Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100 · February 2019

On I-75 around here the speed limit is 75, but most cars are going 85 or 90, rarely do I see someone pulled over for speeding. Hate to see how fast they would be going if speed limit was raised to 90....probably over 100.

The way they zig zag in and out and tailgate, it would look like a demolishin derby on the interstate.

imidazol97 · February 2019

I watched a black Charger blow by at 35-40 mph over my speed (77) and the speed of many in the center of 3 lanes. I have seen many drivers do a speed tune up on their cars but this guy seemed stable. Maybe it was an unmarked car for the Kentucky State Police? Or another government agency.

But when he got to the long mild upgrade I could hear his pipes bellowing loudly as he accelerated. They were loud even that far back inside my car. He was at least half a mile to 3/4 mile in front of me. Then the road narrowed to 2 lanes. Couldn't see how successful he was in keeping that speed with cars in both lanes.

This was I64 near Frankfort--down in Roadburner's country. The car was certainly stable at those speeds.

28firefighter · February 2019

When we go out with Sam or as a group with kids, we usually tip 25-30% on our final bill just because we know we’re high maintenance AND tend to leave a bigger mess.

I cannot imagine stiffing a server on a tip, even when service is horrendous. Everyone is trying to make a living. If service is that bad I just won’t go back again.

roadburner · February 2019

28firefighter said:
When we go out with Sam or as a group with kids, we usually tip 25-30% on our final bill just because we know we’re high maintenance AND tend to leave a bigger mess.

I cannot imagine stiffing a server on a tip, even when service is horrendous. Everyone is trying to make a living. If service is that bad I just won’t go back again.

Agreed.

Mr_Shiftright · February 2019

ab348 said:
Around here the liquor laws require all minors to leave places with a liquor license by either 9 or 10PM. Even though they are with parents or guardians. Some people gripe about that but it seems to make sense to me. I cannot understand the lack of a tip.

In Italy you'll see young children out with their parents late at night, sometimes very late. Of course, climate and the type of culture have a lot to do with that--large extended families have lots of supervisors.

ruking1 · February 2019

driver100 said:
On I-75 around here the speed limit is 75, but most cars are going 85 or 90, rarely do I see someone pulled over for speeding. Hate to see how fast they would be going if speed limit was raised to 90....probably over 100.

The way they zig zag in and out and tailgate, it would look like a demolishin derby on the interstate.

The real key: KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS. I do that (9.95/10) even when nobody is coming up fast on the rear or directly behind me. It’s just safety, courtesy, the right thing to do.

A lot of people when they think German EU autobahn “no speed limits “ either don’t know or have forgotten the trucks are audited for a speed limit is 55 mph.

Sandman6472 · February 2019

Very sad that those jerks left without tipping, they knew what they were supposed to do but decided not to. Shame on them and their "entitlement" way of thinking. I always leave 20% because someone is serving us, they're working and their base pay is probably low. They depend on tips and giving me a service, I am responsible to tip them. End of story. Have found that there are many jerks in this world, I just try to keep away from them!

Sandman6472 · February 2019

My wife is a CPA and working at Turbo Tax, her fourth year. She loves her work, and is good at it. I always tell folks who want her to do their taxes as she's excellent but very honest. They get what I'm sayin' and most still come and the others who aren't that honest, don't. All I know, she pays quarterly. I just give her all my paperwork, tell her how much I want to put into my IRA. She does the math, tells me either yes or to inch up the figure and what kind of IRA will work for us. I follow her recommendation and we're good. Why question the expert as she knows her stuff.

suydam · February 2019

This is the first year in many that we were better off NOT itemizing. Going forward I guess this means we can do our own taxes from now on.

driver100 · February 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:

ab348 said:
Around here the liquor laws require all minors to leave places with a liquor license by either 9 or 10PM. Even though they are with parents or guardians. Some people gripe about that but it seems to make sense to me. I cannot understand the lack of a tip.
In Italy you'll see young children out with their parents late at night, sometimes very late. Of course, climate and the type of culture have a lot to do with that--large extended families have lots of supervisors.

But, people don't eat dinner until 9 or 10 p.m. in Europe......and kids have wine with their meal.

bwia · February 2019

Did any one watch 60 Minutes tonight. They did a story on China's push to build 1 million electric cars this year which is heavily subsidized by the Chinese govt.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/in-china-an-electric-car-lifestyle-60-minutes/

bwia · February 2019

Here is link on China's drive to dominate the electric car industry. I was particularly impressed with their battery swapping technology and the large number of startups vying for a piece of the action. Enjoy and comment.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/electric-cars-chinas-drive-to-dominate-the-industry-60-minutes/

cdnpinhead · February 2019

There was Rome, then England, then the U.S. and. . .

driver100 · February 2019

See the new parking planned for Gatwick airport (1 minute)

https://youtu.be/sqOPnPVTJ74

driver100 · February 2019

Yesterday I got an email from my VISA supplier (bank) asking me if I charged $19 at MacDonalds. The email said I could phone a number or call the number on the back of my card...so the email looked legit.
I checked my account and they charged $20 at Cornbread and $1 at a gas station....sometimes gas stations first charge $1 when they are checking your account...then charge the rest in a separate transaction.

Apparently the 3 charges were made in New Jersey.......and we are in Florida. I destroyed my card, the bank won't charge me, I will get a new card and papers to sign that I didn't make the charges.

I don't use the cards often, in the last week two meals at restaurants, one charge for gas.

My question is.....if you got my card number, why charge two bills for $20 for meals, and $1 for gas? Or is that to test the waters?

ab348 · February 2019

QR codes? I don't see it taking off. That seemed to be a fad that quickly came and went.

imidazol97 · February 2019

driver100 said:
See the new parking planned for Gatwick airport (1 minute)
https://youtu.be/sqOPnPVTJ74

I don't see anything that could go wrong there...

tjc78 · February 2019

Yeah, that's a little scary. Pretty cool idea, but can you imagine the liability?

How does the robot know if it's a RWD or FWD car?

imidazol97 · February 2019

It picks up the car with the prongs that lift the tires, so the drive configuration shouldn't matter.

I just recall the troubles that @abacomike has with the wheels on one of his cars being damaged
by the car wash rails, for instance. And I'm wondering how these robot haulers may work if
something goes wrong in their controls. I can just see all the crunched vehicles when a robot went
bipolar...

imidazol97 · February 2019

ab348 said:
QR codes? I don't see it taking off. That seemed to be a fad that quickly came and went.

QR codes are on my Chick Fil A app for both payment and rewards credits.

imidazol97 · February 2019

suydam said:
This is the first year in many that we were better off NOT itemizing. Going forward I guess this means we can do our own taxes from now on.

I did a quick browse of the Turbo Tax mentioned in another post. They have an online free tax computation which will allow you to file. That is if your income doesn't include capital gains or dividends above the minimum which then requires itemization of those on schedule B.

The online app says it reads your W2s and separates the various data items on it and places them into the appropriate place in Turbo Tax.

I may have to pick up an old copy of the full Turbo Tax and see if it can read my 1099s and place them into the proper slots.

I have a problem with the online apps which collect data of any type and what is done with that data afterwards.

Just like with the social media Facebook and Alphabet items where they're free so that means me and my data are the product they will be selling. Turbo Tax, however, may be in a different class.

driver100 · February 2019

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:
See the new parking planned for Gatwick airport (1 minute)
https://youtu.be/sqOPnPVTJ74
I don't see anything that could go wrong there...

I think I would trust the robot more than a lot of people I have seen parking their cars. I have had valets that must have been doing donuts or speeding around curves because I have had valets and all the stuff in my trunk was spewed all over the place.

I like the way the robot parks the cars close. Probably less chance of a car being broken into as well.

bwia · February 2019

driver100 said:
Yesterday I got an email from my VISA supplier (bank) asking me if I charged $19 at MacDonalds. The email said I could phone a number or call the number on the back of my card...so the email looked legit.
I checked my account and they charged $20 at Cornbread and $1 at a gas station....sometimes gas stations first charge $1 when they are checking your account...then charge the rest in a separate transaction.

Apparently the 3 charges were made in New Jersey.......and we are in Florida. I destroyed my card, the bank won't charge me, I will get a new card and papers to sign that I didn't make the charges.

I don't use the cards often, in the last week two meals at restaurants, one charge for gas.

My question is.....if you got my card number, why charge two bills for $20 for meals, and $1 for gas? Or is that to test the waters?

welcome to the club of unauthorized use of someone's credit card. Who knows why they only charged $20. Perhaps your card has an extremely low limit or they may have tried charging a big ticket item which was denied.

bwia · February 2019

@driver, I believe you saw the movie "The Green Book" was it deserving of an Oscar? I thought the Green Book was a travelling guide for African Americans of safe places to stay and eat as they travelled by car across America.

snakeweasel · February 2019

tyguy said:

Are the “no speed limits” American states’ autobahns coming ? https://www.yahoo.com/news/american-autobahn-next-states-pushing-111617225.html
But, in Germany it can take years to get a license and most drivers know how to drive. Try driving on I-75 with a speed limit of 75, and tell me those people could drive on the Autobahn - it would look like a Russian Dash Cam video.
And Germany is more aggressive in vehicle inspection to help insure vehicle degradation is not a liability. So, poor driver ed + poor vehicle maintenance + low driver discipline + high center of gravity SUVs and trucks + unlimited speed = winning. That's a math I don't understand.

I say we should do it and we can stay off the interstates while darwinism thins out the heard. It's a win for us.

snakeweasel · February 2019

tjc78 said:

Can’t think of many roads near us that could support those speeds. RT 55 between Glassboro and Vineland, maybe the stretch of the A.C. expressway that’s three lanes.

The interstates around here could handle those high speeds. The land around here is very flat and most of the curves are slight. My concern is would the drivers and some of the cars out there won't be able to. Plus there would be a massive speed delta between the cars and the semis out there I am pretty sure that it would be impractical

snakeweasel · February 2019

imidazol97 said:

Here's a school bus violation video https://pix11.com/2019/02/21/video-shows-man-drive-onto-sidewalk-as-students-walk-to-class-in-brooklyn/

Just a few months ago I almost got rear ended because I had the audacity to stop for a school bus that had stopped to pick up some children. Looking in my rear view mirror I could tell he was pissed about it. Shame on me for being so inconsiderate.

stickguy · February 2019

I don’t valet if at all possible. And I’ll never do it at a parking garage.

snakeweasel · February 2019

My wifes heating unit in her car gave up the ghost. They wanted about $400 to fix it. About $50 in parts and 5 minutes time and I have it fixed. Man I picked the wrong career.

stickguy · February 2019

Interstates were designed for something like 75mph speed limits, back in the 50s/60s, when cars had marginal suspension and brakes, and no safety features. I think the roads can handle it.

Heck, I’ll glance down when traffic is light and realize I’m up in the low 80s, and it hardly feels like your moving. Just loafing along at about 2,500 RPMs.

snakeweasel · February 2019

stickguy said:

I don’t valet if at all possible. And I’ll never do it at a parking garage.

I only valet if we are in downtown Chicago, it's much easier and can be cheaper than finding a garage.

imidazol97 · February 2019

I remember a parking garage in downtown Chicago. They lost my 57 Ford. A girl friend who lived in Griffith (near Gary) and I had gone shopping. Oh those college days.

berri · February 2019

If Interstates are going to be 75-80, I think they need to raise the minimum speed limits too to narrow the differences between vehicle speeds.

stickguy · February 2019

Just be careful leaving your Ferrari with a garage in Chicago.

tjc78 · February 2019

imidazol97 said:
It picks up the car with the prongs that lift the tires, so the drive configuration shouldn't matter.

I just recall the troubles that @abacomike has with the wheels on one of his cars being damaged
by the car wash rails, for instance. And I'm wondering how these robot haulers may work if
something goes wrong in their controls. I can just see all the crunched vehicles when a robot went
bipolar...

I went back and looked again, you are correct. At first I thought it was towing it.

abacomike · February 2019

imidazol97 said:
It picks up the car with the prongs that lift the tires, so the drive configuration shouldn't matter.

I just recall the troubles that @abacomike has with the wheels on one of his cars being damaged
by the car wash rails, for instance. And I'm wondering how these robot haulers may work if
something goes wrong in their controls. I can just see all the crunched vehicles when a robot went
bipolar...

Imid, you have a great memory. Yes, every time I took the car (2016 E400) in for a wash at he dealership in Delray Beach, they scratched and damaged my wheels because they were scraping on the guide rails in the automatic carwash. Even though the wheels were special ordered rims from Mercedes-Benz, the rims extended out even with the tire edges so if the tires rubbed up against the guard rail, the rims were scraped. It never happened before on the stock wheels and has not happened since.

abacomike · February 2019

The forecast for the next few days is for gale-force winds due to a cold front moving south across South Florida. It's starting to blow pretty hard right now and will intensify as the front passes with winds hitting us from the northeast at 30-40 mph. Expected to last a few days. Interestingly enough, the temperatures are not going to be that much lower once the front passes - today in the mid to upper 80's, tomorrow and Wednesday, lower 80's. Go figure.

snakeweasel · February 2019

berri said:

If Interstates are going to be 75-80, I think they need to raise the minimum speed limits too to narrow the differences between vehicle speeds.

There is a bill here in Illinois that would raise speed limits on rural noninterstate highways to 60 and rural interstates to 75. Nothing about raising minimum speed but it's not like you see anyone going anywhere near the minimum.

stickguy · February 2019

the minimum was really for vehicles that should not be on a highway I think. Farm trucks or tractors, mopeds, stuff like that.

Mr_Shiftright · February 2019

cdnpinhead said:
There was Rome, then England, then the U.S. and. . .

Did you Know? China has put down more concrete in the last three years than all the concrete used by the USA in the entire 20th century.

ruking1 · February 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:

cdnpinhead said:
There was Rome, then England, then the U.S. and. . .
Did you Know? China has put down more concrete in the last three years than all the concrete used by the USA in the entire 20th century.

Indeed, China’s population @ 1.4 B to the USA’s 326 M is 4.29 x’s larger! It would be way larger if the US imposed China mandatory 1 child social engineering scheme.

For 50 + years or so China has been the miracle of ALL things AMERICAN. The USA has been neglected & has suffered in the process. One example has been the US middle class.

In China, the middle class is fully 300 M people (1.4B) This growth has been mostly in the last four decades. So can it really be a surprise that China’s new car sales exceeds the USA? (fully 12.5% classified as “poor”, to be certain China’s % poor is much higher) So of course, modern cars require modern roads. Roads of course play an integral part in nation, state, county, city, rural area, building.

Mr_Shiftright · February 2019

It's hard to make sense of China's rise to a world power. It could be viewed as some sort of economic miracle, but also as a ticking time-bomb waiting for a blow-out.

jmonroe1 · February 2019

imidazol97 said:

suydam said:
This is the first year in many that we were better off NOT itemizing. Going forward I guess this means we can do our own taxes from now on.
I did a quick browse of the Turbo Tax mentioned in another post. They have an online free tax computation which will allow you to file. That is if your income doesn't include capital gains or dividends above the minimum which then requires itemization of those on schedule B.

The online app says it reads your W2s and separates the various data items on it and places them into the appropriate place in Turbo Tax.

I may have to pick up an old copy of the full Turbo Tax and see if it can read my 1099s and place them into the proper slots.

I have a problem with the online apps which collect data of any type and what is done with that data afterwards.

Just like with the social media Facebook and Alphabet items where they're free so that means me and my data are the product they will be selling. Turbo Tax, however, may be in a different class.

When I hear the word "free", the first thing I do is reach for my wallet. I'd weigh at least another hundred pounds if I opted for only half the "free" restaurant cards that were offered to me just last year alone if I'd take a survey, taken a test drive listened to an investment spiel (in fact most of those were free dinners altogether)...you name it and it was offered to me.

FWIW, I have used the H&R Block tax program the last six or so years. It's pretty conservative so when I have to, I lie about some of my deductions. It's also pretty dumb since it has never questioned me.

jmonroe

ruking1 · February 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:
It's hard to make sense of China's rise to a world power. It could be viewed as some sort of economic miracle, but also as a ticking time-bomb waiting for a blow-out.

Here’s one statistic. China has a 200 M MAN armed services to 1.4 M PERSON A/S USA. That’s 143 to 1. The imposed one child policy, with China’s culture favoring boy babies, has literally created a throwaway, sick misandrist mostly MALE army. So China could literally sacrifice/lose the WHOLE army and would still have the ability/option to either repopulate or ...not.! Can you even imagine if they let people have as many children as they want ?

Mr_Shiftright · February 2019

Nobody's nuts enough to fight a land war with China.

ruking1 · February 2019

jmonroe1 said:

imidazol97 said:

suydam said:
This is the first year in many that we were better off NOT itemizing. Going forward I guess this means we can do our own taxes from now on.
I did a quick browse of the Turbo Tax mentioned in another post. They have an online free tax computation which will allow you to file. That is if your income doesn't include capital gains or dividends above the minimum which then requires itemization of those on schedule B.

The online app says it reads your W2s and separates the various data items on it and places them into the appropriate place in Turbo Tax.

I may have to pick up an old copy of the full Turbo Tax and see if it can read my 1099s and place them into the proper slots.

I have a problem with the online apps which collect data of any type and what is done with that data afterwards.

Just like with the social media Facebook and Alphabet items where they're free so that means me and my data are the product they will be selling. Turbo Tax, however, may be in a different class.
When I hear the word "free", the first thing I do is reach for my wallet. I'd weigh at least another hundred pounds if I opted for only half the "free" restaurant cards that were offered to me just last year alone if I'd take a survey, taken a test drive listened to an investment spiel (in fact most of those were free dinners altogether)...you name it and it was offered to me.

FWIW, I have used the H&R Block tax program the last six or so years. It's pretty conservative so when I have to, I lie about some of my deductions. It's also pretty dumb since it has never questioned me.

jmonroe

Current regulations may give one more leeway than one may care to understand. Current IRS regulations are on line! Back in the day, even CPA accountants didn’t keep a library of IRS regulations. I don’t believe the main branch of the San Francisco, CA library even had copies of it

41 years ago, I got summoned to the local IRS center for an audit. Long story short, I was paying WAY too many & much taxes. (You can believe me, the IRS does NOT audit you to RETURN monies.) I literally got back $600 per hr. each of time. One audit item was clearly spelled out by the United States military and United States IRS. The IRS main frame computer generated audit screens indicated that not many people took advantage of these deductions. So that, even with clearly spelled out regulations, made me target.

As it worked out, the IRS got so PO’d at returning money, they audited for the next 3 years. I got back money for each of those years plus interest!

driver100 · February 2019

bwia said:
@driver, I believe you saw the movie "The Green Book" was it deserving of an Oscar? I thought the Green Book was a travelling guide for African Americans of safe places to stay and eat as they travelled by car across America.

That is exactly what The Green Book was...a guide for black travelers. But, the movie was excellent. Overall, I liked Bohemian Rhapsody better....both based on real events, but, that doesn't diminish how good The Green Book is.

ruking1 · February 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:
Nobody's nuts enough to fight a land war with China.

Well no! That was what the Korean War was partially to all about. We killed 1M plus Chinese soldiers during that conflict. So it begs the question: if we were able to kill 1 million Chinese in Korea, how many Chinese soldiers were actually in the conflict?

The Vietnam War had in large portion, China’s logistics. A lot of technical logistics was from then called “USSR”. So to me, it’s inexplicable why we didn’t deny those logistics: ports, air logistics and pathways.

snakeweasel · February 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:

There was Rome, then England, then the U.S. and. . .
Did you Know? China has put down more concrete in the last three years than all the concrete used by the USA in the entire 20th century.

WOW the Chinese mob must be busy.

snakeweasel · February 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:

Nobody's nuts enough to fight a land war with China.

Fighting land wars against any large country (in land area) is nuts. Large countries are pretty much unconquerable.

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