mountain, coke has marketed a cane sugar version in the U.S. recently. don t remember what they called it, but it was not the Mexican type you are talking about. It was in this area for a month or two but I have not seen it lately. the Mexican type is being sold in many places locally
Interesting. Perhaps they’ll start to make real Coke again, the stuff I grew up with, here in the U.S. It’s soooooooo much better.
High fructose corn syrup has been under attack by the medical community recently as being unhealthy. Hopefully at least one thing will return to real ingredients.
it may have been called coke “natural” if I remember correctly. I ll google it
yes , coke natural with beet and cane sugar, consumer reports, also naturalcoke with stevia in south america
Interesting note. My BIL is heading to Norway with a 24 pack of Mountain Dew for relatives. They are desperate for it over there since it is illegal to sell due to the sugar content. I haven’t tried the Mexican Coke in the special aisle due to the high cost but would be nice if the original was back again.
I have a friend that owned a a late 1980s Corvette. He was unhappy whenever he had to take it in for repairs, but within a few blocks after hr picked it up, all was forgiven.
For those who are interested in “Mexican” Coca-Cola, you should be aware that Costco carries it (at a much lower price than other retailers) just before the Passover holiday. Apparently, high fructose corn syrup is not “Kosher for Passover”, hence the availability of the sugar-sweetened variety at Costco and other retailers at that time of year.
After hearing all of the other pitfalls of high fructose corn syrup, its inability to be considered pure enough to serve during the Passover holiday really make me wonder about this stuff!
Rod Knox . . .
GM, for one, has MANY documents, which are NOT considered technical service bulletins. They are called PIT, PI, strange acronyms. The problem is these documents do not get converted to TSBs, and they can be tricky to find.
Does your Alldata and MOD have these obscure . . . but very necessary . . . documents?
@Starman1
Speaking of the v6 in the RAV. I know lots of people who have that vintage year(s) RAV and only one had the v6. But, that person likes small SUVs and has to tow a 3k lbs boat. Otherwise, for most it was an incongruent set up. It just didn’t match. It’s an upper level motor in a mid to low level car. IMHO, the 2.7 four would have been a better option. (Or standard even) Offering the low end motor of an upper level car in a RAV works better then offering the very best motor. Really expensive RAVs with that good a motor just have trouble competing with Base Highlanders. The chassis IMO, was under matched. You liked it and all the testers liked it. But that’s not the maul crowd who shops at “Mardens” and “Renys”. (I would have loved to have one too, but my wife brought me down to earth and we bought a four cylinder RAV) Mardens and. Reny types…
I dunno, I prefer the V6 and have one in my little G6. Quite happy with the power. For over the road I guess I’ve always had a little bigger engine that doesn’t have to work as hard.
@dagosa
Your reasoning probably explains why my V6 Camry is somewhat of an oddity
I’m quite happy with it, but most others probably felt is was just too fuel thirsty and overkill
I like Dags reasoning,I want a little better standard engine,back in the day when I wanted a 2.7 in a x-cab 2wd tacoma it wasnt availible and I didnt want to spend a lot of extra money for an engine upgrade,its not a choice if its thousands of dollars more this new philopsy on some manus has me liking and considering them,I want the good drivetrain with a basic trim level-Kevin
@db4690
I agree on your car.
There are some manufactures whose sales of their upper end motors suffer from t heir lower end being too good and their optional motors being over kill. For example, my son has a Fusion V6 because the 4 was such a dog. The v6 seems well matched to the car. Toyota and Honda it seems makes fours that are quite durable and have exceptionally flat power curves. 180 to 200 hp fours on a Fwd seems sufficient for most. The 3.5 v6 and corresponding Honda v6 for many, just seem too much motor to realize full advantage in fwd. Now in AWD cars, they seem better matched. The fuel issue is a big one too, with40 mpg highway and mid 30’s for the Accord and Camry make the excellent high twenties in the six seem pretty poor. This is especially acute since the fours still provide so much power for significant reduction price. It’s interesting to note how many of the Camry and Accord top of the line models still sell with these powerful fours.
@dagosa
I’ll go a little off topic . . .
My 2005 Camry has the 3 liter 1MZ-FE V6. It makes just over 200hp
The later Camry has the 3.5 liter 2GR-FE V6. It makes well over 260hp, I believe
By the way, my Camry does NOT get “high twenties” fuel economy. Part of it is that my commute is short, perhaps 12 miles each way. And I have to drive several minutes on surface streets before getting on the freeway. I also use the AC a lot, which doesn’t help.
But I also know that the 1MZ-FE engine was a very old design by the time my car was even built.
I like the idea of the 2AZ-FE engine. But there are too many issues, of which I’m aware. And, unless you got the XLE version or the V6, my Camry came with rear drums. And I’m no longer okay with that. The next generation Camry had rear disc brakes standard on all trim levels.
Several years ago, I noticed that the Hyundai Elantra had rear disc brakes and Michelin tires standard. After seeing that, it became obvious that the other manufacturers no longer had any excuse to equip their family cars with rear drums and junky tires. Hyundai made them look bad, but unfortunately, the other manufacturers did NOT respond.
I feel that Honda “got on the ball” a long time ago, as far as good suspension and brakes go.
Unfortunately, it took Toyota a long time to finally realize they’re lagging.
Instead of actually delivering the goods, so to speak, they were relying too much on the perception of quality, based on the brand name. And it was sometimes undeserved
Maybe a bit off-topic, but a relative came to visit recently and drove a rental car here. It was a Hyundai Elantra (2012 or 2013 model) and I had a chance to take a few rides in it.
Horrid, horrid car in my opinion.
@db4690
You have some good thoughts about the 2005 Camry. But quality and performance are usually measured relative to the competition and at least the mid 90’s Camry 4 was a solid car. Measured against the competition, the 4 was a solid motor. Though the six"only" had two hundred HP it was still significant back then. The 4 was and has always been economical. We had the same 4 motor in our 2005 RAV and even with AWD, it was spunky and well regarded even for it’s age. Toyota has and continues to lag behind in engine technology but for good reason. According to CR, among brands, there is a significant correlation between new technologies and reliability. Too many new things, too many problems. In some of their cars they have used the old 4 speed auto forever but with completely realizable results. The majority of owners who buy cars are looking for inoffensive and boringly reliable cars. Successful cars like the Prius and Corolla and Camry bear that out. The Tacoma for years has been a dreadfully riding truck but sold well with two motors that haven’t changed for more then a decade. Boring sells.
The V6 in the Rav4 fit the portion of buyers who wanted the power/towing but not the size of the highlander. My dad was one of those who didn’t really want/need a midsize suv for daily driving since it’s mostly him doing his errands (retired) and fell more in love with the CRV. There’s a couple near me who have his and her Rav4’s of 2006 or newer vintage (both silver) but I don’t know if either is a v6 since I mostly see them in the garage side by side and the V6 badge on these is only on the grill.
Kia and Hyundai are both fast growing brands with increasing market shares. You don’t get to that point if you aren’t both keeping current customers happy and getting new ones with attractive products. They also benefit from having unusually complete model lineups. Hyundai even gets into the luxury ranks. If you buy a Kia or Hyundai and like it, there is likely to be an attractive model that meets your needs next time you go shopping. They have no complete duds in their lineups right now.
We have a Hyundai (the buying of which involved two dealerships) and also stopped by the Kia dealer when we were shopping in 2012. All the dealerships were very low pressure, pleasant places to shop. We had been down to some dealers about 15 miles away (where there are a bunch) and stopped in the Hyundai dealer to see if they had an Elantra GT hatchback in stock yet (they had just started shipping.) They had one, perfectly equipped in a great color, asking a reasonable amount, which we later knocked down with some email negotiation. A few days later wwstopped by the much closer San Francisco Hyundai, just a few blocks from the Mazda dealer, to see if any had come in. Nope. We told them how much we liked the car we’d seen at the other dealer. “We could have that here in an hour. We’re owned by the same dealer group. You guys already have a price, right, so we could do the paperwork while we wait.” Absolutely painless and pleasant and we like the car a lot. At less than 5000 miles/yr this may be the last car we ever by. What a pleasant thought.
Also pleasant was everything about both Hyundai and one Kia dealer. No lies, no excessive pressure, sales staff who knew their stock. No complaints at all. No complaints about the car, either. Nothing broken or erratic, just a straightforward, thoughtfully designed little car. The satellite radio is a joy and Hyundai’s equivalent of On-Star seems well designed and lets you subscribe at three different levels of service, depending on what you want. I don’t want directions to recommended burger joints or nail salons, so happily dispense with the top level.
We’re happy Hyundai campers, surprising to me as my partner had a deep love of his old 1994 Civic EX (which was a great car). But the current Civic left him cold and he really wanted a hatchback. The Civic was the only car he had owned as an adult without a hatch and he found how hard it was to carry big, boxy objects. The Fit we considered but we like to take occasional long road trips and the Fit is a bit bumpy and noisy for long trips and the interior fittings are cheap and plasticky, which is fine in a cheap car, but I think many Fit buyers would pay a little more for some styke. The interior of the next Fit does look nicer, though I don’t know how nice the materials are. That was a problem with the Civic before their do-over.
If we do buy another car soon (perish the thought), Honda, Hyundai, Kia, and Mazda would probably again be the main contenders. Ford might be if they could get reliability improved, Toyota if they made a nice compact hatch, Nissan likewise. Subaru is out because we have no need for awd, and don’t want the cost, both upfront, at the gas pumps, and in maintenance & repairs.
The woman who loved her Saturns despite their lack of reliability may have been concerned about apoearance. The plastic body panels on the older Saturns really hold up to minor dings without any visible damage and the paint stays nice and shiny. My MIL had one she hated but it always looked good and was fairly reliable, so she couldn’t justify getting a replacement.
Finally, about ten years ago, another son-in-law who only drives BMWs decided to pick up a simple 325i for Helen when he was upgrading his 5-series. She loves her car but feels self conscious driving it. She was secretary at the HS and her husband sold and installed carpet. No one actually notices as they live in the worst part of a generally very wealthy town. An aging BMW does not stand out. I don’t think that car has hit 20k miles in ten years, and she will be 88 this year, so it won’t be piling them up any faster, spry as she is. Someone will buy this LOL car and think they got a deal. Full maintenance records, very clean, low mileage. Too bad it’s mostly short hoops around town and a rare 20 mile round trip to Providence. Don’t pay too much for LOL or LOM cars. Find a clean commuter car instead.
@MarkM
Can’t have cars with body panels that are dent and rust resistant so happy owners can keep their cars for a long time without having to buy new. The owner is encouraged to demonstrate his/her brand loyalty by buying a new car on a regular basis. That’s why model changes are made on a calculated basis when little other then a few options are changed. Plastic fenders completely distorted this process. Mechanical repairers were cheaper and easier to do then repair body rust so the calculus changed. Make your car “look” it’s age buy changing styles and allowing it to dent and rust and then you can demonstrate your " brand loyalty" with more pride in ownership of a new " fill in the blank" .