

- Hot
- New
- Categories...
- Producer's Lounge
- Producer's Vault
- The Gulch: Live! (New)
- Ask the Gulch!
- Going Galt
- Books
- Business
- Classifieds
- Culture
- Economics
- Education
- Entertainment
- Government
- History
- Humor
- Legislation
- Movies
- News
- Philosophy
- Pics
- Politics
- Science
- Technology
- Video
- The Gulch: Best of
- The Gulch: Bugs
- The Gulch: Feature Requests
- The Gulch: Featured Producers
- The Gulch: General
- The Gulch: Introductions
- The Gulch: Local
- The Gulch: Promotions
- Marketplace
- Members
- Store
- More...
Side note: LOL, actually it was the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and a bunch of others that deafened me. Not to mention Civil War artillery.
Edit add: You say you had it framed. Maybe the framer used UV glass knowing it was an old document. Check and see.
I found the driving 'assists' such as lane keep assist and 'adaptive' cruise control hugely annoying, and have turned them off where possible. Some of them come back every time you turn the car on, which really ticks me off.
Last Monday, I paid $450 (!!!) for the same thing....for my Lexus. In addition, I still had to have AAA come start it, because nobody carries Lexus batteries, and it took him 20 minutes to FIND the darn thing! It's in the wheel well, instead of under the hood! I'm still wandering around with my mouth open.
that provide nothing more in performance compared to non-luxury brands' parts.
Ditto for luxury-brand labor costs.
Luxury brands, today, are a complete ripoff and in fact include more nanny gadgets
that break in a few years and cost a fortune to replace. This is a recent phenomenon.
Luxury brands used to have some benefits for customers. Not any more.
I'm surprised that you couldn't find a Toyota part that fit the Lexus though.
Often they are interchangeable but they don't want customers to know that.
I have reached the point where 1) I have more money than sense, probably. 2) I will soon turn 75 and have zero interest in car parts. 3) Bought that car when we knew we'd be driving 5 hours one way frequently back and forth to/from Tulsa, and comfort and reliability were at the top of the list 4) this is only the second repair (actually that's more maintenance than repair... so just one repair) since October of 2017 and finally 5) paid cash for the car, so it's no real biggie, but that's still a lot of money.
Probably a lot of excuse-making, but we love that car SO MUCH we bought another Lexus for hubby. Both have performed admirably but still, $450 for a battery is a lot. When it comes time to switch out the traction battery, we might be looking for a substitute brand.
Dealing with repairs can be a real pain when life has forced other priorities on us.
I hope you, your husband, and your cars all have a long life together.
Toyota/Lexus have made reliable and satisfying vehicles so the odds are in your favor.
And he enjoys driving it without all the "Nudging" for lane assist. heads up display crap. And the rearview "camera", etc.
But you know he too shall pass. And soon enough people will NOT be able to backup without a camera, and won't know how to ACTUALLY drive without lane sensors, etc.
I just love those people who walk the talk!
I really hate lane assist here where the Tucson roads are HORRIBLY maintained. Saw a sign recently in a back window "Not drunk - dodging potholes," which is 100% true. I don't know what they do with our money. I thought registration in Texas was expensive but we paid $600 for two years of registration on hubby's car, $400 for mine, in Arizona.
Hubby had a 17-YO Toyota Tacoma and that was one good truck. I hated to get rid of it, but someone stole the Cat-converter and the replacement made a terrible noise. So we got rid of it and replaced it with a Lexus. (We really don't need a truck any more, and hubby wants to be comfortable.)
I have a mechanic in the next town that can keep the truck running - I can do the timing, oil changes spark plugs and normal stuff but he gets it for the front end issues.. But would not trade it in!!!
When cars switched from 6 volt to 12 volt systems, but before the introduction of solid state ignition/voltage regulation (Early 1950's to about the mid 1960's) was the sweet spot.
My personal favorite are the In-Line six cylinder engines in a wagon or pickup truck.
Easy to work on, economical, and with basic maintenance, will out last the owner.