Introduce yourself here!

[2Bonthewater]

Deermagnet is from PA--he can pronounce it!!!! And after checking out his websites....is a very good photographer and fisherman !!


Yeppers........spelling it is a problem........fished the heck out of that river while in college---Garrett College in McHenry, Maryland........Weekly I was able to fish the Youghiogheny River, N. Br. Potomac (upper and lower sections), Savage River and the Casselman and then in PA --- Big Spring Creek and Yellow Breeches

I spend lots of time now wild trout fishing..........it is normally just the woods, the stream, me and hopefully some fish !!!

I can't wait to take the VX on it's first fishing trip..........maybe for steelhead.....or to Penns Creek.......it will have to be a special trip

PS......I was using a 6 foot 2 wt bamboo fly rod for my wild trout adventures, but my father broke it on his last trip to PA.....sniffles........RIP.......that rod has landed some nice fish....both wild and stocked---I had it paired with a Vernley Trout Reel (1930-1940's) power pro phantom red backing and cortland sylk fly line---it was a great combo--- Plenty of pics of that combo on my website
www.2Bonthewater.com

I can pronounce it, I just can't spell it ... maybe because I only lived in Pittsburgh for a year.

[VX KAT]

Deermagnet is from PA--he can pronounce it!!!!
Yeppers........spelling it is a problem........
www.2Bonthewater.com

...my bad....sorry Mark....and probably etlsport and a few others too...

[VXjunky]

born in slippery rock...left @ 6mos....

[VX_SEAN]

Hey guys,
Have a '99 astral lined up to hopefully be my DD in about a week. Can't wait to start modding it!

Also, deermagnet, I'm in Scranton, PA. How come I've never seen another VX driving around here? I've been on the lookout for about 4 years now

[VX_SEAN]

Come to think of it, I saw one (I assume you) on Keyser Ave at Elaine's diner a few years back. Other than that, one came up in the paper shop about 2 years back, but the seller was unwilling to negotiate on his [too high of a] price. But now I'll have the astral, and I'm pumped!
Nice to know there's some great VX knowledge in the area

[kehecross]

I am up here in Erie P.a. so I think we have P.a. covered. I am aware of a white one, silver one, and black one, and my Proton here in Erie county.

[stonewis]

I bought one a month ago. It was an impulse buy. I was test driving a 4 Runner and Xterra. The dealer had a VX on the lot. I made a remark about it looking very different. I didn't think I would buy it. While I was waiting for the car salesman to get a price quote I looked at the VX. When I started it, I fell in love with it and bought it. It's a '99 Ebony Black. It had 87K on the clock. It has flowmaster exhaust (sounds great!) and aftermarket rims. I will post a pic on my profile page.

[VXobsession]

Welcome to the obsession! Once you get to reading the going-ons here, you'll have a hard time not logging in every day.....

[Ldub]

Welcome to the obsession! Once you get to reading the going-ons here, you'll have a hard time not logging in every day.....

[Mile High VX]

Welcome to the obsession! Once you get to reading the going-ons here, you'll have a hard time not logging in every day.....

Oh, if only once a day were enough...welcome to the great adventure that is VX!

[VXobsession]

Ok, let me rephrase....logging in ONCE everyday, and just never logging back off until you go to bed.

[gravitylover]

Hey peoples! So I'm thinking of "joining the club." These vx's have intrigued me for a long time now and my car got wrecked for me two weeks ago so in my search for a replacement one of these came across the screen and it got me thinking that maybe I should look into it a little further. From what I've read here the last two days you all may have me convinced it's a good move.

My main purpose for the car is a long daily commute in and out of NYC with the accompanying crappy roads and high speed highway running. I do 55 miles each way, 47 of them are highway. Days off are spent mt biking and skiing so more rough roads both snowy/icy and rough dirt are the norm but the chances that I will do any real off roading are pretty slim. I mostly got that out of my system with my old Willys '60 CJ5 and a 70 and 76 FJ55 Cruiser. Top priority is reliability and as long as regular maintenance is done these seem to be pretty good. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm fairly handy, (in a Spicoli voice) have a great set of tools man and am not afraid to dig into things that may be over my head.

I need to be able to rack it up to carry four bikes, two on the rear and two on top, and still have room to put a body box up there for gear or skis. I noticed that the OE bars are too narrow so is there a way to use the long Thule bars with the factory f/r rails that are on the car?

The plan is to get a set of dedicated winter wheels/tires but I'm having a hard time finding the wheel specs so if someone could point me to the right thread I'd appreciate it. Tirerack is only giving me an 18" option for the MY01 that I'm looking at and I think I'd rather go 17 and everything they are showing says fitment may be an issue.

I think I really like the copper one that Richard has at Detail Driven. What can you folks say about his work and what do you think about that particular rig? I certainly don't mind paying more for a truck that's been properly gone through if it means I get to work everyday and don't miss a powder day.

If anybody in the NY metro area has one that I could take a closer look at to get a feel for the truck let me know and I'll come check it out.

A little about me - 45, not too fat or bald and I manage a bicycle shop in SOHO. Work too much and play too hard I have 13 year old twin daughters that are brighter than me on the inside (thank goodness) but just as goofy on the outside.

So, is this car a good match for my needs?

Eric

[VX KAT]

Hey peoples! So I'm thinking of "joining the club." These vx's have intrigued me for a long time now and my car got wrecked for me two weeks ago so in my search for a replacement one of these came across the screen and it got me thinking that maybe I should look into it a little further. From what I've read here the last two days you all may have me convinced it's a good move.

My main purpose for the car is a long daily commute in and out of NYC with the accompanying crappy roads and high speed highway running. I do 55 miles each way, 47 of them are highway. Days off are spent mt biking and skiing so more rough roads both snowy/icy and rough dirt are the norm but the chances that I will do any real off roading are pretty slim. I mostly got that out of my system with my old Willys '60 CJ5 and a 70 and 76 FJ55 Cruiser. Top priority is reliability and as long as regular maintenance is done these seem to be pretty good. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm fairly handy, (in a Spicoli voice) have a great set of tools man and am not afraid to dig into things that may be over my head.

I need to be able to rack it up to carry four bikes, two on the rear and two on top, and still have room to put a body box up there for gear or skis. I noticed that the OE bars are too narrow so is there a way to use the long Thule bars with the factory f/r rails that are on the car?

The plan is to get a set of dedicated winter wheels/tires but I'm having a hard time finding the wheel specs so if someone could point me to the right thread I'd appreciate it. Tirerack is only giving me an 18" option for the MY01 that I'm looking at and I think I'd rather go 17 and everything they are showing says fitment may be an issue.

I think I really like the copper one that Richard has at Detail Driven. What can you folks say about his work and what do you think about that particular rig? I certainly don't mind paying more for a truck that's been properly gone through if it means I get to work everyday and don't miss a powder day.

If anybody in the NY metro area has one that I could take a closer look at to get a feel for the truck let me know and I'll come check it out.

A little about me - 45, not too fat or bald and I manage a bicycle shop in SOHO. Work too much and play too hard I have 13 year old twin daughters that are brighter than me on the inside (thank goodness) but just as goofy on the outside.

So, is this car a good match for my needs?

Eric

Welcome Eric-
Lots of good peeps and even better info on this site.
This thread will give you a lot of details and an overview of various issues....also will give you a little flavor of our commeradiere...such that it is... ...:
http://vehicross.info/forums/showthr...141#post186141

There's been many folks in your situation come by here for some insight and to help decide if the VX is for them.

Couple items I thought of from your intro....

• RIDE QUALITY - Any way you look at it, the VX is rough riding. It slams over potholes, it's a very loud experience. Many of us have changed to adjustable shocks, and that helped a little. But then we discovered the rear bump stops are usually about 1/2" above the axle ....thus the VERY frequent slamming of the back end as the 1/2" doesn't give it enough room to cushion. So, some of decided to cut the rear bump stops in half. The OEM is about 8" long and is shaped like a figure "*"...we just cut off the bottom half, giving about 4" of additional space before the bumpstop hits the rear axle. MAJOR MAJOR improvement in that REAR SLAMMING.....but it is still a VERY rough riding truck. It's fine on highways. I took a 3800 mile road trip last year and it's winderful on the highway...and the Recaro seats are terrific. But on dirt/gravel/rocky roads...it's still a very rough ride. I live on a dirt/rocky road, so I get to experienced it every day

• MPG is abysmal...with a long commute it will cost ya. Generally expect 15-20 stock. It has a 22.5 gallon tank...so you can do the math..... I have larger tires and steel skids and sliders....and full size spare and roof rack and hardware to hold spare....I get about 13....and maybe 16 on highway when I have the roof rack/basket & tire on....maybe 1 or 2 more MPG w/o them.

• BIKE Rack- there's a few different models of Yakima Bike racks that fit on top on the OEM bars. Some have added a hitch and mounted a bike rack in the hitch. One active member here "triathlete" (Billy) is a major bike nut, he'll be able to tell you anything and everything about mounting bikes on the VX. He'll know if you can get 4 on there.

• WHEEL SPECS specs: the oem wheel is a 6 on 5.5 bolt pattern, +38 mm positive offset with 108 mm center bore. Littlebeast was able to use 100 mm centerbore but be sure they will fit, espically when trying to remove a hot wheel that has expanded.
  
  There's a ton of threads on tire and wheel sizes, etc...

There's several NYers...I can think of a few that are still active here....

Gussie2000 (Queens),

- really nice guy, (Gustavo) very active on forum, ALWAYS looking for a VX get-together.

Hotsauce (Bronxville)

jtirado (Queens)

mike nomy (Massapequa)....but SOLD his a few months ago

NOROADS (Suffern)

nypdnarco69 (Bronx) -

he bought his from Richard at Detail Driven a few months ago. Not real active on the forum though.

ryan1alex2 (Forestville)

- Ryan, new member, just bought his about 2 months ago

Scoobymlr (Chichester) -

just joined this month

Vendetta (New York) -

real nice guy, Lawrence, been more active last few months.

Zadam123 - (Staten Island)-

LONG time owner,since at least '02

Keep reading up on the forum, it has a ton of pertinent data, and many owners are extremely familiar with all aspects of this truck. Always willing to help too!




Forgot to mention....did you see this '01 for sale in Brooklyn: Sounds like it needs a new or rebuilt engine, that's maybe $3,000 - $5,500.
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...157#post246157

[gravitylover]

Yeah the bump stop thing was one of the first threads I read here. Doesn't surprise me, my Volvo had the same problem and a couple of others I've owned over the years did too. Yeah, ride quality is important but I'm pretty tolerant and willing to try some other susp and tire setups to get what I want. Sometimes it's as simple as different tires but I bet y'all have tried that already.

Woah that's worse than I expected for mpg's. Hmm...

Gonna try sending some pm's and see if I can get a ride in one (or more) of the locals rigs. Thanx for the names Kat.

Haha I actually drove by to take a look at that '01. Stay far away! Vinny the goombah isn't being entirely truthful in his assesment of the car in the ad. It needs more than just a motor. Buy it for a parts car.

[VX KAT]

Yeah the bump stop thing was one of the first threads I read here. Doesn't surprise me, my Volvo had the same problem and a couple of others I've owned over the years did too. Yeah, ride quality is important but I'm pretty tolerant and willing to try some other susp and tire setups to get what I want. Sometimes it's as simple as different tires but I bet y'all have tried that already.

Woah that's worse than I expected for mpg's. Hmm...

Gonna try sending some pm's and see if I can get a ride in one (or more) of the locals rigs. Thanx for the names Kat.

Haha I actually drove by to take a look at that '01. Stay far away! Vinny the goombah isn't being entirely truthful in his assesment of the car in the ad. It needs more than just a motor. Buy it for a parts car.

Yeah it does look pretty beat....

I'll bet Gussie would be really eager to meet you and let you see his. I don't know the NY geography though so don't know how far it is.


I agree, you do get used to the "ride"....once you love this truck, it doesn't seem to really bother you anymore....now spouses...maybe not so much.... My hubby says he way prefers to drive it rather than be passenger.

And yes, there are dozens of tire, wheel, lift, suspension, yadda yadda yadda threads on here. Some replace the 18s with 16" rims on the 2000 and 2001s so they can get a fatter sidewall for cushioning (usually for offroad needs)