- Used cars getting more expensive - 4 Updates
- Best banks - 2 Updates
- Used cars getting more expensive - 1 Update
- Can you afford your prescription drugs? - 1 Update
| The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com>: Feb 01 08:18PM -0800 On 02/01/2020 04:10 PM, rbowman wrote: >> get-those-lazy-sonsabitches-outta-their-fuckin-cars jerks. > Obama's Cash for Clunkers destroyed a number of perfectly good vehicles > in an attempt to drive up new car sales. More likely force people into public transportation. That seems to be the big thing now. Or bicycles or walking, no matter how impractical or uncomfortable. > dealers don't carry it. If it's not a SUV or crossover forget about it. > So that leads to my interest in used cars with the features I want but > they don't seem to be that less expensive than a new car. Our 1970 Dodge pickup is easy to work on. The 1983 Sentra the State bought could have been repaired again, but I had no hope that it wouldn't have continuing problems. The 1988 Caddy I inherited from my mom was a lethal POS and would have deserved the $1K crushing it got except for its completely new brake system and tires, which SHOULD have been saved. I wondered about buying a cheap car intended for the third world. No fancy breakable doodads. Easily fixable without sophisticated diagnostic equipment. Good gas mileage without smog-control entanglements... Can we even buy cars like that here? Instead I bought a 2013 Corolla. I never want to have to fix a car again. I guess the only 'modern' part that I actually use is the radio, which accepts a USB stick full of audiobooks. The remote lock/unlock feature (press the key, not just approach the car) is amazingly addictive, a surprise. I like the gas mileage. Given my druthers I'd drive a Honda S2000 or a new Dodge Challenger, but I suspect they'd need more fixing than the Corolla, and the Corolla does a great job of normal and mountain driving. I do love driving my friend's S2000, though. And the Tesla 3 (a friend's) acceleration was orgasmic! -- Cheers, Bev Judges are our only protection against a legal system that can afford lots more prosecution than we can afford defense. |
| rbowman <bowman@montana.com>: Feb 02 11:35AM -0700 On 02/01/2020 09:18 PM, The Real Bev wrote: > More likely force people into public transportation. That seems to be > the big thing now. Or bicycles or walking, no matter how impractical or > uncomfortable. The problem with that is urban sprawls like LA don't have public transportation to speak of. The city has free bus service that is financed by a number of local businesses and organizations. https://www.mountainline.com/zero-fare/ They've also started rolling out electric buses. The problem for me is I live about 10 miles from the nearest bus stop. I sometimes ride to town on my bicycle but it usually turns out to be a 30 mile round trip. > mom was a lethal POS and would have deserved the $1K crushing it got > except for its completely new brake system and tires, which SHOULD have > been saved. I've got a semi-retired '86 F-150 that is fairly easy. It does have some rudimentary electronics that I've thought about replacing with an older distributor and carb. > fancy breakable doodads. Easily fixable without sophisticated > diagnostic equipment. Good gas mileage without smog-control > entanglements... Can we even buy cars like that here? Not a chance. I read some reviews on Top Gear about the best small cars. Top Gear is a UK site so of the 10 six were out, the Fiat Panda, several Renaults and Peugeots, and a Suzuki. I'm not sure about the Ford Fiesta. There may be some 2019's but I don't think there are 2020's after Ford switched to SUVs and pickups in the US. I don't know if the Kia Picanto is imported but the VW Up and its variants aren't. My brother had a Tercel he loved but finally it failed the California smog test and repairs would be more than the car was worth. He gave it to one of those charities so it probably is happily living in South America. > which accepts a USB stick full of audiobooks. The remote lock/unlock > feature (press the key, not just approach the car) is amazingly > addictive, a surprise. I like the gas mileage. I bought a Yaris in '07 that was totaled when a kid with a snowplow on a pickup ran into me. I replaced it with a '11. It's red and has an automatic which aren't high points but the month I needed it was the month Japan had a nuclear meltdown so I took what I could get. I like hatchbacks and there is a Corolla hatch. The first thing I do is fold the rear seats down and they're never seen again so I lean toward 2 (or 3 depending on how they count) door models. The only new one in town is a loaded XSE. > a great job of normal and mountain driving. I do love driving my > friend's S2000, though. And the Tesla 3 (a friend's) acceleration was > orgasmic! The S2000 was another casualty of the meltdown as was the Pontiac Solstice. The Solstice had a few problems than might have been sorted out had it lived. The Toyota 86, which used to be a Scion, isn't the hottest car in the world but it is RWD and should be fun. I do find the Challenger interesting. I've had a Mustang, a Firebird, and a Camaro but never a Challenger. Of the three I think it has the most room to carry my camping gear and so forth. The Mustang was a '73, the last year before the Mustang II abortions. I went grocery shopping with a friend and when we came out with a cartful and I popped the trunk she said 'I don't think this is the sort of car someone interested in a woman with kids drives.' She was right. |
| The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com>: Feb 02 12:58PM -0800 On 02/02/2020 10:35 AM, rbowman wrote: > The problem with that is urban sprawls like LA don't have public > transportation to speak of. The city has free bus service that is > financed by a number of local businesses and organizations. Public transport just doesn't go where I need to go, for the most part. A half-hour drive to my daughter's house is a multi-modal travesty that takes 5 hours. Nope. Light-rail station is about 1/4 mile away, as are most of the destinations I take it to, but at 35 cents/ride I'm willing to walk when I can. Parking is typically more than $6/hour, and I'm not going to pay one thin dime to park unless I absolutely have to. Didn't we fight the goddam Revolution for convenient personal transportation? I know *I* did! > My brother had a Tercel he loved but finally it failed the California > smog test and repairs would be more than the car was worth. He gave it > to one of those charities so it probably is happily living in South America. I have to wonder how those things work. Do the cars have to be repairable? The Caddy had brand new brakes and tires which could have been of use to SOMEONE. > pickup ran into me. I replaced it with a '11. It's red and has an > automatic which aren't high points but the month I needed it was the > month Japan had a nuclear meltdown so I took what I could get. We rented a Yaris for a 3-week ski+tour trip to/around Utah. Packed to the roof + 2 people it still hit 90 when passing with no problem and managed to negotiate the "road" in the bottom of Monument Valley with much dignity and only a little scraping. Nice little car. > fold the rear seats down and they're never seen again so I lean toward 2 > (or 3 depending on how they count) door models. The only new one in town > is a loaded XSE. Sentra was a hatchback, and the rear seats were also down most of the time. I like the fold-down rear seats on the Corolla -- I can fit my skis in the trunk! >> orgasmic! > The S2000 was another casualty of the meltdown as was the Pontiac > Solstice. Friend has race tires on her S2000. Never a squeal on the mountain roads. Most fun I've ever had in a car. > I do find the Challenger interesting. I've had a Mustang, I drove a friend's 67 or 68 Mustang. OK, but nothing special. He invested big bucks in restoring it TWICE, but didn't drive it much because his girlfriend/wife didn't like the rattles. > with a friend and when we came out with a cartful and I popped the trunk > she said 'I don't think this is the sort of car someone interested in a > woman with kids drives.' She was right. That's why we all need several cars. The Corolla is a good compromise, but the seat is about 2" too short. You just can't see out of new cars very well. The other day I was supposed to back up between a couple of rows of cars for maybe 200 feet and I couldn't see one of the rows at all no matter how far I twisted. The damn headrest does NOT need to be that tall. So I yelled at the guy who was blocking forward motion and made him move, but I don't like that kind of limitation. -- Cheers, Bev "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less." -- Colin Powell, former Good Guy |
| rbowman <bowman@montana.com>: Feb 02 02:13PM -0700 On 02/02/2020 12:35 PM, Derald wrote: > fuel mileage. No USB port (but it does have a magazine-loading CD > changer) and the central locking system requires a key for access from > outside the vehicle; damn. There is the matter of style... In that era I'd try to scout up a Cadillac Allante. The R107 SL's aren't bad looking either but tend to run more than the Caddies. I don't know which would be more of a maintenance nightmare. I'm getting to the point where any car I buy will probably be the last one I buy and that makes me a little pickier. |
| ggggg9271@gmail.com: Feb 01 09:48PM -0800 https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/01/22/americas-best-banks-2020/#1abd960d4392 |
| "catalpa" <catalpa@entertab.org>: Feb 02 03:02PM -0500 <ggggg9271@gmail.com> wrote in message news:5897da78-6b3a-411b-bfcf-8b687402dd65@googlegroups.com... > https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/01/22/americas-best-banks-2020/#1abd960d4392 "Best banks" is an oxymoron. Use a credit union. |
| Derald <derald@invalid.net>: Feb 02 02:35PM -0500 >> Not having a smart phone, I don't give a damn if the 'infotainment' >> system has Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or Bluetooth. Someplace where I >> can stick in a thumb drive loaded with MP3s would be nice. Well, I guess I'm driving the car of your dreams: A 1989 Mercedes-Benz 260E葉hat's the one with only one windshield wiper. It's a comfortable, quite conventional mid-sized 4-door sedan with exceptional performance (on fatass Michelin Crossclimate tires, it goes fast as hell safely and without a lot of fuss) and better-than-decent fuel mileage. No USB port (but it does have a magazine-loading CD changer) and the central locking system requires a key for access from outside the vehicle; damn. -- Derald ...the only traits that are passed down in your family are perversity, ego-centrism, laziness and sociopathic tendencies. --Lynn Barton, Filedheacht Music School, East Bridgewater, MA to Derald, July, 2016 |
| ggggg9271@gmail.com: Feb 02 04:00AM -0800 > https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/may/06/bernie-sanders/sanders-1-out-5-cant-afford-prescription-drugs/ According to this: - When cancer drugs are overpriced, it's because monopolies in the form of patents are granted to private "owners" of inventions, who get rent from their manufacture. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/26/the-corruption-of-capitalism-guy-standing-review-why-rentiers-thrive-and-work-does-not-pay |
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