Replacing engine air filter

 Hello! 

Covid-19 made a lot of adjustments in my lifestyle,  but no matter how bad the lockdown is the car still requires a maintenance.

Today I was changing an engine air filter.

Simple procedure for 2018 Elantra , definitely not worth to evolve mechanics in it.

Car review: 2019 Toyota C-HR XLE

We reserved a compact sedan for our one week journey through the mountains. Originally the trip was planned for 4 people, with 2 drivers and 2 suitcases. By the time of the actual trip, however, our group shrunk to two drivers and one passenger, though still with two suitcases. When we got our car, I was glad that we had just three people. 

Our car for a week was the Toyota C-HR XLE. Actually, it was a lucky coincidence, because my partner was considering it for purchase. I was trying to say gently that it is not the car for her. During our trip she came to the same conclusion without my help.

Let's start!

Subjective opinion: cars' colour

When I was young and naive my dream car was a black Ford Mustang. I wanted to have my own black horse with a lot of power, something around 460 hp. However, with aging my attraction to black cars got ruined by a rather practical view.

Still Life

Have you noticed that if you look at the picture for some time,  you see details that were not obvious at the first glance? The longer you stare, the more pieces of the puzzle are getting processed by the brain.

On Friday morning the traffic was heavier than usual. Cars were piling up at the intersections, jumping from one lane to another,  annoyingly tailgating cars in front. A dynamic world with sounds of engines, the smell of cigarette smoke and impatience of drivers was digesting the morning commuters for breakfast.

Love, Peace and Happiness. Part Four.

This is the last part of Tim's collection. To be honest, after posting all 80 photos, I feel like arranging these posts in a different way. I will try to add description to each car and almost every photo for this event. Though it should wait until I get back from the pickup trucks land.

Mr. and Mrs. Hapi Hipi 

Love, Peace and Happiness. Part Three

Here I will include only photos. Though, it is not the last post about this great facility.
By the way, is there a need for naming all those cars?

Love, Peace and Happiness. Part Two

This part was written by my daughter Alison (yes, I have a daughter and she is a car addict as her mom). I highly recommend reading this part, because it describes our experience in a much better way. And, obviously, tons of photos included. At least two more parts are coming up. Stay tuned and enjoy the Horse Power Heaven!

Love, Peace and Happiness

When you have a real hobby, you start to recognize people who have a similar interest: see familiar faces on the skiing slopes, make friends at the dog shows, get familiar with suppliers of gear for your hobby, etc. Even though we have dozens of clubs, events and types of car related stuff , after a few car shows you will recognize, first of all, cars, but second, people with those cars.
I heard of The Hapy Hipi from the Grand Touring dealership. The rainbow coloured Lamborghini Aventador left me speechless for a good minute! Though, the owner wasn't there, as well as myself having absolutely different business at the dealership that time, I really wanted to take photos of that car and share with you, but I prefer to be respectful to the owner. (you will see the Aventador in the next post, I promise ;)) After that I did a bit of research about Tim and found an advertisement of the charity event at his property. For a few years Tim and his beautiful wife are organizing an open house to collect support for the local Humane Society. Last year 30 000 CAD were collected for a non-killing dog shelter in Alliston, ON. Did I wish to attend the event this year? Definitely, yes!

Toronto taking steps to curb noise pollution; extra loud vehicles targeted

Do you know how I see it? We know that you have money, we will start with you.
Seriously, I agree that kids on power cars are annoying. I hear cars racing on my street all summer long. Though make it the biggest reason for noise pollution is not right.
First, Toronto with suburb is an ongoing construction zone forever. We change watermains, fix roads, build new condos constantly! Near our old house was a new high-rise development and those people we unloading pipes at 6 am!!! We have trains, airplanes, industrial facilities, subways, each of them get their part of noise impact. Nevertheless, it's all Lamborghini's fault.

Maybe, the idea is nice, but my experience shows that the result would be different.

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Other side of the planet: cars in UK

After visiting UK I realized that Smart is not a small car. It is a European car. Actually, it could be bigger (at least taller) than some fellows that we met on streets of London
Should I mention that I almost twisted my neck looking around? I like compact cars and North American fashion for a bulky transport with 3+ L engines makes me sad. Therefore walking on the streets of London was like visiting a gallery with real art. 

Subaru Forester

Guess what? I got a new Subaru Forester for a test drive!
Absolutely great engine! Very powerful car for 2.5L. Also very good on the road, messy commute in snow is not a problem for this baby. Though steering wheel was too rough as for me. Smooth on gas and brakes, but absolutely opposite on turns and changing lines. I had a basic model. Nice, but too simple as for me. Spacious, comfy, but not catchy.The plastic steering wheel was too plastic after 4 months in an Elantra.
It is a good car for boys - simple, strong, and durable. It is good enough on gas to be used in the city for daily commute to work and also capable to be go off-road, uncleaned roads in winter and carry plenty of camping gear for a family trip.
Would I by Forester for myself? Nope, not my car. Would I recommend it? definitely yes for people whose lifestyle is suitable for this car.
And the engine is aaaaawesome! ;)

Housewife's Car Review: 2009 Acura CSX

Continuing with our luxury edition, today I will talk about the 2009 Acura CSX.

The Acura CSX is the youngest brother in the Acura family, which was created to replace Acura 1.7 EL. Actually, 1.7 was a great car, and I still see them on the road.  CSX stands for Compact Sportscar Experimental.  It’s a dark horse on a road. It looks exactly like the Honda Civic (ha, it’s called Honda Civic in the Japanese internal market), but it has a great Acura 2.0 L engine. Originally this model was designed specifically for the Canadian market. Not sure if I ever encountered it in other countries, but it is pretty common in our area. Even though Acura CSX was a bestseller for a few years, the model got discontinued in 2011 and was replaced with the ILX edition. 

Housewife's Car Review: 2016 BMW 528i xDrive

One sunny day I came for my “compact sedan” and the boys from Enterprise gave me a bit of a different car. They didn’t have anything left but a pearl white 2016 BMW 528i xDrive. “Sorry, but we can only give you a luxury car.”

Housewife Car Review:2017 KIA Sorento

Finally, I got a new toy for the weekend. This time Enterprise provided me with a 2017 KIA Sorento. We had a busy schedule and I didn't have enough time to go through the dashboard and all its features. Nevertheless, 300 km in two days is good enough to get an opinion about this car.
In terms of driving, in my rating it is on the second place after Lexus IS250. That Lexus is being missed a lot =) But let's go back to Sorento.

Housewife's Car Review: 2016 Hyundai Veloster

This one will be about the strangest car I ever drove. Just a week before I got it from a rental company, my daughter mentioned that she had a ride on a car with three doors. That didn't sound right, but a week later I was driving a 3 door, four seat car. 

The 2016 Hyundai Veloster is an excellent city car! It has one door on the driver's side and two on the other. It has a "panoramic sunroof" which actually means a transparent roof turning into a rear window. It makes the view from the back mirror a bit weird. 

Housewife's Car Review: 2016 Fiat 500c

Today I will talk about my recent experience with a Fiat 500c.
I needed a car urgently, but instead of getting a compact sedan (Toyota Yaris equivalent), I got a convertible Fiat 500c. Actually, "convertible" was Discount's excuse for the downgrade without money compensation. 
It is a tiny, funny and fancy model, and surprisingly it is still a car. Easy to park, opening the roof is extremely cute, could be a nice car for someone driving in downtown Toronto (or somewhere in California). It's really a two-seater even though it has two more at the back. Those seats are more suitable for a purse than for a person. Even my child refused to sit there and occupied a front seat. It has a trunk, but the size is almost the same as a glove box in crossovers.

Housewife's Car Review: 2016 Dodge Journey R/T

Woo-hoo! It is time for a new review. Just a quick reminder – my reviews are very subjective, I just share a personal experience with different cars that I happened to drive.
Last weekend I got Dodge Journey R/T 2016– a crossover designed by Fiat-Chrysler.
3.6 L engine, AWD, 7 seats.

Housewife's Car Review: 2015 Nissan Pathfinder

We had great 3 days and 375 kilometers together. Pathfinder is an excellent car for travel, camping, going far with a lot of people (it has 7 seats). Alison was sleeping at the back seat as on the couch when it got cold in the tent. Tent, sleeping bags and other stuff were almost invisible in the trunk. 

Housewife's Car Review: 2015 Chevrolet Cruze

This time I got what I was asking for. I mean, guys offered a good car, but I ask for a low gas consumption one. Choice was between Yaris and Cruze. I took Chevy Cruze.
Not a bad car. Had a ride in it before, got the same feeling now - too narrow, space between front seats isn't comfortable. (Actually, same applies to Chevy Volt - I don't like design of the cup holders and else between seats.) Other than that, feels nice on the road, very smooth and sensitive to steering wheel, good performance for a small fellow.

Housewife's Car Review: 2017Chevrolet Traverse

I am writing "housewife's car reviews". I rent different cars, but my opinion is subjecting, because my understanding of car's beauty and comfort is pretty different from the standard one. 
First of all, guys from Enterprise car rentals confirmed that if you book a small car for a weekend and come to pick it up on Friday evening, most likely you will get an SUV or a crossover for the price of a small car, because everybody else prefers to take a car in the morning and by the evening they don't have any sedans. I <3 Enterprise!