PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

One thing I have noticed is that on days above about 85°F or so is that my A/C tends to not work as well when I'm driving in stop-and-go type situations. It blows cold, but not the "finger numbing" cold I described in the original post. Also if I'm running the A/C while parked or stopped at a red light, it doesn't blow that cold. This is an R134a thing and not a Tacoma thing.

Extreme humidity also sometimes messes with my A/C performance. Overall, I'd give the A/C in my truck a solid 8 or 9 out of 10. It's literally the same age my 1996 Pathfinder was when the A/C stopped blowing cold and had to be recharged. However, the day before the snowstorm I was using the A/C in my truck because it was like 70°F and the truck had been sitting in my driveway in the sun.

 

Indeed, 70s here which is unheard of for February. Left the Tacoma at home and rode the Harley into work today, pfft...February.

 

My 15 A/C is slightly improved over my old 08 A/C. I usually have shorts and a thin T Shirt on when driving and as l said it is adequate, if l had a suit on not even close.

 

I've driven my truck in a suit on a hot day and it works fine.

 

@LocoLocal
@Plain Jane Taco
@Iamraiderpower

Probably the best damn vehicle my parents ever owned was a 2004 Honda Odyssey EX, silver with a gray cloth interior, that they bought new. We had it for 9 years and put over 130K miles on it. The A/C always blew cold and never needed to be serviced, and it never had any problems whatsoever (it's a Honda, for Christ's sake!) The DVD player quit working in about 2007, but I had a laptop by then so I just watched movies on that. The CD player started working on a strictly intermittent basis, but again technology prevailed. The tape deck still worked and I simply played my iPod with a car kit adapter. It sounded awesome. Everything else was just normal routine wear and tear stuff.

The unique thing about my parents' Odyssey was that if you looked in sales brochure it technically didn't exist. This was because according to the brochure, the optional rear DVD entertainment system and the upgraded AM/FM stereo with cassette and CD was only available on the EX-L (leather seats). I say again, ours had cloth seats, but it also had the DVD system and cassette/CD player. We did not custom order it or have the DVD player and stereo installed later. That is the way it was when we bought it off the lot. 2004 was the last year for that body style on the Odyssey and new 2005 models would be arriving in a couple months, so dealers nationwide were desperate to get rid of unsold inventory. That dealer (Koons Honda-GMC in Manassas, Virginia) had quite a few Odysseys with the EX trim in various configurations, including at least two EXs with cloth seats and DVD. There's a chance the factory built a few Odyssey EX models with cloth seats and DVD, but I have a feeling the dealer "converted" some EXs by including ours installing the DVD players and upgraded stereos in their service center right after they were shipped in. As it was done by Honda-certified techs at a Honda dealer, the upgrade was top-notch. As parents of an easily bored teenage boy with Aspergers, a DVD entertainment system was my parents' top requirement.

I finally started driving about 5 years after we got that van, and while I primarily drove my Tacoma, I spent a lot of time driving it. Most of friends and notably my cousins couldn't past the fact that it was a minivan. I don't give a shit if it was a minivan. I loved it! When your parents let you drive their vehicle, you don't complain! Seriously, what's not to love about the Odyssey? Here were my favorite things:

240 horsepower 3.5L VTECH V6 engine (that van was FAST)
Based on the Honda Accord (handled like a sporty sedan, not a minivan)
4-wheel disc brakes
ICE COLD front and rear A/C (Y'all know I love my A/C)
Power sliding doors
Room for 6 people plus the driver (great for going somewhere fun and bringing your friends along; also good for shuttling drunk friends back home)
In many vehicles with 3 rows of seats, the 3rd row seat sucks (This was not the case with the Odyssey; 2 average adults could fit back there comfortably)
Surprisingly decent-sounding 6-speaker factory sound system which not only had a CD player but also had a tape deck so I could play my iPod through a car kit adapter
Able to tow 3,500 pounds (impressive for a front-drive vehicle with a V6; we towed a small boat with it for years)
A third row seat that could not only fold flat into the floor when you needed the cargo space, but also flipped backwards to become a tailgate seat (we regularly used this to watch fireworks)

My local newspaper works closely with high schools and colleges, and features articles written by teenagers. One teen who went to my high school wrote about his experiences when we got his license, most notably his parents' older Dodge Grand Caravan that he ended up driving. He described initially being embarrassed to be scene in a minivan, but learned that you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, and that was the primary moral of his story. He described how it may have been a minivan, but it was reliable and had a surprisingly decent sound system. What more does a teen driver need in a vehicle, seriously? He also loved that he just toss his sports equipment in the back, and still have room to haul his friends (and their sports stuff).

Seriously, RESPECT THE VAN!

Honda could not have been more correct when they made these commercials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myzwHDf3NhY

 

AWESOME!

 

I came across this video I made more than 5 years ago...

Taking the Odyssey mentioned in this video through the car wash while listening to "Smoke on the Water" on the CD player (back when the CD player actually worked). Very trippy and goes well with the whole 1970s shaggin' wagon "Respect the Van" theme.

Sadly we don't have the van anymore. My dad sold it to his boss after he bought a new Honda Pilot in 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t-_-aWg1gk

 

From back in May 2013, right before we sold it...

The surprisingly decent factory speakers in my mom's 2004 Honda Odyssey EX.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2LT4pEmNUM

 

Back when I uploaded my older videos, I disabled the embedding so random people and sites couldn't steal my videos and attempt to claim credit (it has happened before). Didn't realize this meant it would keep ME from embedding MY OWN VIDEO on a forum where I AM A MEMBER. I have fixed this. Try it now!

 

Meh...been there done that. Great for when you're young and wanna drive fast. Nowadays, makes it harder to drive and text

 

I can drive a manual transmission.

 

Yeah buddy I can shift em. Unfortunately my Tacoma is an auto

 

BAN WORTHY! Rich I'm surprised @tcBob allowed you to join, let alone stay. I'm pretty sure there's a 12 step program for previous owners of French cars.

 

Youtube as a domain would have no way of knowing whether or not you are the one embedding or if someone else were. That's part of the magic of embedded videos/pictures/games etc.
Totally get your reasoning though, happens WAY too often.

Video works now

 

Joe Isuzu! The father of one of my closest friends looks somewhat like him and also talks a bit like him too.