Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

tjc78

Had a few minutes since the kids were sleeping and we didn’t want to pull them out of the car to do shopping ...

I wanted to see how bad the Regal leases... wow it’s bad. 

I configured an almost fully loaded Sportback Essence with moonroof and Driver package 1

MSRP $36,600
I figured a huge discount from the dealer and an assumed selling price of 31,000

First payment only OOP ... $522 36/10

My Enclave was 14k more and less monthly.  

These were Aug numbers from the forum here, but I’m sure it’s not much better.  44% residual and highish MF aren’t helped much by only $1500 in rebates.  

cdnpinhead

The industry is used to selling Buicks to morons less-informed people. Go figure.

cdnpinhead

Mr_Shiftright said:

The point was that EVs are, in reality, probably no more environmentally friendly than an ICE, if you factor in all the variables from the raw materials gathered to the habits of the end user. They may indeed be cheaper to run, quieter, perhaps even more reliable, but like every technology, there are trade-offs and there is hyperbole.

This is most certainly true. Flavor of the month is very much in play -- it's called a Pious for a reason.

tbirdmarco

Wow all E V S are not for. Me lol lol

stickguy

House 3 down from me just got a Tesla. I think the SUV one. noticed them trying to back into the driveway yesterday, and today saw it backed into their garage. My guess is the plug is on the right front, and that is the place on the garage wall where the plug is. That is the first one that I am aware of in my neighborhood. And I know of at least 2 range rovers and a Maserati coupe!

stickguy

so, dragged the wife off to look at another car today. She did not fight too hard. Helps that I took her to Kohls first and did not complain or rush her.

Went to the Infiniti dealer. Had a bunch of 30's around the lot. But it was dreary out, so we went in The had a line of CUVs inside (S, M, L and XL). So got to sit in and play with a QX30. it was nice, but really on the cramped side. Not much cargo room or back seat. I just fit up front in the driver's seat, with my leg brushing the console. It really bothered her, but I was OK with it. other that that, it was nicely done.

we also sat in the QX50 parked next to it. Now that, was sweet. Much roomier, and way more comfortable. We both really liked it, but this was a top line model. MSRP was over $58K!

So, I think the 30 is off the shopping list. Need to think through what else I might like to put on besides the TLX.

ab348

cdnpinhead said:

The industry is used to selling Buicks to morons less-informed people. Go figure.

Geez. Harsh much?

jpp75

stickguy said:

until Benjamin posted the links above, I kinda forgot they even exist. Not usually on my radar. But looking at the ads, appears to be a nicely equipped car, and I find the styling attractive. Not sure about the interior, but I really have not been a fan of recent GM dashboards (Chevy in particular). Would have to see it in person.

I do have a soft spot for wagons. One of those could easily serve as our workhorse vehicle instead of a CUV>

I wanted to like the new Regal but when we sat in one at the auto show last spring the interior and dash layout was a huge disappointment.

stickguy

I have to take my car in for an oil change next week. while I am there, will take a look at a Genesis G70, and might as well walk next door and check out the Regal.

boomchek

That Buick wagon looks really nice. If only it had an Opel badge on it

I sat in a Buick (forgot which model it was) and I recall the seats are some of the most comfortable I've ever sat in. But I still have this preconceived notion that only seniors drive Buicks so as nice as the car is I would not consider buying one.

stickguy

well, if you want it to have an Opel badge, should be an easy swap!

funny thing, I pointed one out to my wife today, and she said it looked nice. Then I told her it was a Buick and she made a face, and said that was "an old man's car". Frankly, at this point I am more interested in the super comfortable seats than preconceived notions about who drives one. Sadly I probably am old enough to be their demographic, even if I drive a kid's sporty car!

jpp75

I actually like this, and it appears to truly be a manual from what I can see in the one pic from the drivers door.

https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/1990-volvo-240dl/6712521899.html

stickguy

definitely a stick. You can see the shifter, and the clutch pedal.

and to me that is the quintessential Volvo. I would not mind having one. Though it is slow as dirt.

stickguy

well, I love this one. Fantastic color combo. super low miles. all the options required. The wife would even like this baby (assuming the colors did not turn her off). It has amazing seats.

probably a bit overpriced even for a CPO, but it does have 4.5 years total warranty left on it.

should go take a look at it next week. Out of budget, but who knows how bad they want to unload it. Should just trade the wife's car on it too.

https://www.cherryhillvolvocars.com/certified/Volvo/2016-Volvo-XC60-cherry-hill-nj-977fbb3e0a0e0a177585d9ecf65b394d.htm

corvette

Mr_Shiftright said:

I think the fast charge time is even MORE important than range, because 98% of people don't drive 300 miles in a day, or even half that.

The capability to fast charge (and the infrastructure) is more important than the range. Even on a road trip, a 250 mile fuel range is fine if you can refuel in 10-15 minutes. For everyday driving, fast charge isn't important.

corvette

jpp5862 said:

I actually like this, and it appears to truly be a manual from what I can see in the one pic from the drivers door.

https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/1990-volvo-240dl/6712521899.html

That one looks really clean, and relatively stock. The 1990 models didn't have ABS standard. But, it's nearing 30 years old now. The reputation for durability that the RWD Volvos had is going to be pretty much gone on anything that old.

That XC60 stickguy posted is gorgeous!

stickguy

that 60 is the last year of the venerable 2.5t engine. I keep leaning toward the 2.0, but seems that some people had issues with them early on. So maybe sticking with the tried and true lump of a motor is the way to go!

I love that color, but suspect that most people probably won't. definitely not your typical silver/white/black/gray palate

breld

I’d never buy this, but I’m oddly attracted to it.  I had posters of these on my wall in high school and aspired to own one.  I recall the revised grill for the 85 model year really appealed to me.  

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1985-ford-mustang-gt-5-0-6/

stickguy

that popped up here earlier. I would love one of these. Though might be better with a later FI model. That seems like a pretty clean, relatively original one though. Curious to see what it brings.

Drivingfool

Drove a 2018 Encore yesterday and am trying to like them. Nice seating position and it did move when needed but disappointed with the infotainment system. Just not enough umph for me, like to crank it up a bit to drown out road noise. Am satisfied with the Fender system I have in the Golf currently and my next vehicle must have a comparable system. The X30 is really a GLA and the one I rented for a few days was a real gas hog so expecting the X30 to be the same. Saw a nice one in a copper color today when out doing errands and liked the looks. But a new one is probably over $30K which is way over my budget to be honest so it would have to be a CPO unit. But the awful mpg's are just something I can not live with.
Walked up and looked inside a new Nissan Kicks and was very impressed especially since it was the blue color with the nicer alloy wheels. Perfect size but it's smallish gas tank is a real disappointment really. Want at least a 410 range when I fill up and don't think it'll be past 350 in the Kicks. Need to drive one to see how they worked out the CVT tranny also, not something I really want if possible. So, the Golf stays and will come back and deal with a new vehicle sometime during the next year as there may be some big changes coming soon!

The Sandman/Driving Fool

stickguy

hopefully you are finally getting the new house you want. My push for that is going, well, slowly. real slowly.

I need to just focus on getting this place cleaned up and ready to sell by early spring, then put it on the market, and if we get an offer we can't refuse, grab it and move to a rental. Then start looking in earnest in the fall, when we would be non-contingent largely cash buyers. might be two moves, but overall still a lot less stress.

boomchek

So while I was away from here the past few years I didn't stamp my CCBA card more than a handful of times BUT part of the reason was I had unlimited access to cars from work from the previous car lot I managed for about 2 years so..... I feel I should get a point or two for my demos

The nice thing was we usually had 100-200 cars in inventory so I could pick almost anything I wanted. Of course I went for the best that was available and unsold and I usually kept these anywhere from a few days up to about 5 months (Evoque) at a time usually until I got bored of them or until they sold.

So looking back here's my list of demos I "had" during the past 2 years:

2015 Acura TLX
2010 Acura MDX
2008 Audi S5
2009 Audi A5
2012 Audi A6 3.0T (almost bought this one)
2011 BMW 135i convertible
2005 BMW M3 convertible
2010 BMW M3 convertible
2010 BMW 535i wagon
2011 BMW 535i (two different ones)
2008 BMW 750i
2010 BMW 750li
2014 BMW i3 (two different ones)
2007-2014 BMW X5's (few of them)
2012 BMW X5M (one of my favorites)
2013 BMW X6
2004 Bentley Continental GT (horribly unreliable car)
2002 C5 Corvette convertible
2007 C6 Corvette coupe
2010 Ford Mustang GT convertible
2017 Ford F150
2010 Infinit FX50s
2011 Infiniti FX35
2014 Land Rover Evoque (had this one 5 months)
2015 Lexus IS350 F Sport
2015 Lexus RC F
2014 Maserati Ghibli 4S
2012 Mercedes C250 coupe
2015 Mercedes C class sedan
2011 Mercedes E class sedan diesel
2014 Mercedes GL diesel
2013 Mercedes ML350 diesel
2013 Mercedes ML63 AMG
2010 Porsche Panamera
2012 VW Passat CC
2014 VW Touareg

The Audi A6 was a pleasant surprise in terms of refinement and its amazing acceleration but someone bought it before I made up my mind to buy it.

The Bentley Continental was an embarassment of a car. Yes it turned heads and had presence but you were always worried if it would start in the morning Hand made car with old Audi/VW electronics. It had a mind of its own.

The BMW 535i wagon satisfied my wagon craving.

The 2011 BMW 535i sedans were also my favorites as they were perfect in size, power, handling, and features for me. Just good all around cars.

The BMW i3 were surprisingly quick but charging them in my regular 110v wall outlet took forever.

BMW X5M was a monster in terms of power and gas consumption, and so was the ML63 AMG. After a customer bought the X5M the engine blew on him (it had 140k km or about 90k miles). It was out of warranty but surprisingly BMW had some sort of a secret warranty on these engines and replaced the engine at no cost). That saved our dealership about $25k.

Infiniti FX35 was a pig on gas, and so was the FX50.

The Land Rover Evoque was perfect size for our family and small garage but trunk space was lacking. However it was comfortable and stylish (white exterior on red leather interior). Power was sufficient too out of the 2.0L 4 cylinder turbo engine. That's why I kept it for 5 months.

Maserati Ghibli definitely turned heads (it was electric blue color) but had the interior space of a BMW 3 series. Plus it was funny that it had the infotainment screen shared with all of Chrysler vehicles. Yes it's easy to use but you'd think they would have changed the fonts or the graphic design in them at least. Lots of Chrysler switchgear in it too.

Porsche Panamera was roomy and nice to drive. Perfect size for our family and kids car seats.

VW Passat CC had one of the best sound systems for a lower end vehicle.

boomchek

Looking back I had a ton of fun with all these cars, and what made it even better is that my son, who's a car guy like me, loved it when I used to bring different cool cars home all the time.

White 2017 F150 I took for new years to a cabin we rented in Big White resort in Kelowna BC with about 20 friends. This was a nearly new (1000kms on it) F150 that was slated for export to the US. On the way back from our mountain resort with a 4 hour drive back home both kids managed to get car sick at the same time and puke at the START of the trip back. Luckily (or unluckily) they did it all over themselves and didn't get the upholstery dirty.


For some reason it was never a problem dragging my son out of bed for school when he knew he's going be riding in a Corvette.


Maserati was one of my son's favorites. Because the back seat was tight and interior was cream leather I took off my daughter's shoes while she was in her car seat so that she wouldn't get the backs of the front seats dirty. By the way Maserati wanted $4k for a full brake job on one of these



Corvettes always get him excited.


Panamera was perfect for the family. Our blue Lexus RX visible in the back ground.


Evening stroll in the 2008 750i


My son behind the wheel of a newer 7 series.


My daughter on one of the 535's I drove. Great all around family car.


On top of Cypress Mountain with E class diesel... in May. Bit of leftover snow still around.


Our Evoque we drove for about 5 months.


I had this M3 in May. My son dressed up in his black Star Wars outfit for May the 4th and the sinister looking black M3 matched his outfit perfectly that day.


Taking the family kids for a cruise in the M3 on a warm spring day.


The horribly unreliable Bentley. Nevertheless my son was excited to be driven to school in a Bentley.


Mr. Sleepyhead getting out of my demo IS350 F Sport


My daughter playing around in the 5 series wagon.


Son and daughter messing around in the MB C lass coupe.


My son in the Lexus RC F


My son "filling up" the i3.

ronsteve

stickguy said:

that 60 is the last year of the venerable 2.5t engine. I keep leaning toward the 2.0, but seems that some people had issues with them early on. So maybe sticking with the tried and true lump of a motor is the way to go!

I love that color, but suspect that most people probably won't. definitely not your typical silver/white/black/gray palate

After 11 years with a 2.5T I had a deep and abiding love for that engine, but had also heard the bevel gear horror stories of Volvo's AWD. And on the flipside of that was a premature trade by one of the employees of the indie Volvo shop of her early E-drive S60 because of chronic/multiple engine issues. I test drove a XC60 T6 AWD but I knew that beast was going to suck down lots of premium! Getting me in another Volvo was going to be a longshot.

benjaminh

stickguy said:

well, I love this one. Fantastic color combo. super low miles. all the options required. The wife would even like this baby (assuming the colors did not turn her off). It has amazing seats.

probably a bit overpriced even for a CPO, but it does have 4.5 years total warranty left on it.

should go take a look at it next week. Out of budget, but who knows how bad they want to unload it. Should just trade the wife's car on it too.

https://www.cherryhillvolvocars.com/certified/Volvo/2016-Volvo-XC60-cherry-hill-nj-977fbb3e0a0e0a177585d9ecf65b394d.htm

Does this have blind spot monitoring? I'm not seeing mention of it. What about CarPlay/AA? I don't see anything about that either.

Even though I take it with a grain of salt, having Volvo come dead last in the survey of reliability by consumer reports has made me less interested in the brand for now....

"Then there is Volvo, about which there is one word to sum up its woes: infotainment. Specifically, the new infotainment system shared by the XC60 and XC90 crossovers and S90 sedan. But with so much tied to the technology — it controls everything from heating and cooling, to navigation and entertainment — when it goes wrong, it can render the vehicle nearly unusable. Think of a car you can't heat during the dead of winter, for instance. Owners of the XC90 also reported some issues with engine computer problems, exhaust leaks and harsh shifting from the transmission, Linkov said. "They have so many new systems that there's a lot going on that they need to work out," he said.

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/10/25/mazda-volvo-buick-consumer-reports/

tjc78

Great pictures @boomchek

I’ve been to Kelowna. What a beautiful place.

stickguy

the one I posted does have BLIS. And navigation. No car play, but I really only use that for Navi so as long as I have that will be OK. Better than the Acura that has none of these features.

nice thing about this year, it is before the remodel, so you get the old fashioned yet totally debugged infotainment (along with the 2.5t engine).

Hopefully by now Volvo worked out the kinks on that system for the 2019 S60 which should be out in a few weeks.

ab348

benjaminh said:

Even though I take it with a grain of salt, having Volvo come dead last in the survey of reliability by consumer reports has made me less interested in the brand for now....

"Then there is Volvo, about which there is one word to sum up its woes: infotainment. Specifically, the new infotainment system shared by the XC60 and XC90 crossovers and S90 sedan. But with so much tied to the technology — it controls everything from heating and cooling, to navigation and entertainment — when it goes wrong, it can render the vehicle nearly unusable. Think of a car you can't heat during the dead of winter, for instance. Owners of the XC90 also reported some issues with engine computer problems, exhaust leaks and harsh shifting from the transmission, Linkov said. "They have so many new systems that there's a lot going on that they need to work out," he said.

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/10/25/mazda-volvo-buick-consumer-reports/

It's probably unfair of me, and based only on what I read and hear from people I know who have had one, but in my mind, current-day Volvos rank just above Alfa in terms of my perception of reliability and trouble-free ownership. It's too bad because I like how (some) of their models look, and their interiors always seem nicely done. But they are not a car I would ever consider, especially used.

breld

@boomchek - wow! great pics!

I think I just discovered my semi-retirement job.

tbirdmarco

 Agree with above, all nice pictures posted above.   Lol lol

tbirdmarco

 And nice list of course you had from the dealer ship but you worked at very very cool. And stick guy lights on your  looking yesterday with the wife. 

kyfdx

breld said:

@boomchek - wow! great pics!

I think I just discovered my semi-retirement job.

Pretty sure his dealership doesn't have enough cars for you to trade out, as often as you would like.

tjc78

breld said:

@boomchek - wow! great pics! I think I just discovered my semi-retirement job.

How would it differ from now?  Maybe less cars? 


Edit, didn’t read to the bottom @kyfdx beat me to it. 

omarman

"Nevertheless my son was excited to be driven to school in a Bentley."
Good times. Let the grown ups worry about the "horribly unreliable" side of money, love and Bentleys!

imidazol97

Mr_Shiftright said:

I'm glad you mentioned the mythology of "saving the world" and all that,

Discussion of the real dirt on clean electric.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/the-dirt-on-clean-electric-cars

28firefighter

Love the pictures, @boomchek!  Very cool that you shared all this with your family and let your kids experience the cars!

Mr_Shiftright

28firefighter said:

Love the pictures, @boomchek!  Very cool that you shared all this with your family and let your kids experience the cars!

Me, too!---back in my younger "breld days", I would be buying and selling used cars like crazy, and always took my little niece and nephew on rides. I'll try to dig up a few of those photos. They really liked the Jaguar XK140 coupe as I recall.

fintail

Wonderful that you took all of those pics, boomcheck. In 30 years, your kids will cherish those shots. I often wish my parents had documented their cars in any way, but it just wasn't a thought, and wasn't as convenient in the old non-digital days. When I can find just a snap with a family car in the background, I am happy.

tjc78

We have a good bit of car shots from the late 70s through the 90s

Next time I go through the albums I’ll post some over on the other thread. 

fintail

Thinking back, I am unaware of any family pics showing the Tempo - which is a shame, as that car was in the family for ages, and seemed to be a constant background fixture in my life for years. I kind of wish I had some pics of it, along with the 93 Taurus, and my dad's old Fords. Those cars were seen as cool vintage cars even then, but did we take pics? Nope. I even had my own 50s era 35mm camrera from a relatively young age, which I still have and it works fine, but did I take pics? Nope. Hindsight. Last year, when my brother found a random old pic showing my mom's T-Bird and dad's Horizon, I was thrilled with it, and took it with me. Maybe this is why I take pics of the fintail nearly every time I drive it, and always have a full photoshoot when I pick up a different daily driver car. I want a record of it.

tjc78

Like you said it’s just super convenient to take pictures today.  Nearly everyone has a phone with a camera on them at all times. 

I am sure between my phone and my wife’s we have more pictures of my 3 and 4 year old than my family took of me to age 18! 

Can you even get film devoloped today?  Talk about a business that just died.  

Michaell

tjc78 said:

Like you said it’s just super convenient to take pictures today.  Nearly everyone has a phone with a camera on them at all times. 

I am sure between my phone and my wife’s we have more pictures of my 3 and 4 year old than my family took of me to age 18! 

Can you even get film devoloped today?  Talk about a business that just died.  

If you have the time, I encourage you to read the book "The Revenge of Analog". There is an entire chapter dedicated to film.

qbrozen

The Ford is FINALLY gone. What a crazy process. 6 damned weeks!

sda

I've tried to take comprehensive pictures of the cars I've owned and have shared (bored?) with the various Edmunds forums. Unfortunately I have lost an envelope of pics that included our '99 Passat, '00 Intrigue GL, '01 Aurora 4.0, '03 Acura TL, '03 Odyssey, '06 Pilot and '09 Civic EX. That bums me.

I missed several, my '06 Passat 2.0t, '08 HHR 2LT, '09 CR-V EXL. There was some overlap with some of these.

tjc78

qbrozen said:

The Ford is FINALLY gone. What a crazy process. 6 damned weeks!

Wow, I think this is a learning process to not swap a  Ford lease! 

henryn

tjc78 said:

Like you said it’s just super convenient to take pictures today.  Nearly everyone has a phone with a camera on them at all times. 

I am sure between my phone and my wife’s we have more pictures of my 3 and 4 year old than my family took of me to age 18! 

Can you even get film devoloped today?  Talk about a business that just died.  

https://imdb.com/title/tt1880399/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_5

2017 Movie with Ed Harris about the closure of the last Kodachrome development center. Not one of his better movies, but did have it's moments.

Drivingfool

If money wasn't an object in life, I'd go with a Range Rover Evoque hands down. Have driven a few at work and they check all the boxes for me. Whenever we have one to move, my lead just throws me the keys as he knows I'm gonna somehow trade with someone else if not. By now, he's learned which makes and models float my boat so to speak and tries to accommodate me if possible which he knows I appreciate. Truthfully speaking, will be sorry when I finally leave this Hertz gig next year as I do enjoy it so much. Luckily, nothing's etched in stone here and I could stay into 2020 depending on how I feel.
Today's been a really awful day pain wise and no matter how I try to explain it, my wife just doesn't get it. Literally had tears trying to explain it earlier and all I got was, "the new bed was supposed to help it" which just left me speechless. It does help me sleep better as I am a very light sleeper but not a night goes by that I'm so glad I bought it. But chronic pain is something that only another sufferer can really understand. It's always there, in the background, and the meds only help one function with it. It never goes away, it's just that the intensity is managed by the dosage one takes. So, I never know what the day will bring until I get up in the morning and grab my cane which is perched right next to the bed all the time. Have an extra one in the Golf and in different rooms of the house just in case. Falling those few times back in May showed me that I need one in all the rooms I am in as a precaution. And the fall that led me to the hospital is something I'm still a bit foggy on. Remember bits and pieces and the cut above my eye but the fall I took in the hospital and being taken downstairs for a cat scan are a total blank, no recollection at all.

The Sandman/Driving Fool

Drivingfool

Turn 64 on Thursday, the age my dad passed. A moment I hope to get past and once Friday comes, I know things will be good. Almost didn't make it, as the doctors in May told me but guess it wasn't my time yet. And not ready to leave yet to be honest so pray to G-d that I'll live to be a nice old age like our family tree indicates. But found the social security office yesterday and will stop by in the next few weeks to see where I stand and how the Windfall Elimination Provision will effect what s s will send me monthly going from age 64 to age 70. Since it'll only be a fraction of what I should get, might just start collecting it sooner than later. Working part time like I do, think I'll be under the threshold of earnings where they take away dollar for dollar after a certain point. Just need to see how the numbers pan out to make my final decision as to what I need to do.
In a few months, will be time to start searching again for a vehicular replacement. I know that Lexus is coming out with a UX cuv any day now and did like the new Kicks I saw yesterday. Think in a few months after I get the kid moved and make a decision about s s, I'll be able to concentrate on looking again. Right now, my mind just isn't ready!

The Sandman/Driving Fool

tbirdmarco

 Frozen, glad the trucks finally gone wow what a whole hassle you want to the swap out of that lease, is just a Ford thing I wonder what other makes two? Driving for happy birthday just in case I don’t see a post for you Thursday we don’t get to get in here then, and I hope the pain subsides and things start looking up this week coming up. People tend to not understand how much they’re in your situation, that’s the way I look at it.  Anyway hope that everyone had a good weekend, wish my parents took pictures of their cars they had over the years so I could attempt to post them here, sadly don’t think they are many of them around, I think my dad Eddie 74 Plymouth duster when he came to America from Italy and started driving. Then I think a Mazda 626-1984, which I do remember when I was a kid into an accident in the early 90s. Also the 1983  Dotson/Nissan Maxima wagon what she had for number of years which the board used it was already rusty when they got it well over 200,000 miles when he got rid of it in 1998. There was a 1994 Nissan quest what he had for years open till 2009 what it was we rented well over 200,000 miles which kept on going I think. And then also the 1995 Nissan Ultima what’s the bought slightly used stick shift I had it for a number of years too.  I think now he has though or mine Senada she was talking to me about the other day about looking at a new Santa Fe or Sorrento to replace it soon even though there’s nothing wrong with the car he currently has just has high miles closer to 200,000 and he drives everywhere. 

tbirdmarco

 Oh there was one I forgot, the 2001 Nissan quest what she had for a couple of years out of it sometime in 2016 sold to a Spanish guy for $500.