Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

henryn

roadburner said:

My 2er has a CD player and you can copy a CD to the 20 gig internal hard drive.

That seems to be a common feature on the Chrysler UConnect systems. I actually tried that once, in the 2016 Town and Country. Major PITA, really. Much easier / simpler / cleaner to rip the CDs on your computer, prepare a flash drive (USB or microSD) complete with playlists.

This fairly inexpensive head unit ($139) that I installed in the Ford work truck has a nice feature, a microSD slot on the face. This is preferable to me as the microSD card is hidden after you insert it (unlike a USB drive), but with a simple cheap adapter you can treat it just like a USB flash drive on your computer.

I had some problems with playlists originally, until I figured out the secret to success. Just remember that the computer in your car stereo is a RTOS (Real Time Operating System), most likely QNX, and is based on a Unix kernel. So prep the playlist as though it were going to be read by a Unix based operating system.

There was an exception for early Ford Sync systems, which were based on a Microsoft operating system and were really terrible.

henryn

sda said:

oldfarmer50 said:

henryn said:

I have the new (to me) aluminum wheels on the 2013 F150 XL. It wound up costing more than I expected, but what doesn’t these days?

I bought the 17 inch aluminum wheels from a gentleman on Craigslist for $250, which was a very fair price. He threw in the original lug nuts, but unfortunately I was not able to use them. Ford changed from a coarse thread to a fine thread on the lug nuts / studs in 2015. A new set of Gorilla lug nuts cost me $85 off Ebay ($100 on Amazon). And I did buy new TPMS sensors, about $39 on Amazon. There were a number of different sellers, and different brands, on Amazon and Ebay. I went with the best reviews for a reasonable price, and they do work. Then $120 to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. That was a little more than I expected, but I’m not complaining. Not many places of business will welcome you when you walk in with your own parts, and Discount Tire never blinked an eye.

The used tire shop just down the street would have probably done the job for half that, but I feel better with Discount Tire. I knew the tires would be balanced properly, and they wouldn’t scuff up the new rims. I could have purchased very similar looking lug nuts for less than half the price, but from what I’ve read online the chrome will not last on the cheap lug nuts, and the Gorilla brand is highly rated.

These lug nuts are not an exact match, they are really intended for the chrome clad Ford wheels. They fit the seats on the wheels perfectly, but they stick out a little too far. No one seems to make a lug nut for these aluminum wheels in the older coarse thread, so this is as close as I could get.

Altogether, I’m pleased, and feel that it’s worth the $494.

Man, that truck is everything I’d ever want. Functional, low mileage, rust free and purchased at a bargain price to boot. It even looks nice.

@henryn how much will it take for @oldfarmer50 to drive it away today?

LOL. I do appreciate all of the compliments on my truck and it's new wheels, but I'm going to sit still for a while. When the local dealers have 150 to 200 new trucks sitting on their lots, and the discounts and factory incentives are back to $10k or greater, then I will be ready to get another new truck.

mjfloyd1

@venture said:
It was fresh the day the picture was taken. It was 7 layers of chocolate with peanut butter icing between the layers.

If I knew you liked mold I would have saved you a piece.

A slice of that is prolly 25 units of insulin (or alternatively diabetic keto acidosis)

jmonroe1

sda said:

oldfarmer50 said:

henryn said:

I have the new (to me) aluminum wheels on the 2013 F150 XL. It wound up costing more than I expected, but what doesn’t these days?

I bought the 17 inch aluminum wheels from a gentleman on Craigslist for $250, which was a very fair price. He threw in the original lug nuts, but unfortunately I was not able to use them. Ford changed from a coarse thread to a fine thread on the lug nuts / studs in 2015. A new set of Gorilla lug nuts cost me $85 off Ebay ($100 on Amazon). And I did buy new TPMS sensors, about $39 on Amazon. There were a number of different sellers, and different brands, on Amazon and Ebay. I went with the best reviews for a reasonable price, and they do work. Then $120 to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. That was a little more than I expected, but I’m not complaining. Not many places of business will welcome you when you walk in with your own parts, and Discount Tire never blinked an eye.

The used tire shop just down the street would have probably done the job for half that, but I feel better with Discount Tire. I knew the tires would be balanced properly, and they wouldn’t scuff up the new rims. I could have purchased very similar looking lug nuts for less than half the price, but from what I’ve read online the chrome will not last on the cheap lug nuts, and the Gorilla brand is highly rated.

These lug nuts are not an exact match, they are really intended for the chrome clad Ford wheels. They fit the seats on the wheels perfectly, but they stick out a little too far. No one seems to make a lug nut for these aluminum wheels in the older coarse thread, so this is as close as I could get.

Altogether, I’m pleased, and feel that it’s worth the $494.

Man, that truck is everything I’d ever want. Functional, low mileage, rust free and purchased at a bargain price to boot. It even looks nice.

@henryn how much will it take for @oldfarmer50 to drive it away today?

Unless he puts some rust on it, I don’t think @oldfarmer50 would be interested.

jmonroe

bwia

henryn said:

sda said:

oldfarmer50 said:

henryn said:

I have the new (to me) aluminum wheels on the 2013 F150 XL. It wound up costing more than I expected, but what doesn’t these days?

I bought the 17 inch aluminum wheels from a gentleman on Craigslist for $250, which was a very fair price. He threw in the original lug nuts, but unfortunately I was not able to use them. Ford changed from a coarse thread to a fine thread on the lug nuts / studs in 2015. A new set of Gorilla lug nuts cost me $85 off Ebay ($100 on Amazon). And I did buy new TPMS sensors, about $39 on Amazon. There were a number of different sellers, and different brands, on Amazon and Ebay. I went with the best reviews for a reasonable price, and they do work. Then $120 to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. That was a little more than I expected, but I’m not complaining. Not many places of business will welcome you when you walk in with your own parts, and Discount Tire never blinked an eye.

The used tire shop just down the street would have probably done the job for half that, but I feel better with Discount Tire. I knew the tires would be balanced properly, and they wouldn’t scuff up the new rims. I could have purchased very similar looking lug nuts for less than half the price, but from what I’ve read online the chrome will not last on the cheap lug nuts, and the Gorilla brand is highly rated.

These lug nuts are not an exact match, they are really intended for the chrome clad Ford wheels. They fit the seats on the wheels perfectly, but they stick out a little too far. No one seems to make a lug nut for these aluminum wheels in the older coarse thread, so this is as close as I could get.

Altogether, I’m pleased, and feel that it’s worth the $494.

Man, that truck is everything I’d ever want. Functional, low mileage, rust free and purchased at a bargain price to boot. It even looks nice.

@henryn how much will it take for @oldfarmer50 to drive it away today?

LOL. I do appreciate all of the compliments on my truck and it's new wheels, but I'm going to sit still for a while. When the local dealers have 150 to 200 new trucks sitting on their lots, and the discounts and factory incentives are back to $10k or greater, then I will be ready to get another new truck.

Good luck with this strategy. However, you might have to wait a while for the strategy to payoff , since there is so much pent-up demand for those trucks. Besides, dealers are managing their inventories much better than they used to, unless you have information that poor suckers don't.

roadburner

@henryn said:
That seems to be a common feature on the Chrysler UConnect systems. I actually tried that once, in the 2016 Town and Country. Major PITA, really. Much easier / simpler / cleaner to rip the CDs on your computer, prepare a flash drive (USB or microSD) complete with playlists.

This fairly inexpensive head unit ($139) that I installed in the Ford work truck has a nice feature, a microSD slot on the face. This is preferable to me as the microSD card is hidden after you insert it (unlike a USB drive), but with a simple cheap adapter you can treat it just like a USB flash drive on your computer.

I had some problems with playlists originally, until I figured out the secret to success. Just remember that the computer in your car stereo is a RTOS (Real Time Operating System), most likely QNX, and is based on a Unix kernel. So prep the playlist as though it were going to be read by a Unix based operating system.

There was an exception for early Ford Sync systems, which were based on a Microsoft operating system and were really terrible.

The BMW system works flawlessly. I’ve never had an issue loading a CD onto the HD.

venture

mjfloyd1 said:

@venture said:

It was fresh the day the picture was taken. It was 7 layers of chocolate with peanut butter icing between the layers.

If I knew you liked mold I would have saved you a piece.

A slice of that is prolly 25 units of insulin (or alternatively diabetic keto acidosis)

I only ate a tiny piece even though it tasted like more. The last time I went to see my doctor he mentioned that I should try to lose some weight. The first time in my life anyone ever said that.

I had my yearly check up this morning and I had lost 5 pounds...down to 191. He asked how I did it. I told him I don't eat as much.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

OF, the Kona EV won’t sniff near 300 miles. Not sure it real world can break 200. Good luck to your renters!

That’s what I told the agent when he said 260 mile range. I said that’s if you never use the AC, heat or headlights, right? I can see a lot of problems with these things.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

oldfarmer50 said:

henryn said:

I have the new (to me) aluminum wheels on the 2013 F150 XL. It wound up costing more than I expected, but what doesn’t these days?

I bought the 17 inch aluminum wheels from a gentleman on Craigslist for $250, which was a very fair price. He threw in the original lug nuts, but unfortunately I was not able to use them. Ford changed from a coarse thread to a fine thread on the lug nuts / studs in 2015. A new set of Gorilla lug nuts cost me $85 off Ebay ($100 on Amazon). And I did buy new TPMS sensors, about $39 on Amazon. There were a number of different sellers, and different brands, on Amazon and Ebay. I went with the best reviews for a reasonable price, and they do work. Then $120 to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. That was a little more than I expected, but I’m not complaining. Not many places of business will welcome you when you walk in with your own parts, and Discount Tire never blinked an eye.

The used tire shop just down the street would have probably done the job for half that, but I feel better with Discount Tire. I knew the tires would be balanced properly, and they wouldn’t scuff up the new rims. I could have purchased very similar looking lug nuts for less than half the price, but from what I’ve read online the chrome will not last on the cheap lug nuts, and the Gorilla brand is highly rated.

These lug nuts are not an exact match, they are really intended for the chrome clad Ford wheels. They fit the seats on the wheels perfectly, but they stick out a little too far. No one seems to make a lug nut for these aluminum wheels in the older coarse thread, so this is as close as I could get.

Altogether, I’m pleased, and feel that it’s worth the $494.

Man, that truck is everything I’d ever want. Functional, low mileage, rust free and purchased at a bargain price to boot. It even looks nice.

@henryn how much will it take for @oldfarmer50 to drive it away today?

Shhhhh, I hoping to steal it away from him when he gets tired of it.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

sda said:

oldfarmer50 said:

henryn said:

I have the new (to me) aluminum wheels on the 2013 F150 XL. It wound up costing more than I expected, but what doesn’t these days?

I bought the 17 inch aluminum wheels from a gentleman on Craigslist for $250, which was a very fair price. He threw in the original lug nuts, but unfortunately I was not able to use them. Ford changed from a coarse thread to a fine thread on the lug nuts / studs in 2015. A new set of Gorilla lug nuts cost me $85 off Ebay ($100 on Amazon). And I did buy new TPMS sensors, about $39 on Amazon. There were a number of different sellers, and different brands, on Amazon and Ebay. I went with the best reviews for a reasonable price, and they do work. Then $120 to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. That was a little more than I expected, but I’m not complaining. Not many places of business will welcome you when you walk in with your own parts, and Discount Tire never blinked an eye.

The used tire shop just down the street would have probably done the job for half that, but I feel better with Discount Tire. I knew the tires would be balanced properly, and they wouldn’t scuff up the new rims. I could have purchased very similar looking lug nuts for less than half the price, but from what I’ve read online the chrome will not last on the cheap lug nuts, and the Gorilla brand is highly rated.

These lug nuts are not an exact match, they are really intended for the chrome clad Ford wheels. They fit the seats on the wheels perfectly, but they stick out a little too far. No one seems to make a lug nut for these aluminum wheels in the older coarse thread, so this is as close as I could get.

Altogether, I’m pleased, and feel that it’s worth the $494.

Man, that truck is everything I’d ever want. Functional, low mileage, rust free and purchased at a bargain price to boot. It even looks nice.

@henryn how much will it take for @oldfarmer50 to drive it away today?

Unless he puts some rust on it, I don’t think @oldfarmer50 would be interested.

jmonroe

Oh contrarie’, 3 out of four of my last used cars were from Florida. Rust and I do not get along.

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
You should start a towing side business to pick up those stranded rental EV's.

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

Oh contrarie’, 3 out of four of my last used cars were from Florida. Rust and I do not get along.

I was wondering why you occasionally posted used cars from Craigslist ads in Florida. But how do you get your hands on old used cars in Florida? Surely you don't pay to have a hooptie shipped from Florida to New York?

I can understand someone paying $1k to ship a new $50k 4XE, but not a hooptie.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen as we discussed, I went through each comp on the initial insurance market evaluation and found most vehicles not available or they did not have the options that the company said that they did. One even had a frontal crash on the carfax- I wonder why that one was so cheap??

I did the same with the latest valuation and again most vehicles were not available. Only one had the options that mine did and it had the luxury pkg (massage seats and alcantera headliner) but deducting that had a value of $53345 and that was after deducting $3245 for “condition “. Most of the other vehicles that were available did not have the air suspension or 21 inch wheels , but the company said that they did. Those vehicles were at Audi dealers that even had Monroney stickers on the website. Seems kinda odd that they would outright lie.

I’m sure he is going to love my latest email.

Oh well. I suspect that I’ll get a revised valuation in a couple of days.

Probably not outright lying, just laziness.

Strange how that laziness seems to benefit the lazy insurance adjuster about 85% of the time. You'd think it'd be a 50/50 coin flip!!!

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
You should start a towing side business to pick up those stranded rental EV's.

Yeah but it would take me 60 hours to recharge them with my 110 outlet.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Oh contrarie’, 3 out of four of my last used cars were from Florida. Rust and I do not get along.

I was wondering why you occasionally posted used cars from Craigslist ads in Florida. But how do you get your hands on old used cars in Florida? Surely you don't pay to have a hooptie shipped from Florida to New York?

I can understand someone paying $1k to ship a new $50k 4XE, but not a hooptie.

I wait until they make their way back up to NY then I scoop them up. I look at Florida CL because I have relatives in Florida.

My Florida fleet:

mjfloyd1

Laziness has never benefited me. I have a no work equals no pay kinda job

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

henryn said:

I have the new (to me) aluminum wheels on the 2013 F150 XL. It wound up costing more than I expected, but what doesn’t these days?

I bought the 17 inch aluminum wheels from a gentleman on Craigslist for $250, which was a very fair price. He threw in the original lug nuts, but unfortunately I was not able to use them. Ford changed from a coarse thread to a fine thread on the lug nuts / studs in 2015. A new set of Gorilla lug nuts cost me $85 off Ebay ($100 on Amazon). And I did buy new TPMS sensors, about $39 on Amazon. There were a number of different sellers, and different brands, on Amazon and Ebay. I went with the best reviews for a reasonable price, and they do work. Then $120 to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. That was a little more than I expected, but I’m not complaining. Not many places of business will welcome you when you walk in with your own parts, and Discount Tire never blinked an eye.

The used tire shop just down the street would have probably done the job for half that, but I feel better with Discount Tire. I knew the tires would be balanced properly, and they wouldn’t scuff up the new rims. I could have purchased very similar looking lug nuts for less than half the price, but from what I’ve read online the chrome will not last on the cheap lug nuts, and the Gorilla brand is highly rated.

These lug nuts are not an exact match, they are really intended for the chrome clad Ford wheels. They fit the seats on the wheels perfectly, but they stick out a little too far. No one seems to make a lug nut for these aluminum wheels in the older coarse thread, so this is as close as I could get.

Altogether, I’m pleased, and feel that it’s worth the $494.

Man, that truck is everything I’d ever want. Functional, low mileage, rust free and purchased at a bargain price to boot. It even looks nice.

@henryn Don't sell your truck.......for one thing, it looks like new....beautiful and the wheels really add to it.
I heard a program on the radio today and they said don't sell your car these days unless you know you can replace it....the chip shortage is going to take until the end of the year to straighten out.

Rental companies sold their cars at the start of covid, they needed the cash to carry them through. People are working from home so the chip companies made smaller chips for computers. Then, people started to buy cars again and rental companies need cars....and they can't switch making car chips for computer chips very quickly. Used cars are bringing in big bucks....finding a new car could be very difficult, and the average price of a new car is over $40,000 U.S.

And the guy on the radio said when they do start making car chips which cars will get them first....the $20k car or the $60k car?

henryn

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

henryn said:

I have the new (to me) aluminum wheels on the 2013 F150 XL. It wound up costing more than I expected, but what doesn’t these days?

I bought the 17 inch aluminum wheels from a gentleman on Craigslist for $250, which was a very fair price. He threw in the original lug nuts, but unfortunately I was not able to use them. Ford changed from a coarse thread to a fine thread on the lug nuts / studs in 2015. A new set of Gorilla lug nuts cost me $85 off Ebay ($100 on Amazon). And I did buy new TPMS sensors, about $39 on Amazon. There were a number of different sellers, and different brands, on Amazon and Ebay. I went with the best reviews for a reasonable price, and they do work. Then $120 to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. That was a little more than I expected, but I’m not complaining. Not many places of business will welcome you when you walk in with your own parts, and Discount Tire never blinked an eye.

The used tire shop just down the street would have probably done the job for half that, but I feel better with Discount Tire. I knew the tires would be balanced properly, and they wouldn’t scuff up the new rims. I could have purchased very similar looking lug nuts for less than half the price, but from what I’ve read online the chrome will not last on the cheap lug nuts, and the Gorilla brand is highly rated.

These lug nuts are not an exact match, they are really intended for the chrome clad Ford wheels. They fit the seats on the wheels perfectly, but they stick out a little too far. No one seems to make a lug nut for these aluminum wheels in the older coarse thread, so this is as close as I could get.

Altogether, I’m pleased, and feel that it’s worth the $494.

Man, that truck is everything I’d ever want. Functional, low mileage, rust free and purchased at a bargain price to boot. It even looks nice.

@henryn Don't sell your truck.......for one thing, it looks like new....beautiful and the wheels really add to it.
I heard a program on the radio today and they said don't sell your car these days unless you know you can replace it....the chip shortage is going to take until the end of the year to straighten out.

Rental companies sold their cars at the start of covid, they needed the cash to carry them through. People are working from home so the chip companies made smaller chips for computers. Then, people started to buy cars again and rental companies need cars....and they can't switch making car chips for computer chips very quickly. Used cars are bringing in big bucks....finding a new car could be very difficult, and the average price of a new car is over $40,000 U.S.

And the guy on the radio said when they do start making car chips which cars will get them first....the $20k car or the $60k car?

@au1994 posted this link over in CCBA:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/ford-replenishes-chip-supply-finishes-thousands-of-f-150-pickups/ar-AALTdGL

Ford pickups may, repeat MAY start showing up on dealer lots again. I'm not going to hold my breath though. As I said over in that forum, when I can get $10k off MSRP on a nice new F150 XLT then I will be in the market for another new truck. Until then, this one will do nicely.

Hey, I could have cleared $2.5k on it the day I picked it up, and didn't. Instead, I have been doing a bunch of PM (preventative maintenance) and minor upgrades. My best bet is that it will be a full year before I can get that $10k discount again, the way it was last year.

andres3

Since were on the subject of wheels and tires here, reposting from CCBA:

Speaking of tires and wheels, I think I exaggerated the damage to my new (to me) set of wheels and barely used Michelin PS4S tires. Sure, the outer lip of the wheel is completely scraped-up, but 90% of the damage is limited to the lip; I'm sure the wheel's fine on second thought. Just a bit aesthetically screwed up, but from afar it looks OK!






Can't wait to get them on; they will transform my S4 from a daily driver to a canyon carving beast. Probably the best performance tire ever produced for the street.

bwia

U.S. auto sales rise 16.4% in June 2021

According to Marklines an industry automotive portal, "U.S. new vehicle sales of 1,300,930 units for the month of June represented a 16.4% increase from June 2020.

June’s passenger car sales rose 21.9% to 316,340 units, resulting in a 24.3% market share, while SUV and truck sales increased 14.8% to 984,590 units, resulting in a 75.7% market share.

Estimated General Motors monthly sales increased 16.5% in June, while Stellantis sales fell 1.0%, and Ford sales dropped 27.4%, heavily affected by availability of popular models due to the semiconductor shortage and passenger car models that had been dropped.

Tesla sales increased 105.1% to approximately 22,869 units, with a 1.8% market share.

Among Japanese and Korean companies, Toyota sales were up 40.3%, Nissan sales were up 35.8%, Honda sales were up 33.4%, Mazda sales were up 28.7%, and Subaru sales were down 20.5%, affected by vehicle availability. Hyundai sales were up 48.4% and Kia sales were up 43.1%.

Among German companies, VW sales were up 35.1%, Mercedes-Benz sales were down 20.1% and BMW sales were up 41.0%.

Jaguar Land Rover sales fell 2.5% from last June, while Volvo sales increased 18.0%, and upstart Polestar sold 48 vehicles.

The best-selling models in June were Chevrolet Silverado pickups, Ram pickups, and Ford F-Series pickups in third place as assembly was affected semiconductor component shortages.
Those were followed, in order, by the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Nissan Rogue, Toyota Tacoma, and Toyota Highlander."

Source: https://www.marklines.com/en/statistics/flash_sales/automotive-sales-in-usa-by-month

stickguy

Pretty easy to tell which companies had good supply chains.

snakeweasel

bwia said:

U.S. auto sales rise 16.4% in June 2021

According to Marklines an industry automotive portal, "U.S. new vehicle sales of 1,300,930 units for the month of June represented a 16.4% increase from June 2020.

June’s passenger car sales rose 21.9% to 316,340 units, resulting in a 24.3% market share, while SUV and truck sales increased 14.8% to 984,590 units, resulting in a 75.7% market share.

Estimated General Motors monthly sales increased 16.5% in June, while Stellantis sales fell 1.0%, and Ford sales dropped 27.4%, heavily affected by availability of popular models due to the semiconductor shortage and passenger car models that had been dropped.

Tesla sales increased 105.1% to approximately 22,869 units, with a 1.8% market share.

Among Japanese and Korean companies, Toyota sales were up 40.3%, Nissan sales were up 35.8%, Honda sales were up 33.4%, Mazda sales were up 28.7%, and Subaru sales were down 20.5%, affected by vehicle availability. Hyundai sales were up 48.4% and Kia sales were up 43.1%.

Among German companies, VW sales were up 35.1%, Mercedes-Benz sales were down 20.1% and BMW sales were up 41.0%.

Jaguar Land Rover sales fell 2.5% from last June, while Volvo sales increased 18.0%, and upstart Polestar sold 48 vehicles.

The best-selling models in June were Chevrolet Silverado pickups, Ram pickups, and Ford F-Series pickups in third place as assembly was affected semiconductor component shortages.
Those were followed, in order, by the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Nissan Rogue, Toyota Tacoma, and Toyota Highlander."

Source: https://www.marklines.com/en/statistics/flash_sales/automotive-sales-in-usa-by-month

I would like to see June 2021 sales vs June 2019 sales. I suspect that due to the pandemic, shut downs and people out of work I would think sales in 2020 suffered.

Edited to add that between 2019 and 2020 it dropped 26.4% overall.

andres3

Speaking of sales, it looks like GM can't give away the Camaro. Sales have plummeted on that model, or so I've read on the internet. The Mustang and Chrysler alternatives are eating GM's lunch.

Also, for the long roof wagon lovers, you can't get it in the States, but those in more civilized regions can get a Golf R Estate, basically an All Track R! 310 HP, room for the family, cargo, and AWD all for just a bit over $40K. Not bad.

I'd still rather have an S4 Avant or RS4 Avant with a bigger engine, but those cost more too.

henryn

If the article posted yesterday is true, the one about Ford receiving a big shipment of chips, then their numbers for July and August should pick up quite a bit. It's hard to know what to believe, we have all seen the craziness that is rampant at the moment. When it will end, how it will end, god only knows. I seem to have misplaced my crystal ball.

bwia

henryn said:

If the article posted yesterday is true, the one about Ford receiving a big shipment of chips, then their numbers for July and August should pick up quite a bit. It's hard to know what to believe, we have all seen the craziness that is rampant at the moment. When it will end, how it will end, god only knows. I seem to have misplaced my crystal ball.

At least the trend is going in the right direction as evidenced by the figures

Total new vehicle sales data:
June, 2021 1,300,930
June, 2020 1,111,311
June 2019 1,509,963
June, 2018 1,553,316

imidazol97

ChickFIlA has opened their inside dining area! What a great surprise this morning as we went through the drive thru to see the windows uncovered and a sign on the door.

Otherwise perfectly miserable day from the start. Used the sprayer on the kitchen faucet to clean the sinks. Put it back in its hole. Turned on the water again and the sprayer shot across the kitchen and on my shirt like a prank from America's Funniest Home Videos.

Called Delta faucets. They have a replacement nozzle on the way. The lever on the sprayer works and moves, but doesn't feel like it's connected to something that's supposed to close off the water flow.

I tried soaking in vinegar in case it had minerals inside making it stick ON. But that didn't help. Delta and Kohler have been very good about replacing parts that wear at no cost.

I suspect she who-is-in-charge will want a new kitchen faucet soon because of this.

Michaell

imidazol97 said:

ChickFIlA has opened their inside dining area! What a great surprise this morning as we went through the drive thru to see the windows uncovered and a sign on the door.

Otherwise perfectly miserable day from the start. Used the sprayer on the kitchen faucet to clean the sinks. Put it back in its hole. Turned on the water again and the sprayer shot across the kitchen and on my shirt like a prank from America's Funniest Home Videos.

Called Delta faucets. They have a replacement nozzle on the way. The lever on the sprayer works and moves, but doesn't feel like it's connected to something that's supposed to close off the water flow.

I tried soaking in vinegar in case it had minerals inside making it stick ON. But that didn't help. Delta and Kohler have been very good about replacing parts that wear at no cost.

I suspect she who-is-in-charge will want a new kitchen faucet soon because of this.

The Chick-Fil-A by the cooking studio has had their dining area open for a few weeks now, but the one in the town where I live is still closed.

henryn

Here in Houston, most but not all indoor dining areas seem to be open. I went by Luby's Cafeteria earlier this week. The sign on their door asks that you wear a mask until you get to your table, and everyone seemed to be following that guideline.

Then yesterday, I met an old colleague from work for lunch. This was at a trendy new place, in a trendy part of town. $42 (before tip) for two salads and two teas, you stand in line to order and they bring your food to the table. Not exactly high class dining, but definitely trendy. They had a sign on the door asking you to wear a mask if you weren't vaccinated. No one, but no one, was wearing a mask (except for me).

driver100

@henryn Wow....you were so happy with the way the truck looks now you really decided to splurge, $42 for 2 salads and 2 teas!

henryn

driver100 said:

@henryn Wow....you were so happy with the way the truck looks now you really decided to splurge, $42 for 2 salads and 2 teas!

Nah, actually, it was her turn to pay, I will get the next one.

snakeweasel

imidazol97 said:

ChickFIlA has opened their inside dining area! What a great surprise this morning as we went through the drive thru to see the windows uncovered and a sign on the door.

Otherwise perfectly miserable day from the start. Used the sprayer on the kitchen faucet to clean the sinks. Put it back in its hole. Turned on the water again and the sprayer shot across the kitchen and on my shirt like a prank from America's Funniest Home Videos.

Called Delta faucets. They have a replacement nozzle on the way. The lever on the sprayer works and moves, but doesn't feel like it's connected to something that's supposed to close off the water flow.

I tried soaking in vinegar in case it had minerals inside making it stick ON. But that didn't help. Delta and Kohler have been very good about replacing parts that wear at no cost.

I suspect she who-is-in-charge will want a new kitchen faucet soon because of this.

You should get a faucet with the sprayer as part of the main faucet. That way you don't have to worry about Poseidon having his little fun.

qbrozen

I'm confused by the sales data.

So, there is an inventory shortage, yet they've managed to sell more vehicles?

the Camaro? Cars.com has only 380 new ones available across the entire nation.
For comparison, there are 1,718 Mustangs and 3,694 Challengers. Sooo... is it that they can't give it away (obviously not true) or that they don't have any to sell (more likely)?

stickguy

They sold everything on the lots. With nothing to replace it. So likely July is dropping. Ford dealer seems to have zippo new anything.

henryn

qbrozen said:

I'm confused by the sales data.

So, there is an inventory shortage, yet they've managed to sell more vehicles?

the Camaro? Cars.com has only 380 new ones available across the entire nation.
For comparison, there are 1,718 Mustangs and 3,694 Challengers. Sooo... is it that they can't give it away (obviously not true) or that they don't have any to sell (more likely)?

I think, repeat THINK, that there was a real pent up demand for new cars as people started coming out of their lairs after the lockdown. So everything on the showroom floors was sold, and then people started paying outrageous prices for used cars.

If my theory is correct (and I am just guessing), then the number of new cars sold is about to plummet dramatically now that the dealers are (pretty much) without new cars to sell.

If the news story from yesterday about Ford getting in a large shipment of chips is true, then Ford sales should really pick up this month and next.

stickguy

I believe you have it correct.

explorerx4

I saw quite a few new F150's in Michigan last week, not really a surprise.
Drove by a dealer in Ohio that had 10 new ones sitting out front.

ab348

Among the endless parade of realtors and their clients coming to view the neighbors house across the street, one arrived in a new Bronco, the first I’ve seen in the wild. I believe this was an Outer Banks version, all black sadly.

ab348

I see NASCAR is doing another dirt track race this weekend, at Knoxville. It will likely be less of a debacle than Bristol was, but it still seems like a bad idea to me.

andres3

What's wrong with Florida?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/desantis-vetoes-repeal-no-fault-230000887.html

Do the people of Florida really believe being in 50th place for auto insurance rates (that being 50 States) is a good thing and that things would be even worse with a change to personal responsibility? I don't get how anyone could buy the insurance propaganda that predict "rates would rise" when you are in 50th of 50 places.

stickguy

last time I ate ate CfL was coming back from NC with our daughter from college, so it's been probably 5-6 years I think. It was OK. Not that exciting. Never quite saw the big attraction to always have a huge line!

I've never been to a popeyes, and probably been 25 years since was in a KFC (at least for chicken and not because it was also the local taco bell).

I do love fried chicken though.

qbrozen

So, latest thought ... rather than a condo in FL, maybe Myrtle Beach.

mjfloyd1

@qbrozen said:
So, latest thought ... rather than a condo in FL, maybe Myrtle Beach.

You need to be south of Tampa to have a reasonable possibility of having warm weather at spring break

stickguy

qbrozen said:

So, latest thought ... rather than a condo in FL, maybe Myrtle Beach.

I love Myrtle beach. In a few years if we finally get relocated back to upstate NY, I might try to find a condo down there. Snowbird for 3 months and rent it out the rest of the time (only if it is in a managed building designed for that).

henryn

I always wanted to be a snow bird, spend the summers high in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado or somewhere like that. Then spend the winters in Arizona, or hell, as long as I'm dreaming, a tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific.

henryn

VW does like to get in trouble, don't they?

European regulators on Thursday announced a $1 billion fine against the Volkswagen Group and BMW for running afoul of antitrust rules by "colluding on technical development in the area of nitrogen oxide cleaning."

Driving the news: The European Commission's Margrethe Vestager, the top antitrust official, said the settlement is about "how legitimate technical cooperation went wrong."

Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW had the technology to cut air pollution beyond what EU standards required, but "avoided to compete on using this technology's full potential to clean better than what is required by law," she said in a statement.

Why it matters: Reuters reports that the case "sets a precedent by extending the application of European competition law to technical-level talks between industry players."

Catch up fast: The fine addresses activities between 2009 and 2014. Daimler was not penalized because it "revealed the existence of the cartel" to officials, the announcement states.

mjfloyd1

What’s a TBD? Never mind, I see you corrected it to “abuses”

henryn

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2021-07-06/missing-chips

Another take on the chip shortage.

oldfarmer50

andres3 said:

Speaking of sales, it looks like GM can't give away the Camaro. Sales have plummeted on that model, or so I've read on the internet. The Mustang and Chrysler alternatives are eating GM's lunch.

Also, for the long roof wagon lovers, you can't get it in the States, but those in more civilized regions can get a Golf R Estate, basically an All Track R! 310 HP, room for the family, cargo, and AWD all for just a bit over $40K. Not bad.

I'd still rather have an S4 Avant or RS4 Avant with a bigger engine, but those cost more too.

I read that GM stopped production on the Camaro because of the chip shortage some time ago. Could that have an impact on the figures?

I actually like the Camaro. Good power and handling. The visibility is a problem but after a few hours of driving you can get used to it.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Among the endless parade of realtors and their clients coming to view the neighbors house across the street, one arrived in a new Bronco, the first I’ve seen in the wild. I believe this was an Outer Banks version, all black sadly.

I got to drive my second Bronco the other day. It was the Big Bend trim. It felt peppier than the last one I drove but I don’t know what engine it had.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

last time I ate ate CfL was coming back from NC with our daughter from college, so it's been probably 5-6 years I think. It was OK. Not that exciting. Never quite saw the big attraction to always have a huge line!

I've never been to a popeyes, and probably been 25 years since was in a KFC (at least for chicken and not because it was also the local taco bell).

I do love fried chicken though.

IMO CFA and Popeye’s chicken sandwiches are comparable. Both are good. The only disadvantage is that I have to drive 150 miles to get CFA.