Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Mr_Shiftright

Well if it's any consolation, a fancy 2017 dashboard will look antiquated in 2027, and this Mitsu's dashboard will look delightfully "retro".

suydam

I don't think so.

ab348

I kind of like the Mitsu approach. A lot simpler than most of the others on the market today and I expect most of the functions in those ones are largely unused most of the time. I bet it works just fine for most folks.

All it needs is a cassette player!

tifighter

28firefighter said:

I give you until June.

I'm still sticking with my Memorial Day pick from earlier. It's sounding doable...

Mr_Shiftright

ab348 said:

I kind of like the Mitsu approach. A lot simpler than most of the others on the market today and I expect most of the functions in those ones are largely unused most of the time. I bet it works just fine for most folks.

All it needs is a cassette player!

Cassettes might make a comeback, following on the heels of the current vinyl record revival.

stickguy

That q50 signature is a great deal. Just wish could get the blind spot monitoring on it. But not available. So you get about $6k in stuff to get one option you want.

suydam

Don't forget about 8 tracks!

breld

corvette said:

breld, if you have a cell phone charger plugged in when the TPMS warning illuminates, try unplugging it. That appears to have been the cause of the problem on my Murano. 

Interesting - thanks for the tip. That could very well be the cause.

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

That q50 signature is a great deal. Just wish could get the blind spot monitoring on it. But not available. So you get about $6k in stuff to get one option you want.

Yes. Imagine if (when) they start selling them for $10K off sticker like the rest of the lineup.

stickguy

I would take GGs car loaded up with a huge discount instead. More goodies on it! Someday I'll stop into the Infiniti dealer to browse. After they finish building their new showroom and get out of the temp trailer office.

andres3

breld said:

Quick update on my accountant's car search - he bought the Outlander Sport last night. I told him to call me during the process if he needed any help or advice.

He first called me to let me know they offered him the car for $15,900, which I still don't know how they got there, but I assume they were just anxious to move a FWD manual trannie model. He said he was out the door for $17,400, so knowing generally what the tax rate is, I think that $15,900 was before a $499 D&H, which still seems like a smoking deal.

I warned him of all the hard sell items in the finance office, so he successfully declined those options. The only shady thing they threw at him (which prompted his call to me) was their offer on interest rate. He already had been preapproved for 3.5% through his credit union. The dealership went through the same credit union and came back with a rate somewhere in the 5's, and claimed that his pre-approved rate didn't include various fees and "small print" that would make it in the 5's. I told him to politely tell them that he'd just come back the next day with the documents for his pre-approved loan and get the deal done. Magically, they matched the rate.

Anyway, felt good to help out one of my young employees (he's just a year out of college) with his first new car purchase and "educate" him on the pitfalls of the experience.

It's a shame salesmen choose to look at young guys like a pack of wolves eyes an injured animal.

When I was fresh out of college, I had financing games played on me not by the Finance guy so much, but by the sales managers, and it delayed my reaching a deal and entering the finance office by a couple of hours probably. I countered with poor CSI scores and I remember them asking me straight up why the low scores (as if I offended them) and I said "because you could have just given me the same deal we did over 2 hours ago).

Turns out they did manage to write me up about 2% higher than I knew I was pre-approved for, but at the time, I had no idea a 3-day contract buyout option was a legit thing, so I didn't trust it. The next day for some reason I was talking to the finance guy in his office (car delivered the previous night; so probably picking up the car I drove there in since I didn't trade) and he noticed I was unhappy and probably frowning a bit for having to spend more time in the dealership for something or other. He figured I should be happy and elated with a nice brand new car (apparently he didn't know about the CSI scores), so I told him how the Credit Union was 2% lower and I had it in writing (well; an email at least). He double checked the paperwork and rewrote my contract at a matching rate, but not with the CU, but his bank of choice. Didn't turn my frown quite upside down, but I'm glad he did that. Turns out I was able to refinance a couple months later at about 0.75% lower anyway.

andres3

nyccarguy said:

suydam said:

Good to know. I thought you had talked about it before. Put all those cars back on the list, then!

What I've said in the past is that I'm disappointed with my Legacy's 26 or so mpg average given it's lackluster acceleration. It has a nice, big, 18.5 gal gas tank which usually gets me through a week.

26 MPG seems reasonable given it is full-time symmetrical AWD. Definitely not the best drive-train ever invented in my opinion, but not terrible. I wonder how much these FWD with AWD on-demand when needed systems improve FE.

Michaell

andres3 said:

nyccarguy said:

suydam said:

Good to know. I thought you had talked about it before. Put all those cars back on the list, then!

What I've said in the past is that I'm disappointed with my Legacy's 26 or so mpg average given it's lackluster acceleration. It has a nice, big, 18.5 gal gas tank which usually gets me through a week.

26 MPG seems reasonable given it is full-time symmetrical AWD. Definitely not the best drive-train ever invented in my opinion, but not terrible. I wonder how much these FWD with AWD on-demand when needed systems improve FE.

I know most of @nyccarguy's commute is on the highway, but not sure what his average speed is. Likely a lot of stop and go as he gets closer to work.

On our one and only road trip we took with the Outback (3.6R), we saw close to 28MPG on the highway - 1 better than the window sticker. This was out west with 75MPH limits, but I was doing 77 on the outbound trip and just over 80 on the ride home.

andres3

breld said:

nyccarguy said:

breld said:

@nyccarguy - simply out of curiosity, why the 6-speed on the Accords, as I assume you'd be keeping the Prelude no matter what?

And...no mention of a WRX? That seems to have always been an option in the back of your mind.

Yes. I'm keeping the Prelude and the Pilot no matter what. Driving stick is second nature to me. I just love lowering myself into the Prelude, firing it up, and just ripping through the gears on my way to work. A 6-Speed Accord or Civic Hatchback would just be that much more fun to drive. They also have the modern conveniences that my Prelude doesn't have like bluetooth & decent cup holders. The Accord or Civic would be cheap enough for me to lease and keep paying off the Legacy.

A WRX is always on the back of my mind. That would fall under the "trade the Legacy in" category along with the Q50.

I'm missing the stick-driving experience a bit myself, though I sure appreciate the automatic in the BMW during the commute. I imagine at some point I'll end up "upgrading" the Durango to a nicer SUV for daily driving and get some less expensive fun car. I'm kind of backwards right now (not the first time I've found myself in this situation), where my most functional, hauling kids and stuff vehicle is the cheaper one and the more occasional car is the nicer one.

Doesn't seem backwards to me! It's the way I'm doing it.

The only thing that might be backwards is the car I drive less has Sirius, but the one I drive more miles doesn't (I didn't want to pay for both at the same time, and Sirius won't do the $25/6 month deal anymore). Now, my thinking was the Audi has a good audio system worthy of having Sirius, whereas the KIA sounds system is lackluster at best.

andre1969

well, as of around 12:15 this afternoon, my 2012 Ram is no longer pure as the driven snow. Got popped by a c2012 Malibu whose driver changed lanes without looking. Damage is actually pretty minor...just a small dent above the rear wheel opening on mine, and it broker her mirror, and put a dent in her fender, which I'm guessing came into contact with the rear wheel. Trying to upload some glamour shots, but the computer is acting iffy...

nyccarguy

To be fair, the most grueling part of my commute is once I get off the highway in the AM (it easily takes 25 minutes to drive 3 miles), then getting from work back to the highway at night (sometimes it takes 30 minutes to drive 1 mile). I do set my cruise at 70 in the AM, then 60 once I hit the NYC City Limits. On the way home, I set the Cruise at 60 (Speed Limit 50, then Speed limit 45), bump it up to 65 after a certain point, then finally I set it at 70 once I cross the border into Connecticut.

I have seen 34 mpg on a straight highway trip from Costco in New Rochelle back home, straight up I-95 with my cruise set at 65. I don't trust the OBC. I think it reads about 2 mpg optimistic, so we'll call it 32 mpg. I've never averaged over 29 mpg on a tank in almost 2 1/2 years.

suydam

andres3 said:

breld said:

nyccarguy said:

breld said:

@nyccarguy - simply out of curiosity, why the 6-speed on the Accords, as I assume you'd be keeping the Prelude no matter what?

And...no mention of a WRX? That seems to have always been an option in the back of your mind.

Yes. I'm keeping the Prelude and the Pilot no matter what. Driving stick is second nature to me. I just love lowering myself into the Prelude, firing it up, and just ripping through the gears on my way to work. A 6-Speed Accord or Civic Hatchback would just be that much more fun to drive. They also have the modern conveniences that my Prelude doesn't have like bluetooth & decent cup holders. The Accord or Civic would be cheap enough for me to lease and keep paying off the Legacy.

A WRX is always on the back of my mind. That would fall under the "trade the Legacy in" category along with the Q50.

I'm missing the stick-driving experience a bit myself, though I sure appreciate the automatic in the BMW during the commute. I imagine at some point I'll end up "upgrading" the Durango to a nicer SUV for daily driving and get some less expensive fun car. I'm kind of backwards right now (not the first time I've found myself in this situation), where my most functional, hauling kids and stuff vehicle is the cheaper one and the more occasional car is the nicer one.

Doesn't seem backwards to me! It's the way I'm doing it.

The only thing that might be backwards is the car I drive less has Sirius, but the one I drive more miles doesn't (I didn't want to pay for both at the same time, and Sirius won't do the $25/6 month deal anymore). Now, my thinking was the Audi has a good audio system worthy of having Sirius, whereas the KIA sounds system is lackluster at best.

They are doing the $25/6 mo as an "introductory offer". My trial period expires in a few days so I just got the letter offer.

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

ab348 said:

I kind of like the Mitsu approach. A lot simpler than most of the others on the market today and I expect most of the functions in those ones are largely unused most of the time. I bet it works just fine for most folks.

All it needs is a cassette player!

Cassettes might make a comeback, following on the heels of the current vinyl record revival.

Vinyl has good sound qualities, I think cassettes only reason for existence was its convenience, compactness, and record-ability. Sort of like an IPOD and MP3's. Didn't you see the movie "Steve Jobs" where they portray his beginning thoughts on the IPOD as hating the hideous large bulky Sony Walkmans his daughter carried around?

andres3

suydam said:

andres3 said:

breld said:

nyccarguy said:

breld said:

@nyccarguy - simply out of curiosity, why the 6-speed on the Accords, as I assume you'd be keeping the Prelude no matter what?

And...no mention of a WRX? That seems to have always been an option in the back of your mind.

Yes. I'm keeping the Prelude and the Pilot no matter what. Driving stick is second nature to me. I just love lowering myself into the Prelude, firing it up, and just ripping through the gears on my way to work. A 6-Speed Accord or Civic Hatchback would just be that much more fun to drive. They also have the modern conveniences that my Prelude doesn't have like bluetooth & decent cup holders. The Accord or Civic would be cheap enough for me to lease and keep paying off the Legacy.

A WRX is always on the back of my mind. That would fall under the "trade the Legacy in" category along with the Q50.

I'm missing the stick-driving experience a bit myself, though I sure appreciate the automatic in the BMW during the commute. I imagine at some point I'll end up "upgrading" the Durango to a nicer SUV for daily driving and get some less expensive fun car. I'm kind of backwards right now (not the first time I've found myself in this situation), where my most functional, hauling kids and stuff vehicle is the cheaper one and the more occasional car is the nicer one.

Doesn't seem backwards to me! It's the way I'm doing it.

The only thing that might be backwards is the car I drive less has Sirius, but the one I drive more miles doesn't (I didn't want to pay for both at the same time, and Sirius won't do the $25/6 month deal anymore). Now, my thinking was the Audi has a good audio system worthy of having Sirius, whereas the KIA sounds system is lackluster at best.

They are doing the $25/6 mo as an "introductory offer". My trial period expires in a few days so I just got the letter offer.

I think you have to be grand-fathered in; the Audi just got renewed less than a month ago at $25/6 months. But I couldn't get them to agree to that on the Kia, they just kept calling and sending letters about $30/6 months. I'm a buyer at $25 but not at $30; they can't seem to get that through their heads.

Mr_Shiftright

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

ab348 said:

I kind of like the Mitsu approach. A lot simpler than most of the others on the market today and I expect most of the functions in those ones are largely unused most of the time. I bet it works just fine for most folks.

All it needs is a cassette player!

Cassettes might make a comeback, following on the heels of the current vinyl record revival.

Vinyl has good sound qualities, I think cassettes only reason for existence was its convenience, compactness, and record-ability. Sort of like an IPOD and MP3's. Didn't you see the movie "Steve Jobs" where they portray his beginning thoughts on the IPOD as hating the hideous large bulky Sony Walkmans his daughter carried around?

A lot of people like to "touch" their music collection, as well as enjoying the ritual of pulling records out of folders, reading liner notes, dusting the disk off, and lowering the playing arm. I'm very grateful for digital music while on the go, but it does have a very sterile quality to it. Same with Kindle vs. real book.

ab348

After I cancelled Sirius/XM last month, then negotiated through their phone tree to cancel the ridiculous "cancellation fee" invoice they sent, my phone shows they called every weekday here for 2 weeks straight, never once leaving a message. Be aware that they do not like to take "no" for an answer. They are pirates with a very deceptive and unfriendly business model.

Michaell

Today marks the second anniversary of our 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R. It has, I believe, less than 18,000 miles on the odometer. It has been a great car. Fantastic range on road trips (450+ miles), quiet, comfortable, powerful. When we moved into our new house, we used it very much like a truck.

At the moment, I can't think of one thing wrong with it, or that I'd like to change about it. Well, it has been back to the dealer for two different recalls - one for the electronic parking brake, the other for the ignition relay.

Looking at the service records, We've put about 3000 miles on it since last July.

Just took another look at the window sticker - yikes! $38K.

houdini1

andres3 said:

breld said:

Quick update on my accountant's car search - he bought the Outlander Sport last night. I told him to call me during the process if he needed any help or advice.

He first called me to let me know they offered him the car for $15,900, which I still don't know how they got there, but I assume they were just anxious to move a FWD manual trannie model. He said he was out the door for $17,400, so knowing generally what the tax rate is, I think that $15,900 was before a $499 D&H, which still seems like a smoking deal.

I warned him of all the hard sell items in the finance office, so he successfully declined those options. The only shady thing they threw at him (which prompted his call to me) was their offer on interest rate. He already had been preapproved for 3.5% through his credit union. The dealership went through the same credit union and came back with a rate somewhere in the 5's, and claimed that his pre-approved rate didn't include various fees and "small print" that would make it in the 5's. I told him to politely tell them that he'd just come back the next day with the documents for his pre-approved loan and get the deal done. Magically, they matched the rate.

Anyway, felt good to help out one of my young employees (he's just a year out of college) with his first new car purchase and "educate" him on the pitfalls of the experience.

It's a shame salesmen choose to look at young guys like a pack of wolves eyes an injured animal.

When I was fresh out of college, I had financing games played on me not by the Finance guy so much, but by the sales managers, and it delayed my reaching a deal and entering the finance office by a couple of hours probably. I countered with poor CSI scores and I remember them asking me straight up why the low scores (as if I offended them) and I said "because you could have just given me the same deal we did over 2 hours ago).

Turns out they did manage to write me up about 2% higher than I knew I was pre-approved for, but at the time, I had no idea a 3-day contract buyout option was a legit thing, so I didn't trust it. The next day for some reason I was talking to the finance guy in his office (car delivered the previous night; so probably picking up the car I drove there in since I didn't trade) and he noticed I was unhappy and probably frowning a bit for having to spend more time in the dealership for something or other. He figured I should be happy and elated with a nice brand new car (apparently he didn't know about the CSI scores), so I told him how the Credit Union was 2% lower and I had it in writing (well; an email at least). He double checked the paperwork and rewrote my contract at a matching rate, but not with the CU, but his bank of choice. Didn't turn my frown quite upside down, but I'm glad he did that. Turns out I was able to refinance a couple months later at about 0.75% lower anyway.

Several years ago I was buying a new Nissan Sentra for a college car for my son. The finance guy tried to add about 2 points to the finance rate I knew I qualified for. I politely asked if he had lost his mind. After several lame excuses, he finally gave me a real winner. He said they tried to charge a higher finance rate to people with good credit so they could offer a better rate to customers with bad credit. I got up to walk out before he finally gave up.

qbrozen

houdini1 said:

Several years ago I was buying a new Nissan Sentra for a college car for my son. The finance guy tried to add about 2 points to the finance rate I knew I qualified for. I politely asked if he had lost his mind. After several lame excuses, he finally gave me a real winner. He said they tried to charge a higher finance rate to people with good credit so they could offer a better rate to customers with bad credit. I got up to walk out before he finally gave up.

What a swell guy! A real modern-day Robin Hood.

;b

graphicguy

houdini1 said:

andres3 said:

breld said:

Quick update on my accountant's car search - he bought the Outlander Sport last night. I told him to call me during the process if he needed any help or advice.

He first called me to let me know they offered him the car for $15,900, which I still don't know how they got there, but I assume they were just anxious to move a FWD manual trannie model. He said he was out the door for $17,400, so knowing generally what the tax rate is, I think that $15,900 was before a $499 D&H, which still seems like a smoking deal.

I warned him of all the hard sell items in the finance office, so he successfully declined those options. The only shady thing they threw at him (which prompted his call to me) was their offer on interest rate. He already had been preapproved for 3.5% through his credit union. The dealership went through the same credit union and came back with a rate somewhere in the 5's, and claimed that his pre-approved rate didn't include various fees and "small print" that would make it in the 5's. I told him to politely tell them that he'd just come back the next day with the documents for his pre-approved loan and get the deal done. Magically, they matched the rate.

Anyway, felt good to help out one of my young employees (he's just a year out of college) with his first new car purchase and "educate" him on the pitfalls of the experience.

It's a shame salesmen choose to look at young guys like a pack of wolves eyes an injured animal.

When I was fresh out of college, I had financing games played on me not by the Finance guy so much, but by the sales managers, and it delayed my reaching a deal and entering the finance office by a couple of hours probably. I countered with poor CSI scores and I remember them asking me straight up why the low scores (as if I offended them) and I said "because you could have just given me the same deal we did over 2 hours ago).

Turns out they did manage to write me up about 2% higher than I knew I was pre-approved for, but at the time, I had no idea a 3-day contract buyout option was a legit thing, so I didn't trust it. The next day for some reason I was talking to the finance guy in his office (car delivered the previous night; so probably picking up the car I drove there in since I didn't trade) and he noticed I was unhappy and probably frowning a bit for having to spend more time in the dealership for something or other. He figured I should be happy and elated with a nice brand new car (apparently he didn't know about the CSI scores), so I told him how the Credit Union was 2% lower and I had it in writing (well; an email at least). He double checked the paperwork and rewrote my contract at a matching rate, but not with the CU, but his bank of choice. Didn't turn my frown quite upside down, but I'm glad he did that. Turns out I was able to refinance a couple months later at about 0.75% lower anyway.

Several years ago I was buying a new Nissan Sentra for a college car for my son. The finance guy tried to add about 2 points to the finance rate I knew I qualified for. I politely asked if he had lost his mind. After several lame excuses, he finally gave me a real winner. He said they tried to charge a higher finance rate to people with good credit so they could offer a better rate to customers with bad credit. I got up to walk out before he finally gave up.

Old school F&I guys......great story!

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

Today marks the second anniversary of our 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R. It has, I believe, less than 18,000 miles on the odometer. It has been a great car. Fantastic range on road trips (450+ miles), quiet, comfortable, powerful. When we moved into our new house, we used it very much like a truck.

At the moment, I can't think of one thing wrong with it, or that I'd like to change about it. Well, it has been back to the dealer for two different recalls - one for the electronic parking brake, the other for the ignition relay.

Looking at the service records, We've put about 3000 miles on it since last July.

Just took another look at the window sticker - yikes! $38K.

Happy 2 year car birthday!

nyccarguy

I never realized the scope of how much money F&I makes for the dealership until I was sitting in the F&I office of Jack Daniel's Porsche with my Dad back in December 2010. I had just gotten up from a friendly conversation with our salesman. He told us he drove an older (maybe 2003) Acura TL. I asked the F&I manager what kind of car he drove. He proudly told us about the 911 Turbo Cabriolet that he got as a demo.

corvette

Andre, sorry about the Ram. Hope you weren't injured. Seems like I see a lot of people dart into another lane without looking or signaling. 

suydam

Michaell said:

Today marks the second anniversary of our 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R. It has, I believe, less than 18,000 miles on the odometer. It has been a great car. Fantastic range on road trips (450+ miles), quiet, comfortable, powerful. When we moved into our new house, we used it very much like a truck.

At the moment, I can't think of one thing wrong with it, or that I'd like to change about it. Well, it has been back to the dealer for two different recalls - one for the electronic parking brake, the other for the ignition relay.

Looking at the service records, We've put about 3000 miles on it since last July.

Just took another look at the window sticker - yikes! $38K.

That's pretty high praise. Sounds like you got a great car for your family hauler.
I'm also celebrating 2 years with my Encore and just over 22,500 miles. Other than wishing it had better FE it has been the perfect car for us. A great dog car too. Just got back from picking up my newly de-skunked dog from the groomer. She smells much better now!

corvette

suydam said:

Today marks the second anniversary of our 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R. It has, I believe, less than 18,000 miles on the odometer. It has been a great car. Fantastic range on road trips (450+ miles), quiet, comfortable, powerful. When we moved into our new house, we used it very much like a truck. At the moment, I can't think of one thing wrong with it, or that I'd like to change about it. Well, it has been back to the dealer for two different recalls - one for the electronic parking brake, the other for the ignition relay. Looking at the service records, We've put about 3000 miles on it since last July. Just took another look at the window sticker - yikes! $38K.

That's pretty high praise. Sounds like you got a great car for your family hauler. I'm also celebrating 2 years with my Encore and just over 22,500 miles. Other than wishing it had better FE it has been the perfect car for us. A great dog car too. Just got back from picking up my newly de-skunked dog from the groomer. She smells much better now!

My dog had medium to long hair, likes to play outside, and tolerates baths well, so I give her one about every 5-7 days to keep her smelling fresh. 

Car-related: the ivory interior in the Murano hides her white hair much better than a black interior. 

Michaell

suydam said:

Michaell said:

Today marks the second anniversary of our 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R. It has, I believe, less than 18,000 miles on the odometer. It has been a great car. Fantastic range on road trips (450+ miles), quiet, comfortable, powerful. When we moved into our new house, we used it very much like a truck.

At the moment, I can't think of one thing wrong with it, or that I'd like to change about it. Well, it has been back to the dealer for two different recalls - one for the electronic parking brake, the other for the ignition relay.

Looking at the service records, We've put about 3000 miles on it since last July.

Just took another look at the window sticker - yikes! $38K.

That's pretty high praise. Sounds like you got a great car for your family hauler.
I'm also celebrating 2 years with my Encore and just over 22,500 miles. Other than wishing it had better FE it has been the perfect car for us. A great dog car too. Just got back from picking up my newly de-skunked dog from the groomer. She smells much better now!

After some of the choices we've made in the last 15 years, I think the Subaru is a keeper.

Of course, as soon as I say that, something will happen.

Subaru sent out their monthly e-newsletter, and it had a link to the guaranteed trade in value site. I really, really, really wanted to click it to see what they thought it was worth, but I can't think of anything else in the Subaru family to replace it with. And, the wife is on a bit of a "not spending money" kick to get our debt levels down.

Have to say, I'm pretty happy with where we stand, vehicle wise.

xwesx

breld said:

Nothing too fancy, but I am pretty impressed with getting a brand new "SUV-like" hatchback for the price he got, even if it is FWD. He takes the bus to work and really just needed something for scooting around on the weekends, and one of his main objectives was simply to build up his credit.

Well, if that was a main objective, then it should be mission accomplished! And, he's not spending a bundle (as far as a new car goes) while only paying 3.5%?! I could only wish I had paid that little interest on my first car loan. I paid 6% on that one, and it was actually a good rate for the time (considering no credit history either).

xwesx

andre1969 said:

well, as of around 12:15 this afternoon, my 2012 Ram is no longer pure as the driven snow. Got popped by a c2012 Malibu whose driver changed lanes without looking. Damage is actually pretty minor...just a small dent above the rear wheel opening on mine, and it broker her mirror, and put a dent in her fender, which I'm guessing came into contact with the rear wheel. Trying to upload some glamour shots, but the computer is acting iffy...

Ah, sorry that happened, Andre! But, you managed nearly five years (I think) with nary a scratch?! If only we could all be so fortunate!

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eaQRaIa9XDo

andres3

Michaell said:

suydam said:

Michaell said:

Today marks the second anniversary of our 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R. It has, I believe, less than 18,000 miles on the odometer. It has been a great car. Fantastic range on road trips (450+ miles), quiet, comfortable, powerful. When we moved into our new house, we used it very much like a truck.

At the moment, I can't think of one thing wrong with it, or that I'd like to change about it. Well, it has been back to the dealer for two different recalls - one for the electronic parking brake, the other for the ignition relay.

Looking at the service records, We've put about 3000 miles on it since last July.

Just took another look at the window sticker - yikes! $38K.

That's pretty high praise. Sounds like you got a great car for your family hauler.
I'm also celebrating 2 years with my Encore and just over 22,500 miles. Other than wishing it had better FE it has been the perfect car for us. A great dog car too. Just got back from picking up my newly de-skunked dog from the groomer. She smells much better now!

After some of the choices we've made in the last 15 years, I think the Subaru is a keeper.

Of course, as soon as I say that, something will happen.

Subaru sent out their monthly e-newsletter, and it had a link to the guaranteed trade in value site. I really, really, really wanted to click it to see what they thought it was worth, but I can't think of anything else in the Subaru family to replace it with. And, the wife is on a bit of a "not spending money" kick to get our debt levels down.

Have to say, I'm pretty happy with where we stand, vehicle wise.

I think you have a fine vehicle! Really the only criticism I have is the lack of height adjustable passenger front seat, and the price tag, that you mentioned with the high sticker.

But, if they are able to sticker these at $38K by calling a wagon an SUV, more power to them!

suydam

I think I hit a flag there by mistake. Please ignore.
My dog is black, so the black trim/dark grey cloth is good at hiding her hair. Something about the Encore's trim -- dog hair doesn't stick to it the way it often does with cloth seats. I use a dog cover for the seat and the rest of the car stays pretty clean.

corvette

kyfdx,

We're one-half for three on getting service department prices via email. One dealer responded and gave a price for a brake fluid flush but was confused about the firmware update for the nav system (thought I needed maps and sent me to Nissan's website, so at least they weren't trying to make money off that). I replied explaining that there is a TSB on the nav system for a firmware update (not a map update) and asking how much it will cost to do the firmware update. We'll see where that goes.

Michaell

andres3 said:

Michaell said:

suydam said:

Michaell said:

Today marks the second anniversary of our 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R. It has, I believe, less than 18,000 miles on the odometer. It has been a great car. Fantastic range on road trips (450+ miles), quiet, comfortable, powerful. When we moved into our new house, we used it very much like a truck.

At the moment, I can't think of one thing wrong with it, or that I'd like to change about it. Well, it has been back to the dealer for two different recalls - one for the electronic parking brake, the other for the ignition relay.

Looking at the service records, We've put about 3000 miles on it since last July.

Just took another look at the window sticker - yikes! $38K.

That's pretty high praise. Sounds like you got a great car for your family hauler.
I'm also celebrating 2 years with my Encore and just over 22,500 miles. Other than wishing it had better FE it has been the perfect car for us. A great dog car too. Just got back from picking up my newly de-skunked dog from the groomer. She smells much better now!

After some of the choices we've made in the last 15 years, I think the Subaru is a keeper.

Of course, as soon as I say that, something will happen.

Subaru sent out their monthly e-newsletter, and it had a link to the guaranteed trade in value site. I really, really, really wanted to click it to see what they thought it was worth, but I can't think of anything else in the Subaru family to replace it with. And, the wife is on a bit of a "not spending money" kick to get our debt levels down.

Have to say, I'm pretty happy with where we stand, vehicle wise.

I think you have a fine vehicle! Really the only criticism I have is the lack of height adjustable passenger front seat, and the price tag, that you mentioned with the high sticker.

But, if they are able to sticker these at $38K by calling a wagon an SUV, more power to them!

The wife didn't want a traditional SUV; the only choices were the Outback and the Volvo XC70, which stickered at $10k more.

stickguy

I kind of like this one. Always found this model series to be nice. Good low miles. Price doesn't seem too bad, but as always, that ain't my specialty! Looks nice and clean at least.

http://www.aviautosales.com/2010_Volkswagen_Passat_Magnolia_NJ_8255301.veh

stickguy

one for Bradd. Upgrade to the Legacy he should have bought in the 1st place. Lots more HP, and many more goodies.

http://www.subaruofcherryhill.com/used/Subaru/2016-Subaru-Legacy-Cherry+Hill+NJ-af30db6c0a0e0adf4ae7cb919dddc204.htm?searchDepth=6:7

Sandman6472

Got to drive a '16 SLK 300 today and though a nice small vehicle, the ride was so jarring as we felt every deviation and rut in the road, something that is just unacceptable in such a vehicle. There was an electronic gremlin because dash lights were on but the speedo, gas gauge and tach were unoperable, had to judge my speed by the traffic around me! Totally unacceptable!! Am sure some will say the ride is "super sporty" or some other bullcrap but it left me miserable and my spine was aching.
Drove a new '17 Malibu and it was nice, just like the Cruze. Nothing exciting or unexciting about it, it just went about the task at hand which is appreciated. Truthfully, the Malibu is a fine mid-sized vehicle and bet if the badges were taken off, no one could tell if it was a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry or a Hyundai Sonata. vehicles in this segment have gotten that good and all drive alike, a good thing for consumers looking in this market.
Was lucky to get another 29 hour week and am going to experiment with working a slightly different schedule to see how it is. Thursday's only a couple guys ever show up and Monday's and Tuesday's we have too many so might try working Thursday, Friday and Tuesdays to see how the hours/coverage is affected. The folks who were hired to work the end of the week, Wednesday and Thursday, don't always show up which makes those days tough if we need to move a lot of vehicles. And with this new Tesla temp contract, we need to have ample staff to get the luxury vehicles to them when needed. Seems that besides their own loaners, they need more vehicles and are testing us and Enterprise to see who will give the better service when needed. That office that covers that area really wants to win this contract which means we drivers need to be ready to go when called and for that, we need enough staff those 5 weekdays. thus another reason for me to test different work schedules. Plus, there's the added chance that my hours could be bumped up to 30/week, something I've been asking for these past 9 or 10 months!

The Sandman

xwesx

stickguy said:

one for Bradd. Upgrade to the Legacy he should have bought in the 1st place. Lots more HP, and many more goodies.

Was there a link not included on this one?

stickguy

xwesx said:

stickguy said:

one for Bradd. Upgrade to the Legacy he should have bought in the 1st place. Lots more HP, and many more goodies.

Was there a link not included on this one?

of course! Better look again

roadburner

I'm late to the party as usual, but here is my remodeling story- back in 2007 we totally renovated the kitchen and knocked down the wall between the kitchen and family room- replacing the wall with a breakfast bar. As an added bonus I was able to rotate my HTS 90 degrees and upgrade the cabling, amplification, and move from 6.1 to 7.1.

Before:



And after- note the kitchen island wasn't quite finished:

stickguy

I need to dig out before and after pixs of our kitchen redo. Huge improvement over the tacky builder grade stuff in an odd color (original owners choice!). We also opened up the wall (upper half) into the family room. That only transformed the whole living area. Should have done that right when we moved in! We didn't put in a counter or stools though (but we could if desired, the ledge is bar height) as to not encroach on the family room space. Lot of money, but big impact, that we better get back when we finally sell!

master bath was an even bigger transformation.

being gluttons for punishment, we did the kitchen, master bath, and powder room at the same time. Master was right above the kitchen, so they saved time by opening a hole in the ceiling to avoid dragging everything through the house. Was quite the experience coming home day 1, walking into the kitchen, and looking up right into my master bath.

only water in the house for a while was the hall bathroom. That was fun!

fintail

Cool old appliances, but those center cabinet pulls have always irked me for some reason. My grandmother's modern early 60s style house had appliances like those, and still has the original cooktop and vent hood, but the rest have been replaced. The cabinets arevarnished maple, they and the pastel green formica counters are original, a time capsule of sorts, as was typical with children of the depression, it has been immaculately maintained. It had linoleum with a pebbled mother of pearl/glitter pattern that caught my eye when I was a little kid, but a section developed a crack and she couldn't find a replacement, so it was replaced with laminate. If I lived in an area with affordable detached housing, I'd like to find an older place with an untouched kitchen - not easy, I know.

This is similar to grandma's place:

Michaell

@stickguy - I remember you posting about your reno.

Our master bath is a 5-piece - separate shower and tub, two sinks and the toilet. We want to eliminate the tub, expand the shower and relocate the toilet, so major plumbing. The good news is that there is a crawl space underneath, so access to the pipes is easy. We thought about installing a second showerhead from the ceiling, but not sure how much extra that would cost.

nyccarguy

My parents have a beautiful Hans Grohe Shower Body with a "rain" shower head (straight above) as well as a Fountain Head (water comes out almost like from a water fall). It also has body sprays, temperature control, & volume control. The key to upgrading your shower to having more than 1 head is to make sure you have a sufficient volume of water. 1/2" isn't going to cut it. You should have the plumber run a 3/4" line all the way from the water heater with a 3/4" to 1/2" adapter right to the shower body. Also do the same from the shower body to the heads. Run 3/4", then reduce to 1/2". Enjoy

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

My parents have a beautiful Hans Grohe Shower Body with a "rain" shower head (straight above) as well as a Fountain Head (water comes out almost like from a water fall). It also has body sprays, temperature control, & volume control. The key to upgrading your shower to having more than 1 head is to make sure you have a sufficient volume of water. 1/2" isn't going to cut it. You should have the plumber run a 3/4" line all the way from the water heater with a 3/4" to 1/2" adapter right to the shower body. Also do the same from the shower body to the heads. Run 3/4", then reduce to 1/2". Enjoy

Our water pressure is average, at best.

Since my step-son would be doing most of the work, I'll try to remember this when the time comes.

Thanks for the advice!

tjc78

Ahh the joys of having 1/2 pipe....if someone flushes a toilet while showering prepare for 3rd degree burns!  My house is too old for pressure balance faucets