shutterbug

I think I'm not the "anal" type of car owner but a balanced type; do whatever it needs.  I've seen many cases that yes the owner put a lot of effort in oil change, etc but it turns out that the car had electrical problem after like 15 years and it had to go to the junk yard.  So all the money and effort you put in is a waste.  Yes, the engine still has lots of life in it but you can't use it.  At the end of the day, you're worse than a slightly more worn engine but with good electricals.  This is just a different case for discussion.  Today's engine can easily last longer than other components in your car given you follow the maint schedule.  With complicated electronics in our cars today, engine life will not be the bottleneck I think.

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CP: $150/ hour labor you have to be talking about dealership, and maybe some really high end car's dealership (most japanese or european should be $100 to $130 range here, i know some higher end dealership will charge like $150 or more, but that's kinda far from the general public...

even a brand new car, I personally don't think it's necessary to take it back to the dealer for service, so for older car you can ask anyone at the dealership, u rarely see them there at all!

for $5k to $8k, one can choose a reliable honda / toyota etc and he can also choose a luxury exotic like bmw 850i, u just have to pay to play, that's all...冇咩問題喎...食得咸魚抵得渴, 有冇人叫你去買, 買得就預左, 唔會真係咁天真以為整都係差唔多呀?

warm車係一個習慣 (我唔講係好定係唔好喇, subjective丫嘛), -7都唔warm, thumbs up for you man!

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61# shutterbug

我又唔明喇, 有d咩electrical problem令到架車要去junk yard, 真係要請教下...

如果架車真係good condition, 車舊左, 問題一定有, 不過如果大到要去junk yard, 我知咩車喇, HYBRID!!!

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Again...  maintenance cost in Canada is just high .. ~ $150/hr labour cost is just high ..

btw, speaking of labor rate, do u know why it's set so high? partially it's because of our tax system here, another reason is because selling new car ain't making much money, third is the overhead cost...

my friend's shop with around 10 staff (7 licensed bodyman + painter), needs over $100k a month to break even...they dun even have one apprentice, only the accountant and wash kid doesn't have license, not too sure about the assistant manager has license or not...i am sure quite a bit of ppl appreciate their work and is willing to pay their price (especially when icbc is paying for it)...but i am sure a lot of ppl would rather cheap price and where do all those boss save $? cut corners lor...

Catpiano

-7都唔warm, thumbs up for you man!

-7 is consider "WARM" to us ...   LOL  

Well, of course, depends on how "RUSH"  ... rushing to work every morning ... vs going out for a joy ride on Sunday is different ...  as I said, in the summer, when I have time, just go for cruise, not in rush .. from start the car, then putting seat belt, sunglass, etc etc, I will do 30 sec  warming ...  I know eating breakfast is good ... but I skip it most the time ..

Last week .. when - 35 ..  I had to warm up the car a bit .. but I needed to do shovel anyway, and would take me 2-3 min to do it anyway.

Again, 1-2 min warming up, or changing oil every 3-4k, won't hurt the car ...  just like some people may brush their teeth twice a day, some may brush their teeth 5 times, or 10 times a day .. it probably won't hurt anyway.

By the way, not sure in Vancouver, but here, even asian/domestic brand ..  ~ $120/hr + taxes + fee .. European brand, ~ $130-140/hr + taxes + fee .. even labour cost in B.C. is lower then Alberta, should be within 10-20%

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i know -7 is consider warm to you guys, i was in alberta for 2 years and i remember there was one winter with -46 (1995 winter?!)

but u have a lease car and i dun think you plan to keep it anyways, who cares? but i haven't driven some lease vehicle and it feels like POS after about 1.5 years or 25k or so...i wouldn't want to lease it for another 1 year or 2 or 3 lor...paying all those money monthly yet i am driving a POS...

actually a lot of car during cold start rpm will be about 1500rpm or so, u can hear engine more noisy and as long as u can wait over that period until rpm dropped under 1000, that's almost the min i would wait...

oil change every 3k is a little bit excessive for most ppl (i do mine every 3000km if no track day, with track day will be about 1500km, and all my family's and close friend's vehicle every 4k; the longest interval i have ever recommend on a lease bmw is 8k...

true, $120/hr plus taxes and levy etc, shop supplies, usually about $140 an hour already...gosh...lucky i dun have to pay that...