Car question

[Tom]

I don't want to sound like a smarta$$ but what about using the high beams? 

[Gliderjohn]

from Tom:
That is fine when no oncoming traffic. Generally once off pavement can use high beams most of the time.
GliderJohn

[Rough Edge racing]

I thought was fixed in the newer trucks.

Yes it was I believe...  Another reason to buy a manual transmission  ...Nissan offers a manual in all or most small truck models, other manufacturers are limited to one or two models.....

[Gliderjohn]

Bought the Altima. Drove it a bit over two hundred miles home this morning. So far so good. 
Have not really played with the paddle shifters yet. It does get up and move. Driving home milage combination two lanes and interstate shows 31mpg. Not bad for a 3.5L
Also a nice buying experience. Everything exactly as represented and quite a bit of history and maintenance documentation. Gave me a fair trade in on my Accord. Oh ya, the headlights seem fine. No picture because the it is dirty as hell from snow melt spray. Charcoal gray exterior and black interior.
Thanks for all the input.
GliderJohn

[twowings]

How's the gravel-road handling? Will she drift? 

[Gliderjohn]

From twowings:

How's the gravel-road handling? Will she drift?

Don't know with the car, can be fun with the RW drive on the pickup however.
GliderJohn

[oldbike54]

From twowings:
Don't know with the car, can be fun with the RW drive on the pickup however.
GliderJohn

 That does explain all of those little rocks I keep finding in weird places 

 Dusty

[Gliderjohn]

From Dusty:

That does explain all of those little rocks I keep finding in weird places 

 Dusty

What??? Noooot Meeeee!
GliderJohn

[oldbike54]

 ^^^

 You are sounding kinda guilty there John 

 Dusty

[twowheeladdict]

Yes it was I believe...  Another reason to buy a manual transmission  ...Nissan offers a manual in all or most small truck models, other manufacturers are limited to one or two models.....

I hear you, but in the V6 Frontier you can only get manual in the Crew Cabs.  I wanted the long bed to haul my small bikes on work trips.  You would think it would be the opposite and you could only get manual in the King Cabs.  I just need to get the seats sorted out and hopefully I will be happy with this truck for many years to come.  It has the same HP and towing capacity as my V8 powered 2000 GMC Sierra had, and only cost me a couple grand more than what that truck cost me new. 

[jas67]

Yeah, but I would think that one could relatively easily upgrade lights from bulb changes, to going to HID's if it's important enough.

I guess though it's easier on some than others. I mean on my tinker-toy (Wrangler) $200 got me Hella E-code housings, higher wattage halogen bulbs, and a custom wiring harness with relays to wire it direct to the battery and work off the OEM switches.

Your Jeep, and my bottom-trim-level F350XL both came with easy to upgrade headlamps, as both used a standard form factor left over from the sealed-beam days.   I went with Trucklite LED's on my truck, which are great.

But, most vehicles these days, if the optics sucks on the OEM headlights you're kinda stuck.    Sure a bulb change may make it brighter, but, if the optics suck, and through a crappy beam, you're stuck with that.

Sometimes, if HID's were an available option, you can try to upgrade to them, but, most modern vehicles would require recoding the lighting controls (CANBUS) to accept them without through bulb-out errors.

One option might be adding quality LED driving lights, which would at least help your high-beams.   Driving lights seldom have a cutoff beam pattern that would be required to use them to boost your low-beams.

[Lannis]

The biggest contributor to that was owners not keeping up with proper maint. on the coolant. There are anti corrosive additives that are supposed to be there that become less effective over time. Many ignore that part of maintenance. Suabru actually has an additive that is supposed to be added when coolant is changed.

On another note, the newer Subies, 2012 and up 2.0, and somewhere in that time frame the 2.5, went to a chain to drive the cams, with the exception of the engine in the WRX, although that may have changed by now too. So there is now 0 maintenance on a cam belt.

John Henry

Fay's 2012 Outback has the cam belts - with 113K on it, I'm taking deep cleansing breaths to calm my cheapskate self, preparing to make an appointment to take it in for the normal replacement of the belts, coolant, and water pump.   $1099.

Four 2010 - 2014 Subies (Outback, Impreza, Foresters) in our family and no blown head gaskets, but that's a small sample size.

Lannis