Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

I say take the 2016, light it on fire on the lawn of GM corporate HQs and put the video on UTube.

Then go directly to jail, do not pass go do not collect $200. Come on now that's a tad bit illegal. 

driver100

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?
How do you clean those cars up?
How do you know a used car wasn't a cleaned up S Cal car?

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?
How do you clean those cars up?
How do you know a used car wasn't a cleaned up S Cal car?

Oh those are no worse than my buddys Jeep after a day of off roading.

Seriously though I think it would work the same as a car that was on a flood, its totaled with a salvahed title. In other words good luck.

imidazol97

Absolutely amazing!

VW/Audi fraud noticed by roadside emissions checking units 6 years ago.
Did One Company Spot Volkswagen's Diesel Deception Six Years Before Anyone Else?
"Turns out that in the past few years, their nosedives into all that data have consistently revealed that diesel engines in the 2.0-liter class, made by a certain large German automaker (spoiler alert: it’s VW), have been emitting NOx at much-higher-than-allowed levels in the real world, no matter what their results were showing in drive-in emissions tests.

“The VWs without a NOx trap stood out a mile,” said Peter McClintock, a consultant who works with Opus. “There was no mistaking what that data showed.”

http://jalopnik.com/did-one-company-spot-volkswagens-diesel-deception-six-y-1737309474

driver100

They had the data but didn't put it all together....too bad.

Now I see Exxon knew their products would cause global warming since 1977, but didn't tell anyone.

and the beat goes on....................

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

They had the data but didn't put it all together....too bad. Now I see Exxon knew their products would cause global warming since 1977, but didn't tell anyone. and the beat goes on....................

Wait, weren't they claiming global cooling in the 70's? I seemed to remember being told that the pollutants were blocking the heat and that by now Canada would be so cold that they wouldn't be able to grow crops. 

imidazol97

snakeweasel said:

Wait, weren't they claiming global cooling in the 70's? I seemed to remember being told that the pollutants were blocking the heat and that by now Canada would be so cold that they wouldn't be able to grow crops. 

Global warming is a political myth for control. We've been in a period now where the earth has not warmed for 12 or 14 years. So the believers call it a "pause." When a hypothesis has to be explained by changing data and manipulating data and giving all kinds of excuses for why global warming has taken a vacation, scientifically that hypothesis is in trouble. I believe after the exposure of data fiddling to invent the hockey stick change in slope of the graph, they changed the name to "climate change" so cold winters could be proof of warming. Huh?

I recall the Jimmy Carter era where we were afraid we'd all be wearing bearskin caps and fur coats to try to keep warm--and that's in Florida!!! LOL. Coming Ice Age, and it wasn't the movie they were talking about.

suydam

It's called climate change and results on more extreme weather. And it's not a myth. 

ab348

driver100 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?

I thought So Cal was in a drought and was a dust bowl? Where did that mess come from?

BTW Driver, after last night's election results I may need to relocate south. Any advice appreciated. I fear for Canada.

snakeweasel

suydam said:

It's called climate change and results on more extreme weather. And it's not a myth. 

The climate has been changing for 6 billion years and many time very rapidly. So why is it suddenly mans fault?

Also extreme weather is nothing new. 

abacomike

ab348ab348 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?

I thought So Cal was in a drought and was a dust bowl? Where did that mess come from? BTW Driver, after last night's election results I may need to relocate south. Any advice appreciated. I fear for Canada.

ab348 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?

I thought So Cal was in a drought and was a dust bowl? Where did that mess come from? BTW Driver, after last night's election results I may need to relocate south. Any advice appreciated. I fear for Canada.

Welcome to the club, Canadians!  

graphicguy

Thanks, all! I really do appreciate you guys listening to me "whine, moan and complain". GM/Cadillac have this down to a science. They know how this goes. It took the electrical system in my Mother's STS to fry everything in the car (including blowing out the back window from a surge through the rear window defroster) for them to finally buy back her car. But, it wasn't mine. I could afford to wait as long as necessary given neither she, nor I had to drive the car.

You guys are right. I went to the local dealership last night. They have quite a few '16s already on the lot, which was surprising.

All I have so far is an email stating what they are thinking. That is (paraphrasing), they get my car back. I pick one similar out from dealer stock. We swap and all go on our merry way, no money coming out of my pocket. That last part bothers me a bit, given I've been driving a car that's been defective for nearly a year. The other part, I want nothing to do with the original selling dealer. Can't put my finger on it, but there's something not quite right about the cars they purport to be new, or how they regularly seem to have mistakes on their paperwork

Now, the real question is, will they follow through. I gave the Cadillac Customer Service manager the vin # of the car I liked. They already have the vin# of my current car. What happens now, I really don't know. The dealer said they've done corporate swaps before, but usually, they're all different from each other. He did say that Cadillac only reimburses them a nominal amount for taking a car out of their inventory at "no profit". He also said since technically my car isn't a buy back, it will end up out of the region for sale as a used car with clear title. So, someone's getting an issue plagued car, that's really still under warranty.

I'll let you know how this plays out.

Again, thanks!

driver100

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?

I thought So Cal was in a drought and was a dust bowl? Where did that mess come from?

BTW Driver, after last night's election results I may need to relocate south. Any advice appreciated. I fear for Canada.

I feel the same was you do ab.....I feel like moving to a place where the party that promises the most goodies and will go into debt to do it is now in power.

btw...we have a Liberal government in Ontario, and we have the worse debt than any jurisdiction in North America....worse than California at the peak of their problems (per capita).

However, the thing to keep in mind is the federal government probably won't change as much as it sounds like it says it will. For the most part life goes on and what the federal government does doesn't affect us too much. So we have a young kid as PM, who's only real job was teaching drama for a year....we will become the laughing stock on the world stage. PM Harper had a good run, 10 years, and once the libs ruin the economy the Conservatives will have to come back and put things in order....then get booted out again for being fiscally responsible.

***At least the Blue Birds won!

snakeweasel

ab348 said
BTW Driver, after last night's election results I may need to relocate south. Any advice appreciated. I fear for Canada.

One piece of advice, keep going south until you cross the Rio Grande because this country is also going to hell in a handbag. 

I did sort of liked Belize. 

imidazol97

graphicguy said:

He also said since technically my car isn't a buy back, it will end up out of the region for sale as a used car with clear title. So, someone's getting an issue plagued car, that's really still under warranty.

I'll let you know how this plays out. Again, thanks!

I suggest keeping the VIN on the first and the current CTS and checking them on Ohio's title website to see where the car shows up. I've also had luck checking the VIN in google to see if the VIN had been captured going through a dealer lot inventory or through an auction when others were looking at a specific vehicle.

I wonder what happened to the first car they traded you out of?

driver100

abacomike said:

ab348ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?

I thought So Cal was in a drought and was a dust bowl? Where did that mess come from?

BTW Driver, after last night's election results I may need to relocate south. Any advice appreciated. I fear for Canada.

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?

I thought So Cal was in a drought and was a dust bowl? Where did that mess come from?

BTW Driver, after last night's election results I may need to relocate south. Any advice appreciated. I fear for Canada.

Welcome to the club, Canadians!  

Mike, yes, we see what you are going through. I just see people wanting handouts, and they vote for the party that promises the most, and gives the most...but, the people don't know they are the one's who will be paying for it.

henryn

Ya'll might want to lay off of the political commentary so the mods won't have to step in and chastise you. Remember the rules, no politics.

stever

Thank you @henryn.

Go Mets.

imidazol97

stever said:

Thank you @henryn.

Go Mets.

Sports can be just as divisive a politics! Go Bucks!

abacomike

On Saturday night, I got home very late - was out dancing and dining with a lady-friend (not a SO).  I tried pulling into my parking space, but a Fiat 500 was parked dead center on the parking stripe leaving me no room to pull in.  So I parked in a guest spot overnight.  The owner of the Fiat just bought an apartment on the first floor so on Sunday morning at 11:00 AM, I ring her doorbell.  No answer!  So I knock on the door - still no answer.  So I "BANG" on the door - again, still no answer.  Her car was still blocking my assigned spot, so I figured she was indisposed.

I placed a note under her windshield wiper asking her to please park in her own spot, not halfway into my spot.

I get home Sunday evening, and now her car is parked "in my spot", all the way.  So I again knock/bang on her door - no answer.  I figured I've tried to be nice about this, but nice was not working out for me to get this resolved.

So I call security and they come over to survey the situation.  Security tells me she is a new owner and may not know which parking space is her reserved spot.  The knock on the door but got the same result. But they had her phone number and called her.  She then came outside and security informed her of her correct parking space. She said she is hard of hearing and did not hear the doorbell or the knocking and banging on her door.  She apologized to me after security walked her over to her spot (obviously vacant as she was occupying my spot.  She moved her car into her spot, but she was parked right on the parking stripe, leaving me insufficient space to correctly park my car.

Security asked her to park in the center of her assigned spot, not on the left line marker.  She tried 3 times, but was unable to pard straight or within the boundaries of her parking space.  Security asked her if she was able to see well enough to drive.  She responded that she was blind in her left eye and her right eye was not so good.

When I got home this morning from shopping, once again she had parked in between both parking spots.  That was the last straw!

I called the police and when they arrived with our own security personnel, security briefed the police on what she had said yesterday and the fact that she keeps parking diagonally or in my spot.

The police got her to come out - questioned her about her sight - and after she stated she was blind in one eye and didn't see too well with the other eye, they confiscated her driver's license until she could pass a driving vision test.  She was very upset - but the police stated to her that if she presented a hazard driving a vehicle, they were obligated to withhold privileges to drive until she could prove she was not severely handicapped by her vision.

I received a call from her son an hour ago cursing me out for causing his mother all this aggravation.  I merely said to him that I have a right to park in my spot and if he didn't like it, tell it to the cops and security and then hung up.

What a world down here in God's Waiting Room!!!  

ab348

driver100 said:

However, the thing to keep in mind is the federal government probably won't change as much as it sounds like it says it will. For the most part life goes on and what the federal government does doesn't affect us too much. So we have a young kid as PM, who's only real job was teaching drama for a year....we will become the laughing stock on the world stage. PM Harper had a good run, 10 years, and once the libs ruin the economy the Conservatives will have to come back and put things in order....then get booted out again for being fiscally responsible.

I am having a hard time putting my finger on why this is bothering me so much this morning. I know part of it is the marijuana issue, which, having worked in the booze business for years, simply scares the living hell out of me. People are trying to equate the two, but they are very different things. If I was still working at my former employer and we were tasked with distributing the stuff, I don't know if I could continue to work there.

Michaell

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

However, the thing to keep in mind is the federal government probably won't change as much as it sounds like it says it will. For the most part life goes on and what the federal government does doesn't affect us too much. So we have a young kid as PM, who's only real job was teaching drama for a year....we will become the laughing stock on the world stage. PM Harper had a good run, 10 years, and once the libs ruin the economy the Conservatives will have to come back and put things in order....then get booted out again for being fiscally responsible.

I am having a hard time putting my finger on why this is bothering me so much this morning. I know part of it is the marijuana issue, which, having worked in the booze business for years, simply scares the living hell out of me. People are trying to equate the two, but they are very different things. If I was still working at my former employer and we were tasked with distributing the stuff, I don't know if I could continue to work there.

What, specifically, are you concerned about?

mako1a

GraphicGuy, please keep informing us as to the disposition of the Caddy. It has become the highlight of my day. Waiting for the final resolution. And of course how you finally jettison the Cadillac should be a good tale.

henryn

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

However, the thing to keep in mind is the federal government probably won't change as much as it sounds like it says it will. For the most part life goes on and what the federal government does doesn't affect us too much. So we have a young kid as PM, who's only real job was teaching drama for a year....we will become the laughing stock on the world stage. PM Harper had a good run, 10 years, and once the libs ruin the economy the Conservatives will have to come back and put things in order....then get booted out again for being fiscally responsible.

I am having a hard time putting my finger on why this is bothering me so much this morning. I know part of it is the marijuana issue, which, having worked in the booze business for years, simply scares the living hell out of me. People are trying to equate the two, but they are very different things. If I was still working at my former employer and we were tasked with distributing the stuff, I don't know if I could continue to work there.

Is this political or not? The original post definitely was, so I did not respond (despite being 100% opposed to the point of view expressed).

I’m going to say (arbitrarily) that this is not political, this is scientific / medical / moral (alcohol versus marijuana). My opinion, and my opinion only: Yes, alcohol and marijuana are NOT the same. Alcohol is much worse. Much, much worse. The great majority of people that I have known in my life have been drinkers. 80% of them, never drink to excess. A few drink to excess occasionally. And a smaller number, maybe 5 to 10%, are alcoholics. Their lives have been ruined by alcohol. Ruined, devastated, destroyed – pick your word, the same outcome.

I have known over the course of my life a great many people who used marijuana. Not as many as drank alcohol, but still quite a large number of people. There was a period of time when I was in college (69 to 72), probably 90% of the people I knew (including the professors) were dabbling, at the very least. And not one single person that I know or have known has had his/her life destroyed by marijuana.

Granted, some had their lives destroyed by the legal system, the laws against marijuana. But that’s another good reason to legalize, not prohibit.

I just did a quick search and found this:

Problem drinking that becomes severe is given the medical diagnosis of “alcohol use disorder” or AUD. Approximately 7.2 percent or 17 million adults in the United States ages 18 and older had an AUD in 2012. This includes 11.2 million men and 5.7 million women. Adolescents can be diagnosed with an AUD as well, and in 2012, an estimated 855,000 adolescents ages 12–17 had an AUD.

This, above, is in my opinion a heck of a lot worse than marijuana.

snakeweasel

stever said:

 Go Mets.

Geeze, just when I am starting to like you you had to go and say something stupid like that. 

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

I say take the 2016, light it on fire on the lawn of GM corporate HQs and put the video on UTube.

Then go directly to jail, do not pass go do not collect $200. Come on now that's a tad bit illegal. 


Someone did just that with a bum Fiero back in the 80s. Don't recall him going to jail.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

Did anyone see those cars covered in mud....in Southern California.?
How do you clean those cars up?
How do you know a used car wasn't a cleaned up S Cal car?

Funny, when I saw that story on the news I wondered to myself how long it would be before somebody with a hose started selling those on EBay.

imidazol97

henryn said:

Is this political or not?

It is political.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

I say take the 2016, light it on fire on the lawn of GM corporate HQs and put the video on UTube.

Then go directly to jail, do not pass go do not collect $200. Come on now that's a tad bit illegal. 

Someone did just that with a bum Fiero back in the 80s. Don't recall him going to jail.

Did he set it on fire or did it just burst into flames as Fieros were prone to do?

ab348

It sounds like I'm just a few years younger than you and I don't disagree with your observations all that much. I would argue, though, that the fact that it was illegal - despite it being used by a sizable number of people - kept its use in check. You could walk down the street with a case of beer no problem. You couldn't do that with a sack of weed. If you used it, for the most part considerable discretion was needed and it was private. Now here, that will go away. Presumably there will be signage, promotion and advertising, and if it is sold in liquor stores as some people assume, there it will be right alongside the case of beer with what I assume will be an attractive point of sale display. That alone, it seems to me, will make the use much more prevalent and lead to many more problems as it becomes as accessible as booze and is placed on more or less a level playing field. Certainly in my younger years I knew a number of people who went off the rails as a result of drugs and they all began with marijuana. Now I know that the gateway drug argument is hotly disputed but that is just what I saw. It wasn't the marijuana that did them in in the end but it was always there. Today I would worry more about the effects of mixing booze and weed as many people do, which seems to multiply the effects of both to a dangerous extent especially on the roads.

But my main issue is that I just don't like the stuff. I went through a phase when I was younger when, as you say, I dabbled in it. That's a good way to describe it. I didn't like what it did to me and those around me, how it made everyone stupid, didn't like the nudge-nudge-wink-wink attitude that accompanied it, didn't like the people involved in it, and hated the fact that it was smoked with its resulting smell, mess, and look. I will hate to see that becoming accepted and open in society. Unlike alcohol, it doesn't quench your thirst after mowing the lawn, doesn't compliment a meal like a nice wine, it only exists for delivering the high. I know some percentage of people with a problem treat alcohol that way, but isn't that the only use for marijuana (aside from the relatively few medical uses)? So maybe that's my moral issue. I freely admit that sometimes the booze business is really good at looking the other way on that part of its effects. We always tried to emphasize the high-end part of our business but we also sold a lot of Colt 45. The booze business is a crappy business in some ways, but I see the marijuana business as being just as bad if not worse because everyone you're dealing with was a criminal until the day it became legal. At least the booze business has had 85 years to shed that part of its background.

The one thing I simply don't understand having been in the booze business is this, and maybe Michaell can educate me based on the experience is his state: people say that there is a tax revenue windfall to be had by legalization. But there are few barriers to entry for producing it, unlike booze. It doesn't need to be aged for years, you don't need lots of processing and bottling equipment, etc. So why would people pay the (presumably) higher price to buy the legal, taxed stuff when they could just keep getting it tax-free from whomever sells it to them now? I assume it would have to be cheaper. Is the supposed revenue windfall coming from increased use by those who would not otherwise? Everything I've read says that doesn't happen, so I'm at a loss.

Like I said, I'm really struggling with this one. It is very troubling to me.

thebean

I have a real problem with weed.  As much time as I spend in trying to get them out of my yard, they always come back.  I'm not sure why people want to legalize the darn things.  What's that?  It's a different type of weed?  Oh.  Well, never mind.  (Channeling Roseanne Rosannadanna). 

stickguy

Snake, I attended game 2 Sunday in person. It was a good time!

imidazol97

M.A.S.H. fans deja vu.

Coming home I realized the van that passed me on the interstate said tonypackoscatering.com on the rear.
All the way from Toledo to my area. Apparently a delivery to a local food supply business. Lunch? Or someone wanted a speciality sausage product and it's being delivered from Toledo. .

driver100

ab, I am concerned too, but if that is the way society is going then we may have to go along with it. People thought the same about booze and gambling, until the government figured out it was a way to make money.

Here are some negatives:
SHORT-TERM EFFECTS
Sensory distortion
Panic
Anxiety
Poor coordination of movement
Lowered reaction time
After an initial “up,” the user feels sleepy or depressed
Increased heartbeat (and risk of heart attack)

LONG-term effects of marijuana

Reduced resistance to common illnesses (colds, bronchitis, etc.)
Suppression of the immune system
Growth disorders
Increase of abnormally structured cells in the body
Reduction of male sex hormones
Rapid destruction of lung fibers and lesions (injuries) to the brain could be permanent
Reduced sexual capacity
Study difficulties: reduced ability to learn and retain information
Apathy, drowsiness, lack of motivation
Personality and mood changes
Inability to understand things clearly

There are people who believe a large percentage of car accidents involve people who have the chemicals in their body. There seems to be conflicting information.

driver100

GG, I sometimes get suspicious about these kind of deals.

What if you take the deal and then Cadillac says to the BBB, see, he likes the car enough to accept a new one....maybe he was just trying to get a new one from us?

Not likely, but, if you do the deal, please read the documents over carefully....you aren't dealing with trustworthy people.

btw....I think it is your best option to take the 2016. You may pay more in lawyers fees than you will get this way.

stickguy

Sounds like the disclaimers at the end of every drug commercial on TV

tommister2

GG should publish the VINs here (or somewhere online) so that if people search for them they can at least be warned. It doesn't seem right to have cars like that pawned off on some other unsuspecting citizen.

PF_Flyer

Everything is a crisis now

Let's be careful we don't continental drift into a place we don't really need to be..heh

Anybody have a theory for what the attraction is with removing identifying marks from vehicles? I was behind a black BMW X6 that had all identifying marks removed. It just looked "unfinished" to me. To each his own, I suppose. At least it wasn't painted flat black

ab348

driver100 said:

There are people who believe a large percentage of car accidents involve people who have the chemicals in their body. There seems to be conflicting information.

We had a terrible tragedy here late on Saturday night/Sunday morning when 4 young (19-22 y-o) people, 2 guys and 2 girls, in a fairly new Civic coupe, were in a single-car wreck around 1:30AM on a 2-lane highway. The car left the road, went into a ditch, apparently hit a culvert, flipped, and then continued for several hundred feet. The two girls were ejected and died, another person is in critical condition. Amazingly, the driver was OK and released from hospital. Police said immediately that alcohol was involved, but the suspicion, given the ages, is apparently that other substances were as well. Of course it takes time for those results to be determined via tests.

Mr_Shiftright

How sad. We probably all have memories from high school about some such tragedy in our own towns or neighborhoods.

Being thrown out of the car is often lethal. I suspect the kids weren't wearing seat belts and that's too bad, it might have saved them.

PF_Flyer

We had a PSU student die recently after being ejected in an accident. Everyone else in the vehicle treated and released.
When my brother-in-law was doing his ER rotation back in the late 70's, he made a pretty good case for seat belt use with his observation that car accident victims wearing seat belts generally went home, and those not wearing got admitted or worse.

My '66 Newport was the first car in our family with lap belts.

nyccarguy

@henryn - have you read the edmunds road test about the F150 with the 5.0 V8? http://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150/2015/road-test1.html

From some of your postings on CCBA & the Diesel thread, it seems like you are really happy with your truck. Did you even drive the V8 or just the 2.7?

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

Snake, I attended game 2 Sunday in person. It was a good time!

How'd you get tickets? I hear they are a fortune. The games have been fantastic.

graphicguy

You guys all bring up good points. I don't know what happened to the first car. Not sure how this whole swap one car for another car works, either. I just spoke to Cadillac Customer Service again, too. I'm not certain they actually know how this is supposed to go, either. Neither does the dealer, although they said they've done them before but each case is different. Dealer said most likely, they'll give me what I paid for the car, including taxes and fees. And, they apply that amount to another CTS. But, I bought my CTS cheap. I don't think those kind of deals are happening, currently.

I told Cadillac that the deal, as I understood it originally, was for them to give me a like for like car (same model, options, etc) and I give them mine...easy-peasy!

We'll see.

stickguy

Bradd, I got lucky and was selected for the ticket lottery so got them for face. Went to the NLDS too. My son got those, but only SRO.

citi was rocking though. Good times.

stickguy

GG, can't wait to see this play out. Caddy really does seem like a disorganized operation. Hope you can get your key swap worked out.

stever

Speaking of the Mets, where's @fezo? Did I miss a vacation plans post?

stickguy

Mets in playoffs probably put him back into hospital with a coronary.

abacomike

OK, guys - STOP THE PRESSES!  Abacomike just made an appointment for December 1st, 2015, at 9:00 AM, to have his E400 put through its first A service.  And you guys said it would never happen.

I just need a little advice:

What does the term "oil and filter change" mean?

Where does the oil go?  Trunk? Underneath?  Up front?

What does "rotate tires mean?"  Do they put the car on one of those lifts and merely "spin the tires" so they rotate?

What does "check and top off fluids" mean?  There are fluids in a car?

What does "replace air filter mean?"  My car has an air filter?  Why does my car need an air filter?

What does "check tire tread depth" mean? Are tires filled with water and the depth of the water is important to know?

What does "check for leaks" mean?  Is it because cars sometimes need "Depends" to stop leaking?

I just need answers to the above questions so I don't sound like an idiot when someone asks me what I did on December 1st.

Thanks all for your help - much appreciated!  

stickguy

It means drive to front of building. Find sale guy. Sign papers. Take new one home.