Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

breld

Thanks all! It's the 6 speed manual with the DCC (dynamic chassis control) and DAP (driver assistance package), all of which I believe comes standard on the 2018 model, so it's nice to have those on the 2017.

It's an "add-on" for now. It fits perfectly in our concept of maintaining 3 cars, with that third car being a shared fun car - other than the fact that we also have the Prius. But as you all know, the Prius will be gone by the first quarter 2019, so we just proactively filled that spot in advance.

I'll give some driving impressions in a bit.

breld

qbrozen said:

@breld
have you yet checked what carvana will give you for that Golf? ;b
how about the volvo, prius, and audi? you might want to open a standing account with them and have a flatbed on retainer.

Now that's funny.

tifighter

breld said:

But as you all know, the Prius will be gone by the first quarter 2019, so we just proactively filled that spot in advance.

CORRECTION- the replacement for the replacement of the Prius will be gone by Q1 2019.

It's okay, we all knew what you meant.

Michaell

breld said:

qbrozen said:

@breld
have you yet checked what carvana will give you for that Golf? ;b
how about the volvo, prius, and audi? you might want to open a standing account with them and have a flatbed on retainer.

Now that's funny.

Time to update your signature line, @breld

breld

Michaell said:

breld said:

qbrozen said:

@breld
have you yet checked what carvana will give you for that Golf? ;b
how about the volvo, prius, and audi? you might want to open a standing account with them and have a flatbed on retainer.

Now that's funny.

Time to update your signature line, @breld

Thanks for the reminder. Lots of changes in the past several weeks - I have three vehicles with temp tags!

kyfdx

breld said:

Thanks all! It's the 6 speed manual with the DCC (dynamic chassis control) and DAP (driver assistance package), all of which I believe comes standard on the 2018 model, so it's nice to have those on the 2017.

It's an "add-on" for now. It fits perfectly in our concept of maintaining 3 cars, with that third car being a shared fun car - other than the fact that we also have the Prius. But as you all know, the Prius will be gone by the first quarter 2019, so we just proactively filled that spot in advance.

I'll give some driving impressions in a bit.

We'll need to know the price, if I'm going to prepare to buy it from you, in a few months..

breld

Fair enough! I owe @corvette the mileage anyway for record keeping.

So it's a 2017 and had 16,700 miles on it.

It's a one-price dealer, although they knocked an entire $300 off their price as a current "Children's Miracle Network" promotion they have this week - so $33,661. What was nice is they had an offer of 2.99% up to 72 months through a credit union as part of the promotion week - not bad for a used car. So we took advantage of that.

I was corresponding with the salesperson there for a couple of days, and let him know the wife and I would be in yesterday afternoon - we even completed the online credit app. So we were really playing it close to the vest.

A couple hours before we were scheduled to arrive, the salesperson e-mails me and lets me know one of his teammates had someone who expressed an interest in placing a deposit on the car. Now, since he knew we were due in within a couple of hours and he knew we were serious about buying it (not to mention they are no-haggle), I think it's a safe assumption he was telling the truth about the other interested buyer. So I got him on the phone immediately and put the deposit on the car - apparently the other salesperson couldn't believe our guy was able to get the deposit so quickly! Obviously he didn't know who he was dealing with!

kyfdx

So, $27,500 in December... got it!

28firefighter

The Golf R holds it's value pretty well. Probably 30k.

kyfdx

28firefighter said:

The Golf R holds it's value pretty well. Probably 30k.

ssshhhhh

Michaell

breld said:

Michaell said:

breld said:

qbrozen said:

@breld
have you yet checked what carvana will give you for that Golf? ;b
how about the volvo, prius, and audi? you might want to open a standing account with them and have a flatbed on retainer.

Now that's funny.

Time to update your signature line, @breld

Thanks for the reminder. Lots of changes in the past several weeks - I have three vehicles with temp tags!

I shudder to think how much it will cost to get them registered, all at the same time.

If nothing else, you are single handedly keeping the state of Colorado afloat.

28firefighter

Consider me in line for the Golf R when you decide to flip it...of course behind @kyfdx and @graphicguy.

nyccarguy

$33K is a nice price for a Golf R.  Good buy.  Probably about the same price as a “regular” GTI Autobahn Buy you got the extra “R” goodies.  Enjoy (for now)!

pensfan83

This may be a dumb question but can't you transfer plates from one vehicle to the next in Colorado? In PA if I sold one of our cars and bought another the dealer will transfer the existing plate to the new car; no need for temp tags. This is especially nice for me because I have one of the state's specialty plates on my car and wouldn't want to have to pay the extra fee to get one all the time.

28firefighter

My experience up here in WA is that we can transfer plates, but virtually no one does it except for vanity plates (which are few and far between).

breld

I will transfer our current plates, but that's all done at the DMV when you register it. I wish the dealer could do it here in Colorado - that'd be great.

breld

So sounds like between the Polestar and Golf R, there's no need to bother with trade-in or traditional private sale routes - I have a built-in market right here on this board!

breld

nyccarguy said:

$33K is a nice price for a Golf R.  Good buy.  Probably about the same price as a “regular” GTI Autobahn Buy you got the extra “R” goodies.  Enjoy (for now)!

Thanks @nyccarguy! We considered another GTI, which would have been completely appropriate for our purposes, but having had 3 of them, we just liked the idea of stepping up to the R this time. And I think I would have liked at least an SE model this time around - but even with a used GTI SE, the price gap for this R would have been well worth it, IMO.

Truth be told, and this is consistent with reviews, I don't feel a tremendous difference in performance from the GTI to the Golf R. That probably just speaks to how great the GTI is. But the one thing we do appreciate is the increased ease of putting the power to the ground when starting off via the AWD.

tifighter

28firefighter said:

Consider me in line for the Golf R when you decide to flip it...of course behind @kyfdx and @graphicguy.

What's the line for the Polestar look like?

jpp75

I have first dibs on the Polestar!

@tifighter thanks for the recommendations on driving in Switzerland, I hit the Furka pass and a couple of others and they were great experiences. My rental was a Fiat Tipo, not my first choice but it was a manual and I actually ended up liking it for the 1,300 km or so I drove it.

Looking forward to seeing the new @breld mobiles this weekend as well.

jpp75

Here's the rental I had in Switzerland, it only had 1,700 km on it when I picked it up. It was nice driving a manual for a few days and it was nicely equipped (adaptive cruise is a must for me these days). I wouldn't necessarily want one for my own but it served it's purpose well.

qbrozen

corvette said:

They seem to run high on some of their trade values. I did actually poke around to try to see if I could find a “unicorn” like the Mustang that I could buy for a fair price at a local dealer, then “flip” to Carvana, but no dice so far. 

Remind me how many miles yours has. I found a 2013 GT Deluxe with 39k, but when I plugged that into carvana, it hit it at only $18k.

tbirdmarco

 Broiled strikes again how many cars is that the past few weeks congratulations anyway keep up the great work we will enjoy reading about it in here everyone else we need to catch up ha ha Ha 

corvette

qbrozen said:

They seem to run high on some of their trade values. I did actually poke around to try to see if I could find a “unicorn” like the Mustang that I could buy for a fair price at a local dealer, then “flip” to Carvana, but no dice so far. 

Remind me how many miles yours has. I found a 2013 GT Deluxe with 39k, but when I plugged that into carvana, it hit it at only $18k.

2011 with 31k. Mine is a GT Premium with automatic and 19” wheels. 

They called just now and said the check didn’t arrive so we are rescheduled for Saturday. 

xwesx

breld said:

Thanks for the reminder. Lots of changes in the past several weeks - I have three vehicles with temp tags!

Sad but true: This is not an unusual state for you!

xwesx

tbirdmarco said:

 Broiled strikes again how many cars is that the past few weeks congratulations anyway keep up the great work we will enjoy reading about it in here everyone else we need to catch up ha ha Ha 

What is that, like "out of the frying pan and into the broiler?"

tbirdmarco

Sounds like an plan  corvette  lol lol looking is always good

ab348

jpp5862 said:

Here's the rental I had in Switzerland, it only had 1,700 km on it when I picked it up. It was nice driving a manual for a few days and it was nicely equipped (adaptive cruise is a must for me these days). I wouldn't necessarily want one for my own but it served it's purpose well.

What is that (aside from a Fiat, which the badge proclaims)? Nice-looking car.

Michaell

Am hoping to get together with @breld and @jpp5862 on Saturday and test drive this:

TLX V6 with Tech

ab348

breld said:

It's an "add-on" for now. It fits perfectly in our concept of maintaining 3 cars, with that third car being a shared fun car - other than the fact that we also have the Prius. But as you all know, the Prius will be gone by the first quarter 2019, so we just proactively filled that spot in advance.

You give homes to cars the way I used to give homes to stray cats.

jpp75

ab348 said:

jpp5862 said:

Here's the rental I had in Switzerland, it only had 1,700 km on it when I picked it up. It was nice driving a manual for a few days and it was nicely equipped (adaptive cruise is a must for me these days). I wouldn't necessarily want one for my own but it served it's purpose well.

What is that (aside from a Fiat, which the badge proclaims)? Nice-looking car.

Oops sorry, I forgot to mention that. It's a Fiat Tipo, I had never heard of it and we don't have a similar model here but it was a fun little run around.

Michaell

ab348 said:

breld said:

It's an "add-on" for now. It fits perfectly in our concept of maintaining 3 cars, with that third car being a shared fun car - other than the fact that we also have the Prius. But as you all know, the Prius will be gone by the first quarter 2019, so we just proactively filled that spot in advance.

You give homes to cars the way I used to give homes to stray cats.

Not really homes … think of it as him and his wife as "foster parents" to them. Keep them for a while before they find a permanent home.

roadburner

au1994 said:

Ah, dealers...

So I’m perusing one of the area BMW dealers (not the one I usually use) inventory and lo and behold there’s a 2003 ///M3 convertible, sub $10k w/100k miles on the lot. Against better judgement, I filled out the online inquiry form asking some very specific questions about the maintenance history - connecting rods, VANOS, airbags etc. I specify that my preferred contact method is email. I don’t even input my phone number.

I get an email response telling me the car is still available and he has room for test drive appointments today. What time works best for me? Seriously?

I wrote back detailing my very specific maintenance questions and 5 min later I get a call from a number I don’t recognize and I foolishly answer. Yep, you guessed it, its the dealer. How he got my mobile number is beyond me. I bluntly told him, again, what I am looking for and that I had his contact info if I needed anything further. To his credit, he did email me some detailed service history BUT followed that up with 2 more phone calls back to back that I sent to voicemail.

That's unfortunately all too common; I've never received an answer to an online question I've posted to a dealer- the reply is always "When can you come in for a test drive- much like the link that states "GET OUR E-PRICE!!!"
Idiots.

roadburner

New GTI Autobahn or a one year old Golf R?
Not a tough call.

jpp75

Also one thing I saw over in Switzerland was a GTD which I'm assuming is the diesel GTI. Curious as to how it would perform.

breld

Michaell said:

Am hoping to get together with @breld and @jpp5862 on Saturday and test drive this:

TLX V6 with Tech

Nice! I'm sure we can accommodate that - you're the one that will have to get all the way up to Boulder!

pensfan83

Low miles on that TLX. Curious to see how you'll view it compared to the 4 cylinder.

Michaell

breld said:

Michaell said:

Am hoping to get together with @breld and @jpp5862 on Saturday and test drive this:

TLX V6 with Tech

Nice! I'm sure we can accommodate that - you're the one that will have to get all the way up to Boulder!

It's not like I'm straining to put miles on the Jetta!

Michaell

pensfan83 said:

Low miles on that TLX. Curious to see how you'll view it compared to the 4 cylinder.

Yeah, there are a number of V6 with Techs here in Denver.

@jpp5862 pointed out that the weight of the engine may make it handle a little poorly compared to the 4-cyl.

Here's one in the same neighborhood that is AWD:

TLX V6 Tech AWD

Mr_Shiftright

28firefighter said:

Consider me in line for the Golf R when you decide to flip it...of course behind @kyfdx and @graphicguy.

Hey, no price-fixing. Highest bidder wins!

You may refer all purchase inquiries directly to me.

xwesx

Michaell said:

breld said:

Michaell said:

Am hoping to get together with @breld and @jpp5862 on Saturday and test drive this:

TLX V6 with Tech

Nice! I'm sure we can accommodate that - you're the one that will have to get all the way up to Boulder!

It's not like I'm straining to put miles on the Jetta!

Are you sure you can still drive that far?!

qbrozen

@breld
I bid $30k on the polestar

Sandman6472

We have air!! A new system and finally up and running. Took them all day but, we're cooling off nicely. Like the digital thermostat, was dumb to nix it back in 2004!
Think it's time to get my brakes checked, at 42K, the front pedal is really low. No squealing or anything and the pull up e-brake only goes up one click when I use it. But think it best I check them out next week and see where I stand. The Golf is staying at this juncture so might have to invest a few bucks here. Still liking it immensely and not sure where I'd land if I traded right now. So best to stay put and see what happens around the new year when a good deal could be possible. Also, still dealing with crazy surgery bills and spent a small fortune today even with the three rebates off the top!

The Sandman

benjaminh

At work my 2018 Acura TLX looks at home with my "next-door neighbor's" Lexus LS430 that seems to be about 15 years old. His car actually looks to be in great shape—although I've noticed that different times over the past year for several days that he seems to have had a variety of what seem to be service loaners from the Lexus/Toyota dealer? He's the opposite of a chronic car buyer. Wonder if he got it new and has kept it all that time? I'd feel guilty, but I'm enjoying my TLX too much. Really too much. After just about a month of ownership the TLX already has c.2300 miles on it.

henryn

sandman_6472 said:

Think it's time to get my brakes checked, at 42K, the front pedal is really low. No squealing or anything and the pull up e-brake only goes up one click when I use it. But think it best I check them out next week and see where I stand.

The Sandman

I believe I mentioned before, Volkswagen's tend to wear out the rear brakes before the fronts, and even then you're normally good for 80 to 100k miles. Have them checked, by all means, but bear in mind that the wear on the brake pads (even when totally worn out) should not result in a low brake pedal. It's a hydraulic, self adjusting system. Wear on the brake pads does NOT equal lower brake pedal.

If the brake pedal is low, that could be something far more serious than worn pads.

Michaell

xwesx said:

Michaell said:

breld said:

Michaell said:

Am hoping to get together with @breld and @jpp5862 on Saturday and test drive this:

TLX V6 with Tech

Nice! I'm sure we can accommodate that - you're the one that will have to get all the way up to Boulder!

It's not like I'm straining to put miles on the Jetta!

Are you sure you can still drive that far?!

I can drive from my house to your house and back, and still not be at the prescribed number of miles. (That's 6200 miles, almost)

andres3

28firefighter said:

Consider me in line for the Golf R when you decide to flip it...of course behind @kyfdx and @graphicguy.

Put me 4th in line, at 1K below the 3rd offer.

andres3

28firefighter said:

Consider me in line for the Golf R when you decide to flip it...of course behind @kyfdx and @graphicguy.

Put me 4th in line, at 1K below the 3rd offer. That assumes the first 3 buyer's offers flake-out and don't follow through.

andres3

breld said:

nyccarguy said:

$33K is a nice price for a Golf R.  Good buy.  Probably about the same price as a “regular” GTI Autobahn Buy you got the extra “R” goodies.  Enjoy (for now)!

Thanks @nyccarguy! We considered another GTI, which would have been completely appropriate for our purposes, but having had 3 of them, we just liked the idea of stepping up to the R this time. And I think I would have liked at least an SE model this time around - but even with a used GTI SE, the price gap for this R would have been well worth it, IMO.

Truth be told, and this is consistent with reviews, I don't feel a tremendous difference in performance from the GTI to the Golf R. That probably just speaks to how great the GTI is. But the one thing we do appreciate is the increased ease of putting the power to the ground when starting off via the AWD.

A stage 1 tune will shock you in how good it is on the Golf R, trust me. Out of all the cars I've tuned, this one was most built for a tune as it's similar to my TTS drive-train.

andres3

For a few nickels more than a 1-year old Golf R:

https://www.carmax.com/car/16063310