Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

lemmer

How does the payoff for the minivan work? Did you have to pay all of the remaining lease payments in addition to the residual, or what?

gee35coupe

I don't think it was the remaining payments + residual though. But I may be wrong. We looked at it as getting out of the van for pretty cheap considering what we saved on sales tax. 7% of $22K is like $1500.

lemmer

We only pay 3.375% sales tax on car purchases. Did you pay sales tax up front on your lease?

I pay sales tax on each lease payment, so it doesn't seem like I would get a credit if I bought out the lease and traded it in (unless I paid sales tax on the buyout).

woodyww

What color is it? interior/exterior? I'd be interested in seeing before/after pics sometime if you're putting on new rims & whatever else.

edgar03

just got my second blazer but i cant get the damn headlights out to replace the original bulbs for bright xenon bulbs can any one here point me in the right direction on how to remove the headlights i cant find any screws

woodyww

I don't think (?) that you can upgrade to xenon's (HID's) just by replacing the bulbs. At least on bmw's, it requires a major retrofit. Unless it has xenon's now already? Or do you just want to get brighter Halogens?

stickguy

try the accessories board. More likely to find a topic that fits over there.

scottphillip

I average a car a year. I have three vehicles--one is a 2006, another a 2005. I have one on order to replace the 2006--it is the same model, only a different color. All were purchased new. Two have less than 4,000 miles! In twenty years of driving, I have never owned a car more than two years--and no :lemon:

Help me before I descend into poverty.

habitat1

Before??

I'm impressed that you aren't already homeless.

lemmer

This might seem tedious, but the experts here are going to require to list every car you have owned: Year, make, model, and any significant engine options.

michaellno

Welcome! Our esteemed committee will decide shortly what level of membership you should receive.

But, if you are replacing a 2006 MY with another 2006 MY - same make and model, just a different color, we may need to create a category beyond "lifetime platinum"



Pray tell, what do you have and what are you getting ... and most important ... WHY?

nippononly

what is the '06 you are replacing? I am very impressed, how long have there been '06 ANYTHINGS around for sale? Even I have never traded a car less than a year old.

No wait, that is not true, I traded an 8-month-old Celica, but it was for a different model that I had a crush on.

I sold my truck a few months back, rather than ante up for a new $600 set of tires. Thought I had "DONE" the truck thing. Now I miss my truck so much I am looking at picking up a newer one. I have one lined up for a second look tonight after work, so I could be pulling the trigger pretty quickly here. Boy did they change the 4Runner between 1990 and 2000...

kyfdx

Sorry.. that isn't good enough...

You don't get platinum status, until you get rid of it, because it's out of gas...

marika

I don't belong here but I lurk out of a morbid fascination. I've been driving for 27 years but have purchased only one car in my life--the other two were gifts, one through a death in the family. Here are mine:

-pre-1988, drove my parents' hand-me-downs
-1988 honda accord dx coupe, crank windows et al., kept 13.5 years, gave to brother-in-law
-1994 mb c280, gift from brother-in-law after death of sister, sold to pay off mtg
-carless for 1.5 years, rode bike, bus, and walked
-gifted with 1994 maxima with 175K miles on receiving, this is my current drive, and this car is so not me (power everything, leather everything, big, bulky, unwieldy, inefficient, vulgar, etc.) that it isn't funny. It gets horrible mpgs but it gets me around.

I have never understood why people get so much pleasure out of owning so many different cars. I was always nervous about my financial future, in a way that greatly outweighed any desire to own a new car. In the late 90s I had a terrible hankering for a VW TDI but I didn't want car payments on top of mortgage payments and gradually the feeling passed.

I guess you car junkies are fabulously well-to-do or something, because I would never have the nerve to actually buy car a year, or even once a decade! .It isn't that I don't like cars. I just like not having payments more.

I probably will make my second purchase within a few years, however. I would like to have something that is somewhat in line with my values: extremely efficient, understated, and reliable. At the moment, I have only the third.

nippononly

j/k Marika!

But everyone else, don't be influenced by these descriptions of frugality! :-P

woodyww

When I was a college student in the early '70's, I worked these horrible jobs like: Running a giant machine in an ice-cream wrapper factory. An abused "loader" for UPS (+an hour travel each way). (Both were like--out of Dickens). I could go on, but sounds like your daughter has it together.....

steine13

"I guess you car junkies are fabulously well-to-do or something, because I would never have the nerve to actually buy car a year, or even once a decade!"

Fabulously well-to-do my foot... I just bought a $6 car this year, kept it 7 months and 6k miles, and sold it... money lost, $1200 with taxes, fees etc.... The gain was a 3rd car that kept the miles of the good van and saved the missus a lot of loading and unloading for her business.

The cost was $170/month if you work it out. Not dirt-cheap, but well worth it. And I don't do car payments either...
I just love anything with wheels. Bicycles most of all, but also cars & trucks...

-Mathias

bumpy

big, bulky, unwieldy, inefficient, vulgar, etc.

Wow. That's the first time I've ever seen a '94 Maxima described like that. People usually fall all over themselves praising it.

mark156

There are just some people who are not "Car People"... and marika is just one of them.

Mark

gee35coupe

But we do OK and that's what money is for. Spending. You can't take it with you when you die. And a mortage ain't nothin' but a fancy name for rent. At least driving a nice car give much more pleasure than sleeping in bed. Sleeping in bed that is. Since I'm married there ARE other uses for the bed...And other areas of the house...Ahem...But I digress.

As constant car shoppers I can tell you that we haven't met a car that we couldn't trade. I was in the MDX today cruising the Honda lot hoping to catch an early SI or something.

But payments are a fact of life. We swipe everything so at the end of the month we have credit card payments. All of our utilities and etc. go to another card so there's another bill. Then theres the aforementioned mortgage, insurance, taxes, diapers, etc The list goes on. Life is a payment. At least if you gonna spend $500/month on something, you might as well get as much enjoyment as you can out of it.

mark156

Gee, you and I have a totally different view on finances ... I'm glad that you and Anony are happy........ I think we all live vicariously through the both of you!

Keep on shopping!

Mark

nippononly

bought the thing, so far, very pleased after the first 50 miles. 2000 4Runner, 50K miles, stick shift, yesssss. 4WD, V-6, probably one of the very last stick shifts they made in that model before they quit completely (that was the last model year one was available).

So, I managed to get one in in CY 2005. Two, if you count the CRX I got for free. Keeping up the membership! :-)

akangl

Somebody bought something!!! Lord knows I'm not keeping my membership up, I looked and decided I was way happy with the truck I have!

Congrats Gee and nippononly!!!!

boomchek

Yeah i'm glad someone bought something too cause I just sold my 78 Impala. Back to one car.

After a month on the market it finally sold. I will miss it as it was in near mint shape (60k original miles). Glad it went into good hands. The guy that bought it will turn it into a lowrider and then use it for demolition derby. :sick:

So much catching up to do on these forums. Been away almost a month cause I have a new girlfriend. Good thing she's into cars too, she'll understand.

anonymousposts

If you consider the refund we will be getting from Honda for $330 for a payment we just made (payoff of $22,700 didn't include that payment) and you factor in the sales tax savings ($1250 or so) we really only had to come out of pocket $200 to get out of the Ody. Not bad considering we put no money down on the lease and still had 6 months left. The final total was $24,100 - $300 refund = $23,800. We were happy with $21000 for the Ody. Terry said high $20's-low $21's. He said we should trade for the Ody + $4000 or so. We ended up at $2800 including TTL.

The MDX drives great. The dual front 8-way power seats means Gee can get more comfy when he isn't driving. The NAV is a fun toy and came in useful the first night when we were going a new way to my sister's house. We will take pictures soon and post them. Surprisingly clean vehicle for the mileage.

We do spend a lot on cars but we also save more than we spend. I have 401k, stock, savings and Gee has savings and a ROTH. We also have quite a bit of home equity as a crutch should we need it. So while at the surface we may seem irresponsible we are far from it.

I had the spider condo appraised by Carmax yesterday and they offered $5500. Gee is still torn over whether to sell it or keep it. And these are the days of our lives....

manamal

My wife has been complaining about the gas milage and size of our minivan. I am thinking Outback.....

tommister2

Here is a list of cars/motorcycles I have owned since I started Driving (June 1989). The 2 that say Nicki before marriage are the cars my wife had when we were dating. They are basically in the correct order, some I haven't looked up the dates yet. I don't include off road motorcycles, only street bikes. (** indicates current vehicles)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1982 Plymouth Reliant (May 1989 - Aug 1989)
1989 Ford Escort GT (Aug 1989 - Mar 1991)
1978 Ford F-250 4x4 (March 1990 - ??)
1978 Datsun 280Z 2+2 (Nicki before marriage)
1990 Jeep Wrangler (Mar 1991 - Mar 1992)
1992 Chevy Cavalier (Mar 1992 - Aug 1995)
1984 Ford Bronco (Nicki before marriage)
1995 Nissan Altima (Aug 1995 - Nov 1996)
1988 Jeep Wrangler (?? - ??)
1996 Ford Bronco (May 1996 - Dec 1996)
1996 Nissan 240SX SE (Nov 1996 - May 1998)
1996 Nissan XE King Cab 4x4 (Dec 1996 - Mar 1997)
1997 Nissan Maxima SE (Mar 1997 - Sep 2002)
1985 VW Golf Diesel (?? - ??)
1999 GMC Yukon SLT (May 1998 - May 1999)
2000 Isuzu Rodeo LS 4x4 (May 1999 - July 2001)
2001 Honda Odyssey EX (July 2001 - **)
1986 Toyota Pickup 4x4 (?? - July 2003)
2002 Ford Mustang (Aug 2002 - Mar 2003)
1991 Toyota 4Runner SR6 V6 4x4 (Mar 2003 - Jan 2004)
2003 Honda Accord EX-V6 (Nov 2003 - Mar 2004)
2004 Honda Civic EX (Mar 2004 - July 2005)
2004 Kawasaki Ninja 250 (July 2004 - **)
2004 Toyota Tacoma SR5 V6 PreRunner (Oct 2004 - July 2005)
1993 Ford F-250 XLT 4x4 Diesel (July 2005 - Oct 2005)
2005 Honda Accord EX4 AT (Aug 2005 - **)

lemmer

Anyone who buys a Golf Diesel followed by a Yukon clearly belongs here.

I had a Ninja 250 as my only vehicle back in 1992. It snowed lightly in Atlanta in October that year. After I drove home from in the snow from Buckhead with a hangover, I bought a 1990 Integra within a week.

michaellno

...that I fall into the same category as jolie ... plenty happy with what we have at the moment (VUE, L300 and Focus).

Currently, the plan is to sell the Focus outright next summer before kid goes off to college; that leaves the VUE for the wife and the L300 for me.

Only 25 more payments on the L300 (geez, that sounds like a lot!), but I'm hoping to pay it off early as my child support obligations cease in about 18 months or so.

Will be nice to have a bit of extra cash flow in our budget.

What's funny is that by the time next summer rolls around, the Focus and the L will probably have the same amount of miles on them (45-50K). Wife asked if we'll break even on the Focus -- I'm pretty certain that we will, given that we owe about $8800 on it at the moment and the private party sale price, according to Edmunds, is about $9K. I imagine the numbers will only get better, as long as I don't put a huge number of miles onto the Focus (33K at the moment).

Next step, however, is to get new shoes for the Focus ... the OEM Goodyears don't look like they are going to survive another Colorado winter.

nippononly

LOVE that list! Now that's how to get a membership at CCBA! :-)

tommister2

I've been riding the Ninja alot more lately, even got some better cold weather gear for the 40 degree mornings. I average 60-65 MPG with it. I always have my Accord to drive when the weather is bad.

Tom in Virginia

aaron_t

Here are the vehicle I (or my wife) have driven since paying for my own vehicles:

1992 Grand Am GT HO Quad 4 5-speed (95-00) Fun autocrosser
1991 Chevy Calalier Z24 (95-01) Wife's college car
1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL (Aug/98-Oct/02) Free car for 3k miles, then parted out
1999 Ford F-150 Supercab (Feb/99-Jun/03)
1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE (May/00-curr) Needs brake lines
2000 Ford SVT Contour (Jun/00-Feb/02)
2002 Lexus IS300 5-speed (Dec/01-Jan/04)
2003 Ford F-150 Supercrew (Jun/03-curr)
2004 Dodge Stratus SXT (Oct/03-Aug04) $1400 1yr lease special
2004 Chrysler Pacifia (July/04-Jan/05)
2005 Jeep Liberty Limited (Jan/05-May/05)
2005 Chrysler Town & Country Touring (May/05-curr) Lease for the first kid!
2005 Dodge Dakota QC V8 (Sep/05-curr) $2280 2yr lease special

I could use some advice from other CCBAers. I could not pass up the Dakota lease special (no payments for 24k miles) and originally intended to sell/trade the Supercrew. That would save a nice $564/mo for the 18 months we use the Dakota miles up, plus whatever equity I can get out of it (maybe $3k @ private sale) However, I'm now considering keeping rgw F-150 to drive once the Dakota goes bye-bye. The F-150 would be a 4yr old vehicle with 34k miles and $8k left to pay it off. It has a lot of equipment, so replacing it with a new 2007/2008 model would mean spending $5-7k more for an equivalent truck. I'd love to step up to a diesel 1-ton, but that's $15k more than I paid for my 03 F-150. And, the 3.99% rate I got @ my CU won't be beat for many years, maybe ever. When we move next year to a larger house for a growing family, the budget will get crunched for a couple years.

To complicate the problem, keeping the F-150 would mean I drive it once Dakota (in which wife commutes now) goes. Wife works for DCX and can park closer if driving a DCX product, so she's done w/ non DCX commuters. I love driving the F-150, but 80miles/day @12mpg is costly. I volenteered to drive the minivan when we got it because my wife was a non-believer. We bought extra miles for that lease, but is easy to go over. I'd love to pay for F-150 fuel for a year, pay the truck off and either have no car payment with lots of fuel or keep it as a recreational vehicle (towing, yard/housework) and buy something more economical for the commute. Wife will most likely lease a minivan about the same time as Dakota goes to commute (she's giving in). Or, I could sell the F-150, keep my two lease vehicles and take the risk there will be something inexpensive to lease/buy in 18 months. I don't like having only lease vehicles with as many miles as I drive to work plus weekend family trips. FYI, wife only drives 30m/day.

So, my requirement in 3 years and beyond is to have a minivan (prefer lease, not buy) and a truck. I prefer not to commute in a minivan (gimmie the fun manaul tranny car, please), and a truck is not economical. So, truck = 3rd vehicle and/or no payment primary commuter.

So, do I sell the Supercrew now?

qbrozen

huh? did i miss something? a free dakota??

stickguy

q: That's all you missed out of that?

I think it was a 1-pay lease for $2,280 if I interpret his list correctly.

qbrozen

Is that all i missed? well, no, but i'm starting small.

yeah, i saw that $2280 in the list, too, but .... but .... then its NOT 24k miles with no payments ... right?? And, anyway, what deal was this that you could get a dakota for less than $100 a month?!

stickguy

well, that's about all I would pay for one!

might be an insider deal, but he also referred to 18 months later on, so maybe that is it?

qbrozen

ouch. hey, now, i really liked my dakota.

ok, ok, so 14 mpg really hurt, but it was still a pleasure to drive. Heck, just about any new vehicle is worth $100 a month to rent. (alright, let's just toss the bottom end hyundais, kias, and suzukis out of that statement)

gee35coupe

I hated it. It was nice looking though. I traded it for my Civic Si. While I'm posting I just wanna say..

"I love my wife"!!!

I wanted to type this earlier but I didn't have anything else to say. Have you ever been sitting around bored and just started missing something? Earlier I was bored and Anony was in a meeting at work and I couldn't call her. We talk a million times a day and I missed her at that moment. It sucked. I need a job.

aaron_t

Yes, sorry for not being clear. I wrote a check for $2279 including taxes and plates for a year for a 2yr/24k mile lease on a 2005 Dakota SLT Quad Cab with only the V8/auto and tow package.. No further payments. So, < $100/mo OTD effectively. Yes, special circumstances for employees & family members only with lots of rebates ($1.5k employee bonus cash + $2k lease loyalty on top of employee price and regular Joe rebates). I figure we'll use the 24k miles up in about 18 months and turn it in. It's pre-paid, so I can turn it in as early as I want. $2280 for 24k miles, however long that takes to use up. The Stratus was a similar special for 1yr/12k miles. I'm still kicking myself for not buying that outright for $9500 after the lease. Not that it was a great car, but better than I was expecting and oh so cheap commuting transportation for many years.

The Dakota is fine. The engine/tranny is nice for its weight. The back seat is larger than the Quad Cab Ram. Nice for the reverse facing child seat and not have mom kiss the dash in the front passenger seat. Bonus for the ride hight, about the same as the minivan for getting the kid bucked in. So far, 15mpg. Better than 12 F-150, but way fewer creature comforts. It's all relative.

I liked the late 90's Civis Si, but not the last two. I'll get a fun car again some day. I'd love a Miata. I haven't tried sitting in one yet (tall), but maybe the 2006 is large enough?

aaron_t

Why are my carriage returns not working? They are in the edit window, but not the posted window. Oh, well.

lemmer

What is a carriage return?

corvette

What is a carriage return?

Line breaks, or, hitting the enter/return key.

guss

Good to see you held on to your '85 Mazda Rx-7 GSL-SE. I kick my self daily for not holding on to mine.

I had two. First one was stolen right out of a detached garage. Second one I gad mad at on a snowy day when I could not get up a small hill. Like a dope I hastily traded for 4x4 Blazer.

I have been looking for a cherry one for the past 15 years.

gee35coupe

One of my favorite cars. I swore I would never own anything but wankel engines. That engine is intoxicating.

guss

Mazda had made the driving position in the Rx-8 as nice for tall people as the did in the in the early Rx-7's.

Prices on the used ones are not too bad, and I like that they added a rear seat(for kids anyway).But I do not have a prayer of getting comfortable.

I like that Mazda is keeping the rotary engine alive though.

stickguy

still better than a gen III TT. Forget about comfortable, I literally couldn't get into the car (at least not with my head attached).

I loved the early ones, but never had the chance to own one. I poked around a bit with gen II converts, but ended up with a Miata instead.

qbrozen

Wow! Not even a stripped down version of the dakota. That's an incredible deal. Dodge obviously took a bath on that.

Unless they changed it drastically since my '97 Dakota, I think its a great truck (other than the mileage). I only had the extended cab and found it very comfortable with a tremendous amount of torque and a really nice stereo with the infinity speakers (i still rate it as the 2nd best stock stereo I've ever owned).

guss

I remember I could not wait for the Miata to come out in '89. One trip to the showroom on the day they came out and I realized 6'6" will never fit in a Miata.

I went the RX-7 covert route too, but could just never get as excited about them.

So I ended up with a 10 year old Fiat Spyder. Needless to say I got to know Tony well.

Right now I have one eye out for a cheap MR-2 Spyder. Maybe with the weather changing someone will need to unload one.

nippononly

it is funny how many posters here have owned an RX-7 at some point and still think back on it fondly. Mine was an '88, gold color, fantastic if temperamental car (I still remember you couldn't move it in the driveway when cold and turn it back off, or it would flood and couldn't be restarted without special procedures. My eyes almost fell out of my head in surprise when I discovered this condition STILL EXISTS on the RX-8??). I should have kept it, but it was amazingly bad on gas for the level of performance it had, and expensive to insure. But ohhhh, so much fun! :-)

kyfdx

.. a used '89 RX-7 convertible in 1990... It only had 9K miles... it got sold right out from under me...

I consoled myself by buying an '84 911 Targa...