Dishwasher recommendations? Black Friday coming up!

[FlyerInHi]

Get an electric car and you won’t have car repairs.

A dishwasher is only $500, cheaper than a smart phone. If it breaks, replace it. Seems like a lot of overthinking for nothing. Since I started investing in rentals after the financial crisis, the only new appliance I bought then replaced was a whirlpool.

[The-Shoveler]

Should be interesting, either they will need to add planned obsolescence or lease only on EV’s or just add bunch of cheap plastic parts LOL.

I would only lease a BMW that I fully intended to turn in at this point IMO.

IMO the mobile service providers seem to be pushing Leased phones as a way to lock you in (making it too expensive to turn in phone and quit). The worst part is they advertise these phones as “FREE” (you have to read the fine print).

[svelte]

[quote=The-Shoveler]Should be interesting, either they will need to add planned obsolescence or lease only on EV’s or just add bunch of cheap plastic parts LOL.
[/quote]

Technology is changing so fast in cars right now that it makes the most sense to lease – we’ve leased my wife’s last two cars because we knew that a host of new features would be available in the near future.

[Coronita]

leasing makes sense these days because cars these days aren’t built for you to drive into the ground 20 years later. there is so much electronics that most of it , when it fails, can’t easily be replaceable. Cars these days aren’t exactly environmentally friendly if you count how short car lifespans are these days, all the pollution it took to manufacture all that electronics in that car, and disposal of all that eWaste in that car.

Leasing isn’t great, however, if you track your car and/or heavily mod your car. Insurance usually does not cover your car anywhere “a race event could take place” and as part of a lease, you need to have insurance at all times. I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable using a car that wasn’t fully paid off and could be written off completely. Too much shit can go wrong. I already had two incidence where I slid into a wall and another one I hit a storm drain hard and it cracked fuel line hard and the car lit up on fire in older car during the practice laps. Fortunately, most of it was cosmetic and what really needed to be repaired was $300 total. Some guy in a leased C7 went over an embankment one time, and it was painful to see
. I wonder how he explained that to his insurance. A guy I knew did worse, he rolled his RS4 at Willow Springs. He wrote that off, and he was fortunate to walk off alive.

[img_assist|nid=26919|title=shit happens|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=300]

[FlyerInHi]

Flu, who gives a shit about your cars?

[The-Shoveler]

I like flu’s car posts LOL.

[svelte]

[quote=flu] A guy I knew did worse, he rolled his RS4 at Willow Springs. He wrote that off…
[/quote]

From the looks of things, he didn’t have a choice!

[svelte]

I’m torn on the statement that cars won’t age well because of the increasing electronics in modern cars.

On the one hand, that will certainly be problematic. I have a friend who, about two years ago, told me something went out in his 2009 Charger SRT8 and he couldn’t get that part from Dodge…it was an electronic part (seems like it was part of the dash cluster? can’t recall) and all that was available was a rebuilt replacement. The car was out of warranty but not that old by any means.

So that points to flu being right.

On the other hand, the average age of a car is now approaching 12 years old, an all-time high. If electronics are hurting their aging, then how can this be? Perhaps the average age will head south here in a few years as the technology laden cars age?

It will be interesting to watch.

[Coronita]

[quote=svelte]I’m torn on the statement that cars won’t age well because of the increasing electronics in modern cars.

On the one hand, that will certainly be problematic. I have a friend who, about two years ago, told me something went out in his 2009 Charger SRT8 and he couldn’t get that part from Dodge…it was an electronic part (seems like it was part of the dash cluster? can’t recall) and all that was available was a rebuilt replacement. The car was out of warranty but not that old by any means.

So that points to flu being right.

On the other hand, the average age of a car is now approaching 12 years old, an all-time high. If electronics are hurting their aging, then how can this be? Perhaps the average age will head south here in a few years as the technology laden cars age?

It will be interesting to watch.[/quote]

My 2000 Audi had a LED display screen that started to pixelate and fail around the 10 year mark. I found an electronics guy that desoldered the screen and replaced it with a compatible screen that is still functional. The Mercedes had a similar issue that I didn’t bother having repaired. These original led screens where used for informational purposes only, so while they were an eyesore, were not critical to driving the car. Fast forward today. Mercedes all use an LCD screen for everything, there are no mechanical gauges anymore. BMW and Audi lately have done the same thing. When that LCD goes bad, it’s not a simple instrument cluster “swap”. Even my latest car, with the center touch screen, some people have reported it delaminating 3 years later.

The airbag control module for my 19 year old Audi just recently started to throw a fault code. over time , it’s a known issue these airbag modules go bad when I’m a colder weather. Cost to replace them are $800, or roughly 40% the value of the car. I just use. $25 eBay air bag reset tool every so often. even if they are available electronics parts are incredibly expensive. They will run more than the car is worth.

[svelte]

[quote=flu]

My 2000 Audi had a LED display screen that started to pixelate and fail around the 10 year mark. I found an electronics guy that desoldered the screen and replaced it with a compatible screen that is still functional. The Mercedes had a similar issue that I didn’t bother having repaired. These original led screens where used for informational purposes only, so while they were an eyesore, were not critical to driving the car. [/quote]

Looks like where there’s a need, someone will step up with a solution. $150 if you supply the defective cluster.

PIXEL DISPLAY REPAIR SERVICE for AUDI A4 S4 A6 S6 TT INSTRUMENT SPEEDOMETER CLUSTER DASH

[Coronita]

[quote=svelte][quote=flu]

My 2000 Audi had a LED display screen that started to pixelate and fail around the 10 year mark. I found an electronics guy that desoldered the screen and replaced it with a compatible screen that is still functional. The Mercedes had a similar issue that I didn’t bother having repaired. These original led screens where used for informational purposes only, so while they were an eyesore, were not critical to driving the car. [/quote]

Looks like where there’s a need, someone will step up with a solution. $150 if you supply the defective cluster.

https://www.germanaudiotech.com/products/audi-a4-s4-a6-s6-tt-instrument-speedometer-cluster-dash-pixel-repair-service%5B/quote%5D

Yup, that’s correct. I used one of these guys.

However, this also depends on how widespread the part is for the person to invest the time and money to do this.

Back to the LCD screen display issue on the Audi. The LCD screen used was on all Audis for a few uears. A4, S4 , A6, etc..

These new clusters however are almost model line specific. I don’t think the same cluster you find on the 5 series is the same as the 3 series.

In addition, I think car companies have intentionally designed for lack of serviceability for independent and home mechanics. For example, wrto Tesla, you can’t even buy parts from a parts counter to do your own repair.

[temeculaguy]

[quote=The-Shoveler]I like flu’s car posts LOL.[/quote]

I also like FLU’s car posts.

[svelte]

As if on cue, Jalopnik posted today about Cadillac XLR LED taillights going for about $3K…

https://jalopnik.com/why-a-cadillac-xlr-brake-light-can-cost-more-than-a-use-1840556672

[Coronita]

I can’t imagine electric cars being a long lifetime car that you can keep for 20+years.

But you know I don’t think most new cars will last as long as older more mechanical cars. Here’s another example. Most new ICE cars don’t use a real mechanical gas pedal anymore. And many don’t use a mechanical steering rack too.

My ND Miata uses both drive by wire pedal and also electronic steering. These things are bound to break. BMWs no longer use mechanical shifters for their automatics and many of their cars now use electronic emergency brakes. I would say my NA Miata will probably me more reliable than my NDx even though my ND is a better overall miata…(My ND Miata has other issues. the manual gearboxes have been snapping easily by people. People think they’ve took the gram strategy too far. I’m about to order a spare transmission from Mazda Motorsports with a racer’s discount and store it away in case I snap one out of warranty. I think I already voided it anyway since I stuck a blower on the engine, lol. $1600 for a new transmission with a racer’s discount. that’s cheap. Funny thing is the Fiat 124 is actually more reliable. Fiat engineers stick with the previous generation NC transmission

[spdrun]

Your ND Miata still has mechanical steering … there’s a mechanical shaft connected to the steering wheel driving a gear on the rack. The power ASSISTANCE is just electrical, not hydraulic — it’s actually less prone to leaks and easier to “depower” than a hydraulic rack. Even Teslas (techbro mobiles par excellence) have a mechanical connection between the wheel and the steering rack.

[Author]

Posts