Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

Mr_Shiftright

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

This caught my eye until I realized the seller wants way over what the books say it's worth. Edmunds$2600 KBB $3600. Are these sellers swinging for the fence or are Hondas really that popular?

It's the low, low miles. Car was used on average 1500 miles a year. I'd be afraid of lots of short trips and sludging.

Also has a dirty Carfax---hit another car, but that was many years ago. Also driven only 400 miles between 2010 and 2017. Many questions, few answers.

iluvmysephia1

 iluv, glad you are liking the new job and new home.

If you were to get an Imprezza, will it be able to get you through the snow with just the AWD or will you have to put snow tires on it to get up that hill and a heavy snowfall?

The $19k+ could grow quite a bit if you have to get tires, rims, transportation, DOC fee, taxes, higher insurance etc. On the other hand, you could buy snow tires for the Soul then run into a big repair bill, then actually owe more.

You may actually be better biting the bullet now, getting the new Subie, pay extra per month to get the cost down so you can have a 5 year plan to pay it off....or something like that. Just thinking out loud...no real words of wisdom there. One thing I would be concerned about is how reliable is your Soul for getting you to work?

I really love the new Subaru Impreza and still want one, but, for the here and now, I've made an appointment today at Discount Tire in Wenatchee. Gonna have them put 

 

Michelin

X-Ice Xi3

on. They're gonna cost me $511 total for four of them, which includes mounting and balancing. I do love my '11 Kia Soul, you guys are right, the bad icy snows may not come again for days or weeks, but this way I'll be ready. I already owe 3 more years of payments of $256.03 a month on the Soul, so, getting an Impreza with Subaru financing at 1.9% was one idea. Either '0' down or I was thinking of putting $500 down and financing the car. They'd plop the underage on my Soul loan of at least $3,500 on to the Impreza cost of roughly $19,000. Idaho tax (there's no 5-speed Impreza's currently for sale in 2.0i trim in Washington right now and Coeur d'alene, ID, is 215 miles east of me here in Manson)  is only 6%. I figure my out the door total is gonna be around $24,000 to $24,500 that would drive payments of approximately $350 a month for 6 years. My thinking is we can afford $100 more a month for a car with near zero miles that would probably be our last new car.

Run it and take good care of all it's maintenance and love it to bitzies. That's still my plan going forward after getting the Michelin's. I tried talking Subaru to my wife and she lost her hearing for some strange reason.   

Anyway, friends, I still love the idea of getting the Subie. It would've got me home in the bad storm Sunday morning, but that was prime ice storm weather. Long time Mansonites claim this will happen again, so be ready for it. We're on a hill overlooking beautiful Lake Chelan - good size Cascade Mountains are right here and continue west towards Seattle.

Still need to head west and visit my sister in Bothell - she's having a hard time adjusting to a long term care apartment she's been put in with her husband. He has Alzheimer's and my older sis has long-term injuries from a bad wreck when she was only 14. She has several artificial hips on her resume plus neurological damage from the accident. Her hands will carry a Seattle Seahawk coffee mug with coffee in it, but her hands shake and she'll spill. That sort of thing. She loves me and I her so much and we talk on the phone often. She needs her brother there in a new Subaru to go head out and drive Seattle a little bit. She says she "wants to see some of her surroundings" a bit. I don't blame her. Her husband can no longer drive and because of her accident she can't drive either, so every day a bus from the long-term care complex takes whoever is medically cleared ta leave to Fred Meyer to shop. 

She needs me ta get her outta there for a little more livin', that should happen in November sometime - I'll head 200 miles west. The highway pass (I-90) can get nasty, oh yes it can, so the snow tires on the Soul will really come in handy.

Anyhow, I've got time to type and share my thoughts, I am really enjoying getting on here. Been concentrating on getting my job done so hard that I'm exhausted. If I were ta give percantage odds of trading the Soul in on a new Subie right now, I'd say there's a 65% chance I'll trade, possibly to Parker Subaru of beautiful Coeur d'alene, ID, by Thanksgiving. I looked this morning and they've got a silver sedan and two hatchbacks, a black one and a white one, both selling for a good price of $19,400 right now. The silver one just showed up online today (early, about 8:00AM), Parker Subaru appears to be a hotspot for my kind of Subaru.  

Anyone ever drive on Michelin X-ice Xi3 snow tires? Or had them in the past?

 

dino001

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Just came back from the Credit Union which had offered me a lower rate on my car loan. The monthly figures the hey quoted indicated a savings of about $12 a month. I was half way through signing the papers when I noticed the term was for 36 months not the 33 months I had left on the old loan. When i had her recalculate the figures it turned out they were saving me 64 cents a month. She had almost pulled the old F & I trick of lowering the monthly by extending the term.

You can't trust anyone any more.

We had a dimwit come in with a pre-approved CU loan; the CU loan had a prepayment penalty AND charged a $199 "origination fee." We offered her a loan with no fees or penalties with a lower APR than the CU and she still insisted on using he CU.
You can't fix stupid.

Two possible reasons:

1. She can't count, has no idea what APR means, and no concept of interest charge. OR
2. She doesn't trust dealers, even with papers in front. There are stories out there from the past that a few crooks were switching paperwork and falsifying signatures, but those are from long past way back when.

Like you said, can't fix stupid.

ab348

iluvmysephia1 said:

Anyone ever drive on Michelin X-ice Xi3 snow tires? Or had them in the past?

I had a set on my 2011 Regal, loved them. Good in snow/slop and were smoother and quieter than my OEM Michelin Pilots.

qbrozen

Mr_Shiftright said:

Also has a dirty Carfax---hit another car, but that was many years ago. Also driven only 400 miles between 2010 and 2017. Many questions, few answers.

Couple that with needing new brakes and rotors with only 27k on the odo and you have to wonder if those are actual miles.

iluvmysephia1

Thanks for the input, ab348. I was already good on getting them, reviews are 4.7 stars outta 5, so that's not bad.

explorerx4

That picture from the back of the Accord is the Terminator giving you the "You're #1" sign.

iluvmysephia1

I just went online and the silver Impreza sedan is priced hundreds of dollars lower at $19,019. Man, what a find, Parker Subaru. I went online there weeks ago and the '18's weren't there yet and the '17 Impreza CVT's they had in stock were well past $20,000. Someone got smart and decided to up the intelligence quotient and join the rest of us "takin' what we're gettin's cause we're workin' for a livin's!" The black and white hatchbacks are selling for $19,483. The JLA may indeed be priced $464 lower than the sedan. Cool! Because I would rather buy the sedan. I'll track it online - Parker Subaru is good on updating their website, which works for me. We have a good friend in Coeur d'alene we might visit while there. My wife will not buy into this so it very well will not happen - unless, of course, I pull a Clint Eastwood and get that Clint-Squint in my eyes and tell her I'm heading east to buy me a new Subaru, like I did with the '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS.

No really, that's very cool - $464 less for the silver sedan. The sedan rocks the Silver Ice Subaru color, too.



Beautiful rig, eh? Subie got some designers in the house - part of the big draw-in for my eye is the car's resemblance to my '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS - those front end's are quite similar. And I'm one that really, really likes it.

So, I need ta have one in reserve at all times, and this 2018 Subaru Impreza 2.0i 5-speed Silver Ice sedan is my new target. The men are the hunters and the women are homemakers. That's just truth, that's not being sexist. I tend to think I am pretty good at car hunting, too.

Now, if I had ta kill my own meat, forget about it. I'd go immediately vegetarian. There's a J's Teriyaki in East Wenatchee and the Mrs. and I are in total agreement about eating there after the kill at Discount Tire is done.

Nobody is going to die, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. I mean the "kill" is the Michelin snow tires for the Kia Soul, gentlemen. Remember, everything's a hunt for us!

houdini1

oldfarmer50 said:

This caught my eye until I realized the seller wants way over what the books say it's worth. Edmunds$2600 KBB $3600. Are these sellers swinging for the fence or are Hondas really that popular?



https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/2000-honda-accord-ex-with/6378525150.html

OF, my son in St. Louis just bought his son a college car that looks almost just like that one. I think it is a 2004 with well over 100,000. miles on it and a 4 cyl. motor, one owner. The thing is, it looks/drives like it is almost new. Not so much as a door ding. $4,000. IIRC. They both really like it. No problems after 2 months.

driver100

roadburner said:

nyccarguy said:

driver100 said:

Took the C250 in for the yearly oil change. We got it with 12500 miles on it....now has 18000, about 1100 a month when we are here for 5 months.

We sat in a newer C300 with the redesign, just to plan for the future. My wife didn't like the new one, seat won't go high enough, dash is higher, hood is raised up more, windows are narrower all around - and she doesn't like the GPS/media thing sticking up.

Salesman couldn't answer any questions, he was new and said he didn't know much about MBs. They must be desparate down here for salesman, because this guy isn't going to make it, guaranteed.

After an hour the service rep came in and said I needed $500 worth of tires - 2 backs had 2/32nds tread, wiper blades - $60, the motor mounts had hardened $1400....a total of $2600! I almost had a heart attack. Then he said well it does have 59000 miles on it. I said last I checked it had 18000 miles on it. He said oh, I guess you're not Lisa? I said no, so he said sorry, I got the wrong bill. He got the right one....$160 for the oil change and everything checked out perfectly.

I told him he does that so I will be happy when I get the lower bill.....but, I feel very sorry for Lisa.

Hardened motor mounts at 59,000 miles?  I think I'd better pull up m' boots!

That's a new one on me...

In general, motor mounts do not have a scheduled replacement but should last between 5 to 10 years before dry rot or breaking from age-related failure. Motor mounts can get broken from slamming the vehicle, gears over-revving, and letting out clutch or power braking the engine before takeoff

houdini1

Mr_Shiftright said:

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

This caught my eye until I realized the seller wants way over what the books say it's worth. Edmunds$2600 KBB $3600. Are these sellers swinging for the fence or are Hondas really that popular?

It's the low, low miles. Car was used on average 1500 miles a year. I'd be afraid of lots of short trips and sludging.

Also has a dirty Carfax---hit another car, but that was many years ago. Also driven only 400 miles between 2010 and 2017. Many questions, few answers.

Good work Columbo. Run Forrest, run.

driver100

Also driven only 400 miles between 2010 and 2017.

Maybe it was drying out after a hurricane.

driver100

Hey iluv. Did you ever consider a 2 or 3 year old imprezza or even Forester. The mileage would be lower than on the Soul, the amount owing on the Soul gets absorbed a bit on the depreciation of the newer car. Just try to pay it down in 4 or 5 years and plan on getting a new model at that time.

houdini1

iluvmysephia1 said:

I just went online and the silver Impreza sedan is priced hundreds of dollars lower at $19,019. Man, what a find, Parker Subaru. I went online there weeks ago and the '18's weren't there yet and the '17 Impreza CVT's they had in stock were well past $20,000. Someone got smart and decided to up the intelligence quotient and join the rest of us "takin' what we're gettin's cause we're workin' for a livin's!" The black and white hatchbacks are selling for $19,483. The JLA may indeed be priced $464 lower than the sedan. Cool! Because I would rather buy the sedan. I'll track it online - Parker Subaru is good on updating their website, which works for me. We have a good friend in Coeur d'alene we might visit while there. My wife will not buy into this so it very well will not happen - unless, of course, I pull a Clint Eastwood and get that Clint-Squint in my eyes and tell her I'm heading east to buy me a new Subaru, like I did with the '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS.

No really, that's very cool - $464 less for the silver sedan. The sedan rocks the Silver Ice Subaru color, too.



Beautiful rig, eh? Subie got some designers in the house - part of the big draw-in for my eye is the car's resemblance to my '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS - those front end's are quite similar. And I'm one that really, really likes it.

So, I need ta have one in reserve at all times, and this 2018 Subaru Impreza 2.0i 5-speed Silver Ice sedan is my new target. The men are the hunters and the women are homemakers. That's just truth, that's not being sexist. I tend to think I am pretty good at car hunting, too.

Now, if I had ta kill my own meat, forget about it. I'd go immediately vegetarian. There's a J's Teriyaki in East Wenatchee and the Mrs. and I are in total agreement about eating there after the kill at Discount Tire is done.

Nobody is going to die, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. I mean the "kill" is the Michelin snow tires for the Kia Soul, gentlemen. Remember, everything's a hunt for us!

Iluv, if you want to make sure you get the subie, just go ahead and buy those new tires !!

stickguy

would the snows from the soul fit the Sube too? if so, can take them along!

driver100

They seemed to have a lot of loaner cars at the MB dealership I went to yesterday. I saw the cars online and the prices looked pretty good considering. Most of these cars had 3k or 4k miles on them. They use them for a few months as loaners. You basically save at least a years depreciation, so a $44k msrp C 300 would sell for $37k. One extra is you still get the 3 year MB warranty plus the dealer adds a 1 year warranty for 4 years.

I wonder if thy found a way to move cars faster, by using some kind of incentive MB gives the dealer for using these loaner cars. The salesman said these cars are available all the time.

driver100

houdini1 said:

iluvmysephia1 said:

I just went online and the silver Impreza sedan is priced hundreds of dollars lower at $19,019. Man, what a find, Parker Subaru. I went online there weeks ago and the '18's weren't there yet and the '17 Impreza CVT's they had in stock were well past $20,000. Someone got smart and decided to up the intelligence quotient and join the rest of us "takin' what we're gettin's cause we're workin' for a livin's!" The black and white hatchbacks are selling for $19,483. The JLA may indeed be priced $464 lower than the sedan. Cool! Because I would rather buy the sedan. I'll track it online - Parker Subaru is good on updating their website, which works for me. We have a good friend in Coeur d'alene we might visit while there. My wife will not buy into this so it very well will not happen - unless, of course, I pull a Clint Eastwood and get that Clint-Squint in my eyes and tell her I'm heading east to buy me a new Subaru, like I did with the '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS.

No really, that's very cool - $464 less for the silver sedan. The sedan rocks the Silver Ice Subaru color, too.



Beautiful rig, eh? Subie got some designers in the house - part of the big draw-in for my eye is the car's resemblance to my '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS - those front end's are quite similar. And I'm one that really, really likes it.

So, I need ta have one in reserve at all times, and this 2018 Subaru Impreza 2.0i 5-speed Silver Ice sedan is my new target. The men are the hunters and the women are homemakers. That's just truth, that's not being sexist. I tend to think I am pretty good at car hunting, too.

Now, if I had ta kill my own meat, forget about it. I'd go immediately vegetarian. There's a J's Teriyaki in East Wenatchee and the Mrs. and I are in total agreement about eating there after the kill at Discount Tire is done.

Nobody is going to die, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. I mean the "kill" is the Michelin snow tires for the Kia Soul, gentlemen. Remember, everything's a hunt for us!

Iluv, if you want to make sure you get the subie, just go ahead and buy those new tires !!

That will also insure it won't snow again this year!

iluvmysephia1

Hey iluv. Did you ever consider a 2 or 3 year old imprezza or even Forester.

Good point, driver100, but Subaru sucked me in tractor-beam with the new 5th-gen body design of their Impreza. I like the older Impreza design, about 63% of the new one (!). If that makes solid sense to you.

would the snows from the soul fit the Sube too? if so, can take them along!

The Kia Soul runs 195/65R15. The 2017 Subaru Impreza ran Continental ProContact TX 205/55 R 16 89V M+S all season tire, PSI front/rear 33/32. I'm not sure if they changed tire brands for the 2018 model but I'm going to look it up and find out. So, wrong tire size but great idea, stick, because after spending that $500 for Soul tires I'm gonna want to take them with me. Ouch. The upsize is, Lord willing, I'll still be alive ta make a deal on a Subie hopefull before X-Mas. Or, should I wait until Dec. 2017, hey, maybe I could get a better deal at year end, eh?

The 2018 base model Subaru Impreza sedan come straight from the factory with 205/55R 16's. I like that the Impreza has a bigger tire. I could sell the Soul's snow tires on ebay or Craigslist.

nyccarguy

roadburner said:

dino001 said:

isellhondas said:

explorerx4 said:

They still got you for $160 for an oil change.

Would you take a Mercedes to a Quickie Lube for an oil change?

He shouldn't, if he wanted to, unless they provide a specific oil from the manufacturer's approved list. German cars generally require a specific spec oil to be put in. They test their vehicles with those specific oil brands and models. So you can use off-dealer place, but you'd lose warranty coverage, if they used an oil that's not on the list. If you did that, you'd quickly find out that even Quicky Lube change may cost you 50-80 bucks. 160 bucks covers the loaner, the "free" cappuccino machine and chef pastries in the customer lounge. And the "service adviser" commission. And profits for the owner.

I love this this story; an idiot takes his S4 to a quick-lube emporium- the non-sentient "techs" hacksaw a hole in the undertray. The imbeciles compound that malpractice by draining the transmission instead of the engine and then overfilling the engine with oil.

The thing about this story that gets me is that the OWNER knows his car. He changes his own oil. He knows about this Aero Pan and how it works and how much it costs to replace the 1/4 turn screws. He's obviously an enthusiast and a Jalopnik reader. He's had to read somewhere in his lifetime about how bad these quick lube places really can be. For an "inbetween" oil change that wasn't even necessary. Why on GOD"S GREEN EARTH? WHY?

dino001

So once you finally get that Subie, you'll change your name to iluvmyimpreza2?

stickguy

I luv, that is almost a perfect -1 fitment for the subaru. You would just need to keep the wheels too!

mlevine

I have found the loaner cars from MB dealerships have minimal options on them. I have also found that they tend to have a lot of wear and tear issues. Unfortunately people using theses car do not treat them as nice.

driver100

nyccarguy said:

roadburner said:

dino001 said:

isellhondas said:

explorerx4 said:

They still got you for $160 for an oil change.

Would you take a Mercedes to a Quickie Lube for an oil change?

He shouldn't, if he wanted to, unless they provide a specific oil from the manufacturer's approved list. German cars generally require a specific spec oil to be put in. They test their vehicles with those specific oil brands and models. So you can use off-dealer place, but you'd lose warranty coverage, if they used an oil that's not on the list. If you did that, you'd quickly find out that even Quicky Lube change may cost you 50-80 bucks. 160 bucks covers the loaner, the "free" cappuccino machine and chef pastries in the customer lounge. And the "service adviser" commission. And profits for the owner.

I love this this story; an idiot takes his S4 to a quick-lube emporium- the non-sentient "techs" hacksaw a hole in the undertray. The imbeciles compound that malpractice by draining the transmission instead of the engine and then overfilling the engine with oil.

The thing about this story that gets me is that the OWNER knows his car. He changes his own oil. He knows about this Aero Pan and how it works and how much it costs to replace the 1/4 turn screws. He's obviously an enthusiast and a Jalopnik reader. He's had to read somewhere in his lifetime about how bad these quick lube places really can be. For an "inbetween" oil change that wasn't even necessary. Why on GOD"S GREEN EARTH? WHY?

The word...hmmmmmm, "masochist" comes to mind!

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

nyccarguy said:

driver100 said:

Took the C250 in for the yearly oil change. We got it with 12500 miles on it....now has 18000, about 1100 a month when we are here for 5 months.

We sat in a newer C300 with the redesign, just to plan for the future. My wife didn't like the new one, seat won't go high enough, dash is higher, hood is raised up more, windows are narrower all around - and she doesn't like the GPS/media thing sticking up.

Salesman couldn't answer any questions, he was new and said he didn't know much about MBs. They must be desparate down here for salesman, because this guy isn't going to make it, guaranteed.

After an hour the service rep came in and said I needed $500 worth of tires - 2 backs had 2/32nds tread, wiper blades - $60, the motor mounts had hardened $1400....a total of $2600! I almost had a heart attack. Then he said well it does have 59000 miles on it. I said last I checked it had 18000 miles on it. He said oh, I guess you're not Lisa? I said no, so he said sorry, I got the wrong bill. He got the right one....$160 for the oil change and everything checked out perfectly.

I told him he does that so I will be happy when I get the lower bill.....but, I feel very sorry for Lisa.

Hardened motor mounts at 59,000 miles?  I think I'd better pull up m' boots!

That's a new one on me...

houdini1

Not to change the subject, but has anyone done any research on the 2018 Kia Stinger. Supposed to be the new BMW 3 fighter !!

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:  
That's a new one on me...

Is that the sticker for THAT car? Cause... that ain't right.

driver100

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:  
That's a new one on me...

Is that the sticker for THAT car? Cause... that ain't right.

Says it is a 230 coupe....this looks like a 3 series to my untrained eye...but, what a nice blue color.

isellhondas

Mr_Shiftright said:

isellhondas said:

explorerx4 said:

They still got you for $160 for an oil change.

Would you take a Mercedes to a Quickie Lube for an oil change?

I see that all the time. I cringe. Those guys could screw up a paper clip.

Oh, I know. If a person can't afford to take a Mercedes to a dealer or to a qualified Indy shop they should buy a Chevy truck. Heck, I don't even take our Trailblazer to a Quickie Lube!

dino001

qbrozen said:

Is that the sticker for THAT car? Cause... that ain't right.

It can't be. The sticker is 230 xi coupe, the picture is I think 4-series Grand Coupe.

ab348

driver100 said:

Says it is a 230 coupe....this looks like a 3 series to my untrained eye...but, what a nice blue color.

Nice beige interior to go with it too.

Maybe the sticker is for the white car on the right-side edge of the picture. Looks like maybe that's a coupe.

qbrozen

dino001 said:

It can't be. The sticker is 230 xi coupe, the picture is I think 4-series Grand Coupe.

Hence why I said it "ain't right." ;b
And possibly having the wrong sticker is why OF posted it and said "new one on me" ??

oldfarmer50

Y

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:  
That's a new one on me...

Is that the sticker for THAT car? Cause... that ain't right.

No it isn't but the site is so glitchy I couldn't post pictures. In fact i didn't post that. I had erased the entire post but for some reason it posted part of my original message anyway.

No telling what will happen to this one.

oldfarmer50

OK things seem to be working again.

What I was trying to do was post a little eye candy for RB and our other BMW fans.

This is a 4 series that I liked the color.





Then there were a couple of 2 series'. One was a hardtop vert but had no price sticker. The other one made me see why RB likes the 2s.

iluvmysephia1

The Mrs. and I are done at Discount Tire in Wenatchee. We got the Michelin X-ice xi3 snow tires put on and balanced for $508. Kinda pricey but the reviews of this tire are phenomenal. One person said she takes them Rocky Mountain skiing and passes overturned cars that didn't traverse the snow and ice so well. They're evidently great in the very wet weather as well. There's a deal through Discount Tire that these particular Michelin tires will net you a rebate of $70...I will take them up on that, that's 13% of the total bill today. 

She's in Grocery Bargain Outlet in East Wenatchee shopping and I'm sitting in the Kia Soul typing out this message. I feel a nice feeling of accomplishment right now, because I am confident I shopped well today and I am really feeling like this little white Kia will navigate Washington's toughest weather circumstances successfully now!

venture

iluvmysephia1 said:

The Mrs. and I are done at Discount Tire in Wenatchee. We got the Michelin X-ice xi3 snow tires put on and balanced for $508. Kinda pricey but the reviews of this tire are phenomenal. One person said she takes them Rocky Mountain skiing and passes overturned cars that didn't traverse the snow and ice so well. They're evidently great in the very wet weather as well. There's a deal through Discount Tire that these particular Michelin tires will net you a rebate of $70...I will take them up on that, that's 13% of the total bill today. 

She's in Grocery Bargain Outlet in East Wenatchee shopping and I'm sitting in the Kia Soul typing out this message. I feel a nice feeling of accomplishment right now, because I am confident I shopped well today and I am really feeling like this little white Kia will navigate Washington's toughest weather circumstances successfully now!

Good job. I had those tires on my Regal as well and they were great in the snow, ice, and rain. You will like them.

explorerx4

@iluv,
Good decision to buy winter tires instead of a new car.
You can use that $70 toward swapping the tires over next spring.

venture

We were doing a little Christmas shopping this evening and came across this specimen:



Yikes!

fordfool

isellhondas said:

I have wonder if you had told him "Go ahead and do the work" if you would have ended up with new tires and motor mounts?

Or better yet, Lisa would have gotten FREE new tires and motor mounts!
"Hey, I didn't authorize that work!!!"

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FBkm5eCq5cs

oldfarmer50

venture said:

We were doing a little Christmas shopping this evening and came across this specimen:



Yikes!

Yikes indeed. Our current tree was purchased in January at a huge discount for $39. I think before Christmas it was $200.

You'd have to be full of egg nog to pay $700.

I use to grow my own but got fed up when the kids wouldn't help me cut it and drag it across the field. Finally ended up breaking a toe one winter cutting one down.

Next year we went plastic.

venture

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

We were doing a little Christmas shopping this evening and came across this specimen:



Yikes!

Yikes indeed. Our current tree was purchased in January at a huge discount for $39. I think before Christmas it was $200.

You'd have to be full of egg nog to pay $700.

I use to grow my own but got fed up when the kids wouldn't help me cut it and drag it across the field. Finally ended up breaking a toe one winter cutting one down.

Next year we went plastic.

When the kids were home, especially my son, we always had a real tree. My son would take hours some times to pick out a tree. He always did get nice ones though. One time we hit a deer on the way home from the tree farm, but that's another story.

After the kids moved out we used a fake tree my wife's parents used to use. It wasn't very pretty, but it was sentimental reasons I guess. Last year we didn't put up a tree. I don't think anyone noticed. At least nobody said anything.

tjc78

venture said:

We were doing a little Christmas shopping this evening and came across this specimen: Yikes!

That’s Michaels right?  If so they are priced for the weekly 40% or 50% off one item coupons.  No one buys that full price.  Guess what?  Even at 50% they are still making probably close to 70 points!!

Edit, just realized the $699 was already sale so the coupon wouldn’t work.  Ouch that’s serious coin for a tree.  

iluvmysephia1

explorerx4 - yeah, the '18 Subaru Impreza 2.0i 5-speed sedan may not even happen. Funny thing is, this desire of mine to get one is not fading. I have talked to both co-workers and at least one patient of mine that says "go get it!"

They get it when the car bug hits. I'll see - it won't get in the way of me concentrating on my job, nor would I want it to get between my wife and I. The fact that I'm paying three more years of $256.03 a month payments in which I'm upside down in value actually brings support to the idea of trading in, and mainly I'm basing that reasoning on the great way that Subaru's hold their value.

 I can narrow that loan to car value spread by throwing another $50 at the principal each month, and, what would really help me catch up is by paying 1/2 my monthly Impreza payment every two weeks and add $25 more each and every 2-week payment. The car loan company gets their money back at a faster clip and the principal amount owing on the Subie reduces faster as well. I've had two car dealer finance managers tell me that trick yet I've never tried it on any rig of mine! Now should/could be time to integrate, huh?

qbrozen

That is a 9' tree, which can get pricey. That one is kinda sad looking, though, IMHO.

We had the same tree for 12 years that we bought used on ebay for like $50. Then after xmas 2 yrs ago, we bought one for our then new house. It is a 12-footer prelit that was something like $1500 and we got it for under $200.

oldfarmer50

iluvmysephia1 said:

explorerx4 - yeah, the '18 Subaru Impreza 2.0i 5-speed sedan may not even happen. Funny thing is, this desire of mine to get one is not fading. I have talked to both co-workers and at least one patient of mine that says "go get it!"

They get it when the car bug hits. I'll see - it won't get in the way of me concentrating on my job, nor would I want it to get between my wife and I. The fact that I'm paying three more years of $256.03 a month payments in which I'm upside down in value actually brings support to the idea of trading in, and mainly I'm basing that reasoning on the great way that Subaru's hold their value.

 I can narrow that loan to car value spread by throwing another $50 at the principal each month, and, what would really help me catch up is by paying 1/2 my monthly Impreza payment every two weeks and add $25 more each and every 2-week payment. The car loan company gets their money back at a faster clip and the principal amount owing on the Subie reduces faster as well. I've had two car dealer finance managers tell me that trick yet I've never tried it on any rig of mine! Now should/could be time to integrate, huh?

I was lucky, both times I had the hots for a new car my wife said go for it. If she had been opposed I probably never would have bought them.

On the other hand I might have gone out and bought a dozen hoopties so she's lucky too.

iluvmysephia1

A dozen hoopties is a different sort of adventure, ain't it? Brings to mind that '68 Datsun 411 Bluebird, for some reason.

Michaell

iluvmysephia1 said:

explorerx4 - yeah, the '18 Subaru Impreza 2.0i 5-speed sedan may not even happen. Funny thing is, this desire of mine to get one is not fading. I have talked to both co-workers and at least one patient of mine that says "go get it!"

They get it when the car bug hits. I'll see - it won't get in the way of me concentrating on my job, nor would I want it to get between my wife and I. The fact that I'm paying three more years of $256.03 a month payments in which I'm upside down in value actually brings support to the idea of trading in, and mainly I'm basing that reasoning on the great way that Subaru's hold their value.

 I can narrow that loan to car value spread by throwing another $50 at the principal each month, and, what would really help me catch up is by paying 1/2 my monthly Impreza payment every two weeks and add $25 more each and every 2-week payment. The car loan company gets their money back at a faster clip and the principal amount owing on the Subie reduces faster as well. I've had two car dealer finance managers tell me that trick yet I've never tried it on any rig of mine! Now should/could be time to integrate, huh?

iluv, that was part of our motivation for getting our Subaru. I was getting tired of buying cars for my wife (two Saturn VUEs, then a Mazda CX-7) that didn't hold their value all that well.

With the Subaru, we'll get it paid off in a few more years but it will still be worth quite a bit, as we don't expect it to have more than 60,000 miles on it when we get the title (at the moment, 23,000 miles after 32 months).

Since my wife loves it, I don't see us getting rid of it for another 5-7 years, if not longer.

iluvmysephia1

Excellent, Michaell! And your anecdote only adds happy fuel to my Subaru fire. 

My Subaru story - by iluvmyimprezagen5. It is Subaru's 5th generation of Impreza. Those buying the premium models(I'm wanting the 2.0i or base model) have had some problems with their Harmon Karden head units freezing while Google Maps is on, they're also finding that certain buttons aren't holding on for their radios and they're having to come up with their own workarounds, stuff like that. Subaru Tech's are struggling to fix the foibles and really it's Subie Corporate and Harmon Karden that need ta come to a working fix and set a new release date for the finished fixed product. Sort of like at Boeing. When an airline customer's drawing needed updating to fix something on an existing customer basic drawing, we'd do a DCN (Design Change Notice). We'd finish the drawing and our Engineer group would sign it off then it would get released to mechanics, other Engineering groups, vendors, etc. Subaru needs to do a DCN 'A' to those models to keep model integrity up.

Base models get a 6.5 inch H K screen as opposed to Premium models getting the 8.0 inch screen, and it's the 8.0 HK screen that's malfunctioning. They're coming up with computer downloads/flashes as I type that are fixing the problem.

The 5th gen Impreza has impressed test drivers with it's ease in steering and fine tracking as well as much improved sound deadening material application, which is cool. Bumps are smoothed out somewhat with the 5th gen chassis but evidently not really cushion-soft, which is expected. Some bumps will definitely get felt in this car.

Power is ample at 152 hp but not too gutteral, in fact, that is  one big complaint about Subaru's 5th gen. Impreza - it doesn't have enough power. Me - I'm excited to head to Coeur d'Alene, ID, ta test drive one!

driver100

I have a friend who is pretty knowledgeable about car issues. This is what he said about the article that said motor mounts could go in 5 to 10 years:

Maybe they "could" go after 5 or 6 years but if that were true, which I don't believe, then every other car on the road would need mounts and I'm sure I would hear people saying on a daily basis that their vehicle needs mounts. After 5 years? No way. Even 10 years seems low unless driving under difficult conditions or high mileage. After driving for close to 50 years I can't recall anyone telling me they ever needed motor mounts. If the motor mounts are getting badly worn you will know it for sure. You do not want to be driving on the highway and they let go, so absolutely they must be replaced immediately if required. Only one of my motor mounts went and it was 10 years old. I felt a lot of vibration when I turned the engine on--investigated--saw what was wrong and the next day they were done. It is unsafe to drive if they are not intact. Just because some blogger--mechanic says 5-6 years does not make it so in my books. It is very easy for a mechanic to demonstrate to someone if their vehicle needs motor mounts. If they are going you can see the engine trying to pivot or turn over. There is no question that they are gone. Put the new mounts in--start the vehicle up and the engine will be perfectly stable

driver100

iluvmysephia11 OR iluvmykiasoul1 OR I luvmyimprezza1
Choosing your cars name as part of your Edmund's handle is like having your girlfriends name tattooed on you when you are 16.