Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Michaell

@28firefighter - time to update your signature line!

qbrozen

rayainsw said:

'...up until my layoff.' Did I miss a post - do not recall reading about this ? Unexpected ? Trust you will be OK ! - Ray Laid off a few times over 45+ year career ...

Not sure where I posted it, but somewhere around here. Happened suddenly on 1/9. We'll be fine, thanks. I have plenty of options. Just don't want to move on from Plan A until I need to.

kyfdx

We've had the wife's X3 for 4 months, and she has put on 6200 miles.

pensfan83

4 months, 2K on the Acura. That's with a few trips to the airport and our mini vacation after Christmas. This rate won't hold but so far it's making the decision to go with 10K/year look good.

Michaell

In retrospect, I could have easily gone with 10K on the Jetta, but I think I'm OK paying the extra $5-6/mo.

stickguy

Same with he sonata. Heck, would have been perfect at 7,500.

stickguy

One good thing about putting on these low miles. Makes it much easier to keep a car 10 Years if you won’t break 75k miles in that time. Especially when you have a 10 year warranty!

Still not sure which, but I’ll either have my car for 6 months more, or for the long term (unless of course my needs change at some point in terms of cmmuting or functional use). Can always keep it and upgrade the wife’s car instead. Still can’t decide. Car show this weekend might help with that.

pensfan83

In a perfect world Acura gets a TT TLX Type S to market by September 2020 and I lease one with 7500 miles/year but roll over 9K miles. 36 month lease with 31.5K miles but with the RV of 7500 miles 

breld

Had a fun Saturday browsing a couple lots - that was all spurred on by my wife and I joining @Michaell and @jpp5862 for a shopping trip (but I'll let @jpp5862 share his story).

Just a couple stops - at a Volvo dealer to take another look at the XC90, and a Land Rover dealer for the Discovery. Also continue to be impressed with the new S90 and V90 - beautiful cars.

At some point, I imagine I'll trade up from the Durango into either a Q7, XC90 or Discovery. But for now, a nice used XC90 is still in the low-mid $40k's, a comparable Q7 is around $10k more, and the Discovery is still too new.

The Volvo offers the best value, and beyond that, aesthetically I like the overall look, inside and out. Naturally, it also offers all the desired safety equipment pretty much standard.

The Q7 has an incredible drive - love that 3.0T engine.

The Discovery is something different and off the beaten path - it'll be interesting to see how they hold their value on the used market.

But nothing for now - the Durango is still very enjoyable to drive. I don't desire the other choices enough right now to spend the extra dough.

Mr_Shiftright

They don't sell many S90s and V90s---especially V90s.

XC90s selling quite well, looks like.

andres3

tjc78 said:

https://www.craigslist.org/about/best/esh/6324690044.html

Had to post this one...

So he says don't offer 5, but he's asking 16. Split the difference and offer 10?

Mr_Shiftright

Ah, another Maserodent victim. Don't these people ever learn?

andres3

kyfdx said:

We've had the wife's X3 for 4 months, and she has put on 6200 miles.

Is it just me?

I would rather go over on miles than go under. I am not giving Kia back a single mile if I can help it. Of course, in a perfect world I'll leave just enough miles to arrive at the dealership with 36,000.4 miles on the odometer (round down to nearest mile right?)

kyfdx

We own this car.... less is better.

xwesx

imidazol97 said:

pensfan83 said:

He ends up with a $36.5K Tacoma TRD Sport that's pretty well equipped for $275/month for 36 months and 10K/year and only first payment, DMV, and a $250 doc fee which is standard in Ohio I think.

The Ohio law does NOT require dealers to charge any fee; rather it allows them to charge up to $250. The previous ORC (Ohio Revised Code) that was used by dealers to excuse a fee actually was written to apply only toward the cost of a time contract (loan) sale. The dealers talked as fast as a middle schooler caught with cigarettes in their pocket explaining how they have to charge it one and all or someone can sue for discrimination (they should go to DC as politicians as fast as they talk). Then a few years back the legislators in Ohio rewrote the section, but it still does NOT MANDATE the charge. When I tell them I have a copy of the applicable ORC section in my folder and they can read it if they want, they smile and continue with bottom line negotiations.


I just explain I negotiate the bottom line and ignore their fee. That worked on the last two purchases. They lower their profit and show the fee on the final document.

While my approach was probably different, that's basically the same experience I had when I bought the Passat from an Ohio dealer last year (well, okay, "two" years ago now).

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

Think it needs a wash?

Nope! My cars look like that after one drive in to work!

xwesx

Regarding miles.... I just realized that I have put over 16,000 on the Q7 in less than eleven months. Haha! /sigh

xwesx

Congrats on the C. Looks like it should be a very nice car, despite the "batmobile" look.

Hopefully the TLX works out well in the end. A four-hour drive for no-deal would be a bummer, but short enough as to be a fun trip nonetheless!

My son and I drove down to Anchorage yet again on Friday night. He had a Lego state tournament on Saturday, so I dropped him there at about eleven, then went to Costco to load up the Q7 (Sams Club, which was in Fairbanks - and the highest grosser in their whole chain - closed down as they shrunk their operations this month). I spent the rest of the afternoon at his tournament, and we headed home at about 6pm that night.

Good trip, but man those roads were just flat SLIPPERY for about half of the drive. Slick enough that I actually slowed down a bit (mostly 60-65 during that stretch), and many of the curves on the road required finesse to stay on track. Lots of indications of vehicles having left the road, and I saw one rollover that must have happened a little earlier in the day.

breld

So, @andres3, tell me a little bit about what you like about the TTS.

Out of curiosity, I was just now looking at the availability of used current-gen TTS's. If something like this, a CPO 2016 TTS, is within shouting distance of the potential value of my Type R, maybe that would be something to consider down the line.

2016 TTS

qbrozen

At this moment, they are worth almost exactly the same at auction. So figure you'd have to throw in some profit money. But I'd expect the audi to depreciate faster so in a couple of months, you never know.

stickguy

Done with the stick shift toy already?

jpp75

As @michaell and @breld mentioned I have been working on a punch but haven't had time to sit down and write it all out. Long post below.....

The TLDR version - I will be picking up a 2016 Touareg TDI in Brown Oak Metallic with beige interior later today or tomorrow (waiting on the PDI and clean up to be completed). The current 2016 V6 Touareg will be going to CarMax.

The details:

As I've posted here before I've been extremely happy with the current Touareg, it's by far one of the top two cars I've ever owned. It is leased and the lease expires at the end of 2018 and as a CCBA I've been constantly searching for what's next. Thanks to the help of @michaell and @breld we've test driven several potential alternatives (CX-5, Discovery, X5 diesel, Q5 TDI, Velar, SQ5, GMC Canyon to name a few). Every time I would take a test drive I always found myself getting back in the Touareg and finding that I much preferred it over anything I had driven, especially considering the price differential on the SQ5 and the Discovery. My original plan had been to keep test driving and at the end of the current lease swap it out for a new Touareg lease. When VW announced the Touareg wouldn't be sold in North America after the 2017 model year that option went away.

After moving to CO I begin to realize that the V6 in the Touareg was simply adequate. When I had originally leased it diesel gate was already underway so there were no TDIs to be had. A couple of months ago I experienced the X5 diesel and fell in love with the torque of a diesel in these types of vehicles. I wasn't enamored with the driving dynamics of the X5 though, so the search continued. We drove a couple of 4-cyl diesels (Canyon and Velar) but even those didn't quite compare but thanks to @michaell and @breld the search was always on.

I was beginning to toy with the idea of buying out the current Touareg at the end of the lease and just keeping it since I was happy with it (although slightly disappointed in power, especially with the mountains here). At the end of the lease I would be close to 45k miles and would be financing a 3 year old car. The thought of signing up for payments on a car that would likely need some attention in the not too distant future my favorite idea but it was the best option.

I had been watching the TDI fix to see what would happen, we had discussed that a TDI Touareg would probably be the ideal replacement for me, but there wasn't much info on if/when they would go on sale.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. @breld had sent me a link to a CPO X5 diesel with the M Sport package which we thought might solve the driving dynamics problem, so we planned to take a test drive. After Cars and Coffee @michaell and I headed to BMW of Downtown Denver only to find the vehicle had been sold. We decided to grab lunch at a pizza place before calling it a day, but of course the VW dealer was right next door to the pizza place so we had to do a quick walk through there after eating. Out front they had a dark blue 2017 Wolfsburg Touareg V6 that had been there a while, so we were looking at that. This is the closest VW dealer to where I live so I had kept an eye on their inventory and had seen this one there for a while. As we walked on we came across a white Touareg TDI out front. I hadn't seen it on their website before so we inquired and found out it was for sale, apparently they had started receiving them in from VW, applying the fix and selling them.

@Michaell and I took it for a test drive and I found it to be exactly what I wanted, basically the exact same vehicle just with the diesel engine which is much better suited for a vehicle of this size/weight. We went in to talk to the sales guy, and he said from the get go the deal was they were offering 15% off MSRP. We looked at what they had in stock, most were already sold and the 2 they had left didn't have the options I wanted on them. I was specifically looking for a Lux like mine with the Driver Assist package and all they had left were sports, everything else was spoken for. The dealer was kind enough to pull up a list of all the TDIs available in the state. He mentioned they would normally try to do a dealer trade but no other dealers were really willing to let theirs go. A quick search revealed a couple at other VW dealers nearby and one in Colorado Springs, about an hour and a half away. A call to Larry Miller VW and we found out they had already sold the one they had, so next call was to Tynan VW in Aurora. They had 2 so I went to look at it. The GM of the dealership had been driving the TDI and it had about 7,700 miles on it. After some discussions they were willing to match the Emich price but not go lower and I wasn't interested in paying the same price for a vehicle that had been driven almost 8k miles. I then called Mike Maroone in Colorado Springs, they had just gotten in a Canyon Gray with the packages/options I wanted and it had 3 miles on it. It turns out this would be identical to the current Touareg except for the engine.

By this point I was starting to realize this was a small pool of vehicles and had decided I did want one, so I talked to them for a bit and agreed to head down there to try and strike a deal. By this point it is almost 5 pm, so I go down and they aren't willing to come down as far on the price, plus we were trying to decide how to get rid of the current V6 and their trade number was about $2,500 less than what Tynan had offered. It was late and there were only a couple of people there so we left it at "we're too far apart but maybe when the other managers come in Monday we can work something out."

Fast forward to Monday and they agreed to match the Emich price and give me what I wanted for the current Touareg with the plan to have the TDI "fix" applied and have the pre-delivery inspection, cleaning, etc. done. Throughout the process I wasn't particularly impressed with the dealer (communications, negotiations, location, etc.) but they had what I wanted and got the terms I wanted so I was just going to go with it. Last Thursday I called to follow up and arrange pick up but they had found an issue with the fuel tank during the PDI and needed more time and weren't quite sure when it would be ready, so we were looking at this week for pickup. Friday afternoon I got a call from Larry Miller here in Denver, they had gotten a few more in and wanted to know if I was still looking. The one they had that matched my options criteria was Brown Oak Metallic with beige interior so I told them I would think it over.

Saturday I had lunch with @breld, Mrs. @breld and @michaell and after we finished @michaell asked why we weren't out looking at this one at Larry Miller, which was a great question. So we all rode out to the dealer to check it out, which turned out to be the right choice. Ironically the brown one was parked next to a canyon gray one so we were able to check them out side by side. The Brown Oak Metallic was a much richer color and the beige interior came with a dark chocolate brown dash and steering wheel (as opposed to black) and looked better. While I was happy with the canyon gray this one is definitely the better looking of the two. We decided that if they would match the same deal I should go ahead and get this one. After a couple of back and forth conversations we had a matching deal, which ended up being a couple of hundred dollars lower than Maroone, it would be ready Monday or Tuesday and saved me a trip to the Springs. @breld took @micahell back to his car and I stayed to sign paperwork. The current Touareg will be going to Carmax, they were willing to give me more $ than the dealers and since it's a lease there was no tax advantage to the trade in.

So all in all a fun couple of weeks and a punch to report and thanks to @Michaell and @breld for all the help and "encouragement" through the process.

Michaell

jpp5862 said:

As @michaell and @breld mentioned I have been working on a punch but haven't had time to sit down and write it all out. Long post below.....

TLDR version - I will be picking up a 2016 Touareg TDI in Brown Oak Metallic with beige interior later today or tomorrow (waiting on the PDI and clean up to be completed). The current 2016 V6 Touareg will be going to CarMax

About time you posted this. My tongue was starting to hurt from all the biting.

Congrats on the punch, and I agree, the Brown Oak is a striking color, and quite distinctive.

Fingers crossed that the prep is all done today or tomorrow, as promised.

breld

So there are Type R's going through auction already, huh?

@stickguy - nah, not done yet. And with the way the Honda is holding its value (not unexpected), there's certainly no reason to "rush" through it. But of course I like looking at the potential options. Exclusivity of the Type R aside, the idea of trading it virtually straight across for something like a used M235i, 435i, S5, S4, or perhaps a TTS, is intriguing.

And outside the TTS, I can still get a stick shift with those other choices which is where I'm leaning at the moment. I've had Golf R thoughts too - something similar in performance but a bit less, er, conspicuous.

And what do you mean "already?" You pegged a swap of the Type R by New Year's!

28firefighter

Congrats @jpp5862 !

stickguy

nice color combo. congrats.

andres3

breld said:

So, @andres3, tell me a little bit about what you like about the TTS.

Out of curiosity, I was just now looking at the availability of used current-gen TTS's. If something like this, a CPO 2016 TTS, is within shouting distance of the potential value of my Type R, maybe that would be something to consider down the line.

2016 TTS

At $40K or so I think it is a steal of a deal. Basically, you really are getting a car with a ton of improvements over the Golf R, for a Golf R price (in exchange for a paltry 15-16K miles). If you don't need the practicality and roominess of the Golf R, get the TTS. Trust me, you'll pass all the Golf R's on the road.

Things I love:

1) that it has a A7/S7-class level interior IMO. Softer touch plastics and high quality leathers throughout (I'm not sure I've seen one without Nappa leather yet).

2) the paint jobs are all excellent (make sure that hasn't been ruined by Joe Schmo body shop.

3) You can easily tune it to go from fast to very fast. I like the mechanical/movable/hide-able rear wing. The AWD is so vastly improved that you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between Audi's own Torsen-based system.

4) Good cargo room for its size, terrible rear-seat room though.

5) Great head room and driving position for tall people (I'm 6'3" tall). No moon-roof helps with that. The windshield is high enough you don't feel like your upper vision is cut off by the roof of the car. Sit in an Infiniti coupe and you'll know what I mean (you'll never see that air-to-surface missile or bomb coming in the Infiniti)! In the Audi, you'll have a fighting chance to dodge the air-strikes from Russian Migs .

6) Last, but not least, overall refinement, quality, tightness, no rattles, and multiple personalities with the adaptive controls.

2016 models are easy to shop too:

1) it either has all the "tech" features, or it doesn't, they were all lumped into one almost $4,000 package with rear view camera, parking sensors, & navigation.

2) Bang & Olufsen is worth every penny in this model (way better than S4 sound system), and was a stand-alone option.

3) The link you provided had a TTS pictured with the wrong wheels (S4 wheels), but 19"x 9" wheels are perfect for the car. I run 255/35R19 but 245 also works. 19's do ride better than 255/30R20's!

4) Just make sure the haldex/rear diff isn't leaking (and if it is, it is under warranty still).

Things they could improve:

1) The 7-speed DSG from the TTRS would have been appropriate (don't expect this to be the best long-range highway cruiser and your MPG will max out at about 28.

2) I wouldn't mind the 400 HP 5-pot from the TTRS, but with a tune I can't see anyone complaining about the power.

3) I don't think you track your cars, so you won't care that the after-market is ignoring this car so far so there are no non-OEM brake pads available, for example.

qbrozen

breld said:

So there are Type R's going through auction already, huh? 

Half a dozen so far this month

andres3

4.4 on a type R already? That's the condition rating right? 4.4 on a car with under 4 or 7 thousand miles? hmmmm.....

tbirdmarco

Congrads on the new ride  I. P. P. 

xwesx

@jpp5862 That sounds like a great color combination! Nice find!

Michaell

xwesx said:

@jpp5862 That sounds like a great color combination! Nice find!

It is gorgeous. There were two on the lot on Saturday when we went to the dealer. The one John is getting was still covered in the plastic wrap, inside and out. As it was sunny it was hard to see the interior colors.

Fortunately, the salesperson showed us one in the detail shop getting prepped for pick up. Identical in every way, and you can really appreciate the interior colors when not in direct sunlight.

Even the VW Monster Mats are dark brown, which makes for a nice contrast against the tan interior.

Just a lovely car, all the way around.

And quick - the test drive we took last week showed the versatility and punch of the TDI engine, even in around town driving.

The window sticker showed MPG figures pretty much equal to our 3.6R Outback - 21 around town, 27/28 on the highway. The Touraeg is a much more luxurious vehicle, all the way around.

tifighter

Congrats @jpp5862 on the T-Reg. It was a finalist last time around for me, so I totally understand the draw. Enjoy it!

tbirdmarco

 West while you drive return of miles sounds like you had a busy weekend with your son awesome 

tbirdmarco

 Rosen wow there’s already a bunch of type ours going to auction crazy but not surprised world is yours going next ha ha what’s the next ride coming into the free come on it’s the new year you have to get cracking and switch the fleet around 

qbrozen

andres3 said:

4.4 on a type R already? That's the condition rating right? 4.4 on a car with under 4 or 7 thousand miles? hmmmm.....

Yes, that is condition. I wouldn't think too hard about it, though. It is so subjective and dependent on the person looking at it. As long as it is over a 4, it is probably just fine.

qbrozen

andres3 said:

We've had the wife's X3 for 4 months, and she has put on 6200 miles.

Is it just me? I would rather go over on miles than go under. I am not giving Kia back a single mile if I can help it. Of course, in a perfect world I'll leave just enough miles to arrive at the dealership with 36,000.4 miles on the odometer (round down to nearest mile right?)

I don't know if it is just you, but it would depend for me how much per mile and how much on the lease. I am seeing so many leases with 20-25 cents per mile over. If you have a $350/mo lease on 15k miles, then, yes, 25 cents going over is relatively cheaper than the 28 cents you are already paying for.

ab348

@jpp5862 - Congrats! I'm confused though. Your existing Toureag was a lease up at the end of 2018? What happened with the lease? How did Carmax come into he equation with it? Is this one also a lease? I'm not following the money process here.

xwesx

Michaell said:

The window sticker showed MPG figures pretty much equal to our 3.6R Outback - 21 around town, 27/28 on the highway. The Touraeg is a much more luxurious vehicle, all the way around.

Yep, that's about where I land with the Q7 (which might be a little bigger, but is basically the same car). I think my "lifetime" average over the last 16,000 miles is a little north of 23 mpg. For a 5,500# vehicle, that's not too shabby! Crazily, better economy than the Q3 loaner (with the 2.0T) I had for a week. I put about 1,200 miles on that one, so I can safely say that it was a thirsty little devil.

I very much love the 3L TDI; it is such a great drivetrain. The only thing I really notice now (with the modification) is that it is a little noisier (e.g., a has a bit more of the classic diesel clatter), and the exhaust is no longer pleasant-smelling. It is more like typical exhaust from an auto - not overly noxious, but not pleasant on the nose, either. And, no, I don't make a habit of sniffing fumes, though I do use the rear hatch frequently.

The closer I get to possibly selling it, the more I dread going back to the 2008 Forester as my daily. Hahaha.

pensfan83

@jpp5862, congratulations. Sounds like a nice ride. Enjoy!

roadburner

@jpp5862- Nice!

Sandman6472

Got some more miles behind the wheel of a new 2018 Camry LE today and was enjoying the experience. I know it's a pretty boring vehicle for almost everyone in here but I see why Toyota sells a boatload of these suckers. If I were in the market for a mid-sized vehicle, this would be high on my short list. Haven't driven the new Accord yet but hope to soon as it looks to be very very good.
Drove a few Honda Civics today and Honda really got the CVT tranny's right! Feels and shifts like a regular auto tranny. The Corolla's almost as good in this respect but Honda nailed it 100%! The Korean cousins do a good job with just going the traditional auto tranny route and we've had no complaints at work about them.

The Sandman

Sandman6472

Put in an application with Enterprise last week just to see if they would hire me. According to OF, they seem to do more long distance driving, something I did when I first went into this line of work and would like to do that again. They pay more per hour so will see if this does go anywhere. If not, no big deal but figured I'd give it a try.
Been having an issue at work for a few months about lunch and when we take it. It came to a head on Friday and it was the first time I lost my temper. But after talking with the station manager, we came up with an easy solution.
Since I'll probably stay working till the end of 2019, might as well see what and if Enterprise will give me a holler. Have nothing to lose either way here so why not. Sometimes a change is good!

The Sandman

nyccarguy

@jpp5862 - congrats on the punch!  I can't wait to see the pics.  You bought a brown, Diesel, (raised) wagon!  Jalopnik should make you CEO fir the day.

stickguy

He would get a permanent sculpture erected if it also had a stick shift.

nyccarguy

@xwesx - it's going to be harder than you think to get back into that Forester.  

@breld - I know you've had your eye on a Q7 with the 3.0T motor for a while.  I really dig the way the Q7s look.

stickguy

5 days to the car show. I can't wait! Actually quite a few things I want to see this year. will have quite a crowd (the wife will be coming, both kids, daughters BF, and my BIL). And everyone is shopping in some way.

BIL is always possible to do something (most likely, next move is replacing his wife's X5). My son, well, he was thinking about buying the day he brought the A3 home (if they had the right S3 on the floor, could probably sell it to him on the spot). And the BF is driving a decaying explorer (apparently the car his parents took him home from the hospital in) that he really needs to replace in the spring.

The rest of us (me, wife, princess) need 1 car this summer to replace the Jetta when the lease ends. Only question is, who gets it? So we can all shop for ourselves and see what happens!

That, and cheesesteaks and 22 oz. beers for lunch afterwards. a fine day all around!

Michaell

stickguy said:

5 days to the car show. I can't wait! Actually quite a few things I want to see this year. will have quite a crowd (the wife will be coming, both kids, daughters BF, and my BIL). And everyone is shopping in some way.

BIL is always possible to do something (most likely, next move is replacing his wife's X5). My son, well, he was thinking about buying the day he brought the A3 home (if they had the right S3 on the floor, could probably sell it to him on the spot). And the BF is driving a decaying explorer (apparently the car his parents took him home from the hospital in) that he really needs to replace in the spring.

The rest of us (me, wife, princess) need 1 car this summer to replace the Jetta when the lease ends. Only question is, who gets it? So we can all shop for ourselves and see what happens!

That, and cheesesteaks and 22 oz. beers for lunch afterwards. a fine day all around!

Sounds like a fun day, all around.

Since @breld is continually in the market, we'll hit up the Denver Auto Show in early April.

28firefighter

I used to fly in for the Philly auto show to go with my Dad. Just hasn’t worked out recently, especially now that baby is on board. 

Michaell

28firefighter said:

I used to fly in for the Philly auto show to go with my Dad. Just hasn’t worked out recently, especially now that baby is on board. 

May I make a suggestion? Start up again, next year.

You'll have a lifetime to make memories with your son, but you don't know how many more years you'll have with your dad.

My dad has been gone now almost two years, and I really wish I'd spent more time with him, even though I was 1000 miles away.