Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

imidazol97

henryn said:

I had a good friend who owned a 2004 LeSabre. She bought it 3 or 4 years old, from CarMax, with about 50k miles. Kept it for about 10 years (until 2017), and ran it up to over 160k miles. I did the one and only tuneup, and replaced the manifold gasket. An indie shop replaced the air shocks in the rear, and the front struts. That was pretty much the only work ever done on it, outside of brakes and tires.

That was a very nice road trip car, a very smooth interstate cruiser.

X2.
The manifold gaskets were essentially a maintenance items.
LeSabres were, indeed, a premium motorcar.
It's a shame GM put the H-body for Pontiac and Buick (and Olds) out to pasture.

ruking1

One reason to balk @ buying a new car are (app 10% +around here) out the door sales, others, fees, taxes. ? Would one rather pay new $5,000 in taxation or $2,400 USED.? $2,600 would buy a lot of serious detailing & repairs! Markets indeed correct for some of the silliness.

An imported car (i.e. from Bremen, Germany) gets tagged 25% tax, before the (app 10%) taxes.

So for the example, a MSRP $50,000 USD imported car should really cost about MSRP $ 37,000 to $ 38,000 USD to LESS ($ 26,625 or whatever the real formulas are). It might be a screaming buy at the lower prices. But it might be ...meh @ the higher prices. In addition, if you keep it five years, 70,000 miles, it will cost one more Cost Per Mile Driven CPMD: taxation, than if kept for 10 years, 140,000 miles. So yes, it’s on it’s way to 180,000 miles. (cost per mile driven) CPMD : taxation $ .0194

stickguy

JM. looks like they shipped it out to Indiana. nice looking car, but silver over black is a tough sell to me now.

they detailed a little scratch on the back bumper. no mention of bodywork though.

tjc78

imidazol97 said:

I had a good friend who owned a 2004 LeSabre. She bought it 3 or 4 years old, from CarMax, with about 50k miles. Kept it for about 10 years (until 2017), and ran it up to over 160k miles. I did the one and only tuneup, and replaced the manifold gasket. An indie shop replaced the air shocks in the rear, and the front struts. That was pretty much the only work ever done on it, outside of brakes and tires. That was a very nice road trip car, a very smooth interstate cruiser.

X2. The manifold gaskets were essentially a maintenance items. LeSabres were, indeed, a premium motorcar. It's a shame GM put the H-body for Pontiac and Buick (and Olds) out to pasture.

My one and only H was a train wreck... but I just got unlucky. 

I always thought they were good cars in general.  The 3800 4/spd combo while not the pinnacle of refinement was thrifty and aside from the manifold gaskets nearly indestructible 

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

Just in case anyone is interested:

Carvana now has Mrs. j's 2012 Subie Legacy on their web site and it's already shown as "Purchase Pending". I checked last week and it was not shown yet. Carvana gave me $12,751 for it and it's listed at $16,000 even (Silver with 36,239 miles). Those of you that passed up the sale with me lost out again.

https://www.carvana.com/cars/subaru-legacy-sedan/3-6r-limited

jmonroe

I offered you a thousand but you just had to be greedy. :@

Damn, my bad. I thought you only wanted to give me $100 for it. As a poster buddy you could have had it for a grand. I've never been good with math and zeros always confused me. I never could figure out if zeros were supposed to be added or subtracted.

jmonroe

Don't worry....we know you have problems with numbers and words.

driver100

Mr_Shiftright said:

My car makes me money. It's a tool in my toolbox that I enjoy using as well. It's a good investment.

Motorcycle? Not so much. That goes into the "toy" category.

I was wondering where the mods have been, either we have been extra good or you guys had a mods holiday.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

JM. looks like they shipped it out to Indiana. nice looking car, but silver over black is a tough sell to me now.

they detailed a little scratch on the back bumper. no mention of bodywork though.

Silver was not my first choice but I sorta backed myself into a corner with color choices when I bought it. I ruled out black, white and burgundy (still had my '09 Genny at the time which was burgundy). This purchase was the replacement for the XG 350 which was a golden beige so that color was ruled out too. Not too many colors left after all that. Also didn't want a beige interior because that was what the '09 Genny had. My first requirement was it HAD to be a 6 cylinder. All said and done had to go to Columbus Ohio to get it, so Silver over black it was.

I swear that speck of a scratch on the rear bumper was not there when I sold it. You said it went to Indiana (I could not find that but I believe you). So, maybe with all the shuffling around I guess it got a scratch. In any case the car was as perfect as you could get for a 7 plus year old car. Somebody is getting a very good car.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

So much for the Germans love of speed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/eurorally-hits-speed-bump-after-100-cars-impounded-for-illegal-racing/ar-AAARo3B?ocid=spartanntp

jmonroe

stickguy

one of the pictures is of the navigation screen, showing a spot by Indy. So I assumed that is where it is.

Michaell

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

My car makes me money. It's a tool in my toolbox that I enjoy using as well. It's a good investment.

Motorcycle? Not so much. That goes into the "toy" category.

I was wondering where the mods have been, either we have been extra good or you guys had a mods holiday.

Oh, we're around.

We're always around.

explorerx4

@driver100,
Reading all the comments and reflecting on them, I stepped over the line.
It brought me back to a time not too long ago, at a family members passing when anyone could come up and speak, someone had a good message, "We all need to get along", but it got lots in a flurry of curses.
I feel like I just became 'that guy', so I want to unconditionally apologize and hope you accept it..

roadburner

jmonroe1 said:

So much for the Germans love of speed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/eurorally-hits-speed-bump-after-100-cars-impounded-for-illegal-racing/ar-AAARo3B?ocid=spartanntp

jmonroe

Genuine Safety [non-permissible content removed] at work!

ruking1

jmonroe1 said:

So much for the Germans love of speed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/eurorally-hits-speed-bump-after-100-cars-impounded-for-illegal-racing/ar-AAARo3B?ocid=spartanntp

jmonroe

???? It’s about (alledged ILLEGAL) RACING?? The article makes that point!

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
Reading all the comments and reflecting on them, I stepped over the line.
It brought me back to a time not too long ago, at a family members passing when anyone could come up and speak, someone had a good message, "We all need to get along", but it got lots in a flurry of curses.
I feel like I just became 'that guy', so I want to unconditionally apologize and hope you accept it..

I don't know what you said that was "over the line" but if anything was, I should have been long gone by now.

jmonroe

abacomike

@jmonroe1:

I sent you a private message, JM.  Go into your account (click on your icon) to read it.

driver100

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

My car makes me money. It's a tool in my toolbox that I enjoy using as well. It's a good investment.

Motorcycle? Not so much. That goes into the "toy" category.

I was wondering where the mods have been, either we have been extra good or you guys had a mods holiday.

Oh, we're around.

We're always around.

Hmmmm.....I was thinking of testing you

driver100

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
Reading all the comments and reflecting on them, I stepped over the line.
It brought me back to a time not too long ago, at a family members passing when anyone could come up and speak, someone had a good message, "We all need to get along", but it got lots in a flurry of curses.
I feel like I just became 'that guy', so I want to unconditionally apologize and hope you accept it..

I do accept and I am glad you thought to take the time.....all is good.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

So much for the Germans love of speed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/eurorally-hits-speed-bump-after-100-cars-impounded-for-illegal-racing/ar-AAARo3B?ocid=spartanntp

jmonroe

You're just jealous they wouldn't let you and your wannabe in the race.

It is an illegal race. If you are driving on the Autobhan it is fine...if you are racing and zooming around other traffic you could become a problem!

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
Reading all the comments and reflecting on them, I stepped over the line.
It brought me back to a time not too long ago, at a family members passing when anyone could come up and speak, someone had a good message, "We all need to get along", but it got lots in a flurry of curses.
I feel like I just became 'that guy', so I want to unconditionally apologize and hope you accept it..

I don't know what you said that was "over the line" but if anything was, I should have been long gone by now.

jmonroe

Just because you never have the ----- ("sense") to apologize. There are some decent respectable people in the world

jmonroe1

abacomike said:

@jmonroe1:

I sent you a private message, JM.  Go into your account (click on your icon) to read it.

I don't see it Mike. Are you sure you didn't send it to my cousin ?

jmonroe

abacomike

jmonroe1 said:

@jmonroe1:

I sent you a private message, JM.  Go into your account (click on your icon) to read it.

I don't see it Mike. Are you sure you didn't send it to my cousin ? jmonroe

Anything’s possible on this site, as we all know!

It’s out there in cyberspace - it will show up in some digital time capsule in 2100 A.D. 

abacomike

Just got a call from my daughter.  After a 2 hour phone interview with a job opportunity Wednesday, she is flying down here again for a face-to-face 2 hour interview in a city just north of me.  She is flying into FLL next Saturday and will be staying with me until the following Tuesday morning.

I pray she is offered the job - I have lived so far from her these past 25 years - it would be wonderful to have her close by as I get older. It would be a dream come true!

jmonroe1

abacomike said:

jmonroe1 said:

@jmonroe1:

I sent you a private message, JM.  Go into your account (click on your icon) to read it.

I don't see it Mike. Are you sure you didn't send it to my cousin ?

jmonroe

Anything’s possible on this site, as we all know!

It’s out there in cyberspace - it will show up in some digital time capsule in 2100 A.D. 

Well, I'll still be here then. Not sure about you, given you'll probably be doing too much grocery store shopping by then.

jmonroe

explorerx4

@abacomike,
We are going to visit one of the kids next weekend and will be checking out some houses while we are there.

abacomike

explorerx4 said:

@abacomike, We are going to visit one of the kids next weekend and will be checking out some houses while we are there.

At first you can’t wait until the kids move out on their own - but there comes a time when you want them back - close to you.  Having her close - 20-25 minute drive away would be great! 

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

one of the pictures is of the navigation screen, showing a spot by Indy. So I assumed that is where it is.

When the guy picked it up in early April he said it was going to their New Jersey conditioning center. I thought that was odd since that car didn't need any conditioning and they have one of their "vending machines" not too far from me. It seems to me that Carvana has too much up-front costs moving cars around like they do. But, who am I to complain since they gave me a great price for that Subie. Then again, maybe I'm complaining that if they keep doing business like they do, they might not still be around when it's time for me to dump my Genny.

jmonroe

Sandman6472

Am still actively trying to get the wife to consider the Orlando area where our oldest is. Our middle child is in South Miami but she's willing to transfer to a hospital in the Orlando area within the next year or two. Our boy is in Chicago and no way we're going to move near there as the cold winters are just not something we want to deal with. All I know is that the time has come to sell our current home and move on. My health has been up and down this last year so need to be near my kids as they just step in when I need them to.

jmonroe1

abacomike said:

explorerx4 said:

@abacomike,
We are going to visit one of the kids next weekend and will be checking out some houses while we are there.

At first you can’t wait until the kids move out on their own - but there comes a time when you want them back - close to you.  Having her close - 20-25 minute drive away would be great! 

I hope it all works out for you Mike even though that will just about kill any chance of you sending me airfare money to come visit you. Then again, you could still send the airfare money and put me up in a nice swanky hotel. Yeah, give that some thought.

jmonroe

abacomike

jmonroe1 said:

explorerx4 said:

@abacomike, We are going to visit one of the kids next weekend and will be checking out some houses while we are there.

At first you can’t wait until the kids move out on their own - but there comes a time when you want them back - close to you.  Having her close - 20-25 minute drive away would be great! 

I hope it all works out for you Mike even though that will just about kill any chance of you sending me airfare money to come visit you. Then again, you could still send the airfare money and put me up in a nice swanky hotel. Yeah, give that some thought. jmonroe

I just paid for my daughter’s airfare to come down for her job interview - she couldn’t afford it on her salary.  After all, what are Dads for?

As for jmonroe, not a chance.  

explorerx4

@abacomike,
The move would be more about the next generation than the kids.

fintail

Exactly. Germany, just like wild and free America, has laws against street racing. It has nothing to do with their love of speed. I'd rather drive there than here any day, even with the price of fuel. It's almost like therapy.

ruking1 said:

???? It’s about (alledged ILLEGAL) RACING?? The article makes that point!

qbrozen

fintail said:

The "status" is the price, right? These aren't as expensive relative to other cars as they were in the past, and they are also a lot more common. BMW or MB sales in 1983 compared to today must be staggering.

Not sure what you mean. The fact that my payment for a really well equipped AWD sport sedan that gets to 60 in about 5.5 secs is less than most people pay for a 4-cyl FWD family sedan definitely makes me ooh and aah.

Guess I misunderstood what you were saying. So your point is that the “status” of the car is undermined by its cheap lease terms, yes?

personally, I don’t feel it is a status symbol at all. As you said, they are extremely common. 

fintail

Yeah. I think the quality of spome of these often-leased cars is real - my recently acquired E450 feels like something special, it feels like it costs more than a less expensive car (and it does). I appreciate the quality, and it is worth it to me, I don't make the payment just to impress strangers. I think a lot of the status is in the eye of the onlooker - cheap leases and higher production work well for enthusiasts. I suspect many consumers know these aren't insanely expensive, they just have other priorities, which is cool too. 35 years ago, the status side might have been different.

qbrozen said:

Guess I misunderstood what you were saying. So your point is that the “status” of the car is undermined by its cheap lease terms, yes?

personally, I don’t feel it is a status symbol at all. As you said, they are extremely common. 

driver100

I have a friend who says he could buy whatever car he wants.........but, he buys his cars from a friend who trades in a car every 3 years....and whatever car that is that is what he takes. He was getting Camrys for many years. This friend says cars mean nothing to him, he wants to be comfortable, but driving gives him no pleasure. He's had a 2017 Avalon that looks like this for a few years now.

Actually, he has a good formula for buying a car. His friend trades it in with the stipulation they sell it to my friend....that way he gets benefit of the trade in value plus tax savings......my friend gets a 3 year old low mileage car he knows was well taken care of.

driver100

My brother is looking for an odd job guy to take an old mattress to the dump. So, I go on CL and find an ad for two guys who will do odd jobs....and this is the picture they used;

Do you think this is the truck they will be using?

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

I have a friend who says he could buy whatever car he wants.........but, he buys his cars from a friend who trades in a car every 3 years....and whatever car that is that is what he takes. He was getting Camrys for many years. This friend says cars mean nothing to him, he wants to be comfortable, but driving gives him no pleasure. He's had a 2017 Avalon that looks like this for a few years now.

Actually, he has a good formula for buying a car. His friend trades it in with the stipulation they sell it to my friend....that way he gets benefit of the trade in value plus tax savings......my friend gets a 3 year old low mileage car he knows was well taken care of.

At first I thought it would be nice to have a friend like that but then you mentioned the dealer getting involved. So instead of selling for a higher PP price and forgoing the sales tax savings (which would probably even out) the friend makes this guy pay dealer mark up?

I suppose he gets some kind of warranty going through the dealer though.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

My brother is looking for an odd job guy to take an old mattress to the dump. So, I go on CL and find an ad for two guys who will do odd jobs....and this is the picture they used;

Do you think this is the truck they will be using?

Either that one or another off the boss’s lot when he’s not looking.

abacomike

My 2018 MB S450 turns 18 months old next Friday and has 12,670 miles on the odometer.  I haven’t had a car in my possession that long since my 1991 300E (1996 - it was 5 years old and had 59,000 miles on it).  So I broke a 23 year record by keeping this for 18 months - and I have no intention of getting a new car until this lease is up a year from November.

I know you are all proud of me - right? 

suydam

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

My brother is looking for an odd job guy to take an old mattress to the dump. So, I go on CL and find an ad for two guys who will do odd jobs....and this is the picture they used;

Do you think this is the truck they will be using?

Either that one or another off the boss’s lot when he’s not looking.

And parked in a handicapped spot too.

bwia

abacomike said:

I just paid for my daughter’s airfare to come down for her job interview - she couldn’t afford it on her salary.  After all, what are Dads for?

As for jmonroe, not a chance.  

In my experience the prospective employer usually pays for travel and lodging. Of course they don't do it for all hires but if the position is important enough and person is a serious candidate they usually pick up the tab. After all, that's just part of cost of doing business.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

I have a friend who says he could buy whatever car he wants.........but, he buys his cars from a friend who trades in a car every 3 years....and whatever car that is that is what he takes. He was getting Camrys for many years. This friend says cars mean nothing to him, he wants to be comfortable, but driving gives him no pleasure. He's had a 2017 Avalon that looks like this for a few years now.

Actually, he has a good formula for buying a car. His friend trades it in with the stipulation they sell it to my friend....that way he gets benefit of the trade in value plus tax savings......my friend gets a 3 year old low mileage car he knows was well taken care of.

At first I thought it would be nice to have a friend like that but then you mentioned the dealer getting involved. So instead of selling for a higher PP price and forgoing the sales tax savings (which would probably even out) the friend makes this guy pay dealer mark up?

I suppose he gets some kind of warranty going through the dealer though.

Good point OF. The dealer sells the car at cost, that is the deal. It is the same if a dealer has a family plan....you trade in your car, and the dealer sells it to your relative with no mark up. That way the one trading in the car gets the tax benefit, and the dealer does some paperwork to transfer title....but knows, they have a happy new car customer.
Now, we just have to latch on to some person we know who trades cars we would like to get our hands on, every 3 years.

roadburner

It looks like the Ford Ranger is being outsold by the ancient Nissan Frontier- and the Colorado and Tacoma are blowing the Ranger out of the water. That said, my gripe with all of the so-called "compact" pickups is that they are still much too big. I'd like something the size of the original Ranger- and good luck with that.

roadburner

driver100 said:

Good point OF. The dealer sells the car at cost, that is the deal. It is the same if a dealer has a family plan....you trade in your car, and the dealer sells it to your relative with no mark up. That way the one trading in the car gets the tax benefit, and the dealer does some paperwork to transfer title....but knows, they have a happy new car customer.
Now, we just have to latch on to some person we know who trades cars we would like to get our hands on, every 3 years.

A nearly new Avalon every three years? Think of all the money you will save not having to buy Sominex!

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

My 2018 MB S450 turns 18 months old next Friday and has 12,670 miles on the odometer.  I haven’t had a car in my possession that long since my 1991 300E (1996 - it was 5 years old and had 59,000 miles on it).  So I broke a 23 year record by keeping this for 18 months - and I have no intention of getting a new car until this lease is up a year from November.

I know you are all proud of me - right? 

I don’t know if proud is the word. After all, many of us were living vicariously off your car buying mania. Since you’ve dropped the ball I had to go out and buy two cars on my own.

I’d rather spend YOUR money.

abacomike

bwia said:

I just paid for my daughter’s airfare to come down for her job interview - she couldn’t afford it on her salary.  After all, what are Dads for?

As for jmonroe, not a chance.  

In my experience the prospective employer usually pays for travel and lodging. Of course they don't do it for all hires but if the position is important enough and person is a serious candidate they usually pick up the tab. After all, that's just part of cost of doing business.

The job is with the city and they have many local candidates.  Only in cases where the position is upper management or administrative do municipalities pick up the tab.  If I understood my daughter correctly, even if she gets the job, the city probably would not subsidize moving expenses.  This is not a high paying position (under $60,000) to start, but it would give her more future options and provide her with an opportunity to move to a climate she prefers and a much lower cost of living factor, not to mention being closer to her father.

They offered her an interview on FaceTime or something like that, but she prefers to have a face-to-face interview.  By coming down here two days before her interview, she can visit and observe, firsthand, their facilities and programs and operations which would prepare her better for the interview.

She has many years of experience and meets the qualifications of the position perfectly.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

I have a friend who says he could buy whatever car he wants.........but, he buys his cars from a friend who trades in a car every 3 years....and whatever car that is that is what he takes. He was getting Camrys for many years. This friend says cars mean nothing to him, he wants to be comfortable, but driving gives him no pleasure. He's had a 2017 Avalon that looks like this for a few years now.

Actually, he has a good formula for buying a car. His friend trades it in with the stipulation they sell it to my friend....that way he gets benefit of the trade in value plus tax savings......my friend gets a 3 year old low mileage car he knows was well taken care of.

At first I thought it would be nice to have a friend like that but then you mentioned the dealer getting involved. So instead of selling for a higher PP price and forgoing the sales tax savings (which would probably even out) the friend makes this guy pay dealer mark up?

I suppose he gets some kind of warranty going through the dealer though.

Good point OF. The dealer sells the car at cost, that is the deal. It is the same if a dealer has a family plan....you trade in your car, and the dealer sells it to your relative with no mark up. That way the one trading in the car gets the tax benefit, and the dealer does some paperwork to transfer title....but knows, they have a happy new car customer.
Now, we just have to latch on to some person we know who trades cars we would like to get our hands on, every 3 years.

Interesting, I bet the new car buyer is paying sticker to get the dealer to sell his old car at cost. I never heard of a family plan, is that something that’s common? I don’t know too many dealers that would give up the larger profit on a used car sale. Especially a low mile cream puff.

I remember when I got my first car. My father knew a woman at work was planning on trading so my he told her to ask the dealer for a trade offer and then ask how much off sticker without a trade. The difference was the true value of the trade. We bought it off her for that price. No need to get the dealer involved any further.

suydam

bwia said:

abacomike said:

I just paid for my daughter’s airfare to come down for her job interview - she couldn’t afford it on her salary.  After all, what are Dads for?

As for jmonroe, not a chance.  

In my experience the prospective employer usually pays for travel and lodging. Of course they don't do it for all hires but if the position is important enough and person is a serious candidate they usually pick up the tab. After all, that's just part of cost of doing business.

Not anymore unless it’s a senior management position. My daughter got her last 2 jobs via Skype interviews. I can see that if there are local candidates she might feel disadvantaged that way, but it’s pretty common.

ruking1

driver100 said:

I have a friend who says he could buy whatever car he wants.........but, he buys his cars from a friend who trades in a car every 3 years....and whatever car that is that is what he takes. He was getting Camrys for many years. This friend says cars mean nothing to him, he wants to be comfortable, but driving gives him no pleasure. He's had a 2017 Avalon that looks like this for a few years now.

Actually, he has a good formula for buying a car. His friend trades it in with the stipulation they sell it to my friend....that way he gets benefit of the trade in value plus tax savings......my friend gets a 3 year old low mileage car he knows was well taken care of.

Indeed, 1 to 5 year old cars are the sweet spots for cars.

28firefighter

IMO the hiring process has gotten increasingly more complicated and time consuming. My wife is unemployed and is making excellent progress in a short period of time (lots of interest in her), but each role has no less than 4 rounds of interviews. A combination of phone, Skype, and in-person.

By the time you get through it, you forgot why you wanted the job in the first place. 

fintail

I think lately, HR types and "hiring managers" like to add extra steps maybe as a way to make themselves look busy. My employer has a seemingly 25 step process for direct hires, too. Apparently, contractors have a more streamlined process, so there are quite a few KPMG and PWC emails in my lists.

Good luck to your better half, 28ff - we are fortunate to have this market.