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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Went with SoFi for my loans. Similarly put in to refinance my wife's loans (with me as a co-signer as before). Should be 3.25% fixed x 60 months for both.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,827
13,063
@Toshi what are my considerations and needs if I want car charging abilities (future proofing) in a new garage?
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
@Toshi what are my considerations and needs if I want car charging abilities (future proofing) in a new garage?
Ideally I’d have one 240V 50A circuit for each vehicle bay. NEMA 14-50R safest to terminate it, as that has a neutral line that the 6-50R doesn't, iirc.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
That'd be a Volvo XC40, via Care by Volvo.

(Yes, it has a hitch, albeit one that's rather exorbitant and which I'd probably not actually get, especially since I might only be in this physical vehicle for 12 months with the program's design.)
May 6 ETA for the wee Volvo. It's still on the boat.

Regarding the exorbitantly priced hitch, the official dealer-installed price (replete with wiring harness, hitch ball, etc. since it's a kit) turned out to be... $1,299.37.

Oof.

But since it's still on the boat, the sales guy at my local dealer figured that he could have it added at the port at a lower cost, since apparently that's how things work. $940 at the port. I told him to do it, because taking wheels off muddy bikes and hauling them around inside (especially with a small SUV where it'd probably be up against the seatbacks) is just stupid.

This is probably just as well in terms of serving as incentive to me to stick it out for a whole 24 months (I know, so long) with this one particular gas-powered XC40 example under the program, as opposed to trading it in at 12 months and re-upping for another 24 months. The long term dream is still of a nicely appointed, nice UI (as opposed to the crap single screen Model 3 design) PHEV or BEV, and if the latter the I-70/Idaho Springs quick charge network needs to exist. It probably won't exist next summer but maybe by summer 2020...



Update:

I tried to add the hitch ,but on the care XC40s it will not allow a hitch to be installed at port. I checked
with service and it is $715.00 plus tax to add the 2" hitch with out wiring and without the ball. On the Care vehicles ,you would have to pay for the hitch separately.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
This shot is from my 4/3/18 fillup, so about 3 weeks short of a true 6 month update on the Pacifica (Plug-in) Hybrid, but here it is:



14-15k mile/year pace (boosted by ski trips and because we preferentially drove it when we had two cars not to mention that I sold the RAV4 EV in February).

Just under 74% of total miles driven have been on electricity, whether from the plug or regenerated on the many descents down mountain passes. Gas mileage has been right around 30 mpg for that portion of miles, and with our electricity being cheap (~5-10 cents/kWh depending on season + a little surcharge for offsetting it with wind renewable energy credits) it's been very cheap overall. Around town we'll often have days where we use no gas, but in the winter this is less frequent since the engine runs periodically to warm the coolant despite an electric heating element, I believe. On ski trips we usually end up with at least 50% of miles driven on electricity due to the extensive regen made possible by the relatively big ~12 kWh-usable battery.

We still love its driving dynamics--so very quiet in electric mode, and not bad on road trips in gas mode, either, what with active noise cancellation, acoustic glass, etc. No mechanical reliability issues thus far, either. The only issues we've had with it are with the infotainment system (which is either running QNX or Android itself), which sometimes fails to display icons, reboots, or otherwise glitches. The light colored leather also has blue pigment rubbing off on it from my wife sliding her jeans-clad butt over the driver's seat, too, but much of this wipes off.

That said, I'm going to trade it in if I can get a good price for it... for a 2019 Pacifica Hybrid in identical colors, if the latter gets memory seats or if the deal is simply good.

Recall that it was eligible for $7,500 in Federal and $5,000 in Colorado tax credits, so if the offered trade in price makes it so that I eat minimal (or possibly no?!) depreciation after those credits are accounted for I'm going to do it in a heartbeat to get a 0 mile, 1 model year-newer example. This would most definitely be a dealer trade rather than a sale because trade in price would be the majority of purchase price, and I'd rather not pay taxes twice on it.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Time to get the ball rolling on post-Volvo plans!



Lincoln Aviator. Note the J1772 charging cable tethered to it--that's a plug-in hybrid, albeit one of very murky specs since it's just a preview model for now.

I have little faith that Lincoln will produce this on time, and even if it comes out a year from now Lincoln dealers will mark it up at the outset since it is a very attractive vehicle.

This also would be solidly in XC60/90 T8 (their PHEV nomenclature) price range, so is best deferred for 24 months while I drive my not quite as nice gasoline XC40 around on the fancy lease program. Current projections are for me to kill our household's student loans around the end of 2020... although I do want that mountain condo, too.

Choices. Life is difficult sometimes.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I'm going to milk this ski season for all it's got. That's kind of a gross analogy upon reflection, oh well.

16 days under my belt. In April I have 3 days planned, 2 of them on weekdays. These are on Apr 21 and dates earlier yet so I'll be able to choose between Winter Park, Breckenridge, or the other open Epic resorts.

In May it looks like I'll be able to log 6 more weekdays if so desired. These would have to be A-Basin, as everything else will be closed by then. If A-Basin isn't holding up well then they'll be biking days...


Edit: 2 April days, as it turns out. Also, Mary Jane is closing May 6 so I could get 2 more in May there if their weather’s better than A-Basin.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
In April I have 3 days planned, 2 of them on weekdays. These are on Apr 21 and dates earlier yet so I'll be able to choose between Winter Park, Breckenridge, or the other open Epic resorts.
First day up is Thursday:

Breckenridge has 79" base (12" last night, 25" in 48 hours), and it's going to snow a bit more on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday will be warm (up to 50!) but 16-33 degrees lows so at least it'll refreeze. Oh, but it will be "dangerously windy" on Thursday...

Winter Park has a 91" base with 5" overnight, 23.5" in 48 hours, and it'll similarly snow on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday have low temperatures of 40 and 42, though, so I have a feeling Thursday would be either slush or ice or both.

Harumph. I'll be checking conditions later this week for sure...
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Rental car review: 2017 Lincoln MKC. 8k miles, rented at a Denver neighborhood Avis.

(This is the Edge-based one, if you forgot your Lincoln models.)

Pros:

- looks pretty nice outside
- panoramic sunroof
- very quiet on good road surfaces

Cons:

- high cowl and belt line, like riding along in a black leather bathtub
- obtrusive center console for knee room
- CarPlay implemented horribly: glitchy and slow
- ventilated seats very loud and not that cool
- super short bottom seat cushion, and I’m short of leg so this is saying something
- subpar rear seat room possibly exacerbated by said panoramic roof
- moderate tire noise on bad road surfaces
- stupid P R N D S shifter buttons, and a start stop button that doesn’t look like other cars’ start stop buttons

Overall verdict: meh. High belt line vehicles are stupid.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I think I'll personally go for two 4K 27"s and advocate for at least a 4K 27" for people who don't care as much as I do.
All of us faculty were to get our crappy HP laptops replaced with MacBook Pros as part of a big office renovation, part of which involves monitors on VESA-mount arms to clear up desk space. Well that renovation is apparently pending the hospital releasing funds promised for it, so it’s on hold.

I emailed our department’s business administrator to see what the status of the computer upgrades is in light of the office project stalling, and my status as the department’s golden boy (and contributor to these tech issues—I and an IT person came up with the specs as our own mini-committee) has paid off:

Hi Toshi,

[The office redo] has not been pushed by a year but to be honest I don’t have a timeline.

Are you looking to upgrade your computer? If yes, let us know what you need

[Administrator]
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I replied that I’d like to replace my 4 year old HP laptop/dock/monitor setup with a 15” MacBook Pro and two 27” 4K monitors.

:banana:




Edit: upon further review I have a Dell laptop as my work issued brick. Same difference.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I replied that I’d like to replace my 4 year old HP laptop/dock/monitor setup with a 15” MacBook Pro and two 27” 4K monitors.

:banana:
My audacity has been rewarded:

Hi Toshi,

I received the green light to go ahead and purchase your new equipment! Wooooo Hoo!

I don’t have time to order it today, but I wanted to let you know. I will get an order together and reach out to you before I hit send to make sure everything looks okay.

Thank you!

[Dept IT person]
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Rental car review: 2017 GMC Yukon XL SLT. 27k miles iirc, rented in Denver at a neighborhood Hertz.

Pros:

- very impressively quiet, in wind and road noise alike
- good cargo room aided by power folding 3rd row seats, albeit ones that don’t fold flat with their headrests in place
- CarPlay
- ventilated seats worked pretty well, and the requisite heated steering wheel

Cons:

- interior is super ugly and plasticky, and the instrument cluster is an exercise in wasted space
- column shifter and 6 speed auto are equally archaic, and one must downshift manually often as the cruise isn’t aggressive at all about downshifting to maintain set speed
- 2nd and I imagine 3rd row passenger room is tight despite the gargantuan size
- surprisingly small glass area, exacerbated by the rear window being 15 feet behind one’s head
- CarPlay on small screens (such that it takes over the entire screen) is kind of annoying, and this implementation was slow and glitchy a la the MKC from the other day

Verdict: I got it for 24 hours for $61 including taxes. I think I got that much use out of it—it’s really quiet, a good modern cruiser. The first vehicle I was issued was a 2017 Expedition that had the EcoBoost going for it but also hideous flat panel of a gray truck interior and a faint smell of smoke. I made the right choice turning it in immediately.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Due to deteriorating snow conditions today I stopped skiing around noon. I used some of the extra time to get delicious Thai food, and some to head to my local Volvo dealer.

I finally got to see the XC40 in the flesh and drive it. The short version is that I like it (my Care by Volvo order still stands! now with a 5/8 ETA).





Longer version:

Packaging seems good, as does styling. Interior space for my odd proportions is adequate (as opposed to the headroom-deficient rear S90 seat I tried for kicks). Fit and finish was generally good although the R-Design I was in did have some weird dashboard trim gaps.

Sensus, their center console screen, is very responsive. I dig it. The LCD instrument cluster is pretty but not super customizable. Control layout was fine save for a weird shifter that returns to center each time (two separate pulls back after starting to engage D) and non-standard cruise control button layout.

Driving it was good. Quiet turbo 4 banger with an 8 speed that didn’t call attention to itself. Nice feeling steering wheel. Decent visibility despite a slightly high belt line. The high point was Pilot Assist: once I figured out how to turn it on* it worked very well, with the adaptive cruise acting just how I wanted it to and the lane-centering feature very strong and capable. It found the lane markings quickly and reliably and even worked to track freeway-radius turns. Moreover, the indicator for when it was on was easily enough seen in my peripheral vision—not knowing when it was on or not was my concern with it going in.

* how to turn it on: (Only if not selected already, one uses the right arrow on the left hand steering wheel pad to move over from the left option, just adaptive cruise, to Pilot Assist.) There’s no “cruise on but speed not set” button as with usual systems. Instead the button labeled akin to that activates the system immediately at the current speed, or at 20 mph if going slower than that. The steering wheel icon turns green and then the car is controlling steering and speed alike while it remains green.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
From the photo guy just before where I started straightlining down Cranmer, eventually hitting 69.5 mph



I think I’m going to pay their exorbitant fee and buy it or one of the other ones.

Update: Embiggened, cropped-by-me version after paying up:

 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
As part of my new initiative to not be cheap about things that are inconsequential, I put on my big boy pants and upgraded my 100 GB Google Drive storage to 1 TB. This will aid in the transition to the new machine--just need to make sure to set Google Drive not to sync everything! (as the new SSD will be 512 GB.)
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I think next Thursday at A-Basin will be worth it. Winter Park and Breckenridge will get far too balmy on Wednesday.

Forecast via Dark Sky, which I just heard of but offers exactly what I want.

CCAB9DD7-A990-44AA-B21F-A34A019AC996.png


Then 2-5” of more snow on Friday, which should make A-Basin the choice that subsequent Saturday as well, albeit still an on-piste kind of day.




Edit: Saturday (a week from today) skiing nixed by wife. On fence about Thursday being 48 hours out from fresh snow.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
18" seems pretty easy when in a Land Cruiser with Nokians, eh?

Here's context for how high the snow was:

I kind of miss the Land Cruiser. If only it were quick, efficient, could drive itself, and still looked honest and plowed through snow.

Ummm - an israeli kickstarter company saying to be US based that has more employees in marketing + sales than in engineering and yet obviously spent $$$ on a marketing vendor that prepared the campaign.

:popcorn:
This proved to be prescient. Taga went bankrupt a few months ago. Thankfully we had no outstanding orders—some others got the shaft.

You definitely should have ridden the small GGMT.

You heard it here first: give the 5010 18 months max then it'll be something else :P
This was June 2016. I’ve defied the predictions!

That said, this year I may get a season’s pass to Trestle Bike Park and perhaps contemplate a DH bike...
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Friday now showing 7-11” of snow at A-Basin until the evening. Wife grudgingly cleared me to ski a few hours Saturday morning, getting back in time to help with the kids before I work a 5-10 shift, a shift that I do to allow her to not work and send both kids to preschool.

If Loveland is showing an equal amount of snow I’m game to go there instead if you’re down, @Nick. Or MJ/WP. I’ll follow the snow. Just have to be back at the car by 11:30, so early start and hitting it hard from first lift with my underutilized powder skis.


Edit: might as well leave the powder sticks at home, as Jessica decided she wants to come, too. Sitter for the kids from the early morning it shall be, and Winter Park instead of A-Basin. On the upside, the forecast is now for snow from Friday through 8 am on Saturday.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
First world problem: I got a 4K Blu-ray player a month or three ago. It won’t play commercial content in 4K because my AV receiver doesn’t support HDCP 2.2. It forces a downsample to 1080p. I tried to connect the player directly to the TV and pass audio back to the AVR via Toslink or HDMI ARC to no avail—the former is what I was recommending Stoney do, more or less.

(Wrt “commercial content”, my 4K-outputting computer plays content fine because it doesn’t care about the presence or absence or HDCP 2.2.)

Basically, what should work doesn’t, and I can’t use the straightforward connection path (player to AVR to single output to tv) because the receiver’s not up to par. So I’ll get a new receiver that can handle it, fine. Who wants my current receiver, what with its lack of HDCP 2.2 warts and all? @Nick @stoney @6thElement @SkaredShtles @Full Trucker

It’s a Yamaha RX-V677 so that you all can look up the specs and see if it’ll work with your setups.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,827
13,063
That said, this year I may get a season’s pass to Trestle Bike Park and perhaps contemplate a DH bike...
Trestle may be iffy this summer as they're replacing the Zephr lift, so it will be the smaller Gemini lift, then some sort of traverse across to Eskimo lift to get to the top.

This will be the 3rd year wifey and I have had an mtbparks pass https://shop.mtbparks.com/ bought early for $140 you basically get your monkey back after hitting Granby, Trestle and Keystone. Throw in some riding at Crested Butte and Angelfire and it's a winner.

Just need them to hurry up and confirm CB, Keystone and Trestle are on the list for this year...

(No setup to connect the receiver to for us, but thanks Toshi)
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I think I'd stick to Trestle because this would be for weekday day trips. The one day-then-discount deal isn't ideal, not to mention that they're not on the official list as of yet, as you note.

So instead I'll plump for a $269 Trestle add-on to my Ikon Base ski pass. $40 off was a nice, unexpected perk there. At 40% off walk-up rental rates I might as well rent to start, too.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,016
Sleazattle
Been using ACC on the R for the past two days. Neat feature, even works through manual shifts, haven't tested it to a complete stop yet. Biggest drawback is the large following distances does not encourage slow drivers to move the fuck over. This along with lane assist allows me to be as clueless and distracted as the rest of the drivers around here.

At the end of the day I would prefer to just drive it myself but I can see how the driver aids would be nice for long trips on the interstate.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Nice. Not sure if it'll just lug the engine to 0 rpm but the Golf ACC supposedly does stop and go.
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,224
2,537
The old world
Biggest drawback is the large following distances does not encourage slow drivers to move the fuck over.
If I adjust the following distance down to the minimum, I feel i get close enough to traffic in front of me to scare them out of the way, particularly when approaching with higher speed, as the VW system brakes later than i am comfortable with in that setting.

Nice. Not sure if it'll just lug the engine to 0 rpm but the Golf ACC supposedly does stop and go.
It does, but it shuts off the engine after a few seconds in standstill and you have to accelerate manually again to restart the system.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Do you have a stick shift? Also, hitting Resume should get you going as well.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Rental car review: 2018 Nissan Armada SL. 7.5k miles, rented at a Denver neighborhood Hertz.

Pros:

- very quiet road noise
- commanding driving position
- nice looking materials in interior and comfortable seats
- 7 speed transmission doesn't hunt for gears
- just over 21 mpg to/from mountains
- good 1st and 2nd row room
- stereo and Bluetooth phone audio both sound very good
- Surround View Camera system very nice to have on this Land Cruiser sized vehicle
- legit dual range 4WD/AWD setup

Cons:

- mild wind noise when at speed
- V8 doesn't sound very pleasant, and one hears/feels more of it than I'd expect in this class
- poorly damped roll control just off neutral positioning, which makes the vehicle feel very uncertain when hitting bumps mid-turn
- have to downshift manually to maintain speed on downhills when on cruise
- joke of a 3rd row, with amusingly the slowest power-folding/-unfolding seats of all time
- no advanced safety features at all on this trim as far as I could tell (autobrake, adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring)
- 1st gear truckishly low and the transmission is loathe to get out of it into 2nd even when starting leisurely around town

Verdict: At $58 for a 24 hour rental I'd take this any day over others in its class, but I wouldn't buy one due to the truck-like suspension and transmission tuning and the laughable 3rd row space for its bulk.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Gearing up for lift access:



(That'd be a Bell Super 3R MIPS. I have limited faith that Bell's largest size, L, will fit me, but I'll give it a shot via REI.)
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,016
Sleazattle


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-20/america-s-truck-love-means-long-term-auto-loans-are-here-to-stay

Full disclosure: My last 3 loans have been for 65 months... but that's because DCU offers the same interest rates on loans out to that length. Why not in this case?

I got a 48 month at 2.75% for the Aargh. I had saved enough to pay cash but decided it would be better to take a loan for 50% and put the rest towards my 3.65% mortgage.


I don't know if it is true or not, but legend has it that old Volvos and Saabs had to last so long because typical car loans in Sweden a few decades ago had terms of 8-10 years.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I got a 48 month at 2.75% for the Aargh. I had saved enough to pay cash but decided it would be better to take a loan for 50% and put the rest towards my 3.65% mortgage.
I've taken that strategy to the logical extreme, and the last 3 vehicles have been financed at 100% LTV including TTL. 65 months at 1.49% (Land Cruiser), 1.24% (RAV4 EV), and 1.99% (PacHy), in order of acquisition. The ones before and soon to be after those 3 were leased.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,016
Sleazattle
I got a 48 month at 2.75% for the Aargh. I had saved enough to pay cash but decided it would be better to take a loan for 50% and put the rest towards my 3.65% mortgage.
I've taken that strategy to the logical extreme, and the last 3 vehicles have been financed at 100% LTV including TTL. 65 months at 1.49% (Land Cruiser), 1.24% (RAV4 EV), and 1.99% (PacHy), in order of acquisition. The ones before and soon to be after those 3 were leased.

I could have gotten 0% for 72 months had I opted for a more run of the mill golf, but no I had to get the low supply high demand model.:disgust1:
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I've signed up for a Hertz "Manager's Special" from Monday night through Friday night since there'll be several days where having a car would be helpful. I wonder what lovely Kia Rio or the like will await me. (I could get lucky, ya never know...)