[Toshi]

Volvo Car USA to me:

Hi [me],

All of the paperwork has been submitted to the Colorado DMV. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Jeff (the General Manager) of Volvo Cars Normal. If there is any assistance or information we can offer, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Med vänliga hälsningar!

Yours Sincerely,

[rep name]
Volvo Car USA

Yeah, that's not a resolution here. That's me waiting another month before the paperwork is rejected again. (This email probably is enough to get another 30 day temp tag, though, at the cost of another hour and a half wasted from my life.)

On Monday I'll start calling Illinois consumer protection attorneys.

 

[Nick]

I'd tell Volvo to go pound sand, that you consider the agreement void due to their non-execution of their responsibilities, and that you'll be dropping off that unusable car at the nearest dealer.

 

[Pesqueeb]

This isn't getting solved until you lawyer up, or the car "accidentally" catches fire while parked outside..

 

[SkaredShtles]

You do seem to like to have things difficult...

 

[Toshi]

Rear shock on the moped now set up adequately.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

Does “Med vänliga hälsningar!” Means “lol, fuck you with a rusty stick and cnc shavings” or something like that?

 

[Toshi]

Morning on the trail:

 

[Toshi]

So our five year old is being a little snot at school, saying she already knows everything. Gah.

 

[SkaredShtles]

So our five year old is being a little snot at school, saying she already knows everything. Gah.

 

[Toshi]

Volvo corporate’s check to me covering August Uber and rental car expenses came today. Now if only I could register it...

 

[Toshi]

So many burly elements. Wow.

 

[Toshi]

Out with the old, in with the new (temp tag)

 

[Toshi]

I will hit every last rock on the trail with my pedals, apparently.

New set will go on Shuttle after I take out the screw spacers. Old set with slightly bent spindle will get new screws and live on the 5010.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I will hit every last rock on the trail with my pedals, apparently.

View attachment 130613

New set will go on Shuttle after I take out the screw spacers. Old set with slightly bent spindle will get new screws and live on the 5010.

That's about what my Xpedo Spry's look like. Pin holes are stripped/ovalized enough at this point that pin replacement is a non-starter.

 

[Toshi]

That's about what my Xpedo Spry's look like. Pin holes are stripped/ovalized enough at this point that pin replacement is a non-starter.

Besides not having extra screws (8 “extra” were for unfilled slots on the new) the very first screw I tried to remove on the old ones wouldn’t come out because its exit point was deformed from rock hits. Just as well—fiddly little screws.

 

[Toshi]

I just made a purchase without overanalyzing it even a tiny bit!



27.5 x 2.8" Maxxis Minion DHR II Plus, Exo, 3C Maxx Terra. It'll replace a nearly worn out same-size Maxxis Rekon on the rear of the Shuttle. All the torques have caused some knob wear, and that Rekon didn't start out with that much knob height to begin anyway.

This will help me maintain my e-bike KOM dominance, at least until that truly fast dude jumps in.

I overanalyzed it after the fact after hearing about EXO+. But said newfangled tires aren’t available, the Rekon Plus was looking worn and sad, and 1 and then 2 more Dynaplugs weren’t fully sealing the gash in the Rekon’s case.

Therefore I got over my distaste for working with messy Stan’s and mounted up the new DHR II tire. The bead was very loose when mounting up, which actually is a huge pain when trying to keep 4 oz of Stan’s inside. Finally got it and my 120V inflator was able to pop the beads into position with a little manipulation from me while it was huffing and puffing away.

It looks super gnar. The Rekon has wimpy little knobs. Not this one, rolling resistance be damned.

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip> rolling resistance be damned.

Rolling resistance, David, is a feminist issue.

 

[Toshi]

Rolling resistance, David, is a feminist issue.

At least when electricity is helping out, agreed. I now have matching tires on both bikes, albeit 2.5”/2.4” and 2.8”/2.8”, respectively.

 

[Toshi]

Colors in GGCSP. This drew a million leaf peepers.

 

[Toshi]

New iPhone XS Max arrived today. Using it now. Very snappy. Big screen. No home button. Quite the change from my iPhone 5S!

 

[Toshi]

So I can't find a lawyer who will take the Volvo case. This falls into a weird nether-region of the law. If it were a mechanical defect it'd be a slam dunk lemon law case, but it's not. Hmph.

Perhaps when the 9/12 paperwork gets processed (next week?) it'll finally be correct. Maybe?

 

[Toshi]

Since I can't do anything on the Volvo front and have a minute to spare at work (after running to the OR in scrubs for an intraop case!) it's time to muse... on real estate.

As I've written before I think having a Winter Park condo would be pretty cool. We'd use it most every weekend, and the kids could get in a lot of skiing and biking. The potential fly in the ointment is of what the climate's doing.

Per the Coloradoan:

Recent Environmental Protection Agency research estimates Colorado ski areas will see their already fleeting seasons dwindle by 10 to 50 percent by 2050.

For a 150-day ski season, that means a reduction of between two weeks to nearly three months. By 2090, the EPA estimates some Colorado ski areas will see seasons shortened by as much as 80 percent from present-day levels.

It's hard to quantify exactly how climate change has affected Colorado ski resorts, particularly because their managers keep a tight grip on data tracking season length and snow-making. Half a dozen ski resorts contacted by the Coloradoan declined to participate in this story or did not respond to requests for interviews and data.

But we know mountain snowpack has decreased 20 to 60 percent at most monitoring sites in Colorado since the 1950s, according to an EPA analysis. We know Colorado's average temperature has increased more than 2 degrees in the last 40 years.

Looking into that EPA link yields this:

Looks pretty dire everywhere, so it's not like Breckenridge would be worlds different than Winter Park, for instance.

Hmph. This doesn't mean I won't get a condo, but it'll have to be an informed decision, a choice that involves shoulder season activities (music festivals? restaurants? horse riding?), summer activity variety, and the diminishing skiing bit of it, too.

 

[Toshi]

Made it to Beaver Creek. Westin is nice. Valet only, meh. Also no back ways in that I could see, so I just flat out asked the front desk guy if I could bring my bike up to my room and after a moment’s pause he said yes. Cameras or not I don’t trust it locked to a rack in a garage far from me.

The XC40 was actually a great tool to jet out here. Turbo power remained slightly more than adequate at all altitudes. Seat and steering wheel heat were nice on low. Pilot Assist was jerky now and then but overall a benefit on I-70. (Super Cruise would have been even nicer!) Road noise wasn’t bad on fresh pavement. Stereo was good and somehow through caching or good reception I maintained my Amazon Music streaming throughout the whole drive including through Eisenhower Tunnel.

 

[Toshi]

I called the DMV just now... and the paperwork is finally complete! I shall register it tomorrow and finally ditch the endless temp tags.

 

[Atomic Dog]

Just in time to trade it in for something new!

 

[Toshi]

Just in time to trade it in for something new!

30 more months, then a Taycan, e-tron, or something like that.

 

[Pesqueeb]

I called the DMV just now... and the paperwork is finally complete! I shall register it tomorrow and finally ditch the endless temp tags.

 

[Toshi]

Finally.

 

[Toshi]

A last entreaty to Volvo Corporate:

I was finally able to register the XC40 today, a few days short of five months after leasing it. I went to the DMV five extra times, at about an hour each time, getting and attempting to get temp tags in these intervening months beyond what would have been necessary were the dealer competent, and then there is the time and frustration of all these emails and calls.

If Volvo considers the matter simply closed now then I will never lease or buy a Volvo again once this lease is up. I’m still all ears on efforts to make this right as I would like to consider a BEV XC40 down the road.

 

[6thElement]

Finally.

I'd have gone for FCK VLVO or maybe the dealers name if possible to abbreviate.

 

[canadmos]

I admit that I missed out on how this all first started. Have you been paying the lease for the last five months, without being able to use the vehicle?

 

[Toshi]

I admit that I missed out on how this all first started. Have you been paying the lease for the last five months, without being able to use the vehicle?

Paid 3 of 5 months due to the dealer separately screwing up the lease paperwork.

Been able to drive it all but August—couldn’t get a temp tag that month. Volvo Corporate reimbursed me for that month’s rental and Uber fees. Probably made 30 calls to the dealer, Volvo, and the DMV, 5 DMV visits over this last one, untold emails.

 

[Toshi]

Cadillac Tops Tesla in Consumer Reports' First Ranking of Automated Driving Systems
CR finds that these features make driving easier but introduce new safety risks

 

[canadmos]

Savage...

If Volvo’s Pilot Assist does not detect pressure pulling on the steering wheel after it has issued its visual and audible warnings, the system shuts off completely and does not apply braking or any lane assist. Only if the driver has previously enabled the lane-keeping system, which is separate from the Pilot Assist system, will the vehicle detect lane departure and provide some steering.

Volvo’s Aust says there’s little chance that a driver will become completely incapacitated, such as with a medical emergency, and need the car to stop itself. “There’s a certain, super-small statistical likelihood that you may lose consciousness at exactly the wrong time,” he says. “And while we acknowledge that, it’s a small risk.”

I haven't driven a car with any of these systems yet, but it sounds like you should be even more alert while using them, no? Essentially you're having to watch what the car is doing and react to it, if needed. Rather than just controlling the vehicle directly yourself. I can see how in stop and go traffic, some sort of auto-cruise would be splendid.

 

[Toshi]

The adaptive cruise is great. Volvo's implementation is definitely jerkier than that on the PHEV minivan, but some of that may be due to the powertrain itself (as in using regen as a first step).

The lane centering is very hit or miss. Sometimes it's a great aid. Sometimes it continually pulls against what one wants to do: it really likes to hug the left lane marker, but not always...

 

[Toshi]

source

So truck buyers are buying at 43% gross annual income and car buyers at 35%. Makes my Volvo lease seem a very frugal choice indeed.

 

[SkaredShtles]

60 month financing.

 

[Toshi]

60 month financing.

At the median, no less. So there are a shit-ton of 84 and 96 month loans out there, too...

 

[SkaredShtles]

At the median, no less. So there are a shit-ton of 84 and 96 month loans out there, too...

 

[Toshi]

Ride North Table today. Shoulder not good. Rock gardens make it feel like my forearm scabs are about to bleed. Thus I took it very easy. Seems like it’d be an entertaining trail with the optional rocks that I avoided today.