Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

carnaught

@Michaell, I wouldn’t doubt some info. Or they’re doing it out of the goodness of their heart 🤨.

Michaell

@carnaught said:
@Michaell, I wouldn’t doubt some info. Or they’re doing it out of the goodness of their heart 🤨.

Yeah, like the dongle you can put in your car

corvette

I've been offered the Ting device before, and declined it because the science behind it seemed iffy.

corvette

@benjaminh - I got the impression that the Corolla Hybrid was kind of an afterthought, and the fact that the Camry gets better MPGs kind of reinforces that.

andres3

graphicguy said:

nyccarguy said:

@corvette said:
@nyccarguy - most of the SEs did not have BSM, IIRC. Maybe also consider the 2020-ish Accord Hybrid if it's in the same price range, I rode in one of those as an Uber and really preferred it to the Camry

I’ll check it out, but Accords are expensive. I think a 2020ish hybrid Accord would be way out of my price range.

Had this same conversation with my son earlier this week. He has a GTI that's topped 100K miles and things are starting to go wrong. He's got a nasty stumble when accelerating. I helped him replace the plugs, the coil packs (which are a real PITA). We ran some Techron through the fuel system a couple of times.

Took it to VW. Spent $500 for diagnosis and some sort of reprogram of the ECU, which didn't help.

It's starting to use and leak a little oil. It needs brakes. He just put his 2nd set of tires on it. All minor stuff. Some is just routine maintenance, but irritating to him.

He wanted an Accord 2.0T (he really liked that drivetrain in my former TLX). Now, that they don't make them anymore, they are tough to find on the used market and are selling not that far off what they sold for new. For that money, I told him to look for used TLXs, but even there, they are holding value, too. Interesting, given Acura isn't going to make them anymore.

He's caught between dumping some serious money into the GTI in the hopes that takes care of it for a while, or going new (GTI, GLI, Integra), or keep looking for a used Accord 2.0 at a reasonable price.

HE looked at a new Accord. Actually, he found they are giving some decent discounts....about $2K off the Touring model (which is still high $30s). Told him if he's going that direction, look at a Camry, too. But, for some reason, Toyota is still restricting supply around these parts. Don't know why given they are made just a few hours down the road from us in KY. The local Toyota does have 4-Runners out the wazoo, though....all lined up in just about every color.

Sounds like all wear and tear maintenance items. Coil packs and spark plugs go bad. It's the price of peak performance and efficiency. You are only as good as your weakest parts. I do recommend induction cleanings on the older FSI/TSI motors.

andres3

explorerx4 said:

I'm pretty sure there are some well known reasons why Honda doesn't offer the 2.0 turbo anymore.

A Tale of Two 2.0-Liters: Comparing the Turbo Four in ...
Yes, the Honda Civic Type R uses a 2.0-liter turbocharged VTEC® inline 4-cylinder engine that delivers impressive power for its size. This engine has been a consistent feature in various generations of the Civic Type R, though specific internal modifications and power figures can vary slightly between model years.
Engine Details
Size:
2.0 liters
Type:
Turbocharged VTEC® inline 4-cylinder engine
Key Features:
Features Honda's Dual VTC (Variable Valve Timing Control) for enhanced performance and efficiency.
Power:
Produces 315 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque in recent models.
The 2.0-liter engine is a core component of the Type R's high-performance identity, contributing to its responsive nature and strong power-to-weight ratio.

ab348

jmonroe1 said:

I hope I explained what you have circled.

EDIT: While I was responding to your post the phone rang and by the time I finished my response @tjc78 also answered your post. We are both saying the same thing except for the wire size on the 40 amp breaker.

jmonroe

You may have. However it all flew over my head, hit the wall, and landed in Lucy the cat's litter box, where she promptly buried it, so I remain still completely in the dark about all this sorcery.

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

jmonroe1 said:

I hope I explained what you have circled.

EDIT: While I was responding to your post the phone rang and by the time I finished my response @tjc78 also answered your post. We are both saying the same thing except for the wire size on the 40 amp breaker.

jmonroe

You may have. However it all flew over my head, hit the wall, and landed in Lucy the cat's litter box, where she promptly buried it, so I remain still completely in the dark about all this sorcery.

————————————————-
Well, if you can’t understand the way I explain things, it doesn’t sound like there’s much hope for you, since most folks do.

jmonroe

qbrozen

Thanks for the explanations. So it is as I suspected. I still don’t agree with using the white as a hot, though. That disturbs me. My OCD kicking in.

andres3

qbrozen said:

Thanks for the explanations. So it is as I suspected. I still don’t agree with using the white as a hot, though. That disturbs me. My OCD kicking in.

black or red spray paint in your future.

tjc78

@qbrozen said:
Thanks for the explanations. So it is as I suspected. I still don’t agree with using the white as a hot, though. That disturbs me. My OCD kicking in.

We are already way down the rabbit hole so I’ll continue. It’s fully legal to use the white as a hot for 240 V not needing a neutral … but it needs to be phase identified which in this case it is not. Inspector overlooked it.

Also - it’s not code any longer but when you could have the feed in the light fixture the white wire heading down to the switch (switch leg) would also be a hot wire. Most older homes are wired this way. Now they want the feeds in the switch box so there is a neutral present for smart switches, timers, etc

oldfarmer50

benjaminh said:

Comparison in gas costs for a Corolla hybrid, a regular Corolla and a Camry LE hybrid. The gas cost I put in was 3.50 a gallon, which is higher than in KY. Anyway, driving around 10,000 miles a year it looks like it might take eight or nine years for a hybrid Corolla to pay for itself. It's interesting that the Camry gets better mpg than the Corolla hybrid.

I drove a Corolla today.

I’d rather have a Camry.

explorerx4

GM and Ram are giving 12K off MSRP on their half tons. Ford is not close.

tifighter

@corvette said:
@benjaminh - I got the impression that the Corolla Hybrid was kind of an afterthought, and the fact that the Camry gets better MPGs kind of reinforces that.

Camry also uses the newest gen 5 hybrid system. The Corolla does not. I think only Camry and Prius use the new system so far.

ab348

jmonroe1 said:

ab348 said:

jmonroe1 said:

I hope I explained what you have circled.

EDIT: While I was responding to your post the phone rang and by the time I finished my response @tjc78 also answered your post. We are both saying the same thing except for the wire size on the 40 amp breaker.

jmonroe

You may have. However it all flew over my head, hit the wall, and landed in Lucy the cat's litter box, where she promptly buried it, so I remain still completely in the dark about all this sorcery.

————————————————-
Well, if you can’t understand the way I explain things, it doesn’t sound like there’s much hope for you, since most folks do.

jmonroe

I know that if you understand it, that it can’t be *that* hard….

…. but I have no idea about this. It is almost never explained clearly by those who work in the trade, and I haven’t yet found a layman’s explanation that is understandable.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

Thanks for the explanations. So it is as I suspected. I still don’t agree with using the white as a hot, though. That disturbs me. My OCD kicking in.

————————————————-
White wires have been used as a hot wire on 220 volt circuits for a long, long time.

Here’s one for you that will also disturb you. When you go into an electrical box that has a switch that controls a light, you will probably find a romex cable that is known as a switch drop. That switch drop cable has a white wire that is hot because it is connected on the other end to the hot black wire where the light is powered from. That white wire, in the box where the switch is located, is a hot wire and is connected to one terminal of the switch and the black wire from the switch drop cable, where the switch is located, is connected to the other terminal of the switch. The other end of the black wire of the switch drop cable is connected to the black wire of the light fixture.

Years ago electricians put a piece of black tape on the white wire of the switch drop cable at both ends to note that the white wire is a hot wire but that practice seems to be lost today. Therefore, just because a wire is white doesn’t mean you can assume it’s a neutral wire.

Anytime you see a white wire on a switch or in a switch circuit like in a 3-way or 4-way or 5-way etc. circuit, that white wire will ALWAYS be a hot wire. That convention has been around since the inception of switch circuits using romex cable in homes. Again, just because you see a white wire that does NOT mean it’s a neutral wire. To assume otherwise will get you shocked if you’re working on a circuit that has not been turned off.

jmonroe

qbrozen

Probably explains why I’ve gotten zapped a lot in my life.

tjc78

Ok @jmonroe1 and I are just too in sync with the electrical content!

corvette

I guess using a switch drop could save some electrical cable and some labor time, in some situations. My 1950s house doesn't have them, but a few of the ceiling fixtures were added afterward (actually, probably all of them except the ones in the bedrooms). If a house has a basement and the panel is located there, it probably uses more cable to do a switch drop, because otherwise, the cable could go up through the floor level, into the wall, through the switch, and then to the fixture, versus having to double back to the switch.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

@qbrozen said:

Thanks for the explanations. So it is as I suspected. I still don’t agree with using the white as a hot, though. That disturbs me. My OCD kicking in.

We are already way down the rabbit hole so I’ll continue. It’s fully legal to use the white as a hot for 240 V not needing a neutral … but it needs to be phase identified which in this case it is not. Inspector overlooked it.

Also - it’s not code any longer but when you could have the feed in the light fixture the white wire heading down to the switch (switch leg) would also be a hot wire. Most older homes are wired this way. Now they want the feeds in the switch box so there is a neutral present for smart switches, timers, etc

————————————————
I spoke to one of our electrical inspectors about having to bring power into the switch box like you described and he said it’s not a National code but it is a local code in some locals. Where we have done flips it’s not a local code yet but we have been bringing power into the switch box like you have described for the reason you have described. I think it was done the old way (power originating in the light fixture box) because years ago those boxes were larger than the puny switch/receptacle boxes used back then. However, today the boxes are much larger.

Years ago a friend asked me to install a GFCI receptacle in an outdoor box that was installed in a brick wall at the rear of his house. For a minute I thought I was going to need a hammer to make it fit in his old small metal box. If I didn’t put tape around the GFCI terminals (if you had to get in there for whatever reason) you would surely trip the breaker if you didn’t manually trip the breaker first. Today GFCI receptacles are a little smaller. Man that was a tight fit.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

corvette said:

I guess using a switch drop could save some electrical cable and some labor time, in some situations. My 1950s house doesn't have them, but a few of the ceiling fixtures were added afterward (actually, probably all of them except the ones in the bedrooms). If a house has a basement and the panel is located there, it probably uses more cable to do a switch drop, because otherwise, the cable could go up through the floor level, into the wall, through the switch, and then to the fixture, versus having to double back to the switch.

————————————————
If you have a ranch house a lot of times it’s a lot easier to get wires into the attic for a ceiling box to mount a light or a fan/light combo. Once that’s done all you have to do is find an inside wall to mount the switch box and use a switch drop or power wire to control your devices.

For us we’d rather pull a little more wire than spend a lot more time trying to get into a wall from the basement. Most of the time you have to work around duct work, supply water lines and drain lines. Everything always seems to get in the way when you want to get into the wall you want from the basement. Had to do that a lot on a few flips that were ranch style homes. Once you’re in the attic you have a lot of options of how to route wires to make switch drops or to bring power into the switch box.

jmonroe

benjaminh

Today is the last day of the $7500 EV rebate. At my local Acura dealer there were several ZDX EVs a month ago, but currently they've already sold or leased all of them.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/acura-zdx-ev-dead.html

This article from Edmunds reveals that total ZDX sales after only one year of production totaled about 19,000 vehicles.

Just a guess, but when the ZDX was created by Acura, Honda, and GM probably they'd envisioned sales of at least 25k a year for five years or so, and so well over 100k units. Since the ZDX probably took at least a billion dollars to develop, now spread across 19k SUVS rather than 100k+, losses for each ZDX were probably staggering.

Even though I didn't end up getting an EV, I more or less supported the idea of the $7500 EV rebate to speed EV adoption. But did it work? Well, short term a lot of people got into EVs, but aside from Tesla everyone else building EVs lost billions of dollars doing it. To raise money for the projected EV transformation GM and others raised the prices on their gas cars, and also went tens of billions of dollars deeper into debt.

In my mind I kinda supported the EV subsidies and mandates from the government, but now I wonder if it all was a mistake? GM is now in some financial stress in because of spending tens of billions of dollars on EVs over the past five years. VW is in a similar situation.

Because EV sales haven't grown organically, or in an economically viable way, they now seem destined to slump in the US for the next few years at least.

nyccarguy

oldfarmer50 said:

benjaminh said:

Comparison in gas costs for a Corolla hybrid, a regular Corolla and a Camry LE hybrid. The gas cost I put in was 3.50 a gallon, which is higher than in KY. Anyway, driving around 10,000 miles a year it looks like it might take eight or nine years for a hybrid Corolla to pay for itself. It's interesting that the Camry gets better mpg than the Corolla hybrid.

I drove a Corolla today.

I’d rather have a Camry.

I don't know where they get their information from. Granted, the LE FWD Camry does get slightly better mileage than my SE AWD Camry. It might technically have a 13 gallon gas tank, but last night the distance to empty read 1 when I pulled into the gas station. It took just over 10 gallons of gas. On the last tank, the car went just over 430 miles which was on the low side. We usually get 450ish miles to a tank.

kyfdx

Once you are over 30 mpg, you get diminishing returns on higher gas mileage. After all, you can't save more than you already spend.

graphicguy

Michaell said:

@carnaught said:

If anyone uses Jake/State Farm, know that they give you for free a device you simply plug in and tells you the voltage in your home in realtime and it lets you know when anything electric in your house malfunctions. It has a phone app. it connects to and also tells you if the event involves the neighborhood or just your home. It is called Ting and is available for purchase at ~$100, free for State Farm customers. Initially it takes a week to calibrate.

Interesting … and what information is State Farm harvesting in return?

Most likely, if there's a fire in your home they'd likely use the information to find a reason to disallow your claim. I had State Farm several years ago. I had a water pipe burst in two places at the same time. Same pipe, burst on different floors. They charged me two deductibles saying it was two separate incidents. Agent didn't care. Two different estimators, even though they were supposed to be independent, towed State Farm's line (of course they would....that's who pays them).

As soon as they did a pay out (and I paid the 2 deductibles), I bounced State Farm like a basketball....all of it....home, car, The old State Farm agent calls every once in a while offering to quote me cheaper rates. I used to listen to his BS. I've since blocked his calls.

benjaminh

nyccarguy said:

I don't know where they get their information from. Granted, the LE FWD Camry does get slightly better mileage than my SE AWD Camry. It might technically have a 13 gallon gas tank, but last night the distance to empty read 1 when I pulled into the gas station. It took just over 10 gallons of gas. On the last tank, the car went just over 430 miles which was on the low side. We usually get 450ish miles to a tank.

The fine print of the EPA estimated range says that "Range on a tank is based on 100% of fuel used before refueling." Clearly that's unreasonable. No one is going to do that. And it's bad for a car to run out of fuel bc iirc the fuel pump can overheat, and maybe other parts as well. To protect against that, and to try to keep people from stranding themselves, the range estimators on pretty much all cars leave you around 1.5-2 gallons left even when it reads that your range is 1 or 0. The EPA estimated range for the SE AWD Camry is iirc is c. 590 if you use all the gas, or c. 450-500 if you have a few gallons left when filling up.

tjc78

I don't know how anyone runs out of gas... aren't all cars pessimistic with their gauges (all of mine have been)? Case in my point my Ram has a 33 gallon tank. I pulled up to my shore house with zero miles to go. Then took two short drives in town <1 mile each and when I finally filled up it took 30.5 gallons.

My point is, I stretched the tank to get there, then took two more trips ... it would have 100% been on me if I ran out. I had all the warning in the world.

explorerx4

I'll be interested to EV sales for October. Most of their sales seem to be a play on burying negative equity.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

I don't know how anyone runs out of gas... aren't all cars pessimistic with their gauges (all of mine have been)? Case in my point my Ram has a 33 gallon tank. I pulled up to my shore house with zero miles to go. Then took two short drives in town <1 mile each and when I finally filled up it took 30.5 gallons.

My point is, I stretched the tank to get there, then took two more trips ... it would have 100% been on me if I ran out. I had all the warning in the world. </p>

——————————————
With an EV you’d really be living on the edge doing that. I wouldn’t want to risk that a charging station would be handy and working by the time I found one. Would you have done that with your MB EQE? I know I wouldn’t.

jmonroe

tjc78

jmonroe1 said:

tjc78 said:

I don't know how anyone runs out of gas... aren't all cars pessimistic with their gauges (all of mine have been)? Case in my point my Ram has a 33 gallon tank. I pulled up to my shore house with zero miles to go. Then took two short drives in town <1 mile each and when I finally filled up it took 30.5 gallons.

My point is, I stretched the tank to get there, then took two more trips ... it would have 100% been on me if I ran out. I had all the warning in the world. </p>

——————————————
With an EV you’d really be living on the edge doing that. I wouldn’t want to risk that a charging station would be handy and working by the time I found one. Would you have done that with your MB EQE? I know I wouldn’t.

jmonroe

Probably not... but mostly because I just don't have enough experience with mine to know what the true range is. The lowest I've taken it is 8%.

I have seen a few videos where owners have pulled up to the charger at 0%, so theoretically there is a buffer there too.

suydam

I have nearly run out of gas driving through the Eastern California desert. Even on the highway there are as few gas stations as there are chargers! A few years back we miscalculated how far the next one was, and fortunately we made it. A bad place to be stranded!

jmonroe1

suydam said:

I have nearly run out of gas driving through the Eastern California desert. Even on the highway there are as few gas stations as there are chargers! A few years back we miscalculated how far the next one was, and fortunately we made it. A bad place to be stranded!

————————————————
That’s one of the best reasons why you can’t afford to sleep in your 5th grade math class.

jmonroe

corvette

The Ariya will not restart if you turn it off with less than 5% charge, so you’d better hope the charger you pulled into works. I think you could (and should) leave it powered up while you ensure that, but I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t think to do it.

stickguy

@graphicguy said:
Which is why you turn off the electricity to your home as you're doing the install. Just like turning off the water when you're doing plumbing.

The problem isn’t turning it off to mess with stuff. It’s what happens when you turn the power back on.

laurasdada

tjc78 said:

I don't know how anyone runs out of gas...

Let me ask my wife how it happened to her and get back to you.
If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why...

stickguy

I do have a touch tester stick. Always use that before I start messing around with the wires in a box.

tjc78

corvette said:

The Ariya will not restart if you turn it off with less than 5% charge, so you’d better hope the charger you pulled into works. I think you could (and should) leave it powered up while you ensure that, but I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t think to do it.

Really? That is strange.

suydam

jmonroe1 said:

suydam said:

I have nearly run out of gas driving through the Eastern California desert. Even on the highway there are as few gas stations as there are chargers! A few years back we miscalculated how far the next one was, and fortunately we made it. A bad place to be stranded!

————————————————
That’s one of the best reasons why you can’t afford to sleep in your 5th grade math class.

jmonroe

Math was never my strong suit.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

@graphicguy said:

Which is why you turn off the electricity to your home as you're doing the install. Just like turning off the water when you're doing plumbing.

The problem isn’t turning it off to mess with stuff. It’s what happens when you turn the power back on.

————————————————-
Circuit breakers are your friend.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

suydam said:

jmonroe1 said:

suydam said:

I have nearly run out of gas driving through the Eastern California desert. Even on the highway there are as few gas stations as there are chargers! A few years back we miscalculated how far the next one was, and fortunately we made it. A bad place to be stranded!

————————————————
That’s one of the best reasons why you can’t afford to sleep in your 5th grade math class.

jmonroe

Math was never my strong suit.

————————————————-
Yeah, you’ve already told us that.

jmonroe

andres3

graphicguy said:

Michaell said:

@carnaught said:

If anyone uses Jake/State Farm, know that they give you for free a device you simply plug in and tells you the voltage in your home in realtime and it lets you know when anything electric in your house malfunctions. It has a phone app. it connects to and also tells you if the event involves the neighborhood or just your home. It is called Ting and is available for purchase at ~$100, free for State Farm customers. Initially it takes a week to calibrate.

Interesting … and what information is State Farm harvesting in return?

Most likely, if there's a fire in your home they'd likely use the information to find a reason to disallow your claim. I had State Farm several years ago. I had a water pipe burst in two places at the same time. Same pipe, burst on different floors. They charged me two deductibles saying it was two separate incidents. Agent didn't care. Two different estimators, even though they were supposed to be independent, towed State Farm's line (of course they would....that's who pays them).

As soon as they did a pay out (and I paid the 2 deductibles), I bounced State Farm like a basketball....all of it....home, car, The old State Farm agent calls every once in a while offering to quote me cheaper rates. I used to listen to his BS. I've since blocked his calls.

I've often said that drug cartel leadership would be more trustworthy than the insurance industry. We should let the cartels take over the insurance industry. When it comes to minimum integrity, I can't think of anyone topping the Insurance Cabal.

andres3

tjc78 said:

corvette said:

The Ariya will not restart if you turn it off with less than 5% charge, so you’d better hope the charger you pulled into works. I think you could (and should) leave it powered up while you ensure that, but I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t think to do it.

Really? That is strange.

Apple smartphones seem to have a similar feature at around 1%, except they turn themselves off and won't turn on again until you find a charging source.

nyccarguy

I drove by my local (small) VW dealer and saw at least 2 dozen Tiguans. I wonder “What’s the deal” with those?

Michaell

@nyccarguy said:
I drove by my local (small) VW dealer and saw at least 2 dozen Tiguans. I wonder “What’s the deal” with those?

Old or new body style?

tjc78

RIP Lexus LS … 2026 is the last year and it’s a limited release of a special edition model.

stickguy

end of an era. the original was a game changer.

corvette

Yeah, I'm not sure how the current one stacks up to the competition. I'd love to own (or at least drive) a well maintained first gen LS or SC.

Hoovie has posted a couple of videos about how his EQS is built much more cheaply than the "equivalent" S-class. The EQS doesn't seem bad, objectively, but given what batteries cost, I'm sure they (and everyone else) have to make it up somewhere.

qbrozen

@tjc78 said:
I don't know how anyone runs out of gas... aren't all cars pessimistic with their gauges (all of mine have been)? Case in my point my Ram has a 33 gallon tank. I pulled up to my shore house with zero miles to go. Then took two short drives in town <1 mile each and when I finally filled up it took 30.5 gallons.

My point is, I stretched the tank to get there, then took two more trips ... it would have 100% been on me if I ran out. I had all the warning in the world.

I did it fairly recently. The Maserati has a funky fuel gauge where there is a section on the gauge below 0. You’d think that’s a reserve. Nope. The needle stops on 0, so that extra range under it is decorative.

sb55

Talk about almost running out of gas. I just towed our Airstream from VT to Albuquerque for a camping trip at Balloon Fiesta. Anyway, I am so used to see a gas station at every exit in the Northeast. Not so in parts of Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico. You can go 50 miles with no services. I used to look for gas at about 1/4 tank. Keep in mind towing I only get about 10 mpg. I passed a station at an exit because getting in and out wasn’t feasible. Dumb move, because it was close to 40 miles between stations. Fortunately I didn’t run out, but it was down to 10 mile range.

Michaell

sb55 said:

Talk about almost running out of gas. I just towed our Airstream from VT to Albuquerque for a camping trip at Balloon Fiesta. Anyway, I am so used to see a gas station at every exit in the Northeast. Not so in parts of Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico. You can go 50 miles with no services. I used to look for gas at about 1/4 tank. Keep in mind towing I only get about 10 mpg. I passed a station at an exit because getting in and out wasn’t feasible. Dumb move, because it was close to 40 miles between stations. Fortunately I didn’t run out, but it was down to 10 mile range.

There is a stretch of I-70 in Utah where it's 108 miles between services. Longest stretch on any Interstate in the continental US.