Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

I always intended to go back. at the time it was because my daughter just couldn't get comfy with it, and we were going to be sharing a car for a while. so I traded the Accord for a Volvo. Then when she had her own car, in college, I ended up with another AT because when she flew home, she would be using mine again. Last one, I did shop sticks but the right fit wasn't there. Plus it is easier to be able to have the other drivers take it as needed.

at least she is about to buy her own car and is moving out on her own. and the wife can still fact the manual if she needs to. So in theory, I could trade the Elantra for a stick. The problem is, almost no cars out there that fit what we would want, that also have a manual option.

I did get a toy with a manual for a little while. And at some point, will do so again! The 3rd car option will be much easier to deal with.

pensfan83

Mr_Shiftright said:

Indeed. Even with $5K down on a $30K car, for 60 months we'd be looking at $449/month.

I just wanted to pay cash for something, so that's why I want to stay in the low $20Ks. Buy it and forget it.

I gotta have a stickshift. I've tried paddles, DSG, the whole enchilada--it doesn't work for me.

Maybe I just need to resign myself to a disappearing world, and crawl into old age and lose the 3rd pedal.

Don't do it unless you have to. I really miss having a 3 pedal car.

roadburner

Some good news to report; the GLA sold so a M-B is not in the picture. In other news, one of my friends in sales at the BMW dealer was also run off by AMSI and is now at the local Mercedes dealer. I told him in about 10 years I'll be at the right age to consider owning one...

stickguy

I do too much of the time. It just got hard to find one that had everything else I wanted, at an affordable price, with a stick. And even if it in theory exists, often impossible to find.

au1994

stickguy said:

I always intended to go back. at the time it was because my daughter just couldn't get comfy with it, and we were going to be sharing a car for a while. so I traded the Accord for a Volvo. Then when she had her own car, in college, I ended up with another AT because when she flew home, she would be using mine again. Last one, I did shop sticks but the right fit wasn't there. Plus it is easier to be able to have the other drivers take it as needed.

at least she is about to buy her own car and is moving out on her own. and the wife can still fact the manual if she needs to. So in theory, I could trade the Elantra for a stick. The problem is, almost no cars out there that fit what we would want, that also have a manual option.

I did get a toy with a manual for a little while. And at some point, will do so again! The 3rd car option will be much easier to deal with.

Check out the Civic Si. Friend just got a 4dr in silver and its a blast. Handles extremely well for FWD and the ~200 hp with a 6 speed is perfect.

kyfdx

@stickguy can't get the SI. It would remind him of the $185/mo. lease deal he passed up in 2015.

stickguy

I test drove it 2x last year. I came real close. My wife just did not find it comfortable (the seat did not fit her). I was not sure about the seat either actually. But darned fun. At the time though, not good deals.

qbrozen

Really depends on the car for me anymore. Nowadays, with autos being the faster vehicle, it doesn't make sense to me to buy a performance car and saddle it with the slower transmission. Then those same buyers go spending thousands in aftermarket parts to be as fast as the auto trans version from the factory. 

But on an economy car with CVT or other "dumb" automatic? Yeah, manual, please!

stickguy

kyfdx said:

@stickguy can't get the SI. It would remind him of the $185/mo. lease deal he passed up in 2015.

evil man. that still wakes me up in night in a cold sweat. every deal since gets compared to that, and falls way short. Should have just done it.

pretty sure I would have bought it out too. That hurts even worse. I am pretty sure it was worth a bit more than the residual at the end (would have been last month).

stickguy

qbrozen said:

Really depends on the car for me anymore. Nowadays, with autos being the faster vehicle, it doesn't make sense to me to buy a performance car and saddle it with the slower transmission. Then those same buyers go spending thousands in aftermarket parts to be as fast as the auto trans version from the factory. 

But on an economy car with CVT or other "dumb" automatic? Yeah, manual, please!

to me, the fast part is not an issue really. I don't use nearly all the speed. so being 0-60 in 7 vs. 6.5, will not be noticeable. I am much more interested in how it drives. Slightly quicker in a drag race does not matter if it is always lugging around in too high a gear and not doing what I want.

that is a nice thing about the DSG in the Elantra. It really works like a manual. geared shorter, quick shifts up and down, and always seems to be in the right gear. even sounds like a stick. The Sonata, well, that was a typical economy car get to top gear ASAP and hang on for dear life. Lug or roar, after some wait time.

the BMW 8 speed seems to work fine too. Actually the AT in our RDX does a good job. Proably helps that it is only a 6 speed. less shifting!

pensfan83

I lucked out with the Audi in 2014. It was a 6 month lot queen and they were desperate to move it so with MSD's it was a no brainer. This time there was no such luck.

roadburner

qbrozen said:

Really depends on the car for me anymore. Nowadays, with autos being the faster vehicle, it doesn't make sense to me to buy a performance car and saddle it with the slower transmission. Then those same buyers go spending thousands in aftermarket parts to be as fast as the auto trans version from the factory. 

But on an economy car with CVT or other "dumb" automatic? Yeah, manual, please!

I agree 100%. I have my Club Sport to drive when I want to keep my left foot in practice, but my M235i with the ZF 8HP45 is only .1 second slower than a manual M2, and it's only .2 seconds slower in the quarter mile. That said, I'd love to have an M2 or M2 Competition with three pedals- primarily because it's a much more focused track weapon.

stickguy

interesting. Just did a cars.com search. In a 100 mile radius, there are about 522 A4s (used). 36 listed as manuals. more than I expected. though half probably AT anyway.

stickguy

probably a bit overpirced, but dang, I love this one. great colors.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/745471415/overview/

Michaell

After driving the Golf R that @breld recently picked up, I'd seriously consider another stick shift. What would work?

GTI
GLI
Civic Si
Civic EX-T
Elantra Sport

Of those, I think the VW's would work best - feels more "luxury" than the Honda or Hyundai, and the new 6/72 warranty is intriguing.

A CPO A4 or 3-series with 3-pedals might work, too, depending on how it's optioned.

28firefighter

I'd focus on a Civic Si or GTI.

The GLI is not the same engine or platform as the GTI and feels it; The Si is a bargain of a lease if you catch it right but definitely not as refined.

breld

stickguy said:

probably a bit overpirced, but dang, I love this one. great colors.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/745471415/overview/

That used A4 manual I drove a month or two ago was surprisingly nice. The 2.0t had a lot of pull and the shifting was very smooth - all in all, it was an "easy" manual to drive and very rewarding.

In the last year or two of that generation, there were some available "S-line" and "Titanium" packages available that subtly improved the overall look of the car.

stickguy

OK, update on the Kid and her Kar. almost pulled the plug and went back to the Elantra transfer. Though after some more discussion, I think she preferred the Jetta as a long term keeper. She probably would have wanted to swap out of the Hyundai if a few years. And she really was planning to buy out the lease anyway.

so I went back to the dealer to negotiate a buy out. and yes, I know that a new VW may not be the smartest move! though you can't find used 2019s yet. so it will be fine. Getting a big enough discount, plus extra rebates, to make the price work. and going to be vastly cheaper to buy it now than to lease and buy. Plus getting a good interest rate. So, they got under my OTD bottom line, she is happy, and I am tired and just want my car back!

the located the car and it will be in tomorrow. so just have to work out logistics as to when to get it since we are moving her to new apartment Saturday.

next week, I can start popping around looking for a change for me. Maybe on labor day weekend. Maybe in 9 years. who knows?

tifighter

I had fun with the 6MT on the 86. But having recently scratched that itch, I don't see another stick on the immediate horizon. And definitely not on the next car, LOL.

28firefighter

@Mr_Shiftright do you still have access to CarFax? I was messing around with Vroom and Carvana and the X1 is apparently showing up as having been in an accident according to AutoCheck. The Carfax was clean when we leased it as a demo and it has not been in any accidents since our ownership.

EDIT: Disregard - just went through our paperwork and apparently they put in the packet that it was in an front-end impact and was towed in October 2016. It is only reported in Autocheck, not Carfax, and in their final disclosures they did not include a mention of an accident in the Pre-Owned Vehicle Disclosure form. They said no Damage.

I don't think I have any recourse at this point, but I'm definitely a little miffed.

qbrozen

28firefighter said:

@Mr_Shiftright do you still have access to CarFax? I was messing around with Vroom and Carvana and the X1 is apparently showing up as having been in an accident according to AutoCheck. The Carfax was clean when we leased it as a demo and it has not been in any accidents since our ownership. EDIT: Disregard - just went through our paperwork and apparently they put in the packet that it was in an front-end impact and was towed in October 2016. It is only reported in Autocheck, not Carfax, and in their final disclosures they did not include a mention of an accident in the Pre-Owned Vehicle Disclosure form. They said no Damage. I don't think I have any recourse at this point, but I'm definitely a little miffed.

Ouch! That sucks!

stickguy

that is a lease, right? So less to be ticked off about.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

probably a bit overpirced, but dang, I love this one. great colors. https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/745471415/overview/

Price isn't awful, but if we ding it for the manual, I'd probably say $18.5k should buy it.

28firefighter

You're right, it is less of a sting - but, I'm more disappointed than anything that I let them pull a fast one on me. I'm debating sending an email to the GM - but I'm not sure it'll accomplish anything and I don't know what I would be asking for.

suydam

That happened to me once with a Subaru. The car was okay, but it really ticked me off that they passed off that little deception. It made me question the car. Haven’t bought a Subaru since.

28firefighter

The thing is logically, I got an amazing discount on the car (24% before incentives) and it is a cheap payment ($348/month including tax with only MSDs at signing) on a $46k car. It drives fine, doesn't rattle, doesn't have any mismatch, and we've never noticed. It just annoys the crap out of me.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

I'd focus on a Civic Si or GTI.

The GLI is not the same engine or platform as the GTI and feels it; The Si is a bargain of a lease if you catch it right but definitely not as refined.

I test drove a GLI last year. It was fine, for me.

But, still wonder if a "new" GLI will be available in the near future on the MQB platform. And, with the 220HP engine from the GTI.

At the moment, the GLI appeals to me more, since nobody wants a sedan these days.

qbrozen

28firefighter said:

The thing is logically, I got an amazing discount on the car (24% before incentives) and it is a cheap payment ($348/month including tax with only MSDs at signing) on a $46k car. It drives fine, doesn't rattle, doesn't have any mismatch, and we've never noticed. It just annoys the crap out of me.

Oh, well don't sweat it then. You are just a renter.

ab348

stickguy said:

OK, update on the Kid and her Kar. almost pulled the plug and went back to the Elantra transfer. Though after some more discussion, I think she preferred the Jetta as a long term keeper. She probably would have wanted to swap out of the Hyundai if a few years. And she really was planning to buy out the lease anyway.

so I went back to the dealer to negotiate a buy out. and yes, I know that a new VW may not be the smartest move! though you can't find used 2019s yet. so it will be fine. Getting a big enough discount, plus extra rebates, to make the price work. and going to be vastly cheaper to buy it now than to lease and buy. Plus getting a good interest rate. So, they got under my OTD bottom line, she is happy, and I am tired and just want my car back!

the located the car and it will be in tomorrow. so just have to work out logistics as to when to get it since we are moving her to new apartment Saturday.

next week, I can start popping around looking for a change for me. Maybe on labor day weekend. Maybe in 9 years. who knows?

Are you buying the car for her or is she getting it on her own credit? New Jetta will look like a current model for a few years so that is a good thing going for it.

tifighter

28firefighter said:

The thing is logically, I got an amazing discount on the car (24% before incentives) and it is a cheap payment ($348/month including tax with only MSDs at signing) on a $46k car. It drives fine, doesn't rattle, doesn't have any mismatch, and we've never noticed. It just annoys the crap out of me.

How much longer on the lease?

28firefighter

17 months.

breld

So @stickguy - you say it will be vastly cheaper to buy now than lease and purchase? I know you don't have to pay the acquisition fee, but were the incentives on a purchase that much lower than a lease? From my shopping, it seems I could indeed purchase the car for around $800 or so less than the negotiated cap cost on the lease.

We're considering the same thing, since our intention is to purchase the Jetta long-term anyway, but I was hoping to defer the larger portion of the purchase price until closer to when she graduates.

corvette

roadburner said:

Some good news to report; the GLA sold so a M-B is not in the picture. In other news, one of my friends in sales at the BMW dealer was also run off by AMSI and is now at the local Mercedes dealer. I told him in about 10 years I'll be at the right age to consider owning one...

The price is not right there, from what I hear. They are one price and our CFO saved a bunch by buying a CPO S-class elsewhere. And the out of state dealer delivered it here. 

corvette

stickguy said:

I test drove it 2x last year. I came real close. My wife just did not find it comfortable (the seat did not fit her). I was not sure about the seat either actually. But darned fun. At the time though, not good deals.

“Not sure” about the seat would be a hard pass from me after my experience with the Mustang. The RHD C-class would get nixed for the same reason (seating position and dead pedal placement). 

corvette

stickguy said:

probably a bit overpirced, but dang, I love this one. great colors. https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/745471415/overview/

$20k is high. You could get an updated 2017 from Hertz for $25k-ish. 

corvette

28firefighter said:

You're right, it is less of a sting - but, I'm more disappointed than anything that I let them pull a fast one on me. I'm debating sending an email to the GM - but I'm not sure it'll accomplish anything and I don't know what I would be asking for.

Ding them on every future survey you get after a service visit. Yes, I’m mean like that. 

tifighter

As I recall, the selling dealer was in Portland and does not service it.

corvette

tifighter said:

As I recall, the selling dealer was in Portland and does not service it.

Might be worth a road trip for a service visit... again, I’m mean like that! 

28firefighter

Correct Ti. We don’t get it serviced there. 

Mr_Shiftright

28firefighter said:

@Mr_Shiftright do you still have access to CarFax? I was messing around with Vroom and Carvana and the X1 is apparently showing up as having been in an accident according to AutoCheck. The Carfax was clean when we leased it as a demo and it has not been in any accidents since our ownership.

EDIT: Disregard - just went through our paperwork and apparently they put in the packet that it was in an front-end impact and was towed in October 2016. It is only reported in Autocheck, not Carfax, and in their final disclosures they did not include a mention of an accident in the Pre-Owned Vehicle Disclosure form. They said no Damage.

I don't think I have any recourse at this point, but I'm definitely a little miffed.

I can check CARFAX for you. CARFAX can insert an accident into your record at any time. If you buy a used car today with a clean CARFAX, 3 or 4 years from now you might suddenly find an accident on the record.

benjaminh

stickguy said:

....and yes, I know that a new VW may not be the smartest move! though you can't find used 2019s yet. so it will be fine. Getting a big enough discount, plus extra rebates, to make the price work. and going to be vastly cheaper to buy it now than to lease and buy. Plus getting a good interest rate. So, they got under my OTD bottom line....

Congrats!! If you're willing, I think people here would be interested to hear the details on the deal for the 2019 Jetta. With the new 6-year/72k VW warranty it seems like a safe bet for a good economy car.

sda

28firefighter said:

@Mr_Shiftright do you still have access to CarFax? I was messing around with Vroom and Carvana and the X1 is apparently showing up as having been in an accident according to AutoCheck. The Carfax was clean when we leased it as a demo and it has not been in any accidents since our ownership.

EDIT: Disregard - just went through our paperwork and apparently they put in the packet that it was in an front-end impact and was towed in October 2016. It is only reported in Autocheck, not Carfax, and in their final disclosures they did not include a mention of an accident in the Pre-Owned Vehicle Disclosure form. They said no Damage.

I don't think I have any recourse at this point, but I'm definitely a little miffed.

I can so relate to your disappointment. I shared this story sometime ago, but we experienced much the same when I bought the Pilot almost 5 years ago. I admit I let my guard down. It was a Honda certified used vehicle. They provided a binder of all the work that had been done to it, brakes, battery, wiper blades, oil change, alignment, etc. A clean car fax. Extended Honda warranty. When I got it home, had the wife drive it, (she knew the color and description but didn't want to spend hours at the dealer...smart girl) she was delighted! Just what she wanted and loved how it drove. Later that evening I opened the glove box to find some documents that were left behind. What did I find? An invoice for $5500 of repairs to the right front. New front fender, grille, radiator, condenser, on and on. I was livid. Took it back the next day with the intent of unwinding the deal or for them to guarantee they would take care of any future issues that may have been caused by the damage and for them to discount the purchase price. They assured me they wouldn't sell something that had frame damage, would take care of any issues (in writing) and further discounted the purchase price by $2k or so. Though I know it has been damaged, they did a good job with the repair, and no issues. Purchased with 50k, now 122k. It still gets under my skin if I give it any thought.

stickguy

corvette said:

stickguy said:

probably a bit overpirced, but dang, I love this one. great colors.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/745471415/overview/

$20k is high. You could get an updated 2017 from Hertz for $25k-ish. 

I actually like the previous style A4 more than the current one. the new one just feels too bulky to me. the old one, perfect size.

stickguy

OK, the kid is 100% on the hook for this. her money down, her payments. I am just the facilitator on the deal.

the issue with the lease is that they do have some lease incentive, but nothing major. and there is something on a purchase. They were basically getting the monthly down (though it was still average at best) by discounting the sales price. But, the residual is very high right now. Helps on the lease, but kills on the buy out.

I ran numbers, and it will probably be about $2K less total overall to just buy it now. Helps that the interest rate on a 60 month loan is only 2.9%.

payment will be about $100/month higher than her (admittedly aggressively low) target, but nothing that will break her. Just needs to work 3 extra hours of OT a month to make up for it!

at this point, I just want it over with. So does she. And I can get my car back, and go shopping over labor day!

next hurdle, getting a U Haul tomorrow and getting her moved into her apartment Saturday.

I am frankly too old for all this.

ab348

This is unusual, and sort of sad.




Most of my USA friends on here are probably unaware, but Canada is in a diplomatic tussle with Saudi Arabia right now thanks to some ill-advised public shaming of Saudi Arabia's human rights record by our idiot federal government. The Saudis did not take it well and reacted by withdrawing their ambassador among other things and ordering all their nationals who were resident in Canada to leave by the end of August.

Locally we have a good-sized number of Saudis in university here, particularly in our medical school and working as interns or residents at our hospitals. This week there have been a number of "yard sales" organized by the mosque for those affected to liquidate their household items, and now come the vehicles. There was no list of cars posted and I'm not sure if this is a photo of the actual vehicles but they have the reputation for driving high-end cars.

Sandman6472

When referring to my statement, "pretty darn old", I was talking about the tech in the 2015 Golf. No usb port, no aux port, just the old connection for an Apple product before they came out with the newest lightning cable, think I've got a 30 kind instead of the new 8 one. Whatever. I was referring to the tech in the vehicle and not the vehicle itself. I think if one reads my post again, it will be crystal clear I was talking about the tech only!!

The Sandman

fintail

Looks like a dealership. We have foreign "students" here too, and they often drive fancier stuff than lease spec 3ers.

Just to be a little political, the current Murkan regime loves the sometimes despicable Saudis (especially in terms of human rights issues, where they are downright deplorable), so no worries about that happening south of the border.

ab348 said:

This is unusual, and sort of sad.




Most of my USA friends on here are probably unaware, but Canada is in a diplomatic tussle with Saudi Arabia right now thanks to some ill-advised public shaming of Saudi Arabia's human rights record by our idiot federal government. The Saudis did not take it well and reacted by withdrawing their ambassador among other things and ordering all their nationals who were resident in Canada to leave by the end of August.

Locally we have a good-sized number of Saudis in university here, particularly in our medical school and working as interns or residents at our hospitals. This week there have been a number of "yard sales" organized by the mosque for those affected to liquidate their household items, and now come the vehicles. There was no list of cars posted and I'm not sure if this is a photo of the actual vehicles but they have the reputation for driving high-end cars.

sda

ab348 said:

This is unusual, and sort of sad.




Most of my USA friends on here are probably unaware, but Canada is in a diplomatic tussle with Saudi Arabia right now thanks to some ill-advised public shaming of Saudi Arabia's human rights record by our idiot federal government. The Saudis did not take it well and reacted by withdrawing their ambassador among other things and ordering all their nationals who were resident in Canada to leave by the end of August.

Locally we have a good-sized number of Saudis in university here, particularly in our medical school and working as interns or residents at our hospitals. This week there have been a number of "yard sales" organized by the mosque for those affected to liquidate their household items, and now come the vehicles. There was no list of cars posted and I'm not sure if this is a photo of the actual vehicles but they have the reputation for driving high-end cars.

Wow. Underscores how a decision can negatively affect many who were probably innocent bystanders.

qbrozen

corvette said:

stickguy said:

probably a bit overpirced, but dang, I love this one. great colors. https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/745471415/overview/

$20k is high. You could get an updated 2017 from Hertz for $25k-ish. 

No way in hell Hertz has a manual transmission. And highly unlikely with that color combo.

roadburner

corvette said:

The price is not right there, from what I hear. They are one price and our CFO saved a bunch by buying a CPO S-class elsewhere. And the out of state dealer delivered it here. 

That's what I've heard as well; and their Mini store is no better- if not worse.
Anyway, as I said, it will be at least a decade or more before a non-AMG Mercedes would be on my radar.