Kind of funky, I like it. I agree that it seems priced high.
Toshi's thread
- Thread starter Toshi
- Start date
Rental car review:
2018? 2019? Chrysler 300 Limited AWD. Rented from a neighborhood Avis location in Greenwood Village, 18xx miles on the odo.
Pros:
- looks nice from outside
- heated and cooled front seats for sure and also heated rears, I think
- speccing AWD on rental sedans out here is a good call
- supposedly has CarPlay
Cons:
- very floaty suspension
- much noise but little acceleration from the Pentastar in this configuration
- somewhat tight headroom for a big car (38.6”) and general claustrophobic pillbox feel due to the greenhouse
- ugly dashboard with tacky blue lighting, tight right knee room (one of my gripes with many cars), cheap feeling switchgear
Verdict: This was a rental using Avis points (accumulated during the prior Volvo business), and Premium Car was the highest category I could snag for free (well, for $9.83 in fees). For that it’s a fine ride for the day. Otherwise I don’t see why one wouldn’t just buy a crossover instead given this sedan’s floaty driving dynamics.
(Yes, for about 12 hours I contemplated leasing a 300. That was a bad idea amongst many that I have had.)
2018? 2019? Chrysler 300 Limited AWD. Rented from a neighborhood Avis location in Greenwood Village, 18xx miles on the odo.
Pros:
- looks nice from outside
- heated and cooled front seats for sure and also heated rears, I think
- speccing AWD on rental sedans out here is a good call
- supposedly has CarPlay
Cons:
- very floaty suspension
- much noise but little acceleration from the Pentastar in this configuration
- somewhat tight headroom for a big car (38.6”) and general claustrophobic pillbox feel due to the greenhouse
- ugly dashboard with tacky blue lighting, tight right knee room (one of my gripes with many cars), cheap feeling switchgear
Verdict: This was a rental using Avis points (accumulated during the prior Volvo business), and Premium Car was the highest category I could snag for free (well, for $9.83 in fees). For that it’s a fine ride for the day. Otherwise I don’t see why one wouldn’t just buy a crossover instead given this sedan’s floaty driving dynamics.
(Yes, for about 12 hours I contemplated leasing a 300. That was a bad idea amongst many that I have had.)
I’ll have you know that both Yuna and I (and Mariko, too, but she never forgot) pedaled ourselves around today:Takes after her dad
I was on the Shuttle but had the assist at Off so indeed was pedaling myself on the 1% grade, if only because it’s jerky when at cadences and speeds slow enough to follow the not-quite-4-year-old.
No pity whatsoever.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/budget-breakdown-of-a-couple-that-makes-500000-a-year-but-cant-save.html?__source=twitter|main
3x gross on the house. I strongly doubt their effective tax rate is that high. 3 vacations per year! Ridiculous clothing costs. Ridiculous lesson costs. Charity when they’re barely making their own ends meet.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/budget-breakdown-of-a-couple-that-makes-500000-a-year-but-cant-save.html?__source=twitter|main
3x gross on the house. I strongly doubt their effective tax rate is that high. 3 vacations per year! Ridiculous clothing costs. Ridiculous lesson costs. Charity when they’re barely making their own ends meet.
Attachments
Given that it looks like a F-150 the camo only makes it more conspicuous.
Low on my priority list but something like this would be nice down the road as a last mile solution when venturing out on public transit as today.
https://electrek.co/2019/03/11/turbowheel-dart-electric-scooter-review/
25 mph! In a year or two it’ll have these same specs for a quarter of the price.
https://electrek.co/2019/03/11/turbowheel-dart-electric-scooter-review/
25 mph! In a year or two it’ll have these same specs for a quarter of the price.
Mariko fits on her new 20”, if barely. Seat slammed all the way, hands inboard on the grips. She can brake fine (already used to hand brakes from her 16”) but lacks the hand strength to work the shifter. Gearing has a good range, from just too tall on the tall end to very low on the low. She’ll be able to come with me on some easy trails soon! I’ll just have to stop and shift for her at transitions.
Yuna is still too small for the 16”. Soon, though, in a month or two. She hasn’t grasped the concept of coaster brakes quite yet—coaster brakes on little kids’ bikes are an infernal thing due to relying on an abstract concept (backwards foot) rather than a fixed, physical one (left foot).
Copper it shall be for us this upcoming year. Premier lets us cut lift lines on several of the lower mountain lifts including Timberline, which will probably be our go-to when I’m skiing with Jessica. The PLUS add-on gives a parking pass for the season as well.
As many of the times we go up as feasible we’re going to stay Saturday night. Drive up Saturday afternoon, stay Saturday (could be Frisco or on-mountain if priced well), have a relatively relaxing Sunday morning before dropping kids off at lessons and child care, respectively, then driving back home Sunday afternoon along with everyone else.
That's gonna be brutal. Unless, of course, it doesnt snow next year.
Copper it shall be for us this upcoming year. Premier lets us cut lift lines on several of the lower mountain lifts including Timberline, which will probably be our go-to when I’m skiing with Jessica. The PLUS add-on gives a parking pass for the season as well.
As many of the times we go up as feasible we’re going to stay Saturday night. Drive up Saturday afternoon, stay Saturday (could be Frisco or on-mountain if priced well), have a relatively relaxing Sunday morning before dropping kids off at lessons and child care, respectively, then driving back home Sunday afternoon along with everyone else.
If we try it out in December and the Sunday drive is terrible then I’ll just put in for Monday mornings off, too, and stay an extra night. I’ve got plenty of vacation…That's gonna be brutal. Unless, of course, it doesnt snow next year.
Monday morning FTMFW.
The catch is that the two kids in school would be late for school Monday mornings. Not sure if the wife will go for that, but maybe Sunday afternoon traffic will be the kick in the butt to get her to concede. (Or maybe the express lane will be our savior once we get through the tunnel…)
Who buys a 1.5MM house on a $278k net salary? 7% of net income on property taxes? (!).No pity whatsoever.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/budget-breakdown-of-a-couple-that-makes-500000-a-year-but-cant-save.html?__source=twitter|main
3x gross on the house. I strongly doubt their effective tax rate is that high. 3 vacations per year! Ridiculous clothing costs. Ridiculous lesson costs. Charity when they’re barely making their own ends meet.
$5k a month mortage suggest a ~4% rate and $1MM in capital (with a 500k down payment). Either they are paying interest only, or somehow managed to come up with a $750k down on $7k/year savings.
Fake news, or retarded people I say.
New York City people do that. And probably with help from parents for the down payment.
But yes, I agree, stupid and a half. Note that I do not live in NYC.
Updates on my car-life for those who haven’t tuned out in disgust:
1) The Tesla got a new driver’s seat under warranty. The seatrest mechanism had an excessive amount of play.
This took 3 visits to resolve: 1 to diagnose; 1 in which I showed up, waited for an hour during which they discovered that the “driver’s seat” that they had ordered was either a passenger’s seat or a driver’s seat for a RHD market; and 1 in which they finally installed the correct seat. No, they couldn’t do this via the remote service, Tesla Ranger.
To make up for their screwup Tesla is sending me a free set of all-weather floor mats. Overall I am indifferent.
2) The Italian plug-in hybrid minivan started complaining about a Front Active ParkSense error.
This took 2 visits to resolve: 1 to diagnose (took much of a day–this was my Chrysler 300 rental car day); and 1 extended visit over 2 days to fix it, which involved replacing a front parking sensor that went bad and cleaning corrosion from its connector. This took 2 days because it had to be painted to match the bumper cover color and the dealer has a paint dude that comes in on Tuesdays and Fridays only.
Overall this was fine. Usual slow dealership experience but at least they gave me a free lift to Avis and are within a mile or two of the light rail station so that I can jet about town car-less.
3) The Italian plug-in hybrid minivan then threw a CEL the day after it came home from the dealer for the above issue.
My ancient WiFi OBDII dongle has apparently ceased to work so I took the van to the local Advanced Auto Parts, which reveals that it threw a U1124 code. A few seconds with Google shows this to likely be the heater for the traction battery.
This will involve me taking the minivan in for a service visit to confirm what I already know from pulling the codes, having them order the part, wait likely weeks for the part, then another day wasted getting it installed.
Good thing she likes the minivan otherwise, when it’s working, and good thing I don’t mind riding my bike and the light rail around time in my time off. It’s also good we’ll have the Land Cruiser back around as below, as a suboptimal but workable people carrier for the wife + 3 kids on school and activity shuttle duties.
4) The Land Cruiser will be back in my hands Saturday morning.
DCU placed its $18.5k sale price at 89.6% of NADA book value given options and mileage, and they finance out to 120% of book value so had no issue with 100% LTV. 65 months @ 4.24% (same rate for any term up to 65 months so why not?), which eclipses the Tesla’s 3.99% as my highest interest rate debt. Therefore I will pay it back before my other debts. I should be able to hack several thousand off principal in the next few months, but first I’m plumping up my taxable slush fund investment account from its post-winter somewhat sorry state.
FedEx says the DCU check for $18.5k has been picked up from them, to be delivered here tomorrow, so I think there are no obstacles to me Ubering over to my former neighbor’s house (he now lives in Morrison!) Saturday morning and welcoming the beast back to my family.
1) The Tesla got a new driver’s seat under warranty. The seatrest mechanism had an excessive amount of play.
This took 3 visits to resolve: 1 to diagnose; 1 in which I showed up, waited for an hour during which they discovered that the “driver’s seat” that they had ordered was either a passenger’s seat or a driver’s seat for a RHD market; and 1 in which they finally installed the correct seat. No, they couldn’t do this via the remote service, Tesla Ranger.
To make up for their screwup Tesla is sending me a free set of all-weather floor mats. Overall I am indifferent.
2) The Italian plug-in hybrid minivan started complaining about a Front Active ParkSense error.
This took 2 visits to resolve: 1 to diagnose (took much of a day–this was my Chrysler 300 rental car day); and 1 extended visit over 2 days to fix it, which involved replacing a front parking sensor that went bad and cleaning corrosion from its connector. This took 2 days because it had to be painted to match the bumper cover color and the dealer has a paint dude that comes in on Tuesdays and Fridays only.
Overall this was fine. Usual slow dealership experience but at least they gave me a free lift to Avis and are within a mile or two of the light rail station so that I can jet about town car-less.
3) The Italian plug-in hybrid minivan then threw a CEL the day after it came home from the dealer for the above issue.
My ancient WiFi OBDII dongle has apparently ceased to work so I took the van to the local Advanced Auto Parts, which reveals that it threw a U1124 code. A few seconds with Google shows this to likely be the heater for the traction battery.
This will involve me taking the minivan in for a service visit to confirm what I already know from pulling the codes, having them order the part, wait likely weeks for the part, then another day wasted getting it installed.
Good thing she likes the minivan otherwise, when it’s working, and good thing I don’t mind riding my bike and the light rail around time in my time off. It’s also good we’ll have the Land Cruiser back around as below, as a suboptimal but workable people carrier for the wife + 3 kids on school and activity shuttle duties.
4) The Land Cruiser will be back in my hands Saturday morning.
DCU placed its $18.5k sale price at 89.6% of NADA book value given options and mileage, and they finance out to 120% of book value so had no issue with 100% LTV. 65 months @ 4.24% (same rate for any term up to 65 months so why not?), which eclipses the Tesla’s 3.99% as my highest interest rate debt. Therefore I will pay it back before my other debts. I should be able to hack several thousand off principal in the next few months, but first I’m plumping up my taxable slush fund investment account from its post-winter somewhat sorry state.
FedEx says the DCU check for $18.5k has been picked up from them, to be delivered here tomorrow, so I think there are no obstacles to me Ubering over to my former neighbor’s house (he now lives in Morrison!) Saturday morning and welcoming the beast back to my family.
Re FCA minivan:
https://www.autonews.com/future-product/sienna-hybrids-be-part-av-project
If it’s a FWD PHEV I will buy it so as to be done with FCA, and if it’s AWD then that’d just be icing on the cake. We’d even accept not having stop and go adaptive cruise, but I’m hopeful that with a new platform they’ll get with the program.
https://www.autonews.com/future-product/sienna-hybrids-be-part-av-project
This suggests that the 2021 Sienna will come in a hybrid version. This has been a no-brainer for Toyota for many years. The question will be whether it’s a plug-in hybrid, and if so, whether AWD + PHEV is a thing.
If it’s a FWD PHEV I will buy it so as to be done with FCA, and if it’s AWD then that’d just be icing on the cake. We’d even accept not having stop and go adaptive cruise, but I’m hopeful that with a new platform they’ll get with the program.
I think you've convinced me to just keep driving the jeep. No fancy electric doo-dads to break, bullet proof drive train good for at least another 100k, parts are dirt cheap, and I can fix it. Plus, ive owned it outright for 15 years now. Zero percent interest is best interests.
Can’t beat depreciation on an old vehicle. Well, as long as it runs.
Ubered to Morrison and picked up the Land Cruiser. Had to ride in the front of the Kia Optima Uber ride as I hit the roof and then some in the back.
Smooth transaction as expected. Ex neighbor is thinking 4Runner TRD Pro and I suggested he also check out 2016+ LXs. His wife has an XC90 T8 that they say hasn’t been in the shop for a year but was in 10 times during the 10 months before that. They won’t be sticking with Volvo, either.
The Land Cruiser is just as I left it, just a bit dirtier. A detail will be in order. Steering slow, no highway power in 5th, nice V8 roar, fantastic visibility, big mirrors, old-ass infotainment system. Heater fan still a bit loud. Took me a minute or two to remember how to navigate the menus to pair my phone.
I haven’t looked at the ugly Rock Star wheels. Turns out he never sold the Tundra wheels and they were still in storage! So he’ll drop those off in a few weeks when he’s out my way, gratis. Score.
I’m glad to not be daily driving it but it’ll retain its place in my driveway. Cheap to insure ($322/6 mo extra for comprehensive and collision with $1k deductible), not depreciating much at this point, and should remain low maintenance.
He gave me his maintenance records, which I haven’t looked into, but all he did by report was change the oil and get the front wheel bearings repacked once.
Getting it smogged now so that I can register it later in the week when I have time:
Smooth transaction as expected. Ex neighbor is thinking 4Runner TRD Pro and I suggested he also check out 2016+ LXs. His wife has an XC90 T8 that they say hasn’t been in the shop for a year but was in 10 times during the 10 months before that. They won’t be sticking with Volvo, either.
The Land Cruiser is just as I left it, just a bit dirtier. A detail will be in order. Steering slow, no highway power in 5th, nice V8 roar, fantastic visibility, big mirrors, old-ass infotainment system. Heater fan still a bit loud. Took me a minute or two to remember how to navigate the menus to pair my phone.
I haven’t looked at the ugly Rock Star wheels. Turns out he never sold the Tundra wheels and they were still in storage! So he’ll drop those off in a few weeks when he’s out my way, gratis. Score.
I’m glad to not be daily driving it but it’ll retain its place in my driveway. Cheap to insure ($322/6 mo extra for comprehensive and collision with $1k deductible), not depreciating much at this point, and should remain low maintenance.
He gave me his maintenance records, which I haven’t looked into, but all he did by report was change the oil and get the front wheel bearings repacked once.
Getting it smogged now so that I can register it later in the week when I have time:
No diesels in the US since at least the 80 series if not before.
Is it diesel?
Needs to be smogged every 2 years and before initial registration in Denver County, I believe.
Huh. TIL.
I guess El Paso county has moar freedumbs. What with air pollution being a socailist plot to spread the gay agenda.
3 across! (Without new, narrow seats, too. 2 x 19.5” width Britax Advocate Clicktight, and 1 x 17” width Chicco Keyfit 30.)
My former neighbor and his family ate in the car much more than I and my family did, which was basically never. His 2 boys also apparently liked to draw on surfaces within reach with pencils, pens, and one blue highlighter. Thankfully they only did it surreptitiously, in small segments.
I cleaned out a bunch of food detritus and attacked the plastics and leather with a wet wipe followed by a magic eraser. Everything cleaned up pretty nicely, back to its state when I sold it initially.
:everything’scomingupNelson.gif:
I have publicly lamented that I didn’t have a 3 or 3.5 car garage option when building my particular house, because I knew in my heart of hearts that I needed 3 cars in my future life.
Well, it turns out that I can barely make it work without parking the Land Cruiser on the street:
Front of Land Cruiser is likely over my legal property line but not the practical line of the groove in the alley’s concrete. With it oriented like this it is possible, albeit difficult, to get the Tesla in and out while the minivan is in the garage.
Only fly in the ointment is hail, but that’s why I have insurance, right?
Well, it turns out that I can barely make it work without parking the Land Cruiser on the street:
Front of Land Cruiser is likely over my legal property line but not the practical line of the groove in the alley’s concrete. With it oriented like this it is possible, albeit difficult, to get the Tesla in and out while the minivan is in the garage.
Only fly in the ointment is hail, but that’s why I have insurance, right?
Some day you will sit with your children's children and tell them of the suffering and hardships you endured hoping it will make them better people.
“At one point we lived in a house without a third garage!”
“…” [shocked silence]
“…”
“I know. It was a time of great deprivation. We just had to grin and bear it.”
An illustration of how my mind works:
As per a post or three ago I need to bring my wife's minivan into the dealer so they can diagnose a problem for which I already know the code and probable diagnosis. I scheduled this for Thursday morning, a day where I'm not on service but have some meetings at work during the day.
This would typically be when my wife would be able to use the Land Cruiser and its demonstrated 3-car-seat-capability to ferry the kids around to school and their activity that day. But it won't be registered in time for use in the morning, and right now it has no plates at all as the astute observer from the smog-check photo from yesterday would note–Colorado has the seller keep the plates and the buyer can legally drive 72 hours sans plates. (72 hours from Saturday runs out before Thursday, in case that part's unclear.)
So I figured out a workaround:
The moral of this not-so-short story is that I think my buying back of the Land Cruiser is analogous to this last realization that postponing the minivan service would make my life simpler, in that it's a simple action that avoids mental gyrations to make other potential solutions workable. That the Land Cruiser itself is part of the needlessly complex puzzle in the example makes my analogy a bit less strong, admittedly, but you get the point.
As per a post or three ago I need to bring my wife's minivan into the dealer so they can diagnose a problem for which I already know the code and probable diagnosis. I scheduled this for Thursday morning, a day where I'm not on service but have some meetings at work during the day.
This would typically be when my wife would be able to use the Land Cruiser and its demonstrated 3-car-seat-capability to ferry the kids around to school and their activity that day. But it won't be registered in time for use in the morning, and right now it has no plates at all as the astute observer from the smog-check photo from yesterday would note–Colorado has the seller keep the plates and the buyer can legally drive 72 hours sans plates. (72 hours from Saturday runs out before Thursday, in case that part's unclear.)
So I figured out a workaround:
After getting all this planned out and verifying it works logistically, I then realized that it'd be much simpler just to postpone the minivan service until after the Land Cruiser is registered.
The moral of this not-so-short story is that I think my buying back of the Land Cruiser is analogous to this last realization that postponing the minivan service would make my life simpler, in that it's a simple action that avoids mental gyrations to make other potential solutions workable. That the Land Cruiser itself is part of the needlessly complex puzzle in the example makes my analogy a bit less strong, admittedly, but you get the point.
Just ordered a Pozidriv screwdriver set so as to be able to pull the bindings off the unloved powder skis safely before selling ‘em.
I’ll try hawking them in the Front Range Ski and Snowboard Swap group first, then Craigslist, then eBay.
I’ll try hawking them in the Front Range Ski and Snowboard Swap group first, then Craigslist, then eBay.
the Bibbys? how much?
also if you still wish to cleanse yourself of that gopro I'd still be interested in it.
also if you still wish to cleanse yourself of that gopro I'd still be interested in it.
Yep, the GoPro setup is still yours. Sitting on my desk idly now—I’ll make it out your way sometime.
$400 for the Bibbys unmounted? They have DPS Phantom 2.0 applied already via evo, and about a dozen days of use.
I hopped up into the Land Cruiser to drive it to the DMV a few minutes ago, put it in gear, and… nothing but revs.
That refreshed my memory. I had forgotten that if I wash the car shortly before parking it I need to not set the parking brake. Apparently the cooling and wetness leads to something rusting up hardcore? Not quite sure, because it was nowhere near freezing last night and this has happened in the garage, too.
I broke it free by popping it in 4-low and dragging the rear tires for a few feet. It was locked up solidly enough that 1st gear in 4-hi didn’t move it. Duly re-noted. No parking brake after car washes, yes.
That refreshed my memory. I had forgotten that if I wash the car shortly before parking it I need to not set the parking brake. Apparently the cooling and wetness leads to something rusting up hardcore? Not quite sure, because it was nowhere near freezing last night and this has happened in the garage, too.
I broke it free by popping it in 4-low and dragging the rear tires for a few feet. It was locked up solidly enough that 1st gear in 4-hi didn’t move it. Duly re-noted. No parking brake after car washes, yes.
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Hmmmm, I think thats the solution to a manufactured problem.
The only people who pay this headline figure are… well, no one.
Indigent people or even Joe Sixpack would be billed for this, negotiate part/much of it away as charity care and/or go bankrupt. They wouldn’t pay.
People with enough money to pay this bill would most likely have insurance in the first place.