Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

ab348

I read an article about the Dodge Durango this week. They are replacing the paint shop in the assembly facility and so for the next few months they can only make them in 4 colors: white, black, silver and gray. The article said that over 80% of Durangos sold are in those 4 colors.

henryn

AT&T and Verizon are by far the more expensive options for cellular service. TMobile is a lot less expensive, but they really don't cover nearly as much of the country. Here in the greater Houston area, TMobile is "good enough" for many people. But if you want the best coverage, period, you opt for Verizon.

I have been with Verizon since I first got a cell phone many years ago, and do not plan to leave. We pay about $180 per month for two smart phones with 10 gigs of shared data, definitely not cheap. But it works. Every time, every where. With no dropped calls. It's worth it to me.

As to the phone, I just got a new Samsung Note 4, and I like it. Yes it's big, but it still fits in my pocket. And I have big hands, so no problem holding it. And with my old eyes, the big screen is very user friendly.

No iPhones for me, no iAnything, nothing Apple. Long story.

ray80

houdini1 said:

Cell Phones

I probably just missed it, but I don't remember any serious conversation about cell phones and carriers with all the experts we have here. Any strong feelings on the sub. of which phone is best and which carrier, etc?

I'm cheap and there is no way a cell phone becomes my life as it seems to be with quite a few people these days. As such I am currently with consumer cellular , No contract, rates pretty low I believe and can change (if needed) plans (voice,text,data ETC) as needed on the fly. If I can't get service when I'm traveling through an area ,,,,oh well it can wait, really not that important.

oldfarmer50

ray80 said:

houdini1 said:

Cell Phones

I probably just missed it, but I don't remember any serious conversation about cell phones and carriers with all the experts we have here. Any strong feelings on the sub. of which phone is best and which carrier, etc?

I'm cheap and there is no way a cell phone becomes my life as it seems to be with quite a few people these days. As such I am currently with consumer cellular , No contract, rates pretty low I believe and can change (if needed) plans (voice,text,data ETC) as needed on the fly. If I can't get service when I'm traveling through an area ,,,,oh well it can wait, really not that important.

I make do quite well with a land line and a $20 Trac phone which I use on rare occasion. I suppose it would be nice to be able to pull up car data during negotiations but other than that I don't see the point.

abacomike

henryn said:

AT&T and Verizon are by far the more expensive options for cellular service. TMobile is a lot less expensive, but they really don't cover nearly as much of the country. Here in the greater Houston area, TMobile is "good enough" for many people. But if you want the best coverage, period, you opt for Verizon.

I have been with Verizon since I first got a cell phone many years ago, and do not plan to leave. We pay about $180 per month for two smart phones with 10 gigs of shared data, definitely not cheap. But it works. Every time, every where. With no dropped calls. It's worth it to me.

As to the phone, I just got a new Samsung Note 4, and I like it. Yes it's big, but it still fits in my pocket. And I have big hands, so no problem holding it. And with my old eyes, the big screen is very user friendly.

No iPhones for me, no iAnything, nothing Apple. Long story.

The only reason I use T-Mobile here in Florida is because they have outstanding coverage for the Southeastern Coast - Palm Beach to The Keys. Since I don't travel much anymore, I don't need better national coverage than what I have. When I was in California, T-Mobile had great coverage in the Southern part of the State, which is where I usually travel to.

AT&T down here in Florida was costing me almost $100 a month with only 300 megs of data. If I wanted 1 gig, it would cost me another $20.00 per month. Verizon is the exact same price as AT&T. Sprint was also just about the same as Verizon and AT&T. By using T-Mobile, I save $40.00 a month over AT&T and Verizon with 1 gig of high speed data and unlimited slower data after that, unlimited calling, unlimited texts, etc. So for me, T-Mobile is the best deal. But only because of where I live.

ray80

robr2 said:

I've been with AT&T for years and have never had a problem with them.

We had AT&T for 45 years or so long distance, and I dunno 10 or 20 for local on land line. They decided to leave the state for land lines and have. Of course I recieved many Emails about their mobile service in the process but don't know why they think I would use theirs after abandoning us on land lines.

graphicguy

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Just saw a Chevy commercial offering 20% off on any truck "in dealer stock the longest".

What do you think that means?

It means you can take home a truck that's been a dog on their lot for the last 4-5 months, in a color not found in nature, with options only a sadist would love for 20% off the "Adjusted MSRP Dealer Sticker".

Like this?

Yeah....somethng like that....LOL!

robr2

ray80 said:

We had AT&T for 45 years or so long distance, and I dunno 10 or 20 for local on land line. They decided to leave the state for land lines and have. Of course I recieved many Emails about their mobile service in the process but don't know why they think I would use theirs after abandoning us on land lines.

Well AT&T didn't abandon you. I presume they sold the landline business to another carrier. Both AT&T and Verizon have been selling off copper landline businesses as they are no longer crucial to their businesses, Frontier is the number one buyer of those landlines because they see value in providing high priced DSL internet to those places that AT&T and Verizon don't.

Of course both AT&T and Verizon hope to sell wireless access via LTE in those same areas.

jwm40517

Local newspaper ads today offered a BMW 2014 328i sedan with MSRP of $ 43800 for $35000 which is 20.1% off sticker, another 2014 528i sedan with MSRP of $57975 for $46800 or 19% off sticker.

Not in the market for BMW, but seemed like pretty deep discounts.

henryn

robr2 said:

Well AT&T didn't abandon you. I presume they sold the landline business to another carrier. Both AT&T and Verizon have been selling off copper landline businesses as they are no longer crucial to their businesses, Frontier is the number one buyer of those landlines because they see value in providing high priced DSL internet to those places that AT&T and Verizon don't.

Of course both AT&T and Verizon hope to sell wireless access via LTE in those same areas.

I remember reading a few years back that AT&T had their copper landlines on their books with a unbelievably high evaluation -- many, many billions with a "B". The analyst who was quoted in the article said AT&T had to unload all of that copper, and fairly quickly, before they devalued to zero.

How many people do you know who are using the old twisted pair copper lines for telephone service? I'm using the copper pair at my house for uVerse internet, strictly as a backup to my high speed Comcast internet. But I don't know many people who have anything hooked up to the copper twisted pair.

snakeweasel

houdini1 said:

Cell Phones

I probably just missed it, but I don't remember any serious conversation about cell phones and carriers with all the experts we have here. Any strong feelings on the sub. of which phone is best and which carrier, etc?

First of all no carrier can guarantee you coverage all over the area on their coverage map, there will be dead areas that for whatever reason will not get coverage. That means you may get good reception in the store (who am I kidding they install repeater in those stores so you can get great reception in the store and step outside and get nothing) and get poor reception in your home. Plus what part of the country you're in will have an impact on which carrier is best.

try talking to some people who have different networks in your area and see what they have to say.

That being said as others here said Verizon overall has the best network.

As for phones look online for reviews and specs of several phones available and then go to the store and play with them a bit. Get the one you like that does what you need it to do.

That being said I used to have an iPhone 4S and the battery was slowly dying, I had a choice send the phone in to have the battery replaced or get a new phone. I decided to get a new phone. I ended up with a Galaxy S5 and have had it for 5 months. I am not going back to the iPhone. I really like it, has long battery life seems easier to use, has some features I use that were not on the iPhone and you can get a nifty little case for it.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

I have an iphone 5. Whole family is on Verizon. Probably not the cheapest, but no complaints about the service. Overall, I think VZ has the best coverage, especially in the NE. I have read about T mobile, and at least in the Philly area, much spottier coverage.

The problem with T mobile is that they grew their network by buying other networks and patching them together (this was back when the FCC only allowed two carriers in a geographical area). So to keep this car related it would be like building a car from parts from BMW's MB' and Audi's. Sure you might have a car but it won't run right.

Sprint and Verizon have networks built from the ground up.

driver100

ray80 said:

houdini1 said:

Cell Phones

I probably just missed it, but I don't remember any serious conversation about cell phones and carriers with all the experts we have here. Any strong feelings on the sub. of which phone is best and which carrier, etc?

I'm cheap and there is no way a cell phone becomes my life as it seems to be with quite a few people these days. As such I am currently with consumer cellular , No contract, rates pretty low I believe and can change (if needed) plans (voice,text,data ETC) as needed on the fly. If I can't get service when I'm traveling through an area ,,,,oh well it can wait, really not that important.

I don't like being called. I have done enough calling and receiving calls in my working life for year. I don't need people bothering me at all hours of the day. People can email me or call me when I am at home, preferably not at lunch or dinner time, or after 9 p.m.

I have a clamshell pay as you go at home....$100 a year and I use about $20 a year. In the US my wife has a $100 pay as you go phone....$100 a year, less than $9 a month using Driver Method of Averaging. No one can reach me when I am Snowbirding.

The Grinch is back!

snakeweasel

houdini1 said:

I appreciate all the input on cell phones and plans. We have been with T mobile for 6 years and all has been OK, but I am lusting for an iphone 6 and with T mobile you have to shell out $650. With most other carriers you can get one for about $200. with a 2 year contract.

Right now Sprint looks to have the best family plan for my wife and me, but I am a little leery of their coverage area and customer service, etc. Just doing due diligence.

IIRC T Mobile is the one that promotes no contracts and lower prices for service. What they don't come out and say is that you pay full price for the phone and they charge you 1/24th of the cost of the phone added onto your bill. If you cancel their service you have to pay the difference in what you owe on the phone (so there is a termination fee after all).

In short they just package their fees a little bit differently.

stever

Cell coverage is spotty here but there's a new tower going up nearby in the Spring. After much debate, I went with a land line and (slow) DSL, and kept the prepaid cell for traveling. I think it's a bit cheaper this way. (And if I wind up needing a pacemaker one of these years, I'll be able to dial in and have it call home. )

@jwm40517, it's the end of the line for the 2014s. I noticed more screamer ads in the local paper today than usual, and a few of the deals were for 2013s. Mostly Ford, Chevy and Hyundai though.

jayrider

jwm40517 said:

Local newspaper ads today offered a BMW 2014 328i sedan with MSRP of $ 43800 for $35000 which is 20.1% off sticker, another 2014 528i sedan with MSRP of $57975 for $46800 or 19% off sticker.

Not in the market for BMW, but seemed like pretty deep discounts.

I'll take them both -- how could you go wrong.

mako1a

I spotted a really good looking car today. Just exited the interstate and was turning left on 4th street and a white pearl sedan with low spoiler goes past. I say "nice car" to my wife. I turn left following still wondering what it is. No one between us now and 100 feet in front of me turning right just like I am is the target vehicle. So I speed up a bit to see the name. oln. Wait, a Lincoln? Wow, how did Lincoln MKZ get to be such a sharp looking car? I'm impressed. They hired somebody good to design that work of art.

ab348

driver100 said:

I don't like being called. I have done enough calling and receiving calls in my working life for year. I don't need people bothering me at all hours of the day. People can email me or call me when I am at home, preferably not at lunch or dinner time, or after 9 p.m.

Ha! You sound like me. I hate being called and probably 90%+ of the time I do not answer my landline phone when I see what comes up on the call display - these days it is all telemarketers, charities, etc. I am thinking of doing away with the landline altogether for that reason. It costs me next to nothing but I almost never use it.

I have an iPhone5 I inherited from work when I retired and like it very much. They had given me a Blackberry prior to that and I hated the damn thing. Like night and day.

oldfarmer50

Now this sounds cool:

http://wot.motortrend.com/1411_ford_shelby_gt350_mustang_comes_to_l_a_with_flat_plane_v_8.html?eml=1006864&sp_rid=5183142#__federated=1

abacomike

@oldfarmer50‌

Definitely a "hot" car.

More importantly, how are you feeling?  Better I hope!

Mr_Shiftright

Hmmm...I wonder how muscle car fans are going to like the exhaust note on a flat-plane V8. It's quite different than what they are used to.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

Now this sounds cool:

http://wot.motortrend.com/1411_ford_shelby_gt350_mustang_comes_to_l_a_with_flat_plane_v_8.html?eml=1006864&sp_rid=5183142#__federated=1

If you really want a Mustang might as well go all out:

stickguy

that color does not work for me at all.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

@oldfarmer50‌

Definitely a "hot" car.

More importantly, how are you feeling?  Better I hope!

Oh, I'm back as good as I ever was. Wife's eye is 100% too. She has better than 20/20 vision now. Getting the other eye done on Dec. 12th. After that I may be back to car shopping.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

that color does not work for me at all.

Agreed. Orange doesn't work on that car.

That was the color the Ford salesman said was on order but that he could change for me. That was about 3 weeks ago and I wonder if that ship has sailed.

That brings up a question about dealer allocations. Do dealers establish that they will take a certain number of units at the beginning of the year or can they order more or less as the need arises.

I 'm wondering how the dealer's ability to order to my specs will be effected if I wait say, until March.

houdini1

Can't you just change the color like you did on your Mitsu?

graphicguy

http://jeffwylerfairfield.com/Deepzoom.aspx?ID=22788433&type=dealer&photoid=1

Only a matter of time before someone made this atrocity.

ab348

Ouch. That might be the one instance where black wheels are preferable.

stickguy

that is awful.

oldfarmer50

houdini1 said:

Can't you just change the color like you did on your Mitsu?

Huh?

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

http://jeffwylerfairfield.com/Deepzoom.aspx?ID=22788433&type=dealer&photoid=1

Only a matter of time before someone made this atrocity.

I'd expect a bunch of clowns to come piling out of that thing. That has to be some kind of joke.

robr2

snakeweasel said:

IIRC T Mobile is the one that promotes no contracts and lower prices for service. What they don't come out and say is that you pay full price for the phone and they charge you 1/24th of the cost of the phone added onto your bill. If you cancel their service you have to pay the difference in what you owe on the phone (so there is a termination fee after all).

In short they just package their fees a little bit differently.

That's what AT&T is doing with their mobile share plans. The pricing is available only to those bringing their own phones, buy a phone at full price or do the AT&T next plan which is the installments.

I've been with Cellular One/Cingulat/AT&T since 1995. I can't upgrade my phone or those of my family and get the mobile share plan. AT&T is no longer subsidizing phones if you want the mobile share plan.

As for AT&T Next, you can trade your phone in after 12 or 18 months. So you pay about $20 a month and trade your phone in. They in turn resell that phone to a company like Gazelle and you get the latest and greatest.

abacomike

oldfarmer50 said:

that color does not work for me at all.

Agreed. Orange doesn't work on that car. That was the color the Ford salesman said was on order but that he could change for me. That was about 3 weeks ago and I wonder if that ship has sailed. That brings up a question about dealer allocations. Do dealers establish that they will take a certain number of units at the beginning of the year or can they order more or less as the need arises. I 'm wondering how the dealer's ability to order to my specs will be effected if I wait say, until March.

I think a darker, brighter orange would be "hot", but the orange in the picture is too light and more toward a light tangerine.

Dealers are are allocated a predetermined number of cars, by model, by the manufacturer.  The dealer can order any color and any interior but may not order more of a model than allocated.  Let's assume a dealer is allocated 35 Mustang GT's, 38 V-6's, and smaller numbers of convertibles in all categories.  That dealer may not change a V-6 for a GT.

At certain times, additional allocations are provided to dealers, based upon sales, but those allocations are manufactured/built cars usually sitting at the distribution center and not wholesaled to any dealers (sometimes odd lots of built cars with odd colors, interiors and/or options - or lack thereof).

When my dealership had to quickly get a car built for me, he went into the build site where he had an E400 in Black with Light Beige Leather scheduled with a few options.  He changed the color to Palladium Silver, Black Leather, and added the Lighting Pkg., Park Assist Pkg., Driver Assistance Pkg., and Multi Contour Driver's Seat (massage), and added rear spoiler, wheel locks and full Keyless Go with full hands free Pkg.

So yes, a dealer can reconfigure an ordered car up to about 4 weeks from the scheduled production production date.  Port added options and accessories can be added or deleted up to 1 week ahead of expected arrival date at the distribution center.

I hop that answers your question.

Glad to hear you and the wife are doing well.

robr2

henryn said:

How many people do you know who are using the old twisted pair copper lines for telephone service? I'm using the copper pair at my house for uVerse internet, strictly as a backup to my high speed Comcast internet. But I don't know many people who have anything hooked up to the copper twisted pair.

I'm going to say that many people still think they have a traditional landline because they still have a home phone. But if they switched over their cable company for phone service, they don't know it's not twisted pair.

Twisted pair is still reliable but there is very little that can be done over it. Hence fiber has replaced it. Copper is always on even in power failures and so many redundancies are built into it. My first job out of college was for a manufacturer of pressure and flow transducers for the telecom industry. Back then it was the Baby Bells, GTE, SNET, AT&T, et al. I was amazed at what had to be done to ensure your phone worked. In most towns, there is at least one small building with the name of the phone company and only a couple of cars in the parking lot. That building was the central office and in it were giant air driers and compressors sending clean, dehumdified air down the cables to keep moisture out and the copper clean. The transducers were placed every so many feet along the cable to measure the pressure and flow of the air. When either dropped, an alarm went off in the panel and they could determine within a couple of hundred feet where there was a breach in the cable. It was nothing more than two low voltage copper wires connected between the transducer and the alarm light.

Even in the late 80's, this company was shipping product overseas to less developed countries because installing a copper system was cheaper than the new fiber systems.

driver100

graphicguy said:

http://jeffwylerfairfield.com/Deepzoom.aspx?ID=22788433&type=dealer&photoid=1

Only a matter of time before someone made this atrocity.

There ought to be a law!

I kept it small because no one would want to see it larger....

driver100

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Now this sounds cool:

http://wot.motortrend.com/1411_ford_shelby_gt350_mustang_comes_to_l_a_with_flat_plane_v_8.html?eml=1006864&sp_rid=5183142#__federated=1

If you really want a Mustang might as well go all out:

Replying to myself, but, now that I look at it it looks like a giant Salmon (on my old laptop).

houdini1

oldfarmer50 said:

houdini1 said:

Can't you just change the color like you did on your Mitsu?

Huh?

I was thinking you Mitsu was a gray or silver color and you had photo shopped it to make it that orange red color !!

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

that color does not work for me at all.

Agreed. Orange doesn't work on that car.

That was the color the Ford salesman said was on order but that he could change for me. That was about 3 weeks ago and I wonder if that ship has sailed.

That brings up a question about dealer allocations. Do dealers establish that they will take a certain number of units at the beginning of the year or can they order more or less as the need arises.

I 'm wondering how the dealer's ability to order to my specs will be effected if I wait say, until March.

Glad you are back to normal again, and that your wife is doing fine now too.

Just to add to what Mike said. When I ordered my 2008 bmw hardtop convertible in August 2007 I was told they were alloted 3 per month per dealer and Septembers allotments were gone, so I'd be ordering for October build, arriving in November. I was told 328s were selling out and if I waited I could only get it with a 335 engine.

So, I would add, if a car is in demand, and they can't make them fast enough, yes, dealers are restricted as to how many they can order. It's also a good excuse for the dealer to get full MSRP too....hard to argue if they are selling out of all they get..

explorerx4

In the flesh, the orange on the Mustang is darker than it looks in the picture,

oldfarmer50

houdini1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

houdini1 said:

Can't you just change the color like you did on your Mitsu?

Huh?

I was thinking you Mitsu was a gray or silver color and you had photo shopped it to make it that orange red color !!

Oh, I see. Nope, no photoshop, I wouldn't know how. I just learned recently how to post photos. For me that's like graduating from college.


Mike: thanks for explaining how that works.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

Agreed. Orange doesn't work on that car.

That was the color the Ford salesman said was on order but that he could change for me. That was about 3 weeks ago and I wonder if that ship has sailed.

I don't like the orange either. Ford has a very bright red (Race red) and a darker red metallic IIRC that may suit you better. I like Mustangs in silver for some reason.

The orange that Mopar used in the late '60s on muscle cars was an industrial truck color originally called Omaha Orange. Nothing wrong with that, not sure why car companies think they need to mess with it.

imidazol97

driver100 said:

stickguy

I actually like Orange cars. But that Mustang looks Salmon to me also.

roadburner

jayrider said:

jwm40517 said:

Local newspaper ads today offered a BMW 2014 328i sedan with MSRP of $ 43800 for $35000 which is 20.1% off sticker, another 2014 528i sedan with MSRP of $57975 for $46800 or 19% off sticker.

Not in the market for BMW, but seemed like pretty deep discounts.

I'll take them both -- how could you go wrong.

I've driven both- snoozemobiles at best...

roadburner

Back in 1969 Dad was all set to buy a brand new Competition Orange Mercury Cyclone- to replace the one owner 1965 Mustang V8 notchback that my mother had just totaled(that is another classic story). My mother said "It looks like a taxi cab." and killed the deal. One of the several billion reasons my relationship with my mother was "strained"- to put it mildly.


Perhaps that is another reason why I like that SRT8 so much...

driver100

roadburner said:

Back in 1969 Dad was all set to buy a brand new Competition Orange Mercury Cyclone- to replace the one owner 1965 Mustang V8 notchback that my mother had just totaled(that is another classic story). My mother said "It looks like a taxi cab." and killed the deal. One of the several billion reasons my relationship with my mother was "strained"- to put it mildly.


Perhaps that is another reason why I like that SRT8 so much...

Freud would have a good time with that one.

IN my opinion, your mother was right - the orange looks like an emergency vehicle on the Cyclone, but I kind of like it on the SRT8

cdnpinhead

Volkswagen and others have produced orange colours that I dearly love, but that was back when car paint was car paint (Ditzler, anyone?) and latex was put only on cheap houses. That was then. . .
I enjoy orange that is very nearly red, but not quite. The few times a car manufacturer actually produced such a thing, the 6 cars that were delivered in North America painted this way weren't configured the way I wanted. Fortunately the 240-Z I bought in Edmonton in 1973 and backed out of the showroom was an orange I liked. I liked it better after it was repainted in '83 (a Volkswagen colour).

Oh well. . .

explorerx4

@roadburner, The cars in the pictures you posted are pretty close to the real color of the orange Mustang posted previously.

abacomike

cdnpinhead said:

Volkswagen and others have produced orange colours that I dearly love, but that was back when car paint was car paint (Ditzler, anyone?) and latex was put only on cheap houses. That was then. . . I enjoy orange that is very nearly red, but not quite. The few times a car manufacturer actually produces such a thing, the 6 cars that are delivered in North America painted this way are rarely configured the way I want. Oh well. . .

I feel the same way about red on a car.  There are only a few cars I've seen in red that I would go for - the Chevy Corvette red and the Mercedes C Class red.  Most other reds are too dark, too light, or too much toward the maroon shades.  The Cadillac red is very sharp as well.

But on an E Class or CLS Class car, I don't think there is a red out there I would want. Some cars beg to be red like the Cadillac ATS and CTS, a Stingray Corvette, a Mustang GT Convertible.  But a BMW in red gives me the same negative vibes I get with a red E or CLS or S.

In conclusion, some cars are born to be bright red while most are not.

stickguy

Burner, I like that hot rod. Just buy the damned thing and enjoy it during the nice weather. Keep the Mazda for the winter rat.