on their bottom line (and product demand if Tesla does not lower prices), since many customers simply will be unwilling to buy the vehicles at the prices they considered reasonable before.

bwia

fintail said:

I've only seen a few QX30 on the road, ever. I've read they are showing up at Hertz more now, maybe clearing out the glut.

I just passed my first Q30. It looks nice for a $25k hatch.

ab348

dino001 said:

Hey, Imid, your hated CR ranked Buick Regal No. 4 in "Compact Luxury Segment", tralinig only 3-Series, Tesla 3 and A4, tied to Q50, ahead of TLX, C-Class, IS, Jaguar and others. They gave them extremely high 87 score on the road test (second trailing only Audi by one point, losing some points on fuel economy, but all other metrics were above average, predicted reliability average, landing them total score 73. The winner A4 had 80, so 73 is very respectable. They have it "recommended". Is that bias or what?

I'm as big a GM guy as Imid and I cannot stand the current Regal. It's a good thing they are not selling very many up here.

abacomike

Just got a call from the Mercedes Service - the parts they received from Orlando were improperly labeled - they received two right tracks for the roof instead of a left and a right.  So they are ordering a left track which should be delivered by Monday.  Even more disconcerting is the fact that they don’t know if these new tracks for the roof will solve the problem.

I just hope it is the solution to the problem because if it isn’t they will have to bring in the zone techs to diagnose it.  I think it’s the fact that these roofs now open up and over the rear of the top of the car requiring a lot more mechanical maneuvering.  Who knows - but they have to keep the car indoors because they have the glass removed.  

Mr_Shiftright

sda said:

Has Edmunds changed the home page recently? I had a heck of a time finding the auto forums. I ended up going to the site map and finding it there. Auto forums used to be listed on the bottom of the page. I do have it marked as a favorite, so it shouldn't be a problem going forward. I wonder if this is a way to discourage newcomers?

Yes, there's no more Forums link on the home page, so you did the right thing. Actually most new members--the vast majority in fact---apparently ado not come into Forums from the Home Page. Not sure why it was done but the effects should be minimal to non-existent. Forums continues to grow!

dino001

abacomike said:

Just got a call from the Mercedes Service - the parts they received from Orlando were improperly labeled - they received two right tracks for the roof instead of a left and a right.  So they are ordering a left track which should be delivered by Monday.  Even more disconcerting is the fact that they don’t know if these new tracks for the roof will solve the problem.

I just hope it is the solution to the problem because if it isn’t they will have to bring in the zone techs to diagnose it.  I think it’s the fact that these roofs now open up and over the rear of the top of the car requiring a lot more mechanical maneuvering.  Who knows - but they have to keep the car indoors because they have the glass removed.  

Buyback is coming. Mike is getting a new S-class.

Mr_Shiftright

You might as well trade it in--cars with holes in the roof aren't worth much anyway.

tjc78

Mr_Shiftright said:

sda said:

Has Edmunds changed the home page recently? I had a heck of a time finding the auto forums. I ended up going to the site map and finding it there. Auto forums used to be listed on the bottom of the page. I do have it marked as a favorite, so it shouldn't be a problem going forward. I wonder if this is a way to discourage newcomers?

Yes, there's no more Forums link on the home page, so you did the right thing. Actually most new members--the vast majority in fact---apparently ado not come into Forums from the Home Page. Not sure why it was done but the effects should be minimal to non-existent. Forums continues to grow!

If I am coming here fresh (like if I just cleared history) it's best to Google Edmunds Forums that gets you right where you need to be

Mr_Shiftright

You and about 95% of everybody.

dino001

Seems like the overlords at Edmunds are trying to bury the discussion groups, but they keep growing in spite of that effort.

driver100

abacomike said:

Just got a call from the Mercedes Service - the parts they received from Orlando were improperly labeled - they received two right tracks for the roof instead of a left and a right.  So they are ordering a left track which should be delivered by Monday.  Even more disconcerting is the fact that they don’t know if these new tracks for the roof will solve the problem.

I just hope it is the solution to the problem because if it isn’t they will have to bring in the zone techs to diagnose it.  I think it’s the fact that these roofs now open up and over the rear of the top of the car requiring a lot more mechanical maneuvering.  Who knows - but they have to keep the car indoors because they have the glass removed.  

It could only happen to you Mike!

They should post your picture at all the dealerships......don't sell a car to this guy.

driver100

Mr_Shiftright said:

You and about 95% of everybody.

But, if you were new....why would you even know there is an Edmunds Forum Page?

Michaell

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

You and about 95% of everybody.

But, if you were new....why would you even know there is an Edmunds Forum Page?

You'd be surprised.

We have hundreds of folks who join the forums, usually to ask questions about leasing. I had over 3000 posts in December, and probably 95% of them (or more) were to answer questions about money factors, residuals and incentives.

driver100

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

You and about 95% of everybody.

But, if you were new....why would you even know there is an Edmunds Forum Page?

You'd be surprised.

We have hundreds of folks who join the forums, usually to ask questions about leasing. I had over 3000 posts in December, and probably 95% of them (or more) were to answer questions about money factors, residuals and incentives.

Do you tell them about the fine folks and the good time they would have on C&C?

Mr_Shiftright

We reject a lot of C&C applications

abacomike

driver100 said:

Just got a call from the Mercedes Service - the parts they received from Orlando were improperly labeled - they received two right tracks for the roof instead of a left and a right.  So they are ordering a left track which should be delivered by Monday.  Even more disconcerting is the fact that they don’t know if these new tracks for the roof will solve the problem.

I just hope it is the solution to the problem because if it isn’t they will have to bring in the zone techs to diagnose it.  I think it’s the fact that these roofs now open up and over the rear of the top of the car requiring a lot more mechanical maneuvering.  Who knows - but they have to keep the car indoors because they have the glass removed.  

It could only happen to you Mike! They should post your picture at all the dealerships......don't sell a car to this guy.

At least I have had no food shopping incidents recently.  I do my food shopping early in the morning now to avoid those possible weird interactions with the elderly.

Now that it’s cooler, I shop at Walmart so my frozen items don’t defrost by the time I get home.  What amazes me is the difference in food costs between Publix, Costco and Walmart.  My usual costs are $150.00 every 2 weeks at Publix compared to $100 at Walmart.  That is significant!  Here are some examples - Publix vs. Walmart:

Dole Pineapple Chunks in a can. $1.89. $1.33
Folgers Coffee 3 lb container.   $12.99.  $9.90
2 lbs brick of sharp cheddar.     $8.99.  $6.99
1 gallon of whole milk.     $3.79.     $2.89
1 lb margarine.     $1.29.     $.83
Weight Watchers Smart Ones   $2.49.  $1.67
Bananas.      $.69 a pound.    $.43 a pound

I don’t buy meats or chicken at Walmart - just packaged and canned goods.  But if I am saving 30% each time I go shopping, that’s quite a bit.

qbrozen

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

Just got a call from the Mercedes Service - the parts they received from Orlando were improperly labeled - they received two right tracks for the roof instead of a left and a right.  So they are ordering a left track which should be delivered by Monday.  Even more disconcerting is the fact that they don’t know if these new tracks for the roof will solve the problem.

I just hope it is the solution to the problem because if it isn’t they will have to bring in the zone techs to diagnose it.  I think it’s the fact that these roofs now open up and over the rear of the top of the car requiring a lot more mechanical maneuvering.  Who knows - but they have to keep the car indoors because they have the glass removed.  

It could only happen to you Mike! They should post your picture at all the dealerships......don't sell a car to this guy.

At least I have had no food shopping incidents recently.  I do my food shopping early in the morning now to avoid those possible weird interactions with the elderly.

Now that it’s cooler, I shop at Walmart so my frozen items don’t defrost by the time I get home.  What amazes me is the difference in food costs between Publix, Costco and Walmart.  My usual costs are $150.00 every 2 weeks at Publix compared to $100 at Walmart.  That is significant!  Here are some examples - Publix vs. Walmart:

Dole Pineapple Chunks in a can. $1.89. $1.33
Folgers Coffee 3 lb container.   $12.99.  $9.90
2 lbs brick of sharp cheddar.     $8.99.  $6.99
1 gallon of whole milk.     $3.79.     $2.89
1 lb margarine.     $1.29.     $.83
Weight Watchers Smart Ones   $2.49.  $1.67
Bananas.      $.69 a pound.    $.43 a pound

I don’t buy meats or chicken at Walmart - just packaged and canned goods.  But if I am saving 30% each time I go shopping, that’s quite a bit.

My diagnosis: you consume WAY too much dairy!

oldfarmer50

sda said:

Has Edmunds changed the home page recently? I had a heck of a time finding the auto forums. I ended up going to the site map and finding it there. Auto forums used to be listed on the bottom of the page. I do have it marked as a favorite, so it shouldn't be a problem going forward. I wonder if this is a way to discourage newcomers?

Car forums is still down at the bottom of the page.

Something may have changed because I was booted out and had to log in again yesterday.