Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

au1994

nyccarguy said:

qbrozen said:

Alright. Forget it. I've just come to my sense and realized there ain't no way in hell I want to pay almost the same money for a 7-yr-old car than for my 2015 Honda. At least not while giving up the Honda, that is. 

I agree. Stick (no pun intended) with the Fit. I personally deal with someone who has an RX350 of that vintage with well over 200,000 miles. He bought it as a CPO with 48K on it after his 2002 RX300 needed a transmission replaced at 460,000 miles.

Jeez...what has happened to Japanese reliability. A transmission needing replacement at 460k miles

nyccarguy

au1994 said:

nyccarguy said:

qbrozen said:

Alright. Forget it. I've just come to my sense and realized there ain't no way in hell I want to pay almost the same money for a 7-yr-old car than for my 2015 Honda. At least not while giving up the Honda, that is. 

I agree. Stick (no pun intended) with the Fit. I personally deal with someone who has an RX350 of that vintage with well over 200,000 miles. He bought it as a CPO with 48K on it after his 2002 RX300 needed a transmission replaced at 460,000 miles.

Jeez...what has happened to Japanese reliability. A transmission needing replacement at 460k miles

Ha! I know, right!

breld

Wow! Lots of posts since I left for Orlando last week. Just got through them all!

• Michael - congrats on the pending Outback punch! I assume you were down at Groove, right? I did like the guy I talked to a couple weeks ago about the WRX. I think his name was Josh.
  
• Garage doors - right around the end of the year, my wife calls me and says the garage door won't go down, that it's getting stuck doing down crooked. I call a repair shop - they come out and end up replacing all the springs and rollers and such (and making the necessary repair to the cable that had come unwound). I'm too embarrassed to even say how much that cost - and I'm realizing more and more that it was probably way overkill./ul>

breld

Florida trip was good - couple of days at Disney, couple of days at Universal Studios, and one day splitting the day between both. Weather was a bit on the chilly side the first couple of days, but really nice the last few days. Crowds were present as ever, but we knew that going in.

We had a great rental house about 15 minutes from Disney - 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms for much cheaper than any Disney hotel that could accommodate the 8 of us. The house even had its own pool (which I suppose is not necessarily unique in Florida).

On another note, that "8" turned to "7" when my mother decided to take an early flight home after some family squabbling. Of course, that's an entirely separate story I won't go into here.

On the car front, I was pleased to get a new model Yukon XL, which comfortably fit the 8 (or 7 as it became) of us, and all our luggage. I was a bit intimidated by its size at first, but with a tight turning radius and confident handling, I got used to it and enjoyed it. Plus, all the safety "nannie" features that are "nice-to-have" on smaller cars seemed quite necessary on the Yukon. Parking sensors, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, rear view camera, collision warning - they all added a lot of confidence in driving such a large vehicle.

At first, I was wondering why the seat would vibrate a little from time to time - I soon discovered that when I approached a lane marker, the seat would vibrate on the side I was "nearing." Kinda nifty! And since we didn't get into Florida until after midnight, traffic was scarce, so I felt free to "test out" the feature and pull near the lane markers! Lucky no cops were around thinking I was a drunkard swerving around!

Michaell

breld said:

Wow! Lots of posts since I left for Orlando last week. Just got through them all!

• Michael - congrats on the pending Outback punch! I assume you were down at Groove, right? I did like the guy I talked to a couple weeks ago about the WRX. I think his name was Josh.
  
• Garage doors - right around the end of the year, my wife calls me and says the garage door won't go down, that it's getting stuck doing down crooked. I call a repair shop - they come out and end up replacing all the springs and rollers and such (and making the necessary repair to the cable that had come unwound). I'm too embarrassed to even say how much that cost - and I'm realizing more and more that it was probably way overkill./ul>

Yes, we ended up at Groove. Dealt with a nice Englishman named Greg. And a sales manager whose name escapes me at the moment.

When they call to tell me the Outback is in, I'll take the Mazda to the CarMax down the street for an appraisal and use that in my negotiations. This is the only part of the deal that could kill it, but the wife really likes the Outback and that doesn't put me in a good bargaining position.

Michaell

breld said:

Florida trip was good - couple of days at Disney, couple of days at Universal Studios, and one day splitting the day between both. Weather was a bit on the chilly side the first couple of days, but really nice the last few days. Crowds were present as ever, but we knew that going in.

We had a great rental house about 15 minutes from Disney - 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms for much cheaper than any Disney hotel that could accommodate the 8 of us. The house even had its own pool (which I suppose is not necessarily unique in Florida).

On another note, that "8" turned to "7" when my mother decided to take an early flight home after some family squabbling. Of course, that's an entirely separate story I won't go into here.

On the car front, I was pleased to get a new model Yukon XL, which comfortably fit the 8 (or 7 as it became) of us, and all our luggage. I was a bit intimidated by its size at first, but with a tight turning radius and confident handling, I got used to it and enjoyed it. Plus, all the safety "nannie" features that are "nice-to-have" on smaller cars seemed quite necessary on the Yukon. Parking sensors, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, rear view camera, collision warning - they all added a lot of confidence in driving such a large vehicle.

At first, I was wondering why the seat would vibrate a little from time to time - I soon discovered that when I approached a lane marker, the seat would vibrate on the side I was "nearing." Kinda nifty! And since we didn't get into Florida until after midnight, traffic was scarce, so I felt free to "test out" the feature and pull near the lane markers! Lucky no cops were around thinking I was a drunkard swerving around!

Given the topic of conversation at our lunch last week, I can't say I'm surprised your mom went home. Glad the rest of you enjoyed your trip.

The michaell glossary to traveling:

Vacation - just you and the spouse
Trip - you, the spouse, and the kids
Visit - you and the spouse (and/or kids) traveling to see other family members

xwesx

That's a good glossary, Michael!

After my night last night, I'm not sure if I should be looking to trade off my car or my wife.... :@

breld

Yup - definitely a good distinction between a "Vacation" and a "Trip."

Fortunately, we didn't let any of the drama interfere with our time with the kids and their enjoyment of the amusement parks.

breld

Also meant to comment on the VW Sportwagen pricing that was brought up in earlier posts.

I like it, and will consider it as an option, but my initial thought is it seems a bit pricey for what it is. The future availability of AWD will make it more compelling, but of course that will add around $1,500-2,000 (my guess) to the bottom line.

So, to get a nicely optioned manual shifting wagon, you're basically into the low $30k's for a TDI SEL. For me, with the choices I'm looking at, it's hard to beat the value of the Mazda3, as long as you can deal with the smaller cargo area.

Like others had mentioned, I'd find a less expensive, 1.8T model compelling if it could be had in a manual with the upper trim lines.

stickguy

A golf SE with a 6 speed stick would be super nice. Dumb vw.

Sandman6472

Tried pairing the new cell again but, no dice so off to the VW store in the morning. It's nothing fancy, a L G Vista cell so can not understand why it's not working. Hopefully they will be able to figure things out at VW.

The Sandman</i

stickguy

Sometimes older tech doesn't work. They aren't big on backward compatibility. Could be that. Or if course, user error.

stever

@breld, ah families. I'm sure mine was thrilled when I moved to AK and never moved back closer than 1,000 miles to them.

Guess who actually went car shopping today? Went to the local VW dealer without an appointment. The "showroom" was four desks and a couple of managers' offices. I stood around looking lost for a minute and no one even looked my way. (Jeans, tee, scruffy bearded old guy in an old minivan - figures). So I went out front where I had spotted a Golf GTI as I pulled in. Fortunately it was unlocked and I got to check it out. Be a big adjustment coming from a minivan, but the cockpit and all the bits looked pretty slick. Didn't like that the SD slot was in the glove box nor did I see a USB port. After futzing around out in the lot for 5 minutes looking over the Golf, I was still ignored. So I hopped in the van and ....

...cruised next door to the Kia dealer who had a Soul+ with sunroof out front. We had spotted it a couple of weeks ago driving around. So I pull in and walk over to the car, ignoring the showroom (which also had no cars in it as it turned out). The Soul is locked but a new sales guy comes out right away and we do the intros and he finds the key and gives me the butterfly tour (i.e., opens up everything and flops the seats up and down). I decline a test drive - mostly wanted a bit of seat seating time and checking out the sunroof was the main deal, since we've never looked at one in a Soul before.

Still a small car but felt a good bit roomier than the Golf, and the hatch looks like it would hold more of our stuff. Had a lot of bells and whistles I liked - the panaromic sunroof has a shade you can open or close or partially open, the front half cracks open or you can open it all the way. Four heated seats and AC cooled front seats. Heated steering wheel (yea!). USB, power ports, voice nav, flashing mood speakers I can drive my wife nuts with. And it's white (although really, anything but black would be okay).

Opened "OTD" inquiries by email but having recently bought a house, and tax time coming (get to do two state returns this year, oh boy), I doubt that we'll proceed any faster than usual. Big step for me even going to a dealer.

xwesx

Big step for me even going to a dealer.

INTERVENTION TIME! LOL

That's a lot of goodies on a little Kia! Nice....

So, that's funny that you did that today, Steve. I took my son to look at cars last night on our way home. It was sort of an unscheduled stop, though, as I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I am looking again.

The XT concept is fading for me. I just can't find one that is reasonably decent (or likely to be) and have it stay put long enough for me to make contact with a seller, surgically extract reasonable information from them, and then do all the closing actions. The typical process is, 1. I attempt to contact., 2. Three days later I hear back (or don't, and recontact)., 3. Immediately follow up, 4., Three more days go by and the person says, "Sorry, I sold it."

However, my two-week statute of limitations has yet to pass, so I shifted my attention to the Ford Flex. As it turns out, I'm WAY more interested in this vehicle anyway. It's a seriously amazing rig! I liked the look of them in the past, and enjoyed riding as a passenger in the local Ford dealer's courtesy shuttle, so I thought I'd take a closer look.

Space in these things is downright cavernous! Seating is excellent in all three rows with seven or optional six-passenger configurations. I would consider AWD only, so I defaulted to the EcoBoost version since FE is the same between them as is the engine, other than the boosted vs. non-boosted configs. But, FINDING an EcoBoost seems to be a challenge (I mean, an in-stock one that I can test-drive). So, I said, "well, let me see what the difference between them really is."

I took a Limited AWD (3.5L V6) out with my son on a short drive last night. Wow; quite a decent rig! While it has cavernous space, it doesn't "feel" big in the seat. That's good, because I have a Fiesta and, in it, I feel like I'm in a cockpit. I like that, and I don't want to drive my living room. Handling was surprisingly decent, steering feel was firm, but a muted. It was quiet, smooth, but with good road feel. Road grip was really impressive, even in those stock tires on ice. I was able to break it loose with a good goose of the throttle, but the traction control (I left it on) engages unobtrusively to control your actions, but not fight them. So, that was cool (e.g., I could kick the back end out a little making a right turn, and the rig would hold the "kick" with a little yaw but not kill it).

Electronic goodies were ridiculous: satellite radio, voice-activated anything, tri-zone climate control, USB, SD, Mini, A/V ports, parking assist (e.g., it parallel parks for you), backup cam... you name it, it was there. The salesman said, "This car is designed to work with your phone." Oops... maybe this isn't the right car for me! Hahah.

Anyhow, the NA engine's 255HP seemed peppy and adequate to me. I'm sorta itching to get the chance to try the 345HP EB engine. Biggest selling points of it to me: 1., same FE (unless you "get on it" frequently), 2., paddle shifters. I don't like automatics, but at least paddles could let me have some pretense of gear control. Only two pedals is a terribly awkward drive configuration.

*But*, I wouldn't buy one of these new. No way. I'm seeing 11/12 models that are still well under powertrain warranty for high 20s. That sounds more like it (plus the styling is a little more appealing to me).

stever

Yeah, I like the Flex a lot too. Don't know about the hole in the roof in those - the Edge has the best one I've seen (but I haven't seen all that many).

Got the "come on down and talk" reply email to my OTD request. I think I'll do a reverse @xwesx‌ and ignore it for three days and turn my cell off.

We should probably buy a used Soul or Prius or other box just to see if we'll be able to live with downsizing. Then trade that in a year if we like the size.

Used car prices hit a record average of $16,800 in 2014 (Detroit Free Press)

corvette

The only issue with the earlier model years of current models is that the infotainment may not be as good as a new one. IIRC, Volvo even revamped the electronics in the XC60 midway through a model year!

Sandman6472

The new cell isn't old tech so obviously, I did something wrong since I was able to do the Samsung Grand Prime just fine. Will go check things out in the a m over at VW.

The Sandman

abacomike

sandman_6472 said:

The new cell isn't old tech so obviously, I did something wrong since I was able to do the Samsung Grand Prime just fine. Will go check things out in the a m over at VW. The Sandman

Each and every Bluetooth system installed in the new model cars has certain quirks that can reject some smart as well as non-smart phones.  They are just not compatible and the reasons for their incompatibility are puzzling to the manufacturers of both the phones as well as the vehicles.

I found out about a problem with some iPhones with MERCEDES.  Luckily my iPhone works just fine with my new car, but some owners are having problems.

I am sure VW will assist you in getting connected - I am just informing you and others that there are incompatibility issues with some phones in some of the new cars.

Good luck with VW.

venture

sandman_6472 said:

The new cell isn't old tech so obviously, I did something wrong since I was able to do the Samsung Grand Prime just fine. Will go check things out in the a m over at VW.

The Sandman

You can see if your phone is compatible at: http://knowyourvw.com/bluetooth/

I checked quickly and it doesn't include your LG, but it doesn't include your former Samsung either, so who really knows?

I agree that you should visit your dealer. It seems most dealers have at least one geek who can get almost anything working.

I usually check the manufacturers web site to see if my phone is compatible before buying the car. If it isn't I make an adjustment to what I will pay for the car to be able to buy a phone that is compatible - but that's just me.

suydam

I've not had a problem with my iPhone. But it is helpful to get the dealer to do the setup.

abacomike

suydam said:

I've not had a problem with my iPhone. But it is helpful to get the dealer to do the setup.

Several manufacturers of new cars have cited problems with Bluetooth streaming of music from the iPhone 6 as well as some connectivity issues.  I have not experienced any issues, however Mercedes has had some issues.  Don't know why, but I have researched it and there are some reported problems.

stickguy

My wife got a 6 in December, and it paired right up in our Acura and Hyundai. Don't think she tried streaming yet though. Will give that a try.

abacomike

stickguy said:

My wife got a 6 in December, and it paired right up in our Acura and Hyundai. Don't think she tried streaming yet though. Will give that a try.

The problem is that all audio and BLUETOOTH systems are not the same.  The streaming problem causes very short losses of audio - like a short circuit in a speaker system is the only analogy I can think of.  I experienced that in my 2014 CLS550, but not my 2015 E400, with my new iPhone 6.

qbrozen

I've had a problem pop up recently on the CTS with my iphone 5. It will constantly disconnect and reconnect the bluetooth while driving (and it chimes and displays a message every damned time). Worked fine for the first 6 weeks or so. Anyway, it only happens while I'm plugged into the USB port. Weird.

qbrozen

I just realized my car history sits at a nice round 40 (including 10 I've bought with the wife for her to primarily drive). Would hate to mess that up.

Michaell

qbrozen said:

I just realized my car history sits at a nice round 40 (including 10 I've bought with the wife for her to primarily drive). Would hate to mess that up.

I gotta catch up .. I'm at 24, counting two marriages, the cars we've helped the kids with, and one that we inherited.

ab348

qbrozen said:

I've had a problem pop up recently on the CTS with my iphone 5. It will constantly disconnect and reconnect the bluetooth while driving (and it chimes and displays a message every damned time). Worked fine for the first 6 weeks or so. Anyway, it only happens while I'm plugged into the USB port. Weird.

I have problems with mine (also iPhone 5) and CUE when I try to use the cable with Bluetooth on. Seems very flaky and there has been a bit of discussion of it on Cadillac forums. Not sure what is going on at Caddy with CUE right now - they seem to have gone quiet on updates/fixes/enhancements.

laurasdada

Annual Father/Son ski trip to Sunday River in Maine this week. Left a day earlier than planned as predictions of blizzard conditions Sunday morning. So, drove through some blizzard conditions Saturday night! The XF was a rock star, AWD/All Seasons tracked steady and true. Loaded to the gills with ski equipment (inside, fold down rear seats) and luggage/snacks. Stopped for dinner in York, pulled up restaurants on the Nav, told son to pick one. I guess I missed the turn as we found ourselves driving through residential, one lane (due to snow) roads that hadn't been plowed recently. So, probably 6+" snow, no problem for the XF! Used the rear foglight during whiteout conditions, oversight on Jag's part, no front fogs... One hour dinner, 2" new snow on top of the car! But, light and fluffy.

Woke up Sunday expecting a plethora of fresh powder to ski...and nothing. It didn't snow the entire four days we were there whilst Boston got pounded again. The wind did howl mightily, though. Kept lifts closed, so 3 days of skiing turned into more like 1.5. Probably good for me, skied a lot of trees and bumps. I ain't 16 like my son. Oh, my achin' back! And, think I bruised a rib on my one obligatory, spectacular face (chest, THUMP!) plant. Totally worth it.

graphicguy

qbrozen said:

I've had a problem pop up recently on the CTS with my iphone 5. It will constantly disconnect and reconnect the bluetooth while driving (and it chimes and displays a message every damned time). Worked fine for the first 6 weeks or so. Anyway, it only happens while I'm plugged into the USB port. Weird.

I have the iPhone 6. Traded from a 5. 6 is much more stable.

But, that sounds like a bluetooth issue. I have a speech recognition issue with my iPod (which is plugged into the USB port under the hidden door). I'll give a command like.."play artist Led Zeppelin". CUE comes back and states "Play Led Zeppelin, correct?" I say "yes". And, then something totally unrelated will play.

On the flip side of that, I can say to CUE..."Navigation....take me to 123 Main St, Cincinnati Ohio" and it gets it right every time.

Might want to look at this, too.....

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201205

I don't know if the CTS supports the latest Bluetooth standard, but it should be backwards compatible.

I'm going to take it into the dealer this afternoon since they said they aren't busy due to the weather and see what they say about it.

ab348

The other flaky thing I've found on my iPhone 5 is that I created a playlist of certain songs for the car, but even though the indicator on the phone and on the CUE screen shows shuffle, sometimes it will play songs in order by artist despite that. It also occasionally will play songs that are not part of that playlist - album cuts from albums I own but which I did not include on the playlist. Weird.

Michaell

All these voice activated "issues" has me worried about the Outback we're likely to get. Wife has little tolerance for problems with technology - as noted, the test of the nav system on the test drive didn't go well.

I think we're going to have to read the manual cover to cover and pay particular attention to the voice commands. Prep the wife with a list of 10 or 15 most commonly used commands for her to use.

corvette

Tried to pull through some snow in our parking lot at work yesterday instead of reversing 200+ feet to get out. It was a lot deeper than it looked. Got stuck. Shoveled the snow away from the front bumper. Still stuck (I will blame the all season tires at that point). Coworkers came to the rescue and pushed me out into the street. D'oh! 

Some of my neighbors with FWD sedans didn't even shovel their driveways! Doubt that would have worked for me. 

stickguy

Michael, good news is if you want, can't largely ignore the voice commands. At least for audio and navi, which seem to be the troublesome areas. Phone calls IMO tend to work well.

breld

I've never really gotten into voice commands in any of my cars equipped as such. I suppose it really is a safety and convenience feature that I should be more open to.

Just feel funny talking to my car.

qbrozen

So if I rule out AWD, I've discovered you can actually get a pretty darned nice CPO car with low miles for somewhere in the teens. The Buick LaCrosse looks like alot of car for the money, but the GM CPO warranty has gotta be one of the worst ones out there.

nyccarguy

Michaell - The Legacy voice recognition is excellent. Especially using the phone. It recognizes nicknames. So if I call my friend Mike who happens to be stored in my phone as Michael, it will dial the correct number. if you say the letter O instead of the number zero, it recognizes that too. I also speak with a slight NY accent and I rarely have to repeat myself. Now in the Pilot. I have to say a number about 6 or 7 times before it dials the correct one.

stickguy

My sonata does a real good job understanding me. I never actually set up any in the RDX. Apparently you have to assign #s or some such to all your contacts. They don't just import or get recognized automatically. So, don't use voice in that car.

It is a great feature fir making calls or entering destinations on the fly.

xwesx

breld said:

I've never really gotten into voice commands in any of my cars equipped as such. I suppose it really is a safety and convenience feature that I should be more open to.

Just feel funny talking to my car.

Yeah, I'm not a rockstar when it comes to "infotainment" features in a car. If the radio sounds good and has good reception, I'm good to go. That '14 Flex... you could talk to it and have it do everything. I could change the temperature, allow or disable rear control for the "third zone", change just one front zone, turn it off, adjust fan speed, lock the doors, change ambient lighting color inside the car.... it was insane!

That said, I'm just as capable of doing all those things without talking to the car, so where's the necessity? It was super-fun to explore it, though. Kid, candy store, etc. LOL

jayrider

qbrozen said:

So if I rule out AWD, I've discovered you can actually get a pretty darned nice CPO car with low miles for somewhere in the teens. The Buick LaCrosse looks like alot of car for the money, but the GM CPO warranty has gotta be one of the worst ones out there.

Isn't the CPO an extension of the standard warranty which goes 4 years ? My loaded 2012 AWD Premium 1 is only worth 20k at best. Should be some deals out there.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

Michaell - The Legacy voice recognition is excellent. Especially using the phone. It recognizes nicknames. So if I call my friend Mike who happens to be stored in my phone as Michael, it will dial the correct number. if you say the letter O instead of the number zero, it recognizes that too. I also speak with a slight NY accent and I rarely have to repeat myself. Now in the Pilot. I have to say a number about 6 or 7 times before it dials the correct one.

Do you think the age of the technology has anything to do with the issues you have with the Pilot?

I'm hoping the Subaru does better than the Mazda when it comes to voice recognition ... 5 years of technology improvements.

corvette

The GLI does not want to leave my office under its own power... Specifically avoided the pocket of "deep" snow on the way out today, and exited through the entrance (1"-2" of packed snow). It barely made it. If I had to stop for traffic on the street, it wouldn't have made it. Going to try a different exit tomorrow!

Nobody else seems to have this much trouble. I still have the OE Dunlop all-season tires, and they have about 6/32" of tread left. I'm thinking before next winter, I will either need to get new tires, or winter tires, or, more in keeping with our group, a new vehicle.

Sandman6472

Stopped at VW, my sales guy came out and got it to pair, but...it won't take the contacts. I dialed my oldest on the screen and called her just fine but it wouldn't make a note of her number for the #1 contact slot. Called my sales guy back and told him the problem, he said come on back when you can. He did say if it didn't work, they'd probably just through a new radio unit in and go from there, he said the phone should work properly. I had no problem pairing the Samsung I had for a couple of weeks and he had no trouble pairing the HTC unit I had so it just could be a faulty radio. My chronic pain acted up after I got home so let him know I'd come in on my first day off next week to have him take another crack at it. Luckily, I hardly use the phone while driving as I think it really makes a driver not keep his/her mind on the task at hand...and with the crazy drivers down south here, I like to have my full concentration on my driving.
Love the Golf and like my new phone so eventually, this issue will be resolved once and for all. Just hit 2500 and all is fine!!!

The Sandman

breld

corvette said:

The GLI does not want to leave my office under its own power... Specifically avoided the pocket of "deep" snow on the way out today, and exited through the entrance (1"-2" of packed snow). It barely made it. If I had to stop for traffic on the street, it wouldn't have made it. Going to try a different exit tomorrow!

Nobody else seems to have this much trouble. I still have the OE Dunlop all-season tires, and they have about 6/32" of tread left. I'm thinking before next winter, I will either need to get new tires, or winter tires, or, more in keeping with our group, a new vehicle.

Sounds like some winter tires will do you a world of good.

It's a good example of how you don't need the snows 90% of the time, but that 10% can cause a lot of stress.

breld

Speaking of the Honda Pilot (sort of), has anyone else taken note of the recently unveiled new Pilot?

I always respected the Pilot for its utility and, well, "Honda-ness," but it always left me a little cold in the styling department. The new one seems to take on the styling cues from the CR-V (which is a good thing, IMO) and adds some really nice features on the inside - usable space behind the 3rd row, captain's chair in the 2nd, and loads of useful storage bins and such.

Have to admit - gives me a tad bit of regret over not waiting on it, but it still can't really beat the overall functionality of a minivan. If I had gone with the Durango, I think I'd really have some remorse.

Anyhow - the Pilot seems to sell well as it is. I imagine this new one will continue to improve on that.

corvette

breld said:

It's a good example of how you don't need the snows 90% of the time, but that 10% can cause a lot of stress.

I forgot to add, this little episode was on perfectly level ground!

The new Pilot looks a lot bigger than the old one, but I think I read it's only a few inches longer.

xwesx

corvette said:

breld said:

It's a good example of how you don't need the snows 90% of the time, but that 10% can cause a lot of stress.

I forgot to add, this little episode was on perfectly level ground!

The new Pilot looks a lot bigger than the old one, but I think I read it's only a few inches longer.

My Fiesta is squirrelly as all get out when I have the stock all-season Kuhmo tires on it with snow/ice on the ground! But, put a set of Blizzak WS-70 on it, and BOOM! - winter car for the ages.




Okay, so that might be a *bit* of a stretch, but it does perform well on the slick stuff while still allowing for at-will power-sliding to up the "fun" ante. If only I could turn off the TCS; that's what I get for having an early-production vehicle from a first generation: Ford added the 'off' feature to this model in November of 2010.

I hate that it simply fails to scale my driveway if we get fresh snow, though. Up to an inch is okay, but after that it gets dicey. More than 3"? Forget about it!

jayrider

corvette said:

The GLI does not want to leave my office under its own power... Specifically avoided the pocket of "deep" snow on the way out today, and exited through the entrance (1"-2" of packed snow). It barely made it. If I had to stop for traffic on the street, it wouldn't have made it. Going to try a different exit tomorrow!

Nobody else seems to have this much trouble. I still have the OE Dunlop all-season tires, and they have about 6/32" of tread left. I'm thinking before next winter, I will either need to get new tires, or winter tires, or, more in keeping with our group, a new vehicle.

Ground clearance can also be a big issue. My 75 Rabbit had narrow tires and even when bald , that car could go anywhere. Got onto a interstate that was closed [didn't know] and drove 12 miles through 2 foot drifts and packed ice in 2nd gear --- thrill of a lifetime for sure.

carnaught

jayrider said:

Ground clearance can also be a big issue. My 75 Rabbit had narrow tires and even when bald , that car could go anywhere. Got onto a interstate that was closed [didn't know] and drove 12 miles through 2 foot drifts and packed ice in 2nd gear --- thrill of a lifetime for sure.

Cwazy wabbit....

(Sorry, couldn't resist )

sda

breld said:

Speaking of the Honda Pilot (sort of), has anyone else taken note of the recently unveiled new Pilot?

I always respected the Pilot for its utility and, well, "Honda-ness," but it always left me a little cold in the styling department. The new one seems to take on the styling cues from the CR-V (which is a good thing, IMO) and adds some really nice features on the inside - usable space behind the 3rd row, captain's chair in the 2nd, and loads of useful storage bins and such.

Have to admit - gives me a tad bit of regret over not waiting on it, but it still can't really beat the overall functionality of a minivan. If I had gone with the Durango, I think I'd really have some remorse.

Anyhow - the Pilot seems to sell well as it is. I imagine this new one will continue to improve on that.

The new Pilot looks nice to me. I bet they improved the perceived quality of the interior after all the flak they got on the last version though frankly I think that was over blown. Really want to know how the new drive train performs and if they have made it signicantly quieter. Better gas mileage would be a big plus.

nyccarguy

I'm not diggin the new Pilot at all. Looks like a lifted Odyssey to me from the front.

@sda, I agree with you about the interior quality. No my pilot doesn't have beautiful, soft touch, dash materials. They are hard, but they were designed that way. The materials aren't hard just to be cheap.