Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

andres3 said:

corvette said:

oldfarmer50 said:

You’re driving fine German engineering, there’s a CEL for the CEL.

Anything is possible. As a follow up to my E85 experiment in the Tundra, it turns out the freak-out it had wasn't caused by my scan tool, it was legitimately due to the "engine running lean" code causing a cascade of other issues, and generating malfunction codes for the ABS system, combination meter, trailer brake controller, ECU communication circuit, instrument cluster, and BCM. Now, there is no way that all of that stuff should go haywire just on account of out-of-spec fuel, but I guess this is the world that we live in with modern vehicle electronics.

CASCADE failure! You learn about that in the movie "Passengers"

It doesn't take electronics to have cascading failures though, just bad engineering or product.

Yup, kind of like the "beam shake" that plagued GMT800 pickups in the early 2000s. Normal concrete highway undulation + poor chassis dynamics + no weight in the bed + crummy OEM tires with poor road force variance = vibrations.

I've mostly gotten used to the ACC on the Tundra. I generally set the distance to the minimum, and even then, sometimes it slows down just as I'm changing lanes to pass someone on the interstate. If I'm stuck on a long interstate stretch where it's closed down to one lane and I know I won't be passing anyone, I usually increase the distance to the max to avoid it riding the brakes unnecessarily.

andres3

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9aLaW1yo/2007-audi-rs4

Any predictions? Could be a fun $20,000 toy. I wonder if I called Pure MS in San Diego if they'd divulge the "insider info" on the car.

It's not like there is a HIPPA release form for car records....

breld

ACC in the Volvo is the best I’ve experienced. I’m not sure what the programming is, but when you activate the left turn signal to change lanes and pass, the vehicle “preps” itself to accelerate and does so quickly. The overall operation is just a step or two smoother than others I’ve owned, including Audi, Land Rover and Toyota.

I get the reaction that some, if not many, of these features are overly intrusive, but I personally am thankful they exist and are being continuously improved upon - partially for my own driving but more so for the cars around me...like the one that’s tailing me too closely or the one next to me with the driver veering into my lane while they check messages.

fintail

CUVs?

I wonder if they are cannibalizing sales from Audi cars or from other designer handbags on wheels like the Lexus RX. Lately the various Audi soft roaders seem to be very popular among the local Stepford set.

andres3 said:

That Audi picture is probably why the North American Audi Club now allows SUV's into the "A" Beginner's group at HPDE track weekend events. SUV's used to be banned for high center of gravity and weight issues.

stickguy

pretty car. Probably fun. seems to have been maintained, but still lot of miles, and an oil leak that can't be traced by 2 mechanics? Not promising unless you have very deep pockets and don't care about dipping into them! as usual on one of these auctions, an "expert" in the comments seems to be confident they know what is the problem (nothing that $3,000 and the engine out can't fix!) Though seller says it never needs oil between changes, so what the heck, let is seep!

stickguy

not at all my style of car, but I love the color combo on this. And for big sedans, just a beautiful, timeless design in and out. Wish they could still make cars like this instead of much of the overwrought stuff a lot of companies are producing.

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/KdDXMqOL/1989-mercedes-benz-420-sel

breld

Here’s an SUV we all can get behind...

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/814775975/overview/

Someone here should buy this. Clean Carfax, under 100k miles, sport seats with the 6 speed manual.

stickguy

I like it. Not sure if the picture reflected or not, but looked like a lot of pixel issues on the antique display screen!

tifighter

LOLz - https://independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bmw-heated-seats-subscription-cruise-control-a9599821.html

28firefighter

An X5 with the M54 and a 6spd. Rare bird.

fintail

Price looks OK now, much more and it will approach market correct. 126s can be worth good money, but they have to be low miles and really pristine. That one, with the rare color combo, wheelarch chrome, chrome wheels with Sir Mix-A-Lot gold center caps, is very "1989 California". I think the 126 will always be regarded as the pinnacle of S-class - to think, that design was almost 10 years old when the car was made.

stickguy said:

not at all my style of car, but I love the color combo on this. And for big sedans, just a beautiful, timeless design in and out. Wish they could still make cars like this instead of much of the overwrought stuff a lot of companies are producing.

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/KdDXMqOL/1989-mercedes-benz-420-sel

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Maybe Enterprise is going to sell of their old units and replace them with lower mileage ones, rather than buy new.

I’m sure there are bean counters figuring it out to the penny.

oldfarmer50

tifighter said:

LOLz - https://independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bmw-heated-seats-subscription-cruise-control-a9599821.html

I wonder how long it will take hackers to bypass all that nonsense. How long do you have to subscribe for. Paying for heated seats in the summer would seem like a rip off.

omarman

Wonder why the seller tinted the glass so dark? At least compared to auction pics from June 10. Nasty looking front wheels and engine compartment pic. Rare but not exactly loved.

Minor dent/scratches stated on the auction site and pic #4 shows right rear lens damage.


Cleaned and detailed nicely by seller. No mention of any body repair but as stated has clean carfax.

ab348

fintail said:

Price looks OK now, much more and it will approach market correct. 126s can be worth good money, but they have to be low miles and really pristine. That one, with the rare color combo, wheelarch chrome, chrome wheels with Sir Mix-A-Lot gold center caps, is very "1989 California". I think the 126 will always be regarded as the pinnacle of S-class - to think, that design was almost 10 years old when the car was made.

Too bad about the dashpad crack. Glad they got rid of 2 of the 3 grille badges, I'd lose the third one too.

I didn't realize that M-B was still somewhat malaise-y in 1989 with the engine only putting out 220hp. Not as fast as I would have expected one of these to be.

The big ughknown here is the lack of info on whether the major services have actually been done. One can only assume they haven't been, which means $$$.

kyfdx

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

they smelled a bargain?

I wonder what their actual plan is though. Not likely that air travel (and airport rentals) is rebounding fully any time soon. Maybe aiming toward more local rentals to people without cars that previously would have bussed/trained/short hop flew but now want to drive instead?

Wonder if Hertz is going to be disappearing from airports, or the local offices, hence the shedding of units?

It’s funny you say that. At least locally, both companies are open at the airport but Hertz has it’s branch offices open while Enterprise does not.

Bankruptcy does not mean they are going out of business.

kyfdx

breld said:

Here’s an SUV we all can get behind...

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/814775975/overview/

Someone here should buy this. Clean Carfax, under 100k miles, sport seats with the 6 speed manual.

X5 sticks are Uber-rare

We test drove an '05 X3 with stick for my son, at one point, but just too pricey. Cool, though

stickguy

Where the heck did that come from? Auction site looks like it’s in Europe!

explorerx4

I think it was in Poland.

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

they smelled a bargain?

I wonder what their actual plan is though. Not likely that air travel (and airport rentals) is rebounding fully any time soon. Maybe aiming toward more local rentals to people without cars that previously would have bussed/trained/short hop flew but now want to drive instead?

Wonder if Hertz is going to be disappearing from airports, or the local offices, hence the shedding of units?

It’s funny you say that. At least locally, both companies are open at the airport but Hertz has it’s branch offices open while Enterprise does not.

Bankruptcy does not mean they are going out of business.

I was talking to my friend who works for Hertz about that subject. Hertz isn’t going anywhere but they could be bought up by another company. There’s been a lot of consolidation in the past 20 years.

I even hear that Elon Musk is interested in a position so he can put more of his cars out on the road.

stickguy

If they aren’t shutting down, they at least are scaling back if they are unloading a bunch of cars.

qbrozen

breld said:

Here’s an SUV we all can get behind...

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/814775975/overview/

Someone here should buy this. Clean Carfax, under 100k miles, sport seats with the 6 speed manual.

Has been sitting at virtually the same miles for 2 years. A similar one sold at auction in Chicago in May for $2700. Soooo.... nope, I’d steer clear of that at that price.

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

I think it was in Poland.

Odd. So a US car, being listed to sell overseas?

ab348

stickguy said:

If they aren’t shutting down, they at least are scaling back if they are unloading a bunch of cars.

They probably need to raise a bunch of cash.

breld

Nice sleuth work on the X5 all.

Michaell

I'm pretty sure I know what the consensus will be on this, but looking for your opinions:

https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/62007/honda/accord/buying-a-used-2013-honda-accord-with-a-salvage-rebuilt-title#latest

fintail

Old MB dash pads, really well into the 90s, don't like UV exposure. I see it a lot, especially on darker colors, especially blue for some reason.

The only grille badges I can tolerate are club-related. Please no souvenir badges. In 1989 this was still a platform that entered production in 1979 and had an engine design from 1985. 220hp wasn't too shabby then, but I suspect Euro models had 10-20% more hp. Unless one has a good paper trail, always buy one of these like it needs a visit to the shop to deal with deferred maintenance.

ab348 said:

Too bad about the dashpad crack. Glad they got rid of 2 of the 3 grille badges, I'd lose the third one too.

I didn't realize that M-B was still somewhat malaise-y in 1989 with the engine only putting out 220hp. Not as fast as I would have expected one of these to be.

The big ughknown here is the lack of info on whether the major services have actually been done. One can only assume they haven't been, which means $$$.

benjaminh

Hoovie needs $5,500 of work done on his BMW 7-series. It's about 20 years old, but it only has 80k miles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcDyiC5kbAo

stickguy

I always loved that design.

fintail

E38, especially with sport trim, was maybe peak 7er. I don't mind E32 and E23 either, but since, seems to be aiming for S-class too hard, when it should be its own thing.

stickguy

Proves once again, you buy one of these after the rich guy that took the bath. Because after hoovie dumps all that money in, probably not worth any more. And of course, they are never completely sorted. Always something else waiting to go wrong!

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Proves once again, you buy one of these after the rich guy that took the bath. Because after hoovie dumps all that money in, probably not worth any more. And of course, they are never completely sorted. Always something else waiting to go wrong!

Didn’t Hoovie actually clear a profit on that 93’ Camaro?

nyccarguy

Anybody watch Doug's video on the Reatta?

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

Anybody watch Doug's video on the Reatta?

I always liked those. The time to get one was 3-4 years ago when they hit rock bottom. Prices have doubled since then.

28firefighter

I like this:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/815342287/overview/

EDIT: Nevermind, title is rebuilt.

28firefighter

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

Proves once again, you buy one of these after the rich guy that took the bath. Because after hoovie dumps all that money in, probably not worth any more. And of course, they are never completely sorted. Always something else waiting to go wrong!

Didn’t Hoovie actually clear a profit on that 93’ Camaro?

Nope - apparently still wasn't enough - I suspect if the AC hadn't kicked the bucket he might have.

kyfdx

28firefighter said:

I like this:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/815342287/overview/

Nice! Xenons, too. and, manual sport seats!

If it were only RWD... not bad, though

28firefighter

I think my obsession has moved from lease hacking to buying old european cars that will be guaranteed to break my heart.

stickguy

28firefighter said:

I think my obsession has moved from lease hacking to buying old european cars that will be guaranteed to break my heart.

well, if your goal is to become a youtube "star", that is definitely the way to go.

stickguy

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I like this:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/815342287/overview/

Nice! Xenons, too. and, manual sport seats!

If it were only RWD... not bad, though

I do like that one. But yeah, needs to be RWD. I remember seeing one some years back on CL local for IIRC about that price. Green, stick, RWD. Little did I know it was time to hoard them. I believe it was during a period that I was in no position to buy anything though. If I could find a clean stick RWD wagon I would buy it as a spare car. Good as anything else!

tifighter

fintail said:

E38, especially with sport trim, was maybe peak 7er. I don't mind E32 and E23 either, but since, seems to be aiming for S-class too hard, when it should be its own thing.

I do have a soft spot for the E23. A neighbor had one when I was a kid. Probably an 86, white, 735i. Liked it then, like it now.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

they smelled a bargain?

I wonder what their actual plan is though. Not likely that air travel (and airport rentals) is rebounding fully any time soon. Maybe aiming toward more local rentals to people without cars that previously would have bussed/trained/short hop flew but now want to drive instead?

Wonder if Hertz is going to be disappearing from airports, or the local offices, hence the shedding of units?

It’s funny you say that. At least locally, both companies are open at the airport but Hertz has it’s branch offices open while Enterprise does not.

Bankruptcy does not mean they are going out of business.

I was talking to my friend who works for Hertz about that subject. Hertz isn’t going anywhere but they could be bought up by another company. There’s been a lot of consolidation in the past 20 years.

I even hear that Elon Musk is interested in a position so he can put more of his cars out on the road.

I hope Hertz doesn't get Teslas, knowing their business model on gas charges, they'll take the market rate for electricity/power, multiply by 5, and then charge you by how many minutes it takes to recharge it, unless of course, you take the time to charge it yourself.

andres3

fintail said:

CUVs?

I wonder if they are cannibalizing sales from Audi cars or from other designer handbags on wheels like the Lexus RX. Lately the various Audi soft roaders seem to be very popular among the local Stepford set.

andres3 said:

That Audi picture is probably why the North American Audi Club now allows SUV's into the "A" Beginner's group at HPDE track weekend events. SUV's used to be banned for high center of gravity and weight issues.

For me these terms are interchangeable:

CUV=SUV
Wagon=Hatchback=Sportback=Avant

I know CUV's are more like tall wagons, but that's the way I look at it.

Now you have to add this:

4-Door Coupe = sportback

It seems all the latest sedans follow the A7 design bandwagon, and funny enough, I'm not a fan of it.

A 4-Door RS5 makes practical utilitarian sense, but 4 door coupes are just a bit odd to me.

qbrozen

28firefighter said:

I think my obsession has moved from lease hacking to buying old european cars that will be guaranteed to break my heart.

Jump on in! The water is fine!

stickguy

I still think there is a distinction between CUV and SUV. SUV is the (dwindling at this point) "trucky" UVs. So a Tahoe, 4 runner, etc. CUV is just a soft roader, AKA a glorified tall AWD hatchback (and car based).

And wagons are wagons!

ab348

28firefighter said:

I think my obsession has moved from lease hacking to buying old european cars that will be guaranteed to break.

Fixed that for you.

andres3

stickguy said:

I still think there is a distinction between CUV and SUV. SUV is the (dwindling at this point) "trucky" UVs. So a Tahoe, 4 runner, etc. CUV is just a soft roader, AKA a glorified tall AWD hatchback (and car based).

And wagons are wagons!

Don't mention the glorified soft roader to my wife. She wanted an "SUV" and got the Tiguan. She's happy enough with it; that's what counts. Funny enough, you can find most of them at the dealer aren't even AWD.

andres3

Wasn't it Jalopnik that used to play the game, "How much money can we make Carmax lose on an extended warranty?"

I think a Land Rover was the clear winner.

stickguy

if you live in an area without snow, FWD is really fine for any of these. Especially smaller ones that are not all that powerful.

corvette

I see JR got the doors put on his Copart Kia Optima, then put it on a frame rack to pull out the B-pillar. It looked like the frame work was "off the books" (done on July 4th, I think), so will be interesting to see if he accounts for it if he does any calculations on profit/loss.