Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

Michaell said:

Hey everyone - I know not everyone here checks out the C&C thread, so I wanted to post a link to this press release:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200129005766/en/CarMax-Partners-Digital-Automotive-Leader-Edmunds

Interesting! I like the CarMax concept, but their pricing tends to be on the high side, and they don't recondition the vehicles like they used to in the good old days.

qbrozen

oh boy. wonder how TMV will be influenced by carmax pricing model.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

oh boy. wonder how TMV will be influenced by carmax pricing model.

I'm sure everything will be resolved to everyone's satisfaction!

ronsteve

stickguy said:

I was thinking last night, that those 2012s could be due for timing belts shortly. So that can start adding up.

To me, buying this vintage means finding one with newer brakes, etc. with an already replaced T belt.

I think Volvo specifies 8 years on the timing belt, but don't quite recall. And when you get around 100K that over-engineered PCV on the turbos will need some attention.

At the same time, one of my co-workers picked up a nice '15 S60 (T5 AWD) with 63K for $15K and kicked my Eurocar envy back up. That and for some reason, MB GLC300s are starting to look pretty nice.

jmonroe

qbrozen said:

oh boy. wonder how TMV will be influenced by carmax pricing model.

I'm probably going to get a dues bump for asking this but if I do it's all your fault since you brought it up:

Do you think this move is a conflict of interest? I can't help thinking this is almost like asking the elephant to guard the watering hole.

jmonroe

28firefighter

I'll say this. CarMax runs one of the largest vehicle auctions in the country. While we may not be huge fans of their pricing model on the retail side, I'd be willing to bet that having access to their metrics to help drive vehicle pricing estimates, especially on the used side, could only be good for the consumer.

suydam

The key term for us is “having access”.

omarman

Who is betting that the tail wags the dog?

qbrozen

My wife is dragging this down since the 220mog was my last time driving, but still pretty nice to have an 80mpg average thus far in the dead of winter.

Dangit! No posting pics from phone. Well, its just pics of the hyundai dash showing driving history. Trips have been anywhere from 50 mpg to 220. The 50 was a one-shot deal. Next up from that was 67, then 75. Liftetime average shows 80. We’ve put on about 500 miles and still have half of the original tank of gas.

28firefighter

Everyone is skeptical. But a minority interest generally means that strategy is going to remain solely with the leadership and BoD of Edmunds. I'll be the optimistic one (for a change).

stickguy

I’m sold. Make a Santa Fe version I can afford, and it would be perfect.

Heck, I’d take the non plug in hybrid if they would make one.

That ioniq lease would be perfect for me after the TLX goes back.

jmonroe

qbrozen said:

My wife is dragging this down since the 220mog was my last time driving, but still pretty nice to have an 80 mpg average thus far in the dead of winter.

Dangit! No posting pics from phone. Well, its just pics of the hyundai dash showing driving history. Trips have been anywhere from 50 mpg to 220. The 50 was a one-shot deal. Next up from that was 67, then 75. Liftetime average shows 80. We’ve put on about 500 miles and still have half of the original tank of gas.

Are you sure that 220 number ain't the charging voltage? That battery must have some mighty fast electrons running around in there. You better find a way to slow those things down before your battery blows up.

jmonroe

breld

stickguy said:

I’m sold. Make a Santa Fe version I can afford, and it would be perfect.

Heck, I’d take the non plug in hybrid if they would make one.

That ioniq lease would be perfect for me after the TLX goes back.

CR-V Hybrid?

stickguy

really anxious to see that one, and take a drive to see if the wife likes it. She was not a huge fan of the last one we test drove (I think the CVT?) But she might have been imagining it. We really liked the CRV overall. Interior, cargo space, etc. Adding in good MPG, a bonus! Depends of course what the price premium is, and if they are willing to deal. Not likely at the beginning.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

My wife is dragging this down since the 220mog was my last time driving, but still pretty nice to have an 80mpg average thus far in the dead of winter.

Dangit! No posting pics from phone. Well, its just pics of the hyundai dash showing driving history. Trips have been anywhere from 50 mpg to 220. The 50 was a one-shot deal. Next up from that was 67, then 75. Liftetime average shows 80. We’ve put on about 500 miles and still have half of the original tank of gas.

I haven’t been able to post pics from the phone all week.

stickguy

not my cup of tea, but looks like a decent deal for a cheap winter beater type. I assume this is from the Honda V6 vintage?

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Zephyr got renamed to MKZ and yes it's going away.
That's why i bought one before it is the last year they are bring manufactured.
What is all this talk of timing belts and water pumps?
Last couple of vehicles we kept for 12+ years and 140 to 150k only had the accessory belt, tensioner and PCV replaced.

I think that the 3.5L has an internal water pump and on some years it would fail dumping coolant into the oil in a way that trashed the engine fast. I think those motors have timing chains.

nyccarguy

Leaving for California this afternoon. Flying into LAX to see and stay with my cousin, then take the train to San Diego tomorrow. Will be in San Diego for work from Saturday - Tuesday. Tying up some loose ends here at work and downloading "The Mandalorian" onto my phone.

stickguy

Have fun. Enjoy all the automotive eye candy out there!

corvette

Nice! I really prefer watching video on a tablet when traveling - the cheap Amazon Fire tablets are ideal for this, if you happen to have one.

jmonroe

stickguy said:

Have fun. Enjoy all the automotive eye candy out there!

While that candy would be nice, I'd rather cruise down Rodeo Drive and view that candy.

jmonroe

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

Leaving for California this afternoon. Flying into LAX to see and stay with my cousin, then take the train to San Diego tomorrow. Will be in San Diego for work from Saturday - Tuesday. Tying up some loose ends here at work and downloading "The Mandalorian" onto my phone.

My sister, who lives in SD, said it's supposed to be 80 today. Pack your sunscreen!

Direct flight or do you have to change planes?

carnaught

jmonroe said:

stickguy said:

Have fun. Enjoy all the automotive eye candy out there!

While that candy would be nice, I'd rather cruise down Rodeo Drive and view that candy.

jmonroe

Into fashion are you?

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:

Leaving for California this afternoon. Flying into LAX to see and stay with my cousin, then take the train to San Diego tomorrow. Will be in San Diego for work from Saturday - Tuesday. Tying up some loose ends here at work and downloading "The Mandalorian" onto my phone.

My sister, who lives in SD, said it's supposed to be 80 today. Pack your sunscreen!

Direct flight or do you have to change planes?

Direct. JFK to LAX on Delta. Tuesday Leaving San Diego to JFK.

tjc78

corvette said:

Nice! I really prefer watching video on a tablet when traveling - the cheap Amazon Fire tablets are ideal for this, if you happen to have one.

Me too. I like how Some of the airlines have the entertainment app you can download, then have all the in flight choices to stream on your device.

jmonroe

carnaught said:

jmonroe said:

stickguy said:

Have fun. Enjoy all the automotive eye candy out there!

While that candy would be nice, I'd rather cruise down Rodeo Drive and view that candy.

jmonroe

Into fashion are you?

Yeah, especially when it is paraded around on two nice legs.

jmonroe

28firefighter

I used to love flying. Then I flew 125k miles domestic for a couple years and got over that real quick.

In-flight wifi is arguably the worst development that could have come to air travel. I used to be able to use it as a time to disconnect and recharge or, at least, work uninterrupted. No more.

tjc78

Yes the WiFi is a double edged sword for sure.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

I used to love flying. Then I flew 125k miles domestic for a couple years and got over that real quick.

In-flight wifi is arguably the worst development that could have come to air travel. I used to be able to use it as a time to disconnect and recharge or, at least, work uninterrupted. No more.

Me, too. Though, I was only averaging about 40K domestic for a number of years in the 90's.

Then 9/11 happened, and air travel got real old, real quick.

Now, it's maybe 1 or 2 business trips a year, and a trip to CA to see family.

ab348

Air travel is just another thing to avoid these days. Between the endless walks, interminable waiting and delays, and usual crowds at airports, the sardine-like seating on airplanes, and the fact that I invariably get sick a couple of days after flying, it is not something I want to do any more.

jmonroe

A little follow up to my post above reminded me of the first time I went to Rodeo Drive.

Back in my working days I dealt with a supplier in Southern CA, Industry Hills to be exact, for years. I had been to this suppliers place too many times to count but never had the time to do much sightseeing. I did some but never went to Rodeo Drive. However, this one trip the local sales rep for this company decided he would go along because I also planned to go to another supplier he reped for that was in Woodland Hills. There was another guy from our dept and a guy from purchasing tagging along for the Woodland Hills company. We left the Burgh early Monday morning but didn't have to be at the Industry Hills place until Tuesday. So we had time to kill.

The rep is the one who rented the car since he planned to show the other guys around. Anyway, we are cruising down Rodeo Drive and I said to him, "hey pull over. I want to run in there" (Gucci place). He said, "jmonroe, you know damn well you can't afford anything in that place. Are you nuts"? I said, "I know that, I just want to run in there and get a shopping bag. You can drive around the block, pick me up then you can find a K-Mart. I'll get something in there for my wife, throw it in the bag and when we get home, I'll give it to her and I'll be a hero". He said, "NO, you'll be dead". He had met Mrs. j a couple times at Christmas parties he had at his house, so he was probably right. He never failed, when he visited our place after that, to pass up the chance to tell that story to the guys at work about how he saved my life. You guessed it, they said, "you should have stopped".

jmonroe

ab348

Interesting comments here from John McElroy of Autoline on the Mazda CX-30. I like the look of it and it sounds like it drives nicely, but do all new Mazdas have the annoyances he describes?

https://youtu.be/ral6CVc-Fd8?t=437

fintail

International flights, especially on foreign carriers, can be fun. Domestic flights are like a bus trip.

fintail

C&D has released an "Editor's Choice" list, effectively a "Top 125" list - with something this long, there's a good chance one of your cars is on it

And for trucks

They rave about my car, but that wasn't unexpected

stickguy

ab348 said:

Interesting comments here from John McElroy of Autoline on the Mazda CX-30. I like the look of it and it sounds like it drives nicely, but do all new Mazdas have the annoyances he describes?

https://youtu.be/ral6CVc-Fd8?t=437

Well, he is picky.

Last Mazda I drive didn’t do the brake thing. Could be new. But I’ll see soon when we test drive a CX30!

Neither issue would bother me. We always set the parking brake when we park, so are used to it being on. And I never use the seek or scan feature now anyway. I bet you can do it by voice command too.

fintail

That voice, chalkboard meet fingernails.

Parking brake does seem weird. On current gen MB, the brake is engaged when you select 'Park', automatically disengaged when you select a gear. No muss, no fuss. I can't recall when I last used a seek/scan on a radio - on my car everything is preset, on rentals, bluetooth streaming is the name of the game.

oldfarmer50

fintail said:

C&D has released an "Editor's Choice" list, effectively a "Top 125" list - with something this long, there's a good chance one of your cars is on it

And for trucks

They rave about my car, but that wasn't unexpected

LOL, like anyone in a Mustang GT350 would care what the interior looked like.

cdnpinhead

The flights can be fine, especially if you have proper seats and/or class of service. The issue is the airports, with the interminable walks, lines and crowded waiting areas.

I'm done, though I have many miles I need to use up before they expire, besides which my wife (who hasn't had to endure all this) is still quite positive.

breld

So sleet and wind last night turned into very icy roads this morning, and my 16 year old got into a minor wreck on the way to school.

He had a slight impact with the car in front of him, but then his car went off to the right and hit a light post. The collision with the other vehicle was very minor, but his MDX didn't fare so well against the light post.

While we were exchanging info with the other driver, there were literally 2-3 other accidents on the road around us. Funny enough, 2 others hit light posts too...they must be magnetic or something.

Anyway, we'll get it to the body shop soon enough and find out the extent of the damage, but the bumper, lights and hood are all crushed in pretty good. I was able to drive it home, but not sure of the extent of damage below the hood.

28firefighter

As long he's OK. And he probably learned something about driving on ice!

jmonroe

28firefighter said:

As long he's OK. And he probably learned something about driving on ice!

Yes, as long as he and everyone else is OK, that's the important thing. As best I know, no one knows how to drive on ice. Snow, yes, lots of people have learned how to do that, even me. The tough part of this is already being out when it got icy. That has happened to me a few times over the years and when it did, I just held my breath until I could find a parking lot to pull into. One time when I did that another guy that had the same idea almost nailed me while I was sitting there.

What are the odds this will turn into a punch.

jmonroe

andres3

breld said:

On a completely unrelated note (but very much related to cars)...

My wife and stepdaughter are currently stuck on I-70 in the mountains with a failed clutch on her 8K mile Alltrack.

In heavy weekend traffic, the clutch apparently went down and refused to return from the floor, leaving the two of them stuck in the middle lane approaching Eisenhower Tunnel.

State patrol showed up to help get the car to an emergency lot and they are currently waiting on VW roadside assistance to tow the wagon down to a dealer in Denver.

And someone was just saying manuals don't fail..... yeah, not buying that. Automatics don't fail either, outside of the Big 3 and Honda

andres3

graphicguy said:

xwesx said:

graphicguy said:

qbrozen said:

This is my first Korean car.

Had lunch with my son today. He said the same thing....”never thought I’d see you in a Kia”.

Deja vu all over again....resembling Honda and Toyota now compared to what they were in the ‘70s. Hyundai and Kia are executing from the same play book.

Wait; you have a Kia now? I only half-read the posts from the last few weeks...

Yes....got a Stinger a couple of weeks ago.

@breld .....I’m fuming just reading about how your family is left stranded. As I’ve always felt, I don’t expect a car to be perfect. But, when one inevitably breaks down, I do expect the company who’s carrying the warranty (in this case, VW) to make an extra effort to get the situation resolved in a timely manner. My guess is VW is contracting with a tow company who’s the cheapest, not the best.

I was stranded by Kia for over 3 hours do to the "we'll get there when we get there" roadside assistance. I wasn't very remote either (close to San Diego), but it was a Friday late afternoon.

Still, what was the most upsetting wasn't the over 3 hour no-show waiting time. It was the no show part. Their original estimate was 2 hours, tops, and when 2 hours went by, no phone calls or anything, I had to call them and ask what the hell?!!!

P.S. I wouldn't have been stranded if Kia wasn't so cheap as to not put a spare in the Optima. The repair inflation kit was useless for my tire blowout. That's the last car I'll buy without a spare tire.

andres3

breld said:

We don't have AAA, primarily since we have newer cars that have this "roadside assistance."

Understanding now that it can't necessarily be relied upon (we had a similar experience when my Land Rover wouldn't start a couple years ago), I will look into a AAA membership again.

Good suggestion.

My experience is that AAA is at least 20% faster than OEM roadside assistance.

oldfarmer50

breld said:

So sleet and wind last night turned into very icy roads this morning, and my 16 year old got into a minor wreck on the way to school.

He had a slight impact with the car in front of him, but then his car went off to the right and hit a light post. The collision with the other vehicle was very minor, but his MDX didn't fare so well against the light post.

While we were exchanging info with the other driver, there were literally 2-3 other accidents on the road around us. Funny enough, 2 others hit light posts too...they must be magnetic or something.

Anyway, we'll get it to the body shop soon enough and find out the extent of the damage, but the bumper, lights and hood are all crushed in pretty good. I was able to drive it home, but not sure of the extent of damage below the hood.

Glad your kid is OK, the rest is just background noise.

breld

Thanks guys - yeah, no one was injured in the accident this morning so that’s certainly the most important thing.

Definitely a good learning experience regarding ice, not that there’s much to do about it other than be more aware.

I didn’t even realize how bad it was until I got the call from him - if I had known I may have driven him myself. He talked to 2-3 friends who also got into accidents this morning.

cdnpinhead

".. . someone was just saying manuals don't fail . . . ",

Guilty, I guess. In the cars within my family, including my mother-in-law's, over the past several decades I've dealt with four automatic transmissions that needed to be completely rebuilt while the manuals that I prefer and that were driven 4 - 5X farther, none required maintenance beyond fluid replacement.

Yeah, I know, anecdotal.

breld

Well, I think conventional wisdom supports that manuals are easier to maintain. Our experience with the Alltrack may have been a one-off, but that didn’t make it any more comfortable to continue owning said one-off.

andres3

28firefighter said:

So shortsighted. It'd be one thing if the primary driver was someone young and new to driving manual, but come on now.

Any reports on other forums as far as premature clutch wear?

You know, Americans don't have the best reputation with transmissions, or driving in general. We are the Country that blames *cough* unintended acceleration when we all know they simply pushed the wrong pedal.

However, any dealership worth its salt should have said "HOWEVER, you have under 12,000 miles and 1 year, so EVERYTHING is COVERED for you @breld !"

Them not saying this was lost opportunity to do the right thing right off the bat.

andres3

28firefighter said:

You could park it out front with a giant lemon on it. That might be effective.

Now now... save the lemons for cars that prematurely bust a transmission, head gaskets, AND an air conditioning compressor for a perfect trifecta of high dollar repairs.

One big thing does not a lemon make.