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trinacriabob

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Everything posted by trinacriabob

  1. Regarding Tesla - it's either love or hate with these vehicles. A college friend I'll be seeing when in SoCal next month has 2 of them, and I'll probably be riding in both of them - one is his sleeker S model and I forgot which the other one (that his wife drives) is. In certain places, people have a lot of disposable income and having a Tesla goes with the landscape. Minimalist(ic) isn't necessarily bad. We all remember the adage "less is more." I'll vouch that the workmanship of the interior is good and I can also vouch that the overall look (including the centered everything on one display) is ugly. I will say that EV motors are supposed to last a long time but the battery replacement is very expensive and the range is currently not that optimal. I did not like the model Y I had for less than 1 day. Also, its exterior is mostly ugly. That's my opinion. This isn't a discussion I want to get into. I would much prefer a more user-friendly EV ... and not just yet. - - - - - What I was randomly going to say: I'm not sure whether I'm in shock or still feeling surreal as to what happened in Baltimore. At first, I thought a ship just hit something on a bridge. Then I saw the footage and that's the surreal part ... the domino-like collapse of the entire structure and the size of the ship. I remember having to figure out the forces of either tension or compression on each member of a truss-like structure when I was in school. A group of us sat there for about 3 or 4 hours one night - with some Mountain Dew - to work that out. I don't believe I've been on that bridge since it's on the outer beltway, but it's numbered as part of the U.S. interstate system. From looking at the map, it is the major bridge on the entrance to/exit from Baltimore Harbor. I hope they find the 6 individuals who were working on it fixing potholes in the middle of the night who fell down with the bridge. The ship giving a mayday is what allowed them to shut down both approaches to the bridge just in time. The weird thing is that it happened on March 26. IIRC, the deliberate (domino-like) implosion of the reinforced concrete Kingdome in Seattle happened on March 26, 2000 (no rain that day) and people were sitting on slopes overlooking downtown to see that happen. But that's how it is with planned implosions. I went there that morning and have photos of the Kingdome's last day somewhere. https://www.seahawks.com/video/kingdome-implosion-hd It was indeed March 26, 2000. I was one of the few who liked the Kingdome.
  2. I.C.E. It's going to be slightly used. I'm thinking Opel, SEAT, VW, and maybe some French models ... mostly ones I've already rented at some point. There's enough to adjust to across so many realms that this isn't going to be an arena where I want to experiment, especially with so many things on my plate.
  3. Amazing. Today marks 5 months of not owning a vehicle. I use a cheap monthly transit pass. It goes most everywhere I need to go. I'm saving a lot of coin. For one, I'm going to be going back and forth a bit this year. Then, I really want to do the research before making an auto purchase, especially since I foresee it being a lightly used vehicle in this fairly different context.
  4. Thanks. Let's see what this reveals. I'd like it to work in both directions.
  5. Help needed - tech in nature - instead of going onto another thread So, you've got a Google platform phone and, with it, a Google account. It seems that the phone (camera gallery) and what's on my account as seen via the laptop (or desktop) is slightly off synch and it's irritating. Since I tend to take multiple photos and then pick the one that turns out better, I purge and delete, mostly via the phone. It looks like they are not in sync(h). What's in the account (per laptop or desktop) seems to have more photos. Aren't these two supposed to "talk" to each other? How do I get them to sync(h) ... at the end of the day, at the end of the week, or similar? How about some settings instructions for both the phone and the computer? Thanks.
  6. This is sort of like "Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong."
  7. This just came on in a coffeehouse/bistro that plays a lot of '70s to '90s U.S. pop. This song could have been truncated, but Stevie Wonder has had some great songs. "I Will Survive" now is on, and I'll spare you from that one. - - - - - As of yesterday, I've been here 90 days. I've done some offbeat things in my life, but this pushes the envelope.
  8. I very much agree. That there isn't one bread and butter one ... just one ... across 3 divisions is absurd. We disagree a little bit on the Malibu ... I like most of it with some reservations about some clunky aspects. I think this will happen given what Toyota has done. I'd still like a lower cost entry-level 4 banger ICE option. They should offer at least 2 powerplant options. Right. Someone had to have penciled this out. I still would like to see them retool to put out a much improved and more competitive version of this car.
  9. Re breakfast: Spanish breakfast buffets are different from Italian ones ... and Portuguese ones. (These are the only 3 countries I usually visit to begin with.) At the Spanish ones, they have those great potato pies, with other ingredients. Their locals hams are excellent. So, there are things I like better on an Italian breakfast buffet and things I like better on a Spanish breakfast buffet. One interesting thing is that a Portuguese one features mushrooms more than the others ... almost always. And I'm very okay with that. Re other meals: That's a nice looking (club) sandwich.
  10. Is it pi or pii or both ... I believe I've seen formulii and formulas at one point. You can't argue with a hotel's breakfast buffet in Spain. Did you have a good flight over there (on an interesting plane)? I am amazed at how international nonstops to/from Seattle/Europe have increased. It used to be just British and Scandinavian (I took the latter once). British still does it, Scandinavian no longer does it, and Air France came and went. Now, add Finnair, Lufthansa, Icelandair, and Turkish. - - - - - Food ... Phenomenal breakfast buffet in Palermo last month ... that red slice of cake was strawberry flavored (it rotated and not every day) and off the charts, as was the pineapple juice and Sicilian blood red orange juice Here's a recent economy lunch packaged deal at a restaurant in a town in Central Italy.
  11. Happy Pi Day, folks ... ... it is a damn good thing that I barely know how to operate an oven.
  12. Reader Reviews are submitted by our readers of vehicles they test drive or rent. If you would like to submit a Reader Review, e-mail [email protected] I recently had a current-gen Nissan Sentra as a weekly rental. I had driven one before, but it was the last-gen model, and I’ve reviewed it on this forum. This rental unit had slightly over 30,000 miles on it. I gave the last-gen model a mostly positive review for its “can do” aspects and excellent fuel mileage. Now, looking at this new one, it almost makes the last-gen model look a little dowdy. You’ll notice a couple of things with the new model rather quickly in addition to its more aesthetically pleasing exterior. First, as you drive off, this Sentra handles more nimbly and corners more flatly. The ride is also controlled, and, for the price point, road and tire noise isn’t too intrusive. The interior is nicer in a lot of small ways. My rental had the leather option in the SR trim with contrast stitching in the seats. However, the seat shape is very comfortable, and so are the adjustments, which are electric for the driver. That said, the fit and finish throughout are nicely done for the price point. The Sentra’s dashboard is also an exercise in logic and simplicity. It is very symmetrical. The toggles for instrument panel functions take some exploration, but the settings are easy to work with once you figure it out. Settings on the steering wheel-mounted controls are also easy to decipher but could be inverted from the car you may be used to driving. The connection of a phone is much easier than on many other vehicles and having the Bluetooth eagerly reconnect upon returning to the car seems better than in other cars of different sizes I’ve driven. My only complaint would be the climate control panel. It may look simple, but I could never quite get the air conditioning right. Again, this new Sentra’s hallmark features are its connected handling, a decent enough ride, good fuel economy, and generous room for its size, including the trunk’s capacity. I especially liked the excellent visibility all the way around. Gone is the “opera window” in the sail panel of the last model. Rather, the division of the rear door is done with vertical trim, and the views out back are excellent with a pillar that doesn’t intrude much and a backlight that curves subtly rather than too flatly. In the engine bay is a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine that is normally aspirated. In both this Sentra and in the Altima, Nissan is going with familiar normally aspirated 4-cylinder engines and CVTs, the latter of which they’ve commonly offered for at least a decade. Hopefully, their CVTs’ service life and sturdiness have improved. Mostly, the CVT behaved well with some quirky and episodic subtle lags picking up speed from a stop, especially when cold. The engine is up to the task of everyday driving, but it gets rowdy when pushed. For the money, the Sentra offers a lot of features, and that’s a good thing. Safety features such as numerous alerts and emergency braking are included. The rear-view camera goes without saying and it’s a decent one, save some murky views when it’s too moist outside. They also have releases for things grouped on the driver’s side of the dashboard and going toward the floor –trunk release, hood release, and fuel door release. The gap cap was a conventional pressurized one. I really like having a secured fuel filler door. One “neat” feature is the lane departure and traffic sensing side sensors. Rather than being on the exterior mirrors, they are now inside and just inboard from the exterior mirrors, and, if things get too close or you get too close to things, they will chime. That means they are work beautifully with one’s peripheral vision and this was much appreciated. There are more pluses than minuses here. This new Sentra has more “personality” than before. I think that the current Nissan Sentra has improved quite a bit. Its competitors would be the Toyota Corolla, the Hyundai Elantra, the Kia Forte, and the Honda Civic. These would be in the same category if being rented. Since its most lauded competitors would be the Corolla and the Civic, I’ll address those. First, I have not driven a Honda Civic, which has gotten more attractive and more like the Accord over the years. However, compared to the Toyota Corolla, in my opinion, the gap narrows. The interior is more appealing than that of the Corolla. In terms of styling, its exterior side view and rear view are sportier and more attractive, but less so up front, where the overused Nissan design vocabulary is up against the overused Toyota design vocabulary. Where the Toyota might shine brighter is in its legendary reliability and longevity. However, if a person foresees a shorter holding period or plans to keep it no more than 100,000 - or 150,000 - miles, this distinction may become moot. I enjoyed spending a week and several hundred miles in this compact and practical mid-sized sedan.
  13. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    The trunk room of the 2023 Nissan is generous for a compact
  14. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    It's all here and convenient for the driver: trunk release, fuel door release, and hood latch release
  15. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    This is what direct injection/ignition looks like and there are the manifolds at the right, the kind (the material!) of which we would not see in yesteryear's muscle cars
  16. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    A standard Nissan normally aspirated 4-cylinder engine is under the hood and most service points are easy to see and identify
  17. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    They come on while starting the car, but these blind spot indicators are great and they readily light up when necessary and are also very easy to pick up with one's peripheral vision
  18. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    For how much car they have to work with, the rear seat legroom should be acceptable for average sized adults
  19. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    I was very pleased with the visibility and this is a big improvement over the last-gen model
  20. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    Push button start right above the gear selector and you can see some of the stitching on the trim here
  21. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    Pluses: the infotainment screen is easy to work with and the power connections give you all the choices - Minuses: I don't like the cheaper circular vents and I had a hard time calibrating the air conditioning since it was a little humid
  22. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    This is how things should be laid out ... except for the message, which I told them about upon returning it, that's where the digital speed readout would be
  23. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    Actually, it's more fun to use a sunroof, even if not pulled back, when it's scenic and cool outside
  24. From the album: 2023 Nissan Sentra - Reader Review

    Comfortable and supportive bucket seats ... I believe the same seat is used if outfitted in cloth
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