Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

breld

Correct. The purchase price was around $49k - almost $20k discount. I imagine it will depreciate to an amount lower than that residual in 2 years.

xwesx

Gorgeous machine, @breld! I'm never a fan of white, but sleek wagons like that wear it best! Is that a dark interior, or just a dark dash with lighter seating? At any rate, it should make for a spacious, practical alternative to the A5.

xwesx

corvette said:

This may come across as something iluvmysephia1 would say, but I'm kind of stoked for the new Fire HD 10 to go on sale on Black Friday. I have an iPad mini 2, which still works great, but my 2015-era Fire 7 has an unattractive display and takes forever to switch between apps. I'm fully aware than an iPad is better than the Fire HD 10, but I think the Fire will work great for my intended purposes.

The Fire tablets are nice, but OMG does Amazon lock them down. My son made it his mission to "break out" our little Fire HD7 to make it do what it should be able to do. He was, of course, successful, but I think all I heard about for a week was how much he hates Amazon's OS. LOL

tjc78

@breld What do you think of the T6 powertrain?
I’m continually impressed with the power delivery of it and man can it go when asked.

stickguy

300+ HP in a relatively light car should move well.

Now you people got me thinking about looking at Volvo’s again! The cost and thinking about keeping one for 10 years probably changes that.

breld

xwesx said:

Gorgeous machine, @breld! I'm never a fan of white, but sleek wagons like that wear it best! Is that a dark interior, or just a dark dash with lighter seating? At any rate, it should make for a spacious, practical alternative to the A5.

It’s an all black interior - a bit boring given the beautiful Volvo interiors, but it contrasts nicely with the white and gives it a sharp sporty look.

I’ll post some interior pics shortly (at @carnaught’s request).

roadburner

breld said:

xwesx said:

Gorgeous machine, @breld! I'm never a fan of white, but sleek wagons like that wear it best! Is that a dark interior, or just a dark dash with lighter seating? At any rate, it should make for a spacious, practical alternative to the A5.

It’s an all black interior - a bit boring given the beautiful Volvo interiors, but it contrasts nicely with the white and gives it a sharp sporty look.

I’ll post some interior pics shortly (at @carnaught’s request).

Congrats!

breld

tjc78 said:

@breld What do you think of the T6 powertrain?
I’m continually impressed with the power delivery of it and man can it go when asked.

Totally agree - it’s no doubt even more impressive in the lighter S60, but I certainly have no complaints. And I’m not really pushing it yet.

I’ve played around a bit with the driving modes - dynamic mode makes a noticeable difference in the shift patterns and is very engaging. Though comfort mode seems to suit the vehicle well - it’s a big wagon!

tjc78

Dynamic is fun, it firms up the steering a good bit too. I pretty much leave it comfort mode all the time now.. There is also a custom setting that you set it exactly as you want.

I had it setup for a while with the lowest power assist for the steering, shift points of comfort and start/stop off. At some point I took off the custom setting and haven't programmed it back in.

Jealous of the B&W. Have those speakers in my house so would have loved to get it in the car too. The Harmon is no slouch but that B&W setup could be the best factory installed stereo out there (as it should be for $3200)

carnaught

@breld, how does the new wagon compare handling wise to the blue Polestar you had?

28firefighter

I'm going to guess it is quite different. Polestar V60 was not as long and also had sport suspension tuning along with a Turbo inline 6. Different beast entirely. I'm willing to bet the V90 errs more towards the side of luxury.

breld

28firefighter said:

I'm going to guess it is quite different. Polestar V60 was not as long and also had sport suspension tuning along with a Turbo inline 6. Different beast entirely. I'm willing to bet the V90 errs more towards the side of luxury.

This is correct . That Polestar V60 was a beast - it was comfortable for what it was, but it was a true sport wagon with an awesome growl from its engine and great handling with its sport suspension (along with some very low profile tires).

As much as that Polestar was a great example of a pure sport sedan (wagon in our case), the V90 goes the other way and to me exemplifies the luxury side of things very well. It soaks up bumps incredibly well and is smooth in its operation. Not to say it's not engaging - I enjoy the way the T6 performs and given the overall lower ride height, it feels sportier to me than a traditional SUV. But it's a large vehicle, and there's only so much you can do with that.

Having the GTI "on the side" helps with appreciating the luxury slant of the Volvo.

breld

tjc78 said:

Jealous of the B&W. Have those speakers in my house so would have loved to get it in the car too. The Harmon is no slouch but that B&W setup could be the best factory installed stereo out there (as it should be for $3200)

The B&W wasn't a must-have for me, but certainly was a nice bonus that this particular one had it.

I also have some B&W speakers at home - but they're collecting dust in our storage room. From a convenience perspective, we went with a Sonos system for our basement rec room, and have in-ceiling speakers for our main living room setup for aesthetics. But I can't find it in myself to sell the B&W speakers I bought like 25 years ago.

tjc78

I treat speakers the way women treat shoes.

1: You can never have too many
2: You can never get rid of any

tifighter

It smells like lingonberries in here. Bork bork bork.

corvette

I have an older Yamaha receiver and a set of Polk speakers in the living room. Looking to swap that for a simpler soundbar + subwoofer setup. If you get the right kind with an HDMI connection, the TV remote can control volume. I'd get convenience plus get rid of the two speaker stands cluttering the floor.

roadburner

I still have a pair of ADC 303AX speakers. I paired them with my old Carver 6250 receiver.

ab348

corvette said:

I have an older Yamaha receiver and a set of Polk speakers in the living room. Looking to swap that for a simpler soundbar + subwoofer setup. If you get the right kind with an HDMI connection, the TV remote can control volume. I'd get convenience plus get rid of the two speaker stands cluttering the floor.

Ha! I have a similar setup in the living room (silver Pioneer SX-3900 Fluoroscan receiver, PSB speakers on factory stands, Pioneer TT) but also have a Sony soundbar/subwoofer setup connected to the TV through a HDMI ARC output so the TV turns it on and off. One is for music, the other for TV.

Oh, and I also have an old home theater in a box there too which still works fine, with its own candlestick and surround speakers plus its own subwoofer too. That is for playing DVDs which happens a handful of times a year.

One of these days I might look to get some sort of Bluetooth-to-analog gizmo I can connect to the Pioneer to let it play the music I have on the computer.

tjc78

I bought this one. Works perfectly.

Logitech Bluetooth Audio Adapter for Bluetooth Streaming https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IQBSW28/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GCGYDbQBP7BR5

tjc78

corvette said:

I have an older Yamaha receiver and a set of Polk speakers in the living room. Looking to swap that for a simpler soundbar + subwoofer setup. If you get the right kind with an HDMI connection, the TV remote can control volume. I'd get convenience plus get rid of the two speaker stands cluttering the floor.

That’s the way the Samsung unit I have in our bedroom works. Soundbars/Subs are ok but simply no replacement for a full fledged receiver, speakers and sub.

I have the rig in my living room setup to run all the time. Remote only controls the receiver volume and TV speakers are turned off.

sda

ab348, I believe I have the little sister of your SX-3900, a SX-3700 with a Quartz Lock tuner, 45w/ch. Though currently in storage, it works fine. In our living room I still have in use my Advent speakers with real walnut cabinets and a Technics Direct drive DD-22 turntable which is enjoyed periodically. As a poor college student I bought these on layaway in 1980 or so.

ab348

@sda , I originally bought a SX-3600 new back in 1980 or thereabouts. I wanted the 3700 but it was a bit too expensive for me at the time. About a year later I saw a 3800 on display in a department store electronics department and fell in love with it, but even marked down as a clearance floor model item it was still too pricey for me. Around '06 or '07 I got the vintage stereo bug and bought a 3800 and a few months later a 3900 via ebay. The 3800 was near-perfect while the 3900 required some minor refurb, which I did, and placed it into service after using the 3800 for a while (which is now in storage). The Fluoroscan displays obviously really intrigued me. Those big battleship receivers from that era can't be beat.

nyccarguy

It is official! Everything was fantastic this past Saturday!

28firefighter

Mazal!

stickguy

He looks happy he got through the reading. You and your wife look like they just handed you the bill. 😀

kyfdx

Awesome!

corvette

Congrats!

Sandman6472

So glad it's over, I know he's super happy! Now he's a man, which is pretty cool. All our kids had theirs and were also very happy when they were done. Keep them pictures for when he has kids. Wish I had mine still to show my kids but with all the moves, think it got thrown out by now. Too bad really.
Mazel tov to the whole family!

laurasdada

Congrats to all, NYC!

carnaught

laurasdada said:

Congrats to all, NYC!

+2

xwesx

@28firefighter posted a little while back about his Audi A3 TDI coming up for sale recently. I had looked for my Passat from time to time for quite a while, but never had any hits. Eventually, I just stopped looking thinking that I needed to give it quite a while more time.

This morning, I thought to take a gander.... and it turns out that it popped up on Cars.com back on 8/27 of this year, but it has come and gone. Missed opportunity, as I would have absolutely bought that thing.

https://www.cars.com/vehicle/2013-volkswagen-passat/1vwcn7a33dc117640/?aff=cargraph

Funny thing, it looks like it still had the same wheels that I put on it with the studded tires to drive down to Anchorage back in January of 2017. I honestly expected that they would be likely to replace those wheels with something stock (or more stock) before putting it back on the market.

qbrozen

This transfer case is absolutely kicking my butt. I can't find any valid instructions, even through my subscription to eautorepair.net. Sigh.

breld

Well, I filled up the windshield fluid in the wife's Alltrack yesterday all on my own and had no issues, so I'm not sure what your problem is with the transfer case.

andres3

xwesx said:

@28firefighter posted a little while back about his Audi A3 TDI coming up for sale recently. I had looked for my Passat from time to time for quite a while, but never had any hits. Eventually, I just stopped looking thinking that I needed to give it quite a while more time.

This morning, I thought to take a gander.... and it turns out that it popped up on Cars.com back on 8/27 of this year, but it has come and gone. Missed opportunity, as I would have absolutely bought that thing.

https://www.cars.com/vehicle/2013-volkswagen-passat/1vwcn7a33dc117640/?aff=cargraph

Funny thing, it looks like it still had the same wheels that I put on it with the studded tires to drive down to Anchorage back in January of 2017. I honestly expected that they would be likely to replace those wheels with something stock (or more stock) before putting it back on the market.

Looks like there's an opportunity for someone here to invent an APP that stalks a car you used to own.... and searches various car vending websites constantly for hits.... then notifies you....

mjfloyd1

breld said:

Well, I filled up the windshield fluid in the wife's Alltrack yesterday all on my own and had no issues, so I'm not sure what your problem is with the transfer case.

I was thinking that you were unable to fill it up and traded cars 😁

mb_enthusiast

I inquired about a CPO 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS550 at a local midsize Mercedes dealership. I get there for a test drive. The car isn't there. It's in detail. But, they'll show me another one...The saleswoman and I agree that this non-CPO GLS550 is of no interest to me and that the one I am interested in will be available after Veterans Day. Head there yesterday, and the price has ballooned to $61,999. They refuse to negotiate, even one dollar, claiming that the pricing is due to it becoming CPO and the work that they've done to it. I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough. They also quote me the full MSRP for the 2yr/unlimited extended, and a +4% APR MBFS markup on the financing. Of course, other Mercedes dealers are selling them for "dealer net." I show them a quote I already have from another dealer for that. They had blank stares.

28firefighter

andres3 said:

xwesx said:

@28firefighter posted a little while back about his Audi A3 TDI coming up for sale recently. I had looked for my Passat from time to time for quite a while, but never had any hits. Eventually, I just stopped looking thinking that I needed to give it quite a while more time.

This morning, I thought to take a gander.... and it turns out that it popped up on Cars.com back on 8/27 of this year, but it has come and gone. Missed opportunity, as I would have absolutely bought that thing.

https://www.cars.com/vehicle/2013-volkswagen-passat/1vwcn7a33dc117640/?aff=cargraph

Funny thing, it looks like it still had the same wheels that I put on it with the studded tires to drive down to Anchorage back in January of 2017. I honestly expected that they would be likely to replace those wheels with something stock (or more stock) before putting it back on the market.

Looks like there's an opportunity for someone here to invent an APP that stalks a car you used to own.... and searches various car vending websites constantly for hits.... then notifies you....

There is an app in the US called VINWiki that accomplishes a lot of that, but the data is largely crowd-sourced rather than something that crawls the web.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

This transfer case is absolutely kicking my butt. I can't find any valid instructions, even through my subscription to eautorepair.net. Sigh.

You're needing to crack it open? Or, is it just not at all straightforward in terms of driveshaft connections and wiring?

nyccarguy

mb_enthusiast said:

I inquired about a CPO 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS550 at a local midsize Mercedes dealership. I get there for a test drive. The car isn't there. It's in detail. But, they'll show me another one...The saleswoman and I agree that this non-CPO GLS550 is of no interest to me and that the one I am interested in will be available after Veterans Day. Head there yesterday, and the price has ballooned to $61,999. They refuse to negotiate, even one dollar, claiming that the pricing is due to it becoming CPO and the work that they've done to it. I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough. They also quote me the full MSRP for the 2yr/unlimited extended, and a +4% APR MBFS markup on the financing. Of course, other Mercedes dealers are selling them for "dealer net." I show them a quote I already have from another dealer for that. They had blank stares.

It is unreal out there.

How's Dad BTW?

stickguy

I know Q ordered a used one. So maybe it is not that simple to get the old one out?

one reason if I get a soft roader CUV, like the santa fe, that I want to keep for 10 years, i will save the $2k up front and maintenance costs along the way and just get the FWD. I know my wife won't be able to tell the difference!

I did ask the Caddy salesman on the test drive what the split was on the XT4, and said they sell about 2/3 FWD to 1/3 AWD. I was surprised by that on a premium brand.

corvette

stickguy said:

I know Q ordered a used one. So maybe it is not that simple to get the old one out?

I thought he already had the old one out?

ab348

stickguy said:

I did ask the Caddy salesman on the test drive what the split was on the XT4, and said they sell about 2/3 FWD to 1/3 AWD. I was surprised by that on a premium brand.

That would vary by geography. Up here dealers tend to order mostly AWD models for stock.

fintail

Is the Dieselgate buyback thingy all done now, with excess stocks cleared out?

I am out on the coast now, and a town near where I am staying had a series of large open lots filled with VWAG diesels, likely thousands just sitting idle, you could see them from a main road. These lots were full for what seemed like a couple years. I drove by today and they were empty, not a single car. Aerial view for comparison:

stickguy

usually around her (southern NJ) they only stock AWD too, even though we don't get enough snow normally for it to matter. and when we get the occasional real snowfall, you can't go out anyway.

Michaell

fintail said:

Is the Dieselgate buyback thingy all done now, with excess stocks cleared out?

I am out on the coast now, and a town near where I am staying had a series of large open lots filled with VWAG diesels, likely thousands just sitting idle, you could see them from a main road. These lots were full for what seemed like a couple years. I drove by today and they were empty, not a single car. Aerial view for comparison:

Interesting.

If I ever get the chance, I'll take a drive down to Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway, where they were storing the VAG buybacks.

corvette

I think most if not all of the TDIs have been sold to dealers at this point.

andres3

I think I saw a truck full of TDI's a couple weeks ago, tops. Probably got distributed to VW and Audi dealerships everywhere to sell.

xwesx

fintail said:

Is the Dieselgate buyback thingy all done now, with excess stocks cleared out?

I am out on the coast now, and a town near where I am staying had a series of large open lots filled with VWAG diesels, likely thousands just sitting idle, you could see them from a main road. These lots were full for what seemed like a couple years. I drove by today and they were empty, not a single car. Aerial view for comparison:

Wow. That's a lot of cars. Yeah, they started getting serious about the revision work about a year ago and churned through them. My understanding is that they went newer to older, higher resale to lower. Many were scrapped due to condition. I cannot recall now where I read the article. Probably Jalopnik.

xwesx

Dang. Here Q is diligently working on his project and leaving us all in the dark.

mb_enthusiast

nyccarguy said:

mb_enthusiast said:

I inquired about a CPO 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS550 at a local midsize Mercedes dealership. I get there for a test drive. The car isn't there. It's in detail. But, they'll show me another one...The saleswoman and I agree that this non-CPO GLS550 is of no interest to me and that the one I am interested in will be available after Veterans Day. Head there yesterday, and the price has ballooned to $61,999. They refuse to negotiate, even one dollar, claiming that the pricing is due to it becoming CPO and the work that they've done to it. I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough. They also quote me the full MSRP for the 2yr/unlimited extended, and a +4% APR MBFS markup on the financing. Of course, other Mercedes dealers are selling them for "dealer net." I show them a quote I already have from another dealer for that. They had blank stares.

It is unreal out there.

How's Dad BTW?

He was discharged to acute rehab two Sundays ago. Things are generally going well, but I've been worried about his mentation. He's been kind of disoriented the past week. He's aware that he's confused, so that's a positive sign.

The price of that GLS went from $57,777 when I inquired about it to $61,999 when they gave me the quote. The CPO warranty is only $1k something, and if that thing needed $3k worth of work, I'm not sure how deserving of a CPO designation it is.