Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

tyguy said:

I'm catching up on posts and just saw yours about your dad, Michaell. I'm very sorry about the loss and appreciate the stories you've shared that have given us some insight into him. He lives on in the family he helped raise, and from what I can tell on these boards, he did a pretty good job. I hope you and your family find peace and comfort in celebrating the life he lived.

 There are so many stories I can share  about my dad. 

 As I mentioned earlier, I had a pretty checkered driving history when I was a teenager. I do remember one time when we went to a dodger game – about 50 miles from where I lived. My first foray onto the LA freeway system. My dad allowed me to drive, my grandmothers 1967  Mercury Monterey coupe with the 390 V8 engine. 

Apparently, I could never be in the right lane, according to my dad. "Don't go too fast". "Don't go too slow ".  Even in his later years, he was always a backseat driver 

Sounds like he was worried about you. You must have been very important to him. I annoy my kids the same way when they drive me anywhere.

oldfarmer50

These sound tempting. Thought I might put them on the Ford. Has anyone heard any gossip on them?

http://www.michelinman.com/US/en/tires/products/pilot-sport-a-s-3-plus.html

suydam

Michaell, your comment about how you totaled the '73 Corona sure struck a familiar chord. In 1969 my mother scraped together enough money to buy a brand new Corona and it was her pride and joy. She had to travel 3 hours to LA to pick it up because that was the closest Toyota dealer. Naturally, 3 weeks later, with my brand new driver's license -- I cut in too quickly after passing and it was a lot of damage. Fortunately it was repaired, but I remember that as one of the worst days of my life. My Mom was devastated, but she never said a word. When my kids had their "moments" as teenagers it's good to remember what we put our parents through, isn't it?

Michaell

suydam said:

Michaell, your comment about how you totaled the '73 Corona sure struck a familiar chord. In 1969 my mother scraped together enough money to buy a brand new Corona and it was her pride and joy. She had to travel 3 hours to LA to pick it up because that was the closest Toyota dealer. Naturally, 3 weeks later, with my brand new driver's license -- I cut in too quickly after passing and it was a lot of damage. Fortunately it was repaired, but I remember that as one of the worst days of my life. My Mom was devastated, but she never said a word. When my kids had their "moments" as teenagers it's good to remember what we put our parents through, isn't it?

 My accident in the Toyota was not my fault. I was heading to school that morning with my carpool.  I attended the local Catholic high school but my drive to it took me past the public high school.  While driving past the school somebody pulled out from the curb and made a U-turn right in front of me. After we hit her, she drove away. Fortunately, somebody manage to get the license plate number and she was found later on in the day. 

houdini1

Michaell, words are never enough, but I an sorry for your loss. Sharing your loss with all these friends should help some.

suydam

In my defense I will say that was a one time event for me! Fortunately since we lived on a Navy base at the time, you didn't get a ticket -- just "points" assessed. Too many points and they revoked your license.
But really it was just inexperience, as is the case for so many teen drivers.

[Deleted User]

I have yet to teach a son or daughter to drive, which won't start for another few years. I imagine it requires a tremendous amount of patience and fortitude. But, I did just return from a 40-minute drive with my wife as she re-learned to drive a manual transmission using our new A4. It's been 11 years since she last drove a stick when we sold our manual Subaru Legacy GT Limited for a minivan (kill me) with the birth of our daughter. Yes, I loved our daughter that much from the start :-)

Any rate, the wife did a commendable job. The A4 has a grabby clutch and I figured she'd initially kill it, but she adjusted like a champ with a smooth take off, and then kept it up for another 40 minutes. After 20 minutes I mentioned we could loop back home, but she made me happy as could be when she told me she wanted to keep driving. It'll take her a bit of practice to smooth out second and third gear engagement with a bit more clutch finesse, but otherwise I think she's confident to start driving it on her own.

I've informed our daughter she'll be learning to drive on the A4 in a few years. It's hard for us all to believe that she'll be driving in such a short time.

abacomike

When my deceased wife and I got married, she did not know how to drive nor did she ever want to learn how to drive.  She was very content to have me do all the driving.  But when we moved to the far southwest suburbs of Chicago, it meant that all our food shopping had to be done on Saturdays (I had a second job on Sunday's so that day was shot).  It was very difficult for me to spend 2-3 hours on my only day off to shop for groceries, drive to the mall for whatever the kids needed or the wife needed, etc.

I pleaded with her to learn to drive, but to no avail.  Then I had a great idea - I bought a Datsun 210 (or maybe it was a 610, I forget) and had it delivered to the house and I parked it in the garage with my car.  My wife asked me why I bought a second car - I told her it was her car!  It sat in the garage for a couple of months.

One day, I came home to find the Datsun on the driveway and my wife unloading the bags of groceries from the trunk.  She boldly announced that for months one of our neighbors had been teaching her to drive and she got her driver's license two days before.  She had called the insurance company and had her name added to the auto policies.  I hugged her and was so proud of her.  She told me she knew I could not continue working two jobs and give up my only day off to go shopping.

The moral of this true story is, "...there's more than one way to skin a cat!" 

oldfarmer50

tyguy said:

I have yet to teach a son or daughter to drive, which won't start for another few years. I imagine it requires a tremendous amount of patience and fortitude. But, I did just return from a 40-minute drive with my wife as she re-learned to drive a manual transmission using our new A4. It's been 11 years since she last drove a stick when we sold our manual Subaru Legacy GT Limited for a minivan (kill me) with the birth of our daughter. Yes, I loved our daughter that much from the start :-)

Any rate, the wife did a commendable job. The A4 has a grabby clutch and I figured she'd initially kill it, but she adjusted like a champ with a smooth take off, and then kept it up for another 40 minutes. After 20 minutes I mentioned we could loop back home, but she made me happy as could be when she told me she wanted to keep driving. It'll take her a bit of practice to smooth out second and third gear engagement with a bit more clutch finesse, but otherwise I think she's confident to start driving it on her own.

I've informed our daughter she'll be learning to drive on the A4 in a few years. It's hard for us all to believe that she'll be driving in such a short time.

I've taught four, all of whom passed on the first try. Unfortunately you can't teach good judgement as the carnage that follow will attest.

I didn't have an accident for 11 years except when, as a new driver, I was waving at a cute girl and tapped someone's bumper...no damage except to my ego.

[Deleted User]

oldfarmer50 said:

I didn't have an accident for 11 years except when, as a new driver, I was waving at a cute girl and tapped someone's bumper...no damage except to my ego.

At least it was for a good cause.

tjc78

oldfarmer50 said:

These sound tempting. Thought I might put them on the Ford. Has anyone heard any gossip on them?

http://www.michelinman.com/US/en/tires/products/pilot-sport-a-s-3-plus.html

I had Michelin Pilots on my Lacrosse. They probably weren't as aggressive as the model you posted, but they were an awesome tire in all conditions and had plenty of tread left after 30K.

I'm a Michelin fan. I just seem to always do the best with them on any car I've owned.

stickguy

Unless I keep going at the same minimal pace, I may need to think about new sneakers for the RDX before next winter. not looking forward to that though. Expensive size! though they still seem to have plenty of tread, so might push 50K on them, so 2 more years.

OEM is Michelin. Primacy MXM4. These did well. My Voyager had Michelins, and at 40K when I sold it, were like new. But our Odyssey had Michelins, and by 30K they were shot and dangerous.

bwia

Michaell said:

My father passed away earlier this evening. 


Michaell, i am so sorry for your loss. May your departed dad's soul rest in eternal peace.

Michaell

houdini1 said:

Michaell, words are never enough, but I an sorry for your loss. Sharing your loss with all these friends should help some.

Thank you, houdini1!

Michaell

bwia said:

Michaell said:

My father passed away earlier this evening. 


Michaell, i am so sorry for your loss. May your departed dad's soul rest in eternal peace.

Thanks!

roadburner

tyguy said:

I have yet to teach a son or daughter to drive, which won't start for another few years. I imagine it requires a tremendous amount of patience and fortitude. But, I did just return from a 40-minute drive with my wife as she re-learned to drive a manual transmission using our new A4. It's been 11 years since she last drove a stick when we sold our manual Subaru Legacy GT Limited for a minivan (kill me) with the birth of our daughter. Yes, I loved our daughter that much from the start :-)

Any rate, the wife did a commendable job. The A4 has a grabby clutch and I figured she'd initially kill it, but she adjusted like a champ with a smooth take off, and then kept it up for another 40 minutes. After 20 minutes I mentioned we could loop back home, but she made me happy as could be when she told me she wanted to keep driving. It'll take her a bit of practice to smooth out second and third gear engagement with a bit more clutch finesse, but otherwise I think she's confident to start driving it on her own.

I've informed our daughter she'll be learning to drive on the A4 in a few years. It's hard for us all to believe that she'll be driving in such a short time.

Funny thing, when I first started teaching my son he was a pretty decent driver, but I was more nervous than when I strap into a car with a complete stranger and let him/her drive around a track at north of 100 mph. I told another instructor about it and he said my trepidation with my son was due to the fact that I wasn't working in a tightly controlled environment- on the track no one is driving in the opposite direction, no one is going to pull out in front of you, or turn in front of you. I think he had a point...

Mr_Shiftright

It is pretty amazing, when you step back and think about it---when you are driving, there are 2-ton vehicles hurtling at you at 55 mph, often a mere 5-6 feet away on 2-lane roads without a divider.

Now why did I bring that up--I'll be nervous for a week.

abacomike

Mr_Shiftright said:

It is pretty amazing, when you step back and think about it---when you are driving, there are 2-ton vehicles hurtling at you at 55 mph, often a mere 5-6 feet away on 2-lane roads without a divider. Now why did I bring that up--I'll be nervous for a week.

Now I'm afraid to drive my CLS tomorrow - I'll become a "shut-in"! 

stickguy

amazingly nice weather shift today. Was out this afternoon in a T-shirt, washing the wife's car (it was filthy). While having to drag the hose through a snow pile that was still along the side of the driveway.

when I was done I shoveled the last little ice mound from the end of the driveway, just to neaten it up!

Michaell

Nice. We're expecting 12-18" of snow in the next 36 hours.

Despite the circumstances, I'm looking forward to my trip to CA later this week. Low 70's predicted for next weekend.

berri

In Denver it dumps and then melts. In the upper Midwest it just seems to hang around

Michaell

berri said:

In Denver it dumps and then melts. In the upper Midwest it just seems to hang around

Yes, that is quite true. Was in the 50's the past few days before the latest storm hit. Just had a majority of the snow melt in my back yard. Now I get to shovel again.

iluvmysephia1

It is pretty amazing, when you step back and think about it---when you are driving, there are 2-ton vehicles hurtling at you at 55 mph, often a mere 5-6 feet away on 2-lane roads without a divider.

No, you didn't write that, did you, shifty? Ouch.

driver100

abacomike said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

It is pretty amazing, when you step back and think about it---when you are driving, there are 2-ton vehicles hurtling at you at 55 mph, often a mere 5-6 feet away on 2-lane roads without a divider.

Now why did I bring that up--I'll be nervous for a week.

Now I'm afraid to drive my CLS tomorrow - I'll become a "shut-in"! 

I'm going to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers.

abacomike

We had so much rain last month that the Army Corps of Engineers has ordered almost 2 billion gallons of drainage of Lake Okeechobee due to several earthen levees approaching near maximum tolerances.  Two rivers (one that flows west and one that flows east) will be used to lower the level of the lake by several inches.  And of course we already had a few thunderstorms dump heavy rains this morning.

I wish there was some way we could help California with all this excess of fresh water! 

sda

Sorry to learn about your dad. My sincere condolences to you and your family. Steve

sda

I think Odysseys are typically hard on tires. I had to replace the Michelins at 28k on our 03. A good friend of mine has an 07. He says he has yet to get much over 30k out of any set of tires, he has tried multiple brands. Their 07 has almost 200k on it now. All have worn evenly. Perhaps the Odyssey is 'under' tired?

stickguy said:

Unless I keep going at the same minimal pace, I may need to think about new sneakers for the RDX before next winter. not looking forward to that though. Expensive size! though they still seem to have plenty of tread, so might push 50K on them, so 2 more years.

OEM is Michelin. Primacy MXM4. These did well. My Voyager had Michelins, and at 40K when I sold it, were like new. But our Odyssey had Michelins, and by 30K they were shot and dangerous.

sda

We bought a 72 Corona Mark II in 79 as a secondary car and for a car that my sisters could drive. I think the Mark II was a little bigger than the Corona. The 72 was a 4 door, 4cyl, 4sp with a/c. It was an ugly butterscotch color with brown cloth interior. It served us well until my little sister hit a curve too quickly and ran into a retaining wall, totaling it. Thankfully my sister only suffered minor injuries. I believe the 73 Mark II had a new body style and in-line 6.

.blockquote class="Quote" rel="Michaell">

suydam said:

Michaell, your comment about how you totaled the '73 Corona sure struck a familiar chord. In 1969 my mother scraped together enough money to buy a brand new Corona and it was her pride and joy. She had to travel 3 hours to LA to pick it up because that was the closest Toyota dealer. Naturally, 3 weeks later, with my brand new driver's license -- I cut in too quickly after passing and it was a lot of damage. Fortunately it was repaired, but I remember that as one of the worst days of my life. My Mom was devastated, but she never said a word. When my kids had their "moments" as teenagers it's good to remember what we put our parents through, isn't it?

 My accident in the Toyota was not my fault. I was heading to school that morning with my carpool.  I attended the local Catholic high school but my drive to it took me past the public high school.  While driving past the school somebody pulled out from the curb and made a U-turn right in front of me. After we hit her, she drove away. Fortunately, somebody manage to get the license plate number and she was found later on in the day. 

imidazol97

Feels like another South Florida day for Western Ohio. The last two have been magnificient up to 60 deg F. for end of January and beginning of February now. I washed my two black cars with my own hose at home.

I have waxed most of the Cobalt with a black wax to hide some stone chips on the hood.
I'm looking forward to how @tyguy treats his new black Audi finish. There used to be a couple of topics on detailing here several years back. I learned a lot, more than I could implement from them.

I'm looking forward to finishing the waxing today although it may not be 'hot" as the last two days.

stickguy

I replaced the tires on the odyssey at ~30k. Sold it at about 75k and the replacement yokohamas had plenty of life left.

abacomike

imidazol97 said:

Feels like another South Florida day for Western Ohio. The last two have been magnificient up to 60 deg F. for end of January and beginning of February now. I washed my two black cars with my own hose at home.

I have waxed most of the Cobalt with a black wax to hide some stone chips on the hood.
I'm looking forward to how @tyguy treats his new black Audi finish. There used to be a couple of topics on detailing here several years back. I learned a lot, more than I could implement from them.

I'm looking forward to finishing the waxing today although it may not be 'hot" as the last two days.

If it "really" felt like another South Florida Day in Western Ohio, you certainly would not be washing your car in the rain and your neighbors would be carrying umbrellas. But at least the temperatures have moderated here into the low to mid 70's. I think tomorrow it is supposed to clear for 3 days but more rain by Friday through Sunday. Never, in the 15 years I have lived down here do I remember so much rain during our "DRY SEASON!" Quite the contrary, we usually have watering restrictions due to the lower water levels in Lake Okeechobee during dry season.

stever

Been spitting snow the last couple of hours here. We were at 70° the last two days. I even cleaned the hood of my van. Couldn't get motivated to wash the whole thing, more fun just sitting around in the chaise vegging out and grabbing some vitamin D.

abacomike

I was watching the noon news on TV and saw a story that was awesome!  This female driver started to chase a Miami police car that was speeding on the Palmetto Expressway unnecessarily.  She got her entire chase on video and "she" pulled the patrol car over.  She said she was passed by the police car at such a high rate of speed it caused her car to shake sideways.

She showed that she had increased her speed to over 80 mph but could not catch the police car.  There were no sirens and no flashing lights on the patrol car - she claimed he was a danger to all the cars on the road. 

She he caught up to the patrol car and began flashing her lights and blowing her horn.  The cop pulls over and approaches the lady in her car.  She accused him of speeding and reckless endangerment.  The cop apologized saying he was late for his workshift.  She got everything on her smart phone video and on her dash cam.

The Miami police department has obtained the videos and is now investigating the cop.

Boy, she sure had guts.  I would never pull over a police car and accuse the cop of speeding over 100 mph.  But the video and audio of the entire incident proved that the cop was wrong.  The police dept. is not charging the woman for speeding while she attempted to pull the cop over.

Just what we needed - a vigilante driver who pulls cops over for speeding.  

PF_Flyer

stever said:

Been spitting snow the last couple of hours here. We were at 70° the last two days. I even cleaned the hood of my van. Couldn't get motivated to wash the whole thing, more fun just sitting around in the chaise vegging out and grabbing some vitamin D.

We washed the Note as we arrived back in town after the Big Apple weekend since the car was basically raod salt color after Friday's trip through the Poconos. By the time we drove home, the back was filthy again because it didn't dry as fast as everything else and the dirt found a sticky home.

Maybe we'll have clean cars after we get through the pollen season!

oldfarmer50

Just what we needed - a vigilante driver who pulls cops over for speeding.

We just had a news story where a citizen used his phone to record a school bus stopping for students without activating her reds. Turned out the driver had accidentally turned off the red lights master switch and didn't realize it. The reporter drummed up all the faux outrage she could muster but never mentioned that driving in NY while using your cell phone is also illegal. The driver of the car was also wrong and breaking the law but why let that get in the way of a good story.

I wonder what would have happened in the Florida case if that person had crashed while chasing the cop.

stickguy

Lucky she wasn't arrested. But I bet her plate is now on the "make sure to harass" list.

Michaell

sda said:

Sorry to learn about your dad. My sincere condolences to you and your family. Steve

Thanks!

ab348

It's about 40 degrees Fahrenheit here in Nova Scotia today. Hardly Florida weather, but very pleasant for the 1st of February here. Lots of snow melting going on, still a ways to go though.

imidazol97

dino001 said:

Funny, how these dealers are so geared toward that type of buyers. When a non-payment person shows up, they often don't know how to act and need to be shaken somehow to snap out of it. I Hate those places, rare visits I made in them, I want to leave 2 minutes after I come.

Agree. They are more used to working to manipulate the money factors in leases and the interest rates for buyers. There's profit for them to be made there. With cash, the profit is in the payment or in the trade in, if any.

graphicguy

Catching up. I've been working for about 2 weeks in Austin, TX.

Michaell....so sorry about your loss. Condolences!

I was renting an Altima while I was gone. I remember a point in time that Nissan's cars were considered the sporty brand a decade or so again. I've rented Sentras. and now an Altima. The Sentra really felt like a cheap car.

The Altima's steering is more of a point and guess where you're going. The steering was also darty. It took effort just to keep it in its lane. IT was slow, not all that comfortable. Even the brakes weren't very responsive. Not seeing who would buy the Altima.

Mike....as bad as my '14 CTS was, the '16 is the exact opposite. It drives better, everything works, and not even a sniff of a reason to go back to the dealership. Love the white pearl paint....one of the best paint jobs I've seen on any car.

roadburner

For those who don't follow the CCBA topic...
After nearly 18 months of looking, I finally found a replacement for the Mazdaspeed- a Certified Pre-Owned 2014 M235i. I’ll admit to heresy- it is an automatic. Used M235is are not exactly easy to find. In the entire United States I found a grand total of 26 2014 and 2015 CPO cars; out of those 4 were sticks, and all of them were located pretty far away. The upside of the autobox is that it is faster than the manual in most conditions and it will also give my ever-patient bride another car to drive if her X3 is in the shop. And of course I love CPO cars- depreciation is my friend.
Methinks it will prove to be the best of both worlds- you can adjust the suspension, steering, and throttle mapping from relatively sedate geezer calibrations to full-tilt boogie track mode. It is pretty well equipped but thankfully it is missing the suite of electronic nannies that nag you about lane departure, blind spots, and similar. It’s an order of magnitude quicker than my Mazdaspeed, which itself was no slouch. The only thing it lacks is a limited slip differential. Maybe someday…
One reason I waited so long was my hope that Mazda would build the rumored 300+ hp AWD Mazdaspeed 3; sadly, that car is apparently vaporware…
As for the other contenders, the new Mustang GT ran a very, VERY close second. I had found two reasonably priced CPO cars optioned exactly as I would have ordered them. The first one got away because I stupidly decided to “think it over,” while the other was on the lot of a very sketchy Indianapolis Ford dealer who ticked us off so much that we walked. That said, if I’d had a considerably larger budget I’d have nabbed a new GT350. I also liked the upcoming Focus RS, but it would have been likely that I wouldn’t have been able to get one before fall.
The Camaro SS 1LE was a riot, but visibility was a joke. The Challenger SRT was also sweet, but at 4200 pounds it really burns through tires(and brakes) on the track- and those tires alone run upwards of $900 per set. The WRX STI was a lot of fun, but in the end was just a bit too similar to the MS3.
Long shots were used examples of the Cayman S, C6 Z06, and the Lotus Elise, but I finally decided I needed at least a small rear seat- along with ample cargo space.
So I’m very happy about my decision; time will tell, but keeping it for a decade or more seems entirely possible- I drove my Mazdaspeed for almost nine years, while the Club Sport has been in the garage since 1995 and the Wrangler since 2002…

stickguy

So, might have given my son too much credit for fiscal responsibility. Just texted me a picture of "his next car". A dark gray MB GLA45 AMG.

I mentioned it's a bit pricey, but he said it starts under 50k. I mentioned maybe a base model, or a great candidate for a CPO a year from now. He seemed sad, but said maybe next time!

Kid just needs to marry rich.

abacomike

stickguy said:

So, might have given my son too much credit for fiscal responsibility. Just texted me a picture of "his next car". A dark gray MB GLA45 AMG. I mentioned it's a bit pricey, but he said it starts under 50k. I mentioned maybe a base model, or a great candidate for a CPO a year from now. He seemed sad, but said maybe next time! Kid just needs to marry rich.

Maybe he just needs to get married, money or not!  His wife would never let him buy a car like that.  Wives are just what Chronic Car Buyers Need - they are what car salesmen call "the Anti-Christ"!  They have a way of chilling any hot car deal by just a "look" only their husbands can "read!" 

abacomike

@roadburner:

Sounds like a dream-car, RB!  I wish you not just happy-motoring, but years of true pleasure knowing that only a few guys get to own a car like that!  Enjoy. 

stickguy

You obviously never met Mrs. Breld.

I just spec'ed one out. IMO MB jobs you on the packages. Selected those, and to get bare minimum stuff sticker hit 61k. Then I cleared it, and picked ala carte options, and it came out to 56k. And i didn't seem to be missing anything important. Still eye popping for a subcompact CUV though!

abacomike

@graphicguy:

I had a feeling you'd fall in love with this CTS if you just gave it a chance.  Great to hear! 

stickguy

Funny how things often work out as you would least expect them too.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

dino001 said:

Funny, how these dealers are so geared toward that type of buyers. When a non-payment person shows up, they often don't know how to act and need to be shaken somehow to snap out of it. I Hate those places, rare visits I made in them, I want to leave 2 minutes after I come.

Agree. They are more used to working to manipulate the money factors in leases and the interest rates for buyers. There's profit for them to be made there. With cash, the profit is in the payment or in the trade in, if any.

Had a discussion with some fellow workers about leasing today. Try as I might I couldn't convince one of them to not focus on the monthly payment. He was all excited about leasing a Kia because of a low monthly. That's all that mattered. Wouldn't listen about the importance of working the overall deal.

driver100

ab348 said:

It's about 40 degrees Fahrenheit here in Nova Scotia today. Hardly Florida weather, but very pleasant for the 1st of February here. Lots of snow melting going on, still a ways to go though.

Nice, but, yeh, not quite Florida weather....76 today, 80 tomorrow.

driver100

RB, New car sounds great....hope you love it even more than the beloved Mazda...I am sure you will.

GG, Glad you are enjoying the newest CTS....sounds like it could be a keeper.