Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Latitude, some may surprise you;

Dartmouth N.S. 44.66
Toronto 43.65
Windsor ON 42.31
Boston Mas 42.36
San Francisco 37.77
Chicago 41.87
Seattle Washington 47.60

I never understood all that latitude and longitude stuff. Blame the education system I guess.

Besides, what's your point? Surely you're not suggesting you are located less than an hour away from Upper Canada College?

Latitude are imaginary lines that go around the world.....east and west.

Or as some kids think they learned in school, latitude are imaginary lions that run around the earth.

Longitude goes north and south.

Ships and planes can give their location by using latitude and longitude as points of reference.

If Dartmouth is at 44.66 and Toronto is 43.65 Toronto is slightly South of Dartmouth.

I never hear the terms Upper and Lower Canada any more, they were used in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The names are derived from early explorers sailing into the St. Lawrence from the Atlantic Ocean.
Lower Canada was "lower" in the St. Lawrence (closer to the ocean). To get to "Upper Canada" people had to get past rapids in the St. Lawrence and traveled "up"stream to Upper Canada.
Lower Canada basically refers to the area surrounding the St. Lawrence and east of present-day Kingston (basically, the Province of Quebec and Eastern edge of Ontario), whereas "Upper Canada" refers to the rest of Ontario (which is a fair chunk of land)

That's your history lesson for today.

And Upper Canada College was built in 1829 - very prestigious school that costs a fortune to go to.

driver100

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

Driver, can't you just share a car for that short a time? If not, figure out when you really need it, and rent much cleaner overall.

I agree. Hard to share, my wife is all over the place doing her yoga, tennis, gym, bridge, doctor, dentist and other things women do, talk about doilies or something, and I have to be at tennis, pickleball , and....I guess that's about it.

I think renting is the best plan. The only one better is if someone sold me a great car for a low price, then I could sell it after 6 weeks.....but, there would be license, taxes, advertising, mechanical certificate.......I just talked myself out of that one.

C'mon now, man up and take her car early in the morning while Mrs. Driver is still sleeping and do what you want to do with it. You know she will be at home when you get back, right?

Do that once and let us know how that worked out.

jmonroe

Thanks for the idea.....not much tennis or pickleball before 6:30 a.m..

And, how would you like to get by with one car?

And, do you let Mrs. JM drive your car?

My wife can drive my car if she really has to....like if my arm and leg got broken. She doesn't really like driving it....too big (one reason I get a larger car).

I always say, there are 3 things I don't lend 1) my underwear, 2) my toothbrush, 3) my car!

jmonroe

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

Driver, can't you just share a car for that short a time? If not, figure out when you really need it, and rent much cleaner overall.

I agree. Hard to share, my wife is all over the place doing her yoga, tennis, gym, bridge, doctor, dentist and other things women do, talk about doilies or something, and I have to be at tennis, pickleball , and....I guess that's about it.

I think renting is the best plan. The only one better is if someone sold me a great car for a low price, then I could sell it after 6 weeks.....but, there would be license, taxes, advertising, mechanical certificate.......I just talked myself out of that one.

C'mon now, man up and take her car early in the morning while Mrs. Driver is still sleeping and do what you want to do with it. You know she will be at home when you get back, right?

Do that once and let us know how that worked out.

jmonroe

Thanks for the idea.....not much tennis or pickleball before 6:30 a.m..

And, how would you like to get by with one car?

And, do you let Mrs. JM drive your car?

My wife can drive my car if she really has to....like if my arm and leg got broken. She doesn't really like driving it....too big (one reason I get a larger car).

I always say, there are 3 things I don't lend 1) my underwear, 2) my toothbrush, 3) my car!

Mrs. j does not like to drive ANY car but hers, once she gets used to a car she won't drive anything else. If she had a tank, once she got used to it that would be all she would want to drive.

Believe it or not she never even started my '09 Genny let alone drive it. So far she has not even started my '15 Genny and I doubt that she ever will. Everyone in the family knows how she feels about a car other than hers and she is automatically excused from moving cars in the driveway to help when people are boxed in and want to leave before someone that has them blocked.

jmonroe

Michaell

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Latitude, some may surprise you;

Dartmouth N.S. 44.66
Toronto 43.65
Windsor ON 42.31
Boston Mas 42.36
San Francisco 37.77
Chicago 41.87
Seattle Washington 47.60

I never understood all that latitude and longitude stuff. Blame the education system I guess.

Besides, what's your point? Surely you're not suggesting you are located less than an hour away from Upper Canada College?

Latitude are imaginary lines that go around the world.....east and west.

Or as some kids think they learned in school, latitude are imaginary lions that run around the earth.

Longitude goes north and south.

Ships and planes can give their location by using latitude and longitude as points of reference.

If Dartmouth is at 44.66 and Toronto is 43.65 Toronto is slightly South of Dartmouth.

I never hear the terms Upper and Lower Canada any more, they were used in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The names are derived from early explorers sailing into the St. Lawrence from the Atlantic Ocean.
Lower Canada was "lower" in the St. Lawrence (closer to the ocean). To get to "Upper Canada" people had to get past rapids in the St. Lawrence and traveled "up"stream to Upper Canada.
Lower Canada basically refers to the area surrounding the St. Lawrence and east of present-day Kingston (basically, the Province of Quebec and Eastern edge of Ontario), whereas "Upper Canada" refers to the rest of Ontario (which is a fair chunk of land)

That's your history lesson for today.

And Upper Canada College was built in 1829 - very prestigious school that costs a fortune to go to.

I was reading an article a week or two ago in the National Post about the plans in the 60's and 70's to build roads through "second Canada". Fascinating what the plans were - about the only town that ended up growing was Ft. McMurray.

Here's the article -

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-grandiose-but-failed-1960s-plan-by-an-ontario-war-hero-to-settle-a-second-canada-below-the-arctic

fintail

how many miles are on it? Rental cars are sometimes abused - who knows what might happened.

IIRC, those cars still have some old MB design in them, structurally.

Or maybe it is just Christine reincarnated (she was a 58 Plymouth).

driver100 said:

I have this Chrysler 300 rental car.
Every once in awhile, it steers like it has a mind of it's own....for about 3 or 4 seconds.
The first time it was when I was accelerating, and it felt like extreme torque steer.
Then it has happened about 4 times, and I have only driven it about 40 miles total.
It is like I have no control over the steering, it only goes a little off course each time, but, I am not the one steering. I don't think it is enough to really cause a problem, but it is not a nice feeling. Maybe the car is haunted,,,wasn't Christine a Chrysler product?

fintail

So PC, but also so in love with the dirty/blood money being laundered in the Vancouver and Toronto real estate markets. Funny how that works.

I suspect those who whine about cars and wasting energy also have multiple private vehicles, and a nice large detached house they bought for nothing back when such things were attainable to normal working people. It's the same here.

ab348 said:

Up here the government would probably only build a bike lane. Canada is the most politically-correct nation on earth and they don't like building highways because they say they are bad for the environment.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Been looking for another set of wheels for a while, still looking.
After looking at a lot of new vehicles, I thought maybe I could buy my oldest's '09 Escape, then help them buy something new.
Made what I thought was a pretty good offer, considering the condition, but it was not accepted(no response).
Back to looking at something locally.

Your own kid stiffed you? I thought that only happened with Craigslist sellers.

My dealer sent me a note that they're giving 0% for 60 months and $1000 to haul the leftover 2016 Escapes off the lot.

berri

The 58 Plymouth was probably the better made one, but I still prefer the 57!

nyccarguy

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

Been looking for another set of wheels for a while, still looking.
After looking at a lot of new vehicles, I thought maybe I could buy my oldest's '09 Escape, then help them buy something new.
Made what I thought was a pretty good offer, considering the condition, but it was not accepted(no response).
Back to looking at something locally.

Your own kid stiffed you? I thought that only happened with Craigslist sellers.

My dealer sent me a note that they're giving 0% for 60 months and $1000 to haul the leftover 2016 Escapes off the lot.

My local dealer has (2) Black Escsape Titanium with the 2.0 L motor & a $37K/$38K sticker for an Internet price of over $5K off sticker.

british_rover

nyccarguy said:

Hey @british_rover! Welcome back! Give us the low down on what you are up to these days? Still running that used car place?

I was never running a used car place although I was sort of the used car manager at my Volvo dealership. Really I was the swing position so I could do new cars, used cars or F&I.

I took over as the service manager in March when the previous service manager quit but have been covering as a sales manager or running deals when needed. I am angling for a GM position as the company expands.

stever

driver100 said:

stever said:

It's the "last" province/territory I need to tag but the airfare is killer. /sigh

If that is the only one you haven't tagged, you have done very well....probably more than 98% of all North Americans.

Just need a road - we've managed about half the Mexican states too (almost all of those riding buses though). Lacking in US possessions, just hit PR on that list. Oh, we also did that part of France that's in NA that no one knows about.

nyccarguy

british_rover said:

nyccarguy said:

Hey @british_rover! Welcome back! Give us the low down on what you are up to these days? Still running that used car place?

I was never running a used car place although I was sort of the used car manager at my Volvo dealership. Really I was the swing position so I could do new cars, used cars or F&I.

I took over as the service manager in March when the previous service manager quit but have been covering as a sales manager or running deals when needed. I am angling for a GM position as the company expands.

Sorry I was a bit blurry on the details! What's your take on the current crop of Volvos? Reliable? Lots of warranty claims? Any crazy stories you'd care to share as the service manager?

fintail

I think another now seldom seen poster "boomchek" was running a used car place of some sort.

roadburner

bwia said:

Just got a call from a Mercedes Benz internet salesman inviting me to test drive a 2016 GLC 300. I told him I was not quite ready to buy but I would be interested in talking to one of their "genius" sales support guys, similar to those employed by BMW and Apple.

He said that they didn't need a so-called genius as all of their salesmen were qualified to answer all of my questions; and besides their sales staff had to be recertified every three months to continue as MB salesmen.

Hmm, arrogance, or sticking with the Benz tried and true sales approach.

I'm resurrecting a comment from July 5th for a reason; I took a client for a demonstration drive in an X1 today and during the drive she asked several questions about the frontal collision warning and the other driver assistance technology. After I answered her questions she remarked that she had test driven a GLA and the Mercedes salesperson she dealt was was unable to describe how the equivalent M-B systems functioned.
Maybe he was overdue for certification...

stever

I don't know how you guys keep up with all that stuff anyway, not to mention how it varies from year to year and from model to model. Plus you need to know how your systems are better than the competitions.

Comments like "we knew more about the car than the salesperson" don't bother me one bit.

roadburner

Well, I learn something new every day. It is definitely a challenge but at least it keeps me on my toes. Complacency is my enemy.

qbrozen

stever said:

I don't know how you guys keep up with all that stuff anyway, not to mention how it varies from year to year and from model to model. Plus you need to know how your systems are better than the competitions. Comments like "we knew more about the car than the salesperson" don't bother me one bit.

I don't know why salesman DON'T know all those things. From what I have seen, they twiddle their thumbs on weekday mornings. Use that time to learn.

driver100

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

Driver, can't you just share a car for that short a time? If not, figure out when you really need it, and rent much cleaner overall.

I agree. Hard to share, my wife is all over the place doing her yoga, tennis, gym, bridge, doctor, dentist and other things women do, talk about doilies or something, and I have to be at tennis, pickleball , and....I guess that's about it.

I think renting is the best plan. The only one better is if someone sold me a great car for a low price, then I could sell it after 6 weeks.....but, there would be license, taxes, advertising, mechanical certificate.......I just talked myself out of that one.

C'mon now, man up and take her car early in the morning while Mrs. Driver is still sleeping and do what you want to do with it. You know she will be at home when you get back, right?

Do that once and let us know how that worked out.

jmonroe

Thanks for the idea.....not much tennis or pickleball before 6:30 a.m..

And, how would you like to get by with one car?

And, do you let Mrs. JM drive your car?

My wife can drive my car if she really has to....like if my arm and leg got broken. She doesn't really like driving it....too big (one reason I get a larger car).

I always say, there are 3 things I don't lend 1) my underwear, 2) my toothbrush, 3) my car!

Mrs. j does not like to drive ANY car but hers, once she gets used to a car she won't drive anything else. If she had a tank, once she got used to it that would be all she would want to drive.

jmonroe

I gave my wife a driving lesson in the E400 so that she would know what to do if I passed out or if she needed to drive it in an emergency. When we drive to Florida I do it all, I would rather be driving than be the passenger.....probably a control issue. Most people split the driving, she would prefer not to drive unless she has to.

Drive to Florida takes about 23 hours of actual driving time. About 8 hours 1st day, 9 the second, and 6 or 7 the third.

driver100

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Latitude, some may surprise you;

Dartmouth N.S. 44.66
Toronto 43.65
Windsor ON 42.31
Boston Mas 42.36
San Francisco 37.77
Chicago 41.87
Seattle Washington 47.60

I never understood all that latitude and longitude stuff. Blame the education system I guess.

Besides, what's your point? Surely you're not suggesting you are located less than an hour away from Upper Canada College?

Latitude are imaginary lines that go around the world.....east and west.

Or as some kids think they learned in school, latitude are imaginary lions that run around the earth.

Longitude goes north and south.

Ships and planes can give their location by using latitude and longitude as points of reference.

If Dartmouth is at 44.66 and Toronto is 43.65 Toronto is slightly South of Dartmouth.

I never hear the terms Upper and Lower Canada any more, they were used in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The names are derived from early explorers sailing into the St. Lawrence from the Atlantic Ocean.
Lower Canada was "lower" in the St. Lawrence (closer to the ocean). To get to "Upper Canada" people had to get past rapids in the St. Lawrence and traveled "up"stream to Upper Canada.
Lower Canada basically refers to the area surrounding the St. Lawrence and east of present-day Kingston (basically, the Province of Quebec and Eastern edge of Ontario), whereas "Upper Canada" refers to the rest of Ontario (which is a fair chunk of land)

That's your history lesson for today.

And Upper Canada College was built in 1829 - very prestigious school that costs a fortune to go to.

I was reading an article a week or two ago in the National Post about the plans in the 60's and 70's to build roads through "second Canada". Fascinating what the plans were - about the only town that ended up growing was Ft. McMurray.

Here's the article -

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-grandiose-but-failed-1960s-plan-by-an-ontario-war-hero-to-settle-a-second-canada-below-the-arctic

The more important question is "What are you doing reading the National Post"? I am glad you do, it is a great newspaper, I read it every day.

You never know until you try it, so that plan may have worked, but, it is way too risky to try. I think all that would happen is the real Canada would have to support the people living in the North.

This statement pretty well sums it up:
“If you just took a blank cheque of building communities and hoping that the population would follow, the best you could end up with would be a patchwork of poverty and incompleteness,” said Northern historian Ken Coates.

“There’s very few places in the North where local resources will sustain a 30 or 50 year project.”

driver100

fintail said:

how many miles are on it? Rental cars are sometimes abused - who knows what might happened.

IIRC, those cars still have some old MB design in them, structurally.

Or maybe it is just Christine reincarnated (she was a 58 Plymouth).

driver100 said:

I have this Chrysler 300 rental car.
Every once in awhile, it steers like it has a mind of it's own....for about 3 or 4 seconds.
The first time it was when I was accelerating, and it felt like extreme torque steer.
Then it has happened about 4 times, and I have only driven it about 40 miles total.
It is like I have no control over the steering, it only goes a little off course each time, but, I am not the one steering. I don't think it is enough to really cause a problem, but it is not a nice feeling. Maybe the car is haunted,,,wasn't Christine a Chrysler product?

Only has 6000 miles on it. I don't use it a lot, and I don't want another Cruze, so I will see what happens over the next few days. If insurance pays up they will probably want me to hand in Christina's cousin anyway.

graphicguy

qbrozen said:

snakeweasel said:

Now how much is too much?

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/honda-taking-transmissions-level-madness-174902835.html

Can't say I understand it. My CTS had 8 and it did not even use those efficiently, IMHO. It could have easily used 5 or 6 for all acceleration and utilize a super high 7th for steady state cruising. Yet the RPM differences between the top 3 gears was negligible.

Not a complaint, per se. But, while I don't think it was the same 8 speed as yours Q, my CTS has the 8-speed also.

It's "hyper"....willing to hold a gear or jump down one or more with little provocation, it seems a bit "jittery"....always "on edge", which is the best way I know how to describe it.

I drive in sport mode all the time, though. In touring mode, everything becomes civil. But, where's the fun in that?

You're right....probably 2, maybe 3 gears too many.

driver100

stever said:

driver100 said:

stever said:

It's the "last" province/territory I need to tag but the airfare is killer. /sigh

If that is the only one you haven't tagged, you have done very well....probably more than 98% of all North Americans.

Just need a road - we've managed about half the Mexican states too (almost all of those riding buses though). Lacking in US possessions, just hit PR on that list. Oh, we also did that part of France that's in NA that no one knows about.

Don't hold your breath waiting for a road....I see flights in are about $2200! I doubt if it is worth it. But then again, Mrs D says since we can't drive to Florida on November 6th maybe we should go to the Barclays Tennis Match in London November 12th....it is the year it would make sense!

Do you mean the part of NA France that always threatens to leave Canada so they can try to extort more tax money from the rest of us?

driver100

fintail said:

I think another now seldom seen poster "boomchek" was running a used car place of some sort.

That's right!

driver100

stever said:

I don't know how you guys keep up with all that stuff anyway, not to mention how it varies from year to year and from model to model. Plus you need to know how your systems are better than the competitions.

Comments like "we knew more about the car than the salesperson" don't bother me one bit.

I have found all the salesmen lately, and we have shopped BMW, Audi, and MB are quite knowledgeable about their cars. There is a lot of information I know, especially about other makes, that they may not know, but, I am sure they want to concentrate on the cars they sell. When our daughter was looking at cars she was going to get the BMW because 1) the saleslady told her it had a 5 safety star rating 2) and because she was impressed that you could go 60 mph, put 2 wheels on gravel, and it wouldn't spin out.

When I told her all the competing cars could do that she decided she liked the GLK the best.

One thing I do think, the really good salespeople never really put down the competition, they may point out why they believe their car has a superior system, say self braking, but, never say their competitors cars are terrible. I think they know they would lose all credibility to do that - and it doesn't help.

stever

driver100 said:

stever said:

driver100 said:

stever said:

It's the "last" province/territory I need to tag but the airfare is killer. /sigh

If that is the only one you haven't tagged, you have done very well....probably more than 98% of all North Americans.

Just need a road - we've managed about half the Mexican states too (almost all of those riding buses though). Lacking in US possessions, just hit PR on that list. Oh, we also did that part of France that's in NA that no one knows about.

Do you mean the part of NA France that always threatens to leave Canada so they can try to extort more tax money from the rest of us?

Nope, St. Pierre and Miquelon.

ab348

fintail said:

So PC, but also so in love with the dirty/blood money being laundered in the Vancouver and Toronto real estate markets. Funny how that works.

I suspect those who whine about cars and wasting energy also have multiple private vehicles, and a nice large detached house they bought for nothing back when such things were attainable to normal working people. It's the same here.

Canada has more than its share of "Champagne Socialists". I never understood that thinking. If you have the money to support causes that are important to you, donate generously. But why let government tax you to death and then waste so much of it?

jmonroe

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

Driver, can't you just share a car for that short a time? If not, figure out when you really need it, and rent much cleaner overall.

I agree. Hard to share, my wife is all over the place doing her yoga, tennis, gym, bridge, doctor, dentist and other things women do, talk about doilies or something, and I have to be at tennis, pickleball , and....I guess that's about it.

I think renting is the best plan. The only one better is if someone sold me a great car for a low price, then I could sell it after 6 weeks.....but, there would be license, taxes, advertising, mechanical certificate.......I just talked myself out of that one.

C'mon now, man up and take her car early in the morning while Mrs. Driver is still sleeping and do what you want to do with it. You know she will be at home when you get back, right?

Do that once and let us know how that worked out.

jmonroe

Thanks for the idea.....not much tennis or pickleball before 6:30 a.m..

And, how would you like to get by with one car?

And, do you let Mrs. JM drive your car?

My wife can drive my car if she really has to....like if my arm and leg got broken. She doesn't really like driving it....too big (one reason I get a larger car).

I always say, there are 3 things I don't lend 1) my underwear, 2) my toothbrush, 3) my car!

Mrs. j does not like to drive ANY car but hers, once she gets used to a car she won't drive anything else. If she had a tank, once she got used to it that would be all she would want to drive.

jmonroe

I gave my wife a driving lesson in the E400 so that she would know what to do if I passed out or if she needed to drive it in an emergency. When we drive to Florida I do it all, I would rather be driving than be the passenger.....probably a control issue. Most people split the driving, she would prefer not to drive unless she has to.

Drive to Florida takes about 23 hours of actual driving time. About 8 hours 1st day, 9 the second, and 6 or 7 the third.

I wanted to show Mrs. j how to drive my car just in case an emergency of some type popped up and she said she could drive it if she HAD to.

As for driving when we go on vacation that is also out because she does not drive on interstates. Years ago when we went on a vacation, after we stopped to eat she said she would drive because she thought I looked tired. I reminded her that she didn't drive interstates but I guess she wanted to help me and insisted. Son#1 was of driving age at this time but he went with some of his friends to Ocean City MD ahead of us about 3 days earlier so he couldn't help with the driving and Son #2 did not even have his permit yet so he couldn't help drive. I finally agreed to let her drive figuring that it would be a good experience. WRONG, after about 2 miles I told her to pull over and let me have the wheel. She did not do anything wrong other than squeeze the life out of the steering wheel and drove just at the speed limit only in the right lane, even had semi's pass us and pull in front of us a few times. That did it, I took over from their and she said, "I was just getting the hank of it, you should have given me more time". Son #2 said, "Mom, we want to get there today while the sun is still shining and we can go into the ocean. You should learn on your own time".

That was the last time she ever did that and I ain't sorry one bit.

jmonroe

stever

As I've aged my wife has become the better driver and drives more, mostly at my request. She's not thrilled about it - she likes playing on her tablet riding shotgun too.

qbrozen

driver100 said:

I gave my wife a driving lesson in the E400 so that she would know what to do if I passed out or if she needed to drive it in an emergency. When we drive to Florida I do it all, I would rather be driving than be the passenger.....probably a control issue. Most people split the driving, she would prefer not to drive unless she has to.

What?? The car doesn't automatically take you to the nearest hospital? ;b

jpp75

roadburner said:

bwia said:

Just got a call from a Mercedes Benz internet salesman inviting me to test drive a 2016 GLC 300. I told him I was not quite ready to buy but I would be interested in talking to one of their "genius" sales support guys, similar to those employed by BMW and Apple.

He said that they didn't need a so-called genius as all of their salesmen were qualified to answer all of my questions; and besides their sales staff had to be recertified every three months to continue as MB salesmen.

Hmm, arrogance, or sticking with the Benz tried and true sales approach.

I'm resurrecting a comment from July 5th for a reason; I took a client for a demonstration drive in an X1 today and during the drive she asked several questions about the frontal collision warning and the other driver assistance technology. After I answered her questions she remarked that she had test driven a GLA and the Mercedes salesperson she dealt was was unable to describe how the equivalent M-B systems functioned.
Maybe he was overdue for certification...

Back in 2014 when the lease on my Infiniti G37x was ending I was looking for a replacement (bad idea as I've mentioned...should have kept that one). I went to drive the new (at the time) Lexus IS350. On the test drive I asked the sales person to educate me on the strengths of the IS350 over the Q50 and she flat out said "I don't really know much about that car so I can't comment." I guess I appreciate her honesty but that was a short test drive (partly because I didn't love how the car drove and partly because I knew more about the car than she did).

fintail

I wonder if BMW salespeople ever explain turn signal operation to their prospects - hard to believe it based on what I see on the road here

I've got the "you know more than I do" line too, but I am one of those who can rattle off obscure option codes, and knows what features are mandatory when others are selected etc. It's even more fun when I have looked at used cars, as there isn't enough time to devote to the features of older models - but if I am bothering to look at a car, I already know a lot about it.

I don't see MB salespeople putting down others much, but I do remember one who went on about how Audis are glorified VWs.

driver100 said:

I have found all the salesmen lately, and we have shopped BMW, Audi, and MB are quite knowledgeable about their cars. There is a lot of information I know, especially about other makes, that they may not know, but, I am sure they want to concentrate on the cars they sell. When our daughter was looking at cars she was going to get the BMW because 1) the saleslady told her it had a 5 safety star rating 2) and because she was impressed that you could go 60 mph, put 2 wheels on gravel, and it wouldn't spin out.

When I told her all the competing cars could do that she decided she liked the GLK the best.

One thing I do think, the really good salespeople never really put down the competition, they may point out why they believe their car has a superior system, say self braking, but, never say their competitors cars are terrible. I think they know they would lose all credibility to do that - and it doesn't help.

fintail

If insurance pays up, then what happens?

6000 rental miles is probably 50K normal miles.

driver100 said:

Only has 6000 miles on it. I don't use it a lot, and I don't want another Cruze, so I will see what happens over the next few days. If insurance pays up they will probably want me to hand in Christina's cousin anyway.

fintail

I live in WA, which is probably the closest thing to BC without actually being there, too. Seattle is like a slightly grittier Vancouver.

I have no problem with taxes per se - as long as you get what you pay for. Lately, it seems increasing waste always comes along with increasing taxes, and the hypocrisy of those who support it is irritating too, demanding others sacrifice, but they wouldn't dare. Add to that the propensity for those devoted to social justice to look the other way when dirty money comes into play, and it becomes hard to take it all seriously.

ab348 said:

Canada has more than its share of "Champagne Socialists". I never understood that thinking. If you have the money to support causes that are important to you, donate generously. But why let government tax you to death and then waste so much of it?

driver100

fintail said:

If insurance pays up, then what happens?

6000 rental miles is probably 50K normal miles.

driver100 said:

Only has 6000 miles on it. I don't use it a lot, and I don't want another Cruze, so I will see what happens over the next few days. If insurance pays up they will probably want me to hand in Christina's cousin anyway.

It was 6000 miles on the rental car.
Once the insurance company pays me the replacement value of a comparable new model car , approx $86k including tax..........their last proposal was $83k, then I am sure I will have to sign off, and won't be supplied with a rental car any longer.

The lowball dealer the insurance company used left out a $2600 Technology Package which my 2015 car had, and it includes these features, 360 Camera, Adaptive High Beam Assist, Active LED High Performance Lighting System. Talk about a dealer not knowing much about their cars.

ab348

fintail said:

I have no problem with taxes per se - as long as you get what you pay for. Lately, it seems increasing waste always comes along with increasing taxes, and the hypocrisy of those who support it is irritating too, demanding others sacrifice, but they wouldn't dare. Add to that the propensity for those devoted to social justice to look the other way when dirty money comes into play, and it becomes hard to take it all seriously.

After working for government for 32 years, I have learned that it is impossible for government operations to be efficient. In fact, they are designed to not be efficient. There are many reasons for that: decisions made for political, not business reasons; the entire bureaucratic process and structure, which assumes that many layers of control and approval are needed before a decision can be made, which results in no decision at all being made, a too-late or too-expensive decision being made, or a much watered-down decision from what was originally recommended; public-sector union contracts, which not only pay richly, especially in benefits, but more importantly, prevent any real structural change from being undertaken; the lack of accountability and customer focus in operations; the inherent nature of bureaucracies to expand regardless of any real need... the list is endless. Since there is never enough money, and since you cannot easily divert money to things that are truly necessary, everything is done poorly or not at all. The strange thing is that here in Canada, at least, the majority of voters seem to want more government in spite of all this. It is truly bizarre.

driver100

If we had back all the money government wastes, we probably wouldn't be in debt today. Unfortunately, democratic countries always seem to be corrupt and wasteful....but, it is still the best and least corrupt system available.

driver100

fintail said:

I wonder if BMW salespeople ever explain turn signal operation to their prospects - hard to believe it based on what I see on the road here

driver100 said:

.

Do BMW drivers have to signal, I thought that was one of the benefits of ownership?

driver100

I have told it before but, to make it brief:
We were prepared to buy a 2013 328 for my wife.
I checked the trade-in value of the 2008 335, and they would only offer $2500 less than black book.
They said they can buy them at auction for the lower amount.
I said that didn't sound right to me..........left and checked an Audi A4. Liked it better, and it was $11000 less. and they gave me what I wanted for the trade-in.
Bought it, got home, got a call from the BMW guy they could do better.
Told him it is too late, we like the Audi better and bought it.
He said, well that is the end of the line for that model, new ones will be different, that's why it was less expensive.
It wasn't nice....he should have just said, Hope you enjoy it, see me if you come back and want to try a BMW.

driver100

stever said:

driver100 said:

stever said:

driver100 said:

stever said:

It's the "last" province/territory I need to tag but the airfare is killer. /sigh

If that is the only one you haven't tagged, you have done very well....probably more than 98% of all North Americans.

Just need a road - we've managed about half the Mexican states too (almost all of those riding buses though). Lacking in US possessions, just hit PR on that list. Oh, we also did that part of France that's in NA that no one knows about.

Do you mean the part of NA France that always threatens to leave Canada so they can try to extort more tax money from the rest of us?

Nope, St. Pierre and Miquelon.

Wow....only .00000000001 North Americans have gone there!

dino001

driver100 said:

Do BMW drivers have to signal, I thought that was one of the benefits of ownership?

Every time I make some kind of mistake on a road, if I have a passenger, I always say, what did you expect, I'm a BMW driver, it's in the manual I should behave like a jerk. Just doing my quota.

To be serious, I have had especially bad experiences with Lexus drivers, but it may be a typical confirmation bias. Worst that happened to me, was a brand new ES driver drove a corner of her rear bumper into my driver side doors (yes, she had to do both, one was not enough) at a parking lot. It was low speed and gentle, but it caused a $600+ scratch and dent. She drove away before I even knew what happened. But ya know, she had a new Lexus, they get a pass on petty little things like damaging somebody else's car.

dino001

driver100 said:

I have told it before but, to make it brief:
We were prepared to buy a 2013 328 for my wife.
I checked the trade-in value of the 2008 335, and they would only offer $2500 less than black book.
They said they can buy them at auction for the lower amount.
I said that didn't sound right to me..........left and checked an Audi A4. Liked it better, and it was $11000 less. and they gave me what I wanted for the trade-in.
Bought it, got home, got a call from the BMW guy they could do better.
Told him it is too late, we like the Audi better and bought it.
He said, well that is the end of the line for that model, new ones will be different, that's why it was less expensive.
It wasn't nice....he should have just said, Hope you enjoy it, see me if you come back and want to try a BMW.

And the 2013 328 was still being manufactured? Where exactly?

stever

driver100 said:

stever said:

driver100 said:

stever said:

driver100 said:

stever said:

It's the "last" province/territory I need to tag but the airfare is killer. /sigh

If that is the only one you haven't tagged, you have done very well....probably more than 98% of all North Americans.

Just need a road - we've managed about half the Mexican states too (almost all of those riding buses though). Lacking in US possessions, just hit PR on that list. Oh, we also did that part of France that's in NA that no one knows about.

Do you mean the part of NA France that always threatens to leave Canada so they can try to extort more tax money from the rest of us?

Nope, St. Pierre and Miquelon.

Wow....only .00000000001 North Americans have gone there!

And half of them missed the guillotine. Ah, bragging rights.

ab348

Earlier this summer I was at a stoplight and a GMC pickup rolled up next to me with a St. Pierre and Miquelon license plate on the rear. Two things occurred to me: first, that it was the first one of those I had ever seen (it was rather handsome, a blue background with the EU circle of stars logo on the left); second, how it must have been one of the very few times that GMC had ever traveled over 30 mph or on an expressway. Hope the driver had a chance to blow out the carbon.

sda

ab348 said:

fintail said:

I have no problem with taxes per se - as long as you get what you pay for. Lately, it seems increasing waste always comes along with increasing taxes, and the hypocrisy of those who support it is irritating too, demanding others sacrifice, but they wouldn't dare. Add to that the propensity for those devoted to social justice to look the other way when dirty money comes into play, and it becomes hard to take it all seriously.

After working for government for 32 years, I have learned that it is impossible for government operations to be efficient. In fact, they are designed to not be efficient. There are many reasons for that: decisions made for political, not business reasons; the entire bureaucratic process and structure, which assumes that many layers of control and approval are needed before a decision can be made, which results in no decision at all being made, a too-late or too-expensive decision being made, or a much watered-down decision from what was originally recommended; public-sector union contracts, which not only pay richly, especially in benefits, but more importantly, prevent any real structural change from being undertaken; the lack of accountability and customer focus in operations; the inherent nature of bureaucracies to expand regardless of any real need... the list is endless. Since there is never enough money, and since you cannot easily divert money to things that are truly necessary, everything is done poorly or not at all. The strange thing is that here in Canada, at least, the majority of voters seem to want more government in spite of all this. It is truly bizarre.

Great summary. The problem with govt is universal.

andres3

graphicguy said:

qbrozen said:

snakeweasel said:

Now how much is too much?

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/honda-taking-transmissions-level-madness-174902835.html

Can't say I understand it. My CTS had 8 and it did not even use those efficiently, IMHO. It could have easily used 5 or 6 for all acceleration and utilize a super high 7th for steady state cruising. Yet the RPM differences between the top 3 gears was negligible.

Not a complaint, per se. But, while I don't think it was the same 8 speed as yours Q, my CTS has the 8-speed also.

It's "hyper"....willing to hold a gear or jump down one or more with little provocation, it seems a bit "jittery"....always "on edge", which is the best way I know how to describe it.

I drive in sport mode all the time, though. In touring mode, everything becomes civil. But, where's the fun in that?

You're right....probably 2, maybe 3 gears too many.

I love a transmission that shifts with enough speed and authority that you know when it shifts. I don't mind trading some smoothness for a bit of mechanical feel and efficiency.

The Kia dual clutch is the first dual clutch where I can finally see, feel, and understand why some might complain about the smoothness of a DSG at low speeds. It isn't bad, but it is more noticeable (makes itself noticed) at low speeds than my Audi's have been. I think a little programming fine-tuning would solve the problem. It seems hitting the accelerator when you have been coasting for a bit catches it off-guard sometimes.

The rear view mirror in the Kia isn't designed to fit this particular car's rear view and window size (I'm suspicious every Kia has the same rear view mirror part number bin). You can't see the push button start button or the position of the headlight knob-twist-handle thingy on the steering wheel from my seating position as the driver. Minor things that make me appreciate the extra design effort and attention to details Audi provides (in cars that sticker for a lot more dough though). You could say I like the German design focus being driver-centric.

These are the things that are hard to pick up on during a test drive that lasts 20 minutes or less typically. However, they are the things that build a perception of value during the ownership experience.

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

Michaell said:

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Also some people got pretty good lease deals but need to relocate, etc.

You have to return a lease to the exact same dealership? It's not like Red Box?

You can return a lease to any dealer of the same brand.

Oh I meant going overseas or maybe to Hawaii, Alaska or Canada---leasing companies do care where you take the car.

Well, unlike the fine print you get with a Hertz rental, I didn't get anything like that with the lease. I remember reading in the Hertz brochure of fine print these key notes:

1) Don't drive into Mexico
2) Don't drive off-road
3) Don't RACE on a track. (I liked that as it didn't say don't do an HPDE on a track; HPDE isn't racing)

If the leasing companies really cared they'd put a GPS tracker and speed and RPM governor on the car, and then of course, hardly anyone would lease.

fintail

Could have been used as a taxi for 5000 of those miles

360 camera is a funny thing - I don't think it was available on MY 2016 cars, but was often on 14s and 15s. I assume it is back in production now, I think there was a supplier problem. It's a cool feature, especially for an OCD parker like me, I wish my car had it. I'd definitely fight for those features.

driver100 said:

It was 6000 miles on the rental car.
Once the insurance company pays me the replacement value of a comparable new model car , approx $86k including tax..........their last proposal was $83k, then I am sure I will have to sign off, and won't be supplied with a rental car any longer.

The lowball dealer the insurance company used left out a $2600 Technology Package which my 2015 car had, and it includes these features, 360 Camera, Adaptive High Beam Assist, Active LED High Performance Lighting System. Talk about a dealer not knowing much about their cars.

andres3

jpp5862 said:

roadburner said:

bwia said:

Just got a call from a Mercedes Benz internet salesman inviting me to test drive a 2016 GLC 300. I told him I was not quite ready to buy but I would be interested in talking to one of their "genius" sales support guys, similar to those employed by BMW and Apple.

He said that they didn't need a so-called genius as all of their salesmen were qualified to answer all of my questions; and besides their sales staff had to be recertified every three months to continue as MB salesmen.

Hmm, arrogance, or sticking with the Benz tried and true sales approach.

I'm resurrecting a comment from July 5th for a reason; I took a client for a demonstration drive in an X1 today and during the drive she asked several questions about the frontal collision warning and the other driver assistance technology. After I answered her questions she remarked that she had test driven a GLA and the Mercedes salesperson she dealt was was unable to describe how the equivalent M-B systems functioned.
Maybe he was overdue for certification...

Back in 2014 when the lease on my Infiniti G37x was ending I was looking for a replacement (bad idea as I've mentioned...should have kept that one). I went to drive the new (at the time) Lexus IS350. On the test drive I asked the sales person to educate me on the strengths of the IS350 over the Q50 and she flat out said "I don't really know much about that car so I can't comment." I guess I appreciate her honesty but that was a short test drive (partly because I didn't love how the car drove and partly because I knew more about the car than she did).

I asked an Infiniti salesman what was better/improved about the Q50 over the leftover G37's and he went off for about 1 to 2 minutes on all the safety driver assistance features now available, and didn't mention 1 single improvement in the actual car itself! That disappointed me.

fintail

To me, it seems there was more value received for taxes paid in the past than by those today. Go back 50-60 years, and there were massive infrastructure projects, affordable tuition, etc - things to show for what you paid. Now, we have platinum bennies for a few, 742 levels of administration, an immense praetorian sector, and the most rabid organization in the land, who can put the UAW et al to shame.

I think the desire there for more government might be a British empire thing, they have the same affliction down unda, too. Nannystate, makes you feel safe, never have to make a decision.

ab348 said:

After working for government for 32 years, I have learned that it is impossible for government operations to be efficient. In fact, they are designed to not be efficient. There are many reasons for that: decisions made for political, not business reasons; the entire bureaucratic process and structure, which assumes that many layers of control and approval are needed before a decision can be made, which results in no decision at all being made, a too-late or too-expensive decision being made, or a much watered-down decision from what was originally recommended; public-sector union contracts, which not only pay richly, especially in benefits, but more importantly, prevent any real structural change from being undertaken; the lack of accountability and customer focus in operations; the inherent nature of bureaucracies to expand regardless of any real need... the list is endless. Since there is never enough money, and since you cannot easily divert money to things that are truly necessary, everything is done poorly or not at all. The strange thing is that here in Canada, at least, the majority of voters seem to want more government in spite of all this. It is truly bizarre.

andres3

driver100 said:

stever said:

I don't know how you guys keep up with all that stuff anyway, not to mention how it varies from year to year and from model to model. Plus you need to know how your systems are better than the competitions.

Comments like "we knew more about the car than the salesperson" don't bother me one bit.

I have found all the salesmen lately, and we have shopped BMW, Audi, and MB are quite knowledgeable about their cars. There is a lot of information I know, especially about other makes, that they may not know, but, I am sure they want to concentrate on the cars they sell. When our daughter was looking at cars she was going to get the BMW because 1) the saleslady told her it had a 5 safety star rating 2) and because she was impressed that you could go 60 mph, put 2 wheels on gravel, and it wouldn't spin out.

When I told her all the competing cars could do that she decided she liked the GLK the best.

One thing I do think, the really good salespeople never really put down the competition, they may point out why they believe their car has a superior system, say self braking, but, never say their competitors cars are terrible. I think they know they would lose all credibility to do that - and it doesn't help.

Agreed 100%.

When an Acura salesman learned of the news I was choosing to order an S4 over the TL-SH AWD model he said the S4 was a terrific car, congratulations, and if I was ever interested in another Acura to let him know.
I would buy an Acura from that guy if it suited me.

The BMW salesmen that buy into the "(Insert brand here) or nothing" marketing campaigns turn me off. I definitely got the arrogant "our cars are holier than thou" impression from more than one BMW salesman and dealership. I got a whiff of it at Mercedes. That being said, I think the car can sell itself. If the car impressed me enough, I'd get past, or around a bad dealership or salesman.