Linguofreak
Well-known member
And MS hasn't updated the Linux Skype client in forever, which creates problems with conference calls. One Of These Days I'll buy a business-class Internet connection and set up a personal mail and XMPP server.
-
ORBITER-FORUM will be temporarily closed at 2026-07-23 18:00 UTC while we complete some OF maintenance tasks. The amount of downtime is expected to take up to one hour, but probably less.
Humor Random Comments Thread
- Thread starter Tex
- Start date
Thunder Chicken
Resident Lua Script Rabble-Rouser
I think Honda and Toyota shot their reliability reputation in the foot by going to CVTs. Even if they double the warranty duration, there is a risk of dealing with a hard broken car and dealing with that for maybe weeks. And even if you get it replaced, you need to wonder when it will blow up again. Extending the warranty doesn't make the car magically reliable.
My inspection of the Fit at the used car dealership was comically bad, which disappointed me as this dealership once had a great local reputation for good used cars and honesty (I purchased my current vehicles from them and had absolutely no complaints) and I was quite interested in this car. The car was from VT, and dealer said it had "no accidents".
As I walked up to the car I noticed some significant road rash on the front bumper which she assured me was cosmetic. Pulling on the front bumper showed that half of its fittings were broken. Lifting the hood, things looked superficially OK, but I found that the radiator support brackets were both damaged such that the top of the radiator was about two inches too high and tilted, so the top radiator mounts could not be installed properly, but the radiator looked new. I pointed this out to the dealer, who then got one of their mechanics over to look at it. He said, "Oh yeah, we knew about that. It needs to go to the body shop, already scheduled." I gave the dealer a little questioning look, wondering if they'd drop that information on me if I hadn't said anything. Poking around some more, I found a several-pound piece of dried grass sod jammed on the inside of the bumper along with several large handfuls of railroad grade gravel. Neat. No frame damage, but some significant body parts needed to be replaced.
They had removed the front well liners to get a look at the frame, but looking over the rest of the car I didn't see anything else of note. They gave me the keys and let me take it on a test drive. The alignment was way off and it had sick shopping cart syndrome, bad shaking on the front end. Lots of road noise that increased with wheel speed.
Got it up to speed on the highway for a short stretch when I suddenly heard the most hellacious metal grinding noise, mostly from the front right of the car, but all of the wheels were making noise. I pulled off the exit and made a few last turns back into the lot, and every turn I heard the pop-pop-pop of bad CV joints, both directions.
Getting back out of the car, the lug nuts on the front right were too hot to touch, and there was molten plastic all over the wheel and side of the car. Turned out that there was a broken piece of wheel well liner or something similar jammed on the inside of the wheel, which got jammed against the caliper causing that to stick. They put it on the lift to inspect, and I shook the back tires back and forth - tons of play, bad bad bearings.
The car came with roof racks, so my mental image of the previous owner was some ski bum kid up in VT who thought you could go four-wheeling in any car with four wheels. I handed the key back to the dealer and noped away as fast as I could. What a terrible vehicle presentation, I can't believe that they expected a sale to come out of that.
Thunder Chicken
Resident Lua Script Rabble-Rouser
Meant to say "wheel well liners", the plastic bits that they put around the tires to keep debris from flying into the engine compartment or body.
Linguofreak
Well-known member
The rest of the inspection sounds horrible, but I'll note that I've seen wheel well liner separation in a great car in otherwise sound condition. It sounds like the car is dieing horribly, and gave us quite a scare, but is actually a really minor thing. If that were the only issue during the inspection I'd say not to let it scare you away from the car, but given everything else...
Thunder Chicken
Resident Lua Script Rabble-Rouser
Yeah, cleaning up the brake calipers wouldn't be hard, even throwing new pads and rotors would not be a big deal. But I think I was more offended that these people presented the car like this assuming I wasn't going to notice any of it and that I was just going to hand them a pile of money for it.
I know they were hoping that I'd hand them a check and drive away so they wouldn't have to deal with these repairs. Given that experience, I don't know if I would really trust the quality of any of the repairs.
Such a shame - these guys had a great reputation years ago and they pointed out to me all the things that needed fixing (that they fixed) on the last cars that I bought from them. Now they are the worst stereotype of used car salespeople. It's hard to get your reputation back when you trash it like that. Especially since their reputation was mostly word-of-mouth. Now everyone is talking about how bad they have become.
Andy44
owner: Oil Creek Astronautix
Just move on and buy a good car. "I can fix it" syndrome will drive you down a road of pain. Unless it's a hobby car like a weekend hot rod, stay away from fixer-uppers.
MaverickSawyer
Acolyte of the Probe
Oh, you mean like this?
My dad's new project: A bit of a kitbash Chevy pickup, made from the cab of a 1940, the chassis of a 1946, and the front fenders and hood of a 1941. It's going to need several years of love before it's roadworthy again, but he's got a plan in place already... Chassis's probably going to get tossed and replaced with the chassis of an S10, and he wants to put a LS motor under the hood.
Thunder Chicken
Resident Lua Script Rabble-Rouser
Absolutely, but a gently used car can be a very good car, and cost you considerably less money. Both of my current cars are used cars off leases, great cars and both are still running fine, though they are getting long in the tooth.
My strategy is add a newer car to the fleet making three, greatly increasing the probability of having any two driveable in the morning for work. Both my wife and I teach so this is really only critical during the school year. If one of them does break down, it buys me time to either fix it myself or to otherwise arrange for another vehicle so I am not forced to pay shop repair costs out of desperation because of time constraints.
Besides, I've discovered that I like working on cars and derive great satisfaction from fixing things. A boy needs a hobby.
---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:26 PM ----------
That looks like a lot of fun.
Thunder Chicken
Resident Lua Script Rabble-Rouser
The search for new car is over. Bought a new 2017 Honda Fit LX with 6-speed manual. Glad that's over.
Geez, these new cars, even the base models, have so much electronic crap in them. It even has Bluetooth. I honestly don't know what Bluetooth even is, but it has it. I'm going to need to read the manual to see how to turn on the radio. Drives well enough.
Geez, these new cars, even the base models, have so much electronic crap in them. It even has Bluetooth. I honestly don't know what Bluetooth even is, but it has it. I'm going to need to read the manual to see how to turn on the radio. Drives well enough.
jedidia
shoemaker without legs
It's a tooth with a blueish color, I think.
Urwumpe
Not funny anymore
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2008
- Messages
- 38,938
- Reaction score
- 3,937
- Points
- 203
- Location
- Wolfsburg
- Preferred Pronouns
- Sire
Wrong. Its the name of king Harald the first, also known as Harald "Bluetooth" Gormson. It simply means that the insurance fee to the Danish monarchy had been already paid and you are protected from viking raids. Always make sure your Bluetooth beacon is active on your smartphone, if you don't want to be kidnapped or robbed by a gang of seafaring Scandinavian privateers.
jedidia
shoemaker without legs
Well, I did not know that. But I totally needed to! :lol:
Notebook
Addon Developer
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2007
- Messages
- 11,969
- Reaction score
- 768
- Points
- 188
We still have trouble with Vikings...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...s-time-theyve-come-to-say-thanks-7986164.html
Mostly shoppers on the North Sea Ferries these days. They have stopped wearing the funny hats, and singing about Spam.
N.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...s-time-theyve-come-to-say-thanks-7986164.html
Mostly shoppers on the North Sea Ferries these days. They have stopped wearing the funny hats, and singing about Spam.
N.
Notebook
Addon Developer
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2007
- Messages
- 11,969
- Reaction score
- 768
- Points
- 188
Same state as Thunder Chicken, have no idea what Bluetooth is(and no intention of finding out!).
Just bought a new telly, and it keeps wittering on about internet, Bluetooth and other things. Thought I'd tuned into the Irritation Channel by mistake.
N.
Just bought a new telly, and it keeps wittering on about internet, Bluetooth and other things. Thought I'd tuned into the Irritation Channel by mistake.
N.
