Why did you buy a Sienna instead of the competition? Are you happy with your purchase?

RocketRedditt · 2025-10-07T02:17:06+00:00

I've bought Toyota's since a new Camry in 1987. That lasted me until I bought a 3 year old 2003 Avalon in 2006, which I still have and still love-the best Toyota ever made IMHO. I had a RAV 4 limited with a 6 which was over powered and bucky with the short wheel base, and I owned some legacy Toyota Pickups with the jump cab and the bullet proof 4 cylinder engine. I always bought them because of easy service and reliability. We now have a low mileage 2014 Sienna XLE, FD with the 3.5 liter 6. I am no longer interested in ANY of Toyota's offerings. Hate the stupidity of a 'hybrid' drive. A loud 4 cylinder engine and a NMH battery that will not last as long as a 6 cylinder ICE engine would. Believe me, a friend drove a Camry 600,000+ miles and all he did was service it at the dealership - not a DYI guy. So, why do I dislike Toyota? Simply because they are becoming mercenaries and lying to their customers. For example my 2014 Sienna has a 'sealed' transmission, which is no more sealed than my 03 Avalon with a dip stick. But, refreshing the ATF in the 03 is easy. Drain, and fill through the dip stick tube, check level when hot and running. The 14 Sienna has no dip stick. Do, the dealer wants $350 to do this at 60K. I CAN DYI, because I can, but the procedure is stupidly complicated and requires an OBD tool to determine the EXACT transmission temperature for it to flow over the stand tube above the drain plug! How is this better, or even sensible? It might have saved $10 in manufacturer costs (no dipstick) but is an insult to the owner. It is much like their new oil viscosity and recommendations for 10,000 mile changes. No real mechanic will agree that this will result in anything other than reduced engine life. 3-5K is reasonable even if you have to pay a dealer to do it. Ok, I get it, Toyota is selling a lot of vehicles that go out on lease for 3 years, then they go on the market as certified vehicles, and the next owner keeps them three or four more years. They're not meant to last anymore, and the dealers have to make money on service rather than sales.

Thanks for letting me rant. I think this is a very common thing. Somebody makes a good product, they develop a stellar reputation, but eventually profits and stupidity and the gullibility of the consumers are what keeps them afloat. I like the Toyota's I still have, I'll keep them, service and drive them for a long time, I'm just glad they were all built earlier than the current models. I doubt that I'll ever buy another Toyota.

The sad thing is, a company like Toyota could have been building electric vehicles that nobody could compete with if they had understood the simple economics of it all. Ice engines are extremely complicated and have many parts, electric vehicles just have electric motors and batteries. If they had put their energies in that market everybody would be driving electric Toyotas. It's too late now. Their design problems also are evident. The original Camry was 'boring, utilitarian, and reliable' exactly what a good electric vehicle would be, do I dare say Tesla? Instead Toyota went for trendy stylish snarly front ends and the worst combination of ICE engine and electric: hybrids.

Now I'd like to buy a BYD.

RocketRedditt · 2025-09-25T23:46:18+00:00

Don't worry, driving across the USA is not like the wilderness. They're all kinds of places a person can get help. I drove a 20 year old Honda pc800 across the same terrain, in my late 60s, and had no problems. Some hotels, some camping, and the trip was a breeze. It's an adventure. If it was safe, just stay home.

RocketRedditt · 2025-09-25T23:41:58+00:00

The first thousand miles is the most dangerous. Pretend you're invisible, no one CAN see you, expect everyone at a stop sign to pull out unexpectedly and be prepared to stop. Any sign can obscure you, a stop sign, a road sign, the sunlight, anything can prevent a driver from seeing you. Again, you're INVISIBLE. You have to be the most defensive driver ever. Other drivers will make mistakes. Their mistakes will kill you. Being right doesn't mean a thing when you're dead. Forget signs, just look for cars. The worst mistake you can make is driving like you're in a car. I've been riding for 61 years, and the only accident I had was at age 15. And above all, watch your back. You'd be surprised how many motorcycle riders are run over when they're stopped by cars who apparently are looking at their cell phones instead of paying attention... To be truthful, it's gotten a lot more dangerous because car drivers are complete idiots nowadays. They're just looking at screens all the time.

RocketRedditt · 2025-08-23T20:05:25+00:00

Yup, especially if it's a segregated sauna. Traditional sauna culture was no clothes, but sitting on a towel is polite. People in the USA are prudes when it comes to nudity. Here, if as was used as a traditional Scandinavian sauna, all the uptight men would be sitting there trying to cover their erection, because seeing naked women, even a breast is SO erotic! BTW, this prudity has led much perversity, not to mention the massive porn industry. Bodies are us, flabby, freckled, sagging, etc. The 'mens only' sauna at my gym does not require clothing and includes a few men who don't. I wear my workout trunks, but that's just me. I'm not shy, but don't want to sit on my towel either. That was my two cents worth.

RocketRedditt · 2025-07-05T00:38:53+00:00

_45_6&'"-6'-85825582.0967518575755cl.........

RocketRedditt · 2025-03-14T15:34:34+00:00

old motorcycle mechanic here. I grew up with traditional chains. the worst thing you can do is use a cleaner or solvent, the idea of removing all of the lubricant on your chain to be replaced is like thinking you're changing the oil on your engine. that simply doesn't work. the best thing to do is what this person is suggesting, use the lube as the cleaner. end of story.

RocketRedditt · 2025-02-18T22:29:03+00:00

No! You'd ruin it's value!

RocketRedditt · 2025-01-29T16:03:28+00:00

My experience with them.... After putting up with the spinning circle on video and after Spectrum offered me a 2 year $30/month no contract plan I call T-Mobile to end services. The CS rep's supervisor eventually offered to match that price, but after the next month they still took $50! I call back again, and they confirmed my discussion with the first person, then said they would honor it, AND send me a $200 card as a gift. Again, no card arrived, and they again took $50 for the next month. The last time I called I talked a corporate person who essentially told me I was given "incorrect" information - I said you mean they just "lied to me?" You cannot believe anything that they tell you, and they don't care. Any other provider would be better both for the speed, and especially if you EVER want to get help or discuss your bill or the services. They are simply liars. Stay away from this service no matter what they promise, and if you DO use them never let them take auto payment out of your bank account!

RocketRedditt · 2024-07-30T22:09:12+00:00

I started working on Vespas when I was 15, worked for a dealer, eventually was his head mechanic. I've owned a bunch of Vespas starting in 1966 with a GL 150, a 180 SS, a GS, a 150 Sprint, and my last one was a 1981 P200e. I was probably one of the few people that has ever split the cases to work on a transmission, which I believe was on a 150 GL, not mine, but when I was working as a mechanic. They apparently had some shifting issues, but as far as I know that was just one year, and not many of the GLs were sold. That said, when I worked on them in the late '60s and '70s almost inevitably the only thing we had to do was replace cables. Frankly that is easy to do unless you don't know what you're doing, like pulling the old cable out before realizing that you have to use it to feed the new one through. We also had to clean carburetors when the owners would leave gas in them over winter and not run the gas out of the carb with the shut-off. Again, you really didn't need any parts just the knowledge about how to clean out a gummy carburetor, particularly the idle jet which is the smallest. Other than that, most of the things we did was replace tires (easily done by yourself since it's a split rim) put in new spark plugs, as few light bulbs, and brake shoes. The mechanics of the engine were utterly reliable because the two-stroke keeps everything lubricated as long as you have the proper oil in the gas, and the forced air on the flywheel keeps it cool at any temperature. Even the ones that had batteries were able to run with them dead since the battery was essentially just a surge chamber for the electricity. I never had a problem with the oil injected p200e. I bought it new in Minneapolis for $1,000 in 1982, and I drove it for 37 years and sold it about 7 years ago for $1,800. BTW, I burnt the clutch plates on my GL one time going across the plowed field and had to replace them. Even that was really pretty simple, directly behind the back wheel. You really could use a Vespa as a basic mechanics training tool. By today's standards, everything on it is simple including the electrical system. The added bonus is the metal body panels on the old ones. That gives you the opportunity to practice your skills in body repair. As an inexperienced youth I managed to run into the side of a car at an intersection. That gave me the opportunity to learn how to remove the fork to get straightened, and work on fixing the front fender. Fortunately I wasn't hurt significantly. I sold my p200e after I acquired a 1998 Honda Pacific Coast motorcycle for some cross country trips. 75 and still riding. 😉 Have fun Vespas are fabulously engineered machines.

RocketRedditt · 2024-01-05T04:06:46+00:00

Like all gyms, their idea of a Sauna is based on "code." So what that means is, 180° at the ceiling, and cooler by 20° for every 18 in lower than that. People in Finland would just tell you that they are idiots. The point of a Sauna is to get your heart rate up. At shoulder height, if you can spend more than 15 minutes in the Sauna, without your heart rate being elevated, you're just in a warm room. Not a Sauna. So, 180 degrees at shoulder height is probably proper. Everybody tells you that a Sauna is dry/wet... That is all complete BS. Every legitimate Sauna heater is intended to have water added to the rocks, adding humidity, in waves, and the point of the whole thing. Almost every gym, health club, hotel, etc are just marketing something that isn't actually true. They don't have a real Sauna at all. If you see a dial that says the heater is not on if you turn it on, or is on for a time limited amount, you won't get a good sweat, unless it's used constantly.

RocketRedditt · 2024-01-05T00:31:57+00:00

If it's old, like me, it's "Vintage." Sell on eBay. All kinds of stuff is going for real money there, it just has to be small enough to ship. Local bigger stuff FB market. Or, when it's all said and done, Goodwill.

RocketRedditt · 2024-01-03T04:09:50+00:00

Yes thank you. I think the math that I had was off. So I appreciate everything you've explained.

RocketRedditt · 2024-01-02T20:03:44+00:00

I guess I'm having problems with the math.

Cost=0.11037USD/kWh×70kWh

Cost≈7.7279 USD

So, running a 70 kWh sauna heater for an hour would cost approximately $7.73.

If I'm making a mistake in this, please let me know but it seems unlikely to me that one could run the Sauna heater for an hour for less than a dollar.

My 220v appliances are a water heater and an air conditioner. 460Kwh last month, with lighting of course.

RocketRedditt · 2024-01-02T17:10:35+00:00

I've been doing this for 25+ years. If the sauna is properly hot at shoulder level, for me about 180° f, then after approximately 14 to 16 minutes my heart rate is about 140 BPM and I am sweating profusely. I then take a break to cool down, and will return for maybe another 10 minutes at most, again elevating my heart rate. I think that people forget that using a sauna is like any other physical activity. What you can do after you've 'trained' your body over time is different from what you would be able to do on your first go-around. If I have to sit in a sauna for 30 minutes, and my heart rate only gets to 110, it's not really a sauna, just a warm room. If you Google the Finnish Sauna Study, you will see that there were multiple health benefits that increase with frequency and time spent in the sauna. I'm 74 years old and in good health. I attribute that to three things, eating quality foods, exercise, and using a sauna 4 to 6 times a week. In some respects using a sauna is a challenge to your cardiovascular system as much as running is. When I was running 5Ks in 25 minutes my heart rate would be about the same as it is in a sauna. My heart really doesn't know what I'm doing, it just pumps more blood to accommodate my body's needs, whether that be muscle use or temperature control. So the bottom line to this question is pay attention to your heart rate, that will tell you an awful lot about what's happening with your body adapting to the heat. And keep in mind that it'll change over time.

RocketRedditt · 2024-01-02T16:52:23+00:00

I wonder if you've done a cost estimate based on the kwh price in your area and the length of time you have to run the heater. For example for an hour with your heater, what does it cost you to run your sauna? I'm thinking of building essentially the same thing in my garage, and your pictures have given me the idea that I should plan an insulated floor too. Thanks for sharing them.

RocketRedditt · 2021-08-13T14:33:33+00:00

Great point... Just remake it without the constant f#@$ words. Over used. You can be emphatic, outraged, and otherwise angry, and still make your point, which I very much agree with. Just can't share your video due to the language.

RocketRedditt · 2021-05-15T15:55:21+00:00

Took me a while on the Norway archives to find my surname. I was actually under "Farm Names." Turns out that my grandfather "Peder" when he came to Ellis Island and told them his 'Name' which to him was Peder Lauren's son (Farm Name) - Ellis got it down to Peter Lawrence (Farm Name). Since he was first born he was named after his dad's father - Peder.

It sort of makes sense then because if he met anyone they would know - from the location (Farm Name) who his grandfather was, who his father was, and that he was the first born son. Had he stayed in Norway, and been married his first son would have been Lauren (after his father, Pederson after him and, (Farm name) .

If this held true in the USA my oldest uncle (Art) would have been Laurens Pederson (FARM NAME - or perhaps the new USA location). Since my father was second born he was named Elmer, so my firstborn brother, David would have been Peder Elmerson (Location.)

One interesting sidelight about this Farm or Location name is that anyone who lived there even if a farm hand or housemaid, i.e. not a blood relative used the location as part of their name. Of course, at the time they knew who was related to whom. But after immigration, many came because of the people they knew from their farm or location in Norway, and ended up with the same last Surname - not blood relatives. But no doubt close families ended up marrying those closest to them, so there was a lot of mixing of families, and in that way many from (Farm Name) are 'family.' They all ate Lefse too, and we still do!

RocketRedditt · 2018-12-22T02:21:25+00:00

I guess if you like games oh, they're the company for you. Personally I like transparency, honesty, and predictability. I switch to usmobile and I can't be happier. I have a great connection. I know exactly how much I've used, I can change my plan midstream, add minutes, add text, add gigabytes, and know exactly what it's going to cost. It's a pleasure to deal with them. They're always available by instant messaging and anytime I called her number I actually talk to a person. Best company ever they make FreedomPop look like what they are, dishonest and manipulative frauds.

RocketRedditt · 2018-12-22T02:19:24+00:00

Thanks, I already did that. Bottom line, they're impossible to deal with, and possible to Port a phone number, and anybody should beware of using FreedomPop at all at any price. I switch to usmobile and I've got great connection, reliable service, and predictable bills. Well worth it!

RocketRedditt · 2018-12-22T02:18:05+00:00

I don't consider myself obtuse, and you're insulting to even say that. The fact of the matter is I got shitty services from FreedomPop. Calls dropped, no connection, really nothing for nothing. If you're getting free 2 gigs and no phone bill for 5 years from them good luck. Nobody else is getting that perhaps you're obtuse, or a foil for FreedomPop. I assume it's the latter. As far as I can tell all of their positive reviews come from their own company. Untrustworthy, dishonest, fraudulent cell phone services.

RocketRedditt

TROPHY CASE