Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

robr2 said:

Well it's a done deal. I bought a new 2015 VW Passat LE today. Silver over black - the once combination I really didn't want but for $6,000 off the MSRP, beggars can't be choosers. I pick it up later this week.

Congratulations! We really like our 2013 Passat.....it is a nice driving car....has a Euro feel and finish. Nothing wrong with $6k off - that's an incredible price. My wife and I have often said, our Passat is a lot of car for the money.

abacomike

snakeweasel said:

I have REAL SLR cameras, even still have my Minolta XG-1 that uses FILM. We went to a wedding recently, and while everyone else was holding their phones up, I was taking photographs. People were stopping me to have me take their picture. I explained to them that I was NOT one of the wedding photographers, but they insisted I take the shots anyway. Totally goofy if you ask me.

These days it is hard to find people who use real cameras anymore, be it film or digital. Almost everyone is using their phones. I myself use a digital SRL camera, takes great pictures and I prefer the tools that it has over what you get with the phone.

I have a new 17-50mm f2.8 coming for my Nikon digital. The lenses I really want to get are gonna take some spousal convincing

I have a Nikon digital camera with a 17-50mm lens, it also came with a 50-200mm lens and I know what you mean about spousal convincing.

When I was cleaning out drawers and closets after Dad died this summer, I found a Leica Camera.  Took it to a camera dealer and he told me it was made in 1947 in Germany.  Still in perfect working condition.  He has it on consignment - said it was worth thousands of the right collector wants it.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Watching Motor Week on PBS and they had a flashback on the 1980 Mustang GT. The 5.0 put out 157hp and 240torque. Wow! Camaro Z-28 only had 147hp and weighed almost 3400 pounds.

Bet you could outrun them on foot.

That was at the end of an era, a bad era. The late 70's into the very early 80's was a bad time for high performance cars. Pollution controls and insurance rates neutered high performance cars. In the mid 80's I was driving around in a Dodge Omni GLH that would smoke Mustangs, Cameros and even Vettes from the late 70's (it had around 145 HP IIRC and was light).

Was that the Omni that Shelby messed around with? My 1980 Omni had a smokin' 68hp from the VW 1.7L. It had a crotch crunching small cabin but it got almost as good gas milage as my Mustang.

How time's change.

Yes that was the first one that Shelby messed with, had a turbo 2.2 liter (IIRC the non turbo 2.2 produced 95+/-hp) GLH was said to mean "Goes Like Hell" and it did. When they discontinued the GLH Shelby got a hold of the last few hundred and souped those up to the GLH-S which produced around 175hp, for a 2200 pound car that was a lot in the 80's.

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

snakeweasel said:

Now if you are asking if any team has ever won after losing the first three games then no. The only team in North America sports to win a seven game series after losing the first three were the 2004 Red Socks in the AL championship.

Not quite. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup after losing the first 3 games of the finals with Detroit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_Stanley_Cup_Finals

I stand corrected, I seem to recall that they said the Bo Sox were the first to do it but apparently either I remembered wrong or they were wrong.

houdini1

ab348 said:

stickguy said:

WS would have hurt less if the Mets hadn't given away 2 games in the 8th that should have been won.

Actually, 3 games. Games 1, 4, and 5. It should have been over last night but the trophy should have belonged to the other team.

Yeah, it is too bad that they keep track of all those pesky runs that each team scores and determine who wins that way. If they didn't do that our favorite team would never lose.

ab348

houdini1 said:

ab348 said:

stickguy said:

WS would have hurt less if the Mets hadn't given away 2 games in the 8th that should have been won.

Actually, 3 games. Games 1, 4, and 5. It should have been over last night but the trophy should have belonged to the other team.

Yeah, it is too bad that they keep track of all those pesky runs that each team scores and determine who wins that way. If they didn't do that our favorite team would never lose.

Don't be silly. I was just pointing out that the Mets had late leads in each of those games and coughed them up. Great teams don't do that.

verdugo

snakeweasel said:

graphicguy said:

Delta still has free booze. It used to be free for anything. Now, it's just beer and some wines. They do have some pretty good snacks, though.

I flew Delta last year and didn't get any free booze, they owe me a beer (actually 4 as I switched planes in Atlanta going there and back).

The free booze is in the lounges, IIRC.

verdugo

abacomike said:

I haven't been in one of those Admiral's Clubs in many years - I wonder if they still have them.

They sure are. Some are better than others though.

stickguy

that LE model is really well equipped. If I needed something right now, that would be a great option. brand new buy for used car or lease money!

roadburner

snakeweasel said:

That was at the end of an era, a bad era. The late 70's into the very early 80's was a bad time for high performance cars. Pollution controls and insurance rates neutered high performance cars. In the mid 80's I was driving around in a Dodge Omni GLH that would smoke Mustangs, Cameros and even Vettes from the late 70's (it had around 145 HP IIRC and was light).

In the '70s and '80s I owned a 1974 Monte Carlo. I modified it as follows:
L82 Air filter/valve covers
Crane HT Cam/lifters
Edelbrock Performer Intake
Quadrajet carb(calibrated by yours truly)
Recurved Delco Distributor/Mallory Unilite/MSD5A
Blackjack Headers(1 5/8" primaries)
3" dual exhaust with Cherry Bomb Q (Turbo) mufflers
B&M Transpak(Street/Strip calibration)
Flex-A-Lite 15000 lb. GVW Transmission cooler
3:42 Final Drive Ratio

It would eat most any domestic car produced from 1975-1982, chirping the tires on both the 1-2 and 2-3 upshifts. I think the only Stoplight Grand Prix I lost was against a 1978 Trans Am with the T/A 6.6 and three pedals.

oldfarmer50

robr2 said:

Well it's a done deal. I bought a new 2015 VW Passat LE today. Silver over black - the once combination I really didn't want but for $6,000 off the MSRP, beggars can't be choosers. I pick it up later this week.

Good deal. That's smart, buying against the current panic. Like buying a Prius when gas is low.

nyccarguy

oldfarmer50 said:

robr2 said:

Well it's a done deal. I bought a new 2015 VW Passat LE today. Silver over black - the once combination I really didn't want but for $6,000 off the MSRP, beggars can't be choosers. I pick it up later this week.

Good deal. That's smart, buying against the current panic. Like buying a Prius when gas is low.

Good point. VW has A LOT of big time fans who will only drive VWs and an equal amount of people (so it seems) that purchased a VW once whose ownership or dealership experience was so bad that they won't even drive on the same road that the VW dealer is located on. Between here & ccba we have many proud, happy, thoroughly satisfied VW/Audi owners (Rob, Sandy, Bruce, Stick, Ray...)

houdini1

nyccarguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

robr2 said:

Well it's a done deal. I bought a new 2015 VW Passat LE today. Silver over black - the once combination I really didn't want but for $6,000 off the MSRP, beggars can't be choosers. I pick it up later this week.

Good deal. That's smart, buying against the current panic. Like buying a Prius when gas is low.

Good point. VW has A LOT of big time fans who will only drive VWs and an equal amount of people (so it seems) that purchased a VW once whose ownership or dealership experience was so bad that they won't even drive on the same road that the VW dealer is located on. Between here & ccba we have many proud, happy, thoroughly satisfied VW/Audi owners (Rob, Sandy, Bruce, Stick, Ray...)

Good deal, congrats and enjoy Robr2.

houdini1

ab348 said:

houdini1 said:

ab348 said:

stickguy said:

WS would have hurt less if the Mets hadn't given away 2 games in the 8th that should have been won.

Actually, 3 games. Games 1, 4, and 5. It should have been over last night but the trophy should have belonged to the other team.

Yeah, it is too bad that they keep track of all those pesky runs that each team scores and determine who wins that way. If they didn't do that our favorite team would never lose.

Don't be silly. I was just pointing out that the Mets had late leads in each of those games and coughed them up. Great teams don't do that.

Thanks for the clarification.

nyccarguy

This picture popped up on my Facebook news feed this AM.  A woman I went to high school with commented on it.  I think we are all in agreement that no 16 year old needs nor deserves a brand new $45K Infiniti right after passing his driving test.  What you do with your money is your business though.  Putting the pictures up of the kid on Facebook with the car while still at the dealership is just a whole different kind of wrong.

driver100

nyccarguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

robr2 said:

Well it's a done deal. I bought a new 2015 VW Passat LE today. Silver over black - the once combination I really didn't want but for $6,000 off the MSRP, beggars can't be choosers. I pick it up later this week.

Good deal. That's smart, buying against the current panic. Like buying a Prius when gas is low.

Good point. VW has A LOT of big time fans who will only drive VWs and an equal amount of people (so it seems) that purchased a VW once whose ownership or dealership experience was so bad that they won't even drive on the same road that the VW dealer is located on. Between here & ccba we have many proud, happy, thoroughly satisfied VW/Audi owners (Rob, Sandy, Bruce, Stick, Ray...)

Driver is at 50/50. So far very satisfied with the VW Passat, not happy about our Audi experience.

robr2

Thanks all. The Passat was too good of a deal to pass up. The inventory levels are really low on the 2015's though so I had to wait all day to find out what color I was getting. The dealer had offered to find me a light interior and anything but silver or black. Another local dealer had gray with gray but the two of them don't trade with each other. I got the call at 7 PM last night that they didn't have any luck and I could take what they had in stock so silver over black it is.

This is the dealer I've worked with for over 10 years now. I know I can walk into service and the manager knows my name, gives me preferential treatment, and discounts. They've been in the same location for 42 years with the same owner. They sell as many cars as the self proclaimed "biggest VW dealer (building) in the world."

Now that I've spent about $3K less than I planned, I wonder if my wife will let me buy the motorcycle I've been pining for??? I doubt it.

driver100

That picture of Jesse reminds me of my grandson. He lent his 20 year old Volvo to his girlfriend of 2 years. After one month she had an accident in the parking lot at work. The Volvo which is built like a tank was just scratched. After 3 months she hit another car that was making a turn......I think the Volvo will be a writeoff!

I am wondering if the relationship can survive through that!

I was visiting a girlfriend once at her dorm, and I didn't want to leave my car in the driveway because there were signs they would tow your car away. She said they never tow cars away. Well, I was only there for about 15 minutes and my car got towed away....I had to pick it up miles away, and it cost $200 to get it back which was a lot of money at the time. That kind of ruined that relationship....would have told me something if she offered to pay....FOR HER MISTAKE. (probably saved me a lot more heartache if I hadn't discovered that she wasn't that responsible and that she didn't offer to pay).

robr2

nyccarguy said:

This picture popped up on my Facebook news feed this AM.  A woman I went to high school with commented on it.  I think we are all in agreement that no 16 year old needs nor deserves a brand new $45K Infiniti right after passing his driving test.  What you do with your money is your business though.  Putting the pictures up of the kid on Facebook with the car while still at the dealership is just a whole different kind of wrong.

A similar thing happened during my son's junior year in high school. One of the "glamour girls" as he called them, got her license in the morning. At 2 PM, her parents met her outside the school with a brand new Camaro and it had a giant ribbon and bow on it. Her vapid friends were so impressed.

My son told me that within a month she was being shuttled to school by her mother in the Camaro due to violating the passenger restrictions and speeding which per the MA RMV resulted in:

90 day suspension
Driver Attitudinal Retraining Course $80
SCARR Class $75
$500 license reinstatement fee
Full Written and Verbal Exam

nyccarguy

"This is the dealer I've worked with for over 10 years now. I know I can walk into service and the manager knows my name, gives me preferential treatment, and discounts. They've been in the same location for 42 years with the same owner."  

In today's day and age of mega dealerships which are big enough to be listed on the stock exchange this is so important.  

suydam

My middle son totaled his car within 3 weeks of getting his license. Good thing it was an old Dodge beater. He had paid half for it though so it was all the money in the world to him. Hasn't had an accident since. Anyone buying a new car for a new licensee is a fool. I wonder if the post is a fake? A lot of those going around FB.

Michaell

So so so glad my days of dealing with teenaged drivers is behind me.

dino001

driver100 said:

....would have told me something if she offered to pay....FOR HER MISTAKE.

American woman and taking responsibility? When you meet one let me know It's actually not my observation, a friend of mine, a Caribbean origin is married to an American and he keeps saying that nothing ever, ever, is their fault. BTW, he says it's already ingrained in his two little daughters. Of course, we are stereotyping here.

Your case is harder, though. Although she told you that they never tow people away, but that was one of those statements equal to freecreditreport.com saying later they never suggested to anybody their credit reports are free.

snakeweasel

robr2 said:

 This is the dealer I've worked with for over 10 years now. I know I can walk into service and the manager knows my name, gives me preferential treatment, and discounts. They've been in the same location for 42 years with the same owner. They sell as many cars as the self proclaimed "biggest VW dealer (building) in the world." Now that I've spent about $3K less than I planned, I wonder if my wife will let me buy the motorcycle I've been pining for??? I doubt it.

Am I the only one that thinks that the service manager at a dealership knowing my name is a bad thing?

As for the motorcycle, my wife suggested we get one. Now it's been 30 plus years since I have ridden a motorcycle so I decided to take a class and do some practice riding around town. It reminded me of why I haven't ridden in over 30 years. 

imidazol97

Robert, Congratulations on your new car!

imidazol97

nyccarguy said:

This picture popped up on my Facebook news feed this AM.  A woman I went to high school with commented on it.  I think we are all in agreement that no 16 year old needs nor deserves a brand new $45K Infiniti right after passing his driving test.  What you do with your money is your business though.  Putting the pictures up of the kid on Facebook with the car while still at the dealership is just a whole different kind of wrong.

Judge Judy often is wrong in her interpretation of evidence, especially of a scientific nature, but she is right about boys not being "cooked" as far as sound decision making until they're 24 or some age like that. The bragging about a new car at the day of getting a license is really bad for the kid's understanding of life. My son drove an 11-year old leSabre to the school for the first year. Other kids could hit it all they wanted. Then we picked up a car for him for his senior year, but it was a pedantic vehicle, not high-powered show off car.

I wonder if it's the parents that wanted to show off or if that's the kid's real value system. Would he have been happy with a 4-year old vehicle that wasn't of a premium name tag?

stickguy

Our town has enough wealthy people that the student lot was depressing to me. As in jealousy! My kids did just fine in their miled up and pre scratched used cars.

And plenty of the kids that got expensive new cars wrecked them.

robr2

snakeweasel said:

Am I the only one that thinks that the service manager at a dealership knowing my name is a bad thing?

I think the service manager knows my name because I'm in there every 5K miles for service and that his department gets top scores on the surveys. I'm guessing that somewhere in their customer profile they know who gives great scores and who doesn't. Good surveys mean so much bonus to the service writers so if there is a problem, I speak with them directly instead of passive aggressively getting revenge via the survey.

But honestly, I have never had a reason to give anything other than top scores. In 10 years I had one questionable service experience at this dealer. 500 miles after having the timing belt replaced, I had to have the thermostat done. Since the nose had to be removed to access both, I asked why they don't recommend doing it at the same time. The service manager said they do. He looked at my file and noticed that I had not been asked. So he gave me a credit on the labor towards future service work.

abacomike

Michaell said:

So so so glad my days of dealing with teenaged drivers is behind me.

Both kids were within 18 months of each others age.  My daughter used to borrow my wife's car as needed.  When Justin had his 16th birthday and got his driver's license, I decided to buy the kids a car they had to share - I could not afford to buy 2 cars with the two we already had because I could not afford the expense of a 4th car and the insurance.  Biggest mistake I ever made!!!

All the new car did was give my kids another major thing to fight about.  It was almost constant - "...Mom, Justin had the car last Saturday and won't let me have it this Saturday..." or "Dad, she put a dent in the car last night..." or "...why does he always get the car on Wednesdays?..."  It became a nightmare.

After 6 months of the constant fighting for the car, I sold it for $1000 less than I paid for it and then there was nothing left to fight about (that is pertaining to who gets to use the car) - the kids were very close in age which was a primary reason for their disagreements.  Thus, since my wife rarely used her car in the evenings, they received "driving" rights based upon respect for each other and their mother.  Amazingly, they started getting along with  each other better.

Yep, I made a foolish fatherly error in buying a new car for them to "share"!  There's no sharing in teenage sibling families when it comes to the car.  (Like "...there's no crying in baseball" per Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own".  

henryn

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Watching Motor Week on PBS and they had a flashback on the 1980 Mustang GT. The 5.0 put out 157hp and 240torque. Wow! Camaro Z-28 only had 147hp and weighed almost 3400 pounds.

Bet you could outrun them on foot.

That was at the end of an era, a bad era. The late 70's into the very early 80's was a bad time for high performance cars. Pollution controls and insurance rates neutered high performance cars. In the mid 80's I was driving around in a Dodge Omni GLH that would smoke Mustangs, Cameros and even Vettes from the late 70's (it had around 145 HP IIRC and was light).

I remember the GLH, it really did "Goes Like Hell"! And yes, that was what the acronym stood for, truly. The only problem was that I couldn't fit in one.

robr2

The GLH-S was Goes Like Hell, Sir.

snakeweasel

robr2 said:

Am I the only one that thinks that the service manager at a dealership knowing my name is a bad thing?

I think the service manager knows my name because I'm in there every 5K miles for service and that his department gets top scores on the surveys. I'm guessing that somewhere in their customer profile they know who gives great scores and who doesn't. Good surveys mean so much bonus to the service writers so if there is a problem, I speak with them directly instead of passive aggressively getting revenge via the survey. But honestly, I have never had a reason to give anything other than top scores. In 10 years I had one questionable service experience at this dealer. 500 miles after having the timing belt replaced, I had to have the thermostat done. Since the nose had to be removed to access both, I asked why they don't recommend doing it at the same time. The service manager said they do. He looked at my file and noticed that I had not been asked. So he gave me a credit on the labor towards future service work.

My thoughts would be that those who only come on for scheduled maintenance would be routine and numerous enough to basically become background noise and therefore easily forgotten. It's us ally the troublesome ones that gets remembered. 

I deal with close to 2000 people and most of those I remember are the ones that give me the most problems. 

snakeweasel

henryn said:

Watching Motor Week on PBS and they had a flashback on the 1980 Mustang GT. The 5.0 put out 157hp and 240torque. Wow! Camaro Z-28 only had 147hp and weighed almost 3400 pounds. Bet you could outrun them on foot.

That was at the end of an era, a bad era. The late 70's into the very early 80's was a bad time for high performance cars. Pollution controls and insurance rates neutered high performance cars. In the mid 80's I was driving around in a Dodge Omni GLH that would smoke Mustangs, Cameros and even Vettes from the late 70's (it had around 145 HP IIRC and was light).

I remember the GLH, it really did "Goes Like Hell"! And yes, that was what the acronym stood for, truly. The only problem was that I couldn't fit in one.

I stand 6 foot 2 and at that time weighed in at around 190, I don't remember having an issue fitting in one. 

driver100

Today I took the E400 in for a wash before the Florida trip...which starts on Friday. The dealer offers a free wash anytime, just drive in.

I decided to try the paddle shifters for the first time today, on the way to the dealer. I wonder how many people actually use them. There is no fun value at all....unless you love racing around corners I just don't get it.

I sat in a 550.....the low slung 4 door coupe maodel....the one Mike once owned. I honestly wouldn't trade even, even though it had a MSRP of $102K. My head touched the roof, the windows are narrow slits, I was sitting very low down with high door sills and a high hood, tiny rear window. Also, it is way over done inside and I am not a fan of a pop up GPS if there is a choice.

I will say the seats are nice in that they have beautiful stitching. It made me appreciate the E400 even more.

Michaell

abacomike said:

Michaell said:

So so so glad my days of dealing with teenaged drivers is behind me.

Both kids were within 18 months of each others age.  My daughter used to borrow my wife's car as needed.  When Justin had his 16th birthday and got his driver's license, I decided to buy the kids a car they had to share - I could not afford to buy 2 cars with the two we already had because I could not afford the expense of a 4th car and the insurance.  Biggest mistake I ever made!!!

All the new car did was give my kids another major thing to fight about.  It was almost constant - "...Mom, Justin had the car last Saturday and won't let me have it this Saturday..." or "Dad, she put a dent in the car last night..." or "...why does he always get the car on Wednesdays?..."  It became a nightmare.

After 6 months of the constant fighting for the car, I sold it for $1000 less than I paid for it and then there was nothing left to fight about (that is pertaining to who gets to use the car) - the kids were very close in age which was a primary reason for their disagreements.  Thus, since my wife rarely used her car in the evenings, they received "driving" rights based upon respect for each other and their mother.  Amazingly, they started getting along with  each other better.

Yep, I made a foolish fatherly error in buying a new car for them to "share"!  There's no sharing in teenage sibling families when it comes to the car.  (Like "...there's no crying in baseball" per Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own".  

Mike - thanks for the story. I'll share mine - some of you have heard this from me before.

When my stepson turned 16 we got him a nice used car. The wife and I found a used Geo Tracker 4-door for sale by a retired GM executive. 60,000 miles, perfect condition. Our stepson had mostly driven our 2002 Explorer when he had his permit, so we figured he was comfortable with the dynamics of driving an SUV.

Wrong.

Just a month after getting his license, he decided to take a friend home from school. The route he took meant that he had to drive a dirt road to return to our house. A combination of speed and lack of experience led to a major accident. No serious injuries, though his sister was flown to the hospital via helicopter to address a moderate concussion. The Tracker was totaled.

roadburner

Michaell said:

So so so glad my days of dealing with teenaged drivers is behind me.

I think I've mentioned this before, but we sent our son to the two day teen school at the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina. After that I let him drive my 1975 2002 and my wife and I told him that if he kept his grades up and had no accidents or tickets we'd discuss an upgrade in 12 months. We also had him attend Street Survival(driving the '02) when it was held in Louisville. One year later he had kept up his end of the deal and he surprised us both by asking for his mom's nine year old X3. He said if he had something fast he'd get into trouble. He's still driving it four years later with no at fault accidents or tickets.

Funny thing about my son's high school parking lot; a few of his classmates got new Mustangs or Miatas, but his 1975 2002 attracted more attention, since it bore a slight resemblance to the Baur Cabriolet in the Katy Perry "Teenage Dream" video that was released around the same time...

sda

abacomike said:

Michaell said:

So so so glad my days of dealing with tee, naged drivers is behind me.

Both kids were within 18 months of each others age.  My daughter used to borrow my wife's car as needed.  When Justin had his 16th birthday and got his driver's license, I decided to buy the kids a car they had to share - I could not afford to buy 2 cars with the two we already had because I could not afford the expense of a 4th car and the insurance.  Biggest mistake I ever made!!!

All the new car did was give my kids another major thing to fight about.  It was almost constant -

That situation sounds very familiar. I have two younger sisters that are 17 months apart, and I am the oldest by 4 years. When I was in college my two sisters were in high school and dad had an older Toyota Corona Mk II and a Pontiac Grand Am that the girls drove. Though they were not "their" cars, one sister typically drove the Toyota and the other the Grand Am. When my little sister wrecked the Toyota, it was totaled, dad did not replace it. So the girls fought over the Gran Am. Dad quickly reminded them it was "his"car and if they couldn't play nice, the car was no longer available to them. That got their attention!

imidazol97

roadburner said:

Cool. Car. AND the dinner bell. It's been a long time since I saw one. When growing up, many
of the farms of our friends and neighbors had them from the days when they were rung
to call the farmers from the fields to the house for dinner and then for supper.

iluvmysephia1

Yes iluv, I am a big fan of the Royals. We live on the Kansas side, Johnson County, City of Lenexa, Ks. About 14 miles from downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas is really two states Eastern Kansas and Western Kansas. Very different people and different views. One is not better than the other, just different. Both are great.

Well, Houdini, point well taken about Kansas. So far, so good on the people over here in SW Kansas. And that includes my Director at work. You never know what you're going to get, turns out my Director loves Chicago, and, found out that my wife is from Chicago, and wants to go out on the town and spend some time with her. Apparently loving Chicago's not a given amongst the Dodge City locals (I wonder why).

But Midwestern friendly is what I would say so far over here. Kinda miss my mountains and rivers and such from Washington and even southern New Mexico. Actually traveled down south to a lake near Minneola, KS. Clark State Lake or something like that. The access road was...shall I say...somewhat lacking? We got out to use the restroom and off a gunshot went about a 1/4 mile away up the hill. This lake was sunk down below the horizon, actually in a very pretty setting. My wife looked at me "Was that a gun shot?"

Off we drove back up the hill. The old dude camping by the rest area didn't look thrilled ta get visitors but was probably harmless - I don't like nearby gunfire though!

Overall the history of Dodge City is charming, though. We have two big beef-packing plants - Cargill and National Beef. Dodge still retains a big 'ole chunk of cow history to it.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

nyccarguy said:

This picture popped up on my Facebook news feed this AM.  A woman I went to high school with commented on it.  I think we are all in agreement that no 16 year old needs nor deserves a brand new $45K Infiniti right after passing his driving test.  What you do with your money is your business though.  Putting the pictures up of the kid on Facebook with the car while still at the dealership is just a whole different kind of wrong.

I wonder if it's the parents that wanted to show off or if that's the kid's real value system. Would he have been happy with a 4-year old vehicle that wasn't of a premium name tag?

If the parents offer the new car I am sure the kid will take it. Just me, but, I think that is wrong on so many levels.......even if I had $50million, I wouldn't give a 16 year old a brand new luxury vehicle. If they needed a car at all, it would be a vanilla Camry type car.....as safe as possible, but, pretty tame.

driver100

I saw my friend who has the Audi R8 today. He was telling me he was driving about 50 mph when a lady just came into his lane a bit.....and his automatic braking system jammed on. It decelerated so fast and the ABS started jerking, he was wondering what was going on. He said he could have maneuvered his car over more without all the drama, and he was concerned because the guy following him may not have been able to brake so fast, and he could have had a nasty rear end collision.

He's not sure if he wants automatic braking.

houdini1

iluvmysephia1 said:

Yes iluv, I am a big fan of the Royals. We live on the Kansas side, Johnson County, City of Lenexa, Ks. About 14 miles from downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas is really two states Eastern Kansas and Western Kansas. Very different people and different views. One is not better than the other, just different. Both are great.

Well, Houdini, point well taken about Kansas. So far, so good on the people over here in SW Kansas. And that includes my Director at work. You never know what you're going to get, turns out my Director loves Chicago, and, found out that my wife is from Chicago, and wants to go out on the town and spend some time with her. Apparently loving Chicago's not a given amongst the Dodge City locals (I wonder why).

But Midwestern friendly is what I would say so far over here. Kinda miss my mountains and rivers and such from Washington and even southern New Mexico. Actually traveled down south to a lake near Minneola, KS. Clark State Lake or something like that. The access road was...shall I say...somewhat lacking? We got out to use the restroom and off a gunshot went about a 1/4 mile away up the hill. This lake was sunk down below the horizon, actually in a very pretty setting. My wife looked at me "Was that a gun shot?"

Off we drove back up the hill. The old dude camping by the rest area didn't look thrilled ta get visitors but was probably harmless - I don't like nearby gunfire though!

Overall the history of Dodge City is charming, though. We have two big beef-packing plants - Cargill and National Beef. Dodge still retains a big 'ole chunk of cow history to it.

You should have reported him to Marshal Dillon. He would have sent Chester out to handle that old dude !

tjc78

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Watching Motor Week on PBS and they had a flashback on the 1980 Mustang GT. The 5.0 put out 157hp and 240torque. Wow! Camaro Z-28 only had 147hp and weighed almost 3400 pounds.

Bet you could outrun them on foot.

That was at the end of an era, a bad era. The late 70's into the very early 80's was a bad time for high performance cars. Pollution controls and insurance rates neutered high performance cars. In the mid 80's I was driving around in a Dodge Omni GLH that would smoke Mustangs, Cameros and even Vettes from the late 70's (it had around 145 HP IIRC and was light).

My dad had an 86 Shelby Charger... I remember it being one quick car (similar to the Omni "GLH"). At least until he flipped it on the New Jersey Turnpike!

robr2

snakeweasel said:

My thoughts would be that those who only come on for scheduled maintenance would be routine and numerous enough to basically become background noise and therefore easily forgotten. It's us ally the troublesome ones that gets remembered. 

I deal with close to 2000 people and most of those I remember are the ones that give me the most problems. 

IMHO, average customers become background noise. I make sure that I don't become an average customer. I ask when I pick up the car "do you think I'll get a survey? I know those are important to you and I'll take car of you." I use their names and make sure they know mine.

Good and bad customers are remembered. The former get benefits and the latter are dealt with as fast as possible.

stever

iluvmysephia1 said:

Kinda miss my mountains and rivers and such from Washington and even southern New Mexico.

Can't help you with the rivers - they turned off the Rio Grande last month. Here's a quickie out my office window - have to sit up straight if I want to see the tops of the Organs.


(That loom usually lives a bit out of the way. And there's plenty of gunfire, usually heavy artillery echoing over the mountains from the missile range.)

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

This picture popped up on my Facebook news feed this AM.  A woman I went to high school with commented on it.  I think we are all in agreement that no 16 year old needs nor deserves a brand new $45K Infiniti right after passing his driving test.  What you do with your money is your business though.  Putting the pictures up of the kid on Facebook with the car while still at the dealership is just a whole different kind of wrong.

I wonder if that dad would adopt me? Sounds like a soft touch.

oldfarmer50

suydam said:

My middle son totaled his car within 3 weeks of getting his license. Good thing it was an old Dodge beater. He had paid half for it though so it was all the money in the world to him. Hasn't had an accident since. Anyone buying a new car for a new licensee is a fool. I wonder if the post is a fake? A lot of those going around FB.

I've trained 4 kids to drive. The two who were the most responsible have had multiple accidents. The two flakey ones none. I don't know what to make of that.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

nyccarguy said:

This picture popped up on my Facebook news feed this AM.  A woman I went to high school with commented on it.  I think we are all in agreement that no 16 year old needs nor deserves a brand new $45K Infiniti right after passing his driving test.  What you do with your money is your business though.  Putting the pictures up of the kid on Facebook with the car while still at the dealership is just a whole different kind of wrong.

Judge Judy often is wrong in her interpretation of evidence, especially of a scientific nature, but she is right about boys not being "cooked" as far as sound decision making until they're 24 or some age like that. The bragging about a new car at the day of getting a license is really bad for the kid's understanding of life. My son drove an 11-year old leSabre to the school for the first year. Other kids could hit it all they wanted. Then we picked up a car for him for his senior year, but it was a pedantic vehicle, not high-powered show off car.

I wonder if it's the parents that wanted to show off or if that's the kid's real value system. Would he have been happy with a 4-year old vehicle that wasn't of a premium name tag?

Bought my mother's 7 yo Lasabre for my son 10 years ago and he's still driving it. Shows no interest in cars other than for transportation.

Where did I go wrong?

Wait, he did buy the Corvette that I inherited so I guess he's not a total loss.

PF_Flyer

snakeweasel said:

PF_Flyer said:

snakeweasel said:

PF_Flyer said:

I have REAL SLR cameras, even still have my Minolta XG-1 that uses FILM. We went to a wedding recently, and while everyone else was holding their phones up, I was taking photographs. People were stopping me to have me take their picture. I explained to them that I was NOT one of the wedding photographers, but they insisted I take the shots anyway. Totally goofy if you ask me.

These days it is hard to find people who use real cameras anymore, be it film or digital. Almost everyone is using their phones. I myself use a digital SRL camera, takes great pictures and I prefer the tools that it has over what you get with the phone.

I have a new 17-50mm f2.8 coming for my Nikon digital. The lenses I really want to get are gonna take some spousal convincing

I have a Nikon digital camera with a 17-50mm lens, it also came with a 50-200mm lens and I know what you mean about spousal convincing.

It would only take a SMALL lottery win, like an instant scratch off ticket

As soon as the new lens gets here, and the wife gets back from her conference with MY camera, I'll post some car-type shots with the new hardware

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

suydam said:

My middle son totaled his car within 3 weeks of getting his license. Good thing it was an old Dodge beater. He had paid half for it though so it was all the money in the world to him. Hasn't had an accident since. Anyone buying a new car for a new licensee is a fool. I wonder if the post is a fake? A lot of those going around FB.

I've trained 4 kids to drive. The two who were the most responsible have had multiple accidents. The two flakey ones none. I don't know what to make of that.

I taught driving to high school students at one time in my illustrious career. I took a special course so I could teach in car and in the classroom.

The instructors who taught me, said people of average intelligence make the best drivers. They pay more attention to what they are doing. Super intelligent people think driving is kind of mundane, and their minds are thinking about other things.....how to split atoms, finding a cure for cancer, find new sources of energy etc.

I don't know if that is true but it sounds as good an explanation as any.

I.ve had 2 accidents in 52 years of driving, both caused by the other driver (one went through a stop sign, one pulled out from a parallel parking spot), so, I don't know if I like that explanation!