Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

lilengineerboy

Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks the 2002tii is Way Kewl.

I don't think you will ever have to worry about that.

tifighter

I traded my 86 VW Quantum Syncro for a 89 Camry All-Trac. As much as I like the All-Trac, I still miss the Syncro

I had an '87 Quantum Syncro; loved the room and I thought it was so cool...but it was the most unreliable car I ever had. Never had another car strand me more, and I've had 2 Audis since. :surprise:

lilengineerboy

and I've had 2 Audis since.
Wow, a glutton for punishment :P

tifighter

Yeah, now you know why I like to have a good bike...for back up.

woodyww

My eternal house-hunting mania/quest has come up with this one in Maine:

http://www.realtor.com/realestate/kennebunk-me-04043-1095494775/

If you launch "the tour", you can see more, including the semi-finished attic space above that really nice garage. I also like the kind of Norman Rockwell look to the property......

(I can't think about buying a 2nd car until I get a decent garage......)

fintail

Wow, I'd take that...the equivalent would cost twice as much or more here

kyfdx

Looks good.. Dutch Colonial.. (at least, that's what they call them around here)..

Love the garage...

qbrozen

Hell, I didn't think Maine was that expensive.
That might be a $450k house in my neck of the woods, but NJ is considered pretty expensive these days.

woodyww

There aren't really any "cheap" parts of New England, at least not the more upscale, desirable areas. $350K for a very nice house w/tons of tasteful updating in a desirable part of Maine is good...... That one is in a nice town in a nice resort area.

Here's another in the same town, but instead of being "in-town", is a mile to one of the nicest beaches in Maine:

http://www.realtor.com/realestate/kennebunk-me-04043-1095486048/

Anyone have a cure for Severe Procrastination Syndrome????

qbrozen

Maine has beaches??

I thought it was all rocks and small towns with supernatural happenings.

stever

I don't know if I'd call most of them beaches, if mostly sand is a requirement. But you can't get to most of them anyway unless you trespass. Camden area too far away?

Anyone buying? (apparently not Woody, lol).

tifighter

I'm from the west coast; I thought Maine was just lobsters and LL Bean. :P

stickguy

certainly not like NJ beaches. No barefeet, and the water will freeze your keister off.

I would love to buy, but a combination of absolutely no need (just want) + some uncertainly where work is going = best to stay as is.

That, and college in 1.5 years...

So the immediate looking is going to be a 1st car for my son. That is starting to heat up now. So if you got something to sell..!

kyfdx

Hey, my sister lived in Kennebunk at one time.. She helped open a new mammography clinic, and Barbara Bush came to the dedication...

Oh yeah... she used to drive a VW Thing, also.. (sister, not Barbara)..

jaserb

I finally found a car I really, really liked - 2002 Protege ES 5 speed. Upgraded it with Mazdaspeed suspension and adjustable struts for a bit of track work, added an exhaust and intake to get a few more ponies out of it, and was perfectly happy with it. Hadn't stopped by here in almost a year. Yay! CCB cured, right?

Wrong. Tuesday in the freezing rain I got caught in the middle of an 8 car pile-up. Every panel bent except the driver's side doors and front fender. So now I'm starting to think about what's next while I wait for a verdict from the insurance company. AARGH!

-Jason

qbrozen

D'OH!!

The verdict is "totalled," I'm sure. Just going to be a matter of getting the proper compensation.

So which insurance pays in an 8-car pileup, anyway?

qbrozen

So the immediate looking is going to be a 1st car for my son. That is starting to heat up now. So if you got something to sell..!

good grief! How long has this search been going on? Gotta be like 18 months now, no? When is the final final drop-dead date? And, out of curiosity in case I come across anything, what's the price cap?

woodyww

Maine has beaches??

It actually does have a few really nice long sandy beaches (as does S. NH). Kennebunk Beach & York Beach come to mind, to name 2. Then there are smaller ones scattered about. Of course much of the coast is rocky.

stickguy

Well, son turns 17 in late June, so that is the earliest he can solo. But if I can't get him some more seat time, it ain't happening then.

Him not wanting to drive the stick yet screwed up the plan. He is usually with me, so those are the times he could be practicing. Instead, I he only gets to drive the minivan, which limits his chances.

So, getting a car now means I would drive that when we are together.

Want to keep the total outlay (car + work) to no more than 3K. He wants a new S40 R that we saw at the car show. I have the money, so guess who wins?

stickguy

might be a winner...

Finally stopped to look at a Camry that has been parked in front of a local gas station. Might be a good choice, so opinions please?

1994 Camry (LE I think). 4 cyl, AT. 156K on it. Asking $2,500.

Ah, but the story. It was the mechanics car, he sold it a few years ago, and just got it back somehow.

Said to have had the engine replaced a few years back, about 60K total on it now. He also just put on new axles, brakes and tires, and changed the timing belt, fluids and tune up stuff. Will also guarantee inspection (not hard, since they will do it there, but for free!).

Body straight, no rust, but paint could use a could polish. Even has a newer Sony stereo head unit in it (hey, gotta have the tunes!) Started it up and sounded fine, but I didn't drive it.

So, any thoughts? fairly old and liley, but with the work done, it should last a while, and not need anything out of pocket right away.

I thought about just offering 2 and being done with it. Of course, probably should let the boy see it first, but it should be OK (it isn't an embarrasing grandpa car or anything).

woodyww

Hey, my sister lived in Kennebunk at one time.

How did she like it? Pretty quiet area, at least in the Winter.

Maine probably does seem like the End of the Earth to a lot of people in other parts of the country. But It actually does have a very high quality of life, & scenic beauty up the Wazoo. And a place where a lot of people sick of the Mass. rat race move to.

Maybe it's like cars--sometimes you see or drive something that gets you obsessed with the idea.....

andre1969

I think I read somewhere that Maine actually has more waterfront footage to the Atlantic Ocean than any other state. Of course, that's counting all those jagged coves, islands, etc.

kyfdx

She loved it.. but, then again, she left there for Idaho.... so, she is a little bit strange.. :surprise:

I never got a chance to visit her while she was there...

qbrozen

Well, as we know, the R cars are dead. And I think volvomax said the S40 is going away after next year when the new S60 is intro'd. So not sure why they would even entertain making an S40R.

Besides, no stick means he doesn't care about a car being sporty anyway. Did you explain that to him? He apparently wants that Camry. The ideal automatic appliance. I say $1800 should kill that car, but I'm not looking/touching, so its tough to say. 90k on the original engine doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies, though. What happened there? Broken timing belt maybe?

jaserb

I have accident forgiveness on my policy, so I don't really care. The accident happened on an icy bridge with a downhill slope. A girl with a reputation for driving around the neighborhood way too fast was the first to spin out, then left her car just sitting there - perpendicular to traffic - at the bottom of an icy hill with no visibility from the top. I ran to the top of the hill along with another guy to get people to stop before they slid into the pile. It was a mess, but no injuries, thank goodness.

-Jason

kyfdx

A family moved in up the street... four teenage girls.. One of them has a gray Camry wagon from '93-94.. Missing one wheel cover, etc..

Every time we drive by it, I point it out to my son.. "That's the sort of car we are going to find for you, once you need a car" (notice: no promise on when).. He just turned 14.. He gives me a smirk.. until I tell him that it's no joke..

That Camry sounds great.. Don't beat him up too bad, and maybe he'll work on it, cheap..

stickguy

I would peg it at $1,500ish if it was a private owner and had not had a lot of recent work, since that is all stuff that could either fail soon, or need to be done as preventive work. It really did seem clean, and it is a local garage guy that isn't likely to want a rep of passing off crap on the customers.

2K if it runs really well is probably a good deal. You get much lower, and you are into rust buckets with issues. This is the type of car that could last through college, or get him through HS cheaply and then get sold for what I paid for it.

grandtotal

Do two car purchases in two months qualify me for CCBA membership?

Bought a car in December as part of our regular 5 or 6 year replacement cycle, but now find myself in the UK for several months and have looked for and bought a car to use instead of renting.

Started off looking for a sub £1000 ($2000) car of some sort but found that that did not buy me anything that gave me any confidence. So I widened the net a little and found a decent 1998 Ford Mondeo 2.5 Ghia X Estate (Contour in North America).

I paid £1150 for it, asking price was £1299, a private sale. It is fully loaded and came with a full Ford service history. So far the only problems I have found are that one of the keys is seriously worn and needs to be replaced and one of the rear doors does not lock and unlock electrically.

It's been a long time since I have owned a car this old, but so far I'm very happy with it.

nippononly

Is the Estate the English word for wagon? Sounds like a nice buy - how many kms does it have on the clock?

I just paused to review, and realized I only bought ONE car in 2007. My membership is definitely in jeopardy. :-(

qbrozen

Oooo... never say you don't care. You may have accident forgiveness, but once one is forgiven, you've lost that buffer. So if you do have another one in 5 years, you are screwed. But, sounds like it may be "no fault" for everyone involved.

Hey, at least you get to go car shopping again.

guss

The Contour was a decent car, as long as no one haw to ride in the back seat. They were tiny. For under $2500(my computer dies not have one of those funny L things) if the regular maitenance was done you should be fine.

I got thru 2007 without a purchase, I backslid early in '08 though.

Stickguy, are you sure your son can't be talked into a manual. I would think a manual anything would be a bit cheaper to buy and maintain. Not to mention if he does not learn to drive a stick now he may never.

corvette

Glad you are OK!

roadburner

One of them has a gray Camry wagon from '93-94.. Missing one wheel cover, etc..
Every time we drive by it, I point it out to my son.. "That's the sort of car we are going to find for you, once you need a car" (notice: no promise on when).. He just turned 14.. He gives me a smirk.. until I tell him that it's no joke..

My plan is to first make sure my son knows how to drive- think Street Survival and/or the BMW Performance Center. Then, if he has a job and needs a car for work and/or after school sports I'll HELP him buy a safe slug such as a Volvo 240 or similar. If he goes a year without any at-fault accidents or tickets THEN we'll discuss a cooler ride. At 13 he's already hinting that he wants to drive my Club Sport or Mazdaspeed when he turns 16. I think not...

grandtotal

Yes, Estate is English for Wagon. It has 100,000 miles on it.

grandtotal

I think the Mondeo was revised in 1996 (I suspect the Contour was not) and it has adequate back seat space for my 6' 2" frame, though 3 in the rear seat would be cosy.

woodyww

I only have 2 suggestions; but maybe you're already doing this:

1. Get your son involved in the buying/shopping process (w/o buying him a new Mini or M3). Take him along when you get a mechanic's evaluation of the old camry or whatever.

2. Safety first. Personally, I'd pay a few thousand more for a used volvo over a used toyota, if I could afford it.....(heck, there are rich as*hole college kids in boston driving brand new M3's). Just saying, if it was my kid, I'd feel better with him/her in an old volvo.......

just my 2 cents, good luck

stickguy

I do like the Volvo idea. When the looking hits clutch time, I will try that angle. I don't really want to go back into the 240 days, so an S70 will be on the list.

I am not worried about a Camry or Accord. The 94 is a bit older than I wanted. Something in the '98 range (AccordAltima/Camry) will be in play. I probably won't go for something real old, or real small.

A friend has a late '90s Camry that he will be upgrading to a Sienna in the next few months, so that could be an option too.

jlawrence01

Start looking for that now. My brother in Cincinnati is looking for a cheap beater for his 15 yo son and has been unable to find much in the under $3k category. Usually, at this time of the year, he'd have two or three lined up at this time.

guss

Could it be that the economy is already forcing people to hold on to their beaters ? Or, is it more a factor of more teenage drivers are getting their own cars now ?

jlawrence01

Could it be that the economy is already forcing people to hold on to their beaters ? Or, is it more a factor of more teenage drivers are getting their own cars now ?

Might be, I think a lot of people are in over their heads in debt and have to actually drive a car until there paid off.

As for the young people - and my judgement may be clouded as there is so much money in Chicagoland - I don't see a lot of them driving beaters. New Kias or Focuses, maybe.

stickguy

Yeah, that's one reason I am looing early (and have been for a while). I also need something for him to drive until he is ready to learn stick again. he just isn't getting enough practice now.

I will admit that I am not searching real hard, just talking to people that are looking for something new, and looking at a few things I have seen parked outside a house. Did see a '98 S70 like that before Christmas ($2,800), but it was gone the next day went I went back to look.

I have not yet been brave enough to wade into Craig's list or the local paper classifieds. Also real time constrained lately, plus I blew out my back, etc.

Something will pop up eventually.

akangl

Glad to see everyone else is looking but not me! My CCB is cured me thinks!

Drove the Pilot home from Anchorage yesterday, 175 miles of freezing rain, then another 50 miles of snow, then back to freezing rain. Was able to cruise along with no worries.....at least that's what the Pilot thought! Best winter car I've ever had.

It has nearly 17k miles on it and no issues except for the driver's side door unlocking everytime I start it on autostart, but that's an autostart issue not a Honda issue.

kyfdx

Oh, man!! Have you seen the deals on the '08 Pilots? $7K off MSRP!!

Not that I'm saying you should...

akangl

Oh, man!! Have you seen the deals on the '08 Pilots? $7K off MSRP!!

Not that I'm saying you should...

Cute, but why bother? I have the exact Pilot I want and the '08's are no different than mine. Only thing I sort of wish mine had was the RES, but its not that big of a deal. Both kids have laptops and watch movies that way while we are on trips.

I love my Pilot, no reason to trade it in. Nice try though, lol! BTW, didn't you have
Valentine's Day?? :P

kyfdx

RES? You need the SE model... has a special $800 discount on the sticker for the DVD player...

I've given up picking the holidays... Wouldn't look good, since I have to buy something this year..

woodyww

Did see a '98 S70 like that before Christmas ($2,800), but it was gone the next day went I went back to look.........Also real time constrained lately

I know this is obvious, but, if you've shopped a lot, a real bargain can be worth snapping up. Even if you don't need it immediately. And esp. if you don't have a lot of time, but do have a bad back.

Every so often, the planets will line up, & a great car at a great price in your neighborhood, or at the dealer down the street, will appear.....if you don't do it, you then go back to square one, & start all over again......

mark156

I have a story, but I'm not involved!

My best friend who lives in Georga has a friend in the car business in Illinois. A fella walks into his dealership who had just bought a new 2008 Toyota Tundra truck at another dealership. He took delivery and decided after taking it home that it rode rougher than he wanted. So, he drove it back to the Toyota dealer to return it. They didn't take it back and offered him $10,000 less that he paid just hours before.

He drove it to the new dealership where my best friend friend works (I've met the guy) and the Toyota guy drove a new Infiniti Q56 and traded the Tundra in. The Tundra had only 21 miles on it.

Just for the record, I trust both of these guys with accurate information as it was told to me.

My BIG question was, did the Toyota guy even test drive the Tundra? It's a truck!!!... how soft did he want it to ride? Anyway, what a hit in the wallet! :surprise:

Mark156

stickguy

Yeah, I know when something good drops in your lap, to pull out the old checkbook.

In this case, it was in front of a house, and I went by it pretty late at night. It was gone the next day (and I am pretty sure it didn't "live" there) and I never saw it again.

nippononly

That qualifies for the fewest miles I have ever heard of a vehicle having at trade-in!

Did the Infiniti dealer also offer him $10K below his purchase price? I can understand dealers being leery about taking Tundras in trade, as hard as Toyota has had to work to practically GIVE them away. And a truck that new is a losing proposition all around, as it has to compete with the huge incentives on new Tundras.

guss

A poster over in RWTIV posted a '08 Honda Accord EX with 125 miles yesterday. He did not say why he was getting rid of it though. That's not even time enough for the ash trays to get full. Does the Accord even come with an ashtray anymore?