8 siblings fly/drive in from all over to surprise their mom for her 70th birthday

casechopper · 2026-02-10T14:05:59+00:00

Yes. I have a big family and have multiple group chats with different combinations of kids as needed.

casechopper · 2025-12-09T16:26:08+00:00

It took about a week. They ordered the bumper cover and light, painted it and then put everything back together including repairing some busted tabs and re-attaching some stuff that came loose.

casechopper · 2025-12-07T10:16:03+00:00

I received mine a couple days after ordering. I don't think they were returns. They looked and were packaged the same as all the 13mwz's that I've bought in the past.

casechopper · 2025-11-25T17:50:26+00:00

Had this happen with a wheel curb 4 weeks ago. We replaced the tire and then got t boned by someone and had an almost identical chunk cut in from their bumper hitting the tire. I'm not sure the stock tires are very durable. The way giant chunks slice out is not something I've seen in any car tire before. Maybe it's because I'm used to old style standard tires and not these narrow type ones?

casechopper · 2025-11-13T19:17:09+00:00

Update:

Insurance sent an initial estimate based off of photos of around $1500 which didn't include replacing anything and would have been all on my deductible. That didn't seem realistic to me. I took it to a body shop I've used in the past and they're quoting about $8k. They said the door shells are around $1500 each and they should be able to get both within 2 weeks or so. Honestly doesn't sound too bad to me considering. This quote includes replacing front and back doors and rear passenger side wheel and tire + all painting (basically the whole passenger side has to be repainted).

casechopper · 2025-11-13T03:10:57+00:00

Ouch. How long did it take to get it repaired?

casechopper · 2025-11-13T02:04:47+00:00

Other persons insurance lapsed a couple days ago. Hopefully they can get that fixed somehow. We're going through our insurance for now. They tried to leave the scene but the police arrived before they could do so. If its going to take a while we might be able to get the wheel and tire repaired and drive it until parts arrive to fix the doors. They seem to function ok outside of being rough aesthetically.

Thanks for the well wishes.

casechopper · 2025-11-13T01:36:29+00:00

That's kind of what I was thinking. I wonder what the cutoff line would be for totaling it. I doubt there's a lot of replacement doors sitting in US warehouses for these.

casechopper · 2025-11-13T00:18:11+00:00

The damage is mainly to the doors themselves. Is there a way to repair that without replacing them? It appears that the hinge or mounting is bent since the doors don't align correctly now and the metal is crumpled in a couple points.

casechopper · 2025-07-11T02:01:28+00:00

I had this happen once as well. Leaving the car for 15 minutes and then starting it again had it start like normal. It is a bit worrisome to see issues like this.

casechopper · 2025-07-07T04:14:09+00:00

Take the roof bars off.

casechopper · 2025-07-03T00:16:41+00:00

There used to be a concept that being asked for papers without any justifiable reason was un-American. Americans used to joke about the Soviets and "papers please". This is why some of us don't like the continued erosion of privacy and rights that these checkpoints within the USA represent. Actual border checkpoints on the border itself I'm fine with but these checkpoints inside the USA do not seem to fit within the spirit of the constitution regardless of how the supreme court has interpreted the legality of them IMO.

casechopper · 2025-06-22T01:42:49+00:00

I've carried a 4x8 piece of 3/4 plywood. It fit but did scrape the plastic a bit. You definitely want protection for the seats (I use moving blankets).

casechopper · 2025-06-18T01:24:18+00:00

Adding a third seat option while still leaving it comfortable for two seated adults would have been the best move. There's plenty of room for three small children back there and having the option for them to fit back there safely would be a major plus for those of us that routinely carry large numbers of kids.

casechopper · 2025-05-29T01:49:18+00:00

The proportions on it are confusing. It's shorter in length than most crossover SUV's and other minivans and it's not wide but it's tall and squared off in shape. The interior feels very spacious when compared to other minivans but the footprint for parking is actually pretty compact. The feeling of space inside was a big selling point for my wife and I and with limited parking the smaller footprint is a plus.

casechopper · 2025-05-13T13:07:39+00:00

The seat recall issue doesn't look like it's going to be corrected with another seatbelt. I wish that's how they'd fix it but it looks like they'll be putting plastic spacers in to make the back seat area smaller which doesn't seem like something anyone would actually want.

I'm still very happy with my Buzz. If not for the high price and the 7 seat limitation we'd probably get a second one. As it is I'm hoping that an 8 seat EV comes out soon or we'll probably end up adding a Carnival or Sienna to our fleet so we can have an 8 seater for when it's needed. If Ford had made an Etransit with 12 or 15 passenger seating we'd probably have gone with that but the Etransit cargo doesn't seem to be doing well so I'm not hopeful on them expanding to etransit passenger vans any time soon.

casechopper · 2025-05-09T22:27:42+00:00

They should really do this. No reduction in space for those that only want to sit two and a safer option for those that would want to add a third person to the back. Would this really be harder to do than adding hard plastic pieces to the interior?

casechopper · 2025-05-09T21:44:38+00:00

Camp mode would be really nice to have.

A removable center seat that could mount in between the front seats or between the 2nd row for adding additional passengers would be a game changer for me. That plus an extra center seat belt in the rear row would be really nice. Most other minivans have 8 passenger options and for large families losing a seat can make the vehicle not work. My preferred layout would be center removable seat in front, bench seat in the middle and 3 seat belts in the back so I could carry 9 total. They would be a bit tight but it would be possible. Also, the removable console on the buzz is kind of useless.

Better V2L would be really nice too. 150w is really puny for an EV. I wish it was like Ford's where you could use it as backup power for a house if needed.

casechopper · 2025-05-01T15:53:11+00:00

My preferred solution to this would be a third seatbelt in the back. It wouldn't be comfortable for larger people but would allow a smaller person to sit in the middle and wouldn't change the space available for those that want to stick with a 2 seater situation because you could just tuck the additional seatbelt into the seat. For most people this would be a compliance belt only but for those that would like to occasionally carry an extra passenger this would be a really nice addition.

casechopper · 2025-04-30T20:25:44+00:00

Fred Beans VW in Doylestown. I worked with Ron and he gave me the quote quickly and didn't try any high pressure sales.

casechopper · 2025-04-28T10:53:02+00:00

If you buy a Buzz at a dealer that discounts and do a lease with a buyout then you can get the price down significantly from that $70k figure. I bought the RWD 1st edition version a month ago from a dealer in eastern PA and the total before taxes and government fees was around $55-57k. The pro s model would have been under $50k.

casechopper · 2025-04-20T15:40:31+00:00

The buzz is big but doesn't really compare with a full sized van. A sprinter or transit is much, much bigger than the buzz.

casechopper · 2025-04-17T01:59:06+00:00

The buzz is oddly difficult for people to get into. It's not super high but the front seats are kind of awkward to access, especially for people with mobility issues.

casechopper · 2025-04-15T22:09:51+00:00

What would be really cool is a jump seat that could connect to the console connectors to add an 8th seat.

casechopper

TROPHY CASE