Car lovers?

The new Chrysler Pacifica seems to be getting good initial reviews, too.

It even has a built in vacuum...?

I know when we rented a Sienna for a trip a couple of years ago, I was not impressed. Lots of creaks and groans, a horribly fitting glove box that rattled, stuff not working, etc. But it was a rental, so I don't know that it was representative. The Nissan we got last year actually did a bit better for us (even though when we picked it up at Enterprise, it was NASTY).

I don't know that I'd touch either of those with a 10 foot pole. I don't immensely dislike the Town and Country I had a few years ago, but by comparison to my Highlander, it had this incredibly cheap feel to it.

Fun fact: When we were brainstorming names for our daughter, I mentioned "Pacifica". Not because of the van, but because of Scrapped Princess.

Wife did not like that one.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Fun fact: When we were brainstorming names for our daughter, I mentioned "Pacifica". Not because of the van, but because of Scrapped Princess.

Wife did not like that one.

I freakin love that series. I've got a big PVC figure of her and Raquel-nee

I personally really like our 2008 Kia Sedona, if we ever in the market for a new van I would definatelly check out kia's offerings.

So this car was in my neighborhood sitting in the street the night before this happened:

I heard it take off flying up a long empty straightaway going up the peninsula on the lake we live on a little bit after I saw it. Probably a different renter, but people are probably prone to doing stupid stuff in these cars.

So had my car in for service, including an alignment and rotation, and now I'm getting some tire noise. Dealer says my rear alignment was off and caused wear on the tires, now that those tires are on the front, that uneven wear is causing the thrumming noise I'm hearing. They said that the noise may or may not go away in time, but that it's not a cause for concern.

...except it's pretty annoying to me.

Any experts have advice? Should I just replace those two tires and call it a day, or are there other tricks I can try?

Depends on how bad the wear was. Rotating the tires may help even them out and that noise may go away. However, if it were me I'd be checking the tread and considering replacing them depending on how worn they are.

In the past when I haven't had much money and didn't want to replace all four tires as it seemed like a waste, I went to a place we have in town that deals in retreads. Had two tires replaced and had everything rotated so they were as even as they could be, with the newer tires on front (It was a front-wheel drive). By the time I wore out the retreads everything was ready to be replaced. It's better to swap all 4 at once, IMO, but it's not always economical.

AnimeJ wrote:

Read through Car and Driver's review on 2015 Honda vs Toyota and the Sienna came out ahead pretty solidly. In their words "Kicking the head off a lion is kind of what Toyota is doing in defeating the 10 year reigning minivan champion". It's worth noting that both vans got major revisions last year, so not much has changed if anything for 2016. But the Odyssey was definitely the favorite by far for 2014 and older though, which I'd imagine is also in large part why a lot of folks have em.

All in all, looking at the EX-L and SE side by side, I feel like no matter how I shake it out, the Sienna's the better buy. But, again, Toyota bias here.

We did end up getting the Sienna, FYI. Kids were very excited - this is the first new car in their memories, I'm sure. The automatic side doors are neat. Daughter apparently hates the new car smell.

Can't remember if I mentioned this, but I traded in my Infiniti G37s sedan on it. I took over my wife's SUV so we'd have two family haulers for now. So far, not bad. As I get older I have less need to go fast.

Congrats Fed on the practical purchase. What made you get the Sienna over the Odyssey?

Serengeti wrote:

So had my car in for service, including an alignment and rotation, and now I'm getting some tire noise. Dealer says my rear alignment was off and caused wear on the tires, now that those tires are on the front, that uneven wear is causing the thrumming noise I'm hearing. They said that the noise may or may not go away in time, but that it's not a cause for concern.

...except it's pretty annoying to me.

Any experts have advice? Should I just replace those two tires and call it a day, or are there other tricks I can try?

I had to replace two tires because of sidewall damage and was going to have a similar issue. The damaged tires had different wear from always being on opposite ends of the car. I just went ahead and exchanged them all. That way I'm not buying 2 new tires every couple years, and so I'm not aggravated by tire noise/slight pulling. Plus, the car always rides so well when it has all new tires on it. Well, except for the fact that I bent a wheel so there is a slight vibration. Damned surprise pot holes.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Congrats Fed on the practical purchase. What made you get the Sienna over the Odyssey?

Initially, the reviews that preferred it over the Odyssey. Then, I much preferred where the HDMI input and power outlet are, and the inclusion of Blu-ray. At that point I started negotiating a price with them. They were willing to match the Carmax offer for my trade in.

At some point, we decided to reconsider the Odyssey because my wife liked some of its features like the exterior button to unlock the doors, which her previous car had. The cool box and vacuum cleaner were nice luxuries.

At that point, we very possibly could have gone Honda (this is about the time I posted here). However, their first offer was this BS that was before tax, title, license, and accessories, and was about $1000 higher than the Sienna. Also, they wanted to gross the Carmax offer down to account for the sales tax savings I would get from trading in rather than selling my car.

Going through the entire song and dance with them was sounding like a pain. I'm not saying there weren't any possible dealer games with Toyota, but we had gotten to a final price, and they never tried to play that sales tax game with me. I was sooooo ready to be done with the process. I went and saw the Sienna one last time. For the first time, I tried sitting in the front passenger seat. I thought it was significantly more comfortable than the Odyssey. Also, the second row is more adjustable, and the third row folds flatter.

Either one is probably great, but that's how our process went. So glad to be done with it!

So in light of getting divorced, I have decided to look at trading in the F150. I'm probably going to get more than I have left owing on a trade-in with the dealership where I bought it, and can easily get into a Focus or Fusion with them. I'd like to look at a Taurus as well. If I go new, I can get 0% financing, which will be nice in case I choose to pay it out with the money from the sale of the house.

Anyone have any recommendations about Focus vs Fusion vs Taurus, or am I all alone here in my domestic obsession?

Last I checked, and it was recent, the Focus is still getting dinged for reliability. Everyone loves the Fusion though.

Crazed Java wrote:

Last I checked, and it was recent, the Focus is still getting dinged for reliability. Everyone loves the Fusion though.

My understanding at one point was that it was the Focus sedan specifically that had all the problems while the hatch was solid, but reliability ratings weren't granular enough to allow for that.

Is that not still the case?

I don't know, the last article I read it should a picture of the sedan but just talked about the Focus and they were not specific as to the cause.

From my own experience, I had a Focus as a rental once and it was the noisiest damn compact I've ever driven. As much as I like to poke fun at the Corolla, it was a much better ride even if it did have ridiculous engine noise at only 45mph (This was back in 2009?) I think if I were going to look in that segment, especially for a sedan body style, the Focus is pretty far down on my list.

I have yet to meet a Fusion owner that has anything bad to say about it. We owned a terrible Taurus, but that was before they revamped it. For those that don't know, the current Taurus has nothing in common with the old oval cars other than the name.

Crazed Java wrote:

I don't know, the last article I read it should a picture of the sedan but just talked about the Focus and they were not specific as to the cause.

From my own experience, I had a Focus as a rental once and it was the noisiest damn compact I've ever driven. As much as I like to poke fun at the Corolla, it was a much better ride even if it did have ridiculous engine noise at only 45mph (This was back in 2009?) I think if I were going to look in that segment, especially for a sedan body style, the Focus is pretty far down on my list.

I have yet to meet a Fusion owner that has anything bad to say about it. We owned a terrible Taurus, but that was before they revamped it. For those that don't know, the current Taurus has nothing in common with the old oval cars other than the name.

I've test driven a few Focuses, and my friend has one, I never noticed any noises worth mentioning.

I'll definitely keep that in mind when checking them out this Tuesday, thanks for the feedback.

The Fusion looks great, but with all the features I'll want on it, that would likely put it out of my range right now. If I go with the Focus, I can get everything I want on it, and probably get money back from trading in my truck.

We shall see April 12!

2016 Ford Taurus

IMAGE(http://lovethesecars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Ford-Taurus-2016_2.jpg)

1996 Ford Taurus (the one we owned)

IMAGE(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/96-97_Ford_Taurus_.jpg)

That is not the same car in any way.

First gen Taurus > all other Taurus.

WHY IS THERE (BASICALLY) NO GRILL?!

Does that new Taurus look like a tesla to anyone else or just me?

Maybe I just have Tesla on the brain because I want one. My kingdom for an electric car that I can't even use in my region because the closest charge station is 100 miles away.

OMG, Crazed Java, please don't get me started on the Slug Taurus. The original Taurus wasn't the best looking car, but to go from this:

IMAGE(http://www.ford-taurus.org/taurusinfo/Specials/RoboCopMovie/RoboCop3.jpg)

to that? I hope whoever made that decision never worked in the car industry again.

I always thought they looked like catfish.

Focus ST is an awesome car. Focus RS is even better

60k on my '14 Fusion, 1.5l EcoBoost. No problems. Beat up the suspension on gravel roads quite a bit and it's still solid. Fantastic highway mileage in non-freezing weather.

Sync 2 is... stolid but reliable in my experience, that's what you'll get on '16s and older. In addition to other refreshes, the 2017 Fusion gets Sync 3 which is modern and supports CarPlay/Android Auto.

I think Focus transmission issues have been resolved but they're bogged down replacing them in cars already sold. Taurus is relatively ancient compared to most of their lineup, it's gotta be looking at a refresh real soon here

2017 Fusion? What? Where are you buying this?

Model Year?

you said 'MY 2017 Fusion' .. how do you have a 2017 already?