The Car Thread ... !

[A.Goldberg]

Remember the days when people actually used to buy Volvos because they were safe? I feel like all of that went out the window within the last 10-15 years.

I was just at the Volvo dealer in Allston the other day checking out the XC60. They were still trying to sell me on the Volvo Safety being vastly superior, electronic automatic-braking features aside. The salesperson was terrible. The Volvo dealer my girlfriend bought her S60 at just touched on its safety, but didn't try and make safety be the selling point.

honestly who buys volvos anymore? they're like saabs, quirky cars for quirky people

Where my parents live Volvos are a dime a dozen, and it's not Sweden. Saab was big too. My mom has/had a 2015 XC70 T6 that is currently in the process of being deemed a lemon. Shes had a number of Volvos including a 2005 XC90 and a couple in the 90's. She likes them because they're functional and refined but not pretentious.

But to answer your question blonde soccer MILFs and old people are the people I observe driving Volvos. I've always heard Jews drive Volvos, but I can't support that claim.

Volvo is like a yearly member of the "Companies that won't be in the US next year" list

The new XC90 might turn that around, but we'll see with its 60k price tag. The fact my moms 2015 has been an electrical nightmare makes me worry where their quality is going. They're still made in Sweden I believe, but are Chinese owned.

 

[D.T.]

Probably the cheapest because insurance companies can only count cylinders.

I was wondering the same. In Ford's lineup, the Ecoboost turbo is actually a wrung up from their V6, and I've got a buddy that's been tuning them, easily making over 400HP

http://rennlist.com/forums/vehicle-...3-fashion-grey-individual-lease-takeover.html

Yikes.

 

[D.T.]

It's a shame they don't have NA engines anymore. The N52 was so smooth and quiet. Nothing like the diesel sounding N20.

Speaking of, a site is reporting about Porsche's new 4 cylinder Boxster/Cayman line up - oddly enough, they're saying a slight reduction in the low/mid tier, but a pretty stout increase for the GTS models (and possible parity for the HP in both models as well).

 

[2298754]

I was just at the Volvo dealer in Allston the other day checking out the XC60. They were still trying to sell me on the Volvo Safety being vastly superior, electronic automatic-braking features aside. The salesperson was terrible. The Volvo dealer my girlfriend bought her S60 at just touched on its safety, but didn't try and make safety be the selling point.

I saw the XC90 there a few weeks ago with my father. Terrible dealership. Never again.

Fantastic car though!

Where my parents live Volvos are a dime a dozen, and it's not Sweden. Saab was big too. My mom has/had a 2015 XC70 T6 that is currently in the process of being deemed a lemon. Shes had a number of Volvos including a 2005 XC90 and a couple in the 90's. She likes them because they're functional and refined but not pretentious.

Yeah, up in Maine, Volvo is still popular. I don't understand why though.

But to answer your question blonde soccer MILFs and old people are the people I observe driving Volvos.

I think most of them moved onto Audi/BMW/Lexus/Benz though

The new XC90 might turn that around, but we'll see with its 60k price tag.

It might. Fantastic car, but a 4 banger Volvo SUV for $70k loaded seems nuts.

They're still made in Sweden I believe, but are Chinese owned.

Geely owns them.

 

[2298754]

Yikes.

Perfect example of BMW Individual done wrong

Speaking of, a site is reporting about Porsche's new 4 cylinder Boxster/Cayman line up - oddly enough, they're saying a slight reduction in the low/mid tier, but a pretty stout increase for the GTS models (and possible parity for the HP in both models as well).

I was reading about this recently too. Even the 911 is going all-turbo once the 991.2 comes out this Fall.

The torque curve of the turbo 4 might feel faster in the real world. The base flat-6 really needs to be revved out to make any power.

 

[D.T.]

Perfect example of BMW Individual done wrong



I was reading about this recently too. Even the 911 is going all-turbo once the 991.2 comes out this Fall.

The torque curve of the turbo 4 might feel faster in the real world. The base flat-6 really needs to be revved out to make any power.

Yep, that turbo mid-range would be much more usable ITRW. They're forcasting the GTS models are going to be 370HP - now _that_ is starting to get interesting in the Boxster/Cayman platform. I'd assume it would be a [3rd party] tune/intake/exhaust away from 420-ish

 

[bunnspecial]

I remember my sister's first car being about a '92 or '93 Volvo 850. The thing was an absolute tank with a 0-60 time of about 15 seconds .

At one point or another, she backed into a ditch at school one morning. It was a deep ditch-it left the front wheel sticking up in the air, and she had to get help getting out(none the worst for wear, I'll add). A tow truck pulled it out, and she hopped in and drove it off. Needless to say, that taught her an important lesson about watching where she was backing up

BTW, in other news I got a loan approved on the 328-now I just need to figure out if I can afford the insurance on it!

 

[AustinIllini]

BTW, in other news I got a loan approved on the 328-now I just need to figure out if I can afford the insurance on it!

I'm not sure if you're joking about this, but if you can't afford the insurance, get a different car. Safety and security are number 1 priority, and security is only as good as great insurance.

 

[determined09]

I crunched the numbers once. I think the difference between using regular and premium in my Audi was like $300 a year.

Thank you!! My Father is against buying any car that needs premium gas and I not sure why. He's giving any straight either. My Father recommend that I look at a SUV because if it rains in Houston floods. My Father thinks that the ES 350 is too low to the street. I think my 2000 Toyota Camry set higher up from the street then the ES 350. I'm assuming the reason why this CUV needs premium gas due to the turbo motor that is in the NX.

Are there a lot of problems that come with having a turbo Engine? e.g. like a lot of expensive repairs.

In addition, is it really true that you should wait five years after a new car/SUV/CUV had been introduced before for you buy it? I guess to wait for the manufacturer to work out the major problems with that model.

 

[agkm800]

Hey hey hey, today's volvo's are cool. I'd love to own the new XC90.

 

[bunnspecial]

I am joking-I carry full coverage on everything(although I may drop to liability on the LS soon as the book value is getting fairly low).

It's more a matter of getting the insurance agent and finding out how much it's actually going to cost to insure, and then making whatever other budget adjustments I need to make for it to work. Trust me when I say I wouldn't cheap out on this. Of course, with it financed, I'll have to keep full coverage but would anyway even without financing.

 

[2298754]

Hey hey hey, today's volvo's are cool. I'd love to own the new XC90.

It's a nice car, but for a loaded T6 Inscription with a 4 banger, you're looking at $70k.

Why would I buy the Volvo over a BMW X5 or Audi Q7 in that price bracket?

 

[2298754]

I'm assuming the reason why this CUV needs premium gas due to the turbo motor that is in the NX.

Combination of higher compression and turbo.

For example, the Lexus ES has the same 3.5 V6 as the Lexus IS, but the IS takes premium, whereas the ES doesn't. That's because the IS' V6 has direct injection and higher compression, so it requires 91+ octane.

 

[2298754]

I am joking-I carry full coverage on everything(although I may drop to liability on the LS soon as the book value is getting fairly low).

You don't need full coverage!

If anything breaks when you get into an accident, pull the piece off, throw it into the bushes, and keep driving.

Any CELs? Pull the battery on the BMW to reset the ECU

 

[bunnspecial]

Thank you!! My Father is against buying any car that needs premium gas and I not sure why. He's giving any straight either. My Father recommend that I look at a SUV because if it rains in Houston floods. My Father thinks that the ES 350 is too low to the street. I think my 2000 Toyota Camry set higher up from the street then the ES 350. I'm assuming the reason why this CUV needs premium gas due to the turbo motor that is in the NX.

As said, the cost difference between regular and premium really isn't a huge deal. Depending on what's available in your area and what grade specifically your car calls for, you can sometimes even get away with using mid-grade occasionally. Mine calls for 91+ and stations around here sell 92 or 93. I throw in an occasional tank of 89(mid grade) because of this.

I don't really advocate using a lower-than-rated grade of gasoline, but even if you ran only regular(87), most cars today can retard the timing to the point where detonation("knocking") can be reduced even with lower octane gas. This does come at a power loss. Even so, I've occasionally hit the "regular" button inadvertently at the pump(rarely, but still occasionally) and have never a problem from it other.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if pretty much all cars start requiring premium in the next 10 years or so. The combination of high compression and forced induction to get increasingly better performance out of increasingly smaller engines will be a consequence of this.

 

[D.T.]

Thank you!! My Father is against buying any car that needs premium gas and I not sure why.

That's just old school thinking. It's like not running the A/C because it "uses more gas". I remember people getting whipped up into a frenzy because a plasma set uses more electricity, it does, about $40 more a _year_.

I don't mean to sound flippant about people's concern over costs, certainly there are folks who are in a financial situation where $300-400 a year is a concern, but when you're talking about the finances of someone considering $30K plus cars (plus their required insurance, tags, etc), and the yearly difference of regular vs. mid-grade (< $200) is inconsequential (unless they're filling up 2-3 times a week I guess ...)

You also have to look at the whole picture, i.e., gas requirement vs. overall efficiency.

I will say I do love having a taller standing SUV in our area that's prone to flooding - it makes a really safe "escape vehicle" for the family. I can drive though ~27" of water, through ditches if I needed to turn around, etc.

 

[agkm800]

It's a nice car, but for a loaded T6 Inscription with a 4 banger, you're looking at $70k.

Why would I buy the Volvo over a BMW X5 or Audi Q7 in that price bracket?

Because a loaded BMW X5 costs at least $10k more?

 

[2298754]

Because a loaded BMW X5 costs at least $10k more?

Yeah no...

 

[bunnspecial]

I decided that the LS needed some attention, so spent some time working on it this evening.

The first thing to tackle were the headlights, which were badly oxidized and have needed to be polished for a while. I used the Meguir's kit.

Before(the white area around the lights is masking tape, which is suggested to prevent inadvertently treating other parts of the body)

After



After that, I decided that the whole car deserved a wash and wax. Nothing fancy here, just Meguir's Gold soap with an old t-shirt for a rag followed by Gold Class 100% carnauba paste wax.

I used Westley Bleche-White(a very under-rated product) to clean the tires, followed by Meguir's Hot Shot tire shine. The wheels just got a basic Meguir's aluminum wheel cleaner along a thorough brushing and a toothbrush to get into the cracks. Among other things, one of the reasons I've fallen in love with ceramic brake pads is that even without regular wheel cleaning, your wheels really don't look that bad. The ceramic dust is similar in color to the aluminum, not gray-black like conventional pads.

Seeing it clean reminded me-at least partially-why I fell in love with the car in the first place.

 

[senseless]

I decided that the LS needed some attention, so spent some time working on it this evening.

The first thing to tackle were the headlights, which were badly oxidized and have needed to be polished for a while. I used the Meguir's kit.

Before(the white area around the lights is masking tape, which is suggested to prevent inadvertently treating other parts of the body)

View attachment 572466

After

View attachment 572467

After that, I decided that the whole car deserved a wash and wax. Nothing fancy here, just Meguir's Gold soap with an old t-shirt for a rag followed by Gold Class 100% carnauba paste wax.

I used Westley Bleche-White(a very under-rated product) to clean the tires, followed by Meguir's Hot Shot tire shine. The wheels just got a basic Meguir's aluminum wheel cleaner along a thorough brushing and a toothbrush to get into the cracks. Among other things, one of the reasons I've fallen in love with ceramic brake pads is that even without regular wheel cleaning, your wheels really don't look that bad. The ceramic dust is similar in color to the aluminum, not gray-black like conventional pads.

Seeing it clean reminded me-at least partially-why I fell in love with the car in the first place.

View attachment 572468

The Gold Class paste wax is great stuff. I like that you can do the entire car and then remove it all at one time. Good tip on the ceramic brake pad dust, but are they quiet?

 

[bunnspecial]

The Gold Class paste wax is great stuff. I like that you can do the entire car and then remove it all at one time. Good tip on the ceramic brake pad dust, but are they quiet?

The ceramics do seem to "grind" a bit when coming to a dead stop(that's the best way I can describe the sound) but seem virtually indistinguishable otherwise from stock pads. The only thing I'd add is that they do seem "grippier" which of course helps stopping distance but also can make them "jerky" if the cars been sitting for a couple of days or has just been washed while they scrub the rust off the rotors. All pads do this, but the ceramics seem to be worse than conventionals.

I'll also comment that at 140,000 miles I still have the factory rotors on the car. They've been turned twice-I actually was surprised at the last break change(~90,000) that they were still in spec and could be turned again. In fact, I'd actually bought rotors(I bought the pads and rotors, and ended up having the shop put them on for me). Since they would have turned the new rotors anyway, they didn't have anything to gain by turning them.

In any case, I will say that I pulled one of the front wheels the other day and while the pads have a TON of life left in them, the rotors seem to be developing a noticeable groove in them the width of the pad. I'm actually thinking that I may need new rotors before I need pads-50,000 miles later and the pads honestly have almost no discernible wear on them. Granted, a lot of those 50,000 miles(like probably 80% of them) are interstate miles so the brake wear is minimal.

And, yes I love the gold class wax. I actually did apply it to the entire car then worked on the wheels/tires while I waited for it to dry. Paste wax takes a little bit more effort to apply, but you have so much more control over it and it goes on so much better that I can't imagine using anything else. I can't see how anyone who has ever used a good paste wax would even want to mess with a liquid. Pastes go on beautifully with a sponge(Meguir's is nice enough to give you one), while I've yet to find a good way to get an even coat of liquid wax and not make a mess.

I even put Gold Class paste on my windshield. It works every bit as well as Rain-X, is easier to apply, and lasts a WHOLE LOT longer. In all honesty, I forget it's on there until someone rides with me while it's raining and comments on how clear my windshield is. I can tell you that it drives me crazy(almost to the point of being unsafe) to drive a car in the rain without some sort of windshield treatment regardless of how good the wipers are. I recall driving my mom's Town Car back from vacation coming up I-75 in a torrential downpour, and I had to pull off because I couldn't see through the windshield. If I'd been in my car, I'd at least have been able to see well enough to keep going(slowly).

 

[senseless]

The ceramics do seem to "grind" a bit when coming to a dead stop(that's the best way I can describe the sound) but seem virtually indistinguishable otherwise from stock pads. The only thing I'd add is that they do seem "grippier" which of course helps stopping distance but also can make them "jerky" if the cars been sitting for a couple of days or has just been washed while they scrub the rust off the rotors. All pads do this, but the ceramics seem to be worse than conventionals.

I'll also comment that at 140,000 miles I still have the factory rotors on the car. They've been turned twice-I actually was surprised at the last break change(~90,000) that they were still in spec and could be turned again. In fact, I'd actually bought rotors(I bought the pads and rotors, and ended up having the shop put them on for me). Since they would have turned the new rotors anyway, they didn't have anything to gain by turning them.

In any case, I will say that I pulled one of the front wheels the other day and while the pads have a TON of life left in them, the rotors seem to be developing a noticeable groove in them the width of the pad. I'm actually thinking that I may need new rotors before I need pads-50,000 miles later and the pads honestly have almost no discernible wear on them. Granted, a lot of those 50,000 miles(like probably 80% of them) are interstate miles so the brake wear is minimal.

And, yes I love the gold class wax. I actually did apply it to the entire car then worked on the wheels/tires while I waited for it to dry. Paste wax takes a little bit more effort to apply, but you have so much more control over it and it goes on so much better that I can't imagine using anything else. I can't see how anyone who has ever used a good paste wax would even want to mess with a liquid. Pastes go on beautifully with a sponge(Meguir's is nice enough to give you one), while I've yet to find a good way to get an even coat of liquid wax and not make a mess.

I even put Gold Class paste on my windshield. It works every bit as well as Rain-X, is easier to apply, and lasts a WHOLE LOT longer. In all honesty, I forget it's on there until someone rides with me while it's raining and comments on how clear my windshield is. I can tell you that it drives me crazy(almost to the point of being unsafe) to drive a car in the rain without some sort of windshield treatment regardless of how good the wipers are. I recall driving my mom's Town Car back from vacation coming up I-75 in a torrential downpour, and I had to pull off because I couldn't see through the windshield. If I'd been in my car, I'd at least have been able to see well enough to keep going(slowly).

One caveat on the windshield waxing. I did this once and did notice more headlight glare at night. This is why I stopped using any treatments on the windshield.

 

[determined09]

That's just old school thinking. It's like not running the A/C because it "uses more gas". I remember people getting whipped up into a frenzy because a plasma set uses more electricity, it does, about $40 more a _year_.

I don't mean to sound flippant about people's concern over costs, certainly there are folks who are in a financial situation where $300-400 a year is a concern, but when you're talking about the finances of someone considering $30K plus cars (plus their required insurance, tags, etc), and the yearly difference of regular vs. mid-grade (< $200) is inconsequential (unless they're filling up 2-3 times a week I guess ...)

You also have to look at the whole picture, i.e., gas requirement vs. overall efficiency.

I will say I do love having a taller standing SUV in our area that's prone to flooding - it makes a really safe "escape vehicle" for the family. I can drive though ~27" of water, through ditches if I needed to turn around, etc.

Thanks for your help. I see your point about the fact that buying the premium gas is a small portion of owning this car. that makes a lot sense.

But I'm only 5 feet or 4'11". I'm not sure. I needed to ask the doctor to measure my height. I maybe to short for this CUV.

 

[determined09]

As said, the cost difference between regular and premium really isn't a huge deal. Depending on what's available in your area and what grade specifically your car calls for, you can sometimes even get away with using mid-grade occasionally. Mine calls for 91+ and stations around here sell 92 or 93. I throw in an occasional tank of 89(mid grade) because of this.

I don't really advocate using a lower-than-rated grade of gasoline, but even if you ran only regular(87), most cars today can retard the timing to the point where detonation("knocking") can be reduced even with lower octane gas. This does come at a power loss. Even so, I've occasionally hit the "regular" button inadvertently at the pump(rarely, but still occasionally) and have never a problem from it other.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if pretty much all cars start requiring premium in the next 10 years or so. The combination of high compression and forced induction to get increasingly better performance out of increasingly smaller engines will be a consequence of this.

Thanks for the knowledge.
In My area Regular is 2.32 per goal and premium is 2.97.
Plus the CUV 15.9 gal gas tank
My Toyota Camry has a 18.5 gall gas tank

 

[senseless]

Audi recommends "Top Tier Gasoline", in order to clean the engine properly. That includes Exxon, Arco, Valero, Texaco, BP and Mobil in my area. I was surprised Sunoco was not on the list. So gasoline is not all the same, after all.