"multiple locations in most states" somehow equals only available in 20 of the 50 states??

unless they get clogged and restrict exhaust flow that is.

Rockauto.com lists about ~$200 - $300 per cat for direct aftermarket replacements. I understand with the california regulations, but 98% of the country doesn't HAVE to pay for factory parts.

good point about California - I know the emissions laws there are much worse than anywhere else, so I can imagine that factory-only is acceptable.

I don't know where the figure of $2000 for a catalytic converter is coming from, but that is ludicrously inaccurate. That might be an accurate installed price from a dealer on some vehicles, especially vehicles $50,000 and up, but most vehicles would be $150 - $500 range.

As someone with a GMC Typhoon in my garage who has been around plenty of first generation S10/S15 trucks, you don't want to take one of those anywhere near icy, snowy, salty roads. You can spit on one of those things and it would cause a rust bubble.

"4.) Subaru Legacy Wagon" "Any Subaru would be at least adequate, but the Legacy covers everything well."

Great article - this is very topical for me, as a neighbor of mine was robbed a few weeks ago, and I have an iPhone 3G laying around. I've been exploring ideas for webcams, and this is a minimal effort choice for me.

I think you missed a few dozen steps. Who is going to re-mold the dash panels to fit the new lcd screen? Who is going to assign that a part number (in every color) and worry about inventory? Who is going to assign the LCD screen a part number? What about buttons to cycle through different codes? Where are they…

I didn't realize that every brand new car came with an LCD screen capable of displaying more than a few characters of text, a database of what OBD code descriptions are vs codes, a mechanism to cycle through multiple codes, and the circuitry to make it happen (connecting the OBD messages to the lcd screen,…

I have to be honest, I didn't read through that whole rant (it's not an article, let's call it what it is), but you didn't have a subject addressing the #1 problem with this whole thing - the cost.

[consumerist.com]

Sure things constantly change for each generation, but I feel like in the Joe Q era, nothing is sacred. Certain unspoken rules applied and certain things were untouchable.

I did say "one is his clone to be fair"

This is typical of Marvel Comics nowaways, General Ross as the Hulk fights Colossus as the Juggernaut.

Not disagreeing with that - the convention has been to always refer to the vertical resolution - 480p, 720p, and 1080p all use the second, vertical number.

i am disappoint. not that i did a lot of exploration of the subject, but I had thought that 1080p = 1K, in that in 1920x1080, the 1080 was the 1000's. It sounds like this article is calling 1080p 2k effectively.

Those 99% of car buyers who don't have a clue can become someone who has a clue in 5 minutes time. I've shown at least a dozen people how to scan codes, and they all do it themselves now or go to autozone. My harbor freight scanner is in high demand!

I disagree entirely and I'll tell you why.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but given say $1200 to spend, I would diversify and get an entry level sandy bridge laptop and an iPad.