Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

abacomike

Probably not.  Each dealership has a quota of what they must sell (by model).  Often what happens is that dealers do not purchase additional units above their quota due to lack of space because of the snow.  The snow has to be piled up somewhere.

The manufacturer will often offer for wholesale deliveries additional units at a discounted net invoice.  Only dealers who have space and the necessary credit can take advantage of those offers.

driver100

graphicguy said:

driver100 said:

graphicguy said:

fezo said:

gg - nice deal. I think you should have them upgrade your office.... Must be something nice and new you coukd use...

You can have the Prius straight up for the CTS. No problem...

Thanks Fezo.

Wife rode in a neighbor's Volt yesterday. She really liked it. Surprised they haven't sold like the Prius has.

I think they're pretty reasonable now, too....especially


cts has been great. Quick, handles well, comfortable, good MPG, all the tech I can handle, looks great. Can't ask for much more than that.

GG, too bad you couldn't negotiate a new CTS in your contract with the new company. Then you could give yours to your wife

Driver....had a choice between a company car (an Impala, Taurus, or something of that ilk), or $500/mo car allowance (which only really is used for me to go back and forth to the airport since none of my satellite offices are within driving distance). I took the car allowance.

GG, much better having the allowance and driving what you like...........if possible.

Maybe they saw you pull up in a new Caddie and it really impressed them. Looks like an executive car, especially compared to a Taurus or Impala.

stever

A little help for an 18 year old please:

What is a good car for less than $7000?

stickguy

so many things I am tempted to say, based on his criteria of being 18, and liking fast cars. what could possibly go wrong there?

abacomike

stickguy said:

so many things I am tempted to say, based on his criteria of being 18, and liking fast cars. what could possibly go wrong there?

What is it that "can't" go wrong?  $7000 is not much to spend on a car that is reliable.  

driver100

stever said:

A little help for an 18 year old please:

What is a good car for less than $7000?

The kid wants a fast car for under $7000. I don't have the heart to tell him any fast car for under $7000 isn't going to have much left of it.

Probably a Mustang would be a possibility. I hope he is mechanically inclined and can do his own repairs.....and has enough left over to pay for his insurance.

I do see possible problems ahead, 18, .....$7000...........wants a fast car............I'd like to see where this goes............

imidazol97

The weather has broken here in the cold north. I've seen lots of Michigan and Ontario plates heading north from the warmer climates the last couple of weeks.

Driver, when are you heading back north. Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use?

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

stever said:

A little help for an 18 year old please:

What is a good car for less than $7000?

The kid wants a fast car for under $7000. I don't have the heart to tell him any fast car for under $7000 isn't going to have much left of it.

Probably a Mustang would be a possibility. I hope he is mechanically inclined and can do his own repairs.....and has enough left over to pay for his insurance.

I do see possible problems ahead, 18, .....$7000...........wants a fast car............I'd like to see where this goes............

Ha ha Boy what a bunch of old coots you guys are. Any car is fast if you hold your foot on the gas long enough. You can get yourself killed in a Yugo. It's actually refreshing to see a young man who is still interested in fast cars. I just hope he doesn't get taken buying a beat car that someone else drove fast too many times.

ab348

imidazol97 said:

The weather has broken here in the cold north. I've seen lots of Michigan and Ontario plates heading north from the warmer climates the last couple of weeks.

Driver, when are you heading back north. Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use?

Speak for yourself. Here in Nova Scotia we got hit today with a really nasty blizzard. About a foot of snow down along with lots of wind and cold temps too. This is the winter that just will not end. I understand the same system brought rain to Boston but by the time it got up here the arctic high or whatever that has made this the worst winter in memory did its thing and gave us all this GD snow on top of what we already had. I have about 3 feet on the ground on my property where it hasn't been touched. Ridiculous. I'm thinking about moving.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

The weather has broken here in the cold north. I've seen lots of Michigan and Ontario plates heading north from the warmer climates the last couple of weeks.

Driver, when are you heading back north. Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use?

Snowbirds is fine....that's what we are. And snowbirds also applies to Americans from the Northern states.
The snowbirds you see now may have something to do with March break too. But, at the end of this month the roads will be full of them, mostly going North. I don't like a lot of those trailers, they usually have these tiny thin tires, and they are taller than they are wide, seem to be very unstable. Usually built with a wood frame and seem very dangerous.

We head back on Good Friday which is early this year....April 3rd. We'll just do it easy....get to about Atlanta the first day so we can go through the city on a quiet Saturday. Then get to your neck of the woods by Saturday evening, get through Cincinnati on Sunday (which is the next bottleneck especially during the week), and then be home by late Sunday afternoon.....1500 miles!

henryn

I'm getting to the age (64) where the people I work with are asking me what I'm going to do when I retire. (You don't think that could be a hint for me to get the h___ out, do you?)

"Snowbird" is usually my answer. I'm thinking summers somewhere at a high elevation with beautiful scenery, and winters back here in SE Texas.

bwia

Where are they now?

I just spent the last hour on the "old" Stories from the Sales Frontlines thread of April 2013. It was so much fun reading some of these posts again. And By the way, what happened to these posters? tjc78, snakeweasel, verdugo, gogiboy, murphydog, tyguy, jmonroe, and sb55

Anyway, this is one of my posts:

"I was just reading my April print issue of Car & Driver and buried way in the back pages is a brief article on the vernacular salesmen use to describe potential customers. Here are a few of them:

1. Mop and Glow -- An extra-cost paint sealant or fabric protector of dubious value.
2. Laydown -- A customer who offers little resistance and pays full list price or more. Also known as an "ace."
3. Paperboy -- a buyer who comes in with an advertisement or printouts from the internet. Also known as a nerd.
4. Stroker -- a buyer who acts interested but has no means or intentions of buying a car.
5. F.D.R.S -- "Filthy Disease Ridden Swine. A buyer with horrible credit. Used as inter-salesmen code to name the type of loan as you qualify for our F.D.R.S. loan. Such customer is also referred to as a roach.
6. Third Baseman or Third-base Coach -- the "expert" a buyer brings to provide advice on the deal. Also known as the "lawyer."
7. Gold Balls -- A customer with excellent credit. The opposite of the F.D.R.S.
8. Lot lizard -- A salesperson who stalks customers as they pull into the dealer lot.
9. De-horsing -- taking away the keys and driving away the trade-in to "assess its value." This leaves the buyer with no means of leaving the dealership."

[Deleted User]

Hi bwia. I'm still around, just inundated with work. Actually, I have a vehicle purchase to share from yesterday. I'll post later tonight with the details.

imidazol97

driver100 said:

< Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use?

Snowbirds is fine....that's what we are.

I like the term because I see the people, generally older, like large birds
with white wings moving like the wind, free to
migrate at their own pace from warm to cooler climates. I was concerned some might
think there's a negative to the term.

I've been seeing lots of Canadian Geese moving around our area for weeks
despite the several cold spells. The local rag had
an article about how some of these are now indigenous to our area and stay
here year round polluting the golf courses with manure, having been
planted here, while others are truly migrating Canadian Geese. It's beautiful to
see the large V's they form and hear the honking as they communicate.

PS. Maybe the Canadian Geese polluting the greens is why many potential
golfers aren't taking up the trade. :grin

imidazol97

driver100 said:

We head back on Good Friday which is early this year....April 3rd. We'll just do it easy....get to about Atlanta the first day so we can go through the city on a quiet Saturday. Then get to your neck of the woods by Saturday evening, get through Cincinnati on Sunday (which is the next bottleneck especially during the week), and then be home by late Sunday afternoon.....1500 miles!

I was going to warn you to hit Dayton NB on I75 before 3:30 pm on weekdays, because the construction area has only 2 lanes and backs up due to another freeway merging NB in the construction area.

As for Cincinnati, KYFDX or GraphicGuy may be able to help there about the Mitchell Ave
area and the long term construction there. I would think Sunday morning would be safe.
But when we used to take an extended weekend break for spring break, we sometimes were returning on
Easter Sunday and the traffic would be heavier than usual on our trips back from
Pigeon Forge TN.

bwia

tyguy said:

Hi bwia. I'm still around, just inundated with work. Actually, I have a vehicle purchase to share from yesterday. I'll post later tonight with the details.

@tyguy, glad you are still here and I look forward to reading your sales story. I hope you were not a Laydown and got the best deal for your trade.

driver100

henryn said:

I'm getting to the age (64) where the people I work with are asking me what I'm going to do when I retire. (You don't think that could be a hint for me to get the h___ out, do you?)

"Snowbird" is usually my answer. I'm thinking summers somewhere at a high elevation with beautiful scenery, and winters back here in SE Texas.

They might honestly be curious. I asked lots of people how they adjusted to retirement....before I did it. There is an art to it. You have to have some interests and find a few things to build your week around. I didn't like it at first, but now I love it. When we are in Florida I feel like it is a camp for adults, you basically do all the things you want to do when you want to do it. Somehow, the days stretch out, you can do as much or as little as you want, and the days seem full and rewarding. The sun and brightness feels good.

Mountains sound nice, but it may depend on how much you need other people around. Sometimes it sounds ideal to be on your own....and I think if you are in a busy work or home environment surrounded by people and if you are dealing with people a lot, then getting away from society is a nice change. But, generally, we are social animals, so you may like to get away to a more populated area if it is for any length of time.

graphicguy

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

We head back on Good Friday which is early this year....April 3rd. We'll just do it easy....get to about Atlanta the first day so we can go through the city on a quiet Saturday. Then get to your neck of the woods by Saturday evening, get through Cincinnati on Sunday (which is the next bottleneck especially during the week), and then be home by late Sunday afternoon.....1500 miles!

I was going to warn you to hit Dayton NB on I75 before 3:30 pm on weekdays, because the construction area has only 2 lanes and backs up due to another freeway merging NB in the construction area.

As for Cincinnati, KYFDX or GraphicGuy may be able to help there about the Mitchell Ave
area and the long term construction there. I would think Sunday morning would be safe.
But when we used to take an extended weekend break for spring break, we sometimes were returning on
Easter Sunday and the traffic would be heavier than usual on our trips back from
Pigeon Forge TN.

Mitchell Ave is getting better, but still not good. Fridays? At 3;30 p.m. up until 6:30 or so? Not good. Early a.m....say 6:00-6:30 you should be OK.

The thing of it is, what I consider bad traffice is nothing compared to bad traffic in say.....Atlanta, DC, MYC, Boston, Dallas, San Fran, etc.

driver100

bwia said:

Where are they now?

I just spent the last hour on the "old" Stories from the Sales Frontlines thread of April 2013. It was so much fun reading some of these posts again. And By the way, what happened to these posters? tjc78, snakeweasel, verdugo, gogiboy, murphydog, tyguy, jmonroe, and sb55

Anyway, this is one of my posts:

"I was just reading my April print issue of Car & Driver and buried way in the back pages is a brief article on the vernacular salesmen use to describe potential customers. Here are a few of them:

1. Mop and Glow -- An extra-cost paint sealant or fabric protector of dubious value.
2. Laydown -- A customer who offers little resistance and pays full list price or more. Also known as an "ace."
3. Paperboy -- a buyer who comes in with an advertisement or printouts from the internet. Also known as a nerd.
4. Stroker -- a buyer who acts interested but has no means or intentions of buying a car.
5. F.D.R.S -- "Filthy Disease Ridden Swine. A buyer with horrible credit. Used as inter-salesmen code to name the type of loan as you qualify for our F.D.R.S. loan. Such customer is also referred to as a roach.
6. Third Baseman or Third-base Coach -- the "expert" a buyer brings to provide advice on the deal. Also known as the "lawyer."
7. Gold Balls -- A customer with excellent credit. The opposite of the F.D.R.S.
8. Lot lizard -- A salesperson who stalks customers as they pull into the dealer lot.
9. De-horsing -- taking away the keys and driving away the trade-in to "assess its value." This leaves the buyer with no means of leaving the dealership."

I like the car salesmen's jargon, but, I think it could be a bad thing for salespeople to think that way. Although kind of humorous, it does show contempt for a salesman's bread and butter. I always thought of my customer with respect.....I tend to think these attitudes can sometimes show through.

robr2

explorerx4 said:

Don't forget about tomorrow!

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/13/8205807/pi-day

Yesterday I drove to NYC to see my son and his relay team compete in the New Balance Nationals. Unfortunately they did not perform at their best but it happens. It's a real honor to even qualify for nationals.

Their race was a 2:05 PM and one of the team members had applied to MIT. MIT releases their acceptance on Pi Day every year - it's a geek thing. They normally release at 6:28 PM (Tau Time which is 2xPi.). Yesterday in honor of 3.14.15 they did it at 9:28. The rest of the team and their coach took his phone, Ipad, laptop to keep him from finding out. The race was to be the focus.

Well he finally checked at 5 PM. He didn't get in and was very disappointed. It was his dream school but he got in to 3 other great engineering schools.

robr2

Keep in mind that $500 is worth 900 miles a month at today's IRS rate. You will have to show that you drive at least 900 business miles a month to not be taxed on the difference.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

< Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use?

Snowbirds is fine....that's what we are.

I like the term because I see the people, generally older, like large birds
with white wings moving like the wind, free to
migrate at their own pace from warm to cooler climates. I was concerned some might
think there's a negative to the term.

I've been seeing lots of Canadian Geese moving around our area for weeks
despite the several cold spells. The local rag had
an article about how some of these are now indigenous to our area and stay
here year round polluting the golf courses with manure, having been
planted here, while others are truly migrating Canadian Geese. It's beautiful to
see the large V's they form and hear the honking as they communicate.

PS. Maybe the Canadian Geese polluting the greens is why many potential
golfers aren't taking up the trade. :grin

Apparently some birds don't migrate so much these days. It is warmer in urban areas and winters just haven't been as much of a problem for them. Robins come back earlier too.

But, Canada Geese are not a favorite of mine, they are big and messy. They are found in Northern US and in Canada, I wish they called them "Northern USA Geese".

robr2

It's Canada Geese - not Canadian Geese.

As for Snowbirds - that's the name of the Canadian Air Force exhibition team. My understanding is that they perform their shows with their left blinker on.

driver100

graphicguy said:

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

We head back on Good Friday which is early this year....April 3rd. We'll just do it easy....get to about Atlanta the first day so we can go through the city on a quiet Saturday. Then get to your neck of the woods by Saturday evening, get through Cincinnati on Sunday (which is the next bottleneck especially during the week), and then be home by late Sunday afternoon.....1500 miles!

I was going to warn you to hit Dayton NB on I75 before 3:30 pm on weekdays, because the construction area has only 2 lanes and backs up due to another freeway merging NB in the construction area.

As for Cincinnati, KYFDX or GraphicGuy may be able to help there about the Mitchell Ave
area and the long term construction there. I would think Sunday morning would be safe.
But when we used to take an extended weekend break for spring break, we sometimes were returning on
Easter Sunday and the traffic would be heavier than usual on our trips back from
Pigeon Forge TN.

Mitchell Ave is getting better, but still not good. Fridays? At 3;30 p.m. up until 6:30 or so? Not good. Early a.m....say 6:00-6:30 you should be OK.

The thing of it is, what I consider bad traffice is nothing compared to bad traffic in say.....Atlanta, DC, MYC, Boston, Dallas, San Fran, etc.

Thanks for the traffic updates imid and GG. Since it will be the weekend we just have to hope we get through on I-75, if you hear of a major problem for that weekend let me know.

Last year near Dayton we had the guy who was going the wrong way on I-75. I did drive around him and watched as he drove his car straight into the cement barrier in the middle of the highway. I called 911 and they calmly said they had a few reports and would look into it.

abacomike

robr2 said:

Keep in mind that $500 is worth 900 miles a month at today's IRS rate. You will have to show that you drive at least 900 business miles a month to not be taxed on the difference.



Could you please be more specific about "$500 is worth 900 miles a month at today's IRS rate." Are you talking about a new tax, business use of auto, etc.? I am a little confused by your post. Thanks.

driver100

abacomike said:

robr2 said:

Keep in mind that $500 is worth 900 miles a month at today's IRS rate. You will have to show that you drive at least 900 business miles a month to not be taxed on the difference.

Could you please be more specific about "$500 is worth 900 miles a month at today's IRS rate." Are you talking about a new tax, business use of auto, etc.? I am a little confused by your post. Thanks.

Just a guess, but in case it takes awhile to reply, I think he means it costs about 50 cents a mile to operate a car, I think about 52 or 54 cents to be more accurate. But, I don't know what the question was.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

< Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use?

Snowbirds is fine....that's what we are.

I like the term because I see the people, generally older, like large birds
with white wings moving like the wind, free to
migrate at their own pace from warm to cooler climates. I was concerned some might
think there's a negative to the term.

I've been seeing lots of Canadian Geese moving around our area for weeks
despite the several cold spells. The local rag had
an article about how some of these are now indigenous to our area and stay
here year round polluting the golf courses with manure, having been
planted here, while others are truly migrating Canadian Geese. It's beautiful to
see the large V's they form and hear the honking as they communicate.

PS. Maybe the Canadian Geese polluting the greens is why many potential
golfers aren't taking up the trade. :grin

Apparently some birds don't migrate so much these days. It is warmer in urban areas and winters just haven't been as much of a problem for them. Robins come back earlier too.

But, Canada Geese are not a favorite of mine, they are big and messy. They are found in Northern US and in Canada, I wish they called them "Northern USA Geese".

Canada Geese are an example of conservation working too well. Long ago they were in danger of extinction and hunting was banned. Now with few predators they have expanded to become pests but the outdated protections persist.

White tailed deer are the same. They have just about killed my ability to grow field crops without installing expensive fencing.

driver100

robr2 said:

It's Canada Geese - not Canadian Geese.

As for Snowbirds - that's the name of the Canadian Air Force exhibition team. My understanding is that they perform their shows with their left blinker on.

How does an average person know it's Canada Geese - not Canadian Geese, or are you on Jeopardy?
Apparently one article said the proper name is "Canada", but people say "Canadian" and it is acceptable.

Also very good that you know the Air Force Snowbirds....you probably know more about Canada than many Canadians.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

< Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use?

Snowbirds is fine....that's what we are.

I like the term because I see the people, generally older, like large birds
with white wings moving like the wind, free to
migrate at their own pace from warm to cooler climates. I was concerned some might
think there's a negative to the term.

I've been seeing lots of Canadian Geese moving around our area for weeks
despite the several cold spells. The local rag had
an article about how some of these are now indigenous to our area and stay
here year round polluting the golf courses with manure, having been
planted here, while others are truly migrating Canadian Geese. It's beautiful to
see the large V's they form and hear the honking as they communicate.

PS. Maybe the Canadian Geese polluting the greens is why many potential
golfers aren't taking up the trade. :grin

Apparently some birds don't migrate so much these days. It is warmer in urban areas and winters just haven't been as much of a problem for them. Robins come back earlier too.

But, Canada Geese are not a favorite of mine, they are big and messy. They are found in Northern US and in Canada, I wish they called them "Northern USA Geese".

Canada Geese are an example of conservation working too well. Long ago they were in danger of extinction and hunting was banned. Now with few predators they have expanded to become pests but the outdated protections persist.

White tailed deer are the same. They have just about killed my ability to grow field crops without installing expensive fencing.

There's a beautiful park in Toronto with nice ponds, but the Canada Geese were ruining the whole park. Some people wanted to allow them to be shot, and used to feed the poor. They aren't great to eat, too gamey and not enough fat. Seems that idea didn't fly

abacomike

oldfarmer50 said:

< Is the term "snowbirds" okay to use? Snowbirds is fine....that's what we are.

I like the term because I see the people, generally older, like large birds with white wings moving like the wind, free to migrate at their own pace from warm to cooler climates. I was concerned some might think there's a negative to the term. I've been seeing lots of Canadian Geese moving around our area for weeks despite the several cold spells. The local rag had an article about how some of these are now indigenous to our area and stay here year round polluting the golf courses with manure, having been planted here, while others are truly migrating Canadian Geese. It's beautiful to see the large V's they form and hear the honking as they communicate. PS. Maybe the Canadian Geese polluting the greens is why many potential golfers aren't taking up the trade. :grin

Apparently some birds don't migrate so much these days. It is warmer in urban areas and winters just haven't been as much of a problem for them. Robins come back earlier too. But, Canada Geese are not a favorite of mine, they are big and messy. They are found in Northern US and in Canada, I wish they called them "Northern USA Geese".

Canada Geese are an example of conservation working too well. Long ago they were in danger of extinction and hunting was banned. Now with few predators they have expanded to become pests but the outdated protections persist. White tailed deer are the same. They have just about killed my ability to grow field crops without installing expensive fencing.

Same thing happened with alligators.  They were endangered so for many, many years they were protected.  Now, they have become overpopulated and create havoc throughout South Florida.  They inhabit lakes in private communities and there have been many reports of pet dogs being eaten by gators.  There were also reports of alligator attacks on small children in several communities.

The only natural predators of the alligator are human beings.  Many people enjoy gator meat, however they used to be sought after for their hides (purses, shoes, attaché cases, etc.).  Now, there are alligator hunts in order to reduce their over-population.

stever

Airports use pigs to eat gull eggs and deter them. Don't know if anyone has tried them with geese (border collies work though). The DNR drove me nuts in the UP - they keep killing the wolves while trying to enhance deer habitat. Every day someone was either hitting a deer or a deer was running into the side of someone's car. Meanwhile, hunting them up there is a bit like golf. Expensive "hobby" and if you didn't own a camp, you had to join a club or otherwise pay through the nose to take a few shots.

(Thanks for the help with the $7,000 car question btw).

robr2

abacomike said:

robr2 said:

Keep in mind that $500 is worth 900 miles a month at today's IRS rate. You will have to show that you drive at least 900 business miles a month to not be taxed on the difference.

Could you please be more specific about "$500 is worth 900 miles a month at today's IRS rate." Are you talking about a new tax, business use of auto, etc.? I am a little confused by your post. Thanks.

Car allowances are taxable income. The IRS allows a deduction rate of 57.5 cents per mile for business use of a personal vehicle. GG has to document an average of 869 miles/month in order to "spend" his entire allowance. Of course if he pays to park at an airport, pays tolls, et al, he may spend the allowance faster.

It's the same way with a company provided car. Most companies will pick some percentage of the miles driven on a company car the employee has exclusive use of, multiply it by the IRS rate and put it on the employee's W2 as untaxed income. It's SOP for company cars. I have quite a few friends with company cars and they happily pay the taxes on the couple of thousand bucks a year they get in "untaxed income" instead of paying for a car themselves.

A good friend has not owned a car in 20 years and is quite happy getting a new Sienna every 30 months or so.

abacomike

@robr2

Thanks for the great presentation.  Yes, I fully understand your first comment now.  I needed to use inductive reasoning rather than deductive reasoning to understand fully what you were saying.

Appreciate your response.

fezo

"6. Third Baseman or Third-base Coach -- the "expert" a buyer brings to provide advice on the deal. Also known as the "lawyer.""

Years ago I was helping a coworker buy a used car while she was in the process of divorce. The salesman said, "Oh, you're the curbstone lawyer." Actually he was quite nice and she did very well considering it was tight squeeze time for her.

abacomike

fezo said:

"6. Third Baseman or Third-base Coach -- the "expert" a buyer brings to provide advice on the deal. Also known as the "lawyer."" Years ago I was helping a coworker buy a used car while she was in the process of divorce. The salesman said, "Oh, you're the curbstone lawyer." Actually he was quite nice and she did very well considering it was tight squeeze time for her.

The only term I would add to the original list of "car salesmen's vernacular" is tire kicker!

[Deleted User]

Earlier today I posted a brief message about a vehicle purchase yesterday. Well, it's not the typical car/truck/SUV we're used to discussing on this forum. This purchase was a personal watercraft.

We've owned a Yamaha FXHO Waverunner for 5 years and originally intended to add a Yamaha VXR in 2012 until a job transfer moved us away from our family and the friend group that spent weekends with us on the lakes. We've now built a new friend group and lake-going habits, so we're ready for the second ski we had envisioned earlier.

Personal watercraft have changed over the years. Twenty years ago they were lightweight, 2-stroke, dirty for the environment, and a lot of fun at slower speeds with relatively low-top end speeds (50 mph). Today they're heavy (some over a thousand pounds), 4-stroke, clean, big, very powerful, and fast (65 mph). But with all that girth the watercraft have lost the fun factor at slower speeds, like the ability to spin around, jump wake, and get thrown off them at safe speeds. Today's modern craft are more suited for ocean waves than they are for common lakes.

So, last year Sea-doo did something extraordinary. They launched a cheap watercraft, called the Spark, one that harkens back to those old days with light weight and good power to weight ratio with a modern 4-stroke, which resulted in fun at slower speeds. It's half the weight of our Yamaha. The Spark is also very simple with minimal electronics and other luxuries available on most high-end watercraft. It's the Mazda Miata of the watercraft world and the response from the buying public has been huge.

The major challenge was finding one in the color and equipment preferences we wanted. MSRP is the name of the game, and really, as inexpensive as these things are, the dealer profit is very small on them. After locating one at a Sea-doo dealer in Denver I set up the deal over the phone, simple as pie (in honor Pi day yesterday), and we took our trailer down to Denver to pick it up yesterday. We just put the craft on a credit card and the entire deal took about 10 minutes in their finance office. The federal disclaimers were longer than the purchase contract

The drive to and from Denver was our first chance to tow with our new 2015 Outback. Typically we'd average about 17 mpg with our Dodge AWD minivan. The Outback averaged 27 mpg. Acceleration was leisurely with the 4-cylinder motor, but maintaining freeway speeds was no problem and I never felt the trailer swaying the car.

Here's the tow setup:


Here are the watercraft (white one is the new purchase):

stickguy

you can see the size difference. Looks pretty neat!

abacomike

@tyguy

Looks like a beaut.  Living down here in Florida, I see tons of them on the lakes and bays.

Hope you and the family enjoy the new addition.

murphydog

Hey Bwia

Still here, mostly read, though I post now and again.

graphicguy

tyguy said:

Earlier today I posted a brief message about a vehicle purchase yesterday. Well, it's not the typical car/truck/SUV we're used to discussing on this forum. This purchase was a personal watercraft.

We've owned a Yamaha FXHO Waverunner for 5 years and originally intended to add a Yamaha VXR in 2012 until a job transfer moved us away from our family and the friend group that spent weekends with us on the lakes. We've now built a new friend group and lake-going habits, so we're ready for the second ski we had envisioned earlier.

Personal watercraft have changed over the years. Twenty years ago they were lightweight, 2-stroke, dirty for the environment, and a lot of fun at slower speeds with relatively low-top end speeds (50 mph). Today they're heavy (some over a thousand pounds), 4-stroke, clean, big, very powerful, and fast (65 mph). But with all that girth the watercraft have lost the fun factor at slower speeds, like the ability to spin around, jump wake, and get thrown off them at safe speeds. Today's modern craft are more suited for ocean waves than they are for common lakes.

So, last year Sea-doo did something extraordinary. They launched a cheap watercraft, called the Spark, one that harkens back to those old days with light weight and good power to weight ratio with a modern 4-stroke, which resulted in fun at slower speeds. It's half the weight of our Yamaha. The Spark is also very simple with minimal electronics and other luxuries available on most high-end watercraft. It's the Mazda Miata of the watercraft world and the response from the buying public has been huge.

The major challenge was finding one in the color and equipment preferences we wanted. MSRP is the name of the game, and really, as inexpensive as these things are, the dealer profit is very small on them. After locating one at a Sea-doo dealer in Denver I set up the deal over the phone, simple as pie (in honor Pi day yesterday), and we took our trailer down to Denver to pick it up yesterday. We just put the craft on a credit card and the entire deal took about 10 minutes in their finance office. The federal disclaimers were longer than the purchase contract

The drive to and from Denver was our first chance to tow with our new 2015 Outback. Typically we'd average about 17 mpg with our Dodge AWD minivan. The Outback averaged 27 mpg. Acceleration was leisurely with the 4-cylinder motor, but maintaining freeway speeds was no problem and I never felt the trailer swaying the car.

Here's the tow setup:


Here are the watercraft (white one is the new purchase):

Nice!

stickguy

I wonder how TJC is doing. Partly because he lives about 10 minutes from me! Last I heard he was awaiting the first kid, but don't recall seeing him since then. Been quite a while.

sb55

bwia said:

Where are they now?

I just spent the last hour on the "old" Stories from the Sales Frontlines thread of April 2013. It was so much fun reading some of these posts again. And By the way, what happened to these posters? tjc78, snakeweasel, verdugo, gogiboy, murphydog, tyguy, jmonroe, and sb55

Anyway, this is one of my posts:

"I was just reading my April print issue of Car & Driver and buried way in the back pages is a brief article on the vernacular salesmen use to describe potential customers. Here are a few of them:

1. Mop and Glow -- An extra-cost paint sealant or fabric protector of dubious value.
2. Laydown -- A customer who offers little resistance and pays full list price or more. Also known as an "ace."
3. Paperboy -- a buyer who comes in with an advertisement or printouts from the internet. Also known as a nerd.
4. Stroker -- a buyer who acts interested but has no means or intentions of buying a car.
5. F.D.R.S -- "Filthy Disease Ridden Swine. A buyer with horrible credit. Used as inter-salesmen code to name the type of loan as you qualify for our F.D.R.S. loan. Such customer is also referred to as a roach.
6. Third Baseman or Third-base Coach -- the "expert" a buyer brings to provide advice on the deal. Also known as the "lawyer."
7. Gold Balls -- A customer with excellent credit. The opposite of the F.D.R.S.
8. Lot lizard -- A salesperson who stalks customers as they pull into the dealer lot.
9. De-horsing -- taking away the keys and driving away the trade-in to "assess its value." This leaves the buyer with no means of leaving the dealership."

I'm here. Daily reader, infrequent poster.

driver100

tyguy said:

The drive to and from Denver was our first chance to tow with our new 2015 Outback. Typically we'd average about 17 mpg with our Dodge AWD minivan. The Outback averaged 27 mpg. Acceleration was leisurely with the 4-cylinder motor, but maintaining freeway speeds was no problem and I never felt the trailer swaying the car.

Here's the tow setup:


Here are the watercraft (white one is the new purchase):

Good story well written....even I can feel the excitement of driving that little Spark across the water. The Suburu is looking pretty nice too!

sb, murph, nice of you to check in. We should do a roll call once a week!

cdnpinhead

robr2 said:

As for Snowbirds - that's the name of the Canadian Air Force exhibition team. My understanding is that they perform their shows with their left blinker on.

Well done! As someone who lives (year-round) among the other snowbirds in vast quantities in Mesa, AZ, I can vouch for the blinker thing. Mostly, people who drive in AZ don't use the directional signal at all, so when you see one in use, it becomes questionable.

graphicguy

Thanks for the tax guidance on the car reimbursement. My old position, they actually provided a car for awhile. I had to keep strict records on when I used it for personal runs. Frankly, the ones that they would buy were pretty much "stinkers" and I ended up buying cars I really liked anyway for my personal use.

They're also offering an office allowance, I can either rent a space, or use the space I have (an extra bedroom in my home) as an office. Easier to do the latter, as the room won't be used for anything else BUT my office.

The old company has been conspicuously quiet. I sent the CEO a bunch of my files via email last week. But, haven't heard a peep since then.

Thinking about jumping in the car and maybe taking a mini vacation this week. Problem there is, wife is still teaching. Maybe head down to the bourbon trail and the Corvette museum. I can have all calls transferred to my cell phone and will take my Mac Air with me to cover any emails.

abacomike

@graphicguy said:

"...thinking about jumping in the car..."

Now that sounds like a great idea.  I think about jumping in my car and leaving on a mont's vacation all the time.  Unfortunately, that's as far as I ever get - thinking about it!

robr2

Same tax thing with the home office. The IRS enacted an easy home office deduction of $5 per sq. ft. of exclusive office space up to 300 sq. ft. It is so much easier to take the $1500 deduction instead of trying to track all the home expenses and then pro-rating them for a tax return.

Sounds like the new company is a good one and know how the world works today.

coldinohio

GG:KBT is great- my fave was Woodford and 4 roses
; fun place of you new car; (frequent reader, rare poster)

coldinohio

for your -- spell check

abacomike

coldinohio said:

for your -- spell check

Nice to see you come out of the "woodwork" for a post or two.  Welcome, and I hope you find additional reasons to post.