Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

stickguy

my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

abacomike

@stickguy said:
my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

I’ve never been on a cruise ship because I have serious reservations about my health and how a cruise ship with thousands of people could affect me.

I live in the cruise capital of America (Southeast Florida) and it seems that at least once a month a cruise ship returns to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale due to a spreading virus or stomach flu among hundreds of passengers. Happens frequently down here.

When I used to fly from here to California to see my son and my 2 grandsons, I invariably would get sick with the flu or a virus on flights to or from California. Since I don’t fly anymore I don’t get sick as frequently.

I guess you could say I have acquired a sort of phobia about being confined on an airplane or cruise ship - but with good reason.

stickguy

I know lots of people love them, but neither of us are cruise types, for a lot of reasons. Disease is just one of them!

corvette

The one cruise on my bucket list is a tour of the Galapagos Islands, which is on a smaller boat (or at least the good ones are). Beyond that, I'd consider a Virgin Voyages (adults only) cruise if I found one that piqued my interest.

driver100

We aren't into cruises, especially the Caribbean where you stop and can buy a ton of straw hats and other straw stuff. I hate to see poor people and kids trying to sell me gum or stuff when I am on a vacation.
The times when I would recommend going on a cruise ship would be if you are in Europe, say Italy for example and you stop in Rome, Florentine, Venice, Naples (though I have no idea why anyone wants to see Naples), Pompeii etc. Then you can see a few cities and keep your stuff in one room on the ship. No need to plan how to get to each place and find accommodation and food everywhere. One stop shipping so to speak!

Michaell

We aren't cruise people either, for many of the reasons mentioned above.

We did do a day cruise of Glacier Bay in AK when I was in Anchorage on a business trip (and the wife accompanied me). Smaller boat, guaranteed no seasickness, which is what sold my wife.

We've talked about a river cruise, but it hasn't progressed beyond the discussion stage.

jipster

Jipster's Buy Here/Pay Here is on the move! Going to go look at a 2018 Mazda CX-5 tomorrow... for Mrs. Jip. 2nd owner has owned for 1 year. 72k miles. Bought from dealership. Carfax showed "minor" accident to drivers door. Repaired.

Was a trade-in. He doesn't know the model. But sounds as if it may be the Touring model. Has AWD, navigation, sunroof, heated seats, leather. Seller works with a friend of mine. Asking price is $16,000. What say you? Wife wants to bring the check book.

abacomike

@jipster said:
Jipster's Buy Here/Pay Here is on the move! Going to go look at a 2018 Mazda CX-5 tomorrow... for Mrs. Jip. 2nd owner has owned for 1 year. 72k miles. Bought from dealership. Carfax showed "minor" accident to drivers door. Repaired.

Was a trade-in. He doesn't know the model. But sounds as if it may be the Touring model. Has AWD, navigation, sunroof, heated seats, leather. Seller works with a friend of mine. Asking price is $16,000. What say you? Wife wants to bring the check book.

A bit high - offer him $14,750. How are wheels and tires? Upgraded audio system? 🤡

jipster

@abacomike said:

@jipster said:
Jipster's Buy Here/Pay Here is on the move! Going to go look at a 2018 Mazda CX-5 tomorrow... for Mrs. Jip. 2nd owner has owned for 1 year. 72k miles. Bought from dealership. Carfax showed "minor" accident to drivers door. Repaired.

Was a trade-in. He doesn't know the model. But sounds as if it may be the Touring model. Has AWD, navigation, sunroof, heated seats, leather. Seller works with a friend of mine. Asking price is $16,000. What say you? Wife wants to bring the check book.

A bit high - offer him $14,750. How are wheels and tires? Upgraded audio system? 🤡

Thx. He said the tires are like new. Not sure on wheels...I'm thinking 19". Will have to check on the audio system, and other options, tomorrow. My wife wants to leave a deposit if we like it. The seller hasn't put it up for sale officially yet, so will probably tell seller we'd like to go home and talk about it. Get back with him in 3 or 4 hours.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

@jmonroe1 @oldfarmer50
I have shirts that are a decade old too. One of my tennis shirts is a great BMW shirt. When I bought my 2012 BMW they gave me a $50 gift certificate to use in their shop. The only thing that I could find that came close was a T-shirt that was $60, so I had to pay the $10 difference. It is a great shirt but similar shirts cost about $20 these days!

They also gave me a $25 certificate for Tommy Bahamas, a store I had never been in. I went, jeans were $150, shirts $90, so I ended up with some sports type socks that were $20.....in the stores I go to they are 3 pairs for $10.

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I’m about to show my age…I remember when you could buy 3 pairs of socks at the 5 & 10 cent store for a buck and a half.

jmonroe

Is this you?


When I was 15 the guys would go to the greasy spoon and get a hamburger for 25 cents and French Fries for a dime.

After a night of partying in college we went to a local all night diner where they advertised “3 eggs and toast-49 cents”. We didn’t know the food was cheap because they had a gambling parlor in the back room.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

Dutch Apple Cruises had dinner cruises on the Mohawk years ago. Ticket price included a prime rib dinner. You had to BYOB though. I think they still do twilight trips on the Hudson near Albany.

stickguy

she doesn't like small boats that move a lot either. Basically she wants to stay on land.

abacomike

@stickguy said:
she doesn't like small boats that move a lot either. Basically she wants to stay on land.

That’s really it - in a nutshell! She is a land-lover like me!!!

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

Jipster's Buy Here/Pay Here is on the move! Going to go look at a 2018 Mazda CX-5 tomorrow... for Mrs. Jip. 2nd owner has owned for 1 year. 72k miles. Bought from dealership. Carfax showed "minor" accident to drivers door. Repaired.


Was a trade-in. He doesn't know the model. But sounds as if it may be the Touring model. Has AWD, navigation, sunroof, heated seats, leather. Seller works with a friend of mine. Asking price is $16,000. What say you? Wife wants to bring the check book. " alt="" height="20" />

I like Mazdas, especially the CX-5. I think it’s one of the few SUVs I would consider owning. Dealer prices for that mileage seem to be $16-19k so $16k private party would be high average.

Michaell

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

Dutch Apple Cruises had dinner cruises on the Mohawk years ago. Ticket price included a prime rib dinner. You had to BYOB though. I think they still do twilight trips on the Hudson near Albany.

When I was a kid and we visited my grandparents in Peekskill, I remember a boat called the Dayliner that we'd cruise up to Poughkipsee and back - I think the route started in NYC somewhere, but we only did part of the trip.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

Dutch Apple Cruises had dinner cruises on the Mohawk years ago. Ticket price included a prime rib dinner. You had to BYOB though. I think they still do twilight trips on the Hudson near Albany.

When I was a kid and we visited my grandparents in Peekskill, I remember a boat called the Dayliner that we'd cruise up to Poughkipsee and back - I think the route started in NYC somewhere, but we only did part of the trip.

You must have been a little kid. Those ended in the 70s.

stickguy

The Hudson River Dayliner. Had ads onTV for that all the time. I went on it once when I was very little I think. Went out of manhattan

Michaell

oldfarmer50 said:

Michaell said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

Dutch Apple Cruises had dinner cruises on the Mohawk years ago. Ticket price included a prime rib dinner. You had to BYOB though. I think they still do twilight trips on the Hudson near Albany.

When I was a kid and we visited my grandparents in Peekskill, I remember a boat called the Dayliner that we'd cruise up to Poughkipsee and back - I think the route started in NYC somewhere, but we only did part of the trip.

You must have been a little kid. Those ended in the 70s.

My trips to NY (remember, my family grew up in CA) were in '71 and '75, so yeah - I was 7 and 11 years old.

imidazol97

corvette said:

The one cruise on my bucket list is a tour of the Galapagos Islands, which is on a smaller boat (or at least the good ones are). Beyond that, I'd consider a Virgin Voyages (adults only) cruise if I found one that piqued my interest.

DIL and her parents and brother/sister did a tour to Equador and the Galapagos Islands. She loved it and the various side trips she had chosen. She's a vet so the animal life was her main object. She brought me back some great chocolates from Equador! I love chocolates.

Then a few months back son and DIL did an adults cruise with her family. A short tour of Caribbean leaving from Bahamas.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

One ocean cruise for us in 1995. Not our thing.

But, we've done two Euro riverboat cruises, with another coming up in August. Those are great. You can't take the kids, though.

stickguy

My parents (after the kids were all gone) started doing riverboat tours. They did so many they ran out of rivers and started doing them over.

kyfdx

For comparison to the CX-5.

We got $13K for our 2017 X3 with 79K miles on trade-in. They wholesaled it to an independent and the last asking price before it sold was $16K. Just saying that you have a lot of choices in that price range, and $16K seems like a lot of cash for that 7 year old Mazda.

ab348

Maiden voyage today for the new Bosch 300 series dishwasher. Unbelievably quiet, so much so that I had to check on the Bosch app on my phone to be sure it was on, though I guess the red light also shining on the floor was trying to tell me that. Having all the controls on the top of the door is great if you're going to put a panel on the front but otherwise is a bit too minimalist for my liking. Loading it is a bit different than my previous one but I'll get used to it. The app is a bit much for an old-tech guy like me but whatever since I'll likely never use it much. So far so good.

Michaell

Our new refrigerator was delivered yesterday. No problems with the install, apparently (I wasn't home).

We think it's a bit bigger than our old side-by-side (18 vs. 22 cu ft), but the french doors makes it so much more convenient to get things.

Still waiting for the ice maker to finish up its job - supposed to take 24 hours to get a full container. But, the water is pretty cold to begin with.

graphicguy

Not sure if you guys have seen this, but binged this last night for a bit. Benid the scenes of a Mercedes dealership sales desk, but probably pertinent to every brand. Interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/@BenzsandBowTies

tjc78

@Michaell said:
Our new refrigerator was delivered yesterday. No problems with the install, apparently (I wasn't home).

We think it's a bit bigger than our old side-by-side (18 vs. 22 cu ft), but the french doors makes it so much more convenient to get things.

Still waiting for the ice maker to finish up its job - supposed to take 24 hours to get a full container. But, the water is pretty cold to begin with.

My wife and I must be the only people left in the world that actually prefer a side by side unit.

I find our Samsung French door to be the biggest pain to get loaded right. I swear it has less room than an equivalent size side by side.

They sure look nicer than a side by side though!

kyfdx

My wife only wants side by side.

graphicguy

Former GF and I cruised a lot. Since then, I've gone solo several times. If you like not having plan anything when going from place to place, it's pretty much a slam dunk. The ships these days are floating cities (including Hospitals on board). Multitudes of restaurants, bars and entertainment on board. They go out of their way to do everything for you.

Last one I took was a year ago. Two weeks duration. Hit Spain, the French Riviera, Italy. Loved it. Then, after completing that one, immediately hopped on another one that was transatlantic, taking me to NYC. The two were quite different. The first was a convenient way to see historical sites like the Coliseum, Sargrada Familia, Monte Carlo, etc.

The 2nd was all about sailing with nothing but ocean for several days. I didn't think I'd care for that, but actually met some wonderful people and had a good time.

Cost wise, I think it ended up being $150/nite average, but that included the cabin with a balcony, all food, all drinks, entertainment, etc. Worth it to me to have a rom steward clean my cabin very day.

tjc78

If it were up to me the only vacation I’d take would be cruises. My wife likes to switch it up.

tjc78

@kyfdx said:
My wife only wants side by side.

She has good taste.

pensfan83

We're not cruisers either, but as a family we decided Alaska is preferrable to the Caribbean so that's what we booked.

graphicguy

More car related YouTube binging I found last night.

Jeep fans...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpkXc6i85Tg

nyccarguy

graphicguy said:

Not sure if you guys have seen this, but binged this last night for a bit. Benid the scenes of a Mercedes dealership sales desk, but probably pertinent to every brand. Interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/@BenzsandBowTies

I like his videos and content. He seems to not have a schtick.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

If it were up to me the only vacation I’d take would be cruises. My wife likes to switch it up.

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How does that explain keeping you around?

jmonroe

explorerx4

The B & B guy's kids go to the same school as one of my grandkids.
I've seen him a time or two at school functions.
One of my kids told me he's currently driving a something(can't remember) 63 AMG.

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

my wife will never do a big boat cruise. I am still working on her to do a small river boat cruise someday.

One ocean cruise for us in 1995. Not our thing.

But, we've done two Euro riverboat cruises, with another coming up in August. Those are great. You can't take the kids, though.

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Not allowing kids? How dare them. Soccer moms would never put up with that. If those boats were registered here in the USA, they’d have so many law suits filled against them they’d disappear.

jmonroe

jipster

Just saw and test drove the Mazda CX-5 with Mrs. Jip. We liked it. Its the Touring model with the preferred package. 19" wheels. Bose stereo. About the only negative on the car was the large number of small rock chips on the front hood and fenders.


Owner said he was planning on getting touch up paint. Don't know how that'd look being that car paint is 7 years old. We told the owner we liked the car and was going to think about it and let him know later on this afternoon.

corvette

Most people aren't good at applying touch-up paint, just saying... I'd rather apply it myself than trust the seller to, but I also wouldn't have the patience to fix more than a couple of spots.

mjfloyd1

@jipster said:
Just saw and test drove the Mazda CX-5 with Mrs. Jip. We liked it. Its the Touring model with the preferred package. 19" wheels. Bose stereo. About the only negative on the car was the large number of small rock chips on the front hood and fenders.


Owner said he was planning on getting touch up paint. Don't know how that'd look being that car paint is 7 years old. We told the owner we liked the car and was going to think about it and let him know later on this afternoon.

I’ve had good luck with drcolorchip and similar other kits for rock chip repairs. Really easy

jipster

The seller has a restored Model A Ford he completed himself. He could do a touch up better than I. He joked(?) that prior owner must have lived on a gravel road. Must be around 100 or so small rock chips in the front of the car. At this point will probably pass.

sda

jipster said:

The seller has a restored Model A Ford he completed himself. He could do a touch up better than I. He joked(?) that prior owner must have lived on a gravel road. Must be around 100 or so small rock chips in the front of the car. At this point will probably pass.

With that many chips, a respray is needed. My daughter’s boyfriend has an 18 Mazda 6 in soul red. Low miles. He does not do much interstate driving and has a fair amount of chips on the hood. I think that is a weak point, brittle paint.

jmonroe1

sda said:

jipster said:

The seller has a restored Model A Ford he completed himself. He could do a touch up better than I. He joked(?) that prior owner must have lived on a gravel road. Must be around 100 or so small rock chips in the front of the car. At this point will probably pass.

With that many chips, a respray is needed.

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You’re right and the car probably isn’t worth that cost.

jmonroe

abacomike

Saw an interesting commercial this evening sponsored by Mercedes Benz. The context was about how dedicated MB is to producing cars in the U.S.A. For Americans. The commercial had lots of videos showing their production facilities in Georgia and Alabama.

Mercedes is obviously attempting at widening their attraction for their products here in the US while boasting that they are already doing their part at improving trade relations. Just caught my eye and my interest.

kyfdx

Red cars are bad for showing chips, too. My '06 BMW already had a big complement of chips when I bought it in 2010. Had a body shop do the touch up at one point, but it didn't last very long

venture

kyfdx said:

My wife only wants side by side.

Mine too.

stickguy

we had a side by side at one point. Wife did not care for the narrow freezer shelves. Though one design I saw was interesting. it was 1/3 -2/3, but switched halfway up, so you had half of a wider fridge and half of a wider freezer.

ab348

jipster said:

Owner said he was planning on getting touch up paint. Don't know how that'd look being that car paint is 7 years old. We told the owner we liked the car and was going to think about it and let him know later on this afternoon.

That is Mazda's ubiquitous and rather infamous Soul Red paint. It is an extra-cost color yet I swear half of all Mazdas sold here receive it. It's infamous because it is a complex application with various special primers and basecoats applied before the red goes on. Unfortunately that final layer is reportedly very thin and quite brittle. Long story short, it is notorious for chipping easily and is apparently difficult to live with because of that. Many owners of new cars with it get a PPP treatment as soon as they leave the lot. To add to the attraction, because of the multi-layer application, it is exceedingly difficult to repair or match. Touching it up wouldn't do much because of that.

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

Just saw and test drove the Mazda CX-5 with Mrs. Jip. We liked it. Its the Touring model with the preferred package. 19" wheels. Bose stereo. About the only negative on the car was the large number of small rock chips on the front hood and fenders.



Owner said he was planning on getting touch up paint. Don't know how that'd look being that car paint is 7 years old. We told the owner we liked the car and was going to think about it and let him know later on this afternoon.

With that number of chips I’d take it to a professional who could blend in all the touch up or maybe even have the whole panel repainted. In any event it might be a good negotiating item. Just remember if it’s an otherwise good car you shouldn’t wait too long. The good ones go fast.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

we had a side by side at one point. Wife did not care for the narrow freezer shelves. Though one design I saw was interesting. it was 1/3 -2/3, but switched halfway up, so you had half of a wider fridge and half of a wider freezer.

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I never saw anything like that. That had to be a sight for sore eyes. Whoever made that contraption couldn’t have sold very many.

jmonroe

stickguy

I looked on line and can't find a picture of one. Definitely not still made. I am almost positive I did not make this up, but at this point, I probably shouldn't swear to remembering anything!