Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

jmonroe · March 2017

imidazol97 said:
Having a bad day: Saw a Ford Explorer, several years old, along right side of I75 in downtown Dayton. It was sitting on the brake rotor on the left front. Flashers on.

The good day part: 300 ft later along left side across 3 lanes sitting against barrier wall was the left front wheel. Add lug nuts. Reattach. And he's ready to go again. There were no ruts on road where the brake rotor was gouging into the asphalt pavement so the wheel must have come off just as driver found the right berm. So no damage to the rotor and underside of vehicle I hope.

Retrieving the tire and wheel will require some police assistance, LOL.

I'll say it again, "this is why I ALWAYS check ALL 20 lug nuts before leaving the lot when I have service done to my car that requires tire removal ie, PA State inspection and tire purchases".

My FIL had a wheel come off about 3 blocks from where he had his car inspected back in the 70's and a guy I worked with who ignored my practice because he TRUSTED his mechanic, had his wheel come off in the 90's as he was accelerating on an on ramp to an interstate after he had his car inspected about a 1/4 mile from the inspection station. No real harm done but he had to clean his shorts and seats after that thump.

It's just not worth the risk to me to trust someone touching my cars wheels.

jmonroe

qbrozen · March 2017

suydam said:

@suydam Convenience sampling: A quick google search found many responses. This one seemed thorough so I'm posting from within its thorough discussion. http://blog.verint.com/customer-engagement/convenience-samples-pros-and-cons "The disadvantages: Convenience samples do not produce representative results. If you need to extrapolate to the target population, convenience samples aren’t going to get you there. For example, there was the 2008 AOL poll with 272,939 votes in which 61% of respondents voted for John McCain for U.S. President and 39% for Obama. Much larger convenience samples are not more accurate than small probability samples. At the 2009 CASRO Data Collection Conference, Jon Krosnick compared the results of a telephone probability sample to that of seven convenience samples conducted via the Internet. Where 54% of respondents said that they had seen a movie recently in the probability sample, the convenience samples varied widely, with answers ranging from 65% to 93%. Weighting the results of the convenience samples didn’t bring the answers into line with the probability sample. The natural tendency is to extrapolate from convenience samples. The tendency when using convenience samples is to treat the results as representative, even though they are not. Many people do not understand the theoretical underpinnings of probability sampling and treat any survey results as accurate representations of the target audience. While mainstream media outlets often will not publicize the results of surveys that used convenience samples, small media organizations often will, without describing the methodology as a convenience sample. The results of convenience samples are hard to replicate. If you analyze the results of a convenience survey by list source, you will often find dramatic differences in the answers from the different lists, often in ways that confound easy explanation. Getting representative results – results that can extrapolated back to the target population – is not always a research objective. Surveys fielded to convenience samples have many of the advantages of surveys in general, which is why the sampling technique is so widespread.
I had never heard that term. I don't think that is what CR does. They mail very detailed questionnaires to their entire readership -- probability sampling. And it's ongoing over many years. Here's a link to an explanation of their methods and data: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2011/10/consumer-reports-car-reliability-faq/index.htm

One thing I have said before round these here parts is that the flaw in CR is the fact that they survey CR subscribers. Having one demographic, regardless of which demographic, skews the results.

stickguy · March 2017

I don't think that is one demographic though. Probably more diverse than national polling, which is the demographic of people with landlines that answer calls from pollsters! I subscribe to CR.

oldfarmer50 · March 2017

imidazol97 said:

oldfarmer50 said:
Are you apologizing or bragging?
Apologizing, hoping I don't get embarrassed again like when I immigrated all of Swedens legal citizens into the small country of Switzerland. LOL. I need a better spelling checker.

My spell checker frequently replaces correctly spelled words with incorrect versions. Maybe if I misspell words often enough it thinks that's the way I want them to appear.

oldfarmer50 · March 2017

stickguy said:
One thing I can guarantee is that I will never get a ticket for parking in a handicap spot. Not just because I have morals, but because I am famous for parking in the far end of the parking lot. And will circle around looking for the perfect spot (close is not a consideration, protection from car doors and shopping carts is).

Buy a few hoopties and then you can park anywhere without worries.

abacomike · March 2017

stickguy said:

One thing I can guarantee is that I will never get a ticket for parking in a handicap spot. Not just because I have morals, but because I am famous for parking in the far end of the parking lot. And will circle around looking for the perfect spot (close is not a consideration, protection from car doors and shopping carts is).

Stick, I used to circle parking lots to find a spot where there were no other cars to ding my car. I would park my car far from the "madding crowd" and upon returning to my car, there were cars parked all around it. No peaceful or safe place to park a car anymore at a shopping mall, home improvement center or supermarkets.

bwia · March 2017

Cold enough for you?

It's 9 degrees outside and my 24-year old boiler is on overdrive. This winter was relatively mild (reaching 72 two weeks ago) until this cold spell, that started last Thursday. I'm not sure which is more tolerable, snow or the bone chilling cold. Now that I am older neither is unobjectionable to me. And how ironic, would you believe my spring break starts today?

tjc78 · March 2017

My stepdad always parked next to the little islands if he could, guess that rubbed off because I do it too

As for handicapped spots, when my Grandpop was still with us I would quite often drive him someplace in his car. He had handicapped plates, but I would drop him off at the door and park in a regular spot.

ab348 · March 2017

qbrozen said:

One thing I have said before round these here parts is that the flaw in CR is the fact that they survey CR subscribers. Having one demographic, regardless of which demographic, skews the results.

It would be interesting to see the percentage of M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Subaru in the CR sample as opposed to the national distribution. I don't think I've ever seen those figures but I'd guess they exceed the overall average.

bwia · March 2017

I was perusing the net to find out what percentage of lemon law claims are successful. Couldn’t pin down that number but car companies will deny every claim and probably 70-80% of cases will go away at this point.

If you receive a notice of denial of your lemon law claim and wish to go to court--

"Here's a secret. Car companies do NOT want to go to court on a lemon law case. The risk of going to court on lemon law far outweighs what they risk in doing so. Here's why:

a) Defending a lemon law case is expensive. By the time a lemon law trial is done, the car company can easily spend $20,000 defending itself. These cases are rarely done with their own attorneys so it is money out of pocket. With that much money at risk, defending a lemon law case is already costly, even if they win.

b) In most cases, lemon law allows you to collect up to triple damages. That means that if your car costs $25,000, they risk losing $75,000 in the hands of a jury, plus their own attorney fees. Since they can replace your car at cost AND recover some of their loss in selling your old car, replacing your $25,000 car with a new one can cost them as little as $10,000. Their choices are therefore to risk losing $100,000 or settle with you at their cost for $10,000. At a 10-1 ratio, settling looks pretty inviting."

Read full article at: http://www.seniormag.com/legal/lemonlaw/lemon-law.htm

driver100 · March 2017

ab348 said:

qbrozen said:

One thing I have said before round these here parts is that the flaw in CR is the fact that they survey CR subscribers. Having one demographic, regardless of which demographic, skews the results.

It would be interesting to see the percentage of M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Subaru in the CR sample as opposed to the national distribution. I don't think I've ever seen those figures but I'd guess they exceed the overall average.

CR is skewed because they survey people who can afford to subscribe to CR.

Why would M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Suburu be different than national average.
What would be the conspiracy if they weren't in the same ratio....why would they be different? Is it because buyers of those brands have higher I.Q.s or can read better, or B.S. better?

Not sure where this is going?

driver100 · March 2017

tjc78 said:
My stepdad always parked next to the little islands if he could, guess that rubbed off because I do it too

As for handicapped spots, when my Grandpop was still with us I would quite often drive him someplace in his car. He had handicapped plates, but I would drop him off at the door and park in a regular spot.

That is the decent thing to do...but, I know people and he is the driver, has a handicap sign which he really is entitled to.

He parks in the handicap spot while his physically capable wife jumps out of the car, runs into the store, shops, and loads up the car with groceries, while it sits in the handicap spot.

cdnpinhead · March 2017

Any survey that is self-selected is suspect. As has been pointed out, CR subscribers may not represent the car-driving population accurately, and the minority who responds to the 4-page questionnaire may represent it even less well. No one knows and (almost) no one cares. I maintain that people who are especially upset with how their car has treated them, on the one hand, and people who have a political axe to grind (electric cars, anyone?) on the other, are more likely to respond, but I have no proof, only my opinion.

There are a lot of opinions being presented as facts these days, and they're not recognized as such most of the time.

qbrozen · March 2017

stickguy said:

I don't think that is one demographic though. Probably more diverse than national polling, which is the demographic of people with landlines that answer calls from pollsters! I subscribe to CR.

It is if you count subscribers as one demographic and nonsubscribers as another. A demographic is a sector of the population, in whatever way those sectors are defined.

jmonroe · March 2017

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

qbrozen said:

One thing I have said before round these here parts is that the flaw in CR is the fact that they survey CR subscribers. Having one demographic, regardless of which demographic, skews the results.

It would be interesting to see the percentage of M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Subaru in the CR sample as opposed to the national distribution. I don't think I've ever seen those figures but I'd guess they exceed the overall average.
CR is skewed because they survey people who can afford to subscribe to CR.

Why would M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Suburu be different than national average.
What would be the conspiracy if they weren't in the same ratio....why would they be different? Is it because buyers of those brands have higher I.Q.s or can read better, or B.S. better?

Not sure where this is going?

Neither do I since I am part own of a Subie.

As I'm sure you'll agree, no one has ever called me bright.

jmonroe

imidazol97 · March 2017

ab348 said:
It would be interesting to see the percentage of M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Subaru in the CR sample as opposed to the national distribution. I don't think I've ever seen those figures but I'd guess they exceed the overall average.

As I recall I've never seen a report of who has filled out reports on their current vehicles for CU. That seems to be closely held information because it would likely be very damaging to the integrity of their results for vehicles that are not represented adequately in numbers to have meaningful results.

The flaw in CU's convenience sample is that their subscribers do not represent random sampling of owners of all the various brands of vehicles they purport to rate. Then from within that inadequate sample, who responds to the survey out of the inferior sample?

As I recall the survey involves collecting information about household items and all kinds of other things CU evaluates as well as a part asking for information about cars. How many look at the survey and don't fill it out because it's so long. I've occasionally gotten convenience surveys by computer and the surveys got long by asking all kinds of questions often in different manners. I often quit in the middle.

Convenience surveys work well such as pushing them out with register receipts at quick markets offering a free coffee or soda if it's filled out on computer and brought back to the store. The purpose there is mostly to find problems in the store's operation and unhappy customers will be the first to call or fill out a quick survey about bad product, missing product, inferior customer service, etc..

The CU's testing of vehicles also is selectively written. Long ago I quit reading their short reviews at the back of an issue where they compared similar vehicles. Often the same characteristic in a less-liked brand is criticized more harshly than in the favored brand's written review. Parallel reading of two reviews would indicate the difference in the words chosen and the writing style which often placed critical points in compound sentences or in phrases to minimize their impact to the reader.

oldfarmer50 · March 2017

tjc78 said:
My stepdad always parked next to the little islands if he could, guess that rubbed off because I do it too

As for handicapped spots, when my Grandpop was still with us I would quite often drive him someplace in his car. He had handicapped plates, but I would drop him off at the door and park in a regular spot.

My wife who has multiple health issues and trouble walking refuses to get a placard. When I suggest it she usually responds: "why don't you get one...OLD MAN!".

oldfarmer50 · March 2017

bwia said:
Cold enough for you?

It's 9 degrees outside and my 24-year old boiler is on overdrive. This winter was relatively mild (reaching 72 two weeks ago) until this cold spell, that started last Thursday. I'm not sure which is more tolerable, snow or the bone chilling cold. Now that I am older neither is unobjectionable to me. And how ironic, would you believe my spring break starts today?

It was 5 degrees F here this morning with negative double digit wind chills.

Now I ask you, why are we required to suffer from all those icy winds and cold coming down from Canada while driver100 gets to bask in our warm Florida air? I think he should at least invite us down for a stay until it warms up.

This is a picture of me relaxing on a private island off Key West a few years ago. I think I would look at least that good in driver's back yard.

ab348 · March 2017

That picture looks like it was taken split-seconds before you tumbled out of that hammock and face-planted yourself into the sand.

ab348 · March 2017

driver100 said:

CR is skewed because they survey people who can afford to subscribe to CR.

Why would M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Suburu be different than national average.
What would be the conspiracy if they weren't in the same ratio....why would they be different? Is it because buyers of those brands have higher I.Q.s or can read better, or B.S. better?

Not sure where this is going?

No conspiracy, just a few things to consider.

Who buys CR? Not just people who can afford to buy CR. But also within that group, people who are concerned with owning "the best" whatever. That is a very particular group of people and likely not representative of the population as a whole. Would their questionnaire responses want to confirm that they made the "right" decision? Perhaps.

There are likely some other demographic and psychographic differences found in the CR subscriber base from the general population. Are university professors over-represented? Yuppies? Fitness freaks? I have no idea but throw those out as examples. Their views on vehicles may well be unrepresentative of the overall population.

As to ownership stats, we all know of the Subaru cult. People love them despite their shortcomings. Same with Hondas of a generation ago. "They never break down and I don't spend a dime on maintenance!" Was it true? Likely not but I remember seeing that a lot. So when those sort of people fill out the questionnaire are they going to report the same way someone who owns a Jeep or a VW does? I don't know but somehow I doubt it.

I'm not saying the CR survey info is useless but I would suggest it is just one more data point and not the be-all that some would suggest.

driver100 · March 2017

There are likely some other demographic and psychographic differences found in the CR subscriber base from the general population. Are university professors over-represented? Yuppies? Fitness freaks? I have no idea but throw those out as examples. Their views on vehicles may well be unrepresentative of the overall population.

Isn't a lot of the survey based on factual matters....like how many repairs have you had and what the repair was classified as...brakes, electrical, trim etc.

I think most surveys give you a general idea, but, they should never be considered 100% accurate. Usually cars near the top of the list are going to be reliable, and those at the bottom of the list are less reliable. Use the test results just as one tool.

sda · March 2017

I have been a reader of CU since my parents subscribed in 1969. Car road tests back then. I was always amazed at how black and white their reviews were written, no enthusiasm, just the facts. They used to list the number of defects they found on each car, but stopped doing that some years ago as car production quality has really improved. I still subscribe but also do additional research before making a significant purchase. BTW, CU gives a thumbs up for the Toyota Yaris iA, developed by Mazda.

driver100 · March 2017

oldfarmer50 said:

bwia said:
Cold enough for you?

It's 9 degrees outside and my 24-year old boiler is on overdrive. This winter was relatively mild (reaching 72 two weeks ago) until this cold spell, that started last Thursday. I'm not sure which is more tolerable, snow or the bone chilling cold. Now that I am older neither is unobjectionable to me. And how ironic, would you believe my spring break starts today?
It was 5 degrees F here this morning with negative double digit wind chills.

Now I ask you, why are we required to suffer from all those icy winds and cold coming down from Canada while driver100 gets to bask in our warm Florida air? I think he should at least invite us down for a stay until it warms up.

It cooled off a bit here in Tampa today too, only a high of 75. The rest of the week back up to 80.
If you ever want to make lots of new friends buy a Florida home.

Benjamin Franklin famously said that guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
Who has the private island in Key West....maybe they will invite you back,,,,but, then again....maybe not.

driver100 · March 2017

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

qbrozen said:

One thing I have said before round these here parts is that the flaw in CR is the fact that they survey CR subscribers. Having one demographic, regardless of which demographic, skews the results.

It would be interesting to see the percentage of M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Subaru in the CR sample as opposed to the national distribution. I don't think I've ever seen those figures but I'd guess they exceed the overall average.
CR is skewed because they survey people who can afford to subscribe to CR.

Why would M-B, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Honda and Suburu be different than national average.
What would be the conspiracy if they weren't in the same ratio....why would they be different? Is it because buyers of those brands have higher I.Q.s or can read better, or B.S. better?

Not sure where this is going?
Neither do I since I am part own of a Subie.

As I'm sure you'll agree, no one has ever called me bright.

jmonroe

Bright....I don't know.....but, "average" customer, I don't think so.

oldfarmer50 · March 2017

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

bwia said:
Cold enough for you?

It's 9 degrees outside and my 24-year old boiler is on overdrive. This winter was relatively mild (reaching 72 two weeks ago) until this cold spell, that started last Thursday. I'm not sure which is more tolerable, snow or the bone chilling cold. Now that I am older neither is unobjectionable to me. And how ironic, would you believe my spring break starts today?
It was 5 degrees F here this morning with negative double digit wind chills.

Now I ask you, why are we required to suffer from all those icy winds and cold coming down from Canada while driver100 gets to bask in our warm Florida air? I think he should at least invite us down for a stay until it warms up.

It cooled off a bit here in Tampa today too, only a high of 75. The rest of the week back up to 80.
If you ever want to make lots of new friends buy a Florida home.

Benjamin Franklin famously said that guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
Who has the private island in Key West....maybe they will invite you back,,,,but, then again....maybe not.

Don't worry about Ben, I'll stink when I arrive.

The island was rented by my wife's rich relative for his daughter's wedding. Unless she gets divorced and remarried I'm out of luck. It's your couch or nothing.

bwia · March 2017

oldfarmer50 said:

bwia said:
Cold enough for you?

It's 9 degrees outside and my 24-year old boiler is on overdrive. This winter was relatively mild (reaching 72 two weeks ago) until this cold spell, that started last Thursday. I'm not sure which is more tolerable, snow or the bone chilling cold. Now that I am older neither is unobjectionable to me. And how ironic, would you believe my spring break starts today?
It was 5 degrees F here this morning with negative double digit wind chills.

Now I ask you, why are we required to suffer from all those icy winds and cold coming down from Canada while driver100 gets to bask in our warm Florida air? I think he should at least invite us down for a stay until it warms up.

This is a picture of me relaxing on a private island off Key West a few years ago. I think I would look at least that good in driver's back yard.

@oldfarmer50, you are unto something here. I was just watching Farid Zhakaria's GPS on CNN. His guest, a Canadian American, said the so-called American dream that most aspire to is now being lived by Canadians (in Canada).

He pointed to many indices. More Canadians hold college degrees than Americans and the degrees are just as good as Harvard, Yale or MIT and cost much less to boot. They live longer than Americans and their healthcare cost is half that of Americans and most surprisingly home ownership, at 68%, is higher than Americans.

Simply put, @driver is living the American dream. Let's have him explain that.

driver100 · March 2017

bwia said:

oldfarmer50 said:

bwia said:
Cold enough for you?

It's 9 degrees outside and my 24-year old boiler is on overdrive. This winter was relatively mild (reaching 72 two weeks ago) until this cold spell, that started last Thursday. I'm not sure which is more tolerable, snow or the bone chilling cold. Now that I am older neither is unobjectionable to me. And how ironic, would you believe my spring break starts today?
It was 5 degrees F here this morning with negative double digit wind chills.

Now I ask you, why are we required to suffer from all those icy winds and cold coming down from Canada while driver100 gets to bask in our warm Florida air? I think he should at least invite us down for a stay until it warms up.

This is a picture of me relaxing on a private island off Key West a few years ago. I think I would look at least that good in driver's back yard.

@oldfarmer50, you are unto something here. I was just watching Farid Zhakaria's GPS on CNN. His guest, a Canadian American, said the so-called American dream that most aspire to is now being lived by Canadians (in Canada).

He pointed to many indices. More Canadians hold college degrees than Americans and the degrees are just as good as Harvard, Yale or MIT and cost much less to boot. They live longer than Americans and their healthcare cost is half that of Americans and most surprisingly home ownership, at 68%, is higher than Americans.

Simply put, @driver is living the American dream. Let's have him explain that.

I was just telling my tennis guys if I was a U.S. citizen, I would live in Florida from Oct 1 to April 30th. Then I would have a condo unit I could live in in Ellicottville NY, about an hour south of Buffalo NY. I'd live in Ellicottville from May 1 to Sept 30th, and when I am in Florida I would rent it out to skiers who are flocking to that little town. I think oldfarmer is close to Eville so he could live my dream....if I offered him our couch.

There are some senators in the US who pushing for allowing Canadians who are 55+, to be able to stay in the US for 8 months instead of the current 6 months. Canadians own 500000 homes in Florida, and over 1 million in the US. Seniors who are 55+ don't cause any problems, we have similar lifestyle and values to US citizens, and we give the economy a strong boost.....even creating a lot of jobs.

I believe overall, standard of living is probably higher in Canada....we sure don't have a city that comes close to 10 murders a day like in Chicago. Universal healthcare I believe is an advantage, even though we pay a lot for it. Cost of living in Canada is much more......for what we paid for a pleasant 2 bdrm home in Florida it would be hard to find a decent garage for that price back home.

Both countries have advantages and disadvantages.......I love them both for their unique qualities. Canadians and Americans are very fortunate to be living in such great freedom loving countries.

(I am getting more long winded than my American buddy....JM

)

stickguy · March 2017

Driver, makes sense to keep rich seniors here spending,

and farmer is actually about 4 hours from buffalo.

iluvmysephia1 · March 2017

sda - Consumer Reports had better give the 2017 Toyota Yaris iA two thumbs up. That's an amazing package of motorcar!

stickguy · March 2017

of all the little cheap munchkin cars out now, I think the iA is the only one I would take a look at.

iluvmysephia1 · March 2017

The iA I last saw in Kansas City gives a humble little footprint out on the busy street. But the car packs a big punch.

driver100 · March 2017

stickguy said:
Driver, makes sense to keep rich seniors here spending,

and farmer is actually about 4 hours from buffalo.

Good....he'd want to sleep on my couch in Ellicotville when we go for our summer tennis weekend.

driver100 · March 2017

iluvmysephia1 said:
The iA I last saw in Kansas City gives a humble little footprint out on the busy street. But the car packs a big punch.

Gets great reviews....Edmunds 5 out of 5.

REVIEW YARIS iA

Looks good.....seems to be a tremendous value for $15 to $17K

iluvmysephia1 · March 2017

You got it, driver100. When it goes on manufacturer rebate again and I'm in the market, I may look one up.

laurasdada · March 2017

BWIA, took the lady friend on a nice stroll from my place to dinner last night. Single digit temps, and a lovely non-tropical breeze. We couldn't agree on a dining choice, so I came up with the perfect solution: We walked to the combo Papa Ginos/D'Angelos shop about a quarter mile away! And, that is why chicks dig me: Gourmand extraordinaire.

fintail · March 2017

The healthcare thing is scary to think about - if I add up my bi-monthly contributions plus my insane deductible and not-covered items, if I am getting it any cheaper than my counterpart in Canada or Germany etc who is taxed higher. I suspect I am not.

The Seattle area does have the Canadian dream for real estate, at least Vancouver BC style - overheated bubble of a market propped up by offshore money being laundered in local housing, and no questions asked about the origins of said money. Vancouver put a 15% tax on the dirty money, and now even more of it is coming here. So the US can pretend to be Canada, at least in a specific area

bwia said:

@oldfarmer50, you are unto something here. I was just watching Farid Zhakaria's GPS on CNN. His guest, a Canadian American, said the so-called American dream that most aspire to is now being lived by Canadians (in Canada).

He pointed to many indices. More Canadians hold college degrees than Americans and the degrees are just as good as Harvard, Yale or MIT and cost much less to boot. They live longer than Americans and their healthcare cost is half that of Americans and most surprisingly home ownership, at 68%, is higher than Americans.

Simply put, @driver is living the American dream. Let's have him explain that.

driver100 · March 2017

"fintail"> Vancouver put a 15% tax on the dirty money, and now even more of it is coming here. So the US can pretend to be Canada, at least in a specific area

That 15% tax on foreigners buying homes in Vancouver put a small dent in the Vancouver market, but, it caused Toronto prices to skyrocket...up 25% over last year. An AVERAGE home in downtown Toronto is $1.5 million! Suburbs approaching $1 million!

driver100 · March 2017

laurasdada said:
BWIA, took the lady friend on a nice stroll from my place to dinner last night. Single digit temps, and a lovely non-tropical breeze. We couldn't agree on a dining choice, so I came up with the perfect solution: We walked to the combo Papa Ginos/D'Angelos shop about a quarter mile away! And, that is why chicks dig me: Gourmand extraordinaire.

When I took my wife out on what was really our first "date" we walked through my neighborhood, discussed a lot of things including the architecture of my older neighborhood. Then I asked what she would like to do for dinner and she said let's get a pizza and take it to your apartment.

That won my heart....the first date not to ask to be taken to one of the most expensive restaurants in town!

We almost never have pizza anymore as part of our weight loss planning.

I guess I am paying for it all now instead

I am fortunate, she doesn't need jewelry or lots of fancy clothes. Unfortunately, she likes nice expensive cars...........I guess jewelry would have worked out costing less.

driver100 · March 2017

Just heard on the news.....this coming Sunday March 12th is Daylight Savings Time.......time is flying!

fintail · March 2017

I wonder if it really did anything. Most of these buyers have so much cash, a small tax will only maybe make them pause. Maybe the tax should be higher. Prices here aren't far off in many areas, and they are only going up.

driver100 said:
<

That 15% tax on foreigners buying homes in Vancouver put a small dent in the Vancouver market, but, it caused Toronto prices to skyrocket...up 25% over last year. An AVERAGE home in downtown Toronto is $1.5 million! Suburbs approaching $1 million!

oldfarmer50 · March 2017

stickguy said:
Driver, makes sense to keep rich seniors here spending,

and farmer is actually about 4 hours from buffalo.

Yeah, I was going to tell him I'm about as far from Ellicottville as he is from Montreal.

I like that idea of living in NY and Florida 6 months at a time. The only thing stopping me is my wife and my wallet.

thebean · March 2017

driver100 said:

Just heard on the news.....this coming Sunday March 12th is Daylight Savings Time.......time is flying!

Man, I hate DST. Doggoned Ben Franklin.

dino001 · March 2017

imidazol97 said:

Convenience surveys work well such as pushing them out with register receipts at quick markets offering a free coffee or soda if it's filled out on computer and brought back to the store. The purpose there is mostly to find problems in the store's operation and unhappy customers will be the first to call or fill out a quick survey about bad product, missing product, inferior customer service, etc..

The CU's testing of vehicles also is selectively written. Long ago I quit reading their short reviews at the back of an issue where they compared similar vehicles. Often the same characteristic in a less-liked brand is criticized more harshly than in the favored brand's written review. Parallel reading of two reviews would indicate the difference in the words chosen and the writing style which often placed critical points in compound sentences or in phrases to minimize their impact to the reader.

Those are valid points. Then there is my experience with JD Powers. Besides already known issues with subjective design complaint (such as location of a cupholder) being listed as a "build quality issue" and insufficient weight of large problems vs. small faults, there is a plain faking having more information than they really posses. Example - listing high and very fast trim of a model separately from lower trim on a menu, yet including a complaint of slow acceleration, which may be valid for the low trim.

driver100 · March 2017

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:
Driver, makes sense to keep rich seniors here spending,

and farmer is actually about 4 hours from buffalo.
Yeah, I was going to tell him I'm about as far from Ellicottville as he is from Montreal.

I like that idea of living in NY and Florida 6 months at a time. The only thing stopping me is my wife and my wallet.

If you sell your farm and all your hoopties you may be able to swing it.
You can get a decent place in Florida for under $200k Gotta be one of the cheapest places in the US to live.
You can probably get a job as a bag boy at Publix.
Buy a small condo in Eville, live for 6 months.
Rent it out for the winter...that place is hopping with all the skiers, and they got bucks.
Unfortunately, they like to party, better get a place where a manager looks after it.
Sounds like the perfect life!

driver100 · March 2017

dino001 said:

imidazol97 said:

Convenience surveys work well such as pushing them out with register receipts at quick markets offering a free coffee or soda if it's filled out on computer and brought back to the store. The purpose there is mostly to find problems in the store's operation and unhappy customers will be the first to call or fill out a quick survey about bad product, missing product, inferior customer service, etc..

The CU's testing of vehicles also is selectively written. Long ago I quit reading their short reviews at the back of an issue where they compared similar vehicles. Often the same characteristic in a less-liked brand is criticized more harshly than in the favored brand's written review. Parallel reading of two reviews would indicate the difference in the words chosen and the writing style which often placed critical points in compound sentences or in phrases to minimize their impact to the reader.
Those are valid points. Then there is my experience with JD Powers. Besides already known issues with subjective design complaint (such as location of a cupholder) being listed as a "build quality issue" and insufficient weight of large problems vs. small faults, there is a plain faking having more information than they really posses. Example - listing high and very fast trim of a model separately from lower trim on a menu, yet including a complaint of slow acceleration, which may be valid for the low trim.

All true Dino. Then there are the subjective points....I can't work the GPS properly. Biggest problem seems to be batteries not working....wonder if that is because people don't know they have to have a trickle charger if they leave their car off for about 4 weeks...because of all the electronics.

And yes, it sounds like one misplaced drink holder is equivalent to a major transmission failure.

Oh well, there probably is some value to the ratings....like don't buy a Fiat (last on the list by far).

driver100 · March 2017

thebean said:

driver100 said:

Just heard on the news.....this coming Sunday March 12th is Daylight Savings Time.......time is flying!

Man, I hate DST. Doggoned Ben Franklin.

lol...I hate it too and now the dog will be all mixed up!

venture · March 2017

driver100 said:

thebean said:

driver100 said:

Just heard on the news.....this coming Sunday March 12th is Daylight Savings Time.......time is flying!

Man, I hate DST. Doggoned Ben Franklin.

lol...I hate it too and now the dog will be all mixed up!

I'm still trying to catch up to the leap second added last year.

ab348 · March 2017

Well, for the last week or so the cats have been waking me up prior to 6AM, probably because of hearing the birds chirping outdoors, so I'll be glad for the clocks moving ahead by an hour.

abacomike · March 2017

Mercedes is recalling 2017 E's and C's due to starting limiter which could overheat and cause a fire. 17V114 is the recall number. Could be why these cars were held up at the port.

driver100 · March 2017

I think it was because of the emissions testing. I believe they found a problem as well with fuses, as ab pointed out.

If we list certain makes because there is a recall notice we won't have time to discuss stuff like plumbing, Chic a Fil or furnaces.

I propose that recalls can be posted when they are major, or fraudulent

Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

Comments

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles

Your Privacy