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How hard could this be?
How hard can it be to find the family vehicle we're searching for? As it turns out, really hard!
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Getting my van ready for summer!
Spring time is here! The snow has almost completely melted away and it’s time to start doing the jobs to get our cars ready for the summer season. These kinds of jobs mostly include cleaning but also include switching everything over for summer. For some of you this may mean doing a full detail in your driveway or garage, some it might just mean washing the dirt off of the outside. For me it’s half way. One of the main jobs is to do is changing the tires back over to the summer tires, or in my case to the all-seasons, from the winter tires. This is a job I…
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9’s the limit
I recently mentioned that I feel like now is the time to say goodbye to my 2016 Kia Sedona and move onto another new-to-me vehicle. This is largely because I’m now part of a larger family with my fiancé. My new family has 9 people – my 3 children (6,4,3)and my fiancé’s 4 kids (10,8,6,4) – and we need a larger vehicle to get around, if we want to take 1 vehicle. This is the first post in a series about my experience purchasing and living with a 9 passenger vehicle. A series I’m calling 9’s the Limit. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic took over, we went on a family…
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How I ended up owning a minivan
Ahh the minivan. Ever since the popularity of the minivan grew it has long been associated with “soccer moms”. I remember growing up with a negative view on minivans and proclaimed to the world that I would never, ever be one of “those people”. When I talked about minivans it was almost like a scene from the TV show Corner Gas when they talk about their rival town, Wullerton. Yet, about 4 years ago, I found myself in a predicament where I was having to seriously consider buying a minivan. When considering my options for a replacement vehicle I stepped back from my long held beliefs and stated my requirements…
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Esports is filling the void
With racing being on hold due to the global pandemic it’s important for race car drivers to stay focused and practice their skills so that they’re ready for when racing does come back. It’s no different than a football player hitting the gym, a basketball player shooting free throws in an empty arena or a golfer at the driving range. You need to practice to keep your skills sharp. Unfortunately it takes a whole team of people to take a race car out for a day of practice, but there is another way for drivers to keep sharp in this uncertain time. Esports. I’ve been into racing video games for…
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Will there be any car scene this year?
With the outbreak of COVID-19 this year we’ve seen a worldwide impact on nearly everyone’s life. From states of emergency, to shutting down all non-essential services, to social distancing. This has had a major impact on the automotive world from racing series being postponed or cancelled, new care sales plummeting, to something more close to home with the annual Draggins Car Show being cancelled this year. With everyone feeling the uncertainty there is a lot of uncertainty on the future of car scenes around the world for this year. Formula 1 has launched an Esports racing series to replace the postponed Grand Prix to provide racing for the drivers and…
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Dreaming of warmer weather
Car season sucks in winter some days. When it’s blizzarding or minus 45 you can’t do anything. Auto enthusiasts throughout the prairies are yearning for the days where they can cruise with the windows down with our friends. Luckily it looks like spring is on its way. I’m not into the winter car scene much. Even so, there has been some great ice racing happening with the Winnipeg Sports Car Club out in Gimli, MB the past several months which I have been following on their Instagram page. Even as the first day of spring has just passed, there is still snow and ice on the ground. Warm weather is…
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"We can't replicate the issue"
As I’ve mentioned before, I drive a 2016 Kia Sedona minivan as my daily driver. Not because I want to, but because it’s practical with kids, hockey equipment, etc. I love my van. It’s great for getting my kids to school and hockey practice, it has pretty nice finishings in it (WAAAAAY nicer than the vans of my childhood in the 90s) and the build quality it great. Every vehicle has issues so I’m not bashing Kia or Kia of Saskatoon. I have had great experiences every time I have dealt with them and their Service department has amazing customer service. This is a story of how it can be…
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My take on Driven 2019
I attended Driven 2019 at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon this year and it did not disappoint. This was the first year I have been able to make it to the Driven show and I had high expectations based on what I had heard from others who had attended before. For those who are not familiar with what Driven is, it’s a car show that travels across Canada and puts on one of the best modern car shows. For more information about Driven, check out their website at http://drivenshow.ca. After parking my 2016 Kia Sedona in the far reaches of the parking lot I was able to spend several minutes wandering…
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How many gears is too many?
Many new vehicles on sale today have 8 or 9 speed transmissions. Manufacturers are doing this in the name of fuel economy in order to meet the ever increasingly stringent fuel economy and emissions standards across the globe. However, I’m starting to wonder when will enough be enough. How many gears is too many? A huge proportion of the new cars being sold in 2019 have the ZF 8-speed gearbox in it, including the new Toyota Supra, many BMWs, the Jeep Trackhawk and many others. The transmission behaves differently in the various applications only because each manufacturer is applying their own unique programming in its computer, otherwise it is an…
