If you can get over the fact that everyone owns one, the new Camry's are hard to beat.

Must now go to corner and stare at wall for recommending a Toyota.

To redeem myself, I just test drove Tacoma's, 4Runners, and Tundra's (I'm truck/suv shopping) and was surprised at both how little you get for the money and how poor the interiors are. They are simply not nice vehicles even in Limited trims. Spoiled by Lincoln and VW in interior designs.

 

Yeah i gotta get that ktuner now! Thanks Kenchan!

As for toyotas, thats a complaint I have about them too. The interiors seem cheap and plasticy. I'd only want a TRD pro or limited in either the tacoma/4runner but dont in any way feel they are worth over $30k.

 

hahaha thanks for playing along shinjari!

 

TIME FOR TWO CIVICS, AMIRITE POSTER KNOWN AS SHINJARI

/capslock

 

 

alright winter is coming up real quick.. well, winters solstice dat is. i welcome it, get it over with. so far no accumulating snow this year, 2 more months in snow temp range and back to Spring.

so you folks start thinking about your new year's resolution(s)? yep, its coming up real soon too.. will ask to post up when its time. haha


on the menu today.. back to the grind. but actually its not much grinding this week as im not going to start any new projects until the new year. i need to clean up my office in prep for the move. not that i have much to begin with.. just a few small personal items to move myself and the rest will be done by the movers.

will enjoy motoring my freshly washed GTI to work this am. have a good tuesday everyone!

 

So...took my Lincoln in last week because the PTU (similar to a transfer case) was leaking. Took it to a Ford dealer because it's much closer to home.

Took them almost a week to get the parts and replace the seals in the PTU. No big deal since I was in their new loaner Explorer. Problem came when I picked up the car. Well, two problems. One...greasy hand prints on paint. Two...they didn't put the under tray back on the car.

On the drive home, I could tell something didn't sound right. Got suspicious enough to put it on ramps last night to see what was "off." Like you guys, I'm very in sync with my rides. Yup...under tray completely missing. Texted a mechanic I know there to have him scour the shop for my under tray. He found it this AM. Taking the Fit to go pick it up.

It's not a big deal at all, but I just don't like other people touching my car. It never goes as well as I want.

 

Dude believe me I'd be all about it if she wanted a Civic. I mean she does really like my hatchback...just not sure she'd be all stoked about having two of the same car even if one was a sedan. The weird thing about the civic is it only has a 12-13 gallon tank. So unless Im getting the higher end of MPG...the range isnt much better than the Fit was at around 300-325/tank before the gas light comes on lol. THe idea of getting 500+ to a tank sounds good to her. I know I know...those cars get it because they have larger tanks...but thats would sway her logic lol

Dang GAFIT. Good catch. Glad they didn't toss it. Like "What the heck is this random piece laying around? *throw away*". Weird that they didnt wash the car after having it that long either. Sure its the swirl-o-matic that they'd drive it through but its something?

As for resolutions...I got some obvious ones I should do.

As for today...looking to see if I can build my kid a Mini ITX computer with minimal new parts. Case, Mobo, GPU minimum....MAYBE SSD and CPU. Trying to keep it under $500. Typing it out....makes me realize thats majority new parts lol.

 

The range issue seems to be a Honda thing. I think it allows them to claim a higher mpg because the car isn't hauling around an extra 80lbs of fuel.

Personally, I'd rather have the range. FWIW, our Golf easily goes 420 highway miles on a tank. That's without the fuel light coming on. Closer to 350ish in mixed driving.

I used to have a Jetta tdi. Holy moly it was awesome for range! 750 miles on a tank was not uncommon.

Under tray is now back in my possession. Time to go put it on.

 

GAFIT- sucks wat happened but good to hear you got the tray back! i too hate taking my cars to the dealer.. only time id take it in is warranty work like your case.

dogdamn you folks talking 300+ miles range. my GTI does only 250 with me behind the wheel. lol.

 

Yeah that 700+ range would be amazing.

Yeah the Miata doesnt even have a gas light...so I have to watch mileage. With that car and my heavy foot to get any joy out of the slushbox automatic I've been getting 22ish mpg lol. So when I get to around 200 miles I go get gas as its been lingering at "E" for a bit. Best I've gotten was 250 lol.

If I drove the civic "hard" I'm sure it'd be in the 250 range lol.

 

yah especially when our joy comes from driving, screw mpg and range!

 

Longest range I've gotten from my last three cars:

S2000 = 365 miles, filled with 10.592 gallons, got 34.46 MPG that tank
Fit (GE8) = 442 miles, filled with 10.063 gallons, got 43.88 MPG that tank
Fiesta (Ecoboost) = 631 miles, filled with 11.334 gallons, got 55.68 MPG that tank

 

filled my GTI on the way home. got 9.7gallons in the car with about 250miles range so 25mpg. not bad at all considering how spiritedly i drive. i dont feel like waiting till the fuel light comes on so im filling pretty early. the car has a 13gallon tank so it can do about 300+miles with some gas to spare with my driving.

if i go very gently ive done 29mpg combined so i suppose it can do 350miles or so.. but then why bother having a car like a GTI if im only going to drive it like a GK. haha

 

Geez....I clearly drive too fast even when cruising to attain a constant 40+ mpg lol.

What were you doing Mike410b? 60mph?

Question for all of you guys. Do you drive differently when someone else is in the car? Sometimes I forget the GF is in the car and she makes a comment like "we aren't racing anyone" or "Casual driving please" when I take some on/off ramps aggressively or when we are in the canyons and I drive like I'm on my motorcycle and 'carve' thru the canyons. Im not one to weave through traffic due to the stupidity of other drivers, its more just taking turns higher than usual. But but but...this is "casual" for ME lol.

 

I definitely take my occupants into consideration when driving. When alone I see every corner as a challenge and "to brake is to admit defeat." I put that in quotes because a good friend said that to me in the '90's and I still love it. I'm on two lane roads so my driving only really affects the occupants of my vehicle.

My driving kind of breaks down into...

Alone - let it eat

Wife, son, my parents, friends, etc - dial it back to 75ish%

Wife's parents - dial it back to levels that I think are so slow that driving is completely un-enjoyable and I fear never getting to the destination. This level usually still has them nervous and saying I drive too fast.

That's all based on driving in my rural area. When driving in the city, I just dial it back to less than 10 over the speed limit and try to corner and accelerate at levels that don't get extra attention. My Dad, on the other hand, ignores all speed limits and just drives. I don't know how he doesn't get more tickets.

 

55-60 MPH sounds about right. That tank in the S2000 was all in one go, from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to my residence in southern Wisconsin. Fit & Fiesta were both when I was living in a rural area & had a ten mile commute each way, I was a master of optimizing that commute for efficiency.

I drive the same with people or without. I always try to be as smooth as I can & still don't hesitate to take the AP1 to 9000 RPM whether I'm on my own or have a passenger.

 

Both sound about right. Love the "fear never getting to the destination" lol.

Yeah we have freeways here so speed limit is 70mph...so 80mph lol.

If I drove 65ish...I could almost guarantee I'd get 40mpg consistently in the civic. Im not sure what my best was in the GE8, but I think it was like 34mpg...*shrug*

Yeah the couple of times behind my uncles AP1 that 9k was both weird (at first) and inviting. Reminded me of my motorcycle which redlines at 14k lol.

 

shinjari - only when i'm full after lunch or dinner. haha. otherwise i drive spritedly all the time unless i'm carrying my wheels to the tire shop or something special.

but then i don't drive crazy like a racecar driver. i don't remember the last time i was cited for speeding.

 

k, got up kinda late due to listening to my headphones till very late last night. still did all the house chores before work and got to work on time. aka 45min before my start time.

packed up my office this am, going to help the others tomorrow and friday for the move

going to enjoy motoring my GTI home this pm. have a good pm everyone!