Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

28firefighter said:

I had a hard enough time dropping my 7yo off for a week of overnight camp…I need 11 years to mentally FINANCIALLY prepare for college.

That would be hilarious if it weren't so true!

jmonroe1

28firefighter said:

I had a hard enough time dropping my 7yo off for a week of overnight camp…I need 11 years to mentally prepare for college.

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Look at it like this…it’s part of growing up as a parent. Don’t let your kids see you in your wimpy moments.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

I would be wary of aftermarket upgrades. The ATS forums have long been filled with tales of woe from people who bought "tuner" upgrades from the many places offering them for the 2.0T who later go online to complain how they blew up their otherwise stock engine, quelle surprise. You're rolling the dice.

That’s why I went with a Ford authorized product. It maintained all factory warranties and was 50 state compliant (important where they do emissions).

roadburner

Weistec is another good tuner. A friend of mine had an E63 with a Weistec tune and a ROW airbox. We took it to the local 1/8 mile strip back in 2015. It ran an 8.12 at 89 mph, beating a built 1970 Buick GS Stage I running slicks. It was also pretty good at burnouts:

nyccarguy

ab348 said:

I would be wary of aftermarket upgrades. The ATS forums have long been filled with tales of woe from people who bought "tuner" upgrades from the many places offering them for the 2.0T who later go online to complain how they blew up their otherwise stock engine, quelle surprise. You're rolling the dice.

A guy at the auto parts specialty store where I used to buy things for my Prelude was a former Prelude owner (his was stolen out of the garage) and was a great resource for me bought a used STi. Had tint, an exhaust, an intake, and a few "minor" modifications. The car ran and drove fine. He pushed it a little on the test drive. It was "clean." After a few days, the car started driving rough and he wondered what the problem was. He plugged his computer into the OBD II reader and literally every single light on the dash board lit up. Turns out the car had been chipped and then temporarily re-flashed to stock. The car's engine was completely toast.

xwesx

roadburner said:

Weistec is another good tuner. A friend of mine had an E63 with a Weistec tune and a ROW airbox. We took it to the local 1/8 mile strip back in 2015. It ran an 8.12 at 89 mph, beating a built 1970 Buick GS Stage I running slicks. It was also pretty good at burnouts:

8.12.... in the quarter mile?! That's insane.

snakeweasel

@xwesx said:
8.12.... in the quarter mile?! That's insane.

I was thinking the same thing until I reread it and noticed it was an 1/8 mile run. Not as impressive.

roadburner

It works out to around 12.7 in the quarter. Relatively quick.

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

roadburner said:

Weistec is another good tuner. A friend of mine had an E63 with a Weistec tune and a ROW airbox. We took it to the local 1/8 mile strip back in 2015. It ran an 8.12 at 89 mph, beating a built 1970 Buick GS Stage I running slicks. It was also pretty good at burnouts:

8.12.... in the quarter mile?! That's insane.

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Our poster buddy doesn’t hang around with slouchers.

jmonroe

roadburner

nyccarguy said:

ab348 said:

I would be wary of aftermarket upgrades. The ATS forums have long been filled with tales of woe from people who bought "tuner" upgrades from the many places offering them for the 2.0T who later go online to complain how they blew up their otherwise stock engine, quelle surprise. You're rolling the dice.

A guy at the auto parts specialty store where I used to buy things for my Prelude was a former Prelude owner (his was stolen out of the garage) and was a great resource for me bought a used STi. Had tint, an exhaust, an intake, and a few "minor" modifications. The car ran and drove fine. He pushed it a little on the test drive. It was "clean." After a few days, the car started driving rough and he wondered what the problem was. He plugged his computer into the OBD II reader and literally every single light on the dash board lit up. Turns out the car had been chipped and then temporarily re-flashed to stock. The car's engine was completely toast.

One problem I saw in the Mazda community -and shared by the Subaru community- was the prevalence of tuning devices that let the owner tweak the maps themselves. If you don't know what you are doing it's a recipe for disaster. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to get a tune from a reputable company- like Renntech, Weistec, or CarBahn (Steve Dinan's new business).

roadburner

Also keep in mind...
Cheap, fast, reliable- pick two.

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
Do you know if rental cars come with a factory warranty? I thought not.

xwesx

snakeweasel said:

I was thinking the same thing until I reread it and noticed it was an 1/8 mile run. Not as impressive.

Oh, whew. I read it three times and I guess I just glanced off that little detail in the previous sentence. Oops! Thanks for setting me straight. The world is right again.

oldfarmer50

If you’re talking about cars the company buys from dealers/manufacturers, the answer is yes. I base that just on the number of recall trips we do to dealers as well as trips for repairs non-accident related.

If you mean cars that the public buys from Enterprise, there is a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty, plus, I would assume, the balance of any manufacturer warranty.

Are you in the market? IMO the two best rental vehicles to buy would be pickups and minivans. Trucks because customers aren’t allowed to tow and minivans because few people are doing donuts with the kiddies screaming in the back.

Michaell

Speaking of Enterprise, I’ve got a Nissan Rogue from them at the moment. The Outback went to the body shop to get the front fender fixed.

Navy blue, SV trim, only 5000 miles on it. Seems like a competent little rig.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

Speaking of Enterprise, I’ve got a Nissan Rogue from them at the moment. The Outback went to the body shop to get the front fender fixed.

Navy blue, SV trim, only 5000 miles on it. Seems like a competent little rig.

Over the last few months the company has acquired a lot of new units. I think we must have purchased every new Rogue they made. Probably the only reason Nissan is still in business.

Conversely they have been selling off a lot of old stock and we now pull cars with 30k miles rather than 60k during the pandemic. I think the large amount of used rental cars entering the market has had a downwards pressure on market prices overall. You’re welcome.

qbrozen

@Michaell said:
Speaking of Enterprise, I’ve got a Nissan Rogue from them at the moment. The Outback went to the body shop to get the front fender fixed.

Navy blue, SV trim, only 5000 miles on it. Seems like a competent little rig.

It is all fun and games until the rubber bands in the transmission snap.

Michaell

qbrozen said:

@Michaell said:

Speaking of Enterprise, I’ve got a Nissan Rogue from them at the moment. The Outback went to the body shop to get the front fender fixed.

Navy blue, SV trim, only 5000 miles on it. Seems like a competent little rig.

It is all fun and games until the rubber bands in the transmission snap.

I’ll have to pay attention to the transmission and see if it’s any different than the Subaru.

qbrozen

Wow. I can’t believe posting is still a problem. Taking an awful long time to just revert to a platform version that worked.

Kirstie_H

qbrozen said:

Wow. I can’t believe posting is still a problem. Taking an awful long time to just revert to a platform version that worked.

Well, the previous version also had issues, such as not taking you to the most recent post. This is a global problem that occurs on other sites hosted by our platform vendor, and in my last communication with them, they indicated that they've escalated it as a high-priority issue.

explorerx4

If you are looking for another symptom, I have a draft(which eventually posted) that I can't delete.

corvette

I believe you, but I've also found it very difficult to get my cursor to "stick" on the delete draft button before I click on it.

ab348

Kirstie_H said:

qbrozen said:

Wow. I can’t believe posting is still a problem. Taking an awful long time to just revert to a platform version that worked.

Well, the previous version also had issues, such as not taking you to the most recent post. This is a global problem that occurs on other sites hosted by our platform vendor, and in my last communication with them, they indicated that they've escalated it as a high-priority issue.

My view from back at the time was that TPTB at Edmunds should have passed on the plain Vanilla platform in favor of the much better Chocolate Brownie Nut software.

kyfdx

ab348 said:

I would be wary of aftermarket upgrades. The ATS forums have long been filled with tales of woe from people who bought "tuner" upgrades from the many places offering them for the 2.0T who later go online to complain how they blew up their otherwise stock engine, quelle surprise. You're rolling the dice.

Kirstie_H said:

qbrozen said:

Wow. I can’t believe posting is still a problem. Taking an awful long time to just revert to a platform version that worked.

Well, the previous version also had issues, such as not taking you to the most recent post. This is a global problem that occurs on other sites hosted by our platform vendor, and in my last communication with them, they indicated that they've escalated it as a high-priority issue.

My view from back at the time was that TPTB at Edmunds should have passed on the plain Vanilla platform in favor of the much better Chocolate Brownie Nut software.

Someone had a peanut allergy, IIRC.

Sandman6472

I know down south here, both our lots where the UCS's go until they are sold are not full at all. And we are getting new vehicles in at our Palm Beach airport location in daily. And working this past Monday & Tuesday, we made several trips to our Car Sales office in Ft. Pierce to bring them inventory to sell. And it looks like they are selling vehicles. Definitely working less hours now but think it'll ramp up once season starts again. But, am happy with getting at least 28 hours/week, give or take since we were hired for just 25.
Been in the rental car business now almost 12 years and still enjoying it. Toying with going down to 2 days/week come January but we've still not made any decisions one way or the other yet. Work with some folks in their mid to upper 80's which is something I just will not do. Will make those decisions once my wife turns 70 in 2025 and takes her SS benefits, just to see how much we bring in from that, my SS and pension. And not sure how many more years she wants to work full time either. Plus, need to take my declining health into consideration also, as it's getting harder & harder to get up & go in like I've been doing. So, lots of variables to figure out in the coming weeks, months & years!

mlevine

Thanks everyone for the information on renntech upgrade. I think I am going to look into it and gather information. The place is not too far from me.

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

Kirstie_H said:

qbrozen said:

Wow. I can’t believe posting is still a problem. Taking an awful long time to just revert to a platform version that worked.

Well, the previous version also had issues, such as not taking you to the most recent post. This is a global problem that occurs on other sites hosted by our platform vendor, and in my last communication with them, they indicated that they've escalated it as a high-priority issue.

My view from back at the time was that TPTB at Edmunds should have passed on the plain Vanilla platform in favor of the much better Chocolate Brownie Nut software.

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Most of us were offered that but we turned it down because we didn’t want a dues increase.

jmonroe

imidazol97

roadburner said:

venture said:

If someone likes your Jeep they may put a duck on the hood. Some people put them up on the dash, some don't.

I'm starting to see other cars with ducks sitting on the dash. They, evidently, don't get what it's all about.

I saw in a news article that the lady who started it all passed away recently.

Someone asked me if I named my Wrangler- I told him I named it NDA; No Ducks Allowed. On a couple of other forums I noted that my Wrangler is a CDFZ: Certified Duck Free Zone.

Just returned from a couple days in Pigeon Forge TN. Saw lots of Jeeps with ducks, some with many ducks, some with too many ducks. LOL

Silliest had few ducks that I could see in windshield, but had little yellow ducks as caps on the air valves on each wheel. About 1 inch in height.

Funniest car was a Dodge Journey with a note painted on rear window that "I identify as a Jeep. Please send me ducks" and included a snap address on the rear window.

andres3

ab348 said:

I would be wary of aftermarket upgrades. The ATS forums have long been filled with tales of woe from people who bought "tuner" upgrades from the many places offering them for the 2.0T who later go online to complain how they blew up their otherwise stock engine, quelle surprise. You're rolling the dice.

I'd be weary tuning any American design without upgrading all the known weak points. Cars engineered to go 155 on the Autobahn tend to be more "up to the task" stock.

My TTS was doing 1/8ths in the 7.9-8.1 range, just fast enough to embarrass anything that's not crazy fast or AWD too.

corvette

imidazol97 said:

Funniest car was a Dodge Journey with a note painted on rear window that "I identify as a Jeep. Please send me ducks" and included a snap address on the rear window.

The last time I saw a Venmo "please help us pay for our road trip" beg-a-thon sign in someone's window, I sent them a request to pay me $500.

jmonroe1

corvette said:

imidazol97 said:

Funniest car was a Dodge Journey with a note painted on rear window that "I identify as a Jeep. Please send me ducks" and included a snap address on the rear window.

The last time I saw a Venmo "please help us pay for our road trip" beg-a-thon sign in someone's window, I sent them a request to pay me $500.

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That’s being a bit greedy. Now, if you asked for something like $250 you might have gotten it.

jmonroe

imidazol97

imidazol97 said:

... included a snap address on the rear window.

I have no idea how snap works. Is it like facebook and x?

imidazol97

This posting on this topic seems to always stall and gets me a drop down window reporting something went wrong.

I think I said it before, I'm glad it's not a problem I'm having to troubleshoot on my end on my computer.

I have enough trouble trying to get my Samsung a54 Android 14 to operate right. It still only rings once when it's in my pants pocket and screen is turned off. I've missed several calls because I didn't hear the ring. Elsewhere, it rings normally for several rings before going to voicemail. I've changed ringtones, etc..
I haven't turned off the setting that is supposed to prevent anythign touching the screen from doing things when the phone is in a pocket or purse and isn't in the screen off mode... Frustrating.

At least the Vanilla forums are working. I recall long ago sometimes there was a day or so off when problems occurred and I had withdrawal from no forum posts to read.

oldfarmer50

andres3 said:

ab348 said:

I would be wary of aftermarket upgrades. The ATS forums have long been filled with tales of woe from people who bought "tuner" upgrades from the many places offering them for the 2.0T who later go online to complain how they blew up their otherwise stock engine, quelle surprise. You're rolling the dice.

I'd be weary tuning any American design without upgrading all the known weak points. Cars engineered to go 155 on the Autobahn tend to be more "up to the task" stock.

My TTS was doing 1/8ths in the 7.9-8.1 range, just fast enough to embarrass anything that's not crazy fast or AWD too.

Also be wary of resale value. Carvana deducts $1000 from their offer if your car is “modified”.

Michaell

A former co-worker has his ZR1 for sale on Bring a Trailer.

roadburner

Today was fun; a felony mediation went completely sideways due to some victims who preferred to be famous for 15 minutes rather than negotiate in good faith. I called a stop to the fiasco before things even got under way.
The judges, attorneys, clerks and bailiffs all agreed that they had never seen me so furious (which is pretty significant considering some have known me for 42 years).

stickguy

Michaell said:

A former co-worker has his ZR1 for sale on Bring a Trailer.

pretty sharp. But it would be so much better with a manual!

got into the BaT rabbit hole. and found this. I love it. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-plymouth-satellite-9/

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

Michaell said:

A former co-worker has his ZR1 for sale on Bring a Trailer.

pretty sharp. But it would be so much better with a manual!

got into the BaT rabbit hole. and found this. I love it. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-plymouth-satellite-9/

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The question is, do you love it enough to buy an old cop car with an odometer that has the gears worn down smooth? How would you know when it’s due for an oil change?

jmonroe

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

andres3 said:

ab348 said:

I would be wary of aftermarket upgrades. The ATS forums have long been filled with tales of woe from people who bought "tuner" upgrades from the many places offering them for the 2.0T who later go online to complain how they blew up their otherwise stock engine, quelle surprise. You're rolling the dice.

I'd be weary tuning any American design without upgrading all the known weak points. Cars engineered to go 155 on the Autobahn tend to be more "up to the task" stock.

My TTS was doing 1/8ths in the 7.9-8.1 range, just fast enough to embarrass anything that's not crazy fast or AWD too.

Also be wary of resale value. Carvana deducts $1000 from their offer if your car is “modified”.

It would be cheaper to detune it and return to stock then.

driver100

@explorerx4

Me too!

tjc78

No good deed goes unpunished!

We had a very expensive year at our shore condo. The decks needed redone and some other deferred maintenance. We all added small supplements to not drain our condo fund.

Well - what we didn’t know was that the insurances all went up substantially. I immediately figured out that we need to up our quarterly dues next year and sent out a spreadsheet showing everything to the group.

Well.. the current treasurer wanted to step down anyway and now who do you think got nominated and voted in….

Great

stickguy

safer that way. and easier than keeping an eye on the other guy.

and don't complain to me about expensive years! We got the estimate for some fencing. which will happen after we pay for the shed which has to go in first. And waiting on a quote from a custom kitchen/closet guy to redo our walk in pantry and mudroom.

and just for the heck of it, took the wife furniture shopping today at the very upscale (lots of custom Amish made stuff, and other high end brands) store in Saratoga. She did find a dining table she liked. that with chairs, I think was going to run $7k. Without the sideboard which is what we really are supposed to be shopping for first. A bedroom that was not bad, I think that with a mattress was in the $12K range. Sideboards, nothing they had fit what we need.

oddly, they did have a very good deal on a hall tree for the mudroom (fancy shoe bench) that we really liked mostly, just didn't have cubbies or shelves at the top. so passed on that but I was tempted, since it will definitely be cheaper than a custom made unit!

I did at least "officially" pay off the house today (paid down the last of the Chase bridge loan we took out to have a cushion when we closed). We already had it without a mortgage so hold clear title, but now we don't have any debt related to it other than a few K on a floor and decor credit card which offered zero % interest for 18 months.

we signed on a HELOC Thursday so will use that as the short term cash supply to pay for anything that comes up. Because after all, it is only money and who needs to leave anything to the kids?

stickguy

finally paid attention to all the notices from the gubbermint about the changes to how you access SSA, and signed up for login.gov access. while I was in there "just to see" I checked how much I would get now (since I just turned old enough) or 65 (our supposed work to age, but I really don't want to go that long now) or 67. and did some quick breakeven analysis. What still amazes me is that working longer (at a good income level) makes almost no difference to the benefit. I think if I quit today vs working 3 more years, my benefit at 65 is about $17 less per month.

and comparing starting at 65 vs. 67, the total amount collected through age 80 only changes by about $700.

abacomike

Well, I’m home from the rehab place - still in lots of lumbar back pain. Can’t do this home stuff without help so I was forced to call an agency for health aides for 6 hours a day at $25 per hour. Very expensive but I had no choice. The aide starts tomorrow at 10:00 AM. Might need help for at least 2 weeks - $2100.00. It is what it is.

laurasdada

The wife is officially retired as of 1700 Friday. She is in the "grins and giggles" phase of the "Seven steps of Grief."
I remain gainfully employed, because I.... well... um... want to buy cars?

I actually have much vacation to use by the eoy, but quarter-end work schedules continue to be a burden (12 straight days on, a weekend off, another 12 straight days, maybe more. Yes, including weekends and holidays), one that I'm not sure I'd like to endure much longer.

My Fido guy admonished me to stop saving and start spending! How can I do that living on Social Security!?

ab348

I have to ask: why are you redoing a mud room and pantry on a new build?

tjc78

@ab348 said:
I have to ask: why are you redoing a mud room and pantry on a new build?

I’ll throw a guess out there that it came with builder’s grade wire shelving and Mrs @stickguy wants something nicer.

sda

abacomike said:

Well, I’m home from the rehab place - still in lots of lumbar back pain. Can’t do this home stuff without help so I was forced to call an agency for health aides for 6 hours a day at $25 per hour. Very expensive but I had no choice. The aide starts tomorrow at 10:00 AM. Might need help for at least 2 weeks - $2100.00. It is what it is.

Glad you’re home. That has to be a relief.

jmonroe1

laurasdada said:

The wife is officially retired as of 1700 Friday. She is in the "grins and giggles" phase of the "Seven steps of Grief."
I remain gainfully employed, because I.... well... um... want to buy cars?

I actually have much vacation to use by the eoy, but quarter-end work schedules continue to be a burden (12 straight days on, a weekend off, another 12 straight days, maybe more. Yes, including weekends and holidays), one that I'm not sure I'd like to endure much longer.

My Fido guy admonished me to stop saving and start spending! How can I do that living on Social Security!?

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You’d be surprised. But you can’t buy a car every other year. More like every 3 years but I don’t even do that.

jmonroe

stickguy

jmonroe1 said:

laurasdada said:

The wife is officially retired as of 1700 Friday. She is in the "grins and giggles" phase of the "Seven steps of Grief."
I remain gainfully employed, because I.... well... um... want to buy cars?

I actually have much vacation to use by the eoy, but quarter-end work schedules continue to be a burden (12 straight days on, a weekend off, another 12 straight days, maybe more. Yes, including weekends and holidays), one that I'm not sure I'd like to endure much longer.

My Fido guy admonished me to stop saving and start spending! How can I do that living on Social Security!?

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You’d be surprised. But you can’t buy a car every other year. More like every 3 years but I don’t even do that.

jmonroe

when I discussed the idea with the wife today about accelerating departure from the workforce, and she was still hung up on paying for health insurance (I really need to get some numbers on ACA stuff) so sticking it out to 65, I told her that if I had to keep at it that long, it definitely meant getting a new car soon. She seems fine with that. As long as I get something she does not mind riding in, and ideally can also drive!