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Maple Valley, WA Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Another Alternative [aaronr121]

by brightness04 on Tue Jun 26 18:36:54 PDT 2007

Governments are known for strip-mining and radically transforming the landscape, too. Just look at the former soviet union, and China's big dam today. Before you say it only happens to those pissant countries, let's not forget the Hoover Dam, or the Tenessee Valley Administration . . . or how about above-ground nuclear tests? I don't know of any private capitalist ever having done that :-) In a relatively free economy, land usage is quite efficient. The trees of New England were stripped bare by loggers to build the shipping fleets and Royal Navy of the 17th and 18th century. Trees were replanted, then stripped again to sustain sheep farming. Then replanted again when sheep wool lost out to cotton in the market place, the hills turned to maple syrup production. Then stripped again for farm land as population grew. Then replanted yet again when first canals, then railroad, then highways brought frozen meats, veggie and eventually fruits from other parts of the country so that food farming in New England became largely unnecessary. When we travel in New England today, especially during the foliage season, how many of us deplore the fact that the virgin forest was long stripped away, as well as the first couple generations of replants?? Yet, for three hundred years, those lands provided a livelihood to generations of Americans because they were allowed to work the land as they wished without government red tapes. One of the driving reasons for American Revolution was distaste for the ultimate limousine set, King George III's, insistence on setting aside land preserves to the west of the colonies that colonists could not use. How ironic that today, some of us want to set up precisely such preservations. High standard of living does not have to equate to export non-competitiveness. Britain leading the industrialization had higher standard living than the rest of the world, yet it was the factory of the world, bar none. The key is productivity. Taxes, transfers and red tapes tend to discourage productivity growth. Low taxes, low tariff and free trade made the tiny British isles the dominant manufacturer of the world.

Re: NAV update DVD available through my.subaru.com [tupin]

by yoyodk on Sun Feb 25 20:39:13 PST 2007

I'd be interested. I had thought the same thing about paying for the upgrade and only needing half of it, as I'll probably never drive beyond the western US. E-mail me with the details.

As regards this subject overall

by addisonb on Sun Feb 25 16:50:34 PST 2007

In comparing portables to built ins we are not comparing apples to apples. Comparing portables to one another is apples to apples. Some apples are bigger and sweeter than other apples. The market for this is simple and direct since the companies that make these are selling them to the same group of people, and there is more information on them. (see www.gpsmagazine.com for example). When you compare portables to built ins or even built ins to one another, it is more like comparing apples to oranges, walnuts and jalapeno peppers since there is more diversity, and more obsolescence in some cases. For instance, General Motors has On Star. You push a button and speak to a live person somewhere in the new world order. You say: "Hi, I want to go to 415 Maple St. in Kansas City Missouri." Then the person says something like: "Ok, I am sending directions now". The next thing you know your car is speaking to you through its stereo system, but there is NO display like some of us are used to. What if your 2 year old decides to have a temper tantrum just as an important instruction is being given? It will redirect you if you miss a turn. The new Ford one has a display, but you use voice interface to give it instructions. It verbally interviews you (in a voice that sounds like a robot). It asks you to confirm what you tell it after it repeats your instruction. Then it activates with a display of unknown quality (meaning I don't know) and talks to you in a human voice. Whether it has traffic warnings or not I don't know. I also don't know whether the screen orientation is compass or line of sight. The European ones all seem to be clunkers from some of the reviews I have read. Most of them have a dial that you turn until you reach the specific letter or number of the address. One review of an E series Mercedes involved a trip from San Francisco to an address on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles. When they got to where the unit told them they were arriving at some address, they were actually a MILE from where they wanted to go. That is quite a miss and totally unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. And that from a Mercedes. The BMW system was viewed as a clunker by the reviewer with the same kind of data entry as the Mercedes and a display that showed direction with a compass perspective. That means that North is always in front, so if you are traveling south, the vehicle is traveling towards the bottom of the display, which means that it is the opposite of the real world and everything that is on your real left is displayed to the right of the car or icon on the display. Confusing! I have actually seen the Infiniti's built in. It is the slickest thing I have ever seen, much "cooler" than my Garmin Nuvi 660, since the screen was 7 or 8 inches and had a lot more detail than my 4.3 inch display. It had a line of sight, real world display, just like the Garmins and TomToms with what Infiniti calls "Birds Eye View" which means 3D. The extra details look more professional and less toy like, but they do not really add to the effectiveness of the unit. If I am traveling in the San Fernando Valley with a certain zoom out level on the Garmin, I can "see" about 5 miles ahead and 2 to 3 miles to each side. With the Infiniti, It was more like 15 miles ahead, but remember this is not being used like a map. You are getting instructions, so you don't have to see the whole town to get where you are going. It just looks cool. Then I asked the driver if he got traffic warnings. His reply was "Well, We are not there yet". Well, I didn't want to ruin his day, but I get traffic warnings on my Garmin, and it routes me around them if I want..and it works great! But I didn't want to break the guy's heart, since he was really excited an proud of his unit. He also had turned the voice off because he "couldn't stand the voice". On another Infiniti that I had ridden in the voice was on, and it sounded like that computer in the movie "War Games" with Mathew Broderick. It also was a little weak on street names. That was a 2000 model. I hope that has been improved. The Acura's have what sounds like a good system and the new ones have traffic warnings. I know nothing else about them. I'll assume the display is line of sight, real world instead of compass oriented. According to Rocky, who is a poster here, the Lexus is about to improve their system with traffic warnings. That should move that system closer to where the portables are. In any case, here is what you need to look for in any GPS system, especially if you are about to plop down $40 or $50 grand on a certain car with a navigation system: 1. Real world display. The display should always have where you are headed on top or in front. 2. Text to voice. Clarity makes or breaks the usefulness of a system. Mine gives me instructions like: "Turn right on Reyes Adobe road and then left on Agoura road". This helps you set up your next move. It also needs to chime in as you approach a freeway interchange and tell you to bear left or right towards whatever. IT SHOULD GIVE YOU STREET NAMES and on freeways, it should say "bear right toward 101 North". If it just says "turn right in 400 feet" skip the system, buy a cheaper car and buy a Garmin or TomTom. If once you are on a certain freeway and it doesn't chime in as you approach a complex interchange, fugget about it, as they say in the Bronks. Pick one that has a human voice. A computer like voice is not only nerdy but annoying after a while. 3. The display should have instructions that match the voice on a bar on top or on the bottom of a screen. 4. It would be nice if as you approach a decision point, it zooms in and displays an arrow that graphically emphasizes the instructions. 5. Automatic rerouting if you miss a turn. (I hope they all have this but I am not sure). 6 Detouring capablility. If you find yourself in a traffic jam, this can be critical. 7. Real Time traffic. Unless you live in Montana, this is critical. It can mean the difference between being on time for something important or being late. This should be integrated with detouring. 8. Ease of Data Entry. Voice is nice but either error prone or cumbersome if you have to receive feedback and then confirm it. Nobs are for slobs. Having to turn a nob to get to the letter P is a drag. Touch screens are state of the art. They should be menu driven. 9. Ease of upgrades, especially of maps. The United States is a work in progress. New highways and homes and streets are being built every day. You need to be able to get the latest or you will be obsolete. So, If you are going to buy a car with a built in, hold the salesman's feet to the fire on these issues. Get a test drive. If the Nav fails the test but you like the car, get the car without it, buy a portable and use all that money to buy a Rolex. ;)

Re: Regular vs. Premium [ateixeira]

by yoyodk on Tue Nov 21 21:19:59 PST 2006

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. Subaru had to have some logical reason to recommend premium over regular fuel. I think most of the Tribeca drivers previously drove cars with higher MPG and are having difficulty coming to terms with the Tribeca's fuel consumption. For years I drove an older SUV that got 16 MPG with 100 less HP so I don't feel bad at all about having to put in premium each fill-up.

Re: Regular vs. Premium [occking]

by yoyodk on Sun Nov 12 17:29:22 PST 2006

I'm not sure what calculations you're referring to and yes, I know the trip computer is almost a full mile/gallon optimistic. I have to climb a 1,300 foot mountain every day to work and with regular gas, the car would just bog down on the incline, so I would have to kick it down a gear just to maintain my speed. Anyway, for the many who have nice flat commutes, the difference is perceived power is probably insignificant.

Regular vs. Premium

by yoyodk on Fri Nov 10 17:20:20 PST 2006

I have a little over 11K on my 2006 Tribeca and have exclusively filled with premium gas. I filled up at a Sam's Club the other day and the price for regular was too tempting at $2.25, while premium was running at $2.50 (no mid-grade). Well, it was just one tank, but it's probably the last tank of regular I put in it. I have to drive hilly terrain every day to and from work, and boy was the car sluggish, plus my mileage dipped from 21.0 MPG to 18.3 MPG. I filled up with premium with the next fill up and the car is back to its normal self, not a hot-rod, but certainly not a Yugo!