Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

snakeweasel

@ab348 said:
An Africa Twin is an "adventure bike" of the type that gets used on rallies through the deserts of Africa and the like.

https://powersports.honda.com/street/adventure/africa-twin

I picked the African Twin because it's a Honda (since they asked if he wanted to upgrade his Honda), the model doesn't have numbers in it and it's not as well known as a Goldwing. That way it's more likely that the people suggesting an upgrade would be confused.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

@driver100 said:

I think Snake has a good idea. Sell it "as is" and don't put any money into it. If some guy wants an inexpensive car and if he can fix it himself it will be a win/win. If you fix it you may spend money you won't get back...you may not even be able to get everything fixed. Some guy that is handy might know how to fix everything...and you would have no guilty feelings.

My friend has a Volvo that is a few years old. He had an airbag sensor that didn't work, the airbag wouldn't have worked if needed. A chain garage gave him a price of $950 to buy a sensor and install it, which required a lot of labor. His small garage guy said he could buy a used sensor from a wrecker, try to patch it into the system - it might work and it might not. It worked and cost $200 to fix. A good mechanic can do wonders.

That's what we are doing with my sisters vehicles. A Prius and a Burgman (a large scooter), sell as is disclosing the situation and trying to price accordingly. We do have buyers for each.

The same with house quite often. Why fix it up with fancy stuff the new buyer may not want, when you can sell it for less, and let them decorate the way they want it.
By the time you pay for the repairs, which may or may not work, you can sell the car to someone who can fix it themselves.

benjaminh

jipster said:

Yes, I have an extended warranty up until 2029 or 150,000 miles, which is partly why I let the car go a bit longer between oil changes. Imagine I'll be ready for a new car by 2029. Maybe. Hopefully gas won't be $30 a gallon by then, but I'm getting almost 36mpg combined, so that's pretty good for a bigger sedan.

Concerning the oil dilution, the car runs great. I'm a little over 30k miles, so the service advisor suggested having the fuel induction service done which is suppose to help with carbon build up . I passed because at only 30k miles I didn't think it was needed. When picking up my car, I asked the service advisor how much the fuel induction service costs. She said $199, but couldn't look me in the eye when she said it. In looking on YouTube looks to be a fairly easy and inexpensive procedure. They also recommended tire balancing and alignment. Again, car runs and steers great. No uneven wear on tires. Pass.

The fact that Honda offers an extended warranty to 150k obviously means they expect their engines to last at least that long.

Agree with you on skipping the unneeded services that Honda World keeps pushing.

Your 36 mpg average is very good. My TLX has averaged 32 mpg over the last 6000 miles, and I thought I was doing well. What kind of mpg did your previous car get?

By 2029 when your warranty runs out probably most Hondas will be EVs. Given the rapid adoption of EVs even in the next few years my guess is that gas prices might start to fall. By 2024 we might be back to $3 a gallon, and maybe even less by 2029.

stickguy

Any engine should last that long if you do all required maintenance. And if you don’t they can deny the claim. So not much risk to them!

roadburner

When I bought the Mazdaspeed 3 numerous “experts” on a couple of the Mazda forums warned me about oil dilution; in particular they advised against using Mobil 1 and extending oil changes past 3000 miles. I decided to actually find out what was going on and utilized used oil analysis. As it turned out, the UOA results indicated that a 7500 mile oil change interval was-if anything-a bit on the conservative side. And the results never indicated any problem with fuel contamination of the oil. When I sold the MS3 after 8 years and 158,000 miles it was still running great.

jipster

@benjaminh said:
The fact that Honda offers an extended warranty to 150k obviously means they expect their engines to last at least that long.

Agree with you on skipping the unneeded services that Honda World keeps pushing.

Your 36 mpg average is a very good. My TLX has had an average of 32 mpg over the last 6000 miles, and I thought I was doing well. What kind of mpg did your previous car get?

By 2029 when your warranty runs out probably most Hondas will be EVs. Given the rapid adoption of EVs even in the next few years my guess is that gas prices might start to fall. By 2024 we might be back to $3 a gallon, and maybe even less by 2029.

My previous car was a 2008 Mercury Mariner. It averaged 24 mpg on a 3.0, 6 cylinder Duratec engine. Ran fairly well until someone smashed into it at 50 mph. 😞

jmonroe1

@tjc78 said:
Uhaul does have some crazy rates depending what you are doing. When I rented a pickup and a trailer for my golf cart an all day round trip rental with all the extra miles was much cheaper than a 2 hour rental one way.

Also found that just changing the pickup location one or two towns over can be much cheaper. Strange.

————————————————
You are right about crazy prices at U-Haul but there is probably a method to their madness. Here’s my U-Haul story:

When I was getting ready to move back to the Burgh from SC the first week of August in ‘97, even though I officially retired from my company at the end of ‘96, I was already working as a consultant to the company I retired from. I didn’t want to move back to the Burgh before I turned 55 (my birthday is in July) just to be sure I didn’t have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of my home in SC. That’s why I came back to the Burgh and started working as a consultant before my move back to the Burgh sooner. Just wanted to explain the delay in moving back.

Anyway, I called a U-Haul place in the town I was working in to see if they could make me a reservation for a rental from one of their places where I lived in SC. The guy said he could do it but felt it would be better for me to talk directly to the SC U-Haul place especially since I wanted to arrange for guys to load two 26 footers so that Son #1 and I could drive them back to the Burgh. While I was speaking to him, just to get an idea what the cost would be, I asked the local guy for his price to move to SC from the Burgh. He gave me a price that was close to what I was expecting but he immediately said, “I’m positive you’ll get a better price from the guy in the South to move back to the Burgh.” That sounded a little strange since the time and mileage would be identical.

When I spoke to the guy in SC his price was a little less than half of what the guy in the Burgh wanted to move South. When I asked the guy why his price was so much less his answer was, “they are SCREAMING for equipment in the North and we’re overflowing with trucks here in the South because of all the folks moving South”. He said it was getting so bad they were shuttling guys down South to drive trucks back up North. Just to have some fun with him I remember saying something like, “oh, if that’s the case why don’t you pay me to drive 2 trucks North”. His response was, “you’re getting a great price for those 2 trucks, but if the shortage of trucks gets any worse up North, U-Haul just might do that”. Like almost everything in life, timing is everything.

jmonroe

stickguy

I know they work based on what they need where, but it seemed like a crazy difference for 2 locations about 35 miles apart to pick up, ending at the same place.

must just do it by state, not accounting for where in the state you are.

benjaminh

jipster said:

My previous car was a 2008 Mercury Mariner. It averaged 24 mpg on a 3.0, 6 cylinder Duratec engine. Ran fairly well until someone smashed into it at 50 mph. 😞

Seems like good mpg for a 6-cylinder, but I bet you're glad to be averaging in the mid-30s now.

As an anecdotal thing about the durability of Honda's 1.5 turbo, you might watch a bit of this video of a guy with his 2017 Civic with the 1.5T who's already made it past 100,000 miles. He's changing his spark plugs, and the old ones (at about 9:50) actually look more or less okay. He doesn't mention any other issues, and so it seems like he's cruising past 100k with just regular maintenance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEtOGy-K0UM

explorerx4

Short distances are what lead to oil dilution. The engine doesn't warm up enough to burn off the fuel in the oil.

henryn

Well, heck, it looks like I’m going to have to go through shopping for homeowner’s insurance all over again. I got a letter today from Progressive which really set me off. They don’t like the clutter around my house, and I have to clean it up immediately, and submit proof, or else. I called and had a really not pleasant conversation, and wound up canceling my homeowner’s insurance effective immediately.

With discounts in effect for combining homeowner’s and auto insurance, I will probably have to cancel their auto insurance as well, but that’s not clear yet. Going back over the letter, and the threatening tone therein, combined with the hostility on the phone conversation, I’m pretty much convinced that they wanted to run me off. No idea why, I haven’t submitted any claims, and I’ve only had this policy since the end of April. I prepaid for a year of coverage, and they’re refunding most of that.

I also prepaid for 6 months of auto insurance, and it’s unclear if they will try to raise that rate now that they don’t have my homeowner’s insurance. But most companies offering homeowner’s insurance offer substantial discounts if you purchase all of your insurance coverage from the same company, so …

What a mess.

stickguy

seems odd. but insurance companies have mysterious ways of working, and they do what seems important to them.

speaking of homeowners, apparently someone in the buying chain let Geico know we are going to need a policy on the new place. got an email and call from an agent, who know all the details (address, etc.) so I talked to her.

turned out their quote was over $500 less than I pay now. a nice little bonus in this deal! I need to find out about car insurance too from them (and bundled) and call Allstate (my current) to find out what they will want to roll it over. Will probably just get a new company for homeowners and switch the cars over once I get up there. Probably need to get the registrations and plates switched over first, but will do it before my current policy expires.

sda

henryn said:

Well, heck, it looks like I’m going to have to go through shopping for homeowner’s insurance all over again. I got a letter today from Progressive which really set me off. They don’t like the clutter around my house, and I have to clean it up immediately, and submit proof, or else. I called and had a really not pleasant conversation, and wound up canceling my homeowner’s insurance effective immediately.

With discounts in effect for combining homeowner’s and auto insurance, I will probably have to cancel their auto insurance as well, but that’s not clear yet. Going back over the letter, and the threatening tone therein, combined with the hostility on the phone conversation, I’m pretty much convinced that they wanted to run me off. No idea why, I haven’t submitted any claims, and I’ve only had this policy since the end of April. I prepaid for a year of coverage, and they’re refunding most of that.

I also prepaid for 6 months of auto insurance, and it’s unclear if they will try to raise that rate now that they don’t have my homeowner’s insurance. But most companies offering homeowner’s insurance offer substantial discounts if you purchase all of your insurance coverage from the same company, so …

What a mess.

Why were they scrutinizing your house and yard? Seems odd?

driver100

sda said:

henryn said:

Well, heck, it looks like I’m going to have to go through shopping for homeowner’s insurance all over again. I got a letter today from Progressive which really set me off. They don’t like the clutter around my house, and I have to clean it up immediately, and submit proof, or else. I called and had a really not pleasant conversation, and wound up canceling my homeowner’s insurance effective immediately.

With discounts in effect for combining homeowner’s and auto insurance, I will probably have to cancel their auto insurance as well, but that’s not clear yet. Going back over the letter, and the threatening tone therein, combined with the hostility on the phone conversation, I’m pretty much convinced that they wanted to run me off. No idea why, I haven’t submitted any claims, and I’ve only had this policy since the end of April. I prepaid for a year of coverage, and they’re refunding most of that.

I also prepaid for 6 months of auto insurance, and it’s unclear if they will try to raise that rate now that they don’t have my homeowner’s insurance. But most companies offering homeowner’s insurance offer substantial discounts if you purchase all of your insurance coverage from the same company, so …

What a mess.

Why were they scrutinizing your house and yard? Seems odd?

Yeh, what are you planting around your house?

We couldn't get our home insurance certified unless we got eaves trough extension on one eaves trough. They thought the water could run off into the house. We had to get a longer extension and take a photo.

driver100

@jmonroe1 Since Andre posted mini-novels JMonroe is back trying to compete for the longest post award.

imidazol97

I think, _think_, our State Farm agent checks the property. Long ago the previous SF agent said something about the property, indicating he had inspected it. It may have been that we had added a storage building, 10x12, and hadn't told them. So he had added it to the policy for our protection.

To me it makes sense they take a check of the upkeep and the state of the property they are insuring.

imidazol97

Started to drive the Malibu over to the airport to drop off a FedEx package. I was about a hundred feet down the road and I saw the info center said low tire pressure. No bells. No whistles. Apparently it was low
from the time I moved out of the garage. I thought low pressure would have alerting noises like my leSabre had.

I back up slowly into the driveway, got the electric air pump and pumped the tire up to 35. Then jacked up the car and put soapy water on the tire. Voila. A nail head with air bubling out fairly rapidly.

So it's a nail picked up fairly close to home and the car was parked for 7 days.

Grumble. I'll have to take the wheel off and run it over to my Chevy dealer tomorrow for repair. I don't think I damaged the sidewall inside because I was going slow and only went about 200 feet.

imidazol97

I was just at the dealer today for the Cruze and they found the belt tensioner was making a squeaking sound as it was moved in and out. So they ordered the part and a new belt to replace. When it rains, it pours.

BTW, We had tornadoes last evening. We were at the local Menards store (Lowes/Home Depot) and the dark clouds off to the west apparently carried a tornado that hit about a mile north of where we were for Menards and a Big Boy sandwich at Frisch's at almost the time we got on the interstate to bug out south away from the area.

Leveled a corner of a large Meijer stores distribution center (Midwest version of Walmart and Kroger Marketplace).

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

@driver100 said:

I think Snake has a good idea. Sell it "as is" and don't put any money into it. If some guy wants an inexpensive car and if he can fix it himself it will be a win/win. If you fix it you may spend money you won't get back...you may not even be able to get everything fixed. Some guy that is handy might know how to fix everything...and you would have no guilty feelings.

My friend has a Volvo that is a few years old. He had an airbag sensor that didn't work, the airbag wouldn't have worked if needed. A chain garage gave him a price of $950 to buy a sensor and install it, which required a lot of labor. His small garage guy said he could buy a used sensor from a wrecker, try to patch it into the system - it might work and it might not. It worked and cost $200 to fix. A good mechanic can do wonders.

That's what we are doing with my sisters vehicles. A Prius and a Burgman (a large scooter), sell as is disclosing the situation and trying to price accordingly. We do have buyers for each.

The same with house quite often. Why fix it up with fancy stuff the new buyer may not want, when you can sell it for less, and let them decorate the way they want it.
By the time you pay for the repairs, which may or may not work, you can sell the car to someone who can fix it themselves.

We sold my son’s Mercury Sable like that. It had a code for a cylinder misfire which we attributed to a burnt valve due to an overheating incident. We were honest in our representations and sold it cheap to someone who thought he could fix it. We didn’t pull the “just needs a tune up” routine.

If you’re selling a truly compromised car, sell it cheap so the buyer can afford to do at least enough repairs to make it safe on the road.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

@jmonroe1 Since Andre posted mini-novels JMonroe is back trying to compete for the longest post award.

————————————————-
I knew it would be you to remind me of my old ways. But, you have to consider the content too.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

Well, heck, it looks like I’m going to have to go through shopping for homeowner’s insurance all over again. I got a letter today from Progressive which really set me off. They don’t like the clutter around my house, and I have to clean it up immediately, and submit proof, or else. I called and had a really not pleasant conversation, and wound up canceling my homeowner’s insurance effective immediately.

With discounts in effect for combining homeowner’s and auto insurance, I will probably have to cancel their auto insurance as well, but that’s not clear yet. Going back over the letter, and the threatening tone therein, combined with the hostility on the phone conversation, I’m pretty much convinced that they wanted to run me off. No idea why, I haven’t submitted any claims, and I’ve only had this policy since the end of April. I prepaid for a year of coverage, and they’re refunding most of that.

I also prepaid for 6 months of auto insurance, and it’s unclear if they will try to raise that rate now that they don’t have my homeowner’s insurance. But most companies offering homeowner’s insurance offer substantial discounts if you purchase all of your insurance coverage from the same company, so …

What a mess.

For what it’s worth, you sound just like me. Unless the clutter around your house was dynamite or barrels of gasoline, it’s none of their business.

stickguy

one company (I think Allstate) when I signed up with them actually had to send someone out to do a visual inspection. and apparently they really came. I did not care, just found it surprising.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

sda said:

henryn said:

Well, heck, it looks like I’m going to have to go through shopping for homeowner’s insurance all over again. I got a letter today from Progressive which really set me off. They don’t like the clutter around my house, and I have to clean it up immediately, and submit proof, or else. I called and had a really not pleasant conversation, and wound up canceling my homeowner’s insurance effective immediately.

With discounts in effect for combining homeowner’s and auto insurance, I will probably have to cancel their auto insurance as well, but that’s not clear yet. Going back over the letter, and the threatening tone therein, combined with the hostility on the phone conversation, I’m pretty much convinced that they wanted to run me off. No idea why, I haven’t submitted any claims, and I’ve only had this policy since the end of April. I prepaid for a year of coverage, and they’re refunding most of that.

I also prepaid for 6 months of auto insurance, and it’s unclear if they will try to raise that rate now that they don’t have my homeowner’s insurance. But most companies offering homeowner’s insurance offer substantial discounts if you purchase all of your insurance coverage from the same company, so …

What a mess.

Why were they scrutinizing your house and yard? Seems odd?

Yeh, what are you planting around your house?

We couldn't get our home insurance certified unless we got eaves trough extension on one eaves trough. They thought the water could run off into the house. We had to get a longer extension and take a photo.

When my long time agent retired his replacement asked for photos. I guess he didn’t believe that my house existed.

venture

driver100 said:

sda said:

henryn said:

Well, heck, it looks like I’m going to have to go through shopping for homeowner’s insurance all over again. I got a letter today from Progressive which really set me off. They don’t like the clutter around my house, and I have to clean it up immediately, and submit proof, or else. I called and had a really not pleasant conversation, and wound up canceling my homeowner’s insurance effective immediately.

With discounts in effect for combining homeowner’s and auto insurance, I will probably have to cancel their auto insurance as well, but that’s not clear yet. Going back over the letter, and the threatening tone therein, combined with the hostility on the phone conversation, I’m pretty much convinced that they wanted to run me off. No idea why, I haven’t submitted any claims, and I’ve only had this policy since the end of April. I prepaid for a year of coverage, and they’re refunding most of that.

I also prepaid for 6 months of auto insurance, and it’s unclear if they will try to raise that rate now that they don’t have my homeowner’s insurance. But most companies offering homeowner’s insurance offer substantial discounts if you purchase all of your insurance coverage from the same company, so …

What a mess.

Why were they scrutinizing your house and yard? Seems odd?

Yeh, what are you planting around your house?

We couldn't get our home insurance certified unless we got eaves trough extension on one eaves trough. They thought the water could run off into the house. We had to get a longer extension and take a photo.

When we first moved into our house the insurance company came and looked at it. Their only comment was that the sidewalk leading from the front door to the street was "irregular". I told them it was a flagstone walk. They are all irregular. That was the end of it.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

one company (I think Allstate) when I signed up with them actually had to send someone out to do a visual inspection. and apparently they really came. I did not care, just found it surprising.

Where I live, every insurance company has someone take a look at your property, when you sign up for the first time.

tjc78

Weird. I did new homeowners twice in a year (2 different homes) and they never did an inspection. Maybe because they were able to see the sales listing pictures?

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

Weird. I did new homeowners twice in a year (2 different homes) and they never did an inspection. Maybe because they were able to see the sales listing pictures?

Or, they might have, and you didn't know it? They just drive by and take pictures.

tjc78

@kyfdx
True, I would have no way of knowing

ab348

This is going back 25 years to when I bought this place. As it was my first house I knew nothing, but did realize I needed to get insurance lined up prior to or shortly after closing. I asked the previous owner who he used, and he told me the name of a local independent agency. I called them, explained their customer had recommended me, and that I'd like them to quote me to let the coverage continue. They weren't interested, for reasons that were never stated and which to this day baffle me since the house is in a good area and was well-kept and maintained. I ran into the previous owner some time later and told him that, and he acted shocked.

I called the insurance company that handled my car insurance and they were happy to quote me, but said they needed to send out an inspector. Fine. The guy who showed up was a bit of an oddball but nice enough. He spent a lot of time looking over the place and the only thing he found was an electrical outlet in the basement (probably installed by the P.O.) that had reversed polarity. No insurance company has showed any interest in looking at the place since.

kyfdx

Otherwise, @henryn could have a burned out shell of a house, and 3 months after signing up with Flo or the Gecko, puts in a claim.

sda

The 4 houses that I've owned, 1990 was the 1st, were new builds by an established builder. I don't recall the insurance company coming to inspect or take pictures. They just asked specific questions about the house, square footage, number of bedrooms, baths, building materials, etc. It is very possible they sent someone out to look at and take pictures but I was never notified. Same insurer for all houses.

graphicguy

So, got a chance to test drive 2 Integras last night. Both were A-Spec. One was an automatic, the other was a 6-speed. Wasn't extensive test drive, buy maybe 4-5 miles each.

No, I didn't buy anything, but I think I could have done an even-steven swap with my local Acura dealer given my Accord is a hybrid, which according to the Sales Manager, are red hot sellers right now.

Crazy, I know.

Impressions....well done Acura. I think they've differentiated the Integra enough from the Civic with the ELS stereo and upgrade materials that it's a worthwhile successor to the original.

Honda/Acura just does such a good job carefully building their cars that it's obvious when sitting in something like a Chevy or a Ford. Nothing against those brands.

Acura/Honda and Lexus/Toyota seem to do paint really, really well, too. The Integra (and my Accord) are no different.

The one I'd pick would be the 6-speed. Very fluid and precise shifter. Clutch is light and predictable. I hadn't driven a manual transmission in a little while, but it was easy as could be to do so smoothly in the Integra.

6-Speed is noticeably quicker than the automatic, which was no surprise. Steering and braking reminded me a lot of my Accord, which is a good thing.

The 6-speed was particularly fetching in a mid-silver color with red interior...right up my alley.

Could have pulled the trigger. I didn't because frankly, I like my Accord more.

stickguy

Sounds perfect to me!

sda

Tell us more about how the CVT drove and performed. Much has been written about how good the 6sp is.

cdnpinhead

graphicguy said:

Acura/Honda and Lexus/Toyota seem to do paint really, really well, too.

Most on here don't keep a car long enough the care, but Honda paint, especially red, didn't use to hold up well in the desert sun/heat -- maybe it's improved by now. It turns pink in a non-uniform way. Those who have to park outside at work have to deal with such things, and it's worse if you have to park outside as well (because the wife's "stuff" has filled too much of the garage).

driver100

If you're looking for something to watch

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

@jmonroe1 Since Andre posted mini-novels JMonroe is back trying to compete for the longest post award.

————————————————-
I knew it would be you to remind me of my old ways. But, you have to consider the content too.

jmonroe

I did!

driver100

kyfdx said:

tjc78 said:

Weird. I did new homeowners twice in a year (2 different homes) and they never did an inspection. Maybe because they were able to see the sales listing pictures?

Or, they might have, and you didn't know it? They just drive by and take pictures.

We had to let them in to take pictures of the furnace and water pump....which hasn't been used for 14 years.

driver100

sda said:

The 4 houses that I've owned, 1990 was the 1st, were new builds by an established builder.

I believe insurance companies inspecting houses is a new thing. For one thing, lots of scammers around these days. And they want to cut down paying out....better to spot a problem before the claim is made.

driver100

Has anyone heard about a huge increase in carjacking. This is what is happening in Toronto;
There have been over 100 carjackings in Toronto this year, which has led police to set up a new investigative unit to focus on the surge in violent thefts. There were 103 carjackings in the city in all of 2021.
Apparently, because of the chip shortage the value of stolen cars has gone way up. A lot of them take place right in the owner's driveway!

stickguy

Big in philly now too based on news reports.

ronsteve

The Integra is an interesting new player, and if I thought I could bring home a manual, you never know. But the wife doesn't drive stick at all, and I am not sure if the cargo logistics are what I need.

I'm vaguely wishing they would have put me in an Integra while I have the RDX in for the timing belt, but it's probably bad to increase temptation as I am forking out the $$ for major maintenance. The loaner they did get me in is a MDX Type-S, way more car than I would ever look at!

The MDX is big and drives like it (on the bigger-feeling end of the 3-rows that I have driven). The console gives it a bit of a jumbo-jet feel, and I am really not used to the width of the car. I guess I should consider myself lucky that it has so many driver aids. It can be pretty sedate under light throttle, and you really feel the weight of the vehicle. But it doesn't take long under even moderate throttle before you look at the dash and see you're going substantially faster than you thought (or intended). The shifts are quick and smooth, and the turbo V6 doesn't make a lot of noise going about its business, but it will get up and MOVE.

bwia

The Polestar 3 BEV is coming soon. It's a cute SUV with a range of 300+ miles.

https://link.autoweek.com/click/28013385.12185/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXV0b3dlZWsuY29tL25ld3MvZnV0dXJlLWNhcnMvYTQwMjI4OTU2L3BvbGVzdGFyLTMtdGVhc2VyLTM3Mi1taWxlLXJhbmdlLz9zb3VyY2U9bmwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1ubF9hdXQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZkYXRlPTA2MTAyMiZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmwyODAxMzM4NQ/601d6b6ea175d0646e72df7dCb5b1e30d

benjaminh

ronsteve said:

The Integra is an interesting new player, and if I thought I could bring home a manual, you never know. But the wife doesn't drive stick at all, and I am not sure if the cargo logistics are what I need.

I'm vaguely wishing they would have put me in an Integra while I have the RDX in for the timing belt, but it's probably bad to increase temptation as I am forking out the $$ for major maintenance. The loaner they did get me in is a MDX Type-S, way more car than I would ever look at!

The MDX is big and drives like it (on the bigger-feeling end of the 3-rows that I have driven). The console gives it a bit of a jumbo-jet feel, and I am really not used to the width of the car. I guess I should consider myself lucky that it has so many driver aids. It can be pretty sedate under light throttle, and you really feel the weight of the vehicle. But it doesn't take long under even moderate throttle before you look at the dash and see you're going substantially faster than you thought (or intended). The shifts are quick and smooth, and the turbo V6 doesn't make a lot of noise going about its business, but it will get up and MOVE.

You can buy two loaded Integras for the price of one MDX type S. The video tester below likes it a lot, but for $72k it should be pretty nice.

The Integra can hold c. 24+ cubic feet with the rear seats up, and about 55 with the seats down.

We're not going to do it, but in an random way I considered taking advantage of the high trade-in value of my wife's CR-V to "cash out"—and then just lease a new equivalent model for the next three years. But it's too much trouble to do that for something identical to what we've got now. Plus we love not having car payments for the first time in years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OobPh5w8Tj8&t=749s

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

This is going back 25 years to when I bought this place. As it was my first house I knew nothing, but did realize I needed to get insurance lined up prior to or shortly after closing. I asked the previous owner who he used, and he told me the name of a local independent agency. I called them, explained their customer had recommended me, and that I'd like them to quote me to let the coverage continue. They weren't interested, for reasons that were never stated and which to this day baffle me since the house is in a good area and was well-kept and maintained. I ran into the previous owner some time later and told him that, and he acted shocked.

I called the insurance company that handled my car insurance and they were happy to quote me, but said they needed to send out an inspector. Fine. The guy who showed up was a bit of an oddball but nice enough. He spent a lot of time looking over the place and the only thing he found was an electrical outlet in the basement (probably installed by the P.O.) that had reversed polarity. No insurance company has showed any interest in looking at the place since.

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Going so far as to check electrical outlets sounds more like a home inspection than an insurance company check . I never heard of an insurance company doing that.

Where I live if an insurance company even checks they only do it from the outside and like @kyfdx said most of the times you’ll never know they came by.

jmonroe

snakeweasel

cdnpinhead said:

graphicguy said:

Acura/Honda and Lexus/Toyota seem to do paint really, really well, too.

Most on here don't keep a car long enough the care, but Honda paint, especially red, didn't use to hold up well in the desert sun/heat -- maybe it's improved by now. It turns pink in a non-uniform way. Those who have to park outside at work have to deal with such things, and it's worse if you have to park outside as well (because the wife's "stuff" has filled too much of the garage).

Just thinking about that but the average age of our motor vehicles is just under 9 years with an average age of ownership of just over 7 years. Yeah I know I am the exception to what you said above but it made me think.

oldfarmer50

cdnpinhead said:

graphicguy said:

Acura/Honda and Lexus/Toyota seem to do paint really, really well, too.

Most on here don't keep a car long enough the care, but Honda paint, especially red, didn't use to hold up well in the desert sun/heat -- maybe it's improved by now. It turns pink in a non-uniform way. Those who have to park outside at work have to deal with such things, and it's worse if you have to park outside as well (because the wife's "stuff" has filled too much of the garage).

Honda black was famous for blasted clear coat as well. I’ve seen numerous rust free Accords in my area that I can immediately identify as from Florida because it looks like a blowtorch has been applied.

To be fair I’ve seen other car makers have similar clar coat problems if they last as long as a a Honda.

driver100

@snakeweasel a Certified Edmunds Poster

Certifiably what exactly?

oldfarmer50

I had a little spare time this morning so I sought validation of the imagined bargain I got on my son’s 2010 Fusion SEL we got 2 years ago this month for $8200. It only had 29k miles at the time so I searched for similar mileage. If I ever needed confirmation that we bought at just the right time this is it:

https://boston.craigslist.org/nos/ctd/d/revere-2010-ford-fusion-sel-sedan-4d/7485643985.html

Strangely, this was not an outlier. Prices are nuts.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

Has anyone heard about a huge increase in carjacking. This is what is happening in Toronto;
There have been over 100 carjackings in Toronto this year, which has led police to set up a new investigative unit to focus on the surge in violent thefts. There were 103 carjackings in the city in all of 2021.
Apparently, because of the chip shortage the value of stolen cars has gone way up. A lot of them take place right in the owner's driveway!

You must live an insulated life if you think that is a recent development. I think there may be other factors other than chip shortages involved.

sda

For a 12 year old car that might have been worth $4-6K?? in a non-covid, non-ship shortage world?? Incredible.