Good Service

[Lacebug Sydney]

Hey guys, remember I wrote last week about cutting the hands free phone from my Lexus ES300 (2000) with a rusty pair of garden clippers? and then I told you (surprise, surprise) that the sound system no longer worked. Well I took my car to lexus Chatswood (a northern suburb of Sydney) and they fixed it in ten minutes. Apparently when I cut the wire I'd forced some together which caused a short. The result a blown fuse. Lexus replaced the fuse at no cost and I got to drink nice coffee for free in their swanky service centre. There ain't many places where you get service like that (my father's mechanic would have told him the entire the wiring needed replacing, and he would have paid a fortune and only got a cup of Nescafe instant rubbish). Good coffee is important to us Aussies (although I realise you yanks haven't discovered the pleasure as yet). Anyway. Just wanted to tell you what happened.

Cheers

Stephen

Sydney.

[rosecityrain]

Two things...

Have you heard about a product by CEM in Australia that is advertized to clean out carbon from the engine? I have been tempted to order some and have it shipped to Portland (Oregon, the capital city of coffee roasting)

Two, see above. Coffee is a way of life in the USA. Wait! I think Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best and my favorite (and chef's choice) Stumptown Roasters started right here in the USA (although the beans are from elsewhere but not Australia) You can't go past a streetcorner without a roaster or coffee wagon on it. This city smells like coffee! (Unless you're in the South and then it's a church, or LA where it's a gas station.

If you want to swap coffee for the engine miracle goo, let's talk. We'll see who gets the better deal, eh mate?

rosie

[Lacebug Sydney]

Rosie, my rainy state friend

I mention good coffee (ie real coffee, ie, espresso) and you come back at me with Starbucks! Come on girl. You been spendin' too much time up in Seattle drifting out to those Nirvana tunes.

Tomorrow I am off to Sydney (I live one hour north) to visit the Italian district of Haberfield. Now THAT's where you get coffee. I've watched enough American sitcoms to know that all you guys drink is percolator stuff.

By the way. I will look into that CEM goo for you.

Cheers

Stephen

[rosecityrain]

Rosie, my rainy state friend

I mention good coffee (ie real coffee, ie, espresso) and you come back at me with Starbucks! Come on girl. You been spendin' too much time up in Seattle drifting out to those Nirvana tunes.

Tomorrow I am off to Sydney (I live one hour north) to visit the Italian district of Haberfield. Now THAT's where you get coffee. I've watched enough American sitcoms to know that all you guys drink is percolator stuff.

By the way. I will look into that CEM goo for you.

Cheers

Stephen

You must have stopped reading at Starbucks and not noticed that I.personally, love Stumptown.

Guiilty as charged re: percolated vs espresso. Last concert attended: UB40 At Waikiki Bowl.

Eat your heart out LOL

Thanks for checking on the goo.

(PS, I'm Canadian)

rosie

[Lacebug Sydney]

Rosie, my rainy state friend

I mention good coffee (ie real coffee, ie, espresso) and you come back at me with Starbucks! Come on girl. You been spendin' too much time up in Seattle drifting out to those Nirvana tunes.

Tomorrow I am off to Sydney (I live one hour north) to visit the Italian district of Haberfield. Now THAT's where you get coffee. I've watched enough American sitcoms to know that all you guys drink is percolator stuff.

By the way. I will look into that CEM goo for you.

Cheers

Stephen

You must have stopped reading at Starbucks and not noticed that I.personally, love Stumptown.

Guiilty as charged re: percolated vs espresso. Last concert attended: UB40 At Waikiki Bowl.

Eat your heart out LOL

Rosie

What is Stumptown?

I bought a groovy new coffee machine for my kitchen recently. It makes real espressos. Delicious. I only drink decaff because the caffeine makes me really hyper.

Last concert: Robbie Williams at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Best concert ever: Prince at the Sydney Entertainment Centre).

Americans sure have strange taste in breakfast. I once drove Route 66 for a magazine article (I'm a journalist). I stayed in motels along the way and they often included breakfast - this meant a tray full of sweet pastries and donuts and a bad coffee. No wonder you lot are so obese!

Anyway. Got my car washed FOR FREE today at my local Lexus service centre. They'll wash your car once a month for life. Love it.

Cheers

Stephen :

PS: Sorry about the insult (calling you American). I went to Canada once and almost got mugged near the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls.

[blk_on_blk]

We're the capital city of coffee roasting here in PDX?!? I thought Seattle has us beat. Oh, and you can't forget Longbottom roasters... they air-roast, which makes their beans a little more smooth. Or, you can get a cup of what I saw on the news, which is coffee made from beans that have been half-digested by some exotic cat (no joke, and they sell the stuff for like $10/cup; apparently it gives it a chocolately taste... shah, right)... but I don't know if you can get that here in Puddle-City.

I also lived in Albuquerque for many years, and checked out some of Route 66. Lacebug, you should have opted for the breakfast burritos with papas fritas and covered in chile verde... much better than an artery cloggin' pastry and instant cup-o-joe.

I've also been to Canada many times... was my mate's best man at his wedding up in Toronto. I got all sorts of good questions: Where's my giant chrome belt-buckle... where's my cowboy hat... do I have a gun rack in the back window of my picker-em-up truck... and the best one, where is my "American Flag Patterned" shirt. Oh, and apparently it didn't matter what my name was, for I was called "the Yank" for the duration. Great people, though... I had the best time ever, and I guess it was payback in that I kept laughing at the cigarrette packaging over there... the impotence one just cracked me up.

[Lacebug Sydney]

We're the capital city of coffee roasting here in PDX?!? I thought Seattle has us beat. Oh, and you can't forget Longbottom roasters... they air-roast, which makes their beans a little more smooth. Or, you can get a cup of what I saw on the news, which is coffee made from beans that have been half-digested by some exotic cat (no joke, and they sell the stuff for like $10/cup; apparently it gives it a chocolately taste... shah, right)... but I don't know if you can get that here in Puddle-City.

I also lived in Albuquerque for many years, and checked out some of Route 66. Lacebug, you should have opted for the breakfast burritos with papas fritas and covered in chile verde... much better than an artery cloggin' pastry and instant cup-o-joe.

I've also been to Canada many times... was my mate's best man at his wedding up in Toronto. I got all sorts of good questions: Where's my giant chrome belt-buckle... where's my cowboy hat... do I have a gun rack in the back window of my picker-em-up truck... and the best one, where is my "American Flag Patterned" shirt. Oh, and apparently it didn't matter what my name was, for I was called "the Yank" for the duration. Great people, though... I had the best time ever, and I guess it was payback in that I kept laughing at the cigarrette packaging over there... the impotence one just cracked me up.

I went through Albuquerque on my route 66 sojourn. It was there that my wife and I enjoyed the best nachos we've ever had. The place was called something like the 'Sanitary Cornchip Factory'. It was a few years ago, so hard to remember. But if you ever get down that way, I highly recommend it.

As a journalist, VW USA, gave me the New Beetle to drive across the States. What a great steaming heap of #%$@! I put it flat to the floor heading down to Roswell (to write a story on American's obsession with UFOs) and all I could wring out of it was a lousy 105 mph. Plus, like most European cars, it had shocking build quality and dubious reliability. Wish I'd been in my Lexus ES300 instead. Now that would have been a comfortable ride (plus a descent boot).

Anyway, I managed to steal a genuine Route 66 roadsign along the way.

Cheers

Stephen

[blk_on_blk]

Ah, now there's a good place to eat! ...and there are many in Abq & Santa Fe . Hmm, a "New Beetle" isn't the coolest car to be cruising in NM with, but that top speed can probably be blamed on the high altitude... it's over a mile high in some regions of New Mexico... if you were will a little lower in altitude, then you would definitely have achieved at least 108 or 109 mph That's too bad about VW and their quality... they have an amazing history, but cutting corners will get you nowhere fast. :(

Roswell, eh? See anything unexplainable? :o Or at least eventful down there... there's not much there other than NMMI (New Mexico Military Institute). Hope you at least made it through Ruidoso and Cloudcroft... now that's some beautiful country to tour from behind the wheel of your ES :P ...I guess it looks okay through the window of a New Bettle, too. :whistles:

[john_letour]

Hey Lacebug Stephen,

I am a recently implanted American and I can guarantee: today you can find good coffee in the States !

(and even Starbucks is a huge improvement over the old time diner dish wash stuff...)

Now, you may get that kind of service, that you mentioned, in Australia or countries where the technical aspect of cars is valued. But here in the US, especially the south where I live, I get the feeling that the biggest contribution to cars that American engineers made is the cupholder. (I cannot even begin to recall how often my question about the best/most appropriate component/liquid etc. was answered with "oh, anyone will do, they're all the same anyway...").

As far as the "shocking build quality" and "dubious reliability" of European cars is concerned - I do hope you do not compare your Lexus with any VW car. Now I drove a few Mercedes before my wife convinced me to buy this Lexus - and it's true, in the first couple of years the Lexus drives/feels great. But just about once it's out of warranty, things start to go downhill... And when you do some work on it yourself, you realize for yourself that it is true that japanese manufacturers make everything that the 'normal' customer sees, look great, whereas everything else (under the hood) looks as if Takeshi came and shoveled it in on a rainy Friday afternoon...

(ah, my Merc 300E, man, after 200K miles I could still undo every screw and bolt with a flick of my wrist...).

Anyway, sorry for the long rant... To everyone his own, I guess.

greetings mate

[Lacebug Sydney]

John

Nice hearing from a new member.

First. coffee. I'm sure you can get a proper espresso in pockets of America - San Fran, Santa Barbara, perhaps even some east coast spots. But generally, the quality of food and beverages in the States is pretty damn dismal, and definitely more about quantity that quality. I'll make an exception though for the pan pizzas at Gino's in Chicago.

Secondly. Euro cars. You should check the JD Power surveys. You'll find that Mercedes ranks right down the bottom below Hyundai. And so does, Audi, and VW and Saab for that matter. Euro cars are beautifully styled but heck, you need to be best friends with a mechanic to own one. Even Mercedes head honchos have acknowledged that there's a lot of work to be done to get the marque back to where it was in the late 1980s.

Ah, now there's a good place to eat! ...and there are many in Abq & Santa Fe . Hmm, a "New Beetle" isn't the coolest car to be cruising in NM with, but that top speed can probably be blamed on the high altitude... it's over a mile high in some regions of New Mexico... if you were will a little lower in altitude, then you would definitely have achieved at least 108 or 109 mph That's too bad about VW and their quality... they have an amazing history, but cutting corners will get you nowhere fast. :(

Roswell, eh? See anything unexplainable? :o Or at least eventful down there... there's not much there other than NMMI (New Mexico Military Institute). Hope you at least made it through Ruidoso and Cloudcroft... now that's some beautiful country to tour from behind the wheel of your ES :P ...I guess it looks okay through the window of a New Bettle, too.:whistles:

Dear Blk on Blk. When I was in Roswell I interviewed the nutter who runs the UFO Museum. He claims he was one of the first on the scene when the aliens crashed and helped transport the bodies to the Roswell Mortuary for the top secret autopsy.

I also drove up to Boulder Colorado and interviewed the world authority on UFO abductions. He was an even bigger nutter.

I also drove out to Area 51 and stayed at the little Alien-In. Everyone out there is completely bonkers.

Yes, the New Beetle wasn't a good choice, but heck, if VW USA want to give me a car for 6 weeks, who can complain? Have you ever seen the size of the dashboard in one of those things? You could hold a party up there!

[blk_on_blk]

Nutter??? Now that's funny! Well, if you're going to find nutters, that's the place to find them... I think they grow them down there, as well as the wacky-weed that dude running the museum probably took a huge toke off of before giving you his schpeal. NM has it's whack-jobs, but at least you can't say they are boring... they saved that name for a town up here in Oregon (seriously, there's a town called Boring, OR).

I have to second the notion on the poor build quality of many of the euro cars. There's a site called www.carsurvey.org ...unbiased input from car owners on their rides. The newer Benz's get POOR reviews and posts... everything from drivetrain to paint. Most of the euro rides are like that. The Lexus ES300 gets stellar reviews, as well does the rest of the Lexus line up (although my newest post is making me nervous). Even Consumer Reports gives it a thumbs up across the board. The only other vehicle I've seen with more positive red marks was the 4Runner, and I've got one of those in the garage with 150K on the odo and not a freakin' problem with it ever. I looked at buying a Benz CLK, and although I love their styling, people pour more money into those cars than the buying price of my ES.

So, my Aussie friend, was this 'Bug' gig a double-dip deal? Report on travels in the New Beetle, plus hit every alien-sighting freakshow in the US? Sounds like it could be interesting. Hope you were able to make your way up through Durango and Ouray Colorado on your way to Boulder... now there is some gorgeous scenery up there, and the Wiesbaden Hot Springs is a great retreat.

[rosecityrain]

Stumptown coffee is local brew. We have LOTS of microbrews, too, including the best rootbeer on tap (only)

Anyway. Got my car washed FOR FREE today at my local Lexus service centre. They'll wash your car once a month for life. Love it. THAT I would love.

Cheers

Stephen :

PS: Sorry about the insult (calling you American). I went to Canada once and almost got mugged near the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls.

I am hardly insulted and certainly not obese. I'm not overweight, either.

Try western Canada. Eastern Canada is a different universe.

rosie

[Lacebug Sydney]

Stumptown coffee is local brew. We have LOTS of microbrews, too, including the best rootbeer on tap (only)

Anyway. Got my car washed FOR FREE today at my local Lexus service centre. They'll wash your car once a month for life. Love it. THAT I would love.

Cheers

Stephen :

PS: Sorry about the insult (calling you American). I went to Canada once and almost got mugged near the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls.

I am hardly insulted and certainly not obese. I'm not overweight, either.

Try western Canada. Eastern Canada is a different universe.

rosie

Yes, I thought Eastern Canada was a little dismal, especially in Winter! Although there is some beautiful architecture in Montreal and the comedy clubs are terrific.

Glad to hear you are not obese, despite living in the land of bloated life.

Stephen

[rosecityrain]

You know Stephen,

Like all stereotypes and strong opinions, they are subject to closer scrutiny. And, as a journalist, I am, frankly, surprised you have so many intractable opinions about groups of people, restaurants and the like.

What's say you open your mind up to the possibility that Americans are not all fat, good coffee is available in the most unexpected places (unless, of course, you have taste tested every pot of coffee everywhere) and that you may have poor radar as it pertains to the places you stop to eat.

Maybe let the moths out of your wallet and try some better places?

rosie

[Lacebug Sydney]

You know Stephen,

Like all stereotypes and strong opinions, they are subject to closer scrutiny. And, as a journalist, I am, frankly, surprised you have so many intractable opinions about groups of people, restaurants and the like.

What's say you open your mind up to the possibility that Americans are not all fat, good coffee is available in the most unexpected places (unless, of course, you have taste tested every pot of coffee everywhere) and that you may have poor radar as it pertains to the places you stop to eat.

Maybe let the moths out of your wallet and try some better places?

rosie

Rosie

Lighten up. See, this is the differnce between Australians and Canadians. You guys take yourselves too seriously (and yes that's a stereotype, but most stereotypes are based on fact). Australians have that rare ability to make fun of themselves. You should try it.

Love

Stephen

[rosecityrain]

You know Stephen,

Like all stereotypes and strong opinions, they are subject to closer scrutiny. And, as a journalist, I am, frankly, surprised you have so many intractable opinions about groups of people, restaurants and the like.

What's say you open your mind up to the possibility that Americans are not all fat, good coffee is available in the most unexpected places (unless, of course, you have taste tested every pot of coffee everywhere) and that you may have poor radar as it pertains to the places you stop to eat.

Maybe let the moths out of your wallet and try some better places?

rosie

Rosie

Lighten up. See, this is the differnce between Australians and Canadians. You guys take yourselves too seriously (and yes that's a stereotype, but most stereotypes are based on fact). Australians have that rare ability to make fun of themselves. You should try it.

Love

Stephen

Could you point out where you were making fun of Australians cause I missed it.

And put your "shrimps" on the barbie while you are at it, mate.

rosie