Author Topic: Anything related to automobiles  (Read 100498 times)

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Online Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #735 on: April 29, 2019, 08:46:36 AM »
I am totally with you on service/apple comparison when it comes to Tesla, and again was my biggest fear going into the car, but that's a knock on Tesla and not EVs as a whole I feel. As for the brakes I'm going to have to disagree a bit. There are lots Model S owners with 200k and 300k miles who have never had to change their brake pads.

Hell, my last car was a plug in hybrid with mild regenerative braking and even so after 40k+ in the final inspection right before transferring it my brakes had minimal wear.

I think you and I are talking past each other a little bit.  I'm not exactly where you are on all points - you think higher of Musk than I do, and you're more forgiving of the company and it's financial metrics; if that was "AIG" or a pharmaceutical I think it'd be a different story - but I'm all in favor of electric cars as a means of clean transportation.  1000%.   I didn't make my point to argue against electric cars.  I made my point in a more nostalgic way.  It's almost like the difference between a '59 Strat through an old Fender tweed amp versus the kid with an Apple laptop, a set of headphones, and a folder full of plug-ins.  Both have their place, both have their upsides/downsides, and neither are, at the end of the day, in direct competition. 

(And for the record, I fucked up the brake job.  Well, not really, but I ended up having to replace BOTH calipers on the back, and in doing so let too much brake fluid drain, introducing more air than I could release with simple two-man bleed.  I don't have the vacuum pump, so in it goes to my local guy to do a system bleed.  Feel frustrated, but it is what it is.)

Offline ReaperKK

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #736 on: May 17, 2019, 07:25:00 PM »
To break up the Tesla talk I did the M Town Tour today in Charlotte and it was fantastic, google it if it's coming to your area and sign up. Basically BMW USA comes to a local dealer and lets have 20 minutes with either a m2 competition, m340, m5 competition, m850i or X3M. I signed up for the M2, M340, M5, and M850. I got there and they told me they didn't have the m340 so instead they gave me an m4 and told me to take it out for 40 minutes, it was incredible, the car handles and pulls like you wouldn't believe. I took the M850 for a spin and it was just amazing ride, I then took the M2 out and now I really, really, really want one and finally i took the M5 out. The M5 is absurd, the brakes, gear shifts and the way it pulls is indescribable. Granted, tesla will do 0-60 faster than the m5 (m5 will do 0-60 in 2.9 seconds) but I'm a little bit old school at heart so shifting through the gears and hearing the sound it made just put a massive smile on my face.

Now back finding a way to afford the M2.

Online TAC

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #737 on: May 19, 2019, 05:45:15 PM »
Can I ask a dumb question...?



Back in the day when I was younger, if you went through too deep water, the car would stall. That no longer happens.

Why?
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Online Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #738 on: May 19, 2019, 06:38:11 PM »
Well, I'm not sure I have a definitive answer, but cars work on fuel/air/spark.  Anything that impedes the fuel, the air, or the spark, will cause an engine to stall.  Water in the exhaust will do that, if it backs up to the engine, but with current exhaust systems, that's harder to do.   With old school carburetors, water could get into the fuel mixture, but with current fuel injection systems, that's harder to do.   With old school air intakes (that big ole circular thing on the top of the engine) water could get in there, but with the current intake systems, that's harder to do.   With old school spark systems, water could get up into the distributor cap, or seep into the spark plug wires, but with current ignition packs and closed-circuit, computer-controlled ignition systems, that's harder to do.

Online TAC

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #739 on: May 19, 2019, 06:42:28 PM »
That's an old school answer to the question, and that's harder to do.  ;D
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline SystematicThought

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #740 on: May 19, 2019, 07:36:54 PM »
Deep water can still mess with the vents on cars with automatic transmissions, right? I remember reading about that and never thinking of that. The vents suck in the water and the whole transmission can get messed up.
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Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #741 on: May 20, 2019, 09:20:44 AM »
Deep water can still mess with the vents on cars with automatic transmissions, right? I remember reading about that and never thinking of that. The vents suck in the water and the whole transmission can get messed up.
Automatic trannies are a sealed system. Never heard of vents that are prone to taking in water. Since air intakes have always been well above the water level (they were even higher back when we had carburetors sitting on top of the block), that's not a likely culprit, either. Unless you're driving through a lake Rooskie style. My guess, and this is strictly a guess, is that water was being ingested via the tailpipe during instances of back-pressure. I'm sure we've all been told not to let off the gas or downshift when driving through deep water. I wait until the last minute and floor it all the way through. Perhaps modern cars have something to prevent that back-pressure, or we've all just learned not to let it happen.
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Offline cramx3

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #742 on: May 20, 2019, 10:09:26 AM »
Yea, EB, I understand the same that you should hit the gas to go through the water so you don't end up sucking some in the exhaust.  I was also wondering if maybe you've been driving a bit and the engine is super hot if the cold water maybe hitting it could cause issues like a crack or something, or maybe not the engine but some other part to the car's function.  I don't know, just guessing.  But the road to work for me floods during heavy rains and I've seen stalled cars from it so it still happens to people.

Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #743 on: May 20, 2019, 10:34:38 AM »
You also have to remember that back in the day, engine bays were a lot less cluttered. You could often times open the hood and see the ground clear as day on both sides of the engine. If you hit a pool of water, it would splash up all over the place and could easily get into the intake. Nowadays, those compartments are so packed with stuff, you can't see through to the ground at all. Water has a hard time getting to the intake that way.

Offline ReaperKK

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #744 on: May 21, 2019, 09:06:47 PM »
Deep water can still mess with the vents on cars with automatic transmissions, right? I remember reading about that and never thinking of that. The vents suck in the water and the whole transmission can get messed up.
Automatic trannies are a sealed system. Never heard of vents that are prone to taking in water. Since air intakes have always been well above the water level (they were even higher back when we had carburetors sitting on top of the block), that's not a likely culprit, either. Unless you're driving through a lake Rooskie style. My guess, and this is strictly a guess, is that water was being ingested via the tailpipe during instances of back-pressure. I'm sure we've all been told not to let off the gas or downshift when driving through deep water. I wait until the last minute and floor it all the way through. Perhaps modern cars have something to prevent that back-pressure, or we've all just learned not to let it happen.

Cars can go through a significant amount of water as long as you doing get any in the intake which is usually mounted at the top of the engine, it's why people toss snorkels on their intake to wade even deeper. If you have a snorkel your next worry is going to be electrical components. I've actually taken my old bmw through some really deep water I just sped up and costed through and the only issue that came from it was a piece of loose styrofoam from the street got wedged in my aux fan which caused my ac to stop working.

Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #745 on: May 21, 2019, 10:49:30 PM »
If cars actually are less prone to stalling now than they were back in the day, my guess would be distributors. I've owned plenty of cars with distributors and the caps aren't watertight. Now they're gone, ignition is electronic, and each plug has its own coil pack 3 inches away. Not much chance of water fouling ignition. 

And I now see that Stadler beat me to this and I didn't notice.
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Online Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #746 on: May 22, 2019, 07:54:41 AM »
I listed I think three or four things, but it's usually either exhaust or distributor cap/wire system. 

It's my understanding that the catalytic converters help prevent some of the back-pressure, so that's not as likely, and in my day, even condensation could sometimes play havoc with a distributor cap assembly.   

Put it this way:  if I happened along the highway and saw TAC stalled out next to a puddle, the first thing I'd check is if there is a distributor cap-type ignition system.   Well, FIRST thing I'd check if there is any beer for helping, THEN I'd check the distributor cap assembly.

Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #747 on: May 22, 2019, 08:26:31 AM »
I listed I think three or four things, but it's usually either exhaust or distributor cap/wire system. 

It's my understanding that the catalytic converters help prevent some of the back-pressure, so that's not as likely, and in my day, even condensation could sometimes play havoc with a distributor cap assembly.   

Put it this way:  if I happened along the highway and saw TAC stalled out next to a puddle, the first thing I'd check is if there is a distributor cap-type ignition system.   Well, FIRST thing I'd check if there is any beer for helping, THEN I'd check the distributor cap assembly.
Many years ago I had the best BMW tech in the US. The guy was a master. I'm driving to the store on Sunday and twice the car got all hurky-jerky starting from a stop. It felt like the clutch wasn't engaging properly, reminiscent of when we all first learned to drive a stick and you'd lurch back and forth or stall the car. On Monday I took it to my guy, he drove it, came back and said my clutch was perfect. I tell him "look, me and this car have bonded over the last five years and I know when something's amiss. There's something going on here." He thinks for 15 seconds or so and says "this happened yesterday, didn't it rain pretty hard on Saturday? Go home and check your sparkplug boots. One of them is loose." Fucker nailed it.  :lol
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Online Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #748 on: May 22, 2019, 02:07:15 PM »
Haha!  I love that. Almost a work of art.  :)   That'll do it, too (I had a similar problem with my Toyota Taco, and it was a sparkplug wire that had worn down and was essentially shorting out under certain conditions).

Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #749 on: May 22, 2019, 04:55:44 PM »
My mechanic told me to put the phone inside my right wheel well with the engine running and he accurately diagnosed it over the phone.

Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #750 on: May 22, 2019, 05:31:44 PM »
My mechanic told me to put the phone inside my right wheel well with the engine running and he accurately diagnosed it over the phone.
There are plenty of things you can diagnose via sound, but over a phone seems like it would be pretty tough. I suppose that inside the wheel well allows you to hear the engine itself with all of the accompanying noise from fans, pulleys, pumps, and stuff blocked out. The more I think about it, the more I think you might get a better sound for what's happening that way than actually standing over the engine in person. Brilliant.

My aforementioned BMW tech sniffed out problems with my car on two separate occasions. Like, stuck his head in the car, sniffed three times, came out and said "yeah, so it's the battery soldered onto your dashboard." I think the other one was the control board for the HVAC. Dude really was a badass. One day he decided he was going to go to work at Home Depot and never tell another living soul he knew the slightest thing about cars.
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Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #751 on: May 22, 2019, 05:49:21 PM »
My mechanic told me to put the phone inside my right wheel well with the engine running and he accurately diagnosed it over the phone.
There are plenty of things you can diagnose via sound, but over a phone seems like it would be pretty tough. I suppose that inside the wheel well allows you to hear the engine itself with all of the accompanying noise from fans, pulleys, pumps, and stuff blocked out. The more I think about it, the more I think you might get a better sound for what's happening that way than actually standing over the engine in person. Brilliant.

My aforementioned BMW tech sniffed out problems with my car on two separate occasions. Like, stuck his head in the car, sniffed three times, came out and said "yeah, so it's the battery soldered onto your dashboard." I think the other one was the control board for the HVAC. Dude really was a badass. One day he decided he was going to go to work at Home Depot and never tell another living soul he knew the slightest thing about cars.

Yeah. He suspected it was the propeller in the water pump and I guess it was located near that well. And just like you said, it blocks a lot of the ambient noise from the rest of the stuff that's moving if you were to just stand over the hood.

Online Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #752 on: May 23, 2019, 08:24:47 AM »
One day he decided he was going to go to work at Home Depot and never tell another living soul he knew the slightest thing about cars.

What?   What was that all about?   I'm as fascinated by that as the cool diagnoses.   Burnt out?

I know my (step)son was at first jazzed to work at BMW, but he had all these bad ass cars around him and he was reprogramming radios and doing oil changes.   Over a couple of beers one night, we kind of reached the same conclusion you've talked about a lot, el Barto, and that is "be careful about 'following your passion'".  It can get pretty rote pretty quickly.

Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #753 on: May 23, 2019, 08:39:32 AM »
One day he decided he was going to go to work at Home Depot and never tell another living soul he knew the slightest thing about cars.

What?   What was that all about?   I'm as fascinated by that as the cool diagnoses.   Burnt out?

I know my (step)son was at first jazzed to work at BMW, but he had all these bad ass cars around him and he was reprogramming radios and doing oil changes.   Over a couple of beers one night, we kind of reached the same conclusion you've talked about a lot, el Barto, and that is "be careful about 'following your passion'".  It can get pretty rote pretty quickly.
Burnout was certainly part of it. He was my age and presumably decided he didn't want to be repairing cars into his 40s. Also, he was a good ole boy from Ft Worth and had to drive his pickup 35 miles to work every morning. Time he'd much rather spend shooting at Bambi. He was sort of an odd duck. He was the last person you'd expect to be a master BMW tech, but he was a natural. Best diagnostician I've ever seen.
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Offline JayOctavarium

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #754 on: July 24, 2019, 10:37:25 AM »
So

My GFs car (2005 PT Cruiser GT Convertible) took a shit on us a month and a half ago. PCM died. We / our mechanic sent the PCM out to be refurbished, and after having to send it out a 2nd time (First time they just updated the software and didn't actually open it up), they told us there's nothing that can be done. So our next option was to buy one from one of these shady companies that sell refurbished PCMs (You send your old one back to them once you receive the 'new' one and they fix it and send it to someone else). Problem is, the 3-4  big companies that do it are shady as fuck. And it costs anywhere from $500-$1k (Because we have the GT- the PCMs are 10x rarer than the standard. People like to buy the NON-GT detuned Turbo models and toss in the tuned computer). Our mechanic basically told us to sell the car as it's not worth the risk and the money. Our problem is, the car is in excellent condition, less than 95k miles on it (91k I think?), and she loves the car.

Well, I was doing some looking on an PT Cruiser forum and found a guy who people have been ranting and raving about, who programs and flips PCMs for the community for fun (and a little profit). We have one ordered his ebay store, which we'll see in a few weeks once the dude gets back from a vacation he's on.

In the meantime, we've been borrowing my GF's dad's cars (a 2015 CRV, and also his baby- 2005 Mustang GT with 35k miles on it!), as well as using my car (94 Accord that needs to be taken behind the barn and shot... on it's last leg...)


Well we found that my best friend's sister in law was selling her car, an 03 Camry. It has 180k miles on it, but she has babied it since she's owned it. It's pretty immaculate for it's age. No issues besides needing a new power steering hose (slight leak, confirmed it is a hose and not the pump), and it burns a little oil. The only reason she's selling it is she inherited a newer car from a family member, and it makes sense to keep that newer car. She's also willing to take payments from my broke ass!

So now our plan is to get the PCM in the PT Cruiser and get it running again (No major issues with it), and then find a nice cliff to push my Accord off of (or sell it... yea probably sell it and get like $500 for it... seems more logical), and I, for the 1st time in my life, will have a car to drive that isn't 1 step away from breaking down / blowing up.  Feels good.

And then we might find someone to buy the PT (I'm willing to bet money we can get more for it than we paid a few years ago and get her something newer.

 
I just don't understand what they were trying to achieve with any part of the song, either individually or as a whole. You know what? It's the Platypus of Dream Theater songs. That bill doesn't go with that tail, or that strange little furry body, or those webbed feet, and oh god why does it have venomous spurs!? And then you find out it lays eggs too. The difference is that the Platypus is somehow functional despite being a crazy mishmash or leftover animal pieces

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Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #755 on: July 24, 2019, 11:20:54 AM »
If you've got a place to stash it consider mothballing the accord. Having an extra car isn't such a bad thing. You'll have 2 cars with 100k+ miles on them and problems will arise. That accord would really come in handy if your camry needs to be in the shop for a week. Moreover, as you've learned, it's really nice when people have an extra car they can lend you. I drove a friend's surplus accord for damn near a year while looking for my current car. You'll be keeping a nice insurance policy for the cost of liability on a third car, which should be pretty cheap. This is of course assuming you or a family member have space to park it.

And replacing ECUs shouldn't be shady at all. It's something people do all the time, albeit for different reasons. If mine petered out I'd replace it with another that was better programmed for performance. A lot of cars can eek out an extra 35hp just through better programming. Mine would only get 7-12, but it's still an improvement from a part that had already failed.
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Offline JayOctavarium

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #756 on: July 24, 2019, 12:04:15 PM »
I didn't think that replacing it would be much of an issue at all, but from what I've read and what our mechanic (who I trust 100%, never had a reason to think he's being shady) has said, these companies have shit return policies. Get one that wasn't programmed properly? Welp go ahead and exchange it for free, just pay the $30 to ship it back and wait another 2 weeks. Oh and pay a $50-$90 dollar "restocking and reprogramming fee".

And regarding the Honda, if I had a place to store it, I would, but we just downsized from a 4 bedroom 2 bath home down to a 450 square foot studio, and parking at the place is already tight. (Part of that being due to my landlord's boyfriend having 6 cars parked there, 2 of them non-running project cars, 1 being an old baja truck that's not street legal..)  Also gotta factor in the fact that it has so many issues that my GF refuses to drive it :lol
I just don't understand what they were trying to achieve with any part of the song, either individually or as a whole. You know what? It's the Platypus of Dream Theater songs. That bill doesn't go with that tail, or that strange little furry body, or those webbed feet, and oh god why does it have venomous spurs!? And then you find out it lays eggs too. The difference is that the Platypus is somehow functional despite being a crazy mishmash or leftover animal pieces

-BlobVanDam on "Scarred"

Online Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #757 on: July 24, 2019, 12:25:46 PM »
Bart's right though; god willing I will always have a second (or third, counting my wife's car) car in the wings, even if it's a piece of shit.   You never know when you need to have a second set of wheels, and where I am, with little effective public transportation, it's been a god-send on more than one occassion so far.

Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #758 on: July 24, 2019, 01:30:38 PM »
Bart's right though; god willing I will always have a second (or third, counting my wife's car) car in the wings, even if it's a piece of shit.   You never know when you need to have a second set of wheels, and where I am, with little effective public transportation, it's been a god-send on more than one occassion so far.

I've been super fortunate that my parents always had a third vehicle. Even now as an adult living in the next town over, I still take advantage of that from time to time when I'm really in a pinch and the car is in the shop for some reason.   

I would love a beater secondary vehicle, but the thought of having to fully insure it is something I can't stomach. I really wish you could register a car as a secondary/utility vehicle under the stipulation that it won't be driven more than 1500 miles a year or something. Even if I had to go to the DMV once per year and prove how much it was driven with the odometer, it'd be worth it to me. I just want to have a 2005 Tacoma on standby.

Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #759 on: July 24, 2019, 01:42:20 PM »
Bart's right though; god willing I will always have a second (or third, counting my wife's car) car in the wings, even if it's a piece of shit.   You never know when you need to have a second set of wheels, and where I am, with little effective public transportation, it's been a god-send on more than one occassion so far.

I've been super fortunate that my parents always had a third vehicle. Even now as an adult living in the next town over, I still take advantage of that from time to time when I'm really in a pinch and the car is in the shop for some reason.   

I would love a beater secondary vehicle, but the thought of having to fully insure it is something I can't stomach. I really wish you could register a car as a secondary/utility vehicle under the stipulation that it won't be driven more than 1500 miles a year or something. Even if I had to go to the DMV once per year and prove how much it was driven with the odometer, it'd be worth it to me. I just want to have a 2005 Tacoma on standby.
Why would you have to carry full coverage? Down here you'd only need liability. If your homeowners and auto are rolled into the same policy then adding a second liability shouldn't be very expensive. Also, I believe plenty of insurance companies do offer discounted rates for cars driven less than X number of miles/yr. If it's something you're really interested in you should check into it.
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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #760 on: July 24, 2019, 01:57:59 PM »
Yeah, for me, I have a high deductable and no collision and it's relative peanuts.  Not zero, I give you that, but the insurance and reg are not prohibitive.

(Chino, your bigger concern is that with a '05 Taco or something like that, the DMV will value the vehicle way more than it's likely worth, and you'll pay that in taxes.)

Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #761 on: August 10, 2019, 05:01:01 PM »
Anybody like corvettes?

The new 2020 has a mid placed engine like a Ferrari and comes stock with almost 500hp.


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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #762 on: August 10, 2019, 05:28:54 PM »
I never cared for them until the c7 came out which I was a fan of, but I love the c8. I need to convince my future wife that a corvette is a vehicle I need.

Offline El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #763 on: August 10, 2019, 05:37:42 PM »
Like convertibles. Don't like corvettes. At least not since the C3.
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Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #764 on: August 12, 2019, 06:23:05 AM »
I get a confused boner when looking at the new Vette. Part of me really likes it, but then the part of me says "Stop trying to be a Ferrari".

Offline ReaperKK

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #765 on: August 13, 2019, 02:49:38 PM »
If it randomly starts trying to catch on fire then we'll for sure know they copied ferrari.

On a related note new c7 vetted are going for 12k under msrp.

Offline Lonk

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #766 on: September 12, 2019, 12:52:54 PM »
I lived in NYC since I was 15 years old and never had a need for a car. Every time I needed a car I would rent. I am planning to move out of the city next summer and the time to purchase my first car is coming. I am looking at the Subaru Crosstrek. I have tried a couple of different cars and the Crosstrek feels right for me. It's comfortable, good size (not too big, not too small), price is not bad, plus I like how it looks.

Does anyone has any experience (good or bad) with the Crosstrek? I was also considering the Jeep Compass but I never even been inside this car. I driven the Mazda CX-3 and CX-5, Honda CRV and HRV, Toyota Rav4, Nissan Rogue and Ford Escape and did not like any of them, which is why I am leaning toward the Crosstrek (which I really like).
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Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #767 on: September 12, 2019, 01:04:43 PM »
I haven't driven them myself, but two of my friends have Crosstreks (leases). They're good cars for what they need them for. Though, they are a little too small for my taste (yeah, I know I used to have a Mini). You can easily fit two golf bags in the back without having to do anything to the rear seats. My one complaint that I observed in both cars was that the heated seats were pretty weak. 

You mentioned you didn't like the CX-5. Just out of curiosity, how come? A little more than a year ago I bought a 2015 Mazda CX-9 (52K miles for $13,500ish), and I couldn't be happier with it. It rides really nice, it's got pep, the audio system is great, and it performed really well in its first CT winter. The thing only averages 17.9mpg, but I knew that going in.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2019, 05:07:41 PM by Chino »

Offline Lonk

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #768 on: September 12, 2019, 03:25:55 PM »
My brother had a CX5 until last year, then he (downgrades?) to a CX3. I just drove them for a few hours at a time and the CX3 is way too small for me. I feel like I have no room inside (I don’t know how my brother drives it 5-7 hours a day for his job). The CX5 felt better in terms of size, but I guess his car wasn’t in the greatest condition and the drive didn’t feel smooth. Maybe if I try a newer CX5 I might change my mind.
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Offline eric42434224

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #769 on: September 17, 2019, 08:22:26 PM »
I get a confused boner when looking at the new Vette. Part of me really likes it, but then the part of me says "Stop trying to be a Ferrari".

To be fair, I think that it has more to do with the Corvette hitting a wall with performance with a front mounted engine.  It was inevitable going to mid-engine if they want to keep upping affordable performance.  And there is nothing wrong with looking like a Ferrari.  New vette is a damn sexy car.

Me personally, I just decided to keep my 2011 Hyundai Sonata with 102k miles.  They have serious engine issues, and a new warranty on the engine went to 120k.  Mine just blew up last Monday.  Completely seized.  Total mess.  It was a defect in the manufacturing process of the crank shaft, putting metal shavings in the block, causing bearing failures.
So now I have a 102k car with new this year: all 4 brakes and tires.....new last year: AC system.....and now a complete new engine and starter.
Getting some suspension work and a transmission service, and it will be like a friggin new car.  I guess it would be nice to have a new flashy car, but I simply dont care anymore.  Had a 260z in my teens, a Jeep Wrangler in my 20's, and a Beemer in my 30's....so I had my fun.  Now I just enjoy having no car payment so I can pay for shit like: Private School for Kids; Travel Softball; Home Improvements; and sushi every Friday.  I'm old lol.
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