Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

At that speed, stopping distance is going to be about 750 feet. At 60 mph, more like 300 feet. So if a flatbed truck is stalled two football fields away when you see it, you're done for.

Or just change lanes. There's usually 6 lanes to choose from, not counting the Fast Trak lanes.

Why not pass the CHP cop and show him you are not a weeny?

tjc78

Speaking of Edsel.... Here is a 2008 Model

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

Speaking of Edsel.... Here is a 2008 Model

And they still don't age well.

jmonroe

dino001

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

At that speed, stopping distance is going to be about 750 feet. At 60 mph, more like 300 feet. So if a flatbed truck is stalled two football fields away when you see it, you're done for.

Or just change lanes. There's usually 6 lanes to choose from, not counting the Fast Trak lanes.

Because, of course there is always plenty of space and swift sidesweeps at 85+ mph in a second or two are just a piece of cake for anybody.

explorerx4

We got a card that had a good offer on a CD, 3.25% for 15 months, from Citizen's.
Was thinking about it, but I just ran it through the shredder.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

A friend a few houses from ours has a 2012 Lexus SUV. He was away for about a month, when he got back he started it up and it ran really rough. He went to the store and when he got back he decided to look under the hood. He found 3 mice homes, and the mice had chewed off the insulation in the wiring. They ate one coating off of every unit of wiring. The cost to repair the wiring will be $5400. Some may be covered by insurance. The Lexus dealer has seen this happen a few times. Apparently Toyota used something in making the wiring that the mice like to eat....they don't eat the wiring in other cars.

I'll have to rethink considering a Lexus or Toyota product.

Sounds like a reliability problem. Using the soy based insulation has been a known problem. I surprised the CR evaluations haven't noted that... hmmmm.

Notice the deflection by the toyota company in the Freep\Press article:
"Toyota released a statement when contacted by the Free Press.

“Rodent damage to vehicle wiring occurs across the industry, and the issue is not brand- or model-specific. We are currently not aware of any scientific evidence that shows rodents are attracted to automotive wiring because of alleged soy-based content," the company said."

Not entirely fair to criticize Toyota for using the soy made wiring.....they were trying to be ecologically responsible. It is fair to criticize them if they don't correct the problem.

But, I would be pretty sure, there isn't a car company out there that would pay up without a fight. These days you don't pay, unless you have to.

abacomike

Going 80 or 85 mph on an interstate following two CHP’s on motorcycles borders on thoughts of committing suicide, IMHO.  Could also cause several dangerous traffic issues and dangers for other drivers.  Or am I crazy?  Don’t answer that jmonroe! 

abacomike

explorerx4 said:

We got a card that had a good offer on a CD, 3.25% for 15 months, from Citizen's. Was thinking about it, but I just ran it through the shredder.

Best i’ve Been able to get is 2.7% for 12 months.  Have an IRA coming due next week.

berri

I've seen several articles today and yesterday about how cold winter weather can have a large degradation to electric car performance and range. Wonder if that is true on hybrid cars as well?

suydam

No, just EVs and plug ins.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

A friend a few houses from ours has a 2012 Lexus SUV. He was away for about a month, when he got back he started it up and it ran really rough. He went to the store and when he got back he decided to look under the hood. He found 3 mice homes, and the mice had chewed off the insulation in the wiring. They ate one coating off of every unit of wiring. The cost to repair the wiring will be $5400. Some may be covered by insurance. The Lexus dealer has seen this happen a few times. Apparently Toyota used something in making the wiring that the mice like to eat....they don't eat the wiring in other cars.

I'll have to rethink considering a Lexus or Toyota product.

For a long time car makers have used environmentally friendly insulation on wires. I think it’s soy based or something. That’s why for the car I store in the barn I scatter numerous mothballs underneath. I even put containers of mothballs under the cover in case they want to nest on the hood. Then I start it once a month to charge the battery and blow out any critters who might want to crawl in the muffler.

oldfarmer50

bwia said:

graphicguy said:

bwia said:

I am a victim of bank fraud and I feel so violated. :@

Needless to say, I am vexed and extremely unhappy. Pissed off. This morning when I checked my Citizens Bank savings account $25,500 of my money was gone missing. I called my bank and they said the money was credited to Coinbase.com account drawn on Chase Manhattan Bank. But they also brought to my attention three smaller transactions with Valley Credit Union. A $0.75 debit and two credits of $0.42 and $0.33 respectively. They said the fraudster used these small amounts to test whether this was a valid and active account.

In the meantime, they will create a new savings account for me with a new user name, password and security questions. That will take about two days. But as to the returning of my money, that might take a while as they must do their own investigation and refer the case to the FBI, not to mention the endless paperwork and affidavits I will have to sign.

Well...that’s terrible. Moreover, I think the bank’s response is less than acceptable, too. The entire reason we use a bank for our money is it’s supposed to be a safe haven for it. If that’s not the case, I would stuff it under my mattress.

A $25,000 withdrawal and not even a phone call to you asking if it was legit? I know my bank calls me every time I buy a car and asks if the check I wrote was legit. Sometimes I tell them in advance what I’m doing (like when I’m transferring funds from an account to my checking).

Either way, to keep you from your money, when their safety nets failed....well, that’s a crime in and of itself. They should immediately put YOUR MONEY back in YOUR ACCOUNT, and then do their investigation.

I don’t blame you for being angry...not in the least!

Well, Citizens Bank has to be incredibly careless or their controls are porously vulnerable. Even after yesterday's fiasco, and my changing my user name, password and security questions, today I noticed two small ACH deposits (see below) to my savings account from a T-Mobile money transfer? How can that be, when the account is supposed to be frozen?

2/07/19
ACH Deposit
020719t-mobile Money
$0.13

02/07/19
ACH Deposit
020719t-mobile Money
$0.04

Thanks guys for support.

Did you ask your bank to explain this? Might there be a mole in the bank itself?

imidazol97

explorerx4 said:

We got a card that had a good offer on a CD, 3.25% for 15 months, from Citizen's.
Was thinking about it, but I just ran it through the shredder.

What was the catch. I get offers from various banks, but usually the requirements aren't worth the small increase in return.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

We got a card that had a good offer on a CD, 3.25% for 15 months, from Citizen's.
Was thinking about it, but I just ran it through the shredder.

Wow, you must be the upper crust. I just got a similar card from them for 2.75%.

Mr_Shiftright

90 mph swerves are fun, too.

explorerx4

When I was in my sister's Prius a few times in the winter, the fuel mileage was severely degraded(33 on the readout) from normal(43-48), although still higher than my big engine Focus(25-27 winter).

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

A friend a few houses from ours has a 2012 Lexus SUV. He was away for about a month, when he got back he started it up and it ran really rough. He went to the store and when he got back he decided to look under the hood. He found 3 mice homes, and the mice had chewed off the insulation in the wiring. They ate one coating off of every unit of wiring. The cost to repair the wiring will be $5400. Some may be covered by insurance. The Lexus dealer has seen this happen a few times. Apparently Toyota used something in making the wiring that the mice like to eat....they don't eat the wiring in other cars.

I'll have to rethink considering a Lexus or Toyota product.

For a long time car makers have used environmentally friendly insulation on wires. I think it’s soy based or something. That’s why for the car I store in the barn I scatter numerous mothballs underneath. I even put containers of mothballs under the cover in case they want to nest on the hood. Then I start it once a month to charge the battery and blow out any critters who might want to crawl in the muffler.

I have heard of putting steel wool in the exhaust pipe......apparently critters don't like to work their way through that.

bwia

explorerx4 said:

We got a card that had a good offer on a CD, 3.25% for 15 months, from Citizen's. Was thinking about it, but I just ran it through the shredder.

That's a phenomenal rate for a 15-month CD. Although I had (having) my woes with Citizens Bank I would jump on that offer like white on rice since all Citizens investment products are FDIC insured.

Unfortunately, they only offer that rate on new money so I'm ineligible.

roadburner

Even though the Clubman is slow as molasses when it comes to acceleration, it will cruise at high speeds so well that you don't realize how fast you are going. I was driving it on an interstate the other day and everything was serene; I checked the speedometer and I was doing a tick over 85.

oldfarmer50

2021 Mustang? Yea or nay?

stickguy

yuck

qbrozen

Looks like a mazda concept

driver100

>

oldfarmer50">2021 Mustang? Yea or nay?

Worse than the current model....they actually found a way to make it uglier!

I took the picture out because I couldn't look at it again.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

>

oldfarmer50">2021 Mustang? Yea or nay?

Worse than the current model....they actually found a way to make it uglier!

I took the picture out because I couldn't look at it again.

So sorry to inflict that on you. You poor, poor thing.

graphicguy

Little update on the speed trap camera ticket. I requested a hearing. Called the municipality where the ticket was issued. Guess they don’t have many people request a hearing, as it took me about 15 minutes for someone to find out for me.

Of course, the request for a hearing isn’t sent to the municipality (which I had thought would be the case). No...a request for a hearing goes to AZ, which just so happens to be the state where the makers of the roving spending cameras are produced. Looking at my ticket, that’s also where you send the money for the fine. So, nothing goes to the municipality (which is in OHIO) before the makers maker gets their grubby hands on it.

Yeah.....justice and safety at work.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

>

oldfarmer50">2021 Mustang? Yea or nay?

Worse than the current model....they actually found a way to make it uglier!

I took the picture out because I couldn't look at it again.

So sorry to inflict that on you. You poor, poor thing.

Yeh, those small slits for windows are killing me.

driver100

I got a long email on how EVs are very costly to run. The first part was the current grid could only support about 3 EVs per block, otherwise we need all new infrastructure.

I am not that knowledgeable about all this, so I am copy and pasting the main section for your consideration. If you can find holes in the article than point them out, I am not saying it is true or not.


Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors and
he writes, "For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted
only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.
"Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran
on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the
16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.


It will take you 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10
hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5
hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging
Time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of
electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery.
The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned ,
so I looked up what I pay for electricity.

I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16
per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery.
$18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the
Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a
gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32
Mpg = $0.10 per mile.


The gasoline powered car costs about $25,000 while the Volt costs
$46,000 plus. So the Canadian Government wants loyal Canadians not to
do the math, but simply pay twice as much for a car, that costs
more than seven times as much to run, and takes three times longer to
drive across the country
************************************************************
Like I say, this could be misinformation from the web - imagine that - but even if it is half true.....it is worth knowing about.

houdini2

henryn said:

driver100 said:

A friend a few houses from ours has a 2012 Lexus SUV. He was away for about a month, when he got back he started it up and it ran really rough. He went to the store and when he got back he decided to look under the hood. He found 3 mice homes, and the mice had chewed off the insulation in the wiring. They ate one coating off of every unit of wiring. The cost to repair the wiring will be $5400. Some may be covered by insurance. The Lexus dealer has seen this happen a few times. Apparently Toyota used something in making the wiring that the mice like to eat....they don't eat the wiring in other cars.

I'll have to rethink considering a Lexus or Toyota product.

I remember reading somewhere, probably here in these forums, that the wiring harness was the most expensive part of the average new car. Exceeding the engine and the transmission. Modern cars do indeed have a lot of electronics, which require a lot of wiring.

I had a similar incident back in 2013 on a new F150. I think that one was due to a cat sheltering from the cold and clawing up the wiring harness, not sure though. The dealer wanted $1,800 to replace the wiring harness, I turned it in to my insurance and only paid the $100 deductible. What I found most interesting, once the insurance company got involved, the cost dropped from $1,800 to $1,100.

Sheesh.

In this day of wireless connectivity, and as expensive as automotive wiring is, I guess it is not possible to "go wireless" on automotive wiring? Seems like someone would be bright enough to get this done.

houdini2

jmonroe1 said:

tjc78 said:

Speaking of Edsel.... Here is a 2008 Model

And they still don't age well.

jmonroe

That grill work looks a heck of a lot better than some current models.

houdini2

Speaking of oblivious drivers, several years ago a friend of mine was returning to KC from a ski trip in Colorado. His two sons were with him. A car pulled out from a rest stop and my friend thought he merged a little too close in front of him. He whipped around the guy and shot him the bird. Flashing lights come on. Turns out the guy was a state trooper driving a unmarked car. He must have had a sense of humor because my friend only got a chewing out and a warning.

stickguy

Driver, not sure about your numbers, but the concept is right. Up front battery costs also get overlooked. But I Could see that if everyone plugged in the grid would be stressed, like on hot summer days.

I don’t think it costs nearly that much to charge up a volt, but maybe?

qbrozen

driver100 said:

I got a long email on how EVs are very costly to run. The first part was the current grid could only support about 3 EVs per block, otherwise we need all new infrastructure.

I am not that knowledgeable about all this, so I am copy and pasting the main section for your consideration. If you can find holes in the article than point them out, I am not saying it is true or not.


Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors and
he writes, "For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted
only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.
"Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran
on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the
16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.


It will take you 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10
hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5
hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging
Time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of
electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery.
The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned ,
so I looked up what I pay for electricity.

I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16
per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery.
$18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the
Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a
gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32
Mpg = $0.10 per mile.


The gasoline powered car costs about $25,000 while the Volt costs
$46,000 plus. So the Canadian Government wants loyal Canadians not to
do the math, but simply pay twice as much for a car, that costs
more than seven times as much to run, and takes three times longer to
drive across the country
************************************************************
Like I say, this could be misinformation from the web - imagine that - but even if it is half true.....it is worth knowing about.

$1.16/kwh?? Where the hell does he live?! I pay 13.8 CENTS.

I also find his mpg calculation very suspect. And, hell, considering how much he thinks electricity is, I don't put much stock in how he calculated mileage. DoE rates the Volt at a combined 42 mpg with the engine running.

Oh, and 10-hr charging time is through 110 volt. Obviously, there are far faster methods available.

fintail

It's almost like there's a crony capitalist kleptocracy going on.

I wonder what the camera operator had to do to land that contract.

graphicguy said:

Little update on the speed trap camera ticket. I requested a hearing. Called the municipality where the ticket was issued. Guess they don’t have many people request a hearing, as it took me about 15 minutes for someone to find out for me.

Of course, the request for a hearing isn’t sent to the municipality (which I had thought would be the case). No...a request for a hearing goes to AZ, which just so happens to be the state where the makers of the roving spending cameras are produced. Looking at my ticket, that’s also where you send the money for the fine. So, nothing goes to the municipality (which is in OHIO) before the makers maker gets their grubby hands on it.

Yeah.....justice and safety at work.

fintail

It would be interesting to know the source of that email - and I am not an EV fanboy either.

From what I can find, hydro rates in BC are under 11 cents/kwh. When that kind of stuff is egregiously wrong, it casts doubt on the rest of the story.

driver100 said:

Like I say, this could be misinformation from the web - imagine that - but even if it is half true.....it is worth knowing about.

stickguy

I thought that he KWH looked wrong. 10 cents makes more sense, so a couple of bucks maybe.

imidazol97

That grill reminds me of the Pontiac Gran Prix/Gran Am and the BMW grills.

There's something badly wrong about how the center oval is designed into the surrounds or how the surroundings are designed around the oval.

And, @houdini2, it is better than some front ends these days. Someone should send a picture to the company--maybe this will be their 2021 design: the edge of design. Of course I don't say which edge, the leading or the rear end with all its extras.

imidazol97

I just saw on the business channel that cell phone carriers are selling location data to people like our bail bondsmen and bounty hunters.

So our own carriers are benefiting by selling our data while we're paying them to provide service.

imidazol97

graphicguy said:

Little update on the speed trap camera ticket. I requested a hearing. Called the municipality where the ticket was issued. Guess they don’t have many people request a hearing, as it took me about 15 minutes for someone to find out for me.

Of course, the request for a hearing isn’t sent to the municipality (which I had thought would be the case). No...a request for a hearing goes to AZ, which just so happens to be the state where the makers of the roving spending cameras are produced. Looking at my ticket, that’s also where you send the money for the fine. So, nothing goes to the municipality (which is in OHIO) before the makers maker gets their grubby hands on it.

Yeah.....justice and safety at work.

I was just thinking about your speed camera because my wife was watching "Caught in Providence" where a humorous judge and prosecutor joke around with the people appearing in traffic court. They like running the video of people running red lights.

Today a guy appeared to defend against the ticket because he did make a token almost dead stop before turning. The prosecutor or judge noted that there was a sign on the pole saying No Turn on Red Light. Judge still threw out the charge, if I recall.

I just hope I get that judge if I ever get a ticket.

In case
https://www.google.com/search?q=caught+in+providence&oq=caught+in+providence&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2514j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

imidazol97

stickguy said:

Driver, not sure about your numbers, but the concept is right. Up front battery costs also get overlooked. But I Could see that if everyone plugged in the grid would be stressed, like on hot summer days.

I don’t think it costs nearly that much to charge up a volt, but maybe?

@suydam
any info to add about charging a Volt and batteries?

Here the rate is 4.5 cents/kw-hr.

snakeweasel

explorerx4 said:

When I was in my sister's Prius a few times in the winter, the fuel mileage was severely degraded(33 on the readout) from normal(43-48), although still higher than my big engine Focus(25-27 winter).

My understanding is that the Prius (and maybe all hybrids) rrus the ICE until the emission system gets properly warmed up. This means in cold weather the engine would be running at times it wouldn't be in warmer weather. This would seriously reduce the mileage especially on shorter trips.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

2021 Mustang? Yea or nay?

Not sure, would like to see it in another color.

henryn

Looks like something out of a Batman movie. And I absolutely hate those windows. Are they competing with the Camaro to see who can have the worst visibility?

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

I am not that knowledgeable about all this, so I am copy and pasting the main section for your consideration. If you can find holes in the article than point them out, I am not saying it is true or not.


Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors and
he writes, "For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted
only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.
"Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran
on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the
16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.


It will take you 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10
hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5
hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging
Time) would be 20 mph.

Well correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure that when you hit that 270 mile mark you can just fill up the gas tank and drive off again without recharging the batteries. So your total trip time would be 4.5 hours not 14.5.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

>

oldfarmer50">2021 Mustang? Yea or nay?

Worse than the current model....they actually found a way to make it uglier!

I took the picture out because I couldn't look at it again.

So sorry to inflict that on you. You poor, poor thing.

Yeh, those small slits for windows are killing me.

I don’t like them either, it’s like they’re trying to out Camaro the Camaro.

andres3

driver100 said:

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

At that speed, stopping distance is going to be about 750 feet. At 60 mph, more like 300 feet. So if a flatbed truck is stalled two football fields away when you see it, you're done for.

Or just change lanes. There's usually 6 lanes to choose from, not counting the Fast Trak lanes.

Why not pass the CHP cop and show him you are not a weeny?

I know you are joking, but passing is a great way to get pulled over. I think I've avoided a ticket or two by slowing down every bit as much as a CHP car does to avoid passing, even if that meant going below the speed limit temporarily. Remember my Sheriff story? I passed them doing ONLY 10 over and ended up detained for a few minutes.

andres3

dino001 said:

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

At that speed, stopping distance is going to be about 750 feet. At 60 mph, more like 300 feet. So if a flatbed truck is stalled two football fields away when you see it, you're done for.

Or just change lanes. There's usually 6 lanes to choose from, not counting the Fast Trak lanes.

Because, of course there is always plenty of space and swift sidesweeps at 85+ mph in a second or two are just a piece of cake for anybody.

We're talking wide open straight as an arrow Interstate 15 between San Diego and Escondido here. No rolling mountains or curves. Middle of the day so low traffic. I'm not sure I can remember the last time I saw a stopped vehicle in an active lane here (excluding stop n' go traffic backups). Fake hazard = fake news.

andres3

dino001 said:

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

At that speed, stopping distance is going to be about 750 feet. At 60 mph, more like 300 feet. So if a flatbed truck is stalled two football fields away when you see it, you're done for.

Or just change lanes. There's usually 6 lanes to choose from, not counting the Fast Trak lanes.

Because, of course there is always plenty of space and swift sidesweeps at 85+ mph in a second or two are just a piece of cake for anybody.

We're talking wide open straight as an arrow Interstate 15 between San Diego and Escondido here. No rolling mountains or curves. Middle of the day so low traffic. I'm not sure I can remember the last time I saw a stopped vehicle in an active lane here (excluding stop n' go traffic backups). Fake hazard = fake news.

bwia

Would you believe, yet another breach on my closed savings account, this time for $2,000 leaving the account with a $2,000 debit balance. The bank said that they are aware of the breach and the check will bounce.

While I can appreciate their initial response, I can identify two major weaknesses at Citizens Bank. Their password protection is extremely weak as they do NOT allow special characters such as (#, $, *, %, etc.) as part of the password. Only letters and numbers are permitted.

Secondly, they do not employ a two-step authentication system. Even my small bank in the Caribbean where I keep a small amount money for household expenses requires this. What a shame that their IT people are not more proactive to preempt these vulnerabilities.

andres3

abacomike said:

Going 80 or 85 mph on an interstate following two CHP’s on motorcycles borders on thoughts of committing suicide, IMHO.  Could also cause several dangerous traffic issues and dangers for other drivers.  Or am I crazy?  Don’t answer that jmonroe! 

One CHP motorcycle, and there was no danger or hazard. In fact, I'm not sure I ran into a single left lane camper, but if I did, not more than 1 or 2 over 20 miles, and in each case, a single lane change was all it took to avoid the hazardous slower driver. Part of the reason for this is it was a very light traffic time period, and people in San Diego are getting better at observing "Slower Traffic Keep Right" signage and laws, especially since I taught so many "lessons" on the roadway in my younger years.

I put in the time, and now I'm seeing the benefits of my vigilante enforcement efforts of the past.

Lastly, I've noticed that by driving faster you "bring up the average" speed a bit. It really has become San Diego's Autobahn; average speeds are high and safe. Now, in the morning commute, I'm on the I15N, the I15 South seems to have all the bad drivers in the morning, they get jammed up by idiotic drivers colliding seemingly 20X more often than the north bound side in the morning.

henryn

Is this a checking account or a savings account? You are using the two terms interchangeably.