Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

imidazol97 · September 2022

I see Michelin now has a Defender 2 model. I don't know if it replaces the Defender H&T or is a new model parallel to it.

driver100 · September 2022

ronsteve said:

abacomike said:

@imidazol97 said:

What's the prognosis from the Florida folks on the hurricane developing. Son and DIL are going to somewhere in panhandle with her family for a week get together. Son is worried they'll have to fly out early and should change their reservations and shorten their plans.

It looks to me like the indicators are showing the hurricane cutting onto the west coast and going inland?

That’s what the meteorologists are telling us. Supposed to be a CAT 3 as it approaches. We are in the “cone of uncertainty”. But we expect heavy winds and tons of rain no matter where it makes landfall because we will be on the eastern side of the storm which produces the heavy rains with winds.

Now the track has been nudged far enough west that you're down to a 30 percent probability of tropical storm-force winds (39 mph) and nearly nil for hurricane force. The west coast of Florida is still well under the gun, especially from Sarasota northward. It's looking more and more like the trough that swings through the Great Lakes and Northeast later in the week is going to be moving too fast to pick it up, so less of a chance of it crossing the peninsula, and more chance of impacting the Panhandle.

Please tell me it is going to miss the Tampa area

stickguy · September 2022

was finally home for a day with no place to go, and got ambitious. Put up a bunch of extra shelves in one of the spare bedroom closets so the wife could unpack all her boxes of pictures (we have an absurd amount of those. among other things).

then I finally got to go out into the garage and clear it out. moved the shelves that needed to go, hung up ladders, cleared out the rest of the miscelaneous boxes of stuff that never got put away. So it is now cleared out and ready to test fit 2 cars! might need a little more reorg to squeeze the truck in but won't know until I try. something to work on tomorrow.

driver100 · September 2022

I think we talked about this before but I noticed a neighbor has a newer BMW 4 series M Model I think. I can't believe they couldn't come up with a better solution for the license plate. I know most states don't have front plates anymore...but in Canada we have ones that are the same dimensions as the U.S. Europe has the long thin ones. This just looks wrong:

My favorite license is this one for the North West Territories:

jipster · September 2022

@benjaminh said:
A couple of pix of the oem Bridgestone tires on my wife's 2018 CR-V. 38k miles, but they are a bit worn. Considering upgrading to the Michelin CrossClimate2, which are now on sale at Costco. I love the CC2 tires on my TLX.

Ever try Vredestein tires? Those got really good reviews on TireRack. Was going to try those when my Accord tires wear down.

roadburner · September 2022

I put Vredestein Quatrac 5 tires on the Clubman. It's an all-season Grand Touring tire with the Severe Snow Service rating. They are perfect for my needs as the Clubman is my DD and it doesn't see much aggressive driving. Well, there was the Giulia that almost spun out trying to keep up with me on a decreasing radius off-camber corner, but in fairness to the Alfa its driver was beyond incompetent.
At best.

abacomike · September 2022

@ronsteve said:
Now the track has been nudged far enough west that you're down to a 30 percent probability of tropical storm-force winds (39 mph) and nearly nil for hurricane force. The west coast of Florida is still well under the gun, especially from Sarasota northward. It's looking more and more like the trough that swings through the Great Lakes and Northeast later in the week is going to be moving too fast to pick it up, so less of a chance of it crossing the peninsula, and more chance of impacting the Panhandle.

Yes - we Floridians follow the forecasts hourly. These storms have been known to change course at the last minute. If the storm slows, it will move east. The jet stream is moving south and if the hurricane moves too slowly, we’re in trouble!

henryn · September 2022

oldfarmer50 said:

When my relatives visit from Florida I lend them the Soul. You can get two hard or three soft sided suitcases in the trunk but not much more. Interior room is good for such a small car. I’ve seen ride share drivers use Corollas and Accents for standard fare use. If you want a big SUV you can get one but it costs more.

Yes, the Kia Soul does have very good interior room for a small car. One of the reasons I almost bought one, a few years back.

Contrast that with a Mazda 3, and the difference is astounding. A friend of mine owns a Mazda 3, which she left in my driveway (long story). I had to move the car around, and I had a very difficult time fitting in there just to move it a few feet.

tjc78 · September 2022

Every once in awhile you just run into good customer service. For my theater room I purchased a new Klipsch subwoofer back in Jan 2021. I went with Klipsch because my previous one had been so robust, still working from 1998 or so.

Anyway… watched a movie the other night with the family and noticed it wasn’t working. Dug into it yesterday doing all the normal checks and confirmed it was dead.

Called this morning and within 10 minutes they have a new amplifier for it on the way. They don’t even want the old one back. It is a handful of screws and three connectors to replace it. Shouldn’t be too bad.

I’m a little concerned it went out so fast, but maybe I just got a bad one.

qbrozen · September 2022

Sis loves her Kia Soul. Dealer keeps begging her to sell it back for thousands more than she paid, but she can't find anything she likes better that's as affordable. Hers is pre-CVT.

explorerx4 · September 2022

Speaking of good customer service, I found out I get better service after getting my hair cut.
I still wear a mask when I go in the grocery store.
Got my hair cut Friday and went to the deli at the grocery store Sunday and asked for 1/2 lb of roast beef.
The lady sliced it then said to me there's only a few slices left so I'll weigh what you have then add the rest on top. Enjoy another sandwich on me. I said i's savor every bite of it!

abacomike · September 2022

We have been under severe thunderstorm warnings for the past few hours. These are outer bands from the hurricane according to our meteorologists. We are not going to be affected by the hurricane itself - but we are going to receive very heavy rains from the bands along with gale force winds beginning tomorrow.

This is a huge hurricane.

driver100 · September 2022

https://youtu.be/JhJhHAMq6gY

roadburner · September 2022

tjc78 said:
Every once in awhile you just run into good customer service. For my theater room I purchased a new Klipsch subwoofer back in Jan 2021. I went with Klipsch because my previous one had been so robust, still working from 1998 or so.

Anyway… watched a movie the other night with the family and noticed it wasn’t working. Dug into it yesterday doing all the normal checks and confirmed it was dead.

Called this morning and within 10 minutes they have a new amplifier for it on the way. They don’t even want the old one back. It is a handful of screws and three connectors to replace it. Shouldn’t be too bad.

I’m a little concerned it went out so fast, but maybe I just got a bad one.

My main HTS uses Klipsch speakers except for the sub(a Hsu VTF-3R).

laurasdada · September 2022

Hi:
Back from a short, coastal Maine vacation. Including a blustery day in Acadia National park and a soaking rain day tagging along as the wife tchotchke shopped. To be fair, she did accompany me to the Owl's Head Transportation Museum. She saw an older black Lincoln Convertible, took a shining to it. Good transportation history there, bikes, cars, planes and more.

The A7 was wonderful, as always. But, the electric charging was less than ideal. As a PHEV, I don't have to plan my trip with charging in mind, I do look for charging stations wherever I am (especially the free kind!). We stayed at three inns, the first had no charging station; the innkeeper offered to let me plug in to his external 110...but due to a full car (separate bag for her shoes!), I didn't bring my charging cable. And, the parking would have been awkward as the A7 would have blocked much of the entrance drive.

The second inn had four Clipper Creek units, so I was able to nuke up; also using the chargers were a Rivian, VW ID4 (license plate: "DAS EV"), a Rav4 PHEV and a Bolt.

Third inn had two Clipper Creek, but although they were lit up as "Power On," the electricity would not flow. Had the maintenance staff scratching their heads, "It should work..." So, no go there, they were going to call an electrician to review.

I am not ready for all electric (for road tripping, at least).

Saturday night was a great dinner in Ogunquit, followed by the Carol King musical, "Beautiful." Which was a great show, with two issue:
Andre the Giant was sitting in front of me; I had to walk like an Egyptian my head the whole show as his head blocked the center third of the stage. Apologies to the folks behind me.
And, the music. Just not memorable... I'm not sure that I'll still love it tomorrow...

Oh, yeah, there was a number of Porsche's cruising in Ogunquit, all with Quebec plates. Mostly Boxsters, a couple of 911 and Cayman. My kind of tchotchkes!

venture · September 2022

We were at a little local bakery on Saturday. I parked next to a Tesla. The license plate read ELECTRQ.

andres3 · September 2022

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

ronsteve said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

It’s illegal to deliver pizza in Canada?

I think a lot of insurance carriers, also in the States, won’t cover drivers who are delivering pizza (or probably Doordash or Uber)

Uber and Lyft provide a million in coverage while you’re actually transporting customers. Once you turn off the app it reverts to your own insurance.

But my question to driver100 was why the pizza driver was illegal? No insurance? Undocumented? Or is delivering pizza illegal?

Mitchell could answer the insurance for pizza drivers question.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REPLY:

He was in the country illegally. A family member let him deliver pizzas under the table....not being in the country legally. It was hard to sue....I think she had to pay for her own repairs.
___________
That was my idea !!! Well, my idea for responding to photo enforcement "snitch" policies if any would-be States tried it. It was my relative, that was visiting... (legally I'd assume), but what does it matter, they are in another Country now. Do you really want to pay international postage (asking the revenue generators now?)

andres3 · September 2022

abacomike said:

@stickguy said:

I never analyzed exactly what covers what, but I know one of the charges on my insurance policy is for uninsured motorist coverage. I don't skimp on that.

Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is for medical expenses, loss of income, pain and suffering, etc., when you are in an auto accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver. It does not cover the vehicle damage or property damage - collision coverage and property damage coverage takes care of that.

With so many drivers having no insurance or low coverages for liability (10,000/20,000 for example), you have to have this insurance coverage.

Back in 2001, I was stopped on I-75 due to an accident in front of me. I was rear-ended by a guy doing 70 mph. He carried 10,000/20,000 liability. I was in the hospital for 4 weeks + rehab. My health insurance paid for hospital costs less the $10,000 from his insurance company. My 2001 Lexus GS400 was totaled. My collision coverage covered the loss. But I received almost $100K for pain and suffering, loss of wages, and permanent damage to my back and knee from my uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

I got a lawyer to sue the guy, but he had no assets. That’s why I always carry uninsured/underinsured motorist.

In California you can get deductible waivers on your uninsured coverage to cover your collision deductible. In this way if someone uninsured hits you it won't cost you out of your pocket theoretically.

Of course, this is where the insurance cabal lobbied/conspired to have this only apply the uninsured coverage, and not the under-insured coverage. If I find the Insurance Commissioner responsible for letting that happen they are in trouble!

andres3 · September 2022

jipster said:

@benjaminh said:

A couple of pix of the oem Bridgestone tires on my wife's 2018 CR-V. 38k miles, but they are a bit worn. Considering upgrading to the Michelin CrossClimate2, which are now on sale at Costco. I love the CC2 tires on my TLX.

Ever try Vredestein tires? Those got really good reviews on TireRack. Was going to try those when my Accord tires wear down.

I almost tried those, but with Discount Tire matching Costco's $150 rebate of Michelin's, they weren't substantially cheaper than the Pilot Sport All-Season 4. I'm liking these new Michelins a lot so far, but I've only tested them in the dry and heat so far, because well, global warming.

andres3 · September 2022

Another way to beat the man if you get a ticket and don't want to pay it. As long as you don't mind never driving again, just don't pay the ticket. What are they going to do, suspend your license?

Just quit driving and you've beat the system!

It turns out you don't have to die to defeat the charge! There's another way!

snakeweasel · September 2022

driver100 said:
I think we talked about this before but I noticed a neighbor has a newer BMW 4 series M Model I think. I can't believe they couldn't come up with a better solution for the license plate. I know most states don't have front plates anymore...but in Canada we have ones that are the same dimensions as the U.S. Europe has the long thin ones. This just looks wrong:

They made the grill so much taller and it in itself looks awful, it's at least twice as tall as the one on my 4 series. There is enough room under the grill to place a plate without covering any part of the grill.

snakeweasel · September 2022

abacomike said:
We have been under severe thunderstorm warnings for the past few hours. These are outer bands from the hurricane according to our meteorologists. We are not going to be affected by the hurricane itself - but we are going to receive very heavy rains from the bands along with gale force winds beginning tomorrow.

This is a huge hurricane.

Our daughter was supposed to take our granddaughter to Indy for a soccer tournament next weekend. She had to cancel it due to the hurricane. We were going to go down and see them and watch the games.

snakeweasel · September 2022

andres3 said:
Another way to beat the man if you get a ticket and don't want to pay it. As long as you don't mind never driving again, just don't pay the ticket. What are they going to do, suspend your license? Just quit driving and you've beat the system!

It turns out you don't have to die to defeat the charge! There's another way!

Most states will take it out of any payment the state makes to you, like tax refunds.

oldfarmer50 · September 2022

explorerx4 said:
Speaking of good customer service, I found out I get better service after getting my hair cut.
I still wear a mask when I go in the grocery store.
Got my hair cut Friday and went to the deli at the grocery store Sunday and asked for 1/2 lb of roast beef.
The lady sliced it then said to me there's only a few slices left so I'll weigh what you have then add the rest on top. Enjoy another sandwich on me. I said i's savor every bite of it!

I’ll toot my own horn for a customer service story. Today as I was moving cars in the airport garage I saw an elderly (80s) man struggling around with a knee brace and a cane. He desperately asked me where our competitor’s booth was located and gave out a groan when I told him it was at the other end of the garage.

I felt sorry for him and asked if would help if I carried his suitcases over to the competitor’s booth. He gratefully said yes. My coworker saw what was going on and located a courtesy chair (kind of a wheelchair) for the guy to ride in. We got him to his destination and his wife thanked us. The old man reached out, shook my hand and profusely thanked us.

That was our good deed for the day.

explorerx4 · September 2022

@oldfarmer50,
Nothing the matter with being a good person.

stickguy · September 2022

plus you old guys need to stick together!

driver100 · September 2022

laurasdada said:
Hi:
(license plate: "DAS EV"),

Saturday night was a great dinner in Ogunquit, followed by the Carol King musical, "Beautiful." Which was a great show, with two issue:
Andre the Giant was sitting in front of me; I had to walk like an Egyptian my head the whole show as his head blocked the center third of the stage. Apologies to the folks behind me.
And, the music. Just not memorable... I'm not sure that I'll still love it tomorrow...

Welcome back!
Love that license "DAS EV".
Loved our trip to Ogunquit....what a beautiful place. Ideal to have a place there in the summer, and a place in AZ or FL for the winter.
Liked Carol Kings "Beautiful", and incredible story about a young kid who wrote songs for a hobby, got them recorded, and then started to sing her own songs...with great success.

Not quite Jersey Boys which we have seen about 15 times, plus twice saw Frankie Valli live twice. I have to see it at least once a year, it's a lot cheaper than seeing a psychiatrist. It has humor, great music, based on a true story about troubled kids who got some breaks, got noticed, were highly successful, had a huge debt because their leader/manager was ripping them off....but paid off the whole debt by working their butts off.........and making it against all odds....it doesn't get much better than that!

laurasdada · September 2022

I've seen Jersey Boys twice, great show.
Even in "fall," Ogunquit was quite crowded, lots of traffic (true of Bar Harbor, too). We briefly met with wife's friends who retired to Ogunquit; they were quite tired of the tourists and traffic. Which is true for all seasonally attractive locations, I imagine.

driver100 · September 2022

People think it would be nice to live in a tourist tow - they always look beautiful but do you really want to live with 1000s of visitors around you all the time?
Niagara on the Lake which is near Niagara Falls is like that. Beautiful spot to visit, probably a nice spot to live in, except for all the tourists;

driver100 · September 2022

I mentioned before that MrsD100 is against weird eaves troughs, paints electric cords to match the wall, doesn't like lots of points on roofs....she noticed another one today when we took Trixie for a walk. I didn't have my phone with me so I am using a stock photo. There is a new house with about 10 steps that go to the front door - she doesn't like houses to have steps either, but what she noticed is there is a railing, but people put their flower pots right where you can't use the railing....like this but with more steps and really steep.

ronsteve · September 2022

@driver100 said:
People think it would be nice to live in a tourist tow - they always look beautiful but do you really want to live with 1000s of visitors around you all the time?
Niagara on the Lake which is near Niagara Falls is like that. Beautiful spot to visit, probably a nice spot to live in, except for all the tourists;

It seems to me that Niagara on the Lake would be a lot quieter than the Falls… in more ways than one.

I spent 11 years in Wilmington NC, which is a tourist town in its own right. Our Riverfest in early October was seen by many locals as a celebration of the end of tourist season.

driver100 · September 2022

@ronsteve
Definitely, way more people want to view the Falls and it attracts a very different crowd to "The Commercial Area" in Niagara Falls......with all the attractions like the wax museum, Marine Land and restaurants for young people etc. Niagara on the Lake is more suited to older mature people, who want to see the flowers, older buildings, shop in sophisticated shops, and visit the theater....and restaurants for more mature citizens.

graphicguy · September 2022

tjc78 said:
Every once in awhile you just run into good customer service. For my theater room I purchased a new Klipsch subwoofer back in Jan 2021. I went with Klipsch because my previous one had been so robust, still working from 1998 or so.

Anyway… watched a movie the other night with the family and noticed it wasn’t working. Dug into it yesterday doing all the normal checks and confirmed it was dead.

Called this morning and within 10 minutes they have a new amplifier for it on the way. They don’t even want the old one back. It is a handful of screws and three connectors to replace it. Shouldn’t be too bad.

I’m a little concerned it went out so fast, but maybe I just got a bad one.

It has a digital amp, most likely from China. There were a rash of those that were poorly manufactured. I’ve swapped a bunch of them in different sub woofers for friends. Easy. Tell them to send a spare. You’ll probably need it.

tjc78 · September 2022

@graphicguy said:
It has a digital amp, most likely from China. There were a rash of those that were poorly manufactured. I’ve swapped a bunch of them in different sub woofers for friends. Easy. Tell them to send a spare. You’ll probably need it.

Absolutely a digital amp. Pulled it out last night and was surprised how light it was. If it goes out again l will bypass the internal amp and run it off my Denon POA-2200. That beast can drive two DJ spec Yamaha 15s to ear splitting levels so I’d assume it would do just fine in this scenario.

Pretty amazing that I got 25 years and counting off the old Klipsch and this one didn’t make two years. The older one certainly was used very heavily in its earlier years when I lived by myself. Unfortunately it just didn’t have the output I was looking for in the new theater room.

abacomike · September 2022

They just closed all schools, colleges and government offices until Friday here in southeast Florida. We have been getting copious amounts of rain and gusts of wind from 35-60 mph. The bands from the hurricane have been hitting us regularly.

I am staying home through Thursday. I did not expect that we would be under a tropical storm warning but the track has moved a little east and slowed the hurricane’s movement. I just pray we don’t lose electricity.

henryn · September 2022

tjc78 said:

@graphicguy said:

It has a digital amp, most likely from China. There were a rash of those that were poorly manufactured. I’ve swapped a bunch of them in different sub woofers for friends. Easy. Tell them to send a spare. You’ll probably need it.

Absolutely a digital amp. Pulled it out last night and was surprised how light it was. If it goes out again l will bypass the internal amp and run it off my Denon POA-2200. That beast can drive two DJ spec Yamaha 15s to ear splitting levels so I’d assume it would do just fine in this scenario.

Pretty amazing that I got 25 years and counting off the old Klipsch and this one didn’t make two years. The older one certainly was used very heavily in its earlier years when I lived by myself. Unfortunately it just didn’t have the output I was looking for in the new theater room.

\--------------------------- end quoted material ...............\

More properly referred to as a "class-D" or "switching" amplifier. Much more power efficient, lighter, and cooler running. Audiophiles tend to not like them as full range amplifiers, but no problem with a subwoofer.

If they're properly built, using good quality components, there is no reason a class-D amplifier shouldn't last every bit as long (or longer) than a conventional amplifier.

imidazol97 · September 2022

@driver100
Is your home in the Tampa area? That's getting a lot of talk in the news for storm surge.

abacomike · September 2022

@imidazol97 said:
@driver100
Is your home in the Tampa area? That's getting a lot of talk in the news for storm surge.

No, I live about 15 miles northwest of Ft. Lauderdale, just south of Boca Raton. The track of the hurricane is still moving northeast - Sarasota is now the area of possible landfall. I live about 90 miles due east of Naples/Ft Myers

stickguy · September 2022

Driver is in Tampa though.

driver100 · September 2022

imidazol97 said:
@driver100
Is your home in the Tampa area? That's getting a lot of talk in the news for storm surge.

Yes, we are on the inside of Tampa Bay. The area to the west of I-75 has been evacuated, and we are about 500 yards east of I-75. From Tampa Bay inland the land is about 2 ft above sea level, fortunately we are 37 ft above sea level which is unusually high...maybe we are on a garbage dump which are pretty common in Florida. This tracker has it headed almost right at us...it goes just to the east of Tampa Bay. btw, big surges in Tampa Bay because the water can only go to one place....on land which is very low, I think parts of Tampa are below sea level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhJhHAMq6gY

stickguy · September 2022

Big honking storm.

driver100 · September 2022

stickguy said:
Big honking storm.

500 miles across!

stickguy · September 2022

just watched the local news and they of course updated about Ian on the weather. seemed to be track to be coast to coast and the center (st. pete to Orlando?) in Purple meaning 10-15 inches of rain. That is a whole lotta water in a short period.

Michaell · September 2022

I was reading about how Tampa Bay hasn't seen a significant hurricane in over 100 years, and that it's on the list of the 10 cities on the planet that are not prepared for storms and storm surges likely to happen with a weather event like Ian.

Getting notices from our company about the airports that are shutting down, and when. I suspect that both college football and the NFL game in Tampa Bay will be rescheduled or moved because of this.

abacomike · September 2022

We’ve been under tornado warnings and watches all afternoon and evening. Two have been sighted about 20 miles southwest of me.

There’s a huge thunderstorm headed toward me with possible tornados due to arrive in about 20 minutes. Northeast Broward and southeast Palm Beach counties are affected. These have been forming because of the rain bands from the hurricane.

carnaught · September 2022

Keep us informed @abacomike.

explorerx4 · September 2022

We have some family that lives in J'ville.
Their son attends college locally. School closed the dorms so they are taking in some kids for a few days.
Sister in law was supposed to fly to CT for a baby shower but decided to cancel.

abacomike · September 2022

We have had so many tornado warnings (tornado sighted on the ground) in the last 45 minutes that it’s getting a bit nerve-racking here in Broward county. All local TV stations have cut regular programming and are broadcasting weather warnings.

And remember, the hurricane is over 100 miles southwest of where I live. This is a big hurricane!!!

driver100 · September 2022

Things can change but now they are saying it will go ashore around Ft Myers, Port Charlotte area. If it does that would be south of Tampa. From there it will track more up the middle part. I don't wish this thing on anyone, but I am hoping Tampa doesn't get it head on.
It's moving at about 4 or 5 miles per hour.....so it dumps a lot of rain as it stays in one place for a long time.
The cyclones Mike mentioned are smaller ones...they can cause damage but they aren't the huge kind....still not something you want to be in front of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF_7TLjCsZk

ronsteve · September 2022

A hurricane is all about water, and you definitely don't want to be just to the right of the path at landfall, because that is where the surge is typically the worst. Now weird things to happen in bays and sounds that create pretty bad surge left of the track or farther away from the track than you would expect. Ian looks menacing on satellite and will produce a lot of rain over hundreds of miles, but all the hurricane-force winds are concentrated within about 50 miles of the center. Hopefully @driver100 's property in Tampa is not in a flood zone.

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