Good morning!!!!

[RoyJackson]

2013-10-31, 0825

Happy Halloween, all

31 right now and a high of 61 predicted. 70% chance of rain.

Got the wire rope off my Gator's winch yesterday and replaced it with a 2" wide webbed strap. I was told by the guy who sold me the plow that there is a lot of wear on the wire rope when plowing...and all the wear is on the 4-5 feet closest to the hook.
I've also got a pretty foul cold coming on...boy, that's great.

Might have a contract job in the next week or so. The hourly rate is OK, but not fantastic....it'll be OK if the hours come through. The last contract job I did for this company cost me money since the actual hours were considerably less then initially expected. IF the job comes through AND the hours are there, it should last about 8 months, which will cover us until Spring 2014.

 

[dave1949]

I think I'll go shopping for a Subaru later. My road building abilities are no better than the County's.

LOL! You really expect a lot from clay and sand with 4-5 inches of rain.

The DIL had a Subaru Outback for many years and when she shopped for a replacement last year her opinion was the interiors were not as nice as they used to be.

Subaru does a good business around New England with their AWD. They are not great for gas mileage, but "getting there" in winter overrides that drawback for most.

 

[RoyJackson]

Subaru does a good business around New England with their AWD. They are not great for gas mileage, but "getting there" in winter overrides that drawback for most.

Very true...my 2004 Outback got me across some treacherous roads last winter. In fact, it did better then my F-150 4x4.
The fuel economy isn't that bad for what they are...basically a smaller SUV.

 

[daugen]

wu wu wu wu wu wu wu wuuuooooooorrrrrrrk!

 

[dave1949]

Very true...my 2004 Outback got me across some treacherous roads last winter. In fact, it did better then my F-150 4x4.
The fuel economy isn't that bad for what they are...basically a smaller SUV.

True. Any AWD or 4WD is never going to top the mpg charts.

Sometimes in winter driving into town I could swear Subaru's are 50% of the cars I see on the road.

Our '07 Ford Explorer Sport Trac has been a good winter car. It has 4X4 you can manually engage with a push button on the console. I like that better than some of the "intelligent" AWD systems that don't give the driver that option. Some, like the '01 GMC van we had, were so intelligent they would wait until you are stuck before engaging the AWD. :laughing:

Don't know how they are in mud, it's been a great snow car. Four doors, seats four, plus the little exterior cargo space is great for getting diesel fuel, dump runs, etc. They are fairly expensive vehicles though and the mpg tops out around 20.5, more like 17 in local winter driving.

 

[RoyJackson]

True. Any AWD or 4WD is never going to top the mpg charts.

Sometimes in winter driving into town I could swear Subaru's are 50% of the cars I see on the road.

Don't know how they are in mud, it's been a great snow car. Four doors, seats four, plus the little exterior cargo space is great for getting diesel fuel, dump runs, etc. They are fairly expensive vehicles though and the mpg tops out around 20.5, more like 17 in local winter driving.

Not only are they 50% of the cars on the road, the majority are the same color (a pukey metallic green).

My Suby has a tow hook on the lower front end (just inboard of the right side fog lamp). I had to use it one time in 2010 when we got a double whammy snowstorm...hooked it up to my 790 and towed the Suby out of a snow bank.

 

[toppop52]

wu wu wu wu wu wu wu wuuuooooooorrrrrrrk!

(Maynard G Krebs)

 

[toppop52]

I can't get my wife out of her Pacifica because of the room, traction, mpg combo it has. Remarkable in the snow for an AWD with 17" performance tires. She has 176,000 miles, still runs as new, beautiful deep maroon paint and cream leather interior still looks new. A far cry from Chrysler of old. She gets 21+ overall, which isn't bad for a totally loaded 4000 lb crossover with 255 h.p. I think she's finally going to buy an SRX when she finally gets around to it.

 

[toppop52]

Our daughter in law drives a 2011 Outback, she and my son commute to their offices in Northern Virginia daily so it already has 85000 miles in 2+ years. They seem happy with the car. Sometimes my son has to drive separately, suffice it to say that his 2013 Wrangler Unlimited with off road bumpers, huge winch, 35" tires doesn't get great MPG.

 

[jinman]

I test drove a RAV4 yesterday and while sufficient in every aspect I was not overly impressed. The Forester has more ground clearance to go over the turtles and dead armadillos but I have not driven one yet. Roy has a Subaru so they have to be good.

I'm very fond of the CRV. Of course, they are so popular that they hold a high value. That's both the good and bad news.