Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

Here’s something rotten.

My younger son who is disabled receives food stamps as part of his social security disability. The other day he received an email from what he thought was the government welfare agency which prompted him to enter his information. Long story short, it was a phishing scam and they emptied his account. $1000 was spent on his card in some Sam’s Club in Illinois.

He lives with me so he won’t starve but it just infuriates me knowing that crooks are now targeting the poor and disabled.

Disgusting. I love nailing low-life scum like that. No mercy.

abacomike

Was to Costco this morning for gasoline - $3.69.9 for premium. Two weeks ago I filled up for $3.39.9. That’s a 30 cent per gallon increase in just 2 weeks. And the economists are bragging that inflation was dropping! I’d like to know where and how. When I went shopping Wednesday, I paid $5.99 for a gallon of milk and passed on the eggs which were $3.99 a dozen. Butter was $6.99 a pound and the store brand bread loaves were $2.99 each.

All I see is prices continuing to rise. I wonder where those economists buy their food and gasoline? 🤪😜

ab348

Up here in the Great White North, the Land of Mountain-high Prices for just about everything, gasoline is not by any means cheap but down significantly from what it was a few months ago, now running around $1.40/liter. I have also noticed softening of grocery prices that all suddenly took a jump last fall. Using the ab348 grocery price index, I note that Harvest Crunch cereal, which up to about 6 months ago was often available at $3.00/box on promo, then jumped to a regular shelf price of $7.49 at Loblaws, was available yesterday for $3.49/box. A number of other items are also back more or less to their pre-inflation or pre-profiteer levels.

jipster

@abacomike said:
Was to Costco this morning for gasoline - $3.69.9 for premium. Two weeks ago I filled up for $3.39.9. That’s a 30 cent per gallon increase in just 2 weeks. And the economists are bragging that inflation was dropping! I’d like to know where and how. When I went shopping Wednesday, I paid $5.99 for a gallon of milk and passed on the eggs which were $3.99 a dozen. Butter was $6.99 a pound and the store brand bread loaves were $2.99 each.

All I see is prices continuing to rise. I wonder where those economists buy their food and gasoline? 🤪😜

$3.14 at Shell yesterday. Louisville. Probably not worth the trip though.

stickguy

even with the $.21 gas tax reinstated, RUG at the discount stations near me (Valero, Sunoco, Citgo) is still running at around $3.00.

kyfdx

Last week: $2.89 for RUG in Lexington, KY, while it was still $3.19 where I live, just 80 miles away.

Michaell

I paid $3.50/gal yesterday (less the rewards discount) for mid-grade at Kroger here in Colorado. Up a bit from the last time I filled up, which was before Christmas.

280 miles in 3 weeks. Man, I've got to get out more.

driver100

I don't like donut tires or RFTs!
Why you ask?
Yesterday my left front tire was down to 24 pounds....normal is 34.
I filled it up with air....$2 on my credit card and I noticed a big bolt stuck in it...on the curved part.
I called Goodyear, where I bough these tires 3 years ago and they said bring it in.
They can't patch it...not in a flat spot, and they have to order a tire.
They put the donut on....now I have a mean looking machine, from the left side.
They kept my wheel so that they can put the new tire on when it comes in, and they will call me.
If I had a full size spare it all could have been done in one easy step. This has made it a lot more complicated.
RFTs are even worse, sometimes take days or a week before they arrive. I'd probably have to order two tires. It is easier to drive on a donut than it is on a blown out RFT.
And then my worse case scenario, you are on a highway in the middle of Nothingberger U.S.A., you get a flat on Christmas Eve. You have to find a garage and a motel. They order the tire, hopefully have the equipment to install it, hopefully it is there within a few days.....and then and only then can you continue on your trip.

carnaught

@driver100, agreed - do any autos come standard with full sized tire spares anymore?

stickguy

a few trucks and SUVs likely do. Very rare for a car though. Most don’t even have room for one. Plus these days you are lucky to get a donut

My maverick has an optional “full size” spare. Not a donut but I think not the exact same size (and no alloy wheel) as my regular ones. But I could drive normally on it unlike a donut.

mjfloyd1

@carnaught said:
@driver100, agreed - do any autos come standard with full sized tire spares anymore?

My wranglers have one partially blocking the rear window

henryn

jwm40517 said:

Hey henryn. My wife arrived in Houston yesterday only about an hour late. Took off from Lexington on time and a one hour delay in Atlanta . At this time of year we were worried about snow but never thought about a giant FAA problem.
This is her 3rd trip back to M D Anderson for scans each quarter. Everything was good today. She spent 6 weeks there in March and April and was so wiped out from chemo she never left the property.

I'm glad to hear that "everything was good" for your wife. M D Anderson is probably the best cancer treatment center in the world.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

even with the $.21 gas tax reinstated, RUG at the discount stations near me (Valero, Sunoco, Citgo) is still running at around $3.00.

That has shocked me that it didn’t jump 20 cents a/o Jan. 1st. In fact a few stations went down a bit. They’re starting to creep back up though. When they dropped the tax last year a few of the convenience store chains only dropped the price 10 cents which was an actual price hike. What gouging.

sb55

stickguy said:

even with the $.21 gas tax reinstated, RUG at the discount stations near me (Valero, Sunoco, Citgo) is still running at around $3.00.

Vermont gas used to be less $ than NY. Not anymore in the Burlington area. It was $3.39 for regular a couple of days ago and premium now seems to be $0.80 or even $1.00 more now.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

I don't like donut tires or RFTs!
Why you ask?
Yesterday my left front tire was down to 24 pounds....normal is 34.
I filled it up with air....$2 on my credit card and I noticed a big bolt stuck in it...on the curved part.
I called Goodyear, where I bough these tires 3 years ago and they said bring it in.
They can't patch it...not in a flat spot, and they have to order a tire.
They put the donut on....now I have a mean looking machine, from the left side.
They kept my wheel so that they can put the new tire on when it comes in, and they will call me.
If I had a full size spare it all could have been done in one easy step. This has made it a lot more complicated.
RFTs are even worse, sometimes take days or a week before they arrive. I'd probably have to order two tires. It is easier to drive on a donut than it is on a blown out RFT.
And then my worse case scenario, you are on a highway in the middle of Nothingberger U.S.A., you get a flat on Christmas Eve. You have to find a garage and a motel. They order the tire, hopefully have the equipment to install it, hopefully it is there within a few days.....and then and only then can you continue on your trip.

Ha ha, I googled Nothingberger USA and my town map came up.😫

stickguy

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

even with the $.21 gas tax reinstated, RUG at the discount stations near me (Valero, Sunoco, Citgo) is still running at around $3.00.

That has shocked me that it didn’t jump 20 cents a/o Jan. 1st. In fact a few stations went down a bit. They’re starting to creep back up though. When they dropped the tax last year a few of the convenience store chains only dropped the price 10 cents which was an actual price hike. What gouging.

Don't quote me on the exact details, but I believe the tax is applied at the wholesale level. So the station pays it when their tanks get filled. They don't collect it as they pump (which would be a mess probably having every individual station sending in gas taxes).

so in that case, there would be a lag, and the price would not change by exactly that much since it is still dependent on what the wholesaler charged to fill their tank.

driver100

carnaught said:

@driver100, agreed - do any autos come standard with full sized tire spares anymore?

Good question carnaught and I don't think it is a matter of safety or convenience. It is a question of 1) costs less and 2) weighs less, and maybe 3) gives the impression there is more trunk space.

roadburner

stickguy said:

a few trucks and SUVs likely do. Very rare for a car though. Most don’t even have room for one. Plus these days you are lucky to get a donut

My maverick has an optional “full size” spare. Not a donut but I think not the exact same size (and no alloy wheel) as my regular ones. But I could drive normally on it unlike a donut.

A spare is optional on a few BMWs. My Wrangler and Club Sport are my only cars that have spares. The Club Sport's spare is accessed from below like on a pickup; I've only removed it once, and that was so I could access the fill and drain plugs on the differential.

stickguy

At least now I know why I own a ford. At dealer getting oil changed (local kinda country dealer). And waiting lounge was full of gray haired old geezers. So I fit right in, though I was still definitely the youngest.

carnaught

They called Cadillac service waiting areas, “God’s waiting room”. Do not be offended @ab348 as I had a Cadillac too 🙁.

imidazol97

On the price of the cereal box that went way up and is now down in price, it's likely due not only to a reduction in wholesale/retail price but is due to a reduction in content. Size of box stays same--makes for easier shipping packing in factory without changing box sizes--but the actual content (weight) of cereal you get is lower. So the hidden price increase is still there.

I picked up Hershey bars for Christmas and was amazed at how thin they felt. Less chocolate but package of the bar still looked the same sitting on the shelf, but the bar was cracker thin when I picked it up.

henryn

carnaught said:

They called Cadillac service waiting areas, “God’s waiting room”. Do not be offended @ab348 as I had a Cadillac too 🙁.

I thought that was Florida?

carnaught

When I lived in Fl, they said “the old people live in Miami and their parents in St. Petersburg”.

tjc78

@imidazol97 said:
On the price of the cereal box that went way up and is now down in price, it's likely due not only to a reduction in wholesale/retail price but is due to a reduction in content. Size of box stays same--makes for easier shipping packing in factory without changing box sizes--but the actual content (weight) of cereal you get is lower. So the hidden price increase is still there.

I picked up Hershey bars for Christmas and was amazed at how thin they felt. Less chocolate but package of the bar still looked the same sitting on the shelf, but the bar was cracker thin when I picked it up.

“Shrinkflation”

laurasdada

At the grocery store, Turkey Hill ice cream on sale, 2/$5. A mix of cartons, some 1.5 quarts, some 1.44 quarts. I'll guess 1.5 were older, the 1.44 in with the new.

I bought the "big" ones, of course!

snakeweasel

carnaught said:

@driver100, agreed - do any autos come standard with full sized tire spares anymore?

IIRC my Mustang had one of those small donut tires. One time I got a flat out in the middle of nowhere Alaska and put on the silly little spare and drove the 30 or so miles to the nearest tire place which was 20-25 miles of gravel road. By the time we got there the spare was shall we say shot and needed replacement. At the tire place the guy told us that the spare was done and needed to be replaced but they didn't carry the small donut spares. But he also showed us the rim from the normal tire and the rim of the spare tire and guess what? They were the same size so he put on a new normal tire and the darn thing fit in the tire well of the truck.

kyfdx

I don't mind the full-height compact spares.

sda

If your vehicle has a spare tire of some sort, or one of those cans of stop leak, remember to check tire pressure or level of charge. No fun having a flat and finding out the spare is flat too.

henryn

snakeweasel said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, agreed - do any autos come standard with full sized tire spares anymore?

IIRC my Mustang had one of those small donut tires. One time I got a flat out in the middle of nowhere Alaska and put on the silly little spare and drove the 30 or so miles to the nearest tire place which was 20-25 miles of gravel road. By the time we got there the spare was shall we say shot and needed replacement. At the tire place the guy told us that the spare was done and needed to be replaced but they didn't carry the small donut spares. But he also showed us the rim from the normal tire and the rim of the spare tire and guess what? They were the same size so he put on a new normal tire and the darn thing fit in the tire well of the truck.

You seem to have gotten your wires crossed here: "Mustang" vs "tire well of the truck".

stickguy

had to 3rd base coach a family car emergency. The Princess (in Boston) face timed late this afternoon that her car (6 month old Mazda that I just took in for 1st oil change 2 weeks ago) was broken. had power but an assortment of odd messages popping up (the worst being put foot on brake to start, since, well, it would not start). Turns out she thought it did a couple funny things (like settings resetting) the last few days.

my gut said it was a voltage issue so likely a bad battery. discussed options, and she called the dealer who thankfully had a smart service advisor that I think remoted in to make sure there were no software updates or errors, but came to the same conclusion, and told her to get it up there (well, down there) and they would get her in somehow. Then princess called roadside.

shockingly, they came in 20 minutes instead of 60-90 quoted, and thankfully the car fired right up. She drove straight to the dealer who took the car right in, and about 20 minutes later she was on her way with a new battery.

got them on their way to a weekend away in NH only a couple of hours late, practically a miracle for a dead car on Friday afternoon.

lucky it jumped because it was in their parking spot in an absurdly tight garage under their building (a CX 30 barely fits, and they have double decker lifts making it even harder to manuever around). zero chance a truck gets down there, so I assume it would have required pushing it out as far as possible then running a winch cable down and winching it out, assuming they could get close enough. Joys of city living!

driver100

I think snake had one of these;

stickguy

both of my spares live under the car. so in theory easy to check pressure, but pretty sure both valve stems point up so no way to get at them. and getting them out is a major project. probably easier to carry a portable inflator and deal with it if needed.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

If your vehicle has a spare tire of some sort, or one of those cans of stop leak, remember to check tire pressure or level of charge. No fun having a flat and finding out the spare is flat too.

My Mustang has no spare but the car reminds me to change the can of fix-a-flat once every 4 or 5 years.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

I think snake had one of these;

That actually looks cute in a Frankensteinish sort of way. Ford has been slapping the Mustang name on everything lately so why not a Mustang Baja?

stickguy

that looks great. Ford could easily do that on the current Mustang platform.

jmonroe1

@abacomike said:
Was to Costco this morning for gasoline - $3.69.9 for premium. Two weeks ago I filled up for $3.39.9. That’s a 30 cent per gallon increase in just 2 weeks. And the economists are bragging that inflation was dropping! I’d like to know where and how. When I went shopping Wednesday, I paid $5.99 for a gallon of milk and passed on the eggs which were $3.99 a dozen. Butter was $6.99 a pound and the store brand bread loaves were $2.99 each.

All I see is prices continuing to rise. I wonder where those economists buy their food and gasoline? 🤪😜

————————————————
As we were headed out to dinner on Wednesday night in Mrs. j’s Subie I had the red left turn arrow light at the intersection about 2 miles from our house. I’m always at that intersection either coming or going to our house. As I was waiting I saw the Marathon station showing $3.64 for RUG and the Sunoco across the street was $3.79. The tank was at 1/4 so I asked her to remind me to get gas when we came back (at the Marathon where I get gas most of the time). As I continue driving to the restaurant, I remembered that I could stop at Sam’s on the way back because I would be driving right buy it. I told her if the lines were as crazy as I’ve noticed when we go to Sam’s for grocery items weekday afternoons I wasn’t waiting. I’d just go to the Marathon station. As I’m approaching the tanks I see lots of taillights. I figured I was going to leave. As I got closer I could see a tanker filling the tanks which is what backed things up. Then I noticed the cars going around the tanker to get to the available pumps. Of course the guy in front of me got the last open pump but just then I saw a car pulling out at a pump that would allow me to get gas on the right side of the car. Lucky me. Then I had even more luck since RUG there was $3.39. I’ve gotten gas at Sam’s a few times but I never saw a price difference like that before. It’s usually about a dime to 12 cents. So, I told Mrs. j how clever I was to stop at Sam’s. She said, “so now you’re going to get gas here like all those cars you laugh at that sit in lines here to save a dime on a gallon”. Nope, when I go to Sam’s I’ll try it but I’m not driving about 10 miles round trip to save a dime under normal circumstances. Wednesday night had to be an anomaly.

When you see the lines at Sam’s during weekdays when we go there, I swear I’m the only dope in the county that doesn’t buy gas there to save a dime per gallon. I’m all about convenience now.

jmonroe

driver100

@jmonroe1
I told you about the lady neighbor who drove 4 of us to a restaurant, and since we were close to Sam's Club she just had to get gas. We waited 15 minutes behind 6 cars, it was taking too long so she decided to get gas after dinner.
After dinner we risk our lives driving across Sam's parking lot to line up again, this time behind 3 cars.
She finally pulls up to the pump....on the wrong side of the pump.
I offer to pump the gas for her, I have to hold the nozzle on some crazy angle for it to reach the filler outlet.
I start pumping and she tells me to stop when it gets to $15.
We did all that for 5 gallons of gas.....to save about a buck!!!!!!
If she filled it up she wouldn't have to go through that as often.
That is 30 minutes of my life I will never get back.....next time I drive or don't go!!!!!!!

driver100

My MB dealer asked me if I was interested in a new previously owned MB. I put a cap of $30000 on the current inventory. I got this C Class;
2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
4dr Sdn C 300 Luxury 4MATIC
Used
149,741 Miles
Price
$19,895


Anyone think that is a good deal? Our 2014 has 40k miles and is probably worth about $12k as a trade-in...I'd much rather have it.
Using oldfarmer's formula this car should be selling for about $3000.

henryn

driver100 said:

My MB dealer asked me if I was interested in a new previously owned MB. I put a cap of $30000 on the current inventory. I got this C Class;
2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
4dr Sdn C 300 Luxury 4MATIC
Used
149,741 Miles
Price
$19,895


Anyone think that is a good deal? Our 2014 has 40k miles and is probably worth about $12k as a trade-in...I'd much rather have it.
Using oldfarmer's formula this car should be selling for about $3000.

8 years old, 150k miles, $20k, that's a hard pass from me. I'm sure someone will buy it, just not me.

stickguy

tough sell probably. but you could be a good candidate for this one. has more equipment you seem to want, which is good. and putting so few miles on it, before you know it, miles will be normal!

Michaell

stickguy said:

tough sell probably. but you could be a good candidate for this one. has more equipment you seem to want, which is good. and putting so few miles on it, before you know it, miles will be normal!

Who needs 4Matic in South Florida?

And, it's black, probably the worst color to have there.

stickguy

but it probably has a backup camera!

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

My MB dealer asked me if I was interested in a new previously owned MB. I put a cap of $30000 on the current inventory. I got this C Class;
2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
4dr Sdn C 300 Luxury 4MATIC
Used
149,741 Miles
Price
$19,895


Anyone think that is a good deal? Our 2014 has 40k miles and is probably worth about $12k as a trade-in...I'd much rather have it.
Using oldfarmer's formula this car should be selling for about $3000.

I don’t think I have a formula to cover a miled up high maintenance car like that. Maybe: If you spend less fixing it every year than you paid for it, it’s a good deal.

driver100

stickguy said:

tough sell probably. but you could be a good candidate for this one. has more equipment you seem to want, which is good. and putting so few miles on it, before you know it, miles will be normal!

Some good points but I'd rather have mine, especially because it only has 40k miles on it so should last longer than me at this rate....and I know the car. Would like a backup camera but getting used to not having one. I usually back into parking spaces, it's quite an art to judge the rear and the white lines - without a camera.

mjfloyd1

@henryn said:
You seem to have gotten your wires crossed here: "Mustang" vs "tire well of the truck".

Replace truck with trunk

ab348

driver100 said:

Anyone think that is a good deal? Our 2014 has 40k miles and is probably worth about $12k as a trade-in...I'd much rather have it.
Using oldfarmer's formula this car should be selling for about $3000.

Treat it like street drugs and just say no.

abacomike

Woke up this morning to a cold condo. Put on TV for weather report and I learned it was 42 degrees here in my city. That’s really cold for South Florida. Tomorrow morning lows are forecasted to be in the mid to upper 30’s. Iguanas will be all over the place looking dead from the cold. They are rampant here in South Florida.

State had a bounty on them along with pythons and I believe gators (not sure).

venture

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

tough sell probably. but you could be a good candidate for this one. has more equipment you seem to want, which is good. and putting so few miles on it, before you know it, miles will be normal!

Some good points but I'd rather have mine, especially because it only has 40k miles on it so should last longer than me at this rate....and I know the car. Would like a backup camera but getting used to not having one. I usually back into parking spaces, it's quite an art to judge the rear and the white lines - without a camera.

Solution - Don't back in.

snakeweasel

henryn said:

snakeweasel said:

carnaught said:

@driver100, agreed - do any autos come standard with full sized tire spares anymore?

IIRC my Mustang had one of those small donut tires. One time I got a flat out in the middle of nowhere Alaska and put on the silly little spare and drove the 30 or so miles to the nearest tire place which was 20-25 miles of gravel road. By the time we got there the spare was shall we say shot and needed replacement. At the tire place the guy told us that the spare was done and needed to be replaced but they didn't carry the small donut spares. But he also showed us the rim from the normal tire and the rim of the spare tire and guess what? They were the same size so he put on a new normal tire and the darn thing fit in the tire well of the truck.

You seem to have gotten your wires crossed here: "Mustang" vs "tire well of the truck".

It's a glitch in the Edmunds program that autocorrects wrong.

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

My MB dealer asked me if I was interested in a new previously owned MB. I put a cap of $30000 on the current inventory. I got this C Class;
2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
4dr Sdn C 300 Luxury 4MATIC
Used
149,741 Miles
Price
$19,895


Anyone think that is a good deal? Our 2014 has 40k miles and is probably worth about $12k as a trade-in...I'd much rather have it.
Using oldfarmer's formula this car should be selling for about $3000.

I think you should run, not walk, to the nearest exit.