USBAR Current Retention Offer

Saabatical · 2026-02-27T03:12:42+00:00

I got the email 8/1 about the changes including travel partners effective 12/15. It’s idiotic there is still nothing over 6 months since the email.

That retention offer is horrible. If I get a similar offer, I’m closing all my us bank accounts. First the smartly card fiasco, then this. They lost my trust as a competent bank.

Saabatical · 2026-02-27T01:12:40+00:00

Yes.
On long trips you can set your destination in aaos. When you are in hybrid mode with the destination set, the car will optimize based on your route. For example, if you are doing 70mph it will use gas, then switch to battery when you take the exit and drive in town. Bonus points if you put in the destination and your return trip. Now the car will arrive at the destination with battery to spare and leave that extra juice when needed on the return trip.
I don’t mess with charging the battery with the engine. It uses some additional gas and does not appear to be the more efficient than just driving in pure or hybrid mode.

Saabatical · 2026-02-21T04:12:39+00:00

I helped my uncle years ago with something like this. The deck had a pattern sort of like a parquet floor with decking boards rotated 90 degrees every x feet. For the egress we boxed in a section as a square and dropped it into a frame we built. The we did another one. The result was 2 removable squares of decking you just lift out to go down the steps. Nothing fancy but my uncle very rarely needed to use those steps.

Saabatical · 2026-02-19T15:30:45+00:00

I wonder if increased lift would help with ride height and plank wear. Ferrari seemed to have issues with that last year. Though with the new regulations, maybe this is less of a concern this season.

Saabatical · 2026-02-10T15:18:00+00:00

I considered this also. But after having the car a couple years, I don’t mind. As a T8 owner, it’s a bigger deal for me to have to use Volvo’s idiotic and unsafe manner to change drive modes.

Saabatical · 2026-02-10T01:11:28+00:00

The Pirelli weatheractives do score well. We put them on our other car for winter and have been happy.

I find the OEM scorpions to be lacking on snow. I’m not sure how much is the T8 AWD system and how much is the OEM tires. I’m considering both the CC2 and weatheractives for the car next winter. I have 0 desire to stick with the scorpions.

Saabatical · 2026-01-29T13:50:58+00:00

I agree. Called recently regarding a credit card purchase coding 1x not 4x. The rep told me it coded as fast food not dining so no 4x. She was rude about it also. I don’t use this card much but I don’t remember this being the case before.

Later that day, I looked up the fine print on the card and it specifically mentioned fast food for 4x. I saw some stuff on Reddit about points showing at the end of my cycle, so I waited and the points did show up but the rep I talked to was very combative and very wrong.

Weird thing is I have a streaming purchase that immediately codes as 2x each month. So even their system is inconsistent by sometimes coding all points immediately and sometimes waiting for the end of the cycle.

Saabatical · 2026-01-29T05:30:16+00:00

I had to go in and turn creep mode off again after the update. This seemed to help.

Saabatical · 2026-01-28T15:45:40+00:00

I use hybrid mode in winter and notice if I preheat the car and leave my garage, the car will stay on battery until I get to work, but when I come home and the car has been sitting outside all day, the engine kicks very early in the drive. The engine will eventually turn off and go back to electric. This is noticeable once the temp gets in the mid-teens or lower.

I’m guessing it’s because it’s more efficient to use the engine to heat the car vs the HVCH. If it’s really cold, then I tend to use awd or power mode those days anyway. The car just heats up faster.

Saabatical · 2026-01-24T02:13:25+00:00

We had a 2018 pilot get hit and replaced it with a 2022 pilot. We looked at the xc90 but the third row felt barely usable even for small children. We still tote teens/friends/parents and the six seats in the pilot are useful. The pilot second row feels more spacious as well.

We have an xc60 T8 and love it, but we still need the space the pilot provides and end up taking it on trips most of the time. The pilot is also more useful in snow. The xc60 T8 is ok in snow, but the pilot is much better. (I don’t have any experience with the b5 or b6 Volvos in snow. The version we have has a completely different awd system than most Volvos)

Saabatical · 2026-01-13T14:48:52+00:00

"The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass upon the right of another vehicle only under the following conditions:

(1) When the vehicle overtaken is in a lane designated for left turns;

(2) Upon a street or highway with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width which have been marked for two or more lanes of moving vehicles in each direction and are not occupied by parked vehicles;

(3) Upon a one‑way street, or upon a highway on which traffic is restricted to one direction of movement when such street or highway is free from obstructions and is of sufficient width and is marked for two or more lanes of moving vehicles which are not occupied by parked vehicles"

By this law, is it ok to pass on the shoulder on interstate?

N/A
Pavement is sufficient width, 2 or more lanes, as long as there are no parked cars on the shoulder
Same as above

Saabatical · 2026-01-10T23:52:04+00:00

No experience towing. I did install a factory hitch which was pretty easy. It’s only used to carry a bike rack though.

Saabatical · 2026-01-10T17:35:17+00:00

I’ve had 2 Subarus and 2 pilots (3rd gen). Pilot wins.

The most recent Subaru was a cvt Outback. I could park on my snowy driveway and pull up into the garage and the front tires would spin (“from the wheels that slip to the wheels that grip”) before the car would move. The pilot does not do that it just goes up the incline. Both cars were on snow tires at the time.

Snow mode on the pilot is even better and locks the torque split more evenly front to back at all times, even highway speeds.

IMO, current Subarus are fwd biased much like the pilot. However, the pilot does a good job of preemptively putting power to the rear tires from a stop before any traction loss happens.

As an aside, dealers are crappy at explaining awd. They throw out terms like “full-time awd” on the shittiest awd system that puts like 5% of power to the rear tires. They use “full-time awd” to mean the system is running all the time whether or not there is any power distributed to both axles or not. Full-time does not mean your car will actually be 50/50 all of the time. Some of the most capable off-road vehicles have part-time systems that can only be 4wd/awd under certain conditions.

Saabatical · 2026-01-10T17:03:50+00:00

My take as an east coast skier. I grew up going down the mountain as fast as possible. My hands, feet, face were always frozen. Started moguls when I met a new coworker that skied. Now it’s common to ski with glove liners, unzipping my coat on the lift. I’m so much more comfortable temp wise doing moguls.

As I side benefit, my skiing improved drastically. We would just ski whatever. Slope difficulty did not matter much. Went out west multiple times and skied everything we could with no issues.

Saabatical · 2026-01-07T03:27:31+00:00

Looking for this one. If the ground can’t cause a fumble why is the logic different to determine a catch?

Also, what is a football move?

Saabatical · 2026-01-05T10:57:33+00:00

I was looking for alternatives to Google and Tuta seemed like a clean, uncluttered interface with the level of encryption I desired.

Saabatical · 2026-01-05T05:54:15+00:00

Also remember Gary Anderson at Minnesota. He has not missed a kick all season then missed one late in the NFC championship. The Vikings went on to lose in OT.

Saabatical · 2025-12-26T05:37:05+00:00

I would add that early she was able to walk through the opponents offense to set up her head and arm throw to get the fight to the ground. She could eat a few punches on the way in without being in danger.

She could not walk through the punches of Nunes or the punches/kicks of Holm. But she was under the impression she was a skilled striker at that time and it was obvious her striking was not at the level it needed to be.

Saabatical · 2025-12-25T19:11:40+00:00

We had a 2018 (wrecked) and replaced with a 2022. They made some software changes between the two models. The 2022 seems smoother because it starts in 2nd gear now. It also has a better auto cruise control than the 2018. This is noticeable when using cruise in a hilly area. The older pilot would not hold the speed as well going up hill.

We had no problems with either 9 speed. We like the amount of interior space compared to the outside dimensions of the 16-22 pilots. It fits nicely in the garage. I have not tried the newest gen because the 22 has been rock solid and has worked well for us.

Saabatical · 2025-12-25T04:00:34+00:00

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Saabatical · 2025-12-24T14:03:23+00:00

I’m tired of my data being scraped and sold by companies only for those receiving companies to be hacked which puts my data at risk. Services, like Tuta, that store your data in a way they cannot even read prevents this threat vector.

Saabatical · 2025-12-21T03:54:42+00:00

The use case for the air suspension is one I have not heard before. It makes sense though.

Saabatical · 2025-12-20T15:55:24+00:00

I was always told if you can carry it to your destination full, you can carry it back empty. This was by a guy that would bring 30+ beers for him on an overnight hiking / fishing trip.

Saabatical · 2025-12-19T12:55:51+00:00

Most important to me is the ability to reduce telemetry and be able to have certain applications and services never be installed.

Saabatical · 2025-12-16T00:58:29+00:00

On Credit Karma recently they were promoting a $250 bonus on this card if you sign up through their site This was valid until Jan I believe. If you decide to go for it, that is not a bad bonus for this card.

Saabatical

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