Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Thanks very much! Are you sure that wasn't your oil change pocket money? Jiffylube will be sad.

In reply to this comment by rasch187:
There, have some of my oilmoney pocketchange.

I would probably get an oil change and a couple of new heads.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'truck, oil change, tire pressure, air filter' to 'truck, oil change, tire pressure, air filter, mpg, mileage, hypermiling' - edited by Stingray

The numbers in this video are not impressive anyway. The Big 3 have been assembling garbage automobiles for decades, and people finally realized they were getting ripped off. Their deadline to move towards quality is long overdue (the gas crisis was the straw that broke.... the...gas guzzler's tow hitch?). This is supported by the fact that Chrysler, the least affected by escalating fuel prices, was the first to run into trouble - because of their long-standing tradition of poor quality. Same thing happened with Jaguar and Land Rover: poor quality - I don't mean initial quality (they ARE comfy at first)... I'm talking about holding value - overall longterm quality (ie, answering "No" to the question: "Will I be embarrassed to drive this car in 10 years?").

They need to learn how to design and assemble the damn thing correctly the first time, so the consumer isn't pissed off every time they need to replace something, even if it's the small shit: window motor, radiator fan, dashboard backlight and/or the gauges it illuminates, water pump, fuel pump, or some $300 A/C flap thingamajigger that controls air flow between vents which remains working yet makes a terribly irritating noise lasting 32 seconds every time you start or stop the engine.
Clearly, I have digressed, and have absolutely no experience with such matters anyway.

And so it was that with the rise of globalization (and fall of the dollar), foreign companies opened up shop here...
Take for example BMW's impact in Greenville, South Carolina: 23,050 jobs paying $1.2 billion, etc. (source) from one such plant. Where's BMW's whining video?? Where's BMW's bailout?? They don't fucking need one because they do quality work - much like Honda, Nissan, Toyota and all other brands who are devouring Big 3's piece of the pie - and rightfully so.

I recently enjoyed an article about how American car companies can't lease cars anymore because they don't hold their value - when people turned their leases in, the company was stuck with a depreciated piece of shit and lost money by the truckload (no pun intended). So now they only sell them (or lack thereof), sticking the consumer with the piece of shit in 3-5 years, who subsequently will purchase a different brand the next time around - one that will not only run forever (provided they keep the oil changed), but the A/C and power windows will too.

Imagine that: Bush actually got it right when he told them to learn how to compete.
In short, we are witnessing the evolution of an industry in the face of capitalism, the excitement and effectiveness of which will be ruined by a bailout. Sorry for ranting.


And remember - if you see a car approaching with a foglight out, it's made by GM.

I wonder what she was doing under the car in the first place? Mid-street oil change?

My father (the old soldier- what is it with vets and motorcycles?), who has ridden motorcycles for over 40 years and currently owns a Harley has always had the following things to say about owning one (as I have asked and so has my brother):

1. Don't get a Harley for your very first motorcyle. Get a smaller, lighter, not so high powered, and less expensive bike. Yeah, it might not be as macho, but you need to get used to operating one and controlling it (yes, this does take some training- and its apparently best to work yourself up to a bigger, higher powered bike like a Harley Sportster. He, for instance, rode Kawasakis and Hondas all during his military service- only got the Harley in the 80s). Also, gods forbid you crash the damn thing, you won't be destroying something beautiful (his words, he loves Harleys), or costing yourself a fortune getting it fixed or replaced (he did this once, nearly totaled his Hog when I was a little kid, had it rebuilt completely which I am sure cost $$$)

2. Never have your motorcyle be your primary mode of transportation, it is far to limiting in what you can do with it (ie. haul stuff unexpectedly, or give people rides), and it also exposes you to all sorts of other misfortunes on a daily basis, ie: inclement weather (he actually knew a guy who died of pneumonia from getting caught on his bike), or motorcycle theft (bikes are way easier to steal than cars apparently), and there is often the problem of finding a secure place to park one for several hours at a time.

3. Please, for the love of your wife and kid, take a motorcycle training and safety course and learn the proper ways to handle a bike and the laws of ownership and operation. These should be offered through your state highway patrol and I am not sure about Texas, but likely you have to take one of these courses to become a certified operator of a motorcycle.

Also, whatever bike you buy, wear a helmet... although my father is a member of ABATE and has worked to change legislation to allow riders to choose whether or not to wear a helmet, he would tell you flat out that despite his arguments for personal choice and freedoms, only an idiot would not wear appropriate head protection, and probably rattle off to you how statistically better off you are wearing the proper protection.

That's all I can think of at the moment... if anything, I would be less concerned about the service regimen than the other things, one can learn the rudiments of motorcycle maintenance fairly easily, but riding skills take time to develop, and you are far more likely to kill yourself from inexperience than a past due oil change.

Oil change?

My wife took our Saturn station wagon to the Saturn dealership for an oil change and Spring tire swap (to remove the studded tires). The young kid who swapped her tires sent her on her way with her front tire held on with ONE finger tight lugnut. Amazingly, it lasted several days before it distorted the alloy rim and royally fucked over the cars steering.

I bet it was an underqualified undertrained underpaid near-teenaged employee.

I worked at one of these quicky oil change places when I was young and their policy was absurd: They forbid the owners of the cars to drive their own vehicles into the bays, but would have typically very young employees with little-to-no experience bringing the cars in. I saw many many close calls with some very expensive cars.

One guy totally ruined a very nice very new engine because he forgot to put in oil (after draining the old oil). He was too busy trying to make some comission selling a belt or hose or tune-up or something.