Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

nyccarguy

Looks fantastic @tyguy

stickguy

nice kitchen. I like the way those glass tiles look.

cdnpinhead

The odds that Mike wouldn't want to be front and centre are slim. Even I am concerned.

carnaught

Why not call Mike's condo management ASAP? Possible it could be a life or death situation.....certainly hope not.

[Deleted User]

Whew! I just heard from Mike. I'll let him update the crew on what he wants to disclose, but he's still with us and at home. Prayers welcome.

stickguy

well, that is good news. sounds like the trip through the wringer must be continuing.

28firefighter

@tyguy  impressive and looks great!

roadburner

Last night my wife and I met another couple for dinner. The husband is an old friend of mine who has a moderate interest in cars- he's owned a early Camaro SS, a Spitfire and a TR4. His current rice is a Mini Cooper S. I ran it through the gears in Sport+ and took him down a somewhat winding road. When we got back he said, "This car makes a regular BMW seem kind of dull." "Pretty much." I said- which is sad. I still resent the fact that you now have to use the option list to make most new BMWs handle and perform like most all BMWs used to in base form. On the other hand, I'm thankful that there a few True Believers still left in Munich who still believe in BMWs that are relatively light, nimble, and exhilarating to drive.

[Deleted User]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to check in for the night, but I'll rest much better having heard from Mike. Wringer indeed. Poor guy has gone through a lot.

roadburner

28firefighter said:

@tyguy  impressive and looks great!

Ditto!

stickguy

wife and I parked next to a nice gray Boxster today. I pointed out that it was nice. She commented that is seemed awful small. Well, yeah! I doubt the 2 of us would really fit in it. I did say that I would have something like that someday, but it would be a 3rd car/toy. Not my next one with would be the primary DD and trip car.

A nice 2015 2 series off lease late next year? A more practical fun car!

carnaught

tyguy said:

Whew! I just heard from Mike. I'll let him update the crew on what he wants to disclose, but he's still with us and at home. Prayers welcome.

Whew indeed. Glad you heard from him and that he is home!

roadburner

stickguy said:

wife and I parked next to a nice gray Boxster today. I pointed out that it was nice. She commented that is seemed awful small. Well, yeah! I doubt the 2 of us would really fit in it. I did say that I would have something like that someday, but it would be a 3rd car/toy. Not my next one with would be the primary DD and trip car.

A nice 2015 2 series off lease late next year? A more practical fun car!

A good friend and fellow BMW CCA member just picked an Agate Gray Cayman. Stunning.



We plan to compare it to the 2er back-to-back at a track event. Should be interesting!

stickguy

was that color or close to it. real sharp.

nyccarguy

That Cayman is SICK!  There was a caffeine & carburators this AM in New Cannan (a town with an INSANE amount of wealth).  I couldn't go because my wife had to work and I was hangin with the kiddos.  There was some major metal on the roads today.  My buddy saw a showroom condition E30 ///M3 just ripping up the highway.  I saw a blue Cayman GT4.

Michaell

Glad to hear that Mike is OK.

We did a similar backsplash at our old house.

iluvmysephia1

What do you think the depreciation would be on the Scion since the brand is folding into Toyota?

suydam - great question. I have wondered the same thing, and I think that my Scion will hold it's value a lot like a Toyota will - perhaps I'd choose a 2016 Toyota Corolla as a quick value example. Plus, like stick said it's basically a Mazda with a nose job.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

scion probably won't matter since the toyota dealer is still there, and that is where the car came from. I assume most people just think of it as a Toyota model anyway. Probably more do that, than know that it is really a Mazda with a nose job.

Scion is made by Mazda? I did not know that.

iluvmysephia1

oldfarmer - no, Scion is usually made by Scion. My 2016 Scion iA is an unusual case. Toyota chose Mazda to work with in production of the iA. So much so that they're essentially paying Mazda for each engine, tranny, suspension and interior of iA that rolls off the assembly line. I left body out because the body is the only part of the car that was designed by Scion, and that "distinctive" nose is a prime example of that! I have seen countless video reviews of the car and they have looked underneath the car, they've looked at the interior getup, etc., and the iA is a spittin' image of the 2016 Mazda 2.

Take a look at this video of a guy slaloming in his 2016 Scion iA at an Autocross event held in Atlanta. I had to do a double-take when I first saw it! He has added one engine mod to his iA to provide some extra boost. If I had the Mrs. with me and drove like this both of us would be leaving our lunch back at the cone #6 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPXvWbD6sZY

suydam

iluvmysephia1 said:

What do you think the depreciation would be on the Scion since the brand is folding into Toyota?

suydam - great question. I have wondered the same thing, and I think that my Scion will hold it's value a lot like a Toyota will - perhaps I'd choose a 2016 Toyota Corolla as a quick value example. Plus, like stick said it's basically a Mazda with a nose job.

You might be right. My Pontiac Vibe was "really" a Toyota Matrix and as a 10 year old car with a busted radiator I got $3k in trade for it. I'm really surprised at the depreciation on your Soul. There are a lot of them out there and they seem like sturdy little vehicles. Is it the Kia badge?

bwia

tyguy said:

Okay, lightning the mood a little while we worry about our friend...I just finished a little kitchen project while the wifey was away. Here's a shot of the new back splash I just installed using a combo of colored glass, travertine, and marble. My wife approves, so I'm feelin' good :-)

Very nice and exceptionally clean. I have the same faucet

abacomike

Was just trying to catch up on all the posts from the past 3-4 days.  I appreciate all of your concerns.  I was having quite a bit of discomfort so I had to run over to the ER to get something to relieve it.

Still waiting for the CT-Scan with dye to be scheduled by the doctor.  He was concerned because I was dehydrated and felt my kidneys could not handle getting rid of the dye they need to inject.  Probably need to have another blood test to confirm.  Don't know why they just don't hook me up to IV fluids for a few hours and then do the scan.

Again, thanks for your sincere concerns. 

graphicguy

ty...great job on the kitchen remod. I like it....a lot.

I was talking to my son last night. He has a Ford Fiesta, I think about 4 years old. It's been a good car for him (poorly executed double clutch automatic trans aside). His girlfriend of 4 years has an older Focus that they wanted me to look at. Lots of needs....brakes, tires, exhaust, needs to button up some oil leaks, too. Probably about $2K, maybe $3K given that was just the stuff I noticed it needed. A mechanic may find more. Not sure what it's worth, but 100K+ miles, probably not a whole lot.

So, she wants to buy his Fiesta. Runs great...meticulous maintenance. Fun little car.

I suggested he take a look at the Scions as they seem to be having something of a fire sale on them. Downside.....resale will probably be in the tank on them when he's ready to sell again 4-5 years down the road given they're a doomed brand.

He's also thinking of stepping well up the latter and looking at a GTI.

He's asked me for "Dad/GG help" in negotiations with whatever he buys.

This is the fun part...shopping for cars when I don't have to write a check for them. Looking forward to some test drives, too.

Mercedes lady with the dealer smashed car....she's looking for a payout from the dealership that she doesn't deserve nor will win if she pursues. Her best bet is to deal with the guy who hit her car.

The guy with the M5....I know BMWs are costly to repair......M series even more so. But, $30K for the damage I saw isn't even remotely in the ball park...even with BMW parts and BMW labor....unless there's something there I don't see. Maybe $10K....I'll even push it to $12K...but not $30K.

He does have a point...dealership lied to him about how the accident happened. And, it's good he got a 2nd opinion. But, there should be no "out of pocket" from him on the repair.

In both circumstances, diminished value is definitely in play (isn't it RB?).

Glad to hear Mike is OK.

iluvmysephia1

Well, point - counterpoint. There's one vote for Scion's depreciating quickly. My vote is that they won't depreciate quickly. They will hold their value. I will be paying a 5 - year note on mine, so the value-to amount owed won't square up until I've got about two years left to pay on it.

As for Kia depreciation, well, Kia needs to convince people they're good. Apparently this takes a lot of convincing. Our '11Kia Soul is built well and I don't worry about it at all, dependability-wise. 

stickguy

At less than $14k, it really doesn't have much room to depreciate. Not a $120k Mercedes we are talking about!

PF_Flyer

ab348 said:

Posted this originally in the wrong forum, reposting here:

Interesting story in the news locally about a woman whose 2013 E-class Benz sustained $14,000 of damage in a crash while it was being serviced at the dealer:

Gotta love the reaction sin the comments on the article, wondering why the car was being taken on a "fun run". REALLY? Repair shops DO road test cars all the time. They HAVE to for some stuff. Example, my daughter just had a lower control arm break on her car and that took out the axle. There was a leakage of transaxle fluid, so when the axle and control arm were replaced, they took it out on multiple road tests to be sure the transmission didn't get dinged (which thankully it did not)

jmonroe

'stick' said:

was that color or close to it. real sharp.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks 'stick' you're the first one to complement me on the color of my '15 Genny.

Hyundai doesn't call it Guard or Agate Gray. Hyundai calls it Empire State Gray but it sure looks like that Cayman. Maybe it's the car and not the color that has prevented me from getting complements.

Mrs. j calls it an old mans car color. I can only imagine what that Cayman owner would say if she said that to him (Round 1 take your corners).

jmonroe

ab348

Still haven't seen my brother's new Kia Rondo, but since the dealership is nearby and they were closed yesterday, I visited their lot. They had an identical Rondo there to what he bought right down to the color. Surprised at the amount of rear legroom in such a small car, seemed ample. I figure he should be happy with it.

While I was there I looked at what else they had. There was a loaded-up Forte5 there that I quite liked. Their lower-level models all seem pretty basic but the loaded ones can look attractive inside. There was a top-line Optima there that also impressed me, though it seemed bigger outside than I remember. Oddly they had a 2016 Optima hybrid that looked like all the others outside, but still used the old-style dashboard inside. Strange. Also strange: every new Kia on their lot was black inside. Dunno if this is their ordering preference or if that is the way they all come. Too bad.

Speaking of dashboards, one thing I noticed: both the Sorrento and the Sportage have a leather-grained material on the top of their dashboard that looks like some of the nastiest, shiniest hard black plastic I have seen in a while. I don't know if it is actually hard but the shine makes it seem so. Odd.

driver100

*Ty, great looking kitchen. That style of backsplash is the rage these days, it looks really smart. I liked when mirror backsplashes were in....you could see the back of the appliances and it looked like there were twice as many.

*Mike, glad to hear you are back with us and doing alright.

*RE; Scions and other orphaned cars. Not a big deal these days, parts will be around and no one is going to worry about depreciation down the road when it has lost 3/4s of it's value. I still see some Saabs around, kind of sorry I didn't get one, at least it looks unique...the verts can be nice looking, and they were a lot of fun to drive, if you don't mind FWD;

jmonroe

'ty'

Very nice kitchen tile job.

When we redid our kitchen in 2010 we installed the random horizontal tile like you did but Mrs, j thought that the glass would be too bright so she chose the flat color. Now she is having doubts about that choice and we are thinking of placing the very thin self stick glass tiles (really plastic to look like tile) as an accent band in the middle of what is there now. I'm just about to buy a few tiles and make the experiment. I'm not too hopeful but I am willing to try it because I am NOT going to authorize a complete replacement.

FWIW, that horizontal pattern, both glass look and standard look, were just coming out about the time we redid the kitchen in 2010 and they were at a premium price back then. They sure have come down in price since then.

jmonroe

roadburner

graphicguy said:

In both circumstances, diminished value is definitely in play (isn't it RB?).

You bet; the M5 owner ended up suing the dealership and got a fairly hefty jury verdict, I recall.

ab348

jmonroe said:

FWIW, that horizontal pattern, both glass look and standard look, were just coming out about the time we redid the kitchen in 2010 and they were at a premium price back then. They sure have come down in price since then.

True. I have been going back and forth about a backsplash for years. I have a stack of sample tiles from 14 years ago when the kitchen was done and never went with any. More recently I decided to revive the idea and went to Home Depot and the like to see what they had. That horizontal glass style was obviously de rigeur as they had all sorts of variations. Didn't act on any of those either.

I keep getting drawn back to styles of marble tile. I know it isn't too tough to DIY a backsplash but I would need to buy all the tools and would only ever use them that one time. I suspect I will wait until I decide to upgrade the counters and then get it all done.

stickguy

Definitely don't want to do a backsplash if there is any chance you are doing counters soon.

Mr_Shiftright

roadburner said:

Last night my wife and I met another couple for dinner. The husband is an old friend of mine who has a moderate interest in cars- he's owned a early Camaro SS, a Spitfire and a TR4. His current rice is a Mini Cooper S. I ran it through the gears in Sport+ and took him down a somewhat winding road. When we got back he said, "This car makes a regular BMW seem kind of dull." "Pretty much." I said- which is sad. I still resent the fact that you now have to use the option list to make most new BMWs handle and perform like most all BMWs used to in base form. On the other hand, I'm thankful that there a few True Believers still left in Munich who still believe in BMWs that are relatively light, nimble, and exhilarating to drive.

I saw this coming maybe 5-6 years ago (and I'm sure you did,, too), when I noticed the demographic for BMW buyers was changing rapidly. Also (just my opinion) when they got into the SUV business, this made it almost inevitable--"since we have the BMW SUV, let's get one of their cars, too".

stever

I think Scions will have lousy resale because they have lousy pre-sale. I've shopped several over the years - could have "stolen" a manual xB a few years back. The dealer had a few leftover ones to choose from too.

Kia doesn't have the rep for reliability like Honda nor do they seem as well screwed together as Toyotas.

None of which matters much to me since I drive them forever.

I love tile and liked some 1" glass tiles so much we found on a trip to Chicago, I tiled the countertops in Michigan with them. Held up fine for a couple of years - would love to know if the owner has had to replace them yet (I left them a sheet of replacements. )

Here we have Saltillo tile floors, tile baths, tile kitchen countertops, Talavera tiles on the fireplace and I made a tile coffee table. Fun stuff and ideal for this climate (and it's common it's easy to find experienced installers). Also found some sanded siliconized caulk that works great for fast touch ups. If a bit of grout gets dirty, I just caulk over it.

isellhondas

Mike, thanks for checking in and know that people care about you!

oldfarmer50

I wonder if the lot boy who did THIS still has his job?

stickguy

At least the engine is in the back.

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

I wonder if the lot boy who did THIS still has his job?

Years ago (late 90's ?) I stopped in at a independent service garage down the street from my house, to inquire about some A/C work. It was a busy Monday morning, and this was a fairly large shop (3 or 4 mechanics, and a young kid doing chores and gofer work). The guy who ran the shop yelled at this young kid (maybe 18 or 19) "Move that mustang out of the doorway!". The kid jumped in the Mustang, threw it in reverse, and backed up.

You can probably guess what's coming next. No brakes, none, and the kid hits a parked car. Minor damage, but definite damage to both cars. The guy running the shop (owner?) gets in the kid's face and starts cursing him, loudly. After about 30 seconds, and the kid about to break down and cry, I went over and got in the owner's face. Told him to try saying that to an adult (namely me). He took the hint and shut up.

The kid probably got fired anyway, through no fault of his own. But I wasn't going to stand around and watch him take verbal abuse for something that wasn't his fault.

graphicguy

driver...don't know how true this is, but a couple of weeks ago a guy I know who works for/buys cars for, my local BMW dealer said there's a warehouse somewhere in the U.S. filled with new Saabs that some company is holding to part out when parts for them get scarce.

Owner allegedly feels the cars are worth more as parts cars than they are as completed cars to sell.

roadburner

graphicguy said:

driver...don't know how true this is, but a couple of weeks ago a guy I know who works for/buys cars for, my local BMW dealer said there's a warehouse somewhere in the U.S. filled with new Saabs that some company is holding to part out when parts for them get scarce.

Owner allegedly feels the cars are worth more as parts cars than they are as completed cars to sell.

It may be these guys: SAAB Original.

stickguy

Sounds like the guy that bought the entire stock of delorean parts. Enough to make a ton of new cars, or keep the entire fleet of them running on NOS for decades.

Mr_Shiftright

I'm sure Delorean owners are grateful, as will be Saab owners.

stickguy

Wheeler dealers did a delorean, and took a tour of the place. Huge barn full of parts. Hundreds of fenders, probably a stack of full frames, etc. no doubt you could assemble an entire new car from their supplies.

Mr_Shiftright

Pretty crappy car. I'm sure the restored ones are much better in every way than the originals.

driver100

graphicguy said:

driver...don't know how true this is, but a couple of weeks ago a guy I know who works for/buys cars for, my local BMW dealer said there's a warehouse somewhere in the U.S. filled with new Saabs that some company is holding to part out when parts for them get scarce.

Owner allegedly feels the cars are worth more as parts cars than they are as completed cars to sell.

I think RB has the site. I have heard that they provide parts for any car these days, even when thy become orphans.

If you built a car using parts the car would probably cost 5X as much as just buying the complete car. The original manufacture probably sells those parts off for 10 cents on the dollar. It's like the remainder book business, usually pay 10 to 18 cents on the original MSRP.

driver100

stickguy said:

Wheeler dealers did a delorean, and took a tour of the place. Huge barn full of parts. Hundreds of fenders, probably a stack of full frames, etc. no doubt you could assemble an entire new car from their supplies.

Sounds like IKEA for cars!

Mr_Shiftright

It's not an easy business though. You have to store everything of course, and then catalog it, market it, run both on-line and brick and mortar commerce, etc. I suppose, on the positive side of things, you wouldn't have all that much competition, as you might if you specialized in VW or Jeep parts for instance.

stickguy

Off topic, but just had the landscapers out to do all the yard clean up. Remove some old bushes and scrap trees, cut and mulch all the beds, etc.

Man, what a fantastic use of money. Would have taken wife and I all weekend to do a much crappier job, and neither of us would be able to move by the end.

Can't believe that up until last year, I insisted on doing this all myself. Never again.

Now my last cord to cut (as soon as it gets hot most likely!) is contracting out the mowing.

suydam

I'm with you, though it gets expensive real quick.