Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

driver100

I have told my rodent story once before, but, it seems fitting to repeat it.

SIL buys my 2004 X3. (not from me btw, I traded it in, dealer sold to him)
3 years later he asks me if I had big puddles on the floor after it rains...on the passenger side.
I say NEVER. I say take it to the dealer, I don't know anything about it.
Takes it to the dealer.
They find chipmunks were eating the insulation in the front pillar and firewall, water just all seeped inside. :@

I am just glad I didn't sell the car directly to them....dealer was good, had a family plan, they pay the trade-in price. At least the SIL took the extended warranty.

Mr_Shiftright

The gover

abacomike said:

suydam said:

We have lots of woodpeckers. We put up suet cakes and feeders for them. They eat a lot of insects that we don't want. But we are country folks!

Country folks "is" good.  I was brought up in the city so when I moved to the "country", lots of "city" came with me.  My wife and I were like "Green Acres" - I would work on a project in my good slacks and dress shirts or use the snowblower wearing my good leather shoes.  Luckily, after several years, I learned to wear jeans and work boots when blowing snow.  The woodpecker caper was an awkward situation since I never had to deal with nature in my own backyard.

Now, I could never live in a city - too confining.

=====================================================

You should have bought an owl---those guys are the streetsweepers of the bird and rodent world. Superb hunters! Their feathes are aligned in such a way as to make them completely silent in flight.

Regarding rats, despite my impressive kill rate, I fear I am only knocking off the weak and stupid ones. Might have to escalate to poison.

My trick with traps is to build a little cardboard tunnel for them to sneak into. They LOVE that, and it keeps birdies and other critters off the traps.

abacomike

When we moved into our first home, it was your typical tract house - 4 bedroom, 2-1/2 baths, no basement.  The first night we spent in the house, I was sitting in the family room and saw a mouse skidding across the floor on his/her belly.  I was so shocked (and at first terrified) that I had field mice in my house.  But, after thinking about it, the builder had uprooted their homes in the farm fields where my new house now stood.

I set mouse traps throughout the house with peanut butter as the bait!   I would catch an average of 4-6 mice every week for several months.

But there was one time when I was sitting in the den when I opened my left top desk drawer and saw all this fuzzy stuff.  Low and behold, I had found the mouse's nest - IN MY DESK!  Good grief!  It took me quite awhile to develop "country" in this body and rid myself of "city!" 

stever

Short deadline on this one - if you know someone buying, please send them our way.

A reporter is looking to talk with someone who is currently in the market for a new pickup truck. If you're willing talk about which truck(s) you are considering please reach out to pr@edmunds.com by no later than June 8, 2016.

driver100

abacomike said:

When we moved into our first home, it was your typical tract house - 4 bedroom, 2-1/2 baths, no basement.  The first night we spent in the house, I was sitting in the family room and saw a mouse skidding across the floor on his/her belly.  I was so shocked (and at first terrified) that I had field mice in my house.  But, after thinking about it, the builder had uprooted their homes in the farm fields where my new house now stood.

I set mouse traps throughout the house with peanut butter as the bait!   I would catch an average of 4-6 mice every week for several months.

But there was one time when I was sitting in the den when I opened my left top desk drawer and saw all this fuzzy stuff.  Low and behold, I had found the mouse's nest - IN MY DESK!  Good grief!  It took me quite awhile to develop "country" in this body and rid myself of "city!" 

As bad as all that is....it is better than coming into contact with a naked guy.

Count your blessings!

jmonroe

imidazol97 said:

PF_Flyer said:

The semi-passive approach with the chipmunks isn't yielding desired results. I'm going to have to ramp things up a notch. Maybe enlist Carl Spackler

I've put a chipmunk havahart trap in their pathways after I've identified their runs. I used to get acorns from a tree where I parked by a medical office. Crackers and peanut butter don't work as well. We have a chipmunk that got into the garage and chewed a birdseed bag. I put down a sticky mouse trap next to the bag of seek and it (the trap) disappeared. I assume there's a chipmunk running around with a leg stuck on a trap.

Just got back in here after giving the Genny a good Spring wax job. Nice looking Altima Genny.

I thought when you used those sticky thingies you were supposed to weld them to a heavy metal plate so they couldn't be dragged off. Next time, read the instructions.

jmonroe

abacomike

@jmonroe:

Got a chuckle out of your Altima/Gennie comment.  I'd love to put a coat of sealer or wax on my car, but it's been raining for a week with a forecast of rain every day through next week.  Besides, I don't have the strength to do it myself - I'll have it detailed when the weather settles down.

Mr_Shiftright

Trapped 3 rats today....who you gonna call?

jmonroe

abacomike said:

@jmonroe:

Got a chuckle out of your Altima/Gennie comment.  I'd love to put a coat of sealer or wax on my car, but it's been raining for a week with a forecast of rain every day through next week.  Besides, I don't have the strength to do it myself - I'll have it detailed when the weather settles down.

Mike,

I've seen on the national news about the rainy weather you have been getting in South FL.

Today in the Burgh it was mostly sunny but the temp was only in the mid 60's with low humidity so I jumped on the chance to do the wax job. Usually I get to do it when it's pretty hot and humid even though I always do it in the garage.

I almost felt like I was cheating the car-waxing gods but I'm not going to apologize for it.

jmonroe

imidazol97

jmonroe said:

Today in the Burgh it was mostly sunny but the temp was only in the mid 60's with low humidity so I jumped on the chance to do the wax job. Usually I get to do it when it's pretty hot and humid even though I always do it in the garage.

I almost felt like I was cheating the car-waxing gods but I'm not going to apologize for it.
jmonroe

Same beautiful weather here in western Ohio. I had my son's '15 Cruze to take in for free oil change and tire rotation. They found a nail in the rear tire. Hadn't dropped the pressure to show on the TPMS yet. Lucky.

I waxed the car with Mother's Carnauba liquid but didn't go through the prep steps Mother's likes. I assume the dealer did that when they did the CPO prep back in January when I bought the Cruze. It's a great driving car. Quiet. Very nice interior. I have to discuss with son if he wants to keep this or get a different car with his raises. If he wants to buy a different car, I'll get the Cruze back and put a For Sale sign on the 08 Cobalt. 70K miles. A fellow in the customer suite at the Chevy dealer had his Cobalt in with 200 K on it, also an '08.

sda

Yesterday afternoon I was reading about another cracked windshield on the Edmunds fleet, this time the '16 Civic. It seems like every car they own gets a cracked windshield or has some type of accident. I've been lucky and have only replaced two windshields in 25 years, the most recent on the Accord last September, until today..

Wife calls me at 5:10 to tell me what our dinner plans will be for the evening and we finish the conversation. Less than five minutes later she calls back, not unusual for her, she likes to chat. She is all upset. A truck had thrown a rock and hit the Pilot's windshield dead center, and crack! Looks like I will be making a call to USAA!

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

I have told my rodent story once before, but, it seems fitting to repeat it.

SIL buys my 2004 X3. (not from me btw, I traded it in, dealer sold to him)
3 years later he asks me if I had big puddles on the floor after it rains...on the passenger side.
I say NEVER. I say take it to the dealer, I don't know anything about it.
Takes it to the dealer.
They find chipmunks were eating the insulation in the front pillar and firewall, water just all seeped inside. :@

I am just glad I didn't sell the car directly to them....dealer was good, had a family plan, they pay the trade-in price. At least the SIL took the extended warranty.

My mother retired and moved into a trailer park for retirees, nice place next to a forest preserve with fully wooded lots. Well she put up bird feeders which also attracted squirrels so she decided to put out feed corn for the squirrels (on a contraption that would spin around when the squirrel climbed it and placed where she could watch it).

Well with really no room to store the ears of corn in the trailer home and not wanting to put in in the shed she had because critters would get to it she stored it in the trunk of her car. Well after a while she started finding kernels of corn hidden all over her car, under the floor mats, under the seats, in between the seat cushions and even in the engine compartment. Some little critter got into her car and was getting the corn and stashing it away for future use.

snakeweasel

Mr_Shiftright said:

The gover

abacomike said:

suydam said:

We have lots of woodpeckers. We put up suet cakes and feeders for them. They eat a lot of insects that we don't want. But we are country folks!

Country folks "is" good.  I was brought up in the city so when I moved to the "country", lots of "city" came with me.  My wife and I were like "Green Acres" - I would work on a project in my good slacks and dress shirts or use the snowblower wearing my good leather shoes.  Luckily, after several years, I learned to wear jeans and work boots when blowing snow.  The woodpecker caper was an awkward situation since I never had to deal with nature in my own backyard.

Now, I could never live in a city - too confining.

=====================================================

You should have bought an owl---those guys are the streetsweepers of the bird and rodent world. Superb hunters! Their feathes are aligned in such a way as to make them completely silent in flight.

Regarding rats, despite my impressive kill rate, I fear I am only knocking off the weak and stupid ones. Might have to escalate to poison.

My trick with traps is to build a little cardboard tunnel for them to sneak into. They LOVE that, and it keeps birdies and other critters off the traps.

We have owls around my house, we also have skunks. Owls have no sense 9or a very limited sense) of smell. You do the math.

snakeweasel

Mr_Shiftright said:

Trapped 3 rats today....who you gonna call?

Get a rat terrier.

jmonroe

snakeweasel said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

The gover

abacomike said:

suydam said:

We have lots of woodpeckers. We put up suet cakes and feeders for them. They eat a lot of insects that we don't want. But we are country folks!

Country folks "is" good.  I was brought up in the city so when I moved to the "country", lots of "city" came with me.  My wife and I were like "Green Acres" - I would work on a project in my good slacks and dress shirts or use the snowblower wearing my good leather shoes.  Luckily, after several years, I learned to wear jeans and work boots when blowing snow.  The woodpecker caper was an awkward situation since I never had to deal with nature in my own backyard.

Now, I could never live in a city - too confining.

=====================================================

You should have bought an owl---those guys are the streetsweepers of the bird and rodent world. Superb hunters! Their feathes are aligned in such a way as to make them completely silent in flight.

Regarding rats, despite my impressive kill rate, I fear I am only knocking off the weak and stupid ones. Might have to escalate to poison.

My trick with traps is to build a little cardboard tunnel for them to sneak into. They LOVE that, and it keeps birdies and other critters off the traps.

We have owls around my house, we also have skunks. Owls have no sense 9or a very limited sense) of smell. You do the math.

When Son #2 was about a year old we had a skunk in the house and it crawled under Son #1's bed. Man, that was a scary time until I got it to leave the house without fumigating it, WOW !

We have had a rat in the toilet and a chipmunk that got into the house through the dryer vent but nothing matched that episode with the skunk. People still like to hear me repeat the story about how I got rid of the rat and the skunk and even Mrs. j laughs today but not when it happened.

jmonroe

imidazol97

sda said:

She is all upset. A truck had thrown a rock and hit the Pilot's windshield dead center, and crack! Looks like I will be making a call to USAA!

Was the rock from the road or was it something from the load on the truck? In Ohio the trucks that carry materials for construction work like to put a sign on the back saying they're not responsible for rocks thrown from the road. But what they are trying to do is fake out people who having car/windshield damage from rocks dropped from the truck.

I had noticed that in Columbus around The Ohio State campus dump trucks would stop before getting on the freeway and brush rocks from the bed's ledges and the frame parts under the truck. Apparently the police were very active about the trucks that dribble rocks and damage cars.

PF_Flyer

Rodent tally is 4 over the last 24 hours. The encouraging thing is that there are probably only 6.02x10^23 of the critters left to deal with

PF_Flyer

imidazol97 said:

sda said:

She is all upset. A truck had thrown a rock and hit the Pilot's windshield dead center, and crack! Looks like I will be making a call to USAA!

I had noticed that in Columbus around The Ohio State campus dump trucks would stop before getting on the freeway and brush rocks from the bed's ledges and the frame parts under the truck. Apparently the police were very active about the trucks that dribble rocks and damage cars.

The police were VERY active all the way through OH on our trip to Indy. It seemed like every 2-3 miles they had someone stopped. I've never seen more police on the road anywhere

stickguy

Most I have seen lately was DC to NC (largely Virginia state police). Much heavier than normal. Odd thing is that it was early on Memorial Day Monday (8-10 range). Must have been a lot of OT that day. And that early, hardly any traffic

abacomike

stickguy said:

Most I have seen lately was DC to NC (largely Virginia state police). Much heavier than normal. Odd thing is that it was early on Memorial Day Monday (8-10 range). Must have been a lot of OT that day. And that early, hardly any traffic

I just finished driving up to Boca Town Center Mall on the Turnpike and as I approached the Sawgrass Expressway there were 12 (yes 12) State Trooper Patrol Cars on the right shoulder.  The troopers were standing and pointing in several directions - it was obvious they were setting up a speed trap!  That area of the Turnpike is frequently a favorite place for ticketing - one would think that if you've seen that arrangement of patrol cars in that same area several times in the past that drivers would reduce their speed to 65 mph - right?  Well, obviously they don't.  There are always 10-12 cars pulled over at any one time being ticketed.

What amazes me is that on an average day, you can't find a trooper anywhere within 20 miles.  But when it comes to "income", they show up in force. 

ab348

PF_Flyer said:

Rodent tally is 4 over the last 24 hours. The encouraging thing is that there are probably only 6.02x10^23 of the critters left to deal with

With 4 various cats living here most of the last dozen years or so, most rodents do not have a chance. Two of the 4 cats were strays that decided to make themselves at home here in 2008 and being ex-street cats they are outstanding hunters. For a while they delivered a daily mouse/vole/rat corpse to the deck in the rear although lately they are either getting too old for that or have eliminated all the potential prey. With a golf course in my backyard I suspect the former.

However even at that there are two memorable incidents of cat ineptitude. Around 2001 or so before the pair of strays arrived, I had 3 other cats. They would be in the house all day while I was at work. I got home one day to find the cats agitated and the house in a state of upset. A trail of feathers and blood drops told me that a bird got into the house somehow. I went on a search for the presumed corpse but found nothing except more feathers. I knew cats would eat birds but in my experience they would always leave some parts behind. I found none of those.

Eventually they settled down and I went to work again the next day. After I got home again, for a while I was in my office and heard a noise. Behind a bookcase I found said bird on the floor, quite alive and looking not too bad considering. I opened the window, picked up the bird and away it flew. Those 3 cats never lived down the shame of their ineptness, letting a bird survive locked in the house with them for 36 hours.

The second incident was a few years ago and involved one of those same inept hunters along with one of the strays. Fred the stray appeared on the deck one evening after dark wanting to come in. It wasn't until after he came in that I saw he had a mouse in his mouth. I yelled at him to get out but before I could grab him he had dropped the mouse which was quite alive and it scooted away. This caused great excitement among the other cats and they went searching but the mouse had found a good hiding place and had eluded them. Just great. Much searching revealed no mouse so I went to bed with some unease.

The next day I was in the living room when I detected movement in my peripheral vision - the mouse was scooting along the baseboard. Old Sam, who was 15 and mostly toothless by then, moved quicker than I had seen him move in years and pounced on the mouse. I grabbed Sam with the mouse in his jaws, opened the door and tossed them outside. Sam dropped the mouse upon landing and it immediately ran back inside while Sam looked around for it on the deck with some alarm. Fortunately Fred was playing backup and snagged the thing almost immediately. Out he went and I presume the mouse was dispatched.

suydam

I miss my cat that was a very efficient killer. We never had a mouse problem until she passed. 

jmonroe

ab348 said:

PF_Flyer said:

Rodent tally is 4 over the last 24 hours. The encouraging thing is that there are probably only 6.02x10^23 of the critters left to deal with

With 4 various cats living here most of the last dozen years or so, most rodents do not have a chance. Two of the 4 cats were strays that decided to make themselves at home here in 2008 and being ex-street cats they are outstanding hunters. For a while they delivered a daily mouse/vole/rat corpse to the deck in the rear although lately they are either getting too old for that or have eliminated all the potential prey. With a golf course in my backyard I suspect the former.

However even at that there are two memorable incidents of cat ineptitude. Around 2001 or so before the pair of strays arrived, I had 3 other cats. They would be in the house all day while I was at work. I got home one day to find the cats agitated and the house in a state of upset. A trail of feathers and blood drops told me that a bird got into the house somehow. I went on a search for the presumed corpse but found nothing except more feathers. I knew cats would eat birds but in my experience they would always leave some parts behind. I found none of those.

Eventually they settled down and I went to work again the next day. After I got home again, for a while I was in my office and heard a noise. Behind a bookcase I found said bird on the floor, quite alive and looking not too bad considering. I opened the window, picked up the bird and away it flew. Those 3 cats never lived down the shame of their ineptness, letting a bird survive locked in the house with them for 36 hours.

The second incident was a few years ago and involved one of those same inept hunters along with one of the strays. Fred the stray appeared on the deck one evening after dark wanting to come in. It wasn't until after he came in that I saw he had a mouse in his mouth. I yelled at him to get out but before I could grab him he had dropped the mouse which was quite alive and it scooted away. This caused great excitement among the other cats and they went searching but the mouse had found a good hiding place and had eluded them. Just great. Much searching revealed no mouse so I went to bed with some unease.

The next day I was in the living room when I detected movement in my peripheral vision - the mouse was scooting along the baseboard. Old Sam, who was 15 and mostly toothless by then, moved quicker than I had seen him move in years and pounced on the mouse. I grabbed Sam with the mouse in his jaws, opened the door and tossed them outside. Sam dropped the mouse upon landing and it immediately ran back inside while Sam looked around for it on the deck with some alarm. Fortunately Fred was playing backup and snagged the thing almost immediately. Out he went and I presume the mouse was dispatched.

Thanks for the tale about your cats.

I always wondered what would have happened if I had a cat at the time Mrs. j found a rat in the toilet but if it was a good hunter I assume it wouldn't have been in there doing the back stroke to begin with.

I have to believe I'm right about that.

jmonroe

ab348

jmonroe said:

I always wondered what would have happened if I had a cat at the time Mrs. j found a rat in the toilet but if it was a good hunter I assume it wouldn't have been in there doing the back stroke to begin with.

I have to believe I'm right about that.

My neighbor tells a tale of the house she used to own just up the street from where she is now. That place had a 2nd bathroom in the basement and she had a similar traumatic experience to Mrs. J there one day. She presumed it had come up via the sewer and the basement toilet was the nearest exit.

I am considering adding a basement bathroom but Job 1 will be adding a one-way backflow valve in the sewer connection, which the insurance company is now insisting upon anyway.

Mr_Shiftright

I have a good one for you. I lived on a houseboat for a while, and one night, I was reading on the couch and suddenly I saw....sensed...something creeping along the top of the couch.

First time I look I saw a GIANT FREAKIN' SPIDER the size of a tennis ball and never have I moved so fast in my life...only to discover, upon recovering my senses, that what it was,--- was a crab that a seagull had dropped through my skylight (no doubt hoping to crush the crab on the roof of my boat).

And no, I didn't go out and buy a crab trap....

stickguy

So, dinner delivery to the boat?

Mr_Shiftright

You don't really wanna eat crabs from San Francisco Bay---best to go far outside the Gate.

oldfarmer50

This is a true story, honest.

Today in the Mustang I was stopped at a traffic light near the mall and a trooper in a marked Dodge Charger patrol car pulled along side in the next lane. I could feel eyeballs on me so I glanced over at him.

Down goes his window and he asked in a serious tone: "Wanna trade?".

I laughed and said "I think yours cost more than mine". He chuckled and drove off.

Made my whole day.

abacomike

OF, you finally came into your own!  I am glad you finally got some recognition from the "enemy" of Ford Mustang GT's. 

stever

Hilarious crab story Shifty. My wife won't let me kill spiders unless they are black widows. She was upset last week - I closed the garage door and didn't see the small tarantula that was sitting under the door. Smashed him.

Had a basement apartment in an old house on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga years ago. Opened up a kitchen cabinet one morning and came face to face with a possum. Luckily I had some tongs handy to grab his tail with.

Killed a small scorpion on the living room floor a couple of weeks ago. I could barely see it - they are small here and apparently their bite is more along the lines of a honey bee sting. I leave my walking around sneakers in the garage and I've gotten better about checking them for critters before I slip them on.

Chatted up a Volt owner at a stop light today. She didn't mention electrical costs but loved the car and made a point of telling us that in 40,000 miles, she's used 50 gallons of gas.

Mr_Shiftright

As I have a bee hive, I can tell you that a honey bee sting can be very painful. Depends where you get it.

Anybody need some dead rats? Maybe to scare your little sister? Leave in the trunk when you go to Carmax?

graphicguy

Car/pollice story.....a dozen years ago, Mazda released the RX8 with a rotary engine. The RX had been out of the market for quite some time until then, so the car was highly anticipated to those of us who were fans of rotary engines (which I was). I had a mid '80s RX7 that I dearly loved and missed.

I had followed the development, and the release dates for the RX8 very closely.

Anyway, I bought the first RX8 that the nearest Mazda dealer had sold. Dealer said I bought the first one in Cincinati and surrounding areas. As best as they could tell, I had bought the first one in the entire state.

Paid full tilt MSRP for it, too.

Anyway, if you remember them, they were pretty radical looking. And, anyone who's ever owned one knows what a high reving rotary sounds like (and boy, did they love to be reved). The RX8 was as distinctive as anything else on the road.

Fast forward a few days after delivery, on a sunny, warm, dry, Saturday. Windows were down and sunroof wide open. Well, I'm tooling down a local 4 lane and have some clear road ahead of me. I start winding it out in every gear, hitting 9K RPM before every upshift.

Sure enough, lights come on behind me. I was having so much fun I didn't even see him.

He comes up to the car. My hands are at 2 and 4 on the steering wheel, as I'm "dead nuts" caught. No way around it.

I don't even argue. I apologize to him. Tell him I just got the car and wanted to see what it would do.

He leans his head into my open window and surveys the interior.

He says...."wow, I heard the RXs were being re-instorduced. This is the first one I've seen in the flesh. Is it fun?"

ME: Couldn't you tell?

HIM: Well, just kind of watch your speed a little bit. I just wanted to see inside.

With that, not even a warning ticket. He let me carry on with my business.

houdini1

I have had more than one heart warming experiences like that. Kind of renews your faith in mankind! If you are guilty, just admit it and be polite. If your not guilty just be polite.

driver100

I forgot about those RX8s. That would make a pretty nice car today, if they lasted that long.......

Michaell

I had a similar experience once. While delivering pizzas on a busy Friday night, I got pulled over by a town police officer for speeding. She told me I was the second delivery driver she had pulled over in less than 10 minutes, gave me a stern warning to watch my speed, and let me go.

Shew.

imidazol97

My Android phone display of Edmunds changed yesterday. Instead of a pleasant-looking appearance, it shows larger text. It looks like the formatting was turned off on the server for the mobile version? It has the type of arrangement and size for text that shows on my laptop occasionally if something doesn't work right in the server or in my laptop. A few minutes later everything loads fine again. But not with my LG cell phone...

Is it just my phone or have others been affected--I have KitKat 4.4 version OS.

abacomike

I'm having the same problem.  It's a mess.  Problem started about 3 days ago.  Using my iPhone is very difficult at this point in time.  Edmunds needs to contact their site administrators!

qbrozen

Haha. I can't believe you guys are talking about the RX8s as if they are old. I feel like it wasn't that long ago I last tried one on for size. Right before I bought my GTI, actually.

GG, was it really that long ago? I can't say I remember you buying it, but I do seem to remember you talking about accepting the money they offered when the HP debacle happened. Am I remembering correctly?

Michaell

I posted this over in CCBA earlier, but I know not everyone who frequents this board is over there as well.

I write this with a heavy heart.

Growing up, some of my closest friends were the kids of firefighters my dad worked with. We grow up, we grow apart, but that bond still exists. Facebook has allowed us to stay in touch.

Found out earlier this week that the son of one of these friends was involved in an auto accident. He was driving and had a female passenger. Sadly, alcohol and speed were factors; police are still investigating.

Both kids (I say kids, even though they are in their 20's) were seriously injured in the accident. The girl was pulled off life support on Wednesday, and last night I found out that my friend and her ex-husband have decided to do the same with their son. Both of them had elected to be organ donors, so others will benefit from this tragedy.

I don't have a lot of memories of Justin, but no parent should have to bury their kids.

Part of me grieves; another part is angry for the poor decisions they both made that night, and the consequences I'm sure they never figured they'd have to pay.

My friend recently retired after a career as an emergency dispatcher, so she's had plenty of exposure to this kind of incident. Doesn't make it any easier to deal with, however, when it's your own child.

She posted this on FB before making the decision to pull her son off support:

Those that know me - know that while I surely like my wine - I have ALWAYS been ADAMANT about not drinking and driving. This has been an absolute.

I have drilled this into my friends and family forever. Please - if you take anything away from this tragedy - please - Please -PLEASE realize that this happens, and lives are changed forever. You don't ever want to be where I am, where Noelle's family is or where Justin is right now. There is never a good outcome.

RIP Justin.

PF_Flyer

There are mistakes you make that you can learn from, and mistakes that you have to learn from when other people make them. Drinking and driving is a very unforgiving mistake to make.

The other one that people don't seem to get is seat belt use "Ejected" is almost always fatal.. The first car our family ever had with seat belts was the '66 Newport that had lap belts. We probably used them 80-90% of the time. When my brother-in-law was doing his ER rotation as an intern, he came away from that a confirmed seat belt user and we've been so ever since. If there was a car accident and they brought the injured to the ER, those wearing belts were generally treated and released. Those not buckled in generally got admitted.

It even feels odd to just shuffle the cars in the driveway if I'm not buckled up

stever

Mr_Shiftright said:

Anybody need some dead rats? Maybe to scare your little sister? Leave in the trunk when you go to Carmax?

Was picking up outside a garden wall this morning and saw this guy. Guess that's why I haven't spotted any kangaroo rats around. He's a good guy- a desert kingsnake, but just a kid. Haven't seen George yet this year, and I've been leaving the garage door open all day most days.

houdini1

abacomike said:

I'm having the same problem.  It's a mess.  Problem started about 3 days ago.  Using my iPhone is very difficult at this point in time.  Edmunds needs to contact their site administrators!

Add my iphone to the messed up list for Edmund's.

houdini1

stever said:

Chatted up a Volt owner at a stop light today. She didn't mention electrical costs but loved the car and made a point of telling us that in 40,000 miles, she's used 50 gallons of gas.

I wonder what it costs, electricity wise to charge a phone or ipad, etc.

edit: I just googled it, and it costs almost nothing. Cost to charge an ipad for one year= $1.54

Steve, you tightwad, you better get a solar charger.

stever

Yep - I'd do the whole house but the payback period is too long. One of the bids I got was from a guy who is sort of a neighbor and I drove by his house one day. He had an EV parked on a pad out front with a dedicated panel going to it.

I have a Kill-A-Watt meter that I've never used - I'm pretty good about putting power bricks on power strips and turning them off and other "frugal" methods. Our most recent electric bill was $25 cheaper than May last year so we're figuring the house out a bit better. Having a mild Spring helped too. Haven't had to run the AC 24/7 yet.

suydam

houdini1 said:

abacomike said:

I'm having the same problem.  It's a mess.  Problem started about 3 days ago.  Using my iPhone is very difficult at this point in time.  Edmunds needs to contact their site administrators!

Add my iphone to the messed up list for Edmund's.

My iPad is doing just fine.

stickguy

So is mine. I never do sites like this on the phone.

graphicguy

qbrozen said:

Haha. I can't believe you guys are talking about the RX8s as if they are old. I feel like it wasn't that long ago I last tried one on for size. Right before I bought my GTI, actually.

GG, was it really that long ago? I can't say I remember you buying it, but I do seem to remember you talking about accepting the money they offered when the HP debacle happened. Am I remembering correctly?

You are remembering correctly.

Those of us who bought the earliest RX8s had the MSRP sticker advertising 245 HP (actual HP was around 237) and City MPG of 20 MPG (wasn't even close....15 MPG was the number).

Rumor had it that the first cars had to be detuned at the Port in order to meet clean air standards in the U.S....thus, worse MPG and HP. The RENESIS motor (latest MAzda rotary) only had 9 moving parts and was teeny compared to a regular motor...even the smallest 3 or 4 cyl ones.

Mazda offered to buy the car back for those of us with the early models, including all taxes, fees, license, title transfers, etc. Or, keep the car, get something like $1,000 in cash, plus Mazda paid all maintenance for the original owner of the car as long as (s)he kept it.

I kept it. Not long, but I kept it and took the money and maintenance.

I bought it in '03 as a MY 2004 car. Blast to drive. Not fast, but quick enough. Had to wind it out to get torque, which was fun to do. Handled like a go cart. Sounded like an Indy car. Sucked down premium gas like an Escalade, and used enough oil to make a Saudi Prince blush.

Kept it for about a year. It had a nasty habit of flooding (in a fuel injected car, no less). Not something you just pump until it cleared itself. When it flooded, it had to be towed to the dealer and they had to physically take it apart to clear the combustion "chambers" (not sure in a rotary, that's the correct term).

That happened 3 times and I was not pleased. This is about the time the new Mustang was coming out ('05 model). Before the problems with the RX8 became commonly known, they were still popular. So, got a good trade number and bought an '05 Mustang GT, which was trouble free.

stickguy

I test drove one when the first came out. That was a fun car. Not that practical with 2 kids. And expensive.

graphicguy

Stick.....trying to remember....I bought the sport version with a 6-speed manual. Great trans and the only way to really enjoy the car. It was the top version they offered with leather, Bose, Nav, everything except an automatic.

I want to say I remember the magic firgure of $30K around the MSRP of it, give or take.

nyccarguy

@jpp5862 - how's the Volvo doing?