State motto

The note about the cross pieces on the roof rack is interesting since I had the opposite experience. I had a 2004 Honda CRV without them and best mileage I could get on the highway with cruise control was about 24 mpg. Now I'm driving a 2005 Honda CRV which came with the cross pieces on the roof and got 27 mpg on my last trip down to the SF Bay Area. I would think if the car is new enough the engineering would be sufficient for a standard option not to affect your gas mileage that severely..

MelissaD

I've always thought of car salesman as synonymous with thief, liar and devil's spawn.

IF (and that is a mighty big if) the roof rack was designed properly, it is within the slipstream of the car as it moves forward. (unloaded of course) And that is why certain roof carrier systems are shaped the way they are.

Cheryl

You can always tell when a car salesman, a lawyer or a politician is telling lies - their mouth is open.

Cheryl Isaak ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Me too and for us, as women, we have to double our guard against them. I understand they like to have a woman buying a car because they figure they can up the price. When I bought my Honda the day I actually drove it away the salesman said to me "You drive a hard bargain" and you know - I really loved that car every time I got into it because I did drive a bargain one way and another.

Ah, I understand. Years of business travel and rental cars taught me never to take the their word for it on car condition, and do a thorough look over the car before leaving.g

FWIW, on the Audi, which is quite small and aerodynamic - there are clips hidden in a track on the roof - you have to know they're therre to find them, but they rotate up so that then you can fasten a ski carrier, etc. to them. Thus the car stays with minimal wind resistance, until you need to use them. On my old Ford Taurus Wagon - it had the cross bars which moved back and forth - and was indeed kind of a pain. But, we used it. The Expedition is indeed a gas guzzler, with cross bars on the roof - but I think that's the least of the issues.

I dread car shopping - although DH thinks it's fun to let me loose after I've been quietly browsing or listening to sales drivel for a while. Last spring, the guy at the dealer we brought Nessie into for a quick recall repair, was shwoing me some hybrids. He knew next to nothing, IMHO, and when we came back into the building he wanted to contact me, work on closing the deal, and then asked me "So, what color Escape would you like?" . I drolly (I hope) answered "not white ." Then as he was getting all happy looking - "But I don't buy cars by color - didn't I tell you, I'm a mechanical engineer" and walked away.

When we bought the Audi, the guys at the closer dealership were very rude, kind of dismissive to us, DH waited in the showroom for several minutes while I went to the restroom, and no one even offered to answer a question - we'd been sent to find the brochure rack. So, after another couple of minutes we walked out, got the paper, saw where there was another dealer - across the river in MD and drove the 30-40 minutes . Bought the car there - after a sweet test drive, and returning 2 days later with the goalie gear bag and a stick to see if they'd fit in the hatch with the rear seats down (we had a TT which is pretty much a 2 +2 pretend seats). Dealer was straight with us, and we laughed as we frivolously bought the car - which we still love. No sense dealing with salespeople that insult, ignore or just make you feel like you need a shower. Yuck.

ellice

I think movement of the lips and tongue are required.

Even they need to breathe.

Well, I do. I try not to drive when I can walk (love living in the city!), and am planning on carpooling with my fiance or taking public transit once I'm working, like we did last summer. I also try to combine driving errands and postpone them until I have to go to that area anyway.

Meredith

I try to group my errands too. Hockey practice at certain rinks was combined with hitting my favorite, but otherwise out of the way, grocery store. Trips to BJ's are on the same day as Trader Joe's, the bread outlet store, Barnes and Noble and if I'm being good to myself, Michaels. Oh and my favorite bead store is along the route too.

I wouldn't worry about what their lips or their tongue are doing nor would I be unduly concerned about their breathing habits. If their mouth is open then you can be sure that they are lying

There can be so many factors that will vary the gas mileage in different cars, even the same models of different years. Size of tires, temperature, road conditions, speed, efficiency of newer engine are just a few that come to mind. I can't compare my '03 to my '07 as it does have a different size motor. I guess I'll just have to take the salesman's word for it...even though I'd add my grain of salt! :)

Mavia

While we're talking about gas prices, let me tell you my experience.

I filled my tank yesterday at Wal-Mart and paid $2.99 per gallon. I shopped for about 20 minutes in the store and when I passed the station on my way out I noticed that the price had jumped to $3.09 per. I had to return something and I just got home, shaking my head all the way. The price today, not even 24 hours later, was $3.19.

How are they getting away with that? I doubt they got two deliveries from yesterday to today.

Lucile

"Lucille" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

We learned long ago up here that the price of gas had nothing to do with the price of a barrel of crude at world rates. In fact everytime the Saudis tweaked anyones tail our gas went up and that always struck us as very strange because all the oil we refine came from Venezuela.

The gas companies do whatever they can to enlarge their obscene bottom lines, they just sneer at us.

When we were car shopping years back we had a similar experience. We were looking at minvans and had our young kids, about three and five years old, with us. Went to a Ford dealership and waited in the showroom while salespeople did everything but wait on us. They chatted with each other, several at once talked with a returning customer, and so on. Eventually we left. But.

I called the dealership the following morning and asked for the sales manager. I told him what had happened and described the salespeople who were there. He apologized profusely and promised that would not happen if we returned but I explained that nothing he could say would get us back into the store. I said I was calling because I wanted him to know and to let his staff know that their lack of attention had cost them any chance of ever having us as a customer. There were too many other choices out there for us to waste our time on giving them another chance.

Always call and let the business know the cost of poor sales help.

Karen E.

Thank your lucky stars. I don't remember the last time it was that low around here. We paid about $3.50 the other day. (I wasn't paying, so I didn't note the exact price.)