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Vehicles / bikes 🏍 Car Talk

kms said:
I'd drive a Scout II if I could.
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Off Road Mud GIF by MotorTrend
 
This memory popped up after reading different thread. There was a time when I was a used car salesman for one of the largest dealers in the state. We only sold the used inventory which also had a higher commission than new. Anyway, guy came in with a mid 1980s Cadillac Cimarron (winter 1996-1997) to trade which was nothing more than a rebadged Chevy Cavalier and had "beefy" 121 ci 4-banger - zero trade value. He, or the previous owner, used adhesive mailbox letter/numbers to advertise on the rear trunk lid that it was "powered by Cadillac and a 121 ci engine" or similar langage. Just shook my head and asked myself why?
 
I had the oldest move my wife's vehicle this weekend because she was blocking my truck. I got in the vehicle with him because he has not spent any time behind the wheel. I got nervous when he asked me which peddle was the break and I realized he was being serious.

He has no ambition to get his driver's license. He will when we start telling him that we don't 'feel' like taking him places.
 
michaelskis said:
I had the oldest move my wife's vehicle this weekend because she was blocking my truck. I got in the vehicle with him because he has not spent any time behind the wheel. I got nervous when he asked me which peddle was the break and I realized he was being serious.

He has no ambition to get his driver's license. He will when we start telling him that we don't 'feel' like taking him places.
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He'll get his license when his friends have them.
 
michaelskis said:
I had the oldest move my wife's vehicle this weekend because she was blocking my truck. I got in the vehicle with him because he has not spent any time behind the wheel. I got nervous when he asked me which peddle was the break and I realized he was being serious.

He has no ambition to get his driver's license. He will when we start telling him that we don't 'feel' like taking him places.
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It's impossible for a parent to express this to a child, but my experience, both kids find freedom in being able to drive the extra car to whenever they want when they want and not having to rely on mom and dad.
 
michaelskis said:
I had the oldest move my wife's vehicle this weekend because she was blocking my truck. I got in the vehicle with him because he has not spent any time behind the wheel. I got nervous when he asked me which peddle was the break and I realized he was being serious.

He has no ambition to get his driver's license. He will when we start telling him that we don't 'feel' like taking him places.
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I have seen more of this recently. I had a guy working on my staff that would request time off to get his sons from college, in each corner of the state (driving over 12 hours in a triangle). His kids didnt want to licenses, even in college and he wouldnt put them on the Greyhound to come home for the Holidays. Even after his kid graduated and back to our city with a job, he would take his Saturday to pick up his son and drive him to Costco... at 23 years old.

My oldest is now 15, has a permit and completed driving school. He drives us everywhere, including 5 hours each way to Montana and back over Thanksgiving (which I decidedly enjoyed).
 
michaelskis said:
I had the oldest move my wife's vehicle this weekend because she was blocking my truck. I got in the vehicle with him because he has not spent any time behind the wheel. I got nervous when he asked me which peddle was the break and I realized he was being serious.

He has no ambition to get his driver's license. He will when we start telling him that we don't 'feel' like taking him places.
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kms said:
He'll get his license when his friends have them.
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DVD said:
It's impossible for a parent to express this to a child, but my experience, both kids find freedom in being able to drive the extra car to whenever they want when they want and not having to rely on mom and dad.
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zman said:
I have seen more of this recently. I had a guy working on my staff that would request time off to get his sons from college, in each corner of the state (driving over 12 hours in a triangle). His kids didnt want to licenses, even in college and he wouldnt put them on the Greyhound to come home for the Holidays. Even after his kid graduated and back to our city with a job, he would take his Saturday to pick up his son and drive him to Costco... at 23 years old.

My oldest is now 15, has a permit and completed driving school. He drives us everywhere, including 5 hours each way to Montana and back over Thanksgiving (which I decidedly enjoyed).
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My oldest (17.5) and my middle (16) sons are less than enthusiastic about getting their licenses. My youngest (15) too has little inclination.

But we live in part of metro Chicago that one could live without driving yourself and their high school is ~0.25 miles from our house, so...and within about 1.5 miles of our house there are tons of teen jobs that they could bike or walk to.

I mean...owning a car is 51% expensive and a hassle.
 
I'm kind of glad my oldest (18) living on her own doesn't have a car. Just another expense she can't afford right now. I gave her my bus pass so she can take any bus or the light rail which is just down the street. I'll be glad when the youngest does her license in a couple months. Then she can drive herself to school in the morning and home from all these after school things she does.
 
Yeah, I reckon with us living in a smaller metro, not connected to a major city, with a "token" bus system and more conservative public transit adoption attitudes we will still rely on the cars for the kids.

I do wonder where this lesser attitude for driving from the youths will lead. Would people be more willing to ride the bus?
 
^^^this… As active as she was & few alternatives other modes of transportation, The Girl wanted her license as soon as she was eligible.
 
So the Fiat 500 has presented some challenges the last few months:

1. The thermostat failed (stuck open, which is what you want if it's gonna fail). It's not just a thermostat though; it's the whole assembly including the housing. Not cheap.
2. Had a fuel fill issue; it acted as if it were full and would back up the filler tube unless I pumped the gas at a trickle. The shop said it was a bad anti-siphon checkvalve in the fuel tank; it would cost about $1500 for just the fuel tank assembly... or they could just remove the checkvalve flapper... so that's what I did.
3. With the cold snap, my power steering is going. It's an electric motor assist mounted direct to the steering column, not hydraulic, and I think a solder joint on the control board is wonky. If I put the heater on full blast on the floor, it warms up enough and the power steering starts working normally again. That's also about a $1500 part, if you can find it (apparently the dealers are no longer getting them), but it looks like I can get salvaged/reconditioned units for about $300. The car drives fine without power steering, just kind of a pain to park.

I'm kind of at the point that as long as it reliably gets me from point A to point B, I'll hang onto it. If it gets less reliable, then maybe I have to consider a replacement, especially since OEM support is quickly drying up. But even then, I'd like to hang onto the car because I really like driving it, and it has the right about of tech. (Newer cars have too much tech, tracking/spyware, externally controlled options I may have to subscribe to, etc.) Even if I do get a new car, I would like to hang onto the Fiat as a beater.
 
I like older cars. Less to break. My mustang is a 2001 and I hate even the little things like fuel injection and the computer that runs it. Mine is still running good, but just another thing to break.
 
had a similar problem a year ago doohickie

12 years old
160,000 miles
$1500 here for this
$500 there for just the part
$1200 for that too
cd player didn't work
when the electrical gremlin hit, I was done & replaced it.

If I had a barn to park it, I'd have done that. However I live on a 1/5 acre so no room in the inn.
 
Son has a 2007 Ford Focus his grandmother gave him six years ago. I may have mentioned this in a previous post but I finally spoke with Ford yesterday about the blend door that directs air flow to the panel, floor, etc. His is controlled by a dial (as all should be) but the gasket on the door has gone bad and the door sticks in one position. I can manually move the actuator (above the pedals) and the dial at the same time so in the summer it is on panel and the winter on defrost/floor. Ford has no fix for this or replacement parts. Only the dial cable is available, which I replaced thinking that was the problem. I have come across videos of shadetree fixes but damn I do not want to pull out the dash.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Son has a 2007 Ford Focus his grandmother gave him six years ago. I may have mentioned this in a previous post but I finally spoke with Ford yesterday about the blend door that directs air flow to the panel, floor, etc. His is controlled by a dial (as all should be) but the gasket on the door has gone bad and the door sticks in one position. I can manually move the actuator (above the pedals) and the dial at the same time so in the summer it is on panel and the winter on defrost/floor. Ford has no fix for this or replacement parts. Only the dial cable is available, which I replaced thinking that was the problem. I have come across videos of shadetree fixes but damn I do not want to pull out the dash.
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The disappointing thing is that for a lot of cars, what kills them isn't that it doesn't run, it's that ancillary parts go bad and are no longer supported. Similar to story to my Fiat above. In my case it looks like Stellantis stopped supporting the Fiat 500 unusually early (less than 10 years, considering the same model was sold here through 2017). They want me to buy a new car but I just don't want to.

I don't like the idea of a car that monitors me and reports back to a mothership somewhere.
 
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I'm bummed that the Maverick pickup will likely get hammered by new tariffs.

Not that I was getting one anytime soon anyway. My car-that-is-old-enough-to-vote only required a power steering pump, new battery, and rotor's -n- pads to get back on the road this most recent time around, and the shop deemed the all-seasons put-back-on-able in the Spring when they swapped on the snow tires, so it has a reprieve from replacement until something more expensive goes on it.

I even filled a couple of rusty holes on it with expanding foam and bondo over with white "appliance paint" this Fall. I think in my state an actual hole now has to be patched for the car to be inspectable, so hoping my bodywork was up to snuff.
 
kms said:
I'd rather find a vintage Scout that's in decent shape.

The new ones don't impress me.
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VW bought the Scout brand from International Harvester. The goal was to build a brand based on a legacy trademark. They supposedly polled former/current Scout owners what they wanted. Every input I've seen was "make it basic/simple/low price" and after looking at their website it looks like they ignored all of that.

There's very little specified on their website but looking through press releases it mentions "zonal software architecture" developed jointly with Rivian. This is exactly what I don't want my next vehicle to be.
 
Doohickie said:
VW bought the Scout brand from International Harvester. The goal was to build a brand based on a legacy trademark. They supposedly polled former/current Scout owners what they wanted. Every input I've seen was "make it basic/simple/low price" and after looking at their website it looks like they ignored all of that.

There's very little specified on their website but looking through press releases it mentions "zonal software architecture" developed jointly with Rivian. This is exactly what I don't want my next vehicle to be.
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No one asked me.

I want a mechanical Scout that i can hose out if I get too much mud in it.

I told my old Conservation District board that a good used Scout would be a good inspection vehicle. My request was met with gales of laughter and they responded I'd have to dig one out of an old farmer's back field. But they knew one would make a good inspection vehicle.
 
VW owning it says a lot. My daughter loves the old VW bus. She was complaining about the new one being ugly and ruined. I looked at it and have to agree. It's just a minivan now. I'm sure there's some safety thing that says they can't have a flat cab anymore, but they can do better.
 
btrage said:
I've never owned one before, but I think I may be in the market for a pick up truck.
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I got one a year and half ago after going 10 years without one. It gets better gas mileage than the Honda Pilot that it replaced. Ideally, a mid size truck would have filled my needs but I ended up with a full size instead of a mid-size because I could get a five year old full size truck cheaper than a mid-size with like features. My super crew cab is super roomy and easily fits the two car seats that I use on the regular basis to haul my grand kids around. The downside is that a full size super crew cab truck is huge. It's 8' mirror to mirror, nearly 20' long, and almost 6' 6" in height. Parking is hassle but I have always parked out in the hinder lands of parking lots, now I feel obligated to do so that I don't inconvenience anyone.
 
Middle son is currently in Oregon visiting his cousins and aunt. He is driving around her 2006 SAAB and would love to buy it and get rid of his 2007 Focus. I would be okay if I did not have reserveration about parts support. Yet Ford has no part to fix the the air diversion door issue that is prevalent (and I have) with the first gen Focus platform.
 
Big Owl said:
I got one a year and half ago after going 10 years without one. It gets better gas mileage than the Honda Pilot that it replaced. Ideally, a mid size truck would have filled my needs but I ended up with a full size instead of a mid-size because I could get a five year old full size truck cheaper than a mid-size with like features. My super crew cab is super roomy and easily fits the two car seats that I use on the regular basis to haul my grand kids around. The downside is that a full size super crew cab truck is huge. It's 8' mirror to mirror, nearly 20' long, and almost 6' 6" in height. Parking is hassle but I have always parked out in the hinder lands of parking lots, now I feel obligated to do so that I don't inconvenience anyone.
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I was originally thinking about a mid-sized, but my wife said if you're not going to be able to park it in the garage at all, you might as well get a full size. Who am I to argue with my wife?
 
Doohickie said:
...International Harvester..
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Wish I had my grandparent's IH trucks. 1972 and a 1953. I remember riding around in the green 1972. My grandparents were prolific campers (I have several hundred slides of their adventures) and pulled one behind their 1950 Nash Statesman but then upgraded to truck and moved to the over-the-cab camper. They had the 1972 until my grandfather passed in 1996. My mother gave their neighbor the truck/camper since they looked after their welfare - good neighbors. Tried to track down the truck but don't have the VIN and Washington cannot find any ownership records. I had no ability to take the truck since I was in my last year of college.
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SlaveToTheGrind said:
Wish I had my grandparent's IH trucks. 1972 and a 1953. I remember riding around in the green 1972. My grandparents were prolific campers (I have several hundred slides of their adventures) and pulled one behind their 1950 Nash Statesman but then upgraded to truck and moved to the over-the-cab camper. They had the 1972 until my grandfather passed in 1996. My mother gave their neighbor the truck/camper since they looked after their welfare - good neighbors. Tried to track down the truck but don't have the VIN and Washington cannot find any ownership records. I had no ability to take the truck since I was in my last year of college.

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Love the Nash and the Hawk in the background of the third picture.
 
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I had an IH for a while. It looked a lot like this, only mine was 4WD and 3/4 ton. The best gas mileage I ever got was 5 MPG. It had 2 15 gallon gas tanks. Fortunately gas was around $.50/gal. When the late 70's gas price increase and short supply, I needed to get rid of it.








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A few weeks ago I started hearing a clicking sound from what sounded like the front end of my Equinox. Never heard this type of noise before. Finally got it into the mechanics this week. I was thinking CV joint, except I didn't really hear it while turning.

Turns out it was a sticker stuck to the driveshaft that was making the noise. I did a double take when he told me, I said "What did you stay was stuck on it?".

Only cost me $60 so I'm happy. In my head I'm picturing a baseball card in the spokes of a bike.
 
btrage said:
A few weeks ago I started hearing a clicking sound from what sounded like the front end of my Equinox. Never heard this type of noise before. Finally got it into the mechanics this week. I was thinking CV joint, except I didn't really hear it while turning.

Turns out it was a sticker stuck to the driveshaft that was making the noise. I did a double take when he told me, I said "What did you stay was stuck on it?".

Only cost me $60 so I'm happy. In my head I'm picturing a baseball card in the spokes of a bike.
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I've had a faint clicking sound in my Jeep for like a year and it's definitely something clicking in a very regular/repetitive pattern. I'm going to have to climb under there and take a look at the driveshaft!
 
I'm giving some real thought to swapping my Nissan Pathfinder that I don't like very much for a Jeep Gladiator Sport S with the max tow package. My father in law has a Gladiator Willys package, and I enjoyed borrowing it a couple weeks ago. It would give me a truly off-road capable vehicle for detaching from the camper, with proper underbody protection, etc. I've already had to replace the transmission cooler twice because it is stupidly susceptible to damage, and I fundamentally don't trust the CVT
 
My car is 7 years old with orginal tires, battery, & brakes.

So my question is which to replace first ?
 
With my one daughter home from college, we're going to try and hold out as long as possible this summer before getting a 4th vehicle.
 
JNA said:
My car is 7 years old with orginal tires, battery, & brakes.

So my question is which to replace first ?
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My 2011's battery died on the way to work a couple months ago. Couldn't leave the gas station across from the Oreilley's. Luckily light traffic let me cross the highway and run back with a new one before the gas station noticed. I couldn't remember ever changing the battery before, but maybe I forgot? Seems unlikely that it really lasted that long.
 
JNA said:
My car is 7 years old with orginal tires, battery, & brakes.

So my question is which to replace first ?
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Replace the tires first since it's the only contact with the road, but I'm betting your battery will go before then. Batteries out here are lucky to last 1 year.
 
JNA said:
My car is 7 years old with orginal tires, battery, & brakes.

So my question is which to replace first ?
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I just found out that my wife's tires on her car are coming up on 10 years old. They have great tread and they appear to be in good shape, no cracking or separation. NC does not have a age requirement but some states have an age limit on tires based on date stamp on the tires. I am planning on replacing them soon despite not being required to.
 
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