Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

venture

mjfloyd1 said:

Last week we pack up Forester stem to stern to partially move oldest to Indy. Rented UHaul a few days later to complete move

Youngest had high school graduation and graduation party yesterday.

I’m wiped out

It's amazing what you can stuff into a Forester.

jmonroe1

mjfloyd1 said:

Last week we pack up Forester stem to stern to partially move oldest to Indy. Rented UHaul a few days later to complete move

Youngest had high school graduation and graduation party yesterday.

I’m wiped out

————————————————
Grandson #4 (last grandson) graduated on Thursday and the party was yesterday at a park. I didn’t think that many people liked him. Maybe it was the free food. In any case I went as a guest but did help a little with the cleanup.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

$4.45 a gallon for RUG, PUG is a buck more. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

$3.45 for RUG is the cheapest in my neighborhood. What rich place do you live in?

jwm40517

Sam's lex ,Ky $2.95

mjfloyd1

Exciting Indy 500 finish!

roadburner

mjfloyd1 said:

Exciting Indy 500 finish!

My wife says that this is my favorite day of the year- Monaco, Indy, and Charlotte. I'm watching Charlotte on a delay because Indy had the severe weather. This year the Nürburgring 24 HR is next weekend, along with the Detroit IMSA race and the Illinois NASCAR race, but at least they are spread out some.
I remember when there was no live television coverage of any racing. Every year I would listen to Indianapolis on the radio while I prepped my Monte Carlo Q-Ship for another season of cruising and informal speed contests.

Michaell

roadburner said:

mjfloyd1 said:

Exciting Indy 500 finish!

My wife says that this is my favorite day of the year- Monaco, Indy, and Charlotte. I'm watching Charlotte on a delay because Indy had the severe weather. This year the Nürburgring 24 HR is next weekend, along with the Detroit IMSA race and the Illinois NASCAR race, but at least they are spread out some.
I remember when there was no live television coverage of any racing. Every year I would listen to Indianapolis on the radio while I prepped my Monte Carlo Q-Ship for another season of cruising and informal speed contests.

Monaco was a bust, this year. For the first time since F1 was held in 1950, the finishing order of the top ten was exactly like they started the race.

roadburner

There are never a lot of lead changes at Monaco, but at least there was a bit of drama with the red flag and the strategy regarding tire degradation- plus it was great to see the hometown driver take the win.

Michaell

roadburner said:

There are never a lot of lead changes at Monaco, but at least there was a bit of drama with the red flag and the strategy regarding tire degradation- plus it was great to see the hometown driver take the win.

Forget lead changes; I think there were a single digit number of overtakes during the entire race, and all of them were at the bottom of the field.

I respectfully disagree about the red flag on lap 1; everybody changed to the tires they wanted and kept them for the remainder of the race. Everybody was running slow lap times to save their tire wear, and those drivers who did pit a second time did so with enough gap between them and the car behind them that they didn't lose track position.

IMO, the size of the car has ruined the racing at Monaco. I don't want to lose the race due to the historic nature of the circuit, but it was hard to watch.

snakeweasel

@oldfarmer50 said:
$3.45 for RUG is the cheapest in my neighborhood. What rich place do you live in?

The Chicago metro area. We do have some of the highest gas prices in the nation. If I am going outside the metro area I can save up to 50 cents a gallon by getting gas down state.

roadburner

@Michaell said:
Forget lead changes; I think there were a single digit number of overtakes during the entire race, and all of them were at the bottom of the field.

I respectfully disagree about the red flag on lap 1; everybody changed to the tires they wanted and kept them for the remainder of the race. Everybody was running slow lap times to save their tire wear, and those drivers who did pit a second time did so with enough gap between them and the car behind them that they didn't lose track position.

IMO, the size of the car has ruined the racing at Monaco. I don't want to lose the race due to the historic nature of the circuit, but it was hard to watch.

I agree regarding the size of the cars; I don’t know if the 2026 regs will address that- at least I haven’t heard anything.

Michaell

roadburner said:

@Michaell said:

Forget lead changes; I think there were a single digit number of overtakes during the entire race, and all of them were at the bottom of the field.

I respectfully disagree about the red flag on lap 1; everybody changed to the tires they wanted and kept them for the remainder of the race. Everybody was running slow lap times to save their tire wear, and those drivers who did pit a second time did so with enough gap between them and the car behind them that they didn't lose track position.

IMO, the size of the car has ruined the racing at Monaco. I don't want to lose the race due to the historic nature of the circuit, but it was hard to watch.

I agree regarding the size of the cars; I don’t know if the 2026 regs will address that- at least I haven’t heard anything.

It would be nice to see them get a bit smaller, which would also limit the amount of aero they could have.

explorerx4

The Indy 500 was a fun race to watch yesterday once it got started.

explorerx4

Decided to check the spare tire in the 2013 Escape. Was down to 6.5 lbs. Pumped it up to just under the recommended 60 lbs.

dino001

60 psi recommendation? Wow, that's a lot. I didn't know these mini SUV tires were going to these kind of pressures. My 430 has 32 on front and 38 on rear tires.

dino001

Michaell said:

IMO, the size of the car has ruined the racing at Monaco. I don't want to lose the race due to the historic nature of the circuit, but it was hard to watch.

Agreed - It's been a "procession" for last 15-20 years. Senna's 13th to second feat in Toleman during a rain would be impossible today, no matter how bad the rain is.

explorerx4

@dino001,
It's a skinny space saver spare tire, not one of the regular tires that have a recommended 36 PSI setting.

stickguy

60 is standard for a donut.

Michaell

dino001 said:

Michaell said:

IMO, the size of the car has ruined the racing at Monaco. I don't want to lose the race due to the historic nature of the circuit, but it was hard to watch.

Agreed - It's been a "procession" for last 15-20 years. Senna's 13th to second feat in Toleman during a rain would be impossible today, no matter how bad the rain is.

But, how to fix it?

Can't make the track any wider. Could make the cars smaller with the new regs for 2026, but I suspect that the FIA is too far down the path to make any major changes like that.

stickguy

narrower tires. Problem solved!

ronsteve

@tjc78 said:
We had electronic meters well over 10 years ago. We are all fine here in NJ.

When I lived in coastal NC we got electronic metering in the mid ‘00s, never noticed a problem. Our service up here in Louisville is noticeably less reliable.

ronsteve

Today was a good day for cycling but a missed opportunity. I was less than a mile from home when a camouflaged 2025 Expedition passed me. I caught up when it was stopped at a light, and I found a spot to pull off that got a good angle, but the light was changing before I could get my phone out to take a pic.

Could I have sold a pic to the car mags? Probably not but it was only today that someone captured one in Dearborn. Same camo job. https://www.motor1.com/news/721303/2025-ford-expedition-spy-photos/amp/

stickguy

I probably would never notice it was updated.

dino001

Michaell said:

dino001 said:

Michaell said:

IMO, the size of the car has ruined the racing at Monaco. I don't want to lose the race due to the historic nature of the circuit, but it was hard to watch.

Agreed - It's been a "procession" for last 15-20 years. Senna's 13th to second feat in Toleman during a rain would be impossible today, no matter how bad the rain is.

But, how to fix it?

Can't make the track any wider. Could make the cars smaller with the new regs for 2026, but I suspect that the FIA is too far down the path to make any major changes like that.

Smaller cars could be a possible fix, but they can't be as small as previously due to safety requirements. I'm wondering if there is a way to change the course and add a longer straight somewhere, but even that may not help. Monaco is arguably the worst track now in terms of sporting/competition value. But you can at least catch a glimpse of a multimillion dollar yacht parked in the marina on yours screen, real marina not that fake blue stuff in Miami .

andres3

I saw a YouTube video feed (haven't watched it yet) of someone taking their Model T to a local Ford dealer service department for service. Worth watching?

I suppose the service department is clogged in unclaimed model T replacement parts. LOL. I wonder if the service advisors will realize it's a Ford.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

I saw a YouTube video feed (haven't watched it yet) of someone taking their Model T to a local Ford dealer service department for service. Worth watching?

I suppose the service department is clogged in unclaimed model T replacement parts. LOL. I wonder if the service advisors will realize it's a Ford.

Funny you should mention that as I watched it just today, well I actually just listened to it. If your into cars that were antiques when most of todays antique cars were brand new I would suggested it. It is informative and I liked it (that that for what it's worth).

andres3

Anyone else miss car brochures from the manufacturers? I always liked them when they used to do them right. Carvana has started posting old brochures:

https://brochure.carvana.io/audi/2014-s4.pdf

roadburner

andres3 said:

Anyone else miss car brochures from the manufacturers? I always liked them when they used to do them right. Carvana has started posting old brochures:

https://brochure.carvana.io/audi/2014-s4.pdf

I have 3 different brocures that were released for my ti. This one is my favorite.

ronsteve

So I didn’t get in the posting party about last week’s (attempted) Marathon gouge here in Louisville, but now that I have seen several stations below pre-spike prices, I can reflect.

First of all, it didn’t stick. Last Wed afternoon and Thu morning, more than a few went from 3.79 to 4.39 for RUG. But by Fri morning nobody was left above 3.99.

Second, not everyone played. Some never went above 3.99.

Third, there are a lot of conspiracy theories about price hikes tied to events. Which to me are how supply and demand works. I’m not sure if this debunks them, or would fuel (no pun intended) new ones, but looking at graphs on GasBuddy, the three most recent “bottoms” in the local price chart happened during and just after Thunder Over Louisville, the Kentucky Derby, and the PGA Championship. Things that make you go “hmmmm.”

venture

I saw this park job at a baseball game last night. Who could get out of their car and not notice?

oldfarmer50

andres3 said:

Anyone else miss car brochures from the manufacturers? I always liked them when they used to do them right. Carvana has started posting old brochures:

https://brochure.carvana.io/audi/2014-s4.pdf

I remember trying to get a brochure when the Mustang redesign came out in 2015. Not only didn’t my neighborhood dealer not have them but seemed totally uninterested in even speaking to me. As a consequence, when it came time to buy I went to a different store 20 miles away.

oldfarmer50

venture said:

I saw this park job at a baseball game last night. Who could get out of their car and not notice?

They noticed, they just didn’t care.

A few days ago I came out of the market to find a lifted Tacoma parked next to me at a crooked angle only half way into the parking spot. With it sticking out into the isle it was a chore to back out since it blocked the view of the lane.

The drive must have been in a rush to get a special on chicken wings or something and tossed all civility to the wind.

ab348

ronsteve said:

Third, there are a lot of conspiracy theories about price hikes tied to events. Which to me are how supply and demand works. I’m not sure if this debunks them, or would fuel (no pun intended) new ones, but looking at graphs on GasBuddy, the three most recent “bottoms” in the local price chart happened during and just after Thunder Over Louisville, the Kentucky Derby, and the PGA Championship. Things that make you go “hmmmm.”

Here in Nova Scotia and all the other east coast provinces of Canada, we have had govt gas price regulation for many years. It was instituted after public outrage by the behavior of the gasoline distributors became too loud for politicians to ignore. Unlike many other knee-jerk political decisions, this one actually seems to work.

What led to the original outcry was when the media uncovered how gas prices locally were fixed/changed. It had been a bit of a mystery because there was almost never any variation from brand to brand and prices changed without any seeming rhyme or reason at every station at the same time. Turns out there was one distributor (IIRC, Petro-Canada locally, which ironically enough was once owned by our Federal govt before they sold it off) which determined the price and any changes to it. A person there made the change decision and then notified (apparently with a phone call believe it or not) every other player locally what the new price would be, and within an hour or a few hours every one on them was reset. Usually they went up more than what market conditions dictated and would slowly drop a couple of cents over the next few days. The most outrageous event was after Hurricane Katrina when they took a huge jump even before the full impact was known, which got the public very worked up since our fuel didn't come from anywhere near there (here it comes from a big refinery in New Brunswick, another in Montreal, or from Europe).

The regulatory regime now resets prices every Friday based on the NY harbor spot market price or some such publicly-available trading price, and unless there is a huge jump or drop during the week, it remains stable. People seem happier.

laurasdada

venture said:

I saw this park job at a baseball game last night. Who could get out of their car and not notice?

Come on, it's a Cherokee! A rare and exotic bird, one worthy of admiration and protection from the hoi polloi!

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

ronsteve said:

Third, there are a lot of conspiracy theories about price hikes tied to events. Which to me are how supply and demand works. I’m not sure if this debunks them, or would fuel (no pun intended) new ones, but looking at graphs on GasBuddy, the three most recent “bottoms” in the local price chart happened during and just after Thunder Over Louisville, the Kentucky Derby, and the PGA Championship. Things that make you go “hmmmm.”

Here in Nova Scotia and all the other east coast provinces of Canada, we have had govt gas price regulation for many years. It was instituted after public outrage by the behavior of the gasoline distributors became too loud for politicians to ignore. Unlike many other knee-jerk political decisions, this one actually seems to work.

What led to the original outcry was when the media uncovered how gas prices locally were fixed/changed. It had been a bit of a mystery because there was almost never any variation from brand to brand and prices changed without any seeming rhyme or reason at every station at the same time. Turns out there was one distributor (IIRC, Petro-Canada locally, which ironically enough was once owned by our Federal govt before they sold it off) which determined the price and any changes to it. A person there made the change decision and then notified (apparently with a phone call believe it or not) every other player locally what the new price would be, and within an hour or a few hours every one on them was reset. Usually they went up more than what market conditions dictated and would slowly drop a couple of cents over the next few days. The most outrageous event was after Hurricane Katrina when they took a huge jump even before the full impact was known, which got the public very worked up since our fuel didn't come from anywhere near there (here it comes from a big refinery in New Brunswick, another in Montreal, or from Europe).

The regulatory regime now resets prices every Friday based on the NY harbor spot market price or some such publicly-available trading price, and unless there is a huge jump or drop during the week, it remains stable. People seem happier.

While I don’t doubt collusion exists, down here I think there are other factors in play. Many station properties are owned by oil companies who lease them to individuals. These individuals are required to sell the lessors “brand”. While they are free to set prices themselves they also have gas sales quotas so sometimes slow business will result in price drops to meet the quotas. Different rents also affect prices.

Around me that makes for wide variations in pricing; as much as 50 cents a gallon for some locations.

ronsteve

Between some of the stories I heard out of inland NC after Ike in 2008, and knowing that Marathon Ashland has a distribution monopoly on reformulated gas in the Ohio Valley I wonder if it’s not more coercion than collusion.

In 08 while the rest of the country saw falling prices as the speculator bubble collapsed, everything near the Colonial Pipeline stayed high because there was a supply problem. Wilmington gets most of its supply by barge, but when the pipeline was down wholesalers from Raleigh were bidding up the prices so they could get fuel. Our gas was pricey but at least we had gas. There were still shortages inland, like 1974-style gas lines for the stations that did have fuel.

venture

laurasdada said:

venture said:

I saw this park job at a baseball game last night. Who could get out of their car and not notice?

Come on, it's a Cherokee! A rare and exotic bird, one worthy of admiration and protection from the hoi polloi!

I'm sure that's true. What you can't see, is someone is parked behind the Jeep.

snakeweasel

@oldfarmer50 said:
While I don’t doubt collusion exists, down here I think there are other factors in play. Many station properties are owned by oil companies who lease them to individuals. These individuals are required to sell the lessors “brand”. While they are free to set prices themselves they also have gas sales quotas so sometimes slow business will result in price drops to meet the quotas. Different rents also affect prices.

Around me that makes for wide variations in pricing; as much as 50 cents a gallon for some locations.

I often notice that gas prices are higher at stations right off the Interstate and for gas stations far away from the next station.

snakeweasel

@venture said:
I'm sure that's true. What you can't see, is someone is parked behind the Jeep.

in situations like that I want to park a Smart car in front and behind the offending car.

sda

Our area prices are typically cheaper by $.15-.25 gallon than neighboring Charlotte. Part of that is the SC state tax per gallon is less. Because of the proximity to Charlotte, many from there cross the state line to fill up. Deeper into SC prices are even lower by $.15-.20.

jmonroe1

venture said:

laurasdada said:

venture said:

I saw this park job at a baseball game last night. Who could get out of their car and not notice?

Come on, it's a Cherokee! A rare and exotic bird, one worthy of admiration and protection from the hoi polloi!

I'm sure that's true. What you can't see, is someone is parked behind the Jeep.

————————————————
That was a clue that someone should have parked in front of it too. Some folks just can’t get the hint.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

sda said:

Our area prices are typically cheaper by $.15-.25 gallon than neighboring Charlotte. Part of that is the SC state tax per gallon is less. Because of the proximity to Charlotte, many from there cross the state line to fill up. Deeper into SC prices are even lower by $.15-.20.

————————————————-
Another nice thing about vacationing in Myrtle Beach is the gas prices are a lot better than anything found on the way down or back. Although anywhere outside of PA seems to be a bargain.

When pumping gas in SC, I almost feel like I’m stealing.

jmonroe

imidazol97

Has anyone used the various headlight clearing kits that remove the hazing deteriorated layed on
plastic headlight housings?

I am tempted to try one for my Cruze.

roadburner

I used the Sylvania Osram kit. My description can be found on this page.

oldfarmer50

I did it years ago and it came out pretty good. I recommend using a power tool for buffing because it takes a lot of time.

tjc78

Can’t beat the view for dinner tonight

Michaell

@oldfarmer50 said:
I did it years ago and it came out pretty good. I recommend using a power tool for buffing because it takes a lot of time.

I used a kit on our CX-7. Lots of elbow grease, but I was satisfied with the results.

Michaell

Moms house went on the market today.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1511-Evangeline-Pl-Oxnard-CA-93030/16378391_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

Can’t beat the view for dinner tonight

————————————————-
I don’t know about that.

I had a good view of a table of good looking ladies at the table next to ours while we were at dinner tonight. No water though.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

Moms house went on the market today.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1511-Evangeline-Pl-Oxnard-CA-93030/16378391_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

————————————————-
I don’t know what the market is like in that area but it doesn’t look like you should have a problem selling that house in the shape that one is.

Good luck.

jmonroe