Brake rotors and State Inspection

pontiac428 said:
Unfortunately the only one with a stick now is the Type R. It's a really nice car, just a little bit large for my taste (feels more like a Taurus than a Civic sizewise), but it is a mature platform and the trim level has more in common with a Corvette in terms of design emphasis. It's a flagship sports car at a good price, seats passengers comfortably and has cargo room for the American market. It's a do-all that you can autocross on the weekends. Fwd driving is really transparent on the road. On the track, they torque steer and that takes getting used to. The Type R has a helical gear limited slip diff that works wonderfully and makes the fwd experience a lot better when you are really burying your foot in it and still holding hard to your line. It can run rings around an older BMW M3, for point of reference.
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Think I'm going to give up the stick for a new car. It's kind of a losing battle these days. The selection has really dwindled. Not considering going to the track, those days really never were, it was a bit too much money then and now. It didn't stop me from trying a few times, and it was a blast, but at this point it's slightly beyond my means. I'm looking for something with some economy and sort of kind of fun. Not soul crushing. I'll plan on driving the hybrid Accord to see how it is. Maybe I will like it, or maybe not. At least it is somewhat economical, and I hope decent to drive. I'll find out if it is slow as a dog, or not.

For my get it out of my system days, I'll use my miata. That's now high on my list to fix. I miss it. Driving it made me happy. Maybe it was just a reminder of the older days when life and responsibility was easier. All I know is when I returned from a drive, any drive, I had a smile on my face. It's not the fastest thing out there, (the megasquirted turbo system helps though) or the best handling anymore, but hey, it made me happy. And yeah, OBD-1, for the win! Nice LS coil packs on it for ignition.

The miata build is a stalled project that needs to be restarted. Tomorrow I will go out in the garage and try to get a sense of how I left it. It's going to be a struggle, as there's probably 3 or more years of junk on top of everything. Going to need a major clean up of the area, just to do an assessment and inventory. Now where the heck did I put that book with all my notes? At least now I have a mill and lathe so I can make some custom parts. In the past I was dependent on the aftermarket, or had to jury rig some stuff.
 
I did venture into the garage and make an initial assessment. Hoo boy, what a lot to do. Lots of crap to clean up. I cleaned for about 3 hours which was about all I could take for today. Found the book with notes in it. Also found lots of mouse turds over things, ugh. Well it seems I was at the point of installing the oil pickup and sealing stuff, and maybe the oil pump. I have to study the books again, because I don't remember how it all goes together there. Probably need to pick up a fresh tube of RTV. Most of the time was clearing off enough space, so I could shuffle clean things and clear the darn turds. Darn mice had a field day in the garage. Looks like a bunny moved in for a while too, saw some pellets on the floor. A regular menagerie.

But I can say, the journey started. And I'm scheduled to test drive an Accord tomorrow. Some progress. Not sure about starting a thread on the miata, yet. Maybe when I get things a little more under control, at the moment it's too chaotic.
 
Well, about that test drive. It wasn't too long, maybe 25 minutes. Even after stopping to adjust the seat height some more, it felt like I was in a deep bucket, which made me a little uncomfortable. I find that a bit weird since my miata seat isn't exactly tall. The car drove ok, the acceleration wasn't outstanding but it got me on the highway without much drama. Visibility was mostly ok, save for being way too low. Stickers on the mirrors and windows didn't help much with visibility... Honestly don't know why there were stickers on the side view mirrors.

The vehicle was just ok, but nothing about the Accord grabbed me, as hey "I like this". Sales manager gave me the quiz, I said it was too low and I wasn't quite used to the ergonomics. It's more than adequate in many ways, but not for me. If I had a hard choice to make, right now, it would be no, this is not the one. Moving on to research other vehicles.
 
The sales critter didn't show you how all late Honda driver's seats are adjustable for height? Huh, his loss, I guess. I think of the Accord as a big car. Did it have the V6?

The good thing is it's a big sea. Lots of fish to try. Mazda and Toyota are still distinctly their own companies and also make good cars. I've driven plenty of Fords that I've thought well about while driving them, but wouldn't want to buy into a US automobile and become an owner for the long haul. Lease, maybe. But all US automakers' efforts at the drawing board serve the shareholders, not the owners. That's shown true time and time again... What, me salty?
 
pontiac428 said:
The sales critter didn't show you how all late Honda driver's seats are adjustable for height? Huh, his loss, I guess. I think of the Accord as a big car. Did it have the V6?

The good thing is it's a big sea. Lots of fish to try. Mazda and Toyota are still distinctly their own companies and also make good cars. I've driven plenty of Fords that I've thought well about while driving them, but wouldn't want to buy into a US automobile and become an owner for the long haul. Lease, maybe. But all US automakers' efforts at the drawing board serve the shareholders, not the owners. That's shown true time and time again... What, me salty?
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Oh, I adjusted the seat height. Still felt like sitting in the bottom of a barrel. Perhaps there was more adjustment available, I don't know. Really should have tossed the salesman from the car. I'm going to do that the next time I go for a test drive. After driving a few more cars, I may re-drive it, without a chaperone. I thought the rear visibility was ok, but the mirrors were a bit small. But, it could be me simply reacting to a totally different layout, which is why I may go back for another drive. I told the dealership that I could be back again. The Accord is large compared to a subcompact, but it's not huge. That being said, if the Civic had a hybrid, I would have driven it.

I dislike dragging someone (from the dealership) along for a test drive. Makes me feel a) not trusted, and b) a lot more nervous that I'll do something dumb by mistake. If I'm by myself, it may take longer to figure things out, but I think I get a better sense of the vehicle. It's really no different than getting into some random rental car and having to (mostly) figure out where everything is.

Remember having a rental in Germany and I pulled into the petrol station and had no idea how to open the gas door. Rather, I had no inkling where the little lever was hidden. My command of the language wasn't that great, nor was it one of my prouder moments. Yeah, felt like an idiot.

I looked at the US offerings and nothing stirred me. And I don't have fond experiences with them, either. As you said, there's plenty of other offerings. Need to look around some more.
 
Larry$ said:
That's why I struggled with German but I did figure out how to order a mug of beer pretty quickly.
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Thats easy.. Bitte einen Krug Bier

Even easier is Eine Bier Bitte
 
pontiac428 said:
What? You didn't know how to say, "Wo ist der Tankklappeentriegelungshebel?" How embarrassing! :laughing:
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Just rolls of the tip of my tongue. :).

Still managed to be able to get more than my fair share of beer. Yeah, that part was sehr gut.
Slowly getting back to my drifted thread... Just checked on what BMW had. They always managed to be just out of my price range. Even though they make some neat stuff, it's not going to work for me.
 
Accord… not for me either. I no longer like cars that I have to drop into… Sister-in-law just changed one for a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid in Platinum trim.

Miata is an all time favorite! Yes, please, a thread on that one!! :encourage:

I have not been to a Mazda dealer in awhile, they do have some new, nice looking cars. Have you been to one to see what they have?
 
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