Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[me_2]

1st filter + oil change 100% synthetic for Volt #2 this last Saturday after 37,500 km (1.5 year). That is roughly 7,500 km on ICE range extender use for long distance trip.
So, over 80% were e-km (30,000 km) without any ICE involved... I forget to check exact % of remaining oil life (below 40% I guess) which is a computed mix between 24 months & ICE usage.

[johngenx]

I have a lot of junk in the back of the Highlander.  Under the floor in the storage area I have a tug-em-strap, some spare oil, an extra tool kit, jumper cables, some warm boots, and a few other things.  That stuff bangs around back there, and I've just got used to it.

The last few days there seems like a new noise from the back.  Ugh, maybe some suspension bits wearing out?  Not sure.  I went to the wand wash and gave it a thorough wash as I couldn't see out of any windows.  After the wash, the new noise was gone.  Huh.

[BWII]

Ice maybe?


Washed mine today. 'tis all.

[johngenx]

Ice maybe?

Yeah, must have been frozen crud in there somewhere.

[mlin32]

Hooning 'round in the snow. I'm not totally great at standstill doughnuts, but quite excellent throwing the sideways rally-style 'round corners. And empty lots 

Buddy burnt up some serious rubber on his GTI, but I had far more fun. Because rear-wheel drive.

[Firm]

Looks like a good time....but you can still keep that white crap

[ChaosphereIX]

re-duct taped the glove compartment closed [latch broken] and drove it to the coast. Went for a swim. Read some books on the beach. Damn, it is hot down undah.

[BWII]

Hooning 'round in the snow. I'm not totally great at standstill doughnuts, but quite excellent throwing the sideways rally-style 'round corners. And empty lots 

Buddy burnt up some serious rubber on his GTI, but I had far more fun. Because rear-wheel drive.

Never know where you are...NC, QC...somewhere in Europe...but we aint got snow like that here. I don't mind that kind of white crap.  Gives me a reason to pull the new snowblower out.

[sszoomzoom]

1st filter + oil change 100% synthetic for Volt #2 this last Saturday after 37,500 km (1.5 year). That is roughly 7,500 km on ICE range extender use for long distance trip.
So, over 80% were e-km (30,000 km) without any ICE involved... I forget to check exact % of remaining oil life (below 40% I guess) which is a computed mix between 24 months & ICE usage.

My wife and I test drove a 2017 Volt and were very impressed with it. She wants her next car to be fully electric, however I convinced her that Volt would be a better option and she test drove so far Focus electric, CMax plug in and Ioniq and the only one she liked was the Hyundai and now she really likes the Volt. Are they reliable? How much did your electric bill gone up in this time?

[ChaosphereIX]

1st filter + oil change 100% synthetic for Volt #2 this last Saturday after 37,500 km (1.5 year). That is roughly 7,500 km on ICE range extender use for long distance trip.
So, over 80% were e-km (30,000 km) without any ICE involved... I forget to check exact % of remaining oil life (below 40% I guess) which is a computed mix between 24 months & ICE usage.

My wife and I test drove a 2017 Volt and were very impressed with it. She wants her next car to be fully electric, however I convinced her that Volt would be a better option and she test drove so far Focus electric, CMax plug in and Ioniq and the only one she liked was the Hyundai and now she really likes the Volt. Are they reliable? How much did your electric bill gone up in this time?

mum Chaos had a 2013 and just last week traded for a 2017. Her electricity bills barely budged she says, and she only had one glitch in the infotainment that was fixed at the dealer in 10 mins. Her overall fuel average was well under 1l/100km. Maintenance is minimal. She loves her 2017 even more. Chev really did a good job building the Volt.

It is just about the only alternative to the Tesla 3 I am considering for my commuter. Strongly considering.

[Solstice2006]

Looks like a good time....but you can still keep that white crap

It's pretty crazy how lake effect snow is.  Took my daughter out of school yesterday to go visit my Dad in Fort Erie.  Not a flurry in site, when we hit Niagara Falls 1-2 cm on the ground.  In Fort Erie there was 5cm on the ground.  Must have snowed between 6-9am because the roads weren't perfect.  So the snow was pretty isolated.

[mlin32]

Looks like a good time....but you can still keep that white crap

It's pretty crazy how lake effect snow is.  Took my daughter out of school yesterday to go visit my Dad in Fort Erie.  Not a flurry in site, when we hit Niagara Falls 1-2 cm on the ground.  In Fort Erie there was 5cm on the ground.  Must have snowed between 6-9am because the roads weren't perfect.  So the snow was pretty isolated.

Surprised at the disdain of snow by some of you guys. I like snow  . Good for skiing, sledding, etc....

The rain/snow gradient was pretty sharp for this storm. If you drove 50km south down the Appalachian range (elevation 200m), they got mostly rain and little accumulation. I am in the mountain valleys at 750m and it just stopped snowing, for now with a total of 20cm reported officiallement at the airport. If you head up to above 1200m elevation 50km to the SW, places there received >30cm of snow. Temperatures hovered around -1° all day here, while down in the Piedmont they remained right around 2-3° most of the day.

Yes, winter tires at the 35th parallel has always made sense.

[Solstice2006]

Looks like a good time....but you can still keep that white crap

It's pretty crazy how lake effect snow is.  Took my daughter out of school yesterday to go visit my Dad in Fort Erie.  Not a flurry in site, when we hit Niagara Falls 1-2 cm on the ground.  In Fort Erie there was 5cm on the ground.  Must have snowed between 6-9am because the roads weren't perfect.  So the snow was pretty isolated.

Surprised at the disdain of snow by some of you guys. I like snow  . Good for skiing, sledding, etc....

The rain/snow gradient was pretty sharp for this storm. If you drove 50km south down the Appalachian range (elevation 200m), they got mostly rain and little accumulation. I am in the mountain valleys at 750m and it just stopped snowing, for now with a total of 20cm reported officiallement at the airport. If you head up to above 1200m elevation 50km to the SW, places there received >30cm of snow. Temperatures hovered around -1° all day here, while down in the Piedmont they remained right around 2-3° most of the day.

Yes, winter tires at the 35th parallel has always made sense.

Most people don't like snow.  It's cheap population control for Canada. 

[Seafoam]

As you get older you will learn to hate the snow and the cold more.

[rrocket]

As you get older you will learn to hate the snow and the cold more.

I've always liked to snow. Part of that was love of snowmobiling from a young age. Being able to hoon on powerful sleds well before having a driver's license was the most amazing thing. So I anyways looked forward to winter.

IQ on the other hand hates snow because "she's brown and tropical" and not meant for the cold. LOL

[Weels]

Went off-roading with the CX-5.
Smacked into this tree which fell onto the roof, so I brought it home

[Arthur Dent]

Oil change on the TSX. A little harder to do than the 2 but still not bad.

[Solstice2006]

Went off-roading with the CX-5.
Smacked into this tree which fell onto the roof, so I brought it home

Watch the paint now...

[Fobroader]

Sniff, sniff....winter mode on, soft top off, hard top on. 1000x easier with the hoist.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[johngenx]

There is some noise coming from the rear suspension of the Highlander.  Crawling under there a little bit has me suspecting the sway-bar link rods.  The car drives perfectly well, but the old gal now has close to 320K on the original suspension.  I priced out new struts (the quick struts), new control arms and new links/rod/bushings, and the grand total is ~$600 with shipping and everything.  Basically a complete rebuild of the entire rear suspension can be done for $600.  Not bad!

Now to think about when to do this, ugh.  Going to have to wait until January, methinks.  So busy until and through Christmas.

While I was on RockAuto, I checked front suspension prices.  They sell a "front end rebuild kit" with control arms, ball joints and all the locator rods/bushings for $500 including shipping.  That's for both sides!  And it's Moog parts - good quality.  Just to keep going, it's $400 for a pair of new front quick struts.

So, basically, I can completely rebuild the entire front and rear suspension on the Highlander including all four struts, all control arms, ball joints and all bushings and locator rods for $1500.  Wow.  I think by spring I'm just going to do that.  A complete refresh would be nice, and at that price, makes total sense.