Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Buckhannon, West Virginia

Buckhannon, WV Car Consumer Discussions

Re: EPA estimates [stalnaker]

by wvgasguy on Thu Jan 17 09:31:13 PST 2008

Where in WV do you live? I live in Jane Lew. I have several normal trips I take and they are of various lengths. I do garage my car, not heated but probably stays 40F to 50F in the winter depending on how cold it is outside. I don't have to use the car for work. From my house into Weston on 2 lane Rt 19 is about 4 miles. I do this one often. It is pretty level and I have no problems getting 40+ with a cold car. From my house to my church in Lost Creek is about 13 to 15 miles. If I go up Rt 19 and the back way (2 lane / 45 mph) I can get 47 in summer and 39+ in winter on that trip. If I get on the interstate at Jane Lew and get off at Lost Creek (driving a little under the limit) I get 38 to 40 and it doesn't seem to vary much due to the cold. Snow and rain / wind does hurt hard. Driving from Weston to Hurricane on I79 (hilly) and I64 (relatively flat) I have gotten as much as 42 and as little as 35. The 35mpg trip was done at about 80 mph with little reguard to economy. The 42 mpg trip was allowing the car to slow on steep grades and on steep downhills I did not brake and exceeded the limit significantly (this thing rolls easy). Driving to Buckhannon is an experience. It is 4 lane but there is a steep grade going east. Going to Buckhannon (about 12 - 15 miles) I will get between 36 to 37, but by the time I do my return trip I'm back at 39 overall. You can pretty much coast half the way back to Weston. My most frequent trip is to Clarksburg (50 miles round trip). Depending on driving style I get no lower than 35 (fast old style driving), seldom lower than 36 (cold or rain) and 90% of the time better than 37 (with just a little thought about what I'm doing). With a little thought and effort I can always get 38 to 39 round trip. I experimented once on the backroads and made a couple of laps around the Weston-jackson Mill_Jane Lew Loop and drove almost 50 miles and had 48mpg. Remember thought that this is a 25 / 35 /45 mph road loop. In Nags Head (all flat) I drove 300 miles at 45 mpg in mild to heavy traffic However I know that somone new to the hybrid will do differently. My son took the car to Charleston and got 32 mpg. Thought he had done something great and was surprised when I chewed him out ;o) One time for an experiment I drove up Rt 19 to jane Lew, took the back road past Davis Station to Lost Creek and went up Mt Clair Road to Clarksburg. With no traffic and doing really stupid slow driving I got 57 mpg. Just had to see what it was capable of. I have found that the sweet spot for my car is driving on rolling slopes at about 50 mph. The engine running keeps the battery charged and for every up there is a down. The rolling resistance on this is incredible and it appears if you're going fast enough to use the momentum uphill that the battery boost helps significantly if you don't push it hard, yet going down the small slopes the gage drops to 60 and the overall is excellent. I know my driving style and the effort I give is not for everyone. However I enjoy the challenge and find it entertaining to see just how I can do. I don't think I lose much time by driving just under the limit. I find that driving under the limit keeps me from getting packed up with clusters of cars, which is why I normally drove fast. Now instead of catching up with them and slowing down, I simply let them pass. On a trip to Charleston it probably only cost me 10 minutes. I still find myself sitting behind the folks that passed me on the exit ramps. DISCLAIMER: My wife averages about 2 mpg lower than me. Overall FE after 39,000 miles is 37.6 and that includes several trips to Charleston and Ohio by her. Even then she would get 36 to 37 mpg. But her long milage trips add a lot of weight to the overall FE numbers. I keep a lot of records to track this including calculating a corrected FE based on odometer error and computer error. My lifetime average based on the computer is about 38.2 My lifetime calculation based on manual calculations (miles and gallons) is just over 37. If you use your computer to track FE you're probably not doing as well as you think and if you crank it out long hand you actually doing better than you think. Spent a lot of time and blogging on GreenHybrid to develop this. Not sure why oter than I wanted to see if I could come close to driving this for free after all the tax credits. By the way I hope you took the $3750 WV tax credit last year (it ran out though on June 1, 2006 which is why I insisted my dealer give me the first one). My total tax credit is $6350 and on top of that my dealer gives me free tires ;o)

Re: factory order question [barracuda1975]

by wvgasguy on Thu Nov 02 07:55:08 PST 2006

I don't believe a "build date" is available until the car is set up and in the computers at the factory. That could be a while. They can check the status since "build date" is not the only trackable milestone. I'm guessing they would consider it a pain if you keep calling, so just ask when you get info from them what is the next milestone and how long does that usually take. If they tell you three weeks before they know anything then calling every week would indeed make you a pain to deal with. I can't imagine you getting one "built to order" in less than 2 months. Although they could possibly find one like your order or close and "trade" with another dealer. I'm not sure where you're at but I just dropped off my TCH for service and Buckhannon Auto mall in WV had about 7 or 8 Camry's on the lot (including a TCH)

Dealer Experience

by wvgasguy on Thu Oct 12 04:43:10 PDT 2006

It appears that many of you have had lousy experiences at your dealership. Just be glad you now have a Toyota and you won't have to go through it again for several years! I was fortunate with my last 8 Toyotas as the dealer in St Albans, WV (they changed sales policies a few years back) and now the one I deal with Buckhannon Auto Mall have been great to work with. Working with them I was able to get my TCH EARLY (May5th) in time for the WV state tax credit. They also had it in my hands within a few hours of the truck dropping it off at the dealership and offer a "Free Tires For Life" program.

Re: WAS IT A FAIR DEAL? [wveco]

by wvgasguy on Wed Sep 06 16:20:53 PDT 2006

wvgasguy, I've seen in your earlier posts that you live in central WV. Anywhere near Buckhannon? Did you check out more than one dealership? Any recommendations? Sorry I didn't notice your post earlier. I'm in Jane Lew. I bought the first one at Buckhannon Auto Mall. They treated me well (but then again I bought 5 cars off of then in the last year). I've never had much luck at Cava's and the former owner in Fairmont. I could have dealt in Charleston where I have bought several Toyotas but I wanted to buy local if treated righ. They wanted my business and I wanted a TCH before the June 5th deadline for the WV Tax Credit ($3750) But what is "real" city driving? Is driving around little 'ole Buckhannon at 25-35 mph "real" city driving? Any insights based on your TCH experience driving in central WV? We don't have "real" city driving around here like some of the areas discussed on this forum. We have highway and rural 55 mph roads. Driving from Jane Lew to Buckhannon I get 38 mpg over to Lowes but by the time I'm back home I'm at 42 mpg (Buckhannon Mountain really helps that) I'm averaging 39 mpg over almost 11,000 miles but I work at it. I wouldn't think less than 36 would be possible in our area unless you're doing a lot of 5 mile commuting daily. Driving around Weston is almost all battery if I work at it and the back roads around Jacksons Mill are 46+ (my high is 57 on a 15 mile loop) I have a 4Runner as well and if the HH will tow 3500# I may consider trading at some point. 25 mpg does not justify trading but if I were reconsidering I would have bought the HH. I don't put a lot of miles on the 4Runner. I like the new RAV4 and for resale and overall cost to own and utility it's hard to beat. I'm trying real hard to get my company to get me an Escape Hybrid for my new company vehicle (they won't buy a "foreign" brand name). Jenkins has a nice looking Blue one in their showroom. It's not a HH though as far as comfort.

Re: WAS IT A FAIR DEAL? [wvgasguy]

by wveco on Sat Sep 02 22:56:57 PDT 2006

wvgasguy, I've seen in your earlier posts that you live in central WV. Anywhere near Buckhannon? Did you check out more than one dealership? Any recommendations? My heart is with a hybrid (Camry or Highlander), but the TCH may not meet my needs. And my head says it's going to take more years than I will own the vehicle for the slightly better gas mileage of the HH to make up for the price differential between it and the new non-hybrid V-6 RAV4. I was giving serious consideration to the TCH, but I'm just getting into real estate and my broker is steering me toward a car-based SUV...easier for people to get in and out of, more trunk space for hauling signs, etc. around in (I have to admit, the batteries in the TCH take up most of the useable trunk space), and AWD if you need to drive some client's farm property. Of course the HH isn't really meant for serious off-roading and I don't really want to tear up my vehicle on some client's farm, so maybe I'll just get the TCH and tell my broker we're going to have to take her SUV on any unpaved farm roads! I took a look at the specs for the HH and the new RAV4, which is bigger than the old one. There's not that much difference in front and rear seating dimensions and I don't think the HH will get that much better gas mileage than the RAV4. It's supposed to get better city mileage, but all the comments and posts I see say it doesn't get anywhere near what the EPA ratings are. Most posts seem to imply that's because most people aren't doing "real" city driving. But what is "real" city driving? Is driving around little 'ole Buckhannon at 25-35 mph "real" city driving? Any insights based on your TCH experience driving in central WV? And any dealer recommendations?

Blue TCH Available

by wvgasguy on Tue Jun 27 10:29:07 PDT 2006

My wife just took our TCH in for its first service. She told me Kip from Buckhannon Auto Mall in Buckhannon WV said they have a Blue TCH in stock. It was less than $28,000 on the internet so I assume it's possibly a base with roof? Buckhannon WV is not a bad drive from Pittsburgh, Cincinatti, Charolotte or DC