Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

breld

@stickguy - sorry for your loss. That sounds tough all around, even beyond the obvious.

graphicguy

Stick....oh my gosh. I missed the post on the passing of your sister. Sincerest condolences.

tjc78

@stickguy
Sorry for your loss. Hang in there. 

stickguy

nyccarguy said:

stickguy said:

Thanks Michael. Yes, she died a week ago, and the whole situation is extremely messy, with way too much family drama that I am sucked into the middle of.

I'm so sorry about your sister's death @stickguy. Please accept my condolences. Is this the one who lives in Upstate, NY?

Yeah, Saratoga.

Thanks for the thoughts (and that extends to everyone else too. Much appreciated).

stickguy

tjc78 said:

@stickguy
Sorry for your loss. Hang in there. 

Thanks. Oh, after a tough week, wife and I decided to treat ourselves last nigh, and went to the Italian restaurant you recommended (by K Mart). Nice place, and excellent food. Way too big portions though. I ate too much, and there was so much left of my dish, it was enough for both of us to split today for lunch!

roadburner

stickguy said:

Thanks Michael. Yes, she died a week ago, and the whole situation is extremely messy, with way too much family drama that I am sucked into the middle of.

So sorry; I always hated dealing with estate family fights...

iluvmysephia1

stick - yep, family deaths bring the opportunists out. My sincere condolences.

Michaell

@jpp5862 and I met up at the Infiniti dealer this morning.

Looked at a couple of Q40's - the first was black over wheat, with 20,xxx miles on it. The second was grey over graphite with 24,xxx miles, but this one had nav. Took the latter out for a test drive.

I can definitely see the appeal of these. The power comes on smoothly, and the sound! Oh, my. Felt like a nice combination of sport and luxury. Salesman was pretty quiet - of course, he was in the back seat. We probably knew more about the car than he did. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way - literally - was that the door panel rubbed my left arm uncomfortably when I was only using my right hand to drive. I know, I know - I should have both hands on the wheel, but really, who does that 100% of the time? It just felt a little cramped to me, even compared to the Jetta.

Got the salesman's information, and told him I'd be in touch. Daughter eventually wants to replace the MINI with a QX30 at some point, so I'll reach out to him when that happens. And, when my lease is up in 28 months, I'll go back - maybe there will be some off lease Q50's at that time.

But, that wasn't the best part of the visit.

Next door to the Infiniti dealer is a combined Fiat / Alfa / Maserati dealer. Wandered over, ostensibly to look at the Guilia. A sales manager intercepted us and told us that the dealer principle had just signed an agreement to be a McLaren dealer (one of 25 in the US), and that there were three McLarens in the showroom. Would we like to see them? Uh, YES!

There was an orange one in the showroom, then a white and black one in a special two bay showroom. All three were 570's; two were the "S" trim and the third was a "GT", which I guess is more for touring rather than track duty.

The white and black one had just been delivered that morning, and @jpp5862 found a 1/2" bolt in the left front tire of the white one. Sales manager was none too pleased about that. @jpp5862 offered $200K off sticker for that, but the SM didn't bite (in all fairness, he was a really nice guy).

Oh, and don't expect any McLaren test drives. We were told every mile on the odometer would cost about $100 in value.

Then he took us down to the dealer principles "man cave" - it has a 45 car garage, a full kitchen, a massive conference room table that seated about 20 people, a putting green, two bays with golf simulators in them, and a separate cigar room that is specially ventilated. Available, at no cost, for 'special functions'. @jpp5862 and I immediately figured we should start a non-profit of some sort and hold our fund raisers there.

Other vehicles we spied while on the tour:

There were quite a number of Alfa 4C's - I remember an article from C&D many years ago where they described a particular car (I don't remember which) as "needing a shoehorn to get in and a winch to get out". That described the 4C to a T.

Maserati Levante - this is their SUV. The one in the showroom had a starting price of $83K, but the final number was just north of $100K. SM started it up for us - it sounded pretty good - then he hit the "sport" button for the exhaust. Sounded like the pit lane of a sports car race. Fun for cruising your kids' school parking lot, but I can't imagine having it turned on all the time. Interior, as with almost every Italian car, was phenomenal, but overall the interior space seemed cramped.

@jpp5862 and I decided we'll have to go back and have him drive the Guilia - not the Quadrifoglio, but the "regular" version, which stickered in the low to mid 40's.

All in all, a pleasant 90 minutes. Too bad @breld wasn't able to join us.

Michaell

A couple of pictures from the dealer:

tjc78

stickguy said:

@stickguy
Sorry for your loss. Hang in there. 

Thanks. Oh, after a tough week, wife and I decided to treat ourselves last nigh, and went to the Italian restaurant you recommended (by K Mart). Nice place, and excellent food. Way too big portions though. I ate too much, and there was so much left of my dish, it was enough for both of us to split today for lunch!

So glad you enjoyed it!!  We were there last Sat night.  Kids split our leftovers the next day.  

nyccarguy

You should be glad @breld didn't join you. You & @jpp5862 would have driven home in your new Q40s & @breld would have found himself a nice QX70.

breld

I probably could have joined in on the fun after all, since I did end up dragging 2 of my 3 boys to the MB dealer to have a second look at the Durango R/T.

Still liked it quite a bit - even drove it down to my work office to show the wife. Dealer gave another $1k from the other day and then let me walk - they may indeed be at their bottom line, at least for now.

jpp75

@stickguy I echo the condolences for your sister and for the unfortunate position you're now in.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

You should be glad @breld didn't join you. You & @jpp5862 would have driven home in your new Q40s & @breld would have found himself a nice QX70.

@jpp5862 was in his rental.

The car I test drove was brought on the lot only in the last day or two. Needed a serious detail. And, the first "I" from "Infiniti" was missing on the trunklid.

tbirdmarco

@nyccarguy nice that is an grate Tridishian you all have. usally go the day before easter or first day when the show opens. will let you no.

jpp75

@michaell That's a great write up of our morning, we really packed a lot into an hour or so. It was great being back in the Q40 (G37x for me). Truly a great car, Bradd you made a great choice.

The dealership with the Fiat, Alfa, Maserati and now McClaren was really quite an experience. As @michaell said the exhaust note on the SUV was just amazing. I don't know why the Alfa caught my attention but it's been in my head all afternoon. I know the quality would make my VW look like a 1995 Camry in comparison but I am curious as to now it drives The unique look of the dash is probably also a factor.

tbirdmarco

@stickguy
you are welcome

tbirdmarco

@stickguy
she lived up near my older brother.

tbirdmarco

@Michaell wow what an day you all had injoyed reading it all felt like was there lol lol

tbirdmarco

@breld nice nice sounds like you had an ausam day to they might call yiou that MB dealer you never no and want to deal.

suydam

Michaell said:

@jpp5862 and I met up at the Infiniti dealer this morning.

Looked at a couple of Q40's - the first was black over wheat, with 20,xxx miles on it. The second was grey over graphite with 24,xxx miles, but this one had nav. Took the latter out for a test drive.

I can definitely see the appeal of these. The power comes on smoothly, and the sound! Oh, my. Felt like a nice combination of sport and luxury. Salesman was pretty quiet - of course, he was in the back seat. We probably knew more about the car than he did. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way - literally - was that the door panel rubbed my left arm uncomfortably when I was only using my right hand to drive. I know, I know - I should have both hands on the wheel, but really, who does that 100% of the time? It just felt a little cramped to me, even compared to the Jetta.

Got the salesman's information, and told him I'd be in touch. Daughter eventually wants to replace the MINI with a QX30 at some point, so I'll reach out to him when that happens. And, when my lease is up in 28 months, I'll go back - maybe there will be some off lease Q50's at that time.

But, that wasn't the best part of the visit.

Next door to the Infiniti dealer is a combined Fiat / Alfa / Maserati dealer. Wandered over, ostensibly to look at the Guilia. A sales manager intercepted us and told us that the dealer principle had just signed an agreement to be a McLaren dealer (one of 25 in the US), and that there were three McLarens in the showroom. Would we like to see them? Uh, YES!

There was an orange one in the showroom, then a white and black one in a special two bay showroom. All three were 570's; two were the "S" trim and the third was a "GT", which I guess is more for touring rather than track duty.

The white and black one had just been delivered that morning, and @jpp5862 found a 1/2" bolt in the left front tire of the white one. Sales manager was none too pleased about that. @jpp5862 offered $200K off sticker for that, but the SM didn't bite (in all fairness, he was a really nice guy).

Oh, and don't expect any McLaren test drives. We were told every mile on the odometer would cost about $100 in value.

Then he took us down to the dealer principles "man cave" - it has a 45 car garage, a full kitchen, a massive conference room table that seated about 20 people, a putting green, two bays with golf simulators in them, and a separate cigar room that is specially ventilated. Available, at no cost, for 'special functions'. @jpp5862 and I immediately figured we should start a non-profit of some sort and hold our fund raisers there.

Other vehicles we spied while on the tour:

There were quite a number of Alfa 4C's - I remember an article from C&D many years ago where they described a particular car (I don't remember which) as "needing a shoehorn to get in and a winch to get out". That described the 4C to a T.

Maserati Levante - this is their SUV. The one in the showroom had a starting price of $83K, but the final number was just north of $100K. SM started it up for us - it sounded pretty good - then he hit the "sport" button for the exhaust. Sounded like the pit lane of a sports car race. Fun for cruising your kids' school parking lot, but I can't imagine having it turned on all the time. Interior, as with almost every Italian car, was phenomenal, but overall the interior space seemed cramped.

@jpp5862 and I decided we'll have to go back and have him drive the Guilia - not the Quadrifoglio, but the "regular" version, which stickered in the low to mid 40's.

All in all, a pleasant 90 minutes. Too bad @breld wasn't able to join us.

A MCLAREN! Be still my beating heart!
I thought these were made to order. But some are in a showroom? What a trip!

qbrozen

Took my bro's fiance to a couple of places today. A Honda dealer had a used Maxima and a Sonata for about $6k each. Sonata was a mess. Max was very very well kept, so we took that for a spin. She was afraid to drive due to it being a high traffic area she was unfamilar with.

I layed down 10 feet of rubber and smoke pulling out into traffic. Whoops! At about 20mph, the car started making this very loud droning noise. Long story short, it was a rear bearing. Ok, no big deal, they'd fix that. We got back and sat down to talk turkey when salesman was told they just sold it to the couple who drove it before us (wonder if they saw what I did to its new tires). Then I asked about a Nitro they had on their website (she really does want an SUV). He left and came back in a few mins to tell us that just sold, too. Oh well.

We were across the street from Torchlight motors and I saw on their site an '08 Liberty. Was told it "wasn't ready to be seen" yet. Huh. Ok. I asked his ballpark on it and he said high 8s, which would put it out of her reach.

And thus ended the day's shopping. Well, other than when I had to pull over to speak with my Mecum bidding assistant and quickly get outbid on a Duster. Sigh.

Michaell

suydam said:

Michaell said:

@jpp5862 and I met up at the Infiniti dealer this morning.

Looked at a couple of Q40's - the first was black over wheat, with 20,xxx miles on it. The second was grey over graphite with 24,xxx miles, but this one had nav. Took the latter out for a test drive.

I can definitely see the appeal of these. The power comes on smoothly, and the sound! Oh, my. Felt like a nice combination of sport and luxury. Salesman was pretty quiet - of course, he was in the back seat. We probably knew more about the car than he did. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way - literally - was that the door panel rubbed my left arm uncomfortably when I was only using my right hand to drive. I know, I know - I should have both hands on the wheel, but really, who does that 100% of the time? It just felt a little cramped to me, even compared to the Jetta.

Got the salesman's information, and told him I'd be in touch. Daughter eventually wants to replace the MINI with a QX30 at some point, so I'll reach out to him when that happens. And, when my lease is up in 28 months, I'll go back - maybe there will be some off lease Q50's at that time.

But, that wasn't the best part of the visit.

Next door to the Infiniti dealer is a combined Fiat / Alfa / Maserati dealer. Wandered over, ostensibly to look at the Guilia. A sales manager intercepted us and told us that the dealer principle had just signed an agreement to be a McLaren dealer (one of 25 in the US), and that there were three McLarens in the showroom. Would we like to see them? Uh, YES!

There was an orange one in the showroom, then a white and black one in a special two bay showroom. All three were 570's; two were the "S" trim and the third was a "GT", which I guess is more for touring rather than track duty.

The white and black one had just been delivered that morning, and @jpp5862 found a 1/2" bolt in the left front tire of the white one. Sales manager was none too pleased about that. @jpp5862 offered $200K off sticker for that, but the SM didn't bite (in all fairness, he was a really nice guy).

Oh, and don't expect any McLaren test drives. We were told every mile on the odometer would cost about $100 in value.

Then he took us down to the dealer principles "man cave" - it has a 45 car garage, a full kitchen, a massive conference room table that seated about 20 people, a putting green, two bays with golf simulators in them, and a separate cigar room that is specially ventilated. Available, at no cost, for 'special functions'. @jpp5862 and I immediately figured we should start a non-profit of some sort and hold our fund raisers there.

Other vehicles we spied while on the tour:

There were quite a number of Alfa 4C's - I remember an article from C&D many years ago where they described a particular car (I don't remember which) as "needing a shoehorn to get in and a winch to get out". That described the 4C to a T.

Maserati Levante - this is their SUV. The one in the showroom had a starting price of $83K, but the final number was just north of $100K. SM started it up for us - it sounded pretty good - then he hit the "sport" button for the exhaust. Sounded like the pit lane of a sports car race. Fun for cruising your kids' school parking lot, but I can't imagine having it turned on all the time. Interior, as with almost every Italian car, was phenomenal, but overall the interior space seemed cramped.

@jpp5862 and I decided we'll have to go back and have him drive the Guilia - not the Quadrifoglio, but the "regular" version, which stickered in the low to mid 40's.

All in all, a pleasant 90 minutes. Too bad @breld wasn't able to join us.

A MCLAREN! Be still my beating heart!
I thought these were made to order. But some are in a showroom? What a trip!

There were three at the dealer today.

When I travel to Palo Alto to visit company HQ, I drive past the McLaren dealer. Probably 15-20 on the lot at any given time.

stickguy

Well, it is an SUV. And does sneak in under the price cap. Not sure any sane person would do it though!

http://www.eimports4less.com/detail-2006-volvo-xc90-xc90_2_5_awd_7~passenger_suv-used-16212854.html

ab348

One thing that Maserati consistently has over other manufacturers is an absolutely killer exhaust sound.

xwesx

Wow; quite a day for many of you! @michaell, it took me a while to reply after reading your report due to ruining my keyboard via excess drool. LOL

@qbrozen, that sounds like quite the exercise in frustration/disappointment with the soon-to-be SIL. Perhaps it will work out for the best in the end. How much did the Duster end up fetching?

andres3

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:

You should be glad @breld didn't join you. You & @jpp5862 would have driven home in your new Q40s & @breld would have found himself a nice QX70.

@jpp5862 was in his rental.

The car I test drove was brought on the lot only in the last day or two. Needed a serious detail. And, the first "I" from "Infiniti" was missing on the trunklid.

Is the missing "I" the weight savings track package?

andres3

ab348 said:

One thing that Maserati consistently has over other manufacturers is an absolutely killer exhaust sound.

Now if only they could get them to run long enough to actually hear them on the roadways of America.

I suppose my sample size of 1 for HPDE events isn't a very big sample, but I never got to hear it as it didn't make it one session before needing a tow back to Beverly Hills.

qbrozen

xwesx said:

Wow; quite a day for many of you! @michaell, it took me a while to reply after reading your report due to ruining my keyboard via excess drool. LOL @qbrozen, that sounds like quite the exercise in frustration/disappointment with the soon-to-be SIL. Perhaps it will work out for the best in the end. How much did the Duster end up fetching?

It was a no sale at $23k, which is quite a bit more than I thought it was worth. No idea what that seller was thinking.

stickguy

Q, not exactly an SUV (but AWD wagon, close enough). Price under budget. Looks clean, low miles. If feeling adventurous, a nice comfy car.

http://www.royaleasing.com/detail-2005-volkswagen-passat_wagon-4dr_gls_4motion_automatic-used-16138059.html

corvette

$5k to buy, probably $5k/year average repair bills. The 1.8T in that generation has significant turbo lag to begin with, and is saddled with the heavier weight of the wagon, plus the automatic transmission, plus AWD. I'm betting it's a dog.

stickguy

well, I said adventurous.

rayainsw

stickguy -
I lost my Mom earlier this year -
you have my sincerest condolences on your loss...
- Ray
Still grieving

Sandman6472

At the Audi store yesterday getting Mrs. Sandman's chariot cleaned up a bit, lousy job though. Sat in a new blue over gray A3 which was pretty nice but closing in on $36K. Outside, had a cpo'd 2016 same color combo A3 with decent miles for a decent price but not sure I'd be happy with an A3 right now. I'd rather take the family white over black if push came to shove as I know it's history and how it has been driven. But doubt that'll be what happens down the road.
Salesman I talked with let on that VW/Audi has improved a whole lot since the mid 2000's in every way possible. Talked about the new A3 a bit and he seemed to know his product. Still, not something I'd really want to own for myself but would if push came to shove.

The Sandman

graphicguy

rayainsw said:

stickguy -
I lost my Mom earlier this year -
you have my sincerest condolences on your loss...
- Ray
Still grieving

Ray.....sorry for your loss!

tbirdmarco

@qbrozen what the day you all had. sorry to hear about the duster. keep on looking no you will find an nice driver old car soon what ever it might be. are you all doing sum mor used car shopping today?

cdnpinhead

Sorry, Ray & Stick. Moms and sisters are among the closest of close relatives.

sda

stickguy said:

well, I said adventurous.

Looks like the driver's seat has split on the seat bottom. We had a '99 Passat 1.8t 5sp that I bought new for my wife. She was hesitant to buy anything but Japaneese and I convinced her that VWs had improved and that I had owned several in the past and liked them. Within two days and less than 100 miles the Passat went into an electrical fit, gauges bouncing all around and was running poorly. Wife not pleased, not at all. Dealer couldn't find anything wrong and it never acted up again. Go figure. Wife was always on pins and needles from there on.

Mr_Shiftright

qbrozen said:

I'll be helping my brother and his fiance tomorrow trying to find her a decent $6k SUV. Quite the tall order, really. I found a couple of FWD Santa Fes as well as one local Mountaineer, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

A Suburban maybe? ---cheap and pretty reliable---or is that too large?

qbrozen

nah. too big for her.

laurasdada

Greetings from Portland, OR. Late condolences to Stick and Ray.

Ex. is having an open house this weekend on "our" house (she's moving to Portland, my son was accepted at Duck U), my XF is parked in the driveway. Jokingly, ex. told me she told the realtor that my car comes with the house. I'm sure she's joking? Given MA divorce, for all I know she can actually do that!

28firefighter

Welcome to the PNW. Hope you took both keys to the XF with you! 

corvette

laurasdada said:

Ex. is having an open house this weekend on "our" house (she's moving to Portland, my son was accepted at Duck U), my XF is parked in the driveway.

Good luck with the open house (if there is still any benefit to you from selling the house). Portland is a pretty strange place. Eugene is kind of neat. I only got to spend one night in each of those cities during my week-long trip to the PacNW last summer, so didn't get as good of a feel as I would have liked.

If I were going to college on the other side of the country, I'm not sure I'd want one of my parents to follow me!

laurasdada

Ex. has been told that her job is now in Portland. Or, thank you for your 30 years of service, here's your severance check. She took door #1, Portland so we're here as a family (sans daughter, getting ready to graduate and move to DC in May), checking out Duck U (I liked it, I want to be a Duck Daddy!), but not sure it's the best fit for my son's intended major. He's also been accepted at a few Northeast schools, we'll see. If he stays east, he can live with me. But, I think he wants to hang with mom, not sure.

Been house hunting for the ex., I know which house I want in Lake Oswego! But, ain't for me. I"m a New Englander, not a lot of Pats fans here!

suydam

Oregon in the Final Four! Lotta excitement there!

jeffb0101

I've been going through the same car SUV shopping for my parents. They are replacing my mom's 06 Armada, which was totaled last month. 

So so far the contenders are:

03 XC90 2.5t with 95k. In good shape for the year, but will have a PPI done by their mechanic. Oddly enough, it doesn't have the versatility package (3rd row, etc) that most sold down here do. $5,995

00 Lexus RX300 with 152k. Also in good shape, but it needs a new key and only the right speaker seem to be working. $5,995, as well. 

A new one that popped up is my friend's 09 Explorer XLT with around 140k on it. He will give it to me for $4,500.

This Explorer seems like the best way to go as far as parts availability and the ability for their mechanic to work on it.  Back when I had my XC90, the local indie Euro shop wouldn't touch it. 

I admit that car shopping for someone else does give me a bit of a rush!

graphicguy

LD....tough, life changing activities. Chin up....move on! New-better days ahead!

stickguy

always fun spending other people's money. Though my experience is that, after hours of research and presenting to them, based on all of their criteria, they will always just buy whatever the heck they want, and it often has no relation to their requirements list.

nyccarguy

@qbrozen

what do you think about this for your sister?

https://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/cto/6052792765.html

nyccarguy

One would assume the cooling system has been done at least 2x on this E46 325i 5-Speed SP.  it needs new floor mats too.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/cto/6057431628.html