Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

qbrozen

stickguy said:

I want the purple Gremlin. Reminds me of my similar vintage yellow Gremlin X.

Funny, I was going to say I wanted it and thought I'd be called nuts. 

fintail

The Buick clamshell wagon up there looks pretty nice.

Visited a few MB dealers today, asked about end of lease buyout stuff. As luck would have it, I couldn't get a firm answer. Nobody said they would hold to residual, but got kind of an "it depends" reply about negotiation, depending on if anyone wants the car (at the residual, nobody will).

stickguy

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

I want the purple Gremlin. Reminds me of my similar vintage yellow Gremlin X.

Funny, I was going to say I wanted it and thought I'd be called nuts. 

I expected to be. I at least have the excuse of being old enough to have one back in the day (though I did not get it new).

Michaell

 We commented that the Gremlin was a precursor to the departed C30 

Michaell

 Also saw, but did not drive, the new Porsche 

tifighter

breld said:

@ronsteve - congrats on the RDX!

@tifighter - I wasn’t aware of the performance model of the Model 3.  Very interesting!  Must be a blast!  And good move pulling the trigger before the tax incentive is phased out - it’s a chunk of change!  

Thanks @breld It is definitely the fastest thing I've driven. Even the RWD 3 is a 5.1 sec 0-60 car, so none of them are slow. Funny enough, it seems to be more efficient then our Kia EV, despite having triple the range and over four times the horsepower. A red one would look pretty good in your driveway, I'd think...

qbrozen

I am curious about the efficiency. Have you been able to calculate kwh/100 miles ... or whatever measurement you used for your Kia?

tifighter

Yes. Tesla uses wh/mile for some weird reason, but so far I've seen 230-250wh/mi on level highway, which is something like 4 to 4.2 mi per kWh. This is around a 68-70mph cruising speed. Of course, the weather is still mild which obviously helps. The RWD is supposed to be more efficient.

tifighter

I should add that my sample size is really small; I'm only on day 2.

tbirdmarco

 Nice well on the 13,000 mile Cadillac from the late 70s that’s what’s up. You should buy? My brother have a friend number of years ago and Heidi 1972 Cadillac two-door forget which one it was boarded by the house once, with under 20,000 original miles wonder if he still has it, I don’t think my brother talks to him anymore seem really nice to me what do I know, Ha ha ha had a 60th birthday party for my mom tonight was an awesome time, just got home not too long ago, had a few 

tbirdmarco

 Had a few drinks ready for bed what an awesome night overall, have a good night everyone will be back in here more later on today. Hope that everyone had an awesome Saturday. 

henryn

breld said:

Visiting a transportation museum with @Michaell and @jpp5862.  

I found a predecessor to my current Miata retractable hardtop! 

That was a "Skyliner", right? Someone offered to sell me one of those once upon a time for $500, which I did not have. Wish I could buy it now for that price.

stickguy

Hmmm. interesting info I just learned. Out of curiosity (no real reason, I swear) I checked Carvana on my car to see how it was holding up. Only down about $200 from back in July, with 3,000 more miles. That pleased me!

and for the heck of it, I checked my other car. The RDX came up at only about $700 less than the Elantra. Quite a bit more than I expected. Could in theory trade it in at that price and make it worth while!

some quick math, after 6 years, just a tick under 50,000 miles. Total depreciation (from what I paid) of just about 16k, so roughly $225/month to drive it (plus some interesting on the time financed). Even factoring in taxes and DMV (total paid) it is still less than $260/month. Even factoring in interest paid it probably comes out to no more than $290

So we drove that so far for 6 years for the price of a couple of cheap leases on lower level Utes. Sometimes, spending more for something nice, costs less in the long run!

graphicguy

ronsteve said:

stickguy said:

what color?

Kona coffee metallic exterior/parchment interior

Ooooooooo.......That sounds nice. Pics?

qbrozen

Just for giggles, I also plugged in my car last night. Interestingly, both vroom and carvana hit it at $3k BELOW auction value (well, carvana a few hundred less than vroom) and $1k below my buyout. Weird. 

corvette

breld said:

Visiting a transportation museum with @Michaell and @jpp5862.  

I found a predecessor to my current Miata retractable hardtop! 

Cool! Which museum? I’ll have to put that on my list next time I’m in Colorado. 

ronsteve

Interesting weekend getting to know the RDX... I thought it was really odd Friday when I made a stop on the way home from the dealer, and when I got back in the couple of presets I had punched into the radio were wiped out. Figured out why this morning, because I grabbed the "other" keyless remote on my way out of the house, and found the same thing... not only does it communicate Driver 1 and Driver 2 seat settings to the individual remotes, the radio presets go along for the ride as well! Good thing my wife and I are the same height.

Minor annoyance in that the Driver 1 remote decided last night that it needs a new battery... I hope that was just coincidence, even if I'll spend more time getting the remote battery at Target/Kroger/whatever than I will actually replacing it.

And whenever I finance a car again (ideally 4-5 years down the road to replace her Jetta) I'll get my numbers and then actually run an app through State Farm bank. I guess it was the assistant to the F&I guy that ran my credit when the deal was made and came in under SF's best-case scenario... the F&I guy spent a solid hour trying to hard-sell me GAP/extended warranty/mop-n-glo/etc, and after I declined everything the CU's loan origination fee completely offset the lower rate. Would have saved a lot of time and spent no extra $$ walking in the door with a check from State Farm. Lesson learned.

breld

corvette said:

breld said:

Visiting a transportation museum with @Michaell and @jpp5862.  

I found a predecessor to my current Miata retractable hardtop! 

Cool! Which museum? I’ll have to put that on my list next time I’m in Colorado. 

It's the Forney Museum of Transportation. It's been around forever, but it's only the second time I've been there. Definitely worth a look. The 70's car exhibit is a temporary one, but the permanent exhibits are all interesting on their own - they have an old train, an exhibit on bicycles and motorcycles, and a great collection of vintage autos. There's a Model T that you can sit in too.

tbirdmarco

Nice  nice whair. Is this museum 

mjfloyd1

https://jalopnik.com/the-cheap-kia-stingers-are-coming-1829355766?utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Mr_Shiftright

I checked to see on CARVANA what my Mini Cooper was worth to them.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

iluvmysephia1

The AMC Gremlin remains an interesting car to me. I test drove one back in the 1983. Ended up trading for a Chevy Suburban instead, but the car actually drove well and was a ball to drive...even!

Drivingfool

Loved that green Buick station wagon and remember driving one that my parents friends owned to move a sibling of mine many years ago. It was quite large inside but my folks drove Cadillac's and Lincoln's so I was used to driving a large vehicle. Wasn't till the mid eighties that they downsized to the Pontiac Bonneville/Parisienne size GM vehicle and then she ended with multiple white with blue vinyl top Mercury Marquis's, think she had three in a row, same color combo which drove me crazy. But by that time, we only saw each other every 3 to 4 years anyways but always noticed what vehicle she had.

The Sandman/Driving Fool

Drivingfool

After going to see my kids new house last week, it got a bit dirty from all the construction so it really needed a good detail. Hadn't done one since the accident so went the other day and it came back outstanding looking! The place I go to always does a really good job, unfortunately my regular detail guy moved away. Golf still looks super clean and the paint where they repaired it matches very nicely. All I need is to rotate the tires now and I'm good to go.
The kid is moving in the last week of October and I'll be spending a week or so there to help her get organized and be home for deliveries. I expect I'll be going up there every month or so if not more as come December 1st, wife starts her Turbo Tax gig again through August and will be working the weekends. Since I plan to relocate up there, need to get comfortable with the area and scope out new construction. Not sure if we'll purchase where the kid lives but no problem for her or us if we do. We're smart enough to let her live her life and am there when needed only, we're not the kind to just drop in without being invited!!

The Sandman/Driving Fool

omarman

Wow. I never got that kind of privacy from my own family - let alone in-laws.
Happiness is distance, boundaries and a deadbolt lock.

tbirdmarco

 Glad the kids house and everything is coming along send man good you got to get the golf detail. Hope that everyone had a good weekend, happy Monday all. 

tbirdmarco

 Glad to hear from you I love everything going with you and the family? 

tbirdmarco

 Thank you for letting us know where the museum is located 

28firefighter

@tbirdmarco - Sorry for the delay - things are good here. Family is doing great. My son has quite the "spicy" personality and is really fun to be around (unless it's time to get him dressed or change his diaper). He talks non-stop and tries to run everywhere. His teachers tell us that he is a little boy who needs to be kept occupied. He also LOVES the Saab. I took him out yesterday and he started dancing in my arms when he saw it parked in the garage.

roadburner

As a toddler my son could consistently ID three cars- “Daddy cars”(BMWs), Jeeps, and Mustangs; your son might be heading in a similar direction.

ronsteve

graphicguy said:

what color?

Kona coffee metallic exterior/parchment interior

Ooooooooo.......That sounds nice. Pics?

Finally took a few in good light.   

Michaell

ronsteve said:

graphicguy said:

ronsteve said:

stickguy said:

what color?

Kona coffee metallic exterior/parchment interior

Ooooooooo.......That sounds nice. Pics?

Finally took a few in good light.   




Sharp looking!

stickguy

That’s a base, not tech, right?

ronsteve

stickguy said:

That’s a base, not tech, right?

It's AWD and Tech. The first one I drove was a base model, just by fluke of which keys the salesperson had pulled out. Spent about $800 more for a Tech with 40K miles vs the base with 30K miles. And got the better interior color. 

corvette

Looks sharp! 

graphicguy

ronsteve said:

graphicguy said:

ronsteve said:

stickguy said:

what color?

Kona coffee metallic exterior/parchment interior

Ooooooooo.......That sounds nice. Pics?

Finally took a few in good light.   




Like it...like it...like it!

stickguy

very nice. I thought the knob looked different but hard to tell without seeing the screen. Good job.

jpp75

Nice pics @ronsteve! Congrats!

As @breld mentioned had a great time Saturday with he, Mrs @breld and @michaell at the Forney museum. I had a friend in town for the weekend who also shares a love for the 70's car so we certainly enjoyed seeing everything they had.

stickguy

this is more my speed. In case you want probably the nicest 77 Gremlin in the country! And if it was a manual trans, I just might.

Old Farmer should pick it up for his fleet. Probably sitting about 15 minutes from him.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1977-amc-gremlin-x/

tbirdmarco

 No problem 28 firefighter you get back to me when you can, I’m glad to hear everything’s going well with the family and your self it’s awesome with your son I think he might end up liking cars like his dad we shall see. 

sda

I guess I will lose my CCBA membership card as I just paid off the Accord on 9//23 and received the title in the mail today! In addition we made the last payment on the Pilot last Saturday. I've owned the Accord 5 yrs as of 9/8, and the Pilot will be 5 yrs in Jan. No new punches on the horizon, though hopeful at least one punch won't be too long from now.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

this is more my speed. In case you want probably the nicest 77 Gremlin in the country! And if it was a manual trans, I just might. Old Farmer should pick it up for his fleet. Probably sitting about 15 minutes from him. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1977-amc-gremlin-x/

Good grief that must be dreadful in every conceivable way with the automatic.

nyccarguy

sda said:

I guess I will lose my CCBA membership card as I just paid off the Accord on 9//23 and received the title in the mail today! In addition we made the last payment on the Pilot last Saturday. I've owned the Accord 5 yrs as of 9/8, and the Pilot will be 5 yrs in Jan. No new punches on the horizon, though hopeful at least one punch won't be too long from now.

Way to go @sda!

benjaminhf

sda said:

I guess I will lose my CCBA membership card as I just paid off the Accord on 9//23 and received the title in the mail today! In addition we made the last payment on the Pilot last Saturday. I've owned the Accord 5 yrs as of 9/8, and the Pilot will be 5 yrs in Jan. No new punches on the horizon, though hopeful at least one punch won't be too long from now.

Congrats!

Although my guess is that if you did a test drive on new TLX you'd really like it.

ronsteve

sda said:

I guess I will lose my CCBA membership card as I just paid off the Accord on 9//23 and received the title in the mail today! In addition we made the last payment on the Pilot last Saturday. I've owned the Accord 5 yrs as of 9/8, and the Pilot will be 5 yrs in Jan. No new punches on the horizon, though hopeful at least one punch won't be too long from now.

Don't think they'll kick you out. I've had the Jetta for 5 years and spent 11+ with the Volvo before buying the RDX, and they didn't kick me out. Of course I had the Volvo just about as long as I had my previous 3 cars combined.

Congrats on the temporary lack of car payments!

tbirdmarco

Lol lol lol

ab348

qbrozen said:

Good grief that must be dreadful in every conceivable way with the automatic.

Not really a Gremlin fan but Dad's Hornet Sportabout had that powertrain and it was fine. The 258 was a good engine.

stickguy

I had a gremlin and a hornet sportabout. I really was a masochit. 4.2l big six in both, and 3 speed manuals. Plenty of gears for that tractor engine!

kyfdx

I had the 4.2 and a 3-speed stick in a CJ-5. No issues

corvette

Estimate on the G37 is over $1,100. They can’t repair and reuse the bumper due to the location of the damage. I emailed my dad to see if he wants to turn it in to his insurance.