Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Schenectady, New York

Schenectady, NY Car Consumer Discussions

Re: 2009 SI [jazdal3]

by oobahi on Mon Sep 01 10:53:00 PDT 2008

I too have been shopping for a 2009 Si. The dealer I'm going to in Schenectady, NY said he wouldn't have any 2009 Si's until the first week in October if I had ordered it before Sept 1st but I didn't order it yet so I won't get mine until Mid-October probably. I'm waiting to go meet the guy and see the new colors before I make any decision. I'm looking to buy a sedan with navi. Anyone have any pics of the 09 Si?

Re: Marie Antionette [snakeweasel]

by oldfarmer50 on Fri Aug 29 11:47:45 PDT 2008

"...Edison was promoting DC..." He also promised to invest in NY state if they saw it his way. Built a little plant in Schenectady which later became one of the biggest producers of turbines in the General Electric group. As I type oil looks to have ignored the weather but I heard a story on CNBC that some "big speculator" was taking a major long position in natural gas. What's T. Boone Pickins up to?

Re: On Topic [oldfarmer50]

by kdhspyder on Sat May 03 20:12:10 PDT 2008

It sounds like you're from Troy or Albany or even farther north? I was born in Troy and grew up in Schenectady...GE land.

gas gauge discrepancies?

by vanner on Sat Apr 26 12:29:21 PDT 2008

Maybe this article sheds some light on why some of our fill-ups seem crazy compared to others, and why we sometimes think we have errant fuel gauges: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080426/bad_gas_pumps.html In case the article goes away, which they often do on Yahoo: ***** AP Common glitch at pump adds to gas costs, also cheats station Saturday April 26, 10:19 am ET By Michael Gormley, Associated Press Writer Common glitch in gas pumps can give consumers less gas, can also cheat gas stations ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Angry about the price of gas? Just imagine paying for gas you don't get. Some alert consumers have noticed it over the years: A pump that seems to hesitate a second when the lever is squeezed. Anywhere from 2 to 6 cents tick off before the rush of gasoline starts. That's what happens with a common, hard to diagnose and mostly ignored problem with the "check valve," which is supposed to make sure gas flows at the same time the price meter starts. But even if your gas pump works, it can still be off as much as $5 for every fill up. Tests by local regulators allow a pump to charge as much as 6 cents more than the gas delivered in a five-gallon test. Don't blame the gas guys. Even consumer advocates say retailers may be losing as often as consumers and no one appears able to rig the meters. But the small "check valve" at the end of the multibillion dollar industry just wears out, and often goes unnoticed for months. Regulators' records show short staffing, particularly for financially struggling counties that try to inspect pumps every six months, but too often don't even meet the one-year requirement in states like New York. Federal standards require all gas pumps to start pumping gas as soon as the price meter starts, said Ken Butcher of the National Institute of Standards of Technology, part of the U.S. Commerce Department. Bob Wolfram knew something was wrong when the pump he used in Davenport, Iowa, showed he put two more gallons of gas into his tank than the tank holds. "I was low, but it wasn't negative," said Wolfram, a 54-year-old engineer. He reported it to a consumer Web site then took it to the government regulators, who acted promptly. But even then, the test showed the pump was only off a quart. "I just kind of said, `What will they do next?'" Wolfram said. Correcting the problem depends on alert, well-informed consumers like Wolfram. It also depends on honest retailers who choose to pass along reports to regulators who must confirm the problem before an authorized repair company is called to fix it. "There's one Mobil owner, he tells clerks that if there's a discrepancy within $5 to reimburse the customer," said C. Todd Godlewski, director of the Schenectady County Bureau of Weights and Measures in upstate New York, the agency that inspects pumps. "Yes, it can be that much," he said. A bad valve can also work against retailers, freezing the price gauge for an instant after gas starts. No one's sure who gets gored more, or how deeply. "Even one penny on the amount of petroleum pumped annually or weekly at a station would be several thousand gallons of fuel, and add that up," Godlewski said. "If you have a meter that is costing a customer, it adds up quite a bit." The problem compounds the aggravation of record high gas prices. On Tuesday, the national average hit a record $3.51 per gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's nearly 66 cents higher than last year, and rising. "We'll hear complaints about this quite regularly, usually several each week," said Jason Toews, co-founder of the independent nationwide Web site GasBuddy.com that tracks prices and complaints. "It's mostly about the principle of it," he said. He said the problem usually only costs a consumer pennies per fill-up, but that's more than enough these days. Toews discounts the conspiracy theories that blame the problem on retailers or the oil industry. Most retailers, he said, wouldn't know how to alter the pumps to their benefit. A New York Comptroller's Office audit in 2000 found "many municipalities" statewide failed to inspect their pumps once a year as required (the best practice is two inspections every year) and that meters were corrected during testing, which could mask overcharging. Four years later, a follow-up audit found only partial resolution, partly because of too little staffing. Bob Renkes of the Petroleum Equipment Institute based in Tulsa, Okla., has heard about complaints, "mostly when gas prices are high." He said meters "get looser over time," which could make them malfunction and start to count pennies before fuel starts pumping. "I think our industry would love to replace anything that wears down," Renkes said. But the check valves aren't a high priority when the industry is dealing with issues such as preventing identity theft when swipe cards are used, static electricity discharges and the 5 percent of retailers whose old mechanical equipment can't register a price of $4 a gallon. State and local regulators doubt any but the most ambitious consumers would contact them in case of a problem, even though the phone numbers are on inspection stickers. More likely, consumers fume and wonder if they were cheated, or report it to the manager of the gas station or convenience store. "That's what's tough about this," said Jessica Chittenden, spokeswoman for New York's weights and measures office that oversees local inspectors. "The two cents or whatever would go to the retailer." Even when a report is made, and a local inspector is dispatched, the problem might not be fixed. Chittenden said a faulty valve would likely work sporadically: "It's very difficult to find it unless you are there every day several times a day." Godlewski, the upstate New York inspector, said he's found pumps off by as much as three times the 6-cent threshold. Because of it, his county this year is tracking pump problems and hopes to quantify it for the first time. "You ask yourself," he said, "`If nobody said anything ... and it's run like that for six months, how many were taken?'"

Re: Albany Amanti Fan [mikewellsesq]

by oneij on Mon Apr 07 07:25:32 PDT 2008

Hello Mike, Thank you for answering my message. After I drove the Amanti I was more interested in it than when I walked into the show room. I hagled with them for quite a while and they never changed their asking price. Because the car was not the color I wanted I didn't push too much. I went on Edmunds and did a 100 mile radius search, and the only one that came up was the one that I drove.I live in Schenectady NY, about 16 miles from Albany. There is a dealer in Queensbury NY that I will call to see if and what they may have. It is really suprising to me that there are so few in my area. Thanks again for replying to my message. Have a great day. Bill B.

Re: Still arguing over this? [backy]

by im_brentwood on Sat Sep 08 00:48:16 PDT 2007

First, this was about 10 years ago with regards to the Jaguars. Smaller sample size? Well the 1988 XJ6s were sold in a model year that lasted close to 18 months, AND they also outsold the 1989 models on a month-to-month basis. Translation: There's about twice as many 88s as there are 89s. You're missing the point of Car and Driver as well. People like myself buy car and driver. If I had a choice between, say, a Passat and a Camry, I'd sooner push the Passat than drive the Camry. I've driven Camrys before, I can't find anything about them to like whatsoever, they are vile and repulsive, in my opinion. But then again, my daily driver is usually a vintage BMW M5, so you know where my priorities are. DO I drive on sharp mountain passes? No, not on a daily basis.. but a car like my M5 is still a joy for me to drive even on normal roads, and that's the point. For some people a car is a transportation appliance. For those people we have Toyotas. For some of us a car like a BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, S2000, etc is a LOT of fun to own and drive, and like anything else in life there is a tradeoff. My BMWs require more repairs and more service expense than a Honda or a Toyota or a Hyundai or whatever Asian blandmobile of the month CR has fallen for. And I am OK with that, I'll take the costs and inconvienience over a dull car. Have I made mistakes? Of course I have and I have admitted them. In fact, I went ahead this spring and recalled every single BMW that we put a certain brand of camshaft sensors in (Febi Bilstein, total JUNK and this was about 40 cars) after we had a tremendous rash of failures. But then again, I'm always very busy, we don't advertise, and I'd say 70% of my customers in my local area (Middlesex/Union County NJ) are following me to the new shop in Newburgh, NY (85 miles north) and will do so until the main shop gets a Cert of Occupancy in Mahwah, NJ (45 miles north). Also, about 1/3 of my customers live over 50 miles away. I have customers in Washington DC, Schenectady NY, Buffalo, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Montreal, etc.. About half of the repair end of my business involves repairs, the other half is conversion work. The next big jobs that I have waiting are... 1993 525i Wagon 5-speed conversion 1988 325i Cabriolet 5-speed conversion* 1988 325iX Engine swap and transfer case replacement* 1987 325is swapping in the engine from a 98 M3 1993 325is BMWCCA Spec E36 Race car* 1993 740i 6-speed manual conversion 1992 325is Euro-Spec 1995 M3 engine conversion 1997 M3 Supercharger Installation 1999 M3 Convertible 5-speed conversion * = Cars belong to the same customer, a good friend who is also one of the biggest BMW performance parts manufacturers in the country. So traditional logic doesn't fly very far at my shop, I build fun cars. And if Consumer reports wants to say one thing when the consensus among BMW Technicians, dealers and even BMW NA themselves differs from what Consumer Reports says, you can bet that I'm not going to go with CR's word. And as far as suggesting problem cars.. don't paint me with that brush. I have told some of my customers that if they buy certain cars that they are not to come to me and expect me to bail them out of their foolishness. I'll never suggest an early 750iL, a high-mileage car with an automatic transmission unless the customer knows up front that modern BMW Automatics can fail as soon as 60k on some cars and rarely break 150k and cost $2,500 for just the trans itself. I've also talked a few of my customers out of expensive mods and engine swaps that I would have made thousands on because it made no sense for them. I've also talked people out of buying certain cars because they would be over their heads with them, and I have strongly talked 17 year olds with 2 week old licenses in their fists from buying M3s... I recently told one of my customers who wanted to buy an M3 for his son that it would be cheaper and less trouble to just shoot his son in the head. 333hp + new driver = at LEAST a nasty accident, maybe worse.