Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

any update on the new sneakers? I probably will go looking in about 3 weeks. Right before Xmas.

Even my son was trying to shame me into it yesterday.

corvette

stickguy said:

OK, how brave do you have to be to try this one? http://www.royaleasing.com/detail-2008-volvo-s80-4dr_sedan_4_4l_awd-used-17052789.html

I like the color on that one. The driver’s seat is in good shape for that many miles. No backup cam and it doesn’t look like it has sensors, either. I’m sure it’s a rocket. 

corvette

stickguy said:

well, here is a real oddball. Other than the black interior (make that beige) it would be perfect. Other than the crazy steep miles. Though price is not that bad. a RWD stick wagon, at the beginning of winter, in the north? That seems like a tough sell. http://www.eimports4less.com/detail-2008-bmw-3_series-328i_wagon_6_speed_manual_transmission-used-17048737.html

That’s a lot of miles and the E90s were not BMW’s most reliable products. No SP or nav. Love the aluminum trim, that is what mine had. 

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

but the top does not go down. Doesn't even have a moonroof. What's the point of putting up with all the limitations of a 2 door sports car if you don't even get any fresh air?

Q and I are exhibiting our flair for the European Way --they aren't into droptops like we mercans are.

Speaking solely from my biases here, but I am so done with convertibles in the year 2017. While there is the occasional road, on just the right day, that makes a convertible blissful here on the West Coast, by and large one's reality here is crowded freeways filled with 18 wheelers and SUVs the size of houses, and a brisk sea breeze whipping through the Golden Gate, not to mention lots of noise, air pollution and a Nov-April rainy season. And if one escapes to the Central Valley in summer, the heat is so brutal that you wouldn't have the top down anyway.

But Yosemite in August---yeah, that's just lovely top-down.

nyccarguy

I'm with you @Mr_Shiftright.  I used to say I'd love to have a convertible at some point in my life like a Z4, Boxster, even a Wrangler.  The scorching summer sun & the wind noise would deter me at this point.

ab348

The one convertible I owned for a few years got that urge out of my system.

fintail

I liked my roadster rental car, but now that I am back in Rain City, leak worries and other weather-related issues might nix the idea.

kyfdx

When my wife leased her convertible in 2005, the salesperson said there are two kinds of convertible owners. The owner who won't have anything but a convertible, and the owner who only gets one.

She was the latter. It was a fun three years, but she was done with it, after that.

qbrozen

Had my Alfa for a decade and drove it maybe a couple thousand miles total in that time. Definitely made me realize I'm not a convertible person. We had an E30 and then a 9-3 for the wife. She is more like stickguy: requires at least a moonroof in her vehicles.

Michaell

stickguy said:

any update on the new sneakers? I probably will go looking in about 3 weeks. Right before Xmas.

Even my son was trying to shame me into it yesterday.

I asked the wife - she doesn't notice any difference with the new tires compared to the OEM Bridgestones.

Of course, she's probably not well attuned into what to notice.

mjfloyd1

kyfdx said:

mjfloyd1 said:

I ended up filing a Better Business Bureau complaint after Mershon's (Springfield OH) was unable to correct the starting issues (failed alternator, voltage regulator and starter) and coolant leak after having the car (1963 corvette) on two separate occasions for over a month and a half. Thankfully I had a written service sheet. The manager Bob said "sorry it's a 50 year old car" after having the car for a month and sending it back with the same problems. I got a check for about $1550 within days of filing the complaint.

If you are looking at a car at Mershon's, proceed with caution. Interesting folks.

Interesting. A friend of mine that is a local car collector sold them a C2 and an early C3.

Is your friend Leonard from Vermillion OH? He just left a review on cars.com that says Mershons is providing false documentation on a car that he previousnly owned. He says he tried to correct the information twice with Mershons with no reply from management. Seem to be even more interesting folks

kyfdx

mjfloyd1 said:

kyfdx said:

mjfloyd1 said:

I ended up filing a Better Business Bureau complaint after Mershon's (Springfield OH) was unable to correct the starting issues (failed alternator, voltage regulator and starter) and coolant leak after having the car (1963 corvette) on two separate occasions for over a month and a half. Thankfully I had a written service sheet. The manager Bob said "sorry it's a 50 year old car" after having the car for a month and sending it back with the same problems. I got a check for about $1550 within days of filing the complaint.

If you are looking at a car at Mershon's, proceed with caution. Interesting folks.

Interesting. A friend of mine that is a local car collector sold them a C2 and an early C3.

Is your friend Leonard from Vermillion OH? He just left a review on cars.com that says Mershons is providing false documentation on a car that he previousnly owned. He says he tried to correct the information twice with Mershons with no reply from management. Seem to be even more interesting folks

Nope... don't know him.
My friend didn't have any issues, but didn't have any interest in Mershon's other than selling them the vehicles.

mjfloyd1

I had a soft top convertible and traded it for a hard top 335 convertible. Best of both worlds. No leaks. Doesn’t feel like the top is being sucked off when you pass a semi on the freeway...
  

stickguy

I did have one convertible (a Miata). I did put the top down whenever possible (meaning above 41, and not raining). Anything else, top went down. I do recall being on the highway (local driving, so short distance getting place to place) and being eye level with the lugnuts on a semi. The bottom ones I think. definitely felt exposed in that car! So if I got one again, it would really be for toy use. Would not do it for DD duty, and that I actually drive daily \now!

moonroof though, that is a must have. Would have to be one heck of a special car to buy one without it. That pretty much is also always open, unless raining, 100 (even then, maybe) or below freezing.

laurasdada

Happy Thanksgiving, all. Hope you enjoy it with friends and family!

Feeling so inadequate here, the Bizzarro breld; my XF is about to turn 4 y.o,, just passed 40k miles. What is wrong with me?

sda

I've had multiple convertibles, all were secondary cars. They were all enjoyable as they were mostly driven when the weather was good. All but two would leak water to some degree when it rained. The '87 VW Wolfsburg Cabriolet and the '92 Miata did not. I think VW provided the best of all worlds with the Eos. It was a hard top convertible complete with a moonroof to open when putting the top down wasn't desired. Too bad they were discontinued.

sda

I am in the same predicament as I've had the Accord 4 years as of last Sept. That's the longest I've had a car in years. Plan to change that in later part of '18 as my 15 year old daughter (16 in two days 11/24) will need a car. Bradd has threatened to revoke my CCBA membership card! All have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

tjc78

qbrozen said:

Crossed a "milestone" myself last night.

I love how the dashboard of your truck is a bit of a throwback from older Ford Trucks (the small gauges actors the top). Very nice move on Fords part. 

corvette

The Mustang is similar. Since this is my first Ford product, does anyone know when Fords started turning on the parking lights for 30 seconds after a door is closed or when you unlock the vehicle? It's a neat idea in theory, but not really enough illumination to help if it's dark out.

tbirdmarco

@nyccarguy not an Convert man eather hard top pleas!

cdnpinhead

'65 MGB (104K miles), '91 Miata (55K miles) & '94 Miata (22K miles), all of which were "daily drivers." I've never owned a vehicle that wasn't a "daily driver," so stand in awe of all those on here who have more vehicles than drivers. That said, I drove all three roadsters over the road at high speed for long distances for up to 700 miles a day, much of which with the top down, as well as around town doing all those other "daily driver" stuff. All three were equipped with a toneau cover (look it up) which made it more comfortable in cooler weather and more secure the rest of the time.

That said, I won't be driving a drop-top vehicle anytime soon, but I wouldn't trade the times I did for anything, except for maybe the miles I put on my motorcycles, but that was a long time ago.

qbrozen

cdnpinhead said:

'65 MGB (104K miles), '91 Miata (55K miles) & '94 Miata (22K miles), all of which were "daily drivers." I've never owned a vehicle that wasn't a "daily driver," so stand in awe of all those on here who have more vehicles than drivers. That said, I drove all three roadsters over the road at high speed for long distances for up to 700 miles a day, much of which with the top down, as well as around town doing all those other "daily driver" stuff. All three were equipped with a toneau cover (look it up) which made it more comfortable in cooler weather and more secure the rest of the time. That said, I won't be driving a drop-top vehicle anytime soon, but I wouldn't trade the times I did for anything, except for maybe the miles I put on my motorcycles, but that was a long time ago.

That is pretty impressive. After just 30 mins driving with the top down, I've got chapped lips, dry eyes, and buzzing ears.

qbrozen

corvette said:

The Mustang is similar. Since this is my first Ford product, does anyone know when Fords started turning on the parking lights for 30 seconds after a door is closed or when you unlock the vehicle? It's a neat idea in theory, but not really enough illumination to help if it's dark out.

Depends on the vehicle. My truck has a very bright LED over the bed that lights up a good portion of my driveway all by itself when I unlock or after I get home and get out.

nyccarguy

@sda - 

You got your t-belt, tensioner, & water pump replaced, right?  I think you said you had a coupon from your dealer?  How much did it end up costing?

My Pilot has developed a strange & annoying noise.  WHen I have the steering wheel cranked at low speeds (parking lot, pulling out of my driveway, pulling out of my street) I hear a banging.  It's driving me insane.  It is more pronounced when turning left.

I'm happy with the paid off, 100K mile SUV in the fleet as well as my Infiniti.  I stalk the leasing boards here and "what if" a lot, but in the end my Q40 will be paid off in 2 1/2 years.

qbrozen

nyccarguy said:

@sda - 

You got your t-belt, tensioner, & water pump replaced, right?  I think you said you had a coupon from your dealer?  How much did it end up costing?

My Pilot has developed a strange & annoying noise.  WHen I have the steering wheel cranked at low speeds (parking lot, pulling out of my driveway, pulling out of my street) I hear a banging.  It's driving me insane.  It is more pronounced when turning left.

I'm happy with the paid off, 100K mile SUV in the fleet as well as my Infiniti.  I stalk the leasing boards here and "what if" a lot, but in the end my Q40 will be paid off in 2 1/2 years.

Banging? Or is it kind of a rythmic grinding? Some Volvos need their steering stops greased periodically or you will get what sounds like loose suspension thumping/grinding when turning the wheel. Wonder if that is the case here.

qbrozen

I just did a quick search and found one discussion where a few people report making the sound go away by unclamping the column lock and tilting the wheel up amd down and pushing it in and out a few times and then setting it back to the desired position and relocking it. I'd be curious to know if that does anything for you.

sda

nyccarguy said:

@sda - 

You got your t-belt, tensioner, & water pump replaced, right?  I think you said you had a coupon from your dealer?  How much did it end up costing?

My Pilot has developed a strange & annoying noise.  WHen I have the steering wheel cranked at low speeds (parking lot, pulling out of my driveway, pulling out of my street) I hear a banging.  It's driving me insane.  It is more pronounced when turning left.

I'm happy with the paid off, 100K mile SUV in the fleet as well as my Infiniti.  I stalk the leasing boards here and "what if" a lot, but in the end my Q40 will be paid off in 2 1/2 years.

As it turns out the coupon was only for a basic timing belt replacement. I did the full works, timing belt, tensioner, water pump, serpentine belt plus an oil change and tire rotation. They did give me a discount of around $100, provided a new CR-V loaner and washed the Pilot. It was just under $1k. I thought that was a bit expensive but In the 10+ years I've had them service our cars they have been top notch. When a TSB was addressed around 85k the spark plugs were replaced. Hopefully good to go for a while. Currently 107k mi.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

I just did a quick search and found one discussion where a few people report making the sound go away by unclamping the column lock and tilting the wheel up amd down and pushing it in and out a few times and then setting it back to the desired position and relocking it. I'd be curious to know if that does anything for you.

Thanks!  I'll try this tomorrow AM!

roadburner

We rented a Charger R/T to visit our son in NC. Impressions to come later...

Michaell

roadburner said:

We rented a Charger R/T to visit our son in NC. Impressions to come later...

I've made plans to see my family in CA this Christmas.

I splurged on the rental and will be driving a Silvercar supplied Audi A4 for 5 days next month.

tbirdmarco

@corvette not shore when ford did start doing that! but others have the same idea but not enuff light to be any good jeep Nissan and menny others!

tbirdmarco

@roadburner nice nice cant wate to hear what you think of the Charger!

tbirdmarco

@Michaell that is going to be an nice rental car cant wate to hear all about how you like that rental car next munth!

qbrozen

roadburner said:

We rented a Charger R/T to visit our son in NC. Impressions to come later...

Interesting. Where did you find that?

roadburner

qbrozen said:

roadburner said:

We rented a Charger R/T to visit our son in NC. Impressions to come later...

Interesting. Where did you find that?

Enterprise; the original plan was to reserve a Renegade as my wife was thinking of getting a Trailhawk when the i3 lease is up. However, they couldn't get one and the only Jeep that they had was a Compass- meh.
So I got the R/T just for giggles.

roadburner

So, how do I like the Charger R/T? Quite a bit, actually. It's a lot bigger than I prefer but it has a nice ride and decent handling. The base 5.7 Hemi cranks out 0-60 times in the low five second range and the 1/4 mile in the high thirteens; adequate I guess, but I'd definitely have to move up to an SRT if I was buying one. The V8 sounds glorious at full throttle; that alone makes the Hemi mandatory for this car

The ZF 8HP is flawless as always. In mostly interstate driving at over 70 mph it averaged 28 mpg, which is outstanding for a car that weighs over two tons. The Multi-Displacement System kicked in on level stretches and was mostly transparent- the fuel economy display would also indicate when the MDS was functioning.

Speaking of displays, I liked the flexibility to display water, oil, and transmission temperatures- not to mention oil pressure and voltage. I don't like touchscreens, but at least the Uconnect display has redundant volume and tuning knobs- ditto for the HVAC system. The steering wheel mounted controls also work well.
The Alpine speaker system also sounded nice, and I could easily live with it.

The seats were comfortable; the lumbar adjustment and heating improved them still more. Needless to say, the cabin is roomy and the trunk is cavernous.

Bottom line: If I was buying a large four door car a Charger SRT-or Hellcat-would be at the top of my list(a properly equipped 440i Gran Coupe nails down the smaller four door spot). RWD and a honking V8 trumps everything.

Mr_Shiftright

Any rattles or cheesy bits?

roadburner

Mr_Shiftright said:

Any rattles or cheesy bits?

Not that I noticed; a few bits of hard plastic on the doors, but that's it. No squeaks or rattles
.

Michaell

roadburner said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Any rattles or cheesy bits?

Not that I noticed; a few bits of hard plastic on the doors, but that's it. No squeaks or rattles
.

Nice write up - how many miles does the rental have.

I occasionally think of picking up a used Challenger as a fun car; I'm sure I'd be perfectly content with the 5.7L Hemi. When was the 8-speed auto released?

pensfan83

Added a milestone of my own today on our way to my parents only took a little over two months 

roadburner

Michaell said:

roadburner said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Any rattles or cheesy bits?

Not that I noticed; a few bits of hard plastic on the doors, but that's it. No squeaks or rattles
.

Nice write up - how many miles does the rental have.

I occasionally think of picking up a used Challenger as a fun car; I'm sure I'd be perfectly content with the 5.7L Hemi. When was the 8-speed auto released?

10k on the car. I think the Charger got the 8HP around 2012 and the Challenger got it in 2015.

stickguy

why did you rent a car when you have a perfectly good one of your own?

One of my rules of thumb is if I need to rent to go someplace, I own the wrong car for us!

suydam

So you’d drive cross country rather than fly and rent?

fintail

If I was going to Spokane or Portland it would be silly to rent a car, but if I am going to LA or Atlanta, not gonna drive.

roadburner

stickguy said:

why did you rent a car when you have a perfectly good one of your own?

One of my rules of thumb is if I need to rent to go someplace, I own the wrong car for us!

To repeat what I said above, the original plan was to reserve a Renegade as my wife was thinking of getting a Trailhawk when the i3 lease is up. However, Enterprise couldn't get one- and the only Jeep that they had was a Compass- meh.
So I got the R/T just for giggles.

suydam

roadburner said:

stickguy said:

why did you rent a car when you have a perfectly good one of your own?

One of my rules of thumb is if I need to rent to go someplace, I own the wrong car for us!

To repeat what I said above, the original plan was to reserve a Renegade as my wife was thinking of getting a Trailhawk when the i3 lease is up. However, Enterprise couldn't get one- and the only Jeep that they had was a Compass- meh.
So I got the R/T just for giggles.

We had a Renegade the week we were in Ohio. A very pleasant vehicle. Not good on gas but we weren’t traveling a lot of miles. Not as nice interior as the Encore and similar size.

roadburner

suydam said:

roadburner said:

stickguy said:

why did you rent a car when you have a perfectly good one of your own?

One of my rules of thumb is if I need to rent to go someplace, I own the wrong car for us!

To repeat what I said above, the original plan was to reserve a Renegade as my wife was thinking of getting a Trailhawk when the i3 lease is up. However, Enterprise couldn't get one- and the only Jeep that they had was a Compass- meh.
So I got the R/T just for giggles.

We had a Renegade the week we were in Ohio. A very pleasant vehicle. Not good on gas but we weren’t traveling a lot of miles. Not as nice interior as the Encore and similar size.

The Trailhawk package might allow the Renegade to sub for the Wrangler and let us cut the fleet to three. If that doesn't work out she will almost certainly go with a CX-3 Grand Touring and we will keep the Wrangler.

nyccarguy

Step away from the "lease questions" forums Bradd

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

Step away from the "lease questions" forums Bradd

What are you being tempted by?

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:

Step away from the "lease questions" forums Bradd

What are you being tempted by?

What am I NOT being tempted by?