Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

jipster

Thanks for the comments and advice everyone. I read them all.

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

Thanks for the comments and advice everyone. I read them all.

Just remember, free advice is worth every penny you pay.

oldfarmer50

$1000 to use a flip phone for a week? That would be a step up for me.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/this-company-is-offering-1000-to-someone-willing-to-give-up-their-smartphone-and-use-a-flip-phone

oldfarmer50

Interesting....

The first two entries on my local CL car listings this morning were for a Ford Taurus and a Honda Civic. Same year, similar mileage but the Honda was asking $1000 more.

Is the perception of Hondas being superior to domestics so great that the market values these two cars the same?

https://albany.craigslist.org/ctd/d/feeding-hills-ford-taurus-limited-navi/6909400484.html

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/cicero-2018-honda-civic-si/6909395510.html

sda

The most recent Taurus was not well received and has been discontinued. They are good cars and I would buy it over the Honda if I had select between the two. The two cars would probably appeal to different buyers. If the Si was a 4dr the choice would be more difficult.

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

$1000 to use a flip phone for a week? That would be a step up for me. https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/this-company-is-offering-1000-to-someone-willing-to-give-up-their-smartphone-and-use-a-flip-phone

So how does the person “vlog” their experience without a smartphone?

tjc78

The most recent Taurus was not well received and has been discontinued.

I like the way it drove and rode. The problem with that generation was (IMO) it's a big car, but the interior is feels very cramped. The center console is beyond massive and the driver's foot well is tiny. My size 12's took up way too much room to be comfortable.

graphicguy

@jipster ....I think your daughter dodged a 50 cal bullet. Good for her on having a contract on what has to be a better house than the one discussed earlier.

Newport is an up and coming area...actually, it’s got the “cool” cachet going on right now. Plus, it’s the home to my favorite bar......

https://www.newberrybroscoffee.com/home

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

$1000 to use a flip phone for a week? That would be a step up for me. https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/this-company-is-offering-1000-to-someone-willing-to-give-up-their-smartphone-and-use-a-flip-phone

I would do it. I'll just use my tablet, it has a data plan. 

jipster

graphicguy said:

@jipster ....I think your daughter dodged a 50 cal bullet. Good for her on having a contract on what has to be a better house than the one discussed earlier.

Newport is an up and coming area...actually, it’s got the “cool” cachet going on right now. Plus, it’s the home to my favorite bar......

https://www.newberrybroscoffee.com/home

Yeah, I told.my daughter that my boys from Edmunds said to "run away", ;-) She said she loved the house but there was "too much that had to be done". Glad she.passed on it.

We know how photos can be deceiving, Most everything looks pretty good on this new house, so hoping the home inspection shows good bones. If not, it's an easy out of the contract, minus the home inspection money.

And yeah, there was a neat energetic vibe in Newport. A lot of complete home renovations going on. That area a.flippers dream. I'll pass along to my daughter your favorite watering hole.. Maybe if I ever run into you there, we can split a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle. ;-)

fintail

To be fair, the Civic is a pretty new design with a lot of consumer demand and brand/model equity, and the Taurus design is nearly a decade old now and I suspect sells mostly to fleets and octogenarians. Could the Taurus also be an ex-rental? I am not surprised by those prices. I suspect it is the same for other large non-prestige cars - I bet Impala or even 300 fare the same.

oldfarmer50 said:

Interesting....

The first two entries on my local CL car listings this morning were for a Ford Taurus and a Honda Civic. Same year, similar mileage but the Honda was asking $1000 more.

Is the perception of Hondas being superior to domestics so great that the market values these two cars the same?

https://albany.craigslist.org/ctd/d/feeding-hills-ford-taurus-limited-navi/6909400484.html

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/cicero-2018-honda-civic-si/6909395510.html

fintail

I like that last line, reminds me of something Red Green would say.

Around here, houses that are perfectly fine are often teardowns, as they are deemed out of style and not able to be updated.

houdini2 said:

That would be a big expense for nothing as the engineer would recommend that you immediately tear the house down. This is not a fixer upper, it is a tearer downer.

stickguy

Nice deal on the Taurus. Just missing BLIS. Important on that since visibility stinks.

Si is overpriced. Can get a new leftover 2019 for at or close to that price.

sda

Newport is an up and coming area...actually, it’s got the “cool” cachet going on right now. Plus, it’s the home to my favorite bar......

https://www.newberrybroscoffee.com/home

That looks like my kind of place. For my birthday last month, big 60, my wife gave me a bottle of Woodford Reserve. It is smooth with good flavor.

snakeweasel

fintail said:

I like that last line, reminds me of something Red Green would say. Around here, houses that are perfectly fine are often teardowns, as they are deemed out of style and not able to be updated.

That would be a big expense for nothing as the engineer would recommend that you immediately tear the house down. This is not a fixer upper, it is a tearer downer.

Red Green would have fixed it with duct tape.

As for tearing down perfectly good homes and rebuilding there is this one neighborhood by me. It's just big house after big house all built up to the legal limit of the property line. Just one big house after another with very little ground in between. Except for one tiny bungalow on a big lot with plenty of land around it somewhere in the middle of all that.

Best guess is this was a post war subdivision and that one home is the last holdout. I would guess when its sold it will be torn down and two mcmansions will take its place.

fintail

If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

That's exactly how development is going on in my neck of the woods. Postwar bungalows on decent lots being replaced by high cost marginal quality mini-mansions, often on subdivided lots or even infill development. You too can have a 4000 sq ft house on a 4000 sq ft lot all for a cool low seven figures.

snakeweasel said:

Red Green would have fixed it with duct tape.

As for tearing down perfectly good homes and rebuilding there is this one neighborhood by me. It's just big house after big house all built up to the legal limit of the property line. Just one big house after another with very little ground in between. Except for one tiny bungalow on a big lot with plenty of land around it somewhere in the middle of all that.

Best guess is this was a post war subdivision and that one home is the last holdout. I would guess when its sold it will be torn down and two mcmansions will take its place.

imidazol97

I use a GPS in my car. It's a Tomtom. It came with lifetime maps.

I keep getting emails from Tomtom to replace it for a couple hundred at a reduced price (!!!) for another
Tomtom. A few months back they said they weren't supporting that model anymore. But it keeps updating
the lifetime maps, so far.

I notice they've changed their definition of "lifetime" for new purchases per the small print at the bottom of the screen:
"* Lifetime means the useful life of the device, i.e. the period of time TomTom supports your device with updates, services, content, or accessories. A device will have reached the end of its life when none of these are available any more."

So when they decide to not support the lifetime maps contract for the new device, the lifetime of the product is over and the customer is [nonpermissible content deleted] out of luck.

However the device is still working. Isn't that indicative that's it's still in its "lifetime."

Are any brands GPS produced in the US? Tomtom is a non-US company.
Do newer GPS units track users so that information can be shared with companies that purchase it?

I'm looking for a replacement. LOL

PS. The memory size on many of the older GPS's are too small for the full US-Canada map. So Tomtom downloads an "eastern US/Canada map."

https://www.tomtom.com/en_us/promo/summer2019/?utm_source=oneoff&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=co_dr_summer_email2_201906

kyfdx

imidazol97 said:

I use a GPS in my car. It's a Tomtom. It came with lifetime maps.

I keep getting emails from Tomtom to replace it for a couple hundred at a reduced price (!!!) for another
Tomtom. A few months back they said they weren't supporting that model anymore. But it keeps updating
the lifetime maps, so far.

I notice they've changed their definition of "lifetime" for new purchases per the small print at the bottom of the screen:
"* Lifetime means the useful life of the device, i.e. the period of time TomTom supports your device with updates, services, content, or accessories. A device will have reached the end of its life when none of these are available any more."

So when they decide to not support the lifetime maps contract for the new device, the lifetime of the product is over and the customer is [nonpermissible content deleted] out of luck.

However the device is still working. Isn't that indicative that's it's still in its "lifetime."

Are any brands GPS produced in the US? Tomtom is a non-US company.
I'm looking for a replacement. LOL

PS. The memory size on many of the older GPS's are too small for the full US-Canada map. So Tomtom downloads an "eastern US/Canada map."

I'd guess it will still work, even after it quits updating. But, eventually, it will become less and less useful, as the maps get out of date.

With the advent of smartphones and Google maps, the stand-alone GPS is going the way of the dodo bird.

stickguy

Correct. Just like in car Navi. Keeps working, just frozen in time!

Just use smart phone and always get the latest maps, plus real time traffic routing.

I have probably 3 or 4 GPS units (one Tom Tom where I got those same emails, the rest garmins), sitting on a shelf somewhere and haven’t used in years. Might still be one in the RDX since that doesn’t have Navi or CarPlay, but I still don’t use it. Though would be easier if I had a phone mount.

oldfarmer50

Hey, how come no emotorcons and no picture posting?

.......and just like that they’re back! :@

stickguy

:@

stickguy

Must be you.

kyfdx

kyfdx

:@

Google Chrome browser on Windows 10 desktop

oldfarmer50

ronsteve said:

driver100 said:

Since everyone has been showing off their trunks lately I decided to post mine. Mrs D went to Costco earlier while I played tennis, so these are only bags from the grocery store. Usually there are about 6 plastic bags and 3 or 4 bags of Costco stuff. They just float around back there, can't say I have ever had anything roll around or break. My car is kept fairly neat and clean, but, I don't care if things are a little out of place.


A few extra tennis caps too....and I think an extra racquet lying in there too.

No pics, but one feature I miss from my old Volvo wagon is the plastic tray that was accessed by just flipping up a panel from the cargo floor. Made it really to put grocery bags in a spot where they wouldn't move around, and was also a good spot for anything I didn't want to get the carpet wet. Honda didn't think of this until the current generation Passport and RDX.

If you miss it that much you can get that in a Kia Soul. Of course you have to put up with being seen in a Kia Soul.

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

Well, did you get a good deal?

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Must be you.

Took a few minutes but everything came back. I’ve seen other people complaining about that and I’ve had it occur occasionally to me.

cdnpinhead

imidazol97 said:

I use a GPS in my car. It's a Tomtom. . . . Are any brands GPS produced in the US? Tomtom is a non-US company. Do newer GPS units track users so that information can be shared with companies that purchase it?

I've been using Garmin GPSs for decades, and they've given me excellent service. They're made in the U.S. and, in addition to several automotive GPSs, they provide very sophisticated versions for aviation use in many aircraft, short of the large commercial jets. They also do a bunch of products meant for hikers, bicyclists, etc. No, I don't own stock in the company, nor do I work for them.

While it's true that smart phones and Google have taken over casual automotive navigation, my GPS allows me to set a trip up on a laptop or home computer screen in a much easier fashion than my wife has to deal with in her phone. Then I can examine the route in detail, quickly, and make any necessary adjustments, based on what I already know about where I'm going. Sometimes the suggested routings defy logic. Anyway, I've set up the next month of travel up to Alaska and back on a day-by-day basis, and I download a few days at a time into the windshield unit. But to me, it's even more valuable to upload my actual track for the day or week or whatever and keep it for future reference, filed by date. I can go back years later to see where I ate, stayed overnight, or how long it took to get between places. That's proven quite useful for this year's AK adventure -- I made liberal use of my tracks from my 2007 journey up there and back.

I have lifetime map updates on the two units I use the most (I travel with a backup), and Garmin's system allows me to download the maps both to my laptop and the device, which allows for pretty snappy response as I manipulate routes.

FWIW

stickguy

I just want to find the Waffle House without getting lost.

imidazol97

I want a GPS to be sure it works in the underpopulated areas around places like the Smokey Mt where we may go over the mountain to get to friend's house to visit or go east around the park area away from the interstate. The phones don't have cell tower reception in some of those areas.

And the posts that the current map that's not updated anymore because TomTom broke their contract, will still give guidance on the roads that it has in its memory. For no more than I will use a GPS, I guess I shouldn't worry.

Two times trying to use my cell phone Android to get guidance ended up with me turned around going the wrong direction. I don't know if it's me or the Android Maps and how they are displayed on the phone, but I didn't think the Smart Phone was very smart (or maybe it's me that wasn't Smart enough).

stickguy

Make sure phone maps is set to show your direction as always up. Default is show north, and it gets confusing when your virtual car is heading down on the screen!

oldfarmer50

cdnpinhead said:

imidazol97 said:

I use a GPS in my car. It's a Tomtom. . . . Are any brands GPS produced in the US? Tomtom is a non-US company. Do newer GPS units track users so that information can be shared with companies that purchase it?

I've been using Garmin GPSs for decades, and they've given me excellent service. They're made in the U.S. and, in addition to several automotive GPSs, they provide very sophisticated versions for aviation use in many aircraft, short of the large commercial jets. They also do a bunch of products meant for hikers, bicyclists, etc. No, I don't own stock in the company, nor do I work for them.

While it's true that smart phones and Google have taken over casual automotive navigation, my GPS allows me to set a trip up on a laptop or home computer screen in a much easier fashion than my wife has to deal with in her phone. Then I can examine the route in detail, quickly, and make any necessary adjustments, based on what I already know about where I'm going. Sometimes the suggested routings defy logic. Anyway, I've set up the next month of travel up to Alaska and back on a day-by-day basis, and I download a few days at a time into the windshield unit. But to me, it's even more valuable to upload my actual track for the day or week or whatever and keep it for future reference, filed by date. I can go back years later to see where I ate, stayed overnight, or how long it took to get between places. That's proven quite useful for this year's AK adventure -- I made liberal use of my tracks from my 2007 journey up there and back.

I have lifetime map updates on the two units I use the most (I travel with a backup), and Garmin's system allows me to download the maps both to my laptop and the device, which allows for pretty snappy response as I manipulate routes.

FWIW

I’ve got a Garmin which I use for work. Generally it will get me to my destination but not always. My first day at work it couldn’t find an Enterprise office and instead told me I had arrived when I was a half mile away at a car wash. Another time it took me to a farm house on the wrong side of town 10 miles from the actual location.

I probably should update it as the current maps are about three years old.

PF_Flyer

Been using TomTom for a while. Lifetime updates, so no extra expenses. He DOES like to try and hit shortest routes in some local places that one look at a map tells you won't be all that FAST

Mostly what I use GPS for is to play the "I can beat the GPS arrival time for sure game" and knowing that I have 2 miles to get past that truck before I exit...heh. Generally I know where I'm going and how I'm going to get there before I start driving. Local stuff at the end of a trip in someplace I've never been before is about the extent of "guidance" that it gives me

My previous TomTom had a compass on it, my current one doesn't. Kind of miss that. Just another thing to help me pass the time on a trip!

Michaell

In car NAV systems ....

The Outback is 4 years old.

The house we live in is 3 years old.

The NAV system does not show our street on it.

I've looked into getting an update, but for as much as we drive the car (and use the NAV), it doesn't seem worth it.

kyfdx

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

Well, did you get a good deal?

LOL.. that one has been gone for a couple of years

ruking1

Gas prices going down? https://apple.news/A6PiYKVUJQeCbnhS1wb3OHw

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

I just want to find the Waffle House without getting lost.

Getting lost on the way to a Waffle House might be a good thing.

PF_Flyer

Michaell said:

In car NAV systems ....

The Outback is 4 years old.

The house we live in is 3 years old.

The NAV system does not show our street on it.

I've looked into getting an update, but for as much as we drive the car (and use the NAV), it doesn't seem worth it.

There was a stretch of new road on US 22 heading to Pittsburgh that wasn't on the GPS maps for a while, and it would show the car was off to the side of the road, while telling us, "Make a right turn as soon as possible"

He's got a sense of humor that TomTom

snakeweasel

Michaell said:

In car NAV systems .... The Outback is 4 years old. The house we live in is 3 years old. The NAV system does not show our street on it. I've looked into getting an update, but for as much as we drive the car (and use the NAV), it doesn't seem worth it.

We have an old TomTom that we sometimes use and the map they use has a copyright trap in it, a residential road that I often use is shown on the map as not going through. The darn thing keeps trying to route me around it which is great when I have the John Cleese voice running.

houdini2

oldfarmer50 said:

Interesting....

The first two entries on my local CL car listings this morning were for a Ford Taurus and a Honda Civic. Same year, similar mileage but the Honda was asking $1000 more.

Is the perception of Hondas being superior to domestics so great that the market values these two cars the same?

https://albany.craigslist.org/ctd/d/feeding-hills-ford-taurus-limited-navi/6909400484.html

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/cicero-2018-honda-civic-si/6909395510.html

Short answer, yes.

houdini2

snakeweasel said:

fintail said:

I like that last line, reminds me of something Red Green would say.

Around here, houses that are perfectly fine are often teardowns, as they are deemed out of style and not able to be updated.

houdini2 said:

That would be a big expense for nothing as the engineer would recommend that you immediately tear the house down. This is not a fixer upper, it is a tearer downer.

Red Green would have fixed it with duct tape.

As for tearing down perfectly good homes and rebuilding there is this one neighborhood by me. It's just big house after big house all built up to the legal limit of the property line. Just one big house after another with very little ground in between. Except for one tiny bungalow on a big lot with plenty of land around it somewhere in the middle of all that.

Best guess is this was a post war subdivision and that one home is the last holdout. I would guess when its sold it will be torn down and two mcmansions will take its place.

My wife forces me to watch HG TV with her, and sometimes I think a house that they spend $100,000. on looked better in the before pics.

PF_Flyer

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

In car NAV systems ....

The Outback is 4 years old.

The house we live in is 3 years old.

The NAV system does not show our street on it.

I've looked into getting an update, but for as much as we drive the car (and use the NAV), it doesn't seem worth it.

We have an old TomTom that we sometimes use and the map they use has a copyright trap in it, a residential road that I often use is shown on the map as not going through. The darn thing keeps trying to route me around it which is great when I have the John Cleese voice running.

We had an odd map glitch for the longest time at one location. You get within 2 miles of the exit, and Tom would say, "Exit left ahead"... and draw an image that showed something like this:





At one time that highway DID end there, before construction was complete, and you either turned left or right. Just took Tom a while to realize there was now a cloverleaf exit in existence!

oldfarmer50

ruking1 said:

Gas prices going down? https://apple.news/A6PiYKVUJQeCbnhS1wb3OHw

Just read that on gasbuddy right after I returned from a fill up of course. I noticed that one town north of me has prices about 7 cents cheaper than the next cheapest town. I wonder if the lower cost gas is delivered there first.

ruking1

oldfarmer50 said:

ruking1 said:

Gas prices going down? https://apple.news/A6PiYKVUJQeCbnhS1wb3OHw

Just read that on gasbuddy right after I returned from a fill up of course. I noticed that one town north of me has prices about 7 cents cheaper than the next cheapest town. I wonder if the lower cost gas is delivered there first.

My guess is yes. In addition it might also be a fast/frequent turn over station.

So if prices are going up, the place where you took fuel would be better on price.

stickguy

sometimes maps never catch up. I learned a few years ago (after a few people trying to navigate to my house ended up at the same place about a mile away) that there is 123 street, and S. 123 street in town. And according to them I live on S. 123, even though every sign, my mail, tax bills, etc. all say 123. I finally checked google and if you just type in 123 it offers up both of them. I think years ago there might have been one in the other place, but it is part of the town public works complex and not a real road.

I think we tried to report it once. But it never changes. At least now I know when someone calls sounding confused exactly where they are and why! and warn people to use the S. 123 option if presented.

PF_Flyer

stickguy said:

sometimes maps never catch up. I learned a few years ago (after a few people trying to navigate to my house ended up at the same place about a mile away) that there is 123 street, and S. 123 street in town. And according to them I live on S. 123, even though every sign, my mail, tax bills, etc. all say 123. I finally checked google and if you just type in 123 it offers up both of them. I think years ago there might have been one in the other place, but it is part of the town public works complex and not a real road.

I think we tried to report it once. But it never changes. At least now I know when someone calls sounding confused exactly where they are and why! and warn people to use the S. 123 option if presented.

Generally, these directions work to get to my house from in town... turn right onto Whitehall Rd... drive until you see pigs and make the next left

tjc78

Ha! My street is off a main road and has been there since the 50s.  Anyone can find my house! 

qbrozen

friend of mine just came by. He sold his Huracan and bought himself a GT3RS. Absolutely, without a doubt, a fun car, but definitely not something I'd personally own. Way too much effort to get in and out, and far from what I'd call comfortable once in it. And, man, does that draw attention! The massive wing and loud exhaust is bad enough, but he went and added Martini racing livery to it. I'm glad to have at least gotten to test drive one, though.

oldfarmer50

PF_Flyer said:

stickguy said:

sometimes maps never catch up. I learned a few years ago (after a few people trying to navigate to my house ended up at the same place about a mile away) that there is 123 street, and S. 123 street in town. And according to them I live on S. 123, even though every sign, my mail, tax bills, etc. all say 123. I finally checked google and if you just type in 123 it offers up both of them. I think years ago there might have been one in the other place, but it is part of the town public works complex and not a real road.

I think we tried to report it once. But it never changes. At least now I know when someone calls sounding confused exactly where they are and why! and warn people to use the S. 123 option if presented.

Generally, these directions work to get to my house from in town... turn right onto Whitehall Rd... drive until you see pigs and make the next left

In the old days of school bus driving the route directions were hand written by the regular driver. When you substituted for them it would be a challenge to decipher their handwriting. Then there were landmarks based on the driver’s personal opinions or social connections. You ended up with directions like:

“Go to the end of the road and turn at the big rock”

Or...

“Turn around in Mona’s driveway”

And my favorite...

“Go about a mile and you’ll see some kids standing by the road. Those aren’t yours. You pick up the kids two driveways down.”

driver100

Michaell said:

In car NAV systems ....

The Outback is 4 years old.

The house we live in is 3 years old.

The NAV system does not show our street on it.

I've looked into getting an update, but for as much as we drive the car (and use the NAV), it doesn't seem worth it.

.........as long as you can find your way home.