Blow that Dough! - 2018

[RobbieB]

Christmas supper for the 4 of us will be 2 lbs of gold grade wagyu and 2 colossal king crab legs. About $250 and we have to cook it ourselves -

 

[NW-Bound]

$150 an ounce. Cheaper than gold, more than silver.

A bottle of Louis XIII is $3000, and a bottle has 25 oz. And so, the restaurant markup on this liquid gold is much less than what they charge for wine, which is 2x or 3x. No, I have not had this cognac.

Last year, in a stay at the town of Cognac, we visited Rémy Martin (by prior reservation), and were allowed to see the cellar where all their best Cognac were kept. No photos were allowed inside this cellar.

 

[eytonxav]

Nice! A5?

Thanks, RS5.

 

[NW-Bound]

Nice car!

I stopped driving stick shift long ago. Recently, my son needed my SUV, and left his S4 with a 6-speed manual at my home for a day. Needed to run an errand, so had to drive his car. Had to say, I did not miss all that work to drive a car. I am ready for a self-driving car, but it has to be a real and not phony one.

 

[eytonxav]

Nice car!

I stopped driving stick shift long ago. Recently, my son needed my SUV, and left his S4 with a 6-speed manual at my home for a day. Needed to run an errand, so had to drive his car. Had to say, I did not miss all that work to drive a car. I am ready for a self-driving car, but it has to be a real and not phony one.

Thanks, this is the first Audi I have owned. I would consider it to be a GT type car and will probably be the last sporty car I own before moving to a self driving car

 

[NW-Bound]

Out of curiosity, I looked and saw that even the smaller Audi S4 is not available in stick shift anymore. I don't know the model year of my son's car, but think it is 4 year old.

 

[eytonxav]

Out of curiosity, I looked and saw that even the smaller Audi S4 is not available in stick shift anymore. I don't know the model year of my son's car, but think it is 4 year old.

My car is not available with a manual transmission, at least in the US. I have not researched if other models can be had with a manual, but automatics are generally faster, more convenient in traffic, and still get excellent gas mileage. At some point manuals will disappear entirely, along with gas powered engines.

 

[Dtail]

My car is not available with a manual transmission, at least in the US. I have not researched if other models can be had with a manual, but automatics are generally faster, more convenient in traffic, and still get excellent gas mileage. At some point manuals will disappear entirely, along with gas powered engines.

Agree on the manuals disappearing. Even the super cars have paddle shifts or full automatic, not a true manual.

 

[Chuckanut]

IIRC, manual transmissions and hybrids are not a good combo. That alone may doom manual transmissions. Are there any manual transmission hybrids sold in the USA?

 

[NW-Bound]

My car is not available with a manual transmission, at least in the US. I have not researched if other models can be had with a manual, but automatics are generally faster, more convenient in traffic, and still get excellent gas mileage. At some point manuals will disappear entirely, along with gas powered engines.

I am not an auto enthusiast, so do not follow the market trend. As I mentioned, I went on Audi site, and was surprised when I saw no model being offered with a manual transmission, unless I miss something. It did not occur to me that perhaps they still do in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

 

[38Chevy454]

Traded vehicles with my nephew. I paid off his loan and gave him my 2008 Ford Edge Limited awd. I got his 2015 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited. He wants to pay down some student loan debt and also do some house upgrades. He gets a good car with no payment. So we made the deal and I have a new daily driver, off road fun vehicle. I will switch between this and my 1952 GMC hot rod pickup when the weather is nice. Jeep has a ton of aftermarket extras, very modified from stock. Jeep will also be flat towed behind my motorhome on trips.


So kind of a big blow the dough expenditure

 

[Christine]

Traded vehicles with my nephew.

...
Jeep will also be flat towed behind my motorhome on trips.

Congrats! Sounds like a good deal for you both. I did a similar swap with my little bro many years ago.


Towing the Jeep behind your motorhome peaked my interest. I have started contemplating this too. Do you find it to be much hassle to do this? In my situation I'll probably go the trailer route. Don't think flat towing kits are available in Europe. I have checked that my MH have the capacity to do this.

 

[38Chevy454]

Flat towing is way easier than trailer. Just hook up towbar and lights, do whatever required for the vehicle, hook up brake unit (most states require supplemental braking for towed car over 3000 lbs), and then go. No hooking up trailer and loading car, tying it down. Once there at destination, have issues with what to do with trailer. Flat towing, just the towbar which is easy to stow away. Many towbars fold along back of the MH.


Weight wise, the trailer weight adds to your total being towed, and adds rear hitch tongue weight. Sometimes that rear weight is more problems than the towed weight amount. So if you have 5K towing capacity for example, a 1500-2000 lb trailer does not leave much except for a smaller vehicle. If flat towing, no rear tongue weight concerns and only the weight of vehicle being towed. So gives a lot more flexibility for what to tow, although only certain vehicles can be towed four wheels down. The Jeeps are popular because they are very easy, just put transfer case in neutral and go. No steering lock issues or complex procedures to set up for flat towing.


A dolly is the third way, and is also like a smaller trailer as far as hassles. Still have the dolly to hook up and load car onto. Then what to do with dolly at destination. It's just a lot easier to figure out a way to flat tow IMHO. My old car that i traded nephew, the 2008 Ford Edge is one that can be flat towed and it has probably 10K of flat towing miles on it. The Jeep is even easier than the Edge to set up for towing, but Edge was not really that hard at all to be honest.


Sorry for long answer to a seemingly simple question.

 

[W2R]

I just spent over $500 on a Nintendo Switch (video game console), and 4 games to play on it. Pretty exciting! Well, at least for me it is.

I was adding up my spending for this year and thought I should jack it up a bit.

 

[Christine]

Checked out various websites and if I want to bring a car on a trailer behind my motorhome I need to upgrade my licence. About 5 hours of driving and a computerized test.



Still not sure if flat towing is possible or require the same licence. Will have to call and ask a real person about that early next year.

Sorry for long answer to a seemingly simple question.

Very interesting - thank you!

 

[BOBOT]

Costco is offering prime NY strips for 9.99/lb so we loaded up.While we were at it we picked up some prime ribeyes as well - they definitely were not on sale!
The NY's are on sale through 12/31 if you're interested.

 

[skipro33]

Checked out various websites and if I want to bring a car on a trailer behind my motorhome I need to upgrade my licence. About 5 hours of driving and a computerized test.

Still not sure if flat towing is possible or require the same licence. Will have to call and ask a real person about that early next year.

Probably dependent on what state. In California, I flat tow my car behind my RV no special license needed. If the car was on a trailer, no difference; still no special license needed or testing. The trailer is easier for backing up, but then, stuck with a trailer at the RV or campground to deal with. Flat tow is less 'stuff' but can't back up, so gotta be careful where going.

 

[MarieIG]

Trip to Whidbey Island for three for six days. Trip long, expensive due to dates, and weather is awful but . . .

We get to see Son, DIL and Baby GD. So, well worth it.

 

[NW-Bound]

Probably dependent on what state. In California, I flat tow my car behind my RV no special license needed. If the car was on a trailer, no difference; still no special license needed or testing. The trailer is easier for backing up, but then, stuck with a trailer at the RV or campground to deal with. Flat tow is less 'stuff' but can't back up, so gotta be careful where going.

Christine is a Norwegian. European countries tend to have stricter requirements about RV'ing and towing in general. In many towns, I feel that the best vehicle to drive is a Smart car due to the narrow streets and the lack of parking space.

 

[38Chevy454]

Correct that a trailer with car on it can be backed up, but a flat tow or dolly can't be backed up; at least any more than about a few feet.

 

[GrayHare]

Time for "Blow that Dough! - 2018" is running out. Only New Year's Eve and New Year's Adam remain.

 

[Christine]

Correct that a trailer with car on it can be backed up, but a flat tow or dolly can't be backed up; at least any more than about a few feet.

Flat tow or dollies are not allowed in Norway I have learned. So a trailer it is if I want to bring my car. Have driven a lot with small trailers behind my car. But it will be 2019 before I eventually blow some dough on a trailer - those things are expensive!

 

[explanade]

Major purchases this year:

1. New car lease, previous car was over 10 years old so car payments for the first time in a long time.

2. New camera, Nikon Z7, lenses and other gear for time lapses.

3. New laptop with 4K screen.

4. Big travel budget as in every year since retirement.


Still ended up spend8ng slightly less than in 2017, if I apply prepayments made in 2018 for 2019 trips.

 

[FIREd]

I am not an auto enthusiast, so do not follow the market trend. As I mentioned, I went on Audi site, and was surprised when I saw no model being offered with a manual transmission, unless I miss something. It did not occur to me that perhaps they still do in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

Audi still sells manual transmissions in Europe. An Audi salesman told me that they were phasing out Diesel engines in the US, but they are still popular here as well. My new Audi has a 2.0TDI engine with automatic transmission.

 

[FlaGator]

Quote:
Originally Posted by FlaGator View Post
Update on my 10/24 post (#874)

Dropped $3500 when it was it was all over, $800 of it with the favorite HS GF Really enjoyed the Dom with her

To say that part of the trip "went well" is an understatement, already planning another B-T-D opportunity with her.....

I hosted the aforementioned "favorite HS GF" (post #909) in the 850 for 5 days last week. Definitely blew the dough-over $1,200:
Gulf view condo for her-$600
Waterfront dining (dinner and 2 lunches)-$550 (got a bottle of Dom at good price )
Miscellaneous food and dining-$100

Well worth it, and my kids like her. DD said "third time's a charm!"

We're meeting in TX for NYE and that looks like another 2 grand, good way to end the year

So the "favorite HS GF" is now just "DGF"

Blowin' the Dough over the NYE weekend trip to TX went as expected-$2100 of fun and family visits with the DGF.

I expect 2019 will be a banner year for B-T-D - DGF became my fiance NYE