The trilogy with Bale certainly made that clear haha.

I’ve used them for a while too. Sometimes they’ll have weird keys super cheap. Like I was able to grab Dark Souls 3 + both DLC’s for like $16 or something way back when.

Generally I don’t buy anything else other than Phillips. They’re usually bulletproof if you don’t get the smart bulbs. I’ve not had a Phillips fail in ~10 years. But that’s a sample size of like 30 or so bulbs.

Like the other commenter said, you can get some pretty good deals due to the recent issues.

Just don’t bother with a 13th/14th gen intel right now. Either go 12th gen intel, or straight up AMD which is what I’d recommend.

Source

Yep. When I moved into my house the previous owner had used all garbage Walmart LED’s. I think I had one fail each month and just bought a bunch on sale from Phillips eventually.

Most common failure was the driver. So they turned into strobe lights lol. Most annoying failure ever.

And more importantly, not every LED is dimmer compatible. Sometimes they’re super picky or just plain don’t work.

I feel like mines the opposite. I pay $20/mo and we get access to a huge and well taken care of community pool, park, and basketball court. They also host community parties for each holiday that you can go to. They certainly allow you to get your $20 worth. Idk how they do it.

When it comes to architectural control, they’re pretty lax. We’ve got some vibrant and eclectic houses, but they are well put together. I haven’t found anything yet they won’t approve if you stay within a standard palette offering when it comes to shingles, siding etc. But some of these colors are yellows and reds so it’s not all boring either.

They also don’t allow signage in the yard to be displayed. So political signs etc will get you a violation. But it’s just a “remove by x date” and there’s no penalty if you do. I don’t mind this rule.

We do have to keep grass cut to an extent, but my neighbors cut it once a month at most and it’s usually a non issue. Honestly, other than safety things I’ve not seen anything crazy in mine. The two lady’s that operate it are super nice.

Yea Floatplane.

If you’re looking for strictly mileage, the hybrid will do better. The turbo motor would be in boost and consuming more fuel.

Coming from VW/Audi it’s easier to just grab a factory unit and have it programmed. Yea it’s expensive, but the German cars aren’t super easy to tinker with.

Generally Keynote is held on a Tuesday, preorders open Friday morning the same week. Phones then ship the following week.

Wolfenstein 3D or Doom. It’s hard to think which I played first. Probably Doom.

Is that why I can find some brands in Colorado and not in Michigan? Or are there just really that many brands?

I never thought about a sudden change in brake compound affecting the AEB system and its calibrations. I’ve always tried to stay OEM or comparable aftermarket pads. For example, I swapped my pads on my GTI for some EBC’s mostly because of brake dust. They performed very well, but I also had sticky tires. I have noticed I was able to find parts much more easily with that car than I have my Mazda. And with how many parts revisions I’ve seen for that one car I’d believe that they demand a lot in parts manufacturing. I guess it comes with the territory when they do something like the global MQB platform where parts are so easily shared.

In 6 years and 150,000 miles I only had one incident of a false positive where the car braked for whatever the system saw as an obstacle. Fortunately, no one was behind me but it was a route I traveled every day and it happened early on (~40,000 miles). My newer Mazda has the whole camera setup etc and definitely triggers if with the adaptive cruise if someone in the lane next to me brakes or slows down so I can see the overly sensitive reactions making people angry.

For the headlights, I don’t think factory cars are much of an issue. Now that matrix style lights are making their way here we should be able to learn a lot from Europe.

Thanks for the insightful reply! It’s cool to see stuff like this.

Gotcha. I figured AEB was pretty much getting to the point of being standard. Didn’t know it was decreed at this point.

I guess I was thinking more if third party targets were missed if it was possible to recalibrate or if new hardware was needed. In my experience, VW specifically, they used different radar units just about every year. And my Mazda is very different in comparison.

I welcome standard AEB. Maybe people will stop totaling my cars.

Serious question, how much does the IIHS tests affect your job?

A lot of the tests I’ve seen are 1-3 mph from making no contact and mitigating the whole incident when it comes to parallel/perpendicular tests for pedestrian systems.

Does anything other than a acceptable or good rating send you back to the drawing board?

At some point there has to be a crossover when it comes to profitability.

Soft plaque forms like the other comment said from bacteria excrement.

It then hardens and becomes impossible for a regular brush to get rid of within 24ish hours. It’s why you should get regular cleanings and brush twice a day. And floss.

IIHS lists a rotating list of safest used cars for teens.

This may be better for some folk.

I had a 2015 golf and 2018 GTI. The gti was hands down my favorite vehicle I ever owned. That being said I did not get a MK8 when it got totaled.

I went with a Mazda3 awd turbo. Reason being physical buttons. I could not comfortably use the controls on all the test drives I did and the infotainment was terrible. Mazda has the superior infotainment of the two.

The golf r is literally just a budget Audi. All the parts are stamped Audi because it’s an MQB Evo platform. They’re all the same.

I wouldn’t say Vw isn’t quality, but I could not justify the expense. I paid less for a 2024 turbo premium plus awd Mazda than the dealer was asking for an SE GTI.