| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_a |
Sounds good. Rav4 is popular. Coworker has one. Raves about it. Kept pushing me on 'em when I was looking for a car. That's too much vehicle for me. I'm more into Minis, Fits, and perhaps Fiestas. Some dirt and gravel roads around here threaten to rip the bottom of my car off. Tempted to do an alloy bash guard so that I can bomb them without worry. The previous Fit had a control arm damaged cosmetically by a rock. This one has just had the underbody plastics beat up a little. I wouldn't mind some longer travel coilovers...but those are expensive. Still debating whether to fix the mountain bike or sell it  | ||
| Rick_a |
Sounds good. Rav4 is popular. Coworker has one. Raves about it. Kept pushing me on 'em when I was looking for a car. That's too much vehicle for me. I'm more into Minis, Fits, and perhaps Fiestas. Some dirt and gravel roads around here threaten to rip the bottom of my car off. Tempted to do an alloy bash guard so that I can bomb them without worry. The previous Fit had a control arm damaged cosmetically by a rock. This one has just had the underbody plastics beat up a little. I wouldn't mind some longer travel coilovers...but those are expensive. Still debating whether to fix the mountain bike or sell it | ||
| Aesquire |
Prices are at a peak, for cars & bikes & stocks. Shortages of cars and bicycles. Pooh's Breath and shipping jams, West coast/Chicago. You'll get the best price probably today for a used bicycle, but you'll not make a profit, and a new one will be more expensive. The upside is disc brakes. The downside is the shifters etc. Will be cheaper made at the same price as the old stuff. Oh the gripping hand, the tech trend is to eliminate the front deraileur, and run an 11-12 speed rear. So imho you can spend more for brakes and gearing New style, and maybe a pound or two, but the old suspension will be better unless you spend more. And there's parts shortages too. My first inclination is to advise repair. Unless you want a clean start with newer style/tech. And the brakes might be worth it, depending on what you have. My old Stumpjumper has Ti brake booster arches and a Manitou Ti fork, so I can lose weight, ( It's the Olde steel frame ) but it would be expensive to match the old hotness. | ||
| Aesquire |
The Rav4 is in one sense, me giving up modern cars as mechanical toys. There's nothing I can do to it that doesn't involve a computer! Every car uses a bus system with networked everything. So Toyota gets my first Japanese built cars purchase since the Dodge Colt ( Mitsubishi ). And, come to think of it, only the 3rd New car purchase in my life. A 1976 Dodge van ( short wheel base, slant six, three on tree .... I'd buy another! ) the '09 VW, & now the '21 Toyota. Multiple excuses here.  Parents on 3rd Prius, and love them. Near zero problems. Every car guru who warns against a German car, says buy Toyota instead! I loved my VW but I sold it back before it needed massively expensive repairs, so lucked out! I really am interested in the technology. Even if I don't touch the 8 injectors that switch from port to direct injection, & Otto to Atkinson cycle. And no CVT metal shrapnel belts! No belts! No alternator! Death voltage! So I picked the toy level just under power liftgates, which unfortunately means no top down God's eye view. Hitting the balance between too many toys that break and cool toys I'll actually use can be hard. Hope I picked right.  | ||
| Aesquire |
My current ride is a '13 Caravan with 206 thousand miles, and much rust. But a new steering rack, bearings, and runs fine. Good for another year. OTOH, I'll spend the next year shopping for a used van with no rust to be my hobby toy. Maybe even a Drag Week one. The only not-rusted vans locally are old conversion vans. Which are a great alternative to luxury SUV for smart guys. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8I_mCCVLves https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HlJo_Obvd0c https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vfHq0IW9gnA | ||
| Rick_a |
I hate large vehicles. They're just cumbersome to drive around. I like tiny cars with spacious interiors that handle sportingly and get good gas mileage. My GF's 2005 Scion XB handles like a tiny box van. That thing just keeps trucking with 290,000 miles and a minimum of repairs. Her 2010 Nissan Rogue she loves, though I find it disappointing. The engine in limp mode had it stuck at 25 MPH even though it was just a bad coil. The CVT protection limits vehicle speed to 40MPH when it gets too hot. Currently the transmission fluid is pretty well cooked and it has a torn CV boot. Should make for a fun afternoon. My only other car was a '79 Camaro Berlinetta with the Rally Sport package that I built up a bit then sold for a loss. Turns out muscle cars isn't my thing. Small, sporty hatchbacks with barely adequate power are the most fun and practical. So it is with my DR650SE. The power is adequate at best, but it's still a riot to tool around on and is an effortless and forgiving ride that gets fantastic fuel mileage despite being carbureted. My bicycle has the hydraulic rim brakes and a fancy nine volt powered reactive girter front suspension. It handles far better than it's meager suspension travel suggests. I didn't know that even the bicycle market was in such a state. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Man, I wish I could drive around in a sporty little hot hatch... Two reasons I can't. One, I'm just too fat. I'm working on it, and hope to be able to fit into a small car more easily in the near future. For now, I need a big SUV to haul myself, my dogs, and my brothers around. Two, I live on a dirt road, and drive on dirt roads a lot. Road conditions just aren't conducive to a small car with a lot of cargo in it. It also snows and gets just muddy enough to need 4x4 often enough to justify owning one. | ||
| Court |
Prices …. On used stuff ….. are insane. I offered up my pristine 5 year old F-250 Super Duty Lariat with 63,000 and was bowled over at the “instant offer”. They’re picking it up on Monday. 3 friends have sold cars, less than a year old, back to the dealer over the window sticker on the car when it was new. We’re in weird time. | ||
| Aesquire |
I was looking at used, the Rav4 Hybrid you want '19 or newer, and at the local dealer, there wasn't any savings in used. That's weird since you usually lose a lot, ( 1/4? ) just signing the papers. So I bit the bullet and dropped a deposit to get one, the salesman & I went over the few they didn't already have spoken for, and there was one with the packages I wanted in a neutral color, ( silver ) going to PA, so they just swapped one of their future stock for that one. I think this year's model is ugly as sin, taste is taste, don't care. Didn't like the room in the Fit ( and the belt drive CVT ) or the Yaris. ( discontinued in US ) I was very tempted by the 86. the Subaru-Scion. it is cute. The VW Sportwagen was a great handling car, I seriously considered renting a new one, but I don't want to buy another and deal with the self destruct nature. Scotty Kilmer ( on Youtube ) has multiple rants on High priced German cars with lots of plastic that ages & cracks. That's not exclusive to German cars, nor are the layers of stuff you have to unbolt to get to anything that breaks, and that's when not if. All the car companies have had to become puzzle masters to tuck all the hoses, wires, modules, and pumps into an engine bay that keeps getting smaller as crush space is needed to pass crash tests. I will say it seems very deja vu to me that the German plastic is so bad. Historically German chemists were so advanced that it was worth learning at least written Deutsch if you were a Chemistry Major in college. Not all that long ago,... ok, long ago, in jr. High I actually took Deutsch to prepare for a Chemistry major in college. ( that I didn't follow, but at least I could watch War movies and laugh when the Germans talked about lunch break with the Subtitles be from the script ) Yet, despite being the Leaders in Chemistry, The Germans in WW1 & 2 had serious problems with making wood glue for airplanes. Odd. A Hypothetical German Flying Saucer ( one of my fav conspiracy fads ) built today would have plastic Dark Matter containment parts, and be in the hanger for months while they wait for parts, if they aren't already discontinued like the computers in a 6 year old Mercedes. | ||
| Rick_a |
On size, my son and I are small people. My girlfriend and her kids are not large. We are all below average in height. I could have a full cage built into it and helmet on in this car and there'd still be plenty of room. On ride height, my car sat like an SUV originally. Now...not so much. Lowering just an inch makes the front end and lower control arms susceptible to hitting things. Unfortunately I do have to crawl across some dirt and gravel roads. The well kept ones are no big deal.
True. I've sold some firearms and knives for more than I paid for them years ago. Double or tripled my money on some firearm sales. The timing is good. I need money and I have plenty of stuff collecting dust. My coworker claims that he traded a low mile Corolla for 12G. On German engineering...my easiest pistol to shoot was my VP9. All the mousetrap devices in there really bothered me to look at as the pistol was not simple and difficult to detail strip. It bothered me enough that I sold it off. The end result was a perfectly reliable and great shooting, boring and overly complicated pistol. Their cars are also known for being overly complicated which hurts long term durability. People often sell them when they become trouble. According to industry experts they also can't manage to make a decent gasket, which I find funny. Here's this relatively powerful, superbly engineered, incredibly handling car, that after 100K miles starts falling apart and leaks from literally every gasket. One thing I appreciate about the Fit is the simplicity. Torsion bar rear suspension and McPherson strut in the front. Less than ideal from a performance perspective, but it works enough that people race them successfully. The chassis stiffness is almost accidental, as there's a centrally mounted fuel tank for packaging purposes which creates a very rigid, cruciform shaped floor.  It's old enough to be devoid of all the unnecessary gadgets, digital displays, driver assist features, and touch screens that the newest cars have. I find all that stuff annoying. | ||
| Aesquire |
Here's this relatively powerful, superbly engineered, incredibly handling car, that after 100K miles starts falling apart and leaks from literally every gasket. And they have had the gasket/seal problem for decades,and never fixed it. A buddy is a Bus mechanic. The Mercedes diesel works Perfect. Until it fails. Then you peel off 4-5 layers of parts, to get to the $35 part that clogged up and threw fault codes. In the cars, you drop the engine with a customized electro hydraulic lift table that costs more than your Fit. New. Otoh, the Cummings diesel runs pretty good. It too will clog a filter. You reach in, unclip it, and clip in a new one. In 30 seconds with no tools. Honda is a great engineering company. Hard to beat for engines and interior cleverness for things like defogger airflow nozzles. Mitsubishi does engines like a pro, but the styling department apparently has 2 divisions. Vaguely odd and outdated. Anime villain distinctive. Toyota makes cars that seldom break, but parts are crazy expensive, nearly half German ones! Next, Communist Automobiles. Yugo vs. Lada! | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/07/dicta tors_and_washing_machines.html I replaced the old, used, front loader, when the circuit board died, and the part was more than I paid for the whole thing. I should have bought the board. I replaced it with a new Samsung top loader, that has settings I never use and spends minutes jerking the load around to calculate how much water to use. I found you can make it crazy by throwing in wet clothes. It also takes a long time, hour long runs. My "activewear" setting, cold, medium, is 49 minutes. I was active, so... But a used repaired old front loader. It's well worth it. | ||
| Rick_a |
Well, the nice thing about parts for common Toyota cars is that your neighborhood parts store will usually have a cheap replacement. It will not last as long as OEM...but ought to get you by. The Fit is at the point where there's enough in aftermarket parts to be off putting to the average car shopper, it is compromised as a daily driver in noise and vibration, and there's a lot of time invested that will never be recouped. What about Suzuki? They're known for small, quirky cars that get around pretty well but don't sell worth a flip. Subaru is kinda weird, in that their performance cars (IE turbo cars) are antiquated and known for having explodie engines. Their normally aspirated cars seem to do well. Chicks seem to really dig them. I like Mazda. Their cars tend to be some of the best handling, best performing, have some of the best fuel mileage figures, and represent a decent value. If the Mazda2 wasn't so derpy I might have one. The 3 is too big and tries to too hard to be a more upscale car. I also like that they still do a traditional torque converter slushbox over the CVT's that suck the soul out of any engine they're attached to. I love the idea of a Ford Fiesta ST...but the values have skyrocketed, turbo cars are always a hassle long term, and it's never good when a manufacturer drops an entire line of cars. This is my "circle of racecar." F1 derived wheels on a Fit, Fit engine in a FormulaF car.  IMG_20210706_074104 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr | ||
| Rick_a |
Our old washer had a giant capacitor blow up inside it. It took a long time to find a reasonably priced, direct replacement...but the old ones just keep working. We have an old fridge that's the same way. Our landlord's fancy fridge that they left us is quirky, in that its fancy features have all failed and in being very sensitive to leaving the door open for long...the evaporator coils quickly freeze up...which has been inconvenient. Basically, nothing works, and it isn't good at the primary function of keeping things cool. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
I have an old frigidaire refrigerator. It came with the house. It was probably twenty plus years old when I moved in. Thirteen years later the old thing is still doing it's job. No ice maker, no fancy anything, wire shelves. I've had a replacement for it for the last four years, but it just keeps chugging along. | ||
| Rick_a |
Those are the best ones. Spend half the day yesterday doing a drain fill/transmission filters on the girlfriend's car. What drudgery that is. Easy job save for an auxiliary filter under the oil cooler which was a pain to reach. Instead of using the appropriate push nuts some jerk had the undertray full of zip ties and sheet metal screws.  Her car also needs sway bar end links, a few CV boot kits (one ripped, another two about to), and tie rod ends. Another fun weekend project.  My car just has some finishing touches to go...a vinyl sun strip, leather shift boot, and leather steering wheel cover. I aught to wash it, too. It's looking filthy. | ||
| Aesquire |
Spent all the money today and picked up the new Rav4. Ugly, French bulldog in car form... (Message edited by Aesquire on August 09, 2021) (Message edited by Aesquire on August 09, 2021) | ||
| Aesquire |
Trying to figure out phone pics...  | ||
| Zane |
Aesquire, You'll like the Rav4. I have a 2005 with 226,000 miles on it. I change the oil, change the air filter and put gas in it. I've had very few repairs with nothing major. It's been a solid car that just runs. | ||
| Aesquire |
Preliminary report on Rav4, 109 miles. 36+ mpg average from the day it arrived, so that includes multiple jack rabbit acceleration and showing off. About expected & hopefully will improve with technique and break in. ( economy is a primary mission goal ) Multiple driving modes include changing transmission and engine settings, and noticeably response to throttle inputs. In little old lady mode you have to stomp the pedal a long ways to move, and in teenager mode, revs with a light touch. Not sure yet if power steering is changed by mode. Handlling is light, responsive, and fairly precise, But I haven't pushed it near limits yet. As a "tall hatchback" aka Crossover aka ... I don't expect handling to match a lower sporty car, like a VW GTI, ( darn good ) or a Camaro, ( with the high end suspension, great ) at traction limits, but the Rav4 is shorter, and more nimble than, say, my Grand Caravan. As you'd expect. I do think the current models could use a V6 with 300 ponies or so. The 2.5 is more than adequate for daily driving, but 0-60 in 7.5 seconds & the Quarter mile @ 15 is not bad, or especially good. Quicker than a Caravan, slower than a GTI. An extra hundred horses would be impressive. | ||
| Rick_a |
That's some good MPG's. I hate driving the ex(?) GF's Rogue. It steers like a truck, it shifts lazily, and it does not feel light or nimble. It does handle bumpy/dirt roads well. This weekend I'm supposed to be installing her parts. I'm currently kicked out of the house, so we'll see. | ||
| Aesquire |
Mine doesn't shift. There are numbers pretending to be gears that display in "manual" when you move the shift lever, but they're actually more drag/brake settings for downhill & higher rpm settings for uphill. Reverse activates a flying saucer sound that I guess is to scare people out of the way, and in typical Technobabble ...The reverse Vehicle Proximity Notification System is louder than the forward sound. Eerie. But far less silly than the loud reverse beeping my Mom's Prius Prime makes on the inside of the cabin while silent on the outside. Speaking of alert sounds... My Dodge Caravan has a "seatbelt not fastened" "ding!" that sounds every few seconds. I have a friend who often/ always doesn't fasten his belt until it reminds him. I'm libertarian enough to not tell adults anymore to fasten their belts. ( and parent enough to tell children to before rolling ) So I utterly ignore the alarm until he curses and secures his harness. The Toyota starts it's "seatbelt not fastened" internal alarm with beeps every few seconds, then speeds that up to continuous freak out beeping at a frequency no doubt tested to squirt adrenaline. Cursing and frantic pawing at the belt to shut it the heck up is very amusing. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.thedrive.com/news/18820/hybrid-and-ele ctric-cars-must-make-noise-by-2020 I'm looking for the mod software so I can change it to Star Trek engine noises. Or theme songs. | ||
| 86129squids |
Hmmm. I remember pulling out on TN129 N behind a Mini Cooper S. I was on my first PC800. DAMN if the person driving didn't pull me!!! Rode a mediocre-fast bike at 100% and he/she walked away. Just like little dogs... little cars are damn dangerous. Remind me to tell you all about the Night Of The Dozen Chihuahuas. Fact and true story. | ||
| Aesquire |
400 miles plus on the Rav4 hybrid and so far so good. Mild regret not going up a model for the larger multifunction display. Total average 39 mpg with a 35 mile run at excess speed. Mostly leaving it in eco mode. Eco mode is doggy. If you stomp the pedal, it will give it's all, as I found merging on the X-way, but otherwise the programming is for gentle acceleration and regenerative braking, it doesn't coast well. Not one pedal driving, but leaning that way, the car slows more than a normal one. My Caravan is a coasting genius in it's transmission programming. Quite the contrast. In Normal mode throttle response is fine, and it coasts normally. In Sport the steering gets stiffer along with a sporty throttle and higher revving engine. Not much time in sport, so far. Lil'old lady, normal, Enthusiast? Teen? modes. Radar cruise is nice. Lane assist bothers me, I'm not used to the wheel fighting me. Might take practice. Could be just me. I'm getting used to the sounds as power flow and Otto/Atkinson cycle mode changes. Typically power delivery is seamless, from electric to gas and both to electric etc. | ||
| Aesquire |
Ditto on Mazdas. I've always liked the RX-7 & 8. A nurse friend, 240+ pound male, who commutes 100+ miles a day loves his 5? Drives fast and far and eats tires. Yamaha nut. His 1200 y-something-r is wicked fast. | ||
| Aesquire |
Oh, one complaint. No tach. Big tach-looking gauge that goes from charge to eco to performance? Power gauge? It's a driver feedback tool which is ok, but there's a choice of 3 different center screen modes that all have a driver feedback/ economy display. And the tech geek in me realizes that having engine rpm displayed is sorta useless, since I don't control engine rpm directly. Like at all. But I still want to know how fast the hamsters are running. Weird, huh? | ||
| 86129squids |
Hey all. I'm beginning to wonder if this OP thread might be my future. My left arch is collapsed, on verge of failure. I will be investigating electric shifter options for the PC800, manual clutch 5 speed. And available Aprilia Mana bikes and such. This mortal coil will fail, piece by piece. Vern knows, brother of mine. I just HATE to contemplate not shifting gears. AND, mainly, not walking briskly for whatever reason. Either via pain, surgery, and recovery. Yee and ha. | ||
| Aesquire |
I understand. I'm still lousy at swinging the leg over the seat. But a couple of surgeries later, now officially a cyborg, and more time than I want to admit not working hard enough on therapy, I am back riding for a while, anyway. One of the hard things about being broken is the damage it does to your confidence. I've never been particularly athletic, but achieved mediocrity in a few things, and not being able to do what I worked to do before can eat at you. I still tend to descend stairs like I was still in serious pain. It's safer focusing on form and power going up. I have to remember to go down step over step instead of sideways. I used to love bounding down stairwells, running partly on the walls. Not so much, today. Turning around in my canoe is another suck. Lost the confidence to trust my balance. If I relax and focus I can do it, But first time on the water was terrible, like a wrecked old man. ( which I am... But refuse to stop doing silly stuff. ) Hope you get hot therapists. ( I'm lucky that way ) | ||
| Rick_a |
I have yet to check if my DR needs just a top end or an entire engine. One of these days. I wouldn't mind this after my car is paid off.  Don't really need it...would be nice. Selling a working DR would be a nice down payment. Something about parallel twins...they really make sense. It would be nice to have a backup vehicle. Would be nice to have while putting on a turbski/engine swapping the Fit. Yesterday was spent rebooting a CV axle, replacing steering tie rod ends, doing sway bar end links, rear brake pads, and a front alignment on the GF's Rogue. Everything is too big on that car. It disturbs me. Except for the rear brake pads. Those are laughably tiny. Huge rotor...tiny pads. It was also a chore to find the parts. I had to use NAPA, AutoZone, and Advanced Auto. Except for the brake pads they were all special order items. One of her rear pads had excessive wear due to a previously scored rotor. Maybe next time... A new coworker has an FJ Cruiser running metal on metal in the rear. That's highly preventable. It's disappointing that folks my age can't do the most basic of maintenance on their vehicles. (Message edited by Rick_a on September 13, 2021) |
