Another Car Question

[nachoman]

I could also do with a lot less of those so-called creature comforts they keep loading onto cars these days - power locks, power windows, sun roofs (powered, of course), etc., etc. My Mazda 3 weighs almost two tons, and while it handles great, it could be so much more if it lost about a ton of excess baggage.

Oh, and one other thing - who on earth cursed us with those damned remote entry devices - now you not only have to carry the key, but also lug around a device that serves no useful purpose. I don't use mine.

Wayne

My pet peeve is the cars that automatically lock the doors when you put the car in gear. Suppose you have to have the person in the passenger seat get out to open a gate. Or suppose you run out in a rainstorm to retrieve the car to pick up your wife or mother at the front of a store. And the fist thing you need to do before they can get back in? Push the unlock button! If I want the doors locked, I can lock them. I don't need the car telling me when the doors should be locked.

As for the other stuff - depends. People also think they are safer in a larger car, but that is still only true if you don't tip over or get hit by anything bigger (like a train or semi). Side airbags probably save a lot of injuries, but the front ones probably don't save many more injuries than a standard shoulder seat belt will. The traction control and anti-locks are great as long as they don't make one overconfident in inclement weather. Overconfidence is bad. Sometimes I think people would be better off if people learned to drive on a car without power anything - it would create better driving habits.

[eightyeightfan1]

... cars that automatically lock the doors when you put the car in gear.

My Caravan, both front doors can be opened without hitting the button, both sliders, and the hatch I have to hit the button. Another safety device I like with the Caravan is, I can't unlock the doors while in drive, even if stopped. My Grand Am, I have to hit the button for all the doors.

[Tom]

My son in law had a Suzuki.

I'm sorry. (My step daughter has a Suzuki Grand Vitara (Nothing "Grand" abou that thing) and it is a worthless pile of dog sh--.

I HATE that car. Suzuki's are like the old Life-Like F-9's if a Honda, Nissan, Chevy, Ford, etc. is a Kato. I refer to them as "disposable cars", kind of like a Bic lighter that runs out of fluid, you don't try to refill it, you just toss the whole thing and get a new one, but then again, the way the spoiled kid takes care of cars (or more to the point, doesn't take care of cars; she's 23 and this is her 5th car and IT is on its last leg), I don't feel sorry for her having to drive that pile of crap. When it dies, Daddy or uncle will just buy her a new whatever she wants.

At any rate, I have read a lot of great advice regarding your '98 Civic. Keep it, do a safety check, and to take it one step further, you can do what I do with the racecar in the shop on Friday nights (before each race Saturday); I call it a "nut and bolt". It is a fine toothed safety inspection and EVERY nut and bolt gets checked with a socket of wrench. I want to lay my tools on EVERY piece of the car before we put our driver in it and her life on the line, I check EVERYTHING. Might not be a bad idea to get your Civic up on jack stands, get on a creeper adn do the same. Best to have your mechanic do a safety inspection, but also not a bad idea to check things yourself when you have the extra time and a little concern. Though I am NOT a fan of Jap Wagons, as far as foreign cars go, Honda by far makes the best in my opinion (though Nissan and Toyota make great ones too), so enjoy your Honda. It's probably just getting broken in at this point anyway!

[TrainNut]

Sorry Rob. I really took us off track there and fast. But also thanks to Tom for bringing us back on topic. My first car was a Honda CRX and I loved the thing. At one point in time, at the same time, my parents had an Acura, I had the CRX My first sister had a civic sedan and my second sister had the civic wagon. We were a Honda family. That also does not take into account the two Accords my parents went through before the Acura. Now, of course, we've all gone in different directions with the only Honda of those mentioned remaining in the family is the Civic wagon which now belongs to my youngest sister. It's approaching 100K miles and showing its age but still gets her around reliably. 'Cept when it snows!

Stick with the Honda.

[tetters]

I hate the Traction Control System in my van. I turn it off everytime I hop in, especially during the winter months. I like to "feel" the traction slip...lets me know when I've reached that threshold and tells me I need to throttle back. Plus, its a damn nuisance in deep snow. Sometimes...you just have to giver' in order to keep moving in the deep stuff. The TCS doesn't let you do that.

The last two vehicles I've owned have been Honda. A 2000 Civic bought brand new which was the cat's meow (buyers remorse...should have never traded it in...) and currently an Odyssey.

The later vehicle is a lemon. Absolutely hate the thing. Popped its tranny just after warranty expired (just over 90,000 klicks) and well it just feels cheap. With a growing family, I thought we needed the space, when honestly, we probably could have made due. As it stands we will drive this one into the ground before we break down and pony up the cash for another vehicle.

Honestly, if I didn't need to own a vehicle, I wouldn't. Huge waste of money and resources especially when you live in a city like Toronto.

[RobertInOntario]

My son in law had a Suzuki.

At any rate, I have read a lot of great advice regarding your '98 Civic. Keep it, do a safety check, and to take it one step further, you can do what I do with the racecar in the shop on Friday nights (before each race Saturday); I call it a "nut and bolt". It is a fine toothed safety inspection and EVERY nut and bolt gets checked with a socket of wrench. I want to lay my tools on EVERY piece of the car before we put our driver in it and her life on the line, I check EVERYTHING. Might not be a bad idea to get your Civic up on jack stands, get on a creeper adn do the same. Best to have your mechanic do a safety inspection, but also not a bad idea to check things yourself when you have the extra time and a little concern. Though I am NOT a fan of Jap Wagons, as far as foreign cars go, Honda by far makes the best in my opinion (though Nissan and Toyota make great ones too), so enjoy your Honda. It's probably just getting broken in at this point anyway!

Thanks, Tom! We're probably going to keep it, at least for a couple more years. It's running well and, when I get time later in Oct. or early-Nov., I plan to take it into the shop to get a thorough safety inspection done. Cheers, Rob

[RobertInOntario]

....
The later vehicle is a lemon. Absolutely hate the thing. Popped its tranny just after warranty expired (just over 90,000 klicks) and well it just feels cheap. With a growing family, I thought we needed the space, when honestly, we probably could have made due. As it stands we will drive this one into the ground before we break down and pony up the cash for another vehicle.
Honestly, if I didn't need to own a vehicle, I wouldn't. Huge waste of money and resources especially when you live in a city like Toronto.

Sorry to hear that the Odyssey isn't that great. I'm not a big fan of vans, although they are practical.

We basically own two vehicles because my work is just outside of Toronto, in Markham, and because we drive out into the country a lot. I'm not a huge big city fan (but my wife is!! ) so I like to get out of Toronto when I can. Usually we're visiting family, going hiking or to railway events!

Rob

[Tom]

The last two vehicles I've owned have been Honda. A 2000 Civic bought brand new which was the cat's meow (buyers remorse...should have never traded it in...) and currently an Odyssey.

The later vehicle is a lemon. Absolutely hate the thing. Popped its tranny just after warranty expired (just over 90,000 klicks) and well it just feels cheap. With a growing family, I thought we needed the space, when honestly, we probably could have made due. As it stands we will drive this one into the ground before we break down and pony up the cash for another vehicle.

At the risk of temporarily sidetracking the thread, my Ex-Fiance and I used to have a 1992 Camaro. (She bought it new and we broke up in 2000). We LOVED that car. Fire red Camaro RS with T-Tops. Beautiful woman in a beautiful sports car, I was in heaven. We put about 300,000 miles on it by the time we split and though I was VERY particulr with the upkeep of the car, the only major things it ever needed besides tires, brake shoes and ONE battery, was a set of shocks and struts and one alternator. The alternator went out at the tire shop as the mechanic fired it up to take it off the lift. Since I had bought tires, shocks and struts at the same time, the manager, really nice guy, had his guy go across the street to Napa and get an alternator, sold it to me at his cost and only charged $40 more for the kid to put it in. That car was perfect. I had a 1992 Chevy S-10 pickup (5 speed, the Camaro was an automatic) and we lived 32 miles from her work (in San Jose, we lived in San Leandro Ca.) and I worked 10 miles away, in the opposite commute on I-880, in Oakland for Amtrak. She always drove the truck, and I always drove the car. The only hiccup with the Camaro was the fact that it didn't take too kindly to mountain air, though we did take it camping alot, to Portola to the museum, etc. Just one wicked cool ride. When we split in 2000, she left me due to the railroad. She forced me to chose, and I chose the railroad, though reluctantly. She took the car (just to kick me in the b---s) and I got the truck. She went back to her ex-fiance that she had split with when her and I got together and quickly became his 5th or 6th (I can't remember now) wife and had two kids. She moved back to Virginia to be with the POS. As I later figured out, she had gotten pregnant when her and I were on the outs (him, NOT me!) and the first thing he did was demanded she sell the Camaro. He bought her a Honda Odyssey. Now, I am very fond of Honda cars (all except the Element, YUK!) but this thing is a PILE of crap. She HATES it. A few years ago, she and my current Fiance, Alicia, patched up their lifelong friendship (had been best friends since they were little kids and parted ways when her and I split up, I then ended up with Alicia), and as irony would have it, wound up moving to the same town her only living family (her Aunt) lives in, my hometown, Stockton. She lives about a 5 minute city drive away. You could almost walk there as fast as you can drive, and I occasionally see her as her and Alicia are best friends again. Doesn't bother me one bit either... every time I see her hating that Odyssey and mentioning the Camaro and how she misses it, I laugh a little inside. No, on second though, I laugh my butt off inside.

I say it all the time in racing and I'll say it again in this case... there is a reason the word "Karma" starts with the word "Car".

Sorry about hijacking the thread, its just when Tetters mentioned the Odyssey, I had to giggle thinking about Colleen hating hers. Made my night, thank you.

[ngauger]

now I have to ask - what and in which series do you race???

About the tading in.. We're kind of waiting to see what happens with the Cash for Clunkers program.. All those people with "Paid off" vehicles, trading them in for a new monthly payment... I'm hoping not too amny default....

once they default and the car is taken away, they now have no car.....

We'll have to see.....

[Tom]

now I have to ask - what and in which series do you race???

About the tading in.. We're kind of waiting to see what happens with the Cash for Clunkers program.. All those people with "Paid off" vehicles, trading them in for a new monthly payment... I'm hoping not too amny default....

once they default and the car is taken away, they now have no car.....

We'll have to see.....

Nascar Weekly Racing Series and the Westcar Late Model Touring Series 2009 Checy Impala Late Model Stock Car. It's a 2 car team, husband and wife drive, but right now, we're only running Shannon's car. Go to <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.manschmotorsports.net">www.manschmotorsports.net</a><!-- w --> for more info and photos.

[Tom]

Mikey, after reading your post, I got to thinking. A lot of (not the entire reason) the reason *I* think were even in this recession right now, and why folks are so broke is the whole housing boom of a few years ago. Follow me here on my crazy theory: Variable interest rate loans and other programs made it easier for young families to purchase homes, a godo thing right? Not necessarily. A LOT of those folks bought homes they couldn't afford, the variable interest rates lured many in and then they skyrocketed the rates, and being a society that generally lives well above their means anyway, what goes up must come down, and these folkks crashed financially and crashed hard, defaulting on their mortgages, and the houses going into foreclosure. Stockton, California is (or at least was for the longest time) hung with the dubious "honor" of being the foreclosure capital of the country. Foreclosed houses are EVERYWHERE here, can't throw a rock without hitting one. Folks simply bought more than they could afford. I am afriad this whole cash for clunkers deal is doing the same thing; promoting spending above peoples means. I think the idea was great, I applud the Obama Administration for the idea, but I just hope it isn't a smaller scale repeat of the housing boom. I thought about trading in the "G-Ride" (Granny mobile 1992 Chrysler New Yorker) as it certainly qualified, but I decided not to. I LIKE not having a car payment, being self employed in a rough economy helped the decision too, and bottom line, I am having a hard enough time making ends meet without adding a 3 or 4 hundred dollar car payment to the mix, not to mention higher insurance. So again, keep the Honda you have, it sounds like a great car. The neighbor, with all due respect to him, sounds like a tool. One of those wasteful Starbucks chugging, gotta have the newest gadget, Hummer driving, soccer game going, Brooks brothers wearing, snobbish, greedy people that "oh, the car is 2 years old, ew, time to junk it and buy a new one" mentality people that *in my opinion* are part of the problem with consumerism today. My sister is the same way, got her new Grand Prix repossed recently illegally (chase Financial, i could write a book on those clowns, long story) because the military had my Brotehr In Law's pay all screwed up while he was deployed, and frankly, she lives WAY above her means. My sister offered to introduce her to a friend that has a used car lot, and was willing to give her a great deal, she told us all "Ew, those cars are used, other people already have driven them".

[Sumpter250]

Mikey, after reading your post, I got to thinking. A lot of (not the entire reason) the reason *I* think were even in this recession right now, and why folks are so broke is the whole housing boom of a few years ago. Follow me here on my crazy theory: Variable interest rate loans

I believe it was the trigger.
I'll not comment any further, anger leads to the dark side.

[Russ Bellinis]

I think the biggest problem was that the clowns we bailed out in the financial sector sold people on the adjustable rate arms based entirely on the concept that property values always go up. A lot of people who had those loans that reset the interest and in effect refinance the loan every 5 years suddenly had debt of twice what the house was worth. Credit rating or ability to pay had nothing to do with the foreclosure of many of those homes. The banks that had sold the people on a "bill of goods" five or six years ago, suddenly changed their tune when the property values fell. My son in law got one of those loans for the low payments, fortunately he was smart enough to realize that the property values might drop so he made extra payments against the principle from the beginning and thereby reduce the amount that needed to be refinanced so that his house is still worth what he owes on it or close enough that the bank will refinance.

[eightyeightfan1]

I think the biggest problem was that the clowns we bailed out in the financial sector sold people on the adjustable rate arms based entirely on the concept that property values always go up. A lot of people who had those loans that reset the interest and in effect refinance the loan every 5 years suddenly had debt of twice what the house was worth. Credit rating or ability to pay had nothing to do with the foreclosure of many of those homes. The banks that had sold the people on a "bill of goods" five or six years ago, suddenly changed their tune when the property values fell. My son in law got one of those loans for the low payments, fortunately he was smart enough to realize that the property values might drop so he made extra payments against the principle from the beginning and thereby reduce the amount that needed to be refinanced so that his house is still worth what he owes on it or close enough that the bank will refinance.

I know two people that happened too.
They all had ARM's at low rates. Then the banks went up on the rate. (One person's mortgage went from $700 a month up to $1900 a month) Well, these two folks tried working with the banks for a lower rate, but the banks said no way. After months of TRYING to work with the banks, and kept getting denied, they finally gave up. One person, a very good friend of mine, was just finishing up moving out of his house when the bank called(right around the time the crap hit the fan), and decided to work with him. He told them to "Shove it" and hung up. The other person, got a letter in the mail at her apartment(maybe a month after moving out of the house), telling her that "The bank has reviewed its procedures and decided that it was advantagous for both parties to come to a reasonable agreement."(she showed me the letter) And will be willing to work out an agreement at lower then "PROPOSED" ARM. (Proposed?...Now it was just a proprosal? and wasn't cast in stone?)
Too late......
My friend told me that the bank still has the house, and the other person told me the bank she got her mortgage at went belly up

[ngauger]

Nascar Weekly Racing Series and the Westcar Late Model Touring Series 2009 Checy Impala Late Model Stock Car. It's a 2 car team, husband and wife drive, but right now, we're only running Shannon's car. Go to <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.manschmotorsports.net">http://www.manschmotorsports.net</a><!-- m --> for more info and photos.

Cool!! Great Pics too!!!