Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Advent, West Virginia

Advent, WV Car Consumer Discussions

Re: This is why I check them. All of them [jipster]

by graphicguy on Mon Nov 10 06:19:24 PST 2008

jipster....Can't remember where I saw it, but there was a program on recently regarding one state's initiative (CA?) to stop the lube places from recommending 3,000 mile oil change intervals. Obviously, used oil is tough to dispose of correctly. The program went onto say that with the advent of "oil change" computers in modern cars, and advances in oil additives, there was no longer a need for 3,000 mile oil changes. I concur. But, some places still insist on putting those little stickers on your windshield recommending 3K intervals. A few days ago, I took my Accord in for its first oil change. The car monitor said I had 15% of oil life left. I had about 7K miles on the oil that came from the factory. While in the dealership's service area, another customer overheard my conversation with the service writer. He said he'd never go over 3,000 miles between oil changes, regardless of what the car's computer said. Some things are so ingrained that it's hard to get them to change. I think the last time I changed the oil in my Tahoe, I had 9,000 miles between changes and the oil life monitor came on. On my departed BMW, I remember the oil life computer came on at almost 15,000 miles. That car didn't even have a dipstick to check the oil level. richard....sounds like the wife is coming around. Too bad those Earl Sheib places are no longer around. I could have the GM in and out of the paint booth today....sporting their "premium" paint job for around $500. Funny how little things trigger memories. I noticed a very small dimple in the GM's trunk lid yesterday. Long ago forgotten about, but I remember how it got there. Around 9 years ago, my late Father and I were playing golf. I hit an errant tee shot on a hole by the parking lot. Of course, my ball had to find my Father's car. It didn't break the paint, but there was a slight dimple where it hit. He was not amused. I forked over $100 to him to get it "buffed" out. Clearly, he pocketed the money and never got it fixed.

Re: 2007 Range Rover HSE Airbags [djt21]

by pfolk on Mon Oct 27 21:11:52 PDT 2008

Your concern for your children's safety is admirable, but you seem to be drawing some unwarranted conclusions about the function and performance of these airbag systems based on inadequate information. If you don't feel safe with your family in a Range Rover, there isn't anything else on the road that could give you the sense of security you are seeking. Your model year Range Rover was designed by BMW, a car company that has a long and well-deserved reputation for protecting the safety of drivers and passengers in its vehicles. Their customers routinely write to tell the company about surviving accidents that would have caused death or serious injury in any other vehicle because their Bimmers were so well-designed and built. (FWIW, I survived a side impact crash in a BMW - before the advent of side impact air bags - and was able to drive my vehicle to the body shop for repairs. They are that tough.) Consider the fact that the primary passenger safety system in any vehicle is the seat and shoulder belt system. If your kids are buckled in before you put the truck into gear, you have done the best thing you can do to protect them from harm in th event of an accident. If they are not yet old enough to use seat belts, then they should be belted in a properly secured, second-row car seat. Properly securing your loved ones inside a truck as tall, massive, and well-built as a Range Rover is the best thing you can do for them as a parent. Second, remember that air bags are only supplemental safety systems. And in the case of side airbags, their primary function is to keep arms and heads inside the vehicle in the event of a side impact, and to prevent - to the extent possible - debris or other objects from entering a window. They also serve to protect against harm from impact with hard surfaces inside the truck. They were never intended to protect occupants from absorbing the kinetic forces of the initial impact the way that the steel frame and crush zones of the vehicle will. By belting your kids in properly, you are keeping them away from the exterior frame and body members that will absorb and re-direct the forces of a crash. You will also keep them away from the hard surfaces inside that can cause harm from secondary impacts. Isolation = safety. Third, any safety system, like an air bag system, is one of the most intensively engineered and tested components of a vehicle. The risk of liability suits prompts all automakers to do their best to assure that these systems provide the protection that consumers are expecting. On the face of it, there is nothing to say that a full curtain air bag provides a measurably greater benefit than a tubular system. Fourth, there may be another logical explanation for why the marketing materials showed one type of system and the production vehicle has a slightly different one installed. These are very complicated devices and only a limited number of companies make them. Considerations of price, availability, integration with other interior components such as seats and interior moldings, and regulatory approvals all affect the final configuration of the vehicle. The fact remains that you are driving a vehicle that has a side-impact supplemental restraint system. That's a lot more than many other manufacturers offer. Please, before suggesting that Land Rover failed to serve your needs as a customer, go back to your dealer and have someone who knows the vehicle show you the location of the air bags in your truck. You're driving one of the safest vehicles on the planet and you're a good parent.

Re: everybody has a price where they'll pine for automatic transmission [circlew]

by nippononly on Tue Oct 21 17:55:36 PDT 2008

If you know how to use engine revs up and down the band, you can control this car just as well as a m/t. But I think what plekto is trying to get at, and if so I heartily agree, is that people trained on automatics DON'T know how to use engine revs up and down the band. In fact, the limit of most automatic drivers' vehicle control skills is "GO", "STOP", and "GO BACKWARDS". They are unaware the car has any more controls than that. No manual driver, by the very nature of the manual, could be that ignorant of the car's controls, or methods of using the powertrain to control its movement. And I am certainly able to talk on my phone and drive my manual shift car at the same time. Since the advent of the new law banning its use, I do so....less ( :blush:), but it isn't like a juggling act or something. I think people who are unfamiliar with manuals think it's this massive juggling act where you need every finger, every toe, and every brain cell just to keep up with what needs doing, but in reality it's nothing like that. It's second nature after you have been doing it just a little while.

Weekend cold set new record lows

by gagrice on Tue Oct 14 20:19:35 PDT 2008

From CA to AK record cold temps. Since before the advent of the SUV. The bright side is all the wackos in San Francisco may have to do without their wine due to the early frost. Cold temperatures set several new record lows this weekend, including a low of 22 Saturday in downtown Pendleton that broke a 118 year-old record of 24. Record lows started falling Thursday with a new low of 20 for Meacham, four degrees cooler than the previous record from 2006, according to information from the Web site for the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Pendleton. http://www.eastoregonian.info/print.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=8- 3885&TM=29612.53 Where is Al Gore when you need him to explain. Probably laughing at the schmucks that believe his crappola. Out on the boat burning fuel in his jetski.

Drive on!

by iluvmysephia1 on Fri Sep 26 12:43:52 PDT 2008

cdnpinhead, I just noticed you're another one of us Arizona Edmunds members. I'm heading up there towards your area from Willcox on Monday, to get my '08 Lancer GTS detailed with an 'Auto Butler' paint protectant treatment. I get it every 6 months from the dealer I bought the Lancer from, Avondale Mitsubishi in Avondale, AZ. But what I wanted to comment on was your statement on driving and how much you like it. Drive on, because driving is not illegal, there's an oil company around that wants your ghastly dollar and a service station that wants your ghastly dollar, too. But driving is fun and a form of entertainment for a lot of us automotive enthusiasts. And whether we drive a rig with an ICE, hybrid, or all-electric, I believe it is important to be able to feel free to do just that. Drive our rigs with glee...I love driving around Arizona and New Mexico seeing new places and learning about the people of that land. Around here are the Chiricahua National Monument(the "land of standing rocks" the native Indians called them) with their enchanting rock spire formations, that are truly fascinating to see. Only about 37 miles south of Willcox, too. There is Fort Bowie, where Geronimo was held by the U.S. Army, after finally catching the great Apache warrior, back in 1886. Fort Bowie's ruins are available for viewing and they are only 25 miles SE of my home. More interesting rock formations are found in Texas Canyon with the Dragoon Mountain range and their rocks resting on top of other rocks and abnormalities are great to visit. I-10 actually runs right between the formations. Cochise Stronghold is about 45 miles west of me here in Willcox, and that is the proud Chief Cochise's old hiding place from the Cavalry and anyone else he didn't want to find him. We drove up to see a Foghat concert in October of '07 near Wickenburg, AZ, about 60 miles or so NW of Phoenix. The next day we left our motel and drove up to the Grand Canyon. I have never seen anything like that place and heartily await our next visit. When my son ran up to the edge on the SE area of the South Rim, he just stopped in his tracks and stared in amazement. "Dad, you're not gonna believe this!" He's right, I couldn't believe the beauty I was staring at. Incredible, awe-inspiring natural beauty that just went on and on. Point is, fact is, this country has benefited greatly from the automobile and it's availability to people. It's given us freedom and mobility that can't be rivalled by the horses and the carriages. Agreed? If we still have a rig with a ICE, and most of us do, I am for driving as much as we can afford to drive and for as long and far as we want. Restricting that idea is bad for business, bad for the economy and bad for our emotional health collectively. But it's an individual thing that varies according to the person, agreed. The environmentalists will never be satisfied, whatever propels our automobiles. You realize that, don't y'all? And if you love a manual-trannied rig way more than an automatic-trannied rig, ya know what, you've got that right. Once again, it's an individual thing. I think that with the advent of hybrid and all-electric propulsion technology you're gonna have to be ready to abandon your stickshift vehicle, however. Reading up on the subject points me to things like automatic push-button starts for new world order rigs like this. And after starting the rigs, I am reading of the implementation of simple levers for putting the power to the wheels, like "forward" and "reverse" buttons. Does that doom the manual tranny? I don't think so. Especially if you've got some awesome backyard mechanical skills, gentlemen. I am starting to see the end of the manual transmission. But that's just my view, my car-nut buddies. Think I'll go exploring in the Lancer GTS. And I'll feel good about doing just that, too. :shades:

Re: Emotion over Logic [clembo]

by anthonyp on Wed Oct 01 14:10:20 PDT 2008

Dear Clembo You sure exactly mirrow my feelings about the A8....A number of post back someone asked about the stigma of certain cars, and the S , although a very nice car, speaks a bit too loudly.....I think the Benz use to represent a different thing, but after the advent of all the smalls cars to go along with the big ones, the brand changed..... Today I took my car in because I wanted to check on the arrival of the parts that were broken by the mean person---back pax window--- This visit I was even treated more nicely than the last one, and they went out of their way to be nice, and in fact set up an appointment to fix the window this Friday and further loan me a car for the few hours it will take, which I didn`t expect.....I asked if any A5 were in, thinking of Rock, but alas none.....I am encouraged by my contacts with the dealer, so really hope Audi gets their act together and beats Lexus...Wouldn`t that be something....Tony