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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    I went to an inexpensive PA state university for a degree in Management and Information Technology. My great grandfather paid for 1/3rd, my parents paid for 1/3, and I did student loans on the rest. Those were paid off so long ago I couldn't even tell you what year it was I did so. Cars are one area where I might splurge a little on credit (even then I'm a deal hunter) but I can do so because I've been careful in other areas. My house was also inexpensive and I've lived here 15 years now, so it's half paid off. My mortgage is lower than some people's SUV leases. A lot of it is just self control. The last new gaming system I own is an 8bit NES, I was 8 when I got that. Ive only ever owned one flat screen TV. I just bought my 3rd new laptop ever (and first in 6 years). I've traveled all over the US and Europe, but it's mostly paid for with airline miles and hotel points earned through work. I vacation in Europe for 2 weeks for less than some people spend on weekends at the beach. At the same time, I'd never consider myself rich. I still have money concerns. I'm building two businesses at the same time while still holding down a full time job. It's a lot of work.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    That sounds reasonable for the lx cars.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    Quoted for truth.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    I don't believe you saw me say anything regarding that.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    There is a place for the political talk on this site and it isn't in the Alternative Fuels folder. I might be a little lenient if the political talk was directly about EV adoption or some new law regarding alternative fuels... but what was posted wasn't any of that.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    No I don't know the exact number, but I do know that I can see the difference in ride height.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    Your eyes would bust out of your head if you see what I run, but I have so much total revolving credit (over 6 figures) that I'm never using more than half of it. However, nearly all of that is at zero percent interest and it is being used to fund real estate investments. When the 0% is up, I have so much room in other places that I just move it around. I'm not a flipper. I buy cheap, renovate, rent out, then refinance with cash out.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Continental Taxis..... That is all.. You're probably seeing the AWD models which do have a slight bump in ride height. The Chrysler 300 AWD and Lacrosse AWD do the same thing. I can pick an AWD XTS verse a FWD XTS out of a lineup a mile away.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    I've had to clean up a bunch of posts that had politics in them or were just plain trolling. No warning points were issued this time, but keep the politics in the political threads or points will start being handed out.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    The F-150 may be the best selling single model out there, but it is greatly outnumbered by the number of Civics, Camrys, Focuses, and Accords that are sold each year. Most people still buy cars that can't tow large boats or trailers.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    I think it's a sign of an extremely competitive segment. Back before Cruze existed, if you were in this segment you bought a Corolla, Civic, or maybe a Protege/3... and you probably paid pretty close to sticker on it. You only bought a Cobalt or Focus or Elantra if you were price hunting and couldn't afford a better car. These days if the Chevy dealer won't make a deal on a Cruze, then Hyundai, Kia, Honda, Subaru, Ford, Mazda, and Toyota all have perfectly acceptable substitutes. If you're trying to get a car for cheap, then Sentra or Dart or even 200 are available. VW will give you a reach around just for walking in the door. The new Cruze is probably the best compact Chevy has ever built and certainly among the leaders in the class.... it's just that the whole class is so good these days that it isn't punishment to pick most any other vehicle on price.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    I haven't written a resume in many years.... any tips on where to start? This new position I took back in May isn't working out.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    My 12 year old Honda CR-V is worth at least $5k in a private sale. It's paid off too.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    Here's a rare unicorn. Mercury Topaz GS 2-door with 2-tone paint. Body and interior are in mint condition. I believe it belongs to a Costco employee because I've seen the car there multiple times over the last few weeks (I'm a 3 - 4 visits per week kinda guy)
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Our Encore was holding its value quite well when we first bought it out of lease. We went into that transaction buying a car for $2k less than its apparent trade in value. We *should* have bought it and then immediately traded it in, but we kept it. Since then, the value of it has decreased to the point where we were owing as much as it was worth. I didn't like that, so I started increasing our car payment. The payment according to the loan is $348 a month, but I'm sending them $600 a month instead to keep well ahead of the depreciation.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    On the Encore, I think the engine is just overworked at 75mph. Remember it's not a DI engine either, so it's not going to have the same performance characteristics of the Turbo-DI engines.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    When you answer "Had a friend for dinner." to the question, "What did you do for Thanksgiving?", tone and inflection are important lest someone get the wrong idea.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    Towing 2,000 lbs with a Renegade sounds fairly ambitious... I've towed as much with the CR-V and it wasn't fun.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    Only the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee... and even then only with pricey tow prop options... the rest are fairly standard.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    For a vehicle that bases about the same price as an Escape and then can wander into the low end of MKC territory... it's actually really nice.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    No issues that I've experienced lately. I feel like FCA must have made some running changes to the Cherokee setup because it feels smoother and quieter than I remember. I had a trailhawk 4-cylinder for a week when I was in Houston last time and it was good fun to drive around. Cherokee is 8" longer than the Compass.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    I had installed a security feature earlier this week and it looks like it is causing software lockups.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    I may know the cause for this. Working. See if it is any better now.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    The diesel is coming. I spoke to the Mazda rep about this today. ... it maybe won't show up till the 2018 model year (so a year from now). And the interior in this thing is probably the best in class at the moment.... or at least can be loaded up to be best in class. Not having a luxury brand means Mazda does't have to hold back on making their main brand too luxurious to leave room for the brand above it.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    These are looking very attractive these days. Lexus better watch out and Benz better keep an eye in it's rear view mirror.
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