Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

@stickguy,
Sounds like you are in an good position, Best of luck and you won't have to wait long to find out.

thanks. Yeah, should have it decided by early evening tomorrow and moving on to the mad rush to get contracts signed and start the review process and next steps. Buyer schedule inspection (that makes me nervous, not knowing what I don't know about the place but they might find) and apply for mortgage, and I have to schedule the town to do an inspection to issue a CO.

at least I already cleaned up my one improvement progress that got done years ago without a permit. that is now approved thankfully so CO should sail through.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

sda said:

Dealers charge $200 or so for the Nitrogen fill. A huge money maker. I find it interesting that large Tire Shops like DT don’t peddle Nitrogen filled tires.

That’s weird. Both the Caddy dealer and the Indy tire shop I use provide nitrogen as their standard fill, no extra charge.

It is the equivalent of Mop n Glo. Or like the RFT insurance BMW tried to sell....for $500, $1500 for protection in case a wheel is damaged to. Most people aren't knowledgeable and they fall for these scams.....they use fear tactics.

The only time I lose air is when I come back to Florida and the car sits for 7 months......on average 2 tires are down a pound, one 2 pounds and 1 is OK. When we were away for 18 months 3 were down 2 pounds, and 1 was down 1 pound. Oh, I forgot I do overfill them by 2 pounds each so they do lose about a pound every 2 months on average.

Nitrogen is kind of a scam, but I like the green caps. Another thing is, you get nitrogen but what happens when you need some air and you are out in the country on a country road....use an air pump?

Yes use an air pump but only put in 78% of what you lost, that should cover it.

cdnpinhead

snakeweasel said:

He told me that there are many benefits of using nitrogen in aircraft tires. But that is comparing apples and oranges.

Quality nitrogen, that normally comes in a bottle from a commercial gas supplier, usually has a dew point of -70F or lower, plus it's 99+% nitrogen, much purer than what comes out of the "nitrogen generators" that are typically used by the weasels who push its use in car tires. The dew point thing means that it's "dry" nitrogen, and it's the water vapor present in the air filling most tires that contributes significantly to pressure changes with temperature variation. This has some value in car tires, but the odds that you're getting dry nitrogen are pretty slim.

Aircraft tires are often filled with nitrogen because it doesn't support combustion and won't accelerate the tire fires that can result from a rejected takeoff of a fully loaded large aircraft. I guarantee you that those tires are filled with high-purity dry nitrogen.

imidazol97

driver100 said:

Nitrogen is kind of a scam, but I like the green caps.

I recall seeing packages of green caps for the valve stems. Maybe Walmart's auto
department. Maybe amazon.

Just buy a set. Skip the fake need for nitrogen.

I recall in earlier analyses of use of nitrogen rich air in truck tires and in racing
tires, that the drying method that removes water vapour decreases the tendency
to increase air pressure with high running temps due to the behavior of water
vapour vs nitrogen, CO2, and oxygen.

Also the truck tires are recapped several times. The nitrogen helps slow
deterioration of the rubber in the carcass of the tire with years and hundereds
of thousands of miles from oxygen inside the tire.

I don't think we have to worry about those two factors in auto tires--at least
not the way I drive at mostly legal speeds.

Years ago Consumer Misreports did a study on air leakdown in mounted
tires. THey put tires on rims and then follow the pressure drop over many months
approaching a year IIRC. The best tires were Michelin at how the rubber sealed
at the rim and how the rubber resisted gas migration through the tire.

imidazol97

I didn't know where to post this article link about VW bus and living out of one. Dayton
in my humble opinion has more people stuck in the 70s than other areas I see. But this
pair sold everything and is living in the VW. A cool car that I remember from the 70s, 80s.

Article link to Dayton DAily News, for the picture source and article.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/what-to-know/dayton-couple-explores-us-in-vw-bus-shares-adventure-in-podcast/AMEV2HKCU5HTTGJ3ZUAAWJVTME/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_4411677

graphicguy

benjaminh said:

If you get new tires at Costco they throw in the nitrogen without any extra charge. Free rotations and balances are also included for the life of your tires.

And, you don't have to buy tires at Costco to get some of the benefits. For $20, they rotated the tires on my departed TLX, let out the "old" air in the tires and refilled them with Nitrogen.

Understand, I don't think there's a difference that matters between regular air or Nitrogen in my tires. But, I guess it's a "thing" these days!

graphicguy

As much as I despise their dealerships recently, I believe Ford is on the right track….

https://fordauthority.com/2022/06/while-ford-ceo-jim-farley-plans-to-ditch-ads-gm-and-hyundai-balk/

stickguy

So marketing execs don’t want to get rid of marketing? That’s a shock!

andres3

WARNING - LONG POST ALERT MANIFESTO for 2022

Mr. Gordon

I enjoyed the first half of your recently published article on technology failing to make roads safer in recent years.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7d9j8/automakers-promised-technology-would-make-roads-safer-it-hasnt

I thought you started out very strong and made some very good points, however, in the latter half, it seemed unsupported and somewhat inaccurate.

A few key counterpoints:

1. It's been widely reported that COVID drove more people to drink and drive (pardon the pun). DUI is a massive cause of collisions and fatalities and is often under-reported by the Government because they lump in other unrelated issues (namely speed/speeding) with drunks. Drunks that speed do a lot of crashing and killing. Did you know that the NHTSA's current figure of 26% of fatalities being remotely related to speed comes from about 37% drunk drivers? The pad the stat by 37% with drunks (and that varies very little year to year)!

2. They also pad the stat with about half (49% and again, this varies very little year to year) of the 26% data set coming from people that don't wear their seat belts. I know in CA we have a 97%+ compliance rate with mandatory seat belt laws, yet that 3% is causing about half the fatal collisions unfairly and illogically blamed on speed/speeding; similar to the rest of the Nation.

3. Calling cars or vehicles dangerous is unfair at best. It does come down to individual driver error. Calling collisions "accidents" is a misnomer. They should be called "negligents" because 94% of them are indeed caused by sheer utter negligence by the at-fault driver. Many people go their whole lifetime driving hundreds of thousands of miles (or millions in the case of a professional trucker) without causing an at-fault collision, and yet many more can say the same adding the caveat "after the age of 18," that they haven't caused an at-fault collision. These good and safe drivers do so in the same conditions, roads, laws, and vehicles that bad drivers contend with; the main differing factor is the driver at the helm.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/deadly-myth-human-error-causes-most-car-crashes/620808/

Your cited article and source above from David Zipper at the Atlantic is just wrong on this subject. The anecdotal description of a scenario where someone in a SUV is going 40 in a 25 MPH zone doesn't make the pedestrian being run over the vehicle's speed fault, nor the speed limit is at fault! In a misguided effort to blame speed/speeding for as many collisions/injuries/deaths as possible, they (Federal Government/NHTSA) resort to absurdities in their logic, presumptions, and assumptions, and hence the "critical reason" for the hypothetical crash as defined by them is flat-out wrong. First, the 2 black numbers on a white aluminum sign are inert and inanimate. They have no control over the steering wheel, the gas pedal, nor the brake pedal; only the driver controls all those things that DIRECTLY result in a crash. Second, the pedestrian is struck not because the SUV is going 40 in a 25 but because the driver is either clueless about the pedestrian (distracted/not looking), exhibiting poor judgment, and/or failure to drive according to conditions which equals going too fast for conditions, or the pedestrian was negligent themselves. Going too fast for conditions is a driver error unrelated to speeding for you can do so at BELOW the posted limit; it's an error related to judgment.

If the driver ignores readily apparent conditions such as the foggy conditions, what makes you think they'll slow down for narrower lanes? If they fail to account for the condition of driving a heavy SUV, what makes you think they'll slow down for a pedestrian? If they didn't see the pedestrian they were either distracted or oblivious (or obstructed by the readily apparent fog). If they saw the pedestrian and didn't slow down from 40 for that, that's another indication of driver error. Why didn't they steer around the pedestrian? Why didn't the pedestrian avoid the SUV? Lots of factors and questions weigh far more heavily than speed itself.

Only if you indicate and prove that hard braking was the only correct solution, and that the driver reacted reasonably quickly with hard braking, and due to their speed being over the limit did they hit the pedestrian (and you can show that had they been going the speed limit they would have been able to stop in time avoiding the collision all together), can you then logically begin to say that speed was even a remote factor involved in that collision. The same argument applies to vehicles and roads. Are they really dangerous, or are they only dangerous for negligent drivers? I believe the latter; as again, roads are inanimate inert objects. Bad drivers are unsafe at any speed on any road frankly. Unlike David Zipper, I know that taking personal responsibility away from the equation of being a competent LICENSED driver is the recipe for putting Americans in greater danger. Drivers should absolutely be held fully responsible for their own actions. I believe the recent American propensity for lack of accountability is contributing to the rising collision and death rates currently.

4. As you can see, the Government, big Insurance Groups (like the IIHS), and NHTSA do often propagate misconceptions, myths (mainly the one "speed kills"), and other misinformation. We seem to agree on the fact that they deserve severe criticism, but we are most definitely coming from different angles on why they are wrong and misguided. There are systemic problems with under posted speed limits, and with law enforcement that focuses on that issue for the purpose of revenue generation, rather than valuing improved safety. However, criticizing the Traffic Engineers is misguided unless you are pointing out that since their salaries come from the Government, and that they are often found citing ridiculous and readily apparent conditions for lowering speed limits below the 85th percentile; which has been shown in studies to be counter-productive to safety. I'm not saying our roads are perfect, there is room for improvement, but that's the molehill; the mountain is law enforcement practices, LEO training, LEO education, and additional training and education for drivers, including last, but not least, sensible licensing standards.

5. Worst, you repeat the unproven claim that lowering speed limits saves lives. We know this isn't true. Germany has unlimited Autobahn (approximately 2/3 of it remains this way today), and another 7 to 8% is at 130 KPH limit (81 MPH), which is significantly higher than 99.9% of USA Interstate speed limits. As you likely already know because you wrote about it, Germany has about half the fatality rate per mile driven of the US; it's not even close, and this rated, equalized, and comparative statistic has remained consistent for decades now. We can see that in the USA, under-posted speed limits have been counter-productive to safety. States that have raised their maximum speed limits in recent years or decades have not risen to being amongst the most dangerous States to drive in. In fact, many of the States with the highest fatality rates (per billion or million miles driven) have the lowest speed limits nationwide.

mjfloyd1

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/g40183239/delightful-dozen-our-12-favorite-m-cars-from-50-years-of-bmw-m-gmbh/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_aut&utm_medium=email&date=060622&utm_campaign=nl27964732&utm_term=AAA -- High Minus Dormant and 90 Day Non Openers

andres3

Part 2 of 2 of my long post; you didn't think my warning was just for that short thing did ya?

Best parts of your article:

6. I thought your point about the ludicrousness in pointing to unproven technology such as autonomous driving was spot-on. People are irrational about autonomous driving which isn't even close to being ready for prime time. It's worth noting that early reports show that autonomous cars can be far safer than the "average" human driver, but that they tend to get in upwards of 500% more "not-at-fault collisions." Now you can be just as dead while not at-fault as you can from being at-fault, so all collisions should be avoided regardless of liability. Having said that, this supports my contention that bad drivers are the main problem. Good drivers are able to avoid having collisions with bad drivers most of the time; this is where autonomous vehicles will take the longest to perform, and have the biggest challenge to catch up; even to "average" levels.

7. I generally agree that other than point #1 above (DUI's) there is no identifiable, isolated trend to account for the poor results the last 2 years in the USA regarding traffic fatalities. If other Countries didn't experience additional DUI's due to COVID, it warrants further research and study.

What will work to save lives in the USA is the following:

1. Better training, education, and licensing standards. We need to expect more competence from licensed drivers.
2. More punishment/deterrence for negligent driving. Crashes need to be taken more seriously, and the consequences for the negligence should be far more severe long before that driver killing a person or multiple people. Vehicular homicide needs to have severe penalties rather then the current all to often slap on the wrist.
3. Law enforcement that focuses resources on hazards and safety, rather than revenue generation when it comes to traffic violations.
4. Realistic properly set speed limits based on objective engineering standards and parameters rather than on arbitrary and subjective feelings.
5. Lane discipline enforced (passing lane protocols).
6. Only appropriate use of Stop Signs at intersections that justify them, not for traffic calming or slowing.

This model actually already exists; it's called Germany. We know it works; it's not speculation or fantasy. It has been tried and done successfully with fantastic results. We can successfully copy their model.

qbrozen

TL:DR

mjfloyd1

@qbrozen said:
TL:DR

Agreed. I feel violated 🤣😂

28firefighter

They see me scrolling’, they hatin’

mjfloyd1

I can’t scroll fast enough though, @28firefighter

andres3

I guess I missed the first bullet point here on Google about writing a Manifesto:

6 Steps to Writing a Manifesto

1. Be concise. ...
   
2. Catch the reader's interest. ...
   
3. Choose your audience. ...
   
4. Decide on core values. ...
   
5. Map out a plan of action.
   
6. Revise your work.
   

mjfloyd1

I have a funny feeling that more than one bullet point was missed😂🤣

driver100

andres3 said:

I guess I missed the first bullet point here on Google about writing a Manifesto:

I think you may have beat JMonroe for the longest post ever.

cdnpinhead

As I've said before, related to other posters, you need to get the water-cooled industrial-grade scrolling system. I only use it on two posters, but it's helpful. Neither of them is andres.

abacomike

@cdnpinhead said:
As I've said before, related to other posters, you need to get the water-cooled industrial-grade scrolling system. I only use it on two posters, but it's helpful. Neither of them is andres.

Interesting! Quite frankly, I always read your posts - I find them humorous at times and informative as well. You are obviously an extremely intelligent individual with years of experiences in many areas.🤓

P.S. At times, your posts are quite cryptic which provides fodder for my intellectual endeavors.🤪😜

snakeweasel

Saw RUG here at $5.90. When will this end? Good thing I'm only 10 miles from work and the bike gets 63 miles to the gallon.

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

Saw RUG here at $5.90. When will this end? Good thing I'm only 10 miles from work and the bike gets 63 miles to the gallon.

I just went out to get gas based on a gas price app I use and the price had risen 10 cents in the few hours since the price was posted. If the app can be believed any more the cheapest gas is about $4.60 for RUG.

tjc78

Gas prices the way they are certainly makes you appreciate working from home

sda

@tjc78 said:
Gas prices the way they are certainly makes you appreciate working from home

Yet more firms are requiring employees to be in the office full time. Nice, not. I am required to be in the office 3 days a week. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop...

jmonroe1

@driver100 said:
I think you may have beat JMonroe for the longest post ever.

————————————————
I haven’t been awarded that badge for at least 3 years now.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

@cdnpinhead said:
As I've said before, related to other posters, you need to get the water-cooled industrial-grade scrolling system. I only use it on two posters, but it's helpful. Neither of them is andres.

———————————————-
Maybe I’m giving myself too much credit in here. Even Mrs. j doesn’t listen to everything I say. It’s called selective listening but you can’t win ‘em all.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

@abacomike said:

@cdnpinhead said:
As I've said before, related to other posters, you need to get the water-cooled industrial-grade scrolling system. I only use it on two posters, but it's helpful. Neither of them is andres.

Interesting! Quite frankly, I always read your posts - I find them humorous at times and informative as well. You are obviously an extremely intelligent individual with years of experiences in many areas.🤓

P.S. At times, your posts are quite cryptic which provides fodder for my intellectual endeavors.🤪😜

————————————————-
Some folks are easily pleased.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

@snakeweasel said:
Saw RUG here at $5.90. When will this end? Good thing I'm only 10 miles from work and the bike gets 63 miles to the gallon.

————————————————
When someone finds a way to make more and cheaper electrons.

BTW, in case anyone hasn’t noticed I’m a on a blitz of posting. I’ve been putting in too much time at flip #4. This has gotta change and soon.

jmonroe

Michaell

tjc78 said:

Gas prices the way they are certainly makes you appreciate working from home

Unless you work for Tesla ....

You'd think, given Elon's demands to be in the office full time "or else", that he'd have some sort of employee program for their cars. If you're gonna force folks to commute, at least give them the option of driving something a bit more eco-friendly.

tjc78

@Michaell said:
Unless you work for Tesla ....

You'd think, given Elon's demands to be in the office full time "or else", that he'd have some sort of employee program for their cars. If you're gonna force folks to commute, at least give them the option of driving something a bit more eco-friendly.

Please don’t get me started on Elon.

Michaell

tjc78 said:

@Michaell said:

Unless you work for Tesla ....

You'd think, given Elon's demands to be in the office full time "or else", that he'd have some sort of employee program for their cars. If you're gonna force folks to commute, at least give them the option of driving something a bit more eco-friendly.

Please don’t get me started on Elon.

What, and deny us your thoughts?

There was a great article in the NY Times about folks who love the cars but hate the person.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

@driver100 said:

I think you may have beat JMonroe for the longest post ever.

————————————————

I haven’t been awarded that badge for at least 3 years now.

jmonroe

I agree, it was your cousin the original who wrote the long posts......and won the award annually.

fintail

sda said:

@tjc78 said:

Gas prices the way they are certainly makes you appreciate working from home

Yet more firms are requiring employees to be in the office full time. Nice, not. I am required to be in the office 3 days a week. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop...

Too many "managers" need to be able to justify their positions, and too many old guard "leaders" are into the sunk cost fallacy of the before times office space.

Those who fail to adapt will experience a brain drain, and you can be 100% sure those entitled souls with their fingers on the button will then cluelessly whine "NoBoDy WaNtS tO WoRk AnYmOrE".

fintail

The zero accountability contrarian edgelord of our time.

Some of his stuff would have a normal person personally, professionally, and financially destroyed. But when you have a cult with above average means behind you...

tjc78 said:

@Michaell said:

Unless you work for Tesla ....

You'd think, given Elon's demands to be in the office full time "or else", that he'd have some sort of employee program for their cars. If you're gonna force folks to commute, at least give them the option of driving something a bit more eco-friendly.

Please don’t get me started on Elon.

driver100

fintail said:

sda said:

@tjc78 said:

Gas prices the way they are certainly makes you appreciate working from home

"NoBoDy WaNtS tO WoRk AnYmOrE".

@fintail
What happened to your keyboard?

oldfarmer50

I don’t know if the cost of gas is really effecting anybody. While out this morning it was a traffic mess of jammed vehicles, tailgaters and people gunning it to gain 10 feet of advantage. Turn signals must be getting expensive though as no one was using them.

imidazol97

oldfarmer50 said:

I don’t know if the cost of gas is really effecting anybody. While out this morning it was a traffic mess of jammed vehicles, tailgaters and people gunning it to gain 10 feet of advantage. Turn signals must be getting expensive though as no one was using them.

A discussion by a knowledgeable person said the use of gasoline had declined on 2% over a certain period recently, while with the price increasing, they would have expected a larger deterioration in the use. The period did include the Memorial Day weekend, where this year there was a 6% jump in use over the previous year. They described the use of gasoline as "brittle."

imidazol97

Does anyone here use the Dexcom CGM? Any experience with FreeStyle Libre for comparison.

My wife is thinking about changing from FreeStyle to DexCom. We've had some failures of
new sensors upon insertion after 1 hour warmup. Also seem to get low readings from the
sensors compared to the glucose blood stick readings.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

I don’t know if the cost of gas is really effecting anybody. While out this morning it was a traffic mess of jammed vehicles, tailgaters and people gunning it to gain 10 feet of advantage. Turn signals must be getting expensive though as no one was using them.

Time > Gas mileage for me. I'm the guy doing 90 in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane..... hey wait, that's an Eagles song.

Speaking of turn signals, I'd be OK making the fine for that $5,000 for the first offense. That should get the revenue generators motivated.

cdnpinhead

abacomike said:

. . . I always read your posts - I find them humorous at times and informative as well. You are obviously an extremely intelligent individual with years of experiences in many areas.🤓

Kind words -- thank you.

graphicguy

Michaell said:

tjc78 said:

@Michaell said:

Unless you work for Tesla ....

You'd think, given Elon's demands to be in the office full time "or else", that he'd have some sort of employee program for their cars. If you're gonna force folks to commute, at least give them the option of driving something a bit more eco-friendly.

Please don’t get me started on Elon.

What, and deny us your thoughts?

There was a great article in the NY Times about folks who love the cars but hate the person.

Who....? The Meglo Ego Maniac who thinks he's got all the answers because he runs a company that was feasting on the public/gov't teat for so long so he wouldn't default?

That guy?

Please, don't get me started on Elon.

andres3

graphicguy said:

Michaell said:

tjc78 said:

@Michaell said:

Unless you work for Tesla ....

You'd think, given Elon's demands to be in the office full time "or else", that he'd have some sort of employee program for their cars. If you're gonna force folks to commute, at least give them the option of driving something a bit more eco-friendly.

Please don’t get me started on Elon.

What, and deny us your thoughts?

There was a great article in the NY Times about folks who love the cars but hate the person.

Who....? The Meglo Ego Maniac who thinks he's got all the answers because he runs a company that was feasting on the public/gov't teat for so long so he wouldn't default?

That guy?

Please, don't get me started on Elon.

There seems to be a lot of feasting on the Gov't teat. I just read an article about how COVID loans to real estate agents claiming at least 1 employee were really just giveaways (loan forgiveness). This includes a real estate market that remained on fire during the pandemic, and agents making millions in Beverley Hills and other places in CA.

stickguy

Looks like my daughter, who has about as much impulse control as someone in the Breld family once she decides to get something, is in the process of nailing down a deal on a Mazda CX30 lease. In the nice bright red Mazda has.

Minor issue that her parking spot lease starts 9/1!

mjfloyd1

@imidazol97 said:

Does anyone here use the Dexcom CGM? Any experience with FreeStyle Libre for comparison.

My wife is thinking about changing from FreeStyle to DexCom. We've had some failures of
new sensors upon insertion after 1 hour warmup. Also seem to get low readings from the
sensors compared to the glucose blood stick readings.

PM sent

fintail

driver100 said:

fintail said:

sda said:

@tjc78 said:

Gas prices the way they are certainly makes you appreciate working from home

"NoBoDy WaNtS tO WoRk AnYmOrE".

@fintail
What happened to your keyboard?

Alternating caps are a symbol of mocking, in this case, me mocking the "nobody wants to work" whiner set.

driver100

stickguy said:

Looks like my daughter, who has about as much impulse control as someone in the Breld family once she decides to get something, is in the process of nailing down a deal on a Mazda CX30 lease. In the nice bright red Mazda has.

Minor issue that her parking spot lease starts 9/1!

I saw a bright red Mazda the other day and that is a nice and very bright red. It seems that some of the less expensive cars like Mazda and KIA come up with some great paint colors. Mazda has improved the styling a lot too, tweaked it to look sleeker and faster...well give the impression at least.

snakeweasel

imidazol97 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

I don’t know if the cost of gas is really effecting anybody. While out this morning it was a traffic mess of jammed vehicles, tailgaters and people gunning it to gain 10 feet of advantage. Turn signals must be getting expensive though as no one was using them.

A discussion by a knowledgeable person said the use of gasoline had declined on 2% over a certain period recently, while with the price increasing, they would have expected a larger deterioration in the use. The period did include the Memorial Day weekend, where this year there was a 6% jump in use over the previous year. They described the use of gasoline as "brittle."

The question comes to mind is could you quantify "a certain period"? Is it a week? two weeks? a month? six months? what?

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

Looks like my daughter, who has about as much impulse control as someone in the Breld family once she decides to get something, is in the process of nailing down a deal on a Mazda CX30 lease. In the nice bright red Mazda has.

Minor issue that her parking spot lease starts 9/1!

Leasing a parking space is a sign that an area is way too crowded, it is time she moved elsewhere.

explorerx4

Paying extra to rent a parking space is pretty normal. If you don't have a car, you are not paying extra.

andres3

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

Looks like my daughter, who has about as much impulse control as someone in the Breld family once she decides to get something, is in the process of nailing down a deal on a Mazda CX30 lease. In the nice bright red Mazda has.

Minor issue that her parking spot lease starts 9/1!

I saw a bright red Mazda the other day and that is a nice and very bright red. It seems that some of the less expensive cars like Mazda and KIA come up with some great paint colors. Mazda has improved the styling a lot too, tweaked it to look sleeker and faster...well give the impression at least.

Way too much cladding to be honest. What do they think it is, an off-road vehicle? Pretty soon they'll make everything below the window line gray plastic cladding instead of painted metal.