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...
Continue reading Honda Civic Si: Playing WMA Files.
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...
Continue reading Sedona succeed? Try, try a tape! Muy bien!.
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...
Continue reading 2006 Honda Accord Hybrid: Shifter Too Slick?.
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...
Continue reading Pontiac Solstice: Catch Me Cuz You Can.
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...
Continue reading 2006 Kia Sedona: Update on the CD Changer.
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.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Oregon Trip Wrap-up.
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...
Continue reading Mazda MX-5: Service and Soccer.
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...
Continue reading Toyota FJ Cruiser: Mirrors Minimize the Blind Spots.
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:
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Headed Home.
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...
Continue reading Honda Civic Si: Towing and Off-Roading.
Categories: 2006 Honda Civic Si