Recent content by finlandia

That's exactly what I was thinking. That happened to my uncle's VW a few months ago. An electrical short in the engine compartment started a small fire that would've become a lot bigger if he hadn't jumped out, disconnected the battery, and put out the small fire with the 5 lb one he happened...

(After a lot of lurking, I'm finally posting) Has anyone found a way to mount a fire extinguisher under or near the driver's seat in a P5? Maybe just in front of and/or under the leading edge of the seat cushion? I don't want to mount it to a pillar and I'd rather have it where I can reach it...

That's a lot of mileage for an '02, hopefully those are freeway miles. The price sounds about right, though. Edmunds lists it at around $9000 to $9500. As for reliability, mine only has 6k on it but there don't seem to be any large-scale problems with the P5. Just the usual random problems...

Larry 2003.5 silver P5 Alexandria (on the Fairfax Cty side, so...Franconia, I guess) lakiyama@myrealbox.com

Not me - I see 3-5 a day! I'm visiting my mom in Honolulu, and this always has been Japanese car central. Toyota, Honda, Mazda, and Nissan together have about 50% market share.

I test drove one with my mom about 10 months ago - then she decided she wanted the bigger Pathfinder. The Tribute is twinned with the Ford something or other, I think the Escape. Here's what I remember from that test drive (I drove it myself for about 15 minutes; I was the devil's advocate for...

Careful with the simple green - it can harm your wheels, depending on material and finish. It can be bad on polished aluminum, for example. For wheels, you can go with acids, alkalines, and detergents, in decending order of strength. Spray on/wipe off products typically are acids, while...

The grille looks JUST LIKE the one from the wife's old Pontiac Bonneville. If the maker heard that, bet he'd blow up the car on principle!

It is more of a problem with SUVs and big truck, since the foglights on some of these things are almost at eye level for a person in a car. I remember riding around in my friend's dropped Integra and having the fogs of trucks actually shining DOWN at us. Sheesh. There's a reason why lowbeams are...

Be careful with buying an orbital polisher. Many times, the cheap ones you buy from Sears or Home Depot aren't suitable for the fragile finish of cars. You really want specialized pads and higher end gear. Make sure it's a dual-action, random orbital - if there's a pattern to the spin, you'll...

Before you try touch up paint or give up and have it repainted, try a good scratch remover. Eggs can etch (or even crack) the clearcoat itself, in which case claying only takes you halfway. Can you feel the scratch with your fingernail? If not, try Meguiar's #9 Swirl Mark Remover, 3M Perfect-It...

I just bought a PR5 on Tuesday. Sorry to hear about this. My wife's old Pontiac had ironclad paint; that stuff was tough! Here's my solution to chipping. Instead of a wax, apply an acrylic or polymer sealant to the car. Put on a few layers and use that as your defense against gravel, etc...