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Arizona City, AZ Car Consumer Discussions

It is more so here in Willcox than for larsb in Phoenix...

by iluvmysephia1 on Fri Dec 04 13:52:06 PST 2009

You can go along with you smug attitude living in what is still the Wild, Wild West of AZ. Your day will come. But sometimes this area scares me it's so Wild, Wild West. Plenty of feisty cowboys still around here...Willcox in the 1920's and 30's led the nation in the total number of cattle shipped. And Willcox is about to get a new slaughterhouse. It's before the City Council and they sound enthusiastic about it. They promise to curb the amount of large trucks, jake braking, over-dosage amounts of smelly animals standing around, sealing the floors and not allowing any animal blood and waste products to enter our water and sewage system because they're going to build the slaughterhouse to be only the latest, state of the art, etc. Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin', larsb? You got it, we can take some of that animal waste and perculate it and burn it to make energy! Renewable, recycleable energy to power our homes! See what living in Geronimo's old stomping grounds does to "normal" working blokes like me after a while?

Yeah...

by iluvmysephia1 on Mon Nov 30 22:06:50 PST 2009

gagrice, that's the way to tell 'em! Don't give an inch! I rented a white '09 Toyota Camry at Sea-Tac this past summer. After dealing with Budget's incompetence in just getting me the right car to go with the right paperwork, I was off in to the Seattle traffic. The white '09 Camry actually carted me along in an enjoyable manner through the moist Emerald City. I felt safe on slower-speed roads, but at freeway speeds I did not like the way it handled, steering was awkward and the car felt "floaty". Not dangerously "floaty" just annoyingly floaty. Little did I know that my accelerator could've become stuck wide open at any time. Am I being unfair to think that, do ya'all think? From the material we've had to read in the past month or 6 weeks you couldn't argue with that fear-ish statement. Could you? :)

gemcar is yet another all-electric make...

by iluvmysephia1 on Sat Nov 07 22:26:59 PST 2009

that I had not yet heard of. Their brochure is well-thought out and presents the little cars in a good light. The e2 would be the one I would pick to drive around Willcox in. A little 2-seater with a top speed of 35mph and a range of "up to 30 miles." Perfect. It would fit our pocked-up streets just fine. Actually, the City of Willcox is finally paving over the potholes of one of the north-south streets right by our home. They've done the curb-outs on the intersections and then dispappeared to some other project for now, the whole street needs to be re-paved when they get back. I can't wait-it's like running over little logs strewn about the street in order to navigate some of the streets in this town. One of these electric carts would bump right over them easier, though.

I think so too...

by iluvmysephia1 on Fri Nov 06 08:24:15 PST 2009

gagrice. I think we're gonna be hearing a blockbuster announcement from Fo-Mo-Co pretty soon that details out some mindbending moves. Like down here by me only further south even more! Take production to Mexico completely. Make corporate personnel involved in production move. Heck, Aqua Prieta is a Mexican city only about 80 miles south of us here in Willcox, AZ. They're right on the USA-Mexico border, Douglas, AZ, is the town on the American side. But Ford could build a huge factory there and the workers could live in Douglas if they still wanted to live in the U.S. Or even drive the 70-80 miles south down there from Willcox, Benson or a city like Sierra Vista. Key to this is busting the UAW's and hiring Mexicans to do the bulk of the production work. And save on wages immensely. It's time to bust up Ford's involvement with the UAW's. Ford is the only American automaker I respect. I don't want them to fail. Moving production fully to Mexico, hiring Mexican workers to mix in with some Americans already working for Ford, and busting up the UAW Union should be prime raspbery jelly donut and Seattle's Best coffee fodder at this point in time during major-mover Ford meetings. They need to wake up and smell the beans now, though. Warren Buffett and his 10% ownership of Chinese BYD will only keep panting down American carmaker's collective necks. If the BYD e6 is anything like they advertise...all electric propulsion with a range of 249 miles on one charge, and the movement slowly is towards all-electric vehicles, Ford will need much lower labor costs to compete. The Chinese and Japanese and perhaps even VW will eat them for lunch if they don't make some changes. Another BO bailout should be out of the question completely, too. The first one still gleams as a ridiculous move. But I spose my point is that Ford is still alive and I actually like the Ford Fusion Hybrid. I like it's production systems and I like it's body design. Who can forget that on April 28, 2009, a Ford Fusion Hybrid wsa driven 1,445.7 miles on a single tank of gas! That worked out to a whopping 81.5mpg! Does anyone else besides me get excited about this? Or is larsb from Phoenix, AZ, and iluvmysephia1 from Willcox, AZ, the only "green car" fans on the Edmunds website? Is this an Arizona thing? gagrice, are you impressed by that Ford Fusion Hybrid test at all?

The people have spoken.

by vcheng on Wed Nov 04 04:36:28 PST 2009

As predicted by many, people in three cities voted against red light cameras. There are primary sources from the local press for each city, but this source summarizes them in one place. from: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2950.asp Photo Enforcement Defeated at the Ballot Box in Texas, Ohio Voters in College Station, Texas as well as Chillicothe and Heath, Ohio vote to ban automated ticketing machines. Voters in three cities sent a clear message to local lawmakers yesterday by adopting charter amendments that ban photo enforcement. In addition to kicking two camera supporters from the city council, 72 percent of those voting in Chillicothe, Ohio approved a total prohibition on the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. In College Station, Texas the vote was much closer, but at the end of the night 52 percent wanted the red light cameras to come down. In Heath, Ohio 51 percent voted against the cameras. A total of nine cities nationwide have used the initiative process to ban camera enforcement since 1991, with camera proponents never having won a public vote. The triple defeat for the photo enforcement industry came despite a well-funded public relations effort in each of the cities. In Chillicothe, Redflex Traffic Systems sent a glossy mailer to every voter while the mayor demanded that the Ohio Supreme Court ban the public from even voting on the issue -- a move high court justices swiftly rejected. Citizens Against Photo Enforcement (CAPE), the group responsible for the ballot measure, claimed an additional victory as voters elected camera opponent Bruce Arnold, who won the seat of council president, Jeremy Siberell, who won the fifth ward and Dustin Proehl, the only incumbent to have voted against cameras. CAPE leader Rebecca Valentich told TheNewspaper that she was thrilled with the outcome. "We came together as individuals, and we united as a community," Valentich said. "The people have spoken, and very clearly. Our voices have been heard and thanks to the people and their strong voices, the cameras will be coming down. It is a huge victory, and one that we can all be proud of. And although our mayor has gone on record saying that he will fight the will of the people, his fight against the rights of the people will only bring a stronger united front from the community." In College Station, Texas the city's automated ticketing vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) bankrolled a front group to conduct mass mailings and push polling in an effort to save the program that would have earned the company more than $11 million over the life of the contract. The ATS-funded group reported raising $71,240 in contributions, but not one dollar came from anyone living in the local community. To supplement the vendor's effort, the city allocated taxpayer money to send red light camera promotional material to every voter. College Station activist Jim Ash, who led the fight to put the issue on the ballot, watched the results with a large group of supporters. "It has been nothing but celebration here," Ash told TheNewspaper minutes after the results became final. In Heath, voters were bombarded with the same advertisements from Redflex, but they failed to persuade a majority. Voters also defeated Mayor Richard Waugh who had introduced photo enforcement as the signature issue of his administration. "You can fight city hall and win, when you have a passion for what you believe in," We Demand a Vote spokesman Lori Lyons said in a statement. Yesterday's results are consistent with previous public votes on the topic. In April, eighty-six percent of the votes in Sulphur, Louisiana rejected speed cameras. In 2008, residents in Cincinnati, Ohio rejected red light cameras. Seventy-six percent of Steubenville, Ohio voters rejected photo radar in 2006. In the mid-1990s, speed cameras lost by a two-to-one margin in Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois. In 1997, voters in Anchorage, Alaska banned cameras even after the local authorities had removed them. In 2003, 64 percent of voters in Arlington, Texas voted down "traffic management cameras" that opponents at the time said could be converted into ticketing cameras.

RX 350 purchase

by tmacb3 on Sun Nov 01 13:02:04 PST 2009

Purchased a 2010 AWD rx350. MSRP was $48,669. Paid $44,384 before taxes and fees. I shopped three cities (in person visits, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas). The difference in how we were treated and how much the dealership would deal was striking. Worst experience (how we were treated) was Bell Lexus in Phoenix. Specifically, it was obvious from the time we walked into the door that we were not the usual Lexus customer (i.e. trying to negotiate best deal and not taking their automatic $2000 discount off of MSRP). Several times the sales rep brought up concerns regarding identity theft as they made several requests for our identification (email address, driver lic numbers, two requests for home address verification). Numerous references to "those people" who only purchase and drive "domestic" cars (ironically, they would include Toyota and Nissan in that discussion). We were in the show room for about three hours. After about 2 hours, we had to ask for water. They brought two paper cups of water with ice in them. Lexus of Las Vegas treated us ok but would not budge from $2250 off MSRP. Kearny Mesa Lexus (San Diego), treated us very well (Ask for Pat) , but would not agree to come down to my request of $4,500 off MSRP. Regard to Calf dealships, the doc fee's by state regulation is only $55 compared to an unlimited fee by the dealerships in Ariz. Make sure when you are in your final stage of negotiation that inquire about this. Worst sales rep phrase, "Don't let price get in your way to buy this car" (Pat, Kerny Mesa Lexus). Biggest mistake a sales rep made: I told the rep what we would pay for the car, minus our trade in. Rep indicated that he had the car, sounded like they could do the deal but, would call back to verify trade in amount. Didn't call back for four days...we were on our way to purchase our Lexus from another dealer as he left the message on our home phone...he had my cell #. Turned out we saved about $1500 buying the car at another dealership (Lexus of Chandler). We ended up purchasing our Lexus from Superstition Springs Lexus (Mesa Arizona). Contacted the internet sales rep (James). Did all the negotiation via phone and email. They were able to provide a trade in price for our car ( we supplied vin #, Milage, general condition and a few pics). Walked in, everything was ready for us to sign. They did just what they said they would. One of the best car buying experiences! Just a few notes: Superstition Springs was by far the highest on their doc fees ($689). However, they provided us a trade in allowance that was significantly higher than anyone else (by a few thousand). This more than made up the difference in the higher doc fees and not getting quit the $4500 off the invoice. Moral to the buying experience; take your time, do your homework, know what you want and what you will pay, shop several different stores, and please don't buy the extended warranty (undercoating, paint seal etc.) that the finance manager will try to sell you at the end of the deal (yes, Superstition Springs Lexus tried to sell us the glass coat paint protection at the end of our deal).