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

berri

I think Volvo is a very different car than back in the 60's and early 70's. It is kind of interesting that a Scandinavian car is rwd. Maybe shows that tires and driving skill count more than fwd in snow.

stickguy

an old volvo 140, with skinny snow tires and chains, was damned near unstoppable in snow. Throw a few sandbags in the trunk for extra traction.

berri

That's an interesting point about skinny tires. I think fwd got it's reputation for snow because that was the layout on the early Japanese cars and most had skinny tires if I recall.

stickguy

plus weight over the tires. Though I always thought RWD was better because of weight transfer when going uphill.

VW bugs were great for the same reason. Skinny little tires to cut through the snow, and all the weight hanging out over the rear.

Fat tires just become toboggans. You want skinny to cut through the snow.

fintail

Not all new, but I saw an Acura RLX today, sales volume must be at least 20 now.

Mr_Shiftright

Talk about a car being epoxied to the showroom floor.....

fintail

3:2 Accord for 2:1 the price. Maybe a good used deal though, or subsidized lease.

Saw a matte paint S63 AMG this morning, I am not a believer in that fad.

qbrozen

Saw a new Civic hatch with temp tag about 30 mins ago. Slightly better rear than the sedan, but still fugly.

Michaell

fintail said:

3:2 Accord for 2:1 the price. Maybe a good used deal though, or subsidized lease.

Saw a matte paint S63 AMG this morning, I am not a believer in that fad.

At the Audi dealer yesterday, there was a matte grey RS7. Looked like something for the US Navy. Not at $125k

kyfdx

Michaell said:

fintail said:

3:2 Accord for 2:1 the price. Maybe a good used deal though, or subsidized lease.

Saw a matte paint S63 AMG this morning, I am not a believer in that fad.

At the Audi dealer yesterday, there was a matte grey RS7. Looked like something for the US Navy. Not at $125k

Same at my local Audi dealer, when I did the buyback on Wednesday. This one was $133K.

I happen to love that color. It looks like unfinished plastic.

fintail

No worries about waxing it anyway, that might be the key attraction. Always a little amusement when money tries to look aggressive. You'd be more menacing in a flat black old Crown Vic.

ab348

qbrozen said:

Saw a new Civic hatch with temp tag about 30 mins ago. Slightly better rear than the sedan, but still fugly.

Oh, no, I don't think so. The hatch is far, far worse. Hideous, actually.

explorerx4

A brand new Super Duty. It is huge! Also, the Mercedes version of an X6.

fintail

Not brand new, but amusing: saw a Camry with a fake fake convertible top. Not a normal fake convertible top, but an imitation of that. It was a few years old, dark red, chrome trim at the top of the A-pillar and base of the C-pillar, as usual for the faux cabrio look. But instead of having a cloth or vinyl top, it was just painted matte black. Stylin! Apparently someone moved from FL or NJ

berri

...or an older person from FL got lost on their way back to their winter home

imidazol97

fintail said:

Not brand new, but amusing: saw a Camry with a fake fake convertible top. Not a normal fake convertible top, but an imitation of that. It was a few years old, dark red, chrome trim at the top of the A-pillar and base of the C-pillar, as usual for the faux cabrio look. But instead of having a cloth or vinyl top, it was just painted matte black. Stylin!

Is that an urban trend to just paint the roof and add ornamentation? I've noted a few cars here in the metro with ornamentation added using chrome strips.

slorenzen

fintail said:

Not brand new, but amusing: saw a Camry with a fake fake convertible top. Not a normal fake convertible top, but an imitation of that. It was a few years old, dark red, chrome trim at the top of the A-pillar and base of the C-pillar, as usual for the faux cabrio look. But instead of having a cloth or vinyl top, it was just painted matte black. Stylin! Apparently someone moved from FL or NJ

Talk about BOLD!

ab348

But was it grounded to the ground?

fintail

Bold, not grounded to the ground - it wasn't an SE

I think it is kind of an urban thing if on a Crown Vic or Caddy or something, maybe not so much on a Camry in suburban Seattle. And I think the urban style people would demand an actual vinyl or cloth top, not just paint - never seen it like that before.

fintail

This afternoon I went and looked at a leftover 535d with a friend today, as he is curious about diesel. Not too loaded, 62K sticker. I suspect he could have got a significant amount off MSRP, but he wasn't thrilled by it. Oddly optioned - it had the virtual gauges and HUD etc, but base seats and wheels, and I think base lighting. BMW dealer had some fancy stuff on site - a couple of i8s, couple M6s (one I think had a sticker of like 175K), a few new 7ers. The salesman told my friend to hold out for the upcoming new 5er this spring - but I doubt he will go for it. He really likes the Jag XE.

Michaell

I've heard the diesel engine in the XE is quite nice.

And available - unlike so many makes at the moment.

stickguy

after sitting in the back seat on a test drive of an XE with the 2.0l gas 4, that was also one heck of a nice engine in that car.

fintail

XE looks like a nice package, but with desired options (my friend wants them all), it seems no less expensive than a similarly loaded 3er or C etc. If he got one, it would be the diesel. I think he said it was about 60K the way he wants it. Maybe dieselgate fallout will make them hard to move, and increase incentives (he won't actually be making a move for several months).

explorerx4

In the parking lot at work, new white Chevy Spark, white 4runner, black Rav4.

explorerx4

In the parking lot at work, a silver Tesla Model S. Looks kind of plain from the front.

fintail

Saw an AMG GT today, making a lazy unsignaled turn that I hope not to see, but too often do among the monied people in this area. Also, the 21st RLX sold, or maybe the same one I saw before.

berri

Hey, the driver was just depending on the computer automation system to handle it

qbrozen

I was behind and in front of a newish Honda Pilot for almost my entire commute yesterday. Through all 12 turns of it plus 2 lane changes, the Pilot driver never signalled once. 

Mr_Shiftright

berri said:

Hey, the driver was just depending on the computer automation system to handle it

Too busy calculating his depreciation minute by minute

fintail

Did the Pilot have a license plate frame that stated "My other car is a BMW"?

AMG GT will probably have a high depreciation floor, judging by past history for cars like SLS, SLR, Black Series, etc.

berri

gb - get any sudden brake and turns behind the Honda? Those are good for the reflexes, but maybe not so much for the heart

Mr_Shiftright

Anything with "AMG" written on it is probably going to behave like a cinder block dropped off a bridge. Consider the SL65 AMG fer instance.

fintail

Those are based on volume models, and are unlimited production. When something is unique (SLR, SLS, GT), or with very limited production (Black Series), values seem to evaporate more slowly. A huge chunk in the first few years for those cars, but then stabilize, unlike a normal SL or S etc AMG, which gets down to 7-10K or so before it finally bottoms out.

tifighter

I sorta have my eyes out for something like a SLK55 some day. Earlier generation. I could see a nice one eventually even going up in the far flung future.

fintail

Still depreciating, maybe a special interest car in 25 years. I looked at one once - I am only moderately tall, but couldn't get a comfortable seating position, the top windshield bar annoyed me.

tifighter

I admittedly have not sat in one. I sorta assumed it must have a little more room inside than my old Miata, but I may be wrong.

anythngbutgm

Most ironic sighting of 2017, a Caddy SRX with 3 Trump stickers on the back...

Mr_Shiftright

fintail said:

Still depreciating, maybe a special interest car in 25 years. I looked at one once - I am only moderately tall, but couldn't get a comfortable seating position, the top windshield bar annoyed me.

They're already pretty cheap in the $15K range for nice ones, and probably going to be a lot cheaper. My two cents is that they will behave historically like the old V-8 SLs, and eventually drop into the $6,000 range for the earliest ones (2008?).

tifighter

I forgot how much cheaper cars were living in NoCal. These are in the 20's up here, and there aren't many to choose from. Must resist temptation to open bay area listings...

Mr_Shiftright

Here, let me enable you

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/5937977894.html

Actually I couldn't find one at the moment advertised at $15K but I bet you could bargain some of these down to that price. It's not an easy car to unload.

tifighter

"Vehicle has 10,000 of extra chrome installed"

You can't make this stuff up...

Mr_Shiftright

Well consider the car you're dealing with here. If the Porsche 928 were the "German Corvette" then the SLK55 is the German Allante.

qbrozen

sheepskin covers? really? ugh.

Mr_Shiftright

Sometimes, in a darker mood, I think the SLK is kind of a parody of itself

fintail

I run from old MBs with wheels like that. The seat covers are icing on the cake. There are a couple on local CL in the 20K range - never buy the cheapest MB, it often ends up being the most expensive.

They'll drop down to near 10K, but I don't see less than that, especially if we have any inflation. Convertible + AMG helps.

Mr_Shiftright

Depends how many get junked. Fewer survivors = higher resale.

fintail

They are a fairly simple car, no supercharger or air suspension etc. to hasten their demise. Pretty rare to begin with though.

Mr_Shiftright

Some big depreciators are Genesis, Jaguar XK, Lincoln MSK, Mercedes S Class.

Mini Cooper and Cadillac CTS are also bad.

Oddly enough, the Range Rover doesn't, very much. Go figure. And of course Toyota Tacoma, practically nothing.

fintail

I think the time of depreciation may be a key. Range Rover seems to hold value well for a few years, then boom! it's all gone and just like a German barge, maybe worse past the decade point.

I have to imagine 7er and A8 are just as bad a S-class, seeing as 10 year old examples aren't worth a fortune now.

tifighter

I see the small car/big engine combo always being desirable. Especially NA engines; some people just don't like smaller turbos. It's already happening down the street in Stuttgart with that other carmaker...