SHOenough

These last 2 weeks and next week I have been traveling a lot for work, as its site to site I'm not flying. So I've been renting vehicles, I had one for two days for a jaunt around Atlanta which was a 2017 BMW X3 with 28k on it. I had that one for 500 miles and 4 days. The second one was a 2017 4WD Suburban with 40k on it. The X3 had decent tech, Apple CarPlay (done with Bluetooth), the twin-scroll 4 Cylinder and RWD. I was initially excited to get it. There was some decent pickup, and the transmission was great one it got moving. However, stop and go was terrible. The first-second shift bucked which got old in 3 hours of ATL traffic. The car never stopped dinging, and the bluetooth driver crashed which caused the navigation and the music (small in the grand scheme) to stop. The car creaked and the sunroof rattled. I was SUPER disappointed. I was SO happy to give it back. The 4WD Suburban I had for 7 days and 1800 miles. It was a couch on wheels and massive, I loved it. Apple CarPlay as well, but it used USB and it never faltered. It went over the mountains, down an accidental mud pit thanks to a wrong turn, and was super comfortable. Never once felt terrified driving it, and in the wet I could get it sideways and hold it there easily. I was very impressed with the build quality and the drivability. It was a fantastic car, I really enjoyed it. However, i was very happy to get back to my 4Runner. I pick up my next rental tomorrow. Lets see what they give me! Here is an album of the two cars and my various dealings with them. https://imgur.com/a/cwzo6

4Runner got its first oil change under me. That was just a ruse to get it into the dealer. The Navi has been freezing up on me randomly on longer drives. Did some fourm research and found that the update it did using my phones data connection needs to be supplemented by a dealer update as well. So I got it done, $59. Took it to Hilton Head, used navi and streaming the whole way up and back with no freezing. I'm cured!

Awesome! Ford stands behind their CPO vehicles really well. I've owned two SHO's that were CPO and would recommend them to anyone. What option packages did you get?

That sounds about right. I paid $350 on the SHO for machined rears and new pads after one of them blew up.

The Camry hasn't been a bad car for years. One of my co-workers bought a new one and I was BLOWN away by the rear leg room. It had what felt like twice the legroom in the back as the Gen 6.

I really thought I would hate it, but I was impressed with it. All the materials are high quality and there isn't a single squeak or rattle in the whole damned truck Thanks! I love it so far, I think it'll pan out to be the ultimate road trip car. Absolutely! I didn't realize how awesome that was until this truck. It creates a wonderful breeze of fresh air in the cabin without blasting you with noise at any speed. Highway, backroads, you name it. One small downside: if you get on it a bit, you can smell the exhaust. I may get it routed out of the side to stop that from happening.

I'm out of the SHO game. Probably for good this time. All the adventuring I've been doing lately was putting the car in jeopardy. I took all of the recommendations into consideration, I really wanted body-on-frame part-time 4WD. I was leaning toward a Grand Cherokee for literally every reason. Tech, comfort, power, offroad capability. But couldn't overcome the Chrysler aspect of it (plastic, build quality, reliability). I was leaning toward an LR4, but wanted to look at an Outback with the flat-6. Didn't like it, my parents have 2 4-cyl ones. I was hoping it would be that with some balls. But it wasn't. So I was looking for LR4's and drove past a Toyota dealer. I figured that I knew I was going to hate the 4Runner as it was just a dumb, harsh, truck and would be loud and uncomfortable. I went and looked at a Limited, as it had some of the features that I wanted but was missing the driver assistance part of it (adaptive cruise mainly). I agreed to take one out knowing full well that I would hate it. I got in it and was impressed with the quality, and then I took it out. I have never driven anything that felt so alive, so well put together, so shocking. It's quieter than the SHO at 70mph by 1.5db. The ride, while harsh over large pot holes, is smooth and controlled most of the time. It's quiet and civilized when you want it to me, and that 4.0 sings when you floor it. So, I bought a 2014 with 62k miles. 4WD, Limited. And its already found its way off road and in 4lo

Someone should buy my old SHO: https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=472657979&zip=29223&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D29223%26startYear%3D1981%26maxMileage%3D45000%26sortBy%3DdistanceASC%26incremental%3Dall%26firstRecord%3D0%26endYear%3D2018%26modelCodeList%3DTAURUS%26makeCodeList%3DFORD%26searchRadius%3D300%26trimCodeList%3DTAURUS%7CSHO&startYear=1981&numRecords=25&firstRecord=0&endYear=2018&modelCodeList=TAURUS&makeCodeList=FORD&searchRadius=300&makeCode1=FORD&modelCode1=TAURUS They recorded the odo wrong on the paperwork which will bite them in the ass later on. They put new tires on her as well, which they wouldn't do to what I bought damnit.

Congrats! When I was looking at my Gen 6 I considered an MKS. I just couldn't get the taste of hard candy out of my mouth anytime I sat inside one. So, let me be the first to say: tune it. Think its fast now? You ain't seen nothing yet

Those look fantastic on that!

The SHO has been returned to stock - mostly. The BOV's are still VTA, mainly because I had trouble with the rear one and gave up. It's not as murderously fast as it was before, but its a lot smoother. Idles smoother, accelerates smoother, transmission shifts smoother. It's kinda weird - tuned, this thing had no challengers. SS wants to play? See you in my rear mirror. Mustang 5.0 wants to play? Bye. Now, the SS would be in my rear view mirror, but by no more than 2 car lengths. The 5.0? I'm in his rear view (unless we launch from a dig). This also means I've been using the car as a grand tourer more, the massaging seats, the relatively comfortable ride, the constant loathing of Sync 2 and that god awful Sony system. Also, I got a ticket today. Was going to meet a girl for breakfast in Rock Hill, and was running a tad bit late. I had my cruise control on, granted it was set at 99, and it was only me on the road at 7:00 this morning. Until I encountered the only other person on the road: a county cop. He pulled me over, and said he clocked me doing 96 in a 70. He ended up writing me up for 2 points for 9 over. Really lucked out with that one

So some big life changes have happened recently. I started a new job which drops my commute down to ~6 miles a day, all city back roads. The SHO has been complaining a bit with some rough shifts as it adapts so I disconnected the battery and reconnected it after 20 minutes to try and reset the transmission. It's getting about 14mpg right now, which is about what I expected for where it exists now. If I can find my 2-bar MAP sensor, I'll be detuning it. I'm just not using the extra power, and the harsh idle isn't worth the once every 2 weeks I really get on it. The GF and I separated and she moved out. It hasn't been the easiest few weeks but time will heal all wounds. I'm fairly certain that it's time for the SHO to go. I'm tired of modifying my DD, and I don't want to constrain it to a life of 5 mile drives. I was hell bent on getting rid of it until I took it to the mountains. That damned thing has SO MUCH grip it's ridiculous. Next car will probably be an SUV, and I'll sell the truck and get something that I can modify and abuse the shit out of. Current front runner is a Miata, but we'll see. Current top pick for an SUV is a Grand Cherokee Summit with the 5.7 and 4wd. I want something that can tow, has air suspension, 4wd, and won't cost me my left nut to fix when something goes wrong. However, I'm still a few months out from doing anything. Any other options you guys can think of? I'm going to try and sell it privately, as the CPO warranty transfers to the next owner for free.

Damn! See you all in the spring!

I understand! I was over the infrastructure for 3 sites, and then the global Citrix environment, and then they threw the design and implementation of a new production machine on top of my responsibilities. I was working 60+ hour weeks, commuting 94 miles a day and when I asked for some help they flat out told me no. I'm going to work for a MSP, and I'm very excited about it!

Following in the footsteps of @TaurusKev I handed in my resignation letter - last day is September 8th at the current job! Very excited, my new commute is 5 miles round trip!