Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

stickguy · September 30

seems like a real money making opportunity to build a truck stop type place there.

corvette · September 30

@sb55 - if you ever go back to ABQ, I highly recommend visiting the Trinity Test Site if you can be there when they are open, which was open about the same time as the Balloon Fiesta when I was there, athough it appears they are no longer in sync.

Michaell · September 30

stickguy said:
seems like a real money making opportunity to build a truck stop type place there.

If you ever drove through there, you'd realize there isn't a flat spot large enough to build on. Beautiful scenery, and those in the know prepare ahead of time.

ab348 · October 1

Michaell said:

@carnaught said:

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

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

I went to the Ting website and it seems like, not much. If the insurance co. provided it to you then they just have your contact info to let you know when an event occurs. It seems technically like an AFCI detector like those new circuit breakers with the wire pigtail attached that everyone hates, but which detect sparks in circuits. The difference here is that they send you a text to tell you there was an event and your power doesn't go out (unless your house burns down).

explorerx4 · October 1

One time, I ran my 02 Explorer 7 miles past the DTE reading zero.
It was still running when I pulled up to the pump.

oldfarmer50 · October 1

corvette said:
@sb55 - if you ever go back to ABQ, I highly recommend visiting the Trinity Test Site if you can be there when they are open, which was open about the same time as the Balloon Fiesta when I was there, athough it appears they are no longer in sync.

Just don’t pick up any green glass.

graphicguy · October 1

jmonroe1 said:

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

My point is, I stretched the tank to get there, then took two more trips ... it would have 100% been on me if I ran out. I had all the warning in the world. </p>
——————————————
With an EV you’d really be living on the edge doing that. I wouldn’t want to risk that a charging station would be handy and working by the time I found one. Would you have done that with your MB EQE? I know I wouldn’t.

jmonroe

Granted, I don't live in the boonies of Nebraska, or Wyoming, as an example. But, here in Ohio, charging stations are easy to find. Walmart has them. Meijers has them. Krogers has them. Then, there are the standalone stations off just about every interstate exit.

Michaell · October 1

explorerx4 said:
One time, I ran my 02 Explorer 7 miles past the DTE reading zero.
It was still running when I pulled up to the pump.

In the Outback, the DTE goes from 30 miles to empty to displaying "---", so it becomes a bit of a guessing game as to how much further I can go.

The display switched to "---" last night. I've got just over 400 miles on the current tank, and I'll fill it up today. IIRC, the tank holds almost 18 gallons, so I'll report back how much gas I put in.

corvette · October 1

The electricians did a thing this morning!

Michaell · October 1

corvette said:

The electricians did a thing this morning!

Looks good.

Now, you'll always have to have an EV in your fleet.

carnaught · October 1

What stops a random EV owner to just plug-in and charge on yours at will?

Michaell · October 1

carnaught said:
What stops a random EV owner to just plug-in and charge on yours at will?

Likely the same thing that prevents folks from using your hose. Common courtesy.

(yes, I know that can be in short supply)

nyccarguy · October 1

Michaell said:

sb55 said:
Talk about almost running out of gas. I just towed our Airstream from VT to Albuquerque for a camping trip at Balloon Fiesta. Anyway, I am so used to see a gas station at every exit in the Northeast. Not so in parts of Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico. You can go 50 miles with no services. I used to look for gas at about 1/4 tank. Keep in mind towing I only get about 10 mpg. I passed a station at an exit because getting in and out wasn’t feasible. Dumb move, because it was close to 40 miles between stations. Fortunately I didn’t run out, but it was down to 10 mile range.

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

This is one of many reasons I live in Connecticut and not Utah.

Michaell · October 1

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

sb55 said:
Talk about almost running out of gas. I just towed our Airstream from VT to Albuquerque for a camping trip at Balloon Fiesta. Anyway, I am so used to see a gas station at every exit in the Northeast. Not so in parts of Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico. You can go 50 miles with no services. I used to look for gas at about 1/4 tank. Keep in mind towing I only get about 10 mpg. I passed a station at an exit because getting in and out wasn’t feasible. Dumb move, because it was close to 40 miles between stations. Fortunately I didn’t run out, but it was down to 10 mile range.

There is a stretch of I-70 in Utah where it's 108 miles between services. Longest stretch on any Interstate in the continental US.
This is one of many reasons I live in Connecticut and not Utah.

If you've never been, the scenery is gorgeous.

roadburner · October 1

I came close in the MS3; the range showed almost zero and the station I was planning on using was closed. Still made it to the next exit. In general I try to run the tank no lower than 1/4 full so the in-tank fuel pump is always cooled by the fuel.

laurasdada · October 1

carnaught said:
What stops a random EV owner to just plug-in and charge on yours at will?

I would never!!! How dare you sir!
@corvette, totally unrelated, remind me your address and work/away from home schedule?

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Michaell · October 1

Michaell said:

explorerx4 said:
One time, I ran my 02 Explorer 7 miles past the DTE reading zero.
It was still running when I pulled up to the pump.
In the Outback, the DTE goes from 30 miles to empty to displaying "---", so it becomes a bit of a guessing game as to how much further I can go.

The display switched to "---" last night. I've got just over 400 miles on the current tank, and I'll fill it up today. IIRC, the tank holds almost 18 gallons, so I'll report back how much gas I put in.

Apparently the tank on the Outback is larger than 18 gallons, as I added 18.132 gallons earlier today.

benjaminh · October 1

Both of our cars have gas tanks that were designed to be big enough with their optional engines. So the 17.2 gallon tank in my TLX works fine with the 6-cylinder version with all-wheel drive. But that means that for my 4 cylinder with fwd that gets 36-42 on the highway I have a lot of real-world range. And the 18.5 gallon tank for the Outback gives good range with the turbo, and so with the regular engine you get even more.

jmonroe1 · October 1

carnaught said:
What stops a random EV owner to just plug-in and charge on yours at will?

————————————————
I gather you were out sick during the 4 days we talked about installing breakers in the panel for home chargers.

jmonroe

andres3 · October 1

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

2 dozen tiguans, probably over a dozen Atlas', and a handful of Taos, but a single GTI and Golf R if that?

andres3 · October 1

jmonroe1 said:

carnaught said:
What stops a random EV owner to just plug-in and charge on yours at will?
————————————————
I gather you were out sick during the 4 days we talked about installing breakers in the panel for home chargers.

jmonroe

Now the big question, has anyone here started a small business out of their garage to offer low cost charging services to the general public without any permits or licensing or paying uncle Sam your profits?

How much would you charge?

jmonroe1 · October 1

Michaell said:

Michaell said:

explorerx4 said:
One time, I ran my 02 Explorer 7 miles past the DTE reading zero.
It was still running when I pulled up to the pump.
In the Outback, the DTE goes from 30 miles to empty to displaying "---", so it becomes a bit of a guessing game as to how much further I can go.

The display switched to "---" last night. I've got just over 400 miles on the current tank, and I'll fill it up today. IIRC, the tank holds almost 18 gallons, so I'll report back how much gas I put in.
Apparently the tank on the Outback is larger than 18 gallons, as I added 18.132 gallons earlier today.

————————————————-
That gas station just screwed you. The manufacture knows better than a gas station how large your tank is. I’d file for a refund of 0.132 gallons.

jmonroe

andres3 · October 1

I believe the X3 brake sensors went from yellow light and a message every startup to a solid red light and a message/warning every startup and that was a change from 4 mm to 3mm apparently, as I was told there was some 3 mm left upon getting them replaced. I'm one to like to use all the brake pad I paid for. That left me wanting to recode the software to make yellow light 3 mm and red light 1 mm.

Even worse, the start up messages would say you have XX miles left on your brake pad. The number of miles left was zero when the light went from yellow to red, but I still had 3 MM!!!!

andres3 · October 1

Michaell said:

sb55 said:
Talk about almost running out of gas. I just towed our Airstream from VT to Albuquerque for a camping trip at Balloon Fiesta. Anyway, I am so used to see a gas station at every exit in the Northeast. Not so in parts of Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico. You can go 50 miles with no services. I used to look for gas at about 1/4 tank. Keep in mind towing I only get about 10 mpg. I passed a station at an exit because getting in and out wasn’t feasible. Dumb move, because it was close to 40 miles between stations. Fortunately I didn’t run out, but it was down to 10 mile range.

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

I think there's one in the isolated deserts of CA that says 77 miles to next service, but don't quote me on that.

andres3 · October 1

jmonroe1 said:

Michaell said:

Michaell said:

explorerx4 said:
One time, I ran my 02 Explorer 7 miles past the DTE reading zero.
It was still running when I pulled up to the pump.
In the Outback, the DTE goes from 30 miles to empty to displaying "---", so it becomes a bit of a guessing game as to how much further I can go.

The display switched to "---" last night. I've got just over 400 miles on the current tank, and I'll fill it up today. IIRC, the tank holds almost 18 gallons, so I'll report back how much gas I put in.
Apparently the tank on the Outback is larger than 18 gallons, as I added 18.132 gallons earlier today.
————————————————-
That gas station just screwed you. The manufacture knows better than a gas station how large your tank is. I’d file for a refund of 0.132 gallons.

jmonroe

When I was a teenager I complained one time to a gas station manager that the Neon didn't have a tank big enough to have fit the gas his pump said I bought. He refunded me the chump change of my claim based on the spec sheet max. It's only happened once. I wonder if he thought I was crazy or maybe didn't care as gas was cheap back then.

cdnpinhead · October 1

andres3 said:
I think there's one in the isolated deserts of CA that says 77 miles to next service, but don't quote me on that.

Those of us who live out here and value driving on uninhabited roads are pretty well aware of the need to be aware of how far apart services are. That said, the closest I ever came to running out of gas was ~20 years ago when I was driving up the CA coast north of San Francisco. I figured I could get gas at any number of the little towns along the way, but nooo. It had gotten to the point that all the little stations that were there in previous decades were shut down, owing to regulations related to gas stations in CA.

As far as putting a truck stop on that stretch of I-70 in UT (beautiful for sure and low traffic every time I've been there), no trucker in his right mind uses I-70 going cross-country, owing to Vail Pass and the Eisenhower tunnel in CO -- hard on fuel consumption and brakes, not to mention the joy that is Denver. I used I-80 most of the time, I-40 when it was appropriate.

Either way, now I live to drive on the empty roads out here. My favorites are the N-S state highways in NV and eastern OR.

suydam · October 1

. V

andres3 said:

Michaell said:

sb55 said:
Talk about almost running out of gas. I just towed our Airstream from VT to Albuquerque for a camping trip at Balloon Fiesta. Anyway, I am so used to see a gas station at every exit in the Northeast. Not so in parts of Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico. You can go 50 miles with no services. I used to look for gas at about 1/4 tank. Keep in mind towing I only get about 10 mpg. I passed a station at an exit because getting in and out wasn’t feasible. Dumb move, because it was close to 40 miles between stations. Fortunately I didn’t run out, but it was down to 10 mile range.

There is a stretch of I-70 in Utah where it's 108 miles between services. Longest stretch on any Interstate in the continental US.
I think there's one in the isolated deserts of CA that says 77 miles to next service, but don't quote me on that.

You bet there is. That’s where we nearly ran out of gas a few years back when we had the little Buick Encore.

corvette · October 1

I've had a few close calls with running out of fuel, or at least with getting into "zero range" territory. I had to splash a few gallons of regular into the G37 in the middle of Iowa because the "gas station" where I had planned on stopping was actually a grain elevator with an unmanned gas pump on the premises that took debit and credit cards, 87 octane only. And, when I took the Tundra to the Upper Peninsula, I had a planned "gas stop" that was a station that looked like it had been abandoned for a decade or three.

tjc78 · October 1

@cdnpinhead said:
Those of us who live out here and value driving on uninhabited roads are pretty well aware of the need to be aware of how far apart services are. That said, the closest I ever came to running out of gas was ~20 years ago when I was driving up the CA coast north of San Francisco. I figured I could get gas at any number of the little towns along the way, but nooo. It had gotten to the point that all the little stations that were there in previous decades were shut down, owing to regulations related to gas stations in CA.

As far as putting a truck stop on that stretch of I-70 in UT (beautiful for sure and low traffic every time I've been there), no trucker in his right mind uses I-70 going cross-country, owing to Vail Pass and the Eisenhower tunnel in CO -- hard on fuel consumption and brakes, not to mention the joy that is Denver. I used I-80 most of the time, I-40 when it was appropriate.

Either way, now I live to drive on the empty roads out here. My favorites are the N-S state highways in NV and eastern OR.

I’ve had the pleasure of driving some very desolate roads in Montana, Idaho, Nevada (Corona, CA to Vegas) such a different experience than where I’m used to driving.

cdnpinhead · October 1

tjc78 said:
I’ve had the pleasure of driving some very desolate roads in Montana, Idaho, Nevada (Corona, CA to Vegas) such a different experience than where I’m used to driving

Welcome to my world; glad you enjoyed it. I take fewer of the long trips I so much treasure now that I'm in my dotage, but certainly enjoy the memories.

jmonroe1 · October 1

andres3 said:

jmonroe1 said:

Michaell said:

Michaell said:

explorerx4 said:
One time, I ran my 02 Explorer 7 miles past the DTE reading zero.
It was still running when I pulled up to the pump.
In the Outback, the DTE goes from 30 miles to empty to displaying "---", so it becomes a bit of a guessing game as to how much further I can go.

The display switched to "---" last night. I've got just over 400 miles on the current tank, and I'll fill it up today. IIRC, the tank holds almost 18 gallons, so I'll report back how much gas I put in.
Apparently the tank on the Outback is larger than 18 gallons, as I added 18.132 gallons earlier today.
————————————————-
That gas station just screwed you. The manufacture knows better than a gas station how large your tank is. I’d file for a refund of 0.132 gallons.

jmonroe
When I was a teenager I complained one time to a gas station manager that the Neon didn't have a tank big enough to have fit the gas his pump said I bought. He refunded me the chump change of my claim based on the spec sheet max. It's only happened once. I wonder if he thought I was crazy or maybe didn't care as gas was cheap back then.

————————————————
My money is on the former.

jmonroe

corvette · October 1

Messing around with the Emporia charger app... I started the enrollment in my utility's rebate program ($25 upfront and $5 per month to allow them some control over when your car charges). Apparently, you tell them what time of day you want the car fully charged, and they can optimize your charging to limit strain on the utility grid. You can also manually limit the charge amperage without overriding the breaker size (all the way down to 6 amps, the equivalent of a 12 amp wall outlet charger), which could be useful if your electrical panel is near capacity when certain appliances are running, or even as a clunky way to prevent a charge to 100% on cars like the Ariya that don't offer a built-in charge limiter. It also tells you how much each charge session cost, based on your utility's rates, and how much you've spent during that meter read cycle. Pretty cool!

Coincidentally, the MyNissan app stopped working for me. Their chat bot/person implied it may have been because I bought out the lease, but the people I need to fix it have already gone home for the day. I was able to text them after hours, we'll see what they come up with tomorrow.

stickguy · October 1

It is a different world living and driving along the NE corridor.

corvette · October 1

Nissan has the Ariya NACS adapter (to be able to DC fast charge at most Tesla fast chargers that don't have the Magic Dock) on sale for $160, which is within spitting range of the Beavis Sparkfinder (or similar) brands I've seen for less money. Might as well pick one up since it would expand my fast charging options.

graphicguy · October 2

corvette said:

The electricians did a thing this morning!

Looks good!

Sandman6472 · October 2

Doesn't seem to be a whole lot of GTI's & R's around my area for some reason. Guess they're not big sellers for the local dealers. Think mine was on the lot for just over a week when I found it online. These are fun vehicles to own but guessing most folks want SUV's now.
Do need to stop back and talk to my sales guy though. Apparently I lost a station I like on my Sirius/XM favorites and have no clue how to put it back into the rotation. The manual that came with the vehicle was useless and playing with the screen has just made things worse. Tried to find a YouTube video but not having much luck. Remember when he set it up, took him like seconds to do it but if you know how, you know how. Luckily the dealer is right around the corner so will just stop by Monday, my next N/S day.

tjc78 · October 2

Saving a preset is generally the same across most cars. Select the station you want and then hold down the preset where you want it to be until it beeps.

andres3 · October 2

I can't figure out how to change the clock on my TTS. I either need to wait for the next daylight savings time change coming up, or open the manual. I looked on YouTube and of course you can't find the right MkIII/model years for the rare TT.

sda · October 2

@andres3 said:
I can't figure out how to change the clock on my TTS. I either need to wait for the next daylight savings time change coming up, or open the manual. I looked on YouTube and of course you can't find the right MkIII/model years for the rare TT.

Where is your owner's manual?

Sandman6472 · October 2

The issue is I can't seem to find how to go up from station 72 to station 311. Tried a few times & just made things worse. The owners manual is no help either. I do remember my sales guy doing it twice for me real quick like. Just need him to show me what I'm missing here. For some reason, there's another station where 311 was in my favorites. An easy fix I'm sure but when ya don't know...ya just don't know!

explorerx4 · October 2

@sandman6472,
Do you see an option for direct tune? I think you can just punch in the digits with that option.
Then hold down one of the preset buttons for a few seconds to lock it in.

Sandman6472 · October 2

Another year come & gone now. Today is Yom Kippor, our day of atonement. Now, we've been forgiven by G-d for last years "bad stuff" and start the new year off with a clean slate. Due to my needing to eat after I take my meds, I held off as long as I could until I started getting a bit light headed. But think he understands why I broke my fast a bit early. Worked out well as I was n/s today as it was.

corvette · October 2

OK, Boomers... one of my parents asked the same question about what's to stop someone from pulling in my driveway and using my EV charger.

andres3 · October 2

corvette said:
OK, Boomers... one of my parents asked the same question about what's to stop someone from pulling in my driveway and using my EV charger.

Need an APP that sucks the remaining energy out of the batteries for any "invaders" and gives you "free" electricity sucking them dry of charged electrons. Now that would be justice.

ab348 · October 2

“A switch” would seem to be the definitive answer.

suydam · October 2

Not likely. It takes hours on a Level 2 charger and I can’t imagine anyone stopping in someone else’s driveway for all that time — unless you have a really crappy neighbor.

explorerx4 · October 2

@corvette,
At least your parents are smart.

andres3 · October 2

Reviving a dead horse of left lane camping, many misinformed often spread ignorant misinformation.

One of the common incorrect arguments of the left lane impeders group is the following:

"keep right except to pass" only applies to high speed limited access highways.

Most states adopt a version of Uniform Vehicle Code §11-301(b), which says vehicles must stay in the right lane except when passing, or preparing for a left turn.
Oregon (ORS 811.325): Requires slower traffic to keep right on any road with lanes in the same direction, not just highways.
Illinois (625 ILCS 5/11-701): Drivers must keep right except to pass on all roadways, with exceptions (left turn, obstruction, etc.). Applies beyond interstates.
Texas (Transp. Code §545.051/§545.063): Drivers must keep right except to pass on roads with multiple lanes. Enforcement is particularly strict on interstates, but the statute itself isn’t limited to them.
California (VC §21654): The “keep right” rule only applies when driving on "highways." If you are going more than the normal speed of traffic you are by default "actively and currently passing." If you are not going the normal speed of traffic or higher, you will by default "be getting passed." Hence the only real difference between "Keep Right Except to Pass" and "Slower Traffic Keep Right" States is that the latter allows an exception for when no other traffic is around to be slower than, but how often is there no other traffic in a State like CA? Almost never.

In some states it only applies to interstates/highways, but in others it applies on all multi-lane roads regardless of speed. The scope depends entirely on the state statute’s wording.

tifighter · October 2

@corvette said:
OK, Boomers... one of my parents asked the same question about what's to stop someone from pulling in my driveway and using my EV charger.

Lol. I’ve had a L2 charger since 2015 - I promise this has never been an issue. And if it is, it says more about someone’s neighborhood than the charger, surely.

kyfdx · October 3

Stealing electricity isn't like siphoning gas. The car has to stay there.

Now, if you see an orange extension cord running from the garage to your neighbor's basement window, then you have issues

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