Posted on 01/17/2022 8:07:13 AM PST by DoodleBob
“You’ll own nothing and like it.”
And if you don’t like it they don’t care.
“low regard for Toyota - they are one of the 3 makes on the market on my “never buy” or “never even consider” list”
I gotta ask what makes you say that?
Because they can and most will pay.
Kia offers that feature but if Toyota offers it they have kept it hidden, I just bought a 22 Highlander they made slight mention of the continuing charge for key fob function. First year is free, there after will be continuing price increase I am sure.
I doubt that would even be possible considering how many sensors are involved. It is even getting impossible to swap parts of same year and model of car. I just saw a guy spend 10 hours tracing down a dead short on a Corvette, a 68 model of all things, and it was a disaster created by a switch in the wiper motor controller.
Even a weak battery can cause all kinds of problems on these new machines. Maybe the right to repair legislation will get through to become universal law some day. I know farmers are plagued by all the proprietary equipment. Millions spent on the new equipment and they are not allowed to repair anything other than flats or leaks, I suppose.
Scotty Kilmer's favorite car claims they run 3 or 400,000 with out a problem if you keep them serviced. I have owned several Toyotas and never had to have one of them repaired other than tires and battery. I have a new Highlander but prefer my 2001 Ford expedition, personally but wife like the Highlander it does have some cool features and comes with 10 year 100 thousand mile bumper to bumper warranty, since I am 83 I won't ever have to repair anything on it never even looked under the hood or anything else. My Ford will likely outlive me without a warranty.
My wife has ‘recycled’ two highlanders to her daughter. She returned the first but still Hass the 2005.
The daughter’s husband drove a Rav-4 for over 20 years.
When you get in your 80’s vehicles like yours and ours may cost a few bucks every other year.
Like you said when you are at our age, those well built vehicles when taken care of, could outlast us.
Before, I bought my Honda Ridgeline, I talked to many neighbors with Honda’s and most were in the 200,000 miles range with basically just normal upkeep and tires. That was close to a decade and many of those vehicles are still running.
One family has had 4 kids in college at once and 2 old Honda’s have been out there with the kids and and still are running.
Why would you nit consider the best made car you can buy according to Scotty Kilmer? And I concur having owned six of them and never spent a dime on repair other than battery and tires. Last one I drove for almost ten years and spent not one dime on repairs.
I used to buy hamburgers 15 for a dollar on Thursday's else they were 10¢ each. A year ago you could still buy two chicken sandwiches for two dollars at McDonalds, now you get two for five dollars.
i know- it’s not cheap anymore- cant get fast food anymore without destroying a $20 bill- even more sometimes-
[[“You’ll own nothing and like it.”]]
[[And if you don’t like it they don’t care.]]
Because unfortunately, there will be enough people that will accept it for convenience sake- so the company’s sales won’t suffer much- the few customers they lose won’t mean much to them-
Yup. Modern inverters are smart which means that they can be hacked. All of the software bells and whistles make a device vulnerable.
Also, few people realize that your roof top solar panels will not work independently of the power grid. The power grid that the solar panel systems connect into goes down and your expensive solar panels stop working too. There should be a provision that allows you to run your home directly from the solar panels. Probably too much load but at least you can charge your cell phones, power a radio, etc.
What was the brand name of the truck? The environment that a car has to operate in is very harsh and extreme. Extreme cold and extreme heat. Electronics designed without this in mind, may not operate correctly. Or poorly designed electronics will not behave properly.
New Toyota cars have the ability to start the car remotely via an phone app. That means that the car has to connect into the internet some way in order to connect to your phone. There is a emergency button that allows you to talk to someone in an emergency. I presume that that bit of electronics connects into the phone network or some other network and ultimately the Internet.
If you can start a car, you (or someone) can probably shut it down too.
I have a 2016 Chevrolet Colorado that includes a remote start. I also had the capability to start my truck remotely from from phone with the OnStar app. The basic service was free for five years (though there were always upgraded subscriptions available.) When my basic service expired, so did my remote start option on my phone. The remote start from my key fob still works, but only within a very short range.
It is a “new and improved” feature. A convenience. But like all new tech, it can be used for wrong or hacked. It would be just like the feds and law enforcement to be able to exploit this feature so I would expect it. It is also a reliability hit to the over all functionality of the car. I could cause your car to break down or not start.
Heck, maybe they just blast the car with an EMP device. That’d be easier.
Toyota offer a low end version of their cars that don’t have a fob and still use a mechanical key. Trying to find one might be a challenge since it is like trying to find a standard transmission version... they either don’t make them or they are scarce.
“Yup. Modern inverters are smart ...”
SMA Sunny Boy has that feature. Will run off grid when the suns out of course.
If you have solar ? save my freeper mail, i’d be glad to share my over 50kw of operation at homes in Florida. Even got solar to supplement a diesel generator output that you will be told, no way.
Excellent! When I was in the market, the solution wouldn’t run without the grid. Good for saving money but definitely not a back up if the power grid goes down.
A stand alone design has to be provide a decent level of power. Or you have to be smart and unplug everything in your home except the few items that you want to charge or to run during a power outage. Or maybe a second power distribution system — main AC and then AC backup. Hey, why not DC in the house? A converter from solar panel DC to low/safety DC would be simpler versus an inverter that takes panel DC converts it to AC and then the AC is converted back to DC (usually at the load and in the device that you are powering). You might even be able to run some AC loads off of the DC power or have some kind of OR configuration. Straight AC motors can’t run off of DC but your average personal computer and other like devices can probably run directly off of DC by plugging the AC cord into your “DC bus.”
I don’t have solar but am interested. Thanks!
Sunny Boy has been doing this for at least 6 years. Limited to one 120 volt outlet and 1500 watts. If your inverter is a 3 to 7 kw unit it will deliver energy in an outage as long as the sunlight provides 1500 watts or more. If you have a big cloud or storm come over, expect to go down for that period of time.
Can’t run anything 240v like a well or hot water heater.
For 240 you need hybrid inverter and batteries
I can help any freeper in those paths. Doing that, been there and still am.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.