TenuredVulture wrote:

azrider wrote:

Uncle Milty wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Blind spot warning is a pretty good safety feature that probably should be standard. Back up cameras are great, but probably less important from a safety aspect than blind spot warnings.

While I like the blind spot warning it's not perfect on my Escape. Also, without adding a head-check I'd feel like I was cutting people off sometimes.

i like the blind spot warning. most of my rentals have had it. unless people are half assing their mirrors with it, still gotta look mirrors and quick head check, because yeah you can still cut people off.

In our Mazda, it will only alert you if you put the blinker on. So if you're obnoxious enough to change lanes without a blinker, you probably don't really care about cutting people off.

i think all the cars i've driven have had a little indicator on the mirror anytime a car entered the blind spot. blinker didn't have to be on. don't remember if there was a certain speed you had to be going or not.

In my car the light goes on whenever a car is in the blind spot. If you put the blinker on it beeps if a car is there.

Having an older 2nd vehicle again reminded me how far cars advanced in my lifetime. Reliability, safety, technology and of course the mechanicals are infinitely better.

Factory audio is what really inspired this post. My Escape blows away anything else I owned. Even aftermarket systems.

Which brings me to my question. Has anyone installed car audio lately or have a recommendation? I want to economically upgrade the 2nd vehicle (conversion van). Nothing overpowering, double DIN (or adapter), bluetooth, replace 4 speakers and maybe add 2 and a sub.

Uncle Milty wrote:Having an older 2nd vehicle again reminded me how far cars advanced in my lifetime. Reliability, safety, technology and of course the mechanicals are infinitely better.

Factory audio is what really inspired this post. My Escape blows away anything else I owned. Even aftermarket systems.

Which brings me to my question. Has anyone installed car audio lately or have a recommendation? I want to economically upgrade the 2nd vehicle (conversion van). Nothing overpowering, double DIN (or adapter), bluetooth, replace 4 speakers and maybe add 2 and a sub.

agree with all of this. my 2013 vw has 160k miles on it and will probably go another 200k at least. only repairs are maintenance so far. Same with the audio. i use to switch otu the speakers and deck in every car. Now they are all at least comparable to anything aftermarket.

Haven't done an audio upgrade in about 10 years, now. The basics haven't changed though. Run some large gauge wire for power. Make sure the new deck has the right ohms for the current speakers or replace all the speakers as well. Probably can still find some nice integrated sub/box/amp packages now.

My 2015 Optima's audio system works perfectly fine, the only thing it doesn't have that I want is CarPlay, but it just doesn't seem like it would be worth replacing what I have with a new receiver just for to add that function.

unless it's a candy apple red c2 corvette with a white top or a ferrari... don't like red for my autos. but damn that mazda red i'm seeing out there is soooo damn sexy. guess it's called soul red metallic.

that mazda red is awesome

model S plaid late 2021. 0-60 in under 2 seconds. omfg

what's the rumor on colors, bucky? finally coming out with some new ones? i kinda remember elon saying something about some advanced paint facility in germany?

no new news. cybertruck will be available in any color you want, as long as it's silver.

Looked at a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica today. Probably would have driven it home except we weren't really planning on buying today and thus didn't bring the checkbook.

Also, we didn't have the title for the car we're planning to trade in with us. And after returning home we cannot find the damn thing. Inexplicably we have the letter from Mazda American Credit stating that the loan was paid off, but no title document.

I found this PennDOT form for requesting a duplicate title, but it says "if the lienholder is not in possession of your certificate of title and the lien has been satisfied but not released on PennDOT records, you must have the lienholder complete the information in Section D [in the presence of a notary]".

How can I tell if the lien was released on PennDOT records? I assume it was; we've owned this car outright for over six years. If by some chance it was not, how on earth am I supposed to get the lienholder to come with me to get this form notarized?

Didn't they start some kind of deal where they weren't automatically mailing titles after payoff?

Yeah, that's what I mean. We have the letter that presumably accompanied the title when the loan was paid off, but not the title itself. I mean, maybe it's *somewhere* in the house, but it's not in any of the three places we thought it would plausibly be (filing cabinet where we keep financial stuff, fire safe box, car glove box).

check under the sofa cushions

Just head to your notary and tell them you lost the title to your car. Tell them it was paid off and they sent you the title but lost it. Penndot will see if there’s a lien on the vehicle, if there’s no lien hold they should send you a title. If you got a letter saying your lien was satisfied, so did the state. I did read that one paragraph and was like wtf? when in doubt, just ignore it.

azrider wrote:Just head to your notary and tell them you lost the title to your car. Tell them it was paid off and they sent you the title but lost it. Penndot will see if there’s a lien on the vehicle, if there’s no lien hold they should send you a title. If you got a letter saying your lien was satisfied, so did the state. I did read that one paragraph and was like wtf? when in doubt, just ignore it.

Will the notary be able to access PennDOT records, or do you mean fill it out assuming that PennDOT has the requisite record that the lien was satisfied, and that we'll subsequently get the title?

I find it surprising that I can't find this info on PennDOT's website. I have the title number (via my registration document) and can find that the car is registered to me... why can't I see who owns the title?

that's (payoff date) way before you moved, right? Because the title will have your address when you bought the car. And that's where it will be mailed.

Just bring your driver’s license and registration to the notary. Also bring another form of ID and if you have that letter, but just leave it in the car unless you really need it.

I usually start off these types of situations by saying I’m an idiot. It’s not much of a stretch for me, and it always helps to facilitate the process.

I hate giving people too much information. That’s just more stuff that can usually go wrong. If your registration matches your ID that has to be enough to get the ball rolling.

The notary will then x off the fields to fill in for you with that same form. Any questions or anything that you might have a feeling could go sideways, ask the notary. Might need some contact info from the previous lien holder and use what info is on the letter. If you don’t have the letter anymore, find some contact info online. Doesn’t have to be perfect. They’re not doing some grand theft auto investigation here.

I imagine the notary has a way to request information if there is a lien on the vehicle, but I’d skip that. Just send it into the state. They will tell by the vin who owns it or if there is a lien holder. You already got your personal identification notarized so they should send you a copy of the title in the mail in like 7-10 days. There might be an express service for an additional charge.

We leased a 2020 Forester yesterday. It's pretty nice.

phatj wrote:Yeah, that's what I mean. We have the letter that presumably accompanied the title when the loan was paid off, but not the title itself. I mean, maybe it's *somewhere* in the house, but it's not in any of the three places we thought it would plausibly be (filing cabinet where we keep financial stuff, fire safe box, car glove box).

I feel like for one of our cars we paid it off but were never sent the title. In fact I think it is the one in the driveway right now.