At the Byron Nelson PGA Tour:

"Despite a pair of late bogeys Saturday afternoon and despite an ominous rain forecast for Sunday, Spieth has high hopes as he sits at 17-under par following a third-round 66."

Despite an ominous Sunday forecast, Jordan Spieth is optimistic about winning his first AT&T Byron Nelson

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 10:34 AM, Emily Mae wrote:

I'm the same - drive 'em until they die.? And, I've never bought a new car.

Some guys (and some gals too) just love to drive older cars. There are people that say newer cars are better because of all the technological advances that have been made in the last fifty years. Newer cars are more efficient, safer, faster, more dependable and more economical to operate. New cars don’t need tune-up and they have air pollution systems. And I still prefer older cars.

There are several things new cars just don’t have. First, simplicity.

In my old car, a 1957 Chevy V8, I could change the spark plugs in ten minutes; one time I was driving home in the dark when the alternator light came on. So I pulled over to the Auto Zone, bought an alternator for $35, drove home on battery power, and swapped out the alternator in fifteen minutes without even using a flashlight. One time I watched an ace mechanic replace a water pump on a 1970 Ford with just one hand (the other hand was in a bandage).

These days if you take your car into the dealer for a fuel pump they have to drop the fuel tank, drain it, and install an expensive pump, which could cost $500. In my old Chevy there were two bolts holding the fuel pump on the inside of the fender and a replacement cost $30!

Modern cars are very complex - hardly anyone works on new cars anymore - you have to take it into the dealer for servicing. The electrical system is very sophisticated on new cars - has anyone popped the hood on a new Honda?

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 08:38 PM, Alex Stanley wrote:

My 2015 Escape was a good car. If I'd purchased the 2.0 liter engine instead of the less powerful 1.6 liter, I'd probably still be driving it.

We are considering a VW Golf GTI for running around town about town..

"A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic with launch control that raises revs beyond 4000 rpm before engaging the clutch. The Golf GTI runs to 60 in 5.1 seconds and the quarter passes in 13.6 seconds at 105 mph." YMMV.

VW's latest generation of its classic hot hatchback takes on Little Tujunga Canyon Road



2022 Volkswagen GTI First Test: They Still Make ’Em Like They Used To

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 06:38 PM, Alex Stanley wrote:

My 2015 Escape was a good car. If I'd purchased the 2.0 liter engine instead of the less powerful 1.6 liter, I'd probably still be driving it. Ford is the only domestic brand I'd buy at this point.?

Thanks.? I've been looking at this as a possible affordable replacement for the Jeep—if in fact, necessary.? I drove a 2010 one years ago as a rental on a 10-day road trip through Utah and was surprisingly impressed with the way it drove and the interior layout.? It has a comparable engine size and cubic feet of cargo space.??

Em

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 08:08 PM, Emily Mae wrote:

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 10:47 AM, Alex Stanley wrote:

I still have my 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4, long bed, club cab, 360 V8, 5-speed manual pickup truck. It was my daily drive for 13 years; now, it's the farm truck. After that, I drove a Pontiac Vibe, followed by a Ford Escape, which I just traded in on a 2021 Mazda CX-30 Turbo. The Mazda is a rocket.

Manuals!? My pop drove only manuals his whole life (he's quit driving).? So, of course, we all did too.? What is your opinion of the Ford Escape?
?

My 2015 Escape was a good car. If I'd purchased the 2.0 liter engine instead of the less powerful 1.6 liter, I'd probably still be driving it. Ford is the only domestic brand I'd buy at this point.?

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 10:27 AM, Sal Sunshine wrote:

Do federal prisons allow inmates to maintain blogs? ?Asking for not many people.

Sal

It might depend on his behavior.? Guess not.??
?
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Em

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 10:47 AM, Alex Stanley wrote:

I still have my 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4, long bed, club cab, 360 V8, 5-speed manual pickup truck. It was my daily drive for 13 years; now, it's the farm truck. After that, I drove a Pontiac Vibe, followed by a Ford Escape, which I just traded in on a 2021 Mazda CX-30 Turbo. The Mazda is a rocket.

Manuals!? My pop drove only manuals his whole life (he's quit driving).? So, of course, we all did too.? What is your opinion of the Ford Escape?
?
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Em

开云体育

I tend to view cars as a utility not a showpiece.? The other part of the Forester deal, I was in a situation to pay cash for it which ticked off the closer and probably the lot (but not accounting).? Dealers usually get a payback from the financers.? Also I went in wearing just t-shirt and shorts which made their lead salesman hand me off to "the kid" (probably the owner's grandson).? And so "the kid" got the sale and I could hear the lead salesman grouse about it.? Actually I had been scoping out when they were expecting a new shipment and jumped on it when they came in.

It was also my third Subaru.? The first one I bought in 1977 for $2800 (new) and was a 5-speed wagon (I had to haul drum sets). Replaced it in 1989 with a used 1988 rental wagon that had only 10K miles on it.? That was an automatic because I fought almost no one could drive my 5-speed on trips even if they learned on a manual.? I had also test driven a Subaru Justy but decided it was too small to haul drums in.? Those had a dual transmission system and could be driven either stick or auto.

Subarus are like water cooled VWs and the engine is a Porsche design.? The Forester is about due for another timing belt which won't be cheap.

I still have my 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4, long bed, club cab, 360 V8, 5-speed manual pickup truck. It was my daily drive for 13 years; now, it's the farm truck. After that, I drove a Pontiac Vibe, followed by a Ford Escape, which I just traded in on a 2021 Mazda CX-30 Turbo. The Mazda is a rocket.

开云体育

Yep, pretty funny.

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 07:45 AM, Sal Sunshine wrote:

I drove our car for 15 years when my kids were growing up, which made it very well-used. ?Still looked great at the end, but the engine was definitely shot. ?Traded it in for a smaller car, a Honda Fit, which we loved but that turned out to be a little TOO small. ?So I gave that to middle dd and got a lightly-used Prius which I’ve had ever since, 8 years now. ?

I prefer to buy cars as seldom as possible, in general hang onto them as long as I can unless there’s a good reason not to. ?Really until they basically die.

Sal

?

I'm the same - drive 'em until they die.? And, I've never bought a new car.? When the kids were little I bought a Honda Accord wagon, which they don't make anymore.? It was a great car.? Unfortunately, it was "totaled" in an accident.? My sister was in Guatemala for a year and sold me her 1999 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 L 6-cylinder that only had 50K on it.? I've had it ever since.? Nothing has ever gone wrong with the engine.? Car has 308,000 miles on it and is humming along.? It doesn't get good gas mileage though and I'll retire it to the garage when I can get an affordable and equivalent used electric. I expect it will still be running.??




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Em

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 07:38 AM, Sal Sunshine wrote:

Oh sure Don, that’s why over a half-million died of it on your “watch.” ?

I wonder how many are actually reading this fool’s psycho-babble. ?

Sal

Oh Ugh.? I just checked it out.? Here's one for ya:

Everyone is so tired of watching Karl Rove on Fox News. He has played the game for decades, but all he and his buddies want to do is take your money and run. He’s totally ineffective and does not represent the MAGA Movement in any way, shape, or form. He called me on the evening of November 3rd, Election Night, to congratulate me on my “great win.” When it was revealed the election was rigged and stolen, he flew the coop. Donate your money far more wisely at?!
?
I read this a few days ago.? Mostly, he's just "shouting into the void."??








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Em

开云体育

I drove our car for 15 years when my kids were growing up, which made it very well-used. ?Still looked great at the end, but the engine was definitely shot. ?Traded it in for a smaller car, a Honda Fit, which we loved but that turned out to be a little TOO small. ?So I gave that to middle dd and got a lightly-used Prius which I’ve had ever since, 8 years now. ?

I prefer to buy cars as seldom as possible, in general hang onto them as long as I can unless there’s a good reason not to. ?Really until they basically die.

开云体育

Oh sure Don, that’s why over a half-million died of it on your “watch.” ?

On Fri, May 14, 2021 at 09:47 AM, Bhairitu wrote:

Not exactly pristine but in better shape than many older cars around here.? That's because I use my garage for what it was intended.? I planned to give it a wash next week at the self service wash before they shut them down for the "drought crisis" (I hope we get summer rains like happened when I moved here in 1991).? Service wise it's been kept up fortunately through an independent garage that has a Subaru mechanic.? OTOH, most of where I go is just clustered around here so I don't have to drive far for anything.? In fact I fill up these days about every three months and the car only has a little over 130K miles.

My sister has an ancient relic of a car. She lives in LA. She doesn't wash it or pamper it in any way other than the servicing she gets from some geezer who works out of his garage. The thing is a beater in my books. I am surprised she doesn't get an electric car as she is very environmentally sensitive but somehow she thinks driving the antiquity is better for the environment. I usually keep my vehicles for 15 years or so and they look show room new even after that many years. Anyone who ends up with my used cars get a whoppin' deal. Whenever we take our vehicles in for trade-in the salesmen usually are on the phone immediately to family or friends to let them know a sweet one just arrived. This electric Golf i just bought was an exception to the 15 year situation because I wanted electric and so traded in my Golf Highline after only 5 years. The downside is I no longer have a stick to drive. But, the electric is extremely peppy and I love it.

开云体育

On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 07:01 PM, Bhairitu wrote:

My Subaru Forester is 23 years old this month and still going strong.

Let's see a picture. Do you love it and care for it and keep it pristine?

Not exactly pristine but in better shape than many older cars around here.? That's because I use my garage for what it was intended.? I planned to give it a wash next week at the self service wash before they shut them down for the "drought crisis" (I hope we get summer rains like happened when I moved here in 1991).? Service wise it's been kept up fortunately through an independent garage that has a Subaru mechanic.? OTOH, most of where I go is just clustered around here so I don't have to drive far for anything.? In fact I fill up these days about every three months and the car only has a little over 130K miles.

"The real blockbuster political story of the day came in the form of a video obtained by?Mother Jones?and written about in a detailed article there by Ari Berman and Nick Surgey. The leaked video shows Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America—the political arm of the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank—explaining to big-money donors that Heritage Action has worked closely with Republican state legislators to enact voter suppression laws. “In some cases, we actually draft them for them,” she said, “or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe.”

The story is not entirely new. Heritage (as it is known) published a report last February outlining “best practices” for voting, many of which are in the new bills coming out of Republican-dominated state legislatures. And in a March article for the?New York Times, Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein outlined the role of Heritage Action in Georgia’s and Arizona’s voting restrictions, noting that at least 23 of the proposed state bills that dealt with voting had language that looked like that of Heritage. They also wrote that Heritage plans to spend $24 million to change voting laws in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Texas, and Wisconsin before the 2022 election, and that the person behind the Heritage voting policies is Hans von Spakovsky, who mainstreamed the idea of voter fraud in the Republican Party, although experts agree it is vanishingly rare.

What is new and dramatic about the video is seeing Anderson make her pitch to donors for a coordinated right-wing effort to take the vote away from their opponents. She talks of working with similar groups: “We literally give marching orders for the week ahead,” Anderson said. “All so we’re singing from the same song sheet of the goals for that week and where the state bills are across the country.”

Heritage Action is fighting hard against the Democrats’ For the People Act, which would protect the right to vote, end partisan gerrymandering, and limit money in politics. Heritage summarized the bill, which it called the “Corrupt Politicians Act,” in a short sheet for lawmakers. Anderson explained: “We’ve made sure that every single member of Congress knows just how bad the bill is…. Then we’ve made sure there’s an echo chamber of support around these senators driven by your Heritage Action activists and sentinels across the country where we’ve driven hundreds of thousands of calls, emails, place[d] letters to the editor, hosted events, and run television and digital ads.”

Democrats cannot pass the For the People Act through the Senate without buy-in from all 50 of their senators, and Surgey noted that in March, Heritage Action and similar groups bussed protesters to West Virginia from other states for a big rally at the capitol to pressure Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.

The “grassroots” protest against “voter fraud” is, in fact, conceived, funded, and organized by one of the most powerful elite political organizations in the country.

Manchin has suggested he will not support the For the People Act without Republican support, so yesterday, he suggested a different way to address the recent voter suppression measures. Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, states and local governments that had a history of racist election laws had to get clearance from federal officials before they put new election rules in place. The Supreme Court gutted that rule in 2013 with the Shelby County v. Holder decision (which is why all these new laws are going into the books). Manchin called for restoring the old system of preclearance, but applying it to all states and territories, not just the nine to which it had previously applied, thus taking away the Supreme Court’s objection that it singled out certain states.

Manchin’s workaround wouldn’t deal with gerrymandering or big money, but it would certainly be a start toward leveling the electoral playing field, and historically, support for the Voting Rights Act was bipartisan. No longer. Almost immediately, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) shot Manchin’s plan down."? ~Heather Cox Richardson

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Em

On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 07:01 PM, Bhairitu wrote:

My Subaru Forester is 23 years old this month and still going strong.

Let's see a picture. Do you love it and care for it and keep it pristine?

开云体育

My Subaru Forester is 23 years old this month and still going strong.

The good news in motor car news is all about the Subaru Crosstrek PHEV, a compact sports utility vehicle.? In case you didn't know, plug-in hybrid vehicles, or PHEVs, are the bridge between gas-only cars and fully electric vehicles. With a PHEV, you run to the grocery store on the battery and then if you want to go to the farm the engine kicks in and when you get back home you plugin for a charge.The gas engine keeps it going even when the battery power runs out. Go figure.

2021 Subaru Crosstrek



Toyota RAV4 Prime: A 302-hp hybrid will be able to achieve a zero-to-60-mph time of 5.8 seconds and be capable of 39 miles of EV-only driving. YMMV.

Every Plug-In-Hybrid Vehicle For Sale in the U.S. Today