There's even mechanics on the internet.

Prove it.

Unfortunately, we don't have "a guy." This is the first car for either of us in 10 years and we're now 6 or 7 months out of the warranty period, so I'll need to find a guy.

From what I can tell, if you say it enough times on the internet it becomes a fact.

Only if it's been attributed to someone famous.

Don't have to. It's the internet.

Not knowing where to take a car for proper service at a fair price after warranty especially if the problem is exotic is the principal reason we started leasing. Car is always under warranty. It's not cheap, but it is hassle free and that is worth a lot to me. Also driving a nearly new car all the time is very sweet. We are very fortunate to be able to afford this luxury. But honestly, I would rather step down a level or two on the vehicle selection than go back to buying if it came to that.

Unfortunately, there is no real way to find a decent tech. What differentiates a good one from a bad one? How do you know?

Marketing makes a shop look good, but that shop is still only as good as its worst tech. Rare to find the one that spends extra time learning the new stuff, honing his skills on the current stuff, and telling the boss to shove that XJS he just took in for a drivability problem up his ass. Alligators like that don't belong in my bay. Neither do 3rd owner Benz's and BMW's. Just because it's a Jag, doesn't mean I should be honored to work on that piece of ****.

Training is another issue. There is so much crap info out there, finding a good instructor, with good information, is as hard to find as a good tech. You don't know you're getting bunk information until you actually get right information. Unlearning, relearning, and traveling to find the good stuff, is also part of the job. So is investing a 100 grand in tools, just to do your job properly.

The archaic pay system is a whole nuther ball of wax. Take a tech off of flatrate, and he may spend the extra time holding your hand. Once that happens, production goes down, the boss is pissed because you just spent all day tracking down and intermittent circuit issue on that XJS he took in, and he only quoted an hours labor, and you're back on production based pay, because you work too slow. Once I'm on back on flatrate, I can tell him to shove that Jag up his ass again. I also don't have time to talk to those asswipe customers anymore, because now, my time is money.

Don't hate the player. Hate the ****ing game.

I should have said I hate cars instead of I hate mechanics, but I don't want those LCF posters to jump in here and quote me saying "I hate cars".

This would be a wonderful trade if it weren't for the cars and the people.

Come to think of it, I had noticed some dirty looks and snide remarks.

Deep.

Heavens no!

Nice Fall ride on an unusually warm (73º) November day:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/716/2...e47a3b75_c.jpgUntitled by trsnrtr, on Flickr

Isn't that nice!

It was so gloriously balmy today (72°) I just HAD to get out and take a brief 12 mile ride, first ride since being treated for Lyme disease a couple of months ago. This will be a test, actually, to see if I'm cured. Sad thing about Lyme is how bad the tests are for the disease. The existing tests are unreliable, they look for antibodies, and at best can only determine if you HAD the disease but not whether you currently still have it. So they have to rely on the symptoms tp gauge progress.

Although most of the aches and pains I suffered all summer have abated, there are still a couple hanging around. But I'm much improved from the summer when there were times I literally felt like an 85 y/o man. It used to take me 4 or 5 days to recover from a softball game or a bike ride, I'd be totally drained of energy. I had to give up the riding till now. Hopefully I'm cured. I feel pretty good at the moment. Tomorrow will tell. Hopefully it will just be muscle soreness, not the debilitating fatigue. Lyme does not quite rank up there with cancer or HIV, in my opinion, but it's a ***** (rhymes with witch) in it's own right.

70+ degrees on my lunch ride. Bumped it from a planned 20 to 29. :)

gtfo, really?

Time to go for my second ride. The ****ty one, according to [MENTION=183557]rpenmanparker[/MENTION].

Puhleeze, let's be accurate here: the dog ****ty one. If you are going to quote someone, be faithful at least.

Tell ya what: when you finish, tell us how you liked it. ;)

...not on my computer. I'm running windows 7, and they told me I'm protected. :)

52° at 3pm here. Frozen tundra, pretty much.

Do you still like Hyundai's / Kia's? I am not so pleased with the VW debacle and have had a couple of those as rentals recently that seemed really well sorted.

Waiting in line to get a haircut from my wife. /yawn

Hyundai is the new Honda. Kia is the old Hyundai. Both are decent to the 100K mark, but the Hyundai is a better built machine.

VW is pissing me off, too. Well, this VW dealership, at least. I was of a mind to wait for VW to bring a plug-in hybrid Golf to the states, but now I'm not so sure... problem is that there's not a lot of plug-in hybrids available and the VW seems to be the only one that doesn't handle like ****. This is a year or more away, anyway, but whatever.

My daughter drives a tricked out Optima. Sweet car. Much more luxurious than its price would suggest. To those who are comparing Hyundais and Kias, you know they are the same company, right?