[mazda4life]

Originally Posted by ToroRosso

Thank bunch Vineeth. Yes i have no driving history or credit history in the US .
Is there any other insurance providers that i need to try with ?

Hi, try comparing rates using this website....

https://leaky.com/

I guess your current quoted rate is pretty high... Also geico offers discounts if u become a member to some organizations, check these
http://www.geico.com/information/dis...tnerdiscounts/ and http://www.freelancersunion.org/blog...scounts-geico/

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

I'm looking for places enroute. I don't want to take a long detour but 10-15 miles should be OK if it doesn't mean getting stuck in traffic.

I was planning to take I-5. We want to reach San Diego as soon as possible. What route will be faster on Friday evening, 101 or I-5?

I reckon taking I5 will be most viable option. Both routes will have traffic on Fridays, but I5 is shorter route. Also I think you can take a diversion into Riverside from Santa Clarita and avoid getting into LA(depending on what time you get in).
The route is 215S

Alternatively you can take CA73 from I5S, this is a toll road but a nice drive that passes thru the woods. I recommend taking this during the day so you can enjoy a bit of view.

[Jeroen]

About hundred bucks will buy you a TomTom GPS with 'active traffic". Shows you where the traffic jams are and plans around them. Very cool device!

Jeroen

[Gandhi]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

About hundred bucks will buy you a TomTom GPS with 'active traffic". Shows you where the traffic jams are and plans around them. Very cool device!

Jeroen

Yeah. I have the garmin gps with traffic alerts but haven't really used it. I'll check it out before the journey.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

About hundred bucks will buy you a TomTom GPS with 'active traffic". Shows you where the traffic jams are and plans around them. Very cool device!

Jeroen

Originally Posted by Gandhi

Yeah. I have the garmin gps with traffic alerts but haven't really used it. I'll check it out before the journey.

Yeah my in dash Garmin also has traffic alerts. But I have disabled it for now after it led me astray recently in Toronto.
The 401 had heavy traffic and the GPS in all its wisdom decided i will be better off going down Eglinton Avenue. I took that route only to find that it goes through numerous traffic lights where traffic barely crawls. Finally i disabled it and went back onto the 401, which was slow but still moving.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Yeah my in dash Garmin also has traffic alerts. But I have disabled it for now after it led me astray recently in Toronto.
The 401 had heavy traffic and the GPS in all its wisdom decided i will be better off going down Eglinton Avenue. I took that route only to find that it goes through numerous traffic lights where traffic barely crawls. Finally i disabled it and went back onto the 401, which was slow but still moving.

I also barely use the traffic alerts on my Tom Tom GPS. I tried it once or twice, took me out of a freeway onto city streets and more delays than what the freeway would have meant. I also decided not to extend the sirius traffic subscription on my car GPS for the same reason, I don't use it often enough for justifying the monthly payment.

[chevelle]

When i bought a Garmin GPS, i was evaluating about getting a LMT instead of just LM version. But the more reviews of users i read about LMT the more i tilted towards LM because of complicated Traffic system and it being unreliable.

What i do is, when i start for a destination, i look at google maps and see how the traffic is along the route i will take. That helps me take alternate routes if there is any traffic ahead. I do have to check it occasionally and it does require a little additional planning. But once you get used to it, it works for me all the time and i saved $50+ while getting the GPS which is just LM and not LMT.

[kraft.wagen]

May be most of you already know this site, I use SigAlert to review the traffic scene before I hit the roads. Very helpful here in LA

[prasadee]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

May be most of you already know this site, I use SigAlert to review the traffic scene before I hit the roads. Very helpful here in LA

Google maps on Android and ios has a layer for live traffic that can be turned on. Very useful to change the route on the fly.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by prasadee

Google maps on Android and ios has a layer for live traffic that can be turned on. Very useful to change the route on the fly.

That's exactly what i do. With holidays coming, its gonna be even more helpful in planning since everything will be choc-o-block with traffic.

[amitoj]

Will be getting a 2011 Ford Focus SEL for the wifey sometime this week. It has 25K miles on the odo.

Other cars that were test driven and rejected were:

1. 2007 Jag X Type with 70K miles (black color). Jag from outside and Ford (2004 era) from inside. Had very stiff steering as well, which would have made parking painful. Asking price was 16K. Although AWD was one big positive, still the dated interiors and stiff steering combined with some known issues with X type came together to strike it off the list.

2. 2007 Jag X Type with 60K miles (green, not the British Racing Green though): Same as above.

3. 2008 Honda Accord LX with 8K miles (black). Yes, that is right. It had only 8K miles. Apparently it was owned by an old gentleman who used it only for grocery runs and city runabouts. The low miles were a plus but the number of years on it made those low miles a negative too. The car did look like a 5 year old car and had a few scratches on the body as well as ton of swirl marks. It looked as if its owner had spent more time just sitting inside the car than driving it.

4. Altima and Malibu: Clubbing them together because both of them were pretty regular cars. Nothing wrong with them, its just that they were somewhat boring.

Finally, after all this, the Focus SEL seems to tick all the right boxes. Comes with decent level of equipment (leather interiors, sunroof, heated seats, fog lamps etc etc), is not boring to drive, comfortable enough for the wife to handle, good mileage, a color that she likes and well within the budget (which i like!!)

Here are a couple of snaps from the dealer listing:








EDIT: I guess since these pictures have not been clicked by me, i need to mention the source. This is the link to the autotrader posting of this car:
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...ngId=332418827

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Will be getting a 2011 Ford Focus SEL for the wifey sometime this week. It has 25K miles on the odo.

It is an excellent and economical run about, the Focus. On top of that, it is definitely fun to drive as well. The new look focus replaced this as a 2012 model, so I suppose the prices are also great.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

It is an excellent and economical run about, the Focus. On top of that, it is definitely fun to drive as well. The new look focus replaced this as a 2012 model, so I suppose the prices are also great.

Well, I obviously didnt pay the listed price on autotrader. There would have been no point in buying a used car then

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Well, I obviously didnt pay the listed price on autotrader. There would have been no point in buying a used car then

good point, you might have as well got a new ford focus for his listed price..
they start from what?? 16k for base??

[Jeroen]

Hi,
when we lived in Kansas City we bought my wife a Ford Focus too. Got ours from CarMax for around $10.000. Three years later we sold it back to CarMax for $6.500,--. So $3.500 depreciation in three years isn't bad at all.

We have owned a whole host of Fords back in Europe as well. Mostly Fiesta's for the wife and I had a few Mondeo's a 'few decades ago'.

Anyway I've always found the Fords great cars. They drive really well, especially the Focus and we've had very few problems with it.

Enjoy,

Jeroen