TSG's Unified Fleet Thread

[GB]

I'll trade you my son for your girl.

[thesameguy]

Does he cook? How's his yard work? I'm interested.

[GB]

He can cook basic stuff. Decent at grilling.

His yard work, when he does it, is a bit lax. Likes to cut corners.

[thesameguy]

Seems pretty lateral. Probably not worthwhile once you factor in shipping.

[GB]

Damn, I didn't sell it hard enough.

I can throw in his Florida Pre-Paid College Fund.

[thesameguy]

Have you considered selling him into slavery? Probably fetch a pretty penny.

[thesameguy]

I tried downloading the flash from the SPG so I could look at the tune... but failed. The software reports "error, unknown ecm" and only writes out a 128kb file which crashes t5suite. I should have a 256k bin. Looks damn scientific in the SPG right now:



I've since been told you need 15v running T5 to successfully run this operation, and I don't have a power supply of that voltage with a high enough amperage rating. Lots of people use laptop power supplies, but all mine are Dell and 19v, which is outside my comfort range. This was all the excuse I needed to order in a regulated variable power supply. I have wanted one for years for bench testing stuff, now I have a "need" so it's happening.



Kind of excited!

But, I did have to put the SPG aside for a bit, so I did a little yin



and a little yang



All the fairing plastic under the Viggen was AWOL. Now it's all new. It was a very satisfying install to be honest... hopefully it helps keep the bumper together until I can rebuild & repaint it... it should help a bit with cooling & fuel economy too!

[thesameguy]

My other task today was a second drain & refill on the Viggen's transmission... it's an '02 so *should* have had the "new" fluid, but I didn't want to bank on it so drained $30 worth of special gearbox juice and put another $30 worth of special gearbox juice in.

I think it was worth it - very much so. A 50 mile drive today and it was tangibly quieter and easier to shift. Like, actually really good to shift.

Next up... figuring out whether the rumbling up front is the tires or the wheel bearings. Hopefully the former!

[thesameguy]

Spent a little time last night considering possible Benz replacements. Some things have changed - she is no longer commuting 50 miles daily and in fact is no longer commuting at all... that means I need a car than does 2-3,000 miles annually instead of 5-7,000 miles annually. She's still strapped for cash so there isn't any driving for fun or anything like that. As shitty as this sounds reliability is somewhat less of a concern because there is nowhere she's gotta be. There is also less of a crunch for service needs - she's got time to travel "some distance" for repairs instead of needing to cram something in locally on a Saturday.

I seriously considered a low-mileage lease. It's scary what you can get a lot of small cars for with really onerous mileage restrictions - like $50 or $60 per month. Problem is that comprehensive insurance on a new car would slaughter her, so that's not workable. It's gotta be used, and old enough and "lame" enough that insurance will be inexpensive. Fortunately, while I can't tell for sure, I think used car prices are starting to normalize a bit. Or, maybe I'm starting to normalize a bit. Sub $4k cars in '14 were all into the '90s, which is why I made the play for the '94 - I didn't lose much in terms of features or performance but saved a couple grand. Now, $4k gets a variety of early/mid '00 cars and $5k is access to a bunch of mid '00 cars. It feels like an improvement. Unless you're selling a mid '00s car, I guess.

I think $5k buys any 2005 4-door sedan, anything from an Accord to a Mercedes. Some stuff is a bit cheaper - like more or less anything domestic. I'm kinda tempted to look at yet another 2000-2002 Saab 9-3. Still don't think they're good, but safe and cheap and the major roadblock to owning one - getting Tech 2 programming - isn't a roadblock anymore. There are three excellent Saab shops in SoCal - none in the IE, but she's got time to make a drive. Hell, a drive would do her good. Also high on the list is a - and it's tough for me to say - a Prius. They've proven extremely reliably long term, and cheap Target runs are attractive. Sadly, all the things I'm really enthusiastic about (for her) are still outrageously priced - Elements, RAV4s, even 1st gen Matrices. Meh. Whatever.

Targeting a December or early January acquisition. People are poor post-Christmas and car prices tend to fall. Selection does, too, but I have the luxury of not being that picky.

Edit: One other car which, for whatever reason, I'm finding particularly attractive is a four cylinder Altima. Of all the import sedans I've always liked them the best.

[novicius]

I actually really liked the 2015ish Nissan Altima CVT that the wife & rented to drive to Kansas City last year.

CVT is fine. 'D' = 'Drive' and you fugetaboutit. #shrug