Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

houdini1

laurasdada said:

IMHO, the heated steering wheel is Man's crowning achievement.

I like my heated steering wheel so much, I use it in the Summer.

houdini1

tjc78 said:

Puddle lights are certainly gimmicky as are many features today.

It’s just a profit center that adds to the bottom line.

tjc78 said:

Puddle lights are certainly gimmicky as are many features today.

It’s just a profit center that adds to the bottom line.

I remember telling my wife back in the early 70's that automatic garage door openers were just a gimmick
that would never catch on.

driver100

houdini1 said:

tjc78 said:

Puddle lights are certainly gimmicky as are many features today.

It’s just a profit center that adds to the bottom line.

tjc78 said:

Puddle lights are certainly gimmicky as are many features today.

It’s just a profit center that adds to the bottom line.

I remember telling my wife back in the early 70's that automatic garage door openers were just a gimmick
that would never catch on.

I said that about Jerrold Channel Changers

You have to be pretty lazy if you can't get up to change the channel once an hour!

tifighter

fintail said:

Yup. Things like Model T/A and ordinary 20s-50s cars are cheaper now than they were 30 years ago, not even adjusted for inflation. Younger people can't relate to such cars, and many of them are dicey on modern roads. Bargains for those who like such cars, anyway.

Young money likes cars, but 80s-90s cars are the new darlings, along with cars that have always been blue chips.

oldfarmer50 said:

“As demographics change” means “as all the old people die off”. I’ve noticed that watching Wayne Carini’s show. He takes a client’s car to the auction and it usually sells near the bottom valuation or doesn’t meet reserve. Tells me that the younger money generation isn’t interested.

I was reading something recently from Keith Martin at SCM saying that if one likes 50's Americana cars for example, it's sort of a double bonus right now. First, prices are down as you mention because of changing tastes for younger buyers and second, some of these cars were restored to a high standard that cost a metric ton of money. The seller will never recoup the costs, and the values keep getting softer by the month. Makes for an interesting market.

oldfarmer50

suydam said:

qbrozen said:

Little adventure here.

I just had to rescue a fawn from our pool. Mamma deer was in backyard and wouldn’t leave, kept pacing around our fence. A landscaper from next door came and rang bell. He spoke zero English, so it was like dealing with Lassie as he was motioning for me to go to backyard and then he was pointing to the water, but fawn had climbed out and was hiding behind patio box. Landscaper spotted and pointed. Of course, right then, the mamma runs away. I picked him up, he was soaking wet, but totally calm and just laid in my arms. In my bare feet, I went trekking through the woods, across the street, down the street, tracking this deer down. Finally caught up to her and reunited them. OMG. Sweatin my butt off.

I was very surprised how calm the baby was. I'm also surprised the mother was so elusive when I had her baby in my arms. I thought she'd come after me.

If you just set the fawn down in a protected spot Mama will come get it when the humans go away. She was running away from you — to protect herself so she could take care of baby later. She didn’t know you were trying to save her baby. That’s what it means to be a prey animal.

That’s right, eyes in front signals predator. Nice gesture though. One you may come to regret when junior starts munching your expensive shrubs.

fintail

It's interesting, thankfully I lack storage space or I'd probably get into it. I suppose a fintail is the MB equivalent of a late 50s American car. When I was a kid, my dad was into old cars, especially 50s and 60s Fords - we had 3 in the household fleet, and I acquired some of those tastes.

Park Place had a collection of relatively ordinary 50s and 60s sedans a few years ago, I suspect from an estate. Most were well-restored, and even at the optimistic asking prices of PP, were no doubt far less than what was spent on the cars. They had a 58 Edsel that was somehow really tempting to me, but I can't take on multiple hobby cars, one is enough. If there had been a correctly spec'd 60 Ford (my favorite of my dad's hobby cars when I was growing up), I would have maybe taken the plunge.

If one likes relatively ordinary cars really from Model Ts on to the early 60s, time just makes for more of a buyer's market, but would still need to be bought for love rather than any hope of appreciation.

tifighter said:

I was reading something recently from Keith Martin at SCM saying that if one likes 50's Americana cars for example, it's sort of a double bonus right now. First, prices are down as you mention because of changing tastes for younger buyers and second, some of these cars were restored to a high standard that cost a metric ton of money. The seller will never recoup the costs, and the values keep getting softer by the month. Makes for an interesting market.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Nothing really different in what you each described. Every generation gets nostalgic for and hence values things that were special but out of reach in their formative years, maybe up to their early 30s. In a few years early iPhones will probably become collectible, who knows.

For those of a certain age, this is really nice. These do not usually age well but this one seems to have been well cared for.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174290350432?ul_noapp=true

Nice. My father had a ‘68 and a ‘71 Fury. Big boats.

laurasdada

houdini1 said:

laurasdada said:

IMHO, the heated steering wheel is Man's crowning achievement.

I like my heated steering wheel so much, I use it in the Summer.

As do I, it just feels good on the hands. Unless, of course, my black leather steering wheel has been in the sun...
I also enjoy the hot tub in the summer.

fintail

I'd count on such devices becoming collectible, eventually. 80s boomboxes are collectible now, old video game systems are collectible, some old computers can be quite valuable.

ab348 said:

Nothing really different in what you each described. Every generation gets nostalgic for and hence values things that were special but out of reach in their formative years, maybe up to their early 30s. In a few years early iPhones will probably become collectible, who knows.

For those of a certain age, this is really nice. These do not usually age well but this one seems to have been well cared for.

oldfarmer50

tifighter said:

fintail said:

Yup. Things like Model T/A and ordinary 20s-50s cars are cheaper now than they were 30 years ago, not even adjusted for inflation. Younger people can't relate to such cars, and many of them are dicey on modern roads. Bargains for those who like such cars, anyway.

Young money likes cars, but 80s-90s cars are the new darlings, along with cars that have always been blue chips.

oldfarmer50 said:

“As demographics change” means “as all the old people die off”. I’ve noticed that watching Wayne Carini’s show. He takes a client’s car to the auction and it usually sells near the bottom valuation or doesn’t meet reserve. Tells me that the younger money generation isn’t interested.

I was reading something recently from Keith Martin at SCM saying that if one likes 50's Americana cars for example, it's sort of a double bonus right now. First, prices are down as you mention because of changing tastes for younger buyers and second, some of these cars were restored to a high standard that cost a metric ton of money. The seller will never recoup the costs, and the values keep getting softer by the month. Makes for an interesting market.

That’s what the car guy from American Pickers told me at an antique car auction. He said let someone else write the checks because they’ll never get back what they invested.

laurasdada

@explorerx4, @nyccarguy I"m thinking of a day trip to Gillette Castle State Park on Sunday. I know the castle is closed, have you heard of any other info (not that I expect you to have your ear to the ground of state parks!). I checked the site, it claims the park is open, just wondering if there's any local CT scuttlebutt. Wonder if my MA plates will rasise any eyebrows?

stickguy

so all the stuff my wife brought back from her childhood, and everything we have owned since the late 80s, was worth hoarding? Cool!

stickguy

I do someday want a "fun" or toy car, but it has to be something I can use relatively normally. Say, drive it to someplace a couple hours away and not have to take all back streets, and worry about it! something between the 1985 Celica I love, and the Z4 Ti just bought.

explorerx4

@laurasdada,
If you do go, too bad castle is closed, get there early as entry to the park is limited.
I don't think your Mass plates will matter, probably depend more on your behavior.
Here's a good bird's eye view of the park area.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Gillette+Castle+State+Park&qpvt=Gillette+Castle+State+Park&view=detail&mid=0BB8129B766BC65D341C0BB8129B766BC65D341C&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=/videos/search?q=Gillette+Castle+State+Park&qpvt=gillette+castle+state+park&FORM=VDRE

venture

Today my son said he traded in his Land Rover. I asked him if he had any trouble with it while he had it. He said he didn't, but he only had it for about two years.

I asked him what he bought and he said a bigger Land Rover.

venture

I found a problem with the new Legacy.

The old one had usb ports and phone jack inside a little covered area. There was a lid that raised and lowered.

The new one doesn't have the little cubby hole. The usb ports and phone jack are right there with their bare faces hanging out.

That in itself is not a problem. The problem arises when trying to remove my phone from the wireless charging thing, The usb drive that has my music on it is right above, and close, to the phone. Not nearly as bad when it's not in park.

qbrozen

venture said:

I found a problem with the new Legacy.

The old one had usb ports and phone jack inside a little covered area. There was a lid that raised and lowered.

The new one doesn't have the little cubby hole. The usb ports and phone jack are right there with their bare faces hanging out.

That in itself is not a problem. The problem arises when trying to remove my phone from the wireless charging thing, The usb drive that has my music on it is right above, and close, to the phone. Not nearly as bad when it's not in park.

what is the capacity on that drive? I have one of these. Wonderful that it is so tiny, but don't lose sight of it because you'll never find the darned thing!

venture

qbrozen said:

venture said:

I found a problem with the new Legacy.

The old one had usb ports and phone jack inside a little covered area. There was a lid that raised and lowered.

The new one doesn't have the little cubby hole. The usb ports and phone jack are right there with their bare faces hanging out.

That in itself is not a problem. The problem arises when trying to remove my phone from the wireless charging thing, The usb drive that has my music on it is right above, and close, to the phone. Not nearly as bad when it's not in park.

what is the capacity on that drive? I have one of these. Wonderful that it is so tiny, but don't lose sight of it because you'll never find the darned thing!

It's 32 GB.

28firefighter

Amazing how cheap flash storage is now.

abacomike

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

The biggest rip-off on un-needed, unwanted car add-ons is the back bumper logo decal. Not only do I dislike the look of them but they sometimes get scratched or damaged and they have the gall to charge an extra $100+ for them on certain makes. I know, pure profit.

A big waste of money buying an overpriced license frame holder at our AutoNation MB dealer. If I didn't buy it then I would have to install it myself and I would have to drive with a pink plastic frame until I could buy one somewhere. :@

I told my dealership manager that if he delivered my new car with a pink AutoNation license plate frame, I would put my Palm Beach chrome frame on (a competitor of AutoNation). He told me he would put on a chrome frame with the dealership name. I said great!

As much as I honor and respect AutoNation for their work with eradicating breast cancer, those pink frames are a bit ludicrous looking. 🤓

laurasdada

Thanks, Explorer. No crack o' dawn departure here! We'll take a chance that most folks will head to the shore... Worst comes to worst, drive by The Goodspeed, maybe take the ferry and tour around. It's been so many years since I"ve been to Gillette or Goodspeed. Miss my ol' home state every now and then.

stickguy

Joke of the day: Why are Koalas not considered bears?

stickguy

answer: Because they didn't meet the Koalafications.

sda

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

The biggest rip-off on un-needed, unwanted car add-ons is the back bumper logo decal. Not only do I dislike the look of them but they sometimes get scratched or damaged and they have the gall to charge an extra $100+ for them on certain makes. I know, pure profit.

A big waste of money buying an overpriced license frame holder at our AutoNation MB dealer. If I didn't buy it then I would have to install it myself and I would have to drive with a pink plastic frame until I could buy one somewhere. :@

I told my dealership manager that if he delivered my new car with a pink AutoNation license plate frame, I would put my Palm Beach chrome frame on (a competitor of AutoNation). He told me he would put on a chrome frame with the dealership name. I said great!

As much as I honor and respect AutoNation for their work with eradicating breast cancer, those pink frames are a bit ludicrous looking. 🤓

Maybe because of your previous management role at a dealership (IIRC Infiniti) you keep the dealership tag on. That is the first thing I remove, including any decals or badges. A little WD-40, dental floss, and a soft cloth work wonders.

28firefighter

Given the deals I end up getting, I don’t mind advertising a dealer if they treated me well.

stickguy

they don't bother me. If I take the frame off, I have to go get one of my own, and that sounds like work and money! as long as it is not rude and obnoxious, does not bother me. And I honestly don't know if the RDX has a dealer sticker on it (I'll look later!)

the TLX does have a dealer sticker, but it is raised letters that looks like the Acura and TLX chromes, but it says "Princeton". so I leave it one, because it makes me look snobby!

sda

Car dealer commercials stating they are sanitizing cars to keep folks safe from Covid 19 often show them spraying the interior, door handles, etc. with some type of liquid. I wonder what that will do to delicate electronics and finishes. I understand the importance of staying safe...

tifighter

It's funny, the first thing I do when I get a car is take the dealer plate frame off. I can't stand them.

qbrozen

Same here.
Only one I left on way my Stelvio because it was chrome and engraved with the Alfa logo. It is hanging on my garage wall now.

roadburner

tifighter said:

It's funny, the first thing I do when I get a car is take the dealer plate frame off. I can't stand them.

I have a plain black aluminum frame on the 2er, the Ti has a BMW Classic frame. the X1 has a BMW CCA frame, and the Clubman has a Union Jack frame.

stickguy

I just checked both cars. front is plain holder, no frame. The rear on both cars is the black plastic dealer frame. And the TLX has the chrome dealer name, while the RDX has no sticker of any kind. works for me.

explorerx4

I leave the dealer frame/sticker/hitch plug so the sales/service department know I bought it there.

stickguy

I take the TLX for service to the dealer where I bought the RDX. They don't care it wasn't bought there. The old RDX always went to a different dealer from where it was bought too. same treatment.

tjc78

No frames. I also take off any dealer decals as well.

For whatever reason I never did the Enclave. The Volvo’s was gone the day I bought it because it was hideous.

cdnpinhead

28firefighter said:

Given the deals I end up getting, I don’t mind advertising a dealer if they treated me well.

I agree. Our Forester still has the Short Line Subaru tag in the front license plate frame, since AZ only has a rear plate. I think there's a decal on the rear as well, and given how well I was treated up there, it's all good.

stickguy

I don't like the plate loose on the back, so it would need a replacement frame anyway. I just never felt like buying another one and putting it on.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

The biggest rip-off on un-needed, unwanted car add-ons is the back bumper logo decal. Not only do I dislike the look of them but they sometimes get scratched or damaged and they have the gall to charge an extra $100+ for them on certain makes. I know, pure profit.

A big waste of money buying an overpriced license frame holder at our AutoNation MB dealer. If I didn't buy it then I would have to install it myself and I would have to drive with a pink plastic frame until I could buy one somewhere. :@

I told my dealership manager that if he delivered my new car with a pink AutoNation license plate frame, I would put my Palm Beach chrome frame on (a competitor of AutoNation). He told me he would put on a chrome frame with the dealership name. I said great!

As much as I honor and respect AutoNation for their work with eradicating breast cancer, those pink frames are a bit ludicrous looking. 🤓

Pink is not a good color for most cars. Today I saw a BMW 3 in this color

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

they don't bother me. If I take the frame off, I have to go get one of my own, and that sounds like work and money! as long as it is not rude and obnoxious, does not bother me. And I honestly don't know if the RDX has a dealer sticker on it (I'll look later!)

the TLX does have a dealer sticker, but it is raised letters that looks like the Acura and TLX chromes, but it says "Princeton". so I leave it one, because it makes me look snobby!

I don’t object to the advertisement frame. I can always remove it. I do draw the line at those permanent dealer stickers glued to the trunk. I guess that’s better than the old days when they would drill holes in the trunk.

driver100

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

The biggest rip-off on un-needed, unwanted car add-ons is the back bumper logo decal. Not only do I dislike the look of them but they sometimes get scratched or damaged and they have the gall to charge an extra $100+ for them on certain makes. I know, pure profit.

A big waste of money buying an overpriced license frame holder at our AutoNation MB dealer. If I didn't buy it then I would have to install it myself and I would have to drive with a pink plastic frame until I could buy one somewhere. :@

I told my dealership manager that if he delivered my new car with a pink AutoNation license plate frame, I would put my Palm Beach chrome frame on (a competitor of AutoNation). He told me he would put on a chrome frame with the dealership name. I said great!

As much as I honor and respect AutoNation for their work with eradicating breast cancer, those pink frames are a bit ludicrous looking. 🤓

I agree....I would rather them add the donation on when I buy the car. It is a silly way to raise money, some people will drive right over to a car parts store and pick up a new frame.
We waited a long time for the finance guy to do our paperwork...really sign on a computer...about 30 pages. Our salesman offered to buy our frame since we waited so long.......but, he was a nice guy who really worked on getting us the car.......didn't want him to have to pay the ridiculous price they wanted for the overpriced frame.

fintail

I'm glad the dealer decals/badges aren't universal here, seems to be really big on the east coast. I'd definitely remove those, and maybe the frames too. I removed the dealer frames on my latest car, as the only style they had was pink - good cause, but I don't like pink. I think I left them on the prior leases, as the set of frames from the prior car were AMG, and those cars were not, and I was also treated well enough that I didn't object. Maybe should seek a set of Barrier (the prior name of the local MB dealer) frames for laughs.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

carnaught said:

The biggest rip-off on un-needed, unwanted car add-ons is the back bumper logo decal. Not only do I dislike the look of them but they sometimes get scratched or damaged and they have the gall to charge an extra $100+ for them on certain makes. I know, pure profit.

A big waste of money buying an overpriced license frame holder at our AutoNation MB dealer. If I didn't buy it then I would have to install it myself and I would have to drive with a pink plastic frame until I could buy one somewhere. :@

I told my dealership manager that if he delivered my new car with a pink AutoNation license plate frame, I would put my Palm Beach chrome frame on (a competitor of AutoNation). He told me he would put on a chrome frame with the dealership name. I said great!

As much as I honor and respect AutoNation for their work with eradicating breast cancer, those pink frames are a bit ludicrous looking. 🤓

Pink is not a good color for most cars. Today I saw a BMW 3 in this color

AutoNation license frame would be perfect!

Michaell

Just got a news notification that Hertz filed for BK

stickguy

gonna be more of that coming. doesn't mean they are going away of course. But consolidation is certainly likely.

fintail

I have PC status and around 5K Hertz points left, wonder if I'll ever do anything with that again.

ab348

When I took delivery of the ATS it had the dealer name decal on it directly above the ATS badge on the trunk lid. It was actually 7 individual decal letters spelling out the dealer name. They did not make it overnight once I got home. Fortunately they were easy (if a bit tedious) to remove.

venture

ab348 said:

When I took delivery of the ATS it had the dealer name decal on it directly above the ATS badge on the trunk lid. It was actually 7 individual decal letters spelling out the dealer name. They did not make it overnight once I got home. Fortunately they were easy (if a bit tedious) to remove.

If I buy a car that has those decals on I have the dealer remove them. That way if the paint gets screwed up, it's not on me. I've never had a problem.

houdini1

We finally got our stimulus check yesterday. About 7:PM a neighbor boy about 10 years old rang our door bell and handed it to us. Left in their mailbox by mistake, about 3 houses down. The address on the envelope was correct, envelope had a transparent window showing it obviously contained a check, addresses on homes and mailboxes plainly marked, etc. I guess we were lucky that it was left with someone who knew us. Good old Post Office.

imidazol97

houdini1 said:

We finally got our stimulus check yesterday. About 7:PM a neighbor boy about 10 years old rang our door bell and handed it to us. Left in their mailbox by mistake, about 3 houses down. The address on the envelope was correct, envelope had a transparent window showing it obviously contained a check, addresses on homes and mailboxes plainly marked, etc. I guess we were lucky that it was left with someone who knew us. Good old Post Office.

And the post office retirement fund for those folks who mix up the mail wants us to bail it out again. I have had a PO Box for decades to avoid some of the misdelivery problems. And disappearing mail in the old days.

But even the office puts things in the wrong PO Box. My replacement Shell credit cards didn't come. Got replacements. 3 weeks later or so, the originals showed up in my PO box marked that they were put in someone else's PO box.

I wonder where my stimulus check is? Hmmmm. Is there a way to see if it's been cashed by somebody?

graphicguy

You know, after all the years I’ve been receiving mail, never, ever have I had a piece go missing as a result of the post office or postal carrier leave some of my mail at the wrong address (to my knowledge). The Post Office has gotten a bad wrap recently. There has never been a government agency, that I happen to use ever day, that has been more rock solid reliable as the Post Office.

I don’t see too many dealers putting decals on cars much any more...maybe CarMax or some BHPH lots. But, nothing from other more mainstream dealers. I do see the license frames with dealers’ names, but that’s about it. That doesn’t bother me. If I knew the dealership was kicking in some $$$ to Breast Cancer charities, I wouldn’t even mind having a pink license frame, at least for a little while.

Hertz BR.....that’s been coming for years. I have elite status with Hertz, too. Don’t rent much from them anymore. But, for many years, I was renting a car from them 40+ times/year. They always offered me outstanding service and would usually kick me up several notches to their super premium vehicles at no charge. That’s the way I got to drive Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac Escalades (which really wasn’t that great), Volvos, Infinitis, etc. But, UBER, LYFT, etc really ate into their business. They’ll have to find new business model as I don’t see the rental car industry coming back....UNLESS...they offer nothing but unique cars...like e-vehicles, exclusively.

driver100

If a dealer wants to advertise on your car they should at least give you a nice license frame;

...of course, it helps if you can read the dealers name.

Then again, sometimes it can backfire;