Recent content by svtrit

Same on my sons’ car, but I did struts all around anyway because it floated like a boat.....198k miles on original struts will do that I guess.

I spent 5 years in CA. Great environment for cars, but there is more to life than the longevity of my cars. Better quality of life in the Midwest is why I am now here.

Around here, cattle trucks think they are invincible, and will drive at high speed no matter what the conditions.

We raised our family of 6 with three minivans (2 at the same time at one point), then got a sedan, and now have another minivan because my wife prefers them. I consider them the “ultimate” vehicle. The mileage is decent, maintenance is minimal, comfort is great, cost is MUCH better than a truck...

I’d buy an Altima in a heartbeat. The CVT is just fine with the right maintenance, which you won’t hear. Only complaints are heard. I do wish the false shifting was not programmed in. My 2012 got 36mpg no problem, but a new rental I had for a week could not achieve that number. I love my Rouge.

The pickup has a limited slip. 200lbs of sandbags, a set of chains, and a shovel will be fine. My 86 Dodge was awesome in blizzards when I was growing up. All it has was a LSD rear. When I had my FX4 F-150, I generally kept it in 2wd and used the locker to get me going. I’d have no problem...

I got to thinking about this post after realizing why both of my cars are staying so clean this winter. Usually, as we go through our warming freezing spells, the wet roads turn my cars salty white (one is silver and one is dark green). It wasn’t until last night it hit me, when I looked at my...

5000 miles on the Town and Country, as it is the kid hauler, short tripper. Havoline 6 quart conventional 6000-7500 on the Rouge, as it has a 5 day/week, 12 mile one way commute. I just did a 4000 mile change, as Covid had me using it for short trips. Valvoline Synthetic. The Jeep is annually...

Thanks for the heads up. I used a Havoline 6qt for an oil change yesterday, and really liked it overall. I’ll keep using them based on the price point, and my 3.6l Chrysler needing 6 quarts. It would be good to watch for more of this. I generally dont’ keep oil on the shelf for more than 6...

I was in Winnipeg once when it was -50 outside. My coworkers could not believe that Enterprise gave me a rental without a block heater, but they did. The Dodge Caravan cranked HARD, but started, and gave me an error in the message window about being too cold to operate. I helped jumpstart...

It doesn’t take long to get used to it. I actually dislike the fake shifting in my Rouge. You can avoid that by not pushing the pedal too hard. It acts more like a snowmobile then. I’m a fan of the CVT for sure, but it took some time.

I bought my 2016 Rouge with 103k miles on it. The first stop was to the local Nissan dealership, where I had them change all of the fluids, including the transmission. They didn't question me at all, but I guess it was due to the mileage. I'll most likely change it at 130k miles (122k now)...

I did mine around 80k miles. Dropped the pan and measured what came out. Put that back in as new fluid. It was just over a gallon of ATF+4. I used the fancy dipstick mentioned above to measure the level right before I drained it, after sitting over night. I'll do it again at 100k miles...

Working in Ag in Iowa, we would hire lots of Texans to work. It was generally a rule that every family member drove a car back to TX. They sold them in TX to people who would take them over the border. There are strict rules about US purchased cars there, but our workers still made a good...

I used to get a $25/year deal when I would cancel. I finally got so sick of their programming that I ended up not renewing, switching to audio books and podcasts. Still had it playing in my truck for another 4 months or so. I found that Fargo, ND had the worse sat radio reception. No...