Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

stickguy

Bonus shot of the concrete block bed edging too.

sda

I hope you rewarded yourself with a cold beer or two!

Michaell

Had a massive hailstorm roll through yesterday. Golf-ball sized hail fell for a short bit, but maybe 20 minutes of hail altogether.

Will likely need to get someone out to look at our roof and solar panels to see if there is any damage up there.

stickguy

there is always a beer at the end of a hard work project. It is what keeps me going until the end.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.

and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

In my younger wilder days I would do drives like that.

stickguy said:
who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.
and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

btw, a lot people drive from Toronto Canada to Florida....about 1500 miles, which they do in about 24 hours with no overnight stops......sometimes with 2 or 3 drivers, often one.
How would you do that with a range of 300 miles?

tjc78

Looks great! I need to spruce up the front gardens. The trim is getting beat up and the shrubs are a touch overgrown

carnaught

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.

and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

In my younger wilder days I would do drives like that.

stickguy said:
who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.
and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

btw, a lot people drive from Toronto Canada to Florida....about 1500 miles, which they do in about 24 hours with no overnight stops......sometimes with 2 or 3 drivers, often one.
How would you do that with a range of 300 miles?

What you are asking sounds like a nightmare.

kyfdx

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.

and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

In my younger wilder days I would do drives like that.

stickguy said:
who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.
and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

btw, a lot people drive from Toronto Canada to Florida....about 1500 miles, which they do in about 24 hours with no overnight stops......sometimes with 2 or 3 drivers, often one.
How would you do that with a range of 300 miles?

You know what? The 0.001% of the North American population that does that? They probably shouldn't get an EV. Maybe, a therapist.

laurasdada

My parents did the CT to FL drive annually. But, two days; they always stayed at the same Holiday Inn, IIRC, in Virginia or NC.

laurasdada

I did the CT to FL (Boca, a long way from the border!) drive once in <24 hours, spring break with three buddies sharing the driving. In Dad's Renault LeCar, manual. Only three of us could drive a stick, the fourth learned on the fly! Sorry, Dad...

stickguy

right tools for the job. As noted, if your usual driving is long haul runs, an EV is not likely the best choice (but still doable). But I would bet the majority of people never drive more than 300 miles from home anyway. or maybe take 1 vacation a year and if needed could rent a car for that.

But, people justify buying a full size PU because they get bags of mulch once a year, so YMMV.

I have almost talked myself into an EV as a 2nd car now with our current needs. though the wife has no intention of selling her RDX for one so just theoretical.

roadburner

I would be interested in a high performance PHEV- think C43e or M340e. The upcoming M5 is rumored to be a PHEV, but it's out of my price range.

stickguy

I still think a PHEV is the best solution for most people, at least until battery design and charging infrastructure move ahead enough to make range anxiety a thing of the past. More complex of course.

venture

The title for the Ascent came today. In 4 days it would have been 9 months after paying it off.

I mailed a certified check to pay off the BMW yesterday. Now we wait.

jmonroe1

@venture said:
The title for the Ascent came today. In 4 days it would have been 9 months after paying it off.

I mailed a certified check to pay off the BMW yesterday. Now we wait.

————————————————
I’m guessing BMW will be faster. If not, you’re the common denominator.

jmonroe

stickguy

I am debating paying off the Acura now, even though it probably does not make sense. Just to have it done. should really put the money against the mortgage though since that is a real interest rate!

can just wait it out. both will be running out in just under 2 years anyway even if I do nothing.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

I am debating paying off the Acura now, even though it probably does not make sense. Just to have it done. should really put the money against the mortgage though since that is a real interest rate!

can just wait it out. both will be running out in just under 2 years anyway even if I do nothing.

Less than two years? I might not bother

stickguy

it is more symbolic than anything else. plus I don't really notice it because we switched banks when we moved and left the old one with that direct debit for the cars (one of which is now gone) with nothing going into it. don't really even notice that account now, but once the loan is done I can close it.

ab348

stickguy said:

it is more symbolic than anything else. plus I don't really notice it because we switched banks when we moved and left the old one with that direct debit for the cars (one of which is now gone) with nothing going into it. don't really even notice that account now, but once the loan is done I can close it.

Geez, if you have that kind of money where you don't even care about a bank account full of cash I would kinda think you could have hired someone to do all that backbreaking manual labor Mrs Stick demands of you.

stickguy

ab348 said:

stickguy said:

it is more symbolic than anything else. plus I don't really notice it because we switched banks when we moved and left the old one with that direct debit for the cars (one of which is now gone) with nothing going into it. don't really even notice that account now, but once the loan is done I can close it.

Geez, if you have that kind of money where you don't even care about a bank account full of cash I would kinda think you could have hired someone to do all that backbreaking manual labor Mrs Stick demands of you.

where do you think the money came from Rockefeller?

jmonroe1

@ab348 said:
Geez, if you have that kind of money where you don't even care about a bank account full of cash I would kinda think you could have hired someone to do all that backbreaking manual labor Mrs Stick demands of you.

————————————————
If he wasn’t afraid of doing laps around the dining room table he’d probably say something about that. Might even get panned.

jmonroe

stickguy

she doesn't care what labor I do, until I need help and rope her into it.

driver100

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.

and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

In my younger wilder days I would do drives like that.

stickguy said:
who can drive 1200 miles with only 1 5 minute stop? most people that is at least 2 days with a stay over at a motel. Plus a couple of meal stops per day. So plenty of other downtime to coordinate with charging.
and you can go past 80% if you want to. it just takes longer for the last % because the charging rate slows down.

btw, a lot people drive from Toronto Canada to Florida....about 1500 miles, which they do in about 24 hours with no overnight stops......sometimes with 2 or 3 drivers, often one.
How would you do that with a range of 300 miles?

You know what? The 0.001% of the North American population that does that? They probably shouldn't get an EV. Maybe, a therapist.

It' should be what my car can do for me, it shouldn't be what I have to do to get my car somewhere.

But, I agree, if an EV suits your driving needs....like maybe used for trips in the city, maybe go to work 20 miles each way 5 days a week, maybe as a grocery getter....go for it.
I just don't see it as the universal cure-all. And with the EVs that are on the road now, there hasn't been any dent in the amount of pollution in the air....the forest fires in Western Canada, almost 200 of them probably cause more pollution than the 3% of cars that are EVs.

stickguy

changing topics, I finally got tired of worrying about nursing my flakey laptop along and pushed the buy button on the Amazon cart. In a few days a new one should be arriving so I will have the joy of getting it set up, and finding all my passwords, etc. Hopefully does not take long. then need to get stuff swapped over.

for the experts, what is the best way to do that now? I am going to back the whole machine onto my external BU harddrive. Should I just do that, then copy files back over from that? Probably just saved documents/pictures, but I do have the program and data file I made that holds my music library. Or is there a better way to do it now?

ended up ordering an Acer with 20 gigs of RAM and a 512 SSD. I3 chip. Should be plenty for surfing the internet and watching youtube videos!

Sandman6472

Paying off the mortgage was something we both wanted to do. Even though our monthly payment wasn't that much, just knowing that we owed it for 15 years made us uncomfortable, me more than she. So we decided to just get rid of the damn thing & never looked back! Now, almost twenty years later, still think it was the right thing to do. The idea of having our monthly expenses so low was a great feeling as we had three kids eventually going to college. And thinking about it, as we talked about it the other day, we'd still do the same thing if given a do over. Just really hate owing money...to anyone!

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Only downside is that now you have a bigger pile of rocks in the back yard which herself will likely harangue you to dispose of sooner or later.

If those stones are the square cobblestones they used to use to pave streets around here they are valuable in landscaping. My grandfather used some rescued from a road construction to build a really nice barbecue grill.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

I am debating paying off the Acura now, even though it probably does not make sense. Just to have it done. should really put the money against the mortgage though since that is a real interest rate!

can just wait it out. both will be running out in just under 2 years anyway even if I do nothing.

What’s the rate on that loan? You can get 4% (maybe more) on secure investments. Why would you pay off a loan with money that could give you a higher ROI

stickguy

.9%. but not that much left on the loan.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

Only downside is that now you have a bigger pile of rocks in the back yard which herself will likely harangue you to dispose of sooner or later.

If those stones are the square cobblestones they used to use to pave streets around here they are valuable in landscaping. My grandfather used some rescued from a road construction to build a really nice barbecue grill.

————————————————
When I was a kid we lived in the Burgh on a pretty steep hill. It was paved (if you could call it that) with blocks somewhat like you show but they were twice as long as they were wide. The story was that these blocks were used so that horses could get traction due to the irregular surface and gaps between them which allowed them to pull wagons up hills. There were quite a few streets in my hood that had these blocks due to hills. I remember they were called Belgian blocks. I haven’t seen streets paved with Belgian blocks for many decades. I guess all the horses died off over time and now the streets are black top.

I know one thing, car suspensions back in the early 50’s didn’t ride very well over those blocks nor did our bikes. That’s why we rode our bikes on the sidewalks.

People learned when they went shopping to keep the milk and ice cream packed in separate bags otherwise you’d have milk shakes by the time you got home. Those were not the good old days.

jmonroe

stickguy

these are rocks that got excavated digging foundations. They find a lot of rocks up here.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

these are rocks that got excavated digging foundations. They find a lot of rocks up here.

————————————————
The blocks I’m talking about could not be from excavating the ground. While they are not a consistent shape like a brick they had to be worked to get their somewhat rectangular shape.

Another story I heard is that the blocks I’m talking about were used as ballast when ships sailed to the USA from the old country around the turn of the 20th century. And NO, I did not watch those ships sail in.

jmonroe

ab348

Belgian blocks are/were used on auto manufacturer proving grounds to test ride quality. From a Siemens web page:

Everybody, who has ever done some durability test runs on a proving ground, knows what Belgian blocks are. For those who doesn’t know, Belgian blocks are these huge blocks of stone used to create a rough road profile on one or several proving ground tracks. These tracks are then used to replicate the durability load inputs that a vehicle experiences over its life time, and to test when one or more components break.

But why are these cobblestones called “Belgian blocks”? I never questioned this, until one of my (non-durability) colleague engineers asked me this question. Why aren’t they called for example “German” or “Indian blocks”? Unfortunately, I could not immediately answer that question, so I needed to look it up myself.

Apparently, the term “Belgian block” has some historical connection to when European ships set sail from ports such as Antwerp, in search of goods to trade. These large stone blocks were typically used for paving, borders and a wide variety of landscaping projects, but they were also useful as ballast for ships that were too light to cross the ocean. So, when the ships belly would be filled with goods purchased direction Europe, these blocks of stone would be left behind there. In many cases they were eventually used for street paving of the U.S. port cities such as Boston, New York, Charleston. The term has simply stuck and today’s very large granite cobblestone style blocks are being referred to as Belgian blocks.

Thank you, Mr. Google !

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

Only downside is that now you have a bigger pile of rocks in the back yard which herself will likely harangue you to dispose of sooner or later.

If those stones are the square cobblestones they used to use to pave streets around here they are valuable in landscaping. My grandfather used some rescued from a road construction to build a really nice barbecue grill.

————————————————
When I was a kid we lived in the Burgh on a pretty steep hill. It was paved (if you could call it that) with blocks somewhat like you show but they were twice as long as they were wide. The story was that these blocks were used so that horses could get traction due to the irregular surface and gaps between them which allowed them to pull wagons up hills. There were quite a few streets in my hood that had these blocks due to hills. I remember they were called Belgian blocks. I haven’t seen streets paved with Belgian blocks for many decades. I guess all the horses died off over time and now the streets are black top.

I know one thing, car suspensions back in the early 50’s didn’t ride very well over those blocks nor did our bikes. That’s why we rode our bikes on the sidewalks.

People learned when they went shopping to keep the milk and ice cream packed in separate bags otherwise you’d have milk shakes by the time you got home. Those were not the good old days.

jmonroe

In many old cities throughout NY a lot of the streets were paved that way. 120-150 years ago when the streets were first paved labor was cheep. Many immigrants were involved in shaping round cobbles into blocks and then hand installing them one at a time to make a street. If you strip the blacktop off many city streets you’ll still find them underneath.

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

If you strip the blacktop off many city streets you’ll still find them underneath.

And that, kids, is the story of how oldfarmer's landscaping empire was formed.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

In many old cities throughout NY a lot of the streets were paved that way. 120-150 years ago when the streets were first paved labor was cheep. Many immigrants were involved in shaping round cobbles into blocks and then hand installing them one at a time to make a street. If you strip the blacktop off many city streets you’ll still find them underneath.

Halifax is an old port city, founded in 1749. The oldest downtown streets here are as you describe in many places. Often you will see them uncovered during reconstruction. I find it kind of sad that when they tear them out they just landfill them instead of selling them for reuse.

stickguy

philly is like that. they actually still have some streets with the cobblestones. But you usually see it what the pavement wears out (sink holes from a water main break, big potholes, etc.). They did not bother to take the stones out, just paved over them.

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

…Apparently, the term “Belgian block” has some historical connection to when European ships set sail from ports such as Antwerp, in search of goods to trade. These large stone blocks were typically used for paving, borders and a wide variety of landscaping projects, but they were also useful as ballast for ships that were too light to cross the ocean. So, when the ships belly would be filled with goods purchased direction Europe, these blocks of stone would be left behind there. In many cases they were eventually used for street paving of the U.S. port cities such as Boston, New York, Charleston…

I thought Edmunds was going to fix the echo we had in here.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

ab348 said:

…Apparently, the term “Belgian block” has some historical connection to when European ships set sail from ports such as Antwerp, in search of goods to trade. These large stone blocks were typically used for paving, borders and a wide variety of landscaping projects, but they were also useful as ballast for ships that were too light to cross the ocean. So, when the ships belly would be filled with goods purchased direction Europe, these blocks of stone would be left behind there. In many cases they were eventually used for street paving of the U.S. port cities such as Boston, New York, Charleston…

I thought Edmunds was going to fix the echo we had in here.

jmonroe

If you’re not careful I’ll tell the story involving paving stones, George Plunkitt and “honest graft”.😎

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

ab348 said:

…Apparently, the term “Belgian block” has some historical connection to when European ships set sail from ports such as Antwerp, in search of goods to trade. These large stone blocks were typically used for paving, borders and a wide variety of landscaping projects, but they were also useful as ballast for ships that were too light to cross the ocean. So, when the ships belly would be filled with goods purchased direction Europe, these blocks of stone would be left behind there. In many cases they were eventually used for street paving of the U.S. port cities such as Boston, New York, Charleston…

I thought Edmunds was going to fix the echo we had in here.

jmonroe

If you’re not careful I’ll tell the story involving paving stones, George Plunkitt and “honest graft”.😎

————————————————
So what’s stopping you?

jmonroe

ab348

jmonroe1 said:

ab348 said:

…Apparently, the term “Belgian block” has some historical connection to when European ships set sail from ports such as Antwerp, in search of goods to trade. These large stone blocks were typically used for paving, borders and a wide variety of landscaping projects, but they were also useful as ballast for ships that were too light to cross the ocean. So, when the ships belly would be filled with goods purchased direction Europe, these blocks of stone would be left behind there. In many cases they were eventually used for street paving of the U.S. port cities such as Boston, New York, Charleston…

I thought Edmunds was going to fix the echo we had in here.

jmonroe

And here I thought you would appreciate some credible confirmation about one of your posts. Besides, you didn't mention anything about automotive proving grounds, which is where I first learned about the term, being too young to remember the days of horse-drawn carriages delivering milk and sailing ships plying the seas.

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

jmonroe1 said:

ab348 said:

…Apparently, the term “Belgian block” has some historical connection to when European ships set sail from ports such as Antwerp, in search of goods to trade. These large stone blocks were typically used for paving, borders and a wide variety of landscaping projects, but they were also useful as ballast for ships that were too light to cross the ocean. So, when the ships belly would be filled with goods purchased direction Europe, these blocks of stone would be left behind there. In many cases they were eventually used for street paving of the U.S. port cities such as Boston, New York, Charleston…

I thought Edmunds was going to fix the echo we had in here.

jmonroe

And here I thought you would appreciate some credible confirmation about one of your posts. Besides, you didn't mention anything about automotive proving grounds, which is where I first learned about the term, being too young to remember the days of horse-drawn carriages delivering milk and sailing ships plying the seas.

————————————————
OK, OK. I’ll give you credit for the “proving ground” info. I never knew that.

jmonroe

driver100

A friend went to see about buying a Tesla. A Tesla S would be $155k CDN, There is no charge for white, but all colors are an extra $4000. 20 inch wheels instead of 19 inch are extra, I believe $2000.
So instead he went to see a Vinfast80 ....all complete with all options for $58000 CDN. He put $250 down to save one....coming in August. 10 year120 mile warranty

And at the bottom of the article it says;
Even before the company has sold a single vehicle in the US, officials have already announced plans for a multibillion-dollar EV plant and battery factory outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. The brand quickly followed this news by disclosing it has filed for a US IPO.

Michaell

driver100 said:

A friend went to see about buying a Tesla. A Tesla S would be $155k CDN, There is no charge for white, but all colors are an extra $4000. 20 inch wheels instead of 19 inch are extra, I believe $2000.
So instead he went to see a Vinfast80 ....all complete with all options for $58000 CDN. He put $250 down to save one....coming in August. 10 year120 mile warranty

And at the bottom of the article it says;
Even before the company has sold a single vehicle in the US, officials have already announced plans for a multibillion-dollar EV plant and battery factory outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. The brand quickly followed this news by disclosing it has filed for a US IPO.

Hmmm ... I've read a number of articles on VinFast. They are way behind on their plans for the North American market.

Here is a good article about the company. Makes for some fascinating reading.

ab348

driver100 said:

A friend went to see about buying a Tesla. A Tesla S would be $155k CDN, There is no charge for white, but all colors are an extra $4000. 20 inch wheels instead of 19 inch are extra, I believe $2000.
So instead he went to see a Vinfast80 ....all complete with all options for $58000 CDN. He put $250 down to save one....coming in August. 10 year120 mile warranty

Danger, Will Robinson! Edmunds reviewed one and advises strongly to avoid them.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/review-2023-vinfast-vf-8-city-edition.html

stickguy

that just screams of a scam or pyramid scheme of some sort.

driver100

A friend went to see about buying a Tesla. A Tesla S woul

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

A friend went to see about buying a Tesla. A Tesla S would be $155k CDN, There is no charge for white, but all colors are an extra $4000. 20 inch wheels instead of 19 inch are extra, I believe $2000.
So instead he went to see a Vinfast80 ....all complete with all options for $58000 CDN. He put $250 down to save one....coming in August. 10 year120 mile warranty

And at the bottom of the article it says;
Even before the company has sold a single vehicle in the US, officials have already announced plans for a multibillion-dollar EV plant and battery factory outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. The brand quickly followed this news by disclosing it has filed for a US IPO.

Hmmm ... I've read a number of articles on VinFast. They are way behind on their plans for the North American market.

Here is a good article about the company. Makes for some fascinating reading.

Unbelievable! Great article! That article would scare me away. The guys testing the cars were getting car sick from the bouncing, the steering had absolutley no feel, parts were not finished and panels didn't match up...turn signals didn't work, etc etc....too many faults to list. I think the low price of $58000 CDN, about $45000 U.S. doesn't include renting a battery for $150 a month!

I will warn my friend!

btw...the second page says this could be the worst car on the road;
https://jalopnik.com/everyone-agrees-the-vinfast-vf8-is-very-very-bad-1850432490

driver100

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

A friend went to see about buying a Tesla. A Tesla S would be $155k CDN, There is no charge for white, but all colors are an extra $4000. 20 inch wheels instead of 19 inch are extra, I believe $2000.
So instead he went to see a Vinfast80 ....all complete with all options for $58000 CDN. He put $250 down to save one....coming in August. 10 year120 mile warranty

Danger, Will Robinson! Edmunds reviewed one and advises strongly to avoid them.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/review-2023-vinfast-vf-8-city-edition.html

Good article.....you scared me away, I won't be buying one.

driver100

stickguy said:

that just screams of a scam or pyramid scheme of some sort.

Sounds worse than when Hyundai started up in North America.....with the Pony;

laurasdada

Little disappointed by the BMW Ultimate Driving Experience. It was fun, but three ~30 second laps in the autocross course... No one confused me with one of the instructors, but I didn't hit any cones and only one course marshall... kidding. Did get a reusable BMW water bottle, but years ago Jag did a much better job with the swag. I'm all about the swag, 'bout the swag...
Really a marketing event for the driving school in CA and SC; not that there's anything wrong with that.

But, I was able to drive an i4 M50 on the streets, holy torque Batman! And, my first experience with true regen braking, it would take a bit to master the art of the one pedal. I liked it a lot, comfy, sharp handling (well, in a very limited sample drive) and VROOM (ok, not so much VROOM as WHIRRR!)!

Of course, in the audience was a guy who asked about the range, 227-271 miles. "A tesla 3 can go 330 miles!" he noted smugly... the instructor wouldn't be sucked in to "range wars" and quickly moved on to the drive instructions.

Mr. Smug's name badge read, Zelon Musk... kidding again. It's what I do.

Oh, and the 100 miles of driving the topless M240, I'm loving it!

Michaell

I did a BMW UDE a few years back. They used the facility that the local law enforcement agencies use for driver training.

There was both a short road course and an autocross. The time was split between the two. I was able to drive an X5 on the road course, with a car load of folks.

The autocross was much better - there were a number of different vehicles to choose from. The M4 was hogged by the young, flat brimmed hat bros, so I alternated between an 8-series Grand Coupe and an X2. Both handled the twisty course much better than I would have expected. I liked the X2 much more than I would have thought - I wouldn't mind an M35i with 300 HP.

@laurasdada - the more you use the one-pedal approach, the easier it gets. I've driven a Tesla, and the driving experience is pretty anodyne. Quick, yes, but not much after that. I haven't driven an i4 yet, but I've gotta believe that it will possess that "BMW-ness" that we know and love in their ICE vehicles.