Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

tjc78

@qbrozen

Ha ha. I love that bad movie!

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

It is scary that so large an area can be affected by the danger in unclean water. The plans for action were established after 911 and the anthrax scares. The City currently pumps the water because the County Water System's well had become contaminated or inefficient, I forget which.

I realize there are events beyond hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, forest fires, and so on that can be a problem.

That is one way the next war will be fought....contaminating the water supply.

Like I said yesterday, it has started and it appears you have taken some big gulps already.

jmonroe

snakeweasel

jmonroe1 said:

It is scary that so large an area can be affected by the danger in unclean water. The plans for action were established after 911 and the anthrax scares. The City currently pumps the water because the County Water System's well had become contaminated or inefficient, I forget which. I realize there are events beyond hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, forest fires, and so on that can be a problem.

That is one way the next war will be fought....contaminating the water supply.

Like I said yesterday, it has started and it appears you have taken some big gulps already. jmonroe

I personally don't drink water, fish do disgusting things in it.

oldfarmer50

tjc78 said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YMqYWoyJ7aU

Wow.  ****warning****lots of foul language but amazing video 

I’m figuring medication problem. Maybe some Ambien sleep driving.

oldfarmer50

karhill1 said:

While political matters probably do not belong on a website for autos, I feel compelled to weigh in.

When dealing with hard nose conservatives, typically those who believe Trump is remotely qualified to be POTUS, we must understand fact and reality are not significant components of their thought process. Supporting what they believe is often far more important than reality.

I have actually lived in what they would consider socialist countries. Denmark, Norway, Belgium. I have also traveled and have many friends in those countries as well as Sweden and Canada. The reality is those people are indeed more satisfied than we in the US of A, particularly in this era of fake news fueled division.

The reality is folks in those socialist countries do not get things for free. They pay more taxes which pays for what they get. For example, my family used socialized medicine while overseas. It was equal to and, in some areas, better that what we get in this country.

I agree, politics do not belong on a website for autos. Hosts?

qbrozen

Simply scroll past them like I do. If nobody responds, it will go away.

abacomike

I do some volunteer work at one of our local schools - I work with kids having difficulties with reading, math and language arts.  At least it gives me something to do and I help kids.

This afternoon after lunch, the school had a special remembrance program in memory of the 17 innocents killed last year at Stoneman-Douglas High School on Valentines Day.  I had tears in my eyes as each individual life taken was presented by students and balloons with each name were released.

Parkland is about a 5 minute drive from where I live.  It was heartbreaking! 

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

Got a phone call (surprisingly, not a letter) from the police dept where my (alleged) speeding ticket was from. So apparently, the vast majority of people just pay the ticket (with no points) and don’t ask for a hearing, as I did.

As such, they won’t be able to schedule the hearing until May.

Interestingly enough, it won’t be in a court, but at the police dept HQ. Sure, I’ll get a fair shake from the exact dept who benefits from the cash grab shakedown. I asked him (he said he was a Sgt) if it would be a true hearing in front of a magistrate or a judge. He said they’d use whomever would be available, including the police dept to render a judgement. Yeah....this is going to go well.

Seems like a real scam but go and use as much of their time as you can. Maybe take the profit out of your case.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

graphicguy said:

Interestingly enough, it won’t be in a court, but at the police dept HQ. Sure, I’ll get a fair shake from the exact dept who benefits from the cash grab shakedown. I asked him (he said he was a Sgt) if it would be a true hearing in front of a magistrate or a judge. He said they’d use whomever would be available, including the police dept to render a judgement. Yeah....this is going to go well.

If it is not in front of a judge or otherwise arms-length magistrate, but instead someone who works for the police department, it would appear to be a clear violation of the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Sad when a foreign national knows more about the Constitution than the police.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

It is scary that so large an area can be affected by the danger in unclean water. The plans for action were established after 911 and the anthrax scares. The City currently pumps the water because the County Water System's well had become contaminated or inefficient, I forget which.

I realize there are events beyond hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, forest fires, and so on that can be a problem.

That is one way the next war will be fought....contaminating the water supply.

Like I said yesterday, it has started and it appears you have taken some big gulps already.

jmonroe

Like I said, a side affect seems to be it increased my I.Q., you should try some.

suydam

“go and use as much of their time as you can”. And YOUR time.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

graphicguy said:

Interestingly enough, it won’t be in a court, but at the police dept HQ. Sure, I’ll get a fair shake from the exact dept who benefits from the cash grab shakedown. I asked him (he said he was a Sgt) if it would be a true hearing in front of a magistrate or a judge. He said they’d use whomever would be available, including the police dept to render a judgement. Yeah....this is going to go well.

If it is not in front of a judge or otherwise arms-length magistrate, but instead someone who works for the police department, it would appear to be a clear violation of the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Sad when a foreign national knows more about the Constitution than the police.

I'll leave that one for ab to answer, I didn't say nothin'.

imidazol97

@snakeweasel
I posted about DIL's company not withholding for school district of residence having an earnings tax not withholding for the city where she works. The company's solution was just go file forms and pay the tax yourself. There could be penalties involved in some cases depending.

Wouldn't the first thing done by a company and their payroll company be to go to the locations and familiarize yourself with the needed payroll structures in that state?

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

Got a phone call (surprisingly, not a letter) from the police dept where my (alleged) speeding ticket was from. So apparently, the vast majority of people just pay the ticket (with no points) and don’t ask for a hearing, as I did.

As such, they won’t be able to schedule the hearing until May.

Interestingly enough, it won’t be in a court, but at the police dept HQ. Sure, I’ll get a fair shake from the exact dept who benefits from the cash grab shakedown. I asked him (he said he was a Sgt) if it would be a true hearing in front of a magistrate or a judge. He said they’d use whomever would be available, including the police dept to render a judgement. Yeah....this is going to go well.

Seems like a real scam but go and use as much of their time as you can. Maybe take the profit out of your case.

Probably a really bad idea for me to do something like that. I would most likely wind up arrested.

It's like the lyrics to that old John Cougar Mellencamp song:

"Question authority and authority will question you..."

driver100

Imid, this should make your day!
J.D. Powers Reliability for 2016 models:
Toyotas and Chevys more reliable than BMW and Mercedes, J.D. Power finds
Mass-market brands fare better in dependability than luxury models for first time in 30 years
by ALEXANDRA SEMENOVA, BLOOMBERG | 1 DAY AGO


Prospective buyers planning to splurge on a luxury car may want to reconsider: Mass-market brands now are more reliable than premium models.

For the first time in its 30-year vehicle-dependability study, J.D. Power found that mainstream brands ranked higher than upscale ones, based on problems per 100 vehicles for three-year-old autos.

Nameplates from companies including Toyota, General Motors and Hyundai had an average of 135 problems, six fewer than for brands such as BMW and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz.

The shift is a combination of mass-market cars catching up in overall quality and less new technology in these vehicles that can increase the chance of something going wrong, according to Dave Sargent, J.D. Power’s vice president of global automotive.

“Partly, it’s just a lot of hard work and learning, and partly, it’s lower penetration with some of these features,” Sargent said in a phone interview. “There is no inherent reason why a more-expensive car should be better or worse in terms of reliability than a less-expensive car, so my guess is they’ll track each other fairly closely going forward.”

The industry averaged six fewer problems per 100 vehicles compared with a year ago, according to J.D. Power. That was a slower pace than the decline of 14 between 2017 and 2018, with new technologies such as voice recognition and enhanced safety systems contributing to the lag in improvement.

Toyota’s Lexus luxury line topped the list for the eighth consecutive year with 106 problems, followed by Porsche with 108—even though their totals rose from 99 and 100 respectively last year. Toyota-brand vehicles tied for second place with Porsche, and GM’s Chevrolet and Buick brands rounded out the top five.

For the first time in the U.S. study’s history, all German brands ranked above the industry average, which was 136 problems per 100 vehicles. Honda, Ford’s Lincoln and Nissan ranked below the average after beating it last year. Chrysler showed the most improvement, with 65 fewer problems than in 2018

Generally, it sounds like reliability is not a major issue anymore.....all brands are pretty close...that's what I get out of it.

driver100

I know someone is going to complain about my long post above...but, it has lots of solid information that had to be posted to make sense...it didn't meander on and go blah, blah blah.......

stickguy

That is something that probably helped toyota and Honda back in the day build their reputation that they still (somewhat) rest on. A corolla and Civic were really simple cars. Less to go wrong, and not cutting edge (particularly a Corolla, that was roughly equivalent to a 55 Chevy).

stickguy

also, that is something I have mentioned before. The bar has really been raised for all cars, so even the "bad" ones are pretty darned good.

andres3

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

Actually there are multiple studies that show in speeds in excess of around 40 MPH going faster increases your risks of a fatal accident. I really cant see how faster is safer if all other factors are consistent. The reason I don't like the miles driven, or any other single factor, is that it's more complicated than that. There are many factors at play including, but not limited to, speed, relative speed to other traffic, traffic density, road design, road condition, terrain, climate, type of vehicle, condition of vehicle and driver skills just to name factors off the top of my head.

All those studies you mention have caveats and presumptions and assumptions galore. Typically, the main one is IF you have an accident, THEN...... Or you get ONCE you have an accident, THEN.....

I find the technique deceptive at best.

andres3

snakeweasel said:

imidazol97 said:

stickguy said:

I saw a daily show clip yesterday where Trevor Noah talked about how weird it is coming to the US and learning how cops work. It was about passing a cop on the highway, doing the speed limit while cop was below, and getting pulled over and lectured. The gist of it was “in this country you don’t pass a cop!”

I'd take that story with a grain of salt. A big one. I have never seen a car pulled over for going below the speed limit unless there was a light violation, e.g., one headlight or taillight. Or weaving.

plus the fact that a cop pulling over someone without a legitimate reason could face some serious disciplinary action and might even warrant a criminal complaint against him or her.

Unlikely. I called a CHP's Sergeant on one of my most BS tickets of all-time, and I pretty much got the "the Courts will work it out" line. The Courts did in fact work it out. It remains the only citation for which I was found NOT GUILTY directly against the CHP (not a dismissal victory which is different). Still, it was a criminally frivolous allegation and a criminal waste of time.

andres3

abacomike said:

fintail said:

But it is all about safety! Think of the children!

graphicguy said:

Got a phone call (surprisingly, not a letter) from the police dept where my (alleged) speeding ticket was from. So apparently, the vast majority of people just pay the ticket (with no points) and don’t ask for a hearing, as I did.

As such, they won’t be able to schedule the hearing until May.

Interestingly enough, it won’t be in a court, but at the police dept HQ. Sure, I’ll get a fair shake from the exact dept who benefits from the cash grab shakedown. I asked him (he said he was a Sgt) if it would be a true hearing in front of a magistrate or a judge. He said they’d use whomever would be available, including the police dept to render a judgement. Yeah....this is going to go well.

Perhaps if we all thought (thunk) more about the children (what’s best for them, that is) we wouldn’t need traffic and speeding tickets!  The police could concentrate more on preventing and stopping crime and mayhem.



Why do States in the USA put up with this Authoritarian Barbarism?

andres3

stickguy said:

also, that is something I have mentioned before. The bar has really been raised for all cars, so even the "bad" ones are pretty darned good.

So @graphicguy last couple Cadillac's must be somewhere below the "bad" bar?

andres3

The discussion where I posted this is no more, so, I felt the need to further educate here:

The NHTSA pads the “speed kills” myth by playing deceptive tricks with numbers.

On their current web page about the dangers of speeding, they claim 26% of all fatalities in 2016 were caused by speeding.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding

This is inherently and explicitly false. Around 3% of all collisions and fatalities can be remotely attributed to speed.

If you look at their blue box of info with 3 button tabs, the first one states that 49% of their 26% figure comes from people that are so dumb they weren’t wearing their seat belts.

The third tab shows that another 37% of that 26% figure was from drunks.

How biased do you need to be to include drunks and non-seat-belt wearers in your stat to blame “speeders?”

So that leaves you with only 14% of the original 26% figure. This is all basic reasonable logic, and doesn’t require advanced math.

14% of 26% is 3.6%. That coincides with the buried studies from the NHTSA/Dept. of Transportation on the Causal factors of Collisions and Fatalities.

Question your sources…. follow the money for the motive. Insurance companies are run by evil humans, and they are running the government. Really no other way to call it.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

graphicguy said:

Interestingly enough, it won’t be in a court, but at the police dept HQ. Sure, I’ll get a fair shake from the exact dept who benefits from the cash grab shakedown. I asked him (he said he was a Sgt) if it would be a true hearing in front of a magistrate or a judge. He said they’d use whomever would be available, including the police dept to render a judgement. Yeah....this is going to go well.

If it is not in front of a judge or otherwise arms-length magistrate, but instead someone who works for the police department, it would appear to be a clear violation of the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Sad when a foreign national knows more about the Constitution than the police.

CHP Buttonwillow got into a FB discussion with me since they like posting things like "caught a 112 MPH Prius" and they'll post a picture of the citation with a few boxes blurred out as proof.

I think the CHP is one of the most highly trained police forces, but you usually get something like this:

ME : Your marketing line about how you don't get the funds from your tickets sounds a lot like "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul"

CHP: We enforce the law. Speeding is in the Vehicle Code after all. Don't speed and you won't get "robbed."

ME: Responding to informal Discovery Requests is also a Penal Code law that the CHP Offices must respond within 20 days or receipt. Almost every time your field offices fail to do so. Equal enforcement of the law, right?

CHP: .........................

They have posted about issuing tickets for people going 126 MPH and such, I find that amusing and surprising how common it seems to be. Their best post was when they showed the sign "Camp in the Mountains, not in the left lane." and explained how dangerous it is to camp out in the left lane regardless of speed.

ab348

Sorry to have to report that my cat Rusty died last night. He had been fighting against liver failure for over a month and was just incredibly strong, having eluded the inevitable during several Vet visits where I was expecting the worst but where he kept hanging in and living a decent quality of life up until yesterday when everything fell apart. He had been with me for 12 years and was probably 16 or 17 years old, and was the last of what at one time was a group of 4 cats who lived here. He was very much the strong, silent type and over the last number of months when he was flying solo here I really came to appreciate him much more. Just a superb cat. Rest in peace, my friend.

abacomike

ab348 said:

Sorry to have to report that my cat Rusty died last night. He had been fighting against liver failure for over a month and was just incredibly strong, having eluded the inevitable during several Vet visits where I was expecting the worst but where he kept hanging in and living a decent quality of life up until yesterday when everything fell apart. He had been with me for 12 years and was probably 16 or 17 years old, and was the last of what at one time was a group of 4 cats who lived here. He was very much the strong, silent type and over the last number of months when he was flying solo here I really came to appreciate him much more. Just a superb cat. Rest in peace, my friend.

My sincerest condolences, ab!  I know how much Rusty meant to you from reading your posts.  A companion is so important in one’s life, especially as we get on in years.  I pray that Rusty is now in a better place.

As for you, ab, I hope your grieving is short-lived and that a new companion will soon be able to again share your life with you.  

carnaught

@ab348, so sorry about the loss of your buddy Rusty....

snakeweasel

ab348, sorry to hear of your loss. My deepest sympathy to you.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

I know someone is going to complain about my long post above...but, it has lots of solid information that had to be posted to make sense...it didn't meander on and go blah, blah blah.......

There’s only one malcontent that doesn’t like your long posts although the rest of us may skim over them from time to time.

stickguy

Sorry to hear Ab. Losing a pet is always hard. But at least he had a good, long run.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Sorry to have to report that my cat Rusty died last night. He had been fighting against liver failure for over a month and was just incredibly strong, having eluded the inevitable during several Vet visits where I was expecting the worst but where he kept hanging in and living a decent quality of life up until yesterday when everything fell apart. He had been with me for 12 years and was probably 16 or 17 years old, and was the last of what at one time was a group of 4 cats who lived here. He was very much the strong, silent type and over the last number of months when he was flying solo here I really came to appreciate him much more. Just a superb cat. Rest in peace, my friend.

Sorry to hear that.

cdnpinhead

ab348 said:

Sorry to have to report that my cat Rusty died last night.

As a cat person, I can imagine how hard this is to deal with -- my sympathies. Beautiful picture though -- just one of many pleasant memories, I'm sure.

fintail

Condolences, 17 years is a good run for a cat, something to be thankful for. My brother lost a similar age cat late last year. He said he wouldn't replace her, but within a week, he visited the shelter and had a new one.

fintail

I find it funny that questioning enforcement tactics and limit logic (the groups behind both don't seem to answer to much) took almost no time to segue into a fun anarchy strawman.

andres3 said:

Why do States in the USA put up with this Authoritarian Barbarism?

fintail

I am always a little leery about "Reliability" reports that can be tainted because someone who still has a microwave that blinks 12:00 all day can't sync their jitterbug phone to bluetooth, or finds a seat uncomfortable, rather than because scores of cars are stranding people every day. The latter doesn't happen much anymore.
I'll take an extra shop visit once every 4 years to have better build/material quality, not to mention driving feel.

driver100 said:

I
Toyotas and Chevys more reliable than BMW and Mercedes, J.D. Power finds
Mass-market brands fare better in dependability than luxury models for first time in 30 years
by ALEXANDRA SEMENOVA, BLOOMBERG | 1 DAY AGO

suydam

So sorry to hear. I lost my beloved cat a year ago, and I still miss her every day.

abacomike

Recent history (millions and millions of recalls) would suggest that product quality at the production line level in the automobile industry had to improve - this this improvement is not startling to me.

Executives in the industry finally figured out that building a “quality” vehicle on the assembly line is more economical than repairing/recalling vehicles at the dealership level.  Fewer repairs per vehicle means higher gross profits for the industry, as a whole.  So quality control improvements during production are more cost effective than recalls and/or repairs post production.  Makes sense to me!

Michaell

@ab348 condolences on your loss

graphicguy

28firefighter said:

As this is a civil violation for @graphicguy, there is no violation of due process. The threshold requirements and rights afforded are very different.

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

Got a phone call (surprisingly, not a letter) from the police dept where my (alleged) speeding ticket was from. So apparently, the vast majority of people just pay the ticket (with no points) and don’t ask for a hearing, as I did.

As such, they won’t be able to schedule the hearing until May.

Interestingly enough, it won’t be in a court, but at the police dept HQ. Sure, I’ll get a fair shake from the exact dept who benefits from the cash grab shakedown. I asked him (he said he was a Sgt) if it would be a true hearing in front of a magistrate or a judge. He said they’d use whomever would be available, including the police dept to render a judgement. Yeah....this is going to go well.

Seems like a real scam but go and use as much of their time as you can. Maybe take the profit out of your case.

yeah.....seems there are is no “due process” when a city is putting their hands in my pants to extract more money.

@oldfarmer50 .....that’s my plan. If it’s not held in a court of law, I’m assuming additional court costs can’t be assessed. But, nothing will surprise me.

pensfan83

@ab348 my condolences on losing Rusty. Sounds like he was a wonderful companion.

graphicguy

andres3 said:

stickguy said:

also, that is something I have mentioned before. The bar has really been raised for all cars, so even the "bad" ones are pretty darned good.

So @graphicguy last couple Cadillac's must be somewhere below the "bad" bar?

As they say, the “devil’s in the details”. That’s mainly where Cadillac fell down. They either couldn’t diagnose the problems correctly, or the they diagnosed it correctly and failed to do the correct “fix”, or couldn’t get the right parts, or.....or.....or.......!!!

Not sure what their thought process was, but I’m sure they spent more money to fight with me (and lose) than it would have cost them to take me up on my many offers to settle.

Not sure of their other brands. Seems people like Chevies. Mentioned at the auto show that I just don’t understand how Buick can’t sell their Regal or their sport back, as those were nice cars.

Then again, GM seems to be adept at shooting themselves in the foot. So, they’ve got that going for them.

graphicguy

@ab348 ....so sorry to hear of your loss. Condolences!

28firefighter

@ab348 so sorry for your loss.

berri

ab - I always had a soft spot for orange cats. Keep focused on the good memories.

berri

So when will the quality gains in cars happen for new homes. Builders seem to have a long way to go.

driver100

Very sorry to hear about Rusty ab, I know how painful losing a pet can be.
Rusty lived to a good age though, and he had an excellent life...that you made for him - can't ask for too much more.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

I know someone is going to complain about my long post above...but, it has lots of solid information that had to be posted to make sense...it didn't meander on and go blah, blah blah.......

There’s only one malcontent that doesn’t like your long posts although the rest of us may skim over them from time to time.

Skimming is permitted!

jmonroe1

@ab348, my condolences on the loss of Rusty. It sounds like the two of you enjoyed your life together. You will always have that memory.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

I know someone is going to complain about my long post above...but, it has lots of solid information that had to be posted to make sense...it didn't meander on and go blah, blah blah.......

There’s only one malcontent that doesn’t like your long posts although the rest of us may skim over them from time to time.

There ain't that many posters that can maintain the interest of readers with their looog posts but then they're not Canadians that have suffered the affects of an undeclared silent war.

jmonroe

abacomike

jmonroe1 said:

I know someone is going to complain about my long post above...but, it has lots of solid information that had to be posted to make sense...it didn't meander on and go blah, blah blah.......

There’s only one malcontent that doesn’t like your long posts although the rest of us may skim over them from time to time.

There ain't that many posters that can maintain the interest of readers with their looog posts but then they're not Canadians that have suffered the affects of an undeclared silent war. jmonroe

SKIM is the most important word in your post, farmer.  I’m getting better at “skimming”! 

Jmonroe has learned that skill as well!