Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

omarman said:

jmonroe said:

omarman said:

or this...

Watch it. I don't think either one of those guys looks like Dean Martin. :@

jmonroe

Fixed it!

lol....cute, but saying I am the Jerry Lewis guy!!!!! :@

omarman

driver100 said:

omarman said:

jmonroe said:

omarman said:

or this...

Watch it. I don't think either one of those guys looks like Dean Martin. :@

jmonroe

Fixed it!

lol....cute, but saying I am the Jerry Lewis guy!!!!! :@

Fixed it ...again

imidazol97

driver100 said:

I actually saw a white KIA Stinger, just like GGs this morning. It is the second one I saw, the first one was black and it was about 4 months ago. I get the impression, they aren't selling really fast. It sure does look nice on the road. The one I saw today was being driven very conservatively by a middle age lady....whatever that might mean.

I saw a white one a few weeks back. It was going very slowly. It was in the order line at Chick Fil A with one of the efficient order takers talking to the driver, a young military man.

The Stingers look so much like other Kia Optimas that I often just think they're another model year of the Optima. I realized that after they had come out when I saw one in the parking area at the post office. I got to take a second look and realized what it really was.

jmonroe

omarman said:

driver100 said:

omarman said:

jmonroe said:

omarman said:

or this...

Watch it. I don't think either one of those guys looks like Dean Martin. :@

jmonroe

Fixed it!

lol....cute, but saying I am the Jerry Lewis guy!!!!! :@

Fixed it ...again

He should look so good. Don't you remember when we saw him with shorter hair and that infamous horizontally striped shirt. That pic damn near broke my monitor. :@

jmonroe

driver100

Yours was

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

I actually saw a white KIA Stinger, just like GGs this morning. It is the second one I saw, the first one was black and it was about 4 months ago. I get the impression, they aren't selling really fast. It sure does look nice on the road. The one I saw today was being driven very conservatively by a middle age lady....whatever that might mean.

I saw a white one a few weeks back. It was going very slowly. It was in the order line at Chick Fil A with one of the efficient order takers talking to the driver, a young military man.

.

The one I saw was turning into Walmart. You would think Stinger owners would have a more exciting life than Chil Fil A or Walmart.

driver100

omarman said:

driver100 said:

omarman said:

jmonroe said:

omarman said:

or this...

Watch it. I don't think either one of those guys looks like Dean Martin. :@

jmonroe

Fixed it!

lol....cute, but saying I am the Jerry Lewis guy!!!!! :@

Fixed it ...again

I think I was better off as Jerry Lewis
They have to find a way to pay you more....or did JMonroe pay you off for that one?

fintail

I've had the same observation Stinger, they really look like a previous gen Optima. I initially thought that was a negative, but it might be somewhat intentional, more of the "sleeper" school of thought.

imidazol97 said:

The Stingers look so much like other Kia Optimas that I often just think they're another model year of the Optima. I realized that after they had come out when I saw one in the parking area at the post office. I got to take a second look and realized what it really was.

fintail

You just know within 10 minutes of taking it out on the road, some dingbat in a RAV4 will run a red light while texting and eating at the same time, and that'll be that. Of course with that car, it would be rebuilt no matter what.

Reminds me of this Gullwing that had an ouchie while being "tested" by the garage restoring it:



No doubt already rebuilt.

oldfarmer50 said:

It’s kind of a shame that cars like that get put away and never driven. Then again, how could you take that kind of investment out on the road?

sda

The TL got a much needed wash by yours truly. My training program to have my daughter take care of the car gets a D. She will at least vacuum it, under duress. The headlamps were starting to haze so a little scratch remover polish and effort and they look better. I have a restoration kit that I will apply later.

sda

And speaking of floor mats, the only real wear that is showing in the Accord at 95k is the driver's mat and a little wear on the brake pedal pad. The other mats look new. I was able to buy like new OEM mats on Ebay for $50. I will put those in after I have the car serviced in the coming weeks. In the meantime it has been washed and vacuumed since taking this picture.

omarman

driver100 said:

omarman said:

driver100 said:

omarman said:

jmonroe said:

omarman said:

or this...

Watch it. I don't think either one of those guys looks like Dean Martin. :@

jmonroe

Fixed it!

lol....cute, but saying I am the Jerry Lewis guy!!!!! :@

Fixed it ...again

I think I was better off as Jerry Lewis
They have to find a way to pay you more....or did JMonroe pay you off for that one?

You have to admit that Uma Thurman looked so good that it overwhelmed the "Martin and Lewis" reference. Maybe the moderator can delete that one please.

ab348

omarman said:

You have to admit that Uma Thurman looked so good that it overwhelmed the "Martin and Lewis" reference. Maybe the moderator can delete that one please.

Just one?

omarman

fintail said:

You just know within 10 minutes of taking it out on the road, some dingbat in a RAV4 will run a red light while texting and eating at the same time, and that'll be that. Of course with that car, it would be rebuilt no matter what.

Reminds me of this Gullwing that had an ouchie while being "tested" by the garage restoring it:



No doubt already rebuilt.

oldfarmer50 said:

It’s kind of a shame that cars like that get put away and never driven. Then again, how could you take that kind of investment out on the road?

That Gullwing pic reminded me of a recent story "Rusty Mercedes sells for $800,000." Seller seemed familiar too.

Alex Manos, owner of the Beverly Hills Car Club says that the 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster cost $5,000 to $8,000 brand new back in the day, but he just sold the car for $800,000. “People like Hugh Hefner had one,” Manos said.

omarman

ab348 said:

omarman said:

You have to admit that Uma Thurman looked so good that it overwhelmed the "Martin and Lewis" reference. Maybe the moderator can delete that one please.

Just one?

Yes. Well and this one too.

jmonroe

omarman said:

fintail said:

You just know within 10 minutes of taking it out on the road, some dingbat in a RAV4 will run a red light while texting and eating at the same time, and that'll be that. Of course with that car, it would be rebuilt no matter what.

Reminds me of this Gullwing that had an ouchie while being "tested" by the garage restoring it:



No doubt already rebuilt.

oldfarmer50 said:

It’s kind of a shame that cars like that get put away and never driven. Then again, how could you take that kind of investment out on the road?

That Gullwing pic reminded me of a recent story "Rusty Mercedes sells for $800,000." Seller seemed familiar too.

Alex Manos, owner of the Beverly Hills Car Club says that the 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster cost $5,000 to $8,000 brand new back in the day, but he just sold the car for $800,000. “People like Hugh Hefner had one,” Manos said.

Ah man...that price for that rusty Benz is gonna drive @oldfarmer50 up a wall.

jmonroe

fintail

Ah BHCC, who I think sources much inventory from the bottoms of lakes. Fun to browse, with a cringe here and there.

800K for that roadster. Nice ones can pass into 7 figures, but I suspect it'll take 500K to get there, maybe even more. However, could be fun for the rich guy with a sense of humor. Put maybe 150K into a full structural/mechanical rebuild, and drive the rest as-is offend the snooty concours people.

omarman said:

That Gullwing pic reminded me of a recent story "Rusty Mercedes sells for $800,000." Seller seemed familiar too.

Alex Manos, owner of the Beverly Hills Car Club says that the 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster cost $5,000 to $8,000 brand new back in the day, but he just sold the car for $800,000. “People like Hugh Hefner had one,” Manos said.

driver100

sda said:

And speaking of floor mats, the only real wear that is showing in the Accord at 95k is the driver's mat and a little wear on the brake pedal pad. The other mats look new. I was able to buy like new OEM mats on Ebay for $50. I will put those in after I have the car serviced in the coming weeks. In the meantime it has been washed and vacuumed since taking this picture.

It is very rewarding keeping an older car in top shape. Since there aren't many of them left it actually stands out from the crowd, and it looks better than a lot of the newer models.

Good idea getting mats on E-Bay....one day I will look into that too.

explorerx4

oldfarmer50 doesn't have to pay that much for his rust, so he is probably happy.

driver100

fintail said:

No doubt already rebuilt.

oldfarmer50 said:

They must have made those Mercedes hubcaps out of kryptonite.....nothing destroys them!

nyccarguy

driver100 said:

fintail said:

No doubt already rebuilt.

oldfarmer50 said:

They must have made those Mercedes hubcaps out of kryptonite.....nothing destroys them!

Vibranuim

snakeweasel

With all this talk about hot water heaters I need to ask why do you find it necessary to heat hot water?

snakeweasel

jmonroe said:

omarman said:

fintail said:

You just know within 10 minutes of taking it out on the road, some dingbat in a RAV4 will run a red light while texting and eating at the same time, and that'll be that. Of course with that car, it would be rebuilt no matter what.

Reminds me of this Gullwing that had an ouchie while being "tested" by the garage restoring it:



No doubt already rebuilt.

oldfarmer50 said:

It’s kind of a shame that cars like that get put away and never driven. Then again, how could you take that kind of investment out on the road?

That Gullwing pic reminded me of a recent story "Rusty Mercedes sells for $800,000." Seller seemed familiar too.

Alex Manos, owner of the Beverly Hills Car Club says that the 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster cost $5,000 to $8,000 brand new back in the day, but he just sold the car for $800,000. “People like Hugh Hefner had one,” Manos said.

Ah man...that price for that rusty Benz is gonna drive @oldfarmer50 up a wall.

jmonroe

Why do I see this being the sales pitch;

snakeweasel

ok I'm a bit upset with you guys. A couple of weeks ago a topic popped up on when to change brakes. Wouldn't you know that that same day the Sebrings brakes started making noise. :@

Well since we were going to Floriday a few days after we decided to put off any decision on the car until we got back. Well we decided to get the brakes fixed, front and back, and after dropping more money than I really wanted to we got the brakes done this weekend.

stickguy

sorry to jinx you!

driver100

stickguy said:

sorry to jinx you!

So what was actually wrong and what ended up costing you more than you thought? And, why are you blaming us?

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

sorry to jinx you!

So what was actually wrong and what ended up costing you more than you thought? And, why are you blaming us?

Needed new pads front and back and new rotors on the front.

I'm blaming you guys because it started grinding the same day the topic of when to change your brakes appeared here. From your mouths to Gods ear.

That being said if it wasn't 30 degrees in my garage I would have done it myself.

driver100

Remember how I say a car goes into a house, restaurant or store every day down here. This one happened yesterday:

driver100

I'd like to hear that phone conversation when the 56 year old lady calls her insurance company.

stickguy

is that a window sticker in the back window, or just a sun screen? Wondering if it is a used car out for a test drive!

jmonroe

stickguy said:

sorry to jinx you!

I'm not. I remember saying change your brakes before they make noise and don't try to eek out the last millimeter of pad material. Do people in here think I throw out these tid-bits of info just to jack up my post count? I've said this before, "if I tell you a cow is going to lay an egg, go fetch a skillet...a BIG one".
:@

jmonroe

jmonroe

driver100 said:

Remember how I say a car goes into a house, restaurant or store every day down here. This one happened yesterday:

Kinda strange, dipping your car to rustproof it in Florida of all places.

jmonroe

venture

I gave the CrossTrek to my daughter. We went to a place that does that kind of stuff, not the DMV. They charged me $146 to transfer the title. Their fee was $71.50. That seems like a lot doesn't it; especially since it took them about 10 miuntes?

28firefighter

venture said:

I gave the CrossTrek to my daughter. We went to a place that does that kind of stuff, not the DMV. They charged me $146 to transfer the title. Their fee was $71.50. That seems like a lot doesn't it; especially since it took them about 10 miuntes?

The premium for convenience.

driver100

I'd like to hear that phone conversation when the 56 year old lady calls her insurance company.

stickguy said:

is that a window sticker in the back window, or just a sun screen? Wondering if it is a used car out for a test drive!

It sounds like it is her own car....no mention of it being on a test drive. Mentioned she "lost control", that is a phrase used a lot around here to explain these events.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

sorry to jinx you!

So what was actually wrong and what ended up costing you more than you thought? And, why are you blaming us?

Needed new pads front and back and new rotors on the front.

I'm blaming you guys because it started grinding the same day the topic of when to change your brakes appeared here. From your mouths to Gods ear.

You should be thanking us, we probably saved your life.

venture

28firefighter said:

venture said:

I gave the CrossTrek to my daughter. We went to a place that does that kind of stuff, not the DMV. They charged me $146 to transfer the title. Their fee was $71.50. That seems like a lot doesn't it; especially since it took them about 10 miuntes?

The premium for convenience.

They should have come to my house.

omarman

driver100 said:

I'd like to hear that phone conversation when the 56 year old lady calls her insurance company.

Old Lady: "It wasn't my fault! The road was wet, the patio was wet and the pool was wet!"
Insurance Company: "Water is wet."

driver100

omarman said:

driver100 said:

I'd like to hear that phone conversation when the 56 year old lady calls her insurance company.

Old Lady: "It wasn't my fault! The road was wet, the patio was wet and the pool was wet!"
Insurance Company: "Water is wet."

I have heard them give those excuses on Hot Bench, The young girl came around the corner, didn't know the snow was slippery, skidded and took out $1000 worth of shrubs and trees. Her defense, it wasn't my fault the roads were slippery! Who does she think should pay to replace the plants....the home owners?

Great job of matching videos to posts btw.

bwia

snakeweasel said:

With all this talk about hot water heaters I need to ask why do you find it necessary to heat hot water?

I don't. I use a solar hot water system. It does not even need sunlight to make hot water. It works on cloudy days and rainy days. Now, that's modern technology.

ab348

driver100 said:

I have heard them give those excuses on Hot Bench, The young girl came around the corner, didn't know the snow was slippery, skidded and took out $1000 worth of shrubs and trees. Her defense, it wasn't my fault the roads were slippery! Who does she think should pay to replace the plants....the home owners?

Great job of matching videos to posts btw.

This happened yesterday just around the corner from me:



Even on a sunny dry day there is absolutely no speed possible in that spot so I'm baffled by how the young lady behind the wheel managed to accomplish this. "But I have AWD so I should be able to drive in the snow with no problem, right?"

stickguy

Looks like that might need an alignment.

28firefighter

You know, if you just rotate the picture 90 degrees it looks totally fine...

jmonroe

driver100 said:

omarman said:

driver100 said:

I'd like to hear that phone conversation when the 56 year old lady calls her insurance company.

Old Lady: "It wasn't my fault! The road was wet, the patio was wet and the pool was wet!"
Insurance Company: "Water is wet."

I have heard them give those excuses on Hot Bench, The young girl came around the corner, didn't know the snow was slippery, skidded and took out $1000 worth of shrubs and trees. Her defense, it wasn't my fault the roads were slippery! Who does she think should pay to replace the plants....the home owners?

Great job of matching videos to posts btw.

I dont watch those "judge" shows but I have seen a few minutes of them on occasion. I think I've heard that the participants agree to the judgements levied but I wonder how much they are paid to go on TV and show the world how dumb they are. I can't believe that even dumb people would do that for nothing and the same goes for Dr. Phil, etc.

jmonroe

stickguy

The show covers the judgement so no one actually wins or loses. Not sure but I assume they get paid something for appearing (like guests on a talk show).

28firefighter

Funny story, a friend of mine went as far as filing a DV claim against an opposing party's insurance in municipal court for an accident where his wife was rear-ended because they weren't willing to negotiate. After much hemming and hawing the insurance company settled, but not before a producer for a TV Judge show reached out asking if they'd be interested in being on the show.

jmonroe

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

I have heard them give those excuses on Hot Bench, The young girl came around the corner, didn't know the snow was slippery, skidded and took out $1000 worth of shrubs and trees. Her defense, it wasn't my fault the roads were slippery! Who does she think should pay to replace the plants....the home owners?

Great job of matching videos to posts btw.

This happened yesterday just around the corner from me:



Even on a sunny dry day there is absolutely no speed possible in that spot so I'm baffled by how the young lady behind the wheel managed to accomplish this. "But I have AWD so I should be able to drive in the snow with no problem, right?"

If it weren't for that tree it looks like that car could have landed in someones living room or bath tub.

jmonroe

graphicguy

For the curious.....

Spent the weekend getting to know the Stinger. I know the new car love affair is at its height right now. But, there's some serious engineering in the Stinger. First, it's really fast! I can certainly believe 0-60 MPH in the mid 4 second range (haven't tried to use launch control yet). And, it's easy to drive fast. It's got a really nice balance between ride comfort and handling. Steering is communicative and quick to respond. You can always tell what the car is doing through the steering wheel. Brembos haul it down "right now". Very confidence inspiring. Materials are mostly quite good. Some hard plastics down low in the areas you really can't see.

Kia's AWD Torque Vectoring works very well. You can tell that it's RWD biased, too.

Seats are really nice, and extremely adjustable. Like the adjustable thigh extensions. Leather is soft and supple. I can see taking a road trip and the seats being a nice place to spend time driving.

Transmission is quite good, even though it's a regular 8-speed with a torque converter and not a dual clutch. Seems to be always in the right gear and is ready to drop to lower gears smoothly with no drama. Best thing I can say is I don't notice it all that much (high compliment). Good job Kia/Hyundai/Genesis. Transmission in my TLX isn't as good (although it's not as bad as some have said, either).

I had read that the paint on Kias (and particularly on the Stingers) weren't that good. On my white pearl color at least, it's lustrous with no real blemishes. Time will tell, however.

It's put together really well and feels "all of a piece" as far as build quality. Structure is extremely stiff.

Stereo is very good (Harman-Kardon). Not as good as my TLX's ELS system. But, it's as good (if not better) as anything I heard on my many recent test drives (JBL in Toyota, Dyanaudio in Volvo, not sure what the Honda Accord had, but I think it's made by Clarion...it wasn't the Acura's ELS system).

There is some weirdness. And, not sure if this is operating as designed. But, mine has remote start. It's a separate FOB (which is weird to begin with...why not include that function in the main FOB?). You press the button on the auxiliary FOB twice...once to make sure the car is locked and the 2nd time to remotely start the car. No issues there. Crazy, but once you unlock the door and open it to get into your running car, the engine turns off. Huh? Why start it remotely, and then have it stop once you get to the car to get in to drive? Might be a setting somewhere that I don't know about.

The owner's manual is thick with lots of info. Trying to find instructions on certain functions is like pulling hens teeth. Go to the glossary and, for example, look at how to remotely open the trunk. Look for a subheading for "trunk", or "hatch"? Nowhere to be found. Same for remote starting. Good luck finding that function's instructions in the glossary. Had to go to GOOGLE for both. These were things my sales girl should have told me, too. Maybe being too harsh on her since I'm used to my Acura Sales Person being more thorough. Perhaps the difference between Kia sales and Acura sales.

Controls are nicely arranged and made of aluminum (nice touch). The controls, buttons and even the vents feel substantial and of high quality. While my TLX will turn on the seat warmers (or coolers) automatically when you start the car and heated seats are called for, it's a manual function on the Stinger (am I spoiled or what?). I have to hit the buttons to heat or cool the seats. That said, I have a heated steering wheel on the Stinger. Oh my.....that's a very nice feature.

HEADS-UP Display....great feature....except when you wear polarized sunglasses (which I probably do 50% of the time while driving in the day light). The heads up display disappears.

Voice control....not figured this out yet. Paired my iPhone, but I'll be darned if I can find out why my voice will not allow me to place a call after I hit the "phone" or "voice" button on the steering wheel.

The Acura's dual screen layout for NAV and Audio has caught a lot of grief. But, either I got used to it, or I understand Acura's thinking better. But, I like being able to see what's playing on my audio system and see my map at the same time. This might be a moot point because the most recent updates to iOS allows you to do this via Apple Car Play.

I'm sure as I become more familiar with the car, these things won't be issues. The general feeling is, very nice...fast, incredibly capable car that's comfortable and roomy. It does all the things we want a car to do. It has quite nice materials and build throughout.

It's very easy to see the influence of Audi and BMW in the car (those are all good things). It operates in much the same manner. Drivetrain feels an awful lot like the Audi S4. Suspension feels an awful lot like a BMW 4 series (in some ways, better). Materials and build feel a lot like the Mercedes C Class.

As this goes, time will tell if Kia really competes in this class.

venture

There is some weirdness. And, not sure if this is operating as designed. But, mine has remote start. It's a separate FOB (which is weird to begin with...why not include that function in the main FOB?). You press the button on the auxiliary FOB twice...once to make sure the car is locked and the 2nd time to remotely start the car. No issues there. Crazy, but once you unlock the door and open it to get into your running car, the engine turns off. Huh? Why start it remotely, and then have it stop once you get to the car to get in to drive? Might be a setting somewhere that I don't know about.

That's exactly how my Legacy remote start works. Really dumb. I asked the dealer and they said it is, "as designed. It's a safety feature".

So dumb that the Ascent we just got does not shut off. You just step on the brake pedal and push the start button - like it should be. The Ascent you remote start from your phone along with locating the car, flashing the lights and beeping the horn, and I forget what else. I guess these are features Driver and OF won't be able to use.

stickguy

One thing I can guarantee I personally would never, ever use, is remote start.

imidazol97

graphicguy said:

For the curious.....
As this goes, time will tell if Kia really competes in this class.

Thanks for the realistic evaluation of your "first drive" of the new speedster!
It's nice to read the pros and cons. Your review paints a great word picture of a fast, capable vehicle.

The owner manual not having things indexed or mentioned in the place that would
be reasonable is true in my Malibu's 2.5 inches of manuals. Thank goodness for
yahoo and google searches.

The heated seats turning on and AC turning on based on ambient temps when
doing a remote start is expected. Odd that car doesn't. Is there a Genius at the
Kia store to answer questions about whether or not the settings can be changed?