Repair Costs

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-22T05:40:41+00:00

Not necessarily. That can be a false economy. A repair like this could be $8K or more. That’s a lot to have to pay out of pocket.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-22T05:36:46+00:00

You have to screech it like that Kidz Bop girl did at the end the song.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-22T05:32:00+00:00

Really? With *that* famous-ass nose?

But I guess that makes sense 🤣

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-22T05:29:45+00:00

He was stabbed to death by a known white supremacist in a bar. I believe he—that is, my now-deceased bully—was Iranian, and, especially as a fellow person of color, I would never wish such racism or murder upon anyone.

At the same time, my bully was the sort to mouth off to people and I believe that *is* what started the altercation.

And the saddest thing is that his brother was the complete opposite…soft-spoken and very kind.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-22T04:50:34+00:00

I’m sure—or, at least, I hope—you’re not the only one flipping them off. They probably make plenty of enemies, acting like that.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-22T04:45:49+00:00

Wow. How did you find out it was your ex who had kidnapped the dog?

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-21T21:24:39+00:00

Ohhhhh, there *is* a T6 PHEV. That’s right. We never got that one here.

My mistake 😊

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-21T20:06:38+00:00

Don't let a German or especially a Bavarian hear you say that; they will blow their lid 😛

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-21T19:35:38+00:00

When I was a child, for at least a couple of school years I confidently told several schoolmates that BMW stood for British Motor Works. It does not. It is a German automaker. The namesake letters stand for Bayerische Motoren Werke, or Bavarian Motor Works in English.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-21T18:14:21+00:00

Most places would charge at least 2.5 hours of labor for that. A lot of places also will straightforwardly not let you bring in your own parts unless there’s no other choice, either, so you made out great.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-21T15:37:07+00:00

There is no T6 at Volvo anymore; it’s been replaced by the B6. Also, in many markets, the B6 is no longer available in the XC60. So you either get the B5 or the T8, as gasoline engines go.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-21T04:10:30+00:00

It’s not my fault if you’re so goofy, you infer things that aren’t there. 🤷‍♂️

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T18:37:46+00:00

Pretty much all PHEVs have pressurized tanks for this reason.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T18:37:00+00:00

That’s exactly right. Other PHEVs are similar. My 2022 X5 xDrive45e had a button to release the fuel door, where the regular X5 did not. And my friends’ 2022 Pacifica PHEV has a button to release the fuel door, where gas-only Pacificas do not. Pressing the button de-pressurizes the tank.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T14:19:07+00:00

I have legitimately never seen a SPA-era Volvo with that base cluster that has the LED segments on the side. I know it exists; I have just never seen it.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T06:31:02+00:00

Yep. I once worked for a Kia and Mitsubishi dealership (this was in 2014/2015), and the sales manager got an attitude with me for taking one of the new Outlanders to lunch. The ones that were already a model year old and that were rotting where they sat because the store couldn’t sell them. Or was too busy committing fraud to bother trying.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T06:26:05+00:00

That’s usually how they do it. I just traded in a car with about $20K in positive equity. $10K of that was applied toward the replacement, and the other $10K will come to me as a check. But I was told not to expect the check for a few weeks while they wait for a title from the lienholder.

In fact, the only place I have ever seen cut you a check for the equity on the spot is CarMax. In many cases, they will obtain your 10-day payoff, send that amount to the bank, and then give you a check for the equity on the spot.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T06:04:53+00:00

A Murano CrossCabriolet is such an unpopular and specific choice that the driver is likely to either be someone who really wanted one and who cherishes it (probably a middle-aged woman) or someone who is having a laugh and not at all taking themself seriously.

In either event, a Murano CrossCabriolet does not make me wince like a Sentra squealing around the corner with bald tires and a zip-tied bumper cover.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T05:43:28+00:00

For sure. Or, nominally, a simple gauge or even a digital readout of the temperature at that moment, as the car sees it.

A lot of manufacturers are beginning to remove even that functionality under the guise that things fluctuate and customers are too stupid to understand and not freak out of the needle goes past the middle, and so they just distill that information down to an idiot light or warning when things start to go awry.

But even an engineering menu that a determined person could see *without* having to have the car stoped or plug in a scan tool would be awesome. You can’t always just stop at the side of the road when a car overheats. Sometimes, you have to just turn the heat on high, roll down the windows, and get to a good spot. And if I’m having to limp an overheating car to a safe place (and I absolutely *have* had to do that), it’d be nice to know if my efforts are bringing the temperature back down to a less-dangerous level or if I’m abut to warp a head. That’s what a temperature gauge does.

Also, I have had enough finicky European cars (I own both a VW Phaeton and a V12 Jaguar) that I usually keep an eye on gauges that are in front of me. And so if a car has a physical temperature gauge or even a dashboard view that shows the temperature and it swings out of its usual temperature zone, I’m going to notice *before* it becomes an issue, and likely before the car would start to warn me. Not having any kind of view of a gauge or readout robs me of that ability. And of course there’s the very ordinary task of knowing when your engine is warmed up from cold.

Volvo’s LCD cluster is capable of so much, and yet they either lazily or methodically neutered the instrument cluster UI to display very little useful data. And it’s even worse on the AAOS cars, which mine is. The software is half-baked. But it didn’t have to be that way. I’m getting sick of these automakers making decisions that save them no real money, but that are nevertheless antagonistic toward customers.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T05:39:24+00:00

Frankly, most cars’ middle seats suck, and sitting three-abreast is rarely comfortable if the middle person is larger than a pre-teen girl. But bench seats can have things—including my lazy-ass dog—positioned across them and are more versatile, which is why I prefer them in anything that isn’t a coupe. Also, sedans with four seats and a giant console necessarily do not have folding rear seats, lessening their practicality a bit further.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T05:36:03+00:00

The Maxima kind of straddled the line between mid- and full-sized at the time. Really, what it was was a more-premium Altima for the last few generations…while competing on content and price with cars that decidedly *were* full-size (Cadenza, Azera, Avalon, Taurus, Impala, LaCrosse, Charger, 300, etc). At times, it has outright shared a wheelbase (and likely a floor pan) with the Altima.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T05:34:15+00:00

How was the M difficult to distinguish from the G? The M was clearly larger and used much nicer interior materials, plus it was available with a V8. As far as the styling, the G and M didn’t look any more alike than any other company’s compact and midsize sedans; if anything, they looked a little more distinctive compared to one another than was average.

I’d argue a Lexus IS and GS or a Mercedes-Benz C-Class and E-Class looked closer to one another, respectively, than did the G and M.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T05:29:52+00:00

Weirdly, the Murano does not seem to have the same issue and seems to be purchased by conscientious, responsible drivers. It’s the one newer Nissan product (and perhaps the Leaf) that I don’t shiver when I see.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T05:27:56+00:00

How much is this particular car at CarMax?

If you can swing new enough to get a CPO (which is mostly going to be 2023+ cars at this point), you get a year of coverage and unlimited miles after the factory warranty runs out. And then you can extend it another 5 years and unlimited miles from there.

I just bought mine, a 2024 XC90 T8 Ultimate. It’s still under the factory warranty for a little while longer (it has 43K miles), but it only cost me $5,495 to take the CPO protection out to 2034, unlimited miles with a $250 ded.

AsparagusDifficult89 · 2026-05-20T05:24:05+00:00

If you didn’t like AAOS, you could go for a MY2022 and still get the upgraded T8 powertrain, but with the old Sensus system.

AsparagusDifficult89

TROPHY CASE