Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

nyccarguy

Mazda 6

imidazol97

roadburner said:

might be that some people (not me!) are chronically late, and probably barely looking to make a flight, so just dump and run? or maybe they are just sub human pigs.

My wife works at my son's old school and when she is responsible for the car line she comes home with stories of how the interiors of some of the parents' cars are just nasty and disgusting. She said sometimes fast food wrappers and drink cups fall out when she opens the door. When RB Jr. was home from college for the summer and working at my BMW dealer washing and valeting customer cars he also came home with similar stories.

When I see a car worn an air freshener hanging, I Assume the car needs the deodorizing for a reason. Lol.

Our 14 Malibu is almost 3 years old. 
It's. Only been the last few weeks that our car didn't smell new. Can I buy that new car smell in a can?

jpp75

Congrats @Graphicguy on the Q50! That's a lot of car for the money and it has to be a better experience than what Cadillac has put you through.

suydam

fintail said:

Leaf might be good until the batteries conk out. Not sure what the replacement would cost, but probably at least as much as the value of those cheap used examples.

Ditched wagon looks like a Mazda 6.

Leaf battery has an 8 year warranty. Generally 100,000 miles. Lower maintenance overall and hardly any fuel cost. I never thought about it before, but I think it would be a good driver for a teen.

Michaell

Thanks, all. I see the Mazda 6 styling now.

And, the car was put into the creek by another vehicle that was out of control.

The picture was taken just outside of Boulder - a common place for cars to end up in the water when the weather is bad.

graphicguy

jpp5862 said:

Congrats @Graphicguy on the Q50! That's a lot of car for the money and it has to be a better experience than what Cadillac has put you through.

Thx! Agreed!

I'll get some pics up this weekend.

houdini1

fintail said:

And if they are that much at Carmax, CL will be amusing:

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/ctd/6015632025.html

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/ctd/6016670377.html

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ctd/6007934597.html

You can't buy a decent electric golf cart for those prices.

Michaell

@graphicguy - congrats on the new Q50. My old manager at the place where I delivered pizzas has a same generation Q50 with the old 3.7 V6. I'll bet the 3.0T is a much better engine.

Mr_Shiftright

corvette said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Man, they 'd have to discount the hell out of that one for me to bite. Kinda risky. I wonder what wholesale is at auction?

I'd be a buyer on a 500e for $4,000-ish. Unfortunately, I'm not in CA and don't have direct access to the auctions:
https://jalopnik.com/newish-electric-cars-are-coming-off-lease-and-oh-my-god-1790593342

21 hours charging time at home----no thanks.

Mr_Shiftright

imidazol97 said:

roadburner said:

stickguy said:

might be that some people (not me!) are chronically late, and probably barely looking to make a flight, so just dump and run?

or maybe they are just sub human pigs.

My wife works at my son's old school and when she is responsible for the car line she comes home with stories of how the interiors of some of the parents' cars are just nasty and disgusting. She said sometimes fast food wrappers and drink cups fall out when she opens the door. When RB Jr. was home from college for the summer and working at my BMW dealer washing and valeting customer cars he also came home with similar stories.

When I see a car worn an air freshener hanging, I Assume the car needs the deodorizing for a reason. Lol.

Our 14 Malibu is almost 3 years old. 
It's. Only been the last few weeks that out didn't smell new. Can I buy that new car smell in a can?




----------------------------------------------------------------
You can!

http://www.autogeek.net/chemical-guys-new-car-scent.html

suydam

I think most people just plug it in overnight.

Mr_Shiftright

But that's only 12 hours at best. So on most EVs that would limit you to about 40 miles a day unless you managed to find one of those 240V fast-chargers that are open at the time you're driving around.

suydam

If you fully deplete it, yes. But if you don't drive more than 40 mi. In a day, you're just filling it back up.

Mr_Shiftright

True, true---not a bad routine for a city dweller I suppose...but I couldn't live on a 40 mile a day ration--at least not without planning and a decided lack of spontaneity.

suydam

Weren't we talking about a car for teens?
For adults, it's probably the daily driver around town and to work and back if your commute isn't long.

kyfdx

suydam said:

Weren't we talking about a car for teens?
For adults, it's probably the daily driver around town and to work and back if your commute isn't long.

I guess that's a good way to keep your teen from running around. But, if they have an after-school job, etc, etc, that won't work well. Plus, I'll be darned if my teen can have my garage space.

suydam

Good point!

roadburner

suydam said:

I think most people just plug it in overnight.

Exactly; my wife's i3 battery is rarely more than 50% discharged when she gets home. The 110V "occasional use charger" has the car fully charged long before she leaves for work.
An i3 would have been a perfect car for my son while he lived in Columbia SC, there are more than a few 240V chargers around and he seldom drives more than 40 miles per day.

roadburner

We normally budget $350/month for gasoline but since the i3 arrived it's dropped to $100 or less, since we take the i3 whenever practicable.

Mr_Shiftright

That's the "greenest" part of green cars!

suydam

Our gas budget has dropped from $150 to around $50 per month.

Michaell

suydam said:

Our gas budget has dropped from $150 to around $50 per month.

I think we're spending less than $100 a month on gas. One tank for the Jetta, and maybe two tanks for the Outback.

graphicguy

Mentioned that I liked the rental Mazda 3 before the semi devoured it. It was replaced with a Hyundai Elantra......assuming 2016 or 2017 as it only had 600 miles on it....smelled new.

Very impressed with it. Smooth motor, unobtrusive trans, comfortable, plenty of room....little light in the steering dept, but I kind of expect that. Once again, for a base Elantra, it had a pretty nice sounding stereo.

Biggest surprise......41 MPG with admittedly 90% highway.

Impressive car.

These cars have come a long way from my son's '04 Elantra.

I can see why so many people here drive and like them. What do they sell for (base, automatic)?

tifighter

"Fuel" costs for my EV is about $17/month. That's for 1000 miles/month.

A 240 charger for the house costs $500. In my case, install costs were $300. Charges my 28kWh battery in less than 4 hours. And that is from completely empty, which as RB points out, rarely happens. Maintenance costs are almost non-existent. Instant torque.

When the time comes, a new Leaf replacement battery is $5k.

I have a co-worker that drove a lifted Chevy truck to the office. Sorta laughed at me and my 100 mile car. After seeing how it worked for a few months and figuring out how much money it would save him, he bought a used Leaf. It was 2 years old at the time with less than 20k miles and he paid $10k for it. What other two year old car with those miles are you buying for $10k? With heated seats front and rear, heated steering wheel, airbags everywhere, DSC, etc? And his insurance went down. The perfect second car.

imidazol97

Mr_Shiftright said:

---------------------------------------------------------------- You can! http://www.autogeek.net/chemical-guys-new-car-scent.html

Article about car makers and smell built into a new car. I had seen something to this effect years ago on TV about the smells along with the psychology of the car's appearance.

Ozium new car smell mentioned in the article doesn't get rave reviews. It does away with bad odors more than adds pleasant scents.

I'll try the Chemical Guys product.

28firefighter

I drove my BIL's Soul last weekend and I have to say, I'm really impressed with it once you turn off Eco mode. Gobs of torque and decent range. Really crazy that there is no engine noise whatsoever, but you adjust fairly quickly - it isn't so much when you're accelerating but rather when you start the car.

I think if we had a need/use for an around town hauler and we did not have my GTI, a Soul EV would be high on the list.

Michaell

graphicguy said:

Mentioned that I liked the rental Mazda 3 before the semi devoured it. It was replaced with a Hyundai Elantra......assuming 2016 or 2017 as it only had 600 miles on it....smelled new.

Very impressed with it. Smooth motor, unobtrusive trans, comfortable, plenty of room....little light in the steering dept, but I kind of expect that. Once again, for a base Elantra, it had a pretty nice sounding stereo.

Biggest surprise......41 MPG with admittedly 90% highway.

Impressive car.

These cars have come a long way from my son's '04 Elantra.

I can see why so many people here drive and like them. What do they sell for (base, automatic)?

It depends on the trim. SE with tech (like @tjc78 has) probably less than $20K transaction price. Limited, low 20's. Sport, with the 1.6T engine and 201HP, also low to mid 20's - and the Sport is available with a stick shift or 7-speed DCT (same powertrain as @andres3 Optima).

stickguy

I spend little on gas. Have only put gas in the RDX once I think in the last 5 weeks. Nothing in the other 2. Heck, between the Jetta and sonata, I probably haven't done 300 miles combined in that time. Acura, maybe 150? Just not been going anywhere.

A base Elantra? Probably around 17k before TTL. Screaming deal really. And it's like a 4/5 scale sonata now.

andres3

suydam said:

fintail said:

Leaf might be good until the batteries conk out. Not sure what the replacement would cost, but probably at least as much as the value of those cheap used examples.

Ditched wagon looks like a Mazda 6.

Leaf battery has an 8 year warranty. Generally 100,000 miles. Lower maintenance overall and hardly any fuel cost. I never thought about it before, but I think it would be a good driver for a teen.

As a father who will have a girl driving in just 13 more years (wow! time flies!) I'd be very concerned about the safety of a Leaf. Are they well built, or subcompact penalty boxes?

stickguy

Drove a 2015 X5 35i today. Well, drive meaning I backed it out of my garage to wash it. BILs car that they left here for a week. Took advantage of nice weather and cleaned it for them.

Nice car, but big. Like washing a minivan. And I find it to be a bulky barge to drive. Hard to judge corners. Not my taste really. Much rather have an X1, or X3 at the biggest.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Drove a 2015 X5 35i today. Well, drive meaning I backed it out of my garage to wash it. BILs car that they left here for a week. Took advantage of nice weather and cleaned it for them.

Nice car, but big. Like washing a minivan. And I find it to be a bulky barge to drive. Hard to judge corners. Not my taste really. Much rather have an X1, or X3 at the biggest.

I drove X5's when I worked the golf tournament a few years ago. I feel the same way. Not something I'd want to live with daily.

There are times when the Outback seems big.

andres3

roadburner said:

suydam said:

I think most people just plug it in overnight.

Exactly; my wife's i3 battery is rarely more than 50% discharged when she gets home. The 110V "occasional use charger" has the car fully charged long before she leaves for work.
An i3 would have been a perfect car for my son while he lived in Columbia SC, there are more than a few 240V chargers around and he seldom drives more than 40 miles per day.

Ever forget to plug it in at night and then realize you have a big paper weight the next day?

Seems like a lot of work to me ; unless they invent automatic plug-in outlets in a garage that use some type of robot arm to attach to your car's charger automatically after you park.

Michaell

andres3 said:

roadburner said:

suydam said:

I think most people just plug it in overnight.

Exactly; my wife's i3 battery is rarely more than 50% discharged when she gets home. The 110V "occasional use charger" has the car fully charged long before she leaves for work.
An i3 would have been a perfect car for my son while he lived in Columbia SC, there are more than a few 240V chargers around and he seldom drives more than 40 miles per day.

Ever forget to plug it in at night and then realize you have a big paper weight the next day?

Seems like a lot of work to me ; unless they invent automatic plug-in outlets in a garage that use some type of robot arm to attach to your car's charger automatically after you park.

Why not inductive charging? Just drive the car onto a charging "mat" and walk away.

Heck, if they can do it with smart phones, they ought to be able to scale the technology up for cars!

andres3

Michaell said:

graphicguy said:

Mentioned that I liked the rental Mazda 3 before the semi devoured it. It was replaced with a Hyundai Elantra......assuming 2016 or 2017 as it only had 600 miles on it....smelled new.

Very impressed with it. Smooth motor, unobtrusive trans, comfortable, plenty of room....little light in the steering dept, but I kind of expect that. Once again, for a base Elantra, it had a pretty nice sounding stereo.

Biggest surprise......41 MPG with admittedly 90% highway.

Impressive car.

These cars have come a long way from my son's '04 Elantra.

I can see why so many people here drive and like them. What do they sell for (base, automatic)?

It depends on the trim. SE with tech (like @tjc78 has) probably less than $20K transaction price. Limited, low 20's. Sport, with the 1.6T engine and 201HP, also low to mid 20's - and the Sport is available with a stick shift or 7-speed DCT (same powertrain as @andres3 Optima).

Yes, except it the Optima the 1.6T was detuned to around 180 HP I think. Definitely don't have 200 horses in the stable here, but it is adequate and competent given the gains Kia/Hyundai have made recently in lightening their chassis.

It does this on 87 though, and I average about 28.5 MPG. Since the TTS on soft sticky tires gets around 22.5 MPG doing the same commute, on 91, I figure I'm saving a pretty good amount at 1,500 miles a month (2/3 of which are done in the Kia).

stickguy

Sport following trend of way too little sidewall. 40 series skinny tires don't work on our Beirut level roads. Maybe in San Diego can get by with them.

I love most of the sport but that aspect. Might do a swap out for smaller wheels and sell the 18s.

suydam

Open charge port. Plug in. A lot of work?????

uplanderguy

I mentioned the rental Altima I had for about three miles last week that smelled like a...well, you get it. Cheap perfume, should we say. I had a rental a few years back from the same company but a different location, that smelled as bad. I'd rather the car smell like fast food than that; it was due to whatever they spray in the car to deodorize/sanitize/whatever.

tbirdmarco

@thebean so so trew totally agree with you. I don't have an tolerance for when I do call sum one all of the time and they never have the time to call me ever or text me ever.

tbirdmarco

would never leave an rental car an mess not rite.

cdnpinhead

graphicguy said:

. . . It was replaced with a Hyundai Elantra......assuming 2016 or 2017 as it only had 600 miles on it....smelled new.

Very impressed with it. Smooth motor, unobtrusive trans, comfortable, plenty of room....little light in the steering dept, but I kind of expect that. Once again, for a base Elantra, it had a pretty nice sounding stereo.

I can see why so many people here drive and like them. What do they sell for (base, automatic)?

I've rented a few of these as well and have a similar reaction. My wife and I enjoyed one from Boston to the tip of Newfoundland and back last fall -- totally satisfactory.

The bar is being raised.

andres3

stickguy said:

Sport following trend of way too little sidewall. 40 series skinny tires don't work on our Beirut level roads. Maybe in San Diego can get by with them.

I love most of the sport but that aspect. Might do a swap out for smaller wheels and sell the 18s.

Funny, in San Diego, a 40 series tire would be considered a TALL SNOW tire. OK; I might exaggerate just a bit, but there's a lot of people running 30's and 35's.

tbirdmarco

happy Friday all. have an good upcumming weekend to all.

cdnpinhead

Michaell said:

Why not inductive charging? Just drive the car onto a charging "mat" and walk away.

Heck, if they can do it with smart phones, they ought to be able to scale the technology up for cars!

If you're talking a few watts (as in handheld devices), the fact that inductive coupling isn't especially efficient doesn't matter. If you're talking kilowatts, well, it does. A significantly lower percentage of the power that's put into the "pad" gets to the battery. The rest goes into a convenience factor which, based on past experience, will eventually be labeled as evil by the greenies.

andres3

suydam said:

Open charge port. Plug in. A lot of work?????

Well, you do have to do it just about every day right? I only have to fill up the gas tank about once a week; depending on mileage of course, but I think that's pretty typical.

You have to realize I'm spoiled by my latest Audi's cap-less gas tank. Saves me a couple seconds every time I get gas, and I really appreciate the saved seconds! Now if only they could improve the typical gas pump into a race pump and push more gallons per minute through the hose!

roadburner

andres3 said:

roadburner said:

suydam said:

I think most people just plug it in overnight.

Exactly; my wife's i3 battery is rarely more than 50% discharged when she gets home. The 110V "occasional use charger" has the car fully charged long before she leaves for work.
An i3 would have been a perfect car for my son while he lived in Columbia SC, there are more than a few 240V chargers around and he seldom drives more than 40 miles per day.

Ever forget to plug it in at night and then realize you have a big paper weight the next day?

Seems like a lot of work to me ; unless they invent automatic plug-in outlets in a garage that use some type of robot arm to attach to your car's charger automatically after you park.

I have the charger mounted on a support column beside the car. It takes maybe 5 seconds to open the charge socket door and plug it in. Ditto for unplugging it- and the car won't move out of Park if it is still plugged in.

corvette

andres3 said:

Open charge port. Plug in. A lot of work?????

Well, you do have to do it just about every day right?

Yes, just like feeding a kid.

suydam

andres3 said:

suydam said:

Open charge port. Plug in. A lot of work?????

Well, you do have to do it just about every day right? I only have to fill up the gas tank about once a week; depending on mileage of course, but I think that's pretty typical.

You have to realize I'm spoiled by my latest Audi's cap-less gas tank. Saves me a couple seconds every time I get gas, and I really appreciate the saved seconds! Now if only they could improve the typical gas pump into a race pump and push more gallons per minute through the hose!

No, I have a Volt. 50 miles to a charge. Generally I charge it maybe 2-3 times a week. I'm not going to be stranded if it gets too low, so I prefer to wait till it's nearly depleted and then charge. If I had a pure EV like a Leaf I would probably charge it every night as the charge times are longer. Even then, it takes maybe 5 seconds tops. So not exactly adding a huge amount of time! And you wouldn't be spending time at the gas station either.

qbrozen

When I had the Leaf, I sent the standard charger out to a company I found on the internet who upgraded the components to 240v for I believe less than $200. I then bought the appropriate 240 outlet and installed it in my garage. Whole deal was way less than $300 and maybe 2 hrs of my time.

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7O3LJTjFvPM

andres3

A few cars on this bottom 13 list are going to make some unhappy:

http://www2.forbes.com/business/13-new-cars-to-avoid-for-2016/

Fixed my link.