Tag Archives: Saturn

Podless

Posted on by
Reply

On arriving home from work tonight, I observed SWMBO’s green Saturn occupying its regular parking spot. The spot that used to be the PODS’. As utilitarian a device as it was, I’m glad to see it gone. Another step on the road back to normalcy.

I’ve lavishly praised PODS’ service and online account management tools. This morning, my cell phone rang at 9:08; it was the PODS guy, confirming the address, and state of the POD. It shouldn’t be necessary to rave about good service, but in these times it’s a rarity.

As much as I’m glad to see the container gone, I will definitely do business with PODS again. Next time, we’re redoing the upper level of our place, and we’ll be able to take advantage of the PODS’ built in clothes rods to hold some surplus stuff from closets. Hopefully, when we’re ready again, the AAA discount (about 50 or 60 bucks) will still apply. Even without that discount, it’s a good value.

So, if/when you have a need, and if PODS are available in your area, by all means check them out. A 5-star rating from the tbbs-land real world test labs.

Good job, PODS!

-k-

Watching Pod-Zilla load the pod off the flatbed truck is worth a bunch of the price of admission. But I’m old, and easily amused.

Technorati Tags:

The Mighty Buick

Posted on by
1

I’ve always reported vital statistics about my rental cars here on this old blog, but I’ve never before had an image of any car. Well, with this last trip, things have changed; we rented a Buick Lucerne CXS, which turns out to be the top-of-the-line Lucerne.

The life-to-date fuel economy increased from 21.7 MPG to 23.3; a noticeable, though not earth-shattering increase. As it turns out, this ol’ Buick had a 4.6L NorthStar V8. I noticed it had plenty of punch motor-wise, but compared to a Saturn, a lot of cars do.

There was also an electronic doo-dad that tracked LTD Average speed; with road driving, that went from 45.3 MPH to 55.3 MPH.

And talk creature comforts; I’d previously decided that heated leather seats perfectly symbolized America’s decline into excesses reminiscent of the Roman Empire. This car had them, SWMBO used them; she has a bad back, and finds it tedious at best and uncomfortable at worst to sit for any extended period. The butt-and-back warmers helped her to endure being confined in the passenger seat. It even had a heated steering wheel; I tried that out, just to say I had.

Having never experienced a dual-zone front air conditioning system, I’d have to label that a winner. SWMBO likes it significantly cooler than I; the dual-zone made it possible for us to maintain our preferred degree of warmth.

Then, there were the side rear-view mirrors, which automatically tilted down when the car was put into reverse, as well as the totally glare-free inside rear view, which made rolling across chunks of Tennessee at night tolerable.

There are doubtless features we totally missed, not knowing which buttons to push and all.

Why don’t I buy one? At a base MSRP of $35,440, it’s simply above my vehicular purchase threshold. I’ve lived in cheaper houses than that; don’t laugh, I come from humble roots, and am proud of that. However, when our travel plans call for long distances via car, I’m renting another one just like this one.

-k-

The picture was lifted via screen-capture from the Buick website. If any humorless GM/Buick tightasses object; then:

  • Don’t persist on using Flash Player
  • Look at the unsolicited review I just supplied, blogder-like, for free.

    • Technorati Tags: ,