Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

carnaught

qbrozen said:

Which engine did you get in the MKC? I drove both the 2.0 and 2.3. Preferred the latter, of course.

Got the one you didn't prefer.

carnaught

fintail said:

I also like those bays, they look like they would encourage careful parking. I know people who would be losing mirrors left and right in that garage

You are so right, one has to indeed be careful going in and out. So far, so good .

qbrozen

mjfloyd1 said:

Riding in the 63 split window coupe this afternoon with my wife. I comment that the fuel gauge shows 3/4 tank. Cough, cough, sputter, dies. Thankfully my neighbor was coming that way and could bring 5 gallons of gas. Exciting day! Wife less than impressed. I fill the car up (and the neighbor's 5 gallon can) and the car now reads 1/2 tank. Interesting

I broke down in mine last night as well. Not such a quick fix, though. Had to have it flatbedded home. The fan belt decided it no longer wanted to be in the car. No idea when or where it ejected.

ab348

mjfloyd1 said:

Riding in the 63 split window coupe this afternoon with my wife. I comment that the fuel gauge shows 3/4 tank. Cough, cough, sputter, dies. Thankfully my neighbor was coming that way and could bring 5 gallons of gas. Exciting day! Wife less than impressed. I fill the car up (and the neighbor's 5 gallon can) and the car now reads 1/2 tank. Interesting

Now you know why it was for sale.

tjc78

nyccarguy said:

@stickguy - I think I'm in your neck of the woods.  Diggerland USA off of exit 4 of the turnpike.  We are camping out here until tomorrow AM.  THe Q40 drove great all the way down here.

Welcome to beautiful South Jersey..... One exit up from me!

graphicguy

Carnaught....a couple of years ago, Lincoln sent me one of those "come drive our car for the weekend and we'll give you $75". Took advantage of it and drove an MKC. I was dutifully impressed. If I was in the market for a CUV, I would seriously consider it.

Congrats!

Mr_Shiftright

qbrozen said:

mjfloyd1 said:

Riding in the 63 split window coupe this afternoon with my wife. I comment that the fuel gauge shows 3/4 tank. Cough, cough, sputter, dies. Thankfully my neighbor was coming that way and could bring 5 gallons of gas. Exciting day! Wife less than impressed. I fill the car up (and the neighbor's 5 gallon can) and the car now reads 1/2 tank. Interesting

I broke down in mine last night as well. Not such a quick fix, though. Had to have it flatbedded home. The fan belt decided it no longer wanted to be in the car. No idea when or where it ejected.

Happens all the time with a new car entering the pack. You have to show the cars that you are alpha males, and they will eventually roll over and submit.

tbirdmarco

@xwesx what ever works for you on oial changes. respect your view.

tbirdmarco

@carnaught nice punch congrats to you boath.

houdini1

graphicguy said:

When I was still shopping, Infiniti had one of the mosh-mash Mercedes mated with Infiniti SUVs sitting in the showroom. Give them credit, it was a nice looking vehicle. But, they didn't do much work on the inside to make you think it was anything but a Mercedes with Infiniti badges.

GG, which infinity is that?

Michaell

houdini1 said:

graphicguy said:

When I was still shopping, Infiniti had one of the mosh-mash Mercedes mated with Infiniti SUVs sitting in the showroom. Give them credit, it was a nice looking vehicle. But, they didn't do much work on the inside to make you think it was anything but a Mercedes with Infiniti badges.

GG, which infinity is that?

The Infiniti QX30 is the same as the MB GLA250.

carnaught

@graphicguy and @Marcothecarguy1986, thanks for your comments!

Testing various CUV's, we likewise, were quite impressed. Between the various soft and padded interior materials, and other pros, plus made in USA (Kentucky), the wife and I were suitably interested....a super good deal was frosting on the cake. If anybody cares, I'll list my personal pros and cons FWIW.

Michaell

carnaught said:

@graphicguy and @Marcothecarguy1986, thanks for your comments!

Testing various CUV's, we likewise, were quite impressed. Between the various soft and padded interior materials, and other pros, plus made in USA (Kentucky), the wife and I were suitably interested....a super good deal was frosting on the cake. If anybody cares, I'll list my personal pros and cons FWIW.

We are always interested in reading reviews of your rides - whether you own them, or simply test drive them.

mjfloyd1

qbrozen said:

mjfloyd1 said:

Riding in the 63 split window coupe this afternoon with my wife. I comment that the fuel gauge shows 3/4 tank. Cough, cough, sputter, dies. Thankfully my neighbor was coming that way and could bring 5 gallons of gas. Exciting day! Wife less than impressed. I fill the car up (and the neighbor's 5 gallon can) and the car now reads 1/2 tank. Interesting

I broke down in mine last night as well. Not such a quick fix, though. Had to have it flatbedded home. The fan belt decided it no longer wanted to be in the car. No idea when or where it ejected.

Hopefully you will get it sorted out quickly.

suydam

Yesterday in traffic I happened to be behind a vehicle I'd never seen before. It was a Volvo C30. I never did get to see the front of it but wow! Was that an ugly rear. Reminded me of the Nissan Juke. A tiny glass hatch and big rear lights like a horror show giant bug's eyes. I thought Volvos were more classy looking. I'm not very familiar with Volvos. Anybody know anything about these?

28firefighter

I owned one for a while - a silver 2011 C30 T5. I liked it quite a bit but the lack of 4 doors really made it challenging once we had a dog.

stickguy

I thought it was cute. They stopped making them about 5 years ago. Basically a wagon/hatch 2 door version of the S40. The styling was an homage to the old P1800ES sportback of the early 70s.

kyfdx

All turbocharged with 230 HP. Volvo's version of the GTI.

Mr_Shiftright

Volvo needs to be careful. They are competing with a LOT of other makes.

28firefighter

kyfdx said:

All turbocharged with 230 HP. Volvo's version of the GTI.

It was quick but did not handle nearly as well as the GTI unless you got the R-Line. Problem was, the base model was pretty pricey and Volvo ended up subsidizing them quite a bit (which is why I ended up with it).

Today's Mk7 GTI is a better car in nearly every way from a driving perspective.  However I have yet to drive another car that size with better seats than the C30. 

fintail

I remember test driving a new C30 when they were introduced, with a friend, as he liked the design. I recall it was a Swedish flag themed model. The design was nice, especially inside, but options were light and IIRC price was around 30K (10 years ago), he didn't see it as a good value.

tbirdmarco

@mjfloyd1 and @qbrozen the joys of having an older car love it! would not have it any other way lol lol.

tbirdmarco

@carnaught You are SO welcome! would love to hear the prows and cons on the MKC might go and have my mom look one in the summer. or mkx to as whell.

graphicguy

Was at a local car show today (Sharonville, OH). Lots of Fox Body Mustangs. None of them I'd pay much money for. But, the ones with a V8 were getting pretty big interest. Makes me wonder what mine would be worth?

Those fox bodies were either ratted out, or totally customized (which makes no sense for those model years).

tifighter

Good Fox bodies seem to be rising at the moment. Hard for me to adjust my internal slide-ruler on that, but it appears to be true.

fintail

Fox convertibles are a guilty pleasure of mine. I remember when I was a kid, they were a super cool car, if you had a 5.0 convertible, you were hot.

Also reminds me of one of the best TV shows:





LX 5.0 with those nice wheels:

roadburner

The X3 is sold. The night I bought the Mini I mentioned that the X3 was for sale on FB and almost immediately one of my friends messaged me about it; today he picked it up. Long story short it cost less than $2k to make the swap to the Clubman.

stickguy

that was a good move it seems. I would not mind finding something cheap to tide me over for a bit when my lease ends (at least until the princess is situated, and we figure out what we are doing about moving), Just not that easy to find the right car. But we shall see!

jpp75

28firefighter said:

It was quick but did not handle nearly as well as the GTI unless you got the R-Line. Problem was, the base model was pretty pricey and Volvo ended up subsidizing them quite a bit (which is why I ended up with it).

Today's Mk7 GTI is a better car in nearly every way from a driving perspective.  However I have yet to drive another car that size with better seats than the C30. 

I always liked those for some reason. When I lived in Wilmington, NC I saw one at the airport in long-term parking all the time.

The seats in the S60 were by far the best ever, the perfect mix of comfort and support. The S60 was a great car overall. Plenty of power, nimble, handled great, impressive MPG. It would be a great buy used if the long term quality wasn't suspect.

nyccarguy

@fintail - I absolutely LOVED the 5.0 Mustangs from 1991 - 1993. That car looked fantastic with the 5 Spoke 16" Wheels. I wanted one as my 1st car so BAD! I even went as far as asking the dealer if he would swap out the wheels from an LX 5.0 or GT on a 4cyl.

nyccarguy

So this is a difficult for me to admit here among my friends here of whom are all "drivers" and "car guys." I made a potentially deadly mistake which I have seen before on the news and have said to myself: "how does this happen?" Now usually the person is quite intoxicated.

Sunday AM, I am getting back on the NJ Turnpike from Route 73. There are 4 Tolls. After the tolls there are signs that say "NY & North" pointing to the Left and "DE and South" pointing to the right. I went through the toll. I see the divider to go left is pretty close to the toll, so I go left. I ended up driving down the Exit ramp and almost on on the NJ Turnpike going the WRONG WAY! I wasn't on the phone or playing with the radio or even talking to my kids. IN NY & CT, there are these big, red signs that say WRONG WAY. I'm still shaking just thinking about it. Thank-God it was Sunday AM and nobody was coming on the off ramp.

fintail

It's funny, I don't like the coupes as much as the convertibles, although I am sure the convertibles have the rigidity of overcooked spaghetti. But they are just fun to look at somehow, Ford did a good job keeping an aging platform relevant and up to date, stylewise.

I remember a kid in an adjacent town received a red high end coupe as his first car. His dad then said if you want help going to school, you have to sell the car, and can use that money. He eventually sold it on, he was a year or two ahead of me, this was maybe in 1993-4 or so. I think it might have been one of the Cobra models, I seem to recall it might have had the wheels that remind me of a blade in a food processor. Haven't thought of that in years.

nyccarguy said:

@fintail - I absolutely LOVED the 5.0 Mustangs from 1991 - 1993. That car looked fantastic with the 5 Spoke 16" Wheels. I wanted one as my 1st car so BAD! I even went as far as asking the dealer if he would swap out the wheels from an LX 5.0 or GT on a 4cyl.

stickguy

Bradd, glad no harm came. Hey, in jersey, we are such good drivers we don't need no stinking signs!

I agree that some of those exits are too wide open since they often just distinguish sides by a few cones. I've almost done the same thing myself.

roadburner

nyccarguy said:

So this is a difficult for me to admit here among my friends here of whom are all "drivers" and "car guys." I made a potentially deadly mistake which I have seen before on the news and have said to myself: "how does this happen?" Now usually the person is quite intoxicated.

Sunday AM, I am getting back on the NJ Turnpike from Route 73. There are 4 Tolls. After the tolls there are signs that say "NY & North" pointing to the Left and "DE and South" pointing to the right. I went through the toll. I see the divider to go left is pretty close to the toll, so I go left. I ended up driving down the Exit ramp and almost on on the NJ Turnpike going the WRONG WAY! I wasn't on the phone or playing with the radio or even talking to my kids. IN NY & CT, there are these big, red signs that say WRONG WAY. I'm still shaking just thinking about it. Thank-God it was Sunday AM and nobody was coming on the off ramp.

We all make bad calls and later can't figure out how it happened. Learn from it and put it in the "Experience" data bank.

stickguy

One thing about Ireland. They might drive on the wrong side of the road, but so much better signage. Makes it easier to drive in unfamiliar places.

kyfdx

I did the same thing once with the women's restroom at a Bengals game. Fortunately, no oncoming traffic. (and yes, alcohol was involved).

It was a sobering experience.

nyccarguy

fintail said:

It's funny, I don't like the coupes as much as the convertibles, although I am sure the convertibles have the rigidity of overcooked spaghetti. But they are just fun to look at somehow, Ford did a good job keeping an aging platform relevant and up to date, stylewise.

I remember a kid in an adjacent town received a red high end coupe as his first car. His dad then said if you want help going to school, you have to sell the car, and can use that money. He eventually sold it on, he was a year or two ahead of me, this was maybe in 1993-4 or so. I think it might have been one of the Cobra models, I seem to recall it might have had the wheels that remind me of a blade in a food processor. Haven't thought of that in years.

nyccarguy said:

@fintail - I absolutely LOVED the 5.0 Mustangs from 1991 - 1993. That car looked fantastic with the 5 Spoke 16" Wheels. I wanted one as my 1st car so BAD! I even went as far as asking the dealer if he would swap out the wheels from an LX 5.0 or GT on a 4cyl.

How about the Triple White GT Convertible that Vanilla Ice drove in "Ice Ice baby?" With the white wheels of course! LOL!

suydam

What a scary experience! I actually did the same thing a couple of months ago. There's an intersection at an exit I frequently use where one way goes on the freeway, but a right turn takes you on a road that parallels the freeway. One exit farther down that road ends and the right turn is now an exit ramp for the freeway. Marked very clearly with Do Not Enter signs. I was thinking I was turning onto that road when he blare of horns informed me I was "entering" the exit ramp. Fortunately there was very little traffic and I was able to U turn safely. Wow. Really stupid. No excuse.

nyccarguy

@fintail - I LOVED MARRIED WITH CHILDREN! Sunday nights at 9:00 PM on FOX.

roadburner

nyccarguy said:

@fintail - I LOVED MARRIED WITH CHILDREN! Sunday nights at 9:00 PM on FOX.

Kelly Bundy: "Do you know what I would do to see Jimmy Dick and the Nightsticks in concert?"
Bud Bundy: "The same thing you do for dinner and a movie?"

28firefighter

roadburner said:

nyccarguy said:

So this is a difficult for me to admit here among my friends here of whom are all "drivers" and "car guys." I made a potentially deadly mistake which I have seen before on the news and have said to myself: "how does this happen?" Now usually the person is quite intoxicated.

Sunday AM, I am getting back on the NJ Turnpike from Route 73. There are 4 Tolls. After the tolls there are signs that say "NY & North" pointing to the Left and "DE and South" pointing to the right. I went through the toll. I see the divider to go left is pretty close to the toll, so I go left. I ended up driving down the Exit ramp and almost on on the NJ Turnpike going the WRONG WAY! I wasn't on the phone or playing with the radio or even talking to my kids. IN NY & CT, there are these big, red signs that say WRONG WAY. I'm still shaking just thinking about it. Thank-God it was Sunday AM and nobody was coming on the off ramp.

We all make bad calls and later can't figure out how it happened. Learn from it and put it in the "Experience" data bank.

Seconded. Most important thing is you're safe.

fintail

It did a good job casting cars. IIRC, the Bundy Mustang was won by Peg in a game show, and only seen in a couple episodes. The black LX episode is a good car-themed one, too.

I haven't seen the video in over 20 years, don't know if I plan to change that :



I think those might be Borbet or Fittipaldi wheels.

nyccarguy said:

@fintail - I LOVED MARRIED WITH CHILDREN! Sunday nights at 9:00 PM on FOX.

tjc78

@nyccarguy
I know that interchange well and I've seen others do it. To echo what @stickguy said, they need something more than a few cones there.

ab348

@nyccarguy - Just goes to show that poor roadway design and inadequate signage can affect the best of us. I had two similar incidents over the last year though neither involved going the wrong way on an expressway.

In one of them I was in a fairly new business park. I was on a main road heading north and wanted to go left to head west. The right lane was for an exit ramp heading east, so the left lane seemed the logical choice. It took me below an overpass and when I came out on the other side I had no lane remaining, with 2 lanes of 30mph traffic heading at me. Just a very bad design. I went back and there was no signage that I missed. It was just weird.

The second case was me looking to get on an expressway. There was a roundabout just prior to the ramp, which are always confusing of course. As I am exiting the roundabout I see an exit for what looks like the ramp to the expressway, but with no sign. I take it and it leads me parallel to the expressway but I can soon see it is a dead-end road to nowhere, still under construction. I was able to turn around and get back to the roundabout The exit to the ramp I wanted was further around the roundabout. Again, bad design and nonexistent signage.

Michaell

roadburner said:

nyccarguy said:

@fintail - I LOVED MARRIED WITH CHILDREN! Sunday nights at 9:00 PM on FOX.

Kelly Bundy: "Do you know what I would do to see Jimmy Dick and the Nightsticks in concert?"
Bud Bundy: "The same thing you do for dinner and a movie?"

When I lived in CA the first wife and I saw a taping of an episode. Was pretty cool.

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AXk92sn7yvA

tbirdmarco

@graphicguy those Fox mustangs are going up in price every day. like the first jen and those. my older brother had one 12 years ago for sum time. put nice Exzost system converterted it to an carb with eletrick fule pump we used to go to quite an few car shows with it. was the rair notch back one. he got it deart cheep had an salvage title. he new that going in. ws hit in the frunt the car ws fixed ok you could see the damage on the inner fenders under the hood tho drove strate and good. was an stick shift. he still misses that car to this day. he had to sell it. his girl frend at the time now my Sister in law had to go to law school in new York city and he was moving in with her. and did not want to bring the car in to new York city. said that probably sum one would posabal steal it.. when he did end up selling it he made an few grand on it. considering what he had in it. sum one from an nother state came and got it after my brother sent him menny picks of every thing. came with an truck and traler. that is it for now. also my brother had before that 2 Camaros boath 1987 one was an normal Camaro v8 stick shift. white in color. the other one not long after was. an irockz same year 1987 black with ground effects. this one was fule injected the first one had an carb. just drove boath of those no mods like the mustang.

tbirdmarco

@roadburner nice glad you wher able to make an quick sail on the x5

tbirdmarco

@nyccarguy THank god you and your family are alrite and nothing bad did happen at all. man I don't drive like you all do in hear. but man shore that is an really really scary thing for you and all in the car.

tbirdmarco

@nyccarguy do remember that mustang in Vilina Ices song.