i think if there's a way to mount the paddles to the steering column that would be a good improvement as well. the paddles spinning with the steering wheel is just totally confusing to me especially while making left-hand turns in s-mode. im like where the f- did the paddle go?! and just mash the gas to redline so that it shifts up on its own.

at least the car looks good.

 

our road was like a sanitation sewer pipe this am with all this low class garbage driving around choking up traffic. wtf is with people driving 35-37 on a 45mph road? just stay the f- home and cry all day if you dont want to go to work. get the f- out of the way.

well, that's how i felt but just casually cruised behind them with the window down, listening to some relaxing tunes off my G's stereo and enjoyed the commute.

got some new software plug-ins for my music so looking forward to trying them out later tonight. mainly a new software for DAW (mac) and some virtual instruments from NativeInstruments. pretty cool stuff.

 

I am a new Fit owner and am trying to improve my gas mileage. Does anyone know if a K&N air filter would help? The car has almost 60,000 miles on it so it is broken in. Currently I am getting 29 mpg. Has anyone tried fuel without ethanol? How about a good set of replacement tires that are good in the snow but are low rolling resistance? I really like this car but feel my mileage should be better. It is a 2008 Sport automatic.

 

no GE action other than cleaning off bird crap.

washed the G after work. some indian fellow walked up and (with no consideration he might be just a pita while im busy washing my car) kept asking about some house down the street so i kept letting him know my Griot's washbucket is real nice with casters and stuff.

not sure wat his problem was.

 

the drive to work this am in the G was nice. hope to get home early tonight to do a quick wipe down and put her to bed again until monday.

have to run several errands tomorrow in the GE... homedepot again since i need to buy yet another wall switch gut to replace the one in the utility room. my house is about 12yrs old now and past the honeymoon period... from here it's repairs repairs repairs.

im thinking about getting a new washer and dryer too before it breaks down...will have to chat with the wife if she has any preferences on those.
that reminds me... probably get a new fridge too while im at it. they're all pretty much due now for replacement.

 

What appliance brand do you plan to purchase.

 

I'm not sure yet. Honestly I haven't done too much research yet so need to do that first. Wife agreed we should replace pretty soon ideally before it they break down.


So in other news some folks were asking about the ramp extensions I made over a decade ago that I've been using for my lowered cars. It also works great for the GE as the nose of the car is so long the front bumper can't clear the ramps without the extension.

I just used some scrap oak I had left over.

In the pict below the Rhino ramp is slightly raised from the rubber shoe that gets compressed when the car weight is loaded. It is critical the ramp has this when one buys at the store. Otherwise the ramp can slip out from under the tire when the car goes up the ramp. I'm hearing some ramps (not sure if Rhino brand) did not come with this. When the ramp is fully loaded it sits flat.





The extension gets screwed onto the ramp at the top when in use.




Motored my Z this am and QD'ed afterwards. Was a great drive.

 

When I changed my oil today I could not pull my car up on my ramps because of the front spoiler. I found it was still possible to change it with it sitting level to the ground. Still rather use ramps.

 

^^ thanks! yah, some other memeber here mentioned he was able to do the oil without raising the car. i dont think i could do that... i might be able to do it, but not without making a huge mess. hahahaha.

ran a couple of errands today in the GE (my weekend car .. lol...but it is)... stopped by to pickup some nice steak meat too. made pepper steak with the wife. yummmm!

 

so the pepper steak dinner was great. i had ribeye she had fillet mignon.

drove my weekend car (GE) to run several errands... didn't have time to pick up the switch gut so i need to do that this coming weekend. too many things going on and this figuring out my latest big project (digital audio workstation setup in my mac) is not helping. lol

getting a tiny but powerful external harddrive this week to finish the project. by that time ill have 2 very nice sounding piano's (yamaha and steinway) and one very authentic sounding RhodesMk1 sound i can use for future projects.

 

so the other day while the wife and i were driving down to pick up our kids i was chatting about wat i might get after my G35C. i saw a silver accord driving before us so i said 'i should get a new Accord.'

she then reached over and felt my forehead and asked if i gave up on life? LOL she cracks me up. in all seriousness im looking at getting the 135i next but that will come a few year down the road. my G's only got 27K miles on her while she is a 7yr old car. im the original owner. need to drive her to at least 40K.

 

so been monitoring my fillups on the G all summer since this is now my full time dd and result is that i am averaging about 15mpg on premium unleaded on my daily drive. this is in congested traffic, all surface streets...and the biggest factor which is...im not shy opening the throttle where i can. i dont speed or drive aggressively though.

So let's look at the numbers in real world dollars...
at $4.20+/gallon (premium) this is about $150 for me monthly. i dont drive my G on the weekends and play with my Z which is also a V6 (tad larger engine) which consumes about 2 fillups per month or $140 total. so roughly my gas consumption is $290/month total on these cars.

where as the GE, while it is a sitting duck on the expressway and sounds like a vacuum cleaner when pushed, it haulz stuff and consumes about 3 fills per month in real world condition for the wife and me at about $115/month. im guessing rougly 34-35mpg as we do mixed hwy/surface streets/very short trips to the stores.

anway, in my example, the cost savings for someone looking into getting a Fit vs a low mpg car would be about $175/month or $2100/yr on fuel alone.

then comes the insurance. im not a youngling by any means, no citations for over 8-9yrs or so maybe longer, my G's a pretty 'old' car now at 7yrs of age, and i also have multiple discounts with the house and many other policies so my insurance delta between my G/Z and the GE is insignificant, but that might not be the case for a lot of folks especially if one has citations on file. especially the Z being a sports car classification might put a dent on some folks.

so is the cost of fuel consumption worth it to me? Absolutely!! but it does come with a price.

 

no car action today. looking forward to my drive home. tonight need to do some house chores first, then work on hooking up a faster 7200rpm external drive for my macbookpro.

i am hoping this external drive cures the playback issues ive been having with the 5400rpm internal drive.

 

gotz my computer running 99% there, i need to tweak it a little more tonight to get it to optimum performance vs latency.

tomorrow looks like rain so i guess i wont be painting my garage ceiling... maybe sun or mon i might get to it. hope it cools down already.... im tired of heat. going to motor my Z sun/mon for sure.

commute this morning in the G was great other than one garbage turning onto the street i was driving. he was going maybe 14-15mph below posted speed limit. garbage needs to stay home and get the hell out of the way of busy people like us that's working and doing the community good keeping the money flowing.

 

planning to stop by homedepot later today in my GE to pick a few things for the house.

motored my Z this am. was a good drive. some areas the roads were kinda wet so i used Griot's SprayOn CarWash to spot clean the sides and rear bumper where water splashed up a little bit. so easy and quick to clean...and safe. no swirls.

 

picked up some mexican for dinner tonight in the GE. yummy. i was super tired from doing house chores today left over from last weekend so was super tired. GE did well. it does real well as long as i dont push the car.

no time to go to homedepot today. oh well. maybe tomorrow or Monday.

 

motored my Z this am, was a great drive. some ricor in a civic and also in the current ugly version gallant wanted to race so i let them do their ricor take-off while i drove normally. oh yah, i think some kia coupe also wanted to race but it was so slow i wasnt sure if he just sucked at driving MT or if that was his best. but it was cranking hard. lol hahahaha.

when you become a veteran car guy like me we dont speed on the street. it's the amatures and novices that need to prove something and drive obnoxiously. if you youngsters ever think about street racing, just remember this. you lose the moment you mash the gas cause you're doing it wrong.

 

motored my G to work, was a nice 60F drive. awesome weather. looking forward to the drive home.

not much car action today. going to sell a set of flatstoppers soon at another forum. since im giong to be driving my G all winter no need. i have another set for my Z. will need to think about hopping over to tirerack in a few weeks to mount snow tires on my G's factory wheels. while there im going to ask Alex if he can show me a the same Weds wheel i have on the Z but a different size for the front.

 

pressured up the tires on my GE, G and Z including the spares. also sold and shipped out a set of flatstoppers im no longer using.
amazingly the fairly decent sized box fit into the G's rear glovebox (aka trunk).


with the colder weather now's a good time to check your tire psi. check in the morning and pump up 32psi. i use higher psi 36-37 on my cars.

 

Been a super busy couple of days. Came out to pickup some Chinese in the GE.
traffic is pretty light. Motored my Z this am. Almost forgot which day it was since it was such a busy weekend. got more projects on the way for the house.