Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

ab348

imidazol97 said:

stickguy said:

... But I am fine not spending any money on TVs now!

If I had to spend on a new TV, I'd want one made somewhere else than China. Are there any?

Samsung’s are reportedly made in Malaysia and Vietnam, though where the components themselves are made is anyone’s guess.

28firefighter

You’re a good man, @nyccarguy. All the best to you and your Dad while you weather the storm.

Prelude looks awesome, too!

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

might be a few made in Korea.

Bradd, shined up good. And your deck looks great!

but man, your driveway is an embarrassment dude. Ouch.

Not at all, that’s patina. Makes the driveway worth an extra $1000

stickguy

so his driveway is a barn find?

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

how much less to do asphalt? I am not a fan of block driveways. Pain for snow, get blocks moving sometimes, worry about weeds. plus definitely costs more to do from scratch. But I guess if you got a bunch of blocks laying around could be less.

mine is concrete. More expensive than asphalt, but at least I don't have to seal it. I did that a couple of times at my prior house and hated it.

No. That’s not to do the entire driveway in Belgian blocks. Asphalt over gravel. I have Belgian blocks lining either side of my driveway.

pensfan83

Prelude looks great!

stickguy

ah. that makes more sense. they are just the border. Should look nice.

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

Could part of the reason you drive a 19 yo car be the lack of techie distractions? Leaves you to enjoy the car for the driving.

nyccarguy

pensfan83 said:

Prelude looks great!

Thanks! It cleaned up nicely. Wash, Compound, Wax - all Griot’s.

nyccarguy

28firefighter said:

You’re a good man, @nyccarguy. All the best to you and your Dad while you weather the storm.

Prelude looks awesome, too!

Thanks! It wasn’t an easy decision.

I’m happy how the Prelude came out. It looks phenomenal from 10 feet away. I of course see every scratch, imperfection, fade...

pensfan83

It looks really good with none of the usual fade associated with the Honda reds of that era.

roadburner

stickguy said:

we have a big Sony DLP (I think, the bulp style). used to be the main TV. I think I replaced that bulb twice. Once their was a recall and I think someone came out to replace the engine, but that was a long time ago and my brain keeps getting foggier. Been in the basement since about 2011 when we got a new flat panel for the family room (can't believe it is 9 YO already). only gets used when someone is using the elliptical, some I am nursing it along. takes a while to warm up but finally gets there. If the bulb goes, it gets tossed and the family room unit goes down there, and we upgrade the main one. But I am fine not spending any money on TVs now!

I may just bite the bullet and buy the 75" Samsung Q90 I saw at Best Buy- that or wait another 6 months or so for a 2020 Sony 950H.

cdnpinhead

Korea makes lots of stuff.

nyccarguy

pensfan83 said:

It looks really good with none of the usual fade associated with the Honda reds of that era.

Thanks! I’ve kept up with waxing. Probably more so when I daily drove it for 9 years.

breld

nyccarguy said:

pensfan83 said:

Prelude looks great!

Thanks! It cleaned up nicely. Wash, Compound, Wax - all Griot’s.

I have plenty of stuff from Griot’s as well. What are your go-to products? I get option anxiety when I shop on their site.

kyfdx

imidazol97 said:

stickguy said:

... But I am fine not spending any money on TVs now!

If I had to spend on a new TV, I'd want one made somewhere else than China. Are there any?

My new TV came from Target.

nyccarguy

breld said:

nyccarguy said:

pensfan83 said:

Prelude looks great!

Thanks! It cleaned up nicely. Wash, Compound, Wax - all Griot’s.

I have plenty of stuff from Griot’s as well. What are your go-to products? I get option anxiety when I shop on their site.

It can get confusing. I only shop online when I am ready to buy. I much prefer the catalogue.

Regular cleaning:

Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner
Short Handle Boar’s Hair Brush (for the wheels)
Super Concentrated Car Wash
Drying Blade

In between: - (which I don’t really do anymore)

Speed Shine after a good wash, just spray on and wipe off.

Polishing/waxing/Compounding:

The Paint Cleaning Clay works nicely. I bought the “synthetic clay” pad for the orbital and don’t particularly love the results.

I use the complete compound, complete polish (didn’t use this on my Prelude this time), & Best in Show Wax.

A lot of the products are sold at Autozone (maybe some other places) and sometimes are cheaper than direct from Griots. Good if you want to try something and not drop $59 (for free shipping).

stickguy

I need to get one of those wheel cleaning tools. Kinda like the mother's powerball, but probably would be better off with a hand tool, since not likely I would ever drag out the power drill when washing my car!

I had been given a bottle of speed shine quick detailer for Christmas and used it last time I washed cars to do a quick job on the TLX. really did come out nice. For a lease that is going back, great option for a couple of quickie shines along the way!

jmonroe1

cdnpinhead said:

Korea makes lots of stuff.

Yep, even Hyundai's.

jmonroe

suydam

Aren’t many Hyundais here made in Alabama?

stickguy

this would be tempting. well under the 1% threshold too! If you wanted one. Not sure my interest would survive a test drive.

graphicguy

xwesx said:

qbrozen said:

If that is true, then why can’t I find one to buy for less than that? Cheapest I have found so far that will run at least Sierra is $450.

My son figured out some way to have older MacBooks run the newest software. I don't recall all the steps he goes through, but he was able to successfully do this with two or three machines that were 10+ years old. Surprisingly, they were much faster after the upgrades, too. IIRC, he said there is some sort of block baked into each particular version upgrade of the OS for models older than a certain point. Once you fool that version into installing on the older hardware, all newer upgrades are just like normal.

Well....it’s not just about Apple. Like every other laptop manufacturer, it’s essentially a combination of parts...CPU, GPU, HD, Memory, etc. If, as an example, Intel no longer supports old ship sets, your motherboard becomes obsolete. If Apple or Microsoft quit supporting old OSs, you have to go through gyrations to keep your laptop working with things like more modern printers, monitors, etc. For the most part, Apple products work better, much longer than their counter parts using the Microsoft Operating systems.

Go look at a cheap Windows laptop and feel the build quality and compare it to a MacBook. Apple MacBooks are simply better built and more robust, thus, they physically last longer.

Get what you pay for.

graphicguy

roadburner said:

stickguy said:

we have a big Sony DLP (I think, the bulp style). used to be the main TV. I think I replaced that bulb twice. Once their was a recall and I think someone came out to replace the engine, but that was a long time ago and my brain keeps getting foggier. Been in the basement since about 2011 when we got a new flat panel for the family room (can't believe it is 9 YO already). only gets used when someone is using the elliptical, some I am nursing it along. takes a while to warm up but finally gets there. If the bulb goes, it gets tossed and the family room unit goes down there, and we upgrade the main one. But I am fine not spending any money on TVs now!

I may just bite the bullet and buy the 75" Samsung Q90 I saw at Best Buy- that or wait another 6 months or so for a 2020 Sony 950H.

I vote wait for the Sony. You’ll be happier long term.

stickguy

I have an HP laptop (using it at the moment). Had it for a while, but no clue exactly how long. I started getting messages last year that as of 12/31, they were no longer supporting it. I still get MS updates, etc. (I think!) but service and parts from HP have been discontinued. of course they were happy to offer to sell me a brand new one. I plan to just keep using this one as long as I can. I hate having to deal with all my documents, music, pictures, etc.

not sure what I would buy. Probably just a cheap laptop. Possibly just a chromebook, but not sure if the screen will be big enough. I like Macs, but don't want to spend the money for my light duty machine to putz around on the internet, and keep office docs and a few pictures (and my itunes).

graphicguy

Bradd...loving the Prelude. Sux that you and your Father have to take the pay cut. But, you guys are an inspiration keeping your employees on the payroll as a result. Well done! And, this is temporary....even though we’re quickly realizing there’s a new “normal” we’re all going to have to live.

stickguy

did you guys apply for one of the stimulus checks? Sounds like exactly the situation they were (conceptually) created for!

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

this would be tempting. well under the 1% threshold too! If you wanted one. Not sure my interest would survive a test drive.

I don’t get the attraction on those unless you are a dedicated off roader or desperate for the image.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

did you guys apply for one of the stimulus checks? Sounds like exactly the situation they were (conceptually) created for!

You don’t have to apply for the stimulus check. It comes automatically. When it comes I guess depends on if they have your direct deposit info. Social Security has mine but I didn’t trust them to get it to the IRS in a timely manor. I went on Get My Payment and after a week of frustration I was able to upload my DD yesterday. Hope I get the money in time for my next hooptie purchase.

Now if NYS UI would respond to my calls, emails or letters I could sleep at night.

I don’t know if any of you guys are gig workers or sole proprietors but I discovered many people are eligible for $1-10,000 in SBA grants that you don’t have to pay back. If I understand it correctly I can get a grand for being my one employee and my son the Uber driver can get the same.

I’m going to try to apply tomorrow as they just refunded the program. I’m sure real business people like nycarguy have already take advantage of all the disaster relief but I just heard of it while watching YouTube.

stickguy

I meant the small business support program for their operation. That you have to apply for (if they aren't out of money again after all the cronies got first dibs).

explorerx4

It will take some time, but when my JP Morgan mutual fund comes back, I'm selling.

au1994

stickguy said:

this would be tempting. well under the 1% threshold too! If you wanted one. Not sure my interest would survive a test drive.

Not bad but I assume you know the ‘sport’ is pretty basic, IE crank windows, small wheels and a smaller media screen. You have to step up to the ‘sport s’ to get at least a few luxuries.

stickguy

I freely admit I spent no time learning about the trim levels. I just happened to stumble upon this one on the app.

jmonroe1

suydam said:

Aren’t many Hyundais here made in Alabama?

You're probably right about "many" but I'm pretty sure the G80 and G90 wannabe's are built in Korea.

jmonroe

xwesx

stickguy said:

I love the color combo. stunning.

price on this is impressive. wow.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1983-volkswagen-rabbit-gti-12/

Ridiculous! There's an owner out there that is doing the happy-dance in his sleep right about now!

ab348

The Americanized Rabbits were widely criticized at the time for the then-Detroit-style color coordinated interiors but that one looks great.

28firefighter

I was brought home from the hospital in a Rabbit GTI of that era.

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

this would be tempting. well under the 1% threshold too! If you wanted one. Not sure my interest would survive a test drive.

I don’t get the attraction on those unless you are a dedicated off roader or desperate for the image.

Or just think its freakin cool, regardless of what anyone else thinks. I’d get one. Why not? Under $300 for a $38k SUV is nothing to complain about. Yeah, the crank windows bug me, but still has removable hardtop, carplay, and backup cam. What else do I really need or want?

My sis is trying to secure one now. But for 10k. Looks a little cheaper in central NJ than by stick, it seems. 36mo/12k is $320 and 10k is $305. She offered $275 and they came back with $300. Gee, what a break! I advised her to email dealers with what she wants in stock. We know $275 for 36 mo was aggressive, so I said offer $285 with $285 at signing for 39/10 ($5 less than 36 mo). I think they should bite since they’d be saving the rodo fee.

explorerx4

I hope the rest of the trees on her lot are healthy. They would really do some damage on a soft top, although totaled is totaled.

sda

28firefighter said:

I was brought home from the hospital in a Rabbit GTI of that era.

I graduated from college the same year the GTI came out. I considered buying a black one with sunroof and a/c but being conservative with $$, I bought a clean 80 Mazda 626 coupe 5sp. The 626 was a fun car and a step up from my 76 Sunbird that I drove while attending college.

omarman

xwesx said:

stickguy said:

I love the color combo. stunning.

price on this is impressive. wow.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1983-volkswagen-rabbit-gti-12/

Ridiculous! There's an owner out there that is doing the happy-dance in his sleep right about now!

Looks like this same car sold at auction for $17,754 in 2013 when it had 18,561 miles.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

Problem with mine is that the graphics card took a dump, which is apparently common on my model. I did some research and found I could crack it open and bypass the card and use the onboard graphics processor, which I did. BUT, the caveat is that it will not wake up from sleep; you have to do a hard restart every time, and, worse yet right now, no external monitors will work. So the machine is still usable, just not fully functional. It is annoying me with the way things are right now because we plug our laptops into HDMI to do online meetings and classes through the big screen.

Yeah, that's frustrating. At least that type of thing can happen with any laptop and result in the need for replacement. With most Macs, you just get to the point where the manufacturer decides you must replace it because, you know, it wasn't enough that you spent obscene amounts of money to buy it in the first place.

Yes, Apple, I want to pay 50% more for your product so you can treat me like a servant. Thank you, oh Wonderful Overlord.

ab348

I have a Dell laptop I bought in 2013. It worked well but a couple of years ago started to become slow as Windows machines tend to do. Late in 2019 it started getting even slower and behaving erratically. Diagnostics indicated hard disk drive errors. Various utilities failed to do any good as the drive itself was going south. I saved most of my data onto another machine and ended up buying a new Dell on Black Friday. This one has a SSD and is much faster. It took a while to get used to because the keyboard layout is just a bit different. Also it does not have a built-in optical drive which isn't a big deal.

After I began using it I bought a SSD for the old machine on Amazon and tried to clone the old drive to it. Unfortunately it was too far gone and would not work. I ended up installing the SSD anyway and reinstalling Windows (which went surprisingly smoothly with little issue except time) so now I have a spare of sorts. Haven't really figured out a use for it yet but no doubt I will. I also have a 2011-vintage Asus laptop in my office configured like a desktop with a separate keyboard and monitor. It doesn't owe me much but so far it continues to run well.

xwesx

graphicguy said:

Well....it’s not just about Apple. Like every other laptop manufacturer, it’s essentially a combination of parts...CPU, GPU, HD, Memory, etc. If, as an example, Intel no longer supports old ship sets, your motherboard becomes obsolete. If Apple or Microsoft quit supporting old OSs, you have to go through gyrations to keep your laptop working with things like more modern printers, monitors, etc. For the most part, Apple products work better, much longer than their counter parts using the Microsoft Operating systems.

Go look at a cheap Windows laptop and feel the build quality and compare it to a MacBook. Apple MacBooks are simply better built and more robust, thus, they physically last longer.

Get what you pay for.

I disagree from first-hand experience. Perfect example: My son has a laptop from 2007 that functions far better than any Apple laptop older than 2013. He has the "pleasure" of using Apple products between around 2009 and 2012 vintage at his high school, and he would rather lug around his behemoth old Dell Inspiron 1720 than use one of those things. In addition, it is running the latest software and is fully supported.

One of the things that make it so superior, though, is the fact that he can upgrade nearly every aspect of the Inspiron, including the hard drive, memory, battery, and screen, without any fuss at all. And, this is decade+ old technology; Apple has only become worse about making those sorts of things unchangeable now.

No, the Great Apple Overlord is real.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

I meant the small business support program for their operation. That you have to apply for (if they aren't out of money again after all the cronies got first dibs).

When I tried to apply they said they were out of money but the program had been refunded. After an appropriate bureaucratic delay they should have more money this week. I’ve got a feeling that I won’t get anything because there will be a lot of more savvy people ahead of me.

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

this would be tempting. well under the 1% threshold too! If you wanted one. Not sure my interest would survive a test drive.

I don’t get the attraction on those unless you are a dedicated off roader or desperate for the image.

Or just think its freakin cool, regardless of what anyone else thinks. I’d get one. Why not? Under $300 for a $38k SUV is nothing to complain about. Yeah, the crank windows bug me, but still has removable hardtop, carplay, and backup cam. What else do I really need or want?

My sis is trying to secure one now. But for 10k. Looks a little cheaper in central NJ than by stick, it seems. 36mo/12k is $320 and 10k is $305. She offered $275 and they came back with $300. Gee, what a break! I advised her to email dealers with what she wants in stock. We know $275 for 36 mo was aggressive, so I said offer $285 with $285 at signing for 39/10 ($5 less than 36 mo). I think they should bite since they’d be saving the rodo fee.

So it’s the image then. I get that. When I drove them they felt cramped and military-like. I imagine it could be pretty cool to go rumbling down a dirt road on a nice day with the roof and doors off. As a daily driver....not so much.

xwesx

omarman said:

Looks like this same car sold at auction for $17,754 in 2013 when it had 18,561 miles.

So, yeah. He's jumping for joy right now. Hahahah!

imidazol97

I've had good service from my HP laptops. I now have 3. 2 of them started with Windows 7 and 8. Then later were updated from 8 to 10. My laptop that was from 2006 by HP was near top of the line then, but a couple years ago XP was abandoned by Windows. The laptop's chips didn't support the type of firmware files that run the operation system that was newer. So I used it and the video portion of the motherboard bit the dust.

I connected the hard drive with a hookup kit (Sabrent USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA) so it was an external hard drive. I copied files from it to the laptop I chose to replace the 1006 XP.

I haven't had HP tell me they're not supporting current laptops. But I'm not sure how old each of them is. One is a Pavilion G7 and the other is an ENVY dv6 model. Both were upgraded from Win 8 to Win 10 easily when that came out.

HP never slowed down my computers so I'd buy a new one. Any slowdown comes from not cleaning up the operating system with careful, proper clean up apps. Lots of detritus files get left behind by some applications. If someone can copy data files and applications and their registration, and then reinstall the operating system to get rid of the leftover files, they reallly speed up the slowed computers.

Windows 10 has really helped.

suydam

xwesx said:

graphicguy said:

Well....it’s not just about Apple. Like every other laptop manufacturer, it’s essentially a combination of parts...CPU, GPU, HD, Memory, etc. If, as an example, Intel no longer supports old ship sets, your motherboard becomes obsolete. If Apple or Microsoft quit supporting old OSs, you have to go through gyrations to keep your laptop working with things like more modern printers, monitors, etc. For the most part, Apple products work better, much longer than their counter parts using the Microsoft Operating systems.

Go look at a cheap Windows laptop and feel the build quality and compare it to a MacBook. Apple MacBooks are simply better built and more robust, thus, they physically last longer.

Get what you pay for.

I disagree from first-hand experience. Perfect example: My son has a laptop from 2007 that functions far better than any Apple laptop older than 2013. He has the "pleasure" of using Apple products between around 2009 and 2012 vintage at his high school, and he would rather lug around his behemoth old Dell Inspiron 1720 than use one of those things. In addition, it is running the latest software and is fully supported.

One of the things that make it so superior, though, is the fact that he can upgrade nearly every aspect of the Inspiron, including the hard drive, memory, battery, and screen, without any fuss at all. And, this is decade+ old technology; Apple has only become worse about making those sorts of things unchangeable now.

No, the Great Apple Overlord is real.

You just don’t like them. To each his/her own. It’s like cars. You have a bad experience (or 2) with a Ford, you hate them forever.

corvette

IMO, neither Apple nor Microsoft have optimized their operating systems for the older spinning platter hard disks in years. I first noticed this with Apple in the early 2010s. The early builds of Windows 10 ran well on a standard hard disk, but not anymore.

Compounding that issue is that, with a new operating system, they have years to optimize it and make things work well, even on sub-optimal hardware. Once it's released and critical security vulnerabilities are discovered and need to be patched immediately, performance takes a back seat to timely solving the problem.

graphicguy

suydam said:

xwesx said:

graphicguy said:

Well....it’s not just about Apple. Like every other laptop manufacturer, it’s essentially a combination of parts...CPU, GPU, HD, Memory, etc. If, as an example, Intel no longer supports old ship sets, your motherboard becomes obsolete. If Apple or Microsoft quit supporting old OSs, you have to go through gyrations to keep your laptop working with things like more modern printers, monitors, etc. For the most part, Apple products work better, much longer than their counter parts using the Microsoft Operating systems.

Go look at a cheap Windows laptop and feel the build quality and compare it to a MacBook. Apple MacBooks are simply better built and more robust, thus, they physically last longer.

Get what you pay for.

I disagree from first-hand experience. Perfect example: My son has a laptop from 2007 that functions far better than any Apple laptop older than 2013. He has the "pleasure" of using Apple products between around 2009 and 2012 vintage at his high school, and he would rather lug around his behemoth old Dell Inspiron 1720 than use one of those things. In addition, it is running the latest software and is fully supported.

One of the things that make it so superior, though, is the fact that he can upgrade nearly every aspect of the Inspiron, including the hard drive, memory, battery, and screen, without any fuss at all. And, this is decade+ old technology; Apple has only become worse about making those sorts of things unchangeable now.

No, the Great Apple Overlord is real.

You just don’t like them. To each his/her own. It’s like cars. You have a bad experience (or 2) with a Ford, you hate them forever.

I’ve got one hand in the Windows world (Lenovo) and another in the Apple world. Been that way for quite some time. Until I see any evidence that Windows machines are more durable and less likely to break or support any hardware or software changes, my personal tech will continue to be Apple.

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

I meant the small business support program for their operation. That you have to apply for (if they aren't out of money again after all the cronies got first dibs).

When I tried to apply they said they were out of money but the program had been refunded. After an appropriate bureaucratic delay they should have more money this week. I’ve got a feeling that I won’t get anything because there will be a lot of more savvy people ahead of me.

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

this would be tempting. well under the 1% threshold too! If you wanted one. Not sure my interest would survive a test drive.

I don’t get the attraction on those unless you are a dedicated off roader or desperate for the image.

Or just think its freakin cool, regardless of what anyone else thinks. I’d get one. Why not? Under $300 for a $38k SUV is nothing to complain about. Yeah, the crank windows bug me, but still has removable hardtop, carplay, and backup cam. What else do I really need or want?

My sis is trying to secure one now. But for 10k. Looks a little cheaper in central NJ than by stick, it seems. 36mo/12k is $320 and 10k is $305. She offered $275 and they came back with $300. Gee, what a break! I advised her to email dealers with what she wants in stock. We know $275 for 36 mo was aggressive, so I said offer $285 with $285 at signing for 39/10 ($5 less than 36 mo). I think they should bite since they’d be saving the rodo fee.

So it’s the image then. I get that. When I drove them they felt cramped and military-like. I imagine it could be pretty cool to go rumbling down a dirt road on a nice day with the roof and doors off. As a daily driver....not so much.

If by "image," you mean your own pleasure of looking at it every day and the pleasure you get from it, then yes. But what car (for those who care, like us) doesn't serve that purpose? We'd all be driving stripped down blobs like the Accent or Versa otherwise.