Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

snakeweasel said:

nyccarguy said:

Great job on the weight loss/lifestyle change guys!  It's NOT easy!  My best friend lost a lot of weight and has changed his body!  He tells me everyday what a struggle it is.

On the subject of Diet Coke.  That is probably the worst thing for you.  Not only is it pure chemicals, but it actually makes you crave sugar.  My best friend always says:  look at the people you see drinking diet coke.

Some say that diet drinks make you crave sugar, others say it satisfies that craving. From what I can tell the jury is still out. However there are studies suggesting both sides.

Two good reasons you see heavy people drinking diet sodas, first is that they just started their diet and the other is that many people think that since they have been good drinking the diet stuff they can have other high calorie foods negating the effect of drinking low calorie drinks.

Like the person who has a giant hamburger and a full bucket of french fries but they have to order a diet coke....like that is going to balance things out.

I can have Diet drinks and I do not have a big craving for sugar...the diet drink does not have any affect, but, many people do believe it makes you crave sugar.

Mr_Shiftright

snakeweasel said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

The trend now is towards smaller, professional, well-paid and extremely lethal armies, if you can afford all that. Screaming hordes don't last very long on a modern battlefield.

Screaming hordes never did last very long on battlefields. Even in ancient times most battles were won by the more professional force. You had to keep your forces tight and acting as one, otherwise you were toast. It was the army that broke first and turned into that screaming horde were the ones slaughtered in battle.

The Greeks were the first recorded armies of disciplined and well-trained troops. Rather than putting on a big show with large numbers and customs, they were among the first armies to "get in your face" immediately and defeat you with superior tactics and steadiness in battle.

Big armies aren't necessary anymore unless you are a second-rate nation content to fight outdated land battles.
Logistically I'd bet the Russians or Chinese couldn't project more than a few hundred miles for any length of time.

snakeweasel

Well me and the Mrs. went to Door County, WI for the holiday weekend. It was a good weekend to get away and only a few hours away. On the way up once we got off the interstate and onto the two lane blacktop I had some lady tailgate me for the better part of 30 minutes. :@ Oh yeah since it was flat terrain with mostly straight roads and very little traffic she could have easily passed me at least 95% of the time she was behind me.

Anyway once there we had a relaxing weekend on the peninsula and saw a ton of model T's on the road (must have been a club meeting there), a VW Thing and this:

Mr_Shiftright

They brought a lot of 2CVs over here using older frame under more modern versions of the car that normally could not be imported to the USA.

stever

Nicer than a Thing.

Had a Diet Coke with breakfast at 11 am. Then swung by Albertsons for a quail block and a six pack of Hershey Bars. Have yet to eat one though (the chocolate, not the quail seed).

More green caps are on the way, courtesy of your local Starbucks, per chicagotribune.com.

The first gen Volt got good reviews too @fezo - the 2017s sound really good. And way more practical than a Tesla in current form.

driver100

cdnpinhead said:

said Driver:

I don't know how many abuses I have, I don't know where to find them....probably racked up dozens by now.

If you click on your handle in the box at the upper right-hand corner of the page (clear at the top), your profile will come up, along with how many people have clicked on the Like or LOL buttons at the bottom of your posts. I guess if you get a flag click someone (moderators?) gets to decide if it was abuse, spam or whatever. I didn't figure any of this out until a few months ago myself.

I clicked the little round icon with points on it at the far right, but then had to go to the left and press the word "profile" . I didn't have any abuses, I kind of feel left out

driver100

henryn said:

But check the line that says "Customer Pay". I'm really, really hoping that is just a mistake. We're talking a truck that is barely 8 months old, with less than 4k miles.

I'd be surprised if they make you pay. Really though, that should never have been written down on your sevice sheet as "Customer Pay".

Let us know how it plays out.....and why would it take that long to check an engine light?

roadburner

snakeweasel said:

You would be surprised how many replacement parts come off the same assembly line as OEM parts.

Everyone knows that- but Safelite doesn't claim the windshields are OEM- they say that they are Original Equipment Equivalent. Again, I simply don't care; the infinitesimal amount of money I might have to pay in order to know the job was done correctly is more than worth it...

roadburner

Mr_Shiftright said:

They brought a lot of 2CVs over here using older frame under more modern versions of the car that normally could not be imported to the USA.

I saw a 2CV on Kiawah- a Charleston Special Edition. The wife was afraid I'd bring it home. Slow as molasses but an absolute hoot to drive.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

snakeweasel said:

You would be surprised how many replacement parts come off the same assembly line as OEM parts.

The usual implied rumors are on the internet about the glass in the OEE brands being thinner and not doing something or other. Safelite would be paying out on lots of lawsuits over injuries from crashes, more than Takata airbags faces, due to having diminished the crash safety of the vehicle.

Safelite states on their website their glass meets all safety requirements. I imagine they pay for the rights to have the license to make replacement windshields. If they do they will do their best to comply, that is a very valuable right to have, and they wouldn't want to lose it.

roadburner

henryn said:

So back to the F150 and the Check Engine light. I dropped the truck off at about 8:45 this morning, and still haven't heard from them. Except to receive an email, with a web link to the repair order. Very 21st century.

But check the line that says "Customer Pay". I'm really, really hoping that is just a mistake. We're talking a truck that is barely 8 months old, with less than 4k miles.

I hope your Ford dealer hires techs with opposable thumbs; the Louisville dealers apparently can't. Then there was the Ford parts department I emailed to ask about a specific transaxle oil being in stock- I received an email stating that they had six quarts. I drive over to pick it up and am told by the Parts Drone that they "Don't got none." I mention the email and the Doofus says, "That's never right, ya shouda called." Another factor that weighed against a 2015-2016 Mustang GT or Focus RS- I am unable to suffer fools gladly.

explorerx4

SES is usually emissions related. Diagnosis is probably easy, getting the part could be another story.
Gotta love 'just in time'.
Tried to find a new kick pan for our central vac. Went to 3 different places but had to order it.
Had to do this to disconnect it.

isellhondas

stever said:

Some wag was pondering Saturday about how the US honors its Vets by holding big sales at the malls and the car dealers. Kind of skewed values.

Just an excuse to make the sale sound somehow "special"!

carnaught

Mike, if you're lurking here, check your private messages.

fezo

Well, if you click the flag it will let you choose abuse or spam. I couldn't click roadburner because he's never spammed and I couldn't find an even mildly abusive one. I'm confident he can pull it off.

fezo

You know, I never looked but they list me as flagged for a abuse. Some guy got bent out of shape because he had a lighting issue on his Dodge and I suggested tying a flashlight to his head.

fezo

Here's roughly the post. He was looking for help because the dashboard on his Dodge Ram wouldn't light:

"Take it to the Dodge dealer. Even then I wouldn't be really hopeful. Have you considered a flashlight tied to your head?"

Some people have no sense of humor.

jmonroe

snakeweasel said:

jmonroe said:

While I am technically a veteran, I almost feel like I am cheting when I say yes when some one asks me if I am a veteran because I served in peace time with no one shooting at me. The closet I came to that was when we were flying in armament to Key West Florida during the Cuban Crisis. Did several of those flights and that was as close as I ever got. Just lucky, I guess.

Thanks again for the post.

jmonroe

Hey, don't sell yourself short and don't minimize your part. You put on that uniformed and served that makes you just as much as a veteran as anyone else. remember that during the Cold War things could have gotten real real fast.

'snake',

Thanks for trying to lessen my feeling of guilt when I say I am a veteran. But IMO the guys that are being shot at and especially the ones that lost their lives doing it are the ones that have the right to be called veterans and to be honest are this countries real hero's because they are the ones that have given the rest of us what we have today.

Now, having said all that, that doesn't preclude me from accepting Home Depot's and Lowes military entitlement to a 10% discount on all purchases even sale items sometimes. I guess that's because that's business and I'm cheap.

jmonroe

abacomike

stever said:

Hm, I thought I'd cleared that a few hours ago. Let me check.... Sheesh, 6 show up in one place but only one shows up when I go to see what got flagged. And your one dates back to Stories from the Sales Frontlines days - that must be ancient history. Come to think of it, I thought that one had been cleared a while back too. I think I got it. Dunno, you may have to log out and log back on again to zap the other 5.. The abuse flags are pretty worthless here since we are, er, pretty actively moderated. But they come with the package I guess.

Stever, if you knew about these abuse flags even before I saw them this morning, then you must be aware of what's going on.  I received 1 internal message and 6 personal emails today claiming that something is very fishy and that the moderators are not being up front with us about several posters being flagged in the last day or two.

What's going on with these abuse flags being given to posters for no reason?

Maybe Karen should address this issue publicly on this site.  What do you think?

cdnpinhead

Why should it matter? As far as I'm concerned, it's a programming glitch. If there are no actual posts listed under the "abuse" heading, then it's no harm, no foul. Someone somewhere deleted the flagged posts that weren't bona fide abuse and the counter didn't reset. Big deal.

stever

I think it matters, a bit at least, since anyone clicking on your Profile will see and wonder what "that" was about. Unfortunately we haven't been able to remove the flagging. T'was better in the old days when the community just ran herd on everyone else. But nothing stays the same.

abacomike

stever said:

I think it matters, a bit at least. Unfortunately we haven't been able to remove the flagging.

It affected more than just me.  What about the others?

stever

We have removed flagging in the past when members have contacted us. Usually it's just a matter of going to the member's profile and clicking around.

abacomike

cdnpinhead said:

Why should it matter? As far as I'm concerned, it's a programming glitch. If there are no actual posts listed under the "abuse" heading, then it's no harm, no foul. Someone somewhere deleted the flagged posts that weren't bona fide abuse and the counter didn't reset. Big deal.

It matters to me and many other posters here.  

You've been flagged before and many of us, including me, stood up for you.  You must have a very short memory, cdn!

abacomike

stever said:

We have removed flagging in the past when members have contacted us.

Fine, but you removed flagged content from posters here before we even knew we had been flagged.  

It's not just me, there are others who privately have contacted me where the same thing happened.

driver100

cdnpinhead said:

Why should it matter? As far as I'm concerned, it's a programming glitch. If there are no actual posts listed under the "abuse" heading, then it's no harm, no foul. Someone somewhere deleted the flagged posts that weren't bona fide abuse and the counter didn't reset. Big deal.

+1

I wouldn't care unless it leads to some kind of audit by the IRS. Just carry on and let Stever work on it when he has some time? It will get fixed eventually...in the meantime we know it is a glitch. I think you can get a money back guaranty.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

fezo said:

Imid should love this. Am saying nice, positive things about a Chevy.

So noted. And thanks for thinking of me, LOL.

All I have asked is for people to compare GM's products on an equal basis among
normal cars rather than dismissing them out-of-hand based on Car and Driver's
pithy remarks or other enthusiast mag's remarks. I'm always amazing how accepting
folks are of failures and flaws in other brands such as transmissions, airbags, engine
gel, acceleration unwanted, lying about gas mileage, fraud to pass emissions tests.

I love my 14 Malibu 2LT every time I drive it. Quiet, economical, and more room
in the rear legroom than a Sonata/Optima of the same year. LOL If my 2.5L si not enough
power there's the 2.0L Turbo related to the ones in the ATS and CTS some here own.

Nothing wrong with Chevy's or other GM products as long as you avoid some of the problems like the Northstar.

Over the weekend I was looking at a 2004 Buick Lasabre to replace my son's 1998 beat up LaSabre. Nice with only 44k miles. Unfortunately, it was sold out from under me.

Snooze you lose I guess.

stever

abacomike said:

stever said:

We have removed flagging in the past when members have contacted us.

Fine, but you removed flagged content from posters here before we even knew we had been flagged.  

It's not just me, there are others who privately have contacted me where the same thing happened.




I don't understand why that's a problem - all the hosts know you guys and if someone gets flagged we take a look, and if it's just someone else trolling, we unflag it. Why raise anyone's BP unnecessarily or wind someone up and get them mad so they'll go around flagging other people? There's not some giant conspiracy going on here. Or even a little one....

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

So I dropped off my 2015 F150 at the dealer this morning for the Check Engine light being on. They gave me a ride back to the house so I can take the rental car and go pick up my Cadillac at the body shop. The good news is the Cadillac seems to be actually fixed this time. The bad news (you knew there had to be bad news, right?). The bad news is that Enterprise says I owe them $169 on the rental car. I tell them to leave that open until I can talk to my insurance. Which is no problem, they (USAA) have now agreed to cover the rental car through today.

So back to the F150 and the Check Engine light. I dropped the truck off at about 8:45 this morning, and still haven't heard from them. Except to receive an email, with a web link to the repair order. Very 21st century.

But check the line that says "Customer Pay". I'm really, really hoping that is just a mistake. We're talking a truck that is barely 8 months old, with less than 4k miles.

Oh oh. My Ford just turned 4600 today. Hope nothing happens.

The only thing that I wonder about is the dash illumination sometimes changes without me doing anything (like turning on headlights). I'm assuming this is a feature to adjust to changes in outside light levels.

abacomike

Unknown said:

Thanks for your feedback.

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
When the headlights go on, the dash dims. I'm assuming you have automatic on/off lights.

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

Well me and the Mrs. went to Door County, WI for the holiday weekend. It was a good weekend to get away and only a few hours away. On the way up once we got off the interstate and onto the two lane blacktop I had some lady tailgate me for the better part of 30 minutes. :@ Oh yeah since it was flat terrain with mostly straight roads and very little traffic she could have easily passed me at least 95% of the time she was behind me.

Anyway once there we had a relaxing weekend on the peninsula and saw a ton of model T's on the road (must have been a club meeting there), a VW Thing and this:

Isn't that some kind of Renault?

Mr_Shiftright

driver100 said:

cdnpinhead said:

said Driver:

I don't know how many abuses I have, I don't know where to find them....probably racked up dozens by now.

If you click on your handle in the box at the upper right-hand corner of the page (clear at the top), your profile will come up, along with how many people have clicked on the Like or LOL buttons at the bottom of your posts. I guess if you get a flag click someone (moderators?) gets to decide if it was abuse, spam or whatever. I didn't figure any of this out until a few months ago myself.

I clicked the little round icon with points on it at the far right, but then had to go to the left and press the word "profile" . I didn't have any abuses, I kind of feel left out

If you need abuse, don't hesitate to ask a moderator.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

cdnpinhead said:

said Driver:

I don't know how many abuses I have, I don't know where to find them....probably racked up dozens by now.

If you click on your handle in the box at the upper right-hand corner of the page (clear at the top), your profile will come up, along with how many people have clicked on the Like or LOL buttons at the bottom of your posts. I guess if you get a flag click someone (moderators?) gets to decide if it was abuse, spam or whatever. I didn't figure any of this out until a few months ago myself.

I clicked the little round icon with points on it at the far right, but then had to go to the left and press the word "profile" . I didn't have any abuses, I kind of feel left out

I had no abuses either but I had two "promote". What the heck is that? Lot of LOLs too. Does that mean I'm being laughed at?

thebean

oldfarmer50 said:

Well me and the Mrs. went to Door County, WI for the holiday weekend. It was a good weekend to get away and only a few hours away. On the way up once we got off the interstate and onto the two lane blacktop I had some lady tailgate me for the better part of 30 minutes. :@ Oh yeah since it was flat terrain with mostly straight roads and very little traffic she could have easily passed me at least 95% of the time she was behind me. Anyway once there we had a relaxing weekend on the peninsula and saw a ton of model T's on the road (must have been a club meeting there), a VW Thing and this:

Isn't that some kind of Renault?

Citroen CV2.  Sorta a French VW.

ab348

If you think this message board software is mysterious, I am a member at a site that moved from vbb software to Xenforo. Holy crap. More hover-bubbles and features nobody can understand. You figure out how it works eventually, but you never stop wondering why it is designed the way it is. I was so turned off by it that I basically abandoned the place.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
When the headlights go on, the dash dims. I'm assuming you have automatic on/off lights.

Yes I have an auto headlight option but to my knowledge I have it turned off. This occurred when driving during the day. Maybe I'm missing something. After all I still have problems doing my radio presets. I am not a fan of the digital world.

suydam

My son replaced his best up LeSabre with an Impala. He likes it fine.

ab348

In some big cities I suppose this might be no big deal, but in Nova Scotia it is worthy of press coverage:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1368767-porsche-trashed-left-at-lawrencetown-beach

My first thought was that maybe it was an insurance scam in response to some ridiculously expensive repair need.

driver100

Mr_Shiftright said:

driver100 said:

cdnpinhead said:

said Driver:

I don't know how many abuses I have, I don't know where to find them....probably racked up dozens by now.

If you click on your handle in the box at the upper right-hand corner of the page (clear at the top), your profile will come up, along with how many people have clicked on the Like or LOL buttons at the bottom of your posts. I guess if you get a flag click someone (moderators?) gets to decide if it was abuse, spam or whatever. I didn't figure any of this out until a few months ago myself.

I clicked the little round icon with points on it at the far right, but then had to go to the left and press the word "profile" . I didn't have any abuses, I kind of feel left out

If you need abuse, don't hesitate to ask a moderator.

When we owned our book distribution business we only bought from legitimate dealers. One of the largest publishers in the world came after us legally...to try and scare us out of business. I lost a few nights sleep when I got the legal letter.

Fortunately a guy who owned a larger business than ours said to me, "The good thing is they think you are important enough to go after....your business is successful".

I think this is the same Mike, if someone can actually sight you for abuse you must be making an impression on someone.....rejoice!

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
When the headlights go on, the dash dims. I'm assuming you have automatic on/off lights.

Yes I have an auto headlight option but to my knowledge I have it turned off. This occurred when driving during the day. Maybe I'm missing something. After all I still have problems doing my radio presets. I am not a fan of the digital world.

The dash lights and the outside lights come on automatically, if say it gets cloudy and dark, if you are in a tunnel, or are in a dark place. I love that feature......sometimes it is easy to not turn lights on or off, but the car does it automatically. Then I drove a rental that didn't have those features.....you can really get used to anything that simplifies your life.

Radio presets.....usually turn to the station you want to set. Hold the button in until it makes a sound. Station is set......this is one of the great things that has been simplified, once you know how to do it.

At one time didn't you pull the button out and then push in? :@

berri

Stever - if you haven't already, try a Coke Zero with breakfast instead of Diet Coke. I know everyone is different, but I think Coke Zero tastes closer to real Coca Cola.

stever

Thanks, I used to get those sometimes when I drank Cokes at home. Forget to look for them on road trips when I stop for a canned pop (don't like 'em in the plastic bottles). But I usually get pop eating out and so it's usually a fountain Coke. Can't believe how much more expensive 12 packs are these days than just a few years ago. Major bummer around here is that it's hard to find Red Rose tea for my sun tea anymore. I have ordered half a gross before from Jet.

Looked at another house this morning. Garage had been converted into a rec room. Great otherwise....

Mr_Shiftright

Why would someone DO that to a garage? Sacrilege.

stever

Kids and they home-schooled them. Another "studio" area is set up as a classroom.

My folks converted a garage when I was growing up for my older brother and myself. Full on knotty pine - great for dart throwing anywhere.

There is a small one car "garage" suitable for a Miata, but it would hold the bikes and the table saw kind of stuff. There's no access except driving over the yard to it though.

fezo

Oldfarmer - you have to stop on dashboard light stories or I'm gonna get nicked again for suggesting the tying a flashlight to your head....

Yes, Coke Zero pretty well tastes like coke. If Coke isn't sweet enough for you try RC Cola. You'll feel you blood sugar rising.

cdnpinhead

Yeah, but at least there's no caffeine, for which you can thank the Mormons.

imidazol97

oldfarmer50 said:

Nothing wrong with Chevy's or other GM products as long as you avoid some of the problems like the Northstar.

That is the early Northstar that had oil leak problems IIRC. Later ones didn't have that.

oldfarmer50 said:

Over the weekend I was looking at a 2004 Buick Lasabre to replace my son's 1998 beat up LaSabre. Nice with only 44k miles. Unfortunately, it was sold out from under me.

My 2003 leSabre needed only maintenance replacing the intake manifold gaskets at about 100K. That would have been a good car at probably a low price for what you get. Add stiffer struts and shocks and you've got a good handling car for local and highway. Mine went to 210K miles and was resold by the dealer rather than sent to auction.

Mr_Shiftright

stever said:

Kids and they home-schooled them. Another "studio" area is set up as a classroom.

My folks converted a garage when I was growing up for my older brother and myself. Full on knotty pine - great for dart throwing anywhere.

There is a small one car "garage" suitable for a Miata, but it would hold the bikes and the table saw kind of stuff. There's no access except driving over the yard to it though.

You really gotta have a garage for at least one "normal" car, to deal with the NM winters Nov through March. You don't get lots of snow but it can get mighty cold at night.

stever

I never had one in 20 Anchorage winters. We're tough.

A reporter is looking to speak with someone over the age of 50 who recently purchased a new vehicle within the last six months. If you're willing to assist, please reach out to pr@edmunds.com by June 2, 2016.