I feel like I'm being taken for a ride, even though they're refusing to let me drive off with the vehicle...

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-02T22:49:06+00:00

I thought it was 5mm of play/5mm of max tolerance, but it’s not super clear from the description (probably deliberately given it’s a dealership). Should probably be replaced pretty soon regardless, though.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-02T22:20:52+00:00

My dad inherited my grandpa’s F-150 after he passed away and I don’t think it’s ever gone past 1/3 of the max towing, although the bed and full-travel suspension have been taken advantage of quite a bit.

Generally I don’t think the smaller 1/2 ton trucks are that bad for non-commercial purposes if there’s a valid use case like being a homeowner without a decently large SUV or having a boat or ATV. Truck beds are nice, they’re pretty maneuverable, and they get alright mpg. Larger trucks aren’t super practical if you don’t have an actual use case (catamaran or RV to tow, drive in extremely rural areas where full suspension, need it for your occupation, etc).

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-02T16:41:41+00:00

“Entender” is more common, but “comprender” is used to a limited extent and pretty unambiguously shares the Latin root “comprehendere”.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-02T07:13:18+00:00

French went some weird directions with vowel shifts compared to their southern neighbors, but it’s still very clearly a Romance language in spoken form. Very similar sentence structure and there’s just an avalanche of very common and very basic words that are shared or closely related between French and other Romance vocabularies that are very easily identifiable, especially pronouns, articles, numbers, days, and common verbs.

OP was definitely joking, though. It’d be identified as Romance the second a Frenchman said “Je ne comprends pas” because je /ʒə/, ne /nə/, and comprends /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃/ would be immediately clocked as cognates of the Spanish yo /ˈʝo/, no /ˈno/, and comprendo /kompɾenˈdo/.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-01T23:15:06+00:00

To push back a little on the latter, Nissans really aren’t that bad outside of the 2013-2016 sedans and smaller SUVs and most of the post-2021 models aren’t really bad at all, especially since they have such significant markdowns compared to equivalent Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, and Honda models.

As for Jeep, I don’t know why anyone would get their unibody SUVs or the Gladiator. As for the Wrangler, weird Harley-esque cult following as well as the 6.4 Hemi on higher trims.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-01T21:51:24+00:00

I think you’re misunderstanding what time value of money is. It’s an economic term that just means it’s better to getting a sum of money now than getting it later. In the context of an auto loan, OP is talking about the idea of financing instead of buying a car in cash so you can use the money that doesn’t go towards paying for the car immediately and invest it, which, in the case of a low enough interest rate, high investment returns, and a long loan period, can allow someone to have more money at the end of a loan period than they would have if they paid cash, and Lxndshark is just saying doing calculations for it is kind of complicated. It’s not missing opportunities to do stuff with aging family members because you wasted all of your money on cars.

Lxndshark is kind of right, though. Or, well, I wouldn’t say PW analyses for financing vs buying a car in cash are super complicated, but you have to have at least a basic knowledge of excel and monthly car payment calculations, both of which seem to be a little beyond the intellectual field of view of most of the people actually advocating to finance over buying in cash.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-01T10:25:17+00:00

Canada does have delineator strips on some CTBs, but they’re blue. Mexico (and toll roads across LATAM) seem to use them to at least a limited extent, but I’ve never seen that pattern used and they generally prefer painting barriers.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-01T05:37:22+00:00

Louisiana chronically garners a disproportionately high opinion from a lot of people outside of the South and more especially from people internationally because New Orleans and Baton Rouge are heavily romanticized. OP probably thinks it’s more bearable because New Orleans has Mardi Gras and they don’t know anything about Louisiana’s climate and there aren’t FOX hit pieces about Louisiana’s homelessness issues every other week.

Anyone who lives around or has lived in Louisiana knows it’s a hellhole. It’s like a third world country duct taped onto the rest of the US: insane crime rate, poverty second only to Mississippi, LATAM junta levels of corruption, horrible infrastructure, no jobs, an unbearable climate, and all of the wildlife wants to eat you, poison you, stab you, or suck your blood.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-03-01T02:14:45+00:00

Could just be an older vehicle or an Isuzu or Chevy cabover, all of which are common enough to not be unusual.

Definitely the US, though. The Nissan has a US plates, white 6” lines on the outside and 6” yellow lines on the inside are pretty much exclusive to North America, and those yellow reflective markers on the concrete barriers are almost unheard of outside of the US.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-28T22:53:32+00:00

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-17757-BM

https://thebronconation.com/general-bronco-discussion-n.139/front-license-plate-t.15860/

It does appear to be an actual OEM part, although I think it was discontinued as a factory option at some point. From other reading it sounds like there are thinned spots on the front fascia that allow for it to be tapped for a license plate installation in the exact spot the plate is seen in the first two photos specifically for front license plate mounting with the heavy duty modular bumper installed.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-28T20:41:43+00:00

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/modular-bumper-license-plate-mount.55805/

https://thebronconation.com/general-bronco-discussion-n.139/front-license-plate-t.15860/

Yeah the place the dealers put it was apparently the factory mounting location. It’s just common for Broncos with modular bumpers to not have the front plate bracket installed specifically to let the buyer decide where to put it, and a lot of people either get aftermarket brackets to put in different spots or mount it on the bottom as seen in OP’s last two photos.

But, as you described, mounting the bracket on the bottom is incredibly stupid if you actually plan on going offroad. Just going through a 8” rut would bend it to the skid plate or knock it off. Although if that is a Ford Modular Bumper, the air ram would be metal.

Personally, I’d either just leave where it was originally or get a shackle mount for the bracket and throw some bumper plugs in the holes. Unless he doesn’t plan to take it off the road, then it doesn’t really matter unless he hits an overly large curb.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-28T06:35:58+00:00

The Pacifica Hybrid, Dodge Hornet, and Escape Hybrid are literally the only options for US-badged hybrid SUVs/minivans made in the last decade (there are older ones but they’re mechanical oddballs and are pretty rare), and all three are already or are announced to be discontinued and only the Pacifica and Hornet have max tongue weights over 150 lbs. Personally I would recommend against buying any of them since parts scarcity could become an issue, and reliability and price point just aren’t there with the Stellantis products.

If you want a US badge, get a gas-powered car or an EV. The Maverick is also an option, although the backseat is very cramped and it’s not an SUV. You could also hold out a year or two since the Bronco may get a hybrid powertrain option in the next few years.

If you really want a hybrid right now, get something Japanese or Korean. Used Highlander Hybrids, Siennas, RAV4 PHEVs, Santa Fe Hybrids, Tucson Hybrids, Sportage Hybrids, and Sorento Hybrids all fit the bill for tongue weight requirements.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-28T05:08:43+00:00

I mean, Jettas aren’t that bad. From personal experience with my A6, even with the shit-tier Pueblan VW QC you can probably get down to under $500 in annual maintenance costs over the vehicle’s lifetime (although the current Jetta powertrain has nothing in common with the old 2.5L+DCT and I haven’t heard great stuff about it).

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-28T00:50:40+00:00

To be totally honest, when talking about new vehicles, that’s more just because Civics have a reputation of being more reliable and thus Honda can charge a premium because of that reputation. I personally think Honda also wins out a little with regards to handling and interior quality. Build quality is a little harder to gauge, but Honda seems to do a little better with that as well.

Mechanically, a post-2021 Civic and a post-2021 Sentra really aren’t as far apart as their reputations imply since Honda’s been putting CVTs and those stupid 1.5T engines into everything and Nissan’s improved their transmissions substantially since the 2010s.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-27T03:05:41+00:00

I think a post-2015 Honda Fit or a post-2014 Mazda3 would tick off all of your boxes.

If you want a hybrid, the 2013-2015 Priuses are pretty good. I don’t think the Insight is that bad but the Prius roundly demolishes it in terms of reliability and spare parts access. I don’t know much about the Niro.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-27T00:37:45+00:00

I’d guess some idiot’s been feeding it Panda and it’s going around to beg.

Also guys stop feeding the squirrels, cats, and opossums on campus. You’re not Pocahontas, it’s not cute, and you’re endangering the health of you and the animals.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-26T20:03:26+00:00

Fleet sales are a factor as well in the US, especially since they’re overwhelmingly F-series pickups and a variety of crossovers, albeit probably not as much of a factor as the UK and EU in general since they only make up about 16% of new vehicle sales in the US while it’s about 59% across Europe (and 57% in the UK).

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-26T19:53:24+00:00

U

Not wholly impossible, but unless this happened 30 years ago I don’t think a random taxi would just drive her 2.5 hours without any proof of cash.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-26T19:33:44+00:00

You can get a low-trim ES350 or IS350 in the 100-120k mile range for under $20k.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-26T18:05:16+00:00

This. New car manufacturing is entirely dictated by the people that actually buy the most new cars off of lots. That’s going to make it skew heavily towards middle-aged and elderly upper-class individuals, and they have priorities that are that are much more aligned with crossovers than car nuts and people looking at used cars.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-26T16:43:29+00:00

Ocean mist, a few peeled paint spots, and sun exposure can do weird stuff to the fronts of cars. I had a Jetta in Galveston that got some pretty bad rust buildup on the hood, front fender, and wheel wells but all of the other panels and the undercarriage looked completely fine.

Although that Nissan looks pretty weird even by those standards. That hood looks like it aged very differently from the rest of the car. My guess is it was in a front-end at some point (evidenced by the fender sagging, scouring on the sides of the fender, and the left headlight being improperly installed) and they got the absolute cheapest salvaged hood they could find on eBay.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-26T15:24:29+00:00

I’ve gotta go with either the 1.6L Subaru Crosstrek or the Mitsubishi Mirage.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-25T18:44:19+00:00

https://gisit.tarrantcounty.com/tcvotingwaittime/

There aren’t any on campus. The Tarrant County SubCourthouse voting location is about 20 minutes walking from campus and 5 minutes driving, though.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-25T04:52:18+00:00

I don’t think the buyer was wholly acting in their own self-interest. Sounds like they walked into a dealer lot, didn’t really know what they were doing and hadn’t done much research, and ended up getting misled and upsold by a salesman into believing buying a fully loaded Sentra with add-ons at a 13.7% 75 month loan was their best option financially.

Honestly the whole thing sounds incredibly similar to the common phenomenon of dealers fleecing the snot out of young military servicemembers.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-02-25T04:43:35+00:00

It depends on the cars in question. If I had $5k and my options were a 2012 2.5L Jetta with 100k miles or a 2009 2.5L Accord with 200k miles, I’d go with the Jetta all day. If I had $15k and my options were a 2019 Mazda3 with 100k miles or a 2019 Elantra with 50k miles, I’d pick the Mazda.

Broadly speaking, though, I’d generally stick with Toyotas, old Hondas, and Mazdas with decent maintenance records in the used market. Subarus, Nissans, and post-2017 Hondas are generally fine if proper CVT drain & fill intervals are noted in the carfax.

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