re: What Car Do You Drive?

I have 2 Colorado's

2016 310k miles
2024 50k miles

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I'm thinking about it for my next vehicle since I don't need a truck anymore

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I am as well. Love my Q50, but the Skyline sounds great. We’ll see.

I drive a 2026 Raptor and a 2016 Tundra

i want a sedan to couple with my 2019 ram. no point in trading the Ram since its got 165k miles and a bunch of other shite wrong with the interior. still runs great tho.

but i want a fun commuter car for traveling around the state for work

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Curious what you used for testing. I got a Power Probe PPDRAW, the best $250 I have ever spent on vehicle diag equipment. Runs completely off the OBD2 port and has its own battery so you can disconnect the car battery and you don't have to wait for the car to go to sleep and don't have to worry about doing something to wake it up. I had done it multiple ways in the past and this is pain free and quick.

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My wife kept running into issues where the battery was dying after we replaced it, and I immediately thought parasitic draw. Lets forget about pulling fuses one by one with all the electrical componets on this damn thing, I surmised. Breaking a circuit will just wake up or reset the CAN bus network, ruining the test data.

I approached this in a non-intrusive way using just two tools. The ESI 685 forces you to disconnect the battery. This specialized clamp reads down to 1 milliamp (mA) safely using inductive hall-effect sensors. You just clamp it directly around the main negative battery cable where the battery is housed under the passenger seat. You don't disconnect a single terminal, meaning zero power interruption and zero risk of waking up the Jeep's CAN bus. You instantly get your total draw reading. I bought this for $90.

Secondly, I have a Cal-Van tools, Amp Hound 2 that I bought for $135. Once the clamp meter confirms a total draw, the Amp Hound 2 pinpoints the exact circuit. You just touch its sharp probes directly to the small metal test points on top of the fuses while they are still plugged in. It automatically senses the fuse type, calculates the Ohm's Law millivolt drop, and gives you a live milliamp reading with an audible beep when you hit an active draw.

You can scan both fuse boxes in 60 seconds without pulling a single fuse. I traced three draws back to the Uconnect infotainment system and the rear automatic tail lift system. I had to take the Jeep to the dealership to update it's firmware since it never had been by flashing it via their diagnostic tool, i don't recall hiw much it cost, maybe $200-$300 or so. Moreover, I had to replace the power liftgate latch actuator assembly which cost $70 and it took me a day, working on it part time to install it.

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What did you trace the draws to?

Those POS's have so many electrical gremlins. Have to wonder what goes on in those factories.

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The Uconnect infotainment system and the rear lift tailgate system. I'll never own another damn grand Cherokee again. The next SUV will be a Toyota 4 runner for the wife.

2012 Toyota Tundra

2019 subie crosstrek with about 80k miles. I love it but the touch screen is starting to feel slow and dated

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My wife loves hers. What trim level would you be looking at?

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We'd be looking at a 2025 limited. The third row seats would be another added bonus.

Kia forte

Cheap
Good gas mileage
Plenty of room
Have had it for a few years now. No mechanical issues so far.

I’d love to be able to have no car. Hard to do in Houston.