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Vehicles / bikes 🏍 Car Talk

I have acquired my Dad's 2002 Lincoln Town Car. It's pretty clean and only has ~85,500 miles.

Looks like this one:


2002-Lincoln-Town-Car-EX-100002333-08.png


Kenan Thompson Reaction GIF
 
A guy down the street got a Cybertruck sometime in the last week. Last night I went for a walk and saw his kid outside washing it with a garden hose. I'm sure that's gotta void the warranty or something.
 
Generally I prefer the windows down (or doors and roof off of the Jeep) rather than use the AC but days weeks like this one with temps in the mid-90s and awful humidity make me appreciate the AC. It probably also matters that I rarely drive on a street anymore with a speed limit about 45 so I never really get much of a breeze going.
 
DVD said:
Next car project, window tint! Mine's starting to bubble up on the back.
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We picked up a new-to-me vehicle in the south recently and the SO took it to get inspected last week. The tint -- which should be 30% opacity in NY -- registered at 70% so it didn't pass. And because it's a car and not an SUV, we're now required to take the tint off all the windows in order for it to pass.

Rumor has it there are some places around town that will pass it for an extra fee. So now we need to decide: is it worth the extra (albeit not legal) fee to not have to remove, then reinstall a lesser tint? Or do we just suck it up and replace the tint now, spending more up front but less in the long run?

Personally, I like the tint level on it but in general, I've always adhered to the State requirements on tint -- even in advance when we knew we were moving north.
 
mendelman said:
I have acquired my Dad's 2002 Lincoln Town Car. It's pretty clean and only has ~85,500 miles.

Looks like this one:


2002-Lincoln-Town-Car-EX-100002333-08.png


Kenan Thompson Reaction GIF
Click to expand...
Well, with a tape deck all you need is one of these and you're good to go!
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I got rid of pretty much all my cassette tapes years ago but recently found a straggler- a bootleg taped-off the record soundtrack from Shaft. I can send it to you and you can just play it all the time in there.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
A guy down the street got a Cybertruck sometime in the last week. Last night I went for a walk and saw his kid outside washing it with a garden hose. I'm sure that's gotta void the warranty or something.
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Being that I'm in the Austin metro, I see WAY more of these than I would like to. I have seen a few pretty humorous customizations, including this one with swangas when I was in Houston last week.
 
RandomPlanner said:
We picked up a new-to-me vehicle in the south recently and the SO took it to get inspected last week. The tint -- which should be 30% opacity in NY -- registered at 70% so it didn't pass. And because it's a car and not an SUV, we're now required to take the tint off all the windows in order for it to pass.

Rumor has it there are some places around town that will pass it for an extra fee. So now we need to decide: is it worth the extra (albeit not legal) fee to not have to remove, then reinstall a lesser tint? Or do we just suck it up and replace the tint now, spending more up front but less in the long run?

Personally, I like the tint level on it but in general, I've always adhered to the State requirements on tint -- even in advance when we knew we were moving north.
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Arizona allows 38% on the front windows and whatever on back. The problem is that window tint runs 35%. If you don't know tinting, the lower the number the darker the tint. So standard tint is 3% off. Of course the light detectors are always running on a 3% margin so have fun in court. Then again I see cars with 20% tint up front and now one gets stopped. It's worse in California where they only allow 40% tint up front. Why even bother with tint at all?
 
DVD said:
Arizona allows 38% on the front windows and whatever on back. The problem is that window tint runs 35%. If you don't know tinting, the lower the number the darker the tint. So standard tint is 3% off. Of course the light detectors are always running on a 3% margin so have fun in court. Then again I see cars with 20% tint up front and now one gets stopped. It's worse in California where they only allow 40% tint up front. Why even bother with tint at all?
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Ok, so I'm saying it backwards. GA allowed for 32% Visible Light Transmission (VLT) and NY only allows for 70% VLT. Our new vehicle must be around 30% (described to me as 70% opaque) -- which is dramatically over what's allowed here. Apparently my back window can be any amount of VLT so, technically, I could leave it as is. But that would look dumb with the rest of the vehicle at the legal limit.

In my opinion, I've definitely seen darker windows here as you can still see into the vehicle on mine but ... apparently those vehicles are just waiting to get pulled over and ticketed, I guess.
 
I'm thinking 35% up front and 20% in the back window and tiny side windows. Also this is Arizona and I try to block all the sun I can to keep the car cool. I'm just not going with 5% because then you just can't see out of it. It looks fine on a sports car, but your right, it might look a little weird on an SUV. I'm guessing you have 35% which you can see through, just not clearly. 20% is when you can't see in unless you're right up on the car. 50 & 70 are common for front windows in cruel states that think the sun doesn't destroy things. It's pricey, anything from $200-800 in my area to have someone remove and put on tint. If you can remove it yourself that will save about $100. Good luck!
 
Usually when you see a DONK that was built, it's 70s & 80s Caprices or similar. The big car with 28" wheels.

Today I saw a DONK made from a 90s Taurus, with the rounded body style. It looked very odd.
 
Planit said:
Usually when you see a DONK that was built, it's 70s & 80s Caprices or similar. The big car with 28" wheels.

Today I saw a DONK made from a 90s Taurus, with the rounded body style. It looked very odd.
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TIL...DONK. Let's be fair, most 90s cars were odd - the bubble generation of cars.
 
MD Planner said:
I don't know. My Cherokee looked exactly like this one. I loved that vehicle. I had a '94 and sold it 15 years later with 275K miles on it. Still with the original clutch!

View attachment 62747
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There were exceptions. My inlaws still have a 87 Cherokee that looks much like yours. That style had a long lifespan. He is actually driving that Jeep right now in place of his wrecked F150 I posted earlier.
 
MD Planner said:
I don't know. My Cherokee looked exactly like this one. I loved that vehicle. I had a '94 and sold it 15 years later with 275K miles on it. Still with the original clutch!

View attachment 62747
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SlaveToTheGrind said:
There were exceptions. My inlaws still have a 87 Cherokee that looks much like yours. That style had a long lifespan. He is actually driving that Jeep right now in place of his wrecked F150 I posted earlier.
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Jeep Wranglers and Grand Cherokees and the XJ version of the Cherokee like the one @MD Planner had are sort of exempt from this conversation as Jeep liked to keep a lot of their designs pretty consistent back from the AMC days up through today. IMO, their biggest design tweek over the years was just adding a 4-door version of the Wrangler, though bigger fanboys than myself will probably tell you the biggest tweek was going to square headlights on the YJ version of the Wrangler and then going back to round headlights with the TJ!
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Jeep Wranglers and Grand Cherokees and the XJ version of the Cherokee like the one @MD Planner had are sort of exempt from this conversation as Jeep liked to keep a lot of their designs pretty consistent back from the AMC days up through today. IMO, their biggest design tweek over the years was just adding a 4-door version of the Wrangler, though bigger fanboys than myself will probably tell you the biggest tweek was going to square headlights on the YJ version of the Wrangler and then going back to round headlights with the TJ!
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It's hip to be square.
 
mendelman said:
I have acquired my Dad's 2002 Lincoln Town Car. It's pretty clean and only has ~85,500 miles.

Looks like this one:


2002-Lincoln-Town-Car-EX-100002333-08.png


Kenan Thompson Reaction GIF
Click to expand...
Been driving this luxo barge for more than a month. It's super cool and fun.

We did have to spend ~$2,200 on repairs as it sat too much as my Dad's second car (brakes' rotors/pad/calipers, an alignment and other minor things) but now it's smooth sailing around town.

It's 4.6 liter V8 is awesome and the 6 CD changer in the trunk is nice when rocking out to CAKE, The White Stripes and Simon & Garfunkel Greatest Hits.

The above repair costs are ok as we got it from my Dad for free.

And all five of us can ride in it despite being all full size adult humans now.

You're jealous...aren't you? ;)
 
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I was out on a run Saturday morning and saw somebody had parked a '66 Plymouth Barracuda at the end of their driveway with a "for sale" sign in the window. I had to stop and take a look as I've always loved those old 'Cudas with the massive wrap-around rear windows. The body looked to be in pretty great shape but the interior was rough. There were also no other details on the sign other than the year and the price ($5,000) so no idea if it was running or not, but the tires looked to be relatively new with a lot of tread left which leads me to believe that it is at least driveable, or was recently (why go to the expense of getting tires in the past year or so if it doesn't run?). If I had a three car garage and space to work on it I would have been back there that afternoon to make a deal.
 
mendelman said:
Been driving this luxo barge for more than a month. It's super cool and fun.

We did have to spend ~$2,200 on repairs as it sat too much as my Dad's second car (brakes' rotors/pad/calipers, an alignment and other minor things) but now it's smooth sailing around town.

It's 4.6 liter V8 is awesome and the 6 CD changer in the trunk is nice when rocking out to CAKE, The White Stripes and Simon & Garfunkel Greatest Hits.

The above repair costs are ok as we got it from my Dad for free.

And all five of us can ride in it despite being all full size adult humans now.

You're jealous...aren't you. ;)
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I bet it glides. I loved having my grandfathers Lincoln back in the day.

I've been driving a small 2008 Elantra for the last 4 years that feels every bump. Besides the exploding soft drink mentioned in the weather thread, its really starting to show its age. Tree sap got on the top last year and now a good bit of the clear coat and paint are starting to flake and change colors. I'm ready for a change, but I don't know if I can justify a new car payment for a 3 mile round trip commute every day. It's only got 125,000 miles and would likely hold up another 5 years at my current pace. It would be really nice to have a midsize/small truck.
 
Article in the paper today says Camero won't be a thing next year along with the Nissan Titan and a few other cars.
 
At lunch I went to the Jeep dealership at lunch to get an oil change, tire rotation, blinker fluid refill, etc. and was wandering around the lot while they were working. I remember when I bought my Gladiator in early spring '22 there were maybe two dozen new vehicles on the lot and zero used vehicles (though they've never been a big volume used dealership at this particular place). Today the lot was packed, especially with Grand Cherokees. There were a good amount of Cherokees and Compasses but literally hundreds of the Grand Cherokee L and Grand Cherokee - their online inventory says there are 345 in stock between the two! :omg: There still aren't many Gladiators or Wranglers but I was surprised how many Grand Cherokees that they had. I have to imagine that the gradual rise in interest rates over the past couple years has really been slowing down sales.

My wife is in the market to replace her 12-year-old Traverse and the Grand Cherokee is on our list of possibilities. She's a better negotiator than I am so I may have to suggest that she finally go and take a look and see what she can do.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Driver pulled out in front of my son last night. He t-boned her on the driver door. Both will be totaled.

View attachment 62731
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Update on the saga...we took possession of the truck two weeks ago. Insurance said $4800 or we can keep at $4500. My FiL was giddy over keeping the truck and had the bumper off the next day to assess damage, if any, underneath. Looks good. Best part is there is a 1997 in a boneyard in Rock Springs, WY, that has all the body parts and the same color, for $705.
 
Just got the daily/family truckster 2019 Pathfinder back from the body shop. About three weeks ago I crossbred it with a javelina at 75 mph. Did some significant front end damage, also picking off the radiator support while managing not to puncture the actual radiator. And it took out the transmission cooler, causing it to dump all of the fluid and make it undrivable. $4K total in repairs. I'm just glad it was in this car and not the Mustang.

Starting to give some thought to "what next." My Pathfinder is a Rock Creek edition with 4WD, which we use to tow the travel trailer. It does okay. I'm a bit concerned because:
  • The transmission is a CVT, which I don't trust a lot to start with
  • I'm nervous about potentially unseen transmission damage given how it locked up after dropping the transmission fluid... it did make the 2.5 hour drive from the bodyshop back home without issue though.
  • This was the second front-end incident for the vehicle, with a pretty bad one about 9 months into owning it (about $13K in damage on that one).
  • It didn't come with CarPlay features--I hacked that by buying a module from an Australian vehicle and retrofitting. It doesn't seem to be recognizing the car microphone anymore, and I'm on the road a lot for my job often taking calls from the road. I've been having to put on speaker and hold the phone, which I don't like.
The Pathfinder has been otherwise reliable and comfortable. I've never really liked its exterior design.

I'm debating a couple of vehicles:
  • Going 1-to-1 replacement with a new Pathfinder Rock Creek. The styling is better and it has a conventional transmission. The 4WD also has some improved functionality.
  • A Jeep Grand Cherokee or Grand Cherokee L. I've liked Grand Cherokees for a long time and have friends that are on their 3rd & 4th respectively. They are both in new ones now, but their last ones did 200K+ miles and they only replaced because they just wanted some newer bells/whistles.
  • The object of my lust now is the new Toyota Land Cruiser (I like the 1958), but those aren't easy to find yet.
I know I don't want a black or white vehicle (current is white). The new Pathfinder comes in a desert tan that I like a lot, as well as dark green and bright red. I like the seats in my current Nissan in terms of comfort, and think the new Pathfinder is similar. The Grand Cherokee has some nice dark reds & blues, along with kind of a mineral grey. I haven't ridden in one of the new Grand Cherokees yet, but have heard really good things about comfort.
 
I think if I had to replace my Fiat, I'd still go with something basically small. I've seen articles about an electric 500 but as far as I know they aren't widely available (if they are available at all). I think if I had to get something right now I'd be looking at a Hyundai Venue, a tiny crossover but still substantially larger than my 500. They seem to be available in the low- to mid-$20k range.

This local one, for instance, comes in at under $23k with "dealer cash" of $1000.

9f1c4e6e24e438307bad6dc19d153a5b.png
 
WSU MUP Student said:
At lunch I went to the Jeep dealership at lunch to get an oil change, tire rotation, blinker fluid refill, etc. and was wandering around the lot while they were working. I remember when I bought my Gladiator in early spring '22 there were maybe two dozen new vehicles on the lot and zero used vehicles (though they've never been a big volume used dealership at this particular place). Today the lot was packed, especially with Grand Cherokees. There were a good amount of Cherokees and Compasses but literally hundreds of the Grand Cherokee L and Grand Cherokee - their online inventory says there are 345 in stock between the two! :omg: There still aren't many Gladiators or Wranglers but I was surprised how many Grand Cherokees that they had. I have to imagine that the gradual rise in interest rates over the past couple years has really been slowing down sales.

My wife is in the market to replace her 12-year-old Traverse and the Grand Cherokee is on our list of possibilities. She's a better negotiator than I am so I may have to suggest that she finally go and take a look and see what she can do.
Click to expand...

Suburb Repairman said:
I'm debating a couple of vehicles:
  • Going 1-to-1 replacement with a new Pathfinder Rock Creek. The styling is better and it has a conventional transmission. The 4WD also has some improved functionality.
  • A Jeep Grand Cherokee or Grand Cherokee L. I've liked Grand Cherokees for a long time and have friends that are on their 3rd & 4th respectively. They are both in new ones now, but their last ones did 200K+ miles and they only replaced because they just wanted some newer bells/whistles.
  • The object of my lust now is the new Toyota Land Cruiser (I like the 1958), but those aren't easy to find yet.
I know I don't want a black or white vehicle (current is white). The new Pathfinder comes in a desert tan that I like a lot, as well as dark green and bright red. I like the seats in my current Nissan in terms of comfort, and think the new Pathfinder is similar. The Grand Cherokee has some nice dark reds & blues, along with kind of a mineral grey. I haven't ridden in one of the new Grand Cherokees yet, but have heard really good things about comfort.
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We have a 22 Grand Cherokee L 4x4. It's been a fine family cruiser and is extremely comfortable and pretty quiet for a bigger suv. My only nitpicks is sometimes the radio and memory seats do not respond as well as I would like (though technology is now one of the top issues for every newer car), and the drive by wire programming feels a bit disconnected when you mash the petal down to the floor (you have like a surging feeling). We also got it during the covid shortages, so the tow package was nonexistant for the Limited and only spec'ed on higher trims. But as a people mover, it's been great. If I could have found one with the tow package and also aircooled seats, I would got that one over ours.
 
Suburb Repairman said:
Just got the daily/family truckster 2019 Pathfinder back from the body shop. About three weeks ago I crossbred it with a javelina at 75 mph. Did some significant front end damage, also picking off the radiator support while managing not to puncture the actual radiator. And it took out the transmission cooler, causing it to dump all of the fluid and make it undrivable. $4K total in repairs. I'm just glad it was in this car and not the Mustang...

...I'm debating a couple of vehicles:
  • Going 1-to-1 replacement with a new Pathfinder Rock Creek. The styling is better and it has a conventional transmission. The 4WD also has some improved functionality.
  • A Jeep Grand Cherokee or Grand Cherokee L. I've liked Grand Cherokees for a long time and have friends that are on their 3rd & 4th respectively. They are both in new ones now, but their last ones did 200K+ miles and they only replaced because they just wanted some newer bells/whistles.
  • The object of my lust now is the new Toyota Land Cruiser (I like the 1958), but those aren't easy to find yet.
Click to expand...

The new Land Cruisers are pretty cool. I haven't looked at the specs for one but did see my first one on the road last week. I loved it! I see a lot of the new Land Rover Defenders but I think the Land Cruiser is so much nicer looking (probably a lot better price too).

Also, I had no idea that a javelina could do that much damage! I just looked up how big they can be and it looks like they're roughly 2x bigger than I had imagined.
 
Planit said:
The new Scout EV vehicles look pretty good.
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Apparently Volkswagen (the new owner of the Scout brand) has sought lots of input from current/previous International Scout owners in relaunching the brand. One of the desirements I've heard is that many International Scout owners have requested a stripped down version of the vehicle to make it more affordable but also to have fewer bells and whistles that can distract from the driving experience and break.
 
Planit said:
The new Scout EV vehicles look pretty good.
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I like them too. And they're making them right here in the Palmetto State. I added a separate circuit and 240V outlet in the garage during construction so I (or the next owner) could easily add a car charger. I'm thinking I might be in the market when the new Scouts are available in a few years.
 
Doohickie said:
Apparently Volkswagen (the new owner of the Scout brand) has sought lots of input from current/previous International Scout owners in relaunching the brand. One of the desirements I've heard is that many International Scout owners have requested a stripped down version of the vehicle to make it more affordable but also to have fewer bells and whistles that can distract from the driving experience and break.
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They didn't ask me. I'd ask for vinyl floor liners so I could use a hose to rinse out the mud. 😉

My Scout was pretty basic. I loved it and hated to get rid of it.
 
Doohickie said:
Apparently Volkswagen (the new owner of the Scout brand) has sought lots of input from current/previous International Scout owners in relaunching the brand. One of the desirements I've heard is that many International Scout owners have requested a stripped down version of the vehicle to make it more affordable but also to have fewer bells and whistles that can distract from the driving experience and break.
Click to expand...
A friend of mine's father had a 70's international scout II, maybe a 76. I don't recall it being a vehicle with a lot of bells and whistles. His had an aftermarket 8-track player. I remember because he had a Conway Twitty and a Black Sabbath 8 track, which was a odd combination.
 
Somebody near me has a '70s Scout II that still gets driven quite frequently. I do have to chuckle that every time I see it parked outside of Starbucks or the pharmacy or grocery store, it's running. Doesn't matter the time of year (so it's not just trying to keep it warm in the winter).
 
kms said:
They didn't ask me. I'd ask for vinyl floor liners so I could use a hose to rinse out the mud. 😉

My Scout was pretty basic. I loved it and hated to get rid of it.
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That's the kind of stuff people are asking for, yeah.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Somebody near me has a '70s Scout II that still gets driven quite frequently. I do have to chuckle that every time I see it parked outside of Starbucks or the pharmacy or grocery store, it's running. Doesn't matter the time of year (so it's not just trying to keep it warm in the winter).
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I'm kind of hoping my Fiat 500 has that kind of longevity. I like to think I'll be driving it 20 years from now in the slow lane :D
 
I just see the thing as the next range rover. It's nice, but I don't like that much useless luxury in my car. If I wanted that I'd buy a luxury car. Just give me something basic with no special computer crap so it's easy to maintain, easy to modify, and just easy to drive. Also make sure it doesn't need to be placed in car wash mode - Tesla I'm looking at you.
 
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