Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

stickguy

is a sharp looking Audi. Probably stunning color in person. and nice option load.

sounds like a perfect keeper. Which we all know for you might be 1 year, tops.

stickguy

tjc78 said:

stickguy said:

is that the one that when last seen, was at 7K delta and you wanted to be at 5?

If I decide to flip my 2018 Elantra soon, with only 6-7K on it, I will point to you as the excuse (you never would have lasted this long).

My wife gave me the green light to replace my Elantra whenever.... I’m just too buried. I’m riding it out. It goes back right when my older son is done with paid childcare. That’s $600 / month extra cash flow.

I’ve really been digging trucks lately. When it’s time going to see about some killer leases on one of the domestic quad cabs... then when the Enclave goes back get the wife either a car or something smaller like RDX size.

Of course all this is subject to change.

One reason I bought instead of leasing was in case the Sport became a short term option. Though the original plan was to flip it to the kid. Now I might just flip it. Though I do like it. The wife, still not much of a fan.

She actually mentioned last night when we were heading out to dinner (in her car, the kid had mine) that maybe we should sell both of them and get 1 nice one to replace them. Though this was more in terms of becoming a 1 car family for the 2 of us. I of course supported he creative thinking! And did say that if we went that route, I would get something cheap as a spare, but either fun (convertible, sporty car) or useful (mini PU?).

she was flexible. As long as she comes out ahead on the deal, and the cash outflow does not change much. Which means paying off my car and staying with 1 payment.

after she sees the new RDX today, she may actually buy into the plan!

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

Congrats, @breld. Hope I get to see it tomorrow.

(we are heading to cars and coffee in the morning)

Cars and coffee? He's going to bring the Prius

I keep suggesting that he bring and display the Polestar.

Either way, I will get to ride in something new.

au1994

ab348 said:

Well, @breld , that was predictable but still I am impressed with the speed at which the change occurred. I like the choice. While I am by no means in your class, I am a firm believer that it makes sense to dump a vehicle which makes you unhappy and to do it as soon as possible.

Could I give you my wife’s email address so you can express that opinion to her?

au1994

Congratulations @breld! Looks nice and I am a sucker for a dark, rich blue.

ab348

stickguy said:

She actually mentioned last night when we were heading out to dinner (in her car, the kid had mine) that maybe we should sell both of them and get 1 nice one to replace them. Though this was more in terms of becoming a 1 car family for the 2 of us. I of course supported he creative thinking! And did say that if we went that route, I would get something cheap as a spare, but either fun (convertible, sporty car) or useful (mini PU?).

So a one-car family with two cars? Gotcha.

stickguy

my plans are always intricate like that. But yeah, basically one car for the majority of the usage, with a spare just for times when a 2nd is needed.

carnaught

Good move, @breld. Beautiful car, congrats!

graphicguy

@breld.....sweet! Congrats!

tjc78

stickguy said:

my plans are always intricate like that. But yeah, basically one car for the majority of the usage, with a spare just for times when a 2nd is needed.

We did that for awhile. It works until either the cheap car gets needy or you just want something else.  

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

stickguy said:

my plans are always intricate like that. But yeah, basically one car for the majority of the usage, with a spare just for times when a 2nd is needed.

We did that for awhile. It works until either the cheap car gets needy or you just want something else.  

It's great for insurance, if you get something cheap enough to drop collision/comp.

stickguy

I used to cycle through cars quicker, when they were cheap older cars. So I have no problems going back to that. And entirely possible at some point the spare car becomes a cheap cheap lease instead.

stickguy

we also, at this point, don't normally need two cars. I work from home, and the wife works 3 miles away, and only goes in 3 days per week. And we are usually together on weekends or evenings. So if anyone can pull it off, it is probably us!

Wouldn't mind having my old Acura TL back. or something like that.

tbirdmarco

  you did it you are the man breld Congrads

Mr_Shiftright

breld said:

After driving the Q7 home this evening, all I can say is that I apparently really wanted to try out something new and against the grain with the Discovery, 'cause now it seems like a no-brainer. The Audi is sublime, with a wonderful mix of sport and luxury. The claims that it mimics a sports sedan are accurate.

I didn't realize until recently that the 3.0T in the Q7 is the "old" supercharged V6 like in my old S4 and SQ5, as opposed to the current turbo engine in the current S4/S5/SQ5. I love that engine - virtually no lag (which is world's different from the diesel in the Discovery). And in Dynamic mode, the responsiveness is enhanced, and with the adaptive suspension, the car lowers a bit for presumably better handling.

The Q7 is a fabulous car, often voted best mid-size luxury SUV by the car mags.

henryn

Congratulations on the punch, @breld. I really like the looks of that. And I suspect if I drove one, I would want to buy it, so best stay away!

Michaell

henryn said:

Congratulations on the punch, @breld. I really like the looks of that. And I suspect if I drove one, I would want to buy it, so best stay away!

I did get the chance to drive the Q7 this morning. First thing I noticed was that the adaptive suspension was in its lowest setting, so it was certainly un-SUV like with ride and handling. Nice grunt from the engine on the few occasions I had to punch it. The blue is, quite simply, stunning in person. A very @breld like choice. 

Cars and coffee was a bit of a bust. Lots of things we had seen previously, and it was already starting to get warm.  Decided to grab some breakfast then hit the local Carmax to see what was on the lot. 

Kind of a mistake. Within a matter of minutes I spotted the following three vehicles: 

1. 2015 Q50 AWD with the 3.7 V6
2. 2015 TLX V6 Tech AWD
3. 2015 ES350

All priced between $24-26K, and less than 30,000 miles. 

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to drive any of them, but I’m likely to go back on my own later today. 

benjaminh

stickguy said:

....She actually mentioned last night when we were heading out to dinner (in her car, the kid had mine) that maybe we should sell both of them and get 1 nice one to replace them. Though this was more in terms of becoming a 1 car family for the 2 of us. I of course supported he creative thinking! And did say that if we went that route, I would get something cheap as a spare....!

Wow. You can sell almost anything lol!++ If you can actually convince her when it comes to it that having two cars is really being a one car family I'll be quite impressed. I don't think you fooled anyone here though....!

breld

mjfloyd1 said:

Wow @breld that looks nice. Ink blue sure looks black. 

Out of curiosity, what was auction value on Disco?

Q pegged it at $57-58k auction, and they gave me $58k trade.  I had a few hail dings and was already due for a first service that was supposed to be $520.  I was happy with the trade.  

breld

stickguy said:

is a sharp looking Audi. Probably stunning color in person. and nice option load. sounds like a perfect keeper. Which we all know for you might be 1 year, tops.

I’ll start with a year and go from there.  Baby steps.

I did opt for the Audi Care prepaid maintenance that covers service through 50k miles.  

sda

While I was having the Accord serviced at the dealer, and not buying like breld (congrats, beautiful Q7), I did sit in several models. A lava red (benjamin?)CR-V EXL AWD was really sharp. Nice interior, comfortable seats, great room in the cargo area. I can see why these are so popular. They had a sharp red Civic EXL with black interior. I like it, but felt like it was a bit too low. Once I got seated it was comfortable but found it a bit hard to get out. I was really impressed by the new Accord. I sat in a silver EX Hybrid with black interior. The cloth interior seemed to be of good quality and the whole interior had a nice ambience. I did balk at the $1999 mark up on each car for window tinting, mop and glo, all weather mats. Then they hit you with a $799 admin fee, really? I know a lot of that can be negotiated down but it is a real turn off .

sda

After the Accord was finished I did venture across the street to the Acura dealer. The new RDX is sharp! The interior quality looked and felt top notch. At $45k not cheap but very competitive in its class. Sat in an A-Spec TLX with the black alcantara interior. What's not to like? They had about 8 '15 CPO TLXs, prices ranging from $22-25.6k, with mileage ranging from 25-40k, 2.4, V6, all Tech models. I did over hear a salesman talking to a customer buying a CPO RDX for his 17 year old daughter. The dad pointed to a TLX and asked how they were selling. The salesman said the ILXs don't sell and the TLXs only seem to sell when they have a 'sale' on them.
They all looked clean, but a '15 is now 4 model years old and the '15 was known to have some initial teething issues. I am torn whether they are a good value. At the Honda dealer 4 people approached me asking if they could help. No one approached me at the Acura dealer and I was there for 20 minutes or more.

tbirdmarco

 Very nice everyone above on the corner browsing today 

graphicguy

Michaell said:

henryn said:

Congratulations on the punch, @breld. I really like the looks of that. And I suspect if I drove one, I would want to buy it, so best stay away!

I did get the chance to drive the Q7 this morning. First thing I noticed was that the adaptive suspension was in its lowest setting, so it was certainly un-SUV like with ride and handling. Nice grunt from the engine on the few occasions I had to punch it. The blue is, quite simply, stunning in person. A very @breld like choice. 

Cars and coffee was a bit of a bust. Lots of things we had seen previously, and it was already starting to get warm.  Decided to grab some breakfast then hit the local Carmax to see what was on the lot. 

Kind of a mistake. Within a matter of minutes I spotted the following three vehicles: 

1. 2015 Q50 AWD with the 3.7 V6
2. 2015 TLX V6 Tech AWD
3. 2015 ES350

All priced between $24-26K, and less than 30,000 miles. 

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to drive any of them, but I’m likely to go back on my own later today. 

Not a bad choice in the bunch!

benjaminh

sda said:

After the Accord was finished I did venture across the street to the Acura dealer. The new RDX is sharp! The interior quality looked and felt top notch. At $45k not cheap but very competitive in its class. Sat in an A-Spec TLX with the black alcantara interior. What's not to like? They had about 8 '15 CPO TLXs, prices ranging from $22-25.6k, with mileage ranging from 25-40k, 2.4, V6, all Tech models. I did over hear a salesman talking to a customer buying a CPO RDX for his 17 year old daughter. The dad pointed to a TLX and asked how they were selling. The salesman said the ILXs don't sell and the TLXs only seem to sell when they have a 'sale' on them.
They all looked clean, but a '15 is now 4 model years old and the '15 was known to have some initial teething issues. I am torn whether they are a good value. At the Honda dealer 4 people approached me asking if they could help. No one approached me at the Acura dealer and I was there for 20 minutes or more.

Your Acura dealer is certainly "low pressure"!

I think the 3-year old TLXs are probably a good value—if you don't want or need the new technologies that have been put on cars since then. But I really do think AndroidAuto is very useful for navigation etc. And HondaSensing/AcuraWatch is also useful imho.

I agree that the new Accord Hybrid is impressive. But crunching the numbers on those, as mentioned, I found out I'd pay about $150 more a month to lease an Accord Hybrid EXL than to lease a TLX Tech. The Hybrid would probably have saved me c.70 a month or so in gas, but the Acura dealer threw in about $450 of maintenance for the first two years.

Anyway, I personally suggest a new car for the new tech if it can be afforded. The new technologies aren't just gimmicks imho—they are really useful. And since your 2013 Accord looks pristine, my guess is you might get a good trade-in value for it. As long as the so-so stereo on a 2018 EX Accord doesn't bother you, that model offers a lot for the money.

But maybe consider taking a test drive in a TLX. The "base" TLX is pretty loaded, and costs only about 3k more than an Accord EXL—and with the lease incentives you can drive a TLX base for less than an Accord EX. Heck, I got a TLX Tech for less than an Accord EX, but the incentives have gone down a little bit on the Tech model since then.

nyccarguy

Every year we close our business for the last 2 weeks in July for vacation.  Yesterday my driver had a medical issue (he’s still in the hospital) while he was out making stops.  Thankfully the guy we send with him to unload had the brains (he’s far from the brightest bulb) to realize something was wrong & he called an ambulance.

So at 4:00 pm yesterday (we close at 5:00 pm), I had to have my book keeper drive me uptown to where the truck was parked.  I hopped in and started to head back to the shop.  As I’m drivng and getting used to driving a 14’ Box Truck, I had the other guy make some phone calls to see if the Supers could wait for us (they usually “check out” and start drinking well before 5:00 on Fridays).  We didn’t get back until 7:15 pm (I opened up at 7:30 yesterday AM).

Today I got to work at 6:40 AM, got a lot of work done, took care of a few customers with my Dad, then headed back out on the road.  Drove the Box Truck into Manhattan for a few deliveries before heading back to The Bronx.  We close at 12:00 pm on Saturdays.  I left at 2:30 pm.

You really have NO IDEA how bad the roads are until you drive a truck.  Oh my lord!  Needless to say, I was more than excited to drive my Prelude home!  No more work for 2 weeks.  Wonderful!

corvette

Sounds like a couple of long, exhausting days, nyc. Hope your driver is okay.

benjaminh, I agree about the newer tech. I'm actually disappointed after comparing the F-150 I drove to many other 2018 vehicles. Pretty much every Toyota and Honda seem to have a ton of stuff like collision mitigation braking standard, on the F-150 it's only offered on the higher trim levels. It seems like safety technology is slow to make it to trucks. I think it was the same way with side airbags.

stickguy

OK, got to the Acura dealer mid-afternoon today. Was actually fairly busy there. Good sign I guess! Our sales lady was with customers, so some other dude got to show us the RDX and take us out for a ride. Drove an Advance (I would get a tech if I bought one, but close enough).

The wife loved it. Once she figure out how to make it move. Between the push button tranny, and not knowhing how the parking brake worked, it was a challenge. But we got her there! And the fancy mouse pad controller, and all the extra goodies, would take some getting used to. She asked what the big dial in the middle was (driving mode). I explained the concept, and all she said was "oh, something I should never touch?" Even though she married me, I guess she is not a dummy.

anyway, short drive in mostly traffic, but drives nice. Stereo is amazing, seats are fantastic. Tons of bells and whistles. Moves out quite sharply. Very quiet (from outside noise). She thought it felt bigger. I thought it drove smaller. In any case, much different sound and feel than our old one (4 cyl vs. V6). the new one is much tighter and more composed, and the tech is light years advanced.

not cheap, but great value compared to BMW, MB, etc. We are going to drive a CRV at some point to compare, to see if the extra $10K is worth it.

Went to a nearby micro brewery afterwards to discuss. Gave her a tutorial on leasing vs. financing, and discussed conceptual plans for swapping out of one or both of the current rides. Money of course becomes the big factor. Not likely to do anything before year end (and deciding on when/if we are moving) but she definitely got hooked on how nice the new one was (accused me of teasing her with something fancy that we couldn't get, but the last time she accused me of that, she ended up with the RDX anyway).

Bottom line, the RDX is extremely nice, and should do very well in the market.

Oh, disappointed int he colors. She loves blue, but the one Honda picked for this model is pretty bright. She did not like. Does not want white. I loved the metallic bronze, she was not a fan. So pretty much left boring gray (modern steel), unless she went with lunar silver. At least the gray interior on those is nice. She did not like Espresso at all.

imidazol97

sda said:

After the Accord was finished I did venture across the street to the Acura dealer. The new RDX is sharp! The interior quality looked and felt top notch. At $45k not cheap but very competitive in its class. Sat in an A-Spec TLX with the black alcantara interior. What's not to like? They had about 8 '15 CPO TLXs, prices ranging from $22-25.6k, with mileage ranging from 25-40k, 2.4, V6, all Tech models. I did over hear a salesman talking to a customer buying a CPO RDX for his 17 year old daughter. The dad pointed to a TLX and asked how they were selling. The salesman said the ILXs don't sell and the TLXs only seem to sell when they have a 'sale' on them.
They all looked clean, but a '15 is now 4 model years old and the '15 was known to have some initial teething issues. I am torn whether they are a good value. At the Honda dealer 4 people approached me asking if they could help. No one approached me at the Acura dealer and I was there for 20 minutes or more.

Did the Accord dealer have the same mop and glo markup along with a doc fee?

henryn

Man, I am so tired of those “dealer add ons”. You just don’t seem to be able to avoid them these days. Here’s how I handled it this last time. I went in with an advertised price, I had printed off the page from the dealer’s web site. It had the stock number, the VIN number, the MSRP, the incentives, and their “special sales price”. Immediately when we start talking seriously, the salesman tells me that there is a dealer package of +/-$1,000, and shows me the list.

Texas Protection Package:
Tint $399
Door Edge Guards/Door Cup Guards $299
Wheel Locks $299

Dealer Accessory Total: $997

I glance casually at the sheet of paper, hand it back to the salesman, and tell him, “That is off the table. Period. If you ever bring it up again, I am walking.”

The salesman looked at me, shrugged, said “Let me talk to my manager.” He comes back in a couple of minutes and tells me that is “off the table”.

I am not buying mop-n-glo. I will not even negotiate mop-n-glo. They all seem to have it these days, but if they don’t agree to discard it immediately, I am down the road to the next dealer. Heaven knows there are plenty of car dealers in this town.

Now the non-negotiable doc fee is a different ball of wax altogether. Dealers who have gone down that path will NOT negotiate the doc fee. What I do is have a number already figured out.
I have their advertised price, I have a trade-in value (thanks to @qbrozen), 6.25% sales tax on the difference, and I add in $300 for title, license, doc fees, etc. Which is a very good estimate here in Texas, YMMV in a different state. If they are within $100 of that number, then we’re good. If not, I show them my math, and say “That’s all I’m paying.” If they come back with, “We have a mandatory $500 doc fee on all purchases”, then I just repeat, “That’s my number.”

If you don’t like the way they do business, then vote with your feet.

roadburner

I will only negotiate an OTD price. The only number I care about is the amount of the check I'm going to write. If the dealer won't play ball I walk.

breld

Yup.  

I’ll usually try to make it simple and just phrase my offer as “plus tax.”  

On a trade, just “my car plus $$$.”  

Then they ask me for my payoff.  If I’m feeling feisty I’ll reply “that has nothing to do with the sale price or trade.”  Payoff is what it is - just like taxes.  

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

No more work for 2 weeks.  Wonderful!

Congrats on making it through to vacation time! I hope your man pulls through and is back in action before too long.

xwesx

I finally put my Q7 on the market late on Thursday night. I figured that, with a car like this, it is likely that bites will be few and far between. Much to my surprise,a fella responded to the ad this afternoon and seems quite enthusiastic at the moment! We'll see. I'm supposed to meet with him tomorrow evening (Well, that's still Sunday evening for those of you farther east!).

tommister2

xwesx said:

I finally put my Q7 on the market late on Thursday night. I figured that, with a car like this, it is likely that bites will be few and far between. Much to my surprise,a fella responded to the ad this afternoon and seems quite enthusiastic at the moment! We'll see. I'm supposed to meet with him tomorrow evening (Well, that's still Sunday evening for those of you farther east!).

Good luck! I hope it is an easy sale. 

breld

benjaminh said:

@breld : When you get the chance we'd enjoy seeing some interior pix of your new Audi. ++

Here are a few. 

kyfdx

Prospective car buyer needs advice:
https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/51756/general/x/looking-for-a-car-what-should-i-get/p1?new=1

benjaminh

@breld : Wowza on the interior of your Q7. Nice.

28firefighter

I love that interior. Absolutely gorgeous. 

carnaught

As with son’s ‘17 A4, Audi does interiors very well.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

I love that interior. Absolutely gorgeous. 

Agreed. Quite a nice place to spend time. 

xwesx

28firefighter said:

I love that interior. Absolutely gorgeous. 

Some really nice improvements in design to the prior generation (particularly the console). I still hate the iPad-on-the-dash look, but I think that all Audi's have that now.

henryn

kyfdx said:

Prospective car buyer needs advice:
https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/51756/general/x/looking-for-a-car-what-should-i-get/p1?new=1

He's looking for a unicorn. Good luck with that search!

suydam

stickguy said:

we also, at this point, don't normally need two cars. I work from home, and the wife works 3 miles away, and only goes in 3 days per week. And we are usually together on weekends or evenings. So if anyone can pull it off, it is probably us!

Wouldn't mind having my old Acura TL back. or something like that.

We thought it would work with just 1. We are both retired, no kids at home. We shared a car for 6 months before we gave up that experiment. It turns out we both have lives. Who knew?

benjaminh

suydam said:

stickguy said:

we also, at this point, don't normally need two cars. I work from home, and the wife works 3 miles away, and only goes in 3 days per week. And we are usually together on weekends or evenings. So if anyone can pull it off, it is probably us!

Wouldn't mind having my old Acura TL back. or something like that.

We thought it would work with just 1. We are both retired, no kids at home. We shared a car for 6 months before we gave up that experiment. It turns out we both have lives. Who knew?

My wife's idea is that when the 3-year lease on my new TLX is up we'll just turn it in—and then we'll share her CR-V, which will be paid off. I'm afraid I have other ideas....

Michaell

Yesterday, I mentioned that @breld and I hit up the local Carmax. I went back last night to take a test drive of the Q50 I found.

2015 Q50 Premium AWD with the 3.7L V6 (same as in the Q40 that @nyccarguy drives) and 32,000 miles. I test drove the Q40 last summer and didn't find it to my liking - I've discovered that the B-pillar on some cars intrudes on my seating position. The Lexus GS is another car that doesn't fit me for the same reason.

That is not the case with the Q50 - I fit quite nicely behind the wheel. The test drive was the traditional "4 right turns", so I didn't get as much of an opportunity to evaluate it like I did the TLX last weekend. But, I was able to form a few opinions.

First, that engine. I was reminded of the growl and grunt of the engine within moments of starting the car up and putting it in gear. 320+ HP makes for a seriously quick car. The TLX I drove was the 4-cyl, so I'll have to test the V6 for a fair comparison.

I found the ride of the Q50 to be a bit harsher than on the Acura - I'm not surprised by that, and it's not bad, it's just different. But, still a pretty quiet ride, but I'd guess that the TLX would be a better long distance cruiser. The Q50 would be better on canyon roads.

While I haven't checked weights, the Acura felt a lot lighter - some of that, I'm sure, is due to the 4-cyl vs. V6 engine, and the presence of AWD on the Infiniti. Again, a test of a like Acura would give me a better feel for a true comparison.

Inside, the two cars are more similar than they are different - two screens, similar features, similar feel to the controls. However, I'll give a very slight edge to the Acura as to the quality of the components - something, I believe, will look and feel the same 10 years from now as it does today. Not certain I could say the same about the Infiniti.

In closing, I'll say I like the Infiniti, but if and when it's time to decide with my own money, the Acura gets the nod. @breld summarized it perfectly, in that the TLX has the right balance of comfort and sportiness. The Q50 is tilted a bit to the "sport" side of the spectrum, while the Lexus ES350 (which I have yet to drive) is more oriented to "comfort".

stickguy

may not matter to you, but the Acura should get quite a bit better MPG. Every shekel counts!

stickguy

and yes, the ES will be way more smooth and comfy than the other options. Just relax. No need to hurry!

Mr_Shiftright

henryn said:

kyfdx said:

Prospective car buyer needs advice:
https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/51756/general/x/looking-for-a-car-what-should-i-get/p1?new=1

He's looking for a unicorn. Good luck with that search!

That's what I sort of hinted to him.

stickguy

I don't exactly trust this one to not be troublesome (headgaskets an issue at this point?), but I always loved this generation. The style, size, interior. Just a nice car that fit me well. I almost bought one back then, in this nice color combo. Stick of course. Ended up with the 2005 Accord instead.

https://www.subaruofcherryhill.com/used/Subaru/2006-Subaru-Legacy+Sedan-cherry-hill-nj-5f0c8dfb0a0e0adf0f6c07700593ce7f.htm?searchDepth=30:36