Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Sandman6472

As for me, I just want a top level audio system and something that can get out of it's way from the minute I hit the accelerator. And I'm also happy with "cheap to keep" if I can meld the two into an acceptable driver. Don't need or desire a really expensive vehicle if I can get what I want at a cheaper price. And lastly, I have to have something less than 175" while we're still at our current place, as I will not park outside on a daily basis. So my choices are going to be somewhat limited which is fine by me.

tjc78

I bet he makes more on that video than it takes to fix every defect in that car.

I've read that on YT ad revenue alone it's over $125,000 a year. Now combine that with all the other things he promotes on the videos, and yes it's a nice gig.

I actually have been watching him awhile (almost since the beginning). He is pretty knowledgeable about the cars he buys.

xwesx

I took the Q7 down to Anchorage for the weekend, both for a personal trip and to visit the dealer for a recall action. They did not have the ability to reserve a service loaner on the website, so I just waited until I was there to request it. Apparently, this is not their favorite method, as they had to scramble a bit to round one up. After a time, the guy tells me that he doesn't think they can find me an "equivalent" vehicle. I said, "Oh, well, it doesn't need to be something similar to mine... as long as it functions, I'm game."

We ended up with this:

xwesx

This is an A7, for those of you unfamiliar. Forgiving the stock tires having little grip on snow/ice, the car could really scoot. That said, I aggravated my pulled groin trying to get in it the first time (not fun), and it has so many doohickies that they take some of the fun out of it.

Most I could live with, but the electronic "shifter"? Oh, no. That was a nightmare. I would much rather have Lincoln's buttons-on-the-dash approach, or Ram's dial selector, than the crazy, fake shifter thing they had in this A7. By the end of the day, I thought I was going to lose my mind. For those with no experience (blessedly), this thing basically looks like a regular shifter on an automatic, but it functions nothing like one, yet it requires "sequential shifting," meaning that if you are in park, you go to reverse, neutral, then drive without the shifter actually moving. To go into park, you must push a button on the shifter.

I would have felt bad about having to carve through a large snow berm (residual snow evidenced on the front air dam) with it if not for the shifter.

The coolest thing about the car? It looked like a sleek, impractical sedan, but it is actually a hatchback with a fairly decent (albeit shallow), and highly accessible, storage area in the back. The interior room was ample, even if we were sitting mere inches off the pavement.

sda

My neighbor just bought a Kia Seltos S AWD, metallic blue, white top. Kia did a nice job with the Seltos. It looks nice, very roomy, nicely equipped, attractive interior, comfortable. I drove it briefly around the neighborhood and local roads. It had a nice feel to it, solid, peppy, logical controls, firm but nice ride. It is a vehicle that took little familiarization to drive.

corvette

Yeah, the monostable shifters aren't always intuitive. Jeep went back to a conventional shifter in the Grand Cherokee after people got run over by their own cars. It is nice to just be able to press the start/stop button and have it automatically go in park, though.

corvette

As luck would have it, some friends of mine are selling their 2013 Mercedes GL450. It has 105k, but has had all of the maintenance done by a factory trained technician. It's gorgeous and I'd have been seriously tempted if they'd decided to sell it before I got the Tundra.

Two very different animals, to be sure. Hate to say it, but even well maintained, at that age, the Merc is a "cigar butt" car like the Tahoe was. You find a cigar butt on the ground and see how many puffs you can get out of it before getting your fingers burnt--the idea is to sense when that's soon to happen and get rid of it. Given the high level of maintenance, it would probably be good for at least a couple years, but you never know.

stickguy

my guess, it is a lot easier to bail out for a good price on a high miles Tahoe than a premium V8 Benz.

stickguy

so, in my virtual travels, found a slightly used XC60 for what seems to be a pretty good price (asking). Black onyx which actually looks good on that car, over maroon which is gorgeous on that car. Got all the basic requirement options, but not over the top. AWD momentum T5. I know, T6 or go home, but worth a drive to check it out.

Volvo CPO is pretty good. 5 year, unlimited miles, and service loaner date is only 4 months ago.

corvette

stickguy said:

my guess, it is a lot easier to bail out for a good price on a high miles Tahoe than a premium V8 Benz.

Supposedly, a lot of the ones available on the used market have around 85k miles, so people are dumping them just before the big factory recommended maintenance is due. This one has already had it done.

benjaminh

The msrp with destination of a base KIA Telluride LX FWD is $33,670, which is just $2500 more than a CR-V EXL FWD. The CR-V gives a lot of bang for the buck, but the Telluride LX is a Costco mega pack of value. As Alan Rickman as Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus said in Galaxy Quest, "By Grabthar's Hammer. What a savings."

CR-V weight:3413 length:182 width:73 height:66 max cargo:76 passengers:5

Telluride weight:4112 length:197 width:78 height:69 max cargo:87 passengers:8

The CR-V has that 1.5 turbo of Honda's with a CVT, while the Telluride has a 3.8 liter V-6 with an 8-speed automatic. Towing capacity for the CR-V: 1500. Towing capacity for the Telluride: 5000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgv7U3GYlDY

https://www.destinationkia.com/new-Albany-2020-Kia-Telluride-LX-5XYP24HCXLG075060

qbrozen

Comparison would be to a Pilot instead of CRV, though.

benjaminh

Almost all of the reviews of the Telluride are of the top end $47k model, but here's a review of the base LX....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peRAFaYirlM

kyfdx

benjaminh said:

Almost all of the reviews of the Telluride are of the top end $47k model, but here's a review of the base LX....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peRAFaYirlM

Might pay full MSRP for a Telluride, though

benjaminh

qbrozen said:

Comparison would be to a Pilot instead of CRV, though.

Yeah. In size it's similar to a Pilot, but in terms of the msrp the Telluride LX at c.$33k is close to a CRV EXL. The Pilot EXL has an msrp of c.$39k.

My guess is that it's the uplevel models of the Telluride that are red hot, but there seem to be quite a few base FWD LX Tellurides around, and so you might get a bit of a discount on one of those.

stickguy

Telluride is nice. But just too big for us. Not just length, but the width. The RDX barely fits in the garage, and I don’t want something 4-5” wider to try and wedge in there!

It does nail bang for the buck though.

tjc78

It does nail bang for the buck though.

Only on a buy, and maybe not if they aren't discounting.

I was an early adopter of Genesis and have had a few other Hyundai's so I'm not against Hyundai/Kia at all, but until the pricing comes out of the sky I won't be looking at the Telluride/Palisade.

qbrozen

people don't shop MSRP vs MSRP with no regard to their needs/wants. Telluride is big and, as stickguy proves, not everyone wants big.

I'd also say the Pilot EX is the comparable trim to the Tell LX. Price difference is $2600.

tjc78

Agreed, I wouldn't shop a CRV because it is simply too small for our needs.

benjaminh

qbrozen said:

people don't shop MSRP vs MSRP with no regard to their needs/wants. Telluride is big and, as stickguy proves, not everyone wants big.

I'd also say the Pilot EX is the comparable trim to the Tell LX. Price difference is $2600.

Agreed. I wouldn't want something as big as a Telluride or Pilot. And as you say the Pilot EX is "value priced" too. A lot of bang for the buck there as well....

Another bang for the buck vehicle, and one that very few buy these days, is the Odyssey, which now comes standard with the 10-speed automatic that used to be only on the top trim models. Plus it has a standard 280-hp VTEC V-6. The Odyssey EX is pretty loaded and lists for c. $35k, but dealers are begging people to take them off of their hands.

pensfan83

The Passport slots in nicely between the CR-V and the Pilot IMO. There's a ton of room inside, which isn't surprising since it's basically a Pilot with 8 inches lopped off and it's only an inch longer than my Acura.

stickguy

When we sat in a passport, it felt way bigger than the RDX. Maybe it was width, or the high blocky hood. But I thought that model had possibilities for the boss. I suppose when we are at the dealer can look again. Definitely giving up increased MPG with that one!

ab348

Am I correct in understanding that the CR-V is based off the Civic, while the Passport/Pilot/Ridgeline/Ody are all based off the previous Accord platform?

graphicguy

qbrozen said:

graphicguy said:

Been gone a while. Time to catch up.

@qbrozen...while looking at Stingers, that ceramic grey color kept coming up. I was interested ONLY because that was the only way to get a red interior at the time. And, we all know how much I like red interiors. Anyway, wasn’t a fan of that ceramic grey color. It looked too.....ummm.....uninspired. Of course, some would say my current white pearl isn’t exactly a “moving” color, either. But, I like it as it looks very white-ish/gold-ish/bronze-ish/ whenever the sun hits it. Plus, I LOATHE black interiors (black is OK on others’ cars, just not mine .

You would think manufacturers would be able to come up with a broader palate of interior colors.

@rayainsw .....cool punch. I like it....a LOT! Big congrats!

I wonder if it is the same as the "snow white pearl" on my buddy's Telluride. I wouldn't call it pearl, personally, since it isn't the classic definition of pearl, but actually a very very fine metallic flake. Up close, it is gorgeous paint, in any case.

Kia calls it “Snow White Pearl”. I agree. Wouldn’t describe it as pearl, as that’s more of an off white. But, as you point out, there’s some flake in it and I do like white with some metallic in it (vs the more “flat” white colors I see on cars).

stickguy

ab348 said:

Am I correct in understanding that the CR-V is based off the Civic, while the Passport/Pilot/Ridgeline/Ody are all based off the previous Accord platform?

I think kinda sorta. Not sure when the all changed platforms, or how loosely based on the accord the odyssey was.

graphicguy

@oldfarmer50 ....these days, a black interior is a non-starter for me, regardless of the car.

I’ve had light color interiors. I had a very light grey interior on an Acura TL. The light interior on the Stinger seems fairly easy to keep clean, too.

That said, I don’t eat in my car. So, that limits any sort of “spillage” disasters from condiments going awry.

tjc78

The white leather will eventually wick off some of the blue from your jeans, but Lexol takes that right off.

I noticed the other day my Volvo has a touch of blue on the outer edge of the seat.

nyccarguy

So the other night I casually mentioned to my wife how were were both piling the miles on my truck & her Pilot. Since she does get paid to drive between patients (not from home to patient #1 and not from last patient to home). She is doing home care full time now. I said that maybe we should look into getting her a smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle to drive for work. Usually she scoffs at my schemes ideas and wants to buy a car and keep it payment free like @stickguy 's wife. She called me today as she was maneuvering her way around a tight parking garage and said: "I thought you were going to look into getting me a smaller car to drive for work. What ever happened with that?"

[Deleted User]

nyccarguy said:

So the other night I casually mentioned to my wife how were were both piling the miles on my truck & her Pilot. Since she does get paid to drive between patients (not from home to patient #1 and not from last patient to home). She is doing home care full time now. I said that maybe we should look into getting her a smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle to drive for work. Usually she scoffs at my schemes ideas and wants to buy a car and keep it payment free like @stickguy 's wife. She called me today as she was maneuvering her way around a tight parking garage and said: "I thought you were going to look into getting me a smaller car to drive for work. What ever happened with that?"

Green light...GO!!!

tjc78

I bet @nyccarguy is going to be late to dinner tonight!

Michaell

tjc78 said:

I bet @nyccarguy is going to be late to dinner tonight!

How small is small?

Fiat 500?
Prius?
Civic?

So many choices, so little time.

Let the hunt commence!

xwesx

Yeah, as boring as it might be, a Prius is probably a really good choice for her needs.

stickguy

too bad you missed the $99/month Ioniq lease!

benjaminh

stickguy said:

When we sat in a passport, it felt way bigger than the RDX. Maybe it was width, or the high blocky hood. But I thought that model had possibilities for the boss. I suppose when we are at the dealer can look again. Definitely giving up increased MPG with that one!

If you decide to include mpg when you make your spreadsheet this site might be useful....

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbsSelect

Here are some handy numbers I got from it:

2013 RDX AWD combined mpg: 22, annual fuel costs for 15,000 miles a year c.$2150

2020 BMW X3 AWD 26/$1800

2020 Passport FWD: still only 22 (!) but on regular gas/$1700

2020 CR-V FWD: 30/$1250

2020 RAV4 hybrid: 40/$950

So with a CR-V you'll be saving c. $900 a year at current gas prices (if you drive that much).

The RAV4 hybrid might save you c. $1200 a year compared to your current car. The Honda CR-V's mpg is slightly lower, and so maybe cut c. $50 a year from the savings?

benjaminh

nyccarguy said:

So the other night I casually mentioned to my wife how were were both piling the miles on my truck & her Pilot. Since she does get paid to drive between patients (not from home to patient #1 and not from last patient to home). She is doing home care full time now. I said that maybe we should look into getting her a smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle to drive for work. Usually she scoffs at my schemes ideas and wants to buy a car and keep it payment free like @stickguy 's wife. She called me today as she was maneuvering her way around a tight parking garage and said: "I thought you were going to look into getting me a smaller car to drive for work. What ever happened with that?"

What kind of size and budget do you think she has in mind?

stickguy

so, had some free time this afternoon, so went out to do a couple errands, then hit a few dealers. I think mother nature was telling me to save money, because on the way to the first stop it started to rain, and didn't stop until on my way home from stop 2!

first was Toyota. Went to the big dealer on the busy road (not the local place around the corner from TJC). place was quite busy for 2:00 on a rainy Tuesday. Did some sitting and sticker reading, never interfaced with a sales person. The Highlander is nice, but just too big for our needs. So wrote that off. Sat in a RAV4 limited. Looks at cargo area, interior, style, and it just didn't do much for me so did not bother to push for a test drive. Was not bad, just not what we are looking for. So, Toyota is off the list.

Then on to the Volvo dealer. No problem getting a salesguy there! Super friendly, family business place. Found the loaner I was looking at. 4,000 miles on it. MSRP of $48,870, tagged at $40,999. So pretty good discount. might be a little more blood to squeeze out of the turnip, but not much.

they had one on the floor equipped the same way (and denim blue over beige, my wife would have loved that!) so got to check out room, the sticker, inside where it was dry. Looks nice. comfy. good space inside. SG pulled around the CPO on (still a 2020) and I got settled in, and took a spin around the block. Did not get on the highway, but that would have to happen before deciding. I did get to punch it once (0-55) and it moved out nicely. Overall, very comfy (but it was sad to not have thigh extension seats, though the base ones had enough support). I really like the panoramic vista out the front. Great visibility and hood was not too tall, so easy to maneuver. Ride seemed fine to me, steering was good, pretty quiet. Just a nice driving car, probably really nice on the highway while still having respectable handling and control.

only played with the tech interface a little (mostly the SG demo'd it) but I don't think it would be a problem. once everything is set up you don't have to do too much with it. We don't (especially the wife) change settings much anyway. The basics like bun warmers are sub buttons, so easy to do. Radio we use the steering wheel controls. And he said you can do most stuff using voice commands. At least there was no silly touchpad! Will need to see how the wife likes it. On the plus side, you can set the auto stop/start to default to off. and it has power folding mirrors, nice for getting into the garage!

so, I liked it quite a bit. I think the wife will too, finding it comfortable and nice to drive. And she likes the style. Not sure about the color, but can always find another unit. Would I pay that much for it? Not sure. Basically the same price as a comparable X3 service loaner. or a brand new RDX.

so it really comes down to which of the 3 the boss wants to have. At this point, I don't think the CRV is going to move her needle enough to move on one. The Santa Fe might, but unless that is $4-5K cheaper, might as well go premium.

I am researching the OSD program for a free trip to Sweden too. just in case. But darn, all the new Volvos are extremely nice cars.

stickguy

oh, the other nice thing about the Volvo is they CPO the loaners. that gives you 1 more year of full warranty (nice to have) but also unlimited miles. Won't matter at the rate we put on miles, but if you roll them up, could be a really good thing. not easy to have a BtoB warranty out to 150K miles!

breld

For what it's worth, I will say the V90 is really growing on me. I mean, of course I liked it well enough to buy (lease) it in the first place, but as everyone knows the newness can wear off quickly sometimes. But I continue to really enjoy the Volvo, and I wouldn't replace it with anything else at this point.

Just food for thought as you shop the Volvo among other brands.

stickguy

I have always loved Volvos, and shopped them every time we were out looking. But other than our used s40 never had the stars align to end up being the one we went with. So I am predisposed toward them. Up to the wife of course, but she does think they look nice and drive well I think. need to get her out to see it. I suspect the feedback from her will be "it was nice"

hopefully when the looking is done and the dust settles, we both have the same favorite!

benjaminh

@breld : Didn't you get an amazing deal on your Volvo? Would you remind us?

@stickguy: Does $41k represent a little bit of mission creep over your original target? Or was that more or less along the lines of what the two of you had in mind? Is the new RDX still in the running? If so, I think there's a loyalty rebate on that one. And the Acura dealer might give you a better trade-in on your 2013 RDX.

But yeah, I've always liked Volvos too, ever since I was a kid. And I've had a special liking for their wagons.

Since the economy might be slowing there's a chance that better deals might be possible in a month or so. Is there a rush to get this done? Or is it just that the standard CCBA desire for some new automotive goodness has just hit for both of you?

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

so, in my virtual travels, found a slightly used XC60 for what seems to be a pretty good price (asking). Black onyx which actually looks good on that car, over maroon which is gorgeous on that car. Got all the basic requirement options, but not over the top. AWD momentum T5. I know, T6 or go home, but worth a drive to check it out.

Volvo CPO is pretty good. 5 year, unlimited miles, and service loaner date is only 4 months ago.

I was trolling the websites for cheap cars and I found a place in MA that had prices much lower than the rest. No CarFax available so I went to the dealer’s website to see what I could find.

There was no information from the dealer but the comments section had a bunch of satisfied customers talking about how this place only sold rebuilt salvage cars. That’s why they were so cheap.

NEXT...........

oldfarmer50

benjaminh said:

The msrp with destination of a base KIA Telluride LX FWD is $33,670, which is just $2500 more than a CR-V EXL FWD. The CR-V gives a lot of bang for the buck, but the Telluride LX is a Costco mega pack of value. As Alan Rickman as Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus said in Galaxy Quest, "By Grabthar's Hammer. What a savings."

CR-V weight:3413 length:182 width:73 height:66 max cargo:76 passengers:5

Telluride weight:4112 length:197 width:78 height:69 max cargo:87 passengers:8

The CR-V has that 1.5 turbo of Honda's with a CVT, while the Telluride has a 3.8 liter V-6 with an 8-speed automatic. Towing capacity for the CR-V: 1500. Towing capacity for the Telluride: 5000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgv7U3GYlDY

https://www.destinationkia.com/new-Albany-2020-Kia-Telluride-LX-5XYP24HCXLG075060

Hmmmmm...that’s where I got my Soul last year. Not a difficult place to deal with. They went for my out the door offer without a lot of pushback.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

Then on to the Volvo dealer. No problem getting a salesguy there! Super friendly, family business place. Found the loaner I was looking at. 4,000 miles on it. MSRP of $48,870, tagged at $40,999. So pretty good discount. might be a little more blood to squeeze out of the turnip, but not much.

That likely includes incentives. Yes, you can do better. You’ll want to push for 20% off before incentives

tjc78

IDK Q the dealer where Stick went is pretty stingy. I couldn’t get them to play ball. Their best was significantly higher than the dealers in North Jersey.

Check out Kundert and Ramsey Volvo. Larger dealers, aggressive and had more loaners than CH.

benjaminh

stickguy said:

Telluride is nice. But just too big for us. Not just length, but the width. The RDX barely fits in the garage....

2013 RDX width: 73
2020 RDX: 74.8
2020 XC60: 74.9
2020 CR-V: 73

If your current RDX barely fits then even 2 inches of added width might be a challenge? You might want to bring whatever you're considering home and try it out in your garage? Of course if you scratched it....yikes.

How was the cargo area in the XC60? From the stats it seems strangely small at c.18 cubic feet. The new RDX has c.29.5 and the CR-V is at c. 38.

If you're willing to give up AWD, the RDX Tech has an mrsp of $42k before discounts, which means it might be less after discount than that Volvo, although in the real world finding a model without SH-AWD will be difficult. Acura also has 0.9 financing for 60 months on the RDX, although I imagine Volvo has good financing too.

I'm avoiding work, thus my many posts on the topic lol. Sorry about that....

Sandman6472

My future son-in-law got his brand new 2020 Chevy Camaro today. The kids FaceTimed me from it. Very cool medium blue with silver stripes down the hood and trunk. Has the heads up display which is just super cool!!! I'll be seeing it in about 3 weeks when I go up to cat sit. Price was a bit over $40K but have no idea how much he paid...and do not plan on asking!!

qbrozen

tjc78 said:

IDK Q the dealer where Stick went is pretty stingy. I couldn’t get them to play ball. Their best was significantly higher than the dealers in North Jersey.

Check out Kundert and Ramsey Volvo. Larger dealers, aggressive and had more loaners than CH.

I’m sure. Back when I was shopping for one, I only found one within 75 miles who would go 20%. I’d have to dig up my notes to remember who that was. Definitely north jersey, though.

stickguy

width is tough to call, because that is without mirrors. so a skinnier car can be wider with mirrors. Nice thing on the Volvo, power folding mirrors! Not that it doesn't fit (our neighbor has an XC90 that does), just have to be careful since it is tight.

budget creep is inevitable. As long as it stays somewhere reasonable. Just makes the loan go longer. More important is getting what we really want. She kept the RDX going on 8 years. The next car will be around a long time too.

Q, 20% was my WAG goal. so about $39k. But I figured that included incentives. T is right, the dealer pretty much has the market to itself so I don't think they worry about slicing the price to the bone or running high volume.

Benjamin, it is not a rush. We could do something this weekend, next month, or wait until the end of the summer or next Christmas. But once you start looking, you get hooked.

stickguy

there is actually more competition over in PA (philly burbs) for Volvos I think. Not that they are necessarily cheaper. But, we shall see. First step (the hard one) is to get the wife to commit to what she wants.

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

tjc78 said:

I bet @nyccarguy is going to be late to dinner tonight!

How small is small?

Fiat 500?
Prius?
Civic?

So many choices, so little time.

Let the hunt commence!

Something Prius/Civic sized.