Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

breld

28firefighter said:

Look, I can understand the desire to go back to GTI. It just does a lot of things really well in it's class.

Yes it does. Can't really match the level of refinement without getting into the luxury class, I'd say. And the GTI has a very broad appeal, from younger folks who tend to run mods, to a more mature audience who appreciate the balance of the car. As much as I like Hondas, I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on an Si - a bit too boy racy for me, without the performance to back it up (like a Type R).

Anyway - just updated my quote from Carvana on the Miata - so with a click of the mouse and $647, I could go from my 2017 Miata RF to this 2018 GTI SE.

I'm kinda buzzing right now, but we'll see. I'd give it a 50/50 shot at this point.

28firefighter

It’s a compelling choice especially with the long warranty and stalling issues plaguing 2019 MY cars.

mjfloyd1

@breld - didn’t you just post about a “no punch” year?...

But since this is CCBA, I say go for the Golf.

breld said:

Well, gotta tell you all, this may be a "no-punch" year for the @breld clan.

Here we are in August, and all our attention and, more significantly, funds, are directed at the new house. And, I regret to say, we are still the unwitting owners of two houses. We seem to be getting more traction on the sale of our former house, but alas, it is still ours.

So...our car budget this year is all taken up by things like this...

breld

mjfloyd1 said:

@breld - didn’t you just post about a “no punch” year?...

But since this is CCBA, I say go for the Golf.

breld said:

Well, gotta tell you all, this may be a "no-punch" year for the @breld clan.

Here we are in August, and all our attention and, more significantly, funds, are directed at the new house. And, I regret to say, we are still the unwitting owners of two houses. We seem to be getting more traction on the sale of our former house, but alas, it is still ours.

So...our car budget this year is all taken up by things like this...

I know, I know. Making that statement "out loud" was likely the kiss of death.

tifighter

breld said:

@tifighter - beautiful shot! And I too like the red. I'm starting to warm up to the darker shades of red and could even see myself going that way sometime, just for something different.

After a ton of grey cars, I was ready for more color. The red on the X, and the blue on the 3 are a fun combo.

tifighter

breld said:

28firefighter said:

Look, I can understand the desire to go back to GTI. It just does a lot of things really well in it's class.

Yes it does. Can't really match the level of refinement without getting into the luxury class, I'd say. And the GTI has a very broad appeal, from younger folks who tend to run mods, to a more mature audience who appreciate the balance of the car. As much as I like Hondas, I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on an Si - a bit too boy racy for me, without the performance to back it up (like a Type R).

Anyway - just updated my quote from Carvana on the Miata - so with a click of the mouse and $647, I could go from my 2017 Miata RF to this 2018 GTI SE.

I'm kinda buzzing right now, but we'll see. I'd give it a 50/50 shot at this point.

I know this sounds anti-CCBA, but...
Your practical needs are already handled by the Q7. So for the role of fun car, what does the GTI give you over the Miata?

Michaell

tifighter said:

breld said:

28firefighter said:

Look, I can understand the desire to go back to GTI. It just does a lot of things really well in it's class.

Yes it does. Can't really match the level of refinement without getting into the luxury class, I'd say. And the GTI has a very broad appeal, from younger folks who tend to run mods, to a more mature audience who appreciate the balance of the car. As much as I like Hondas, I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on an Si - a bit too boy racy for me, without the performance to back it up (like a Type R).

Anyway - just updated my quote from Carvana on the Miata - so with a click of the mouse and $647, I could go from my 2017 Miata RF to this 2018 GTI SE.

I'm kinda buzzing right now, but we'll see. I'd give it a 50/50 shot at this point.

I know this sounds anti-CCBA, but...
Your practical needs are already handled by the Q7. So for the role of fun car, what does the GTI give you over the Miata?

4 doors and a back seat, making it infinitely more practical with two teenagers.

breld

tifighter said:

breld said:

28firefighter said:

Look, I can understand the desire to go back to GTI. It just does a lot of things really well in it's class.

Yes it does. Can't really match the level of refinement without getting into the luxury class, I'd say. And the GTI has a very broad appeal, from younger folks who tend to run mods, to a more mature audience who appreciate the balance of the car. As much as I like Hondas, I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on an Si - a bit too boy racy for me, without the performance to back it up (like a Type R).

Anyway - just updated my quote from Carvana on the Miata - so with a click of the mouse and $647, I could go from my 2017 Miata RF to this 2018 GTI SE.

I'm kinda buzzing right now, but we'll see. I'd give it a 50/50 shot at this point.

I know this sounds anti-CCBA, but...
Your practical needs are already handled by the Q7. So for the role of fun car, what does the GTI give you over the Miata?

Fair point for sure.

It would allow me to enjoy the "fun" car more often instead of relying on the Q7 every time I need a backseat.

laurasdada

How about this red?
None more red...

tifighter

Michaell said:

tifighter said:

breld said:

28firefighter said:

Look, I can understand the desire to go back to GTI. It just does a lot of things really well in it's class.

Yes it does. Can't really match the level of refinement without getting into the luxury class, I'd say. And the GTI has a very broad appeal, from younger folks who tend to run mods, to a more mature audience who appreciate the balance of the car. As much as I like Hondas, I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on an Si - a bit too boy racy for me, without the performance to back it up (like a Type R).

Anyway - just updated my quote from Carvana on the Miata - so with a click of the mouse and $647, I could go from my 2017 Miata RF to this 2018 GTI SE.

I'm kinda buzzing right now, but we'll see. I'd give it a 50/50 shot at this point.

I know this sounds anti-CCBA, but...
Your practical needs are already handled by the Q7. So for the role of fun car, what does the GTI give you over the Miata?

4 doors and a back seat, making it infinitely more practical with two teenagers.

I know about the practical stuff. But we're talking fun car. @breld you might need a Cayman. Teens don't want to hang with Dad anyhow...

28firefighter

The backseat is tight on the GTI - I'm not sure any teenager is going to want to sit back there. I'm all for enabling, but perhaps a GLI 35th Anniversary 6speed for the $23,5 I've seen advertised would do the trick?

breld

28firefighter said:

The backseat is tight on the GTI - I'm not sure any teenager is going to want to sit back there. I'm all for enabling, but perhaps a GLI 35th Anniversary 6speed for the $23,5 I've seen advertised would do the trick?

It's not as tight as the Miata.

pensfan83

They're discounting them that much already?

28firefighter

pensfan83 said:

They're discounting them that much already?

$4500 off in my part of the world. 6spd 35th Anniversary is $27,8. I'd get an additional $500 off via VW Partner program.

Lot of car for the money.

breld

I may stop at a VW dealership this evening to reacquaint myself with the GTI. I could always take a look at the GLI as well.

pensfan83

Dealers here aren't even close with their list prices. 35th Anni are discounted on average $2,600, Autobahns around $1,500.

ab348

I can't get that Carvana GTI listing to open any photos. I wonder if that is somehow related to the forum issues with Firefox here.

ETA: Opened Chrome, it can't open any photos there either, so forget that theory. Also noted that the GTI is now shown as sale pending.

Michaell

breld said:

I may stop at a VW dealership this evening to reacquaint myself with the GTI. I could always take a look at the GLI as well.

I'll go on the record and state that @breld will prefer the GTI to the GLI.

benjaminh

28firefighter said:

The backseat is tight on the GTI - I'm not sure any teenager is going to want to sit back there. I'm all for enabling, but perhaps a GLI 35th Anniversary 6speed for the $23,5 I've seen advertised would do the trick?

The backseat of the GTI is pretty good imho, esp. for a car of that size. Great headroom because of the rare these days squarish styling. And the legroom for the rear passengers of the GTI is good enough unless you have someone with really long legs. The GTI is a rare sports car that can hold four grown people with reasonable comfort.

28firefighter

benjaminh said:

28firefighter said:

The backseat is tight on the GTI - I'm not sure any teenager is going to want to sit back there. I'm all for enabling, but perhaps a GLI 35th Anniversary 6speed for the $23,5 I've seen advertised would do the trick?

The backseat of the GTI is pretty good imho, esp. for a car of that size. Great headroom because of the rare these days squarish styling. And the legroom for the rear passengers of the GTI is good enough unless you have someone with really long legs. The GTI is a rare sports car that can hold four grown people with reasonable comfort.

I’m showing this to my wife tonight. I’m lobbying hard for a GTI or WRX to replace the X1.

breld

ab348 said:

I can't get that Carvana GTI listing to open any photos. I wonder if that is somehow related to the forum issues with Firefox here.

ETA: Opened Chrome, it can't open any photos there either, so forget that theory. Also noted that the GTI is now shown as sale pending.

Unbelievable - that’s not pending due to me. :@

tjc78

At the dealer ... details to follow

pensfan83

The WRX is fun to drive and the handling is very tight and connected to the road, but it has a pretty stiff ride and road noise was pretty prevalent. It was also tight in the back with a car seat. The last time I drove one was in 2014 when shopping for the Fusion's replacement so YMMV.

benjaminh

28firefighter said:

benjaminh said:

28firefighter said:

The backseat is tight on the GTI - I'm not sure any teenager is going to want to sit back there. I'm all for enabling, but perhaps a GLI 35th Anniversary 6speed for the $23,5 I've seen advertised would do the trick?

The backseat of the GTI is pretty good imho, esp. for a car of that size. Great headroom because of the rare these days squarish styling. And the legroom for the rear passengers of the GTI is good enough unless you have someone with really long legs. The GTI is a rare sports car that can hold four grown people with reasonable comfort.

I’m showing this to my wife tonight. I’m lobbying hard for a GTI or WRX to replace the X1.

And, believe it or not, the GTI has almost as much cargo space with the seats down as a BMW X1 with the seats down.

28firefighter

Yeah. I remember the rear seat mostly being rough for the front seat passenger with the infant seat and rear facing convertible in the GTI. I imagine it’s similar for the WRX but want to do my due diligence.

benjaminh

This is one of the reasons why it's tough to think about buying an electric car....

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2019/08/automakers-need-to-start-worrying-about-the-batteries-lurking-in-older-evs/

"Automakers Need to Start Worrying About the Batteries Lurking in Older EVs
By Matt Posky on August 5, 2019

....For many consumers, swapping an old battery pack with new one is prohibitively expensive. Replacing the comparatively small units found in a hybrid vehicle can cost anywhere between $2,000 to over $7,000. However, the worst you’ll have to endure on a hybrid up until that point is a slew of warning notifications stating your battery is dying until the car finally fails to start. In the interim, you might also notice a modest MPG reduction. But you’ll probably have to start worrying about other major repairs by the time that happens, perhaps propelling you into a new car.

Purely electric vehicles are different. Range will gradually become an issue, worsening every year until the car becomes unusable for anything other than a trip around the block. As if that weren’t enough, their larger batteries cost quite a bit more.

Automotive News highlighted this fact in an interview with an early adopter named Ravi Kan-ade. Since purchasing his 2012 Nissan Leaf SL, he’s watched its charging capacity diminish by half over 60,000 miles of driving. That’s not ideal, especially considering the car’s 24-kWh battery started out with an operational range of just 84 miles. He’s dying for the refurbishment option.

While Nissan said it was considering extending the program to North America when it launched in Japan last year, potentially opening the door for kWh upgrades, nothing has been confirmed. It might not even make sense for Nissan to expand the program in its current penny-pinching state. But it would instill a warm, safe feeling inside its customer base.

In Japan the Leaf battery refurbishment costs around $3,000 and units come via a new battery recycling plant inside the country. That’s not cheap, but it’s better than the alternative.

“A refurb program is needed to help owners who were affected by Gen 1 vehicles,” Kan-ade said. “I believe that these early battery failures are part of a learning curve that was passed on to the consumer. Nissan offered a battery replacement program for $5,500, but unfortunately they quietly raised the price to $8,500.”

qbrozen

I found the backseat of my GTI downright cavernous. Bigger than any midsize sedans I had up to that point.

qbrozen

Got the police report today. The nice officer wrote “driver one [the truck] at fault. Improper lane change and sideswiped driver two.” THANK YOU!

Then got a call late in the day that my car is ready. I will go first thing in the morn.

sda

qbrozen said:

Got the police report today. The nice officer wrote “driver one [the truck] at fault. Improper lane change and sideswiped driver two.” THANK YOU!

Then got a call late in the day that my car is ready. I will go first thing in the morn.

Good news on tagging fault on the truck driver. Absolutely amazing your car is repaired already! The Honda body shop had the Pilot over a week to do a minor body repair, not anything as serious as what you experienced.

28firefighter

Good news, @qbrozen. Justice!

tjc78

So... back home now.

No punch to report as this was the first test drive.

The car: https://www.holmaninfiniti.com/inventory/new-2019-infiniti-q50-3-0t-luxe-awd-awd-sedan-jn1ev7ar2km552045

Not the color choices I’d made, but equipped how i want.

I have to say this is one posh dealer, but given the price point of the vehicles it should be. I was greeted quickly and hooked up with a pretty knowledgeable salesperson. He explained the different models (which i knew, but allowed the spiel).

My overall impressions were really good. I was very comfortable, ride was firm but not at all harsh. Steering was a little light until I put it in sport mode. That stiffened it up nicely.

The infotainment that everyone complains about was not bad at all. I liked the dual screens. The lack of Apple Car Play is concerning, but not a deal breaker if the car has built in navigation which this one does.

Didn’t talk much about numbers, but first pencil was $1600 OOP, $487 39/10K.

Since I wasn’t making a decision tonight (or probably even this month) I didn’t ask for anything further. Only thing I questioned was did they use the buy rate MF, and got a great answer “oh, that’s not my thing.... they do that on the computer”. LOL

Holding for now, need to get behind the wheel of an S60. If the Infiniti is what I want I’ll cast a wide net looking for quotes, but the broker deals on LH are pretty strong at 400 sign and drive.

sda

Looks nice. It puzzles me that luxury name plates such as MB, BMW, Cadillac, Acura, Infiniti, Lincoln insist on making a faux leather vinyl based ‘leatherette’ as standard. I think Audi is the exception and offers a nice quality leather as standard across their line.

benjaminh

sda said:

Looks nice. It puzzles me that luxury name plates such as MB, BMW, Cadillac, Acura, Infiniti, Lincoln insist on making a faux leather vinyl based ‘leatherette’ as standard. I think Audi is the exception and offers a nice quality leather as standard across their line.

Imho "leatherette" in a base luxury model does maybe make some sense for three reasons. First, today's leatherette feels better than the stuff did c.30 years or so ago. Second, it saves on costs and allows a lower price for an entry-level model, so that someone who normally can't afford a luxury model might be able to make the leap. Third, it's maintenance free, and for the budget buyer that's a plus, as is the fact that it will last longer than the engine. At my local Acura dealer once in a while on their website they have c. 15 year old Acuras, and often the leather shows signs of wear or is even starting to split.

benjaminh

tjc78 said:

So... back home now.
....The lack of Apple Car Play is concerning, but not a deal breaker if the car has built in navigation which this one does.

Didn’t talk much about numbers, but first pencil was $1600 OOP, $487 39/10K....

Good looking car! And huge amounts of power. How fast are those 0-60?

But that's strange for any car to not have CarPlay/AndroidAuto at this point. Even most economy cars have it. I have built in navi in my TLX, but I never use it, because the Google maps that come with AndroidAuto are so much better—and you can just say your destination and it does it right away without any fuss.

$487 a month does seem like a lot.

breld

breld said:

ab348 said:

I can't get that Carvana GTI listing to open any photos. I wonder if that is somehow related to the forum issues with Firefox here.

ETA: Opened Chrome, it can't open any photos there either, so forget that theory. Also noted that the GTI is now shown as sale pending.

Unbelievable - that’s not pending due to me. :@

Corrected. Now it’s pending, to me. 😁

corvette

qbrozen said:

Got the police report today. The nice officer wrote “driver one [the truck] at fault. Improper lane change and sideswiped driver two.” THANK YOU!

Then got a call late in the day that my car is ready. I will go first thing in the morn.

That's good news. See whether you can make a diminished value claim against the trucking company--if not, it's a lease you're going to give back, so no skin off your back, but probably worth looking into because you're the legal owner during the lease.

28firefighter

As always, @breld, we’re not worthy.

Michaell

breld said:

breld said:

ab348 said:

I can't get that Carvana GTI listing to open any photos. I wonder if that is somehow related to the forum issues with Firefox here.

ETA: Opened Chrome, it can't open any photos there either, so forget that theory. Also noted that the GTI is now shown as sale pending.

Unbelievable - that’s not pending due to me. :@

Corrected. Now it’s pending, to me. 😁

Congrats! This is what - your fourth GTI? Plus the Golf R?

corvette

Say what?!? The first deal fell through and you were the backup?

xwesx

mjfloyd1 said:

@breld - didn’t you just post about a “no punch” year?...

He said, "may be;" "MAY BE"

xwesx

laurasdada said:

How about this red?
None more red...

The depth of the luster on that paint is inspiring.

xwesx

28firefighter said:

The backseat is tight on the GTI - I'm not sure any teenager is going to want to sit back there.

Want? Who said anything about that? They get what they get!

xwesx

ab348 said:

I can't get that Carvana GTI listing to open any photos. I wonder if that is somehow related to the forum issues with Firefox here.

ETA: Opened Chrome, it can't open any photos there either, so forget that theory. Also noted that the GTI is now shown as sale pending.

I found it to be tricky: The main page had some sort of overlay that said Carvana was not available in my area, and it disabled the use of the page (e.g., clicking on photos, etc). However, it did allow me to look at the vehicle details, and inside the vehicle details were photo thumbnails. Clicking on those worked, and I was able to scroll through them.

stickguy

that is a really nice looking one. Exactly how I would want it too.

stickguy

curious what happened to take it from pending to available that quick. and at just the right time!

28firefighter

The website prompts you that many cars become available again after going pending. I bet there is a pretty high false start rate.

stickguy

I never went the buy route when I was selling, but I think you are right. Easy to just hit reserve and start the process while thinking it over.

stickguy

T, can't wait to hear a report on the S60. I love the looks, seats, interior. But I have always had a fondness for Volvos (I know, not everyone's cup of tea). I have refrained from driving one yet.

at least when it is time for us to look, I can enjoy driving a V and XC60. And XC40 for the heck of it.

nyccarguy

@tjc78 - you’ve seen some of the magic deals on LH. If the Q50
Is what you like, then the broker might be the quickest, easiest, & cheapest route.

stickguy

I'm still unsure if I could go the broker route. But, if the deal was good enough, I could suck it up. Hey, I pushed the "do it" button on Honcker, and that was a total leap of faith!