Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

ab348

andres3 said:

What is high test gas?

Hint: it's made from the same base stock as an LP record.

Wait, what?

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

nice. but is that price realistic?

Not even remotely evidence-based pricing IMO. He'll be buying that one a birthday cake. Not sure what the dealer thinks he has there, but it's just a nice old used car.

Concours condition would be less than half the price, very presentable drivers well under $10K.

jeffb0101

My Genie is always a pain to get back online @sandman_6472. It's always trial and error. 

graphicguy

andres3 said:

pensfan83 said:

I can't imagine not test-driving something that I would be driving for 3 years or longer. On that note my rescheduled appointment to test drive a TLX A Spec is tomorrow and it's supposed to shower in the afternoon. If I like the car as much as I am expecting to then I'm expecting things to move relatively quickly. Still need to stop at the Audi dealer though. They sent over the figures I asked for but I still haven't seen the car in person.

a SH-AWD A-Spec TLX from Acura? Haven't found one yet at a dealer lot nor on the road.

Come on down to Cincinnati. I'll let you drive one in the wild!

stickguy

My dealer had one in showroom. Maybe two. I think was AWD.

Sandman6472

Audi needs two new sneakers but really three since one is almost new. Tried to sell her on radiator drain/refill, tires, alignment, induction service. Only had almost 33K on it right now. Told him to write it all down as only the oil change and some interior discoloration plus wash/fill up windshield resevoir. They also do a 35 check/inspect thing so we'll see. Just too much right now to process with all the "Irma madness".
Should call by 5 he said and then we'll go pick it up. Luckily it's only about 3 miles from here. Supermarkets getting re-stocked and gas stations slowly opening up. Power still out for many, it'll take time to get back to normal. Mentioned to wife that within a short period, want to consider, strongly, moving! Maybe out west a bit where they never loose power, maybe south a bit towards Miami, maybe up towards Orlando. Need to plant the seed as I just do not want to do any more hurricanes!!

The Sandman

tbirdmarco

@pensfan83 how did the testdrives go today? any punch to report!

andres3

sandman_6472 said:

Audi needs two new sneakers but really three since one is almost new. Tried to sell her on radiator drain/refill, tires, alignment, induction service. Only had almost 33K on it right now. Told him to write it all down as only the oil change and some interior discoloration plus wash/fill up windshield resevoir. They also do a 35 check/inspect thing so we'll see. Just too much right now to process with all the "Irma madness".
Should call by 5 he said and then we'll go pick it up. Luckily it's only about 3 miles from here. Supermarkets getting re-stocked and gas stations slowly opening up. Power still out for many, it'll take time to get back to normal. Mentioned to wife that within a short period, want to consider, strongly, moving! Maybe out west a bit where they never loose power, maybe south a bit towards Miami, maybe up towards Orlando. Need to plant the seed as I just do not want to do any more hurricanes!!

The Sandman

have you thought about installing a diesel generator with a 1,000 gallon diesel fuel tank and a ATS (Automatic Transfer System) for your electrical panel? Seems like you'd be a candidate for that.

andres3

sandman_6472 said:

Audi needs two new sneakers but really three since one is almost new. Tried to sell her on radiator drain/refill, tires, alignment, induction service. Only had almost 33K on it right now. Told him to write it all down as only the oil change and some interior discoloration plus wash/fill up windshield resevoir. They also do a 35 check/inspect thing so we'll see. Just too much right now to process with all the "Irma madness".
Should call by 5 he said and then we'll go pick it up. Luckily it's only about 3 miles from here. Supermarkets getting re-stocked and gas stations slowly opening up. Power still out for many, it'll take time to get back to normal. Mentioned to wife that within a short period, want to consider, strongly, moving! Maybe out west a bit where they never loose power, maybe south a bit towards Miami, maybe up towards Orlando. Need to plant the seed as I just do not want to do any more hurricanes!!

The Sandman

induction service on a 2 year old 33K mile A3? Seems early and aggressive to recommend that, unless you've been putting in cheap gas when you know the Audi requires/recommends premium.

tbirdmarco

@sandman_6472 glad the outy has an clean bill of health!

tbirdmarco

@sandman_6472 to low of an milege to really nead anything 50k or mor could see just dealer trying there selling of tbings to make mony!

tbirdmarco

@sandman_6472 hope your wife you can convince her to move a lot sooner than later! can see all of the rebilding every few yearsand things like that being an big pane and very frustrating!

pensfan83

andres3 said:

a SH-AWD A-Spec TLX from Acura? Haven't found one yet at a dealer lot nor on the road.

Yes sir. There are currently 15 SH-AWD A Specs between the 3 Pittsburgh area Acura dealers though I have not seen a 2018 regular TLX let alone an A-Spec on the open road. Test drove a Still Blue Night over Ebony one this afternoon. Going to post my impressions shortly.

suydam

Everywhere in the country has power outages! Our system of overhead power lines pretty much insures that. Now hurricanes are another story.

tbirdmarco

mom got an replacement rental car today ford fuzian hibred fuly loaded saw it breafly now she loves it! wants to goo and look at them in the upcumming few munths since maxima is going back in less than one year she will keep this rental car until next week! she likes it a lot better than the BMW convert she had!

tbirdmarco

@pensfan83 colors on that one you test drove sound nice! cante wate to hear all about it! later on

qbrozen

andres3 said:

induction service on a 2 year old 33K mile A3? Seems early and aggressive to recommend that, unless you've been putting in cheap gas when you know the Audi requires/recommends premium.

Depends what they mean by "induction service." The fuel has nothing to do with it anymore thanks to direct injection. But thanks to that same direct injection, the fuel is no longer flowing over and cleaning the valves, so they do need to be manually cleaned. I've seen pics of valves after 50k in VWs and Bimmers and they were atrocious in some cases, so 33k would not surprise me one bit. As long as that is what they mean by induction service, of course. HOWEVER, BMW covered the valve cleaning under warranty on my 1 series.

roadburner

andres3 said:

roadburner said:

Last Thursday we took a one owner 2008 M3 in on trade; Sparkling Graphite Metallic, Fox Red leather, manual transmission- and with only 50K miles on it. If I didn't already have the 2 Series I would be sorely tempted. The thing is, my 2er puts up identical acceleration, handling, and braking numbers(although it is about 1.5 seconds slower around VIR)- yet it manages 6.5 mpg better than the M3. And of course my current ride has one year of the new car warranty and covered maintenance remaining not to mention 2 years of CPO coverage after that.
Still, I wish I didn't have to walk by the M3 every day...

How do you explain the 1.5 second slower lap time if all those performance metrics are indeed identical? Perhaps they are "close" to identical, close, but no cigar?

The M3 had a limited slip diff and rode on Michelin Sport Cup+ tires; The 2er cant carry as much speed out of the corners without the LSD.

roadburner

graphicguy said:

stickguy said:

nice. but is that price realistic?

Was thinking the exact same thing, Stick!

Honestly, that generation of 6 series BMW is absolutely gorgeous. I love each and every one of those I've ever run across (which weren't many).

I just received the latest copy of Thoroughbred and Classic Cars; the cover story was on appreciating classics to buy now. One of them was the M6/M635CSi- and T&CC pegged the current average price at 50,000‎£. I think that's a bit on the high side, but on this side of the pond $40,000 or so sounds reasonable for a good car.

au1994

pensfan83 said:

a SH-AWD A-Spec TLX from Acura? Haven't found one yet at a dealer lot nor on the road.

Yes sir. There are currently 15 SH-AWD A Specs between the 3 Pittsburgh area Acura dealers though I have not seen a 2018 regular TLX let alone an A-Spec on the open road. Test drove a Still Blue Night over Ebony one this afternoon. Going to post my impressions shortly.

Interested to hear your thoughts. I think they are great looking cars and a great bang for the buck with Honda reliability to boot.  A friend of my sons dad has a new one so I got to "look" at one without going to a dealer. It's impressive including the interior. Just a little bigger than I wanted right now. Same reason I checked the Maxima and Passat off the list.

stickguy

The TLX is bigger than what I was hoping to get, but for some reason, feels/drives "smaller" to me than it really is.

au1994

stickguy said:

The TLX is bigger than what I was hoping to get, but for some reason, feels/drives "smaller" to me than it really is.

Well darn. Maybe I should have driven one!

Its also a garage space concern for me. I'm adamant that both cars fit into the garage along with all of our stuff and leaving plenty of room to move about in there.  We've already had one incident of a bike pedal scratching the bottom of a car door.  That was a dark night in the au1994 house!

stickguy

I require both in the garage too. thankfully my Sonata fits even with bikes in front of it, and the RDX side has a ton of room (the Odyssey used to fit fine on that side). One reason I would not get a large PU since it would have to sit outside (unless I also got a convertible toy car to occupy the garage bay, so the DD would be outside anyway)

pensfan83

Yesterday I was able to test drive a TLX A-Spec. Still Blue Night w/Ebony Interior, seems to be something of a rare bird according to some TLX forums however this dealer has sold 2 of them, one with a red interior.

Interior: High quality all around, soft touch materials where they should be, everything has a solid feel. The seats are wonderful, supportive in all the right places and I like how they integrated the thigh support extender. I'm not sure how the Alcantara will look after 2-3 years but by then it will be time for a new one . As others have noted the navigation looks outdated, especially when compared to my 3 year old car but I rarely use nav and when I do need it I use Waze, which should integrate nicely with the Android Auto. I prefer black interiors and I didn't realize the headliner was black too, looks like a coal mine it's so dark. The white over espresso leather would be a great combo IMO. They could have added stitching on the dash or made the passenger side a little more daring but all in all it's a good package.

Driving:Very pleasantly surprised how it drove. Taut, tracks well, great steering feel that responds instantly to any input, though I had it in Sport mode the entire time. When pushed the V6 makes very satisfying noises and they do not sound artificial to my ears when piped in through the speakers. The car went wherever I pointed it and the suspension is appropriately tuned. One thing I noticed is some slight hesitation in downshifts, almost like the transmission needed a split second to figure out what to do. Maybe it was because I am used to a manual for my DD and my wife's CVT I forgot what a traditional automatic drove like but it didn't seem entirely normal but it wasn't bothersome enough to be a deal breaker. The test drive lasted close to 45 minutes and included 4 lane road, 2 lane windy road, and an interstate to test some of the safety nannies. I agree with @stickguy the car does not feel as big as it looks. It was pretty tossable on the backroads and felt firmly planted at all times. I would have pushed it a little more if the salesman was not in the car. On the interstate the car cruises as effortlessly as any car I have ever driven. Tried out the lane keep assist/lane departure warning and it's a very strange sensation to let go of the wheel and allow the car to drive itself, including around a slight bend. After about 20 seconds a warning chimes and message pops up telling you to grab the wheel.

GeneralThe car looks great in person and I can't think of any option it doesn't have I would want. It would be nice to get the heated steering wheel, windshield, and surround view camera from the Advance but I've lived without those my whole life and if I really want to a heated wheel and remote start they can be ordered as dealer installed accessories. I think Acura did a great job with the execution on the car and it seems like quite a bit was done for a mid-cycle refresh. It certainly won me over and with the Audi dealer and myself miles apart on numbers for re-upping on an A4 this is a pretty good option as well.

Mr_Shiftright

roadburner said:

graphicguy said:

stickguy said:

nice. but is that price realistic?

Was thinking the exact same thing, Stick!

Honestly, that generation of 6 series BMW is absolutely gorgeous. I love each and every one of those I've ever run across (which weren't many).

I just received the latest copy of Thoroughbred and Classic Cars; the cover story was on appreciating classics to buy now. One of them was the M6/M635CSi- and T&CC pegged the current average price at 50,000‎£. I think that's a bit on the high side, but on this side of the pond $40,000 or so sounds reasonable for a good car.

They can't lump an M6 in with an ordinary 635CSi--those are two different animals entirely. If anyone wants to pay $40,000 for a 635 CSi, please let me know immediately!

28firefighter

Thanks for the report, @pensfan83!

My buddy out here had his wife's RDX in for service the other day and they gave him a TLX A-Spec (not SH-AWD) as a loaner. He did not seem all that impressed with it, but he also isn't a car guy. He said it did not feel like it had a ton of low end grunt, but was really great once it was moving. Also felt the seats weren't all that comfortable.

I think the solution here is I just need to go drive one myself.

Maybe also this one while I'm at it...
http://www.jaguarseattle.com/inventory/2011-porsche-cayenne-turbo-awd-sport-utility-wp1ac2a2xbla83444

fintail

These days I can imagine 40-50K for a really pristine concours M6 - they are rare and cost a lot when new. But for a 635, nah. British/Euro prices for cars of that era are far higher than on this side of the pond. Mint MB 126s and 107s also bring a lot more there than here.

graphicguy

@pensfan83....good review. Don't disagree with anything you said. Regarding the trans, not sure if it's one of the "adaptable" automatics that changes it's shift maps based on your driving habits. But, mine has really smoothed out after I hit about 800 miles on the odo. It reminds me a whole lot of the one in my BMW 335i, which as a ZF trans also, and sterling.

3K miles on mine, now. I keep my foot in it quite a bit and have done quite a bit of in city driving. I have mine in either sport, or sport + always and am getting 22-23 MPG. The few times I've hit the highway, I get in the neighborhood of 27-28 MPG. Pleased with that as I, in no way, get anywhere near "eco" or "normal" settings.

While I haven't had a single reason to take it to the dealer, not even for a rattle or squeak, I do notice that the onboard computer is consistently 5% high over the manual measurement I do for MPG. Not sure if that's something they can correct or not, and I'm being nit picky. But, thought I'd mention that.

pensfan83

@28firefighter - I would be interested in your take. It certainly has its detractors, especially those fiercely loyal to German brands but I think it's a great overall package. It doesn't blow you away with anything, rather it does everything very, very well and that's all I need in my car. If I wanted something tuned more aggressively for performance and luxury I would look hard at an S4.

@graphicguy - Good to know about the transmission. This car had all of 20 miles on it when we left and about 40 when we returned so it's not broken in by any means. Like I said it wasn't enough to deter me altogether but I am glad to know it would likely smooth out as the miles accumulated. I would probably keep it in Sport mode almost exclusively as well. If that's the gas mileage I can expect I don't really lose anything in the city and only about 3-4 MPG on the highway. Having never driven an Acura before yesterday it's easy to see why you like yours so much and why you're loyal to the brand.

Lastly, I get that it's not cost effective to manufacture for such a small subset of buyers, but I can't help wonder how much more fun the car would be with a manual as a no cost option.

breld

pensfan83 said:

If I wanted something tuned more aggressively for performance and luxury I would look hard at an S4.

Agreed. My S4 manual was the perfect combination of performance and luxury (IMO).

The Type R is a little short on the latter.

stickguy

a manual TLX? I'm in.

you might get better highway MPG, especially if you just drop it into normal mode. I get that mileage in my AWD RDX, so gotta figure the TLX can beat that! I have actually had some longer highway runs that broke 30 on the RDX which is impressive. Around town, well, that mileage sucks, especially with my wife doing the driving.

breld

Now having said that...I am still in a state of euphoria when taking the seat of the Type R.

Others could probably describe it more eloquently, but to me, it's a very "mechanical" experience. Reminds me of previous cars that required a good bit of driver involvement - which is very satisfying. Despite being turbocharged, the power delivery feels very linear, and is still rewarding to rev it up to its limits - reminiscent of previous Hondas I've had such as the Prelude and TSX. And may be comparing apples and oranges, but from a big picture perspective, the overall experience is more akin to what I would consider the more driver-oriented cars in my past, like the e39 530i and e90 335xi. Those also had little emphasis on the luxury side and much more on the sport.

FWIW, the trip computer is indicating an average MPG in the upper 20's (I think my last fuel up showed something like 28 mpg).

So far no real mishaps with the 20" wheels. But I have been eyeing 18 or 19" options that would provide a little more sidewall.

Had the GPS antenna replaced yesterday, which was an issue from the moment I took delivery. So basically I now have navigation, though I wasn't missing it what with the system having Apple Carplay anyway.

And I've even become accustomed to the lack of volume knob.

stickguy

so what I take out of this, is gone by Turkey day for something with more luxury content?

breld

Keep on forgetting to mention, my next door neighbor who is very much an enthusiast, just bought a 2009 Porsche 911 Turbo. Has about 60k miles on it and was tracked by the previous owner.

I can't say I know much about these Porsches, but I would say he's a brave man.

cdnpinhead

graphicguy said:

. . .I do notice that the onboard computer is consistently 5% high over the manual measurement I do for MPG. Not sure if that's something they can correct or not, and I'm being nit picky. But, thought I'd mention that.

This is the nature of the beast -- I've documented the same thing for my TSX since new (8.5 years ago). This year it's averaged about 7% high, with variation from 3.5% to 11%, all high relative to the manual calculation. I could live with it if it was high sometimes and low others, with an average somewhere near zero, but that's not the case.

Everything else on the car is dead nuts (odometer, speedometer, temperature readouts, etc.), so I'm sure marketing won the battle over engineering for the MPG readout. They know that only a few of us pinheads ever really check it out, let alone averaging over a period of time.

pensfan83

breld said:

Agreed. My S4 manual was the perfect combination of performance and luxury (IMO).

The Type R is a little short on the latter.

There's very few other cars I would consider in that range, a 340i would be nice too

Mr_Shiftright

fintail said:

These days I can imagine 40-50K for a really pristine concours M6 - they are rare and cost a lot when new. But for a 635, nah. British/Euro prices for cars of that era are far higher than on this side of the pond. Mint MB 126s and 107s also bring a lot more there than here.

Yes, prices in Rustlandia (aka Great Britain) are generally higher for many, but not all types of cars. Keeping an eye on auction results in the UK and the Continent is always a good idea if you're buying something from overseas.

Mr_Shiftright

breld said:

Keep on forgetting to mention, my next door neighbor who is very much an enthusiast, just bought a 2009 Porsche 911 Turbo. Has about 60k miles on it and was tracked by the previous owner.

I can't say I know much about these Porsches, but I would say he's a brave man.

They're good, strong cars but when they break....ouch! You're in $30K for an engine by the time you're done with it. What did he pay? About $75K?

andres3

graphicguy said:

@pensfan83....good review. Don't disagree with anything you said. Regarding the trans, not sure if it's one of the "adaptable" automatics that changes it's shift maps based on your driving habits. But, mine has really smoothed out after I hit about 800 miles on the odo. It reminds me a whole lot of the one in my BMW 335i, which as a ZF trans also, and sterling.

3K miles on mine, now. I keep my foot in it quite a bit and have done quite a bit of in city driving. I have mine in either sport, or sport + always and am getting 22-23 MPG. The few times I've hit the highway, I get in the neighborhood of 27-28 MPG. Pleased with that as I, in no way, get anywhere near "eco" or "normal" settings.

While I haven't had a single reason to take it to the dealer, not even for a rattle or squeak, I do notice that the onboard computer is consistently 5% high over the manual measurement I do for MPG. Not sure if that's something they can correct or not, and I'm being nit picky. But, thought I'd mention that.

Didn't we both agree that although there are 4 settings for the transmission, there was a very wide margin and variance between Sport and Sport +. Moreso than the other settings.

I think @pensfan83 has to try Sport+ to see if that gets the transmission to act less automatic slush-like. The A4 in S-mode would be the standard reference line for an automatic as it uses a DSG.

andres3

pensfan83 said:

@28firefighter - I would be interested in your take. It certainly has its detractors, especially those fiercely loyal to German brands but I think it's a great overall package. It doesn't blow you away with anything, rather it does everything very, very well and that's all I need in my car. If I wanted something tuned more aggressively for performance and luxury I would look hard at an S4.

@graphicguy - Good to know about the transmission. This car had all of 20 miles on it when we left and about 40 when we returned so it's not broken in by any means. Like I said it wasn't enough to deter me altogether but I am glad to know it would likely smooth out as the miles accumulated. I would probably keep it in Sport mode almost exclusively as well. If that's the gas mileage I can expect I don't really lose anything in the city and only about 3-4 MPG on the highway. Having never driven an Acura before yesterday it's easy to see why you like yours so much and why you're loyal to the brand.

Lastly, I get that it's not cost effective to manufacture for such a small subset of buyers, but I can't help wonder how much more fun the car would be with a manual as a no cost option.

There are some manual 3.7 TL's from the past I believe. You'd probably enjoy that car as well; though it's not as much of a looker as the TLX A-Spec.

suydam

Took the Encore in for its 25k service and happened to park next to this.

Mr_Shiftright

is that steel? Looks maybe like a kit?

breld

Mr_Shiftright said:

breld said:

Keep on forgetting to mention, my next door neighbor who is very much an enthusiast, just bought a 2009 Porsche 911 Turbo. Has about 60k miles on it and was tracked by the previous owner.

I can't say I know much about these Porsches, but I would say he's a brave man.

They're good, strong cars but when they break....ouch! You're in $30K for an engine by the time you're done with it. What did he pay? About $75K?

No clue what he paid - I doubt he'd mind sharing, but I don't know him well enough to be comfortable asking. He was talking about some warranty he could purchase for something like $5k.

stickguy

read a bit of the latest R&T today. Had a brief comparison of the Si and GTI. I decided to drive a GTI too, in addition to the Si. Might be deals to be had on those? If nothing else, at least it should be fun!

andres3

stickguy said:

read a bit of the latest R&T today. Had a brief comparison of the Si and GTI. I decided to drive a GTI too, in addition to the Si. Might be deals to be had on those? If nothing else, at least it should be fun!

I've seen advertisements of $6,000 off on GTI's, but of course they include every incentive and rebate, including loyalty rebate.

fintail

That wild custom is a "boomer's dream" (as I call them), I believe a kit or a finished product made to look like a ~ 38-39 Lincoln Zephyr. Very few Zephyr cabrios up there, I seriously hope one wasn't destroyed to make a custom like that.

suydam

Pretty crazy looking. How do you see out of that thing?
Encore 25k service uneventful. Oil change, tire rotation and inspection. All good. This is the first one I've paid for as first 2 years were free.

tbirdmarco

happy Friday all! have an good upcumming weekand all! anyone doing any car looking? T Bird is still at the shop!

tbirdmarco

@pensfan83 nice rite up on the car you test drove! do I see an posabal punch cumming soon!

tbirdmarco

@suydam nice nice!