Oro

(Thread drift alert: skip if not a skier or New Englander)

OMG I need to hear more about this. Ex pro-patroller there and this is disturbing.

Sugarbush was my favorite VT place to ski. When I went mid-career back to pre-med, I did that at UVM and worked as a pro-patroller at Sugarbush for several years. Some of the best years of my life, despite going from 150k/year (back when that was a good salary) to $8/hour. I moved to Seattle for grad school in 2002 and have not been back since. Are you sayign peak ticket prices there are now $200 (?). That is insane. Now we are talking overpriced.

I still haven’t given up skiing. I joined the patrol at Snoqualmie Pass but they were a bunch of traffic-cop amateurs compared to Vermont and Sugarbush standards. A few years ago I took a job teaching skiing to kids one night a week for a free pass, and have fun on snow, plus teaching kids which makes me so happy. I’m familiar with ticket prices at Snoqualmie Pass and that freaks me out. Clearly they have moved to taxing the “resort” aspect and destination, vs. serving the general public.

As an amusing aside, this was one of my favorite weeks to work at Sugarbush. The pres-day long weekedn craziness passed, and then it was generally abnormally empty. BUT: it was the long-standing week the “national Brotherhood of Skiers” showed up for a week. This was a male, black ski club based out of DC. So yes, literally “brothers” on the slopes a week in a down time, so we could hang out with them in the mid mountain and base lodges. Great time - real guys, down to earth. I had lived in DC a while right out of college so could make easy conversation. Some really good times. I haven’t thought about this in years.

LoL sorry for the side-talk but this was too tempting to try to call out/call up. PM me if you want to chat out of the thread and not derail it. I thought the details might be amusing to others and not just waste bandwidth.

Stroock639

haha i was hoping there'd be another skier in here... Sugarbush isn't quite that much yet but somewhere like Stowe or Killington absolutely is approaching $200 for a single day lift ticket, but i prefer Sugarbush (especially with the Castlerock area) anyway so i guess i "lucked out" with that

i bought these tickets in advance though, Sugarbush does something for a limited time per season called a TBD ticket where you can buy a ticket for only $99 to use at a date of your choosing, PLUS you get an additional "free" day... although that additional free day can't be used until after march is done, so some april weekend i'll have to go make use of those 2 tickets lol

now i'm gonna skillfully segway this back into cars: we took my parents GLE450, currently fitted with goodyear ultra grip winter tires leftover from a previous MDX lease, and some inexpensive new MSW wheels that i helped my dad select... this thing is a great road trip car! had no problem fitting 4 people plus skis and luggage, and the I6 turbo mild hybrid setup has all the boosted torque needed to easily make interstate passes and maintain speed uphill without even downshifting, even averaged about 25 mpg! especially with the airmatic too the highway comfort does not disappoint


i think these wheels actually work pretty well with the car

Margate330

In the context of my <personal economics>, I consider a car over priced if the cost exceeds my perceived value.

I consider a car expensive if I see the value but can't afford it. Lol

Striker223

The mid gen refresh ram looks fantastic, I'm actually drawn to one....finally has massage seats as well!

I wish there was a way to order a top trim without the stupid secondary screen though, that's pointless IMO. As expected the engine dominates everyone else, that's how you do a turbo 6 in a truck packaging wise.

BayeauxLex

I’ll take the reliable lower tier interior over a sweet looking interior that visits the shop for more things than an oil change. Coworker drives a 2019 Ram Limited with 41k miles . Him and I rib each other on our truck but he revealed his 12 inch radio was acting weird and they had to replace his entire dash. Now his 3rd brake light is leaking water inside so that’s next on list to fix. He mentioned a couple other things he’s had repaired. All under warranty of course. It’s a pretty truck!!



This popped up on YouTube. New GMC Sierra. Fuel pump issue. Couldn’t put the truck in neutral. Had to slide his trailer under the wheels to load it on the tow truck. Said he tows them regularly every week. He also towed a current model Escalade to the dealer.

here’s a link to the video if you’re interested



The new V6 twin turbo in the tundra have their issues as well. I’m speaking from a V8 tundra point of view.

Oro

Ok, I wont’ make any more thread drift but thanks for that reply, it clarified things and revived my faith.

I had the opportunity to live anywhere in N VT and ski anywhere. After much visiting I settled on Sugarbush. It was the right choice. I had the opportunity in rotation to be the Castle Rock patroller or captain, oh what fun. We also could ski Mad River on our days off for free. I skied six/seven days a week all season for years - generally 125 days a year for years. Oh what fun. The only other place I would ski, is if a big storm tracked north or hit Quebec and not us, I’d do the drive up to Jay Peak. Jay or Sugarbush, you really need nothing else in VT.

Ok, general car chat to make up for the drift. But it will be ski car chat: A few years ago I got back into skiing after a hiatus. I researched and got a 2004 Volvo XC70. Low mile, gorgeous, so practical. Stiffened the suspension, chipped it, trans cooler, upgraded brakes - lots of fun. A Freightliner rear-ended me on I-5 and wrecked it and my back. That was early 2021. I decided to go even more retro for a replacement. So for a ski car I got a very low mile 00 Volvo XC70, the absolute “UR” XC. Totally tweaked it the same and then even more - suspension, brakes, under and above car braces (straight from Sweden even 24 years later). I went totally stage II on this with a 16T larger turbo, injectors, chip, cold air intake. It’s my totally retro but relatively modern ski sled now.

Freaky shift-changing “Moonstone” metallic paint changes color with the sun. Metallic silver in straight light, champagne tint at sunset, rose-gold under clouds. BMW put this on some M cars later; rare color. This is it in base look. Wheels are new Ford wheels I personally re-centerbored to the Volvo standard, but otherwise fit perfectly. I have a set of vintage Volvo “Perfo” wheels for snows.



While messing around under the hood, I take off old parts and paint “Swedish Racing Green” (aka “blue”) for giggles. Factory accessory Ohlins brace in “SRG” paint by me (Rustoleum “Sail Blue” or “Ford Blue” engine paint for the brakes/turbo components. Close match to vintage Swedish blue). They used to race these cars in fact and did OK in the British Touring Car circuit. (I’ll try to find a vintage pic and add at the end).



I found out in the 80s/90s, Volvo made an under-“grating” for these but off-road/winter under armour was not really available anywhere. I got Smith Volvo in CA to get me this all the way from factory old stock in Sweden for about $100 delivered. Amazing work by Smith Volvo (San Luis Obispo, CA). Unexpexted bonus - this amazingly stiffens the front subframe. Coupled with the bushing inserts and Ohlins top strut brace, this thing corners as flat as a go-kart.




I got bored one weekend so I acid-etched all the brake parts, re-did them and put in SS lines and ceramic pads.




I like a nice interior so I took out all the interior switches, vents, etc. and prepped them and re-did with matte clear coat to make factory fresh



I refinished the wheel, seats, all interior leather to near-new condition.




So it’s not the FASTEST p-80 Volvo out there (it will run with a stock R or chipped T5, but not a built T5 or chipped/tuned R), but it’s close and it is one of the best looking 25 years later.

I think it’s only got 124k on it now so it’s pretty fresh. I think the tuner said it should be making 275hp and 305 ft/lbs. vs. the stock 190/220, so in the chipped T5/stock R model range. This feels about right though I have not dyno’d it. Not amazing by new standards, but for a fun cheap project this was a blast to do 2021-2022.

Ok, that’s my car chat tonight to make up for the skiing thread drift. Older-but-not-too old Volvos can be fun. P2s have even more performance and I may get one of those again this summer to tweak/tune up like this to Stage II. BTW, one of the reasons you can do this is that Volvo uses Aisin (Toyota) transmissions. One of the main reason I play with Volvos is I know the 5cyl white block turbos can be pumped up quite a lot safetly and have great longevity, and I can service and maintain the transmission and not worry about breaking it. Volvo has had some dog motors the last 15 years, but the white block 5 is not one, and you can’t break the Aisin transmissions unless you are stupid.

Toys4RJill

I see your POV. I just wish Toyota would put a better effort into the Tundra and Sequoyah like they do with their Japanese imports. The Tundra powertrain is FAR behind the GM and Dodge options. I mean 550HP? Inline 6. Another thing is the Tundra lacks an AUTO 4WD option Like come on?

If Toyota would have put in a very high end interior, A LOT could be forgiven. OR...a high output V8



V8 RAM vs V6 Tundra.

As for reliability I do agree with you. I know someone who had two RAMS and both needed engine replacements, but he STILL bought a third one and it was a diesel


It’s the little details. Look at the tasteful engine bay covers…





above is the RAM vs Tundra. Look at all the exposed metal on the Toyota





now a Toyota that was made in Japan







EPIC effort and restoration

Stroock639

that's awesome i love it! the turbocharged 5 cylinder volvo wagon is a true classic... love the undergrating and other mods you did here and there too

sorry to hear about the XC70 that sucks :(

link13

I must say I appreciate all of you and enjoy this thread. It’s cool that we can disagree and still get on with each other. As Ali G said, maybe we can agree to degree

For the Volvo wagon, I appreciate that work. It looks rad. I always appreciate it when someone invests passion in an older vehicle and becomes a steward of it in a way. There are limits. For example, if someone put loads of effort into preserving a Corsica, I wouldn’t get it. I was somewhat of a steward of my 1GS because it was nice and 21 years old when I sold it. The Volvo looks great. Gus Fring is jealous

Toys4RJill

it really is a great thread. It truly brings the community together on club Lexus

Stroock639

oh damn an Ali G and a breaking bad reference in a single post

his interaction with the priest here has to be about the greatest 1 minute stretch in TV history XD


well that... that's because it was christmas innit.....

FrankReynoldsCPA

Buying a truck for its fancy plastic engine covers is about the most vapid and shallow reason I could think of.

Toys4RJill

It is the attention to detail that is really nice to see. Especially when the cost of these vehicles is so high. And lack of auto four-wheel-drive is a complete disgrace for Toyota.

Carfan94

She does make a good point about finishing details in areas that are not frequently seen by the owner. But most people don’t care, heck my brother threw away the engine cover for his 2002 Camry because as far as he’s concerned it serves no purpose and thus useless, I think it was cracked anyway.

Toys4RJill

The manufacturers wouldn’t do it if people didn’t notice.



nice Waggoner plaque. The battery is really nicely padded too