Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stever

Still waiting to hear something from the adjuster. Getting ready to dial in my car rental, will probably pick that up tomorrow. Sounds like limited selection from Enterprise due to the holiday. No Buicks left today.

Mr_Shiftright

Get an Altima...they're harmless.

xwesx

tifighter said:

stever said:

Does it count as a punch if someone punches your car lights out? (Details here)

Geez @stever glad you are okay. Sounds like it is T-bone week here at Edmundsland. Related, my car won't be fixed until mid-December. Parts, holidays, ugh.

Yeah, no doubt. Steve, I am also glad to know you're okay! It's always a little sad when a car take a hit like this, but better the car than its occupants!

@tifighter, how much did the damage to the Soul end up costing?

stever

Would really be nice to get a car on our short list. Maybe an Elantra, but I'd love trying out an Encore for a week or more.

The Buicks are premium and they'd run about $60 a day. The investigator said they didn't care if I got a Ferrari, just to be aware that $1,000 is the limit.

Mr_Shiftright

A day in a Ferrari is worth a month in a Buick, if you ask me (I know, you didn't).

28firefighter

Punch pending for my father-in-law. More to come. 

corvette

stever said:

The Buicks are premium and they'd run about $60 a day. The investigator said they didn't care if I got a Ferrari, just to be aware that $1,000 is the limit.

State Auto pulled the plug on my rental on the 30th day, even though there was still enough of the $1,500 limit to pay for a couple more days (the policy says nothing about the maximum number of days' benefit, just that you can't exceed $50 per day or the $1,500 aggregate--my rental was less than $50 per day, so I should have gotten more than 30 days). One of several things State Auto did to work against its own policyholder. This is why people hate insurance companies.

The body shop picked up the rental from there until the car was "done."

stickguy

SDA, we looked at a TLX yesterday. He did like it, but isn't interested in buying one. Took big, and not quite sporty enough for him. Fell into the category of better for me and the wife!

stever

@corvette, that sounds more likely to be "correct" than what the last guy told me. The claims people just focused on the $60 a day.

We have a friend coming over for Thanksgiving and he owns a Ferrari. Too bad he stores it in Green Bay.....

Mr_Shiftright

Steve--I just thought of the perfect used car for you---a Subaru Baja.

sda

stickguy said:

SDA, we looked at a TLX yesterday. He did like it, but isn't interested in buying one. Took big, and not quite sporty enough for him. Fell into the category of better for me and the wife!

What was your impression of it? Did he drive the V6 or 2.4? I'm drawn to several colors where you can get the espresso brown interior. I think I would go for the Tech version as it has the ELS audio. CPO, very low mileage at this point to capture some savings.

stickguy

He drove a V6 SH-AWD tech package. I think the sticker was right about 42K. I liked it. Quick, nice seats, pretty loaded up, and a manageable size.

The espresso looks really nice. We took a loaded MDX, dark bronze color with espresso guts, out to the remote lot and it was really sharp looking.

nyccarguy

Interesting point about the 9-Speed Slushbox in the V6 TLX. I love reading the comments on FB whenever a car manufacturer posts something. They range from: "my car spontaneously combusted for the 3rd time this week and the neither the dealer nor ___NA is doing anything about it. Stay away from this death trap." to "I'm on my 5th ____ and love it so much. I'll never drive another brand again." Obviously these need to be taken with a grain of salt. I read one about the 2017 Acura MDX that stood out. I leased a 2014 MDX Tech & Loved it for 3 years. I've had a 2017 for 3 months and wish I could have the 2014 back. The 2014 MDX was introduced as the current body style with the tried & true 6-Speed Automatic as opposed to the 9-Speed unit that has been causing some controversy.

breld

Just got a "Black Friday" ad from my local Acura dealer advertising $5,750 off all 2016 TLXs. May not be the sportiest car out there, but still a great car and lots of features for the money. Even better with a used one.

Wonder what the story is on this one - 2016 Advanced AWD with 500 miles? Apparently the owner really wanted a Mercedes instead? Did they even drive the Acura before purchasing?

https://cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/684290885/overview/

graphicguy

Always been an Acura fan. I don't think I ever saw a discount like that on a TL, Breld. Not going to do much for the usually rock steady Acura resell value, but that would be a very good deal, as that would bring a totally loaded TLX SH AWD Advance to under $40K.

That "coffee" color leather interior is my favorite.

Stick...thanks for the update on the Jag. I'm really smitten by the WX, only I'm looking at the S version with the blown 6 cyl. Too bad the local dealer in Cincinnati is a far cry from what I consider a decent lux dealer.

andres3

roadburner said:

andres3 said:

From what I remember they were pretty much panned by the car press as poor handlers with lots of design flaws.

A Pontiac Solstice GXP turned a 3:15.7 at VIR during the 2007 Car and Driver Lightning Lap; to put that in perspective, that was faster than a 2015 GTI, a 2014 Focus ST, a 2008 R32, and a 2008 WRX STI.

OK, I'm impressed by that time, but what percentage of production was allocated to the GXP vs. the other lesser Solstices' trim lines. Do you have a VIR lap time on those?

houdini1

corvette said:

stever said:

The Buicks are premium and they'd run about $60 a day. The investigator said they didn't care if I got a Ferrari, just to be aware that $1,000 is the limit.

State Auto pulled the plug on my rental on the 30th day, even though there was still enough of the $1,500 limit to pay for a couple more days (the policy says nothing about the maximum number of days' benefit, just that you can't exceed $50 per day or the $1,500 aggregate--my rental was less than $50 per day, so I should have gotten more than 30 days). One of several things State Auto did to work against its own policyholder. This is why people hate insurance companies.

The body shop picked up the rental from there until the car was "done."

And probably hid it in the bill somewhere !

andres3

stickguy said:

side note, kid was at VW this AM getting his Jetta serviced. They had a Golf R he wanted to try. One problem, it was in the showroom. But they only had 1, and would not allow a test drive without a credit check. So, pass on that. Stopped at Audi instead, and drove the S3 (which from what I understand, is basically the same car). Well, the kid fell in love with that (I told him it was a bad idea!). Seemed to think it felt noticeably quicker. Definitely felt rougher ride. I told him as an only car, living where they have crappy roads and lots of winter, might be a bad idea. But it was slick. Love the virtual dashboard. And it scooted real fast. But, for this time, he will stick with the normal model (which already pushes the budget),

and unlike VW with their Golf, Audi guy just asked what he wanted to see, told him S3, he said sure, let's go for a ride, and handed him the keys.

That was my experience as well, Audi will let you test drive anything $75K and under without batting an eye, while VW acts like the Golf R stickering around $40K is some kind of Bugatti Veyron not to be test driven unless you are rich enough to not ask how much it'll really cost.

A credit check is nothing; that's getting off easy for a Golf R test drive. The closest I could get to one was if the dealership and I agreed to a price beforehand, and if I liked the car, I'd buy the car. I made a reasonable offer, but it got rejected. Told them in order to raise my offer I needed to test drive the car to see how much I really liked it, and so that was the impasse, never test drove it, and ended up in the much better looking and driving TTS anyway.

fintail

I remember when I was still pretty young (and driving a grandfatherly W126), a Porsche dealer had a gently used C43 AMG I wanted to look at. I went in to see it, and the salesman pretty much just gave me the keys and told me to take it out - alone. That was pretty cool.

xwesx

Mr_Shiftright said:

Steve--I just thought of the perfect used car for you---a Subaru Baja.

Or, a Honda Ridgeline. You can probably get a better deal on one of those (factoring in age and overall depreciation), and it would be imminently practical for your lifestyle!

28firefighter

So punch has been made for my father-in-law. He leased a 2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro Premium Plus with technology pack, cold weather package and a few other small accessories. It is a beautiful color combo - Moonlight Blue over Nougat Brown interior with dark oak wood inlays. Not a cheap car - list was just shy of $50k.  My personal favorite feature is the Bang and Olufsen sound system. Sounds incredible. 

The negotiations prior to my assisting left something to be desired. He wanted to do a one pay lease to reduce the monthly interest and not have an ongoing payment. They told him their bottom line was $20,500 all in for 36 months including tax, tags, etc. I told him that amounted to basically $2000 over invoice and was not a great deal. I sent an email to a competing local dealer and they came back at invoice pricing, but could not get the color combo he wanted. Took that back to the original dealer and they matched and here we are.  He was pretty surprised because he felt that he had negotiated a pretty good deal - instead they weren't offering much discount and had marked up the MF. 

All told after incentives he ended up at $1750 under invoice and basically no interest for 36 months. His intent is to buy it at lease end. 

Went with him to pick it up and it is a very very pretty car.  Drives very well and the Audi Virtual Cockpit is pretty nifty. Has piqued my interest in an A3. 

Mr_Shiftright

andres3 said:

roadburner said:

andres3 said:

From what I remember they were pretty much panned by the car press as poor handlers with lots of design flaws.

A Pontiac Solstice GXP turned a 3:15.7 at VIR during the 2007 Car and Driver Lightning Lap; to put that in perspective, that was faster than a 2015 GTI, a 2014 Focus ST, a 2008 R32, and a 2008 WRX STI.

OK, I'm impressed by that time, but what percentage of production was allocated to the GXP vs. the other lesser Solstices' trim lines. Do you have a VIR lap time on those?

781 GXP coupes (out of 1200); 13,000 GXP convertibles (out of 62,000). 2.0L direct injection turbo, 260HP.

jpp75

nyccarguy said:

Interesting point about the 9-Speed Slushbox in the V6 TLX. I love reading the comments on FB whenever a car manufacturer posts something. They range from: "my car spontaneously combusted for the 3rd time this week and the neither the dealer nor ___NA is doing anything about it. Stay away from this death trap." to "I'm on my 5th ____ and love it so much. I'll never drive another brand again." Obviously these need to be taken with a grain of salt. I read one about the 2017 Acura MDX that stood out. I leased a 2014 MDX Tech & Loved it for 3 years. I've had a 2017 for 3 months and wish I could have the 2014 back. The 2014 MDX was introduced as the current body style with the tried & true 6-Speed Automatic as opposed to the 9-Speed unit that has been causing some controversy.

My friend with the TLX V6 w/ Advanced Package just traded it in on a new Tacoma. They never could sort out the transmission and the last time I drove it a couple of months ago the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts were harsher than ever.

He took a bath on the trade, I think they ended up giving him $27k for it and it had just over 14k miles on it. He loved the car when he got it but now was glad to be rid of it. The TLX is a great car in a lot of ways and a good value for the money but that transmission is just pathetic in any car, much less a semi-lux brand with a solid reputation.

qbrozen

28firefighter said:

So punch has been made for my father-in-law. He leased a 2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro Premium Plus with technology pack, cold weather package and a few other small accessories. It is a beautiful color combo - Moonlight Blue over Nougat Brown interior with dark oak wood inlays. Not a cheap car - list was just shy of $50k.  My personal favorite feature is the Bang and Olufsen sound system. Sounds incredible. 

The negotiations prior to my assisting left something to be desired. He wanted to do a one pay lease to reduce the monthly interest and not have an ongoing payment. They told him their bottom line was $20,500 all in for 36 months including tax, tags, etc. I told him that amounted to basically $2000 over invoice and was not a great deal. I sent an email to a competing local dealer and they came back at invoice pricing, but could not get the color combo he wanted. Took that back to the original dealer and they matched and here we are.  He was pretty surprised because he felt that he had negotiated a pretty good deal - instead they weren't offering much discount and had marked up the MF. 

All told after incentives he ended up at $1750 under invoice and basically no interest for 36 months. His intent is to buy it at lease end. 

Went with him to pick it up and it is a very very pretty car.  Drives very well and the Audi Virtual Cockpit is pretty nifty. Has piqued my interest in an A3. 

Sounds like a complicated way to purchase a car. 

nyccarguy

What's he think of the Tacoma?

28firefighter

qbrozen said:

28firefighter said:

So punch has been made for my father-in-law. He leased a 2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro Premium Plus with technology pack, cold weather package and a few other small accessories. It is a beautiful color combo - Moonlight Blue over Nougat Brown interior with dark oak wood inlays. Not a cheap car - list was just shy of $50k.  My personal favorite feature is the Bang and Olufsen sound system. Sounds incredible. 

The negotiations prior to my assisting left something to be desired. He wanted to do a one pay lease to reduce the monthly interest and not have an ongoing payment. They told him their bottom line was $20,500 all in for 36 months including tax, tags, etc. I told him that amounted to basically $2000 over invoice and was not a great deal. I sent an email to a competing local dealer and they came back at invoice pricing, but could not get the color combo he wanted. Took that back to the original dealer and they matched and here we are.  He was pretty surprised because he felt that he had negotiated a pretty good deal - instead they weren't offering much discount and had marked up the MF. 

All told after incentives he ended up at $1750 under invoice and basically no interest for 36 months. His intent is to buy it at lease end. 

Went with him to pick it up and it is a very very pretty car.  Drives very well and the Audi Virtual Cockpit is pretty nifty. Has piqued my interest in an A3. 

Sounds like a complicated way to purchase a car. 

He isn't positive he will buy it at the end, but would like to assuming it is reliable etc.

Not my call, not my money. Was just glad I could help him get a significantly better deal. 

jpp75

nyccarguy said:

What's he think of the Tacoma?

So far he loves it. It's only been a little over a month though, but so far no regrets at all on his part. And I have to say I'm a little jealous.

It's been 2 weeks since the VW dealer promised a call back on next steps and nothing. It's going back Monday morning, if it doesn't get fixed this time and service doesn't improve it may be the last time it goes in.........

ab348

jpp5862 said:

My friend with the TLX V6 w/ Advanced Package just traded it in on a new Tacoma. They never could sort out the transmission and the last time I drove it a couple of months ago the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts were harsher than ever.

He took a bath on the trade, I think they ended up giving him $27k for it and it had just over 14k miles on it. He loved the car when he got it but now was glad to be rid of it. The TLX is a great car in a lot of ways and a good value for the money but that transmission is just pathetic in any car, much less a semi-lux brand with a solid reputation.

That's a real shame. It astounds me that among ZF, Chrysler, Honda/Acura and others that they cannot get this thing right now after 3 years on the market. Maybe GM should sell them their 8-speed Hydra-Matic which seems to work well.

nyccarguy

jpp5862 said:

nyccarguy said:

What's he think of the Tacoma?

So far he loves it. It's only been a little over a month though, but so far no regrets at all on his part. And I have to say I'm a little jealous.

It's been 2 weeks since the VW dealer promised a call back on next steps and nothing. It's going back Monday morning, if it doesn't get fixed this time and service doesn't improve it may be the last time it goes in.........

Which Tacoma did he get?

breld

@28firefighter - sounds like a real pretty A4 your father-in-law got. Nice job saving him some money!

breld

So I actually considered a punch today (and am still considering it).

Having the day off from work, I had to sort through the final things at our old house - we're finally scheduled to close on the sale in a couple of weeks.

Well, since I got through those chores early, figured there was no better way to spend the nice afternoon off than checking out a car.

So went to take a look at and drive the 4-series I mentioned earlier.

428i GC

I've been lusting after these since they came out, but as smitten as I am with the current ride, I figured it'd be entertaining to just check it out. Well, I ended up enjoying it more than I expected - I don't necessarily like it more than the SQ5, but like it at least as much for different reasons.

Love the styling - nice low and wide stance. The white over red interior is very sharp. The M sport, as always, is tastefully aggressive, and I love that steering wheel. As most on this board have experienced, the 4 cylinder is very entertaining, and I certainly wouldn't mind the significant improvement in gas mileage over my last two rides. And I'm just a sucker for a hatchback - love the ease of access for hauling stuff. So, a very practical ride in a sleek, sporty package.

And, it would come with a significant financial benefit. I was figuring I'd be intrigued at a $12,000 difference (their car + $12k for my car). Unfortunately, they came back closer to $9,000. I think they may be able to get to $10k, but not any more. I had a good talk with their sales manager, whom I've kept up with since we bought our X3 there a few years ago, and he was pretty upfront about where they're at.

So yeah, I love the SQ5, but it certainly came at a cost. Would I be happier with this lightly used CPO 428i Gran Coupe and $10,000 in the backseat?

corvette

I think you have to look at what the SQ5 will be worth in 6-12 months when you would trade it in vs. what the 428i would be worth 6-12 months from now.

breld

You know me well - that's definitely a factor I'm considering. With the minivan going back a year from now, I'll likely get into a 3-row SUV. So the 4-series would be a "return" to the sports coupe in the meantime.

As if I end up keeping cars longer than a year anyway.

I would think the higher priced, 1 year old SQ5 would cost more in depreciation over the next year than the 2 year old, lower priced 4-series. But that could merely be justification.

corvette

Happy turkey day, everyone! We have a lot to be thankful for.

graphicguy

When my son bought his GTI, the VW dealer had 3 Rs. When I told the SM that I might consider one somewhere down the road, he got the keys to one of them and said to take it for a test drive. He also said he'd cut a deal given we might be buying two cars at the same time. I kindly declined his offer, but would have had no problem scoring a test drive, nor probably getting a deal on an R.

28FF...that sounds like a very nice car. I would love to see pics. Good deal, too. Always worth shopping more than one dealer on any new car just to keep everyone honest.

JPP....WOW....going from a TLX to a Takoma. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. It's a damned shame about the TLX Transmission. What has been a rock solid car and brand, it seems they have had more than their fair share of problems with the trans. I'm sure in many ways, that is why they are being discounted so steeply. They really can't do a redesign soon enough.

28firefighter

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

jpp75

nyccarguy said:

Which Tacoma did he get?

It's TRD Sport 4wd, 4 door, long bed in dark grey with the Tech package. From the pictures I've seen it's a sharp looking truck.

Sandman6472

Gobble gobble folks from sunny South Florida!

The Sandman

houdini1

sandman_6472 said:

Gobble gobble folks from sunny South Florida!

The Sandman

Gobble gobble was the answer to the Jumble in today's paper !

stevedebi

Well, a week ago, but we got a 2017 Subaru Outback. Wife's replacement for the TDI (which we still own - hopefully VW will buy it back soon).

nyccarguy

Hey @stevedebi! Congrats on the punch & welcome to the Subaru owner's club here on CCBA (me, @Michaell, & @tyguy). If you have any questions about the car, ask away. I've got 2 + years & over 41K miles under my Legacy belt. What model did you get? What motor?

stever

Our Michigan friends who are visiting Las Cruces for a couple of weeks (housesitting for our other ex-Michigan friend here) showed up in a pristine 2011 Impreza sedan with 40,000 miles on it. Practically a Florida car, the second owner was the mom of a friend of theirs and she only put 6,000 miles on it during the years she had it. It's been well maintained, even the rims hold air fine. Great ride for the UP.

Report on the van today is that it's repairable. Needs a new rear axle and some other stuff. ETA on repair is 18 days assuming the insurance company gives them the go-ahead Monday. We're going to drive our friend's Cruze for a few days and then get a rental. 18 days at $50 a day (our max) would be $900, so that would work ok, since we got $1,000 worth of rental coverage. Enterprise has been really good about keeping track of me and had dug up a car for me today, but we did Thanksgiving today and just blew it off (again).

stickguy

man, with the retail value on that, hard to imagine that the repair + $900 rental car isn't above totaling value. But, never know with an insurance company.

Michaell

I'm surprised, too, that the van isn't getting totaled out. Seems like a lot of work for a vehicle with 170K on it - you sure you can trust it when it comes back from the shop?

stever

I think I'd just as soon them total it and I won't be surprised if that's the decision Monday. Even though it seems to run well, when our cars get up to this age, we don't really trust them. Then again, we don't freak out too much if we get stranded somewhere. But it's time for a new one.

Oddly enough, my wife would prefer that they fix it.

My Kia guy thought the latest shipment were 2017s but they are 2016s. So we cancelled our appointment for tomorrow morning. We'd rather hit a dealer on a weekday anyway.

The Encore is still in the running btw.

Michaell

stever said:

I think I'd just as soon them total it and I won't be surprised if that's the decision Monday. Even though it seems to run well, when our cars get up to this age, we don't really trust them. Then again, we don't freak out too much if we get stranded somewhere. But it's time for a new one.

Oddly enough, my wife would prefer that they fix it.

My Kia guy thought the latest shipment were 2017s but they are 2016s. So we cancelled our appointment for tomorrow morning. We'd rather hit a dealer on a weekday anyway.

The Encore is still in the running btw.

I don't think you'd go wrong with either the Soul or the Encore. Can you summarize the pros and cons of each, just to refresh our memories?

stever

The Encore has better mpg than the Soul but no ventilated seats. My wife likes Buicks, I like the Soul because it's a bit boxier. We both like the huge sunroof in the Soul better than the "ordinary" sized moonroof in the Encore. The Soul finally gets blind spot monitoring. The Encore has a better ride.

And that, in a nutshell, is why we're getting the Civic Hatch.



Actually, if the Soul wasn't in the running, I'd likely push for the Tucson harder. It's pretty slick and the local Hyundai dealer is better than either the Kia or the Buick dealer. Well, the Kia dealer just changed hands so time will tell on that one.

I think we'd be pretty happy with any of these, or a Prius or a VW wagon or an Elantra GT. Pretty hard to go wrong too badly any more. Can't go Lexus/Audi/MINI etc. because we don't want to have to drive an hour for warranty service.

houdini1

I always thought you'd be a natural Suburu guy.

stever

We were disappointed with the '97 Outback we had for a decade. Seats weren't comfortable after two hours. Great in snow though. Never trusted that the head gaskets were going to last and I still don't trust the boxer engines. My sister had such good luck with her '05 Forester that she got a '15 Crosstrek.

Even in Anchorage where all our friends had Subarus we kept up in the Tercel, with the occasional use of chains. And our fenders didn't rust away.

suydam

We had such a bad Subaru service department experience where I lived in Ohio that I wouldn't consider them after that. Sometimes it's not the car but the availability of good service that causes one to omit a car from the lists of possibles.