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Comments
PF
By the way, did you get a seat with the LATCH system? I haven't been able to find one. Many cars/vans come with the LATCH system, which is supposed to simplify child seat installation, but I couldn't find a single LATCH-capable child seat. If you did find one, how did it work in the Pro?
Again, congrats!
twist
1) road noise at highway speeds and
2) no leather heated seats.
I got a quote for having Dynamat installed "fully" (Hood, trunk, fire wall, doors, roof, floor). $2000 for everything including installation.
I got a quote for leather (Katzkin) + heated seats. $1800.
Anyone do either of these things? Would the Dynamat actually make a difference? Is it actually sound dampening material or does it just lessen vibration? The seats looked SWEET and I will probably do that eventually anyway.
Guess you can kiss a good nights sleep good buy for ohhh about 3 months! Just Kidding. More like 11 weeks. ;-)))
Please, post from time to time and let us know how everything is going. BTW, we miss you and Kelley at the Thursday night chats. NOW, I know what you two were up to on Thursday nights. No Meade, not that! I mean Birthing Classes!
Merry Christmas,
Larry
Now, just 15 years, 3 days until she gets her license and wants a Mazda of her own, right?
-Larry
You're probably not the one to get all high and mighty on smart money issues.. huh? :-P
Meade
Speaking of balloons ... let's talk about your car loan again. NOT!!!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
Meade
Meade
My Cav was a crapper too. The dash rattled, it stalled all the time, and the brakes were serviced 4 times, and the car had only 40K on it at the time. But anyway, that's another novel...
You really enjoy cars, you drive a lot, you're not denying you and your father food to eat so that you can make down payments (at least I HOPE you're not!:), so what the heck.
Some people spend lots of money playing golf, sitting on their boats, etc. If I confessed to how much I spent each month in cabfare over the years, I would probably get committed. But driving was not a priority for me then, I had other things to worry about. Now my circumstances have changed, and so I made the leap.
When your circumstances and priorities change, smart lad that you are, you will recognize that and adjust your lifestyle accordingly. True, you may not have that nest egg that others think you should be accruing, but (as you have said yourself) you won't ever have to look back and wish you had driven a Jetta turbo rocket ship or whatever the heck it is you have now.
End of lecture
Absolutely silly stuff to anyone who doesn't fly fish.
:-)
Once we grow up, have a family etc, it's going to be difficult to get our toys. My fiancee agreed, and thats why I drive the WRX now and she drives the Pro ES. The WRX is a wagon, so it should be fine once the babies are born. These two cars I plan to keep for a long time, unless I really get tempted by either the Mitsubishi EVO or the WRX STi. I have the least buyers remorse with the WRX, and that makes me feel very good about my purchase, even though I lost money on the Sentra. But that's how Nissans and Mazdas are- they lose a lot of value. I calculated that if I paid off the Nissan in 4 years, my car would still be worth only about $9000, when I would have paid $14000 to take full ownership. If I traded it then, I'd lose $5,000, and now I lost $3000, but I guess I'd get some of my $5000 loss back by way of the miles I'd have accrued on it. Enjoy your jetta- why didn't you look at a WRX?
M/T 626s and all Pros have been as reliable as Accords, Civics, Corollas and Camrys.
Honda and Toyota have their off-models too (such as the Isuzu-derived SUV and minivans that Honda used to sell, and some think Toyota engines tend to create sludge in the motor oil...I think there's a board on Edmunds that discusses that subject).
About the 626 auto., my co-worker has a 1996. He said the tranny went out at 50K miles and 4 years old. He fought with Mazda, and they replaced it. He also said the car burns oil like crazy. The scary thing is that the 2.0 engine from the 626 is the same one used in the Protege now.
No problems on my recent (last week) road trip either, and it was loaded to the nines, and had two people in it. The power is adequate for freeway mreging and overtaking, lthough you may want to consider an ES (stronger engine) if you do much backcountry or two-lane driving.
I can vouch for the reliability of my car, and a coupe (93, 97) belonging to other friends and acquaintances. I know more people with problematic Corollas and Civics :-)
so if you can get a good deal, and inspect teh car well before you buy (this is a must for a used car purchase), the protege will give you years of flawless service, as I expect mine to!
(ALMOST) All cars have an overdrive, either as the highest automatic gear (4th) or as the 5th gear or 6th in a manual. BMW 3-series have a 5 speed automatic with overdrive (5th gear) but the manual gearbox has 5th at a 1.00 ratio, with no torque conversion or power loss. The car is revv happy even in 5th at speeds above 60, and you can pass without downshifting even in a 325, which is a 174 (approx?) HP Inline 6 cylinder engine.
So car manufacturers would do better to label the automatic gear shift level as 1 (only 1st gear available), 2 (ONLY 2nd), D3 (1, 2, 3 available) and D4 (1, 2, 3, 4). D4 is the normal Drive position in automatic proteges, and hitting the OD button makes Gear number 4 unavilable. So ONLY if you are already in 4th gear, it will kick down to 3rd (which has a ratio of around 1.2+). Otherwise yuo will notice no difference in driving and shifting characteristics around town (if you were in 1,2,3 when you turned O/D off).
Also, Meade (and others) with a stickshift - your 5th gear IS an overdrive! :-)
(Ok, getting of soapbox now)
So when you drive on the freeway and want to do a quick overtake or merge, turn off OD making 3rd your top gear - raising engine speds for corresponding road speeds, and keeping the engine revving happily in its most satisfying torque band (it really sounds happy when you let it rev at about 60mph in 3rd - I don't have a rpm meter, so i don't know ho high the revs get). For good ful mileage (city or highway), leave 4th gear available (ie don't turn O/D off - the light must stay unlit on the dash)
Drive safely!
Also, I averaged about 30-32 mpg, dependin on inclines, traffic, speeds etc. I did get a tank of 34+ when the speed limits drop (the smaller engine is more frugal at 60mph, than at 85+). I stuck to big brand gas stations all along the way, except in St Louis, when we took a wrong exit and ended up in a relatively bad neighbourhood with prepay, cash only!
All in all, a blurry fast road trip, and I wish i had more time - although I stopped in
Denver Boulder - 1.5 days
Kansas City - amazing BBQ for lunch, bought lots of sauce
St louis - hit the clubs and a casino downtown :-)
NJ - met up with some of my folks
Finally getting to DC on the 9th, and starting work on the 10th. Incidentally, the cars been doing great for my first week at work - have a 50 mile commute along the beltway, with many wet days etc.
Now I've found an partment nearer work (NoVA) and was curious if anyone had sugegstions for checkups I should have done for the car - I already did a fluid check and oil change.
On the Anecdotal Evidence tote board, it's now 1-1.
Chicagopro: I was at work, but left an 9.30 and from 9.00-9.30 it was pretty busy. I should be able to make it for next weeks's chat.
Maltb: Thanx for the tips. I did use a wet towel and the straps you mentioned. I bought the stuff in special at Home Depot $0.98 CDN/sq ft! Installing was fairly easy for someone that already installed parquet floors. Took me a LONG time to move all my stuff from the room and remove the carpet. Installation posed no problems. Easy, clean and fast. My shoulder now hurts from pushing the "sheets" into place. The straps were great! Couldn't have done with without them. Home Depot has a set of 8 straps to rent for $25/24hrs. To buy it's $60 each!!! Now that it's done, my room looks great, like some type of an executive office. I'm really impressed how much of a difference removing an old carpet and putting hardwood-type flooring makes! Now that it's done, my mom wants me to do it to our remaining 3 bedrooms! Ouch! Maybe in the spring.
Ashu: With this type of commute you'll soon be putting "Dinu mileage" on your PRO
Here in the Midwest., Carl's Jr. has bought the Hardee's chains so I can get the same burgers here now. They're still called Hardee's but now they display that familiar yellow happy star.
newcar31, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree about gasolines. You're right, there isn't much difference, but there is a difference. Different companies add different additives to the same gas coming out of the pipe (except for Amoco/BP who has their own network).
Regardless, the engine computer in any car can get every last BTU out of whatever we put in the tank, so going with the closest and/or most convenient place is probably the best bet for all of us.
What can I say? They're not as bad as I thought, considering the almost 19000kms they have on them and the fact they look like Formula 1 slicks. Once I got up to speed the handling felt "safe", but when stopping, I always breaked earlier to make sure I don't start sliding (no ABS). Held up realy well! So now I don't even know if I should really get winter tires.. HELP! Btw I drive in D2 when there is snow, so it drives at about 40km/h (25mph) at 3000RPMs. It snowed about 5 cms.
Dinu
Floridian
Also, during the prosperity times, many people here went to Fuddrucker's instead of McDonald's. Fuddrucker's is a Texas-based hamburger chain where you fix your own condiments at a salad bar. Great burgers, really thick, but loaded with FAT FAT FAT!
I was going to Fuddrucker's so often, the cashiers put my order in before I got to the head of the line. So I just paid and went to my table and waited until they called my name. Knew all the people who worked there. Now on NO red meat diet, doctor said QUIT QUIT QUIT!
fowler3
fowler3