Brake rotors and State Inspection

[MikeInOr]

Not letting them win. I'm bored with this car, and I don't want to spend money on it. The tires make noise although there's plenty of tread. It's another $600 I'm trying to not spend on the vehicle.

Have a decent 2015 Subaru Legacy premium leather interior, eye sight and blind spot detection. It's fine, but after 9 years it's time to move on. I'd like something more fun and economical to drive. The Legacy gets terrible in city mileage. Didn't matter that much when I was working, but being retired, I'm looking for lower running costs.

I loved my bug-eye WRX, but it wasn't good on gas. Had a great suspension and handling. I don't need a truck. A small SUV or sedan or hatchback would do. Don't want a rattle can. Hybrid is ok with me. Open to suggestions. I have a busted Miata that I'm fixing up, that I'd dearly love to get going again. In the middle of a stalled engine rebuild.

At this point I want some decent transportation that I can take on 8 hour trips if need be at a reasonable cost. Been mulling this over for a while, need to get moving on it. The current car just makes me unhappy for multiple reasons. Time for a change.

I bought my 2010 Lexus RX-450h in 2017 with 78,000 miles on it for $20K. It now has ~187,000 on it. I am about due for a 3rd set of tires. I just replaced the original battery last winter and also replaced the rear tailgate pneumatic lift springs (proper names escapes me at the moment) when it hit -20f outside. That is pretty much it for repairs. Since it is a hybrid it is still on its original brakes with plenty left.

Fun to drive? Nope, no "sporty" in it. Comfortable on long trips... definitely. With the 3.5l (Atkinson cycle, direct injection) V6 + 3 hybrid motors it is plenty fast off the line and can pass with no effort. Since it has direct injection it runs great on Regular... Premium is not needed. 28mpg city / 28mpg hwy is pretty easy to achieve consistently. I have to REALLY baby it to hit 30mpg... not like any normal person would drive. Each rear wheel has its own electric traction motor which are independently speed controlled... it is the best vehicle I have ever owned on the ice/packed snow. Pretty much all hybrids use Li-ion battery packs. The RX-450h uses a LiMH battery pack which lasts longer (number of recharge cycles).

When I replace it I will probably get the exact same thing but newer with less miles and the 2010 will go to my teenage daughter. It is the best vehicle I have ever owned!

P.S. When my little sister needed a new car we test drove a LOT of different vehicles. Her 2010 Lexus RX-450h is White, mine is Silver.

Atkinson cycle engine = the power stroke is longer than the compression stroke to harvest more energy out of the burning gasoline. Direct injection = fuel sprayed straight into the cylinder like a Diesel engine.

 

[WobblyHand]

Tale those rotors and your micrometer to the DMV and ask them to inspect them.

They were above the minimum so not failing.

If DMV passes them, file complaint right there as you have the evidence right there.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

I did send pictures and measurements to them. If can figure out where to go or to whom to show them, I will take a ride. That will take some legwork.

 

[WobblyHand]

I bought my 2010 Lexus RX-450h in 2017 with 78,000 miles on it for $20K. It now has ~187,000 on it. I am about due for a 3rd set of tires. I just replaced the original battery last winter and also replaced the rear tailgate pneumatic lift springs (proper names escapes me at the moment) when it hit -20f outside. That is pretty much it for repairs. Since it is a hybrid it is still on its original brakes with plenty left.

Fun to drive? Nope, no "sporty" in it. Comfortable on long trips... definitely. With the 3.5l (Atkinson cycle, direct injection) V6 + 3 hybrid motors it is plenty fast off the line and can pass with no effort. Since it has direct injection it runs great on Regular... Premium is not needed. 28mpg city / 28mpg hwy is pretty easy to achieve consistently. I have to REALLY baby it to hit 30mpg... not like any normal person would drive. Each rear wheel has its own electric traction motor which are independently speed controlled... it is the best vehicle I have ever owned on the ice/packed snow. Pretty much all hybrids use Li-ion battery packs. The RX-450h uses a LiMH battery pack which lasts longer (number of recharge cycles).

When I replace it I will probably get the exact same thing but newer with less miles and the 2010 will go to my teenage daughter. It is the best vehicle I have ever owned!

P.S. When my little sister needed a new car we test drove a LOT of different vehicles. Her 2010 Lexus RX-450h is White, mine is Silver.

Atkinson cycle engine = the power stroke is longer than the compression stroke to harvest more energy out of the burning gasoline. Direct injection = fuel sprayed straight into the cylinder like a Diesel engine.

Fun and low maintenance, or fun and economical seem to be rare combinations. Think you did well for your choice. I don't need a larger vehicle at this point in time, a compact or intermediate would be fine. Even a subcompact would be fine 90% of the time. There's many vehicles, but surprisingly not many in this category.

 

[Larry$]

So there's actually a financial incentive to fail more vehicles, because they make money doing the repairs.

Here in Nebraska they tried inspections years ago. There was so much nit picking by the dealers and customer complaints that the state gave up on the inspections. The same people that will drive truly unsafe cars will drive W/O inspections or insurance.

 

[WobblyHand]

<opinion alert>Subaru is the Huffy of the car world. If you don't know Huffy, then Mongoose- or whatever gaspipe-framed bicycles Costco sells now. They're heavy, inefficient, and sluggish. AWD maintenance intervals hurt your savings account like nothing else. And much of the service parts are only available through the stealership. And flat four head gaskets... and flat four powerband... and the flat four exhaust note... sorry baby, my chub has gone soft.

I hear you. Going to say however that the 2002 bugeye WRX I had was a hoot. It would have been better had I megasquirted it, but not terrible for stock. But it had issues including a subframe rot out, that never should have happened. Still, it was a lot of fun, but a bit thirsty. Needed premium to avoid knock. I don't regret buying it.

Also had a 1998 Legacy GT which was nice. It was nicely appointed and pleasant to drive. Nowhere as fun as a 200HP turbocharged and megasquirted Miata, but when a roof was needed it was pretty good.

But the 2015 Legacy lost it's charm and it's edge. Comfortable but numb. Ok for commuting, but not much else. Anyways, I've had plenty of Subarus and am looking for a change. I'm probably moving in the next few years, so AWD will become less important to me. This opens up more choices.

It's been hard searching online for different vehicles. The manufacturer websites are rather bad these days. Lots of misleading or wrong information, and it's tough to even find a crude estimate of range of the vehicle. Not many show real interior views which show the outside world. (Visibility). A vehicle with poor visibility is not safe, in my opinion. Maybe next week I'll go to the local auto mile and hop into a bunch of cars. Might be able to weed out some of the choices.

 

[WobblyHand]

Here in Nebraska they tried inspections years ago. There was so much nit picking by the dealers and customer complaints that the state gave up on the inspections. The same people that will drive truly unsafe cars will drive W/O inspections or insurance.

Some folks are not doing that by choice, I suspect, (insufficient finances) and others are perhaps Darwin examples to be.

I'm thinking that the state is getting some revenue and they like it. There's no normal income tax here and not many "easy ways" for them to latch on to your money. (That's good.) But they do have to fund the government. So I can see them being reluctant to give it up. That's not meant to be political, just an observation on my part.

 

[Larry$]

I have a busted Miata that I'm fixing up, that I'd dearly love to get going again

I had a Miata. Most fun car to drive there is! Absolutely slick shifting manual transmission to snap through the gears with. I could even get a small bag of groceries in it.

 

[pontiac428]

I hear you. Going to say however that the 2002 bugeye WRX I had was a hoot.

Nowhere as fun as a 200HP turbocharged and megasquirted Miata, but when a roof was needed it was pretty good.

You have just elevated your status. I'd megasquirt a leaf blower just because it reduces headaches and runs better. I ditched carbs for MS2/3 in my fun toys for good starting in 2007 or so. And if you enjoyed the OG WRX and Miata, then you know the truth about small, light vehicles. Now both of those are torquey low-revvers, which is the power strategy I grew up on, but these days I like zippy high revving motors that peak out with big power but sip fuel when just driving around. Which is why I love the sport-trim Hondas. Had a Euro-spec 2014 Civic hatch with a K-motor that I loved, but couldn't bring with me back to the US. Now we have a 2018 Fit (last year of the stick shift), which has all of the great features of the Civic in a smaller footprint. Gets 42 MPG, up to 49 if I stay at the speed limit, but with the direct injection, variable intake runners, and VVT, the little car really rips when I wind it out. The Honda motors are tight and require little maintenance. They just go. The 1.6 B-series in my CRX topped out just short of 10k RPM, and the hot 1.8 I built is made for all-day road ripping at 9500. Shifting at redline and starting the next pull at 5000 RPM is really a Formula-1 feeling, but I can tootle around town like a normal person and get economy mileage. So that's one potential place to look, now that we know you're man enough to drive a compact and like it. The Honda hatches' seats fold flat, so I can usually use them to go to Lowe's or Harbor Freight too- they hold a lot of stuff for a small car- much more for their relative size than any Subie from the last 20 years.

 

[WobblyHand]

You have just elevated your status. I'd megasquirt a leaf blower just because it reduces headaches and runs better. I ditched carbs for MS2/3 in my fun toys for good starting in 2007 or so. And if you enjoyed the OG WRX and Miata, then you know the truth about small, light vehicles. Now both of those are torquey low-revvers, which is the power strategy I grew up on, but these days I like zippy high revving motors that peak out with big power but sip fuel when just driving around. Which is why I love the sport-trim Hondas. Had a Euro-spec 2014 Civic hatch with a K-motor that I loved, but couldn't bring with me back to the US. Now we have a 2018 Fit (last year of the stick shift), which has all of the great features of the Civic in a smaller footprint. Gets 42 MPG, up to 49 if I stay at the speed limit, but with the direct injection, variable intake runners, and VVT, the little car really rips when I wind it out. The Honda motors are tight and require little maintenance. They just go. The 1.6 B-series in my CRX topped out just short of 10k RPM, and the hot 1.8 I built is made for all-day road ripping at 9500. Shifting at redline and starting the next pull at 5000 RPM is really a Formula-1 feeling, but I can tootle around town like a normal person and get economy mileage. So that's one potential place to look, now that we know you're man enough to drive a compact and like it. The Honda hatches' seats fold flat, so I can usually use them to go to Lowe's or Harbor Freight too- they hold a lot of stuff for a small car- much more for their relative size than any Subie from the last 20 years.

Been thinking about Hondas. Never driven one, so it will be a culture change for me. Feel bashful about even mentioning this but I'm not sure I remember how to drive FWD. I've been RWD and AWD for so long, like decades.

FYI the Miata redline is > 7200 RPM. Not Honda territory, though. Miatas have a very nice gear box, very smooth shifting, sort of a snick, snick if you do your part. Very fun to toss around in the corners. Neutral handling. Drove it cross country a couple of times. Good memories. Hope to get it going again sometime. Have a stalled motor build. Bottom end is mostly done, but I have to check what I did to see where I left off. Haven't installed the oil pump if I recall.

I'll check out the Hondas. There's a dealership nearby. Maybe I can try some out. Should at least be fun to try them. Update: Have a test drive on Monday morning.

 

[pontiac428]

Unfortunately the only one with a stick now is the Type R. It's a really nice car, just a little bit large for my taste (feels more like a Taurus than a Civic sizewise), but it is a mature platform and the trim level has more in common with a Corvette in terms of design emphasis. It's a flagship sports car at a good price, seats passengers comfortably and has cargo room for the American market. It's a do-all that you can autocross on the weekends. Fwd driving is really transparent on the road. On the track, they torque steer and that takes getting used to. The Type R has a helical gear limited slip diff that works wonderfully and makes the fwd experience a lot better when you are really burying your foot in it and still holding hard to your line. It can run rings around an older BMW M3, for point of reference.