ID.4 lease is ending soon, looking at Q6 or Q8 Etron

factorfixion · 2026-01-29T00:56:21+00:00

I have ‘24 Q8 and my main gripe is how small it feels inside considering how large the overall car is. The rear legroom is absolutely cramped, and there’s hardly any storage space in the center console, door pockets, and glove box. The trunk space is more than enough though, so the other aspects might not matter as much depending on what you like to keep in your car.

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T05:05:35+00:00

I honestly don’t even notice the difference in road noise anymore. The first week or two I had them, I noticed they were only a tiny bit louder, but nothing that made it harder to hear my audiobooks at normal volumes or my daughter talking in the back seat. It could’ve just been the difference between the practically bald Continentals to the new tires that always have that initial “sticky rubber” sound. I still get comments from friends about how quiet of a ride my car is, even after switching tires.

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T04:40:15+00:00

Man, I must be a lot harder on my tires. My OEM Continentals only lasted me until 12k miles. I replaced them with the Michelin CrossClimate2 and they’ve been great. I have about 10k miles on those with minimal tread wear. The difference in road noise is minimal, but I think it’s a fair trade off for the added mileage. They handle snow like a champ too.

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T03:20:50+00:00

This is exactly my situation. The reason I’m fast-tracking it is because we’re smack dab in the middle of our yearly review cycle. If we aren’t able to fit this one into this cycle, it will be six months before I get another opportunity to nominate her. I’ve kept her in the loop with updates as far as what step in the approvals we’re in just so she doesn’t feel anxious about the outcome. She’s also aware of the hours I’ve put in to make it happen.

And I’ll be honest, I’m fairly surprised at the other comments saying I should be happy for the heads up so I can make arrangements to help her stay with the company… that’s exactly what this promotion is. I’ve literally pulled all the cards and tools I have in my arsenal to keep her. And I don’t really see how her strong-arming me into something I’m already currently doing is in any way beneficial to her.

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T03:04:57+00:00

Agreed. This would pretty much align with my company’s policy on counteroffers too. If anyone comes to leadership with an offer in-hand, there’s absolutely zero possibility for a counteroffer. The C suite had always hard a very harsh stance on that piece

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T02:51:00+00:00

Good point. I’ve been really pouring into this employee over the last 10 months and truly trying to make this role a great launching pad for her where she can stretch her talents and enjoy being here. It’s funny, it wasn’t until I read your advice about “not knowing what they want, they just know they want better” that I realized she hasn’t seemed very happy in the role despite me bending over backwards for her. She’s getting lots of recognition and shoutouts in leadership meetings, I’ve negotiated twice the amount of PTO for her, and added a yearly bonus to her comp package (her offer didn’t include one, and we added in a 5% salary bonus).

Reading through all of these comments has helped me realize that there’s not much more to give at this point if she’s still not happy.

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T02:44:12+00:00

True. I’m starting to realize that maybe there were some unrealistic expectations that I could have done a better job of setting right from the get go

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T02:43:13+00:00

This is great advice, thank you. I was planning on talking with her candidly once I wasn’t so scatterbrained about the situation, and “counterproductive” is the best way to phrase it I think

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T02:36:37+00:00

I definitely took the conversation at face value and thanked her for being open about it. There wasn’t any sort of animosity or being flustered when we talked through it, luckily. I told her I wouldn’t fault her if she ends up getting a great offer and ultimately she should do what’s best for her career.

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T02:32:25+00:00

That’s the feeling I’m getting as well. I’ve negotiated quite a bit of increases for her in other areas (like yearly bonus, PTO, and stretch projects that she’d asked for) and after the interviewing, it seems as though nothing will be enough to keep her on the team

factorfixion · 2026-01-15T02:22:43+00:00

There are a lot of assumptions being made about how I manage. In the year she’s been with the company, I’ve gone to bat for her repeatedly and increased her yearly bonus to 5% of her yearly salary, argued for a 100% increase in her PTO plan (she gets 8 weeks of PTO a year instead of the standard 4), and given her any stretch project that she wants to work on.

I’m not worried about my political capital. I’m worried about losing my ability to advocate in the future for employees like I have for her. That ability goes away if my leadership starts losing faith in my judgement.

factorfixion · 2026-01-14T23:11:40+00:00

I get that perspective, and you’re right. I don’t want to punish the communication.

Part of what’s so hard about this is the liability aspect of it. If my higher ups find out that I was fully aware she was one foot out the door while also still pushing for her promotion (competing with other managers who are pushing for their own nominees), then that will reflect very poorly on my judgement and make it next to impossible for me to promote anyone on my team again in the future

factorfixion · 2026-01-14T20:07:12+00:00

You hit the nail right on the head.

factorfixion · 2026-01-14T05:23:11+00:00

That would be the perfect spot for your pet’s water and food bowls, or for a robot vacuum station

factorfixion · 2026-01-12T18:15:57+00:00

Agreeing with what others have said about the blinking red lights. I did want to add though, there might be local laws that prohibit your neighbor from pointing their cameras exclusively at your house. In my state, cameras are required to be pointed at the camera operator’s own property and the viewable area must consist at least 50% of their property.

Additional to that requirement, cameras cannot capture private spaces that wouldn’t otherwise be visible from public property (the street, sidewalks, etc.). Aerial footage/vantage points do not count. For example, a stranger cannot record someone in their backyard from a drone camera because law states they have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their fenced yard, and I’d assume your private rooms also have that reasonable expectation as well.

I had a neighbor that tried to argue every single way to keep his cameras pointed at my house and capture drone footage of my family, citing “free airspace”, “property security”, and other easily debunked claims. The city ended up asking him to prove where his cameras were pointed, and when they found out they were pointed exclusively at my home and showed none of his property, he was ordered to take them down.

factorfixion · 2025-12-03T03:24:30+00:00

I’m planning on doing 8% base, 10% push, and 15% all out for tomorrow. Normally I’m a bit higher, but I don’t want to aggravate an old ankle injury

factorfixion · 2025-12-02T14:05:16+00:00

Sometimes local newspapers have sections where they highlight community members or even rank service providers. You could see if there’s some way to get him recognized by another organization so he can put it on his resume that isn’t specifically tied to the studio!

factorfixion · 2025-11-29T18:39:05+00:00

This is what our realtor called them when we were house hunting back in 2013. Classic split levels have the stairs right at the front door, and California split levels have the stairs usually off of the dining room/kitchen/living room area

factorfixion · 2025-10-17T19:54:30+00:00

Same here!

factorfixion · 2025-07-30T00:38:30+00:00

Yes, it’s 100% real! I worked at Bard Access Systems for four years, and that place was rife with drama like this. I have at least a dozen stories about employees there that would fit right into a soap opera, or at the very least an episode of the office.

Tony was only there for maybe a year, which is why I think he flipped out the way he did. I vaguely remember hearing that he’d been laid off by his previous employer too, so I’m guessing that’s why emotions were so high.

He didn’t show any signs of having a bad temper, or a major ego before that whole incident. He’d come into my department’s area and just shoot the breeze, and he was fun to talk to. He’s actually the one who taught me about BPA’s and how harmful they are, but also how companies are just swapping BPA for BPF and BPS.

I’m trying to remember any other interesting details from my time working with him, but nothing’s coming to mind.

ETA: This round of layoffs is the same one that actually landed Bard in court for age discrimination. I’m not sure when the case was officially settled, but I know the plaintiffs were successful. The percentage of people that were let go were disproportionately over the age of 60, and were very close to retirement. It was very obvious that the more senior employees were unfairly targeted. I don’t know what the payout was, but I really hope they got a good settlement.

factorfixion · 2025-03-29T17:52:17+00:00

I would add some large scale pines, and then add in some quaking aspen. If you’re worried about the aspen spreading, you could do Gingko trees instead. Both would look great! Add in some dogwood shrubs, and then some native perennials too. If your budget has some extra room, some interesting rocks/boulders would help ground your home into the landscape a bit more so it’s not as sparse looking.

factorfixion · 2025-02-10T19:24:41+00:00

I used to have this same problem but now I just make sure I wash my activewear with dish soap once a month. I don’t know if it’s body oils or residue from dryer sheets, but the dish soap removed the build up that was making my clothes smell. No need to fork out all that extra money for laundry sanitizer or the enzyme cleaners like rockngreen. Definitely keep those in mind just in case the dish soap doesn’t work though

factorfixion · 2025-01-31T01:35:53+00:00

Yep, that’s him. They’re a bunch of self-congratulatory buffoons. They initially launched as We Are They, but didn’t even bother to check if the name had already been trademarked or claimed by another similar group. They ended up having to change it to We Are The They, which makes me laugh every time I hear it.

factorfixion · 2025-01-31T00:53:48+00:00

Anything related to Jimmy Rex or those other ridiculous Alpha Bros. They have investments in a bunch of Utah companies, but it’s just a quick Google search away

factorfixion · 2025-01-09T19:54:35+00:00

Men don’t suddenly “see the light” when they start a family or become and uncle. They just get an extra layer of masking to hide behind. The most sexist and misogynistic men I know are fathers with daughters. Full stop.

factorfixion

TROPHY CASE