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Big Falls, MN Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Latest news [yerth10]

by gagrice on Sun Jun 28 06:35:28 PDT 2009

Ethanol is the easiest and #1 alternative for Petro-fuels. People can talk about food production. With the same amount of land as US, China produces food for 4 times the number of people, so US has lot of surplus land to grow Corn, Switchgrass and other crops for Bio-fuels. I have several issues with your broad statement. Most are answered by your own link. If there is a breakthrough in cellulosic ethanol development, that might change the equation.” Cellulosic ethanol promises larger yields than corn-based ethanol, but processes to produce it in any substantial quantity are still being developed. “Corn is not the right crop for biofuels,” Mr. Chu has said. Last month, the Energy Department announced that $786.5 million in stimulus funds would be used to speed advanced biofuels research and demonstration projects. That is exactly what I have posted since this thread was started. Corn ethanol is NOT a good choice for America. From your second link comes this statement on Cellulosic ethanol R&D. It is FAR from becoming viable. The process is at the same point it was 5 years ago. Not commercially viable. What is so hard to accept about that? It takes more energy to produce ethanol than you get out of it. Shell and Iogen are no longer pursuing U.S. Department of Energy funding for a second commercial-scale plant, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, but have not ruled out building the facility as part of a broader commercial fuel rollout, noted David Williams, a Shell spokesman in London. "The vision is large-scale production and significant commercial availability," Williams said. "However, cost-competitive advanced biofuels in substantial quantities we estimate are five to 10 years away." More R&D should be done before they experiment with peoples cars. So far corn ethanol is a BIG ZERO.

Re: bvdj84 [wayne52]

by thegraduate on Sun Jul 05 21:12:34 PDT 2009

To sum up your post (I think), GM = making great strides, Honyota = marking time at best. I agree completely. I don't personally feel that the Accord got any better with the current generation over the previous one. The problem for GM there is/was that the Malibu was easily a couple of generations behind quality-wise, so even though it improved drastically from 2007 to 2008 and Honda did not, Honda still holds the edge simply because of how far ahead they had stayed over the years, and really didn't trail-off (each gen had a couple of issues, but never had that "falling apart" feeling that the last G6 I drove had). Now, Chevy's overcoming that, and I'm glad. Competition is great for customers. I drive a 2006 Accord, but feel confident if my car was totaled tomorrow, it wouldn't be replaced with a 2009 Accord. There's a blue-oval and a slanted H making some big strides too that I'm not sure Honda or Toyota see coming as well...

Sunroof ? ? ?

by butchfoote on Tue Jul 14 07:12:52 PDT 2009

When one visits the Lexus HS250h website, there's a very big emphasis on ecology and economy plus the lux stuff. Why in the world would these people be offering this car with a MOONROOF? It lets in light and heat, wasting it. Meanwhile, they have a Prius with a solar panel that runs the a/c or could be used to help charge the batteries. To me this is marketing baloney. They aren't really committed to ecology until they take advantage of the energy falling on the Lex.

Re: Long Island Craigs [gsemike]

by Mr_Shiftright on Wed Jul 08 08:49:24 PDT 2009

Audis: Don't shoot the messenger, all you Audi lovers out there. I'm just telling you what I've learned after thumbing through shop receipts at my friend's Audi repair shop (and he is HONEST). Pretty scary stuff in there, especially the V-6 and V-8 cars. Nice ride and handling, though. "Buy cheap, sell fast". Do NOT go down with the ship on an Audi. Many of those BMWs of that era had METRIC radials, and if they're worn you're either out lots of $$$ to replace them or you have to buy new wheels and "normal" tires. Exactly, just go buy yourself a 635 CSi that's nice and you're way ahead. You don't want a 633 anyway, harder to find parts. These cars have been waiting 25 years to become "collectible". Owners may have to face the facts that it's not going to happen. A 96 wagon being collectible? Well perhaps as a curiosity, but I can't see any "big money" down the road. The far sportier and more handsome 93-95 Impala SS is already falling flat, after struggling past $10K. The '96 Impala SS is still fairly strong at around $15K. These are prices for *very* nice low mileage cars BTW, with right colors and options. They'd (the wagons) make a great race car hauler, though. :P

Re: 2010 Buick Laacrosse [bobgwtw]

by alex789 on Mon Jul 06 21:46:38 PDT 2009

Dear Bob, your ’78 story is tear squeezing and because it’s true, it appears even more dramatic. Why you should pay for features you don’t need? Keeping this logical question in mind, lets add to your story something like that: You love the car – it reminds you old days, when GM dinosaurs were bossing around. 10 La is gorgeous. Maybe it’s new beginning for BU – not too big, not too small – exactly what you need. But problem is … in short, you need this back up damn cam! They actually push you to buy on $2645-495=$2150 stuff. I have no doubts - you’ll get 2K off. Just watch inventory. If you will see your car is sitting a while – at the end of the month go for it. I don’t think that LaCrosse will produce a hit like 300C. The car sale still is falling. By the way, new generation hard drive based nav. is way better, than you have – quickness, picture quality and on… It’s like reg. and HD TV. You will drop on 40G hard drive your entire CD collection. It can store 12000 songs. You’ll never regret, specially with sound of hi-end Harman-Kardon. I remember less than two years ago, I was looking for a car for my wife. I wanted small CUV, she – sedan. EX35 was an answer. Concept was stunning. Here on a forum people were chewing every detail, every news or video. But when it came to production Infinity decided to make it 3” shorter to save a gallon or two of gas. (Gas was over $4 at the time). As result, the smallest rear legroom number in class. Some people were turn down. Rest of them went to the showrooms. Some were count on base models – price for these model was actually OK and included a lot of good stuff. But there were not such a thing as base models – everything came dressed up in packages: Premium, Tech., Luxe Elite, Luxe Style and combo of them. Some people, who were crazy about EX and have money, took their candy home right away. But most people went home empty-handed. I don’t know what is going on now, but back then people turned out from SUV/CUV and were standing in line for hybrids. Few weeks were gone - EX sale got stuck. Infinity, who declared a new wonder as small crossover, became warred about their new breed. And that was the time to buy. People came back to showrooms and did whatever they want: 3-3.5K below Dealer Invoice. They got for free not just Nav, but never seen before exotics, such as: Around View Monitor System (with 4 cameras), Lane Departure Prevention System (not just warns you, but automatically applies one side brakes to push you back to your lane). Others were grabbing different goodies: Intelligent Cruise Control (also applies brakes, if you too close to a vehicle ahead), Adaptive Front Lightning System (headlamps move in the direction of a turn) or Bi-xenon Auto-leveling Headlights. Did I mention, that all of those cars had power fold/unfold back seat and self-healing paint – small scratches will escape with time? I just checked forum “EX35 buying experience” – 5-7K off from MSPR is everyday think. But two guys are clamed - they've got almost 10k off.

Transmission Slipping and Something Weird

by normanart on Sun Jul 05 12:55:49 PDT 2009

I need some big time help on this one. Ok like so many of the post before me when I drive my Dodge Ram 01 V6 Pick-Up, it will start doing some funny stuff. For example, when I first take-off i have to give it just the right amount of gas so it won't stall/ over-rev. Then I can fell that the transmission falls back down in to the lower gear and my tachometer is moving all about. It does this all the way to top gear and when I'm driving around 60-70 MPH it will periodically shift down and rev up to about 3.5 to 4 RPM for a second or so and then catch back on. So now this is new: When I opened my hood, from when I first discovered this problem, I saw that there was a light oil all over the engine compartment and I couldn't deduce where the source of the leak was. What is confusing me about this fluid is that the transmission fluid level is going down and i have to replace it at the rate of half a quart a week, and that the AC on the truck went out simultaneously as the tranny problems started happening. So to Lay it Down: -Transmission Slipping -Mystery Fluid in Engine Compartment -AC unit not working well, after transmission problems started -Need Help, I can change hoses and fluids, I'm a boiler maker, so i have a vague understanding of mechanics, I have tools, i just now very little about cars. Please help.