@tohar1
The best one we’ve received so far was a Louise duck from Bob’s Burgers! I relate on a terrifying level with Louise (my sister & Dad confirm we’re too alike) so that one made my month and has a duck of honour place!
Thought I would try a hybrid SUV. Got a used one, a “luxury” one. Paid it off, then paid for it two more times. Only the dealer will touch the hybrid system, and they really like to touch it.
@rustyh3 I have a '91 Suburban. It still runs and drives OK, but the sliding window in the tailgate is stuck down and no one can figure out how to get to the motor without breaking the glass (and even if it could, a replacement window motor is not available anyway.) So I guess it is destined for donation to a charity - they can sell it to a junk yard for parts/scrap.
2011 Rav4.
125k miles bought used several years ago with 60,000 mi. Overall it’s been a good vehicle. Roomy enough to load 25 bags of 2 cubic foot mulch in the back but still gets about 23-25 mpg. Easy enough to get in as it’s not to low to the ground nor a big climb since my wife and I are both relatively tall. Wish the back end wasn’t carpeted when you laid down the seats though. Like the fact that it has a real full sized spare tire which is mounted on the back. Have mixed feelings about the side swing back door though. Sometimes it can be a pain for loading but generally it’s fairly practical.
Drove a Pontiac vibe (AKA Toyota matrix) several years for over 250k miles (also bought used). Loved that vehicle, but was getting to be too much maintenance $$ for upkeep. Would own another in a heartbeat.
@chienfou I liked the Vibe from the first time I saw it in a parking lot in LA before it was released. I think it had a great 100% flat seat down for cargo hauling.
@cfg83@chienfou We bought a Vibe for my wife new in 2008. It eventually was passed on to our daughter and she is still driving it. Great car!
I guess the Corolla Cross fills the spot that the Vibe/Matrix had these days.
@cfg83@chienfou The Pontiac Vibe was just a re-badged Toyota Matrix (essentially a Corolla hatchback). They were built side-by-side in the same plant in California (now a Tesla factory).
@chienfou@macromeh Yup, NUMMI, but the Vibe looked better. I look at the Vibe as the first “crossover” in the sense that it tried to look like an SUV without being one. Now, people love to make fun of the Pontiac “Performance Plastic” mods, but I think it worked really well in the Vibe because it broke the “slab of wall” that are most cars today. In the picture below you can see the bottom plastic changes the visible proportion of side door to window :
In the Matrix and most cars today, you get a big slab of metal in proportion to the side window :
@cfg83@chienfou@narfcake Funny story re: our Vibe -
My wife was driving our daughter to catch a flight. It was a December evening, dark and raining hard. Just a couple hundred yards from our driveway, the neighbor’s big black bull stepped out of the brush onto the road. Wife hit the brakes and almost came to a stop, bumping the bull just hard enough to knock him off his feet. He fell across the hood and fender of the Vibe, breaking some plastic trim, lightly denting the corner of the hood and smunching the driver’s side front fender. The bull got up and walked away.
The insurance company totalled the car! I bought it back for peanuts, replaced the fender and patched up the broken plastic. Our daughter is still driving it.
Sounds like the bull shrugged it off and no one else got hurt.
No injuries for my wife and daughter.
The bull survived the collision relatively unscathed (probably a few bruises). However, his owner (or his insurance) was on the hook for the accident (the west side of Oregon is “closed range”). It wasn’t long after that most of Mr. Wandering Bull was in his freezer.
@cfg83@macromeh@narfcake
I came home from work after a shift in the ER one night to find flashing blue lights just down the street from my house. Turned out one of the local police officers had nailed a cow from my neighbor two doors down. Thankfully he caught it with the left front bumper and spun down the side of his car. After he hit it, it stood back up shaking itself off and took off down the road. Fortunately for the officer, the weather was a little bit cool so he had just rolled up his window since the whole side of the police cruiser was covered in cow shit. Neither bull nor officer was the worst for wear.
Went from an 05 mini cooper to a 2012 jeep patriot. Since we were traveling the country in a skoolie at the time, it was a huge step up. I could go shopping and do laundry in the same trip. Also was very handy when the dog got Cushing’s disease and we couldn’t leave him in the bus for more than a couple hours. The last two years he went to every national park, monument and all day outing we took. It’s been a pretty good car. Decent space, 4x4 but not a huge behemoth. No regrets on this one.
Way back yonder, about the year 2001, I made the “mistake” of purchasing a Jeep Grand Cherokee for the Mrs.–You know, freshly married, peace-of-mind, happy wife–happy life, and all that…Little did I know that she’d love that dang old truck so much that we’d never be without at least one Jeep in our family in perpetuity. We’re on our third one since then, and I’ve heard hints that she might want a newer one again-2018 currently, with only 90K miles on the clock. I normally drive a smaller (but not too small) crossover (Caliber, Outback) but also got one of her “hand-me-down” Jeeps (the 2004) which I drove for over 2 years before someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse…That good ol’ truck is a fire wagon now to a guy who does controlled burns of pasture lands–still uses it every day.
Thinking about switching my sedan for an SUV/almost-SUV. My last car was a Mazda3 hatchback that I LOVED and miss now that I’m in a regular ol 4-door car w a trunk. I miss the versatility.
@caalsio I had a 2012 Mazda 3 hatchback - I really liked mine also. It drove nicely, got great fuel mileage and zero mechanical issues (just normal maintenance) in 100K+ miles.
@macromeh mine was also 2012!! a great mazda3 year, I guess. I had alternator issues, but that’s the only thing I had to replace in the 10years I owned it. Passed it to my brother, so I get to see it now and again.
@caalsio I passed my 2012 Mazda3 to my son. He drove it for about a year, then somebody rear ended it and it was totaled. Too bad - it probably had lots of years left in it.
currently driving my brother’s '14 RAV-4. My normal daily was an LS430 until my mouthbreathing neighbor crunched it with his pickup.
Honorable mention to my 2000 Jimmy. bought it as a low-mileage non-runner during covid. spent the time during lockdown fixing it. Lol. its now 26 years old, has 52,xxx miles and runs like a dream. Only reason I’m driving the previously-mentioned RAV-4 is because the Jimmy’s gas mileage is absolutely atrocious!
because the Jimmy’s gas mileage is absolutely atrocious!
@visioneer_one The 4.3 is basically the 5.7 with two cylinders lopped off. Very stout engine, but as you’ve noticed, the fuel economy is not a strong point.
Ten year old 4Runner. I voted “sort of” because people can’t agree that it’s an SUV. Please enjoy the following autistic dissertation.
Some people insist that SUV implies a crossover and that if it has a ladder frame, it’s a truck, and therefore the 4Runner isn’t an SUV, it’s a truck. Some people argue the 4Runner is a crossover because it has IFS, and real SUVs and trucks must have a solid front axle. Some people think it’s only a truck if it’s a miniature semi in the style of an American pickup truck, and that because it can’t go 160mph while towing a 7,000lb boat on a perfectly smooth, flat road, it’s an SUV, and some people draw some weird distinction between SUV and 4x4 and argue it is one or the other.
In my opinion most of those distinctions come from people wanting to feel superior about their specific preference, taste, or financial decisions.
For tax purposes, it’s a truck, and an SUV is historically a truck chassis with an estate/wagon body on it, so taking that formula and modernizing it with the idea that modern vehicles are predominantly unibody construction instead of body on chassis, anything consisting of an enclosed interior (carlike body) on top of a platform designed for ruggedness and capability on terrain not typically safe for a car (truck chassis), it’s probably equally safe to call it a truck or an SUV or a 4x4, but I usually call it my car.
2013 Ford Edge, He’s got 160k miles on him (his name is Hal) and he’s been a good vehicle. The mechanic says that he needs $10k worth of work. I’m getting a second opinion before I jump on that though. If I get a new one, the current Fords don’t peak my interest so I might look at Kia. It will be weird though since I have not had a foreign made vehicle since 1994.
@ironcheftoni Definitely get a second opinion – starting with doing your own scan. A $15-ish USB-to-ELM327 adapter + Forscan on a Windows laptop will read a lot of the vehicle’s subsystems that regular OBD2 scanners will not.
I’ve had a few suv’s. Currently a 2013 nissan murano, 103k miles and just got back from a 3200 mile trip to the grand canyon. Also had a 2008 Mazda cx9, sold with 265k miles and it was a great vehicle but very expensive to fix when anything broke. Lastly a 1991 isuzu rodeo LS with a 6 speed, awesome off road vehicle but absolutely no power on the road.
A 2023 Hyundai Tuscon AWD Hybrid. Love the car and all the perks that come with the “Limited” trim level but question its long term reliability as the hybrid battery has already failed once.
Never thought I’d buy another Hyundai given my previous experience with my first one-a 1989 Sonata-the first year it was out. It broke down driving it out of the dealers lot when it purchased it. Was never so glad to get rid of that car several years later as I was convinced given the quality I had experienced that Hyundai was never going to survive in the America car market. What did I know?
@Felton10 At that time, Hyundai thought that going to Mitsubishi for their expertise was the way to go. The reality is that it was more like Mitsubishi was shedding themselves of some old platforms and designs. The Excel was based on the Mirage (Colt), the Sonata was based on the Galant.
After dealing with the resulting issues, they focused more to their own designs in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, they backed it up with their 10 year powertrain warranty. While the vehicles still had shortcomings, they were at least proving to be not-completely-crap anymore.
It’s still an ouch with the HV battery on your 2023. My daily is a 2008 Mercury Mariner hybrid; 260k and counting on the battery. I figured that if the NYC taxis were running the Escape hybrids for well over 500k miles, Ford had to have done something right.
@narfcake When the check engine light came on, we were just about to drive over to the east coast to get on a cruise. Luckily we were going a day before because when we finally got on the road with a rental, we would have missed the boat if it has sailed the same day.
I asked the service advisor if I could still drive the car with the ck engine light on (sometimes it comes on for a non major issue) and he said he wouldn’t. Initially told us they might have the car for two months as the battery would have to come from South Korea, but luckily it only took a month to get it. Hyundai covered all but 2 days of the rental.
2017 RAV4 hybrid. Love it. Got it new and the only time I’ve had it in for something to be fixed was brakes this past year. It’s closing in on 275,000 miles.
@EdgarAllenPope so you have a very specific type of job. Requiring you to drive 30K miles a year. Which is massive. Or you just are retired and love driving the country.
But the hybrid part. Only matters in stop and go traffic. It’s extra weight when cruising…
But the hybrid part. Only matters in stop and go
traffic. It’s extra weight when cruising…
Not true, IME. My wife’s Toyota hybrid has a graphic display that shows the realtime utilization of the gas and electric motors. Even on the highway, it is constantly switching among electric (charge)/electric (power)/gas/both combined based on load and conditions.
@unksol I have been working from home for the past five years. I live in a very rural area that is about an 80 round trip to get to anything except a couple local establishments. Well there is a Walmart 18 miles away. Anyway I just love driving.
Wasn’t entirely intentional. I don’t check my mail more than once a week cause I don’t get mail. And I don’t open it always. Had a very short timeline for the reply questionnaire.
Sheriff didn’t show up so… Guess they had enough coverage.
Hybrid wise. It would really depend on how often you need to accelerate. You don’t want it switching to charge and then drain unless it is storing wasted energy.
That being said I don’t know much about their 2017 design. If it’s equivalent to the current one… Yea it doesn’t weigh much. the PHEV battery weight would be worse. Randomly saw this posted after
/youtube technologies connection hybrid.
The fact that it’s basically just a differential is. interesting and for me makes sense.
In a single car situation in my conditions I would still want a PHEV. Because that would cover 95% with no gas.
In a two car situation maybe a low range electric and a high range fast charging electric
In a single car situation where your commute is pretty long. I could see that being a great choice. Have to also agree that a van is… The most versatile especially if you can fold sheets and get 4x8 sheets. So much better than giant SUVs with wasted ground clearance.
@EdgarAllenPope@unksol Sorry, it was an obscure reference to a running joke from the old TV series “30 Rock”. They occasionally referred to a script for “The Rural Juror”, which everyone had difficulty pronouncing.
@EdgarAllenPope@macromeh I absolutely watched 30 rock. Just needed the context for that bit. It was on in college. It… Has been a while I guess…
Ugh. “Old tv show” cuts like a knife.
I guess parks and rec, stargate, etc etc are also now “that old TV show”.
What does that make home improvement, boy meets world, TNG, Saved by the bell, Prince of Bellaire, Cosby show(yeah yeah I know) ,family matters… Let’s not touch on the cartoons.
@EdgarAllenPope@macromeh also. Back to the driving/hybrid. I absolutely love a good drive. An hour plus commute to work would absolutely depend on the job. And the place
An hour commute to a cube. No.
An hour commute to be a park ranger? Absolutely. A 2 hour commute to go 80 miles on a freeway? Hard pass.
Also if you don’t already know how the toyota hybrid system works it is very cool. They are using a more efficient engine cycle. That’s why you get good fuel economy on the highway once cruising. It’s just awful at providing power when needed to accelerate. So no one ever does it.
So how do you fix that? You use a tiny battery and some electric motors so when you need to merge/pass a car/accelerat you have the immediate power response from the electric motors. Then you settle back to cruising with a more efficient gas engine
Then there is how the"differential"/planetary gear set works. But the main thing is that it lets you run a more efficient gas engine cycle. It is interesting/a good explanation.
Honda Element bought used and totaled by assholes with no driver’s license and no insurance.
Before that a Grand Caravan that lasted 25 years and 3 mo. Was the era of the peeling paint. Kid called it the ghetto van because of that. Claimed she’d never drive it. Ha! We all know how that eventually ended when I refused to buy a second car. Tried to swipe it too (when only had a learner’s permit). One Saturday morning she came to me and said, “The ghetto van is broken”. I said, “And how would you know that?” Oops. Told on herself. The best $25 I ever spent fixing that ignition kill and hood lock.
Was given a cousin’s Toyota Tercell wagon due to failing inspection due to body rust. Had that been in an accident I am sure all that would have been left would have been a pile of rust dust on the road.
Before that another van (only new vehicle I had - that was totaled in a 25 car pile up). Before that 2 pickup trucks with caps on them so I could sleep in them when I’d travel somewhere.
Teeny tiny one
Can I drive it to work
Ford Escape. SUV for us single folks who don’t need to haul other people around.
Subaru Crosstrek. My fourth one.
@heartny
Another Crosstrek owner here.
A little bigger.
@PooltoyWolf
That doesn’t look very sporty.
@kittykat9180 I do not into sports.
@kittykat9180 @PooltoyWolf CSX has a mascot?
@cfg83 @kittykat9180 (Unofficially)
I had a RAV4 until a couple of years ago. But I always thought of it as a roomy family passenger car rather than a “sport” vehicle.
@phendrick Yeah, we have the RAV4’s sibling, a Venza. Really more a tall AWD station wagon (but we really like it
).
Jeep Duck would totally be added to your ride!
“If you know, You know!”
@Clumber I hope that Spaniel has a license to drive in the snow.
@cfg83
We were scouting for good Ruffed Grouse areas for the upcoming season, obviously she needed to be up front for the action!
@tohar1
The best one we’ve received so far was a Louise duck from Bob’s Burgers! I relate on a terrifying level with Louise (my sister & Dad confirm we’re too alike) so that one made my month and has a duck of honour place!
Thought I would try a hybrid SUV. Got a used one, a “luxury” one. Paid it off, then paid for it two more times. Only the dealer will touch the hybrid system, and they really like to touch it.
@hchavers What vehicle? It might not be the hybrid part that’s “dealer only”, what with so many makes locking things behind software and all.
Nissan rogue. I hate it, but it’s paid off and it won’t die so it’s a weird complaint.
'01 Suburban - my version of an SUV tool box
@rustyh3 I have a '91 Suburban. It still runs and drives OK, but the sliding window in the tailgate is stuck down and no one can figure out how to get to the motor without breaking the glass (and even if it could, a replacement window motor is not available anyway.) So I guess it is destined for donation to a charity - they can sell it to a junk yard for parts/scrap.
2011 Rav4.
125k miles bought used several years ago with 60,000 mi. Overall it’s been a good vehicle. Roomy enough to load 25 bags of 2 cubic foot mulch in the back but still gets about 23-25 mpg. Easy enough to get in as it’s not to low to the ground nor a big climb since my wife and I are both relatively tall. Wish the back end wasn’t carpeted when you laid down the seats though. Like the fact that it has a real full sized spare tire which is mounted on the back. Have mixed feelings about the side swing back door though. Sometimes it can be a pain for loading but generally it’s fairly practical.
Drove a Pontiac vibe (AKA Toyota matrix) several years for over 250k miles (also bought used). Loved that vehicle, but was getting to be too much maintenance $$ for upkeep. Would own another in a heartbeat.
@chienfou I liked the Vibe from the first time I saw it in a parking lot in LA before it was released. I think it had a great 100% flat seat down for cargo hauling.
@cfg83
exactly. and it was all hard plastic so easy clean up when hauling stuff.
@cfg83 @chienfou We bought a Vibe for my wife new in 2008. It eventually was passed on to our daughter and she is still driving it. Great car!
I guess the Corolla Cross fills the spot that the Vibe/Matrix had these days.
@chienfou @macromeh Yeah, the Vibe has the Corolla drivetrain, so you can’t go wrong.
The only car I like today is the Corolla hatchback/wagon. They stopped offering manuals in 2023, so I would only consider a 2022 or older.
@cfg83 @chienfou The Pontiac Vibe was just a re-badged Toyota Matrix (essentially a Corolla hatchback). They were built side-by-side in the same plant in California (now a Tesla factory).
@chienfou @macromeh Yup, NUMMI, but the Vibe looked better. I look at the Vibe as the first “crossover” in the sense that it tried to look like an SUV without being one. Now, people love to make fun of the Pontiac “Performance Plastic” mods, but I think it worked really well in the Vibe because it broke the “slab of wall” that are most cars today. In the picture below you can see the bottom plastic changes the visible proportion of side door to window :
In the Matrix and most cars today, you get a big slab of metal in proportion to the side window :
I am sure most people don’t care about this …
… but I do because … aesthetics …
@cfg83 @chienfou @macromeh FWIW, the Vibe was exported back to Japan and sold as the Toyota Voltz. At least it was a good product, unlike the Toyota Cavalier.
https://www.theautopian.com/the-toyota-cavalier-was-doomed-from-the-start-gm-hit-or-miss/
@chienfou @macromeh @narfcake Cool! I am impressed it was good enough to go back to Japan. NUMMI was well run.
@cfg83 @chienfou @narfcake Funny story re: our Vibe -
My wife was driving our daughter to catch a flight. It was a December evening, dark and raining hard. Just a couple hundred yards from our driveway, the neighbor’s big black bull stepped out of the brush onto the road. Wife hit the brakes and almost came to a stop, bumping the bull just hard enough to knock him off his feet. He fell across the hood and fender of the Vibe, breaking some plastic trim, lightly denting the corner of the hood and smunching the driver’s side front fender. The bull got up and walked away.
The insurance company totalled the car! I bought it back for peanuts, replaced the fender and patched up the broken plastic. Our daughter is still driving it.
@chienfou @macromeh @narfcake Wow! Sounds like the bull shrugged it off and no one else got hurt.
Thank you for saving the Vibe, I like to think I would have done the same!
@cfg83 @macromeh @narfcake
Absolutely would have saved mine if I thought it was not going to become a money pit at over a quarter million miles…
@chienfou @macromeh @narfcake I have made the same decision in the past. Stillllll, go to 8:16 to see who came in at number 3 :
@cfg83 @chienfou @narfcake
No injuries for my wife and daughter.
The bull survived the collision relatively unscathed (probably a few bruises). However, his owner (or his insurance) was on the hook for the accident (the west side of Oregon is “closed range”). It wasn’t long after that most of Mr. Wandering Bull was in his freezer.
@cfg83 @macromeh @narfcake
I came home from work after a shift in the ER one night to find flashing blue lights just down the street from my house. Turned out one of the local police officers had nailed a cow from my neighbor two doors down. Thankfully he caught it with the left front bumper and spun down the side of his car. After he hit it, it stood back up shaking itself off and took off down the road. Fortunately for the officer, the weather was a little bit cool so he had just rolled up his window since the whole side of the police cruiser was covered in cow shit. Neither bull nor officer was the worst for wear.
Went from an 05 mini cooper to a 2012 jeep patriot. Since we were traveling the country in a skoolie at the time, it was a huge step up. I could go shopping and do laundry in the same trip. Also was very handy when the dog got Cushing’s disease and we couldn’t leave him in the bus for more than a couple hours. The last two years he went to every national park, monument and all day outing we took. It’s been a pretty good car. Decent space, 4x4 but not a huge behemoth. No regrets on this one.
@Felicianomiko Jeep Duck would totally be added to your ride!
“If you know, You know!”
A Nissan Murano my last 2, a Chevy Blazer before them. In the running for a Yukon Denali XL right now.
@PetiePal don’t! the 6.2L V8 is not to be trusted right now. Wait until GM comes out with the replacement engine.
Way back yonder, about the year 2001, I made the “mistake” of purchasing a Jeep Grand Cherokee for the Mrs.–You know, freshly married, peace-of-mind, happy wife–happy life, and all that…Little did I know that she’d love that dang old truck so much that we’d never be without at least one Jeep in our family in perpetuity. We’re on our third one since then, and I’ve heard hints that she might want a newer one again-2018 currently, with only 90K miles on the clock. I normally drive a smaller (but not too small) crossover (Caliber, Outback) but also got one of her “hand-me-down” Jeeps (the 2004) which I drove for over 2 years before someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse…That good ol’ truck is a fire wagon now to a guy who does controlled burns of pasture lands–still uses it every day.
Thinking about switching my sedan for an SUV/almost-SUV. My last car was a Mazda3 hatchback that I LOVED and miss now that I’m in a regular ol 4-door car w a trunk. I miss the versatility.
@caalsio I had a 2012 Mazda 3 hatchback - I really liked mine also. It drove nicely, got great fuel mileage and zero mechanical issues (just normal maintenance) in 100K+ miles.
@macromeh mine was also 2012!! a great mazda3 year, I guess. I had alternator issues, but that’s the only thing I had to replace in the 10years I owned it. Passed it to my brother, so I get to see it now and again.
@caalsio I passed my 2012 Mazda3 to my son. He drove it for about a year, then somebody rear ended it and it was totaled.
Too bad - it probably had lots of years left in it.
currently driving my brother’s '14 RAV-4. My normal daily was an LS430 until my mouthbreathing neighbor crunched it with his pickup.
Honorable mention to my 2000 Jimmy. bought it as a low-mileage non-runner during covid. spent the time during lockdown fixing it. Lol. its now 26 years old, has 52,xxx miles and runs like a dream. Only reason I’m driving the previously-mentioned RAV-4 is because the Jimmy’s gas mileage is absolutely atrocious!
@visioneer_one The 4.3 is basically the 5.7 with two cylinders lopped off. Very stout engine, but as you’ve noticed, the fuel economy is not a strong point.
Ten year old 4Runner. I voted “sort of” because people can’t agree that it’s an SUV. Please enjoy the following autistic dissertation.
Some people insist that SUV implies a crossover and that if it has a ladder frame, it’s a truck, and therefore the 4Runner isn’t an SUV, it’s a truck. Some people argue the 4Runner is a crossover because it has IFS, and real SUVs and trucks must have a solid front axle. Some people think it’s only a truck if it’s a miniature semi in the style of an American pickup truck, and that because it can’t go 160mph while towing a 7,000lb boat on a perfectly smooth, flat road, it’s an SUV, and some people draw some weird distinction between SUV and 4x4 and argue it is one or the other.
In my opinion most of those distinctions come from people wanting to feel superior about their specific preference, taste, or financial decisions.
For tax purposes, it’s a truck, and an SUV is historically a truck chassis with an estate/wagon body on it, so taking that formula and modernizing it with the idea that modern vehicles are predominantly unibody construction instead of body on chassis, anything consisting of an enclosed interior (carlike body) on top of a platform designed for ruggedness and capability on terrain not typically safe for a car (truck chassis), it’s probably equally safe to call it a truck or an SUV or a 4x4, but I usually call it my car.
2013 Ford Edge, He’s got 160k miles on him (his name is Hal) and he’s been a good vehicle. The mechanic says that he needs $10k worth of work. I’m getting a second opinion before I jump on that though. If I get a new one, the current Fords don’t peak my interest so I might look at Kia. It will be weird though since I have not had a foreign made vehicle since 1994.
@ironcheftoni Definitely get a second opinion – starting with doing your own scan. A $15-ish USB-to-ELM327 adapter + Forscan on a Windows laptop will read a lot of the vehicle’s subsystems that regular OBD2 scanners will not.
Mustang Mach-E. Such a smooth ride, and the interior is so much quieter than my previous cars.
@jitc I cannot get past that they labeled those as Mustang. As a former Mustang GT owner, Carroll Shelby has got to be rolling in his grave.
@ironcheftoni my husband has the GT version. It may not look like the traditional muscle car, but it is FAST.
2016 Mazda CX-5
I’ve had a few suv’s. Currently a 2013 nissan murano, 103k miles and just got back from a 3200 mile trip to the grand canyon. Also had a 2008 Mazda cx9, sold with 265k miles and it was a great vehicle but very expensive to fix when anything broke. Lastly a 1991 isuzu rodeo LS with a 6 speed, awesome off road vehicle but absolutely no power on the road.
PANS! GLANDS! CRAYONS! AWESOME!
@HobieCat I’ve had two Muranos. Absolutely loved them.
I drive a Trogdor
It burninates!
A 2023 Hyundai Tuscon AWD Hybrid. Love the car and all the perks that come with the “Limited” trim level but question its long term reliability as the hybrid battery has already failed once.
Never thought I’d buy another Hyundai given my previous experience with my first one-a 1989 Sonata-the first year it was out. It broke down driving it out of the dealers lot when it purchased it. Was never so glad to get rid of that car several years later as I was convinced given the quality I had experienced that Hyundai was never going to survive in the America car market. What did I know?
@Felton10 At that time, Hyundai thought that going to Mitsubishi for their expertise was the way to go. The reality is that it was more like Mitsubishi was shedding themselves of some old platforms and designs. The Excel was based on the Mirage (Colt), the Sonata was based on the Galant.
After dealing with the resulting issues, they focused more to their own designs in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, they backed it up with their 10 year powertrain warranty. While the vehicles still had shortcomings, they were at least proving to be not-completely-crap anymore.
It’s still an ouch with the HV battery on your 2023. My daily is a 2008 Mercury Mariner hybrid; 260k and counting on the battery. I figured that if the NYC taxis were running the Escape hybrids for well over 500k miles, Ford had to have done something right.
@narfcake When the check engine light came on, we were just about to drive over to the east coast to get on a cruise. Luckily we were going a day before because when we finally got on the road with a rental, we would have missed the boat if it has sailed the same day.
I asked the service advisor if I could still drive the car with the ck engine light on (sometimes it comes on for a non major issue) and he said he wouldn’t. Initially told us they might have the car for two months as the battery would have to come from South Korea, but luckily it only took a month to get it. Hyundai covered all but 2 days of the rental.
2017 RAV4 hybrid. Love it. Got it new and the only time I’ve had it in for something to be fixed was brakes this past year. It’s closing in on 275,000 miles.
@EdgarAllenPope so you have a very specific type of job. Requiring you to drive 30K miles a year. Which is massive. Or you just are retired and love driving the country.
But the hybrid part. Only matters in stop and go traffic. It’s extra weight when cruising…
I agree that’s a good car just curious
@EdgarAllenPope @unksol
Not true, IME. My wife’s Toyota hybrid has a graphic display that shows the realtime utilization of the gas and electric motors. Even on the highway, it is constantly switching among electric (charge)/electric (power)/gas/both combined based on load and conditions.
@unksol I have been working from home for the past five years. I live in a very rural area that is about an 80 round trip to get to anything except a couple local establishments. Well there is a Walmart 18 miles away. Anyway I just love driving.
@EdgarAllenPope I’m rural but not rural enough apparently
@EdgarAllenPope @unksol
I am rural (and I’ve also been a juror).
@EdgarAllenPope @macromeh I may have forgotten to reply to the only jury notice I’ve gotten.
Wasn’t entirely intentional. I don’t check my mail more than once a week cause I don’t get mail. And I don’t open it always. Had a very short timeline for the reply questionnaire.
Sheriff didn’t show up so… Guess they had enough coverage.
Hybrid wise. It would really depend on how often you need to accelerate. You don’t want it switching to charge and then drain unless it is storing wasted energy.
That being said I don’t know much about their 2017 design. If it’s equivalent to the current one… Yea it doesn’t weigh much. the PHEV battery weight would be worse. Randomly saw this posted after
/youtube technologies connection hybrid.
The fact that it’s basically just a differential is. interesting and for me makes sense.
In a single car situation in my conditions I would still want a PHEV. Because that would cover 95% with no gas.
In a two car situation maybe a low range electric and a high range fast charging electric
In a single car situation where your commute is pretty long. I could see that being a great choice. Have to also agree that a van is… The most versatile especially if you can fold sheets and get 4x8 sheets. So much better than giant SUVs with wasted ground clearance.
@EdgarAllenPope @unksol Sorry, it was an obscure reference to a running joke from the old TV series “30 Rock”. They occasionally referred to a script for “The Rural Juror”, which everyone had difficulty pronouncing.
@EdgarAllenPope @macromeh I absolutely watched 30 rock. Just needed the context for that bit. It was on in college. It… Has been a while I guess…
Ugh. “Old tv show” cuts like a knife.
I guess parks and rec, stargate, etc etc are also now “that old TV show”.
What does that make home improvement, boy meets world, TNG, Saved by the bell, Prince of Bellaire, Cosby show(yeah yeah I know) ,family matters… Let’s not touch on the cartoons.
Archival footage? Lmao lol thanks. I needed that
@EdgarAllenPope @macromeh also. Back to the driving/hybrid. I absolutely love a good drive. An hour plus commute to work would absolutely depend on the job. And the place
An hour commute to a cube. No.
An hour commute to be a park ranger? Absolutely. A 2 hour commute to go 80 miles on a freeway? Hard pass.
Also if you don’t already know how the toyota hybrid system works it is very cool. They are using a more efficient engine cycle. That’s why you get good fuel economy on the highway once cruising. It’s just awful at providing power when needed to accelerate. So no one ever does it.
So how do you fix that? You use a tiny battery and some electric motors so when you need to merge/pass a car/accelerat you have the immediate power response from the electric motors. Then you settle back to cruising with a more efficient gas engine
Then there is how the"differential"/planetary gear set works. But the main thing is that it lets you run a more efficient gas engine cycle. It is interesting/a good explanation.
Is do simple/known technology. Everyone should be
Bought at 10, now 17 in Aug, Toyota Sienna
Honda Element bought used and totaled by assholes with no driver’s license and no insurance.
Before that a Grand Caravan that lasted 25 years and 3 mo. Was the era of the peeling paint. Kid called it the ghetto van because of that. Claimed she’d never drive it. Ha! We all know how that eventually ended when I refused to buy a second car. Tried to swipe it too (when only had a learner’s permit). One Saturday morning she came to me and said, “The ghetto van is broken”. I said, “And how would you know that?” Oops. Told on herself. The best $25 I ever spent fixing that ignition kill and hood lock.
Was given a cousin’s Toyota Tercell wagon due to failing inspection due to body rust. Had that been in an accident I am sure all that would have been left would have been a pile of rust dust on the road.
Before that another van (only new vehicle I had - that was totaled in a 25 car pile up). Before that 2 pickup trucks with caps on them so I could sleep in them when I’d travel somewhere.
@Kidsandliz
I feel ya … Daily driver is a 2011 Rav4. “Back-up” car (was Mom’s) is a 2008 Ford focus.