Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

Looked it up.. yep two batteries.

I have to wonder. With all the extra things that have to be engineered/built to make a car with start/stop technology "work" is it really worth it in an "Eco" sense?

Not really, pay extra few dollars a year for gas, or pay $100s for a new battery, plus the impact of the battery when it is tossed out!

Surprise, surprise. Now you know the car biz is directly related to the replacement parts biz. Gee, I wonder when that started?

jmonroe

That's why I prefer a new car with a warranty.....I don't get surprises like an extra battery I didn't even know I had. :@

You’d buy a new car rather than change the battery? Must to be nice to be rich.

My theory is that it probably doesn't cost a huge amount more to drive a new car over many used cars. Sometimes you get lucky with a used car and it doesn't need many repairs. But, if you consider the cost of repairs, the disruption to your life getting a car fixed all the time, the lack of reliability so you are late for appointments or work, or say the big fix....a $5000 electrical or transmission repair, then yes, maybe it is worth $3000 more a year to trade in when the warranty is up.
When you get to a certain age....you probably live longer if you don't put up with a lot of frustration......getting a car repaired constantly.
The E400 has one more year on warranty.....but, I will probably keep it for a few more years, in one year it will have less than 24k miles on it.....doesn't make sense to trade it in for what I would get for it...it is like the C250....for what I will get better to gamble that it won't need a major repair. Kind of like the simplicity of the C250.....no stop/start...no alternate battery.

My 16 yo van cost $45 in repairs last year. My 20 yo car cost $0.

How many miles did you go? Would you take them to Florida? Do they always start in all kinds of weather? I think you have had fair sized repairs that you talked about....we remember the good, forget the bad.

No too many miles but yeah, I’d drive either one to Florida. Neither has failed to start. Both cars have been pretty good on repairs. Other cars have been money pits for sure.

Just saying you can’t always equate older with high repair costs.

It is a bit of a gamble, an older car can be a great buy, or it can be a money pit. I am not a gambler, I never win when I gamble....so I would rather have debt I can manage, plus added reliability, plus the pleasure of a newer car.....but, it is all personal preference and financial situation.
When people say their used car never needs anything I think of some people I know who go to the horse races, they always tell you how much they won, they don't tell you much it cost to win that money.

pensfan83

jmonroe said:

pensfan83 said:

As long as the weather holds up our annual mulch fest with our neighbors will take place the weekend after Easter. Yesterday we spent the day cleaning out all the debris to prep them. Basically we all pitch in on a tri-axle full of mulch that's dumped in the circle and we go from yard to yard helping each other out, takes no time at all. This year that's not happening for obvious reasons so we're all effectively on our own drawing from the pile by ourselves.

I'm trying to convince the boss to convert more of the mulch beds to river rock but so far I'm being met with resistance on that front.

I have some river rock that I gathered up from a few places where it was skimpilly placed when we bought this house and placed all of it under the front window of the family room. Looks a lot better than it did the way it was. Still have some red mulch just to add some color.

Have you given any thought to using black granite chips vs. river rock. That's what Son #1 did 3 years after he bought his second house. Got tired of doing the mulch thing. It's a little pricey but has a good look to it and like river rock will never need replaced. He said his across the street neighbor is going to do that any day now.

jmonroe

When we redid our back deck and other parts of the backyard we used river rock and it still looks very nice with no upkeep needed. The issue isn't me not wanting to, it's convincing the boss who prefers the look of mulch and the fact it's not as permanent as rocks so it's easy to change color, strip out the beds to the dirt if we want to swap out shrubs, etc. I could probably get on board with mulch along side of the driveway behind the retaining walls and near the road with the mailbox but I'd like to continue wrapping the sides with the river rock.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

No too many miles but yeah, I’d drive either one to Florida. Neither has failed to start. Both cars have been pretty good on repairs. Other cars have been money pits for sure.

Just saying you can’t always equate older with high repair costs.

Agreed; I'd drive the Club Sport or Wrangler to Florida. Of course you are much like me in that you know your cars. You don't see them as hideously complex machines that are impossible to comprehend.

abacomike

explorerx4 said:

Speaking of impressions, can't forget driver100 and the striped shirt.

I have nightmares over that!🤪😜

jmonroe

abacomike said:

explorerx4 said:

Speaking of impressions, can't forget driver100 and the striped shirt.

I have nightmares over that!🤪😜

You too. I'd say it's time we lay off that shirt. Shirts can be replaced. It's the head that concerns me. I've seen better looking heads on 3 day old beer.

jmonroe

abacomike

jmonroe said:

abacomike said:

explorerx4 said:

Speaking of impressions, can't forget driver100 and the striped shirt.

I have nightmares over that!🤪😜

You too. I'd say it's time we lay off that shirt. Shirts can be replaced. It's the head that concerns me. I've seen better looking heads on 3 day old beer.

jmonroe

You need to read more into my post - the head is what gave me nightmares - the shirt, on the other hand, was snazzy!!! 🤙🤙🤙

driver100

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

No too many miles but yeah, I’d drive either one to Florida. Neither has failed to start. Both cars have been pretty good on repairs. Other cars have been money pits for sure.

Just saying you can’t always equate older with high repair costs.

Agreed; I'd drive the Club Sport or Wrangler to Florida. Of course you are much like me in that you know your cars. You don't see them as hideously complex machines that are impossible to comprehend.

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?
A lot of people here can't do their own car repairs, so what, maybe they are great teachers, or engineers, or accountants, or book distribution people.
Maybe some people just like to buy a new car.....if they didn't the car makers would go out of business.
Personally, I'd much rather play tennis, pickleball or read a book than mess around with my car....I have had enough junk cars that needed repairs......I paid my dues.

driver100

abacomike said:

jmonroe said:

abacomike said:

explorerx4 said:

Speaking of impressions, can't forget driver100 and the striped shirt.

I have nightmares over that!🤪😜

You too. I'd say it's time we lay off that shirt. Shirts can be replaced. It's the head that concerns me. I've seen better looking heads on 3 day old beer.

jmonroe

You need to read more into my post - the head is what gave me nightmares - the shirt, on the other hand, was snazzy!!! 🤙🤙🤙

Oh crap...now you tell me. I gave the shirt away to charity, now I'll probably have to find it and pay $10 to get it back.

driver100

I started one, then stopped, so I'll just print your horoscopes;

jipster

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

Oldfarmer- Lowball? How much lower you think they'd go? Looking at almost $10,000 off. The Sonata is out though. They only discount $1,200 off a $27,000 Sonata. Then got most of that $1,000 back with dealer fees and.something called "Pulse" ( flashes that. center brake light). But, yeah, I'll try to get a.little.more meat off the bone.

Explorer- I'll post more when I can, but residual on the non tech package with $1,000 down and 12,000 miles is $17,197. The residential WITH the tech package, same down and mileage....is $18,108

Benjamin- We test drove the TLX with tech package, 4 cylinder. Yes, we were interested in the base. But, with $1,600 more in incentive money for the TLX with tech.package, may be worth spending a little bit more ($1,400) and get the car with tech pack.

Suydum - On me pulling the trigger. Yes....the suspense is.killing me. I hope it lasts. ;-)

Imidazol7- Yes, the salesperson followed me in their company car. A bit odd as I thought she might lose me in traffic...think I stole it, and call the cops. I did put the pedal to the metal a couple of times. She kept up. th

To me the 4 cylinder had very good torque and power. I imagine the 6 cylinder must be a blast.

Sorry, I must have misread what you said. I thought you said the Acura was $10k more than the Sonata so I was suggesting you offer them the Sonata price (-$10k). Seems like that’s just what happened.

Of course you’ll have to go a ways to beat GG’s $17k discount.

How did GG get a $17k discount? Hopefully you guys threw him a party.

You don’t ask....you don’t get.

Pretty much. @jipster ...it was last selling day of 2019 for Kia. I want to say it was January 4th, 5th, maybe 6th of 2020. I had some time off and was roaming around using restaurant gift certs that were taking up space in my wallet. Went to the local Kia store. They had one 2019 Stinger GT2 left.

The year before, doing almost the same thing, same dealer through a $14K off MSRP offer at me. I didn’t bite.

Fast forward 12 months, it was late on the dealer’s last sale day of the year. They told me to make an offer. It was around closing time, but their used car guy looked at my TLX as a trade. wasn’t really planning on buying the Stinger. But, I thought I would put what I considered a “show stopper” offer out there but enough of one I would pull the trigger on. $17K off MSRP. At that point, they low balled my TLX on a trade. I declined trading.

Sales Manager didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no, either. He couldn’t approve the deal, but asked if I would buy at my offer if he got it approved by the GM. I said I would. I had like $200 in my wallet. Gave him a Benjamin as a “holder”. Next day, sales person called and said GM approved the offer. They just wanted to back date the deal to the previous day, which I was OK with.

I’m guessing there was some trunk money we/I didn’t know about. And, it was one of those situations where selling one more car probably put them into a different bonus bracket for the end of the year. This is all speculation. But, I doubt they make the deal unless there was some sort of renumeration on the other end for them.

Only time I’ve done something like that. That being said, I had been looking at Stingers for over a year. So, it’s not like I wasn’t familiar with it. I had seen them, test driven them (probably 3-4 different times in the previous 12 months) and knew a lot about them.

Everyone in here knew I was smitten with it when I first saw it at one of the car shows. Test driving one didn’t temper my enthusiasm.

It was a quick hit.

Cool story. $17k off is awesome. I know nothing about stingers, unless we talking bees or wasps. What was considered a good discount ...about $8k?

imidazol97

driver100 said:

I started one, then stopped, so I'll just print your horoscopes;

@driver100
They all say the same thing...?

roadburner

driver100 said:

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?

What about those who think that changing an automotive fuse is akin to brain surgery?

stickguy

do cars even still have fuses? I haven't changed one is many, many years. They just don't pop much it seems. Even the old cars never needed one changed. I honestly can't remember what car was the last time I had to mess with one because it has been so long (but I do recall replacing one).

roadburner

I will be glad to get back into the courtroom again- that's fun. These hearings by Skype seem interminable. At least my office has a good working relationship with the judge and the defense bar; in some counties things are tense as PDs file literally dozens of motions for bond reduction citing COVID-19 as a justification. One CWA was hit with 50 bond release motions in one day.

In other news, I saw the GTS again: I asked if anyone on FB knew the owner and several reported seeing the car but didn't know the owner. What are the odds that one of 800 cars built for the US would turn up in my hometown? So much for the exclusivity of a "Rare!" special edition...

28firefighter

roadburner said:

driver100 said:

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?

What about those who think that changing an automotive fuse is akin to brain surgery?

Man if that were the case, the Saab would’ve been towed countless times when I had it....

qbrozen

stickguy said:

do cars even still have fuses? I haven't changed one is many, many years. They just don't pop much it seems. Even the old cars never needed one changed. I honestly can't remember what car was the last time I had to mess with one because it has been so long (but I do recall replacing one).

Yes, they do. It is a safety issue. Something needs to interrupt the power in case of a short, lest a fire will ensue.

Interesting tidbit: the charger had a blown lighter socket fuse when it arrived. In locating this fuse (it is in the trunk next to the battery), I discovered that the Dodge engineers actually added a smart feature. The lighter fuse port has 3 prongs instead of the usual 2. You move the fuse to the bottom 2 or top 2 depending if you want constant power or keyed power to the outlet.

roadburner

28firefighter said:

roadburner said:

driver100 said:

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?

What about those who think that changing an automotive fuse is akin to brain surgery?

Man if that were the case, the Saab would’ve been towed countless times when I had it....

My 2002 had the old ceramic fuses that BMW used up until the mid '80s. I fixed about a dozen issues one Sunday afternoon with a can of Wurth contact cleaner and 15 minutes of my time.

stickguy

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

do cars even still have fuses? I haven't changed one is many, many years. They just don't pop much it seems. Even the old cars never needed one changed. I honestly can't remember what car was the last time I had to mess with one because it has been so long (but I do recall replacing one).

Yes, they do. It is a safety issue. Something needs to interrupt the power in case of a short, lest a fire will ensue.

Interesting tidbit: the charger had a blown lighter socket fuse when it arrived. In locating this fuse (it is in the trunk next to the battery), I discovered that the Dodge engineers actually added a smart feature. The lighter fuse port has 3 prongs instead of the usual 2. You move the fuse to the bottom 2 or top 2 depending if you want constant power or keyed power to the outlet.

oh, I know they do. was more rhetorical (snarky?). Most likely the only one that ever goes is the power port, since people have a tendency to pour stuff down into that!

28firefighter

All public and private schools in WA closed for the rest of the academic year.

jipster

Anyone ever have any mishaps or near disasters on a test drive? I was not use to the low profile of that Hyundai Sonata I test drove Friday. Came within 4 inches from having to buy it.

Pulling back into the dealers lot, after my test drive, I pulled up to, and over, the somewhat higher than average curb in front of the showroom, before parking. When I got out I noticed there was literally only about 3-4 inches between the top of the curb and the bottom front end of the Sonata. Probably would have taken out a big hunk of that car's front end and grill had that curb been a little higher. A bit unnerving to me, though my wife thought it no big deal.

Sandman6472

Haven't heard if any vehicles from Enterprise were involved but wouldn't be surprised if some of them were. I just do not know at this juncture. I know on the east coast for our area, we've put excess vehicles at the Palm Beach Raceway in Jupiter and the FAU campus in Boca Raton. Most branches have their parking lots full of vehicles also. And there are 2 offices open for business in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Have really heard nothing since I spoke with the big boss on Sunday the 22nd of March explaining the situation we are now in. I've texted with the whole crew a few times since the furlough but that's it.
No idea if we'll even start by May 1st as of now either. I'm so ready to go back right now!!!

roadburner

I took an E28 M5 up to 115 merging on to
I-71 North in Cincy. The salesman said not a word- although my wife was surprised he stayed quiet. I have a better story about the test drive I took in my M6, but I need to look it up.

stickguy

one downside to the low cars with "sporty" front air dams. My TLX has a faux splitter lip, and it will scrape on even modest parking blocks, stuff that either RDX does not even notice. Will also scrape at the bottom of my driveway if I don't hit it at the right spot/angle.

sb55

@ab348 mentioned the Motor Trend channel. He's right that they're light on content.
I watched the latest episode of Chasing Classic Cars. Wayne spent about half of the 1 hour show 6 loading cars in a transport carrier and marveling that there was an umbrella in every one. Kind of a slow episode, to say the least!

stickguy

CCC was better when the episodes were only 1/2 hour. Hard to fill up an hour in that type of show. Leads to a lot of padding. I got behind on watching my car shows. I think I have 34 episodes of CCC on the DVR, among others (many of which I end up deleting instead).

driver100

roadburner said:

driver100 said:

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?

What about those who think that changing an automotive fuse is akin to brain surgery?

I would bet that at least 95% of brain surgeons don't know how to change a fuse.
I see cdnpinhead is one of your biggest fans....likes to lol's you no matter what the remark.

I have changed fuses in the old days.....these days it would be easier to do more harm than good if you do the wrong thing. I haven't had a fuse go in at least 15 years - if I had to I could easily youtube it. You should know what they say about a lawyer who defends himself;
The man who defends himself in court has a fool for a lawyer and a jackass for a client
It applies to a modern car - you could do more harm than good (won't mention DIY oil changes). Best to call the guy!

btw....They say it is easy to change that auxiliary battery, but, you have to know what you are doing or you could mess up the electrical system. I'd rather pay the extra $100 to $200 and let the guy do it right, and have the liability, than do it wrong and have a $2000 repair. I looked up changing fuses in an MB awhile ago.....it seems easy, but, the dealer is less than a mile away and would do it....I have to get the part anyway, so why would I even do it myself?

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

No too many miles but yeah, I’d drive either one to Florida. Neither has failed to start. Both cars have been pretty good on repairs. Other cars have been money pits for sure.

Just saying you can’t always equate older with high repair costs.

Agreed; I'd drive the Club Sport or Wrangler to Florida. Of course you are much like me in that you know your cars. You don't see them as hideously complex machines that are impossible to comprehend.

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?
A lot of people here can't do their own car repairs, so what, maybe they are great teachers, or engineers, or accountants, or book distribution people.
Maybe some people just like to buy a new car.....if they didn't the car makers would go out of business.
Personally, I'd much rather play tennis, pickleball or read a book than mess around with my car....I have had enough junk cars that needed repairs......I paid my dues.

I’m not bashing you, in fact I’m a bit jealous that you can afford to buy a new car just for the peace of mind. I on the other hand get some pleasure out of convincing an old vehicle to continue giving good service. The search for a cheap low milage car which then continues to run with little maintenance gives me some sort of personal validation. I don’t gamble at the casino so instead I get my thrill gambling in the driveway. There’s no thrill getting a new car to run right.

Of course I don’t spend so much money on them that I can’t leave them on the side of the road and walk away.

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

Oldfarmer- Lowball? How much lower you think they'd go? Looking at almost $10,000 off. The Sonata is out though. They only discount $1,200 off a $27,000 Sonata. Then got most of that $1,000 back with dealer fees and.something called "Pulse" ( flashes that. center brake light). But, yeah, I'll try to get a.little.more meat off the bone.

Explorer- I'll post more when I can, but residual on the non tech package with $1,000 down and 12,000 miles is $17,197. The residential WITH the tech package, same down and mileage....is $18,108

Benjamin- We test drove the TLX with tech package, 4 cylinder. Yes, we were interested in the base. But, with $1,600 more in incentive money for the TLX with tech.package, may be worth spending a little bit more ($1,400) and get the car with tech pack.

Suydum - On me pulling the trigger. Yes....the suspense is.killing me. I hope it lasts. ;-)

Imidazol7- Yes, the salesperson followed me in their company car. A bit odd as I thought she might lose me in traffic...think I stole it, and call the cops. I did put the pedal to the metal a couple of times. She kept up. th

To me the 4 cylinder had very good torque and power. I imagine the 6 cylinder must be a blast.

Sorry, I must have misread what you said. I thought you said the Acura was $10k more than the Sonata so I was suggesting you offer them the Sonata price (-$10k). Seems like that’s just what happened.

Of course you’ll have to go a ways to beat GG’s $17k discount.

How did GG get a $17k discount? Hopefully you guys threw him a party.

You don’t ask....you don’t get.

Pretty much. @jipster ...it was last selling day of 2019 for Kia. I want to say it was January 4th, 5th, maybe 6th of 2020. I had some time off and was roaming around using restaurant gift certs that were taking up space in my wallet. Went to the local Kia store. They had one 2019 Stinger GT2 left.

The year before, doing almost the same thing, same dealer through a $14K off MSRP offer at me. I didn’t bite.

Fast forward 12 months, it was late on the dealer’s last sale day of the year. They told me to make an offer. It was around closing time, but their used car guy looked at my TLX as a trade. wasn’t really planning on buying the Stinger. But, I thought I would put what I considered a “show stopper” offer out there but enough of one I would pull the trigger on. $17K off MSRP. At that point, they low balled my TLX on a trade. I declined trading.

Sales Manager didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no, either. He couldn’t approve the deal, but asked if I would buy at my offer if he got it approved by the GM. I said I would. I had like $200 in my wallet. Gave him a Benjamin as a “holder”. Next day, sales person called and said GM approved the offer. They just wanted to back date the deal to the previous day, which I was OK with.

I’m guessing there was some trunk money we/I didn’t know about. And, it was one of those situations where selling one more car probably put them into a different bonus bracket for the end of the year. This is all speculation. But, I doubt they make the deal unless there was some sort of renumeration on the other end for them.

Only time I’ve done something like that. That being said, I had been looking at Stingers for over a year. So, it’s not like I wasn’t familiar with it. I had seen them, test driven them (probably 3-4 different times in the previous 12 months) and knew a lot about them.

Everyone in here knew I was smitten with it when I first saw it at one of the car shows. Test driving one didn’t temper my enthusiasm.

It was a quick hit.

Cool story. $17k off is awesome. I know nothing about stingers, unless we talking bees or wasps. What was considered a good discount ...about $8k?

When they first came out dealer’s were sticking $10k ADMs on them.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

do cars even still have fuses? I haven't changed one is many, many years. They just don't pop much it seems. Even the old cars never needed one changed. I honestly can't remember what car was the last time I had to mess with one because it has been so long (but I do recall replacing one).

Yes, they do. It is a safety issue. Something needs to interrupt the power in case of a short, lest a fire will ensue.

Interesting tidbit: the charger had a blown lighter socket fuse when it arrived. In locating this fuse (it is in the trunk next to the battery), I discovered that the Dodge engineers actually added a smart feature. The lighter fuse port has 3 prongs instead of the usual 2. You move the fuse to the bottom 2 or top 2 depending if you want constant power or keyed power to the outlet.

A lot of new cars that we dealt with had a ‘transport mode’ which restricted a lot of features like lights and top speed. I was a pain when you had to locate these cars in a pitch black parking lot when the key fob wouldn’t give you a toot or light any lights. Then when you got out on the road the car wouldn’t do more than 20 mph.

All it took was a fuse to be installed to make them road ready.

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

Anyone ever have any mishaps or near disasters on a test drive? I was not use to the low profile of that Hyundai Sonata I test drove Friday. Came within 4 inches from having to buy it.

Pulling back into the dealers lot, after my test drive, I pulled up to, and over, the somewhat higher than average curb in front of the showroom, before parking. When I got out I noticed there was literally only about 3-4 inches between the top of the curb and the bottom front end of the Sonata. Probably would have taken out a big hunk of that car's front end and grill had that curb been a little higher. A bit unnerving to me, though my wife thought it no big deal.

When I took the Mustang out for a PP test drive with the Mustang “expert” I asked to go on some twisty roads to experience the handling characteristics. I must have got a bit frisky on one turn because I saw him stiffen up and brace himself. I didn’t think I was going that fast but it must have seemed so from his seat.

graphicguy

jipster said:

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

Oldfarmer- Lowball? How much lower you think they'd go? Looking at almost $10,000 off. The Sonata is out though. They only discount $1,200 off a $27,000 Sonata. Then got most of that $1,000 back with dealer fees and.something called "Pulse" ( flashes that. center brake light). But, yeah, I'll try to get a.little.more meat off the bone.

Explorer- I'll post more when I can, but residual on the non tech package with $1,000 down and 12,000 miles is $17,197. The residential WITH the tech package, same down and mileage....is $18,108

Benjamin- We test drove the TLX with tech package, 4 cylinder. Yes, we were interested in the base. But, with $1,600 more in incentive money for the TLX with tech.package, may be worth spending a little bit more ($1,400) and get the car with tech pack.

Suydum - On me pulling the trigger. Yes....the suspense is.killing me. I hope it lasts. ;-)

Imidazol7- Yes, the salesperson followed me in their company car. A bit odd as I thought she might lose me in traffic...think I stole it, and call the cops. I did put the pedal to the metal a couple of times. She kept up. th

To me the 4 cylinder had very good torque and power. I imagine the 6 cylinder must be a blast.

Sorry, I must have misread what you said. I thought you said the Acura was $10k more than the Sonata so I was suggesting you offer them the Sonata price (-$10k). Seems like that’s just what happened.

Of course you’ll have to go a ways to beat GG’s $17k discount.

How did GG get a $17k discount? Hopefully you guys threw him a party.

You don’t ask....you don’t get.

Pretty much. @jipster ...it was last selling day of 2019 for Kia. I want to say it was January 4th, 5th, maybe 6th of 2020. I had some time off and was roaming around using restaurant gift certs that were taking up space in my wallet. Went to the local Kia store. They had one 2019 Stinger GT2 left.

The year before, doing almost the same thing, same dealer through a $14K off MSRP offer at me. I didn’t bite.

Fast forward 12 months, it was late on the dealer’s last sale day of the year. They told me to make an offer. It was around closing time, but their used car guy looked at my TLX as a trade. wasn’t really planning on buying the Stinger. But, I thought I would put what I considered a “show stopper” offer out there but enough of one I would pull the trigger on. $17K off MSRP. At that point, they low balled my TLX on a trade. I declined trading.

Sales Manager didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no, either. He couldn’t approve the deal, but asked if I would buy at my offer if he got it approved by the GM. I said I would. I had like $200 in my wallet. Gave him a Benjamin as a “holder”. Next day, sales person called and said GM approved the offer. They just wanted to back date the deal to the previous day, which I was OK with.

I’m guessing there was some trunk money we/I didn’t know about. And, it was one of those situations where selling one more car probably put them into a different bonus bracket for the end of the year. This is all speculation. But, I doubt they make the deal unless there was some sort of renumeration on the other end for them.

Only time I’ve done something like that. That being said, I had been looking at Stingers for over a year. So, it’s not like I wasn’t familiar with it. I had seen them, test driven them (probably 3-4 different times in the previous 12 months) and knew a lot about them.

Everyone in here knew I was smitten with it when I first saw it at one of the car shows. Test driving one didn’t temper my enthusiasm.

It was a quick hit.

Cool story. $17k off is awesome. I know nothing about stingers, unless we talking bees or wasps. What was considered a good discount ...about $8k?

Previous year, again, end of year sale, I could have pulled the trigger on a 2018 for about $12K off Sticker. I thought they were at the bottom of the price they’d take then.

This year, wasn’t in the market, had free time on my hands, hadn’t really done any research (which is unlike me, as I research the hell out of a car and pricing ordinarily) and made an offer I expected them to reject, but thought it would be a helluva deal if they accepted.

I now have a Stinger in my garage.

graphicguy

So, I have all these Bed, Bath and Beyond 20% off coupons sitting around. I need some towels and misc kitchen utensils and decided to use those coupons on line.

I know BBB retails stores are closed. But, you would think they would turn into an on line retailer during these times. They have practically nothing in stock. My guess, they’ll be pulling a Chapter 7 or 11 here shortly.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

No too many miles but yeah, I’d drive either one to Florida. Neither has failed to start. Both cars have been pretty good on repairs. Other cars have been money pits for sure.

Just saying you can’t always equate older with high repair costs.

Agreed; I'd drive the Club Sport or Wrangler to Florida. Of course you are much like me in that you know your cars. You don't see them as hideously complex machines that are impossible to comprehend.

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?
A lot of people here can't do their own car repairs, so what, maybe they are great teachers, or engineers, or accountants, or book distribution people.
Maybe some people just like to buy a new car.....if they didn't the car makers would go out of business.
Personally, I'd much rather play tennis, pickleball or read a book than mess around with my car....I have had enough junk cars that needed repairs......I paid my dues.

I’m not bashing you, in fact I’m a bit jealous that you can afford to buy a new car just for the peace of mind. I on the other hand get some pleasure out of convincing an old vehicle to continue giving good service. The search for a cheap low milage car which then continues to run with little maintenance gives me some sort of personal validation. I don’t gamble at the casino so instead I get my thrill gambling in the driveway. There’s no thrill getting a new car to run right.

Of course I don’t spend so much money on them that I can’t leave them on the side of the road and walk away.

I get it. And sometimes I see an older car that looks like it runs well, and I think, that must be a nice way to live....can even park at Walmart and who cares if someone slams a cart into it, or opens a door on it.
I would say I have only had really nice cars for the last 20 years of 73, and though almost all my cars have been pretty good ones....I like the reliability and safety of a new car - and I might as well buy it because money sitting in the bank isn't as much fun - it's just paper (or plastic stuff I guess they use today).

stickguy

I think BBB recently announced they were closing a number of stores. As to online, they already did that. I wonder if there are inventory shortages due to supply chain problems, Combined with recent surge in online shopping? We used to go there more but not much lately.

stickguy

Older cars to me depends on how devoted to want to be to care and feeding, and what you use them for. Really older cars don’t lend themselves to longer trips and every day use. We will always have a newer/lower miles “good” car for that. But a 2nd car that doesn’t drive much and rarely gets far from home, sure, let your beater flag fly!

Plus some of us have spouses that don’t care that we fixed the transmission with duct tape and a twist tie, they still aren’t riding in or driving a nasty old bomber.

imidazol97

qbrozen said:

The lighter fuse port has 3 prongs instead of the usual 2. You move the fuse to the bottom 2 or top 2 depending if you want constant power or keyed power to the outlet.

My 2003 leSabre had that.

suydam

stickguy said:

one downside to the low cars with "sporty" front air dams. My TLX has a faux splitter lip, and it will scrape on even modest parking blocks, stuff that either RDX does not even notice. Will also scrape at the bottom of my driveway if I don't hit it at the right spot/angle.

The Volt’s is low as well. I’m very careful not to get too close to those parking curbs. They are too low for the front warning light to sound. There are many times when I appreciate the Encore’s higher clearance.

roadburner

driver100 said:

I would bet that at least 95% of brain surgeons don't know how to change a fuse.
I see cdnpinhead is one of your biggest fans....likes to lol's you no matter what the remark.

I have changed fuses in the old days.....these days it would be easier to do more harm than good if you do the wrong thing. I haven't had a fuse go in at least 15 years - if I had to I could easily youtube it. You should know what they say about a lawyer who defends himself;
The man who defends himself in court has a fool for a lawyer and a jackass for a client
It applies to a modern car - you could do more harm than good (won't mention DIY oil changes). Best to call the guy!

btw....They say it is easy to change that auxiliary battery, but, you have to know what you are doing or you could mess up the electrical system. I'd rather pay the extra $100 to $200 and let the guy do it right, and have the liability, than do it wrong and have a $2000 repair. I looked up changing fuses in an MB awhile ago.....it seems easy, but, the dealer is less than a mile away and would do it....I have to get the part anyway, so why would I even do it myself?

By a happy coincidence, I’m a fan of cdnpinhead as well; we both find the same things laughable. I realize not every enthusiast has-or wants-the ability to field-strip a Weber 45 DCOE- but likewise I find it difficult to see how someone who is allegedly an automotive enthusiast could be averse to performing even the simplest maintenance or repairs on his/her vehicle.

I can’t speak for cdnpinhead, but I like to know at least a little bit about the technology that I interact with on a daily basis. I cannot imagine living at the mercy of a “professional” every time something hiccups in my home or car. For me it’s not a matter of saving money, it’s a matter of self respect and independence.

I get it; you don’t want to be bothered in the slightest with respect to maintaining and/or repairing the cars you wear. And while I get it, I can’t help but find it extremely amusing.

stickguy

Speaking of fuses, got me thinking. Houses haven’t used them in many decades. Why haven’t cars adopted some sort of circuit breaker set up? Easier to see which one went, and to reset.

imidazol97

graphicguy said:

So, I have all these Bed, Bath and Beyond 20% off coupons sitting around. I need some towels and misc kitchen utensils and decided to use those coupons on line.

I know BBB retails stores are closed. But, you would think they would turn into an on line retailer during these times. They have practically nothing in stock. My guess, they’ll be pulling a Chapter 7 or 11 here shortly.

I don't think I'm seeing as many semi trucks on the highway as two weeks ago at the beginning of all the hoarding the shutdowns. I wonder if many businesses have gone into a mode of not ordering anything to reduce cash outflow, and will hope to restart as soon as we come back to reality an open businesses to save jobs. I forsee restaurants with 6 foot spacing and servers wearing masks. Maybe we can work that into the theme of the restaurant.

I see truck traffic levels at typically lunch time on I70 and I75, the Crossroads of America. My data is not scientific.

imidazol97

Store closings:

I saw last evening one of our local driving ranges is open with several people there wasting their effort on hitting those little white balls.

Also noticed that along I75 a large shoe store that advertises boots has been open with cars there.

stickguy

To be fair to driver, the complexity and downstream risk on new cars, especially something like a new MB, and double on anything electronic related, changes the dynamics. Plus manufacturers seem to do everything possible to keep a DIY out, starting with figuring out what/why there is a problem.

Sticking with fuses, might still be able to find and open the box, but even if it’s simple to pop one out and replace it, there is still the bigger issue of what went wrong in the first place (root cause) because a fuse should only blow if there was a problem.

stickguy

Imid, probably consolidating truck traffic to just going to amazon warehouses. Not as much to more local stores.

imidazol97

stickguy said:

Imid, probably consolidating truck traffic to just going to amazon warehouses. Not as much to more local stores.

Jackpot.And I do see as many Prime trucks (semis) moving the freight. East-west on I70 and I75/I675. FedEx doubles aren't as frequent, at least in daytime, as they were on I70. We have a local drop for FedEx but most of them are traveling through. Columbus-Indianapolis.

imidazol97

Re Amazon order of KN95 masks:

Amazon requires contacting the seller with complaints. I did that. I received a response as soon
as the sun was up in China from the seller. They sort of apologized and gave a nebulous explanation
of blame. Offered a $5 refund for the two missing items. Fine. Done. Remind me to order on shore only.

graphicguy

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

No too many miles but yeah, I’d drive either one to Florida. Neither has failed to start. Both cars have been pretty good on repairs. Other cars have been money pits for sure.

Just saying you can’t always equate older with high repair costs.

Agreed; I'd drive the Club Sport or Wrangler to Florida. Of course you are much like me in that you know your cars. You don't see them as hideously complex machines that are impossible to comprehend.

Oh man! Some people can fix a car, some are brain surgeons....is one better than the other?
A lot of people here can't do their own car repairs, so what, maybe they are great teachers, or engineers, or accountants, or book distribution people.
Maybe some people just like to buy a new car.....if they didn't the car makers would go out of business.
Personally, I'd much rather play tennis, pickleball or read a book than mess around with my car....I have had enough junk cars that needed repairs......I paid my dues.

I’m not bashing you, in fact I’m a bit jealous that you can afford to buy a new car just for the peace of mind. I on the other hand get some pleasure out of convincing an old vehicle to continue giving good service. The search for a cheap low milage car which then continues to run with little maintenance gives me some sort of personal validation. I don’t gamble at the casino so instead I get my thrill gambling in the driveway. There’s no thrill getting a new car to run right.

Of course I don’t spend so much money on them that I can’t leave them on the side of the road and walk away.

I get it. And sometimes I see an older car that looks like it runs well, and I think, that must be a nice way to live....can even park at Walmart and who cares if someone slams a cart into it, or opens a door on it.
I would say I have only had really nice cars for the last 20 years of 73, and though almost all my cars have been pretty good ones....I like the reliability and safety of a new car - and I might as well buy it because money sitting in the bank isn't as much fun - it's just paper (or plastic stuff I guess they use today).

Those are the exact reasons I buy new cars. I spent the first 20 years of my driver’s license age buying used cars which needed attention...usually at the most inopportune times.

Once I got to the position in life I could afford a new car, I was spoiled by their (relatively) trouble free ownership.

It makes me crazy when my new car needs constant work (as most here know).

I pay a premium for new car ownership. I take exceptional care of my cars...both physically and mechanically. As such, I want and expect my new car(s) to be trouble free.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

A lot of new cars that we dealt with had a ‘transport mode’ which restricted a lot of features like lights and top speed. I was a pain when you had to locate these cars in a pitch black parking lot when the key fob wouldn’t give you a toot or light any lights. Then when you got out on the road the car wouldn’t do more than 20 mph.

All it took was a fuse to be installed to make them road ready.

99% of the new BMWs I clocked in were in Transport Mode. They would have to be connected to the Integrated Service Technical Application(ISTA) to activate everything.

ab348

stickguy said:

one downside to the low cars with "sporty" front air dams. My TLX has a faux splitter lip, and it will scrape on even modest parking blocks, stuff that either RDX does not even notice. Will also scrape at the bottom of my driveway if I don't hit it at the right spot/angle.

Yes, my ATS has the same affliction. A couple of times a year I need to lie down on my back in the driveway with the touch-up paint and fill in the gouges.

ab348

stickguy said:

CCC was better when the episodes were only 1/2 hour. Hard to fill up an hour in that type of show. Leads to a lot of padding. I got behind on watching my car shows. I think I have 34 episodes of CCC on the DVR, among others (many of which I end up deleting instead).

Yeah, I think they made a mistake taking it to an hour. I saw a new to me one last night and there was a lot of padding to it. The other thing I noticed on the previous episode was that even though Roger Barr was pictured helping do a job, they didn't mention him and he had no dialog. The falling out he had with Carini last year when he got sick was not pretty and I suppose that is the result. The new mechanic on the show, Mike, just doesn't cut it for me.

kyfdx

imidazol97 said:

stickguy said:

Imid, probably consolidating truck traffic to just going to amazon warehouses. Not as much to more local stores.

Jackpot.And I do see as many Prime trucks (semis) moving the freight. East-west on I70 and I75/I675. FedEx doubles aren't as frequent, at least in daytime, as they were on I70. We have a local drop for FedEx but most of them are traveling through. Columbus-Indianapolis.

FedEx Freight is a trucking company. Like Roadway or Yellow. That is who pulls mostly double trailers. They are the biggest LTL freight carrier in the country (I think).

FedEx Ground pulls some doubles, but not as many. There are big Ground hub/transfer facilities in a lot of locations. Grove City has a really big one.

FedEx Express. That is the overnight and 2-day guaranteed packages, along with some time definite heavy freight. That is the station you see by the DAY airport. FedEx Express flies directly in there from Memphis.

FedEx Express also has a giant air hub at IND airport. But, anything Dayton gets from IND would be trucked to and from that hub.