Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

mark156

Akangl, sorry to hear. My Neurologist told me not to drive for a month (almost 2 yrs ago) as I was very week from my flu shot incident. I could only squeeze 2 lbs with my left hand and now everything is normal. My right leg was weak too so it affected me pretty much all over. I was paralyzed from the neck down for two weeks and made a slow recovery.

Therapy help me tremendously (8 weeks).

Take care of yourself!
Mark

akangl

Last night, I went to the store and bought Benedryl for my wife who had the misfortune of getting stung by a damm wasp when we were bar-b-quing.

Be careful! I had no idea that benadryl is known for lowering a person's seizure threshold. My nerologist did a google search with me sitting there to show me that I wasn't the only one this has happened to. Zyrtec and Claritin are far better choices, the active incredient in benadryl is very dangerous and found in over the counter sleeping meds as well.

Needless to say I've learned a lot in the past couple weeks about what is and is not safe to use. I research everything now.

corvette

That's scary! I carry Benadryl and an epi-pen because I'm allergic to shellfish, but I've never used the Benadryl for seasonal allergies because it can make you groggy. Hope you are doing better!

fezo

Yikes! You are very lucky your neurologist has enough leeway to not report it. In NJ if you have two seizures within 12 months of each other they pull your license until you go 12 months without a seizure. In PA they do that after the first seizure!''I had two - 12 months and two weeks apart! Calling it close! It turned out the second seaizure was caused by (drumroll please) - my anti-seizure medication!! It turns out on maybe 5% of patients that particular one caused the patient's sodium level to drop. If your sodium goes too low - you have a seizure.

My first one was like your episode with the KFC. I was at home one moment and the next moment I knew of I was in the ER. The second one I had in the ER so that was at least convenient. Now that they know all the causes and such I'm not considered a danger to have another and no longer have to take any anti-seizure meds. Of course I'm on a load of others for other things and will at sometime soon be in the hospital for 100 days at least so I will depend on folks in here to keep me entertained....

Mark - I remember you adventure with the flu shot. That was scary. Glad to have the healthy you around!

mark156

Thanks Fezo... I didn't know that you were having some issues. Hope everything works out for you! 100 days is a long time but it must be something you need to be good as new. I watched Judge Judy for two weeks while in the hospital.... now I'm fan! LOL!

I guess we need to start talking about cars.... so, I'm still thinking seriously of trading the '07 CR-V for the new restyled '12.

Good health to everyone!

Mark

akangl

I guess we need to start talking about cars.... so, I'm still thinking seriously of trading the '07 CR-V for the new restyled '12.

Hubby almost traded his '09 Civic for an '11 Cruze, but after a lot of thought he opted to keep his faithful little Civic. He's logged 82k miles and the only issue he's had was due to an open circuit in an aftermarket lightbar he had installed. Hard to give up that good of a car.

There was also the issue of his car's value, dealer was offering $10k which deducted for the broken front bumper. We *might* get $11k for it on CL, but I doubt it. He's still got 38k on the Honda Care bumper to bumper warranty, might as well run it out and go from there.

Funny how my son is so happy with his '95 Escort that he plans to take it with him next summer when he leaves. Little car has been nothing but reliable even with 154k on the clock. He loves the 35+ mpg, makes his friends jealous!

carstryke

ohh i got one too (5.0 supercrew)!! u have the 5.0 or 3.5 EB? or one of the other 2 oddball engines? and how do u like it?

bolivar

I'm not totally sure, but I think I remember reading a couple years ago that use of Benedryl was stopped for 'older' people. Don't know what age, but the problem was more risk of stroke.

fezo

Yeah, 100 days is a long time. It's a bone marrow transplant. They need the time to kep me germ free while I build a new immune system. There will be at least another 100 days pretty well confines to the house and being oh so careful.

Right now we're in teh testing the brothers for a match. will know more in two weeks. By the time I'm through with this I should be a new fezo.

stever

Heh, I'm on the list. I'd ruin you for car lust though.

fezo

Good man! Gee, if we matched maybe I'd develop a better tolerance for cold climates...

ateixeira

Yes the Magellan is much, MUCH faster at acquiring a satellite signal. It's also quicker to recalculate a route, and does so quietly, which is nice.

I'd still give Garmin the edge on interface and ease of use, though.

Magellan has a weird quirk - in the address book, you get an icon on the left of the name that has an arrow pointing up, and another to the right with an arrow pointing right. You have to click the one on the right to navigate, even though the icon on the left is used to cancel navigation (with a red line crossing it out). Totally counter-intuitive.

Magellan has a nice feature where it tells you POIs for the next exit. That is very crucial because the Garmin, for instance, will tell you there is a gas station 0.1 miles away on the NJ Turnpike, but it won't tell you that it takes 30 minutes to get there, because it's not close to any exit.

So far Garmin wins the interface and ease of use categories, Magellan wins in features and processing/signal speeds.

ateixeira

the screen is usually bigger

Usually - but I got the 9050LM with a 7" screen. OEM is 4" to 10" or so, so YMMV.

Let's see, for my 3 cars, the Miata didn't offer Nav at all, the Forester had a 6.1" screen, and the Toyota had a 7" screen. So I matched the biggest size available.

mark156

Fezo,

We had a very good friend with a very rare 'bone marrow/blood type' type that only one match was found and the donor was in Germany. She only matched the new donor at 75% but it still worked. M D Anderson in Houston performed the transplant.

A big no-no for a female is wearing makeup while recovering. My friend, Polly, broke all the rules. :surprise:

Mark

stever

Haven't really thought about the list for a while and wouldn't you know it, got an email today saying it was my two year anniversary of signing up.

Today's fancy ride (although not for sale) was a 60's Olds 88 442 package on a convertible - one of 2xx made per the owner. Elongated doors and some other things of significance that I promptly forgot (including the year). I do remember that it wasn't a Cutlass body. Maybe I'll remember the camera later this week.

Naturally a quick net search indicates that at least 4,000 were made every year in the 60s.

akangl

ohh i got one too (5.0 supercrew)!! u have the 5.0 or 3.5 EB? or one of the other 2 oddball engines? and how do u like it?

I bought the 5.0 and love it! The MPG difference wasn't enough to warranty buying the 3.5 EB and give up the wonderful sounding 5.0. Plus I rarely tow anything and the 5.0 is more than enough.

Which package did you get? XLT? Lariat? I went with a nearly fully loaded Lariat, no regrets, its an awesome truck. Love the red candy over pale adobe paint job.

If you have a 4x4 and haven't done a leveling kit, I would strongly suggest it, the truck handles, looks, and rides much nicer. Plus it gives room for bigger tires.

corvette

Inpatient the whole time? My late grandmother had one in 2003, and they gave her an apartment near the hospital for her and some caregivers to live in--she still had to report to the hospital every day. It made a bad situation slightly better.

Hope you get well soon!

graphicguy

ateixeira.....thanks for the head's up on GPS. I know the one in my regular car is pretty big. It's fast, too.

That said, I travel a lot for work and need something I can throw in a briefcase and doesn't take forever to "acquire" a sat, given I'm usually in a hurry when I pick up my rental car.

I had a couple of people tell me the quality of the Garmins have really gone down hill with some of their latest GPS'. I looked at a Garmin at Coscto over the weekend......$300? YIKES! Not interested. It had voice recognition, but for something where the quality is suspect? No thanks!

What do you think about TomTom?

stever

People are mad at TomTom because they've sold GPS info to police, who in turn used the data to install cameras for speed traps.

Police Use Cell Phone and Nav Data to Spy on Drivers (Straightline)

fezo

I don't know how that part will work yet. Hope to be learning more in two weeks at the next appointment. The hospital I'm working with is Sloan Kettering so I'm expecting good things.

roadburner

Our prayers are with you...

nyccarguy

Best of luck to you my friend. I'm actually going to have a small procedure done on 8/19 & will make sure they take a swab of my bone marrow.

fezo

Once I'm through all this and back to what passes for normal for me I can see I'm gonna want a car out of the deal....

akangl

Once I'm through all this and back to what passes for normal for me I can see I'm gonna want a car out of the deal....

And after all that I think you will deserve it. Prayers are with you. :shades:

breld

Okay, I'm actually a pretty conservative driver - I didn't get my first speeding ticket until I was in my 30's, and then that was the only one I had for years. I've now received three speeding tickets in the past year! Nothing crazy - in all three instances I was going what I thought was a conservative speed in the 40's or so, but it happened to be in a 30 or 35 mph zone.

And my wife (who actually is sort of a speedster) just received her second ticket in the past year over the weekend. The earlier one was in her now departed Honda Insight in an HOV lane. She actually told the cop that she didn't think her car was capable of speeding.

Our insurance premiums are taking a hit.

So, my real question - does anyone have experience and/or recommendations with radar detectors? It's not that I haven't changed my habits to be a bit more aware of the speed limits, but I just don't want to get caught again in these speed traps (such blatant money-makers they are!).

Thanks!

ateixeira

Costco around me had the 1490T for $169, IIRC. I wanted the lifetime maps, though, and so Sam's Club had that model for $200 (?) or so. That's a 5" model.

They have some new ones that are 4.3" screen size but very, very slim. Ideal for a briefcase.

I haven't tried Tom Tom.

akangl

So, my real question - does anyone have experience and/or recommendations with radar detectors? It's not that I haven't changed my habits to be a bit more aware of the speed limits, but I just don't want to get caught again in these speed traps (such blatant money-makers they are!).

Well, I can speak from a lot of experience as far as speeding goes. I've had my fair share of tickets, with last summer being the worst.

I purchased an Escort Passport 9500ix in February of this year. Now it isn't perfect, but with its internal GPS you can keep the false alarms down, it stores them, most automatically. Also, it will remember speed traps that you set and known speed traps. Its able to be updated online to keep up on new speed traps.

It does really well picking up Ka band radars from over a mile away. It will pick up Lidar, BUT when it does its usually too late. That's not the detector's fault, its just the nature of the Lidar. I had a cop explain it to me once and short of a laser jammer (which Escort makes and it plugs into the 9500ix) you can't pick them up 100% of the time.

I have not received a citation since purchasing it, but I have been pulled over once. Cop got me at an intersection with his Lidar and got such a chuckle out of me throwing my hands up as I went by and he turned his lights on that I got away with a lecture and warning. He is the one who explained about how the Lidar works.

Of all the detectors I've ever had, Bell, Cobra, and a few others, I can say hands down this Escort Passport 9500ix is the BEST I've ever used.

roadburner

I like the Valentine One. The Escort 9500ix is another excellent unit. It depends on what you want. If you encounter Laser on a regular basis you'll need a jammer; the Blinder M27/M47 and Escort ZR4 are the best.

js06gv

I agree on the Valentine. It is the only detector I've used for the last ten years or so and I've got four of them, one for each car. It is pricey at $400 (haven't priced others lately so they may be as much or more) but well worth the price for me. One big benefit is you can check the serial number of your unit online and determine if it is time to send it back to Valentine for an upgrade ($150 maybe?). If the unit is so far outdated then Valentine will send you a brand new one for the same price as the upgrade. Had this happen twice over the years.

akangl

I like the Valentine One. The Escort 9500ix is another excellent unit. It depends on what you want. If you encounter Laser on a regular basis you'll need a jammer; the Blinder M27/M47 and Escort ZR4 are the best.

I've never used the Val One, but have heard its good. After a lot of research I went with the Escort 9500ix. I plan on buying a jammer, probably the Escort ZR4 since it will hook up to the 9500. The cops here love to use laser, way too much imo!

ateixeira

If the unit is so far outdated then Valentine will send you a brand new one for the same price as the upgrade

Wouldn't it be nice if other manufacturers did this? Sweet.

anonymousposts

Fezo: I hope all goes well and is well. We have had our own share of medical related issues the past few months. It is wearing on you and the family. Take care of yourself.

We decided to pass on that Volvo. We were scared of it. It was cheap at $2800 ... but we just don't have the patience to deal with a problem child. Gee also thought it was a tad big and didn't particularly care for the cloth seats.

Now we have found a 2009 VW Jetta Sportwagen with the 2.0T. It is an SEL with 22k. Panoramic roof, NAV, heated seats. Only thing wrong with it is that it could use either two new front tires or a new set and it has the DSG transmission. We can buy it for $16,000. Gray over black leather. We love the car and it seems like a great deal, but we are a tad gunshy with VW's.

stever

Since you didn't think you were speeding in the first place, maybe you don't need a radar detector but a GPS. A navigation unit often can be set to alert you when you are exceeding the local speed limit. I have mine on silent mode, but it still reports your speed on the screen and the limit and helps keep you mindful of your speed (and your passengers know how fast your are going too, if you park your GPS on the windshield).

It's also handy when you are on a new road and don't see a speed limit sign; my Garmin will tell me what the limit is.

mark156

I had a radar detector once, don't use it anymore. I know I'm going to jinx myself here but I haven't had a speeding ticket since 1985.

What has helped me tremendously is that I use the cruise control 99% of the time whether I'm in the city, driving country roads, expressway, etc.,....... everywhere, all the time!!!

Mark

stickguy

Am I the only one that sees the irony in a judge giving advice as to which laser jammer works the best?

fezo

No, you're not the only one but he's my kind of judge!

Man those are pricey. On the other hand they are only maybe two years of buying into the funny cards I end up getting here in Jersey that almost always turn an infraction into a warning. of course the last time I had that happen I couldn't find that and handed a freebie sheriff card and that did the trick.

I gotta admit that even at $400 they are tempting.

tjc78

I've never owned a dectector. I always thought they weren't worth it here in NJ. The State Officers have "instant-on" radar that can zap you so fast you would have no time to react. Heck on RT55 one time an officer tagged me while driving on the other side of the road. Are the newer units so good they read other drivers tripping the radar way down the road?

breld

Yeah, that Passport 9500 is like $500 - there's an "8500" model that's highly rated for about half that, but it doesn't have the GPS technology. And at $400, the Valentine seems relatively reasonable, since it seems to work so well. I figure if the cheaper ones at $100 or so aren't effective, there's no point.

My VW salesperson pointed out that the nav in the GTI displays the speed limit, so that should prove helpful for me. And maybe that will be sufficient, since, as was pointed out earlier, I'm not necessarily "knowingly" speeding.

michaellno

I've never owned a detector, either. In almost 30 years (!) of driving, I think I've only been issued a handful of speeding tickets.

0 in HS
1 in college - surface street in Phoenix
1 in my 20's - CA HWY 1 just past Mugu Rock; I was bringing my aunt home from the airport in a car that had a personalized plate that read "REAL SLO". CHP officer commented on that when he got to my window.
1 in my 30's - I-25 in Denver
1 in my 40's - also I-25 in Denver, but this time was a Sheriff's Deputy

Over the years I've been pulled over for speeding a few times and received warnings, most recently about 6 months ago.

Having said that, I don't speed "too" much ... maybe 5 over at most, both on residential streets as well as highways.

I do know that the section of Interstate in my town (about 5-6 miles) is 65 MPH and is patrolled pretty heavily by both Colorado State Patrol as well as the local PD, and I never go above the limit. It's 75 on both sides of town and they do a good amount of business catching folks who aren't aware of the change in the limit.

EDIT: I'm kind of surprised that I haven't had more tickets, given all the travel I did for business ... for about 15 years, I traveled once or twice a month around the country (and Canada) and rented cars 99% of the time, often driving hundreds of miles after work to visit friends and family.

breld

Now we have found a 2009 VW Jetta Sportwagen with the 2.0T. It is an SEL with 22k. Panoramic roof, NAV, heated seats. Only thing wrong with it is that it could use either two new front tires or a new set and it has the DSG transmission. We can buy it for $16,000. Gray over black leather. We love the car and it seems like a great deal, but we are a tad gunshy with VW's.

I think that sounds like a great car, as long as you're okay with the DSG. The 2.0T on the wagon is not that common, is it? And not necessarily knowing market info on the pricing, that seems like a good deal for all the equipment and features.

My wife had almost 80k miles on her 2007 Jetta 2.0T (it was a manual though) before we traded it - she had a few issues with it that required some repairs toward the end of our ownership, but nothing too abnormal. And nothing that scared us off from making the recent GTI purchase. My wife absolutely loved that Jetta and still misses it.

Those few issues with the Jetta made me want to "get back" to Honda, but that proved to be very unsatisfying. Now, we went to the other extreme on the fun meter with the Insight, but nevertheless, we decided that modern day cars are generally reliable enough overall that you should just go with what you enjoy (which ultimately led us back to BMW).

ateixeira

I had one, still have it in a box some where, but I got more tickets when I used it than I do now.

Perhaps having one gives you a false sense of security?

michaellno

...that may be of interest only to me.

I did some calculations on the prices paid for all the cars I've owned over the years, then adjusted them into 2011 dollars to level the playing field.

The least I've paid for a car (in 2011 dollars) was a 1977 Buick Apollo I bought while in college. I only owned it for a few months and paid the equivalent of $2500 for it.

At the other end of the scale is the 1999 Ford Expedition XLT my wife and I leased. Was the equivalent of almost $45K in today's money.

Other interesting factoids:

1988 Isuzu Trooper - over $30K today
1991 Mazda Protege LX - $21K
2003 Saturn L300 V6 - almost $30K in today's dollars

The average price paid (in 2011 money) for the 20 vehicles I've bought or leased is just a tick over $23K.

Everyone can wake up from their nap now.

ateixeira

For new cars, I paid

$10.8k in 1991
$19.2k in 1998
$25.5k in 2007
$22.8k in 2008

Happy to see a stop in the price escalation, else I'd be up near 40k by now.

michaellno

$10.8k in 1991
$19.2k in 1998
$25.5k in 2007
$22.8k in 2008

Using my handy dandy inflation calculator, I get the following:

price paid = 2011 dollar equivalent

$10,800 = $17,692
$19,200 = $26,090
$25,500 = $27,696
$22,800 = $23,793

ateixeira

Thanks. Now for some context.

$10,800 = $17,692 for my 91 Escort GT. Still a lot of bang for my buck. I bet a Fiesta ST would cost more than that today.

$19,200 = $26,090 for my 98 Subaru Forester L. You could get a Limited model today for the same money, which goes to show how competitive this segment is now.

$25,500 = $27,696 for my 07 Sienna minivan. They cost about the same amount today, I guess, but I've noticed evidence of cost cutting, so I'll say I got the better deal.

$22,800 = $23,793 for my 08 Miata. Timing is everything. I got some nice incentives, so that's still a bargain for a power folding hard top model.

3 out of 4 would still be strong values.

michaellno

$10,800 = $17,692 for my 91 Escort GT. Still a lot of bang for my buck. I bet a Fiesta ST would cost more than that today.

Figure a mythical Fiesta ST would have the 160 HP engine from the Focus, and I'm sure it would run in the low 20's at least.

Unfortunately, HP isn't affected by inflation. 110 HP then is 110 HP now, my friend.

But, I do agree with you that you got some pretty good deals, by and large.

The car that I wish I had upgraded on was my '91 Nissan Sentra SE .. I really, really wanted to spend the extra $1K and get the SE-R, but it didn't fit in the budget at the time.

Funny, but I just realized that your Escort GT and my Sentra SE had the same HP. What's sad is that, with the Escort, you had to get the top line GT model for that HP, while all Sentras that weren't an SE-R had the 110 HP (SE-R had 140 HP, IIRC).

stever

I was speeding about 9 over for a couple of hours yesterday, until dusk hit and I slowed for deer. Never gotten a speeding ticket.

But...mostly have driven wagons and minivans.

tjc78

Unfortunately, HP isn't affected by inflation. 110 HP then is 110 HP now, my friend

Actually, 110HP is probably worse today as cars keep getting heavier.

andres3

Since you didn't think you were speeding in the first place, maybe you don't need a radar detector but a GPS.

Since when does speeding have anything to do with receiving speeding tickets? Traffic enforcement is a joke in this country.

I have received a speeding ticket when I wasn't speeding and I've gotten away with speeding without being pulled over or issued a citation. The only thing not speeding ensures is that you will have to go to court to PROVE you were not speeding as in this country in traffic court you are PRESUMED guilty until proven innocent.

qbrozen

Actually, 110HP is probably worse today as cars keep getting heavier.

Not to mention the standards by which HP is measured has tightened over the years. Last downtick was I think 6 or so years ago. So something making 110hp in 2000, for example, was re-rated to like 108 in 2005. Go back much further and you have those gross hp ratings, which were just ridiculously inflated.