Why Did You Replace Your Last Car(s)
hpmctorque
Member Posts: 4,600
What factor(s) led you to sell, trade, donate or junk your last vehicle(s).
In my case, I sold our '87 3 Series in April, because the cost to repair it would have been more than 150% of the market value. I replaced the 3 with a '07 A4 Quattro 2.0. Used Craigslist for the sale and purchase.
In my case, I sold our '87 3 Series in April, because the cost to repair it would have been more than 150% of the market value. I replaced the 3 with a '07 A4 Quattro 2.0. Used Craigslist for the sale and purchase.
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Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I would have tried to fix it myself, but Maryland's salvage laws regarding totaled cars are a real pain, geared towards getting them off the road. No doubt, partly, because junkyards and new-car dealers are lobbying for that. :mad:
Ended replacing it with a 2000 Park Ave, a couple weeks before last Christmas...
So, I replaced one 10 year old car with another...but, with 94,000 fewer miles, and a LOT more options!
If you care to disclose it, how much difference was there between your insurance settlement for the Intrepid and the cost of the Park Avenue? Do you prefer the PA to the Intrepid, overall?
Second car, the W126 - was nearing 200K miles, developed a little (but pricey) oil leak and also needed tires and brakes...and I was feeling bad about abusing it in commuting duties. Also, newer cars were tempting me, and I could only have one modern car. I sold it privately and got top dollar due to the rest of the car being pristine.
C43 - was very fun to drive, but way too small inside if I carried a few people, drove me insane. I was looking to be tempted, and then a rarely equipped E55 popped up...and that's what I still drive.
Sure...got about $2,000 for the Intrepid from the insurance company. I got dinged a bit because it had prior damage on the passenger side, at the B-pillar, so it got both doors on that side. I think that cost me about $300.
The Park Ave ended up being $7500, but after tax, tags, et al, came out to around $8133. So, the price differential ended up being around $6100.
Sometimes I do feel like I took a risk, paying that much for a 10 year old car. But, with only 56,000 miles on it at the time, I figure I'm buying the low mileage. I've only put around 6500 miles on it since I bought it, and so far so good, for the most part. I did have a sway bar link break, and around the 59,000 mile mark, had them both replaced, and the supercharger oil changed for good measure.
It's still hard to say which I prefer, overall. I would've been happiest if the Intrepid never got totaled, and I was still driving it. So I guess that hints that I preferred it, but it's more complicated than that. I just didn't like the idea of having to cough up an extra ~$6100 around Christmas time, and just felt screwed in general, that someone would pull a hit-and-run on my car, gets away scott-free, and I'm left holding the bag.
I liked the handling, fuel economy, interior, and build quality of the Intrepid. With the Park Ave, like the acceleration, comfort, and amount of features. My guess is that the perfect blend of the two would have been if I could have found another Intrepid, or a Concorde, in a higher trim level. Around that timeframe, I did find a 2000 Intrepid ES, with the 3.2, leather, sunroof, fully-loaded, with around 76,000 miles, for around $4800. It sold before I had a chance to go look at it though.
And, while my Intrepid was fairly reliable overall, I had also bought it new, so I knew the car's history. When dealing with 10 year old cars with an unknown service history, I think I'd trust a LeSabre or Park Ave more than an Intrepid or Concorde.
It was good preventive maintenance to have the supercharger oil changed. Some owners of supercharged cars never even think about that. I suggested that to an acquaintance with a 2000 supercharged Regal, and it didn't seem to resonate with him. If it's any comfort to you this guy's Regal has ~125,000 miles on it, and he's had no engine problems. Still, he's taking an unnecessary risk.
Yeah, you feel violated by hit and run. The perpetrator has no consequence, while the victim pays. I understand how you feel about your Intrepid, since I'd feel the same way.
You're definitely in the minority in that respect. Your fintail must feel like a family member by now.
A few people on Edmunds said that it's a good idea to get the supercharger oil changed around 60,000 miles. Supposedly, the supercharged 3.8 is beefed up enough that it doesn't have the intake manifold problems that the regular 3.8 does, but then it trades that off for a supercharger that can go south aorund 100K miles...but that's usually because nobody bothers to change the oil!
I'm pretty confident that the drivetrain in my Park Ave should last a good, long time. I have a feeling though that it's going to be some of the minor details that fail over time. For example, the door handles feel flimsy enough that it wouldn't be too hard to break them. Some of my friends even mentioned that! In contrast, the Intrepid never had that problem...and it had plastic door handles, too.
Yeah, you feel violated by hit and run. The perpetrator has no consequence, while the victim pays. I understand how you feel about your Intrepid, since I'd feel the same way.
I think the thing that bugs me the most is that Intrepid was taken from me, before its time. It was kind of like putting an old, yet still fairly healthy dog to sleep. This might sound strange, but I think I might have actually felt a bit better if the car had been hit hard enough to truly destroy it, or if it had some catastrophic engine failure. At least that way, the car would have a legitimate reason to die. But as it is, it was still driveable, and everything still worked on it, although a few idiot lights were triggered because the wiring harness got torn.
I was tempted to just take the payout, minus the $300 or so salvage value they assigned to the car, and try to fix it up myself. I'm sure that I could have just spliced the wires in the harness back together to make the idiot lights go out. Bang out the fender, re-attach the fascia, and buy a new or junkyard headlight cluster. But unfortunately, the way the salvage laws are in Maryland, if I did that, they would give me 90 days to get it fixed, and then I'd have to get it inspected, and even then, I'd only get a salvage title for it. Which means, I'm sure, that if the car ever got in an accident that wasn't my fault again, that they'd say "well, it's a salvage title, so it's worthless, and you get nothing."
How long have you had that Fintail now? My '57 DeSoto is the 3rd car I've owned, following the '80 Malibu my mom gave me, and then the '69 Dart that replaced the Malibu.
The DeSoto's 20th anniversary with me is coming up soon. September 25, I believe. My '67 Catalina convertible comes in at the 7th car I've owned, after a '68 Dart, '69 Bonneville, and '82 Cutlass Supreme. Its 17 anniversary is around April 21st I thnk.
My '85 Silverado, while a relatively recent addition, pre-dates those others in some ways though. Granddad bought it brand new in the summer of '85, and a few years after he passed away, Grandmom gave it to my Mom and stepdad. They put some work into it during the time they had it, and then sold it to me back in late 2002, when they bought a leftover '02 F-150.
A month ago while having our 05 Hyundai Elantra GT 5MT with 100,000+miles serviced we looked over the 2011 sonata. Took a 6MT for a test drive and ended up trading our elantra for it.
How do the driving dynamics of the Sonata compare with the TSX?
Interesting comment about experiencing "one annoying problem after another" with your '05 Civic, given the Civic's reputation for reliability. What specific problems did yours exhibit?
The oldest & longest term of ownership is the 66 Mustang GT Coupe of 43 years.
I feel your pain! This is the lament of everyone (including me) with an older, low-value car for their commuter. The first time a bird poops on it, the insurance company wants to total it. I had an old Celica that went this way - a well taken care of car that I had a bunch of time and some money into, which was hit in a parking lot when I was on my way to work, just hard enough to dent one side. Because the car was already about 12 years old at that point (with 180,000 miles) and the repair was like $2000, the insurance company totaled it rather than let me keep it. It ran beautifully, had never needed much in the way of repair, and was fun the way those old RWD Celicas were (and the newer FWD Celicas were NOT). Such a disappointment, I spoke to manager after manager trying to find someone who would say "Sure, we will let you keep your car", but never found one who would do it. :-(
The last car I bought was my '09 Subaru Outback Sport, which replaced an '07 Matrix that I hated at the end. Terrible seating position, terrible controls, an e-throttle whose delayed action made shifting smoothly virtually impossible, and the list goes on and on....but then I am a CCBA'er and do occasionally manufacture "reasons" to trade cars!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
The GTI/A3 powertrain is more acceptable in a front driver without being actually boring, but it certainly doesn't have the cojones of the MS3....
Getting an '11 Mustang to replace it?! ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Well, I just checked out a gorgeous 2004 M3; the down side was it was an SMG car. I couldn't put up with that tranny on a daily basis. As for other possibilities, I'm open to about anything with at least 300 bhp, a manual, and RWD.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I really do like the 2011 GT. The problem is, optioned to my specs(Brembo Brake Package, 3:73 gears, Xenons, heated seats, and Shaker 100 audio) the MSRP is over $38,000. And I love the new Boss, but it will cost in the mid $40K range I'll bet...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
The Camry Hybrid came out, and I was *unduly intrigued* and traded the HCH for the TCH.
I rationalized it that my kids (7 and 10 at the time) were getting bigger and needed more legroom over time. The TCH was larger, heavier, perhaps a little "safer" in a crash.
I got a decent price on the TCH, got a good trade-in price on the HCH, so I went for it.
Since then, I have driven about 68,000 miles on the TCH and have gotten about 34 MPG, and have liked it just fine, in a "drab, boring CAMRY" sort of way.
Partial Regrets: Losing the 14+ MPG. Higher payment and longer payoff time for the TCH.
If I could "time travel" back to June 2006 and reconsider? I'm not sure. I might still have bought the TCH. But I might have bargained harder for a better deal.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
We have owned the sonata almost one month. It is the base model. Comparing that to the tsx that cost about $10,000 more but it does have more equipment such as the sunroof, power heated memory leather seats, etc. Very impressed with the sonata but it has 107,000 less miles. The tsx is also a great car still with the original brakes.
Going from 48 mpg to 34 mpg, over the course of 68,000 miles, the Camry has used maybe 583 more gallons. Even if gas stayed at $4.00 per gallon, that would only come out to around $45-50 per month extra.
Back in May, I saw a used 2008 or 2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid for sale, with fairly low miles, and asking around $22K. It was well-equipped, with Nav, sunroof, leather, etc. I gotta admit, I was pretty tempted, although in my case, I don't drive enough for the fuel economy to matter much. I just thought it would be kinda cool to have!
My mother has been most annoyed at her '01 for the last couple of years as the power lock in the driver's door quit in '08, rendering her keyless entry useless and causing her to forget to lock the car some of the time. Many of the bits in the interior of her car have come apart too, starting with the sun visors which shredded and fell off their mounting posts last year or the year before.
It only has 70K miles, but she won't be keeping it much longer, and she has said it will be her last Honda.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Mark
As for the headliners, I've been noticing that problem on the 2002-2006 era Camry, for some reason. Not so much the fabric coming undone and billowing down, as the padding behind it dissolves, but more the whole thing popping loose by the back window, and hanging down.
Regarding Subies, my wife and I both have them and IMO they're the best cars of the money if you want AWD. Good power, top safety scores, reliability that is near the Toyo and Honda levels and they are fantastic in the New England weather. I've had snow accumulate up past the rocker panels of my little Impreza the thing just chugs right through it without issue.
What happened was that my wife kept on stating that when we were going to get a new car we she would like to get a convertible. Well it just so happened that last year I spotted a used Sebring convertible for sale at a dealership down the street from where I worked. Price was great, a few grand less than what all the guides said it should go for. So the opportunity presented itsef, the car was priced right, appeared good and rode well so we decided that now was the time.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Then saw an add for a new Mazda5 manual mini-minivan/station wagon from just $14,900 something. What a deal. Didn't get much for the Accord, but I realized they had to make up for their loss leader a bit.
Anyway, so far we love the Mazda5. The Accord gave good service, but I'm glad we made the switch.
I think the first 8 years of a cars life--if it's a good car to begin with, anyway--are the charmed years. After that it's one thing after another....
So that means our 08 Accord maybe ready for a new owner by...2016? Still love our 08 Accord. It's so much better than the 02 in every way.
The fly in that particular ointment was that my son couldn't actually drive the rental as he was only 17. "Dad, since there's no school, can I take your car up snowboarding, and you drive the rental?" "Sure" (he'd driven it up to the mountains before with no ill effects).
You know where this is going: Coming back down, he put two wheels into some gravel and spun it backwards into a several ton boulder. According to the cop, he was probably 5 MPH under the speed limit when he lost it. In other words, no rampant idiocy, just a new driver's mistake.
No injuries, no other parties involved. At first glance it didn't even look too bad. Until you noticed the crease in the roof and that the wheels were pointing in three different directions. And that the doors couldn't be opened.
My insurance co cut me a check for almost exactly what I'd paid for the car (including sales tax). They then raised our rates $100/year, so they'll get it all back in a bit less than a century.
I replaced it with an '04 330 coupe. It's a bit softer in its reactions than the M3 and a tick slower too, but it's much quieter, the interior materials are better and it gets slightly better mileage. Being nine years newer doesn't hurt either.
My 1996 Corsica was quite a war horse that really gave me little trouble, with the exception of the classic GM leaking intake on its 3100 V6. It lasted for 150,000 miles and, out of charity, I gave it to my brother-in-law who was heading off to college. He got rid of it last year with 200,000 miles on the odo.
Cuz it only got 19 mpg.
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2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
First was our '05 VUE. Stopped dead on the road one Sunday afternoon. Wouldn't restart. Had it towed to the dealer - they looked at it and couldn't find a problem. Picked it up from service and immediately drove 'round to the sales side of the building, where we traded it in on the new '08 VUE.
Second was (is) our '06 ION. Daughter's daily driver, used mostly to commute between our house and college (approx. 100 miles each way). In February, she reported that it stopped dead after going over some railroad tracks. She was able to get to the side of the road and it restarted with no problem. Took it to the dealer; again, they couldn't find anything wrong with it - no codes or electrical issues to be found.
Well, the problem happened again in early April, except this time the daughter was on the highway at the height of rush hour. Again, she was able to restart it and drive home with no problems. Wife decided, then and there, that she was not taking that car back to school the following Monday.
We decided to trade in my car ('03 Saturn VUE) on a new MINI for the daughter, and I would drive the ION. Of course, after 5 months, I've not once had the problem with the ION stalling out.
But, the daughter is paying for the MINI, so I suppose if she's happy with what she's driving, then it's all good.
Why in the world would you go for another VUE when the previous one was sub standard? Why reward Saturn with another new sale when the previous one was defecient? Are you not buying a later version of an old problem? :confuse:
I replaced the last car because my daughter drowned its predecessor.
Valid point, but as fezo noted, the '08 was a complete redesign with a new engine (3.6L that is found in the CTS, among other GM offerings). Also, we had previously test driven the '08 VUE before we knew we'd be in the market for one and the wife positively loved it .. in fact, she commented afterwards that the '08 made her '05 feel "like a truck" by comparison.
Couple that with the fact that we got the best trade in value for the '05, the easy sales process that we've had with each of our Saturn purchases (the '08 VUE was the 4th Saturn we'd bought), and the GM Employee discount I qualify for through my employer, made it a pretty easy decision.
3 years and 42K later, the '08 VUE, while not perfect, has been a darn sight better than the '05.