I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

berri

One of my kids lives in Chicago and they are experiencing a rash of Honda thefts (strips, whatever you call them) too. Incidently, I liked your reference to "Kiladelphia" the other day. Never heard that one before, only the Sure-Kill Expressway and Philthydelphia. Didn't get into that airport all that much before I retired, but I do remember the many years of the rail tracks to nowhere outside the airport terminal.

fintail

Saw 2x Fiat 500 today, one rental one not.

Amusing re: stolen wheels. Around here they just steal the car and leave a gutted engine-less shell somewhere (an old co-worker of mine had this happen to his Accord)

qbrozen

Saw a new Chrysler 300 a couple of days ago. Not much different, but enough to give it a sleeker, more modern look.

Today spotted a 2012 WRX. I like it. Nicest rear end Subie has ever done. Although it does seem visually smaller somehow.

lemko

...new red Charger R/T Hemi. Nice!

kyfdx

That reminds me..

Newer Dodge Challenger, the other day...

License plate: MAX C02

ateixeira

Where I used to live the Brazilian girl across her street had her Accord rims stolen. One morning we found it up on cinder blocks and up on some blue recycling bins!

The shocker? The bins held up the weight of the car!

I'm sure it has to do with them fitting on many common cars. Popular cars are also popular among thieves.

ateixeira

So the guy with personalized plates who used to have a Benz coupe just traded up ...

So I spotted a brand new Camaro SS with the same plates!

Burnt Orange metallic. Seems to be the new green.

fintail

And if they are easy to steal as old Hondas seem to be, all the better.

I don't know if an orange Camaro is "trading up"...more like overcompensating...

ateixeira

In this tough economy, maybe his income is down, but he didn't want to give up power....LOL.

I think he used to have a CLK V8? IIRC, anyway.

fintail

E class coupe isn't cheap in V8 form, so that might be it. CLK was always kind of a womans car to me, unless in AMG/Black Series trim...hope I am not stereotyping and categorizing too much :shades:

The Camaro interior and visibility would take some getting used to, coming from a CLK.

ateixeira

hope I am not stereotyping and categorizing too much

I've never been able to stop you before...why now?

His was not a Black Series, that's for sure. And I thought the ladies got the drop-tops, no? The other CLK coupe owner I know is also male, and he's had 2.

Camaro has horrible visibility in all directions, basically.

fintail

Where there's smoke, there's fire :P

A cabrio is certainly something for the fairer set, or for retirees. I guess the coupe could attract them too, but I don't see many driven by men under middle age or so, unless they are C208s either beat up or modified.

Odd change in vehicles, anyway.

ateixeira

WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO WHEN AN AMBULANCE CHASER CANNOT AFFORD A BENZ ANY MORE!?

fintail

A lawyer eh, that explains some things. Oops, I stereotyped again :shades:

omarman

That's what happened a few years ago to my sister in law after moving to SeaTac. Other than the movies, I'd never known anyone to have a car stolen, stripped, gutted, abandoned and "recovered" so quickly.

When I was a kid our Chevy station wagon was stolen after mom parked it in a shopping center lot. After calling for police, they searched the premises and surrounding area and found our car parked far from the store but otherwise undamaged and not missing anything.

explorerx4

Pretty good looking, although that faded a bit as I passed it and saw the front.
Actually, the front isn't that bad.
It's good to see a nice sporty wagon, they are so rare.

jwilliams2

We had a rash of thefts a couple of years ago at the dealership I used to work at. Sometimes they weren't so considerant. This was out front on a well lighted lot.....2 blocks from the Police station....

explorerx4

I hope you are not one of those people who drive around with one of those 'My kid was Student of the Month at XYZ Middle School' sticker on their bumper.
The real game starts just before High School and all the way through it, if you are thinking about higher education.
My kids luckily drove the '02 Explorer, so pretty much everything they came in contact with ended up worse off than it.
Can't wait until they can buy their own new (or any other) car.

explorerx4

Is that a rock under the door? :sick:

jwilliams2

Is that a rock under the door?

Yeah, guess they couldn't find any milk crates.....

iwant12

Looks like those milk crates and small boulders are playing absolute havic on the poor cars' door sills. The nerve of these thieves!

fintail

Ouch! Funny thing as unless it had [non-permissible content removed] aftermarket wheels, what was on it will have a very limited compatibility list and target market. Doesn't look like an AMG either, but it's hard to tell.

fintail

If she lived in the Seatac area, not a surprise - not exactly the garden spot of the PNW, and some parts of it are pretty rough. Renton is another good area to go if you have a Honda you don't want anymore.

jwilliams2

Doesn't look like an AMG either, but it's hard to tell.

Wasn't an AMG, but it did have AMG wheels. We usually kept all the AMG cars inside.

fintail

Around here the dealer will leave them out, but I've never seen such an incident at a high end lot in this area. I think the wheels on that will only fit 2003+ SLs if someone doesn't want to use spacers and all that...I bet they ended up on craigslist.

stever

You can tell that's not a problem around here - the extra tires are propping up the whole car.

oil change?

andys120

I saw a new Mazda2; jaunty little car. It set me to wondering why I haven't seen it's mechanical near-twin, the Ford Festiva. I thought small cars were supposed to be selling well.
I've seen more Fiat 500s (a couple) than I have Festivas outside a showroom.

andys120

lemko

From the philly blog:

"I just saw another Honda Fit on crates on Ditman not far down from Sheffield. I guess this scum is sweeping the area for free rims. All Honda's so far. I guess it's easy to figure out who is stealing them! All the cars I saw were on Pepsi 1 liter case crates. They use aluminum jacks. Light weight and quick to use. Most likely 4 or more of them so each one has a wheel to do. This way in less then a minute all 4 are off and they are gone. Would be nice just once to jam the end of my shotgun in one of their heads while they are in the act. One can only wish."

I hear this is happening all over. I just read an article from Boston saying it's happening there as well. What is it about Fit wheels? Are they really attractive? I hear they'll also fit the Civic. If I bought a Fit, I'd just get it with the black steelies with the ugly plastic wheelcovers.

lemko

I think you meant to post this in Mystery Car Pics, but it looks like about a 1950 Holden ute.

ateixeira

I guess you missed his personalized plate, it read:

I SUE 4 U

andys120

Doh! :sick:

Yep it's a '51 Holden TX Ute.

robr2

The thing with Honda rims in general is that every Honda and Acura use the same bolt pattern so the rims are easily moved from vehicle to vehicle.

Plus a new look for the tuner crowd is going to tiny rims on big cars.

robr2

...I just got back from Vermont and I spotted:

an Outback
an Impreza
another Outback
an Outback
a Legacy
an Outback
an Outback
an Outback
an Impreza
and lastly a Forester.

Oh and a Porsche 911 GTS.

kyfdx

Very exotic looking....

Where? In my driveway! :P

berri

...I just got back from Vermont and I spotted

Yep, Subaru country. How many old grey haired former hippies with poney tails and how many bumper stickers - just kidding!

robr2

How many old grey haired former hippies with poney tails

No such thing as a former hippie!!

how many bumper stickers

Plenty of coexist and "=" stickers. Actually the great thing about Vermont is that the hippies, the tourists, the ugly flatlanders and the "leave me alone" locals get along just fine. It's very Libertarian.

berri

I always thought it was somewhat similar to Oregon, except Oregon is probably a bit more liberal overall.

explorerx4

That's pretty much missing everything we want to know about it!

kyfdx

It's gray w/black leather.... base model... folding hardtop...

and...it's the wife's new ride..

Got it in Maryland.... flew over Saturday and drove it home the same day.

iwant12

Nice ride. Congrats!

fintail

Stopped by a couple highline dealers this afternoon to see if anything was interesting. BMW had a load of new 5ers, from lower line ~52K 528is up to a 77K or so (!!) 550i. Also had a 52K 335d, a few 7ers, and a couple new 650 cabrios, one which was just over 100K. Cars are getting expensive. Audi had a few A8s, most in the low 90s but one over 100K. A host of new style A6s, most in the 50s I think, an S5 for something like 66K, and various other models I didn't look at. Highline used dealer had a 2K mile CLK Black Series, I like...but the price is still insane. Come on, depreciation. Lexus dealer had a pretty bland selection - IS-F and a few CTs were the highlights, otherwise a pile of ES and IS, several IS cabrios, half a dozen HS, not a lot else.

ateixeira

Useless trivia fact of the day: Subaru has 14 times more market share in Vermont (7%) than they do in Florida (0.5%). Those are the highest and lowest shares by state.

Proceed...

ateixeira

The 550 GT I tested was in the $80s IIRC. And no one at the dealer could figure out both ways to open the hatch. LOL

Cars are getting expensive

I've been saying this for a while, remember in that other thread, you said a $30k plus loaded Optima was a lot of money?

Not any more...that's below average, for MSRP, I'd be willing to bet.

Anyone have the NADA average new car transaction price? I bet it's at $30k now.

qbrozen

I wonder if we won't see the average dropping thanks to influx of all the new subcompacts.

ateixeira

I dunno, I remember when Aveo and Versa were both under $10k.

Now a Fiesta (saw a new one this morning, to stay on topic) well equipped is high teens, and a loaded Focus (also saw a 5 door today) is mid 20s.

The dollar ain't what it used to be, literally. I'd say, for well equipped, expect to pay:

econobox: $16-18k
compact: $18-25k
mid-size sedan: $20-35k, more for hybrids

Last year at the auto show, an Equinox was $39k and an Explorer and Durango were both near $50k. FIFTY GRAND!

Loaded minivans are mid 40s.

40k is near lux, real lux is 50k plus. As fin pointed out, plus a LOT.

Having said that, today's "econobox" has DI, 6 speeds, and more in-car tech than a 1990 luxury car did, by a wide margin.

fintail

They had about half a dozen GTs on the lot, but I didn't look at any - didn't want to lose my lunch :shades:

Weak dollar and wealth consolidation trends have a bit to do with it, no doubt.

And yeah, 30K+ for a mainstream model from an economy car maker is still too dear, at least for me.

For all the expense of these cars, as you say, they do have a lot of features. Basic cars 20 years ago were really pretty basic still.

ateixeira

Yeah, the GT looks like an impregnated 5 sedan.

Euro is killing the dollar. Heck, pretty soon the Brazilian Real will be ahead of the dollar. I remember my dollar bought 3.5 Reais, today it's 1.653. My dad retired in Brazil and is moving back here! I never imagined that would happen.

Keep in mind a 30k price tag is going to sell for $27k or so street price. You're not looking at new cars, but for those who are, this is the new reality.

I remember back in college, before I had my first real job, I got a '91 Escort GT. It was all about bang-for-the-buck. I wanted A/C, a cassette player (LOL), and something fun. Paid a little under $11k, but in today's dollars that's about $18 grand, I think.

For that money I got a 5 speed with 127hp. The Sonic, Accent, and Rio all make 138hp and come with 6 speeds. All have more torque, much fancier audio systems, more airbags than the Escort had seat belts (motorized mice, annoying as heck). I bet quality control is at least twice as good, if not seven times.

I'm not sure if they lift the inside rear wheel, but equipped the right way they should be fun little cars.

College kids shopping for a first set of wheels may not have it so bad after all. They'll likely pay less than I did, adjusted for inflation, and get a lot more.

qbrozen

I dunno, I remember when Aveo and Versa were both under $10k.

yes, and they were also in a very small class.

It wasn't long ago that most people wouldn't consider anything classed lower than mid-sized. But now, as you suggest, compact and even subcompact are so "nice" to live with that it is tougher to argue for a mid-sizer.

Certainly, compact and subcompact sales are on the rise. The numbers have been shown to support this. So, even with the constantly rising prices, it MAY be that the average will decrease. Although it only takes 1 exotic to offset 20 sub-$20k compacts and push the average to $30k.

fintail

The German makers really have to be cutting profit margins to be making it right now - as the E isn't really more expensive, A6 is actually cheaper, 5er only seems barely more expensive...the difference comes from somewhere. Euro has to be set for a fall, perhaps the most overvalued currency on the planet, as bad in its way as the Yuan is undervalued. If we'd stop providing defense for the continent, the Euro would fall fast. I wonder who is benefiting from this.

I don't know if most college kids can ante up for a new car without being on the parental dole, but used cars are also so much better now than 20 years ago - a 3 year old car today is going to be worlds better than a new car in 1991. For some makes (Subaru, Honda, etc) used doesn't make sense, but for most, it can be a bargain.