I bought a 1995 Acura Legend in 1998 with 32,000 miles on it. It was a 36-month lease turn-in and was literally in PERFECT condition. It sat unsold on the Acura dealerâs used lot because it was the least expensive model, the L 4-door, with cloth interior and 5-speed manual transmission. But it was exactly what I wanted, White with Taupe interior, Bose stereo, Power seats with memory and (the best part) the sweetest 200hp 3.2L V6 Iâve ever experienced! I paid $26,000 out-the-door, which felt like a fortune at the time (I was 23). I drove it 40-50k miles per year until I was t-boned by a commercial truck in August 2005. It had just turned 329,000 miles at the time and didnât burn a drop of oil (synthetic), the clutch had only been replaced once and the transmission shifted like new. Other than scheduled maintenance, the only thing I ever had to replace was the A/C compressor and two ABS sensors. The impact was so hard the passenger-side door panel ended up breaking my right hand and forearm (it was in the middle of the car). The rearview mirror broke loose during the crash and hit me in the head just above my right ear. It left most of the glass mirror fragments in my head and took 38 staples to close the wound! I also had damage to two discs in my cervical spine that required a 3-level c-spine fusion the following year. But I was able to recover from all of those injuries, which was pretty amazing considering how bad my poor Legend looked. I bought a 2006 Mazda3 Hatchback to replace it in December 2005. Eight years later, Iâm just past 190,000 miles and going strong!

We purchased a Samsung French door refrigerator - Model RF24FSEDBSR/AA - in November 2014 (now about 2.75 years old), and have had, along with evidently countless others, problems with the ice maker, which quit working just after the one year warranty period was over ... soft ice cubes, water and crushed ice build-up in the chute, dripping water, and massive ice build-up in the back of the unit that evidently blocked the fan and eventually burned out the motor. The first appliance repair company called would not service a Samsung refrigerator (wonder why); the second came out three times ... went through all of the Samsung "service bulletins" in regard to this issue and eventually said they would not continue trying to fix it and to call Samsung (we paid for one service call with this company, the other two were gratis). Samsung "Support" set up an appointment with one of their locally contracted appliance repair companies - we paid for the service call and their assessment was that we needed a new fan/motor. On the next service call he brought and installed the new part. We paid for the part, something like $140. Shortly after the "repair", the unit again began to fail and we called again (after cleaning out the ice build-up several times). The part was guaranteed for three months, but we did not realize this and called again just after the three month period. The solution - again - to replace the fan/motor in the ice maker. We paid again for the part, and the company kindly did not charge us this time for the service call. Fast forward two months, and the ice maker unit is failing AGAIN - we've melted out the ice build-up two or three times in the last six or seven weeks. Over the last few days, a new issue - the "Twin Cooling" unit in the back of the refrigerator has failed - ice build up in the "Twin Cooling" unit, the fan died, and the refrigerator now keeps a temperature of around 50 degrees. The drawer and the freezer are still maintaining a safe temperature, so we are using those alone while we search for another refrigerator; given that we've paid upwards of $500 for repairs that did not work we are not willing to sink more money into repairs. I've read that they have since improved the ice maker, but have made no move to my knowledge to recall or replace defective models or parts. Needless to say, we are not seeking to replace this refrigerator, or any other appliance, with a Samsung model.

I realize I'm late for this party but feel I needed to add info for similar questions in the future. I've been an HVAC licensed contractor since 1979 and now support 3 equipment manufactures with onsite consulting and training. This is a very common question easily answered. What are your needs? How long will you be in your home? I'll start with the difference in 80% and 95% (condensing) furnaces. With an 80%, every dollar you pay the gas company 20 cents goes up the flue. With 95% only 5 cents goes up the flue. So basically you save 15 cents on every dollar previously spent. Now for single vs. 2 stage. Your home has an average heat loss figured for anywhere in the US. A competent contractor will do a Manual J calculation to determine the load of your home (more on this later). This load will provide enough heat for your average lowest temperatures in your area. But how often do you hit these lowest temperatures. Generally only a few hours a day or a few days every month. Which means you actually burn more gas than you need to and your furnace cuts on and off often (short cycles). Basically it's oversized for most of the winter. With a 2 stage furnace the furnace fires at a lower rate when demand is lower then bumps up too second stage if the demand becomes greater. This creates far more comfort in the home by reducing the hot and cold spots in rooms which are more prevalent when a furnace short cycles. So efficiency (80 or 90+%) reduces your money up the flue and staging reduces your money spent on comfort. Here's a problem I run into often. A contractor sells you a 95% efficient furnace and removes your 80%. After a month or 2 you see your gas bills go up! What happened? Furnaces have an Input and Output (or bonnet) rating. A 100,000 btuh 80% puts out 80,000 btuh. A 100,000 95% puts out 95,000. Some contractors just look at your old furnaces input rating and goes "like for like" rather than a proper Manual J calculation because it's easier. So if you remove your 80% 100,000 btuh furnace for a 95% 100,000 btuh furnace as you can see from the example above you would burn 95,000 - 80,000 = 15,000 btuh's more of gas than you did with your old furnace. Choose a dealer wisely and ask to see the Manual J of your home (also shows cooling needs). Hope this helps....

Until recently, we drove older vehicles. I had a 95 Chrysler Cirrus (bought in 95) and a 02 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder (bought in 05). The Chrysler had 107,000 miles on it when sold to 16 year old as her first car. I traded the Spyder in for a 14 Chrysler 300C. Hubby drove his 99 van until the frame rusted out and we replaced with a 12 Ram 1500 PU. My family has always driven older cars. My brother has my dad's 96 Chrysler Sebring convertible and recently ventured into the 2000s by picking up a 03 Jeep Liberty. He drives multiple cars every day (utility purposes), switching between a work van, his personal 00 Dodge van and a 73 Plymouth Gran Fury. He's got a bout 7 cars (never less; you'd understand if you knew our family). My all time favorite car to drive is now in a museum. A 27 Dodge Cabriolet that was in the family for 30+ years. I loved driving it. The heavy duty truck transmission requiring double clutching, the "grabber" brakes that required an oh so gentle touch on the pedal. I miss that car.....Here's a picture of the car being loaded up to take to the museum. The guy's head that you see is the guy who's in charge of the car. We've kept in touch and they haven't modified the car at all. Still looks like this and is driven very frequently. I've been fortunate to have driven cars from every decade starting with the 1920s and I've enjoyed the heck out of each one.