What's up today (bullchiting) thread.

Most credit cards offer this when you use them. I use a USAA card for that too

 

The independent rear suspension is not great for towing....don't forget that.

 

I've had that happen once. I got a Pacifica for the rate of a Taurus in the early 2000's. If you rent a small car, they are more likely to have them on hand. Most times they'll try to get you to upgrade, but I typically won't unless it's a no charge upgrade.

There's a lot of discounts out there, NRA has had them ( some are recently nla), AAA, but you'll find that through the sites ( kayak, Travelocity, hotwire etc) that you get the same deal, if not better than using discounts.

 

Yes, I've had that too. Rented an explorer in 08 to drive out to California and back. Needed the explorer or a trailblazer for the standard hitch to tow my 4x8 bike trailer. Yes, no towing allowed by the rental agency.

 

Yes, the factory is here, Tennessee iirc. But, they'd have to add to their line to do it. That's a major expenditure.

 

I'm not so certain I'd agree with Honda reliability anymore. MPG of the Ridgeline isn't that good actually really no better than current full sized pickups 1 mpg better for fwd Ridgeline vs base rwd half tons, to 2 mpg better for awd ridgeline to the 4wd half tons. The prices are what you can buy a full size truck for. So you're getting less ( capability, power, size) for the same cost. Also, you'll find that the only ones in stock are loaded and typically more expensive than the half tons, while you could find tradesman or WT or XL half tons all day that sticker for less than the available Ridgelines.

Plus they are ugly. Jmho on the last bit.

They are easier to park than a full size truck, that's about it.

 

Lol

For those that aren't aware here is the chicken tax.
Chicken tax - Wikipedia

 

99 had 98K, only put on 5K more over the next 4 years. 04 had 79K miles, 02 had not quite 133K. Our 2008 Pontiac G6 cost 1K to buy but needed 3K in repairs, including labor. normal wear and tear stuff for a car that age though. Had 91K miles.

Not saying it was the "right" thing to do, but they've all appeared to run great so haven't bothered to do plugs. I know there's a gremlin in the 2002 now, causing a lag at times, but I'm and not paying for repairs when I don't know it's the problem. Spent enough time looking for it to lose patience and decide to just keep driving as long as it doesn't get worse. The plugs were replaced not too long before I got the truck. I'd replaced them now if I thought the truck had a few years left.

One thing about having an older vehicle, especially in a rust prone climate (especially not having a lot of money), it's hard to justify preventative maintenance when the truck is running well. Once I knew the 04 was past the point of no return, I gave up even doing oil changes on time. Same thing now, i can guess how long my frame will last but my Trans could give out tomorrow for all I know, and if I spent 250 bucks on plugs, that's 250 I could have saved for another truck.

 

I wouldn't say that is a real issue. The last body on frame explorers ( like up to 2010) were IRS and towed great. Also, expeditions are IRS and have been for a number of years. Not an issue for towing. It sounds like 1500 Yukons and Tahoe's will be IRS next year.

 

We had a compact or something when my wife's car was in the shop from a wreck. Other insurance paid for it. I tried to get a SUV cause that's what we had. We went round n round toll I caved whicheck is what they want. Anyway I said we would be there at 10 am or whatever. Well we didn't get there till like 12. They had some folks walk in and want compacts so they rented what they had. All they had when we got there was a 4 door Ram 1500 and some other smaller "midsize" or something. Gave us the chic I told my wife your pick. She chose the Ram. She loved that thing, they said oh we will have a car come in in a few days you can trade if you want, I said were good with this. Ha. We were going out of town that weekend. Drove it to charleston and back. Put 400 miles or so on it. Took them 2 or 3 weeks to get to her Highlander , but that first week they called and said they had the focus back in or the Nissan ???? And if we wanted to swap we could , I said nope were good and like this. Hahaha. He called again. Trying to get us to swas I said no we never wanted a car anyway, and he said well the rental was for a smaller car,and I said and you gave us this cause that's all you had and we will turn it in when done. He was nice about it all though, like I said we had it like 3 weeks and put almost 2,000 miles on it! Haha.

 

That's why they buy them with hitches???

I said I might need to tow when we had to get the rental for my wife when hers was in an accident. They said no towing, I said well your insuree wrecked my "tow" vehicle!

 

I forgot about the Expidetions. We came real close to buying one instead of the sequoia. I just wised up and the plug issues, cam phasers, and the timing chain issues were just too much for me to think about chanceing so we bought the Toy. We actually liked the way the Expidetions 3rd row was powered and folded flat over the tumble and remove sequoia. So those that know we were looking at the time at 10 year old vehicles so that , again at the time put us looking at 04-06 era vehicles.

 

Those years trailblazers and explorers had the hitch 1.25" not the 2", standard and part of the rear bumper. The 2" was part of the towing package, which rental companies would never buy.

08 explorer STD hitch in bumper

Trailblazer std hitch this is an 06 but they were unchanged from like 99 until like 2016


Our boating friend had his less than a week old 2017 Highlander trailer swiped while he was parked at the boat launch parking lot. 7k in damage on a vehicle with 200 miles. The offender hit and run, and didn't leave a note. The entire passenger side was creased/ shredded. He was without a tow vehicle for 2-3 weeks as his insurance have him a rental car, with no hitch. He pleaded for any pick up with a hitch so he could keep boating on weekends and found none. They also told him that you can't tow with any rental. So even if they had one, they wouldn't let him have it at that point. So he was pizzed off even more than you can be when your brand new vehicle gets whacked and he wasn't even driving it.

 

I've always had great luck getting upgraded at Enterprise through work. Company pays short money, and instead of the compact car, I've got an F350 crew cab, loaded out Suburban, and a Rogue as my last three rentals. I'm not afraid of the big vehicle like a lot of people apparently are, so they are more than happy to get them off the lot for a few days.

 

Nope.
The trailblazer.....
2 inch standard from it's inception (2002) to it's end of manufacture 2009. It never had anything smaller.

 

On another note, man this is a humid July month......

 

Disagree. Honda (and Toyota) reliability are great. My wife had her 06 Pilot from 36,000 miles to 136,000 and loved it. It’s the same chassis and drivetrain as the Ridgeline. The only reasons she switched to a 15 Buick Enclave is more room and second row captains chairs. And obviously newer/lower miles! Kids are getting bigger and we all like the vehicle. Everything Honda I have seen owned by family members has been excellent quality and reliability. As far as prices we don’t buy new. If you buy 3-5 years old with very low mileage you can save twenty grand and have a nice ride. As mileage goes up the “issues” that arise seem to be more on the big three vehicles, trucks included. From my experience of owning/working them.

 

Haha. Facebook memories of the old trucks. Time don't be long going.....can't believe this year's more than half over....

 

Was supposed to head to NC today but things are behind schedule so I got pushed off until Sunday. Got to figure out what to do with my weekend now.

 

Now there is a problem to have...