Car Talk

[HecticArt]

That doesn’t seem too shabby.
It’s got extras, but is it still close to your original budget? With the low miles on it, it seems like you should be getting a good price.

Doesn‘t it have Bluetooth? You should be able to use the usb for a thumb drive and the cigarette lighter for charging your phone. I have a splitter that I can power 3 things at once with. (No USB on mine.)

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I also have a cig lighter spliter as well. As long as you have one you have plenty of power options.

Get the warrentee in writing and read the fine print.

 

[sadchild]

You should be able to use the usb for a thumb drive and the cigarette lighter for charging your phone.

I'll end up doing this (though I rarely need to charge my phone in the car). The thing I don't have is the ability to listen to my mp3s (I have like tens of thousands!) while using the screen for maps, incoming texts, etc. Mounting the phone will be a trick because it has no normal vent slats, it's hexagonal. And I can't mount my SXM Onyx either (it needs the slats). I've had terrible trouble with suction cup mounts and beanbag-n-the-dash solutions. Maybe my son can design and 3D print something.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I'll end up doing this (though I rarely need to charge my phone in the car). The thing I don't have is the ability to listen to my mp3s (I have like tens of thousands!) while using the screen for maps, incoming texts, etc. Mounting the phone will be a trick because it has no normal vent slats, it's hexagonal. And I can't mount my SXM Onyx either (it needs the slats). I've had terrible trouble with suction cup mounts and beanbag-n-the-dash solutions. Maybe my son can design and 3D print something.

So you need to connect the phone's usb into the car to get Android Auto (or whatever) displayed on the car's display? My car is old, so it doesn't have Android Auto integration. I have a bluetooth audio receiver plugged into my 1 usb on the car, so that streams music. And then I just use the phone display for everything else. Fortunately, the ashtray makes a good phone holder. Oh, and for phone calls and texts, there's bluetooth for voice built into the car.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

My car is a 2019 Toyota Corolla and it did not come with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. But I connect my phone to the car via bluetooth. I set a setting on my phone to allow incoming texts to go to the screen. It will also change the presets based upon which phone it is connected to. When my wife was able to drive, her phone would connect and she would get her preferences.

The car has built in SXM so no worry about that. That may be an option they can install for you (at an extra charge of course).

 

[scotchandcigar]

Got to take a 2022 Honda Civic EX-L home overnight for test driving (returned it this morning).

Opinions please!

Pros:
Excellent safety score
Fun, tight, sporty drive with great steering
Third trim level has a lot of extras I wouldn't have in my original budget (heated seats, crash mitigation, lane guidance, rear cam, etc etc etc)
Looks great, great color

Cons:
Used (but only 1900 miles, someone bought it while watiting for the car they actually wanted, then traded it in, must be a company expense!).
Saleslady told me I can get 7 year/100K mile bumper to bumper warranty for cheap money, but the sticker has 'full warranty' unchecked and 'limited' is checked??
Only one USB port in the entire vehicle WTF? Can't plug in a USB stick for tunes and plug in phone at same time for maps.
Only one more power option (cig lighter). If I put SXM in it, which I use 80% of the time, no other power options. WTF? Only two inputs?!
Leather seats hot in the summer, frigid in the winter. Prefer cloth.
Hatchback

Other than the USB issue, let me comment on the rest of the car.

Our daughter most recently bought a 2017 Civic. They're nice cars, bigger and more solid than they used to be. Which means I trust it to work OK in the winter. I like that it's sporty and nimble, but now we live in a world of SUVs, so people will complain it's too low to get into, and the drive-thru windows will all be above you (you probably have that with your car now).

I'm not sure where you're looking to buy it from, but it doesn't sound like a Honda dealer, if they're not giving you the factory warranty. That being said, any car that's still within the manufacturer's guidelines for warranty coverage - age/mileage - is covered by the manufacturer's warranty. Just because it's used, doesn't void the coverage that came with the car. Perhaps the box is unchecked on the sticker because it's not being provided by that reseller. They may want to sell you an extended warranty, which takes effect after the factory one runs out.

And while we're talking about used car dealers, I'd be careful if you're going to one of those "here today/gone tomorrow" places. The car might be there because it has some problem or damage, and they'll cover it up and then fold-up shop. If you have any concerns, I'd have it inspected by a trusted service guy. My nephew in Windham can do that.

 

[sadchild]

Sorry I should have specified I actually am buying from a Honda dealer. And the saleslady confirmed that "Limited warranty refers to what the car comes with which is 12 months or 12,000 miles of comprehensive coverage (bumper to bumper)" so for $1200 I am extending that to 7 years/100K. Thank you for mentioning you have someone in Windham that's trustworthy in case I need it in the future! I think my Mazda3 is about the same as this Civic as for height (the Civic roof is a little lower but getting into it felt the same).

 

[sadchild]

My car is a 2019 Toyota Corolla

Hmm.. if I can get texts on the screen via Bluetooth, that would be nice. I don't need maps all the time, so I could just not listen to mp3s when I want a map on the screen.

The SXM app doesn't have the two features I use on my Onyx all the time: tune mix and favorites (artist/song alerts). So I don't like the app (except to play the VJ 40). Maybe there's a new radio that does tune mix, favorites, plugs into USB (so I can share that 12v cig lighter power hole) and mounts on a slatless vent....? I'll have to look.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Hmm.. if I can get texts on the screen via Bluetooth, that would be nice. I don't need maps all the time, so I could just not listen to mp3s when I want a map on the screen.

The SXM app doesn't have the two features I use on my Onyx all the time: tune mix and favorites (artist/song alerts). So I don't like the app (except to play the VJ 40). Maybe there's a new radio that does tune mix, favorites, plugs into USB (so I can share that 12v cig lighter power hole) and mounts on a slatless vent....? I'll have to look.

I am confused why you say these are mutually exclusive. In my car, I can have navagation on the screen, be listening to SXM, FM or my phone and get texts overlay the map on the screen. It is not a choice.

 

[sadchild]

I 'think' I could have a map up while listening to my phone and maybe even get texts. What I can't do is have a map up while listening to songs from my massive music collection (including demos, remixes, rarities, songs not on streaming services), or when I have to listen to my band's songs we're in the middle of writing (won't find THAT on Spotify), or when I 'burn a disc' (usb stick now) of my favorite songs from a certain year or genre or whatever (mixtapes, basically). But maybe there are more modern ways to do it I'm not aware of....? I know I can listen to my band's songs-in-progress from our Google Drive but I don't want to navigate folder to folder while driving. Currently I burn a 30 cent CD with all the current demos and listen that way. I was planning on doing USB stick instead. I'm sure over time I'll figure it out. Especially if anyone here has tips and tricks.

 

[scotchandcigar]

My phone has 256gb of memory built in. Not sure if you don't have that, or if there's some other reason not to load it onto the phone.

 

[sadchild]

Hmmm... let's see



My partial collection at work is 50GB and that does me fine for the office. Good point.

 

[sadchild]

Hum de dum de dum

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Hum de dum de dum

View attachment 7880

With those transfer times you must be hot blooded. Just waiting for a download like you. If you get stressed out you might get double vision. Perhaps your phone is not warm enough. It may be cold as ice.

I'll stop now. How many Foreigner songs do you have?

 

[sadchild]

My work collection:

Foreigner - Blue Morning, BlueTooth
Foreigner - Can't Wait (For DSL).mp3
Foreigner - Cold As CPU Liquid Cooling.mp3
Foreigner - Dirty Write Bits.mp3
Foreigner - Double VR.mp3
Foreigner - Harddrive Games.mp3
Foreigner - Heart Turns To Optical Storage.mp3
Foreigner - Hot Blooded And Overclocked.mp3
Foreigner - Juke Box Zeroes and Ones.mp3
Foreigner - Say You Will Upgrade To Windows 11.mp3
Foreigner - USB-rgent.mp3

 

[HecticArt]

With those transfer times you must be hot blooded. Just waiting for a download like you. If you get stressed out you might get double vision. Perhaps your phone is not warm enough. It may be cold as ice.

I'll stop now. How many Foreigner songs do you have?

 

[sadchild]

Three more at home:

Foreigner - I Don't Want To Live Without YouTube
Foreigner - I Want To Know What A LAN Is
Foreigner - Soul Doc-torrent

 

[scotchandcigar]

Three more at home:

Foreigner - I Don't Want To Live Without YouTube
Foreigner - I Want To Know What A LAN Is
Foreigner - Soul Doc-torrent

You and Channel98 should team up together and do a show.

 

[HecticArt]

Nope.

 

[sadchild]

I bought the '22 Civic EX-L hatchback on Saturday. I took Scotch's suggestion about just using my phone as the mp3 player. Winamp for Android sucked but I found AIMP which is pretty good so far. The only disadvantage is you can't just play a single song, you have to make playlists. Fortunately doing that is pretty easy, just takes some work building them.

I had to stop using Verizon Message+ and use the default Samsung Messages to see texts on my screen. That means I lose my cool auto-reply to texts while driving. Mine was "Here in my car, I feel safest of all. I can lock all my doors. It's the only way to live - in cars." But since I can now respond to texts using my voice easily, I suppose auto-reply won't be necessary anyway.

Yesterday, I read through most of the manual learning about new features like Lane Assist, Crash Mitigation, Adaptive Cruise Control, Climate Control Sync, etc etc etc.

The only sour part is the extended warranty which is "just like buying new" (that's what I 'verified' with the saleslady) is actually 3rd party. She insists it's seamless and still exactly the same. Well, until she mentioned the $100 deductible each time you bring it in. So that seems to be the only hitch.

Crazy story, so the car was bought in late January and used while the guy was waiting for his Bronco to come in. When it came in 2 1/2 months later, he traded the Civic in when buying the Bronco. He bought weather mats for all 4 seats and the hatchback and the door trim to drive it for 10 weeks. Must have been a corporate expense. Nobody would do that with their own money.