Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Inflation adjusted, almost all new vehicles are cheaper than they were 20 years ago.

Price sensitive customers never shopped new to begin with.

The used market is inflated as well. Some people are asking for nearly new car pricing for used cars.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Inflation adjusted, almost all new vehicles are cheaper than they were 20 years ago.

Price sensitive customers never shopped new to begin with.

How much does the hedonic adjustment factor play a role here, though?

(That's not me trying to be difficult and just a genuine question.)

[bc-chris]

i'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with adding 'sound deadening' stuff to a vehicle?

this summer i replaced the door latches and the door pins/bushings in my '89 chevy truck. i'm going to replace the latch striker pin over the winter, but to do that i need to remove most of the interior trim, the seats and seatbelts to do that (what idiot engineer approved that for a design?!??!). so basically if i also remove the center console and my carpet i can add sound deadening to my truck's interior - which would be awesome.

i'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with the different manufacturers...
hushmat, siless, kilmat, fatmat, resonix, etc.

i can get all of those except resonix on amazon... hoping for maybe a black friday deal??

[TorqueDog]

^ I'm interested to know the same, honestly. I want to make my L405 even quieter, short of swapping for the thicker window glass from the 2018+ models, and was considering picking up a bunch of sound deadener to have a go.

[Ugly Kid Joe]

My son recently bought a new-to him 2015 Dodge Ram - no backup camera. Any recommendations on an aftermarket backup camera that we can install? Looking at mid-range price wise.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by Ugly Kid Joe

My son recently bought a new-to him 2015 Dodge Ram - no backup camera. Any recommendations on an aftermarket backup camera that we can install? Looking at mid-range price wise.

earlier this year i bought a backup camera system from master tailgaters - it works AWESOME!
what sold me was they had a replacement bezel for my tailgate handle and the camera is built in - so it looks stock! my truck doesn't have any kind of "screens" in it (it's an '89 chevy) so i also got one of their mirrors that has a screen built in - it works fantastic and was very easy to install.

this is the link for the dodge ram cameras: https://www.mastertailgaters.com/col...-attribute=Ram

rearview mirrors: https://www.mastertailgaters.com/sea...last&q=mirrors

the mirror i got from them must have been discontinued becuz was a great price (under $120) and it works fantastic

Graphic1 by bc-chris, on Flickr

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The whole Toyota thing is really interesting in this timeline. We are long past the days where their vehicles were built to a higher quality standard. IMO Honda and Mazda vehicles are clearly higher quality as Toyota now only used good stuff in Lexus vehicles.

The insatiable demand for Toyotas is even more interesting when you hear of them moving to a nine-year product cycle.

https://www.autoblog.com/news/next-g...lmost-a-decade

Why bother updating models (i.e. the 2025) RAV4 when there's 2 year waits for them already? They are supposedly putting a lot into OTA updates for their new Infotainment platform to keep things fresh, but I have my doubts given how crappy Toyota infotainment has been.

It will be interesting to see if this demand keeps up given the issues around their latest powertrains.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Most people would be best served bypassing the Toyota dealership and buying an Honda instead. The Civic and Accord in particular are almost a class above in every way.

Unless that Civic / Accord / CRV has the 1.5L turbo - speaking of engines that killed a manufacturers hard earned reputation. Between fuel dilution issues, winter heat performance, and head gasket failures - I'd take that 2.5L Toyota any day over this time bomb any day.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Audi and MB simply can't compete on the same level of performance and reliability.

It's also the only realistic option. Audi is dead to me after entirely bailing on coupes, that along with all their new models looking terrible. With Lexus RC also now dead and the CLE being absurdly expensive... that leaves the 2 and 4 series.

When the rocker arms inevitably blow up in my '18 S5, I can't wait to get into a 440 or God willing an M4.