As Donna noted in a previous post, the Honda Civic Si's audio system is pretty "mega." In times past, I relied on its auxiliary input mini-jack port for my audio listening pleasure. But this situation ended yesterday when my Iriver MP3 player developed a fatal flaw. Thankfully, our Civic offers a number of different audio choices: regular radio, XM satellite radio and a CD player that can play MP3 or WMA files. I was happy about the availability of the latter because my music collection is in Microsoft's WMA format...
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Categories: 2006 Honda Civic Si
After being nonplussed at the Sedona's "PC LOAD LETTER"-esque nonsense with the CD player (I'm learning freakin' Spanish here! Vamonos!), I was, eh, plussed by the existence of a tape player.
No new cars have tape players anymore. As such, I had to buy a whole other Spanish program as my dad's "Living Language: Spanish" course on two cassettes was useless on the commute -- hence my recent adherence to the "Berlitz Rush Hour Spanish" complete with ridiculous songs about the asking for scrambled eggs with organ in F major.
But in the Sedona I could finally crack open the tapes and listen with ease...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
This one goes into the nit pick file for the Accord, a folder which gets used a lot since there really isn't anything seriously wrong with this car. My complaint has to do with the shifter, specifically its tendency to go right into third gear. The detent is so smooth you hardly notice that you've slipped right past "Drive" and into "D3". I usually don't figure it out until I go to parallel park and after pushing the lever two slots forward I find myself sitting in neutral...
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Categories: 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid
I don't understand how people can cop an attitude toward the Solstice. I'll be sitting at the stoplight in the Pontiac minding my own business when a bully of an F-150 driver in the next lane guns his engine, powers ahead and jumps right in front of me. "I think you think I'm faster than I am," I want to laugh at the truck driver. But where I couldn't catch up to the truck with the roadster's four-cylinder power (obviously), I easily danced around the monster in the curves, ha...
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Categories: 2006 Pontiac Solstice
You might remember that the Sedona's in-dash CD changer stopped playing CDs in mid-July. Inserting any type of CD results in this error message, and if you keep trying to load it, the player eventually spits the CD out. Unfortunately, Kia of Long Beach initially ordered the wrong stereo head unit (the non-Infinity variety) -- which is why Dan couldn't take the van on his Oregon road trip. Since then, the dealer has reordered the correct head unit and we hope to have it installed soon...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
It's over! The Jeep spent the night in MY driveway, and I spent the night in MY bed. Vacations are excellent therapy for body and soul, but getting home after spending 1,900 miles on the road is a great feeling. All that's left is to roll into work this morning and release this final blog entry.
For our family at least, the Commander didn't turn out to be the ideal road trip implement. This Jeep seems better suited to empty-nester duty at the ranch or someplace similar where the off-road related trade-offs would be appreciated and utilized.
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Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Last Thursday our Mazda MX-5 paid a quick visit to Long Beach Mazda for regular service. Service Writer Steve, quite possibly the world's nicest guy, facilitated our oil change needs in record time. Total cost: $70.97.
On Friday night, my husband and I jumped in the MX-5 to make the near 1,000-mile round-trip to Sacramento for a youth soccer tournament...
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Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
As we've noted before, rearward visibility is none too good in our long-term Toyota FJ Cruiser, which can make it a little tricky to maneuver in urban areas, despite the fact that it's not very long or wide for an SUV. However, during a weekend in the city with the FJ, I found its blind spots pretty manageable. Its bumper-mounted reverse sensors certainly help, but more useful for parking are its exceptionally large outside mirrors. Properly adjusted, these mirrors allow you to see pretty far to either side -- and once I started taking full advantage of them, I started feeling a lot more confident...
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Categories: 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser
Our Oregon adventure has entered the final phase: driving home. After re-packing our stuff and saying our good-byes, we pointed our Commander south for the 900-mile or so return trip. The run home will follow a more direct route, as the dog is waiting for us and the kids are itching to see who their teachers will be next year.
Three of the Jeep's electronic gadgets have already helped this driver wile away the miles behind the wheel: Sirius satellite radio; the Navigation system; and the Tire Pressure Monitoring System readout. Here's how they are doing:
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Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Last night, I dreamt that I used our Honda Civic Si to tow a car trailer loaded with a full-size Chevy pickup. I recall being quite excited about the prospect of posting a blog entry concerning this rather amazing feat.
Alas, company policy is such that we can only write about real events, not made up stuff.
In fact, the Civic was idle for much of the weekend...
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Categories: 2006 Honda Civic Si
Went on a Ford GT owner rally this weekend. The route started in Pacific Palisades and wound its way up the coast to Santa Barbara. There were 15 cars in attendence, even though I didn't bring one. I wanted to attend the rally but the wife and kids obviously don't all fit in the GT...
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Categories: 2005 Ford GT
My parents own a hilltop house with a 180-degree view of the Pacific near Pistol River, Oregon. Another higher hill sits behind their place, with an old logging track servicing the top. The steepest portion is something dad proudly calls the Wall of Death, a narrow, 30-percent steep stretch made slippery by a coating of pine needles, gravel and twigs.
Low-range and a steady application of throttle are necessary here. The steepest portion is deeply shaded, making it a poor photo op. But the payoff at the top is an even more sweeping 360-degree view, with the unspoiled, rocky Pacific coastline at our feet, and the Trinity Alps behind. I don't understand why he wants to sell this place...
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Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Yesterday was the first full day of nothing to do but relax. Finally.
Our first task was to load six of us into the Commander and head for Jerry's Rogue Jets, where we hopped on a jet boat to take us 52 miles up into the Wild & Scenic portion of the Rogue River. Fantastic. Everyone should make this trip.
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Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
During a 60-mph freeway run last night, I noticed the Solstice seemed to be fidgeting more than usual over grooves and joints. So this morning when the tires were cold, I checked the pressure and found that they were all a couple psi over spec. As I was resetting them to the correct pressure, I couldn't help but notice all the damage to our long-termer's right front wheel. That polished 18-inch five-spoke still looks great from a distance, but look close and it's a mess...
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Categories: 2006 Pontiac Solstice
When I fueled up the Solstice this morning, I decided to check the oil. Easier said than done. Ordinarily, GM's 2.4-liter engine is transverse-mounted, but to make it work on the rear-drive Solstice, engineers flipped it around. That puts the dipstick at the back of the Solstice's engine bay underneath a couple of hoses...
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Categories: 2006 Pontiac Solstice
The majority of cars have small hooks in back that can be used to hold clothes hangers. While they're fine for a single hanger (hanging up your suit jacket while driving, for instance), I've often found them to be inadequately small for holding a bundle of clothes picked up at a dry cleaners. Our Honda Civic Si, however, bucks the trend. Its hooks flip down from a recessed position and are big enough to hold four or five hangers without a problem...
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Categories: 2006 Honda Civic Si
Our Jeep Commander is back in service! Thanks to Harper Ford / Kia / Jeep, their helpful Green Team service writer Scott List, and an anonymous mechanic, a new starter arrived in the morning shipment from San Francisco and was installed by lunch. And no, I don't think we received any special treatment, as I never let on where I work or what I do for a living.
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Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Yesterday afternoon, my folks drove 120 miles south and rescued us from the Lost Coast Brewery, a wonderful little joint that we had set up camp in while we waited. We transferred our belongings from the stricken Jeep into the back of their Honda Odyssey. Even with the Honda's third seat in use, all of our stuff from the back of the Jeep, plus items the girls had piled between them in the second row, fit well below the headrests in the Odyssey.
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Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
As the days get shorter and darkness falls a little earlier each night, my evening commute is getting duskier. I like the colorless dash lights on the FJ Cruiser. They light up white on a black background and make a nice contrast to the toyish blue and white exterior paint scheme.
Our FJ continues to get stares from other drivers and pedestrians...
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Categories: 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser
Driving our 2006 Pontiac Solstice around town on a cool, late summer evening can be quite pleasurable. There are no seat heaters in this car, but cranking the fan speed dial to setting 2 turns the cockpit into a personal convection oven. These two large vents on the center stack channel torrents of warm air directly at the driver. I think this may be my favorite thing about Pontiac's roadster...
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Categories: 2006 Pontiac Solstice
