Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

28firefighter

qbrozen said:

wondering how it would work out if I listed my Ford for transfer. I'd want some cash up front but it would still be a killer deal for someone. I did read, however, that Ford doesn't allow it with less than 10 mos to go?

Ford allowed us to transfer the lease on the Escape with 6 months left, no hassle, at least here in WA. Only annoyance is needing the original selling dealer to sign off on and notarize some paperwork with both you and the transferee present. At least here.

I think you could easily recover $1500-$2000.

stickguy

benjaminh said:

stickguy said:

I have a strong desire to upgrade from the Elantra to a CPO TLX. I guess spending time looking for units for my sister got me hooked. I really love this one. Higher on miles though, but OK by me if the price was reduced to reflect that. I found the identical car in VA with 15K miles listed for the same price.

https://www.acuraturnersville.com/inventory/certified-used-2017-acura-tlx-2-4-8-dct-p-aws-with-technology-package-front-wheel-drive-sedan-19uub1f53ha004765

Elite Acura has a big selection of new TLXs, including even a few 2018s. I bet they'd give you a nice deal on a new 2018 that has less than 50 miles on it, which imho would be better than getting one with 34,000 miles if you really think you might keep this car long term. And it seems better to lease a TLX rather than buy it because of the larger incentives on the lease.

If your sister wants CarPlay on a TLX I think that only became available for the 2018 model year.

there are really not many 2018s left, and they are all V6 models anyway. These depreciate hard enough that I would not be buying one new. Hence the CPO route. a 2018 makes sense since first year of new design. And this would be looked at as a long term keeper, so a bit more flexibility.

I wouldn't lease one unless I worked the numbers and the lease to buy calculation made more sense than a CPO.

I found a fair number of 2018 used at different places, all listed at about the same price ($29K) and the supply should grow as them come out of loaner duty.

qbrozen

OK, poll... what would you pay per month for 9 mos on an F150 XLT 4-door 2.7T with about 16k miles remaining to use?

28firefighter

$350 or so.

stickguy

I'll go for $150/month, sell my car to Carvana, and go find something new in May.

Just don't tell my wife.

corvette

The F-150 sounds tempting, but with only nine months left, I'd want to keep the Tahoe for when the lease is up. So I'd basically have two large trucks in my driveway for nine months.

Mr_Shiftright

qbrozen said:

OK, poll... what would you pay per month for 9 mos on an F150 XLT 4-door 2.7T with about 16k miles remaining to use?

I'll pay for gas!

stickguy

gas tax in NJ goes up 4.3 cents on 10/1. So getting pricey! Maybe I should get a Prius instead. Or not.

qbrozen

alright, this isn't me trying to find someone to actually take it. wondering what y'all think is fair. haha. Well, better than fair. I mean, would $300 make you jump?

stickguy

9 months might be tough, to find someone that needs it such a short time. But, you can let it go cheap. Does the person taking it have to pony up the $350 at the end too? That adds another $40/month to the cost. Assuming of course Ford lets you completely out of the deal.

could always sell the Rover and let your wife drive the Alfa or F150 instead.

qbrozen

she refuses to drive the ford. can't see over the hood, she says. and the alfa is mine, dammit!

pensfan83

I would do it for $300.

qbrozen

Well, supposedly this is a done deal. Paperwork being overnighted, but they are (somehow) registering the car to me now. And thanks to @g8orgrant, I got a $500 truecar cert. Final payment is $371 sign and drive. F&I person tried to get me to pay first month now but I told her it was sign and drive. She conferred with the SM and they reluctantly stuck with the deal. Just 23 payments at $371 on a $48k car. That's kinda nuts.

28firefighter

Congrats Q! I think my deal comes out similarly ($364 sign and drive) on a $48,740. Would have been better if WA registration wasn't so brutal.

qbrozen

the leashacker calculator shows as $362. I'll have to wait for the paperwork to find out the discrepancy.

qbrozen

could have sworn I'd get through this year without a punch

henryn

If you weren't so far away, and I didn't already have a new F150 in the driveway, I would jump all over $300 a month for your truck. That would be a bargain for someone.

breld

qbrozen said:

could have sworn I'd get through this year without a punch

I say that sometimes about the upcoming week.  

tjc78

Congrats Q!  Awesome lease.  

qbrozen

breld said:

I say that sometimes about the upcoming week.  

I don't know how you can change your signature line that often

stickguy

spectacular lease. I know if doesn't work that way, but if I got offered that (the once in a lifetime, walk in when they need 1 more sale scenario) when I stopped in, I would leave with one.

roadburner

None of the Alfa dealers around here want to play- else I'd take a Giulia Ti Sport...

breld

I am in awe of the leases by both @qbrozen and @28firefighter.  The lease on our friends Hyundai Kona wasn’t much less per month!

Can’t wait to see pictures!  Congrats! 

28firefighter

Done deal. MSRP $48,740, $1500 DAS (first month, doc fee, and tabs), $294.08 incl tax for 23 more months. 

More thoughts to follow about my 60 mile drive home and dealer experience. 

Short thought: wheeeeee!

Michaell

28firefighter said:

Done deal. MSRP $48,740, $1500 DAS (first month, doc fee, and tabs), $294.08 incl tax for 23 more months. 

More thoughts to follow about my 60 mile drive home and dealer experience. 

Short thought: wheeeeee!

OK, let me be the first to congratulate you!

That is an awesome deal - and, I love the color.

Enjoy.

So, what happens to the Viggen?

28firefighter

Viggen will be parked at my in-laws condo garage. Relegated to retirement as a weekend driver. I still love it. 

breld

Beautiful!  Look forward to the review!

fintail

Nice deal, I see you went to Tacoma.

I expect you to find me an S560 lease for $600/month when the time comes

28firefighter

Yes, Tacoma. Super nice folks but a bizarre operation.

So, the deal you know about. It’s stellar. I was trying to do a deal with Seattle (where I had helped them move a couple units last month) but they had limited inventory in an acceptable color and option set. I reached out to Tacoma, made my request and, after some fighting, took it. All told a few emails.  I gave a deposit over the phone and did the credit app online. 

Took me almost 2.5 hours to get to Tacoma today due to an accident on 5. Nearly an hour just to get to the train station. 

I arrived and the car wasn’t prepped. Place was dead so it seemed weird to me. We confirmed the deal, did a test loop, and then I’m told we have to go to the Dodge shop across the street where they do finance and detail. Huh?

 The CJDR dealer was what you would expect. High volume, high pressure, very active. Tonight they had people coming in response to a mailer with a “key” to win a Jeep. Even if you didn’t win, you got at least $5-$10 for coming in. 

I waited almost most an hour for finance. I was in and out in 10 mins - my FI guy came from an Audi dealer, so was not the typical high pressure CJDR finance guy. Pleasant experience and given the surroundings I was expecting way worse. 

After that, detail finished and I did delivery and was on my way.  Uneventful  

While my dealer experience was very good and I would recommend them and will give them top marks, I think FCA needs to reconcile the Alfa dealer and shopping experience. There are two types of Alfa dealers - those connected to Maserati and Ferrari, and those connected to Fiat/CJDR. The former cater to high end European car clientele and know the luxury experience. The latter do not. I think there is a long way to go to feeling a consistent brand experience. 

Thoughts on the drive to come...

qbrozen

Jealous that you got my first color choice.
what about the interior, though? I wanted blue with the chocolate guts. 

sb55

nyccarguy said:

sb55 said:

stickguy said:

still gives me nightmares of owning it out of warranty though, when part of that contraption decides to crap out.

something to be said for a fully manual soft top. Though having the targa buttresses back there is more comforting than just having your head hanging out in the breeze.

My 2007 1st year Miata PRHT (Power Retractable Hard Top) is still going strong. I love this car and it has never been back to the dealer for anything. I have no fear of owning this car for another 11 years

Between the Air Stream, the Silverado with the 6.2, & the Diesel 5er, I completely forgot you have a Miata! How many miles do you currently have on it?

Only 35K miles. Since we moved to Vermont it has become a summer toy

tjc78

Love that blue.  That was the color of our first Enclave.  Truly awesome lease, congrats! 

benjaminh

28firefighter said:

Done deal. MSRP $48,740, $1500 DAS (first month, doc fee, and tabs), $294.08 incl tax for 23 more months. 

More thoughts to follow about my 60 mile drive home and dealer experience. 

Short thought: wheeeeee!

Congratulations!! Fantastic deal. What's the residual? Looking forward to pix of the inside as well as more driving impressions. Was it built in Italy?

stickguy

gorgeous car. showed it to my wife. she likes it, but her favorite car color is that kind of blue. Fantastic deal. I hope it works well for you.

and probably better for the Viggen to be a weekend car instead of doing DD duty! And between an Alfa and a SAAB, pretty good chance that you have at least 1 running car at any point in time!

kyfdx

stickguy said:

gorgeous car. showed it to my wife. she likes it, but her favorite car color is that kind of blue. Fantastic deal. I hope it works well for you.

and probably better for the Viggen to be a weekend car instead of doing DD duty! And between an Alfa and a SAAB, pretty good chance that you have at least 1 running car at any point in time!

“pretty good chance”

Hmm.. Alfa and Saab?

stickguy

giving bonus points for one of them being brand new, and the other just having a major sorting out done to it.

pensfan83

Nice ride @28firefighter and stellar deal. Enjoy!

mjfloyd1

I showed your Stelvia (very nice by the way) to my wife and she said “that would be for you not for me” and “I don’t even know what an Alfa Romeo is” followed by “that’s not something that I’d even look at”. 

It probably didn’t help that I said that it goes like stink.

Sounds like she isnt interested in trading her GL350 in on one...


Ugh

roadburner

28firefighter said:

Done deal. MSRP $48,740, $1500 DAS (first month, doc fee, and tabs), $294.08 incl tax for 23 more months. 

More thoughts to follow about my 60 mile drive home and dealer experience. 

Short thought: wheeeeee!

Nice!

28firefighter

It’s black interior. My top choice would have been white over brown, but I think I only saw one in my searches and I wasn’t going to be that limiting. 

graphicguy

28FF....absolutely love it. Big congrats. With these deals, you guys are making me reconsider leasing.

@roadburner .....have you checked with the Alpha dealer in Florence (Sweeney)?

Mr_Shiftright

28firefighter said:

Viggen will be parked at my in-laws condo garage. Relegated to retirement as a weekend driver. I still love it. 

Well don't forget about her. Remember, old cars need exercise or they go downhill fast.

roadburner

mjfloyd1 said:

I showed your Stelvia (very nice by the way) to my wife and she said “that would be for you not for me” and “I don’t even know what an Alfa Romeo is” followed by “that’s not something that I’d even look at”. 

It probably didn’t help that I said that it goes like stink.

Sounds like she isnt interested in trading her GL350 in on one...


Ugh

My wife loves the Giulia and the Stelvio- the Cincinnati dealer had a few of them on display at the Keeneland Concours and we gave them a pretty close examination. She prefers the truck while I prefer the car...

mjfloyd1

roadburner said:

I showed your Stelvia (very nice by the way) to my wife and she said “that would be for you not for me” and “I don’t even know what an Alfa Romeo is” followed by “that’s not something that I’d even look at”. 

It probably didn’t help that I said that it goes like stink.

Sounds like she isnt interested in trading her GL350 in on one...


Ugh

My wife loves the Giulia and the Stelvio- the Cincinnati dealer had a few of them on display at the Keeneland Concours and we gave them a pretty close examination. She prefers the truck while I prefer the car...

I think both look very good. 

She prefers 3 pointed stars and roundels

roadburner

graphicguy said:

28FF....absolutely love it. Big congrats. With these deals, you guys are making me reconsider leasing.

@roadburner .....have you checked with the Alpha dealer in Florence (Sweeney)?

Not yet, but I plan to.

qbrozen

28firefighter said:

It’s black interior. My top choice would have been white over brown, but I think I only saw one in my searches and I wasn’t going to be that limiting. 

Ah. Yeah i could have had my choice of exterior colors if I went with black guts (and gotten one closer to home). But I honestly would have taken ANY exterior color to avoid black interior. Not sure where he black over red ranks for me. So prob blue, brown, white, then black over the brown interior, then white over red, then black over red. So my 6th color combo choice. 

i was already researching a tune. Someone sells a plug and play piggyback box with bluetooth control and android/apple app. Interesting.

corvette

I love that blue color. 

carnaught

@28firefighter and @gbrozen, congrats on the Stelvio’s, beautiful and fun cars! Forgive me if I missed it, but do gou have disposal fees? Even if you do, fantastic deals you got!

Look forward to getting your reviews.

28firefighter

Nope. Ally has no disposal fee. 

28firefighter

Okay so thoughts on the car itself. I put about 60 highway miles on it driving home from the dealer. A solid mix of different quality roads, evasive/defensive driving, and speed limits. 

My initial thought was “holy crap that’s quick.”  Then I switched it to sport mode and it threw me back in my seat. The transmission is incredibly responsive to throttle input and you always feel like you’re right in the sweet spot of the torque band. The only car that has been similar for me is the GTI, but where the GTI DSG was clunky at low speeds, this feels very refined. 

The handling is very tight and responsive. My car is equipped with the sport package and 20” all seasons which includes a sport tuned suspension, paddle shifters and a couple other things. Because it is not a Ti Sport it still has the base seats. It drives and feels like a car half its size and much lower to the ground. Again similar to the GTI in a lot of ways but again, more refined and much tighter. 

Steering even in sport mode is fairly loose but gets tighter as you speed up, which is electrically assisted steering. 

The interior is definitely a big big weak spot. It looks very nice and very basic, but if you look closer, there is tons of hard plastic. It doesn’t feel like the interior of a $50k car - the interior is majorly behind BMW/Audi/Mercedes. Similarly the infotainment sucks, which I knew, but is easy to use once you configure it. It has the potential to be better than iDrive. 

The exterior speaks for itself. I think it’s beautiful with great lines, though the rear is a bit nondescript. The paint looks nice but the quality of the finish isn’t great.  There is a small amount of hazing in one area - I expect that on VWs, not on Alfa’s that are double the price. 

All told for this kind of money its a no brainer and the driving experience is almost unparalleled in its class. I think Alfa has a long way to go in other areas of interior design and finish as well as dealer experience if they want to play with the big boys.