nc211

Dealers are getting desperate now. A local dealer offers one year free car payment if it snows more than 6 inches here on St Patrick’s day :)

Wow, given this year's winter, and your location in Boston, that's a ballsy move!

A local Toyota dealership has been offering a "lifetime warranty" for nearly two years here in my neck of the woods. Of course, the owner also switched to "no-haggle pricing" (meaning you pay the price listed on the window sticker, period) at the same time....

So you can bet your rear end that you're paying full price for that "lifetime warranty" regardless of what's going on with Toyota in the news these days....

I know exactly the dealership you're taking about RX. Took our 4runner there once, and only once. Didn't care for my free bobble-head. If I recall, it was a "limited" lifetime warranty, wasn't it? The word "limited" should tip off anyone of some bs in the fine print.

Ford is also hiring folks again. They've hired a bunch of folks here in Chicago to build the new Explorer. You know what folks, I think it would be nice to send them a "congrats", if you're so inclined. I went to ford.com, found the "contact us" tab at the bottom, and sent "corporate" a nice little email telling them they've made this American very proud! Lots of hard working folks there, making tough decisions over the past couple of years, and I think they've earned a few "way to go Big Blue!"

Finally, something to feel good about 'round here!!

I just won $100 from a buddy over this new ranking! Oct. 2008, playing golf in Arizona with associates. Guy in my cart asked me what stock I would buy today. I said "buy as much Ford as you can." He thought I was crazy. I bet him Ford would be the one to rise from the ashes first, and would become the challenger to Toyota. He said "you're nuts." I said "bet you $100 bucks that when the dust begins to settle, Ford will be on top." Well, #1 doesn't get any more "on top".

He called me yesterday about this. He said "how did you know this would happen?" I said "I didn't. But with Mazda and Volvo under thier wings, and the fact they were the only Motown 3 not taking government cheese, they had all the breathing room and in-house resources to make the moves and changes the fastest." I also added "Ford requires their Jr. Executives to spend 3 years at Mazda to learn their automotive building culture before moving up the ladder. Can't argue with an American car company wanting to learn the DNA of their chief rival."

They taped Mazda's design team, and Volvo's legendary frames. Our 2007 Mazda 3GT we use to have had a Ford 2.3 engine/transmission. It was a perfect match. The styling was, and in my opinon, still is, one of the best of that segment on the road. But, the true gem of that little car, was the ride characteristics. It was built upon the baby volvo frame, and it showed. Out on the highway, it was fantastic. I would have no problems buying another as a third car "too small for me as a primary car." I will admit, Ford cars sure are catching my eye a lot more these days. I love what they've done with the head lights and tail lights of that midsize sedan they've got out "I can't think of the name at the moment". And their new Focus looks amazing! Anyone ever see Leno's primetime show and his ripoff of Top Gear's track segment in the new Focus? That car was beautiful! Top Gear recently reviewed the new Focus, and LOVED it!!

Thanks everyone! This is certainly big news in our household these days. Every year for the past five, have all had major life changing events occur, so 2010 shouldn't be any different.

2005: Get engaged

2006: Get married, land career job (during wedding), circle globe, buy first house.

2007: Talk about family, circle globe again, find out talk's cheap, we're pregnant.

2008: Have family, recession starts, told we're closing NC office.

2009: Move to Chitcago to stay alive in middle of recession. Turns out to be right move.

2010: Expand family.

2011: Aiming to get NC211 family back to mid-atlantic region, possibly DC.

2012: I'm afraid to ask...

RX - you're advice is spot on the money amigo!

G Man - I'm not affraid to put my family in any Toyota product, not even in the slightest.

SWO: 2011 goal is a "asap" goal! You better get that LS soon, because if you're still talkin' about it by the time I'm paying taxes in DC, you're buying the beers...lots of beers...

DC: Vegas....what can I say! Been there only once, and came back broke, pregnant, and with a court date. I can't make this stuff up.... Vegas Baby, yeah!!

The cars: gonna have to wait a while before making any decisions. I've got two cars that I know will get the job done in comfort, and have no worries about reliability or safety in either one. I'm going to fix the suspension bushings in the GS, and we're going to see how the 4runner handles the new addition to the family before making any decisions. It's not necessarily a money thing, but a time commitment thing. I know these two cars won't need a lot of my attention to maintain (once the GS is serviced). Time to spend on cars is going to get pretty slim again. Plus, no matter how many ways I try to skin it, the fact that I've got a GS430 with 60k miles that sees less than 4k miles a year from me with a 4 digit loan balance of choice, is becoming an impossible hurdle for me to clear in my mind. The BMW would not be this way, as it would have a much higher, required loan to buy. The 4runner is now in 4 digit territory too, with 80k miles, but drives like it's new still!

Well, on the heels of my lively two car thread....life has changed my plans tonight. Bye Bye BMW 3 series wagon....and hello either Sienna or Sequia (sp?)... Because I don't think I could get TWO baby car seats in the BMW....

Yup.... NC211 is going to be a daddy, again!!! That whole "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" thing, ain't exactly true, as my wife and I were there a couple weeks ago..

So, here's to the new addition to the family soon! Wife told me "time to turn it off", "it" being the obvious egg-sniper commandos I apparetnly have. B)

Update:

I now have Windows 7 Home Premium on my Acer netbook too. I had to purchase a new activation code online for about $70, but didn't have to buy another $200 Windows 7 disc. I upgraded the ram from 1gb to 1.5gb. Got my netbook as a christmas gift in 2008. Windows 7 works flawlessly on it, not a single problem or glitch.

I learned a very cool trick recently that I tought I would share with you fellow Windows 7 users (or future users)

Create a new folder on your desktop and name it this:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

It will change the look of the folder to a control panel. Go inside and see almost every setting you can set on your computer in one easy to scroll format.

Did this last night on the netbook, and it works great! You can manage everything about the computer from here..

...don't forget tax, tag, title, tuition deposit for saleman's kids, braces, and hair plugs. ;)

I bet there is one person who hopes he stays alive just long enough for one more hunting trip.... His buddy Scooter Libby!

Apparently this website was born from a billboard in MN that a group of local small business owners paid for. They put Bush on the billboard with the "Miss Me Yet" slogan under it. It sparked an internet wave of interest, to the point where a reporter actually drove out to verify it wasn't some photoshop trick. It wasn't.

Mazda 3

Anyone who knows how RX feels about the guy in my avatar, can only imagine the look on his face if one of these showed up under his Christmas tree!!!

http://shop.cafepress.com/miss-me-yet?page=1

Did you replace the strut mounts at the top of the struts? I didn't when I did my overhaul, and had a popping noise too when I sold it (the LS). Everything on my setup was new, all oem, all set to proper torque specs. The strut mounts had worn out, causing the pop. Never got around to fixing them.

"You are irritating me" is not a personal attack. We're all adults here...if you can't handle that then this forum stuff isn't for you.

"The 5 series is ugly and everyone knows it, the only people who drive them do so because they are cheap"

Where I come from, calling someone irritating is a personal attack, as a mod, you should know that.

Please show where is my quote that you posted. You cannot because it doesn’t exist. Please do not twist my words around to make me look bad. If you are going to quote someone, use the exact words, you shouldn’t change my words around to you support your argument.

With that said, I am not going to post anymore about this personal attack incident, I am try to preserves a sense of community here, not establishing one group against another.

Have a good day :)

G man, you need to reread my statement. I did not "call you" irritating in the sense of name calling. I said you were performing an action, just as SWO stated. You were starting to irritate me, which is my opinion.

"Thats understanble nc211, not everybody likes Jags, but you like a Camry better than a Jag? Come on

We have 2 Camry Hybrid where I work, they are full of rattles and the interior is made from very cheap material.

Before, you buy your GS, do a little research first, the 2nd gen GS is pretty good but the 3rd gen GS is full of rattles and other issues."

This was your response in another thread about me not buying a Jag. You were talking down to me like I'm some kid (37 year old family man by the way) who didn't have a clue about cars. Additionally, you assumed I was in the market for a GS, which if you look over to my list of cars, you'll see I already have one. In my opinion, you need to soften your comments a bit, and not try to make everyone seem inferior to you, which is how you're coming across to some of us. I can say this to you, because I've earned that ability around here, as there was a time that I too used the hammer a little to much as well. This isn't a court room, and we're not under oath. We're just a group of Lexus fans sharing stories, ideas, and in this specific section, opinions. I don't have a lot of "what's wrong with my car" questions to ask anymore since selling my LS years ago, so I tend to lurk around here answering questions on stuff I learned from others, and kicking around these parts for the conversation. I did not call you a name. I said your behaviour was starting to irritate me, which is my opinion.

I have no beef with you. I just ask that you let others have their say without comments like the one above. I think you'll find a much more receptive audience if you do. I've learned that lesson myself, at the cost of some friends around here before the light bulb came on for me.

I agree with the folks who are saying this is being blown way out of scope.

I just dont see how anybody can still say this is being blown out of proportion when there are 39 deaths attributed to sudden acceleration in Toyotas, 8.5 million vehicles recalled and thousands of complaints and accidents associated with these Toyotas. To give that horrifying number perspective, there were 27 deaths attributed to the famous (Ford) Pinto exploding gas tank of the 1970s and only 6 deaths attributed to sudden acceleration of the Audi 5000 in the 1990s. The media coverage was so intense that Audi's sudden accelaration case almost put Audi out of business here in the USA.

Yeah, but Audi didn't exactly enter into that period of time with a complete bill of health to begin with, unlike Toyota today. Look, as I said in previous statement, I'm not trying to belittle the severity of this problem. I'm just saying that calling the President of Toyota over from Japan to put him on national tv so our political bull !Removed! artists (for whom I'm sure have probably killed far more Americans than Toyota with their decisions) can talk down to him like he's some child in trouble with the Principal, is a bit much. If we're going to do this to Toyota, then we better get the Chinese over here next week to answer for the tainted baby food, toxic drywall, led-based baby toys, etc.... Oh, and let us not forget Mexico, and the whole Lettuce (crap your pants for weeks) incident two years ago. Hey, while we're at it, step on up Swine Flu vaccine makers for !Removed! up the vacine doses for the little kids recently that resulted in a recall. And the baby crib makers, who've recently gone through a recall so babies don't get their heads stuck in the rails and strangle themselves to death...oh wait, that's China, already got them covered. Shall I continue? Yes? Ok..... How about those sitting on that panel, those superior beings, who allowed the Brady Bill to expire which allowed the gun used in the Virginia Tech killings to get into the shooter's hands? Great move that one was. Hey, here's one, Mr. Ford for the Ranger trucks that would catch fire in people's garages and burn down their house. And don't even get me going about the pharmaceutical companies, and the lives they've destroyed by making "errors". I don't see them on the US Judge Wapner show..

To summarize, I'm not belittling the severity of this problem. People were harmed and some killed. However, well....I think I made my point pretty clear..

Hmm, sounds like somebody's moonlighting on Toyota's PR payroll....

Yeah, that's why I want a BMW!

I was mostly joking about Congress. Not trying to belittle the Toyota problem. But, can't ignore the track record of Toyota either, which is certainly one of the best in the game. I agree with the folks who are saying this is being blown way out of scope. If this is the new norm for automakers, then all I can say is "the line forms to the right, GM, Ford, Chrystler, Honda, BMW, MB, Audi, VW, etc..." This isn't so much as an investigation into a problem, as it is an attempt to swipe the #1 spot, which isn't American anymore. I think it's a cheap shot, and has the possibility to really backfire. The ball is in Toyota's hands. It's not like they've been producing 1990's Chevy Malibus for the past 20 years, and that fact I think has the ability to offer Toyota a real opportunity to shine here. But, it's in their hands on how they want to respond to this. They can admit their mistake and make damn sure not to do it again. Or they can admit thier mistake, and just rebadge the problem and hope the public forgets about it, until the next time. In their hands....

It's the US Congress. It's bound to be a spectacle for media show. Given the congressional approval rating of just 10% (came out today), I'd have say that Toyota's sales will probably jump through the roof! If Congress doesn't like it, then it must be the best on the market!

This is just a show, and we'll probably just embarrass ourself on the international stage over it, and Toyota will come out looking like they've made the right steps to acknowledge the problem, appologize for the problem, and earn the trust of every driver on the planet that they're actually working to fix it, instead of pulling a "it's not our fault" sidestep like some others have done over the years...

Funny, I don't recall Congress pulling Iacoca (sp?) to DC to address why the Dodge Shadows would turn themselves off whenever it started to rain, causing the car to die on the road and get smashed into from the rear from the guy behind it.....as was the case with my brother's 1987 Shadow. Turned out, the slightest bit of humidity/moisture on the computer box would temporarily short out the entire system.... hmmm...

I remember the Audi 5000 problems. My brother and a friend launched one onto South Beach in 87' one night in Miami, his buddy's mom's car. They swore up and down the thing just took off. Guess they really weren't up to no good...

We're not sure how far down the road we are on this yet. There is a Pink Elephant in the room in my career, which may have us heading to DC sooner rather than later, maybe. Plus, it's bonus season for my industry, and waiting to see what that number might be. There's no hurry on our end to pull the trigger yet. The reasoning is that the GS is facing the suspension bushing problems, which after 9 years here in pothole hell, isn't all that surprising to me. It's not awful, yet, but it's pretty loose, and clicking/poping up front when going in reverse....the lca's are going. Juicing it will make the whole car wiggle around...rear lca's and related are going. All in price for all the parts I'd need is north of $1,200. Given my advancing age and lack of time, I'd have depend on a mechanic to do the install work more. Tack on another $1,000 probably. I think i'd rather put that money towards something newer and fresher to me, that I've always wanted since I was a kid, a bimmer. If we decide we don't like it, well, that might be when the LS comes back into play.

We really like the 06-07 328 wagon. Don't know enough about the "packages" yet, but do know that I want the cold weather package. I like the feel of the nav unit equiped ones too, but think the whole i-drive setup would drive my wife nuts. We've got a basic multi-purpose remote for the TV/Cable Box, which drives her nuts already. So, an i-drive, might cost me my left one, if you know what I mean... From what i've read, the 2.8 engine is actually the 3.0 engine.

I remember when I drove a 02 530i when shopping for the replacement to my old LS, and was stunned at how fast that car would haul butt! It was super nice.

You're really starting to irritate me.

I highly doubt anyone with the ability to drive a BMW is doing so because of bargain basement prices. They drive them, because they like them. Your opinion on looks, is just that, YOUR opinion.

If I wanted an Audi, as you suggested, then I'd just get a VW.

SWO: I like the 5 series as well, and have given it some thought. We might consider the 5 series wagon once we get a little more serious about this down the road. But we've always loved the little 3 series wagons. They're hard to find, as folks who seem to buy them, keep them forever.

What's made up my mind about going with BMW, is the same reason why I've gone with Lexus over the years, the ownership loyalty. There is something to be said about the fact that BMW has a huge following of fans that keep coming back to them time and time again, even with their somewhat spotty maintenance history. I'm willing to give it a try. The only Lexus I'd be interested in these days is a late model LS430. But, have no need for it.

In terms of costs. This past weekend when I finally had the chance to sit in a new design 3 series, we were in the 4runner. A toyota dealership was next door. I need a new fan belt for the 4runner, as it's starting to chatter, so I walked over to the parts department to buy one....they said $90! I walked. I was curoius, so I went to the BMW parts counter and asked for a price on a fan belt for a 745.....$40.

Checked out a 2007 BMW 328 wagon today. I've made up my mind. I'm going to scratch that itch, and my next car will be a BMW. The new 3series is a whole lot nicer and roomier than the earlier series.

Just waiting on a couple of things to line up in my world before pulling the trigger, hopefully in the not too distant future....

So..why do you have an 08' then?

I didn't buy the Jag simply because I don't have the same level of affection for them as you clearly do, not in comfort, design, prestige, or appearence. I'm not a fan of Jaguar in general, never have been, including the new designs. It doesn't have anything to do with your recommendations. They do nothing for me. Additionally, from your description of maintenance and research required to stay ahead of the curve on a Jag, my patience and desire to tackle such things would have been exhausted from the onset. I'm not the same guy who tore through his 95' LS several years ago. If it doesn't do as it's supposed to do, then it gets replaced, outside of normal wear and tear items. For the environment my cars operate in now, I'm just fine with the GS, and to be honest with you, growing more and more attracted to it, now that some of the dust in my life has begun to settle and I can focus beyond 30 minutes out. It's hard to argue against a 9 year old car with 60k miles that's only needed a routine brake job and a couple of engine mounts. Everything else I've done was simply by choice, not by need. 300hp, extremely comfortable cabin, safe, neck snapping quick, and not a rattle to be found, for $12.9k.... gets my money.

The car service I use for my airport runs use Camry Hybrids. Every single time I get in one of them, I'm amazed at how nice they are. I like the dash, I like the center stack, I like the car in general. Call me boring, but I don't have any beefs with today's lineup. If you like them, buy them. If not, go buy whatever you like. There are lots of choices out there. I'm sure you'll find the perfect vehicle for your tastes.

I'm done.

At the end of the day though, for me at least, there is only one car company that I can think of that makes a car that is extremely quiet, smooth, and reliable all at the same time. Looks are just that, looks. I have yet to ride in, or drive, any car that matches Toyota's ability to insulate the cabin from the engine noise, road noise, and mechanical noises of a car.

Quietness, smoothness, and reliable are qualites most owners look for when buying a new car, but they are not the only quality that people look for. Some drivers consider handling, accelaration and deisgn top priorities as well. Lexus use to be the quietest car around, but there are a few brands out there now that is just as quiet as Lexus. Personally, I think too much isolation is not always a good thing.

Really? I had no idea.

Good for you.

Every toyota I've owned (see list) have shifted flawlessly and practically unoticable, including the 4runner with it's perm awd with 80k on the same fluid. Ever driven a Solero? They're not exactly floaty and wondering all over the road. I'm just saying, $25k in my pocket for a "sporty" convertible, probably not going to a V6 mustang.

Look, I don't really care. When you're #1, you're the bar setter, and you're the one everyone else is gunning for to make some kind of mistake so everyone can exploit it to their own advantage. See that little quote down below in my signature from Ms. Jenkins? Same thing applies here. If you don't want or don't like a toyota when you're in the showroom looking at it, then simply don't buy it. Just because one model year of the RX had some issues, doesn't mean the entire lineup is the same way. Just as some jag owners of the same series you own, but a year or two earlier production models swear they'll never buy another, doesn't mean today's models are the same. To be perfectly honest with you RX, you're about the only person I've ever known to not be bitchin' about their Jag.

If I had my choice of cars, I'd love a new Tahoe. But I won't buy one when I can get a slightly used Land Cruiser for the same price, for obvious reasons. Just my choice.