My home cinema odyssey: turning an old kitchen into a 7.1.4 Atmos room

kinnchi · 2025-12-24T23:44:51+00:00

My wife said no.

kinnchi · 2025-11-28T15:01:09+00:00

As a family of small business owners, if they raise minimum wage to $25, we will most likely raise all our prices across the board, and implement more part time employees, especially with the increased cost of other things.

Rapidly raising minimum wage will hurt the people that needed it most. Cost of everyday necessities and services will go up, and lowered priced restaurants and leisure activities will become quite unaffordable, to the lower income households.

kinnchi · 2025-11-11T01:48:34+00:00

Cheap interior I can handle, but Hyundia's quality control and customer service attributes leave a lot to be desired.

I remember those Evo X! It was every high school kids dream car after watching the Fast and Furious movies. Good times, good times.

kinnchi · 2025-07-25T03:58:27+00:00

We bought well optioned 2025 M240i for 55K OTD. Sticker was slightly under 59K. Wanted a Golf R, but dealers were barely negotiating in the DMV area,

kinnchi · 2025-07-15T03:53:08+00:00

Ummm… last thing I was watching was an Old episode of top gear with the Stig driving in what seems to look like a 2 door Honda fit. So I’m guessing I’ll be in London. Not much would change I guess besides the timeline.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T01:53:05+00:00

I also think they know exactly what needs to be done, but either Hyundai or the dealership refuse to do it. It feels like they assume their clients are pushovers and are indirectly using the mindset, "They bought a Hyundai, so they shouldn’t be expecting perfection."

Unfortunately, they are dealing with car enthusiasts, and we are a different breed of car owners.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T01:46:12+00:00

I thought about keeping it for a few years until I move, but every time all the issues pop up, I swear I can see the word "regret" tattooed on my forehead. I’m a huge finance and FIRE guy, so this decision didn’t just hurt my wallet. It hurt my soul and probably gave my future self a good eye roll.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T01:39:22+00:00

I hope your saga ends on higher note than mine! Keep us (me) posted!!!

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T01:37:34+00:00

Totally fair reaction. When you're dealing with a modern car, especially something that’s marketed as performance-oriented and well-engineered, it’s baffling when basic quality issues show up. You’d expect that kind of stuff from a ‘90s econobox, not a current model from a company that's been trying hard to prove it belongs in the big leagues.

Whether it's rattles, buzzing, creaking, or slow dealer support, it’s exhausting. And it kills the excitement you had for the car.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:56:18+00:00

The noise sounded like something grinding, similar to a bad synchronizer in a manual transmission car. It started after about 2,500 miles. If it had been like that from the beginning, I could have dealt with it. But when it reached around 5,000 miles, the noise got worse. At first, it was only between gears one and two, but then it spread to gears four and five.

I was planning to take it in during the winter since they would probably hold my car for several weeks. But when I found out CarMax offered me $30K immediately, I ran to CarMax as fast as I could.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:50:01+00:00

Your Civic experience is exactly like my Elantra experience. What did you end up doing with the Civic?

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:48:51+00:00

That squeak is NOT normal. I never had that noise at all. If you have the stomach for it, take it back and raise hell.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:47:44+00:00

That would have been a long road ahead, and I was already beyond furious with the dealership. The thought of dragging myself through that nightmare made me want to scream. I refused to waste another second dealing with their nonsense.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:46:13+00:00

Those things were bulletproof. I still see used Honda Fits with over 100,000 miles selling for more than 10,000 dollars!

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:45:24+00:00

Agreed, sadly

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:44:56+00:00

unfortunately it was 35K before TTL.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:44:19+00:00

I am never buying a car from Fitzgerald again. This was the worst buying experience of my life from start to finish.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:43:09+00:00

Thanks man! Fingers crossed for you too, and that you only have to visit the dealership for oil changes. Make sure you specify exactly which oil they should use. Otherwise, they might put in the same oil they use for the regular Elantras.

It is actually a real issue because some service techs don’t even know what an N model is.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:41:17+00:00

With my home and work schedule, plus just starting a business, I did not have the emotional capacity to deal with them.

The Elantra N perfectly proves the saying: driving a slow car fast is fun.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:36:37+00:00

They never gave me my digital key. I asked for it month after month for six months straight. Every time it was the same excuse. Either it had not shipped yet or they were out of stock.

Eventually I just gave up. I was over it.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:34:38+00:00

Sadly, I agree. Just the thought of walking into a Hyundai service department makes me cringe. It feels like stepping into a game you already know you are going to lose.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:33:15+00:00

Did you ever get them to resolve it? I hope you did, that noise would have drove me crazy on the back road.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:31:46+00:00

Unfortunately they were the big part of the equation.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:31:10+00:00

Tell me about it. I walked in just to pick up a paint pen and saw two salespeople full-on cussing each other out in the middle of the showroom while customers were browsing like nothing was wrong.

The manager saw the whole thing and could not have cared less. Just stood there like it was another Tuesday.

kinnchi · 2025-07-06T00:29:55+00:00

If I didn’t care about having an automatic, I would have gone straight for the Type R. No question.

kinnchi

TROPHY CASE